will ever do any good. Only consider! You read a book; you are convinced by it; you do not know the author. Suppose you afterward know him, and find that he does not practise what he teaches, are you to give up your former conviction? At this rate you would be kept in a state of equilibrium, when reading every book, till you knew how the author practised." "But," said Lady Macleod, "you would think better of Dr. Cadogan, if he acted according to his principles." Johnson: "Why, madam, to be sure, a man who acts in the face of light is worse than a man who does not know so much; yet I think no man should be worse thought of for publishing good principles. There is something noble in publishing truth, though it condemns one's self."--Boswell.

Johnson: "There is in human nature a general inclination to make people stare; and every wise man has himself to cure of it, and does cure himself. If you wish to make people stare by doing better than others, why make them stare till they stare their eyes out? But consider how easy it is to make people stare by being absurd. I may do it by going into a drawing-room without my shoes. You remember the gentleman in 'The Spectator,' who had a commission of lunacy taken out against him for his extreme singularity, such as never wearing a wig, but a night-cap. Now, sir, abstractedly, the night-cap was best: but, relatively, the advantage was overbalanced by his making the boys run after him.”—Boswell.

He ridiculed a friend who, looking out on Streatham Common from our windows one day, lamented the enormous wickedness of the times, because some bird-catchers were busy there one fine Sunday morning. "While half the Christian world is permitted," said he, "to dance and sing, and celebrate Sunday as a day of festivity, how comes your Puritanical spirit so offended with frivolous and empty de

viations from exactness? Whoever loads life with unnecessary scruples, sir," continued he, "provokes the attention of others on his conduct, and incurs the censure of singularity without reaping the reward of superior virtue."-Mrs.

Piozzi.

In answer to the arguments used by Puritans, Quakers, etc., against showy decorations of the human figure, I once heard him exclaim, "Oh, let us not be found, when our Master calls us, ripping the lace off our waistcoats, but the spirit of contention from our souls and tongues! Let us all conform in outward customs, which are of no consequence, to the manners of those whom we live among, and despise such paltry distinctions. Alas! sir," continued he,“a man who cannot get to heaven in a green coat will not find his way thither the sooner in a gray one!"-Mrs. Piozzi.

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE.

He observed, "All knowledge is of itself of some value. There is nothing so minute or inconsiderable, that I would not rather know it than not. In the same manner, all power, of whatever sort, is of itself desirable. A man would not submit to learn to hem a ruffle of his wife, or of his wife's maid; but if a mere wish could attain it, he would rather wish to be able to hem a ruffle.”—Boswell.

Last night Dr. Johnson gave us an account of the whole process of tanning, and of the nature of milk, and the various operations upon it, as making whey, etc. His variety of information is surprising; and it gives one much satisfaction to find such a man bestowing his attention on the useful arts of life. Ulinish was much struck with his knowledge, and said, "He is a great orator, sir; it is music to hear this man speak.”—Boswell.

I have often been astonished with what exactness and perspicuity he will explain the process of any art. He this morning explained to us all the operation of coining, and at night all the operation of brewing, so very clearly, that Mr. Macqueen said, when he heard the first, he thought he had been bred in the Mint; when he heard the second, that he had been bred a brewer.-Boswell.

Johnson devoted some time to the study of medicine, and was familiar with the principles of that science. At one time early in his life he thought seriously of becoming a lawyer; his knowledge of law was extensive. Boswell mentions several instances of his applying to Johnson for aid in important law cases, involving difficult and perplexing questions; whereupon Johnson gave him written opinions, which proved to be highly valuable.-Editor.

Though born and bred in a city, he well understood both the theory and practice of agriculture, and even the management of a farm; he could describe, with great accuracy, the process of malting; and, had necessity driven him to it, could have thatched a dwelling. Of field recreations, such as hunting, setting, and shooting, he would discourse like a sportsman. He had taken a very comprehensive view of life and manners, and that he was well acquainted with the views and pursuits of all classes and characters of men, his writings abundantly show. His knowledge in manufactures was extensive, and his comprehension relative to mechanical contrivances was still more extraordinary. The well-known Mr. Arkwright pronounced him to be the only person who, on a first view, understood both the principle and powers of his most complicated piece of machinery.— Sir John Hawkins (abridged).

He would sometimes good-naturedly enter into a long chat for the instruction or entertainment of people he de

spised. I perfectly recollect his condescending to delight my daughter's dancing-master with a long argument about his art; which the man protested, at the close of the discourse, the Doctor knew more of than himself.-Mrs. Piozzi.

HONESTY AND TRUTHFULNESS.

JOHNSON was fond of disputation, and willing to see what could be said on each side of the question, when a subject was argued. At all other times no man had a more scrupulous regard for truth; from which, I verily believe, he would not have deviated to save his life. - Thomas Percy.

The importance of strict and scrupulous veracity cannot be too often inculcated. Johnson was known to be so rigidly attentive to it that even in his common conversation the slightest circumstance was mentioned with exact precision. The knowledge of his having such a principle and habit made his friends have a perfect reliance on the truth of everything that he told, however it might have been doubted if told by many others. As an instance of this, I may mention an odd incident which he related as having happened to him one night in Fleet Street: "A gentlewoman," said he, "begged I would give her my arm to assist her in crossing the street, which I accordingly did; upon which she offered me a shilling, supposing me to be the watchman. I perceived that she was somewhat in liquor." This, if told by most people, would have been thought an invention; when told by Johnson, it was believed by his friends as much as if they had seen what had passed.-Boswell.

Next morning, while we were at breakfast, Johnson gave a very earnest recommendation of what he himself practised with the utmost conscientiousness-I mean a strict attention

"Accustom

to truth, even in the most minute particulars. your children," said he, "constantly to this: If a thing happened at one window, and they, when relating it, say that it happened at another, do not let it pass, but instantly check them; you do not know where deviation from truth will end." Boswell: "It may come to the door; and when once an account is at all varied in one circumstance, it may by degrees be varied so as to be totally different from what really happened." Our lively hostess, whose fancy was impatient of the rein, fidgeted at this, and ventured to say, "Nay, this is too much. If Mr. Johnson should forbid me to drink tea, I would comply, as I should feel the restraint only twice a day; but little variations in narrative must happen a thousand times a day, if one is not perpetually watching." Johnson: "Well, madam, and you ought to be perpetually watching. It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentional lying that there is so much falsehood in the world."-Boswell.

One reason why his memory was so particularly exact might be derived from his rigid attention to veracity. Being always resolved to relate every fact as it stood, he looked even on the smaller parts of life with minute attention, and remembered such passages as escape cursory and common observers. His veracity was, indeed, from the most trivial to the most solemn occasions, strict even to severity. He scorned to embellish a story with fictitious circumstances, which he used to say took off from its real value. "A story," he said, "should be a specimen of life and manners; but if the surrounding circumstances are false, as it is no more a representation of reality, it is no longer worthy our attention."-Mrs. Piozzi.

He talked to me with serious concern of a certain female friend's "laxity of narration and inattention to truth." "I am as much vexed," said he, "at the ease with which she