BOSWELL. 'But, Sir, he is much indebted to you for his getting so high
in the publick estimation.' JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, he has perhaps got
SOONER to it by his intimacy with me.'
Goldsmith, though his vanity often excited him to occasional
competition, had a very high regard for Johnson, which he at this time
expressed in the strongest manner in the Dedication of his comedy,
entitled, She Stoops to Conquer.
He told me that he had twelve or fourteen times attempted to keep a
journal of his life, but never could persevere. He advised me to do it.
'The great thing to be recorded, (said he,) is the state of your own
mind; and you should write down every thing that you remember, for you
cannot judge at first what is good or bad; and write immediately while
the impression is fresh, for it will not be the same a week afterwards.'
I again solicited him to communicate to me the particulars of his early
life. He said, 'You shall have them all for two-pence. I hope you shall
know a great deal more of me before you write my Life.
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