24.
[1156] Yet Baretti, who knew Johnson well, in a MS. note on _Piozzi
Letters_, i.315, says:--'If ever Johnson took any delight in anything it
was to converse with some old acquaintance. New people he never loved to
be in company with, except ladies, when disposed to caress and
flatter him.'
[1157] Johnson, thirty-four years earlier, wrote:--'I think there is
some reason for questioning whether the body and mind are not so
proportioned that the one can bear all that can be inflicted on the
other; whether virtue cannot stand its ground as long as life, and
whether a soul well principled will not be separated sooner than
subdued.' _The Rambler_, No. 32. He wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Aug. 14,
1780:--'But what if I am seventy-two; I remember Sulpitius says of Saint
Martin (now that's above your reading), _Est animus victor annorum, et
senectuti cedere nescius_. Match me that among your young folks.'
_Piozzi Letters_, ii. 177. On Sept. 2, 1784, he wrote to Mr. Sastres the
Italian master:--'I have hope of standing the English winter, and of
seeing you, and reading _Petrarch_ at Bolt-court.
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