Tom Davies soon after
joined us. He had now unfortunately failed in his circumstances, and was
much indebted to Dr. Johnson's kindness for obtaining for him many
alleviations of his distress[628]. After he went away, Johnson blamed his
folly in quitting the stage, by which he and his wife got five hundred
pounds a year. I said, I believed it was owing to Churchill's attack
upon him,
'He mouths a sentence, as curs mouth a bone[629].'
JOHNSON. 'I believe so too, Sir. But what a man is he, who is to be
driven from the stage by a line? Another line would have driven him from
his shop.'
I told him, that I was engaged as Counsel at the bar of the House of
Commons to oppose a road-bill in the county of Stirling, and asked him
what mode he would advise me to follow in addressing such an audience.
JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, you must provide yourself with a good deal of
extraneous matter, which you are to produce occasionally, so as to fill
up the time; for you must consider, that they do not listen much. If you
begin with the strength of your cause, it may be lost before they begin
to listen. When you catch a moment of attention, press the merits of the
question upon them.
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