Men who have no opportunities of
shewing it as to things in this life, take death and futurity as objects
on which to display it.' JOHNSON. 'That is mighty foolish affectation.
Fear is one of the passions of human nature, of which it is impossible
to divest it. You remember that the Emperour Charles V, when he read
upon the tomb-stone of a Spanish nobleman, "Here lies one who never knew
fear," wittily said, "Then he never snuffed a candle with his fingers."'
Dr. Johnson went home with me, and drank tea till late in the night. He
said, 'General Paoli had the loftiest port of any man he had ever seen.'
He denied that military men were always the best bred men. 'Perfect good
breeding,' he observed, 'consists in having no particular mark of any
profession, but a general elegance of manners; whereas, in a military
man, you can commonly distinguish the BRAND of a soldier, l'homme
d'epee.'
Dr. Johnson shunned to-night any discussion of the perplexed question
of fate and free will, which I attempted to agitate.
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