' _Letters of Boswell_,
p. 234. Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on May 6:--'Tomorrow I am to dine,
as I did yesterday, with Dr. Taylor. On Wednesday I am to dine with
Oglethorpe; and on Thursday with Paoli. He that sees before him to his
third dinner has a long prospect.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 320.
[164] See _ante_, May 12, 1775.
[165] In the _Dramatis Personae_ of the play are 'Aimwell and Archer, two
gentlemen of broken fortunes, the first as master, and the second as
servant.' See _ante_, March 23, 1776, for Garrick's opinion of Johnson's
'taste in theatrical merit.'
[166] Johnson is speaking of the _Respublicae Elzevirianae_, either 36 or
62 volumes. 'It depends on every collector what and how much he will
admit.' Ebert's _Bibl. Dict_. iii. 1571. See _ante_, ii. 7.
[167] See _post_, under Oct. 20, 1784, for 'the learned pig.'
[168] In the first edition Mme. de Sevigne's name is printed Sevigne, in
the second Sevige, in the third Sevigne. Authors and compositors last
century troubled themselves little about French words.
[169] Milton had put the same complaint into Adam's mouth:--
'Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould me man? .
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