Lord Hailes knew Dr. Johnson's part not to be mine, and pointed
out exactly where it began, and where it ended. Dr. Johnson said, 'It is
much, now, that his lordship can distinguish so.' In Dr. Johnson's
_Vanity of Human Wishes_, there is the following passage:--

'The teeming mother, anxious for her race,
Begs, for each birth, the fortune of a face:
Yet _Vane_ could tell, what ills from beauty spring,
And _Sedley_ curs'd the charms which pleas'd a king[137].'

Lord Hailes told him, he was mistaken in the instances he had given of
unfortunate fair ones; for neither _Vane_ nor _Sedley_ had a title to
that description. His Lordship has since been so obliging as to send me
a note of this, for the communication of which I am sure my readers
will thank me.

'The lines in the tenth Satire of Juvenal, according to my alteration,
should have run thus:--

'Yet _Shore_[138] could tell-----;
And _Valiere_[139] curs'd------.'

'The first was a penitent by compulsion, the second by sentiment; though
the truth is, Mademoiselle de la Valiere threw herself (but still from
sentiment) in the King's way.

'Our friend chose _Vane_[140], who was far from being well-looked; and
_Sedley_, who was so ugly, that Charles II. said, his brother had her by
way of penance[141].'

Mr. Maclaurin's learning and talents enabled him to do his part very
well in Dr. Johnson's company. He produced two epitaphs upon his
father, the celebrated mathematician[142]. One was in English, of which
Dr. Johnson did not change one word. In the other, which was in Latin,
he made several alterations. In place of the very words of _Virgil_,
'_Ubi luctus et pavor et plurima mortis imago_[143],' he wrote '_Ubi
luctus regnant et pavor_.' He introduced the word _prorsus_ into the
line '_Mortalibus prorsus non absit solatium_,' and after '_Hujus enim
scripta evolve_,' he added '_Mentemque tantarum rerum capacem corpori
caduco superstitem crede_;' which is quite applicable to Dr. Johnson
himself[144].

Mr. Murray, advocate, who married a niece of Lord Mansfield's, and is
now one of the judges of Scotland, by the title of Lord _Henderland_,
sat with us a part of the evening; but did not venture to say any thing,
that I remember, though he is certainly possessed of talents which would
have enabled him to have shewn himself to advantage, if too great
anxiety had not prevented him.

At supper we had Dr. Alexander Webster, who, though