Show ON conversation 77 Jolin sona ala was really sabetai tai not the art of conversation has suffered in england from the example of its m most 0 famous m 0 us sers professor pr dr jo johnson u understood n d 0 0 1 it theoretically but even so only to a limited extent ile he was supposed to form his view of 0 it in accordance cor dance clance with the rule of 0 bacon says the nineteenth century in all kinds of speech whether pleasant braio severe or ordinary it Is convenient to speak leisurely ani and rath rather C r than hastily because hasty confounds the memory and oftentimes besides the unseemliness drives a man either to StAin stammering mering or nonplus or harping on that which should olter whereas a slow speech confor meth the memory nideth a conceit of wisdom to the hearers addieth a seemliness ot of speech and countenance this does not strike one as a model for him who would v either be b brilliant or agreeable and excludes naturalness which Is one of the greatest charms of conversation that johnson did not slavi slavishly y follow IBa bacans bacons ceas precept is very certain so far from being leisurely he jumped down the throats of all who disagreed with him you may be good natured sir said boswell with will unusual spirit but you are not good humored which the doctor had just plumed himself on being I 1 believe you would pardon ayour your opponents if they had time to deprecate your vengeance enge ance but punishment follows so quick after sentence that they cannot escape the idea of his ever being at a nonplus is ridiculous indeed though sometimes at a loss for a repartee from sheer indignation the rights of his little passage of arms with adam smith ar are P much disputed that he remarked ayou you are a liar seems tolerably certain but whether the other philosopher did retort in the quite unprintable and by no means pertinent words that are attributed to him is doubtful at all events the whole affair was not a good example of polite conversation johnsons great mistake was in confounding it with monologue we had good talk this evening he said on one occasion when returning from a party where scarcely any one had been able to get a word in edgeways except himself it if he had said 1 I had good talk the observation would have been faultless but ot of conversation such as he sincerely believed had taken place there had been none |