Thrale's carriage, in
which Mr. Thrale and she, and Dr. Johnson were travelling; that he paid
them all his proper compliments, but observing that Dr. Johnson, who was
reading, did not see him, _'tapt him gently on the shoulder. "'Tis_ Mr.
Ch-lm-ley;" _says my husband. "Well, Sir--and what if it is_ Mr.
Ch-lm-ley;" _says the other, sternly, just lifting his eyes a moment
from his book, and returning to it again, with renewed avidity.'_
This surely conveys a notion of Johnson, as if he had been grossly rude
to Mr. Cholmondeley[1069], a gentleman whom he always loved and
esteemed. If, therefore, there was an absolute necessity for mentioning
the story at all, it might have been thought that her tenderness for Dr.
Johnson's character would have disposed her to state any thing that
could soften it. Why then is there a total silence as to what Mr.
Cholmondeley told her?--that Johnson, who had known him from his
earliest years, having been made sensible of what had doubtless a
strange appearance, took occasion, when he afterwards met him, to make a
very courteous and kind apology.
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