约翰逊4-6-62

incursion of present objects, which wear out the past. You need notmurmur, though you are sorry.' MURISON. 'But St. Paul says, "I havelearnt, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content."' JOHNSON.'Sir, that relates to riches and poverty; for we see St. Paul, when hehad a thorn in the flesh, prayed earnestly to have it removed; and thenhe could not be content.' Murison, thus refuted, tried to be smart, anddrank to Dr. Johnson, 'Long may you lecture!' Dr. Johnson afterwards,speaking of his not drinking wine, said, 'The Doctor spoke of_lecturing_ (looking to him). I give all these lectures on water.'He defended requiring subscription in those admitted to universities,thus: 'As all who come into the country must obey the king, so all whocome into an university must be of the church[195].'And here I must do Dr. Johnson the justice to contradict a very absurdand ill-natured story, as to what passed at St. Andrews. It has beencirculated, that, after grace was said in English, in the usual manner,he with the greatest marks of contempt, as if he had held it to be nograce in an university, would not sit down till he had said grace aloudin Latin. This would have been an insult indeed to the gentlemen whowere entertaining us. But the truth was precisely thus. In the course ofconversation at dinner, Dr. Johnson, in very good humour, said, 'Ishould have expected to have heard a Latin grace, among so many learnedmen: we had always a Latin grace at Oxford. I believe I can repeatit.'[196] Which he did, as giving the learned men in one place aspecimen of what was done by the learned men in another place.We went and saw the church, in which is Archbishop Sharp'smonument.[197] I was struck with the same kind of feelings with whichthe churches of Italy impressed me. I was much pleased, to see Dr.Johnson actually in St. Andrews, of which we had talked so long.Professor Haddo was with us this afternoon, along with Dr. Watson. Welooked at St. Salvador's College. The rooms for students seemed verycommodious, and Dr. Johnson said, the chapel was the neatest place ofworship he had seen. The key of the library could not be found; for itseems Professor Hill, who was out of town, had taken it with him. Dr.Johnson told a joke he had heard of a monastery abroad, where the key ofthe library could never be found.It was somewhat dispiriting, to see this ancient archiepiscopal citynow sadly deserted[198]. We saw in one of its streets a remarkable proofof liberal toleration; a nonjuring clergyman, strutting about in hiscanonicals, with a jolly countenance and a round belly, like awell-fed monk.We observed two occupations united in the same person, who had hung outtwo sign-posts. Upon one was, 'James Hood, White Iron Smith' (_i.e._Tin-plate Worker). Upon another, 'The Art of Fencing taught, by JamesHood.'--Upon this last were painted some trees, and two men fencing, oneof whom had hit the other in the eye, to shew his great dexterity; sothat the art was well taught. JOHNSON. 'Were I studying here, I shouldgo and take a lesson. I remember _Hope_, in his book on this art[199],says, "the Scotch are very good fencers."'We returned to the inn, where we had been entertained at dinner, anddrank tea in company with some of the Professors, of whose civilities Ibeg leave to add my humble and very grateful acknowledgement to thehonourable testimony of Dr. Johnson, in his _Journey_[200].We talked of composition, which was a favourite topick of Dr. Watson's,who first distinguished himself by lectures on rhetorick. JOHNSON. 'Iadvised Chambers, and would advise every young man beginning to compose,to do it as fast as he can, to get a habit of having his mind to startpromptly; it is so much more difficult to improve in speed than inaccuracy[201].' WATSON. 'I own I am for much attention to accuracy incomposing, lest one should get bad habits of doing it in a slovenlymanner.' JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, you are confounding _doing_ inaccuratelywith the _necessity_ of doing inaccurately. A man knows when hiscomposition is inaccurate, and when he thinks fit he'll correct it. But,if a man is accustomed to compose slowly, and with difficulty, upon alloccasions, there is danger that he may not compose at all, as we do notlike to do that which is not done easily; and, at any rate, more time isconsumed in a small matter than ought to be.' WATSON. 'Dr. Hugh Blairhas taken a week to compose a sermon.' JOHNSON. 'Then, Sir, that is forwant of the habit of composing quickly, which I am insisting one shouldacquire.' WATSON. 'Blair was not composing all the week, but only suchhours as he found himself disposed for composition.' JOHNSON. 'Nay, Sir,unless you tell me the time he took, you tell me nothing. If I say Itook a week to walk a mile, and have had the gout five days, and beenill otherwise another day, I have taken but one day. I myself havecomposed about forty sermons[202]. I have begun a sermon after dinner,and sent it off by the post that night. I wrote forty-eight of theprinted octavo pages of the _Life of Savage_ at a sitting; but then Isat up all night. I have also written six sheets in a day of translationfrom the French[203].' BOSWELL. 'We have all observed how one mandresses himself slowly, and another fast.' JOHNSON. 'Yes, Sir: it iswonderful how much time some people will consume in dressing; taking upa thing and looking at it, and laying it down, and taking it up again.Every one should get the habit of doing it quickly. I would say to ayoung divine, "Here is your text; let me see how soon you can make asermon." Then I'd say, "Let me see how much better you can make it."Thus I should see both his powers and his judgement.'We all went to Dr. Watson's to supper. Miss Sharp, great grandchild ofArchbishop Sharp, was there; as was Mr. Craig, the ingenious architectof the new town of Edinburgh[204] and nephew of Thomson, to whom Dr.Johnson has since done so much justice, in his _Lives of the Poets_.We talked of memory, and its various modes. JOHNSON. 'Memory will playstrange tricks. One sometimes loses a single word. I once lost _fugaces_in the Ode _Posthume, Posthume_[205].' I mentioned to him, that a worthygentleman of my acquaintance actually forgot his own name. JOHNSON.'Sir, that was a morbid oblivion.'FRIDAY, AUGUST 20.Dr. Shaw, the professor of divinity, breakfasted with us. I took out my_Ogden on Prayer_, and read some of it to the company. Dr. Johnsonpraised him. 'Abernethy[206], (said he,) allows only of a physicaleffect of prayer upon the mind, which may be produced many ways, as wellas by prayer; for instance, by meditation. Ogden goes farther. In truth,we have the consent of all nations for the efficacy of prayer, whetheroffered up by individuals, or by assemblies; and Revelation has told us,it will be effectual.' I said, 'Leechman seemed to incline toAbernethy's doctrine.' Dr. Watson observed, that Leechman meant to shew,that, even admitting no effect to be produced by prayer, respecting theDeity, it was useful to our own minds[207]. He had given only a part ofhis system. Dr. Johnson thought he should have given the whole.Dr. Johnson enforced the strict observance of Sunday[208]. 'It should bedifferent (he observed) from another day. People may walk, but not throwstones at birds. There may be relaxation, but there should be nolevity[209].'We went and saw Colonel Nairne's garden and grotto. Here was a fine oldplane tree. Unluckily the colonel said, there was but this and anotherlarge tree in the county. This assertion was an excellent cue for Dr.Johnson, who laughed enormously, calling to me to hear it. He hadexpatiated to me on the nakedness of that part of Scotland which he hadseen. His _Journey_ has been violently abused, for what he has said uponthis subject. But let it be considered, that, when Dr. Johnson talks oftrees, he means trees of good size, such as he was accustomed to see inEngland; and of these there are certainly very few upon the _easterncoast_ of Scotland. Besides, he said, that he meant to give only a mapof the road; and let any traveller observe how many trees, which deservethe name, he can see from the road from Berwick to Aberdeen[210]. HadDr. Johnson said, 'there are _no_ trees' upon this line, he would havesaid what is colloquially true; because, by no trees, in common speech,we mean few. When he is particular in counting, he may be attacked. Iknow not how Colonel Nairne came to say there were but _two_ large treesin the county of Fife. I did not perceive that he smiled. There arecertainly not a great many; but I could have shewn him more than two at_Balmuto_, from whence my ancestors came, and which now belongs to abranch of my family[211].The grotto was ingeniously constructed. In the front of it werepetrified stocks of fir, plane, and some other tree. Dr. Johnson said,'Scotland has no right to boast of this grotto; it is owing to personalmerit. I never denied personal merit to many of you.' Professor Shawsaid to me, as we walked, 'This is a wonderful man; he is master ofevery subject he handles.' Dr. Watson allowed him a very strongunderstanding, but wondered at his total inattention to establishedmanners, as he came from London.I have not preserved in my Journal, any of the conversation which passedbetween Dr. Johnson and Professor Shaw; but I recollect Dr. Johnson saidto me afterwards, 'I took much to Shaw.'We left St. Andrews about noon, and some miles from it observing, at_Leuchars_, a church with an old tower, we stopped to look at it. The_manse_, as the parsonage-house is called in Scotland, was close by. Iwaited on the minister, mentioned our names, and begged he would tell uswhat he knew about it. He was a very civil old man; but could onlyinform us, that it was supposed to have stood eight hundred years. Hetold us, there was a colony of Danes in his parish[212]; that they hadlanded at a remote period of time, and still remained a distinct people.Dr. Johnson shrewdly inquired whether they had brought women with them.We were not satisfied as to this colony.We saw, this day, Dundee and Aberbrothick, the last of which Dr. Johnsonhas celebrated in his _Journey_[213]. Upon the road we talked of theRoman Catholick faith. He mentioned (I think) Tillotson's argumentagainst transubstantiation: 'That we are as sure we see bread and wineonly, as that we read in the Bible the text on which that false doctrineis founded. We have only the evidence of our senses for both[214].' 'If,(he added,) GOD had never spoken figuratively, we might hold that hespeaks literally, when he says, "This is my body[215]."' BOSWELL. 'Butwhat do you say, Sir, to the ancient and continued tradition of thechurch upon this point?' JOHNSON. 'Tradition, Sir, has no place, wherethe Scriptures are plain; and tradition cannot persuade a man into abelief of transubstantiation. Able men, indeed, have _said_ theybelieved it.'This is an awful subject. I did not then press Dr. Johnson upon it: norshall I now enter upon a disquisition concerning the import of thosewords uttered by our Saviour[216], which had such an effect upon many ofhis disciples, that they 'went back, and walked no more with him.' TheCatechism and solemn office for Communion, in the Church of England,maintain a mysterious belief in more than a mere commemoration of thedeath of Christ, by partaking of the elements of bread and wine.Dr. Johnson put me in mind, that, at St. Andrews, I had defended myprofession very well, when the question had again been started, Whethera lawyer might honestly engage with the first side that offers him afee. 'Sir, (said I,) it was with your arguments against Sir WilliamForbes[217]: but it was much that I could wield the arms of Goliah.'He said, our judges had not gone deep in the question concerningliterary property. I mentioned Lord Monboddo's opinion, that if a mancould get a work by heart, he might print it, as by such an act the mindis exercised. JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; a man's repeating it no more makes ithis property, than a man may sell a cow which he drives home.' I said,printing an abridgement of a work was allowed, which was only cuttingthe horns and tail off the cow. JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; 'tis making the cowhave a calf[218].'About eleven at night we arrived at Montrose. We found but a sorry inn,where I myself saw another waiter put a lump of sugar with his fingersinto Dr. Johnson's lemonade, for which he called him 'Rascal!' It put mein great glee that our landlord was an Englishman. I rallied the Doctorupon this, and he grew quiet[219]. Both Sir John Hawkins's and Dr.Burney's _History of Musick_ had then been advertised. I asked if thiswas not unlucky: would not they hurt one another? JOHNSON. 'No, Sir.They will do good to one another. Some will buy the one, some the other,and compare them; and so a talk is made about a thing, and the booksare sold.'He was angry at me for proposing to carry lemons with us to Sky, thathe might be sure to have his lemonade. 'Sir, (said he,) I do not wish tobe thought that feeble man who cannot do without any thing. Sir, it isvery bad manners to carry provisions to any man's house, as if he couldnot entertain you. To an inferior, it is oppressive; to a superior, itis insolent.'Having taken the liberty, this evening, to remark to Dr. Johnson, thathe very often sat quite silent for a long time, even when in companywith only a single friend, which I myself had sometimes sadlyexperienced, he smiled and said, 'It is true, Sir[220]. Tom Tyers, (forso he familiarly called our ingenious friend, who, since his death, haspaid a biographical tribute to his memory[221],) Tom Tyers described methe best. He once said to me, "Sir, you are like a ghost: you neverspeak till you are spoken to[222]."'SATURDAY, AUGUST 31.Neither the Rev. Mr. Nisbet, the established minister, nor the Rev. Mr.Spooner, the episcopal minister, were in town. Before breakfast, we wentand saw the town-hall, where is a good dancing-room, and other rooms fortea-drinking. The appearance of the town from it is very well; but manyof the houses are built with their ends to the street, which looksawkward. When we came down from it, I met Mr. Gleg, a merchant here. Hewent with us to see the English chapel. It is situated on a pretty dryspot, and there is a fine walk to it. It is really an elegant building,both within and without. The organ is adorned with green and gold. Dr.Johnson gave a shilling extraordinary to the clerk, saying, 'He belongsto an honest church[223].' I put him in mind, that episcopals were but_dissenters_ here; they were only _tolerated_. 'Sir, (said he,) we arehere, as Christians in Turkey.' He afterwards went into an apothecary'sshop, and ordered some medicine for himself, and wrote the prescriptionin technical characters. The boy took him for a physician[224].I doubted much which road to take, whether to go by the coast, or byLaurence Kirk and Monboddo. I knew Lord Monboddo and Dr. Johnson did notlove each other[225]; yet I was unwilling not to visit his Lordship; andwas also curious to see them together[226]. I mentioned my doubts to Dr.Johnson, who said, he would go two miles out of his way to see LordMonboddo[227]. I therefore sent Joseph forward with thefollowing note:--'Montrose, August 21.'My Dear Lord,'Thus far I am come with Mr. Samuel Johnson. We must be at Aberdeento-night. I know you do not admire him so much as I do; but I cannot bein this country without making you a bow at your old place, as I do notknow if I may again have an opportunity of seeing Monboddo. Besides, Mr.Johnson says, he would go two miles out of his way to see Lord Monboddo.I have sent forward my servant, that we may know if your lordship beat home.'I am ever, my dear lord,'Most sincerely yours,'JAMES BOSWELL.'As we travelled onwards from Montrose, we had the Grampion hills in ourview, and some good land around us, but void of trees and hedges. Dr.Johnson has said ludicrously, in his _Journey_, that the _hedges_ wereof _stone_[228]; for, instead of the verdant _thorn_ to refresh the eye,we found the bare _wall_ or _dike_ intersecting the prospect. Heobserved, that it was wonderful to see a country so divested, sodenuded of trees.We stopped at Laurence Kirk[229], where our great Grammarian,Ruddiman[230], was once schoolmaster. We respectfully remembered thatexcellent man and eminent scholar, by whose labours a knowledge of theLatin language will be preserved in Scotland, if it shall be preservedat all. Lord Gardenston[231], one of our judges, collected money toraise a monument to him at this place, which I hope will be wellexecuted[232]. I know my father gave five guineas towards it. LordGardenston is the proprietor of Laurence Kirk, and has encouraged thebuilding of a manufacturing village, of which he is exceedingly fond,and has written a pamphlet upon it[233], as if he had founded Thebes; inwhich, however, there are many useful precepts strongly expressed. Thevillage seemed to be irregularly built, some of the houses being ofclay, some of brick, and some of brick and stone. Dr. Johnson observed,they thatched well here. I was a little acquainted with Mr. Forbes,the minister of the parish. I sent to inform him that a gentlemandesired to see him. He returned for answer, 'that he would not come to astranger.' I then gave my name, and he came. I remonstrated to him fornot coming to a stranger; and, by presenting him to Dr. Johnson, provedto him what a stranger might sometimes be. His Bible inculcates, 'be notforgetful to entertain strangers,' and mentions the same motive[234]. Hedefended himself by saying, 'He had once come to a stranger who sent forhim; and he found him "_a little worth person!_"'Dr. Johnson insisted on stopping at the inn, as I told him that LordGardenston had furnished it with a collection of books, that travellersmight have entertainment for the mind, as well as the body. He praisedthe design, but wished there had been more books, and thosebetter chosen.About a mile from Monboddo, where you turn off the road, Joseph waswaiting to tell us my lord expected us to dinner. We drove over a wildmoor. It rained, and the scene was somewhat dreary. Dr. Johnsonrepeated, with solemn emphasis, Macbeth's speech on meeting the witches.As we travelled on, he told me, 'Sir, you got into our club by doingwhat a man can do[235]. Several of the members wished to keep you out.Burke told me, he doubted if you were fit for it: but, now you are in,none of them are sorry. Burke says, that you have so much good humournaturally, it is scarce a virtue[236].' BOSWELL. 'They were afraid ofyou, Sir, as it was you who proposed me.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, they knew, thatif they refused you, they'd probably never have got in another. I'd havekept them all out. Beauclerk was very earnest for you.' BOSWELL."Beauclerk has a keenness of mind which is very uncommon." JOHNSON.'Yes, Sir; and everything comes from him so easily. It appears to methat I labour, when I say a good thing.' BOSWELL. 'You are loud, Sir;but it is not an effort of mind[237].'Monboddo is a wretched place, wild and naked, with a poor old house;though, if I recollect right, there are two turrets which mark an oldbaron's residence. Lord Monboddo received us at his gate mostcourteously; pointed to the Douglas arms upon his house, and told usthat his great-grandmother was of that family. 'In such houses (saidhe,) our ancestors lived, who were better men than we.' 'No, no, my lord(said Dr. Johnson). We are as strong as they, and a great dealwiser[238].' This was an assault upon one of Lord Monboddo's capitaldogmas, and I was afraid there would have been a violent altercation inthe very close, before we got into the house. But his lordship isdistinguished not only for 'ancient metaphysicks,' but for ancient_politesse_, '_la vieille cour_' and he made no reply[239].His lordship was dressed in a rustick suit, and wore a little roundhat; he told us, we now saw him as _Farmer Burnet_[240], and we shouldhave his family dinner, a farmer's dinner. He said, 'I should not haveforgiven Mr. Boswell, had he not brought you here, Dr. Johnson.' Heproduced a very long stalk of corn, as a specimen of his crop, and said,'You see here the _loetas segetes_[241];' he added, that _Virgil_ seemedto be as enthusiastick a farmer as he[242], and was certainly apractical one. JOHNSON. 'It does not always follow, my lord, that a manwho has written a good poem on an art, has practised it. Philip Millertold me, that in Philips's _Cyder_, a poem, all the precepts were just,and indeed better than in books written for the purpose of instructing;yet Philips had never made cyder[243].'I started the subject of emigration[244]. JOHNSON. 'To a man of mereanimal life, you can urge no argument against going to America, but thatit will be some time before he will get the earth to produce. But a manof any intellectual enjoyment will not easily go and immerse himself andhis posterity for ages in barbarism.'He and my lord spoke highly of Homer. JOHNSON. 'He had all the learningof his age. The shield of Achilles shews a nation in war, a nation inpeace; harvest sport, nay, stealing[245].' MONBODDO. 'Ay, and what we(looking to me) would call a parliament-house scene[246]; a causepleaded.' JOHNSON. 'That is part of the life of a nation in peace. Andthere are in Homer such characters of heroes, and combinations ofqualities of heroes, that the united powers of mankind ever since havenot produced any but what are to be found there.' MONBODDO. 'Yet nocharacter is described.' JOHNSON. 'No; they all develope themselves.Agamemnon is always a gentleman-like character; he has always [Greek:Basilikon ti]. That the ancients held so, is plain from this; thatEuripides, in his _Hecuba_, makes him the person to interpose[247].'MONBODDO. 'The history of manners is the most valuable. I never set ahigh value on any other history.' JOHNSON. 'Nor I; and therefore Iesteem biography, as giving us what comes near to ourselves, what we canturn to use[248].' BOSWELL. 'But in the course of general history, wefind manners. In wars, we see the dispositions of people, their degreesof humanity, and other particulars.' JOHNSON. 'Yes; but then you musttake all the facts to get this; and it is but a little you get.'MONBODDO. 'And it is that little which makes history valuable.' Bravo!thought I; they agree like two brothers. MONBODDO. 'I am sorry, Dr.Johnson, you were not longer at Edinburgh to receive the homage of ourmen of learning.' JOHNSON. 'My lord, I received great respect and greatkindness.' BOSWELL. 'He goes back to Edinburgh after our tour.' Wetalked of the decrease of learning in Scotland, and of the _Muses'Welcome_[249]. JOHNSON. 'Learning is much decreased in England, in myremembrance[250].' MONBODDO. 'You, Sir, have lived to see its decreasein England, I its extinction in Scotland.' However, I brought him toconfess that the High School of Edinburgh did well. JOHNSON. 'Learninghas decreased in England, because learning will not do so much for a manas formerly. There are other ways of getting preferment. Few bishops are