come; and no doubt he has made a dinner, and invited a company, and
boasted of the honor he expected to have. I shall be quite disgraced
if the Doctor is not there."

She gradually softened to my solicitations, which were certainly as
earnest as most entreaties to ladies upon any occasion, and was
graciously pleased to empower me to tell Dr. Johnson "that, all things
considered, she thought he should certainly go." I flew back to him,
still in dust, and careless of what should be the event, "indifferent
in his choice to go or stay"; but as soon as I had announced to him
Mrs. Williams's consent, he roared, "Frank, a clean shirt," and was
very soon drest. When I had him fairly seated in a hackney-coach with
me, I exulted as much as a fortune-hunter who has got an heiress into
a post-chaise with him to set out for Gretna Green.

When we entered Mr. Dilly's drawing-room, he found himself in the
midst of a company he did not know. I kept myself snug and silent,
watching how he would conduct himself. I observed him whispering to
Mr. Dilly, "Who is that gentleman, sir?" "Mr. Arthur Lee." _Johnson_:
"Too, too, too" (under his breath), which was one of his habitual
mutterings. Mr. Arthur Lee could not but be very obnoxious to Johnson,
for he was not only a _patriot_ but an _American_. He was afterward
minister from the United States at the court of Madrid. "And who is
the gentleman in lace?" "Mr. Wilkes, sir." This information confounded
him still more; he had some difficulty to restrain himself, and taking
up a book, sat down upon a window-seat and read, or at least kept his
eye upon it intently for some time, till he composed himself. His
feelings, I dare say, were awkward enough. But he no doubt recollected
his having rated me for supposing that he could be at all disconcerted
by any company, and he therefore resolutely set himself to behave
quite as an easy man of the World, who could adapt himself at once to
the disposition and manners of those whom he might chance to meet.

The cheering sound of "Dinner is upon the table" dissolved his
reverie, and we all sat down without any symptom of ill-humor. There
were present, besides Mr. Wilkes, and Mr. Arthur Lee, who was an old
companion of mine when he studied physics at Edinburgh, Mr. (now Sir
John) Miller, Dr. Lettson, and Mr. Slater the druggist. Mr. Wilkes
placed himself next to Dr. Johnson, and behaved to him with so much
attention and politeness that he gained upon him