...dearest, you are a dunce ; ' which unparliamentary stroke he afterwards handsomely withdrew, saying, ' with equal truth and politeness, ' ' Madam, if I had...thought so, I certainly should not have said it.' Posterity has happily reversed many of these rough-and-ready verdicts. The moralist someway never forgave...

...smiling, and rolling himself about, "that is, because, dearest, you're a dunce." When she some time afterwards mentioned this to him, he said, with equal...thought so, I certainly should not have said it." James Bosiuell II SHE was one of the most curious figures in the London Society of my girlish days....

...argument with the retort, ' Dearest, you're a dunce,' adding, when she reproached him afterwards, ' Madam, if I had thought so. I certainly should not have said it.' She was a lionhunter all her life and, beside the members of Johnson's circle, had known the Prince...

...to a party at Miss Monkton's, where he confesses, with a certain pride, he arrived intoxicated : " I had dined at the Duke of Montrose's with a very...according to his usual custom, had circulated the bottle freely. Lord Graham and I went together to Miss Monktons, where I certainly was in extraordinary spirits...

...dunce." When the lady remonstrated, later, at having been thus treated in her own house, he replied, " Madam, if I had thought so, I certainly should not have said it " — a plausible excuse which would have been sounder had it come from a man less famous for saying...

...be a mistake. Although Johnson called Miss Monckton " a dunce " to her face, yet "when she some time afterwards mentioned this to him, he said with equal...truth and politeness, 'Madam, if I had thought so, 1 certainly should not have said it.'" On the evening of Saturday, 15 May, 1784, Johnson told the Essex-Head...

...about, " that is because, dearest, you are a dunce." Afterwards she mentioned his remark to him. " Madam, if I had thought so, I certainly should not have said it." Such a man's conversation was irresistible. abuse everybody so much the instant they have turn'd their...

...smiling, and rolling himself about), that is because, "dearest, you are a dunce.' When she some time afterwards "mentioned this to him, he said, with equal...thought so, I certainly should not have said it.' " Boswell, who tells the story, puts the date at 1781. A year later, Madame d'Arblay, in her Diary...

...instance happened one evening, when she insisted that some of Sterne's writings were very pathetic. Johnson bluntly denied it. "I am sure (said she) they...equal truth and politeness; "Madam, if I had thought «o, I certainly should not have said it." Another evening Johnson's kind indulgence towards me had...

...dearest, you're a dunce." Some time afterwards, when the lady reminded him of this speech, he replied, "Madam, if I had thought so I certainly should not have said so." It seems to us that the great man ought to have enjoyed himself at the Blue assemblies, since...