incursion of present objects, which wear out the past. You need not
murmur, though you are sorry.' MURISON. 'But St. Paul says, "I have
learnt, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content."' JOHNSON.
'Sir, that relates to riches and poverty; for we see St. Paul, when he
had a thorn in the flesh, prayed earnestly to have it removed; and then
he could not be content.' Murison, thus refuted, tried to be smart, and
drank 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 who
come into an university must be of the church[195].'
And here I must do Dr. Johnson the justice to contradict a very absurd
and ill-natured story, as to what passed at St. Andrews. It has been
circulated, 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 no
grace in an university, would not sit down till he had said grace aloud
in Latin. This would have been an insult indeed to the gentlemen who
were entertaining us. But the truth was precisely thus. In the course of
conversation at dinner, Dr. Johnson, in very good humour, said, 'I
should have expected to have heard a Latin grace, among so many learned
men: we had always a Latin grace at Oxford. I believe I can repeat
it.'[196] Which he did, as giving the learned men in one place a
specimen of what was done by the learned men in another place.
We went and saw the church, in which is Archbishop Sharp's
monument.[197] I was struck with the same kind of feelings with which
the 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. We
looked at St. Salvador's College. The rooms for students seemed very
commodious, and Dr. Johnson said, the chapel was the neatest place of
worship he had seen. The key of the library could not be found; for it
seems 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 of
the library could never be found.
It was somewhat dispiriting, to see this ancient archiepiscopal city
now sadly deserted[198]. We saw in one of its streets a remarkable proof
of liberal toleration; a nonjuring clergyman, strutting about in his
canonicals, with a jolly countenance and a round belly, like a
well-fed monk.
We observed two occupations united in the same person, who had hung out
two sign-posts. Upon one was, 'James Hood, White Iron Smith' (_i.e._
Tin-plate Worker). Upon another, 'The Art of Fencing taught, by James
Hood.'--Upon this last were painted some trees, and two men fencing, one
of whom had hit the other in the eye, to shew his great dexterity; so
that the art was well taught. JOHNSON. 'Were I studying here, I should
go 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, and
drank tea in company with some of the Professors, of whose civilities I
beg leave to add my humble and very grateful acknowledgement to the
honourable 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. 'I
advised 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 start
promptly; it is so much more difficult to improve in speed than in
accuracy[201].' WATSON. 'I own I am for much attention to accuracy in
composing, lest one should get bad habits of doing it in a slovenly
manner.' JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, you are confounding _doing_ inaccurately
with the _necessity_ of doing inaccurately. A man knows when his
composition is inaccurate, and when he thinks fit he'll correct it. But,
if a man is accustomed to compose slowly, and with difficulty, upon all
occasions, there is danger that he may not compose at all, as we do not
like to do that which is not done easily; and, at any rate, more time is
consumed in a small matter than ought to be.' WATSON. 'Dr. Hugh Blair
has taken a week to compose a sermon.' JOHNSON. 'Then, Sir, that is for
want of the habit of composing quickly, which I am insisting one should
acquire.' WATSON. 'Blair was not composing all the week, but only such
hours 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 I
took a week to walk a mile, and have had the gout five days, and been
ill otherwise another day, I have taken but one day. I myself have
composed 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 the
printed octavo pages of the _Life of Savage_ at a sitting; but then I
sat up all night. I have also written six sheets in a day of translation
from the French[203].' BOSWELL. 'We have all observed how one man
dresses himself slowly, and another fast.' JOHNSON. 'Yes, Sir: it is
wonderful how much time some people will consume in dressing; taking up
a 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 a
young divine, "Here is your text; let me see how soon you can make a
sermon." 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 of
Archbishop Sharp, was there; as was Mr. Craig, the ingenious architect
of 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 play
strange tricks. One sometimes loses a single word. I once lost _fugaces_
in the Ode _Posthume, Posthume_[205].' I mentioned to him, that a worthy
gentleman 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. Johnson
praised him. 'Abernethy[206], (said he,) allows only of a physical
effect of prayer upon the mind, which may be produced many ways, as well
as by prayer; for instance, by meditation. Ogden goes farther. In truth,
we have the consent of all nations for the efficacy of prayer, whether
offered up by individuals, or by assemblies; and Revelation has told us,
it will be effectual.' I said, 'Leechman seemed to incline to
Abernethy's doctrine.' Dr. Watson observed, that Leechman meant to shew,
that, even admitting no effect to be produced by prayer, respecting the
Deity, it was useful to our own minds[207]. He had given only a part of
his system. Dr. Johnson thought he should have given the whole.
Dr. Johnson enforced the strict observance of Sunday[208]. 'It should be
different (he observed) from another day. People may walk, but not throw
stones at birds. There may be relaxation, but there should be no
levity[209].'
We went and saw Colonel Nairne's garden and grotto. Here was a fine old
plane tree. Unluckily the colonel said, there was but this and another
large tree in the county. This assertion was an excellent cue for Dr.
Johnson, who laughed enormously, calling to me to hear it. He had
expatiated to me on the nakedness of that part of Scotland which he had
seen. His _Journey_ has been violently abused, for what he has said upon
this subject. But let it be considered, that, when Dr. Johnson talks of
trees, he means trees of good size, such as he was accustomed to see in
England; and of these there are certainly very few upon the _eastern
coast_ of Scotland. Besides, he said, that he meant to give only a map
of the road; and let any traveller observe how many trees, which deserve
the name, he can see from the road from Berwick to Aberdeen[210]. Had
Dr. Johnson said, 'there are _no_ trees' upon this line, he would have
said what is colloquially true; because, by no trees, in common speech,
we mean few. When he is particular in counting, he may be attacked. I
know not how Colonel Nairne came to say there were but _two_ large trees
in the county of Fife. I did not perceive that he smiled. There are
certainly 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 a
branch of my family[211].
The grotto was ingeniously constructed. In the front of it were
petrified stocks of fir, plane, and some other tree. Dr. Johnson said,
'Scotland has no right to boast of this grotto; it is owing to personal
merit. I never denied personal merit to many of you.' Professor Shaw
said to me, as we walked, 'This is a wonderful man; he is master of
every subject he handles.' Dr. Watson allowed him a very strong
understanding, but wondered at his total inattention to established
manners, as he came from London.
I have not preserved in my Journal, any of the conversation which passed
between Dr. Johnson and Professor Shaw; but I recollect Dr. Johnson said
to 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. I
waited on the minister, mentioned our names, and begged he would tell us
what he knew about it. He was a very civil old man; but could only
inform us, that it was supposed to have stood eight hundred years. He
told us, there was a colony of Danes in his parish[212]; that they had
landed 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. Johnson
has celebrated in his _Journey_[213]. Upon the road we talked of the
Roman Catholick faith. He mentioned (I think) Tillotson's argument
against transubstantiation: 'That we are as sure we see bread and wine
only, as that we read in the Bible the text on which that false doctrine
is founded. We have only the evidence of our senses for both[214].' 'If,
(he added,) GOD had never spoken figuratively, we might hold that he
speaks literally, when he says, "This is my body[215]."' BOSWELL. 'But
what do you say, Sir, to the ancient and continued tradition of the
church upon this point?' JOHNSON. 'Tradition, Sir, has no place, where
the Scriptures are plain; and tradition cannot persuade a man into a
belief of transubstantiation. Able men, indeed, have _said_ they
believed it.'
This is an awful subject. I did not then press Dr. Johnson upon it: nor
shall I now enter upon a disquisition concerning the import of those
words uttered by our Saviour[216], which had such an effect upon many of
his disciples, that they 'went back, and walked no more with him.' The
Catechism and solemn office for Communion, in the Church of England,
maintain a mysterious belief in more than a mere commemoration of the
death of Christ, by partaking of the elements of bread and wine.
Dr. Johnson put me in mind, that, at St. Andrews, I had defended my
profession very well, when the question had again been started, Whether
a lawyer might honestly engage with the first side that offers him a
fee. 'Sir, (said I,) it was with your arguments against Sir William
Forbes[217]: but it was much that I could wield the arms of Goliah.'
He said, our judges had not gone deep in the question concerning
literary property. I mentioned Lord Monboddo's opinion, that if a man
could get a work by heart, he might print it, as by such an act the mind
is exercised. JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; a man's repeating it no more makes it
his 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 cutting
the horns and tail off the cow. JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; 'tis making the cow
have 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 fingers
into Dr. Johnson's lemonade, for which he called him 'Rascal!' It put me
in great glee that our landlord was an Englishman. I rallied the Doctor
upon 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 this
was 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 books
are sold.'
He was angry at me for proposing to carry lemons with us to Sky, that
he might be sure to have his lemonade. 'Sir, (said he,) I do not wish to
be thought that feeble man who cannot do without any thing. Sir, it is
very bad manners to carry provisions to any man's house, as if he could
not entertain you. To an inferior, it is oppressive; to a superior, it
is insolent.'
Having taken the liberty, this evening, to remark to Dr. Johnson, that
he very often sat quite silent for a long time, even when in company
with only a single friend, which I myself had sometimes sadly
experienced, he smiled and said, 'It is true, Sir[220]. Tom Tyers, (for
so he familiarly called our ingenious friend, who, since his death, has
paid a biographical tribute to his memory[221],) Tom Tyers described me
the best. He once said to me, "Sir, you are like a ghost: you never
speak 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 went
and saw the town-hall, where is a good dancing-room, and other rooms for
tea-drinking. The appearance of the town from it is very well; but many
of the houses are built with their ends to the street, which looks
awkward. When we came down from it, I met Mr. Gleg, a merchant here. He
went with us to see the English chapel. It is situated on a pretty dry
spot, 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 belongs
to an honest church[223].' I put him in mind, that episcopals were but
_dissenters_ here; they were only _tolerated_. 'Sir, (said he,) we are
here, as Christians in Turkey.' He afterwards went into an apothecary's
shop, and ordered some medicine for himself, and wrote the prescription
in technical characters. The boy took him for a physician[224].
I doubted much which road to take, whether to go by the coast, or by
Laurence Kirk and Monboddo. I knew Lord Monboddo and Dr. Johnson did not
love each other[225]; yet I was unwilling not to visit his Lordship; and
was 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 Lord
Monboddo[227]. I therefore sent Joseph forward with the
following note:--
'Montrose, August 21.
'My Dear Lord,
'Thus far I am come with Mr. Samuel Johnson. We must be at Aberdeen
to-night. I know you do not admire him so much as I do; but I cannot be
in this country without making you a bow at your old place, as I do not
know 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 be
at home.
'I am ever, my dear lord,
'Most sincerely yours,
'JAMES BOSWELL.'
As we travelled onwards from Montrose, we had the Grampion hills in our
view, and some good land around us, but void of trees and hedges. Dr.
Johnson has said ludicrously, in his _Journey_, that the _hedges_ were
of _stone_[228]; for, instead of the verdant _thorn_ to refresh the eye,
we found the bare _wall_ or _dike_ intersecting the prospect. He
observed, that it was wonderful to see a country so divested, so
denuded of trees.
We stopped at Laurence Kirk[229], where our great Grammarian,
Ruddiman[230], was once schoolmaster. We respectfully remembered that
excellent man and eminent scholar, by whose labours a knowledge of the
Latin language will be preserved in Scotland, if it shall be preserved
at all. Lord Gardenston[231], one of our judges, collected money to
raise a monument to him at this place, which I hope will be well
executed[232]. I know my father gave five guineas towards it. Lord
Gardenston is the proprietor of Laurence Kirk, and has encouraged the
building of a manufacturing village, of which he is exceedingly fond,
and has written a pamphlet upon it[233], as if he had founded Thebes; in
which, however, there are many useful precepts strongly expressed. The
village seemed to be irregularly built, some of the houses being of
clay, 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 gentleman
desired to see him. He returned for answer, 'that he would not come to a
stranger.' I then gave my name, and he came. I remonstrated to him for
not coming to a stranger; and, by presenting him to Dr. Johnson, proved
to him what a stranger might sometimes be. His Bible inculcates, 'be not
forgetful to entertain strangers,' and mentions the same motive[234]. He
defended himself by saying, 'He had once come to a stranger who sent for
him; and he found him "_a little worth person!_"'
Dr. Johnson insisted on stopping at the inn, as I told him that Lord
Gardenston had furnished it with a collection of books, that travellers
might have entertainment for the mind, as well as the body. He praised
the design, but wished there had been more books, and those
better chosen.
About a mile from Monboddo, where you turn off the road, Joseph was
waiting to tell us my lord expected us to dinner. We drove over a wild
moor. It rained, and the scene was somewhat dreary. Dr. Johnson
repeated, with solemn emphasis, Macbeth's speech on meeting the witches.
As we travelled on, he told me, 'Sir, you got into our club by doing
what 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 humour
naturally, it is scarce a virtue[236].' BOSWELL. 'They were afraid of
you, Sir, as it was you who proposed me.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, they knew, that
if they refused you, they'd probably never have got in another. I'd have
kept 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 me
that 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 old
baron's residence. Lord Monboddo received us at his gate most
courteously; pointed to the Douglas arms upon his house, and told us
that his great-grandmother was of that family. 'In such houses (said
he,) 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 deal
wiser[238].' This was an assault upon one of Lord Monboddo's capital
dogmas, and I was afraid there would have been a violent altercation in
the very close, before we got into the house. But his lordship is
distinguished 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 round
hat; he told us, we now saw him as _Farmer Burnet_[240], and we should
have his family dinner, a farmer's dinner. He said, 'I should not have
forgiven Mr. Boswell, had he not brought you here, Dr. Johnson.' He
produced 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_ seemed
to be as enthusiastick a farmer as he[242], and was certainly a
practical one. JOHNSON. 'It does not always follow, my lord, that a man
who has written a good poem on an art, has practised it. Philip Miller
told 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 mere
animal life, you can urge no argument against going to America, but that
it will be some time before he will get the earth to produce. But a man
of any intellectual enjoyment will not easily go and immerse himself and
his posterity for ages in barbarism.'
He and my lord spoke highly of Homer. JOHNSON. 'He had all the learning
of his age. The shield of Achilles shews a nation in war, a nation in
peace; harvest sport, nay, stealing[245].' MONBODDO. 'Ay, and what we
(looking to me) would call a parliament-house scene[246]; a cause
pleaded.' JOHNSON. 'That is part of the life of a nation in peace. And
there are in Homer such characters of heroes, and combinations of
qualities of heroes, that the united powers of mankind ever since have
not produced any but what are to be found there.' MONBODDO. 'Yet no
character 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; that
Euripides, in his _Hecuba_, makes him the person to interpose[247].'
MONBODDO. 'The history of manners is the most valuable. I never set a
high value on any other history.' JOHNSON. 'Nor I; and therefore I
esteem biography, as giving us what comes near to ourselves, what we can
turn to use[248].' BOSWELL. 'But in the course of general history, we
find manners. In wars, we see the dispositions of people, their degrees
of humanity, and other particulars.' JOHNSON. 'Yes; but then you must
take 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 our
men of learning.' JOHNSON. 'My lord, I received great respect and great
kindness.' BOSWELL. 'He goes back to Edinburgh after our tour.' We
talked of the decrease of learning in Scotland, and of the _Muses'
Welcome_[249]. JOHNSON. 'Learning is much decreased in England, in my
remembrance[250].' MONBODDO. 'You, Sir, have lived to see its decrease
in England, I its extinction in Scotland.' However, I brought him to
confess that the High School of Edinburgh did well. JOHNSON. 'Learning
has decreased in England, because learning will not do so much for a man
as formerly. There are other ways of getting preferment. Few bishops are
