“Se acquien los leones vence,
Vence una muger hermosa,
O el de flaco averguence,
O ella di ser mas furiosa,”
more than he thought they deserved, Mr. Johnson instantly observed “that they were founded on a trivial conceit, and that conceit ill-explained and ill-expressed besides. The lady, we all know, does not conquer in the same manner as the lion does. ’Tis a mere play of words,” added he, “and you might as well say that
“‘If the man who turnips cries,
Cry not when his father dies,
’Tis a proof that he had rather
Have a turnip than his father.’”
And this humour is of the same sort with which he answered the friend who commended the following line:—
“Who rules o’er freemen should himself be free.”
“To be sure,” said Dr. Johnson—
“‘Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat.’”
This readiness of finding a parallel, or making one, was shown by him perpetually in the course of conversation. When the French verses of a certain pantomime were quoted thus:
“Je suis Cassandre descendue des cieux,
Pour vous faire entendre, mesdames et messieurs,
Que je suis Cassandre descendue des cieux,”
he cried out gaily and suddenly, almost in a moment—