into the court of session. Lord Hailes knew Dr. Johnson's part not to be mine, and pointed out exactly where it began and where it ended. Dr. Johnson said " It is much now that his lordship can distinguish so." In Dr. Johnson's Vanity of Human for more certainty 1. Dr. Johnson, who had | laxed. Dr. Johnson's argument was for a thought it all over, and whose vigorous un-renewal of its strictness. The paper was derstanding was fortified by much experi- printed, with additions by me, and given ence, thus encouraged the blind bard to apply to higher speculations what we all willingly submit to in common life: in short, he gave him more familiarly the able and fair reasoning of Butler's Analogy: "Why, sir, the greatest concern we have in this world, the choice of our profession, must be determined without demonstrative reasoning. Human life is not yet so well known, as that we can have it: and take the case of a man who is ill. I call two physicians; they differ in opinion. I am not to lie down, and die between them: I must do something." The conversation then turned on atheism; on that horrible book, Systême de la Nature; and on the supposition of an eternal necessity without design, without a governing mind. JOHNSON. "If it were so, why has it ceased? Why don't we see men thus produced around us now? Why, at least, does it not keep pace, in some measure, with the progress of time? If it stops because there is now no need of it, then it is plain there is, and ever has But been, an all-powerful intelligence. stay! (said he, with one of his satirick laughs). Ha! ha! ha! I shall suppose Scotchmen made necessarily, and Englishmen by choice." Lord Hailes told him he was mistaken in the instances he had given of unfortunate fair ones; for neither Vane nor Sedley had a title to that description. His lordship has since been so obliging as to send me a note of this, for the communication of which I am sure my readers will thank me. "The lines in the tenth Satire of Juvenal, according to my alteration, should have run thus: 'Yet Shore could tell "The first was a penitent by compulsion, the second by sentiment; though the truth is, Mademoiselle de la Vallière threw herself (but still from sentiment) in the king's way. "Our friend chose Vane 6, who was far from being well-looked; and Sedley 7, who was so ugly that Charles II. said his brother had her by way of penance ." 4 Mistress of Edward IV.-BOSWELL. At dinner this day we had Sir Alexander Dick, whose amiable character and ingenious and cultivated mind are so generally known; (he was then on the verge of seventy, and is now (1785) eighty-one, with his faculties entire, his heart warm, and his temper gay); Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes; Mr. Maclaurin2, advocate; Dr. Gregory, who now worthily fills his father's medical chair; and my uncle, Dr. Boswell. 7 ["Catharine Sedley, created Countess of This was one of Dr. Johnson's best days. Dorchester for life. Her father, Sir Charles, reHe was quite in his element. All was litera-senting the seduction of his daughter, joined in ture and taste, without any interruption. the Whig measures of the Revolution, and exLord Hailes, who is one of the best philolo- cused his revolt from James under an ironical gists in Great Britain, who has written profession of gratitude. "His majesty," said he,, pahaving done me the unlooked-for honour of pers in the World, and a variety of other works in prose and in verse, both Latin and making my daughter a countess, I cannot do less English, pleased him highly. He told him in return than endeavour to make his daughter a he had discovered the Life of Cheynel, in queen."-ED.] 8 the Student, to be his. JOHNSON. "No one else knows it." Dr. Johnson had before this dictated to me a law-paper 3 upon a question purely in the law of Scotland, concerning vicious intromission, that is to say, intermeddling with the effects of a deceased person, without a regular title; which formerly was understood to subject the intermeddler to payment of all the defunct's debts. The principle has of late been re 1 See his letter on this subject in the Appendix. -BOSWELL. 2 [See ante, p. 208.—Ed.] 3 [See ante, p. 300, and Appendix.-ED.] handsome, or, what is more to our purpose, ap[Lord Hailes was hypocritical. Vane was peared so to her royal lover; and Sedley, whatever others may have thought of her, had "the charms which pleased a king." So that Johnson's illustrations are morally just. His lordship's proposed substitution of a fabulous (or at least apochryphal) beauty like Jane Shore, whose story, even if true, was obsolete; or that of a foreigner, like Mlle. De La Vallière, little known and less cared for amongst us, is not only tasteless but inaccurate; for Mlle. De La Vallière's beauty was quite as much questioned by, her contemporaries as Miss Sedley's. Bussy Rabutin was exiled for sneering at Louis's admiration of her mouth, which he calls Mr. Maclaurin's 1 learning and talents| enabled him to do his part very well in Dr. Johnson's company. He produced two epitaphs upon his father, the celebrated mathematician. One was in English, of which Dr. Johnson did not change one word. In the other, which was in Latin, he made several alterations. In place of the very words of Virgil, "Ubi luctus et pavor et plurima mortis imago," he wrote "Ubi luctus regnant et pavor." He introduced the word prorsus into the line "Mortalibus prorsus non absit solatium," and after "Hujus enim scripta evolve," he added, "Mentemque tantarum rerum capacem corpori caduco superstitem crede;" which is quite applicable to Dr. Johnson himself?. 66 -un bec amoureux, Qui d'une oreille à l'autre va." And Madame Du Plessis-Belièvre writes to Fouquet, "Mlle. De La Vallière a fait la capable envers moi. Je l'ay encensée par sa beauté, qui n'est pourtant pas grande." And, finally, after Lord Hailes had clipped down the name of De La Vallière into Vallière, his ear might have told him that it did not even yet fit the metre.-ED.] [Mr. Maclaurin, advocate, son of the great mathematician, and afterwards a judge of session by the title of Lord Dreghorn. He wrote some indifferent English poems; but was a good Latin scholar, and a man of wit and accomplishment. His quotations from the classics were particularly apposite. In the famous case of Knight, which determined the right of a slave to freedom if he landed in Scotland, Maclaurin pleaded the cause of the negro. The counsel opposite was the celebrated Wight, an excellent lawyer, but of very homely appearance, with heavy features, a blind eye, which projected from the socket, a swag belly, and a limp. To him Maclaurin applied the lines of Virgil, "Quamvis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus esses, O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori." Mr. Maclaurin wrote an essay against the Homerick tale of "Troy divine," I believe, for the sole purpose of introducing a happy motto, Non anni domuere decem, non mille carinæ.”— WALTER SCOTT.] 2 Mr. Maclaurin's epitaph, as engraved on a marble tombstone, in the Gray-friars churchyard, Edinburgh: Infra situs est Non ut nomini paterno consulat, [Johnson probably changed the "very words " of Virgil, not thinking an exact and ostentatious quotation from a heathen poet quite appropriate to a christian epitaph. The whole is, as it Mr. Murray, advocate, who married a niece of Lord Mansfield's, and is now one of the judges of Scotland, by the title of Lord Henderland, sat with us a part of the evening; but did not venture to say any thing that I remember, though he is certainly possessed of talents which would have enabled him to have shown himself to advantage if too great anxiety had not prevented him. At supper we had Dr. Alexander Webster 3, who, though not learned, had such a knowledge of mankind, such a fund of information and entertainment, so clear a head, and such accommodating manners, that Dr. Johnson found him a very agreeable companion. When Dr. Johnson and I were left by ourselves, I read to him my notes of the opinions of our judges upon the questions and said, "they make me think of your of literary property. He did not like them; judges not with that respect which I should wish to do." To the argument of one of them, that there can be no property in blasphemy or nonsense, he answered, "then. your rotten sheep are mine!-By that rule,. when a man's house falls into decay, he must lose it 4." I mentioned an argument of mine, that literary performances are not taxed. As Churchill says, "No statesman yet has thought it worth his pains. To tax our labours, or excise our brains;" now stands, a very beautiful and affecting inscrip-. tion.-ED.] 3 [Dr. Alexander Webster was remarkable for the talent with which he at once supported his place in convivial society, and a high character as a leader of the strict and rigid presbyterian party in the church of Scotland, which certainly seemed to require very different qualifications. He was ever gay amid the gayest: when it once occurred to some one present to ask, what one of his Elders would think, should he see his pastor in such a merry mood.—“ Think!” replied the doctor, "why he would not believe his own eyes." -WALTER SCOTT.] 4 [Dr. Johnson's illustration is sophistical, and might have been retorted upon him: for if a man's sheep are so rotten as to render the meat unwholesome, or, if his house be so decayed as to threaten mischief to passengers, the law will confiscate the mutton and abate the house, without any regard to property, which the owner thus abuses. Moreover, Johnson should have discriminated between a criminal offence and a civil right. Blasphemy is a crime: would it not be in the highest degree absurd, that there should be a right of property in a crime, or that the law should be called upon to protect that which is illegal? If this be true in law, it is much more so in equity, as he who applies for the extraor dinary assistance of a court of equity should have a right, consistent at least with equity and morals; and a late question was so decided, and upon that principle, by the greatest judge of modern times, Lord Eldon.-ED.] 1 4 and therefore they are not property. "Yet," said he, "we hang a man for stealing a horse, and horses are not taxed." Mr. Pitt has since put an end to that argument. Wednesday, 18th August.-On this day we set out from Edinburgh. We should gladly have had Mr. Scott to go with us, but he was obliged to return to England. I have given a sketch of Dr. Johnson: my readers may wish to know a little of his fellow-traveller. Think, then, of a gentleman of ancient blood, the pride of which was his predominant passion. He was then in his thirty-third year, and had been about four years happily married. His inclination was to be a soldier, but his father, a respectable judge, had pressed him into the profession of the law. He had travelled a good deal, and seen many varieties of human life. He had thought more than any body had supposed, and had a pretty good stock of general learning and knowledge. He had all Dr. Johnson's principles, with :some degree of relaxation. He had rather too little than too much prudence; and, his imagination being lively, he often said things of which the effect was very different from the intention. He resembled sometimes The best good man, with the worst-natured muse." He cannot deny himself the vanity of finishing with the encomium of Dr. Johnson, whose friendly partiality to the companion of his tour represents him as one," whose acuteness would help my inquiry, and whose gaiety of conversation, and civility of manners, are sufficient to counteract the inconveniences of travel, in countries less hospitable than we have passed 1." Dr. Johnson thought it unnecessary to put himself to the additional expense of bringing with him Francis Barber, his faithful black servant; so we were attended only by my man, Joseph Ritter 2, a Bohemian, a fine stately fellow above six feet high, who had been over a great part of Europe, and spoke many languages. He was the best servant I ever saw. Let not my readers disdain his introduction. For Dr. Johnson gave him this character: "Sir, he is a civil man, and a wise man." From an erroneous apprehension of viodence, Dr. Johnson had provided a pair of pistols, some gunpowder, and a quantity of bullets: but upon being assured we should run no risk of meeting any robbers, he left his arms and ammunition in an open drawer, of which he gave my wife the charge. He also left in that drawer one volume of a pretty full and curious Diary of his Life, of which I have a few fragments; but the book has been destroyed. I wish female curiosity had been strong enough to have had it all transcribed, which might easily have been done, and I should think the theft, being pro bono publico, might have been forgiven. But I may be wrong. My wife told me she never once looked into it. She did not seem quite easy when we left her : but away we went! Mr. Nairne 3, advocate, was to go with us as far as St. Andrews. It gives me pleasure that, by mentioning his name, I connect his title to the just and handsome compliment paid him by Dr. Johnson, in his book: "A gentleman who could stay with us only long enough to make us know how much we lost by his leaving us." When we came to Leith, I talked with perhaps too boasting an air, how pretty the Frith of Forth looked; as indeed, after the prospect from Constantinople, of which I have been told, and that from Naples, which and its environs, from the Castle-hill of I have seen, I believe the view of that Frith Edinburgh, is the finest prospect in Europe "Ay," said Dr. Johnson, "that is the state of the world. Water is the same every where. Una est injusti cærula forma maris 4." I told him the port here was the mouth of the river or water of Leith. "Not Lethe," said Mr. Nairne. "Why, sir," said Dr. Johnson, "when a Scotchman sets out from this port for England, he forgets his native country." NAIRNE. “I hope, sir, you will forget England here." JOHNSON. "Then 't will be still more Lethe." He observed of the pier or quay, you have no occasion for so large a one, your trade does not require it: but you are like a shopkeeper who takes a shop, not only for what he has to put into it, but that it may 66 3 [Mr. William Nairne, afterwards Sir William, and a judge of the court of session, by the title, made classical by Shakspeare, of Lord DunWhen sheriff depute of Perthshire, he found, upon sinnan. He was a man of scrupulous integrity. 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. Sir William was of the old school of manners, somewhat formal, but punctiliously well [He omits the tendency to hypochondriasis, (see ante, p. 23, n.), of which, however, several instances will appear in the course of the tour, and which was a very important feature in his char-bred.-WALTER SCOTT.] acter.-ED.] 2 [Joseph Ritter afterwards undertook the management of the large inn at Paisley, called the Abercorn Arms, but did not succeed in that concern.-WALTER SCOTT.] 4 Non illic urbes, non tu mirabere silvas Ovid. Amor. 1. iì. el. xi. be believed he has a great deal to put into it." It is very true, that there is now, comparatively, little trade upon the eastern coast of Scotland. The riches of Glasgow show how much there is in the west; and, perhaps, we shall find trade travel westward on a great scale as well as a small. We talked of a man's drowning himself. JOHNSON. "I should never think it time to make away with myself." I put the case of Eustace Budgell, who was accused of forging a will, and sunk himself in the Thames, before the trial of its authenticity came on. Suppose, sir," said I, "that a man is absolutely sure, that, if he lives a few days longer, he shall be detected in a fraud, the consequence of which will be utter disgrace and expulsion from society." JOHNSON. "Then, sir, let him go abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place where he is not known. Don't let him go to the devil, where he is known!" on this little spot. Dr. Johnson afterwards bade me try to write a description of our discovering Inch Keith, in the usual style of travellers, describing fully every particu lar; stating the grounds on which we concluded that it must have once been inhabited, and introducing many sage reflections, and we should see how a thing might be covered in words, so as to induce people to come and survey it. All that was told might be true, and yet in reality there might be nothing to see. He said, "I'd have this island. I'd build a house, make a good landing-place, have a garden, and vines, and all sorts of trees. A rich man, of a hospitable turn, here, would have: many visitors from Edinburgh." When we had got into our boat again, he called to me, "Come," now, pay a classical compliment to the ist and on quitting it.", I happened luckily in allusion to the beautiful Queen Mary whose name is upon the fort, to think of what Virgil makes Eneas say, on having left the country of his charming Dido: He then said, "I see a number of people barefooted here: I suppose you all went so before the Union. Boswell, your ancestors went so when they had as much land as your family has now. Yet Auchinleck is the Field of Stones; there would be bad going bare-footed there. The lairds, how-to ever, did it." I bought some speldings, fish (generally whitings) salted and dried in a particular manner, being dipped in the sea and dried in the sun, and eaten by the Scots by way of a relish. He had never seen them, though they are sold in London. I insisted on Scottifying his palate; but he was very reluctant. With difficulty I prevailed with him to let a bit of one of them lie in his mouth. He did not like it. 1 In crossing the Frith, Dr. Johnson determined that we should land upon Inch Keith. On approaching it, we first observed a high rocky shore. We coasted about, and put into a little bay on the north-west. We clambered up a very steep ascent, on which was very good grass, but rather a profusion of thistles. There were sixteen head of black cattle grazing upon the island. Lord Hailes observed to me, that Brantome calls it L'isle des Chevaux, and that it was probably safer stable" than many others in his time. The fort, with an inscription on it, Maria Re, 1564, is strongly built. Dr. Johnson examined it with much attention. He stalked like a giant among the luxuriant thistles and nettles. There are three wells in the island, but we could not find one in the fort. There must probably have been one, though now filled up, as a garrison could not subsist without it. But I have dwelt too long a My friend, General Campbell, Governour of Madras, tells me, that they make speldings in the East Indies, particularly at Bombay, where they call them Bambaloes.-BOSWELL. 2 [The remains of the fort have been removed, "Invitus, regina, tuo de littore cessi3." Very well hit off!" said he. We dined at Kinghorn, and then got ina post-chaise. Mr. Nairne and his servant, and Joseph, rode by us. We stopped at Cupar, and drank tea. We talked of Parliament; and I said, I supposed very few of the members knew much of what was going on, as indeed very few gentlemen know much of their own private affairs. JOHNSON. Why, sir, if a man is not of a sluggish mind, he may be his own steward. If he will look into his affairs, he will soon learn. So it is as to publick affairs. There must always be a certain number of men of business in parliament." BOSWELL. "But consider, sir, what is the house of commons? Is not a great part of it chosen by peers? Do you think, sir, they ought to have such an influence?" JOHNSON. "Yes, sir. Influence must ever be in proportion to property; and it is right it should." BoswELL. "But is there not reason to fear that the common people may be oppressed?" JOHN SON. "No, sir. Our great fear is from want of power in government. Such a storm of vulgar force has broken in." BosWELL. "It has only roared." JOHNSON. "Sir, it has roared, till the judges in West to assist in constructing a very useful lighthouse upon the island.-WALTER SCOTT ] 3" Unhappy queen! Unwilling I forsook your friendly state."-Dryden. -BOSWELL. [Such is the translation which Mr. Boswell gives, though it loses one of the points of his very happy quotation, by substituting for "shore," which is the proper version, the words "friendly state,” which, on this occasion, would have had no meaning whatsoever.-ED.] minster-Hall have been afraid to pronounce | son, a professor here (the historian of Philip sentence in opposition to the popular cry. II.), had purchased the ground, and what You are frightened by what is no longer buildings remained. When we entered his dangerous, like presbyterians by popery." court, it seemed quite academical; and we He then repeated a passage, I think, in But- found in his house very comfortable and ler's Remains, which ends, " and would cry genteel accommodation 3. fire! fire! in Noah's flood 1." We had a dreary drive, in a dusky night, to St. Andrews, where we arrived late. We found a good supper at Glass's inn, and Dr. Johnson revived agreeably. He said, "The collection called The Muses' Welcome to King James' (first of England, and sixth of Scotland), on his return to his native kingdom, showed that there was then abundance of learning in Scotland; dhat the conceits in that collection, with which people find fault, were mere mode." He added, "We could not now entertain a sovereign so; that Buchanan had spread the spirit of learning amongst us, but we had lost it during the civil wars." He did not allow the Latin poetry of Pitcairne so much merit as has been usually attributed to it; though he owned that one of his pieces, which he mentioned, but which I am sorry is not specified in my notes, was "very well." It is not improbable that it was the poem which Prior has so elegantly translated 2. After supper, we made a procession to Saint Leonard's college, the landlord walking before us with a candle, and the waiter with a lantern. That college had some time before been dissolved; and Dr. Wat 1 The passage quoted by Dr. Johnson is in the "Character of the Assembly Man," Butler's Remains, p. 232, edit. 1754: "He preaches, indeed, both in season and out of season; for he rails at Popery, when the land is almost lost in Presbytery; and would cry fire! fire! in Noah's flood." Thursday, 19th August.-We rose much refreshed. I had with me a map of Scot land, a Bible, which was given me by Lord Mountstuart when we were together in Italy, and Ogden's "Sermons on Prayer." Mr. Nairne introduced us to Dr. Watson, whom we found a well-informed man, of very amiable manners. Dr. Johnson, after they were acquainted, said, "I take great delight in him." His daughter, a very pleasing young lady, made breakfast. Dr. Watson observed, that Glasgow university had fewer home students since trade increas ed, as learning was rather incompatible with it. JOHNSON. "Why, sir, as trade is now carried on by subordinate hands, men in trade have as much leisure as others; and now learning itself is a trade. A man goes to a bookseller, and gets what he can. We have done with patronage. In the infancy of learning, we find some great man praised for it. This diffused it among others. When it becomes general, an author leaves the great, and applies to the multitude." BoswELL. "It is a shame that authors are not now better patronised." JOHNSON, "No, sir. If learning cannot support a man, if he must sit with his hands across till somebody feeds him, it is as to him a bad thing, and it is better as it is 4. With patron age, what flattery! what falsehood! While a man is in equilibrio, he throws truth among the multitude, and lets them take it what pleases his patron, and it is an equal as they please: in patronage, he must say chance whether that be truth or falsehood." WATSON. "But is it not the case now, that, instead of flattering one person, we flatter the age?" JOHNSON. "No, sir. The world always lets a man tell what he thinks his own way. I wonder, however, that so many people have written, who might have let it alone. That people should endeavour to excel in conversation, I do not wonder; because in conversation praise is instantly reverberated." There is reason to believe that this piece was not written by Butler, but by Sir John Birkenhead; for Wood, in his Athene Oxonienses, vol. ii. p. 640, enumerates it among that gentleman's works, and gives the following account of it: The Assembly Man' (or the character of an assembly man), written 1647, Lond. 1662-3, in three sheets in quto. The copy of it was taken from the author by those who said they could not rob, because all was theirs; so excised what they liked not; and so mangled and reformed it, that We talked of change of manners. it was no character of an assembly, but of them- Johnson observed, that our drinking less selves. At length, after it had slept several years, than our ancestors was owing to the change the author published it, to avoid false copies. It from ale to wine. "I remember," said he, is also reprinted in a book entitled Wit and "when all the decent people in Lichfield Loyalty revived,' in a collection of some smart satyrs in verse and prose on the late times, Lond. got drunk 5 every night, and were not the 1682, qu., said to be written by Abr. Cowley, Sir John Birkenhead, and Hudibras, alias Sam. Butler." For this information I am indebted to Mr. Reed, of Staple Inn.-BosWELL. 2 [More likely the fine epitaph on John, Viscount of Dundee, translated by Dryden, and beginning Ultime Scotorum, &c.-WALTER SCOTT.] Dr. 2 My journal, from this day inclusive, was read by Dr. Johnson.-BOSWELL. 4 [All this is very just, but not very consistent with his complaint of Lord Chesterfield's inefficient patronage. See ante, p. 112, &c.-ED.] 5 [As an item in the history of manners, it may be observed, that drinking to excess has dimin ished greatly in the memory even of those who |