here was more energy in that poem than could be expected
from Mr. Walpole; Mr. Warton, the late Laureat, observed, 'It may have
been written by Walpole, and BUCKRAM'D by Mason.'

Sir Joshua Reynolds having said that he took the altitude of a man's
taste by his stories and his wit, and of his understanding by the
remarks which he repeated; being always sure that he must be a weak
man who quotes common things with an emphasis as if they were oracles;
Johnson agreed with him; and Sir Joshua having also observed that the
real character of a man was found out by his amusements,--Johnson added,
'Yes, Sir; no man is a hypocrite in his pleasures.'

I have mentioned Johnson's general aversion to a pun. He once, however,
endured one of mine. When we were talking of a numerous company in
which he had distinguished himself highly, I said, 'Sir, you were a COD
surrounded by smelts. Is not this enough for you? at a time too when you
were not FISHING for a compliment?' He laughed at this with a complacent
approbation. Old Mr. Sheridan observed, upon my mentioning it to him,
'He liked your compliment so well, he was willing to take it with
PUN SAUCE.' For my own part, I think no innocent species of wit or
pleasantry should be suppressed; and that a good pun may be admitted
among the smaller excellencies of lively conversation.

Mr. Burke uniformly shewed Johnson the greatest respect; and when Mr.
Townshend, now Lord Sydney, at a period when he was conspicuous in
opposition, threw out some reflection in parliament upon the grant of
a pension to a man of such political principles as Johnson; Mr. Burke,
though then of the same party with Mr. Townshend, stood warmly forth
in defence of his friend, to whom, he justly observed, the pension
was granted solely on account of his eminent literary merit. I am well
assured, that Mr. Townshend's attack upon Johnson was the occasion of
his 'hitching in a rhyme;' for, that in the original copy of Goldsmith's
character of Mr. Burke, in his Retaliation, another person's name stood
in the couplet where Mr. Townshend is now introduced:--

'Though fraught with all learning kept straining his throat,
To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote.'

It may be worth remarking, among the minutiae of my collection, that
Johnson was once drawn to serve in the militia, the Trained Bands of the
City of London, and that Mr. Rackstrow, of the Museum in Fleet-street,
was his Colonel. It may be believe