The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-02-18
DIR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.
EVERYDAY LIFE or THE GREAT
LEXICOGRAPHER.

LEIICOGRAPHER.
His Savage Mannars- Love Of Contra
diction--A Warm Heart Under a
Rough Hide.
DR.. Samuel Johnson was q singu-
lar compound of strength and
weakness, of great yigor of mind,
of strong appeites, of immense
learning and eminent disregard OF
the courtesies, as we'll us the
deceneies, of life. He was both
savage and tender, brutal and kind.
hearted. This will appear by
further incidents of his life.
He often talked for the sake of
being brilliant or for gaining the
victory, not for the sake of arriving
at the trath, and when worsted in
argument would ignore it. He
told Boswell when he was getting
the better of him; "Let us have no
more of this. Id rather you'd
whistle q Scotch tune" He would
say to his opponents: "You talk
the language of Ignorance" a
lifelong friend said: "Theres no
arguing with Johnson, for he will
not hear you, and haying the louder
voice p lst roar you down." He
threw Garrick's elegantly bound
books to tho floor and split the
backs, saying: Il treat pack of
silly plays in fops' dresses just as
they deserve; ! see no book" He
told Boswell when he defended the
Americans on the subject of the
Stamp Act: "lf your company docs
not drive a man; out of his house
nothing will" In dsputing with
,Beauclerk as to whether a mans
having two pistols was proof that
ne meant to shoot two persons.
Beauclerk said: "Ihis is what you
don't know and 1 do" Joh4ason
replied: "One thing 1 know which
:yoat don't seem to know-that vou
are very uncivil." He said after
wards that hs was thus rude be-
cause there were two strangers
present who might think they
could take liberties with him if
Beauclerk did. At another time
DR.. Percy disagreed with him about
Pennant's Travels in Scotland and
his accuracy, and Percy said to
johnson: ''You are near-sighted
and do not see as we'll as l do"
Whereupun Johnson retorted: "This
is the resentment of a narrow
mind Percy you may be
as rude as you please" Johnson
"Hoid, sir! Don't talk Of rudantass;
remember, Sir, yoN told me puifng
hard with passion, struggling for
VENT | was ,short~sighted. We
have done with civil,ty. We are to
be as rude as we please" But they
afterwards made up. johnson was
SO accustomed to contradict that
he often said ono, sir" whea he
meant to agree with what was said.
When Boswell said in Scotland:
"Ihere.s mountaiM like a cone.
johnson replied: "No, sir. it
would be called 80 in q book, but
though it is po'ated at tke top, one
side is larger than tho other" He
almost always began a controy- -sy
by remarklng: why, sir, I see no
reason" 5" ''sir, if you mean to say"
After talking several hours with on
eminent map he said: "You have
,said but Que thing for which il
'envied you" He told Boswell
once "if you can't talk better as
man, I'd haye you bellow like
cow" He said to Miss Haaneh
Moore, who was .hattoring hiEa
more than he liked: "Before YOU
;fatter, you should consider whether
or not your fatteiy is worth tho
having" When he was in France
he met the Abbe Roulette. They
talked tluently in Latin, and John
son pronounced so glowing o |
eulogy on Milton that the Able
embraced him, wheraupon Piozzi,
ON Johnson's account, invited the
Abbe to England. johnson re-
buked him OH the spot for asking q |
man to visit him whom he knew
about and the Able went
off disgusted. A gentleman having
said that drinking makes us forget
what is disagreeable, and asked ;:
"Would you not allow man to
drink for that reason q johnson