talian. Boswell disliked him (_ante_, ii. 98
note), and perhaps therefore described him merely as 'a man of _some_
literature.' Baretti complained to Malone that 'the story as told gave
an unfair representation of him.' He had, he said, 'observed to Johnson
that the petition _lead us not into temptation_ ought rather to be
addressed to the tempter of mankind than a benevolent Creator. "Pray,
Sir," said Johnson, "do you know who was the author of the Lord's
Prayer?" Baretti, who did not wish to get into any serious dispute and
who appears to be an Infidel, by way of putting an end to the
conversation, only replied:--"Oh, Sir, you know by _our_ religion (Roman
Catholic) we are not permitted to read the Scriptures. You can't
therefore expect an answer."' Prior's _Malone_, p. 399. Sir Joshua
Reynolds, on hearing this from Malone, said:--'This turn which Baretti
now gives to the matter was an after-thought; for he once said to me
myself:--"There are various opinions about the writer of that prayer;
some give it to St. Augustine, some to St. Chrysostom, &c. What is your
opinion? "' _Ib_. p. 394. Mrs. Piozzi says that she heard 'Baretti tell
a clergyman the story of Dives and Lazarus as the subject of a poem he
once had composed in the Milanese district, expecting great credit for
his powers of invention.' Hayward's _Piozzi_, ii. 348.

[381] Goldsmith (_Present Slate of Polite Learning_, chap. 13) thus
wrote of servitorships: 'Surely pride itself has dictated to the fellows
of our colleges the absurd passion of being attended at meals, and on
other public occasions, by those poor men who, willing to be scholars,
come in upon some charitable foundation. It implies a contradiction for
men to be at once learning the _liberal_ arts, and at the same time
treated as _slaves_; at once studying freedom and practising servitude.'
Yet a young man like Whitefield was willing enough to be a servitor. He
had been a waiter in his mother's inn; he was now a waiter in a college,
but a student also. See my _Dr. Johnson: His Friends and his
Critics_, p. 27.

[382] Dr. Johnson did not neglect what he had undertaken. By his
interest with the Rev. Dr. Adams, master of Pembroke College, Oxford,
where he was educated for some time, he obtained a servitorship for
young M'Aulay. But it seems he had other views; and I believe went
abroad. BOSWELL. See _ante_, ii. 380.

[383] 'I once drank tea,' writes Lamb, 'in company with two Methodist
divines of