"The great," said Johnson, "had tried him and given him
up; they had seen enough of him and his reason was
pretty much to the purpose. "Great lords and great ladies
don't love to have their mouths stopped," especially not,
one may add, by an unwashed fist.

It is easy to blame them now. Everybody can see that
a saint in beggar's rags is intrinsically better than a sinner
in gold lace. But the principle is one of those which
serves us for judging the dead, much more than for
regulating our own conduct. Those, at any rate, may
throw the first stone at the Horace Walpoles and Chester-
fields, who are quite certain that they would ask a modern
Johnson to their houses. The trial would be severe. Poor
Mrs. Boswell complained grievously of her husband's
idolatry. "I have seen many a bear led by a man," she
said; "but I never before saw a man led by a bear." The
truth is, as Boswell explains, that the sage's uncouth
habits, such as turning the candles' heads downwards to
make them burn more brightly, and letting the wax drop
upon the carpet, "could not but be disagreeable to a lady."

He had other habits still more annoying to people of
delicate perceptions. A hearty despiser of all affectations,
he despised especially the affectation of indifference to
the pleasures of the table. "For my part," he said, "I
mind my belly very studiously and very carefully, for I
look upon it that he who does not mind his belly will
hardly mind anything else." Avowing this principle
he would innocently give himself the airs of a scientific
epicure. "I, madam," he said to the terror of a lady with
whom he was about to sup, "who live at a variety of good
tables, am a much better judge of cookery than any
person who has a very tolerable cook, but lives much at
home, for his palate is gradually adapted to the taste of

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