He expresses his 'reverence for his consistent,
manly, and well-spent life.' Barry's _Works_, ii. 339. Johnson, in his
turn, praises 'the comprehension of Barry's design.' _Piozzi Letters_,
ii. 256. He was more likely to understand it, as the pictures formed a
series, meant 'to illustrate one great maxim of moral truth, viz. that
the obtaining of happiness depends upon cultivating the human faculties.
We begin with man in a savage state full of inconvenience, imperfection,
and misery, and we follow him through several gradations of culture and
happiness, which, after our probationary state here, are finally
attended with beatitude or misery.' Barry's _Works_, ii. 323. Horace
Walpole (_Letters_, viii. 366) describes Barry's book as one 'which does
not want sense, though full of passion and self, and vulgarisms
and vanity.'
[698] Boswell had tried to bring about a third meeting between Johnson
and Wilkes. On May 21 he wrote:--'Mr. Boswell's compliments to Mr.
Wilkes. He finds that it would not be unpleasant to Dr. Johnson to dine
at Mr. Wilkes's. The thing would be so curiously benignant, it were a
pity it should not take place.
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