One evening about this time, when his
Lordship did me the honour to sup at my lodgings with Dr. Robertson and
several other men of literary distinction, he regretted that Johnson
had not been educated with more refinement, and lived more in polished
society. 'No, no, my Lord, (said Signor Baretti,) do with him what you
would, he would always have been a bear.' 'True, (answered the Earl,
with a smile,) but he would have been a DANCING bear.'
To obviate all the reflections which have gone round the world to
Johnson's prejudice, by applying to him the epithet of a BEAR, let me
impress upon my readers a just and happy saying of my friend Goldsmith,
who knew him well: 'Johnson, to be sure, has a roughness in his manner;
but no man alive has a more tender heart. He has nothing of the bear but
his skin.'
1769: AETAT. 60.]--I came to London in the autumn, and having informed
him that I was going to be married in a few months, I wished to have as
much of his conversation as I could before engaging in a state of life
which would probably keep me more in Scotland, and prevent me seeing
him so often as when I was a single man; but I found he was at
Brighthelmstone with Mr.
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