guished by the name of Capability Brown, told me, that he was once at the seat of Lord Clive, who had returned from India with great wealth; and that he shewed him at the door of his bedchamber a large chest, which he said he had once had full of gold; upon which Brown observed, I am glad you can bear it so near your bed-chamber.""

Goldsmith one day observed to Johnson, "I think, Sir, you don't go to the theatres now. You give yourself no more concern about a new play, than if you had never had any thing to do with the stage."-"Why, Sir (said Johnson), our tastes greatly alter. The lad does not care for the child's rattle, and the old man does not care for the young man's mistress."-" GOLDSMITH. Nay, Sir; but your muse was not a mistress." -JOHNSON." Sir, I do not think she was. But as we advance in the journey of life, we drop some of the things which have pleased us; whether it be that we are fatigued and don't choose to carry so many things any farther, or that we find other things which we like better." -BosWELL. "But, Sir, why don't you give us something in some other way?"-G. "Ay, Sir, we have a claim upon you."-J. “No, Sir, I am not obliged to do any more. obliged to do as much as he can do. have part of his life to himself.

If

No man is

A man is to a soldier has

fought a good many campaigns, he is not to be blamed if he retires to ease and tranquillity. A physician who has practised long in a great city may be excused if he retires to a small town, and takes less practice. Now, Sir, the good I can do by my conversation bears the same proportion to the good I can do by my writings, that the prac tice of a physician retired to a small town does to his practice in a great city."

To Mr. Boswell (who was about to leave London with regret) he said, "I wish you would a little correct or restrain your imagination, and imagine that happiness, such as life admits, may be had at other places as well as at London. Without asserting stoicism, it may be said, that it is our business to exempt ourselves as much as we can from the power of external things. There is but one solid basis of happiness; and that is, the reasonable hope of a happy futurity. This may be had every where. I do not blame your preference of London to other places, for it is really to be preferred, if the choice is free; but few have the choice of their place, or their manner of life; and mere pleasure ought not to be the prime motive of action."

At another time he made this excellent observation: "Life, to be worthy of a rational being, must be always in progression; we must always

propose to do more or better than in time past. The mind is enlarged and elevated by mere purposes, though they end, as they began, by airy contemplation. We compare and judge, though we do not practise."

Mr. Boswell having mentioned Hume's notion, that all who are happy are equally happy, a little miss with a new gown at a dancing-school ball, a general at the head of a victorious army, and an orator after having made an eloquent speech in a great assembly, Johnson said, "Sir, that all who are happy are equally happy, is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not equally happy. Happiness consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness. A peasant has not capacity for having equal happiness with a philosopher." This very question was once happily illustrated in opposition to Hume by the Reverend Mr. Robert Brown, at Utrecht. "A small drinking glass and a large one (said he) may be equally full; but the large one holds more than the small."

On another occasion we find Johnson remarking, that "Every man is to take existence on the terms on which it is given to him. To some men it is given on condition of not taking liberties which other men may take without much harm. One may drink wine, and be nothing the worse

for it; on another, wine may have effects so inflammatory as to injure him both in body and

mind."

A gentleman mentioned the advice given us by philosophers, to console ourselves, when distressed or embarrassed, by thinking of those who are in a worse situation than ourselves; but this, he observed, could not apply to all, for there must be some who have nobody worse than they "Why to be sure, Sir, there are (said Johnson); but they don't know it. There is no being so poor and so contemptible, who does not think there is somebody still poorer, and still more contemptible.

are.

"That man is never happy for the present, is so true, that all his relief from unhappiness is only forgetting himself for a little while. Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment."

At another time he maintained, that a boy at school is the happiest of human beings. Mr. B. supported a different opinion, namely, that a man is happier, and enlarged upon the anxiety and sufferings which are endured at school."Ah! Sir (said Johnson), a boy's being flogged is not so severe as a man's having the hiss of the world against him. Men have a solicitude about fame, and the greater share they have of it, the more afraid are they of losing it."

The modes of living in different countries, and the various views with which men travel in quest of new scenes, having been talked of, a learned gentleman who held a considerable office in the law expatiated on the happiness of a savage life, and mentioned an instance of an officer who had actually lived for some time in the wilds of America, of whom, when in that state, he quoted this reflection with an air of admiration, as if it had been deeply philosophical:- Here am I, free and unrestrained, amidst the rude magnificence of Nature, with this Indian woman by my side, and this gun, with which I can procure fond when I want it: what more can be desired for

human happiness?' "Do not allow yourself, Sir (said Johnson), to be imposed upon by such gross absurdity. It is sad stuff; it is brutish.. If a bull could speak, he might as well exclaim, 'Here am I with this cow and this grass; what

being can enjoy greater felicity?""

Johnson once said, "A madman loves to be with people whom he fears; not as a dog fears the lash; but of whom he stands in awe*." He added, "Madmen are all sensual in the lower

On this Mr. B. remarks: "I was struck with the justice of this observation. To be with those of whom a person, whose mind is wavering and dejected, stands in awe, represses and com. poses an uneasy tumult of spirits, and consoles him with the contemplation of something steady, and at least comparatively great."