nly not have afterwards solicited admission to the Club of
which Johnson was the leader, to which he was admitted 1st Dec. 1775,
and where he and Johnson met frequently on civil terms. I, therefore,
disbelieve the whole story. CROKER.

[995] 'His appearance,' says Dr. A. Carlyle (_Auto_. p. 68), 'was that
of an ascetic, reduced by fasting and prayer.' See _ante_, p. 68.

[996] See _ante_, ii. 27, 279.

[997] See _ante,_ p. 92.

[998] Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'I was not much pleased with any
of the Professors.' _Piozzi Letters,_ i. 199. Mme. D'Arblay says:--
'Whenever Dr. Johnson did not make the charm of conversation he only
marred it by his presence, from the general fear he incited, that if he
spoke not, he might listen; and that if he listened, he might reprove.'
_Memoirs of Dr. Burney,_ ii. 187. See _ante_, ii. 63

[999] Boswell has not let us see this caution. When Robertson first came
in, 'there began,' we are told, 'some animated dialogue' (_ante,_ p.32).
The next day we read that 'he fluently harangued to Dr. Johnson'
(_ante,_ p.43).

[1000] See _ante,_ iii. 366.

[1001] He was Ambassador at Paris in the beginning of the reign of
George I., and Commander-in-Chief in 1744. Lord Mahon's _England_, ed.
1836, i. 201 and iii. 275.

[1002] The unwilling gratitude of base mankind. POPE. [_Imitations of
Horace_, 2 _Epis_. i. 14.] BOSWELL.

[1003] Dr. Franklin (_Memoirs_, i. 246-253) gives a curious account of
Lord Loudoun, who was general in America about the year 1756.
'Indecision,' he says, 'was one of the strongest features of his
character.' He kept back the packet-boats from day to day because he
could not make up his mind to send his despatches. At one time there
were three boats waiting, one of which was kept with cargo and
passengers on board three months beyond its time. Pitt at length
recalled him, because 'he never heard from him, and could not know what
he was doing.'

[1004] See Chalmers's _Biog. Dict._ xi. 161 for an account of a
controversy about the identity of this writer with an historian of the
same name.

[1005] He had paid but little attention to his own rule. See _ante_, ii.
119.

[1006] 'I believe that for all the castles which I have seen beyond the
Tweed, the ruins yet remaining of some one of those which the English
built in Wales would supply Materials.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 152.

[1007] See _ante_, p. 40, note 4.

[1008] Johnson described her as 'a lady who for many