"Who rules o'er free men should himself be free!'
the company applauded, but Johnson said it might as well be said—
"'Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat—'
a stupid and inapt verbal sophism, and unworthy of his great and good mind; but such was often his way. In this fashion one might string endless parodies on the line, and equally inapplicable; for example:—
"'Who keeps a madhouse should himself be mad!'
"Mr. Brooke's elegant and honest mind probably had in view that word of Scripture which saith, 'he that ruleth his own spirit is better than he who taketh a city'—(Prov. xvi. 32.)
"By this unhappy difference Brooke lost his Johnsonian niche in the temple of biographical fame. Yet we must remember that a better fate was his,—'his record is on high,'—and his spirit with that Saviour who loved him and made him what he was. Faults and inconsistency were in him, no doubt, but still we know not of any of whom it could be so well and suitably said—
"'His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, 'This was a man.'"