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couldcaricaturemyownstylemuchbettermyself。’HedefendedhisremarkuponthegeneralinsufficiencyofeducationinScotland；andconfirmedtometheauthenticityofhiswittysayingonthelearningoftheScotch；——’Theirlearningislikebreadinabesiegedtown：everymangetsalittle，butnomangetsafullmeal。’’Thereis(saidhe，)inScotland，adiffusionoflearning，acertainportionofitwidelyandthinlyspread。Amerchanttherehasasmuchlearningasoneoftheirclergy。

NosoonerhadwemadeourbowtoMr。Cambridge，inhislibrary，thanJohnsonraneagerlytoonesideoftheroom，intentonporingoverthebacksofthebooks。SirJoshuaobserved，(aside，)’Herunstothebooks，asIdotothepictures：butIhavetheadvantage。Icanseemuchmoreofthepicturesthanhecanofthebooks。’Mr。Cambridge，uponthis，politelysaid，’Dr。Johnson，I

amgoing，withyourpardon，toaccusemyself，forIhavethesamecustomwhichIperceiveyouhave。Butitseemsoddthatoneshouldhavesuchadesiretolookatthebacksofbooks。’Johnson，everreadyforcontest，instantlystartedfromhisreverie，wheeledabout，andanswered，’Sir，thereasonisveryplain。Knowledgeisoftwokinds。Weknowasubjectourselves，orweknowwherewecanfindinformationuponit。Whenweenquireintoanysubject，thefirstthingwehavetodoistoknowwhatbookshavetreatedofit。

Thisleadsustolookatcatalogues，andthebacksofbooksinlibraries。’SirJoshuaobservedtometheextraordinarypromptitudewithwhichJohnsonflewuponanargument。’Yes，(saidI，)hehasnoformalpreparation，noflourishingwithhissword；heisthroughyourbodyinaninstant。’

Johnsonwasheresolacedwithanelegantentertainment，averyaccomplishedfamily，andmuchgoodcompany；amongwhomwasMr。

HarrisofSalisbury，whopaidhimmanycomplimentsonhisJourneytotheWesternIslands。

Thecommonremarkastotheutilityofreadinghistorybeingmade；——

JOHNSON。’Wemustconsiderhowverylittlehistorythereis；I

meanrealauthentickhistory。ThatcertainKingsreigned，andcertainbattleswerefought，wecandependuponastrue；butallthecolouring，allthephilosophyofhistoryisconjecture。’

BOSWELL。’Then，Sir，youwouldreduceallhistorytonobetterthananalmanack，amerechronologicalseriesofremarkableevents。’Mr。Gibbon，whomustatthattimehavebeenemployeduponhisHistory，ofwhichhepublishedthefirstvolumeinthefollowingyear，waspresent；butdidnotstepforthindefenceofthatspeciesofwriting。HeprobablydidnotliketoTRUSThimselfwithJOHNSON!

TheBeggar’sOpera，andthecommonquestion，whetheritwasperniciousinitseffects，havingbeenintroduced；——JOHNSON。’Astothismatter，whichhasbeenverymuchcontested，Imyselfamofopinion，thatmoreinfluencehasbeenascribedtoTheBeggar’sOpera，thanitinrealityeverhad；forIdonotbelievethatanymanwasevermadearoguebybeingpresentatitsrepresentation。

AtthesametimeIdonotdenythatitmayhavesomeinfluence，bymakingthecharacterofaroguefamiliar，andinsomedegreepleasing。’Thencollectinghimselfasitwere，togiveaheavystroke：’ThereisinitsuchaLABEFACTATIONofallprinciples，asmaybeinjurioustomorality。’

Whilehepronouncedthisresponse，wesatinacomicalsortofrestraint，smotheringalaugh，whichwewereafraidmightburstout。

Wetal

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