Indeed Johnson was very sensible how much he owed to Mr. Hunter.  Mr. Langton one day asked him how he had acquired so accurate a knowledge of Latin, in which, I believe, he was exceeded by no man of his time; he said, ’My master whipt me very well.  Without that, Sir, I should have done nothing.’  He told Mr. Langton, that while Hunter was flogging his boys unmercifully, he used to say, ’And this I do to save you from the gallows.’  Johnson, upon all occasions, expressed his approbation of enforcing instruction by means of the rod.  ’I would rather (said he) have the rod to be the general terrour to all, to make them learn, than tell a child, if you do thus, or thus, you will be more esteemed than your brothers or sisters.  The rod produces an effect which terminates in itself.  A child is afraid of being whipped, and gets his task, and there’s an end on’t; whereas, by exciting emulation and comparisons of superiority, you lay the foundation of lasting mischief; you make brothers and sisters hate each other.’

That superiority over his fellows, which he maintained with so much dignity in his march through life, was not assumed from vanity and ostentation, but was the natural and constant effect of those extraordinary powers of mind, of which he could not but be conscious by comparison; the intellectual difference, which in other cases of comparison of characters, is often a matter of undecided contest, being as clear in his case as the superiority of stature in some men above others.  Johnson did not strut or stand on tiptoe; He only did not stoop.  From his earliest years his superiority was perceived and acknowledged.  He was from the beginning [Greek text omitted], a king of men.  His school-fellow, Mr. Hector, has obligingly furnished me with many particulars of his boyish days:  and assured me that he never knew him corrected at school, but for talking and diverting other boys from their business.  He seemed to learn by intuition; for though indolence and procrastination were inherent in his constitution, whenever he made an exertion he did more than any one else.  His favourites used to receive very liberal assistance from him; and such was the submission and deference with which he was treated, such the desire to obtain his regard, that three of the boys, of whom Mr. Hector was sometimes one, used to come in the morning as his humble attendants, and carry him to school.  One in the middle stooped, while he sat upon his back, and one on each side supported him; and thus he was borne triumphant.  Such a proof of the early predominance of intellectual vigour is very remarkable, and does honour to human nature.  Talking to me once himself of his being much distinguished at school, he told me, ’they never thought to raise me by comparing me to any one; they never said, Johnson is as good a scholar as such a one; but such a one is as good a scholar as Johnson; and this was said but of one, but of Lowe; and I do not think he was as good a scholar.’