He gave us one of the many sketches of character which were treasured in his mind,and which he was wont to produce quite unexpectedly in a very entertaining manner.'I lately,(said he,)received a letter from the East Indies,from a gentleman whom Iformerly knew very well;he had returned from that country with a handsome fortune,as it was reckoned,before means were found to acquire those immense sums which have been brought from thence of late;he was a scholar,and an agreeable man,and lived very prettily in London,till his wife died.After her death,he took to dissipation and gaming,and lost all he had.One evening he lost a thousand pounds to a gentleman whose name I am sorry I have forgotten.Next morning he sent the gentleman five hundred pounds,with an apology that it was all he had in the world.The gentleman sent the money back to him,declaring he would not accept of it;and adding,that if Mr.------had occasion for five hundred pounds more,he would lend it to him.He resolved to go out again to the East Indies,and make his fortune anew.He got a considerable appointment,and I had some intention of accompanying him.Had Ithought then as I do now,I should have gone:but,at that time,Ihad objections to quitting England.'
It was a very remarkable circumstance about Johnson,whom shallow observers have supposed to have been ignorant of the world,that very few men had seen greater variety of characters;and none could observe them better,as was evident from the strong,yet nice portraits which he often drew.I have frequently thought that if he had made out what the French call une catalogue raisonnee of all the people who had passed under his observation,it would have afforded a very rich fund of instruction and entertainment.The suddenness with which his accounts of some of them started out in conversation,was not less pleasing than surprizing.I remember he once observed to me,'It is wonderful,Sir,what is to be found in London.The most literary conversation that I ever enjoyed,was at the table of Jack Ellis,a money-scrivener behind the Royal Exchange,with whom I at one period used to dine generally once a week.'
Volumes would be required to contain a list of his numerous and various acquaintance,none of whom he ever forgot;and could describe and discriminate them all with precision and vivacity.He associated with persons the most widely different in manners,abilities,rank,and accomplishments.He was at once the companion of the brilliant Colonel Forrester of the Guards,who wrote The Polite Philosopher,and of the aukward and uncouth Robert Levet;of Lord Thurlow,and Mr.Sastres,the Italian master;and has dined one day with the beautiful,gay,and fascinating Lady Craven,and the next with good Mrs.Gardiner,the tallow-chandler,on Snow-hill.
On my expressing my wonder at his discovering so much of the knowledge peculiar to different professions,he to]d me,'I learnt what I know of law,chiefly from Mr.Ballow,a very able man.Ilearnt some,too,from Chambers;but was not so teachable then.
One is not willing to be taught by a young man.'When I expressed a wish to know more about Mr.Ballow,Johnson said,'Sir,I have seen him but once these twenty years.The tide of life has driven us different ways.'I was sorry at the time to hear this;but whoever quits the creeks of private connections,and fairly gets into the great ocean of London,will,by imperceptible degrees,unavoidably experience such cessations of acquaintance.
'My knowledge of physick,(he added,)I learnt from Dr.James,whom I helped in writing the proposals for his Dictionary and also a little in the Dictionary itself.I also learnt from Dr.Lawrence,but was then grown more stubborn.'
A curious incident happened to-day,while Mr.Thrale and I sat with him.Francis announced that a large packet was brought to him from the post-office,said to have come from Lisbon,and it was charged SEVEN POUNDS TEN SHILLINGS.He would not receive it,supposing it to be some trick,nor did he even look at it.But upon enquiry afterwards he found that it was a real packet for him,from that very friend in the East Indies of whom he had been speaking;and the ship which carried it having come to Portugal,this packet,with others,had been put into the post-office at Lisbon.
I mentioned a new gaming-club,of which Mr.Beauclerk had given me an account,where the members played to a desperate extent.
