Dr Johnson's TableTalk Author:James Boswell Subtitle: Containing Aphorisms on Literature, Life, and Manners; With Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons: Selected and Arranged From Mr. Boswell's Life of Johnson General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1798 Original Publisher: printed for C. Dilly Subjects: English literature Table-talk Maxims Anecdotes L... more »iterary Criticism / General Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Reference / Quotations Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: LAW, Mr. Bofwell exprefled his opinion, that the power of entailing fhould be limited thus: " That there fhould be one third, or perhaps one half, of the land of a country kept free for commeree ; that the proportion allowed to be entailed fhould be pareelled out fo that no family could entail above a certain quantity. Let a family, according to the abilities of its repre- fentatives, be richer or poorer in different generations, or always rich if its reprefentatives be always wife ; but let its ablelute permanency be moderate. In this way we fhould be certain of there being always a number of efta- blifhed roots ; and as, in the courfe of nature, there is in every age an extinction of fome families, there would be continual openings for men ambitious of perpetuity, to plant a ftock in the entail ground." -- Johnson. " Why, Sir, mankind will be better able to regulate the fyftem of entails, when the evil of too much land being locked up by them is felt, than we can do at prefent when it is not felt." PLAYERS. Dr. Johnson had thought more upon the fubjec t of acting than might be generally fup- pofed. pofed. Talking of it one day to Mr. Kemblev he faid, " Are you, Sir, one of thofe enthu- fiafts who believe yourfelf transf...« less