'Why, said he, I am not sorry, after
seeing these gentlemen; for they are not sorry.' Murison said, all
sorrow was bad, as it was murmuring against the dispensations of
Providence. JOHNSON. 'Sir, sorrow is inherent in humanity. As you cannot
judge two and two to be either five, or three, but certainly four, so,
when comparing a worse present state with a better which is past, you
cannot but feel sorrow.[194] It is not cured by reason, but by the
incursion of present objects, which wear out the past. You need not
murmur, though you are sorry.' MURISON. 'But St. Paul says, "I have
learnt, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content."' JOHNSON.
'Sir, that relates to riches and poverty; for we see St. Paul, when he
had a thorn in the flesh, prayed earnestly to have it removed; and then
he could not be content.' Murison, thus refuted, tried to be smart, and
drank to Dr. Johnson, 'Long may you lecture!' Dr. Johnson afterwards,
speaking of his not drinking wine, said, 'The Doctor spoke of
_lecturing_ (looking to him). I give all these lectures on water.'
He defended requiring subscription in those admitted to universities,
thus: 'As all who come into the country must obey the king, so all who
come into an university must be of the church[195].'
And here I must do Dr. Johnson the justice to contradict a very absurd
and ill-natured story, as to what passed at St.
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