quite faithful.-Johnson. « Sir, I know not any crime fo great that a man could contrive to commit, as poisoning the fources of eternal truth."

I pointed out to him where there formerly ftood an old wall enclosing part of the college, which I remember bulged out in a threatening manner, and of which there was a common faying, as of Bacon's Study at Oxford, that it would fall upon the most learned man. It had fome time before this been taken down, that the street might be widened, and a more con venient wall built. Mr. Johnson, glad of an opportunity to have a pleasant hit at Scottish learning, faid, "they have been afraid it never would fall."

We fhewed him the Royal Infirmary, for which, and for every other exertion of generous publick fpirit in his power, that noble-minded citizen of Edinburgh, George Drummond, will be ever held in honourable remembrance. And we were too proud not to carry him to the Abbey of Holyrood-boufe, that beautiful piece of architecture, but, alas! that deferted mansion of royalty, which Hamilton of Bangour, in one of his elegant poems, calls

"A virtuous palace, where no monarch dwells."

I was much entertained while Principal Robertfon fluently harangued to Dr. Johnfon,

upon

upon the spot, concerning fcenes of his celebrated History of Scotland. We furveyed that part of the palace appropriated to the Duke of Hamilton, as Keeper, in which our beautiful Queen Mary lived, and in which David Rizzio was murdered; and also the State Rooms. Dr. Johnson was a great reciter of all forts of things serious or comical. I over heard him repeating here, in a kind of muttering tone, a line of the old ballad, Johnny Armstrong's Last GoodNight:

"And ran him through the fair body! *"

I suppose his thinking of the stabbing of Rizzie had brought this into his mind, by affociation of ideas.

We returned to my house, where there met him, at dinner, the Duchefs of Douglas, Sir Adolphus Oughton, Lord Chief Baron, Sir William Forbes, Principal Robertson, Mr. Cullen, advocate. Before dinner, he told us of a curious converfation between the famous George Faulkner and him, George faid that England had drained Ireland of fifty thousand pounds in fpecie, annually, for fifty years. "How fo,

D3

The stanza from which he took this line is,
"But then rose up all Edinburgh,
"They rose up by thousands three;
"A cowardly Scot came John behind,
"And ran him through the fair body!"

Sir!

Sir! (faid Dr. Johnson) you must have a very "No trade."

great trade?"

-

Very rich mines?"? "No mines." "From whence, then, does all this money come?" "Come! why out of the blood and bowels of the poor people of Ireland!"

He feemed to me to have an unaccountable prejudice againft Swift; for I once took the liberty to afk him, if Swift had perfonally offended him, and he told me, he had not. He faid to-day, "Swift is clear, but he is fhallow. In coarse humour, he is inferiour to Arbuthnot; in delicate humour, he is inferiour to Addifon : So he is inferiour to his contemporaries; without putting him against the whole world. I doubt if the "Tale of a Tub" was his; it has fo much more thinking, more knowledge, more power, more colour, than any of the works which are indisputably his. If it was his, I fhall only fay, He was impar fibi.”

We gave him as good a dinner as we could. Our Scots muir-fowl, or growfe, were then abundant, and quite in feafon; and, fo far as wisdom and wit can be aided by adminiftering agreeable fenfations to the palate, my wife took care that our great gueft fhould not be deficient.

Sir Adolphus Oughton, then our Deputy Commander in Chief, who was not only an excellent officer, but one of the most univerfal

fcholars

fcholars I ever knew, had learnt the Erfe language, and expreffed his belief in the authenticity of Offian's Poetry. Dr. Johnson took the opposite fide of that perplexed question; and I was afraid the dispute would have run high between them. But Sir Adolphus, who had a charming fweet temper, changed the discourse, grew playful, laughed at Lord Monboddo's notion of men having tails, and called him a Judge à pofteriori, which amufed Dr. Johnfon; and thus hoftilities were prevented.

At fupper we had Dr. Cullen, his fon the advocate, Dr. Adam Ferguffon, Mr. Crosbie, advocate. Witchcraft was introduced. Crobie faid, he thought it the greatest blafphemy to fuppofe evil spirits counteracting the Deity, and raising storms, for instance, to destroy his creatures.-Johnson. "Why, Sir, if moral evil be confiftent with the government of the Deity, why may not phyfical evil be alfo confiftent with it? It is not more strange that there fhould be evil fpirits, than evil men; evil unembodied fpirits, than evil embodied fpirits. And as to ftorms, we know there are fuch things; and it is no worse that evil fpirits raise them, than that they rife."-Crobie. "But it is not credible, that fuch stories as we are told of witches have happened."-Johnfon. "Sir, I am not defending their credibility. I am only faying, that your arguments are not good, and will not

overturn the belief of witchcraft.-(Dr. Ferguffon faid to me, afide," He is right.")— And then, Sir, you have all mankind, rude and civilifed, agreeing in the belief of the agency of preternatural powers. You must take evidence you must confider, that wife and great men have condemned witches to die."Crofbie. "But an act of parliament put an end to witchcraft."---Johnfon." No, Sir! witchcraft had ceafed; and therefore an act of parliament was paffed to prevent perfecution for what was not witchcraft. Why it ceased, we cannot tell, as we cannot tell the reason of many other things."-Dr. Cullen, to keep up the gratification of myfterious difquifition, with the grave addrefs for which he is remarkable in his companionable as in his profeffional hours, talked, in a very entertaining manner, of people walking and converfing in their fleep. I am very forry I have no note of this. We talked of the Quran-Outang, and of Lord Monboddo's thinking that he might be taught to fpeak. Dr. Johnfon treated this with ridicule. Mr. Crosbie faid, that Lord Monboddo believed the existence of every thing poffible; in fhort, that all which is in poffe might be found in effe. -Johnson. "But, Sir, it is as poffible that the Quran-Outang does not speak, as that he speaks. However, I fhall not conteft the point. I hould have thought it not poffible to find a Monboddo;