DOWN THE ROAD 137 



The ladles were enchanted. "How he does talk! 

 Every sentence is an essay," said one. 



The younger one amused herself with knotting, and 

 Dr. Johnson informed her that, next to mere idleness, 

 he considered knotting came in the scale of insignificance. 



Idols are always prone to tumble down unexpectedly, 

 and the American ladies, who had listened spellbound 

 to the doftor's conversation, were considerably taken 

 aback when he flew into a passion because the coach 

 dinner was not to his liking. He roared at the waiter, 

 scolded him for the mutton, saying: "It is as bad as it 

 can be; it is ill-fed, ill-killed, ill-kept, and ill-dressed." 



On the return journey Dr. Johnson, being out of 

 temper, read Euripides and found fault with Boswell 

 for not looking out of the window and observing the 

 things on the road, saying: "If I had your eyes, sir, I 

 should count the passengers." 



Except that it was heresy to accuse Dr. Johnson of 

 levity, it would almost seem that he was thinking of the 

 Road game. This game enjoyed great popularity, for 

 it served to while away the time, and gave sporting 

 charafters a chance to bet. One player took the right 

 side of the road, the other the left; dogs, pigs, cats, 

 sheep, magpies, donkeys and various other things likely 

 to be met with had their relative number of points, the 

 game being played till one of the competitors scored a 

 hundred, or whatever number had been previously 

 settled on. 



"Being sworn in" at Highgate was another custom 

 which lightened the tedium of travel, and gave rise to 



