“Eating supper is nothing. ’Tis drinking supper hurts a man.” 29th May, 1783. * * * * * “Mr. Burke said at Chelsea College dinner, a poor French cook was persecuted by the mob at Edinburgh as a Papist. Said young Burke, ‘They had taken him for a _frier_!’” * * * * * “At Chelsea College dinner, 29th May, 1783, Sir George Howard,[354] the Governor, drank to the memory of Charles the Second, the founder; and then to the glorious and immortal memory of William the Third, its last royal benefactor. Mr. Burke, who used to joke with Mr. Boswell as a friend to the House of Stewart, observed that no notice had been taken of James the Second, whose name is still inscribed upon the college as a benefactor. Mr. Boswell then said, merely from the connection of the word _medio_ with that prince as the _middle_ king who had promoted that institution, ‘Sir George, you are unmindful of _medio tutissimus ibis_.’ Sir George answered, very justly, ‘That is a maxim I think he did not understand.’” * * * * * “My friends are to me like the cinnamon tree, which produces nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon; not only do I get wisdom and worth out of them, but amusement. I use them as the Chinese do their animals; nothing is lost; there a very good dish is made of the poorest parts. So I make the follies of my friends serve as a dessert after their valuable qualities.” * * * * * “It is very disagreeable to hear a man going about a subject and about it, and hesitating, while one perceives what he means to say. Mental stammering hurts one as much as a stammering in speech.” Mrs. Boscawen,[355] 17th May, 1784. * * * * * “I was observing at Mr. Dilly’s how terrible an idea it was when Mr. Perry was going to the East Indies for ten years in quest of languages. Dr. Johnson said, with his wonderful shrewdness, ‘He went _to_ the East Indies. The question is, what did he go _from_?’” * * * * * “My only objection to living in London is that there is too much space and too little time.” 27th May 1784. * * * * * “I said Suard had a feeble venom spit-spit.” 1784. * * * * * “I told General Paoli that Dr. Johnson said Langton was first a talking man—then he would be a silent man. ‘All upon system, to be distinguished,’ said the General. ‘He wanted to go into the cave of Trophonius, and he went into that of Polyphemus’ (alluding to his being a disciple of Dr. Johnson).” 1784. * * * * * “My son Alexander,[356] one day in December [1783], when in a passion at his sister Phemie for something she had said, used this strong expression,—‘Phemie, if your tongue be not cut out, it will soon be full of lies.’” 1784.