_Legitimas faciunt pura labella preces._That line was erased, and the line as it stands in the _Works_ issubstituted in Mr. Langton's hand, as is also an alteration in the 16thline, _velit_ into _jubet_.' _Jubet_ however is in the copy as printedby Boswell. Mr. Langton edited some, if not all, of Johnson's Latinpoems. (_Ante_, iv. 384.)[878] 'Boswell, who is very pious, went into the chapel at night toperform his devotions, but came back in haste for fear of spectres.'_Piozzi Letters_, i. 173.[879] _Ante_ p. 169.[880] John Gerves, or John the Giant, of whom Dr. Johnson relates acurious story; _Works_ ix. 119.[881] Lord Chatham in the House of Lords, on Nov. 22, 1770, speaking of'the honest, industrious tradesman, who holds the middle rank, and hasgiven repeated proofs that he prefers law and liberty to gold,' hadsaid:--'I love that class of men. Much less would I be thought toreflect upon the fair merchant, whose liberal commerce is the primesource of national wealth. I esteem his occupation, and respect hischaracter.' _Parl. Hist._ xvi. 1107.[882] See _ante_, iii. 382.[883] He was born in Nordland in Sweden, in 1736. In 1768 he and Mr.Banks accompanied Captain Cook in his first voyage round the world. Hedied in 1782. Knight's _Eng. Cyclo._ v. 578. Miss Burney wrote of him in1780:--'My father has very exactly named him, in calling him aphilosophical gossip.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 305. Horace Walpolethe same year, just after the Gordon Riots, wrote (_Letters_, vii.403):--'Who is secure against Jack Straw and a whirlwind? How Iabominate Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, who routed the poor Otaheitans outof the centre of the ocean, and carried our abominable passions amongstthem! not even that poor little speck could escape Europeanrestlessness.' See _ante_ ii. 148.[884] Boswell tells this story again, _ante_, ii. 299. Mrs. Piozzi'saccount (_Anec_. p. 114) is evidently so inaccurate that it does notdeserve attention; she herself admits that Beauclerk was truthful. In amarginal note on Wraxall's _Memoirs_, she says:--'Topham Beauclerk(wicked and profligate as he wished to be accounted), was yet a man ofvery strict veracity. Oh Lord! how I did hate that horrid Beauclerk!'Hayward's _Piozzi_, i. 348. Johnson testified to 'the correctness ofBeauclerk's memory and the fidelity of his narrative.' _Ante_, ii. 405.[885] 'Mr. Maclean of Col, having a very numerous family, has for sometime past resided at Aberdeen, that he may superintend their education,and leaves the young gentleman, our friend, to govern his dominions withthe full power of a Highland chief.' _Johnson's Works_, ix. 117.[886] This is not spoken of hare-coursing, where the game is taken orlost before the dog gets out of wind; but in chasing deer with the greatHighland greyhound, Col's exploit is feasible enough. WALTER SCOTT.[887] See _ante_, pp. 45, III, for Monboddo's notion.[888] Mme. Riccoboni in 1767 wrote to Garrick of the French:--'Unmensonge grossier les revolte. Si on voulait leur persuader que lesAnglais vivent de grenouilles, meurent de faim, que leurs femmes sontbarbouillees, et jurent par toutes les lettres de l'alphabet, ilsleveraient les epaules, et s'ecriraient, _quel sot ose ecrire cesmiseres-la?_ mais a Londres, diantre cela prend!' _Garrick Corres_.ii. 524.[889] Just opposite to M'Quarrie's house the boat was swamped by theintoxication of the sailors, who had partaken too largely of M'Quarrie'swonted hospitality. WALTER SCOTT. Johnson wrote from Lichfield on June13, 1775;--'There is great lamentation here for the death of Col. Lucy[Miss Porter] is of opinion that he was wonderfully handsome.' _PiozziLetters_, i. 235. See ante, ii. 287.[890] Iona.[891] See _ante_, p. 237.[892] See _ante_, 111. 229.[893] Sir James Mackintosh says (_Life_, ii. 257):--'Dr. Johnson visitedIona without looking at Staffa, which lay in sight, with thatindifference to natural objects, either of taste or scientificcuriosity, which characterised him.' This is a fair enough sample ofmuch of the criticism under which Johnson's reputation has suffered.[894] Smollett in _Humphry Clinker_ (Letter of Sept. 3) describes aHighland funeral. 'Our entertainer seemed to think it a disparagement tohis family that not above a hundred gallons of whisky had been drunkupon such a solemn occasion.[895] 'We then entered the boat again; the night came upon us; the windrose; the sea swelled; and Boswell desired to be set on dry ground: we,however, pursued our navigation, and passed by several little islands inthe silent solemnity of faint moon-shine, seeing little, and hearingonly the wind and water.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 176.[896] Cicero _De Finibus_, ii. 32.[897] I have lately observed that this thought has been elegantlyexpressed by Cowley:--'Things which offend when present, and affright,In memory, well painted, move delight.'BOSWELL.The lines are found in the _Ode upon His Majesty's Restoration andReturn_, stanza 12. They may have been suggested by Virgil's lines--'Revocate animos, maestumque timoremMittite; forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit.'Aeneid, i. 202.[898] Had our Tour produced nothing else but this sublime passage, theworld must have acknowledged that it was not made in vain. The presentrespectable President of the Royal Society was so much struck on readingit, that he clasped his hands together, and remained for some time in anattitude of silent admiration, BOSWELL. Boswell again quotes thispassage (which is found in Johnson's _Works_, ix. 145), _ante_, iii.173. The President was Sir Joseph Banks, Johnson says in _Rasselas_, ch.xi:--'That the supreme being may be more easily propitiated in one placethan in another is the dream of idle superstition; but that some placesmay operate upon our own minds in an uncommon manner is an opinion whichhourly experience will justify. He who supposes that his vices may bemore successfully combated in Palestine will, perhaps, find himselfmistaken, yet he may go thither without folly; he who thinks they willbe more freely pardoned dishonours at once his reason and religion.'[899] 'Sir Allan went to the headman of the island, whom fame, but famedelights in amplifying, represents as worth no less than fifty pounds.He was, perhaps, proud enough of his guests, but ill prepared for ourentertainment; however he soon produced more provision than men notluxurious require.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 146.[900] _An Account of the Isle of Man. With a voyage to I-Columb-Kill_.By W. Sacheverell, Esq., late Governour of Man. 1702.[901] 'He that surveys it [the church-yard] attended by an insularantiquary may be told where the kings of many nations are buried, and ifhe loves to soothe his imagination with the thoughts that naturally risein places where the great and the powerful lie mingled with the dust,let him listen in submissive silence; for if he asks any questions hisdelight is at an end.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 148.[902] On quitting the island Johnson wrote: 'We now left thoseillustrious ruins, by which Mr. Boswell was much affected, nor would Iwillingly be thought to have looked upon them without some emotion.'_Ib_. p. 150.[903] Psalm xc. 4.[904] Boswell wrote on Nov. 9, 1767:--'I am always for fixing someperiod for my perfection as far as possible. Let it be when my accountof Corsica is published; I shall then have a character which I mustsupport.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 122. Five weeks later he wrote:--'Ihave been as wild as ever;' and then comes a passage which the Editorhas thought it needful to suppress. _Ib_.p.128.[905] Boswell here speaks as an Englishman. He should have written '_a_M'Ginnis.' See _ante_, p. 135, note 3.[906] 'The fruitfulness of Iona is now its whole prosperity. Theinhabitants are remarkably gross, and remarkably neglected; I know notif they are visited by any minister. The island, which was once themetropolis of learning and piety, has now no school for education, nortemple for worship, only two inhabitants that can speak English, and notone that can write or read.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 149. Scott, whovisited it in 1810, writes:--'There are many monuments of singularcuriosity, forming a strange contrast to the squalid and dejectedpoverty of the present inhabitants.' Lockhart's _Scott_, ed. 1839, iii.285. In 1814, on a second visit, he writes:--'Iona, the last time I sawit, seemed to me to contain the most wretched people I had anywhereseen. But either they have got better since I was here, or my eyes,familiarized with the wretchedness of Zetland and the Harris, are lessshocked with that of Iona.' He found a schoolmaster there. _Ib_.iv. 324.[907] Johnson's Jacobite friend, Dr. King (_ante_, i. 279), says ofPulteney, on his being made Earl of Bath:--'He deserted the cause ofhis country; he betrayed his friends and adherents; he ruined hischaracter, and from a most glorious eminence sunk down to a degree ofcontempt. The first time Sir Robert (who was now Earl of Orford) met himin the House of Lords, he threw out this reproach:--"My Lord Bath, youand I are now two as insignificant men as any in England." In which hespoke the truth of my Lord Bath, but not of himself. For my Lord Orfordwas consulted by the ministers to the last day of his life.' King's_Anec_. p. 43.[908] See _ante_, i. 431, and iii. 326.[909] 'Sir Robert Walpole detested war. This made Dr. Johnson say ofhim, "He was the best minister this country ever had, as, if _we_ wouldhave let him (he speaks of his own violent faction), he would have keptthe country in perpetual peace."' Seward's _Biographiana_, p. 554. See_ante_, i. 131.[910] See _ante_, iii. Appendix C.[911] I think it incumbent on me to make some observation on this strongsatirical sally on my classical companion, Mr. Wilkes. Reporting itlately from memory, in his presence, I expressed it thus:--'They knew hewould rob their shops, _if he durst;_ they knew he would debauch theirdaughters, _if he could;_' which, according to the French phrase, may besaid _rencherir_ on Dr. Johnson; but on looking into my Journal, I foundit as above, and would by no means make any addition. Mr. Wilkesreceived both readings with a good humour that I cannot enough admire.Indeed both he and I (as, with respect to myself, the reader has morethan once had occasion to observe in the course of this Journal,) aretoo fond of a _bon mot_, not to relish it, though we should be ourselvesthe object of it.Let me add, in justice to the gentleman here mentioned, that at asubsequent period, he _was_ elected chief magistrate of London [in1774], and discharged the duties of that high office with great honourto himself, and advantage to the city. Some years before Dr. Johnsondied, I was fortunate enough to bring him and Mr. Wilkes together; theconsequence of which was, that they were ever afterwards on easy and notunfriendly terms. The particulars I shall have great pleasure inrelating at large in my _Life of Dr. Johnson_. BOSWELL. In the copy ofBoswell's _Letter to the People of Scotland_ in the British Museum isentered in Boswell's own hand--'Comes jucundus in via pro vehiculo est.To John Wilkes, Esq.: as pleasant a companion as ever lived. From theAuthor.--will my Wilkes retreat,And see, once seen before, that ancient seat, etc.'See _ante_, iii. 64, 183; iv. 101, 224, note 2.[912] See _ante_, iv. 199.[913] Our afternoon journey was through a country of such gloomydesolation that Mr. Boswell thought no part of the Highlands equallyterrifick.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 150.[914] Johnson describes Lochbuy as 'a true Highland laird, rough andhaughty, and tenacious of his dignity: who, hearing my name, inquiredwhether I was of the Johnstons of Glencoe (_sic_) or of Ardnamurchan.'_Ib_.[915] Boswell totally misapprehended _Lochbuy's_ meaning. There are twosepts of the powerful clan of M'Donaid, who are called Mac-Ian, that is_John's-son_; and as Highlanders often translate their names when theygo to the Lowlands,--as Gregor-son for Mac-Gregor, Farquhar-son forMac-Farquhar,--_Lochbuy_ supposed that Dr. Johnson might be one of theMac-Ians of Ardnamurchan, or of Glencro. Boswell's explanation wasnothing to the purpose. The _Johnstons_ are a clan distinguished inScottish _border_ history, and as brave as any _Highland_ clan that everwore brogues; but they lay entirely out of _Lochbuy's_ knowledge--norwas he thinking of _them_. WALTER SCOTT.[916] This maxim, however, has been controverted. See Blackstone's_Commentaries_, vol. ii. p. 291; and the authorities there quoted.BOSWELL. 'Blackstone says:--From these loose authorities, whichFitzherbert does not hesitate to reject as being contrary to reason, themaxim that a man shall not stultify himself hath been handed down assettled law; though later opinions, feeling the inconvenience of therule, have in many points endeavoured to restrain it.' _Ib_. p. 292.[917] Begging pardon of the Doctor and his conductor, I have often seenand partaken of cold sheep's head at as good breakfast-tables as everthey sat at. This protest is something in the manner of the lateCulrossie, who fought a duel for the honour of Aberdeen butter. I havepassed over all the Doctor's other reproaches upon Scotland, but thesheep's head I will defend _totis viribus_. Dr. Johnson himself musthave forgiven my zeal on this occasion; for if, as he says, _dinner_ bethe thing of which a man thinks _oftenest during the day, breakfast_must be that of which he thinks _first in the morning_. WALTER SCOTT. Ido not know where Johnson says this. Perhaps Scott was thinking of apassage in Mrs. Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 149, where she writes that he said:'A man seldom thinks with more earnestness of any thing than he does ofhis dinner.'[918] A horrible place it was. Johnson describes it (_Works_, ix. 152)as 'a deep subterraneous cavity, walled on the sides, and arched on thetop, into which the descent is through a narrow door, by a ladder ora rope.'[919] See _ante_, p. 177.[920] Sir Allan M'Lean, like many Highland chiefs, was embarrassed inhis private affairs, and exposed to unpleasant solicitations fromattorneys, called, in Scotland, _writers_ (which indeed was the chiefmotive of his retiring to Inchkenneth). Upon one occasion he made avisit to a friend, then residing at Carron lodge, on the banks of theCarron, where the banks of that river are studded with pretty villas:Sir Allan, admiring the landscape, asked his friend, whom that handsomeseat belonged to. 'M---, the writer to the signet,' was the reply.'Umph!' said Sir Allan, but not with an accent of assent, 'I mean thatother house.' 'Oh ! that belongs to a very honest fellow Jamie---, alsoa writer to the signet.' 'Umph!' said the Highland chief of M'Lean withmore emphasis than before, 'And yon smaller house?' 'That belongs to aStirling man; I forget his name, but I am sure he is a writer too;for---.' Sir Allan who had recoiled a quarter of a circle backward atevery response, now wheeled the circle entire and turned his back on thelandscape, saying, 'My good friend, I must own you have a prettysituation here; but d--n your neighbourhood.' WALTER SCOTT.[921] Loch Awe.[922] 'Pope's talent lay remarkably in what one may naturally enoughterm the condensation of thoughts. I think no other English poet everbrought so much sense into the same number of lines with equalsmoothness, ease, and poetical beauty. Let him who doubts of this perusehis _Essay on Man_ with attention.' Shenstone's _Essays on Men andManners. [Works_, 4th edit. ii. 159.] 'He [Gray] approved an observationof Shenstone, that "Pope had the art of condensing a thought."'Nicholls' _Reminiscences of Gray_, p. 37. And Swift [in his _Lines onthe death of Dr. Swift_], himself a great condenser, says--'In Pope I cannot read a lineBut with a sigh I wish it mine;When he can in one couplet fixMore sense than I can do in six.'P. CUNNINGHAM.[923] He is described by Walpole in his _Letters_, viii. 5.[924] 'The night came on while we had yet a great part of the way to go,though not so dark but that we could discern the cataracts which poureddown the hills on one side, and fell into one general channel, that ranwith great violence on the other. The wind was loud, the rain was heavy,and the whistling of the blast, the fall of the shower, the rush of thecataracts, and the roar of the torrent, made a nobler chorus of therough musick of nature than it had ever been my chance to hear before.'Johnson's _Works_, ix. 155. He wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'All the rougherpowers of nature except thunder were in motion, but there was no danger.I should have been sorry to have missed any of the inconveniencies, tohave had more light or less rain, for their co-operation crowded thescene and filled the mind.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 177.[925] I never tasted whiskey except once for experiment at the inn inInverary, when I thought it preferable to any English malt brandy. Itwas strong, but not pungent, and was free from the empyreumatick tasteor smell. What was the process I had no opportunity of inquiring, nor doI wish to improve the art of making poison pleasant.' Johnson's _Works_,ix. 52. Smollett, medical man though he was, looked upon whisky asanything but poison. 'I am told that it is given with great success toinfants, as a cordial in the confluent small-pox.' _Humphry Clinker_.Letter of Sept. 3.[926] _Regale_ in this sense is not in Johnson's _Dictionary_. It was,however, a favourite word at this time. Thus, Mrs. Piozzi, in her_Journey through France_, ii. 297, says:--'A large dish of hot chocolatethickened with bread and cream is a common afternoon's regale here.'Miss Burney often uses the word.[927] Boswell, in answering Garrick's letter seven months later,improved on this comparison. 'It was,' he writes, 'a pine-apple of thefinest flavour, which had a high zest indeed among the heath-coveredmountains of Scotia.' _Garrick Corres_. i. 621.[928] See _ante_, p. 115.[929] See _ante_, i. 97.[930] 'Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane.' _Macbeth_, act v. sc.8.[931]'From his first entrance to the closing sceneLet him one equal character maintain.'FRANCIS. Horace, _Ars Poet._ l. 126.[932] I took the liberty of giving this familiar appellation to mycelebrated friend, to bring in a more lively manner to his remembrancethe period when he was Dr. Johnson's pupil. BOSWELL.[933] See _ante_, p. 129.[934] Boswell is here quoting the Preface to the third edition of his_Corsica_:--'Whatever clouds may overcast my days, I can now walk hereamong the rocks and woods of my ancestors, with an agreeableconsciousness that I have done something worthy.'[935] See _ante_, i. 148, and _post_, Nov. 21.[936] I have suppressed my friend's name from an apprehension ofwounding his sensibility; but I would not withhold from my readers apassage which shews Mr. Garrick's mode of writing as the Manager of aTheatre, and contains a pleasing trait of his domestick life. Hisjudgment of dramatick pieces, so far as concerns their exhibition on thestage, must be allowed to have considerable weight. But from the effectwhich a perusal of the tragedy here condemned had upon myself, and fromthe opinions of some eminent criticks, I venture to pronounce that ithas much poetical merit; and its authour has distinguished himself byseveral performances which shew that the epithet _poetaster_ was, in thepresent instance, much misapplied. BOSWELL. Johnson mentioned thisquarrel between Garrick and the poet on March 25, 1773 (_PiozziLetters_, i. 80). 'M---- is preparing a whole pamphlet against G----,and G---- is, I suppose, collecting materials to confute M----.' M----