’Youmaytranslatebooksofscienceexactly。Youmayalsotranslatehistory，insofarasitisnotembellishedwithoratory，whichispoetical。Poetry，indeed，cannotbetranslated；and，therefore，itisthepoetsthatpreservelanguages；forwewouldnotbeatthetroubletolearnalanguage，ifwecouldhaveallthatiswritteninitjustaswellinatranslation。Butasthebeautiesofpoetrycannotbepreservedinanylanguageexceptthatinwhichitwasoriginallywritten，welearnthelanguage。’
’Goldsmithhesaid，referredeverythingtovanity；hisvirtues，andhisvicestoo，werefromthatmotive。Hewasnotasocialman。
Heneverexchangedmindwithyou。’
WespenttheeveningatMr。Hoole’s。Mr。Mickle，theexcellenttranslatorofTheLusiad，wasthere。Ihavepreservedlittleoftheconversationofthisevening。Dr。Johnsonsaid，’Thomsonhadatruepoeticalgenius，thepowerofviewingeverythinginapoeticallight。Hisfaultissuchacloudofwordssometimes，thatthesensecanhardlypeepthrough。Shiels，whocompiledCibber’sLivesofthePoets，wasonedaysittingwithme。ItookdownThomson，andreadaloudalargeportionofhim，andthenasked，——Isnotthisfine？Shielshavingexpressedthehighestadmiration。
Well，Sir，saidI，Ihaveomittedeveryotherline。’