Johnson accompanied us, for the first time he has been invited of
our parties since my arrival." On the 20th November, she tells us
that Mrs. and the three Miss Thrales and herself got up early to
bathe. "We then returned home, and dressed by candle-light, and, _as
soon as we could get Dr. Johnson ready_, we set out upon our journey
in a coach and a chaise, and arrived in Argyll Street at dinner time.
Mrs. Thrale has there fixed her tent for this short winter, which
will end with the beginning of April, when her foreign journey takes
place."
One incident of this Brighton trip is mentioned in the "Anecdotes":
"We had got a little French print among us at Brighthelmstone, in
November 1782, of some people skaiting, with these lines written
under:
'Sur un mince chrystal l'hyver conduit leurs pas,
Le precipice est sous la glace;
Telle est de nos plaisirs la legere surface,
Glissez, mortels; n'appuyez pas.'
"And I begged translations from every body: Dr. Johnson gave me this:
'O'er ice the rapid skater flies,
With sport above and death below;
Where mischief lurks in gay disguise,
Thus lightly touch and quickly go.'
"He was, however, most exceedingly enraged when he knew that in the
course of the season I had asked half a dozen acquaintance to do the
same thing; and said, it was a piece of treachery, and done to make
every body else look little when compared to my favourite friends the
_Pepyses_, whose translations were unquestionably the best.
Pages:
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193