Yet, though equally good, they will not
have the same degrees of happiness.' JOHNSON. 'Probably not.'
Dr. Mayo having asked Johnson's opinion of Soame Jenyns's View of the
Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion;--JOHNSON. 'I think it
a pretty book; not very theological indeed; and there seems to be an
affectation of ease and carelessness, as if it were not suitable to his
character to be very serious about the matter.' BOSWELL. 'He may have
intended this to introduce his book the better among genteel people,
who might be unwilling to read too grave a treatise. There is a general
levity in the age. We have physicians now with bag-wigs; may we not have
airy divines, at least somewhat less solemn in their appearance than
they used to be?' JOHNSON. 'Jenyns might mean as you say.' BOSWELL. 'YOU
should like his book, Mrs. Knowles, as it maintains, as you FRIENDS do,
that courage is not a Christian virtue.' MRS. KNOWLES. 'Yes, indeed, I
like him there; but I cannot agree with him, that friendship is not a
Christian virtue.
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