[1002] The unwilling gratitude of base mankind. POPE. [_Imitations ofHorace_, 2 _Epis_. i. 14.] BOSWELL.[1003] Dr. Franklin (_Memoirs_, i. 246-253) gives a curious account ofLord Loudoun, who was general in America about the year 1756.'Indecision,' he says, 'was one of the strongest features of hischaracter.' He kept back the packet-boats from day to day because hecould not make up his mind to send his despatches. At one time therewere three boats waiting, one of which was kept with cargo andpassengers on board three months beyond its time. Pitt at lengthrecalled him, because 'he never heard from him, and could not know whathe was doing.'[1004] See Chalmers's _Biog. Dict._ xi. 161 for an account of acontroversy about the identity of this writer with an historian of thesame name.[1005] He had paid but little attention to his own rule. See _ante_, ii.119.[1006] 'I believe that for all the castles which I have seen beyond theTweed, the ruins yet remaining of some one of those which the Englishbuilt in Wales would supply Materials.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 152.[1007] See _ante_, p. 40, note 4.[1008] Johnson described her as 'a lady who for many years gave the lawsof elegance to Scotland.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 200. Allan Ramsaydedicated to her his _Gentle Shepherd_, and W. Hamilton, of Bangour,wrote to her verses on the presentation of Ramsay's poem. Hamilton's_Poems_, p. 23.[1009] See _ante_, ii. 66, and iii. 188.[1010] 'She called Boswell the boy: "yes, Madam," said I, "we will sendhim to school." "He is already," said she, "in a good school;" andexpressed her hope of his improvement. At last night came, and I wassorry to leave her.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 200. See _ante_, iii. 366.[1011] See _ante_, pp. 318, 362.[1012] Burns, who was in his fifteenth year, was at this time living atAyr, about twelve miles away. When later on he moved to Mauchline, heand Boswell became much nearer neighbours.[1013] He had, however, married again. _Ante_, ii. 140, note I. It iscurious that Boswell in this narrative does not mention his step-mother.[1014]'AsperIncolumi gravitate jocum tentavit.''Though rude his mirth, yet laboured to maintainThe solemn grandeur of the tragic scene.'FRANCIS. Horace, _Ars Poet_. l. 221.[1015] See _ante_, iii. 65, and v. 97.[1016] See _ante_, iv. 163, 241.[1017] Johnson (_Works_, vii. 425) says of Addison's dedication of theopera of _Rosamond_ to the Duchess of Marlborough, that 'it was aninstance of servile absurdity, to be exceeded only by Joshua Barnes'sdedication of a Greek _Anacreon_ to the Duke.' For Barnes see _ante_,iii. 284, and iv. 19.[1018] William Baxter, the editor of _Anacreon_, was the nephew ofRichard Baxter, the nonconformist divine.[1019] He says of Auchinleck (_Works_, ix. 158) that 'like all thewestern side of Scotland, it is _incommoded_ by very frequent rain.' 'Inall September we had, according to Boswell's register, only one day anda half of fair weather; and in October perhaps not more.' _PiozziLetters_, i. 182.[1020] 'By-the-bye,' wrote Sir Walter Scott, 'I am far from being of thenumber of those angry Scotsmen who imputed to Johnson's nationalprejudices all or a great part of the report he has given of our countryin his _Voyage to the Hebrides_. I remember the Highlands ten or twelveyears later, and no one can conceive of 'how much that could have beeneasily remedied travellers had to complain.' _Croker Corres_. ii. 34[1021] 'Of these islands it must be confessed, that they have not manyallurements but to the mere lover of naked nature. The inhabitants arethin, provisions are scarce, and desolation and penury give littlepleasure.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 153. In an earlier passage (p. 138),in describing a rough ride in Mull, he says:--'We were now long enoughacquainted with hills and heath to have lost the emotion that they onceraised, whether pleasing or painful, and had our minds employed only onour own fatigue.'[1022] See _ante_, ii. 225.[1023] In like manner Wesley said of Rousseau:--'Sure a more consummatecoxcomb never saw the sun.... He is a cynic all over. So indeed is hisbrother-infidel, Voltaire; and well-nigh as great a coxcomb.' Wesley's_Journal,_, ed. 1830, iii. 386.[1024] This gentleman, though devoted to the study of grammar anddialecticks, was not so absorbed in it as to be without a sense ofpleasantry, or to be offended at his favourite topicks being treatedlightly. I one day met him in the street, as I was hastening to theHouse of Lords, and told him, I was sorry I could not stop, being rathertoo late to attend an appeal of the Duke of Hamilton against Douglas. 'Ithought (said he) their contest had been over long ago.' I answered,'The contest concerning Douglas's filiation was over long ago; but thecontest 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.[1025] Most likely Sir A. Macdonald. _Ante_, p. 148.[1026] Boswell wrote on March 18,1775:--'Mr. Johnson, when enumeratingour Club, observed of some of us, that they talked from books,--Langtonin particular. "Garrick," he said, "would talk from books, if he talkedseriously." "_I_," said he, "do not talk from books; _you_ do not talkfrom books." This was a compliment to my originality; but I am afraid Ihave not read books enough to be able to talk from them.' _Letters ofBoswell_, p. 181. See _ante_, ii. 360, where Johnson said to Boswell:--'I don't believe you have borrowed from Waller. I wish you would enableyourself to borrow more;' and i. 105, where he described 'a man of agreat deal of knowledge of the world, fresh from life, not strainedthrough books.'[1027] 'Lord Auchinleck has built a house of hewn stone, very statelyand durable, and has advanced the value of his lands with greattenderness to his tenants. I was, however, less delighted with theelegance of the modern mansion, than with the sullen dignity of the oldcastle.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 159. 'The house is scarcely yetfinished, but very magnificent and very convenient.' _Piozzi Letters_,i. 201. See _ante_, i. 462.[1028] See _ante_, ii. 413, and v. 91.[1029] The relation, it should seem, was remote even for Scotland. Theircommon ancestor was Robert Bruce, some sixteen generations back.Boswell's mother's grandmother was a Bruce of the Earl of Kincardine'sfamily, and so also was his father's mother. Rogers's _Boswelliana_,pp. 4, 5.[1030] He refers to Johnson's pension, which was given nearly two yearsafter George Ill's accession. _Ante_, i. 372.[1031] _Ante_, p. 51.[1032] He repeated this advice in 1777. _Ante_, iii. 207.[1033] 'Of their black cattle some are without horns, called by theScots _humble_ cows, as we call a bee, an _humble_ bee, that wants asting. Whether this difference be specifick, or accidental, though weinquired with great diligence, we could not be informed.' Johnson's_Works_, ix. 78.Johnson, in his _Dictionary_, gives the right derivation of humble-bee,from _hum_ and _bee_. The word _Humble-cow_ is found in _Guy Mannering_,ed. 1860, iii. 91:--'"Of a surety," said Sampson, "I deemed I heard hishorse's feet." "That," said John, with a broad grin, "was Grizzelchasing the humble-cow out of the close."'[1034] 'Even the cattle have not their usual beauty or noble head.'Church and Brodribb's _Tacitus_.[1035] 'The peace you seek is here--where is it not? If your own mindbe equal to its lot.' CROKER. Horace, I _Epistles_, xi. 29.[1036] Horace, I _Epistles_, xviii. 112.[1037] This and the next paragraph are not in the first edition. Theparagraph that follows has been altered so as to hide the fact that theminister spoken of was Mr. Dun. Originally it stood:--'Mr. Dun, though aman of sincere good principles as a presbyterian divine, discovered,'&c. First edition, p. 478.[1038] See _ante_, p. 120.[1039] Old Lord Auchinleck was an able lawyer, a good scholar, after themanner of Scotland, and highly valued his own advantages as a man ofgood estate and ancient family; and, moreover, he was a strictpresbyterian and Whig of the old Scottish cast. This did not prevent hisbeing a terribly proud aristocrat; and great was the contempt heentertained and expressed for his son James, for the nature of hisfriendships and the character of the personages of whom he was _engoue_one after another. 'There's nae hope for Jamie, mon,' he said to afriend. 'Jamie is gaen clean gyte. What do you think, mon? He's done wi'Paoli--he's off wi' the land-louping scoundrel of a Corsican; and whosetail do you think he has pinned himself to now, mon?' Here the old judgesummoned up a sneer of most sovereign contempt. 'A _dominie_, mon--anauld dominie: he keeped a schule, and cau'd it an acaadamy.' Probably ifthis had been reported to Johnson, he would have felt it more galling,for he never much liked to think of that period of his life [_ante_,i.97, note 2]; it would have aggravated his dislike of Lord Auchinleck'sWhiggery and presbyterianism. These the old lord carried to such aheight, that once, when a countryman came in to state some justicebusiness, and being required to make his oath, declined to do so beforehis lordship, because he was not a _covenanted_ magistrate. 'Is thata'your objection, mon?' said the judge; 'come your ways in here, andwe'll baith of us tak the solemn league and covenant together.' The oathwas accordingly agreed and sworn to by both, and I dare say it was thelast time it ever received such homage. It may be surmised how far LordAuchinleck, such as he is here described, was likely to suit a high Toryand episcopalian like Johnson. As they approached Auchinleck, Boswellconjured Johnson by all the ties of regard, and in requital of theservices he had rendered him upon his tour, that he would spare twosubjects in tenderness to his father's prejudices; the first related toSir John Pringle, president of the Royal Society, about whom there wasthen some dispute current: the second concerned the general question ofWhig and Tory. Sir John Pringle, as Boswell says, escaped, but thecontroversy between Tory and Covenanter raged with great fury, and endedin Johnson's pressing upon the old judge the question, what goodCromwell, of whom he had said something derogatory, had ever done to hiscountry; when, after being much tortured, Lord Auchinleck at last spokeout, 'God, Doctor! he gart kings ken that they had a _lith_ in theirneck'--he taught kings they had a _joint_ in their necks. Jamie thenset to mediating between his father and the philosopher, and availinghimself of the judge's sense of hospitality, which was punctilious,reduced the debate to more order. WALTER SCOTT. Paoli had visitedAuchinleck. Boswell wrote to Garrick on Sept. 18, 1771:--'I have justbeen enjoying the very great happiness of a visit from my illustriousfriend, Pascal Paoli. He was two nights at Auchinleck, and you mayfigure the joy of my worthy father and me at seeing the Corsican hero inour romantic groves.' _Garrick Corres_. i. 436. Johnson was not blind toCromwell's greatness, for he says (_Works_, vii. 197), that 'he wantednothing to raise him to heroick excellence but virtue.' LordAuchinleck's famous saying had been anticipated by Quin, who, accordingto Davies (_Life of Garrick_, ii. 115), had said that 'on a thirtieth ofJanuary every king in Europe would rise with a crick in his neck.'[1040] See _ante_, p. 252.[1041] James Durham, born 1622, died 1658, wrote many theological works.Chalmers's _Biog. Dict_. In the _Brit. Mus. Cata_. I can find no work byhim on the _Galatians_; Lord Auchinleck's triumph therefore was, itseems, more artful than honest.[1042] Gray, it should seem, had given the name earlier. His friendBonstetten says that about the year 1769 he was walking with him, whenGray 'exclaimed with some bitterness, "Look, look, Bonstetten! the greatbear! There goes _Ursa Major_!" This was Johnson. Gray could not abidehim.' Sir Egerton Brydges, quoted in Gosse's _Gray_, iii. 371. For theepithet _bear_ applied to Johnson see _ante_, ii. 66, 269, note i, andiv. 113, note 2. Boswell wrote on June 19, 1775:--'My father harps on mygoing over Scotland with a brute (think, how shockingly erroneous!), andwandering (or some such phrase) to London.' _Letters of Boswell_,p. 207.[1043] It is remarkable that Johnson in his _Life of Blackmore_[_Works_, viii. 42] calls the imaginary Mr. Johnson of the _LayMonastery_ 'a constellation of excellence.' CROKER.[1044] Page 121. BOSWELL. See also _ante_, iii. 336.[1045] 'The late Sir Alexander Boswell,' wrote Sir Walter Scott, 'was aproud man, and, like his grandfather, thought that his father loweredhimself by his deferential suit and service to Johnson. I have observedhe disliked any allusion to the book or to Johnson himself, and I haveheard that Johnson's fine picture by Sir Joshua was sent upstairs out ofthe sitting apartments at Auchinleck.' _Croker Corres_. ii. 32. Thisportrait, which was given by Sir Joshua to Boswell (Taylor's _Reynolds_,i. 147), is now in the possession of Mr. Charles Morrison.[1046] 'I have always said that first Whig was the devil.' _Ante_, iii.326[1047] See _ante_, ii. 26.[1048] Dr. A. Carlyle (_Auto_. p. 266) has paid this tribute. 'LordElibank,' he writes, 'had a mind that embraced the greatest variety oftopics, and produced the most original remarks. ... He had been alieutenant-colonel in the army and was at the siege of Carthagena, ofwhich he left an elegant account (which I'm afraid is lost). He was aJacobite, and a member of the famous Cocoa-tree Club, and resigned hiscommission on some disgust.' Dr. Robertson and John Home were hisneighbours in the country, 'who made him change or soften down many ofhis original opinions, and prepared him for becoming a most agreeablemember of the Literary Society of Edinburgh.' Smollett in _HumphryClinker_ (Letter of July 18), describes him as 'a nobleman whom I havelong revered for his humanity and universal intelligence, over and abovethe entertainment arising from the originality of his character.'Boswell, in the _London Mag._ 1779, p. 179, thus mentions the Cocoa-treeClub:--'But even at Court, though I see much external obeisance, I donot find congenial sentiments to warm my heart; and except when I havethe conversation of a very few select friends, I am never so well aswhen I sit down to a dish of coffee in the Cocoa Tree, sacred of old toloyalty, look round me to men of ancient families, and please myselfwith the consolatory thought that there is perhaps more good in thenation than I know.'[1049] Johnson's _Works_, vii. 380. See _ante_, i. 81.[1050] See _ante_, p. 53.[1051] The Mitre tavern. _Ante_, i. 425.[1052] Of this Earl of Kelly Boswell records the following pun:--'At adinner at Mr. Crosbie's, when the company were very merry, the Rev. Dr.Webster told them he was sorry to go away so early, but was obliged tocatch the tide, to cross the Firth of Forth. "Better stay a little,"said Thomas Earl of Kelly, "till you be half-seas over."' Rogers's_Boswelliana_, p. 325.[1053] See _ante_, i. 354.[1054] In the first edition, _and his son the advocate_. Under this son,A. F. Tytler, afterwards a Lord of Session by the title of LordWoodhouselee, Scott studied history at Edinburgh College. Lockhart's_Scott_, ed. 1839, i. 59, 278.[1055] See _ante_, i. 396, and ii. 296.[1056] 'If we know little of the ancient Highlanders, let us not fillthe vacuity with Ossian. If we have not searched the Magellanickregions, let us however forbear to people them with Patagons.' Johnson's_Works_, ix. 116. Horace Walpole wrote on May 22, 1766 (_Letters_, iv.500):--'Oh! but we have discovered a race of giants! Captain Byron hasfound a nation of Brobdignags on the coast of Patagonia; the inhabitantson foot taller than he and his men on horseback. I don't indeed know howhe and his sailors came to be riding in the South Seas. However, it is aterrible blow to the Irish, for I suppose all our dowagers now will befor marrying Patagonians.'[1057] I desire not to be understood as agreeing _entirely_ with theopinions of Dr. Johnson, which I relate without any remark. The manyimitations, however, of _Fingal_, that have been published, confirm thisobservation in a considerable degree. BOSWELL. Johnson said to SirJoshua of Ossian:--'Sir, a man might write such stuff for ever, if hewould _abandon_ his mind to it.' _Ante_, iv. 183.[1058] In the first edition (p. 485) this paragraph ran thus:--'YoungMr. Tytler stepped briskly forward, and said, "_Fingal_ is certainlygenuine; for I have heard a great part of it repeated in theoriginal."--Dr. Johnson indignantly asked him, "Sir, do you understandthe original?"--_Tytler_. "No, Sir."--_Johnson_. "Why, then, we see towhat this testimony comes:--Thus it is."--He afterwards said to me, "Didyou observe the wonderful confidence with which young Tytler advanced,with his front already _brased_?"'[1059] For _in company_ we should perhaps read _in the company_.[1060] In the first edition, _this gentleman's talents and integrityare_, &c.[1061] 'A Scotchman must be a very sturdy moralist who does not loveScotland better than truth: he will always love it better than inquiry;and if falsehood flatters his vanity, will not be very diligent todetect it.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 116. See _ante_, ii. 311.[1062] See _ante_, p. 164.[1063] See _ante_, p. 242.[1064] See _ante_, iv. 253.[1065] Lord Chief Baron Geoffrey Gilbert published in 1760 a book on theLaw of Evidence.[1066] See _ante_, ii. 302.[1067] Three instances, _ante_, pp. 160, 320.[1068] See _ante_, ii. 318.[1069] An instance is given in Sacheverell's _Account of the Isle ofMan_, ed. 1702, p. 14.[1070] Mr. J. T. Clark, the Keeper of the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh,obligingly informs me that in the margin of the copy of Boswell's_Journal_ in that Library it is stated that this cause was _Wilsonversus Maclean_.[1071] See _ante_, iv. 74, note 3.[1072] See _ante_, iii 69, 183.[1073] He is described in _Guy Mannering_, ed. 1860, iv. 98.[1074] See _ante_, p. 50.[1075] See _ante_, i. 458.[1076] 'We now observe that the Methodists, where they scatter theiropinions, represent themselves as preaching the Gospel to unconvertednations; and enthusiasts of all kinds have been inclined to disguisetheir particular tenets with pompous appellations, and to imaginethemselves the great instruments of salvation.' Johnson's _Works_,vi. 417.[1077]Through various hazards and events we move.Dryden, [_Aeneid_, I. 204]. BOSWELL.[1078]Long labours both by sea and land he bore.Dryden, [_Aeneid_, I. 3]. BOSWELL.