gton, Stevens, Beauclerk,
&c.--and sometimes learned ladies. "When Madame de Boufflers (the
mistress of the Prince of Conti) was first in England," said Beauclerk,
"she was desirous to see Johnson. I accordingly went with her to his
chambers in the Temple, where she was entertained with his conversation
for some time. When our visit was over, she and I left him, and were got
into Inner Temple Lane, when all at once I heard a voice like thunder.
This was occasioned by Johnson, who, it seems, upon a little reflection,
had taken it into his head that he ought to have done the honours of his
literary residence to a foreign lady of quality, and, eager to show
himself a man of gallantry, was hurrying down the staircase in violent
agitation. He overtook us before we reached the Temple Gate, and,
brushing in between me and Madame de Boufflers, seized her hand and
conducted her to her coach. His dress was a rusty-brown morning suit, a
pair of old shoes by way of slippers, &c. A considerable crowd of people
gathered round, and were not a little struck by his singular
appearance."

It was in the year 1763, while Johnson was living in the Temple, that
the Literary Club was founded; and it was in the following year that
this wise and good man was seized with one of those fits of hypochondria
that occasionally weighed upon that great intellect. Boswell had
chambers, not far from the god of his idolatry, at what were once called
"Farrar's Buildings," at the bottom of Inner Temple Lane.

[Illustration: OLIVER GOLDSMITH (_see page 167_).]

Charles Lamb came to 4, Inner Temple Lane, in 1809. Writing to
Coleridge, the delightful humorist says:--"I have been turned out of my
chambers in the Temple by a landlord who wanted them for himself; but I
have got others at No. 4, Inner Temple Lane, far more commodious and
roomy. I have two rooms on the third floor, and five rooms above, with
an inner staircase to myself, and all new painted, &c., for L30 a year.
The rooms are delicious, and the best look backwards into Hare Court,
where there is a pump always going; just now it is dry. Hare Court's
trees come in at the window, so that it's like living in a garden." In
1810 he says:--"The household gods are slow to come; but here I mean to
live and die." From this place (since pulled down and rebuilt) he writes
to Manning, who is in China:--"Come, and bring any of your friends the
mandarins with you. My best room commands a court, in which there a