nor
can I conceive why his affairs should not excite curiosity as much as
the whisper of a drawing-room or the factions of a camp.' _The
Idler_, No. 102.

[323] Hannah More wrote of this day (_Memoirs_, i. 212):--'I accused Dr.
Johnson of not having done justice to the _Allegro_ and _Penseroso_. He
spoke disparagingly of both. I praised _Lycidas_, which he absolutely
abused, adding, "if Milton had not written the _Paradise Lost_, he would
have only ranked among the minor Poets. He was a Phidias that could cut
a Colossus out of a rock, but could not cut heads out of
cherry-stones."' See _post_, June 13, 1784. The _Allegro_ and
_Penseroso_ Johnson described as 'two noble efforts of imagination.' Of
_Lycidas_ he wrote:--'Surely no man could have fancied that he read it
with pleasure, had he not known the author.' _Works_, vii. 121, 2.

[324] Murphy (_Life of Garrick_, p. 374) says 'Shortly after Garrick's
death Johnson was told in a large company, "You are recent from the
_Lives of the Poets_; why not add your friend Garrick to the number?"
Johnson's answer was, "I do not like to be officious; but if Mrs.
Garrick will desire me to do it, I shall be very willing to pay that
last tribute to the memory of a man I loved." 'Murphy adds that he
himself took care that Mrs. Garrick was informed of what Johnson had
said, but that no answer was ever received.

[325] Miss Burney wrote in May:--'Dr. Johnson was charming, both in
spirits and humour. I really think he grows gayer and gayer daily, and
more _ductile_ and pleasant.' In June she wrote:--'I found him in
admirable good-humour, and our journey [to Streatham] was extremely
pleasant. I thanked him for the last batch of his poets, and we talked
them over almost all the way.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, ii. 23, 44.
Beattie, a week or two later, wrote:--'Johnson grows in grace as he
grows in years. He not only has better health and a fresher complexion
than ever he had before (at least since I knew him), but he has
contracted a gentleness of manner which pleases everybody.' Beattie's
_Life_, ed. 1824, p. 289.

[326] See _ante_, iii. 65. Wilkes was by this time City Chamberlain. 'I
think I see him at this moment,' said Rogers (_Table-Talk_, p. 43),
'walking through the crowded streets of the city, as Chamberlain, on his
way to Guildhall, in a scarlet coat, military boots, and a bag-wig--the
hackney-coachmen in vain calling out to him, "A coach, your honour."'

[327] See _ante_, i