'
Had he lived to read what Sir John Hawkins and Mrs. Piozzi have related
concerning himself, how much would he have found his observation
illustrated. He was indeed so much impressed with the prevalence of
falsehood, voluntary or unintentional, that I never knew any person who
upon hearing an extraordinary circumstance told, discovered more of the
_incredulus odi_[645]. He would say, with a significant look and decisive
tone, 'It is not so. Do not tell this again[646].' He inculcated upon all
his friends the importance of perpetual vigilance against the slightest
degrees of falsehood; the effect of which, as Sir Joshua Reynolds
observed to me, has been, that all who were of his _school_ are
distinguished for a love of truth and accuracy, which they would not
have possessed in the same degree, if they had not been acquainted with
Johnson[647].
Talking of ghosts, he said, 'It is wonderful that five thousand years
have now elapsed since the creation of the world, and still it is
undecided whether or not there has ever been an instance of the spirit
of any person appearing after death. All argument is against it; but all
belief is for it[648].
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