'
We went down between twelve and one to Mrs. Williams's room, and drank
tea. I mentioned that we were to have the remains of Mr. Gray, in prose
and verse, published by Mr. Mason. JOHNSON. 'I think we have had enough
of Gray. I see they have published a splendid edition of Akenside's
works. One bad ode may be suffered; but a number of them together makes
one sick.' BOSWELL. 'Akenside's distinguished poem is his Pleasures of
Imagination; but for my part, I never could admire it so much as most
people do.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, I could not read it through.' BOSWELL. 'I
have read it through; but I did not find any great power in it.'
On Tuesday, March 31, he and I dined at General Paoli's.
Dr. Johnson went home with me to my lodgings in Conduit-street and drank
tea, previous to our going to the Pantheon, which neither of us had seen
before.
He said, 'Goldsmith's Life of Parnell is poor; not that it is poorly
written, but that he had poor materials; for nobody can write the
life of a man, but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social
intercourse with him.
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