And while
it shall please Thee to continue me in this world, where much is to be
done, and little to be known, teach me by thy Holy Spirit, to withdraw
my mind from unprofitable and dangerous enquiries, from difficulties
vainly curious, and doubts impossible to be solved. Let me rejoice in
the light which Thou hast imparted, let me serve Thee with active zeal
and humble confidence, and wait with patient expectation for the time in
which the soul which Thou receivest shall be satisfied with knowledge.
Grant this, O LORD, for JESUS CHRIST'S sake. Amen.' BOSWELL. _Pr. and
Med._ p. 219.
[1143] _Life of Johnson_, p. 599.
[1144] Porson with admirable humour satirised Hawkins for his attack on
Barber. _Gent. Mag._ 1787, p. 752, and _Porson Tracts_, p. 358. Baretti
in his _Tolondron_, p. 149, says that 'Barber from his earliest youth
served Johnson with the greatest affection and disinterestedness.'
[1145] Vol. ii. p. 30. BOSWELL.
[1146] I shall add one instance only to those which I have thought it
incumbent on me to point out. Talking of Mr. Garrick's having signified
his willingness to let Johnson have the loan of any of his books to
assist him in his edition of Shakspeare [_ante_, ii.
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