[534] Yet he said of him:—'There is nothing conclusive in his talk.' Ante iii. 57.
[535] 'I believe every man has found in physicians great liberality and dignity of sentiment, very prompt effusion of beneficence, and willingness to exert a lucrative art where there is no hope of lucre.' Johnson's Works, vii. 402. See ante, iv. 263.
[536] Johnson says (ib. ix. 156) that when the military road was made through Glencroe, 'stones were placed to mark the distances, which the inhabitants have taken away, resolved, they said, "to have no new miles."'
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'The lawland lads think they are fine, But O they're vain and idly gawdy; How much unlike that graceful mien And manly look of my highland laddie.' |
From 'The Highland Laddie, written long since by Allan Ramsay, and now sung at Ranelagh and all the other gardens; often fondly encored, and sometimes ridiculously hissed.' Gent. Mag. 1750, p. 325.
[538] 'She is of a pleasing person and elegant behaviour. She told me that she thought herself honoured by my visit; and I am sure that whatever regard she bestowed on me was liberally repaid.' Piozzi Letters, i. 153. In his Journey (Works, ix. 63) Johnson speaks of Flora Macdonald, as 'a name that will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour.'
[539] This word, which meant much the same as, fop or dandy, is found in Bk. x. ch. 2 of Fielding's Amelia (published in 1751):—'A large assembly of young fellows, whom they call bucks.' Less than forty years ago, in the neighbourhood of London, it was, I remember, still commonly applied by the village lads to the boys of a boarding-school.
[540] This word was at this time often used in a loose sense, though Johnson could not have so used it. Thus Horace Walpole, writing on May 16, 1759 (Letters, iii. 227), tells a story of the little Prince Frederick. 'T'other day as he was with the Prince of Wales, Kitty Fisher passed by, and the child named her; the Prince, to try him, asked who that was? "Why, a Miss." "A Miss," said the Prince of Wales, "why are not all girls Misses?" "Oh! but a particular sort of Miss—a Miss that sells oranges."' Mr. Cunningham in a note on this says:—'Orange-girls at theatres were invariably courtesans.'
[541] Governor was the term commonly given to a tutor, especially a travelling tutor. Thus Peregrine Pickle was sent first to Winchester and afterwards abroad 'under the immediate care and inspection of a governor.' Peregrine Pickle, ch. xv.