If I accustom a servant to tell a lie for _me_, have I not reason to
apprehend that he will tell many lies for _himself_.' I am, however,
satisfied that every servant, of any degree of intelligence, understands
saying his master is not at home, not at all as the affirmation of a
fact, but as customary words, intimating that his master wishes not to be
seen; so that there can be no bad effect from it.
[Page 437: Copyright in books. AEtat 54.]
Mr. Temple, now vicar of St. Gluvias, Cornwall[1294], who had been my
intimate friend for many years, had at this time chambers in
Farrar's-buildings, at the bottom of Inner Temple-lane, which he kindly
lent me upon my quitting my lodgings, he being to return to Trinity
Hall, Cambridge. I found them particularly convenient for me, as they
were so near Dr. Johnson's.
On Wednesday, July 20, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Dempster, and my uncle Dr.
Boswell, who happened to be now in London, supped with me at these
Chambers. JOHNSON. 'Pity is not natural to man. Children are always
cruel. Savages are always cruel. Pity is acquired and improved by the
cultivation of reason. We may have uneasy sensations from seeing a
creature in distress, without pity; for we have not pity unless we wish
to relieve them. When I am on my way to dine with a friend, and finding
it late, have bid the coachman make haste, if I happen to attend when he
whips his horses, I may feel unpleasantly that the animals are put to
pain, but I do not wish him to desist.
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