Johnson had not observed that I was in the room. I followed him, however, and he agreed to meet me in the evening at the Mitre. I called on him, and we went thither at nine. We had a good supper, and port wine, of which he then sometimes drank a bottle. The orthodox highchurch sound of the Mitre-the figure and manner of the celebrated Samuel Johnson-the extraordinary power and precision of his conversation, and the pride arising from finding myself admitted as his companion, produced a variety of sensations, and a pleasing elevation of mind beyond what I had ever before experienced. I find in my Journal the following minute of our conversation, which, though it will give but a very faint notion of what passed, is, in some degree, a valuable record; and it will be curious in this view, as showing how habitual to his mind were some opinions which appear in his works. 66 Colley Cibber, Sir, was by no means a blockhead, but, by arrogating to himself too much, he was in danger of losing that degree of estimation to which he was entitled. His friends gave out that he intended his Birthday Odes should be bad; but that was not the case, Sir; for he kept them many months by him, and a few years before he died he showed me one of them, with great solicitude to render it as perfect as might be, and I made some corrections, to which he was not very the bull was now ready to be dragged to the river, and the buffaloes which were at first procured refusing to pull at the weight, the Arabs and Chaldeans, assisted by the villagers, in all three hundred men, drew the cart. In front was Layard, to point out the road; the Kurdish drummers and fifers followed, blowing and beating with might and main; the cawasses and superintendents led the team, and the pro a pair of figures closely resembling that just described, and evidently representations of the same or a similar personage, was discovered at the entrance of one of the chambers of the Nimroud palace. The main point of difference consists in the figures found at Nimroud being winged, which is not the case with that we have described from Khorsabad. In the THE KING IN HIS CHARIOT. the bull was now ready to be dragged to the river, and the buffaloes which were at first procured refusing to pull at the weight, the Arabs and Chaldeans, assisted by the villagers, in all three hundred men, drew the cart. In front was Layard, to point out the road; the Kurdish drummers and fifers followed, blowing and beating with might and main; the cawasses and superintendents led the team, and the pro a pair of figures closely resembling that just described, and evidently representations of the same or a similar personage, was discovered at the entrance of one of the chambers of the Nimroud palace. The main point of difference consists in the figures found at Nimroud being winged, which is not the case with that we have described from Khorsabad. In the THE KING IN HIS CHARIOT. |