The meeting
"Samuel Johnson unexpectedly walked in. He was a large and growling sort of man who never suffered fools gladly, slovenly and nearsighted with a compulsive tic, scarred by scrofula, and ugly - a man who had suffered considerable adversity and had had to work heroically to survive in the London he loved. Boswell's heart heaved in his throat. Here at last in the flesh was the man whose Rambler essays he revered so much for years, the greatest literary figure of the age. 'Don't tell him where I come from,' he whispered urgently to (Thomas) Davies, knowing Johnson's 'moral antipathy' towards Scots. He had barely got the words out when Davies 'roguishly' introduced him as 'from Scotland'. Covering himself with 'I cannot help it,' Boswell elicited from this 'very big man' with 'uncouth' voice one of the most famous ripostes ever recorded: 'Sir, that, I find, is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help.'"
A Life of James Boswell
Peter Martin
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