Strahan's. The
conversation having turned on the prevailing practice of going to the
East-Indies in quest of wealth;--JOHNSON. 'A man had better have ten
thousand pounds at the end of ten years passed in England, than twenty
thousand pounds at the end of ten years passed in India, because you
must compute what you GIVE for money; and a man who has lived ten
years in India, has given up ten years of social comfort and all those
advantages which arise from living in England. The ingenious Mr. Brown,
distinguished by the name of Capability Brown, told me, that he was
once at the seat of Lord Clive, who had returned from India with great
wealth; and that he shewed him at the door of his bed-chamber a large
chest, which he said he had once had full of gold; upon which Brown
observed, "I am glad you can bear it so near your bed-chamber."'
We talked of the state of the poor in London.--JOHNSON. 'Saunders Welch,
the Justice, who was once High-Constable of Holborn, and had the
best opportunities of knowing the state of the poor, told me, that I
under-rated the number, when I computed that twenty a week, that is,
above a thousand a year, died of hunger; not absolutely of immediate
hunger; but of the wasting and other diseases which are the consequences
of hunger.
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