son, cannot be easily mistaken. And, indeed, it seems not very probable, that he who so pathetically laments the drudgery to which the unhappy lexicographer is doomed, and is known to have written his splendid imitation of Juvenal with astonishing rapidity, should have had "as much pleasure in writing a sheet of a dictionary as a sheet of poetry." Nor can I concur with the ingenious writer of the foregoing letter, in thinking it an axiom as evident as any in Euclid, that "poetry is of easier execution than lexicography." I have no doubt that Bailey, and the "mighty blunderbuss of law," Jacob, wrote ten pages of their respective dictionaries with more ease than they could have written five pages of poetry.

If this book should again be reprinted, I shall, with the utmost readiness, correct any errors I may have committed, in stating conversations, provided it can be clearly shown to me that I have been inaccurate. But I am slow to believe (as I have elsewhere observed) that any man's memory, at the distance of several years, can preserve facts or sayings with such fidelity as may be done by writing them down when they are recent and I beg it may be remembered, that it is not upon memory, but upon what was written at the time, that the authenticity of my Journal rests.

No. II.

MR. BOSWELL says, "The following verses, written by Sir Alexander (now Lord) Macdonald, and addressed and presented to Dr. Johnson, at Armidale, in the Isle of Sky, should have appeared in its proper place [antè, p. 159.] if the author of this Journal had been possessed of them; but this edition was almost printed off when he was accidentally furnished with a copy by a friend." Mr. Croker adds, "These verses have not been removed to the text, because Mr. Boswell did not think proper to do so in his subsequent editions, and because I really do not profess to understand more than the first

stanza. It seems hard to guess what Sir Alexander could have meant by presenting Dr. Johnson with such lines; which are really little better than the nonsense verses of a schoolboy."

Viator, o qui nostra per æquora
Visurus agros Skiaticos venis,
En te salutantes tributim
Undique conglomerantur oris

To the memory

Of SIR JAMES MACDONALD, Bart.
Who, in the flower of youth,

Had attained to so eminent a degree of knowledge
In mathematics, philosophy, languages,

And in every other branch of useful and polite learning,
As few have acquired in a long life

Wholly devoted to study:

Yet to this erudition he joined,
What can rarely be found with it,
Great talents for business,
Great propriety of behaviour,
Great politeness of manners!

His eloquence was sweet, correct, and flowing;
His memory vast and exact;

His judgment strong and acute;
All which endowments, united

With the most amiable temper
And every private virtue,

Procured him, not only in his own country,
But also from foreign nations,

The highest marks of esteem.

In the year of our Lord

1766,

The 25th of his life,

After a long and extremely painful illness, Which he supported with admirable patience and fortitude, He died at Rome,

Where, notwithstanding the difference of religion, Such extraordinary honours were paid to his memory, As had never graced that of any other British subject, Since the death of Sir Philip Sydney.

The fame he left behind him is the best consolation
To his afflicted family,

And to his countrymen in this isle,
For whose benefit he had planned
Many useful improvements,
Which his fruitful genius suggested,
And his active spirit promoted,
Under the sober direction

Of a clear and enlightened understanding.

Reader, bewail our loss,

And that of all Britain.

In testimony of her love,

And as the best return she can make
To her departed son,

For the constant tenderness and affection
Which, even to his last moments,
He showed for her,

His much afflicted mother,

The LADY MARGARET MACDONALD,

Daughter to the Earl of Eglintoune,

Erected this monument,

A. D. 1768.

This extraordinary young man, whom I had the pleasure of knowing intimately, having been deeply regretted by his country, the most minute particulars concerning him must be interesting to many. I shall therefore insert his two last letters to his mother, Lady Margaret Macdonald, which her ladyship has been pleased to communicate to me.

Sir James Macdonald to Lady Margaret.

"Rome, 9th July, 1766.

"MY DEAR MOTHER, Yesterday's post brought me you answer to the first letter in which I acquainted you of my illness. Your tenderness and concern upon that account are the same I have always experienced, and to which I have often owed my life. Indeed it never was in so great danger as it has been lately; and though it would have been a very great comfort to me to have had you near me, yet perhaps I ought to rejoice, on your account, that you had not the pain of such a spectacle. I have been now a week in Rome, and wish I could continue to give you the same good accounts of my recovery as I did in my last; but I must own that, for three days past, I have been in a very weak and miserable state, which however seems to give no uneasiness to my physician. My stomach has been greatly out of order, without any visible cause; and the palpitation does not decrease. I am told that my stomach will soon recover its tone, and that the palpitation must cease in time. So I am willing to believe; and with this hope support the little remains of spirits which I can be supposed to have, on the forty-seventh day of such an illness. Do not imagine I have relapsed; I only recover slower than I expected. If my letter is shorter than usual, the cause of it is a dose of physic, which has weakened me so much to-day, that I am not able to write a long letter. I will make up for it next post, and remain always your most sincerely affectionate "J. MACDONALD."

son,

He 'grew, however, gradually worse; and on the night before his death he wrote as follows from Frescati: