862] The King opened Parliament this day. Hannah More during the
election found the mob favourable to Fox. One night, in a Sedan chair,
she was stopped with the news that it was not safe to go through Covent
Garden. 'There were a hundred armed men,' she was told, 'who, suspecting
every chairman belonged to Brookes's, would fall upon us. A vast number
of people followed me, crying out "It is Mrs. Fox; none but Mr. Fox's
wife would dare to come into Covent Garden in a chair; she is going to
canvas in the dark."' H. More's _Memoirs_, i. 316. Horace Walpole wrote
on April 11:--'In truth Mr. Fox has all the popularity in Westminster.'
_Letters_, viii. 469.

[863] See _post_, under June 9, 1784, where Johnson describes Fox as 'a
man who has divided the kingdom with Caesar.'

[864] See _ante_, p. 111.

[865] See _ante_, ii. 162.

[866] Boswell twice speaks of W. G. Hamilton as 'an eminent friend' of
Johnson. He was not Boswell's friend. (Ante, p. 111, and _post_, under
Dec. 20, 1784.) But Boswell does not here say 'a friend _of ours_.' By
'eminent friend' Burke is generally meant, and he, possibly, is meant
here. Boswell, it is true, speaks of his 'orderly and amiable domestic
habits' (_ante_, iii. 378); but then Boswell mentions the person here
'as a virtuous man.' If Burke is meant, Johnson's suspicions would seem
to be groundless.

[867] See _ante_, p. 168, where Johnson 'wonders why he should have any
enemies.'

[868] After all, I cannot but be of opinion, that as Mr. Langton was
seriously requested by Dr. Johnson to mention what appeared to him
erroneous in the character of his friend, he was bound, as an honest
man, to intimate what he really thought, which he certainly did in the
most delicate manner; so that Johnson himself, when in a quiet frame of
mind, was pleased with it. The texts suggested are now before me, and I
shall quote a few of them. 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit
the earth.' _Mat._ v. 5.--'I therefore, the prisoner of the LORD,
beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are
called; with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing
one another in love.' _Ephes._ v. [iv.] 1, 2.--'And above all these
things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.' _Col._ iii.
14.--'Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not, charity
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up: doth not behave itself unseemly,
is not easily provoked.' 1 _Cor._ xiii. 4, 5