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Either yesterday morning or this, I communicated to Dr. Johnson, from Mr. Macaulay's information, the news that Dr. Beattie had got a pension of two hundred pounds a-year. He sat up in his bed, clapped his hands, and cried, "O brave we!"-a peculiar exclamation of his when he rejoices.*

As we sat over our tea, Mr. Home's tragedy of Douglas was mentioned. I put Dr. Johnson in mind, that once, in a coffee-house at Oxford, he called to old Mr. Sheridan, "How came you, sir, to give Home a gold medal for writing that foolish play ?" and defied Mr. Sheridan to show ten good lines in it. He did not insist they should be together; but that there were not ten good lines in the whole play. He now persisted in this. I endeavoured to defend that pathetic and beautiful tragedy, and repeated the following passage:

"Sincerity,

Thou first of virtues! let no mortal leave

Thy onward path, although the earth should gape,
And from the gulf of hell destruction cry,

To take dissimulation's winding way."

JOHNSON: "That will not do, sir. Nothing is good but what is

consistent_with_truth or probability, which this is not. indeed, gives us a noble picture of inflexible virtue :

"Esto bonus miles, tutor bonus, arbiter idem

Integer ambiguæ si quando citabere testis,

:

Incertæque rei, Phalaris licet imperet, ut sis
Falsus, et admoto dictet perjuria tauro,

Juvenal,

cure a servitorship at Oxford for his son. We have since learned that the young man (who bore the family name of Aulay Macaulay) entered the navy, and died in 1842 a retired officer of Marines. The statement made by Boswell, that Mr. Kenneth Macaulay did not write the History of St. Kilda which bears his name, but merely collected the materials, was always strenuously denied by his family and friends. The late Rev. Aulay Macaulay, a clergyman near Leicester, intended republishing the History of St. Kilda, with notes, showing the work to have been altogether his uncle's composition; but he died before accomplishing his task. There is no appearance of two hands being engaged in the work; one person must have written the whole; and it is certainly improbable that Dr. Macpherson of Skye should have allowed Macaulay to usurp the entire honours of the History, if he had himself been virtually the author of it. The book is a respectable volume of 278 pages. As Macaulay and Macpherson were not only brother clergymen in the Highlands, but intimate personal associates, the latter may have helped his friend to an occasional classical illustration or correction; for Dr Macpherson, as Johnson acknowledged, had" a great deal of Latin, and good Latin." This conjectural assistance, however, should not deprive the minister of Calder of the substantial honours of his History-especially as Mr. Macaulay was otherwise rather scurvily and indelicately treated by the travellers.-ED.

* Having mentioned more than once that my Journal was perused by Dr. Johnson, I think it proper to inform my readers that this is the last paragraph which he read.

BOSWELL.

Summum crede nefas animam præferre pudori,

Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas."*

He repeated the lines with great force and dignity; then added, "And after this, comes Johnny Home, with his earth gaping, and his destruction crying ;-Pooh !"†

While we were lamenting the number of ruined religious buildings which we had lately seen, I spoke with peculiar feeling of the miserable neglect of the chapel belonging to the palace of Holyroodhouse, in which are deposited the remains of many of the Kings of Scotland, and of many of our nobility. I said, it was a disgrace to the country that it was not repaired: and particularly complained that my friend Douglas, the representative of a great house, and proprietor of a vast estate, should suffer the sacred spot where his mother lies interred, to be unroofed, and exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather. Dr. Johnson, who, I know not how, had formed an opinion on the Hamilton side, in the Douglas cause, slily answered, Sir, sir, don't be too severe upon the gentleman; don't accuse him of want of filial piety! Lady Jane Douglas was not his mother." He roused my zeal so much that I took the liberty to tell him he knew nothing of the cause: which I do most seriously believe was the case.

66

We were now "in a country of bridles and saddles," and set out fully equipped. The Duke of Argyle was obliging enough to mount Dr. Johnson on a stately steed from his grace's stable. My friend was highly pleased, and Joseph said, "He now looks like a bishop."

We dined at the inn at Tarbat, and at night came to Rosedow, the beautiful seat of Sir James Colquhoun, on the banks of Lochlomond, where I, and any friends whom I have introduced, have ever been received with kind and elegant hospitality.

* An honest guardian, arbitrator just,

Be thou; thy station deem a sacred trust.

With thy good sword maintain thy country's cause,

In every action venerate its laws:

The lie suborned if falsely urged to swear,

Though torture wait thee, torture firmly bear;

To forfeit honour think the highest shame,

And life too dearly bought by loss of fame;

Nor to preserve it, with thy virtue give

That for which only man should wish to live."

For this and the other translations to which no signature is affixed, I am indebted to the friend whose observations are mentioned in the notes, pp. 53 and 312.--BoSWELL. + I am sorry that I was unlucky in my quotation. But notwithstanding the acuteness of Dr. Johnson's criticism, and the power of his ridicule, the tragedy of " Douglas" still continues to be generally and deservedly admired.-BOSWELL. [He had quoted the same passage in his "Essence of the Douglas Cause."-ED.]

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27.

When I went into Dr. Johnson's room this morning, I observed to him how wonderfully courteous he had been at Inverary, and said, "You were quite a fine gentleman, when with the duchess." He answered, in good humour, "Sir, I look upon myself as a very polite man:" and he was right, in a proper manly sense of the word. As an immediate proof of it, let me observe, that he would not send back the Duke of Argyle's horse without a letter of thanks, which I copied.

TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ARGYLE.

MY LORD, That kindness which disposed your grace to supply me with the horse, which I have now returned, will make you pleased to hear that he has carried me well.

By my diligence in the little commission with which I was honoured by the duchess, I will endeavour to show how highly I value the favours which I have received, and how much I desire to be thought, my lord, your grace's most obedient and most humble servant,

Rosedow, Oct. 29, 1773.

SAM. JOHNSON.

The Duke was so attentive to his respectable guest, that on the same day, he wrote him an answer, which was received at Auchinleck:

TO DR. JOHNSON, AUCHINLECK, AYRSHIRE

SIR-I am glad to hear your journey from this place was not unpleasant, in regard to your horse. I wish I could have supplied you with good weather, which I am afraid you felt the want of.

The Duchess of Argyle desires her compliments to you, and is much obliged to you for remembering her commission. I am, sir, your most obedient humble servant, ARGYLE.

Inverary, Oct. 29, 1773.

I am happy to insert every memorial of the honour done to my great friend. Indeed, I was at all times desirous to preserve the letters which he received from eminent persons, of which, as of all other papers, he was very negligent; and I once proposed to him, that they should be committed to my care, as his Custos Rotulorum. I wish he had complied with my request, as by that means many valuable writings might have been preserved that are now lost.*

After breakfast, Dr. Johnson and I were furnished with a boat, and sailed about upon Lochlomond, and landed on some of the islands

* As a remarkable instance of his negligence, I remember some years ago to have found lying loose in his study, and without the cover, which contained the address, a letter to him, from Lord Thurlow, to whom he had made an application as Chancellor, in behalf of a poor literary friend. It was expressed in such terms of respect for Dr. Johnson that, in my zeal for his reputation, I remonstrated warmly with him on his strange inattention, and obtained his permission to take a copy of it; by which probably it has been preserved, as the original, I have reason to suppose, is lost.-BoswELL

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which are interspersed. He was much pleased with the scene, which is so well known by the accounts of various travellers, that it is unnecessary for me to attempt any description of it.

I recollect none of his conversation, except that, when talking of dress, he said, "Sir, were I to have anything fine, it should be very fine. Were I to wear a ring, it should not be a bauble, but a stone of great value. Were I to wear a laced or embroidered waistcoat, it should be very rich. I had once a very rich laced waistcoat, which I wore the first night of my tragedy."

Lady Helen Colquhoun being a very pious woman, the conversation, after dinner, took a religious turn.* Her ladyship defended the Presbyterian mode of public worship; upon which Dr. Johnson delivered those excellent arguments for a form of prayer which he has introduced into his "Journey." I am myself fully convinced that a form of prayer for public worship is, in general, most decent and edifying. Solennia verba have a kind of prescriptive sanctity, and make

This lady was a daughter of Lord Strathnaver, son of the Earl of Sutherland. She died at Rosedow House, January 7th, 1791.-ED.

a deeper impression on the mind than extemporaneous effusions, in which, as we know not what they are to be, we cannot readily acquiesce. Yet I would allow, also, of a certain portion of extempore address, as occasion may require. This is the practice of the French Protestant churches; and, although the office of forming supplications to the throne of Heaven is, in my mind, too great a trust to be indiscriminately committed to the discretion of every minister, I do not mean to deny that sincere devotion may be experienced when joining in prayer with those who use no liturgy.

We were favoured with Sir James Colquhoun's coach to convey us in the evening to Cameron, the seat of Commissary Smollett. Our satisfaction of finding ourselves again in a comfortable carriage was very great. We had a pleasing conviction of the commodiousness of civilisation, and heartily laughed at the ravings of those absurd visionaries who have attempted to persuade us of the superior advantages of a state of nature.

Mr. Smollett was a man of considerable learning, with abundance of animal spirits; so that he was a very good companion for Dr. Johnson, who said to me, "We have had more solid talk here than at any place where we have been."

I remember Dr. Johnson gave us this evening an able and eloquent discourse on the "Origin of Evil," and on the consistency of moral evil with the power and goodness of GOD. He showed us how it arose from our free agency, an extinction of which would be a still greater evil than any we experience. I know not that he said anything absolutely new, but he said a great deal wonderfully well; and, perceiving us to be delighted and satisfied, he concluded his harangue with an air of benevolent triumph over an objection which has distressed many worthy minds: "This, then, is the answer to the question, Пoε TO Kаkov?"-Mrs. Smollett whispered me, that it was the best sermon she had ever heard. Much do I upbraid myself for having neglected to preserve it.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28.

Mr. Smollett pleased Dr. Johnson, by producing a collection of newspapers in the time of the Usurpation, from which it appeared that all sorts of crimes were very frequent during that horrible anarchy. By the side of the high road to Glasgow, at some distance from his house, he had erected a pillar to the memory of his ingenious kinsman, Dr. Smollett; and he consulted Dr. Johnson as to an inscription for it. Lord Kames, who, though he had a great store of knowledge, with much ingenuity and uncommon activity of mind, was no profound scholar, had, it seems, recommended an English inscrip

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