I
unfortunately did not take a copy of it, as it originally stood; but I
have happily preserved every fragment of what Dr. Johnson wrote:--
Quisquis ades, viator[986],
Vel mente felix, vel studiis cultus,
Immorare paululum memoriae
TOBIAE SMOLLET, M.D.
Viri iis virtutibus
Quas in homine et cive
Et laudes, et imiteris,
Postquam mira--
Se ----
Tali tantoque viro, suo patrueli,
Hanc columnam,
Amoris eheu! inane monumentum,
In ipsis Leviniae ripis,
Quas primis infans vagitibus personuit,
Versiculisque jam fere moriturus illustravit[987],
Ponendam curavit[988].
We had this morning a singular proof of Dr. Johnson's quick and
retentive memory. Hay's translation of _Martial_ was lying in a window.
I said, I thought it was pretty well done, and shewed him a particular
epigram, I think, of ten, but am certain of eight, lines. He read it,
and tossed away the book, saying--'No, it is not pretty well.' As I
persisted in my opinion, he said, 'Why, Sir, the original is
thus,'--(and he repeated it;) 'and this man's translation is thus,'--and
then he repeated that also, exactly, though he had never seen it before,
and read it over only once, and that too, without any intention of
getting it by heart[989].
Here a post-chaise, which I had ordered from Glasgow, came for us, and
we drove on in high spirits.
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