him to be in his
company, his ignorance was so hopeless. "Sir," said Mr. Langton, "his
coming about you shows he wishes to help his ignorance." "Sir," said the
Doctor, "his ignorance is so great, I am afraid to show him the
bottom of it."'

[120] Dr. Francklin. See _ante_, iii. 83, note 3. Churchill attacked him
in _The Rosciad_ (Poems, ii. 4). When, he says, it came to the choice
of a judge,

'Others for Francklin voted; but 'twas known,
He sickened at all triumphs but his own.'

[121] See _ante_, iii. 241, note 2.

[122] _Pr. and Med_. p.190. BOSWELL.

[123] _Ib_. 174. BOSWELL.

[124] 'Mr. Fowke once observed to Dr. Johnson that, in his opinion, the
Doctor's literary strength lay in writing biography, in which he
infinitely exceeded all his contemporaries. "Sir," said Johnson, "I
believe that is true. The dogs don't know how to write trifles with
dignity."'--R. Warner's _Original Letters_, p. 204.

[125] His design is thus announced in his _Advertisement_: 'The
Booksellers having determined to publish a body of English Poetry, I was
persuaded to promise them a Preface to the works of each authour; an
undertaking, as it was then presented to my mind, not very tedious or
difficult.

'My purpose was only to have allotted to every poet an Advertisement,
like that [in original _those_] which we find in the French
Miscellanies, containing a few dates, and a general character; but I
have been led beyond my intention, I hope by the honest desire of giving
useful pleasure.' BOSWELL.

[126] _Institutiones_, liber i, Prooemium 3.

[127] 'He had bargained for two hundred guineas, and the booksellers
spontaneously added a third hundred; on this occasion Dr. Johnson
observed to me, "Sir, I always said the booksellers were a generous set
of men. Nor, in the present instance, have I reason to complain. The
fact is, not that they have paid me too little, but that I have written
too much." The _Lives_ were soon published in a separate edition; when,
for a very few corrections, he was presented with another hundred
guineas.' Nichols's _Lit. Anec._ viii. 416. See _ante_, iii. 111. In Mr.
Morrison's _Collection of Autographs_ &c., vol. ii, 'is Johnson's
receipt for 100_l_., from the proprietors of _The Lives of the Poets_
for revising the last edition of that work.' It is dated Feb. 19, 1783.
'Underneath, in Johnson's autograph, are these words: "It is great
impudence to put _Johnson's Poets_ on the back of books