and Johnson then fell to bantering the Scotch;
Burke complimented Boswell on his successful stroke of diplomacy in
bringing Johnson and Wilkes together.

Mr. Wilkes placed himself next to Dr. Johnson, and behaved to him with
so much attention and politeness, that he gained upon him insensibly. No
man ate more heartily than Johnson, or loved better what was nice and
delicate. Mr. Wilkes was very assiduous in helping him to some fine
veal. "Pray give me leave, sir--it is better there--a little of the
brown--some fat, sir--a little of the stuffing--some gravy--let me have
the pleasure of giving you some butter--allow me to recommend a squeeze
of this orange; or the lemon, perhaps, may have more zest." "Sir--sir, I
am obliged to you, sir," cried Johnson, bowing, and turning his head to
him with a look for some time of "surly virtue," but, in a short while,
of complacency.

But the most memorable evening recorded at Dilly's was April 15, 1778,
when Johnson and Boswell dined there, and met Miss Seward, the Lichfield
poetess, and Mrs. Knowles, a clever Quaker lady, who for once overcame
the giant of Bolt Court in argument. Before dinner Johnson took up a
book, and read it ravenously. "He knows how to read it better," said
Mrs. Knowles to Boswell, "than any one. He gets at the substance of a
book directly. He tears out the heart of it." At dinner Johnson told
Dilly that, if he wrote a book on cookery, it should be based on
philosophical principles. "Women," he said, contemptuously, "can spin,
but they cannot make a good book of cookery."

They then fell to talking of a ghost that had appeared at Newcastle, and
had recommended some person to apply to an attorney. Johnson thought the
Wesleys had not taken pains enough in collecting evidence, at which Miss
Seward smiled. This vexed the superstitious sage of Fleet Street, and he
said, with solemn vehemence, "Yes, ma'am, this is a question which,
after five thousand years, is yet undecided; a question, whether in
theology or philosophy, one of the most important that can come before
the human understanding."

Johnson, who during the evening had been very thunderous at intervals,
breaking out against the Americans, describing them as "rascals,
robbers, and pirates," and declaring he would destroy them all--as
Boswell says, "He roared out a tremendous volley which one might fancy
could be heard across the Atlantic," &c.--grew very angry at Mrs.
Knowles for noticing his unkindness