��Two Dialogues by
��what was returned he kept for ever ; his advancement was on firm ground, he was recognised in public as well as respected in private, and as no man was ever more courted and better received by the public, so no man was ever less spoiled by its flattery : Garrick continued advancing to the last, till he had acquired every advantage that high birth or title could bestow, except the precedence of going into a room ; but when he was there, he was treated with as much attention as the first man at the table. It is to the credit of Garrick, that he never laid any claim to this distinction ; it was as voluntarily allowed as if it had been his birthright *. In this, I confess, I looked on David with some degree of envy, not so much for the respect he received, as for the manner of its being acquired ; what fell into his lap unsought, I have been forced to claim. I began the world by fighting my way. There was something about me that invited insult, or at least a disposition to neglect 2 , and I was equally disposed to repel insult and to claim attention, and I fear continue too much in this disposition now it is no longer necessary ; I receive at present as much favour as I have a right to expect. I am not one of the complainers of the neglect of merit 3 .
��1 ' I then slily introduced Mr. Gar- rick's fame, and his assuming the airs of a great man. JOHNSON. " Sir, it is wonderful how little Garrick assumes. No, Sir, Garrick fortunam reverenter habet. Con sider, Sir : celebrated men, such as you have mentioned, have had their applause at a distance ; but Garrick had it dashed in his face, sounded in his ears, and went home every night with the plaudits of a thousand in his cranmm. Then, Sir, Garrick did not find, but made his way to the tables, the levees, and almost
the bed-chambers of the great If
all this had happened to me, I should have had a couple of fellows with long poles walking before me, to knock down every body that stood in the way. Consider, if all this had
��happened to Gibber or Quin, they'd have jumped over the moon. Yet Garrick speaks to us" (smiling).' Life, iii. 263.
2 ' Dr. Johnson told Mr. Thrale once that he had never sought to please till past thirty years old, considering the matter as hopeless.' Ante, i. 318.
' Strange, however, it is to consider how few of the great sought John son's society.' Life, iv. 117. 'I never have sought the world (he said ;) the world was not to seek me.' Ib. iv. 172.
3 'JOHNSON. "Sir, I have never complained of the world ; nor do I think that I have reason to com plain. It is rather to be wondered at that I have so much.'" Ib. iv. 116.
GIB.
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