'
[646] The following plausible but over-prudent counsel on this subject
is given by an Italian writer, quoted by '_Rhedi de generatione
insectarum_,' with the epithet of '_divini poetae_:'
'_Sempre a quel ver ch'ha faccia di menzogna
Dee l'uom chiuder le labbra quanto ei puote;
Pero che senza colpa fa vergogna_.' BOSWELL.
It is strange that Boswell should not have discovered that these lines
were from Dante. The following is Wright's translation:--
'That truth which bears the semblance of a lie,
Should never pass the lips, if possible;
Tho' crime be absent, still disgrace is nigh.'
_Infern_. xvi. 124. CROKER.
[647] See _ante_, i. 7, note 1.
[648] See _ante_, i. 405.
[649] 'Of John Wesley he said:--"He can talk well on any subject."'
_Post_, April 15, 1778. Southey says that 'his manners were almost
irresistibly winning, and his cheerfulness was like perpetual sunshine.'
_Life of Wesley_, i. 409. Wesley recorded on Dec. 18, 1783 (_Journal_,
iv. 258):--'I spent two hours with that great man Dr. Johnson, who is
sinking into the grave by a gentle decay.'
[650] 'When you met him in the street of a crowded city, he attracted
notice, not only by his band and cassock, and his long hair white and
bright as silver, but by his pace and manner, both indicating that all
his minutes were numbered, and that not one was to be lost.
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