His interpretation, however, seems to me
much too recondite. The _meaning_ of the passage may be certain enough;
but surely the _expression_ is confused, and one part of it
contradictory to the other. BOSWELL. This note is first given in the
third edition.
[1198] See ante, p. 297.
[1199] State is used for statement. 'He sate down to examine Mr. Owen's
states.' Rob Roy, ed. 1860, viii. 101.
[1200] Johnson started for Lichfield and Ashbourne about May 20, and
returned to London towards the end of June. _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 44,
55. 'It is good,' he wrote, 'to wander a little, lest one should dream
that all the world was Streatham, of which one may venture to say,
_none but itself can be its parallel_.' _Ib_. p. 47. 'None but thyself
can be thy parallel' is from Theobald's _Double Falsehood_. Pope calls
it 'a marvellous line,' and thus introduces it in _The Dunciad_, first
edition, iii. 271:--'For works like these let deathless Journals tell,
"None but thyself can be thy parallel."'
[1201] See _post_, Boswell's letter of Aug. 24, 1780, and Johnson's
letter of Dec. 7, 1782.
[1202] Boswell, on his way to Scotland, wrote to Temple from this
house:--'I am now at Southill, to which place Mr.
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