��made that counsel were to be heard at the bar of the 'House of Commons, one of the company at Mr. Hoole's asked Sir James Johnston * if he intended to be present. He answered, that he believed he should not, because he paid little regard to the arguments of counsel at the bar of the House of Commons. 'Wherefore do you pay little regard to their arguments, Sir?' said Dr. Johnson. 'Because/ replied Sir James, 'they argue for their fee.' ' What is it to you, Sir/ rejoined Dr. Johnson, ' what they argue for ? you have nothing to do with their motive, but you ought to weigh their argument. Sir, you seem to confound argument with assertion, but there is an essential distinction between them. Assertion is like an arrow shot from a long bow ; the force with which it strikes depends on the strength of the arm that draws it. But argument is like an arrow from a cross-bow, which has equal force whether shot by a boy or a giant.'
The whole company was struck with the aptness and beauty of this illustration ; and one of them said, * That is, indeed, one of the most just and admirable illustrations that I ever heard in my life.' ' Sir/ said Dr. Johnson, ' the illustration is none of mine you will find it in Bacon 2 .'
��BY JOHN NICHOLS.
[From Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, 9 vols. 8vo. 1812-15; vol. ix. p. 779, &c. Croker's Boswell, x. 62.]
Of his birth-place, Lichfield, Dr. Johnson always spoke with a laudable enthusiasm. ' Its inhabitants/ he said, ' were more
1 Member for Dumfries. His Dear to his country by the names
brother married a lady who inherited Friend, patron, benefactor !
the wealth of Pulteney, Earl of Not Pulteney's wealth can Pul-
Bath. Letters of Hume to Strahan, teney save !
p. 203. Burns thus mentions Sir And Hopeton falls, the generous
James in his Epistle to Robert brave!
Graham : And Stewart, bold as Hector.'
<What Whig but melts for good 2 The quotation is from Boyle.
Sir James ? Life, iv. 281, n. 3.
orthodox
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