No man had a more ardent love of literature, or a higher respect for it
than Johnson. His apartment in Pembroke College was that upon the second
floor, over the gateway. The enthusiasts of learning will ever
contemplate it with veneration. One day, while he was sitting in it
quite alone, Dr. Panting[218], then master of the College, whom he called
'a fine Jacobite fellow,' overheard[219] him uttering this soliloquy in
his strong, emphatick voice: 'Well, I have a mind to see what is done in
other places of learning. I'll go and visit the Universities abroad.
I'll go to France and Italy. I'll go to Padua[220].--And I'll mind my
business. For an _Athenian_ blockhead is the worst of all
blockheads[221].'
[Page 73: Johnson a frolicksome fellow. AEtat 20.]
Dr. Adams told me that Johnson, while he was at Pembroke College, 'was
caressed and loved by all about him, was a gay and frolicksome[222]
fellow, and passed there the happiest part of his life.' But this is a
striking proof of the fallacy of appearances, and how little any of us
know of the real internal state even of those whom we see most
frequently; for the truth is, that he was then depressed by poverty, and
irritated by diseasc. When I mentioned to him this account as given me
by Dr. Adams, he said, 'Ah, Sir, I was mad and violent. It was
bitterness which they mistook for frolick[223]. I was miserably poor, and
I thought to fight my way by my literature and my wit; so I disregarded
all power and all authority[224].
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