Piozzi,

p. 21.

p. 16.

When Johnson saw some young ladies | he maintained with so much dignity in his in Lincolnshire who were remarkably well march through life, was not assumed from behaved, owing to their mother's strict dis- vanity and ostentation, but was the natucipline and severe correction, he exclaimed, ral and constant effect of those extraordinain one of Shakspeare's lines, a little varied 1, ry powers of mind, of which he could not but be conscious by comparison; the intel“Rod, I will honour thee for this thy duty." lectual difference, which in other cases of comparison of characters, is often a matter of undecided contest, being as clear in his case as the superiority of stature in some men above others. Johnson did not strut or stand on tip-toe; he only did not stoop. From his earliest years, his superiority was perceived and acknowledged. He was from the beginning Ava avdgar, a king of men. His schoolfellow, Mr. Hector, has obligingly furnished me 2 with many particulars of his boyish days; and assured me that he never knew him corrected at school, but for talking and diverting other boys from their business. He seemed to learn by intuition; for though indolence and procrastination were inherent in his constitution, whenever he made an exertion he did more than any one else. In short, he is a memorable instance of what has been often observed, that the boy is the man in miniature; and that the distinguishing characteristicks of each individual are the same, through the whole course of life. His favourites used to receive very liberal assistance from him; and such was the submission and deference with which he was treated, such the desire to obtain his regard, that three of the boys, of whom Mr. Hector was sometimes one, used to come in the morning as his humble attendants, and carry him to school. One in the middle stooped, while he sat upon his back, and one on each side supported him; and thus he was borne triumphant. Such a proof of the early predominance of intellectual vigour is very remarkable, and does honour to human nature 4. Talking to me once himself of his being much distinguished at school, he told me, "they never though to raise me by comparing me to any one they never said, Johnson is as good a scholar as such a one, but such a one is as good

[Yet when talking of a young fellow, who used to come often to Mr. Thrale's house, who was about fifteen years old or less, and had a manner at once sullen and sheepish-"That lad (said Johnson) looks like the son of a schoolmaster; which (added he) is one of the very worst conditions of childhood; such a boy has no father, or worse than none; he never can reflect on his parent but the reflection brings to his mind some idea of pain inflicted, or of sorrow suffered." He was, indeed, himself exceedPiozzi, ingly disposed to the general indulgence of children, and was even scrupulously and ceremoniously attentive not to offend them: he had strongly persuaded himself of the difficulty people always find to erase early impressions, either of kindness or resentment, and said, "he should never have so loved his mother when a man, had she not given him coffee she could ill afford, to gratify his appetite when a boy." "If you had had children, sir," said Mrs. Piozzi, "would you have taught them any thing?" "I hope (replied he) that I should have willingly lived on bread and water to obtain instruction for them; but I would not have set their future friendship to hazard for the sake of thrusting into their heads knowledge of things for which they might not perhaps have either taste or necessity. You teach your daughters the diameters of the planets, and wonder when you have done that they do not delight in your company. No science can be communicated by mortal creatures without attention from the scholar; no attention can be obtained from children without the infliction of pain, and pain is never remembered without resentment." That something should be learned was, however, so certainly his opinion, that Mrs. Piozzi heard him say, that education had been often compared to agriculture, yet that it resembled it chiefly in this: "that if nothing is sown, no crop can be obtained."]

That superiority over his fellows, which

2 [This is not quite candid on the part of Mr. Boswell. All these particulars are found in a paper furnished (it would seem) by Mr. Hector to Sir J. Hawkins, and published in extenso by him.-ED.]

3

[This is not consistent with Johnson's own statement, ante, p. 16.-ED.]

4 ["This ovation Mr. Boswell believed to have 1 More than a little. The line is in KING been an honour paid to the early predominance HENRY VI. Part ii. act iv. sc. last:

of his intellectual powers alone; but they who remember what boys are, and who consider that Johnson's corporeal prowess was by no means despicable, will be apt to suspect that the homage was enforced, at least as much by awe of the one as by admiration of the other."-Anderson's Life of Johnson.-ED.]