’Beauclerk having observed to him of one of their friends, that he was aukward at counting money, “Why, Sir, said Johnson, I am likewise aukward at counting money.  But then, Sir, the reason is plain; I have had very little money to count."’

’He had an abhorrence of affectation[89].  Talking of old Mr. Langton, of whom he said, “Sir, you will seldom see such a gentleman, such are his stores of literature, such his knowledge in divinity, and such his exemplary life;” he added, “and Sir, he has no grimace, no gesticulation, no bursts of admiration on trivial occasions; he never embraces you with an overacted cordiality[90]."’

’Being in company with a gentleman who thought fit to maintain Dr. Berkeley’s ingenious philosophy, that nothing exists but as perceived by some mind[91]; when the gentleman was going away, Johnson said to him, “Pray, Sir, don’t leave us; for we may perhaps forget to think of you, and then you will cease to exist[92]."’

’Goldsmith, upon being visited by Johnson one day in the Temple, said to him with a little jealousy of the appearance of his accommodation, “I shall soon be in better chambers than these.”  Johnson at the same time checked him and paid him a handsome compliment, implying that a man of his talents should be above attention to such distinctions,—­’Nay, Sir, never mind that. Nil te quaesiveris extra[93].’

’At the time when his pension was granted to him, he said, with a noble literary ambition, “Had this happened twenty years years ago, I should have gone to Constantinople to learn Arabick, as Pococke did[94]."’

’As an instance of the niceness of his taste, though he praised West’s translation of Pindar, he pointed out the following passage as faulty, by expressing a circumstance so minute as to detract from the general dignity which should prevail: 

     “Down then from thy glittering nail,
      Take, O Muse, thy Dorian lyre[95].’”

’When Mr. Vesey[96] was proposed as a member of the LITERARY CLUB, Mr. Burke began by saying that he was a man of gentle manners.  “Sir, said Johnson, you need say no more.  When you have said a man of gentle manners; you have said enough."’

’The late Mr. Fitzherbert[97] told Mr. Langton that Johnson said to him, “Sir, a man has no more right to say an uncivil thing, than to act one; no more right to say a rude thing to another than to knock him down."’

’My dear friend Dr. Bathurst[98], (said he with a warmth of approbation) declared he was glad that his father, who was a West-Indian planter, had left his affairs in total ruin, because having no estate, he was not under the temptation of having slaves.’

’Richardson had little conversation[99], except about his own works, of which Sir Joshua Reynolds said he was always willing to talk, and glad to have them introduced.  Johnson when he carried Mr. Langton to see him, professed that he could bring him out into conversation, and used this allusive expression, “Sir, I can make him rear.” But he failed; for in that interview Richardson said little else than that there lay in the room a translation of his Clarissa into German[100].’