3 ["The library," says Johnson, good-humouredly," is not very spacious, but elegant and luminous. The Doctor by whom it was shown hoped to irritate or subdue my English vanity by telling me, that we had no such repository of books in England." The library at St. Andrews is, the editor is informed, seventy-five feet long. That of All Souls, in Oxford, is one hundred and ninety-eight feet; of Christ Church, one hundred 5 [The monument is of Italian marble. The and forty-one; of Queen's one hundred and twen-brother of the archbishop left a sum for preserving ty-three; and each of the three divisions of the it, which, in one unhappy year, was expended in Bodleian is more than twice as long as the library painting it in resemblance of reality. The daubof St. Andrews.-ED.] ing is now removed.—Walter SCOTT.]

tually in St. Andrews, of which we had talk- | to compose a sermon." JOHNSON. "Then, ed 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. 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 show 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, 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 acknowledgment to the honourable testimony of Dr. Johnson, in his "Journey."

SON.

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. 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 1." 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 judgment."

We all went to Dr. Watson's to supper. Miss Sharp, great grandchild of Archbishop Sharp 2, was there, as was Mr. Craig, the ingenious architect of the new town of Edinburgh, and nephew of Thomson, to whom Dr. Johnson has since done so much justice in his "Lives of the Poets."

livion."

"Sir, that was a morbid ob

We talked of memory, and its various modes. JOHNSON. "Memory will play We talked of composition, which was a strange tricks. One sometimes loses a sinfavourite topick of Dr. Watson, who first gle word. I once lost fugaces in the Ode distinguished himself by lectures on rheto-Posthume, Posthume.' I mentioned to rick. JOHNSON. "I advised Chambers, him, that a worthy gentleman of my acand would advise every young man begin-quaintance actually forgot his own name. ning to compose, to do it as fast as he can, JOHNSON. to get a habit of having his mind to start promptly; it is so much more difficult to improve in speed than in accuracy." WAT"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 conposition 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." WAT"Dr. Hugh Blair has taken a week

SON.

دو

[This must have been the translation of Lobo; for Johnson translated no other work, consisting of this number of pages (viz. ninety-six), from the French. This account of so much diligence does not seem to agree with that before given of his indolence in completing that translation. See ante, P. 31. But, as Sir W. Scott observes, "a pool is usually succeeded in a river by a current, and he may have written fast to make up lee way." -ED.]

2 [It is very singular that Dr. Johnson, with all his episcopal partiality, should have visited Archbishop Sharp's monument, and been in company with his descendant, without making any observation on his character and melancholy death, or on the general subject of Scottish episcopacy.-WALTER SCOTT.]

Friday, 20th August.-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 1 (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 further. 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 2 seemed to incline to Abernethy's doctrine." Dr. Watson observed that Leechman meant to show that, even admitting no effect to be produced by prayer, respecting the Deity, it was useful to our own minds. 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 3. "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."

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. 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 shown him more than two at Balmuto, from whence my ancestors came, and which now belongs to a branch of my family.

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 establish manners, as he came from London.

. We went and saw Colonel Nairne's gar-
den and grotto. Here was a fine old plane
tree. Unluckily the colonel said there was
but this and another large tree in the coun-
try 4.
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 "Jour-"I took much to Shaw."
ney" 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

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,

[An Irish dissenting divine, whose "Discourses on the Divine Attributes," and some volumes of sermons, are highly esteemed even by the clergy of the church of England. He died in 1740, in the sixtieth year of his age.-ED.]

2 [Dr. William Leechman, a Scotch divine, who published, amongst other valuable works, a discourse "On the Nature, Reasonableness, and Advantages of Prayer." He died in 1785, aged eighty.-ED.]

3 [See ante, p. 255.-ED.]

4 [Johnson has been unjustly abused for dwelling on the barrenness of Fife. There are good trees in many parts of that county, but the east coast along which lay Johnson's route is certainly destitute of wood, excepting young plantations. The other tree mentioned by Colonel Nairne is probably the Prior Letham plane, measuring in circumference at the surface nearly twenty feet, and at the setting on of the branches nineteen feet. This giant of the forest stands in a cold exposed situation, apart from every other tree.-WALTER SCOTT.]

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 parsonagehouse 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; 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 5.

We saw, this day, Dundee and Aberbrothick, the last of which Dr. Johnson has celebrated in his "Journey." 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 found

5 [The Danish colony at Leuchars is a vain imagination concerning a certain fleet of Danes wrecked on Sheughy Dikes.-WALTER SCOTT.]

ed. We have only the evidence of our senses for both." "If (he added) God had never spoken figuratively, we might hold that he speaks literally, when he says, This is my body." 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, 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; but it was much that I could wield the arms of Goliath."

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. Tom Tyers (for so he familiarly called our ingenious friend, who since his death, has paid a biographical tribute to his memory), Tom Tyers described me best. He once said to me, Sir, you are like a ghost: you never speak till you are spoken to 2.""

Saturday, 21st August.-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 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 abridgment of" He belongs to an honest church." I 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."

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. Both Sir John Hawkins's and Dr. Burney's "History of Musick" had then been advertised. I asked if this was not unlucky: would they not hurt one another? JOHNSON. "No, sir. They will do good to one another. Some will buy the one, some the other, and

"Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." See St. John's Gospel, chap. vi. 58, and following verses.-BOSWELL. 44

VOL. I.

put him in mind, that episcopals were but dissenters here; they were only tolerated.

66

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.

I doubted much which road to take, whether to go by the coast, or by Lawrence Kirk and Monboddo. I knew Lord Monboddo and Dr. Johnson did not love each other; yet I was unwilling not to visit his lordship; and was also curious to see them together 3. I mentioned my

2 This description of Dr. Johnson appears to have been borrowed from "Tom Jones," book xi. chap. 2: "The other, who, like a ghost, only wanted to be spoke to, readily answered," &c.BOSWELL. [Both are borrowed from a general superstition, that ghosts must be first spoken to.ED.]

3 There were several points of similarity be

doubts to Dr. Johnson, who said he would | Lawrence Kirk, and has encouraged the go two miles out of his way to see Lord building of a manufacturing village, of Monboddo. I therefore sent Joseph for- which he is exceedingly fond, and has writward, with the following note: ten a pamphlet upon it, 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.