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We were then shown a Latin inscription, proposed for this monument Dr. Johnson sat down with an ardent and liberal earnestness to revise it, and greatly improved it by several additions and variations. I unfortunately did not take a copy of it, as it originally stood; but I have happily preserved every fragment of what Dr. Johnson wrote:

Quisquis ades, viator,
Vel mente felix, vel studiis cultus,
Immorare paululum memoriæ
TOBIE SMOLLET, M. D.
Viri iis virtutibus
Quas in homine et cive
Et laudes, et imiteris,

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We had this morning a singular proof of Dr. Johnson's quick and retentive memory. Hay's translation of" Martial" was lying in a window; I said, I thought it was pretty

1 The epitaph which has been inscribed on the pillar erected on the banks of the Leven, in honour of Dr. Smollet, is as follows. The part which was written by Dr. Johnson, it appears, has been altered; whether for the better, the reader will judge. The alterations are distinguished by Italicks.

Siste viator!

Si lepores ingeniique venam benignam,
Si morum callidissimum pictorem,
Unquam es miratus,
Immorare paululum memoriæ
TOBIE SMOLLET, M. D.

Viri virtutibus hisce
Quas in homine et cive
Et laudes et imiteris
Haud mediocriter ornati:
Qui in literis variis versatus,
Postquam felicitate sibi propria
Sese posteris commendaverat,
Morte acerba raptus
Anno ætatis 51.
Eheu! quam procul a patria!
Prope Liburni portum in Italia,
Jacet sepultus.

Tali tantoque viro, patrueli suo,
Cui in decursu lampada
Se potius tradidisse decuit,
Hanc Columnam,

Amoris, eheu! inane monumentum,

In ipsis Leviniæ ripis,

Quas versiculis sub exitu vitæ illustratus
Primis infaus vagitibus personnit,

Ponendam curavit

JACOBUS SMOLLET de Bonhill.
Abi et reminiscere,

Hoc quiden honore,

Non modo defuncti memorie,

Verum etiam exemplo, prospectum esse;
Aliis enim, si modo digni sint,
Idem erit virtutis præmium!

453

well done, and showed him a particular epigram, I think, of ten, but am certain of eight lines. He read it, and tossed away the book, saying, "No, it is not pretty well." As I persisted in my opinion, he said, "Why, sir, the original is thus," and he repeated it, and this man's translation is thus," and then he repeated that also, exactly, though he had never seen it before, and read it over only once, and that, too, without any intention of getting it by heart.

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Here a post-chaise, which I had ordered from Glasgow, came for us, and we drove on in high spirits. We stopped at Dunbarfon, and though the approach to the castle there is very steep, Dr. Johnson ascended it with alacrity, and surveyed all that was to be seen. During the whole of our Tour he showed uncommon spirit, could not bear to be treated like an old or infirm man, and was very unwilling to accept of any assistance, insomuch that, at our landing at Icolmkill, when Sir Allan M'Lean and I submitted to be carried on men's shoulders from the boat to the shore, as it could not be brought quite close to land, he sprang into the sea, and waded vigorously out.

On our arrival at the Saracen's-head inn, at Glasgow, I was made happy by good accounts from home; and Dr. Johnson, who had not received a single letter since we left Aberdeen, found here a great many, the perusal of which entertained him much. He enjoyed in imagination the comforts which we could not now command, and seemed to be in high glee. I remember, he put a leg upon each side of the grate, and said, with a mock solemnity, by way of soliloquy, but loud enough for me to hear it, "Here am I, an Englishman, sitting by a coal fire."

Friday, 29th October.-The professors of the university being informed of our arrival, Dr. Stevenson, Dr. Reid, and Mr. Anderson, breakfasted with us. Mr. Anderson accompanied us while Dr. Johnson viewed this beautiful city. He had told me, that one day in London, when Dr. Adam Smith 2 was boasting of it, he turned

2 [Mr. Boswell has chosen to omit, for reasons which will be presently obvious, that Johnson and Adam Smith met at Glasgow; but I have been assured by Professor John Miller that they did so, and that Smith, leaving the party in which he had met Johnson, happened to come to another company where Miller was. Smith had been in Johnson's society, they were Knowing that anxious to know what had passed, and the more so as Dr. Smith's temper seemed much ruffled. At first Smith would only answer, "He's a brute -he's a brute;" but on closer examination, it appeared that Johnson no sooner saw Smith than he attacked him for some point of his famous letter on the death of Hume (ante, p. 329, n). Smith vindicated the truth of his statement.

to him and said, "Pray, sir, have you ever | The general impression upon my memory seen Brentford?" This was surely a strong is, that we had not much conversation at instance of his impatience, and spirit of Glasgow, where the professors, like their contradiction. I put him in mind of it to- brethren at Aberdeen, did not venture to day, while he expressed his admiration of expose themselves much to the battery of the elegant buildings, and whispered him, cannon which they knew might play upon "Don't you feel some remorse?" them 3. Dr. Johnson, who was fully conscious of his own superior powers, afterwards praised Principal Robertson, for his caution in this respect. He said to me, "Robertson, sir, was in the right. Robertson is a man of eminence, and the head of a college at Edinburgh. He had a character to maintain, and did well not to risk its being lessened."

We were received in the college by a number of the professors, who showed all due respect to Dr. Johnson; and then we paid a visit to the principal, Dr. Leechman', at his own house, where Dr. Johnson had the satisfaction of being told that his name had been gratefully celebrated in one of the parochial congregations in the Highlands, as the person to whose influence it was chiefly owing, that the New Testament was allowed to be translated into the Erse language. It seems some political members of the Society in Scotland for propagating Christian Knowledge had opposed this pious undertaking, as tending to preserve the distinction between the Highlanders and Lowlanders. Dr. Johnson wrote a long letter upon the subject to a friend [Mr. Drummond], which being shown to them, made them ashamed, and afraid of being publicly exposed; so they were forced to a compliance. It is now in my possession, and is, perhaps, one of the best productions of his masterly pen 2.

Saturday, 30th October.-We set out towards Ayrshire. I sent Joseph on to Loudoun, with a message, that, if the earl was at home, Dr. Johnson and I would have the honour to dine with him. Joseph met us on the road, and reported that the earl "jumped for joy," and said, "I shall be very happy to see them." We were received with a most pleasing courtesy by his lordship, and by the countess his mother 4, who, in her ninety-fifth year, had all her faculties quite unimpaired. This was a very cheering sight to Dr. Johnson, who had an extraordinary desire for long life. Her ladyship was sensible and well informed, and had seen a great deal of the world. Her lord had held several high offices, and she was sister to the great Earl of Stair.

I cannot here refrain from paying a just tribute to the character of John, Earl of Loudoun 5, who did more service to the

[Boswell himself was callous to the contacts

Professors Reid and Anderson, and the two Messieurs Foulis, the Elzevirs of Glasgow, dined and drank tea with us at our inn, after which the professors went away; and I, having a letter to write, left my fellowtraveller with Messieurs Foulis. Though good and ingenious men, they had that of Dr. Johnson; and when telling them, always unsettled speculative mode of conversation reminds one of a jocky receiving a kick from the which is offensive to a man regularly taught horse which he is showing off to a customer, and at an English school and university. I is grinning with pain while he is trying to cry out, found that, instead of listening to the dic-"Pretty rogue-no vice--all fun." To hin tates of the sage, they had teased him with Johnson's rudeness was only "pretty Fanny's questions and doubtful disputations. He way." Dr. Robertson had a sense of goodcame in a flutter to me, and desired I might breeding which inclined him rather to forego the come back again, for he could not bear benefit of Johnson's conversation than awaken these men. "O ho! sir," said I, "you are his rudeness -WALTER SCOTT.] flying to me for refuge!" He never, in any situation, was at a loss for a ready repartee. He answered, with quick vivacity, "It is of two evils choosing the least." I was delighted with this flash bursting from the cloud which hung upon his mind, closed my letter directly, and joined the company. We supped at professor Anderson's.

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↑ [Lady Margaret Dalrymple, only daughter of John, Earl of Stair, married, in 1709, to Hugh, third Earl of Loudoun. She died in 1777, aged one hundred. Of this venerable lady, and of the Countess of Eglintoune, whom Johnson visited next day, he thus speaks in his Journey: different modes of life in very different climates; Length of life is distributed impartially to very and the mountains have no greater examples of age and health than the Lowlands, where I was introduced to two ladies of high quality, one of whom (Lady Loudoun), in her ninety-fourth year, presided at her table with the full exercise of all her powers; and the other (Lady Eglintoune) had attained her eighty-fourth year, without any diminution of her vivacity, and little reason to accuse time of depredations on her beauty."Works, vol. viii. p. 313.—ED.]

5 [Fourth Earl, born in 1705, died in 1782. He had considerable military commands, and was

county of Ayr in general, as well as to indi- | viduals in it, than any man we have ever had. It is painful to think that he met with much ingratitude from persons both in high and low rank: but such was his temper, such his knowledge of base mankind'," that, as if he had expected no other return, his mind was never soured, and he retained his good humour and benevolence to the last. The tenderness of his heart was proved in 1745-6, when he had an important command in the Highlands, and behaved with a generous humanity to the unfortunate. I cannot figure a, more honest politician; for though his interest in our county was great, and generally successful, he not only did not deceive by fallacious promises, but was anxious that people should not deceive themselves by too sanguine expectations. His kind and dutiful attention to his mother was unremitted. At his house was true hospitality; a plain but a plentiful table; and every guest being left at perfect freedom, felt himself quite easy and happy. While I live, I shall honour the memory of this amiable man.

At night, we advanced a few miles farther, to the house of Mr. Campbell, of Treesbank, who was married to one of my wife's sisters, and were entertained very agreeably by a worthy couple.

Sunday, 31st October.-We reposed here in tranquillity. Dr. Johnson was pleased to find a numerous and excellent collection of books, which had mostly belonged to the Rev. Mr. John Campbell, brother of our host. I was desirous to have procured for my fellow-traveller, to-day, the company of Sir John Cuninghame, of Caprington, whose castle was but two miles from us. He was a very distinguished scholar, was long abroad, and during part of the time lived much with the learned Cuninghame, the opponent of Bentley as a critic upon Horace. He wrote Latin with great elegance, and, what is very remarkable, read Homer and Ariosto through every year. I wrote to him to request he would come to us; but unfortunately he was prevented by indisposition.

Monday, 1st November.-Though Dr. Johnson was lazy, and averse to move, I insisted that he should go with me, and pay a visit to the Countess of Eglintoune2, mo

the person who brought Johnson's friend, Lord Charles Hay, to a court-martial, as we shall see hereafter.-ED.]

The unwilling gratitude of base mankind. Pope.-BoswELL,

2 [Susanna, daughter of Sir Alexander Kennedy, of Culzeen, third wife of the ninth Earl of Eglintoune. She was a clever woman, and a patroness of the Belles Lettres. Allan Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd was dedicated to her in a very fulsome style of panegyric. She died in Ayrshire,

ther of the late and present earl. I assurea him he would find himself amply recompensed for the trouble; and he yielded to my solicitations, though with some unwillingness. We were well mounted, and had not many miles to ride. He talked of the attention that is necessary in order to distribute our charity judiciously. "If thoughtlessly done, we may neglect the most deserving objects; and, as every man has but a certain proportion to give, if it is lavished upon those who first present themselves, there may be nothing left for such as have a better claim. A man should first relieve those who are nearly connected with him, by whatever tie; and then, if he has any thing to spare, may extend his bounty to a wider circle."

As we passed very near the castle of Dundonald, which was one of the many residences of the kings of Scotland, and in which Robert the Second lived and died, Dr. Johnson wished to survey it particularly. It stands on a beautiful rising ground, which is seen at a great distance on several quarters, and from whence there is an extensive prospect of the rich district of Cuninghame, the western sea, the isle of Arran, and a part of the northern coast of Ireland. It has long been unroofed; and, though of considerable size, we could not, by any power of imagination, figure it as having been a suitable habitation for majesty. Dr. Johnson, to irritate my old Scottish enthusiasın, was very jocular on the homely ac commodation of "King Bob," and roared and laughed till the ruins echoed.

Lady Eglintoune, though she was now in her eighty-fifth year, and had lived in the retirement of the country for almost half a century, was still a very agreeable woman. She was of the noble house of Kennedy, and had all the elevation which the consciousness of such birth inspires. Her figure was majestick, her manners high-bred, her reading extensive, and her conversation elegant. She had been the admiration of the gay circles of life, and the patroness of poets. Dr. Johnson was delighted with his reception here. Her principles in church and state were congenial with his. She knew all his merit, and had heard much of him from her son, Earl Alexander3, who loved to cultivate the acquaintance of men of talents in every department.

All who knew his lordship will allow that his understanding and accomplishments

in 1780, aged ninety-one. (See ante, 30th Oct. n.) The eighth Earl of Eglintoune, the father of her lord, had married, as his second wife, Catherine St. Quentin, the widow of three husbands, and aged above ninety at the time of her last marriage; being, it is presumed, the oldest bride on record.-ED.] p. 252.-ED.]

3 [See ante,

were of no ordinary rate. From the gay habits which he had early acquired, he spent too much of his time with men, and in pursuits far beneath such a mind as his. He afterwards became sensible of it, and turned his thoughts to objects of importance; but was cut off in the prime of his life. I cannot speak but with emotions of the most affectionate regret of one, in whose company many of my early days were passed, and to whose kindness I was much indebted.

and he could ill brook any diminution of it. He was as sanguine a whig and presbyterian as Dr. Johnson was a tory and church-of-England man: and as he had not much leisure to be informed of Dr. Johnson's great merits by reading his works, he had a partial and unfavourable notion of him, founded on his supposed political tenets; which were so discordant to his own, that, instead of speaking of him with that respect to which he was entitled, he used to call him "a jacobite fellow." Knowing all this, I should not have ventured to bring them together, had not my father, out of kindness to me, desired me to invite Dr. Johnson to his house.

Often must I have occasion to upbraid myself that, soon after our return to the main land, I allowed indolence to prevail over me so much as to shrink from the labour of continuing my journal with the same mi- I was very anxious that all should be nuteness as before; sheltering myself in the well; and begged of my friend to avoid thought that we had done with the Hebri- three topicks, as to which they differed very des; and not considering that Dr. Johnson's widely; whiggism, presbyterianism, and memorabilia were likely to be more valua- | Sir John Pringle. He said courteously, ble when we were restored to a more pol-"I shall certainly not talk on subjects which ished society. Much has thus been irre- I am told are disagreeable to a gentleman coverably lost. under whose roof I am; especially, I shall not do so to your father."

In the course of our conversation this day it came out that Lady Eglintoune was mar- Our first day went off very smoothly. It ried the year before Dr. Johnson was born; rained, and we could not get out; but my upon which she graciously said to him father showed Dr. Johnson his library, that she might have been his mother, and which, in curious editions of the Greek that she now adopted him; and when we and Roman classicks, is, I suppose, not exwere going away, she embraced him, say-celled by any private collection in Great ing, "My dear son, farewell!" My friend was much pleased with this day's entertainment, and owned that I had done well to force him out.

Tuesday, 2d November.-We were now in a country not only" of saddles and bridles," but of post-chaises; and having ordered one from Kilmarnock, we got to Auchinleck before dinner.

My father was not quite a year and a half older than Dr. Johnson; but his conscientious discharge of his laborious duty as a judge in Scotland, where the law proceedings are almost all in writing,-a severe complaint which ended in his death,and the loss of my mother, a woman of almost unexampled piety and goodness,-had before this time in some degree affected his spirits, and rendered him less disposed to exert his faculties: for he had originally a very strong mind, and cheerful temper. He assured me he never had felt one moment of what is called low spirits, or uneasiness, without a real cause. He had a great many good stories, which he told uncommonly well, and he was remarkable for humour, incolumi gravitate,” as Lord Monboddo used to characterise it. His age, his office, and his character, had long given him an acknowledged claim to great attention in whatever company he was;

[Euphemia Erskine, of the family of the Earl of Buchan.-ED.]

Britain. My father had studied at Leyden, and been very intimate with the Gronovii, and other learned men there. He was a sound scholar, and, in particular, had collated manuscripts and different editions of Anacreon, and others of the Greek lyrick poets, with great care; so that my friend and he had much matter for conversation, without touching on the fatal topicks of difference.

Dr. Johnson found here Baxter's" Anacreon," which he told me he had long inquired for in vain, and began to suspect there was no such book. Baxter was the keen antagonist of Barnes. His life is in the " Biographia Britannica." My father has written many notes on this book, and Dr. Johnson and I talked of having it re printed.

Wednesday, 3d November.-It rained all day, and gave Dr. Johnson an impression of that incommodiousness of climate in the west, of which he has taken notice in his "Journey" but, being well accommodated, and furnished with a variety of books, he was not dissatisfied.

Some gentlemen of the neighbourhood came to visit my father; but there was little conversation. One of them asked Dr. Johnson how he liked the Highlands. The question seemed to irritate him, for he answered, "How, sir, can you ask me what obliges me to speak unfavourably of a country where I have been hospitably en

tertained? Who can like the Highlands? | my family, which he has honoured with so I like the inhabitants very well." The much attention in his "Journey." He is, gentleman asked no more questions. however, mistaken in thinking that the Let me now make up for the present Celtick name, Auchinleck, has no relation neglect, by again gleaning from the past. to the natural appearance of it. I believe At Lord Monboddo's, after the conversa-every Celtick name of a place will be found tion upon the decrease of learning in Eng- very descriptive Auchinleck does not sigland, his lordship mentioned Hermes by nify a stony field, as he has said, but a field Mr. Harris of Salisbury, as the work of a of flag-stones; and this place has a numliving authour, for whom he had a great res- ber of rocks, which abound in strata of that pect. Dr. Johnson said nothing at the kind. The "sullen dignity of the old castime; but when we were in our post-chaise, tle," as he has forcibly expressed it 3, detold me, he thought Harris " a coxcomb." lighted him exceedingly. On one side of This he said of him, not as a man, but the rock on which its ruins stand, runs the as an authour; and I give his opinions of river Lugar, which is here of considerable men and books, faithfully, whether they breadth, and is bordered by other high agree with my own, or not. I do admit, rocks, shaded with wood. On the other that there always appeared to me some- side runs a brook, skirted in the same manthing of affectation in Mr. Harris's manner ner, but on a smaller scale. I cannot figof writing; something of a habit of cloth-ure a more romantick scene. ing plain thoughts in analytick and categorical formality. But all his writings are imbued with learning; and all breathe that philanthropy and amiable disposition, which distinguished him as a man 1.

At another time, during our Tour, he drew the character of a rapacious Highland chief with the strength of Theophrastus or La Bruyere; concluding with these words: "Sir, he has no more the soul of a chief, than an attorney who has twenty houses in a street, and considers how much he can make by them."

He this day, when we were by ourselves, observed, how common it was for people to talk from books; to retail the sentiments of others, and not their own; in short, to converse without any originality of thinking. He was pleased to say, "You and I do not talk from books."

Thursday, 4th November.-I was glad to have at length a very fine day, on which I could show Dr. Johnson the place of

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1 This gentleman, though devoted to the study of grammar and dialecticks, was not so absorbed in it as to be without a sense of pleasantry, or to be offended at his favourite topicks being treated lightly. I one day met him in the street, as I was hastening to the house of lords, and told him, I was sorry I could not stop, being rather too late to attend an appeal of the Duke of Hamilton against Douglas. "I thought," said he, their contest had been over long ago." I answered, "The contest concerning Douglas's filiation was over long ago; but the contest now is, who shall have the estate." Then assuming the air of "an ancient sage philosopher," I proceeded thus: "Were I to predicate concerning him, I should say, the contest formerly was, What is he? The contest now is, What has he?" Right," replied Mr. Harris, smiling," you have done with quality, and have got into quantity."-BosWELL. [See ante, as to Mr. Harris's learning, p. 310.-ED.]

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I felt myself elated here, and expatiated to my illustrious Mentor on the antiquity and honourable alliances of my family, and on the merits of its founder, Thomas Boswell, who was highly favoured by his sovereign, James IV. of Scotland, and fell with him at the battle of Flodden-field; and in the glow of what, I am sensible, will, in a commercial age, be considered as genealogical enthusiasm, did not omit to mention what I was sure my friend would not think lightly of, my relation to the royal personage, whose liberality, on his accession to the throne, had given him comfort and independence. I have, in a former page, acknowledged my pride of ancient blood, in which I was encouraged by Dr. Johnson: my readers therefore will not be surprised at my having indulged it on this occasion.

Not far from the old castle is a spot of consecrated earth, on which may be traced the foundations of an ancient chapel, dedi cated to St. Vincent, and where in old times "was the place of graves" for the family. It grieves me to think that the remains of sanctity here, which were considerable, were dragged away, and employed in building a part of the house of Auchinleck, of the middle age; which was the family residence, till my father erected that "elegant modern mansion," of which Dr. Johnson speaks so handsomely. Perhaps this chapel may one day be restored.

3 ["I was less delighted with the elegance of the modern mansion than with the sullen dignity of the old castle: I clambered with Mr. Boswel among the ruins, which afforded striking images of ancient life. Here, in the ages of tumult and rapine, the laird was surprised and killed by the neighbouring chief, who perhaps might have extinguished the family, had he not, in a few days, been seized and hanged, together with his sons, by Douglas, who came with his forces to the relief of Auchinleck."--Johnson's Works, vol.

[No doubt Sir Alexander Macdonald.-ED.] | viii. p. 418.—Er.]

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