' Afterwards, however, when we
were in the chaise, he said, with more tenderness, 'Since I set out on
this jaunt, I have lost an old friend and a young one;--Dr. James, and
poor Harry.' (Meaning Mr. Thrale's son.)
I enjoyed the luxury of our approach to London, that metropolis which we
both loved so much, for the high and varied intellectual pleasure which
it furnishes. I experienced immediate happiness while whirled along with
such a companion, and said to him, 'Sir, you observed one day at General
Oglethorpe's, that a man is never happy for the present, but when he
is drunk. Will you not add,--or when driving rapidly in a post-chaise?'
JOHNSON. 'No, Sir, you are driving rapidly FROM something, or TO
something.'
Talking of melancholy, he said, 'Some men, and very thinking men too,
have not those vexing thoughts. Sir Joshua Reynolds is the same all the
year round. Beauclerk, except when ill and in pain, is the same. But I
believe most men have them in the degree in which they are capable
of having them.
Pages:
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603