He soon
dispatched the inquiries which were made about his illness and recovery,
by a short and distinct narrative; and then assuming a gay air, repeated
from Swift,--
'Nor think on our approaching ills,
And talk of spectacles and pills.'
I fulfilled my intention by going to London, and returned to Oxford on
Wednesday the 9th of June, when I was happy to find myself again in the
same agreeable circle at Pembroke College, with the comfortable prospect
of making some stay. Johnson welcomed my return with more than ordinary
glee.
Next morning at breakfast, he pointed out a passage in Savage's
Wanderer, saying, 'These are fine verses.' 'If (said he,) I had written
with hostility of Warburton in my Shakspeare, I should have quoted this
couplet:--
"Here Learning, blinded first and then beguil'd,
Looks dark as Ignorance, as Fancy wild."
You see they'd have fitted him to a T,' (smiling.) Dr. ADAMS. 'But you
did not write against Warburton.' JOHNSON. No, Sir, I treated him with
great respect both in my Preface and in my Notes.
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