Chapter 20

'Scarce had lamented Forbes paidThe tribute to his Minstrel's shade;The tale of friendship scarce was told,Ere the narrator's heart was cold—Far may we search before we findA heart so manly and so kind.'

It is only of late years thatForbeshas generally ceased to be a dissyllable.

[56]The saint's name ofVeronicawas introduced into our family through my great grandmother Veronica, Countess of Kincardine, a Dutch lady of the noble house of Sommelsdyck, of which there is a full account in Bayle'sDictionary. The family had once a princely right in Surinam. The governour of that settlement was appointed by the States General, the town of Amsterdam, and Sommelsdyck. The States General have acquired Sommelsdyck's right; but the family has still great dignity and opulence, and by intermarriages is connected with many other noble families. When I was at the Hague, I was received with all the affection of kindred. The present Sommelsdyck has an important charge in the Republick, and is as worthy a man as lives. He has honoured me with his correspondence for these twenty years. My great grandfather, the husband of Countess Veronica, was Alexander, Earl of Kincardine, that eminentRoyalistwhose character is given by Burnet in hisHistory of his own Times. From him the blood ofBruceflows in my veins. Of such ancestry who would not be proud? And, asNihil est, nisi hoc sciat alter, is peculiarly true of genealogy, who would not be glad to seize a fair opportunity to let it be known. BOSWELL. Boswell visited Holland in 1763.Ante, i. 473. Burnet says that 'the Earl was both the wisest and the worthiest man that belonged to his country, and fit for governing any affairs but his own; which he by a wrong turn, and by his love for the public, neglected to his ruin. His thoughts went slow and his words came much slower; but a deep judgment appeared in everything he said or did. I may be, perhaps, inclined to carry his character too far; for he was the first man that entered into friendship with me.' Burnet'sHistory, ed. 1818, i. III. 'The ninth Earl succeeded as fifth Earl of Elgin and thus united the two dignities.' Burke'sPeerage. Boswell's quotation is from Persius,Satires, i. 27: 'Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter.' It is the motto toThe Spectator, No. 379.

[57]She died four months after her father. I cannot find that she received this additional fortune.

[58]Seeante, ii. 47.

[59]Seeante, iv. 5, note 2.

[60]Seeante, iii. 231. Johnson (Works, ix. 33) speaks of 'the general dissatisfaction which is now driving the Highlanders into the other hemisphere.' This dissatisfaction chiefly arose from the fact that the chiefs were 'gradually degenerating from patriarchal rulers to rapacious landlords.'Ib.p. 86. 'That the people may not fly from the increase of rent I know not whether the general good does not require that the landlords be, for a time, restrained in their demands, and kept quiet by pensions proportionate to their loss.... It affords a legislator little self-applause to consider, that where there was formerly an insurrection there is now a wilderness.'Ib.p. 94. 'As the world has been let in upon the people, they have heard of happier climates and less arbitrary government.'Ib.p. 128.

[61]'To a man that ranges the streets of London, where he is tempted to contrive wants for the pleasure of supplying them, a shop affords no image worthy of attention; but in an island it turns the balance of existence between good and evil. To live in perpetual want of little things is a state, not indeed of torture, but of constant vexation. I have in Sky had some difficulty to find ink for a letter; and if a woman breaks her needle, the work is at a stop.'Ib.p. 127.

[62]'It was demolished in 1822.' Chambers'sTraditions of Edinburgh, i. 215.

[63]'The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.'Psalms, xcvii.1.

[64]A brief memoir of Mr. Carre is given in Forbes'sLife of Beattie, Appendix Z.

[65]It was his daughter who gave the name to the new street in which Hume had taken a house by chalking on his wall ST. DAVID STREET. 'Hume's "lass," judging that it was not meant in honour or reverence, ran into the house much excited, to tell her master how he was made game of. "Never mind, lassie," he said; "many a better man has been made a saint of before."' J.H. Burton'sHume, ii. 436.

[66]The House of Lords reversed the decision of the Court of Session in this cause. Seeante, ii.50, 230.

[67]Ogden was Woodwardian Professor at Cambridge. The sermons were published in 1770. Boswell mentions them so often that in Rowlandson's caricatures of the tour he is commonly represented as having them in his hand or pocket. Seeante, iii. 248.

[68]'Talking of the eminent writers in Queen Anne's reign, Johnson observed, "I think Dr. Arbuthnot the first man among them.'"Ante, i. 425.

[69]'We found that by the interposition of some invisible friend lodgings had been provided for us at the house of one of the professors, whose easy civility quickly made us forget that we were strangers.'Works, ix. 3.

[70]He is referring to Beattie'sEssay on Truth. Seepost, Oct. 1, andante, ii. 201.

[71]Seeante, ii. 443, where Johnson, again speaking of Hume, and perhaps of Gibbon, says:—'When a man voluntarily engages in an important controversy, he is to do all he can to lessen his antagonist, because authority from personal respect has much weight with most people, and often more than reasoning.'

[72]Johnson, in his Dictionary, callsbubble'a cant [slang] word.'

[73]Boswell wrote to Temple in 1768:—'David [Hume] is really amiable: I always regret to him his unlucky principles, and he smiles at my faith; but I have a hope which he has not, or pretends not to have. So who has the best of it, my reverend friend?'Letters of Boswell, p.151. Dr. A. Carlyle (Auto. pp. 274-5) says:—'Mr. Hume gave both elegant dinners and suppers, and the best claret, and, which was best of all, he furnished the entertainment with the most instructive and pleasing conversation, for he assembled whosoever were most knowing and agreeable among either the laity or clergy. For innocent mirth and agreeable raillery I never knew his match....He took much to the company of the younger clergy, not from a wish to bring them over to his opinions, for he never attempted to overturn any man's principles, but they best understood his notions, and could furnish him with literary conversation.'

[74]No doubt they were destroyed with Boswell's other papers.Ante, iii.301, note 1.

[75]This letter, though shattered by the sharp shot of Dr.HorneofOxford'swit, in the character ofOne of the People called Christians, is still prefixed to Mr. Hume's excellentHistory of England, like a poor invalid on the piquet guard, or like a list of quack medicines sold by the same bookseller, by whom a work of whatever nature is published; for it has no connection with hisHistory, let it have what it may with what are called hisPhilosophicalWorks. A worthy friend of mine in London was lately consulted by a lady of quality, of most distinguished merit, what was the best History of England for her son to read. My friend recommended Hume's. But, upon recollecting that its usher was a superlative panegyrick on one, who endeavoured to sap the credit of our holy religion, he revoked his recommendation. I am really sorry for this ostentatiousalliance; because I admireThe Theory of Moral Sentiments, and value the greatest part ofAn Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Why should such a writer be so forgetful of human comfort, as to give any countenance to that dreary infidelity which would make us poor indeed?' ['makes me poor indeed.'Othello, act iii. sc.3]. BOSWELL. Dr. Horne's book is entitled,A Letter to Adam Smith, LL.D., On the Life, Death, and Philosophy of his Friend David Hume, Esq. By one of the People called Christians. Its chief wit is in the Preface. The bookseller mentioned in this note was perhaps Francis Newbery, who succeeded his father, Goldsmith's publisher, as a dealer in quack medicines and books. They dealt in 'over thirty different nostrums,' and published books of every nature. Of the father Johnson said:—'Newbery is an extraordinary man, for I know not whether he has read or written most books.' He is the original of 'Jack Whirler' inThe Idler, No. 19.A Bookseller of the Last Century, pp. 22, 73.

[76]Hume says that his first work, hisTreatise of Human Nature, 'felldead-born from the press.' Auto.p.3. HisEnquiry concerning Human Understanding'was entirely overlooked and neglected.'Ib. p.4. HisEnquiry concerning the Principles of Morals'came unnoticed and unobserved into the world.'Ib. p.5. The first volume of hisHistory of Englandcertainly met with numerous assailants; but 'after the first ebullitions of their fury were over, what was still more mortifying, the book seemed to sink into oblivion. Mr. Millar told me,' he continues, 'that in a twelvemonth he sold only forty-five copies of it...I was I confess, discouraged, and had not the war at that time been breaking out between France and England, I had certainly retired to some provincial town of the former kingdom, have changed my name, and never more have returned to my native country.'Ib. p.6. Only one of his works, hisPolitical Discourses, was 'successful on the first publication.'Ib. p.5. By the time he was turned fifty, however, his books were selling very well, and he had become 'not only independent but opulent.' Ib. p. 8. A few weeks before he died he wrote: 'I see many symptoms of my literary reputation's breaking out at last with additional lustre.'Ib. p.10.

[77]Psalms, cxix. 99.

[78]We learn,post, Oct. 29, that Robertson was cautious in his talk, though we see here that he had much more courage than the professors of Aberdeen or Glasgow.

[79]This was one of the points upon which Dr. Johnson was strangely heterodox. For, surely, Mr. Burke, with his other remarkable qualities, is also distinguished for his wit, and for wit of all kinds too: not merely that power of language which Pope chooses to denominate wit:—

(True wit is Nature to advantage drest;What oft was thought, but ne'er so well exprest.)

[Pope's Essay on Criticism, ii. 297.] but surprising allusions, brilliant sallies of vivacity, and pleasant conceits. His speeches in parliament are strewed with them. Take, for instance, the variety which he has given in his wide range, yet exact detail, when exhibiting his Reform Bill. And his conversation abounds in wit. Let me put down a specimen. I told him, I had seen, at aBlue stockingassembly, a number of ladies sitting round a worthy and tall friend of ours, listening to his literature. 'Ay, (said he) like maids round a May-pole.' I told him, I had found out a perfect definition of human nature, as distinguished from the animal. An ancient philosopher said, Man was 'a two-legged animal without feathers,' upon which his rival Sage had a Cock plucked bare, and set him down in the school before all the disciples, as a 'Philosophick Man.' Dr. Franklin said, Man was 'a tool-making animal,' which is very well; for no animal but man makes a thing, by means of which he can make another thing. But this applies to very few of the species. My definition ofManis, 'a Cooking animal.' The beasts have memory, judgment, and all the faculties and passions of our mind in a certain degree; but no beast is a cook. The trick of the monkey using the cat's paw to roast a chestnut, is only a piece of shrewd malice in thatturpissima bestia, which humbles us so sadly by its similarity to us. Man alone can dress a good dish; and every man whatever is more or less a cook, in seasoning what he himself eats. Your definition is good, said Mr. Burke, and I now see the full force of the common proverb, 'There isreasonin roasting of eggs.' When Mr. Wilkes, in his days of tumultuous opposition, was borne upon the shoulders of the mob, Mr. Burke (as Mr. Wilkes told me himself, with classical admiration,) applied to him whatHoracesays ofPindar,

...numerisque ferturLEGEsolutis. [Odes, iv. 2. 11.]

Sir Joshua Reynolds, who agrees with me entirely as to Mr. Burke's. fertility of wit, said, that this was 'dignifying a pun.' He also observed, that he has often heard Burke say, in the course of an evening, ten good things, each of which would have served a noted wit (whom he named) to live upon for a twelvemonth. I find, since the former edition, that some persons have objected to the instances which I have given of Mr. Burke's wit, as not doing justice to my very ingenious friend; the specimens produced having, it is alleged, more of conceit than real wit, and being merely sportive sallies of the moment, not justifying the encomium which, they think with me, he undoubtedly merits. I was well aware, how hazardous it was to exhibit particular instances of wit, which is of so airy and spiritual a nature as often to elude the hand that attempts to grasp it. The excellence and efficacy of abon motdepend frequently so much on the occasion on which it is spoken, on the particular manner of the speaker, on the person to whom it is applied, the previous introduction, and a thousand minute particulars which cannot be easily enumerated, that it is always dangerous to detach a witty saying from the group to which it belongs, and to set it before the eye of the spectator, divested of those concomitant circumstances, which gave it animation, mellowness, and relief. I ventured, however, at all hazards, to put down the first instances that occurred to me, as proofs of Mr. Burke's lively and brilliant fancy; but am very sensible that his numerous friends could have suggested many of a superior quality. Indeed, the being in company with him, for a single day, is sufficient to shew that what I have asserted is well founded; and it was only necessary to have appealed to all who know him intimately, for a complete refutation of the heterodox opinion entertained by Dr. Johnson on this subject.Heallowed Mr. Burke, as the reader will find hereafter [post. Sept.15 and 30], to be a man of consummate and unrivalled abilities in every light except that now under consideration; and the variety of his allusions, and splendour of his imagery, have made such an impression onall the restof the world, that superficial observers are apt to overlook his other merits, and to suppose thatwitis his chief and most prominent excellence; when in fact it is only one of the many talents that he possesses, which are so various and extraordinary, that it is very difficult to ascertain precisely the rank and value of each. BOSWELL. For Malone's share in this note, seeante, iii. 323, note 2. For Burke's Economical Reform Bill, which was brought in on Feb. 11, 1780, see Prior'sBurke, p.184. ForBlue Stocking, seeante, iv. 108. The 'tall friend of ours' was Mr. Langton (ante, i. 336). For Franklin's definition, seeante, iii. 245, and for Burke's classical pun,ib. p. 323. For Burke's 'talent of wit,' seeante, i. 453, iii. 323, iv. May 15, 1784, andpost, Sept. 15.

[80]Seeante, iv. 27, where Burke said:—'It is enough for me to have rung the bell to him [Johnson].'

[81]Seeante, vol. iv, May 15, 1784.

[82]Prior (Life of Burke, pp.31, 36) says that 'from the first his destination was the Bar.' His name was entered at the Middle Temple in 1747, but he was never called. Why he gave up the profession his biographer cannot tell.

[83]Seeante, ii. 437, note 2.

[84]Seeante, i. 78, note 2.

[85]That cannot be said now, after the flagrant part which Mr.John Wesleytook against our American brethren, when, in his own name, he threw amongst his enthusiastick flock, the very individual combustibles of Dr.Johnson's Taxation no Tyranny; and after the intolerant spirit which he manifested against our fellow-christians of the Roman Catholick Communion, for which that able champion, FatherO'Leary, has given him so hearty a drubbing. But I should think myself very unworthy, if I did not at the same time acknowledge Mr. John Wesley's merit, as a veteran 'Soldier of Jesus Christ' [2Timothy, ii. 3], who has, I do believe, 'turned many from darkness into light, and from the power ofSatanto the living GOD' [Acts, xxvi. 18]. BOSWELL. Wesley wrote on Nov. 11, 1775 (Journal, iv. 56), 'I made some additions to theCalm Address to our American Colonies. Need any one ask from what motive this was wrote? Let him look round; England is in a flame! a flame of malice and rage against the King, and almost all that are in authority under him. I labour to put out this flame.' He wrote a few days later:—'As to reviewers, news-writers,London Magazines, and all that kind of gentlemen, they behave just as I expected they would. And let them lick up Mr. Toplady's spittle still; a champion worthy of their cause.'Journal, p. 58. In a letter published in Jan. 1780, he said:—'I insist upon it, that no government, not Roman Catholic, ought to tolerate men of the Roman Catholic persuasion. They ought not to be tolerated by any government, Protestant, Mahometan, or Pagan.' To this the Rev. Arthur O'Leary replied with great wit and force, in a pamphlet entitled,Remarks on the Rev. Mr. Wesley's Letters. Dublin, 1780. Wesley (Journal, iv. 365) mentions meeting O'Leary, and says:—'He seems not to be wanting either in sense or learning.' Johnson wrote to Wesley on Feb. 6, 1776 (Croker'sBoswell, p. 475), 'I have thanks to return you for the addition of your important suffrage to my argument on the American question. To have gained such a mind as yours may justly confirm me in my own opinion. What effect my paper has upon the public, I know not; but I have no reason to be discouraged. The lecturer was surely in the right, who, though he saw his audience slinking away, refused to quit the chair while Plato staid.'

[86]'Powerful preacher as he was,' writes Southey, 'he had neither strength nor acuteness of intellect, and his written compositions are nearly worthless.' Southey'sWesley,i. 323. Seeante, ii. 79.

[87]Mr. Burke. Seeante, ii. 222, 285, note 3, and iii. 45.

[88]If due attention were paid to this observation, there would be more virtue, even in politicks. What Dr. Johnson justly condemned, has, I am sorry to say, greatly increased in the present reign. At the distance of four years from this conversation, 21st February, 1777, My Lord Archbishop of York, in his 'sermon before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts,' thus indignantly describes the then state of parties:—'Parties once had aprinciplebelonging to them, absurd perhaps, and indefensible, but still carrying a notion ofduty, by which honest minds might easily be caught. 'But there are nowcombinationsofindividuals, who, instead of being the sons and servants of the community, make a league for advancing theirprivate interests. It is their business to hold high the notion ofpolitical honour. I believe and trust, it is not injurious to say, that such a bond is no better than that by which the lowest and wickedest combinations are held together; and that it denotes the last stage of political depravity.' To find a thought, which just shewed itself to us from the mind ofJohnson, thus appearing again at such a distance of time, and without any communication between them, enlarged to full growth in the mind ofMarkham, is a curious object of philosophical contemplation.—That two such great and luminous minds should have been so dark in one corner,—thattheyshould have held it to be 'Wicked rebellion in the British subjects established in America, to resist the abject condition of holding all their property at the mercy of British subjects remaining at home, while their allegiance to our common Lord the King was to be preserved inviolate,—is a striking proof to me, either that 'He who sitteth in Heaven' [Psalms, ii.4] scorns the loftiness of human pride,—or that the evil spirit, whose personal existence I strongly believe, and even in this age am confirmed in that belief by aFell, nay, by aHurd, has more power than some choose to allow. BOSWELL. Horace Walpole writing on June 10, 1778, after censuring Robertson for sneering at Las Casas, continues:—'Could Archbishop Markham in a Sermon before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel by fire and sword paint charity in more contemptuous terms? It is a Christian age.'Letters, vii.81. It was Archbishop Markham to whom Johnson made the famous bow;ante, vol. iv, just before April 10, 1783. John Fell published in 1779Demoniacs; an Enquiry into the Heathen and Scripture Doctrine of Daemons. For Hurd seeante, under June 9,1784.

[89]See Forster'sEssays, ii 304-9. Mr. Forster often quotes Cooke in hisLife of Goldsmith. He describes him (i. 58) as 'ayoungIrish law student who had chambers near Goldsmith in the temple.' Goldsmith did not reside in the temple till 1763 (ib. p.336), and Cooke was old enough to have published hisHesiodin 1728, and to have found a place inThe Dunciad(ii. 138). See Elwin and Courthope'sPope, x. 212, for his correspondence with Pope.

[90]It may be observed, that I sometimes call my great friend,Mr. Johnson, sometimesDr. Johnson: though he had at this time a doctor's degree from Trinity College, Dublin. The University of Oxford afterwards conferred it upon him by a diploma, in very honourable terms. It was some time before I could bring myself to call him Doctor; but, as he has been long known by that title, I shall give it to him in the rest of this Journal. BOSWELL. Seeante, i. 488, note 3, and ii. 332, note I.

[91]InThe Idler, No. viii, Johnson has the following fling at tragedians. He had mentioned the terror struck into our soldiers by the Indian war-cry, and he continues:—'I am of opinion that by a proper mixture of asses, bulls, turkeys, geese, and tragedians a noise might be procured equally horrid with the war-cry.' Seeante, ii.92.

[92]Tom Jones, Bk. xvi. chap. 5. Mme. Necker in a letter to Garrick said:—'Nos acteurs se métamorphosent assez bien, mais Monsieur Garrick fait autre chose; il nous métamorphose tous dans le caractère qu'il a revêtu;nous sommes remplis de terreur avec Hamlet,' &c.Garrick Corres. ii. 627.

[93]Seeante, i. 432, and ii. 278.

[94]Seeante, ii. 11.

[95]Euphan M'Cullan (not Eupham Macallan) is mentioned in Dalrymple's [Lord Hailes]Remarks on the History of Scotland, p. 254. She maintained that 'she seldom ever prayed but she got a positive answer.' The minister of her parish was ill. 'She prayed, and got an answer that for a year's time he should be spared; and after the year's end he fell sick again.' 'I went,' said she, 'to pray yet again for his life; but the Lord left me not an mouse's likeness (a proverbial expression, meaningto reprove with such severity that the person reproved shrinks and becomes abashed), and said, 'Beast that thou art! shall I keep my servant in pain for thy sake?' And when I said, 'Lord, what then shall I do?' He answered me, 'He was but a reed that I spoke through, and I will provide another reed to speak through.' Dalrymple points out that it was a belief in these 'answers from the Lord' that led John Balfour and his comrades to murder Archbishop Sharp.

[96]R. Chambers, in hisTraditions, speaking of the time of Johnson's visit, says (i. 21) on the authority of 'an ancient native of Edinburgh that people all knew each other by sight. The appearance of a new face upon the streets was at once remarked, and numbers busied themselves in finding out who and what the stranger was.'

[97]It was on this visit to the parliament-house, that Mr. Henry Erskine (brother of Lord Erskine), after being presented to Dr. Johnson by Mr. Boswell, and having made his bow, slipped a shilling into Boswell's hand, whispering that it was for the sight of hisbear.WALTER SCOTT.

[98]This is one of the Libraries entitled to a copy of every new work published in the United Kingdom. Hume held the office of librarian at a salary of £40 a year from 1752 to 1757. J.H. Burton'sHume, i.367, 373.

[99]The Edinburgh oyster-cellars were calledlaigh shops. Chambers'sTraditions, ii. 268.

[100]This word is commonly used to signifysullenly, gloomily; and in that sense alone it appears in Dr. Johnson'sDictionary. I suppose he meant by it, 'with anobstinate resolution, similar to that of a sullen man.' BOSWELL. Southey wrote to Scott:—'Give me more lays, and correct them at leisure for after editions—not laboriously, but when the amendment comes naturally and unsought for. It never does to sit down doggedly tocorrect.' Southey'sLife, iii. 126. Seeante, i. 332, for the influence of seasons on composition.

[101]Boswell,post, Nov. 1, writes of 'old Scottishenthusiasm,' again italicising these two words.

[102]Seeante, iii. 410.

[103]Seeante, i. 354.

[104]Cockburn (Life of Jeffrey, i. 182) writing of the beginning of this century, describes how the General Assembly 'met in those days, as it had done for about 200 years, in one of the aisles of the then grey and venerable cathedral of St. Giles. That plain, square, galleried apartment was admirably suited for the purpose; and it was more interesting from the men who had acted in it, and the scenes it had witnessed, than any other existing room in Scotland. It had beheld the best exertions of the best men in the kingdom ever since the year 1640. Yet was it obliterated in the year 1830 with as much indifference as if it had been of yesterday; and for no reason except a childish desire for new walls and change.'

[105]I have hitherto called him Dr. William Robertson, to distinguish him from Dr. James Robertson, who is soon to make his appearance. ButPrincipal, from his being the head of our college, is his usual designation, and is shorter: so I shall use it hereafter. BOSWELL.

[106]The dirtiness of the Scotch churches is taken off inThe Tale of a Tub, sect. xi:—'Neither was it possible for the united rhetoric of mankind to prevail with Jack to make himself clean again.' InHumphry Clinker(Letter of Aug. 8) we are told that 'the good people of Edinburgh no longer think dirt and cobwebs essential to the house of God.' Bishop Horne (Essays and Thoughts, p. 45) mentioning 'the maxim laid down in a neighbouring kingdom thatcleanliness is not essential to devotion,' continues, 'A Church of England lady once offered to attend the Kirk there, if she might be permitted to have the pew swept and lined. "The pew swept and lined!" said Mess John's wife, "my husband would think it downright popery."' In 1787 he wrote that there are country churches in England 'where, perhaps, three or four noble families attend divine service, which are suffered year after year to be in a condition in which not one of those families would suffer the worst room in their house to continue for a week.'Essays and Thoughts, p. 271.

[107]'Hume recommended Fergusson's friends to prevail on him to suppress the work as likely to be injurious to his reputation.' When it had great success he said that his opinion remained the same. He had heard Helvetius and Saurin say that they had told Montesquieu that he ought to suppress hisEsprit des Lois. They were still convinced that their advice was right. J. H. Burton'sHume, ii. 385-7. It was at Fergusson's house thirteen years later that Walter Scott, a lad of fifteen, saw Burns shed tears over a print by Bunbury of a soldier lying dead on the snow. Lockhart'sScott, i. 185. Seeib. vii. 61, for an anecdote of Fergusson.

[108]They were pulled down in 1789. Murray'sHandbook for Scotland, ed. 1883, p. 60.

[109]Seeante, ii. 128.

[110]Seeante, iii. 357, andpost, Johnson'sTour into Wales, Aug. 1, 1774.

[111]

'There where no statesman buys,no bishop sells;A virtuous palace where nomonarch dwells.'

An Epitaph. Hamilton's Poems, ed. 1760, p. 260. Seeante, iii. 150.

[112]The stanza from which he took this line is,

'But then rose up all Edinburgh,They rose up by thousands three;A cowardly Scot came John behind,And ran him through the fair body!'

[113]Johnson described her as 'an old lady, who talks broad Scotch with a paralytick voice, and is scarce understood by her own countrymen.'Piozzi Letters, i.109. Lord Shelburne says that 'her husband, the last Duke, could neither read nor write without great difficulty.' Fitzmaurice'sShelburne, i. 11. Dr. A. Carlyle (Auto. p. 107) says that in 1745 he heard her say:—'I have sworn to be Duchess of Douglas or never to mount a marriage bed.' She married the Duke in 1758. R. Chambers wrote in 1825:—'It is a curious fact that sixty years ago there was scarcely a close in the High Street but what had as many noble inhabitants as are at this day to be found in the whole town.'Traditions of Edinburgh, ed. 1825, i. 72.

[114]See ante, ii. 154, note 1.

[115]Lord Chesterfield wrote from London on Dec. 16, 1760 (Misc. Works, iv. 291):—'I question whether you will ever see my friend George Faulkner in Ireland again, he is become so great and considerable a man here in the republic of letters; he has a constant table open to all men of wit and learning, and to those sometimes who have neither. I have been able to get him to dine with me but twice.'

[116]Dr. Johnson one evening roundly asserted in his rough way that "Swift was a shallow fellow; a very shallow fellow." Mr. Sheridan replied warmly but modestly, "Pardon me, Sir, for differing from you, but I always thought the Dean a very clear writer." Johnson vociferated "All shallows are clear."'Town and Country Mag. Sept. 1769.Notes and Queries, Jan. 1855, p. 62. Seeante, iv. 61.

[117]'The Memoirs of Scriblerus,' says Johnson (Works, viii. 298), 'seem to be the production of Arbuthnot, with a few touches, perhaps, by Pope.' Swift also was concerned in it. Johnson goes on to shew why 'this joint production of three great writers has never obtained any notice from mankind.' Arbuthnot was the author ofJohn Bull. Swift wrote to Stella on May 10, 1712:—'I hope you readJohn Bull. It was a Scotch gentleman, a friend of mine, that wrote it; but they put it upon me.' Seeante, i. 425.

[118]Seeante, i. 452, and ii. 318.

[119]Horace,Satires. I. iii. 19.

[120]Seeante, i. 396, and ii. 298.

[121]Seeante, ii. 74.

[122]'At supper there was such conflux of company that I could scarcely support the tumult. I have never been well in the whole journey, and am very easily disordered.'Piozzi Letters, i. 109.

[123]Seeante, iv. 17, and under June 9, 1784.

[124]Johnson was thinking of Sir Matthew Hale for one.

[125]'It is supposed that there were no executions for witchcraft in England subsequently to the year 1682; but the Statute of I James I, c. 12, so minute in its enactments against witches, was not repealed till the 9 Geo. II, c. 5. In Scotland, so late as the year 1722, when the local jurisdictions were still hereditary [seepost, Sept. 11], the sheriff of Sutherlandshire condemned a witch to death.'Penny Cyclo. xxvii. 490. In the Bishopric of Wurtzburg, so late as 1750, a nun was burnt for witchcraft: 'Cette malheureuse fille soutint opiniâtrément qu'elle était sorcière.... Elle était folle, ses juges furent imbécilles et barbares.' Voltaire'sWorks, ed. 1819, xxvi. 285.

[126]A Dane wrote to Garrick from Copenhagen on Dec. 23, 1769:—'There is some of our retinue who, not understanding a word of your language, mimic your gesture and your action: so great an impression did it make upon their minds, the scene of daggers has been repeated in dumb show a hundred times, and those most ignorant of the English idiom can cry out with rapture, "A horse, a horse; my kingdom for a horse!"'Garrick Corres.i. 375. Seeante, vol. iv. under Sept. 30, 1783

[127]Seeante, i. 466.

[128]Johnson, in the preface to hisDictionary(Works, v. 43), after stating what he had at first planned, continues:—'But these were the dreams of a poet doomed at last to wake a lexicographer.' Seeante, i. 189, note 2, and May I, 1783.

[129]See his letter on this subject in the APPENDIX. BOSWELL. He had been tutor to Hume's nephew and was one of Hume's friends. J.H Burton'sHume, ii. 399.

[130]By the Baron d'Holbach. Voltaire (Works, xii. 212) describes this book as 'UnePhilippiquecontre Dieu.' He wrote to M. Saurin:—'Ce maudit livre du Système de la Nature est un péché contre nature. Je vous sais bien bon gré de réprouver l'athéisme et d'aimer ce vers: "Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer." Je suis rarement content de mes vers, mais j'avoue que j'ai une tendresse de père pour celui-là.'Ib. v. 418.

[131]One of Garrick's correspondents speaks of 'the sneer of one of Johnson's ghastly smiles.'Garrick Corres. i. 334. 'Ghastly smile' is borrowed fromParadise Lost, ii. 846.

[132]Seeante, iii. 212. In Chambers'sTraditions of Edinburgh, ii. 158, is given a comic poem entitledThe Court of Session Garland, written by Boswell, with the help, it was said, of Maclaurin.

[133]Dr. John Gregory, Professor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, died on Feb. 10 of this year. It was his eldest son James who met Johnson. 'This learned family has given sixteen professors to British Universities.' Chalmers'sBiog. Dict.xvi. 289.

[134]Seeante, i. 257, note 3.

[135]Seeante, i. 228.

[136]Seeante, ii. 196.

[137]In the original,cursed the form that, &c. Johnson'sWorks, i.21.

[138]Mistress of Edward IV. BOSWELL.

[139]Mistress of Louis XIV. BOSWELL. Voltaire, speaking of the King and Mlle. de La Vallière (not Valiere, as Lord Hailes wrote her name), says:—'Il goûta avec elle le bonheur rare d'être aimé uniquement pour lui-même.'Siècle de Louis XIV, ch. 25. He describes her penitence in a fine passage.Ib.ch. 26.

[140]Malone, in a note on theLife of Boswellunder 1749, says that 'this lady was not the celebrated Lady Vane, whose memoirs were given to the public by Dr. Smollett [inPeregrine Pickle], but Anne Vane, who was mistress to Frederick Prince of Wales, and died in 1736, not long before Johnson settled in London.' She is mentioned in a note to Horace Walpole'sLetters, 1. cxxxvi.

[141]Catharine Sedley, the mistress of James II, is described by Macaulay,Hist of Eng.ed. 1874, ii. 323.

[142]Dr. A Carlyle (Auto.p. 114) tells how in 1745 he found 'Professor Maclaurin busy on the walls on the south side of Edinburgh, endeavoring to make them more defensible [against the Pretender]. He had even erected some small cannon.' Seeante, iii, 15, for a ridiculous story told of him by Goldsmith.

[143]

'Crudelis ubiqueLuctus, ubique pavor, et plurimamortis imago:''grim grief on every side,And fear on every side there is,and many-faced is death.'

Morris, VirgilAeneids, ii. 368.

[144]Mr. Maclaurin's epitaph, as engraved on a marble tomb-stone, in the Grey-Friars church-yard, Edinburgh:—

Infra situs estCOLIN MACLAURIN,Mathes. olim in Acad. Edin. Prof.Electus ipso Newtono suadente.H.L.P.F.Non ut nomini paterno consulat,Nam tali auxilio nil eget;Sed ut in hoc infelici campo,Ubi luctus regnant et pavor,Mortalibus prorsus non absit solatium;Hujus enim scripta evolve,Mentemque tantarum rerum capacemCorpori caduco superstitem crede.BOSWELL.

[145]Seeante, i. 437, andpost, p. 72.

[146]

'What is't to us, if taxes rise or fall,Thanks to our fortune we pay none at all.No statesman e'er will find it worth his painsTo tax our labours and excise our brains.Burthens like these vile earthly buildings bear,No tribute's laid onCastlesin theAir'

Churchill'sPoems, Night,ed. 1766, i. 89.

[147]Pitt, in 1784, laid a tax of ten shillings a year on every horse 'kept for the saddle, or to be put in carriages used solely for pleasure.'Parl. Hist.xxiv. 1028.

[148]In 1763 he published the following description of himself in hisCorrespondence with Erskine, ed. 1879, p.36. 'The author of theOde to Tragedyis a most excellent man; he is of an ancient family in the west of Scotland, upon which he values himself not a little. At his nativity there appeared omens of his future greatness. His parts are bright; and his education has been good. He has travelled in post-chaises miles without number. He is fond of seeing much of the world. He eats of every good dish, especially apple-pie. He drinks old hock. He has a very fine temper. He is somewhat of an humorist, and a little tinctured with pride. He has a good manly countenance, and he owns himself to be amorous. He has infinite vivacity, yet is observed at times to have a melancholy cast. He is rather fat than lean, rather short than tall, rather young than old.' He is oddly enough described in Arighi'sHistoire de Pascal Paoli, i. 231, 'En traversant la Mediterranée sur de frêles navires pour venir s'asseoir au foyer de la nationalité Corse, des hommesgravestels que Boswel et Volney obéissaient sans doute à un sentiment bien plus élevé qu'au besoin vulgaire d'une puérile curiosité'

[149]Seeante, i. 400.

[150]Forrespectable, seeante, iii. 241, note 2.

[151]Boswell, in the last of hisHypochondriacks, says:—'I perceive that my essays are not so lively as I expected they would be, but they are more learned. And I beg I may not be charged with excessive arrogance when I venture to say that they contain a considerable portion of original thinking.'London Mag. 1783, p. 124.

[152]Burns, inThe Author's Earnest Cry and Prayer, says:—

'But could I like Montgomeries fight,Or gab like Boswell.'

Boswell and Burns were born within a few miles of each other, Boswell being the elder by eighteen years.

[153]'For pointed satire I would Buckhurst choose,The best good man, with the worst-natured muse.'

Rochester'sImitations of Horace, Sat. i. 10.

[154]Johnson'sWorks, ix. i. Seeante, ii. 278, where he wrote to Boswell:—'I have endeavoured to do you some justice in the first paragraph [of theJourney].' The day before he started for Scotland he wrote to Dr. Taylor:—'Mr. Boswell, an active lively fellow, is to conduct me round the country.'Notes and Queries, 6th S. v. 422. 'His inquisitiveness,' he said, 'is seconded by great activity.'Works, ix. 8. On Oct. 7 he wrote from Skye:—'Boswell will praise my resolution and perseverance; and I shall in return celebrate his good humour and perpetual cheerfulness.... It is very convenient to travel with him, for there is no house where he is not received with kindness and respect.'Piozzi Letters, i. 198. He told Mrs. Knowles that 'Boswell was the best travelling companion in the world.'Ante, iii. 294. Mr. Croker says (Croker's Boswell, p. 280):—'I asked Lord Stowell in what estimation he found Boswell amongst his countrymen. "Generally liked as a good-natured jolly fellow," replied his lordship. "But was he respected?" "Well, I think he had about the proportion of respect that you might guess would be shown to a jolly fellow." His lordship thought there was more regard than respect.'Hebrides,p. 40.

[155]Seeante, ii. 103, 411.

[156]There were two quarto volumes of this Diary; perhaps one of them Johnson took with him. Boswell had 'accidently seen them and had read a great deal in them,' as he owned to Johnson (ante, under Dec. 9, 1784), and moreover had, it should seem, copied from them (ante, i. 251). The 'few fragments' he had received from Francis Barber (ante, i. 27).

[157]In the original 'how much we lostat separation' Johnson'sWorks, ix. I. Mr. William Nairne was afterwards a Judge of the Court of Sessions by the title of Lord Dunsinnan. Sir Walter Scott wrote of him:—'He was a man of scrupulous integrity. When sheriff depute of Perthshire, he found upon reflection, that he had decided a poor man's case erroneously; and as the only remedy, supplied the litigant privately with money to carry the suit to the supreme court, where his judgment was reversed.' Croker'sBoswell, p. 280.

[158]

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