' By
'eminent friend' Burke is generally meant, and he, possibly, is meant
here. Boswell, it is true, speaks of his 'orderly and amiable domestic
habits' (_ante_, iii. 378); but then Boswell mentions the person here
'as a virtuous man.' If Burke is meant, Johnson's suspicions would seem
to be groundless.
[867] See _ante_, p. 168, where Johnson 'wonders why he should have any
enemies.'
[868] After all, I cannot but be of opinion, that as Mr. Langton was
seriously requested by Dr. Johnson to mention what appeared to him
erroneous in the character of his friend, he was bound, as an honest
man, to intimate what he really thought, which he certainly did in the
most delicate manner; so that Johnson himself, when in a quiet frame of
mind, was pleased with it. The texts suggested are now before me, and I
shall quote a few of them. 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit
the earth.' _Mat._ v. 5.--'I therefore, the prisoner of the LORD,
beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are
called; with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing
one another in love.
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