The house furnished no supper; but a woman attended
with mutton-pies, which any body might purchase. I was introduced to
this company by Cumming the Quaker[632], and used to go there sometimes
when I drank wine. In the last age, when my mother lived in London,
there were two sets of people, those who gave the wall, and those who
took it; the peaceable and the quarrelsome. When I returned to
Lichfield, after having been in London, my mother asked me whether I was
one of those who gave the wall, or those who took it. Now, it is fixed
that every man keeps to the right; or, if one is taking the wall,
another yields it, and it is never a dispute[633].' He was very severe
on a lady, whose name was mentioned. He said, he would have sent her to
St. Kilda. That she was as bad as negative badness could be, and stood
in the way of what was good: that insipid beauty would not go a great
way; and that such a woman might be cut out of a cabbage, if there was a
skilful artificer.
M'Leod was too late in coming to breakfast. Dr. Johnson said, laziness
was worse than the tooth-ach. BOSWELL. 'I cannot agree with you, Sir; a
bason of cold water or a horse whip will cure laziness.' JOHNSON. 'No,
Sir, it will only put off the fit; it will not cure the disease. I have
been trying to cure my laziness all my life, and could not do it.
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