264 Recollections of Dr. Johnson

with the following verses x , which I should not have taken the liberty to insert, had I not known that they had already appear'd in Print :

I lately thought no man alive Could ere improve past forty-five,

And ventured to assert it. The observation was not new, But seem'd to me so just and true

That none could controvert it.

• No, Sir, 3 says Johnson, ' 'tis not so,

'Tis your mistake, and I can show

An instance, if you doubt it. You, who perhaps are forty-eight, May still improve, 'tis not too late :

I wish you'd set about it.'

Encouraged thus to mend my faults,

I turned his councel \sic\ in my thoughts

Which way I could apply it; Genius I knew was past my reach, For who can learn what none can teach ?

And wit I could not buy it.

Then come, my friends, and try your skill; You may improve me if you will,

(My Books are at a Distance) ; With you I'll live and learn, and then Instead of books I shall read men,

So lend me your assistance.

Pear knight of Plympton 2 teach me how To suffer with unclouded Brow

And smile serene as thine, The jest uncouth and truth severe; Like thee to turn my deafest ear,

And calmly drink my wine.

Thou say'st not only skill is gain'd, But genius, too, may be attain'd,

By studious application 3 ; Thy temper mild, thy genius fine, I'll study till I make them mine

By constant meditation.

1 See Life, iv. 431, for various read- born at Plympton.

ings in these lines. 3 See ante, i. 314 n., and Life, ii.

2 Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was 437, n. 2.

Thy

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