Instead of harshly
upbraiding her, he had her taken care of with all tenderness for a long
time, at considerable expence, till she was restored to health, and
endeavoured to put her into a virtuous way of living[995].
He thought Mr. Caleb Whitefoord singularly happy in hitting on the
signature of _Papyrius Cursor_, to his ingenious and diverting
cross-readings of the newspapers; it being a real name of an ancient
Roman, and clearly expressive of the thing done in this lively
conceit[996].
He once in his life was known to have uttered what is called a _bull_:
Sir Joshua Reynolds, when they were riding together in Devonshire,
complained that he had a very bad horse, for that even when going down
hill he moved slowly step by step. 'Ay (said Johnson,) and when he
_goes_ up hill, he _stands still_.'
He had a great aversion to gesticulating in company. He called once to
a gentleman who offended him in that point, 'Don't _attitudenise_.' And
when another gentleman thought he was giving additional force to what he
uttered, by expressive movements of his hands, Johnson fairly seized
them, and held them down[997].
Pages:
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411