occafions, talk with great contempt of people who were anxious to gratify their palates; and the 206th number of his Rambler is a masterly effay against gulofity. His practice, indeed, I must acknowledge,. may be confidered as cafting the balance of his different opinions upon this fubject; for I never knew any man who relifhed good eating more than he did. When at table, he was totally abforbed in the business of the moment; his looks feemed rivetted to his plate; nor would he, unless when in very high company, fay one word, or even pay the least attention to what was faid by others, till he had fatisfied his appetite, which was fo fierce, and indulged with fuch intenfenefs, that while in the act of eating, the veins of his forehead fwelled, and generally a ftrong perfpiration was vifible. To thofe whofe fenfations were delicate, this could not but be difgufting; and it was doubtless not very fuitable to the character of a philosopher, who fhould be diftinguished by felf-command. But it must be owned, that Johnfon, though he could be rigidly abftemious, was not a temperate man either in eating or drinking. He could refrain, but he could not ufe moderately. He told me, that he had fafted two days without inconvenience, and that he had never been hungry but once. They who beheld with wonder how much he eat upon all occafions when his dinner was to his taste, could not easily conceive what he must have meant by hunger; and not only was he remarkable for the extraordinary quantity which he eat, but he was, or affected to be, a man of very nice difcernment in the fcience of cookery. He used to descant' VOL. I. critically Ff 1763. Ætat. 54. 1 Etat. 54. 1763. critically on the dishes which had been at table where he had dined or fupped, and to recollect very minutely what he had liked. I remember, when he was in Scotland, his praising "Gordon's palates," (a difh of palates at the Honourable Alexander Gordon's) with a warmth of expreffion which might have done honour to more important fubjects. "As for Maclaurin's imitation of a made difh, it was a wretched attempt." He about the fame time was fo much displeased with the performances of a nobleman's French cook, that he exclaimed with vehemence, "I'd throw fuch a rafcal into the river;" and he then proceeded to alarm a lady at whofe house he was to fup, by the following manifefto of his skill: "I, Madam, who live at a variety of good tables, am a much better judge of cookery, than any perfon who has a very tolerable cook, but lives much at home; for his palate is gradually adapted to the taste of his cook; whereas, Madam, in trying by a wider range, I can more exquifitely judge." When invited to dine, even with an intimate friend, he was not pleased if something better than a plain dinner was not prepared for him. I have heard him fay on fuch an occafion, "This was a good dinner enough, to be fure; but it was not a dinner to afk a man to." On the other hand, he was wont to exprefs, with great glee, his fatisfaction when he had been entertained quite to his mind. One day when we had dined with his neighbour and landlord in Bolt-court, Mr. Allen, the printer, whofe old housekeeper had ftudied his tafte in every thing, he pronounced this eulogy, "Sir, we could could not have had a better dinner had there been 1763. a Synod of Cooks." While we were left by ourselves, after the Dutchman had gone to bed, Dr. Johnson talked of that ftudied behaviour which many have recommended and practifed. He difapproved of it; and said, "I never confidered whether I fhould be a grave man, or a merry man, but just let inclination, for the time, have its course." He flattered me with fome hopes that he would, in the course of the following fummer, come over to Holland, and accompany me in a tour through the Netherlands. I teized him with fanciful apprehenfions of unhappiness. A moth having fluttered round the candle, and burnt itself, he laid hold of this little incident to admonifh me; faying, with a fly look, and in a folemn but quiet tone, "That creature was its own tormentor, and I believe its name was BOSWELL." Next day we got to Harwich to dinner; and my paffage in the packet-boat to Helvoetfluys being fecured, and my baggage put on board, we dined at our inn by ourselves. I happened to fay it would be terrible if he should not find a speedy opportunity of returning to London, and be confined to fo dull a place. JOHNSON. "Don't, Sir, accustom yourself to ufe big words for little matters. It would not be terrible, though I were to be detained fome time here." The practice of ufing words of difproportionate magnitude, is, no doubt, too frequent every where; but, I think, most remarkable among the French, of which, all who have travelled Ff 2 in Etat. 54. 1763. Etat. 54. in France must have been ftruck with innumerable inftances. We went and looked at the church, and having gone into it and walked up to the altar, Johnson, whofe piety was constant and fervent, sent me to my knees, faying, "Now that you are going to leave your native country, recommend yourself to the protection of your CREATOR and REDEEMER." After we came out of the church, we ftood talking for fome time together of Bifhop Berkeley's ingenious fophiftry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the univerfe is merely ideal. I obferved, that though we are fatisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impoffible to refute it. I never fhall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, ftriking his foot with mighty force against a large ftone, till he rebounded from it, "I refute it thus." This was a ftout exemplification of the first truths of Pere Bouffier, or the original principles of Reid and of Beattie; without admitting which, we can no more argue in metaphyficks, than we can argue in mathematicks without axioms. To me it is not conceivable how Berkeley can be answered by pure reasoning; but I know that the nice and difficult task was to have been undertaken by one of the most luminous minds of the prefent age, had not politicks "turned him from calm philofophy aside." What an admirable difplay of fubtilty, united with brilliance, might his contending with Berkeley have afforded us! How must we, when we reflect on the lofs of fuch an intellectual feaft, regret that he should be characterised as the man, "Who "Who born for the universe narrowed his mind, 1763. "And to party gave up what was meant for man- Etat. 54. kind?" My revered friend walked down with me to the beach, where we embraced and parted with tenderness, and engaged to correfpond by letters. I faid, "I hope, Sir, you will not forget me in my abfence." JOHNSON. "Nay, Sir, it is more likely you should forget me, than that I fhould forget you." As the veffel put out to fea, I kept my eyes upon him for a confiderable time, while he remained rolling his majeftick frame in his ufual manner; at laft I perceived him walk back into the town, and he disappeared. Utrecht feeming at first very dull to me, after the animated scenes of London, my fpirits were grievously affected; and I wrote to Johnson a plaintive and defponding letter, to which he paid no regard. Afterwards, when I had acquired a firmer tone of mind, I wrote him a fecond letter, expreffing much anxiety to hear from him. At length I received the following epiftle, which was of important fervice to me, and, I truft, will be fo to many others. A Mr. Mr. BoSWELL, à la Cour de l'Empereur, "DEAR SIR, "YOU are not to think yourself forgotten, or criminally neglected, that you have had yet no letter from me. I love to see my friends, to hear from them, to talk to them, and to talk of them; Ff3 but |