Thrale left no son, and a very large fortune, it
would have been highly to his honour to have done; and, considering Dr.
Johnson's age, could not have been of long duration; but he bequeathed
him only two hundred pounds, which was the legacy given to each of his
executors. I could not but be somewhat diverted by hearing Johnson talk
in a pompous manner of his new office, and particularly of the concerns
of the brewery, which it was at last resolved should be sold. Lord Lucan
tells a very good story, which, if not precisely exact, is certainly
characteristical: that when the sale of Thrale's brewery was going
forward, Johnson appeared bustling about, with an ink-horn and pen in
his button-hole, like an excise-man; and on being asked what he really
considered to be the value of the property which was to be disposed of,
answered, 'We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the
potentiality of growing rich, beyond the dreams of avarice.'
On Friday, April 6, he carried me to dine at a club, which, at his
desire, had been lately formed at the Queen's Arms, in St.
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