"
You see they'd have fitted him to a _T_,' (smiling.) DR. ADAMS. 'But you
did not write against Warburton.' JOHNSON. 'No, Sir, I treated him with
great respect both in my Preface and in my Notes[889].'
Mrs. Kennicot spoke of her brother, the Reverend Mr. Chamberlayne, who
had given up great prospects in the Church of England on his conversion
to the Roman Catholick faith. Johnson, who warmly admired every man who
acted from a conscientious regard to principle, erroneous or not,
exclaimed fervently, 'GOD bless him.'
Mrs. Kennicot, in confirmation of Dr. Johnson's opinion[890], that the
present was not worse than former ages, mentioned that her brother
assured her, there was now less infidelity on the Continent than there
had been; Voltaire and Rousseau were less read. I asserted, from good
authority, that Hume's infidelity was certainly less read. JOHNSON. 'All
infidel writers drop into oblivion, when personal connections and the
floridness of novelty are gone; though now and then a foolish fellow,
who thinks he can be witty upon them, may bring them again into notice.
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