opinion to be the same with my own, he kept himself aloof at a very critical period indeed, when the Douglas cause shook the sacred security of birth-right in Scotland to its foundation; a cause, which had it happened before the Union, when there was no appeal to a British House of Lords, would have left the great fortress of honours and of property in ruins.

When we got home, Dr. Johnson desired to see my books. He took down Ogden's Sermons on Prayer, on which I set a very high value, having been much edified by them, and he retired with them to his room. He did not stay long, but soon joined us in the drawingroom. I presented to him Mr. Robert Arbuthnot, a relation of the celebrated Dr. Arbuthnot, and a man of literature and taste. To him we were obliged for a previous recommendation, which secured us a very agreeable reception at St. Andrews, and which Dr. Johnson, in his "Journey," ascribes to "some invisible friend."

Of Dr. Beattie, Mr. Johnson said, " Sir, he has written like a man conscious of the truth, and feeling his own strength. Treating your adversary with respect, is giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled. The greatest part of men cannot judge of reasoning, and are impresssed by character; so that, if you allow your adversary a respectable character, they will think, that though you differ from him, you may be in the wrong. Sir, treating your adversary with respect, is striking soft in a battle. And as to Hume,

-a man who has so much conceit as to tell all mankind that they have been bubbled for ages, and he is the wise man who sees better than they,-a man who has so little scrupulosity as to venture to oppose those principles which have been thought necessary to human

-

happiness, is he to be surprised if another man comes and laughs at him? If he is the great man he thinks himself, all this cannot hurt him: it is like throwing peas against a rock." He added "something much too rough," both as to Mr. Hume's head and heart, which I suppress. Violence is, in my opinion, not suitable to the Christian cause. Besides, I always lived on good terms with Mr. Hume, though I have frankly told him I was not clear that it was right in me to keep company with him. "But (said I) how much better are you than your books!" He was cheerful, obliging, and instructive; he was charitable to the poor; and many an agreeable hour have I passed with him. I have preserving some entertaining and interesting memoirs of him, particularly when he knew himself to be dying, which I may some time or other communicate to the world. I shall not, however extol him so very highly as Dr. Adam Smith does, who says, in a letter to Mr. Strahan the Printer (not a confidential letter to his friend, but a letter which is published* with all formality): "Upon the whole, I have always considered him, "both in his life time, and since his death, as approach

This letter, though shattered by the sharp shot of Dr. Horne of Oxford's wit, in the character of " One of the People called Christians," is still prefixed to Mr. Hume's excellent History 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 his History let it have what it may with what are called his Philosophical Works. 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 ostentatious alliance ; because I admire "The Theory of Moral sentiments," and value the greatest part of "An 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 coun tenance to that dreary infidelity which would "make us poor indeed!"

"ing as nearly to the idea. of a perfectly wise and vir"tuous man as perhaps the nature of human frailty will "permit." Let Dr. Smith consider: Was not Mr. Hume blest with good health, good spirits, good friends, a competent and increasing fortune? And had he not also a perpetual feast of fame? But, as a learned friend has observed to me, "What trials did he undergo, to prove the perfection of his virtue? Did he ever experience any great instance of adversity ?"

-When I read this sentence, delivered by my old Professor of Moral Philosophy, I could not help exclaiming with the Psalmist, "Surely I have now more "understanding than my teachers!"

While we were talking, there came a note to me from Dr. William Robertson.

Dear Sir,

"I have been expecting every day to hear from you, "of Dr. Johnson's arrival. Pray, what do you know "about his motions? I long to take him by the hand. "I write this from the college, where I have only this "scrap of paper. Ever yours, Sunday.

W. R."

It pleased me to find Dr. Robertson thus eager to meet Dr. Johnson. I was glad I could answer, that he was come and I begged Dr. Robertson might be with us as soon as he could.

Sir William Forbes, Mr. Scott, Mr. Arbuthnot, and another gentleman dined with us. "Come, Dr. Johnson, (said I) it is commonly thought that our veal in Scotland is not good. But here is some which I believe you will like."-There was no catching him.Johnson. "Why, sir, what is commonly thought, I should take to be true. Your veal may be good; but

that will only be an exception to the general opinion; not a proof against it."

Dr. Robertson, according to the custom of Edinburgh at that time, dined in the interval between the forenoon and afternoon service, which was then later than now; so we had not the pleasure of his company till dinner was over, when he came and drank wine with And then began some animated dialogue, of which here follows a pretty full note.

us.

We talked of Mr. Burke.-Dr. Johnson said, he had great variety of knowledge, store of imagery, copiousness of language.—Robertson. "He has wit too."-Johnson. "No, sir; he never succeeds there. 'Tis low; 'tis conceit. I used to say, Burke never once made a good joke.* What I most envy Burke for,

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.)

Take, for intance, the variety detail, when exhibiting his Re.

but surprising allusions, brilliant sallies of vivacity, and pleasant conceits. His speeches in parliament are strewed with them. which he has given in his wide range, yet exact form Bill. And his conversation abounds in wit. Let me put down a specimen -I told him, I had seen, at a Blue Stocking assembly, 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 toolmaking 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 of Man is, "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 chesnut, is only a piece of shrewd malice in that turpissima bestia,

is, his being constantly the same. He is never what we call hum-drum; never unwilling to begin to talk,

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 is reason in 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 what Horace says of Pindar,

numerisque fertur

LEGE solutis.

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 alledged, 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 a bon mot depend frequently so much on the occasion on which it is spoken, on the peculiar 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. He allowed Mr. Burke, as the reader will find hereafter, 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 on all the rest of the world, that superficial observers are apt to overlook his other merits, and to suppose that wit is 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.