OLIVER GOLDSMITH S LIFE AND TIMES. [BOOK in.
1763. love. That he represented a great Lincolnshire family, still
JEt. 35. living at their ancient seat of Langton, had not abridged
his merits in the philosopher's regard;* and when he went up
to Trinity-college Oxford, Johnson took occasion to visit
him there; and there made the acquaintance of his college
chum, and junior by two years, Topham Beauclerc, grandson
of the first Duke of St. Albans.f These two young men
had several qualities in common, — ready intellect, perfect
manners, great love of literature, and a thorough admira-
tion of Johnson; but, with these, such striking points
of difference, that Johnson could not comprehend their
intimacy when first he saw them together. It was not till
he discovered what a scorn of fools Beauclerc blended with
his love of folly, what virtues of the mind he set off against
his vices of the body, and with how much gaiety and wit he
carried off his licentiousness, that he became as fond of the
laughing rake as of his quiet contemplative companion. " I
" shall have my old friend to bail out of the round house,"
exclaimed Garrick, when he heard of it; and of an incident
in connexion with it, that occurred in the next Oxford vaca-
tion. His old friend had turned out of his chambers, ,at three
o'clock in the morning, to have a " frisk " with the young
" dogs ;"J had gone to a tavern in Covent Garden, and roared
of Young a pretty successful imitation of Johnson's style, when Burke instantly
opposed this vehemently, exclaiming, "No, no, it is not a good imitation of
"Johnson; it has all his pomp -without his force; it has all the nodosities of
"the oak without its strength." This was an image so happy, says Boswell,
that one might have thought he would have been satisfied with it; but he was
not. Setting his mind again to work, he added with exquisite felicity, '' It has
" all the contortions of the sibyl, without the inspiration." viii. 29.
* "I have heard him say, with pleasure, 'Langton, sir, has a grant of free-
" ' warren from Henry II.; and Cardinal Stephen Langton, in King John's reign,
"' was of this family.' " Baswett, i. 295.
t lUd, i. 295-298.
J One night when Beauclerk and Langton had supped at a tavern in London,
and sat till about three in the morning, it came into their heads to go and knock