his
Johnsonian stories, continues:--'Mr. Langton told some stories in
imitation of Dr. Johnson; but they became him less than Mr. Boswell, and
only reminded me of what Dr. Johnson himself once said to me--"Every man
has some time in his life an ambition to be a wag."' Mme. D'Arblay's
_Diary_, v. 307.

[3] _Stephanorum Historia, vitas ipsorum ac libros complectens_. London,
1709.

[4] _Senilia_ was published in 1742. The line to which Johnson refers
is, 'Mel, nervos, fulgur, Carteret, unus, habes,' p. 101. In another
line, the poet celebrates Colley Cibber's Muse--the _Musa Cibberi_:
'Multa Cibberum levat aura.' p. 50. See Macaulay's Essays, ed. 1843,
i. 367.

[5] _Graecae Linguae Dialecti in Scholae Westmonast. usum_, 1738.

[6] Giannone, an Italian historian, born 1676, died 1748. When he
published his _History of the Kingdom of Naples_, a friend
congratulating him on its success, said:--'Mon ami, vous vous etes mis
une couronne sur la tete, mais une couronne d'epines.' His attacks on
the Church led to persecution, in the end he made a retractation, but
nevertheless he died in prison. _Nouv. Biog. Gen._ xx. 422.

[7] See _ante_, ii. 119.

[8] 'There is no kind of impertinence more justly censurable than his
who is always labouring to level thoughts to intellects higher than his
own; who apologises for every word which his own narrowness of converse
inclines him to think unusual; keeps the exuberance of his faculties
under visible restraint; is solicitous to anticipate inquiries by
needless explanations; and endeavours to shade his own abilities lest
weak eyes should be dazzled with their lustre.' _The Rambler_, No. 173.

[9] Johnson, in his _Dictionary_, defines _Anfractuousness_ as _Fulness
of windings and turnings_. _Anfractuosity_ is not given. Lord Macaulay,
in the last sentence in his _Biography of Johnson_, alludes to
this passage.

[10] See _ante_, iii. 149, note 2.

[11] 'My purpose was to admit no testimony of living authors, that I
might not be misled by partiality, and that none of my contemporaries
might have reason to complain; nor have I departed from this resolution,
but when some performance of uncommon excellence excited my veneration,
when my memory supplied me from late books with an example that was
wanting, or when my heart, in the tenderness of friendship, solicited
admission for a favourite name.' Johnson's _Works_, v. 39. He cites
himself under _important_, Mrs. Lennox under _talent_