bellion from a notion of another's right was not connected with depravity; and that we had this proof of it, that all mankind applauded the pardoning of rebels; which they would not do in the case of robbers and murderers. He said, with a smile, that "he wondered that the phrase of unnatural rebellion should be so much used, for that all rebellion was natural to man." As I kept no Journal of any thing that passed after this morning, I shall, from memory, group together this and the other days till that on which Dr. Johnson departed for London. They were in all nine days; on which he dined at Lady Colvill's, Lord Hailes's, Sir Adolphus Oughton's, Sir Alexander Dick's, Principal Robertson's, Mr. M'Laurin's, and thrice at Lord Elibank's seat in the country, where we also passed two nights. He supped at the Honourable Alexander Gordon's, now one of our judges, by the title of Lord Rockville; at Mr. Nairne's, now also one of our judges, by the title of Lord Dunsinan; at Dr. Blair's, and Mr. Tytler's; and at my house thrice, one evening with a numerous company, chiefly gentlemen of the law; another with Mr. Menzies of Culdares, and Lord Monboddo, who disengaged himself on purpose to meet him; and the evening on which we returned from Lord Elibank's, he supped with my wife and me by ourselves. He breakfasted at Dr. Webster's, at old Mr. Drummond's, and at Dr. Blacklock's; and spent one forenoon at my uncle Dr. Boswell's, who showed him his curious museum; and, as he was an elegant scholar, and a physician bred in the school of Boerhaave, Dr. Johnson was pleased with his company. On the mornings when he breakfasted at my house, he had, from ten o'clock till one or two, a constant levee of various persons, of very different characters and descriptions. I could not attend him, being obliged to be in the court of session; but my wife was so good as to devote the greater part of the morning to the endless task of pouring out tea for my friend and his visitors. Such was the disposition of his time at Edinburgh. He said one evening to me, in a fit of languor, "Sir, we have been harassed by invitations." I acquiesced. "Ay, sir," he replied; "but how much worse would it have been if we had been neglect ed?" From what has been recorded in this Journal, it may well be supposed that a variety of admirable conversation has been lost, by my neglect to preserve it. I shall endeavour to recollect some of it as well as I can. At Lady Colvill's, to whom I am proud to introduce any stranger of eminence, that he may see what dignity and grace is to be found in Scotland, an officer observed that he had heard Lord Mansfield was not a great English lawyer. JOHNSON. " "Why, sir, supposing Lord Mansfield not to have the splendid talents which he possesses, he must be a great English lawyer, from having been so long at the bar, and having passed through so many of the great offices of the law. Sir, you may as well maintain that a carrier, who has driven a packhorse between Edinburgh and Berwick for thirty years, does not know the road, as that Lord Mansfield does not know the law of England." At Mr. Nairne's he drew the character of Richardson, the authour of Clarissa, with a strong yet delicate pencil. I lament much that I have not preserved it; I only remember that he expressed a high opinion of his talents and virtues; but observed that "his perpetual study was to ward off petty inconveniencies, and procure petty pleasures; that his love of continual superiority was such that he took care to be always surrounded by women, who listened to him implicitly, and did not venture to controvert his opinions; and that his desire of distinction was so great, that he used to give large vails to the Speaker Onslow's servants, that they might treat him with respect." On the same evening, he would not allow that the private life of a judge, in England, was required to be so strictly decorous as I supposed. "Why then, sir (said I), according to your account, an English judge may just live like a gentleman." JOHNSON. "Yes, sir,-if he can 2." At Mr. Tytler's, I happened to tell that one evening, a great many years ago, when Dr. Hugh Blair and I were sitting together in the pit of Drury-lane play-house, in a wild freak of youthful extravagance, 1 entertained the audience prodigiously, by imitating the lowing of a cow. A little while after I had told this story, I differed from Dr. Johnson, I suppose too confident ly, upon some point, which I now forget He did not spare me. "Nay, sir (said he), if you cannot talk better as a man, I'd have you bellow like a cow 3." At Dr. Webster's, he said, that he believed hardly any man died without affectation. This remark appears to me to be well founded, and will account for many of the celebrated deathbed sayings which are recorded. On one of the evenings at my house, when he told that Lord Lovat boasted to an English nobleman, that, though he had not his wealth, he had two thousand men whom he could at any time call into the field, the Honourable Alexander Gordon observed, that those two thousand men brought him to the block. "True, sir (said Dr. Johnson): but you may just as well argue concerning a man who has fallen over a precipice to which he has walked too near, His two legs brought him to that,'—is he not the better for having two legs?" At Dr. Blair's I left him, in order to attend a consultation, during which he and his amiable host were by themselves. I returned to supper, at which were Principal Robertson, Mr. Nairne, and some other gentlemen. Dr. Robertson and Dr. Blair, I remember, talked well upon subordination and government; and, as my friend and I were walking home, he said to me, "Sir, these two doctors are good men, and wise men." I begged of Dr. Blair to recollect what he could of the long conversation that passed between Dr. Johnson and him alone, this evening, and he obligingly wrote to me as follows: "3d March, 1785. returned. We had much discourse con- At Lord Hailes's we spent a most agreeable day; but again I must lament that I was so indolent as to let almost all that passed evaporate into oblivion. Dr. Johnson observed there, that "it is wonderful how ignorant many officers of the army are, considering how much leisure they have for study, and the acquisition of knowledge." I hope he was mistaken; for he maintained that many of them were ignorant of things belonging immediately to their own profession; "for instance, many cannot tell how far a musket will carry a bullet;" in proof of which, I suppose, he mentioned some particular person; for Lord Hailes, from whom I solicited what he could recollect of that day, writes to me as follows: "As to Dr. Johnson's observation about the ignorance of officers, in the length that a musket will carry, my brother, Colonel Dalrymple, was present, and he thought that the Doctor was either mistaken, by putting the question wrong, or that he had conversed on the subject with some person out of service. "Dear sir,—As so many years have intervened since I chanced to have that conversation with Dr. Johnson in my house to which you refer, I have forgotten most of what then passed; but remember that I was both instructed and entertained by it. Among other subjects, the discourse happening to turn on modern Latin poets, the Doctor expressed a very favourable opinion of Buchanan, and instantly repeated from beginning to end, an ode of his, entitled Calenda Maix (the eleventh in his Miscellaneorum Liber, beginning with these words, Salvete sacris deliciis sacro,' with which I had formerly been unacquainted; but upon perusing it, the praise which he Near the end of his "Journey," Dr. bestowed upon it, as one of the happiest of Johnson has given liberal praise to Mr. Buchanan's poetical compositions, appeared Braidwood's academy for the deaf and to me very just. He also repeated to me a dumb. When he visited it, a circumstance Latin ode he had composed in one of the occurred which was truly characteristical western islands, from which he had lately of our great lexicographer. "Pray," said he, " the utmost gravity and earnestness, addressed me thus: "My dear sir, I would confine myself to the cow!"BOSWELL. [Blair's advice was expressed more emphatically, and with a peculiar burr-" Stick to the cow, mon!"-WALTER SCOTT.] "Was it upon that occasion that he expressed no curiosity to see the room at Dumfermline where Charles I. was born? I know that he was born (said he); no matter where.' Did he envy us the birthplace of the king?" can they pronounce any long words?" Mr. Braidwood informed him they could. Upon which Dr. Johnson wrote one of his sequipedalia verba, which was pronounced by the scholars, and he was satisfied. My readers may perhaps wish to know what the word was; but I cannot gratify their curiosity. Mr. Braidwood told me it remained long in his school, but had been lost before I made my inquiry 1. Dr. Johnson one day visited the court of session. He thought the mode of pleading there too vehement, and too much addressed to the passions of the judges. "This," said he," is not the Areopagus." 66 young lady 2 of quality, who was present, very handsomely said, "Might not the son have justified the fault?" My friend was much flattered by this compliment, which he never forgot. When in more than ordinary spirits, and talking of his journey in Scotland, he has called to me, " Boswell, what was it that the young lady of quality said of me at Sir Alexander Dick's?" Nobody will doubt that I was happy in repeatit. My illustrious friend, being now desirous to be again in the great theatre of life and animated exertion, took a place in the coach, which was to set out for London on Monday the 22d of November. Sir John Dalrymple pressed him to come on the Saturday before, to his house at Cranston, which being twelve miles from Edinburgh, upon the middle road to Newcastle (Dr. Johnson had come to Edinburgh by Ber At old Mr. Drummond's, Sir John Dalrymple quaintly said, the two noblest animals in the world were a Scotch Highland-ing er and an English sailor. Why, sir," said Dr. Johnson, "I shall say nothing as to the Scotch Highlander; but as to the English sailor, I cannot agree with you." Sir John said he was generous in giving away his money. JOHNSON. "Sir, he throws away his money, without thought, and without merit. I do not call a tree generous, that sheds its fruit at every breeze." Sir John having affected to complain of the attacks made upon his "Me-wick, and along the naked coast), it would moirs," Dr. Johnson said, "Nay, sir, do not complain. It is advantageous to an authour, that his book should be attacked as well as praised. Fame is a shuttlecock. If it be struck only at one end of the room, it will soon fall to the ground. To keep it up, it must be struck at both ends." Often have I reflected on this since; and, instead of being angry at many of those who have written against me, have smiled to think that they were unintentionally subservient to my fame, by using a battledoor to make me virum volitare per ora. At Sir Alexander Dick's, from that absence of mind to which every man is at times subject, I told, in a blundering manner, Lady Eglintoune's complimentary adoption of Dr. Johnson as her son; for I unfortunately stated that her ladyship adopted him as her son, in consequence of her having been married the year after he was born. Dr. Johnson instantly corrected me. "Sir, don't you perceive that you are defaming the countess? For, supposing me to be her son, and that she was not married till the year after my birth, I must have been her natural son." A One of the best critics of our age "does not wish to prevent the admirers of the incorrect and nerveless style, which generally prevailed for a century before Dr. Johnson's energetic writings were known, from enjoying the laugh that this story may produce, in which he is very ready to join them." He, however, requests me to observe, that " my friend very properly chose a long word on this occasion, not, it is believed, from any predilection for polysyllables (though he certainly had a due respect for them), but in order to put Mr. Braidwood's skill to the strictest test, and to try the efficacy of his instruction by the most difficult exertion of the organs of his pupils."BOSWELL. [The critic was probably Dr. Blair. -WALTER Scort.] make his journey easier, as the coach would take him up at a more seasonable hour than that at which it sets out. Sir John, I perceived, was ambitious of having such a guest; but as I was well assured, that at this very time he had joined with some of his prejudiced countrymen in railing at Dr. Johnson, and had said, he wondered how any gentleman of Scotland could keep company with him, I thought he did not deserve the honour; yet, as it might be a convenience to Dr. Johnson, I contrived that he should accept the invitation, and engaged to conduct him. I resolved that, on our way to Sir John's, we should make a little circuit by Roslin Castle and Hawthornden, and wished to set out soon after breakfast; but young Mr. Tytler came to show Dr. Johnson some essays which he had written; and my great friend, who was exceedingly obliging when thus consulted, was detained so long that it was, I believe, one o'clock before we got into our post-chaise. I found that we should be too late for dinner at Sir John Dalrymple's, to which we were engaged; but I would by no means lose the pleasure of seeing my friend at Hawthornden,-of seeing Sam Johnson at the very spot where Ben Jonson visited the learned and poetical Drummond. We surveyed Roslin Castle, the romantic scene around it, and the beautiful Gothick chapel, and dined and drank tea at the inn; after which we proceeded to Hawthornden, and viewed the caves; and I all the while had Rare Ben in my mind, and was pleased to think that this place was now visited by another celebrated wit of England. By this time "the waning night was growing old," and we were yet several miles from Sir John Dalrymple's. Dr. 2 [Probably one of the Ladies Lindsay, daughters of the Earl of Balcarres.-WALTER SCOTT.] Johnson did not seem much troubled at our having treated the baronet with so little attention to politeness; but when I talked of the grievous disappointment it must have been to him that we did not come to the feast that he had prepared for us (for he told us he had killed a seven-year-old sheep on purpose), my friend got into a merry mood, and jocularly said, "I dare say, sir, he has been very sadly distressed; nay, we we do not know but the consequence may have been fatal. Let me try to describe his situation in his own historical style. I have as good a right to make him think and talk, as he has to tell us how people thought and talked a hundred years ago, of which he has no evidence. All history, so far as it is not supported by contemporary evidence, is romance.-Stay now-let us consider!" He then (heartily laughing all the while) proceeded in his imitation, I am sure to the following effect, though now, at the distance of almost twelve years, I cannot pretend to recollect all the precise words. Dinner being ready, he wondered that his guests were not yet come. His wonder was soon succeeded by impatience. He walked about the room in anxious agitation; sometimes he looked at his watch, sometimes he looked out at the window with an eager gaze of expectation, and revolved in his mind the various accidents of human life. His family beheld him with mute concern. Surely,' said he, with a sigh, they will not fail me.' The mind of man can bear a certain pressure; but there is a point when it can bear no more. A rope was in his view, and he died a Roman death 1." upon. He said, "I am sorry I have not learnt to play at cards. It is very useful in life: it generates kindness, and consolidates society 3." He certainly could not mean deep play. My friend and I thought we should be more comfortable at the inn at Blackshields, two miles farther on. We therefore went thither in the evening, and he was very entertaining; but I have preserved nothing but the pleasing remembrance, and his verses on George the Second and Cibber, and his epitaph on Parnell, which he was then so good as to dictate to me. We breakfasted together next morning, and then the coach came, and took him up. He had, as one of his companions in it, as far as Newcastle, the worthy and ingenious Dr. Hope, botanical professor at Edinburgh. Both Dr. Johnson and he used to speak of their good fortune in thus accidentally meeting; for they had much instructive conversation, which is always a most valuable enjoyment, and, when found where it is not expected, is peculiarly relished. I have now completed my account of our Tour to the Hebrides. I have brought DrJohnson down to Scotland, and seen him into the coach which in a few hours carried him back into England. He said to me often, that the time he spent in this Tour was the pleasantest part of his life, and asked me if I would lose the recollection of it for five hundred pounds. I answered I would not; and he applauded my setting such a value on an accession of new images in my mind. Had it not been for me, I am persuaded It was very late before we reached the Dr. Johnson never would have undertaken seat of Sir John Dalrymple 2, who, certain- such a journey; and I must be allowed to ly with some reason, was not in very good assume some merit from having been the humour. Our conversation was not bril-cause that our language has been enriched liant. We supped, and went to bed in ancient rooms, which would have better suited the climate of Italy in summer, than that of Scotland in the month of November. I recollect no conversation of the next day worth preserving, except one saying of Dr. Johnson, which will be a valuable text for many decent old dowagers, and other good company, in various circles to descant 1 "Essex was at that time confined to the same with such a book as that which he published on his return; a book which I never read but with the utmost admiration, as I had such opportunities of knowing from what very meagre materials it was composed. But my praise may be supposed partial; and therefore I shall insert two testimonies, not liable to that objection, both written by gentlemen of Scotland, to whose opinions I paid, Lord Hailes and Mr. Dempster. am confident the highest respect will be 66 LORD HAILES TO MR. BOSWELL. "SIR, I have received much pleasure chamber of the Tower from which his father Lord Capel had been led to death, and in which his wife's grandfather had inflicted a voluntary death upon himself. When he saw his friend carried to what he reckoned certain fate, their common enemies enjoying the spectacle, and reflected that it was he who had forced Lord Howard upon 3 [The late excellent Doctor Baillie advised a the confidence of Russell, he retired, and, by a gentleman whose official duties were of a very Roman death, put an end to his misery."-Dal-constant and engrossing nature, and whose health rymple's Memoirs of Great Britain and Ire-seemed to suffer from over-work, to play at cards land, vol. i. p. 36. in the evening, which would tend, he said, to 2 [They seem to have behaved to Sir John quiet the mind, and to allay the anxiety created Dalrymple with wanton incivility.—ED.] by the business of the day.-ED.] and much instruction from perusing the 'Journey to the Hebrides.' "I admire the elegance and variety of description, and the lively picture of men and manners. I always approve of the moral, often of the political, reflections. I love the benevolence of the authour. "They who search for faults may possibly find them in this, as well as in every other work of literature. the justice he has done to your humour and vivacity. The noise of the wind being all its own,' is a bon-mot, that it would have been a pity to have omitted, and a robbery not to have ascribed to its author1. "There is nothing in the book, from beginning to end, that a Scotchman need to take amiss. What he says of the country is true, and his observations on the people are what must naturally occur to a sensible, "For example, the friends of the old observing, and reflecting inhabitant of a family say that the era of planting is placed convenient metropolis, where a man too late, at the union of the two kingdoms. thirty pounds a year may be better accomI am known to be no friend of the old fami-modated with all the little wants of life than ly; yet I would place the era of planting at the restoration; after the murder of Charles I. had been expiated in the anarchy which succeeded it. "Before the restoration, few trees were planted, unless by the monastick drones: their successors (and worthy patriots they were), the barons, first cut down the trees, and then sold the estates. The gentleman at St. Andrews, who said that there were but two trees in Fife, ought to have added, that the elms of Balmerino were sold within these twenty years, to make pumps for the fire-engines. on Col or Sir Allan. He reasons candidly about the second-sight; but I wish he had inquired more, before he ventured to say he even doubted of the possibility of such an unusual and useless deviation from all the known laws of nature. The notion of the second-sight I consider as a remnant of superstitious ignorance and credulity, which a philosopher will set down as such, till the contrary is clearly proved, and then it wil be classed among the other certain, though unaccountable parts of our nature, like dreams, and-I do not know what. "In regard to the language, it has the "In J. Major de Gestis Scotorum, l. i. c. merit of being all his own. Many words 2, last edition, there is a singular passage: of foreign extraction are used, where, I be "Davidi Cranstoneo conterraneo, dum lieve, common ones would do as well, esde prima theologiæ licentia foret, duo ei pecially on familiar occasions. Yet I beconsocii et familiares, et mei cum eo in ar- lieve he could not express himself so forcitibus auditores, scilicet Jacobus Almain Se- bly in any other style. I am charmed with nonensis, et Petrus Bruxcellensis, Prædica- his researches concerning the Erse language, toris ordinis, in Sorbonæ curia die Sorboni- and the antiquity of their manuscripts. I co commilitonibus suis publice objecerunt, am quite convinced; and I shall rank Osquod pane avenaceo plebeii Scoti, sicut asian, and his Fingals and Oscars, amongst quodam religioso intellexerant, vescebantur, the nursery tales, not the true history of our ut virum, quem cholericum noverant, ho- country, in all time to come. nestis salibus tentarent, qui hoc inficiari tanquam patriæ dedecus nisus est.' "Pray introduce our countryman, Mr. Licentiate David Cranston, to the acquaintance of Mr. Johnson. "The syllogism seems to have been this: But the Scots feed on oatmeal: 66 Upon the whole the book cannot displease, for it has no pretensions. The authour neither says he is a geographer, nor an antiquarian, nor very learned in the History of Scotland, nor a naturalist, nor a fossilist. The manners of the people, and the face of the country, are all he attempts to describe, or seems to have thought of. Much were it to be wished that they who have travelled into more remote, and of The licentiate denied the minor. I am, course more curious, regions, had all possir, your most obedient servant, "DAV. DALRYMPLE." sessed his good sense. Of the state of learning, his observations on Glasgow university show he has formed a very sound "" MR. DEMPSTER TO MR. BOSWELL, EDIN- judgment. He understands our climate BURGH. "Dunnichen, 16th February, 1775. "MY DEAR BOSWELL,-I cannot omit a moment to return you my best thanks for the entertainment you have furnished me, my family, and guests, by the perusal of Dr. Johnson's 'Journey to the Western Islands;' and now for my sentiments of it. I was well entertained. His descriptions are accurate and vivid. He carried me on the tour along with him. I am pleased with too, and he has accurately observed the changes, however slow and imperceptible to us, which Scotland has undergone, in consequence of the blessings of liberty and internal peace. I could have drawn my 1 ["I know not that I ever heard the wind so loud in any other place [as in Col]; and Mr. Boswell observed, that its noise was all its own, for there were no trees to increase it."-Johnson's Journey-Works, vol. viii. p. 365.—ED.] |