'
After Mr. Beauclerk's death, when it became Mr. Langton's property, he
made the inscription be defaced. Johnson said complacently, 'It was kind
in you to take it off;' and then after a short pause, added, 'and not
unkind in him to put it on.'
He said, 'How few of his friends' houses would a man choose to be at
when he is sick.' He mentioned one or two. I recollect only Thrale's.
He observed, 'There is a wicked inclination in most people to suppose an
old man decayed in his intellects. If a young or middle-aged man, when
leaving a company, does not recollect where he laid his hat, it is
nothing; but if the same inattention is discovered in an old man, people
will shrug up their shoulders, and say, "His memory is going."'
Sir Joshua Reynolds communicated to me the following particulars:--
Johnson thought the poems published as translations from Ossian had so
little merit, that he said, 'Sir, a man might write such stuff for ever,
if he would ABANDON his mind to it.'
He said, 'A man should pass a part of his time with THE LAUGHERS,
by which means any thing ridiculous or particular about him might be
presented to his view, and corrected.
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