Why, his translation
is more difficult to understand than the original. I thought him a man
of some talents; but he seems crazy in this.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, you have
done what I had not courage to do. But he did not ask my advice, and I
did not force it upon him, to make him angry with me.' GARRICK. 'But as
a friend, Sir--.' JOHNSON. 'Why, such a friend as I am with him--no.'
GARRICK. 'But if you see a friend going to tumble over a precipice?'
JOHNSON. 'That is an extravagant case, Sir. You are sure a friend will
thank you for hindering him from tumbling over a precipice; but, in the
other case, I should hurt his vanity, and do him no good. He would not
take my advice. His brother-in-law, Strahan, sent him a subscription
of fifty pounds, and said he would send him fifty more, if he would not
publish.' GARRICK. 'What! eh! is Strahan a good judge of an Epigram? Is
not he rather an OBTUSE man, eh?' JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, he may not be
a judge of an Epigram: but you see he is a judge of what is not an
Epigram.
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