We went to the drawing-room, where was a considerable increase of company.  Several of us got round Dr. Johnson, and complained that he would not give us an exact catalogue of his works, that there might be a complete edition.  He smiled, and evaded our entreaties.  That he intended to do it, I have no doubt, because I have heard him say so; and I have in my possession an imperfect list, fairly written out, which he entitles Historia Studiorum.  I once got from one of his friends a list, which there was pretty good reason to suppose was accurate, for it was written down in his presence by this friend, who enumerated each article aloud, and had some of them mentioned to him by Mr. Levett, in concert with whom it was made out; and Johnson, who heard all this, did not contradict it.  But when I shewed a copy of this list to him, and mentioned the evidence for its exactness, he laughed, and said, ’I was willing to let them go on as they pleased, and never interfered.’  Upon which I read it to him, article by article, and got him positively to own or refuse; and then, having obtained certainty so far, I got some other articles confirmed by him directly; and afterwards, from time to time, made additions under his sanction.

The conversation having turned on Bon-Mots, be quoted, from one of the Ana, an exquisite instance of flattery in a maid of honour in France, who being asked by the Queen what o’clock it was, answered, ’What your Majesty pleases.’  He admitted that Mr. Burke’s classical pun upon Mr. Wilkes’s being carried on the shoulders of the mob,—­

’-------------Numerisque fertur
Lege solutus,’

was admirable; and though he was strangely unwilling to allow to that extraordinary man the talent of wit, he also laughed with approbation at another of his playful conceits; which was, that ’Horace has in one line given a description of a good desirable manour:—­

“Est modus in rebus, sunt certi denique fines;”

that is to say, a modus as to the tithes and certain fines.’

He observed, ’A man cannot with propriety speak of himself, except he relates simple facts; as, “I was at Richmond:”  or what depends on mensuration; as, “I am six feet high.”  He is sure he has been at Richmond; he is sure he is six feet high:  but he cannot be sure he is wise, or that he has any other excellence.  Then, all censure of a man’s self is oblique praise.  It is in order to shew how much he can spare.  It has all the invidiousness of self-praise, and all the reproach of falsehood.’

On Tuesday, April 28, he was engaged to dine at General Paoli’s, where, as I have already observed, I was still entertained in elegant hospitality, and with all the ease and comfort of a home.  I called on him, and accompanied him in a hackney-coach.  We stopped first at the bottom of Hedgelane, into which he went to leave a letter, ’with good news for a poor man in distress,’ as he told me.  I did not question him particularly as to