' BOSWELL. 'But has he not brought Shakspeare into notice?'
JOHNSON. 'Sir, to allow that, would be to lampoon the age. Many
of Shakspeare's plays are the worse for being acted: Macbeth, for
instance.' BOSWELL. 'What, Sir, is nothing gained by decoration and
action? Indeed, I do wish that you had mentioned Garrick.' JOHNSON. 'My
dear Sir, had I mentioned him, I must have mentioned many more: Mrs.
Pritchard, Mrs. Cibber,--nay, and Mr. Cibber too; he too altered
Shakspeare.' BOSWELL. 'You have read his apology, Sir?' JOHNSON. 'Yes,
it is very entertaining. But as for Cibber himself, taking from his
conversation all that he ought not to have said, he was a poor creature.
I remember when he brought me one of his Odes to have my opinion of it;
I could not bear such nonsense, and would not let him read it to the
end; so little respect had I for THAT GREAT MAN! (laughing.) Yet I
remember Richardson wondering that I could treat him with familiarity.'
I mentioned to him that I had seen the execution of several convicts at
Tyburn, two days before, and that none of them seemed to be under
any concern.
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