couldcaricaturemyownstylemuchbettermyself。’HedefendedhisremarkuponthegeneralinsufficiencyofeducationinScotland；andconfirmedtometheauthenticityofhiswittysayingonthelearningoftheScotch；——’Theirlearningislikebreadinabesiegedtown：everymangetsalittle，butnomangetsafullmeal。’’Thereissaidhe，inScotland，adiffusionoflearning，acertainportionofitwidelyandthinlyspread。Amerchanttherehasasmuchlearningasoneoftheirclergy。
NosoonerhadwemadeourbowtoMr。Cambridge，inhislibrary，thanJohnsonraneagerlytoonesideoftheroom，intentonporingoverthebacksofthebooks。SirJoshuaobserved，aside，’Herunstothebooks，asIdotothepictures：butIhavetheadvantage。Icanseemuchmoreofthepicturesthanhecanofthebooks。’Mr。Cambridge，uponthis，politelysaid，’Dr。Johnson，I
amgoing，withyourpardon，toaccusemyself，forIhavethesamecustomwhichIperceiveyouhave。Butitseemsoddthatoneshouldhavesuchadesiretolookatthebacksofbooks。’Johnson，everreadyforcontest，instantlystartedfromhisreverie，wheeledabout，andanswered，’Sir，thereasonisveryplain。Knowledgeisoftwokinds。Weknowasubjectourselves，orweknowwherewecanfindinformationuponit。Whenweenquireintoanysubject，thefirstthingwehavetodoistoknowwhatbookshavetreatedofit。
Thisleadsustolookatcatalogues，andthebacksofbooksinlibraries。’SirJoshuaobservedtometheextraordinarypromptitudewithwhichJohnsonflewuponanargument。’Yes，saidI，hehasnoformalpreparation，noflourishingwithhissword；heisthroughyourbodyinaninstant。’
Johnsonwasheresolacedwithanelegantentertainment，averyaccomplishedfamily，andmuchgoodcompany；amongwhomwasMr。