Ha! ha! Chocolate being then brought, we returned to the drawing-room; and Dr. Johnson, when drawn away from the books, freely, and with social good-humour, gave himself up to conversation.
The intended dinner of Mrs. Montagu being mentioned, Dr. Johnson laughingly told us that he had received the most flattering note that he had ever read, or that anybody else had ever read, of invitation from that lady.
‘So have I, too!’ cried Mrs. Thrale. ‘So, if a note from Mrs. Montagu is to be boasted of, I beg mine may not be forgotten.’
‘Your note, madam,’ cried Dr. Johnson, smiling, ‘can bear no comparison with mine; for I am at the head of all the philosophers—she says.’
‘And I,’ returned Mrs. Thrale, ‘have all the Muses in my train.’
‘A fair battle!’ cried my father. ‘Come, compliment for compliment, and see who will hold out longest!’
‘I am afraid for Mrs. Thrale,’ said Mr. Seward; ‘for I know that Mrs. Montagu exerts all her forces when she sings the praises of Dr. Johnson.’
‘Oh yes,’ cried Mrs. Thrale, ‘she has often praised him till he has been ready to faint.’
‘Well,’ said my father, ‘you two ladies must get him fairly between you to-day, and see which can lay on the paint the thickest—Mrs. Montagu or Mrs. Thrale.’
‘I had rather,’ said the Doctor very composedly, ‘go to Bach’s concert!’”