"One of that nation,
(said he,) who had been a candidate, against whom I had voted, came
up to me with a civil salutation. Now, Sir, this is their way. An
Englishman would have stomached it, and been sulky, and never have taken
further notice of you; but a Scotchman, Sir, though you vote nineteen
times against him, will accost you with equal complaisance after each
time, and the twentieth time, Sir, he will get your vote."'
'Talking on the subject of toleration, one day when some friends were
with him in his study, he made his usual remark, that the State has a
right to regulate the religion of the people, who are the children of
the State. A clergyman having readily acquiesced in this, Johnson, who
loved discussion, observed, "But, Sir, you must go round to other States
than your own. You do not know what a Bramin has to say for himself. In
short, Sir, I have got no further than this: Every man has a right to
utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him
down for it.
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