358 
I~ VOLTAIRE. 
Soon-after I had publifhed my ‘* Hiftorie 
Doubts on the reign of Richard IiJ.”’ Vol- 
taire happening to fee and like the book, 
fent mea letter, mentioning how much 
the work anfwered his ideas concernin g the 
. uncertainty of hiftory, as expreifed in his 
Hyfowe Generale. He added many praifes 
‘of my boek; and conchuided with entreat- 
ing My arti. 
As Thad, inthe preface to the Cafile of 
Oiranto, ridiculed Voltaire’s conduét to- 
wards Shak{pere, I thought it proper firft 
to fend Voltaire that book ; and let him 
underftand that, if after perufing it, he 
perfifted in offering me his azztie, I had no 
objections, but fhouid efteem myfelf 
henoured by the friendfhip of fo great a 
yan. 
Sometime after I received from my 
acquaintance the Dutchefs of Choifexl, at 
Paris, a letter, inclefing ene from Voltaire 
to her, wherein he faid that I had feht him 
2 beck, in the preface to which he was 
Joaded with reproaches, and all on ac- 
count de fen Bouffcn de Shakjperc®. He 
tated nothing of the real traniaction, but 
only mentioned the fending of the Caftle of 
Oiranto, as if this had been the very firft 
ftep. < 
LI. NEW IDEA OF A NOVEL. 
I am firmly convinced that a fory 
might be written, of which all the i: 
dents fhould appear fupernatural, yet 
tum out natural, 
{This remark was made in 1784.] 
LIi. COALS TO NEWCASTLE. 
The chief appreheniion of the Duke of 
Newcaftle, (the minifter), was that of 
catching cojd. Often in the heat of 
fummer the debates, in the Houle of 
Lords, would ftand ftill, till fome window 
were fhut, in confequence of the Duke’s 
erders. ‘The Peers:would all be melting 
in fweat, that the Duke might not cateh 
coid. 
When fir Jofeph Yorke was ambaffador 
at the Hague, a curious inftance hap- 
pened of this idleapprehenfion. The late 
King going to Hanover, the Duke muft 
go with him, that his foes might not in- 
jure him in his abfence. The day they 
were to pafs the fea, a meflenger came, at 
five o'clock in the morning, and drew fir 
Jofeph’s bed curtains. Sir jofeph farting, 
afked what was the matter. The man 
faid he came from the Duke of New- 
caftle. * For God’s fake, exclaimed fir 
Jofeph, what isit? Is the King ill?"” No. 
After feveral fruitlefs queftions, the 
— 

_* OF bis buffoon Shakfperc. 
load himfelf with bed-clothes. 
Walpeliana, No. Il. 
meffenger at length faid, ‘¢ the Duke fent 
me to fee you in bed, fer in this bed he 
means to fleep.” 
LIII. TWO MINISTERS. 
Mr. Pitt’s plan, when he had the gout, 
was to have .no fire in his room, but te 
At his 
houlfe at Hayes he fleeped in a long room; 
at oneend ct which was his bed, and his 
Jady’s at the other. His way was, when 
he thought the Duke of Newcaftle had 
fallen into any miftake, to fend for him, 
and read him a lecture. The Duke was 
fent for once, and came, when Mr. Pitt 
was confined to bed by the gout. There 
was, as ufual, no fire in the room; the 
day was very chilly and the Duke, as 
ufual, afraid of catching cold. The 
Duke firft fatdown on Mrs. Pitt’s bed, 
as the warmeft place; then drew up his 
legs into it, as he got colder. The lec- 
ture unluckily continuing a confiderable 
tirne, the Duke at length fairly lodged 
himfelf under Mrs. Pitt’s bed-clothes. 
A perfon, from whom [I had the ftory, 
fuddenly goitfg in, faw the two minifters 
in bed, at the two ends of the room, while 
Pitt’s long nofe, and black beard unfhaved 
for fome days, added to the grotefque ef ~ 
the fcene. 
LIV. DR. JOHNSON. 
reputation will be very lafting. His 
di€tionary is a furprifing work for one 
1an—but fuficient examples in foreign 
countries thew that the tafkis teo much 
for one man, and that a foeciety fhould 
alone pretend to publifha ftandard dic- 
tionary. In Johnion’s, dictionary, I can 
hardly find any thing J lock for. It is 
full of words no where elfe to be found; 
and wants numerous words occurring in 
good authors, In writing it is ufetul; 
as if one be doubtful in the choice of 2 
word, it difplays the authorities for its 
ufage. 
His eflays I deteft. are full 
of what I call friptology, or repeating the 
fame thing thrice over, fo that three papers 
to the fame effect might be made out of 
any one paper in the Rambler. He muft 
have had a bad heart—his ftory of the 
facrilege in his voyage to the Weftern 
iflands of Scotland is a lamentable in- 
ftance. 
LV. PHYSIOGNOMY. 
Lavater, in his Phyfiognomy, fays that 
Lord Anfon, from his countenance, muft 
have been a very wifeman. He was one 
of the moit fiupid men I'ever knew. 
LVI. INDOs 
