341), says:--'I shall attempt a
translation [of _Melius est_, &c.] for the benefit of your mere English
readers:--_There is more joy over a sinner that repenteth than over a
just person that needeth no repentance_. And we know from an authority
not to be disputed (Hawkins's _Life_, p. 406) that _Johnson was a great
lover of penitents_.
"God put it in the mind to take it hence,
That thou might'st win the more thy [Johnson's] love,
Pleading so wisely in excuse of it."
[1236] _Henry IV_, act iv. sc. 5.
[1237] 'Tibullus addressed Cynthia in this manner:--
"_Te spectem, suprema, mihi cum venerit hora,
Te teneam moriens deficiente mamu.
Lib. i. El. I. 73.
Before my closing eyes dear Cynthia stand,
Held weakly by my fainting, trembling hand."'
Johnson's Works, iv. 35.
[1238] Windham was scarcely a statesman as yet, though for a few months
of the year before he had been Chief Secretary for Ireland (_ante_, p
200). He was in Parliament, but he had never spoken. His _Diary_ shews
that he had no 'important occupations.
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