now made for their learning. To be a bishop, a man must be learned in a
learned age,--factious in a factious age; but always of eminence[251].
Warburton is an exception; though his learning alone did not raise him.
He was first an antagonist to Pope, and helped Theobald to publish his
_Shakspeare_; but, seeing Pope the rising man, when Crousaz attacked his
_Essay on Man_, for some faults which it has, and some which it has not,
Warburton defended it in the Review of that time[252]. This brought him
acquainted with Pope, and he gained his friendship. Pope introduced him
to Allen, Allen married him to his niece: so, by Allen's interest and
his own, he was made a bishop[253]. But then his learning was the _sine
qua non_: he knew how to make the most of it; but I do not find by any
dishonest means.' MONBODDO. 'He is a great man.' JOHNSON. 'Yes; he has
great knowledge,--great power of mind. Hardly any man brings greater
variety of learning to bear upon his point[254].' MONBODDO. 'He is one
of the greatest lights of your church.' JOHNSON. 'Why, we are not so
sure of his being very friendly to us[255]. He blazes, if you will, but
that is not always the steadiest light. Lowth is another bishop who has
risen by his learning.'
Dr. Johnson examined young Arthur, Lord Monboddo's son, in Latin. He
answered very well; upon which he said, with complacency, 'Get you gone!
When King James comes back[256], you shall be in the _Muses Welcome_!'
My lord and Dr. Johnson disputed a little, whether the Savage or the
London Shopkeeper had the best existence; his lordship, as usual,
preferring the Savage. My lord was extremely hospitable, and I saw both
Dr. Johnson and him liking each other better every hour.
Dr. Johnson having retired for a short time, his lordship spoke of his
conversation as I could have wished. Dr. Johnson had said, 'I have done
greater feats with my knife than this;' though he had eaten a very
hearty dinner. My lord, who affects or believes he follows an
abstemious system, seemed struck with Dr. Johnson's manner of living. I
had a particular satisfaction in being under the roof of Monboddo, my
lord being my father's old friend, and having been always very good to
me. We were cordial together. He asked Dr. Johnson and me to stay all
night. When I said we _must_ be at Aberdeen, he replied, 'Well, I am
like the Romans: I shall say to you, "Happy to come;--happy to depart!"'
He thanked Dr. Johnson for his visit.
JOHNSON. 'I little thought, when I had the honour to meet your Lordship
in London, that I should see you at Monboddo.'
After dinner, as the ladies[257] were going away, Dr. Johnson would
stand up. He insisted that politeness was of great consequence in
society. 'It is, (said he,) fictitious benevolence[258]. It supplies the
place of it amongst those who see each other only in publick, or but
little. Depend upon it, the want of it never fails to produce something
disagreeable to one or other. I have always applied to good breeding,
what Addison in his _Cato_[259] says of honour:--
"Honour's a sacred tie; the law of Kings;
The noble mind's distinguishing perfection,
That aids and strengthens Virtue where it meets her;
And imitates her actions where she is not."'
When he took up his large oak stick, he said, 'My lord, that's
_Homerick_[260];' thus pleasantly alluding to his lordship's
favourite writer.
Gory, my lord's black servant, was sent as our guide, to conduct us to
the high road. The circumstance of each of them having a black servant
was another point of similarity between Johnson and Monboddo. I
observed how curious it was to see an African in the North of Scotland,
with little or no difference of manners from those of the natives. Dr.
Johnson laughed to see Gory and Joseph riding together most cordially.
'Those two fellows, (said he,) one from Africa, the other from Bohemia,
seem quite at home.' He was much pleased with Lord Monboddo to-day. He
said, he would have pardoned him for a few paradoxes, when he found he
had so much that was good: but that, from his appearance in London, he
thought him all paradox; which would not do. He observed that his
lordship had talked no paradoxes to-day. 'And as to the savage and the
London shopkeeper, (said he,) I don't know but I might have taken the
side of the savage equally, had any body else taken the side of the
shopkeeper.[261]' He had said to my lord, in opposition to the value of
the savage's courage, that it was owing to his limited power of
thinking, and repeated Pope's verses, in which 'Macedonia's madman' is
introduced, and the conclusion is,
'Yet ne'er looks forward farther than his nose[262].'
I objected to the last phrase, as being low. JOHNSON. 'Sir, it is
intended to be low: it is satire. The expression is debased, to debase
the character.'
When Gory was about to part from us, Dr. Johnson called to him, 'Mr.
Gory, give me leave to ask you a question! are you baptised?' Gory told
him he was, and confirmed by the Bishop of Durham. He then gave him
a shilling.
We had tedious driving this afternoon, and were somewhat drowsy. Last
night I was afraid Dr. Johnson was beginning to faint in his resolution;
for he said, 'If we must ride much, we shall not go; and there's an end
on't.' To-day, when he talked of _Sky_ with spirit, I said, 'Why, Sir,
you seemed to me to despond yesterday. You are a delicate Londoner;--you
are a maccaroni[263]; you can't ride.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, I shall ride
better than you. I was only afraid I should not find a horse able to
carry me.' I hoped then there would be no fear of getting through our
wild Tour.
We came to Aberdeen at half an hour past eleven. The New Inn, we were
told, was full. This was comfortless. The waiter, however, asked, if one
of our names was Boswell, and brought me a letter left at the inn: it
was from Mr. Thrale, enclosing one to Dr. Johnson[264]. Finding who I
was, we were told they would contrive to lodge us by putting us for a
night into a room with two beds. The waiter said to me in the broad
strong Aberdeenshire dialect, 'I thought I knew you by your likeness to
your father.' My father puts up at the New Inn, when on his circuit.
Little was said to-night. I was to sleep in a little press-bed in Dr.
Johnson's room. I had it wheeled out into the dining-room, and there I
lay very well.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 22.
I sent a message to Professor Thomas Gordon, who came and breakfasted
with us. He had secured seats for us at the English chapel. We found a
respectable congregation, and an admirable organ, well played by
Mr. Tait.
We walked down to the shore: Dr. Johnson laughed to hear that Cromwell's
soldiers taught the Aberdeen people to make shoes and stockings, and to
plant cabbages[265]. He asked, if weaving the plaids[266] was ever a
domestick art in the Highlands, like spinning or knitting. They could
not inform him here. But he conjectured probably, that where people
lived so remote from each other, it was likely to be a domestick art; as
we see it was among the ancients, from Penelope. I was sensible to-day,
to an extraordinary degree, of Dr. Johnson's excellent English
pronunciation. I cannot account for its striking me more now than any
other day: but it was as if new to me; and I listened to every sentence
which he spoke, as to a musical composition. Professor Gordon gave him
an account of the plan of education in his college. Dr. Johnson said, it
was similar to that at Oxford. Waller the poet's great-grandson was
studying here. Dr. Johnson wondered that a man should send his son so
far off, when there were so many good schools in England[267]. He said,
'At a great school there is all the splendour and illumination of many
minds; the radiance of all is concentrated in each, or at least
reflected upon each. But we must own that neither a dull boy, nor an
idle boy, will do so well at a great school as at a private one. For at
a great school there are always boys enough to do well easily, who are
sufficient to keep up the credit of the school; and after whipping being
tried to no purpose, the dull or idle boys are left at the end of a
class, having the appearance of going through the course, but learning
nothing at all[268]. Such boys may do good at a private school, where
constant attention is paid to them, and they are watched. So that the
question of publick or private education is not properly a general one;
but whether one or the other is best for _my son_.' We were told the
present Mr. Waller was a plain country gentleman; and his son would be
such another. I observed, a family could not expect a poet but in a
hundred generations. 'Nay, (said Dr. Johnson,) not one family in a
hundred can expect a poet in a hundred generations.' He then repeated
Dryden's celebrated lines,
'Three poets in three distant ages born,' &c.
and a part of a Latin translation of it done at Oxford[269]: he did not
then say by whom.
He received a card from Sir Alexander Gordon, who had been his
acquaintance twenty years ago in London, and who, 'if forgiven for not
answering a line from him,' would come in the afternoon. Dr. Johnson
rejoiced to hear of him, and begged he would come and dine with us. I
was much pleased to see the kindness with which Dr. Johnson received his
old friend Sir Alexander[270]; a gentleman of good family, _Lismore_,
but who had not the estate. The King's College here made him Professor
of Medicine, which affords him a decent subsistence. He told us that the
value of the stockings exported from Aberdeen was, in peace, a hundred
thousand pounds; and amounted, in time of war, to one hundred and
seventy thousand pounds. Dr. Johnson asked, What made the difference?
Here we had a proof of the comparative sagacity of the two professors.
Sir Alexander answered, 'Because there is more occasion for them in
war.' Professor Thomas Gordon answered, 'Because the Germans, who are
our great rivals in the manufacture of stockings, are otherwise employed
in time of war.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, you have given a very good solution.'
At dinner, Dr. Johnson ate several plate-fulls of Scotch broth, with
barley and peas in it, and seemed very fond of the dish. I said, 'You
never ate it before.' JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; but I don't care how soon I eat
it again[271].' My cousin, Miss Dallas, formerly of Inverness, was
married to Mr. Riddoch, one of the ministers of the English chapel here.
He was ill, and confined to his room; but she sent us a kind invitation
to tea, which we all accepted. She was the same lively, sensible,
cheerful woman as ever. Dr. Johnson here threw out some jokes against
Scotland. He said, 'You go first to Aberdeen; then to _Enbru_ (the
Scottish pronunciation of Edinburgh); then to Newcastle, to be polished
by the colliers; then to York; then to London.' And he laid hold of a
little girl, Stuart Dallas, niece to Mrs. Riddoch, and, representing
himself as a giant, said, he would take her with him! telling her, in a
hollow voice, that he lived in a cave, and had a bed in the rock, and
she should have a little bed cut opposite to it!
He thus treated the point, as to prescription of murder in
Scotland[272]. 'A jury in England would make allowance for deficiencies
of evidence, on account of lapse of time; but a general rule that a
crime should not be punished, or tried for the purpose of punishment,
after twenty years, is bad. It is cant to talk of the King's advocate
delaying a prosecution from malice. How unlikely is it the King's
advocate should have malice against persons who commit murder, or should
even know them at all. If the son of the murdered man should kill the
murderer who got off merely by prescription, I would help him to make
his escape; though, were I upon his jury, I would not acquit him. I
would not advise him to commit such an act. On the contrary, I would bid
him submit to the determination of society, because a man is bound to
submit to the inconveniences of it, as he enjoys the good: but the
young man, though politically wrong, would not be morally wrong. He
would have to say, 'here I am amongst barbarians, who not only refuse to
do justice, but encourage the greatest of all crimes. I am therefore in
a state of nature: for, so far as there is no law, it is a state of
nature: and consequently, upon the eternal and immutable law of justice,
which requires that he who sheds man's blood should have his blood
shed[273], I will stab the murderer of my father.'
We went to our inn, and sat quietly. Dr. Johnson borrowed, at Mr.
Riddoch's, a volume of _Massillon's Discourses on the Psalms_: but I
found he read little in it. Ogden too he sometimes took up, and glanced
at; but threw it down again. I then entered upon religious conversation.
Never did I see him in a better frame: calm, gentle, wise, holy. I said,
'Would not the same objection hold against the Trinity as against
Transubstantiation?' 'Yes, (said he,) if you take three and one in the
same sense. If you do so, to be sure you cannot believe it: but the
three persons in the Godhead are Three in one sense, and One in another.
We cannot tell how; and that is the mystery!'
I spoke of the satisfaction of Christ. He said his notion was, that it
did not atone for the sins of the world; but, by satisfying divine
justice, by shewing that no less than the Son of God suffered for sin,
it shewed to men and innumerable created beings, the heinousness of it,
and therefore rendered it unnecessary for divine vengeance to be
exercised against sinners, as it otherwise must have been; that in this
way it might operate even in favour of those who had never heard of it:
as to those who did hear of it, the effect it should produce would be
repentance and piety, by impressing upon the mind a just notion of sin:
that original sin was the propensity to evil, which no doubt was
occasioned by the fall. He presented this solemn subject in a new light
to me[274], and rendered much more rational and clear the doctrine of
what our Saviour has done for us;--as it removed the notion of imputed
righteousness in co-operating; whereas by this view, Christ has done all
already that he had to do, or is ever to do for mankind, by making his
great satisfaction; the consequences of which will affect each
individual according to the particular conduct of each. I would
illustrate this by saying, that Christ's satisfaction resembles a sun
placed to shew light to men, so that it depends upon themselves whether
they will walk the right way or not, which they could not have done
without that sun, '_the sun of righteousness_[275]' There is, however,
more in it than merely giving light--_a light to lighten the
Gentiles_[276]: for we are told, there _is healing under his
wings_[277]. Dr. Johnson said to me, 'Richard Baxter commends a
treatise by Grotius, _De Satisfactione Christi_. I have never read it:
but I intend to read it; and you may read it.' I remarked, upon the
principle now laid down, we might explain the difficult and seemingly
hard text, 'They that believe shall be saved; and they that believe not
shall be damned[278]:' They that believe shall have such an impression
made upon their minds, as will make them act so that they may be
accepted by GOD.
We talked of one of our friends[279] taking ill, for a length of time, a
hasty expression of Dr. Johnson's to him, on his attempting to prosecute
a subject that had a reference to religion, beyond the bounds within
which the Doctor thought such topicks should be confined in a mixed
company. JOHNSON. 'What is to become of society, if a friendship of
twenty years is to be broken off for such a cause?' As Bacon says,
'Who then to frail mortality shall trust,
But limns the water, or but writes in dust[280].'
I said, he should write expressly in support of Christianity; for that,
although a reverence for it shines through his works in several places,
that is not enough. 'You know, (said I,) what Grotius has done, and what
Addison has done[281].--You should do also.' He replied, 'I hope
I shall.'
MONDAY, AUGUST 23.
Principal Campbell, Sir Alexander Gordon, Professor Gordon, and
Professor Ross, visited us in the morning, as did Dr. Gerard, who had
come six miles from the country on purpose. We went and saw the
Marischal College[282], and at one o'clock we waited on the magistrates
in the town hall, as they had invited us in order to present Dr. Johnson
with the freedom of the town, which Provost Jopp did with a very good
grace. Dr. Johnson was much pleased with this mark of attention, and
received it very politely. There was a pretty numerous company
assembled. It was striking to hear all of them drinking 'Dr. Johnson!
Dr. Johnson!' in the town-hall of Aberdeen, and then to see him with
his burgess-ticket, or diploma[283], in his hat, which he wore as he
walked along the street, according to the usual custom. It gave me great
satisfaction to observe the regard, and indeed fondness too, which every
body here had for my father.
While Sir Alexander Gordon conducted Dr. Johnson to old Aberdeen,
Professor Gordon and I called on Mr. Riddoch, whom I found to be a grave
worthy clergyman. He observed, that, whatever might be said of Dr.
Johnson while he was alive, he would, after he was dead, be looked upon
by the world with regard and astonishment, on account of his
_Dictionary_.
Professor Gordon and I walked over to the Old College, which Dr. Johnson
had seen by this time. I stepped into the chapel, and looked at the tomb
of the founder, Archbishop Elphinston[284], of whom I shall have
occasion to write in my _History of James IV. of Scotland_, the patron
of my family[285]. We dined at Sir Alexander Gordon's. The Provost,
Professor Ross, Professor Dunbar, Professor Thomas Gordon, were there.
After dinner came in Dr. Gerard, Professor Leslie[286], Professor
Macleod. We had little or no conversation in the morning; now we were
but barren. The professors seemed afraid to speak[287].
Dr. Gerard told us that an eminent printer[288] was very intimate with
Warburton. JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, he has printed some of his works, and
perhaps bought the property of some of them. The intimacy is such as one
of the professors here may have with one of the carpenters who is
repairing the college.' 'But, (said Gerard,) I saw a letter from him to
this printer, in which he says, that the one half of the clergy of the
church of Scotland are fanaticks, and the other half infidels.' JOHNSON.
'Warburton has accustomed himself to write letters just as he speaks,
without thinking any more of what he throws out[289]. When I read
Warburton first, and observed his force, and his contempt of mankind, I
thought he had driven the world before him; but I soon found that was
not the case; for Warburton, by extending his abuse, rendered it
ineffectual[290].'
He told me, when we were by ourselves, that he thought it very wrong in
the printer to shew Warburton's letter, as it was raising a body of
enemies against him. He thought it foolish in Warburton to write so to
the printer; and added, 'Sir, the worst way of being intimate, is by
scribbling.' He called Warburton's _Doctrine of Grace_[291] a poor
performance, and so he said was Wesley's Answer[292]. 'Warburton, he
observed, had laid himself very open. In particular, he was weak enough
to say, that, in some disorders of the imagination, people had spoken
with tongues, had spoken languages which they never knew before; a thing
as absurd as to say, that, in some disorders of the imagination, people
had been known to fly.'
I talked of the difference of genius, to try if I could engage Gerard in
a disquisition with Dr. Johnson; but I did not succeed. I mentioned, as
a curious fact, that Locke had written verses. JOHNSON. 'I know of none,
Sir, but a kind of exercise prefixed to Dr. Sydenham's Works[293], in
which he has some conceits about the dropsy, in which water and burning
are united; and how Dr. Sydenham removed fire by drawing off water,
contrary to the usual practice, which is to extinguish fire by bringing
water upon it. I am not sure that there is a word of all this; but it is
such kind of talk[294].' We spoke of _Fingal_[295]. Dr. Johnson said
calmly, 'If the poems were really translated, they were certainly first
written down. Let Mr. Macpherson deposite the manuscript in one of the
colleges at Aberdeen, where there are people who can judge; and, if the
professors certify the authenticity, then there will be an end of the
controversy. If he does not take this obvious and easy method, he gives
the best reason to doubt; considering too, how much is against it
_a priori'_.
We sauntered after dinner in Sir Alexander's garden, and saw his little
grotto, which is hung with pieces of poetry written in a fair hand. It
was agreeable to observe the contentment and kindness of this quiet,
benevolent man. Professor Macleod was brother to Macleod of Talisker,
and brother-in-law to the Laird of Col. He gave me a letter to young
Col. I was weary of this day, and began to think wishfully of being
again in motion. I was uneasy to think myself too fastidious, whilst I
fancied Dr. Johnson quite satisfied. But he owned to me that he was
fatigued and teased by Sir Alexander's doing too much to entertain him.
I said, it was all kindness. JOHNSON. 'True, Sir; but sensation is
sensation.' BOSWELL. 'It is so: we feel pain equally from the surgeon's
probe, as from the sword of the foe.'
We visited two booksellers' shops, and could not find Arthur Johnston's
Poems'[296]. We went and sat near an hour at Mr. Riddoch's. He could
not tell distinctly how much education at the college here costs[297],
which disgusted Dr. Johnson. I had pledged myself that we should go to
the inn, and not stay supper. They pressed us, but he was resolute. I
saw Mr. Riddoch did not please him. He said to me, afterwards, 'Sir, he
has no vigour in his talk.' But my friend should have considered that he
himself was not in good humour; so that it was not easy to talk to his
satisfaction. We sat contentedly at our inn. He then became merry, and
observed how little we had either heard or said at Aberdeen: that the
Aberdonians had not started a single _mawkin_ (the Scottish word for
hare) for us to pursue[298].
TUESDAY, AUGUST 24.
We set out about eight in the morning, and breakfasted at Ellon. The
landlady said to me, 'Is not this the great Doctor that is going about
through the country?' I said, 'Yes.' 'Ay, (said she) we heard of him. I
made an errand into the room on purpose to see him. There's something
great in his appearance: it is a pleasure to have such a man in one's
house; a man who does so much good. If I had thought of it, I would have
shewn him a child of mine, who has had a lump on his throat for some
time.' 'But, (said I,) he is not a doctor of physick.' 'Is he an
oculist?' said the landlord. 'No, (said I,) he is only a very learned
man.' LANDLORD. 'They say he is the greatest man in England, except Lord
Mansfield[299].' Dr. Johnson was highly entertained with this, and I do
think he was pleased too. He said, 'I like the exception: to have called
me the greatest man in England, would have been an unmeaning compliment:
but the exception marked that the praise was in earnest: and, in
_Scotland_, the exception must be _Lord Mansfield_, or--_Sir John
Pringle_[300].'
