grew angry; and resolving to shock their supposed pride, by making their great visitors imagine they were low indeed, he addressed himself in á loud tone to Mr. Reynolds, saying, How much do you think you and I could get in a week, if we were to work as hard as we could?' as if they had been common mechanics." 20

How much he profitted by his acquaintance with this excellent and extraordinary man, he intended to have particularly mentioned in the Discourse which, as I have already observed, he had it in contemplation to compose. "I remember, (says he,) Mr. Burke, speaking of the Essays of Sir Francis. Bacon, said, he thought them the best of his works. Dr. Johnson was of opinion, that

20 Life of Johnson, i. 217. Johnson, however continued to live in intimacy with these ladies, whom he frequently mentions in his letters to Baretti. In that dated Dec. 11, 1762, he says, "Miss Cotterell is still with Mrs. Porter: Miss Charlotte is married to Dean Lewis, and has three children." ibid. p. 341. The elder of these ladies visited him not long before his death.

their excellence and their value consisted in being the observations of a strong mind operating upon life; and in consequence you find there what you seldom find in other books.It is this kind of excellence which gives a value to the performances of artists also. It is the thoughts expressed in the works of Michael Angelo, Correggio, Raffaelle, Parmegiano, and perhaps some of the old Gothick masters, and not the inventions of Pietro da Cortona, Carlo Maratti, Luca Giordano, and others that I might mention, which we seek after with avidity. From the former we learn to think originally. May I presume to introduce myself on this occasion, and even to mention as an instance of the truth of what I have remarked, the very Discourses which I have had the honour of delivering from this place. Whatever merit they have, must be imputed, in a great measure, to the education which I may be said to have had under Dr. Johnson. I do not mean to say, though it certainly would

be to the credit of these Discourses, if f

could say it with truth, that he contributed even a single sentiment to them'; but he qua lified my mind to think justly. No mani had, like him, the faculty of teaching inferior minds the art of thinking. Perhaps other men might have equal knowledge; but few were so communicative. His great

pleasure was to talk to those who looked up to him. It was here he exhibited his won

derful powers." In mixed company, and frequently in company that ought to have looked up to him, many, thinking they had a character for learning to support, considered it as beneath them to enlist in the train of his auditors; and to such persons he certainly did not appear to advantage, being often impetuous and overbearing. The desire of shining in conversation was in him indeed a predominant passion; and if it must be attributed to vanity, let it at the same time be recollected, that it produced that loquaciousness from which his more intimate

friends derived considerable advantage. The observations which he made on poetry, on life, and on every thing about us, I applied to our art; with what success others must judge. Perhaps an artist in his studies should pursue the same conduct; and instead of patching up a particular work on the narrow plan of imitation, rather endeavour to acquire the art and power of thinking. On this subject I have often. spoken; but it cannot be too often repeated, that the general power of composition may be acquired; and when acquired, the artist may then lawfully take hints from his predecessors. In reality indeed it appears to

me,

that a man must begin by the study of others. Thus Bacon became a great thinker by first entering into and making himself master of the thoughts of other men."

In consequence of his connexion with Dr. Johnson, he in 1759 furnished that writer with three Essays on the subject of

painting, which appeared in the IDLER, and were, I believe, our author's first literary performance.

But though he derived great advantage. and instruction from this very distinguished. writer, with whom he lived in uninterrupted intimacy for thirty years, Johnson was not his original preceptor in the art of thinking; as has been suggested to me by our common friend, the late ever-to-be-lamented Mr. Burke; whose death, which happened a few months after the first edition of these works, would at any time. have been a grievous loss to his country, but at the present distressful and momentoust period is an irreparable calamity to the whole. civilized world." I find," (said this sagacious and profound observer, whose approbation and whose remarks are so interwoven, that I cannot avail myself of the latter without the former,) "I find but one thing material which you have omitted