Why
Boswell recorded none of Johnson's conversation may be guessed from what
she tells. 'I was heartily disgusted,' she says, 'with Mr. Boswell, who
came up stairs after dinner much disordered with wine.' (See _post_, p.
109). The following morning Johnson called on her. 'He reproved me,' she
writes, 'with pretended sharpness for reading _Les Pensees de Pascal_,
alleging that as a good Protestant I ought to abstain from books written
by Catholics. I was beginning to stand upon my defence, when he took me
with both hands, and with a tear running down his cheeks, "Child," said
he, with the most affecting earnestness, "I am heartily glad that you
read pious books, by whomsoever they may be written.'"
[289] On Good-Friday, in 1778, Johnson recorded:--'It has happened this
week, as it never happened in Passion-week before, that I have never
dined at home, and I have therefore neither practised abstinence nor
peculiar devotion' _Pr. and Med._ p. 163.
[290] No. 7.
[291] See _ante_, iii. 302.
[292] Richard Berenger, Esq., many years Gentleman of the Horse, and
first Equerry to his present Majesty.
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