Mr. Macpherson little knew the character of Dr. Johnson if he supposed that he could be easily intimidated; for no man was ever more remarkable for personal courage.  He had indeed an awful dread of death, or rather “of something after death”; and what rational man, who seriously thinks of quitting all that he has ever known and going into a new and unknown state of being, can be without that dread?  But his fear was from reflection; his courage natural.  His fear, in that one instance, was the result of philosophical and religious consideration.  He feared death, but he feared nothing else, not even what might occasion death.  Many instances of his resolution may be mentioned.  One day, at Mr. Beauclerk’s house in the country, when two large dogs were fighting, he went up to them and beat them till they separated; and at another time, when told of the danger there was that a gun might burst if charged with many balls, he put in six or seven and fired it off against a wall.  Mr. Langton told me that when they were swimming together near Oxford, he cautioned Dr. Johnson against a pool which was reckoned particularly dangerous; upon which Johnson directly swam into it.  He told me himself that one night he was attacked in the street by four men, to whom he would not yield, but kept them all at bay till the watch came up and carried both him and them to the round-house.  In the play-house at Lichfield, as Mr. Garrick informed me, Johnson having for a moment quitted a chair which was placed for him between the side-scenes, a gentleman took possession of it, and when Johnson on his return civilly demanded his seat, rudely refused to give it up; upon which Johnson laid hold of it and tossed him and the chair into the pit.  Foote, who so successfully revived the old comedy by exhibiting living characters, had resolved to imitate Johnson on the stage, expecting great profits from his ridicule of so celebrated a man.  Johnson being informed of his intention, and being at dinner at Mr. Thomas Davies’s the bookseller, from whom I had the story, he asked Mr. Davies “what was the common price of an oak stick”; and being answered sixpence, “Why then, sir” (said he), “give me leave to send your servant to purchase a shilling one.  I’ll have a double quantity; for I am told Foote means to take me off, as he calls it, and I am determined the fellow shall not do it with impunity.”  Davies took care to acquaint Foote of this, which effectually checked the wantonness of the mimic.  Mr. Macpherson’s menaces made Johnson provide himself with the same implement of defense; and had he been attacked, I have no doubt that, old as he was, he would have made his corporal prowess be felt as much as his intellectual.