The cheering sound of “Dinner is upon the table” dissolved his reverie, and we all sat down without any symptom of ill-humor.  There were present, besides Mr. Wilkes, and Mr. Arthur Lee, who was an old companion of mine when he studied physics at Edinburgh, Mr. (now Sir John) Miller, Dr. Lettson, and Mr. Slater the druggist.  Mr. Wilkes placed himself next to Dr. Johnson, and behaved to him with so much attention and politeness that he gained upon him insensibly.  No man eat more heartily than Johnson, or loved better what was nice and delicate.  Mr. Wilkes was very assiduous in helping him to some fine veal.  “Pray give me leave, sir—­It is better here—­A little of the brown—­Some fat, sir—­A little of the stuffing—­Some gravy—­Let me have the pleasure of giving you some butter—­Allow me to recommend a squeeze of this orange; or the lemon, perhaps, may have more zest” “Sir, sir, I am obliged to you, sir,” cried Johnson, bowing, and turning his head to him with a look for some time of “surly virtue,” but in a short while of complacency.

Sir William Forbes writes to me thus:—­“I inclose the ‘Round Robin.’  This jeu d’esprit took its rise one day at dinner at our friend Sir Joshua Reynolds’s.  All the company present except myself were friends and acquaintances of Dr. Goldsmith.  The Epitaph written for him by Dr. Johnson became the subject of conversation, and various emendations were suggested, which it was agreed should be suggested to the Doctor’s consideration.—­But the question was, who should have the courage to propose them to him?  At last it was hinted that there could be no way so good as that of a ‘Round Robin,’ as the sailors call it, which they make use of when they enter into a conspiracy, so as not to let it be known who puts his name first or last to the paper.  This proposition was instantly assented to; and Dr. Barnard, Dean of Derry, now Bishop of Killahoe, drew up an address to Dr. Johnson on the occasion, replete with wit and humor, but which it was feared the Doctor might think treated the subject with too much levity.  Mr. Burke then proposed the address as it stands in the paper in writing, to which I had the honor to officiate as clerk.

“Sir Joshua agreed to carry it to Dr. Johnson, who received it with much good humor, and desired Sir Joshua to tell the gentlemen that he would alter the Epitaph in any manner they pleased, as to the sense of it; but he would never consent to disgrace the walls of Westminster Abbey with an English inscription.

“I consider this ‘Round Robin’ as a species of literary curiosity worth preserving, as it marks in a certain degree Dr. Johnson’s character."...

Sir William Forbes’s observation is very just.  The anecdote now related proves in the strongest manner the reverence and awe with which Johnson was regarded by some of the most eminent men of his time, in various departments, and even by such of them as lived most with him; while it also confirms what I have again and again inculcated, that he was by no means of that ferocious and irascible character which has been ignorantly imagined.