Johnson, by Mr. Nichols, some years before his death, thus expressed
himself in a letter to that gentleman:--
'How much I am obliged to you for the favour you did me in introducing
me to Dr. Johnson! _Tantum vidi Virgilium_ [G-6]. But to have seen him,
and to have received a testimony of respect from him, was enough. I
recollect all the conversation, and shall never forget one of his
expressions. Speaking of Dr. P---- [Priestley], (whose writings, I
saw, he estimated at a low rate,) he said, "You have proved him as
deficient in _probity_ as he is in learning [G-7]." I called him an
"Index-scholar [G-8];" but he was not willing to allow him a claim even
to that merit. He said, that "he borrowed from those who had been
borrowers themselves, and did not know that the mistakes he adopted had
been answered by others." I often think of our short, but precious,
visit to this great man. I shall consider it as a kind of an _aera_ in
my life.' BOSWELL. [Note: See Appendix G for notes on this footnote.]
[1241] See _ante_, i. 152, 501.
[1242] He wrote to Dr. Taylor on Feb. 17, 1776:--'Keep yourself
cheerful.
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