The only allusion to either of his
friends is:
"We went to Sansterre, a brewer. He brews with about as much malt as
Mr. Thrale, and sells his beer at the same price, though he pays no
duty for malt, and little more than half as much for beer. Beer is
sold retail at sixpence a bottle."
In a letter to Levet, dated Paris, Oct. 22, 1775, he says:
"We went to see the king and queen at dinner, and the queen was so
impressed by Miss, that she sent one of the gentlemen to inquire who
she was. I find all true that you have ever told me at Paris. Mr.
Thrale is very liberal, and keeps us two coaches, and a very fine
table; but I think our cookery very bad. Mrs. Thrale got into a
convent of English nuns, and I talked with her through the grate, and
I am very kindly used by the English Benedictine friars."
A striking instance of Johnson's occasional impracticability occurred
during this journey:
"When we were at Rouen together," says Mrs. Thrale, "he took a great
fancy to the Abbe Kofiette, with whom he conversed about the
destruction of the order of Jesuits, and condemned it loudly, as a
blow to the general power of the church, and likely to be followed
with many and dangerous innovations, which might at length become
fatal to religion itself, and shake even the foundation of
Christianity. The gentleman seemed to wonder and delight in his
conversation: the talk was all in Latin, which both spoke fluently,
and Mr. Johnson pronounced a long eulogium upon Milton with so much
ardour, eloquence, and ingenuity, that the abbe rose from his seat
and embraced him.
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