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Epilogue to his Satires (the Piece beginning: ‘Not twice a Twelvemonth you appear in Print.’), and had arrang’d for its Publication. On the very Day it appear’d, there was also publish’d a Satire in Imitation of Juvenal , intitul’d ‘ London ’, by the then unknown Johnson ; and this so struck the Town, that many Gentlemen of Taste declared, it was the Work of a greater Poet than Mr Pope . Notwithstanding what some Detractors have said of Mr Pope ’ s petty jealousy, he gave the Verses of his new Rival no small Praise; and having learnt thro’ Mr Richardson who the Poet was, told me, ‘that Mr Johnson wou’d soon be deterré ’.
    I had no personal Acquaintance with the Doctor till 1763, when I was presented to him at the Mitre Tavern by Mr James Boswell , a young Scotchman of excellent Family and great Learning, but small Wit, whose metrical Effusions I had sometimes revis’d.
    Dr Johnson , as I beheld him, was a full, pursy Man, very ill drest, and of slovenly Aspect. I recall him to have worn a bushy Bob-Wig, untyed and without Powder, and much too small for his Head. His cloaths were of rusty brown, much wrinkled, and with more than one Button missing. His Face, too full to be handsom, was likewise marred by the Effects of some scrofulous Disorder; and his Head was continually rolling about in a sort of convulsive way. Of this Infirmity, indeed, I had known before; having heard of it from Mr Pope , who took the Trouble to make particular Inquiries.
    Being nearly seventy-three, full nineteen Years older than Dr Johnson (I say Doctor, tho’ his Degree came not till two Years afterward), I naturally expected him to have some Regard for my Age; and was therefore not in that Fear of him, which others confess’d. On my asking him what he thought of my favourable Notice of his Dictionary in The Londoner , my periodical Paper, he said: ‘Sir, I possess no Recollection of having perus’d your Paper, and have not a great Interest in the Opinions of the less thoughtful Part of Mankind.’ Being more than a little piqued at the Incivility of one whose Celebrity made me solicitous of his Approbation, I ventur’d to retaliate in kind, and told him, I was surpris’d that a Man of Sense shou’d judge the Thoughtfulness of one whose Productions he admitted never having read. ‘Why, Sir,’ reply’d Johnson , ‘I do not require to become familiar with a Man’s Writings in order to estimate the Superficiality of his Attainments, when he plainly shews it by his Eagerness to mention his own Productions in the first Question he puts to me.’ Having thus become Friends, we convers’d on many Matters. When, to agree with him, I said I was distrustful of the Authenticity of Ossian ’ s Poems, Mr Johnson said: ‘That, Sir, does not do your Understanding particular Credit; for what all the Town is sensible of, is no great Discovery for a Grub-Street Critick to make. You might as well say, you have a strong Suspicion that Milton wrote Paradise Lost !’
    I thereafter saw Johnson very frequently, most often at Meetings of THE LITERARY CLUB, which was founded the next Year by the Doctor, together with Mr Burke , the parliamentary Orator, Mr Beauclerk , a Gentleman of Fashion, Mr Langton , a pious Man and Captain of Militia, Sir J. Reynolds , the widely known Painter, Dr Goldsmith , the prose and poetick Writer, Dr Nugent , father-in-law to Mr Burke , Sir John Hawkins , Mr Anthony Charmier , and my self. We assembled generally at seven o’clock of an Evening, once a Week, at the Turk ’ s-Head , in Gerrard-Street , Soho , till that Tavern was sold and made into a private Dwelling; after which Event we mov’d our Gatherings successively to Prince ’ s in Sackville-Street , Le Tellier ’ s in Dover-Street , and Parsloe ’ s and The Thatched House in St. James ’ s-Street . In these Meetings we preserv’d a remarkable Degree of Amity and Tranquillity, which contrasts very favourably with some of the Dissensions and