[189] When Johnson was going to Auchinleck, Boswell begged him, in talking with his father, 'to avoid three topicks as to which they differed very widely; whiggism, presbyterianism, and—Sir John Pringle.' Boswell's Hebrides, Nov 2, 1773. See also ib. Aug 24. 'Pringle was President of the Royal Society—"who sat in Newton's chair, And wonder'd how the devil he got there."' J. H. Burton's Hume, i. 165. He was one of Franklin's friends (Franklin's Memoirs iii. III), and so was likely to be uncongenial to Johnson.
[190] No 22. CROKER. At this house 'Johnson owned that he always found a good dinner.' Post, April 15, 1778.
[191] This has been circulated as if actually said by Johnson; when the truth is, it was only supposed by me. BOSWELL.
[192] 'Don't let them be patriots,' he said to Mr. Hoole, when he asked him to collect a city Club. Post, April 6, 1781.
[193] See p. 7 of this volume. BOSWELL.
[194] 'Indifferent in his choice to sleep or die.' Addison's Cato, act v. sc. 1.
[195] See ante, i. 485.
[196] He was at this time 'employed by Congress as a private and confidential agent in England.' Dr. Franklin had arranged for letters to be sent to him, not by post but by private hand, under cover to his brother, Mr. Alderman Lee. Franklin's Memoirs, ii. 42, and iii. 415.
[197] When Wilkes the year before, during his mayoralty, had presented An Address, 'the King himself owned he had never seen so well-bred a Lord Mayor.' Walpole's Journal of the Reign of George III, i. 484.
[198] Johnson's London, a Poem, v. 145. BOSWELL—