cerning the family of Thomson the poet, after it had been
shewn to be erroneous (_ante_, in. 359). MALONE.

[182] _Works, vii. 420._

[183] Benjamin Victor published in 1722, a _Letter to Steele_, and in
1776, _Letters, Dramatic Pieces, and Poems_ Brit. Mus. Catalogue.

[184] Mr. _Wilks_. See _ante_, i. 167, note 1.

[185] See _post_, p. 91 and Macaulay's _Essay on Addison_ (ed. 1974, iv.
207).

[186] 'A better and more Christian man scarcely ever breathed than
Joseph Addison. If he had not that little weakness for wine--why we
could scarcely have found a fault with him, and could not have liked him
as we do.' Thackery's _English Humourists_, ed. 1858, p. 94.

[187] See _ante_, i. 30, and iii. 155.

[188] See _post_, under Dec. 2, 1784.

[189] Parnell 'drank to excess.' _Ante_, iii. 155.

[190] I should have thought that Johnson, who had felt the severe
affliction from which Parnell never recovered, would have preserved this
passage. BOSWELL.

[191] Mrs. Thrale wrote to Johnson in May, 1780:-'Blackmore will be
rescued from the old wits who worried him much to your disliking; so, a
little for love of his Christianity, a little for love of his physic, a
little for love of his courage--and a little for love of contradiction,
you will save him from his malevolent critics, and perhaps do him the
honour to devour him yourself.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 122. See
_ante_, ii. 107.

[192] 'This is a tribute which a painter owes to an architect who
composed like a painter; and was defrauded of the due reward of his
merit by the wits of his time, who did not understand the principles of
composition in poetry better than he did; and who knew little, or
nothing, of what he understood perfectly, the general ruling principles
of architecture and painting.' Reynolds's _Thirteenth Discourse_.

[193] Johnson had not wished to write _Lyttelton's Life_. He wrote to
Lord Westcote, Lyttelton's brother, 'My desire is to avoid offence, and
be totally out of danger. I take the liberty of proposing to your
lordship, that the historical account should be written under your
direction by any friend you may be willing to employ, and I will only
take upon myself to examine the poetry.'--Croker's _Boswell_, p.650.

[194] It was not _Molly Aston_ (_ante_ i. 83) but Miss Hill Boothby
(_ib_.) of whom Mrs. Thrale wrote. She says (_Anec_. p.160):--'Such was
the purity of her mind, Johnson said, and such the graces of her manner,
that Lord Lytte