Anecdotes.
��who returns late in life to receive honours in his native country, and meets with mortification instead of respect, was by him considered as a masterpiece in the science of life and manners r . The character of Prospero in the fourth volume, Garrick took to be his 2 ; and I have heard the author say, that he never forgave the offence. Sophron was likewise a picture drawn from reality 3 ; and by Gelid us the philosopher, he meant to represent Mr. Coulsori, a mathematician, who formerly lived at Rochester 4 . The man immortalised for purring like a cat was, as he told me, one Busby, a proctor in the Commons 5 . He who barked so ingeniously, and then called the drawer to drive away the dog, was father to Dr. Salter of the Charterhouse 6 . He who sung a song and by correspondent motions of his arm chalked out a giant on the wall, was one Richardson, an attorney 7 . The letter signed Sunday, was written by Miss Talbot 8 ; and he
��which being, I suspect, borrowed by Rogers suggested to Dickens, as he confessed, in his Old Curiosity Shop, 1 the beautiful thought of Nell's grand father wandering about after her death as if looking for her.' Johnson describes how where Rest came,
- Nothing was seen on every side but
multitudes wandering about they knew not whither, in quest they knew not of what.' Rogers writes in his Italy ', Ginevra :
' And long was to be seen An old man wandering as in quest
of something, Something he could not find he
knew not what.'
1 No. 165. The rich man describ ing his deliberations about his return to his native town says : ' The ac clamations of the populace I purposed to reward with six hogsheads of ale and a roasted ox, and then recom mend to them to return to their work.'
2 No. 200. Life, i. 216.
3 Idler, No. 57.
4 Rambler, No. 24 ; Life, i. 101.
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��5 Doctors' Commons, the College of Civilians in London who practised in the Ecclesiastical Courts and the Court of Admiralty.
6 Dr. Salter's father belonged to Johnson's Ivy Lane Club. Life, i. 191, n. 5. Hawkins describes him as ' a dignitary of the Church ; he was well-bred, courteous and affable.' Hawkins's Johnson, p. 220.
7 ' One I have known for fifteen years the darling of a weekly club because every night, precisely at eleven, he begins his favourite song, and during the vocal performance by corresponding motions of his hand chalks out a giant upon the wall. Another has endeared himself to a long succession of acquaintances by purring like a cat and then pretend ing to be frighted ; and another by yelping like a hound and calling to the drawers to drive out the dog.' Rambler, No. 188.
8 No. 30. For Miss Talbot, see Carter and Talbot Correspondence, vol. i. Preface, p. 6.
2, fancied
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