We were then shown a Latin inscription, proposed for this monument. Dr. Johnson sat down with an ardent and liberal earnestness to revise it, and greatly improved it by several additions and variations. I unfortunately did not take a copy of it, as it originally stood; but I have happily preserved every fragment of what Dr. Johnson wrote: Quisquis ades, viator, Vel mente felix, vel studiis cultus, * * Postquam mira * Se Tali tantoque viro, suo patrueli, * * * * Hanc columnam, Amoris eheu! inane monumentum, Quas primis infans vagitibus personuit, Versiculisque jam fere moriturus illustravit, Ponendam curavit1 We had this morning a singular proof of Dr. Johnson's quick and retentive memory. Hay's translation of" Martial" was lying in a window; I said, I thought it was pretty 1 The epitaph which has been inscribed on the pillar erected on the banks of the Leven, in honour of Dr. Smollet, is as follows. The part which was written by Dr. Johnson, it appears, has been altered; whether for the better, the reader will judge. The alterations are distinguished by Italicks. Siste viator! Si lepores ingeniique venam benignam, Viri virtutibus hisce Tali tantoque viro, patrueli suo, Amoris, eheu! inane monumentum, Quas versiculis sub exitu vitae illustratus Ponendam curavit JACOBUS SMOLLET de Bonhill. Hoc quiden honore, Non modo defuncti memoriæ, Verum etiam exemplo, prospectum esse; well done, and showed him a particular epigram, I think, of ten, but am certain of eight lines. He read it, and tossed away the book, saying, "No, it is not pretty well." As I persisted in my opinion, he said, " Why, sir, the original is thus," and he repeated it, "and this man's translation is thus," and then he repeated that also, exactly, though he had never seen it before, and read it over only once, and that, too, without any intention of getting it by heart. Here a post-chaise, which I had ordered from Glasgow, came for us, and we drove on in high spirits. We stopped at Dunbarton, and though the approach to the castle there is very steep, Dr. Johnson ascended it with alacrity, and surveyed all that was to be seen. During the whole of our Tour he showed uncommon spirit, could not bear to be treated like an old or infirm man, and was very unwilling to accept of any assistance, insomuch that, at our landing at Icolmkill, when Sir Allan M'Lean and I submitted to be carried on men's shoulders from the boat to the shore, as it could not be brought quite close to land, he sprang into the sea, and waded vigorously out. On our arrival at the Sar n's-head inn, at Glasgow, I was made uppy by good accounts from home; and Dr. Johnson, who had not received a single letter since we left Aberdeen, found here a great many, the perusal of which entertained him much. He enjoyed in imagination the comforts which we could not now command, and seemed to be in high glee. I remember, he put a leg upon each side of the grate, and said, with a mock solemnity, by way of soliloquy, but loud enough for me to hear it, "Here am I, an Englishman, sitting by a coal fire." Friday, 29th October.-The professors of the university being informed of our arrival, Dr. Stevenson, Dr. Reid, and Mr. Anderson, breakfasted with us. Mr. Anderson accompanied us while Dr. Johnson viewed this beautiful city. He had told me, that one day in London, when Dr. Adam Smith 2 was boasting of it, he turned 2 [Mr. Boswell has chosen to omit, for reasons which will be presently obvious, that Johnson and Adam Smith met at Glasgow; but I have been assured by Professor John Miller that they did so, and that Smith, leaving the party in which he had met Johnson, happened to come to another company where Miller was. Knowing that Smith had been in Johnson's society, they were anxious to know what had passed, and the more so as Dr. Smith's temper seemed much ruffled. At first Smith would only answer, "He's a brute -he's a brute;" but on closer examination, it appeared that Johnson no sooner saw Smith than he attacked him for some point of his famous letter on the death of Hume (ante, p. 329, n). Smith vindicated the truth of his statement. | to him and said, "Pray, sir, have you ever | The general impression upon my memory seen Brentford?" This was surely a strong is, that we had not much conversation at instance of his impatience, and spirit of Glasgow, where the professors, like their contradiction. I put him in mind of it to- brethren at Aberdeen, did not venture to day, while he expressed his admiration of expose themselves much to the battery of the elegant buildings, and whispered him, cannon which they knew might play upon "Don't you feel some remorse?" them3. Dr. Johnson, who was fully conscious of his own superior powers, afterwards praised Principal Robertson, for his caution in this respect. He said to me, "Robertson, sir, was in the right. Robertson is a man of eminence, and the head of a college at Edinburgh. He had a character to maintain, and did well not to risk its being lessened." We were received in the college by a number of the professors, who showed all due respect to Dr. Johnson; and then we paid a visit to the principal, Dr. Leechman1, at his own house, where Dr. Johnson had the satisfaction of being told that his name had been gratefully celebrated in one of the parochial congregations in the Highlands, as the person to whose influence it was chiefly owing, that the New Testament was allowed to be translated into the Erse language. It seems some political members of the Society in Scotland for propagating Christian Knowledge had opposed this pious undertaking, as tending to preserve the distinction between the Highlanders and Lowlanders. Dr. Johnson wrote a long letter upon the subject to a friend [Mr. Drummond], which being shown to them, made them ashamed, and afraid of being publicly exposed; so they were forced to a compliance. It is now in my possession, and is, perhaps, one of the best productions of his masterly pen 2. Saturday, 30th October.-We set out towards Ayrshire. I sent Joseph on to Loudoun, with a message, that, if the earl was at home, Dr. Johnson and I would have the honour to dine with him. Joseph met us on the road, and reported that the earl "jumped for joy," and said, "I shall be very happy to see them." We were received with a most pleasing courtesy by his lordship, and by the countess his mother 4, who, in her ninety-fifth year, had all her faculties quite unimpaired. This was a very cheering sight to Dr. Johnson, who had an extraordinary desire for long life. Her ladyship was sensible and well informed, and had seen a great deal of the world. Her lord had held several high offices, and she was sister to the great Earl of Stair. I cannot here refrain from paying a just tribute to the character of John, Earl of Loudoun 5, who did more service to the [Boswell himself was callous to the contacts Professors Reid and Anderson, and the two Messieurs Foulis, the Elzevirs of Glasgow, dined and drank tea with us at our inn, after which the professors went away; and I, having a letter to write, left my fellowtraveller with Messieurs Foulis. Though good and ingenious men, they had that of Dr. Johnson; and when telling them, always unsettled speculative mode of conversation reminds one of a jocky receiving a kick from the which is offensive to a man regularly taught horse which he is showing off to a customer, and at an English school and university. I is grinning with pain while he is trying to cry out, found that, instead of listening to the dic-Pretty rogue-no vice-all fun." To him tates of the sage, they had teased him with questions and doubtful disputations. He came in a flutter to me, and desired I might come back again, for he could not bear these men. "O ho! sir,” said I, “you are flying to me for refuge!" He never, in any situation, was at a loss for a ready repartee. He answered, with quick vivacity, "It is of two evils choosing the least." Í was delighted with this flash bursting from the cloud which hung upon his mind, closed my letter directly, and joined the company. We supped at professor Anderson's. Johnson's rudeness was only "pretty Fanny's way." Dr. Robertson had a sense of goodbreeding which inclined him rather to forego the benefit of Johnson's conversation than awaken his rudeness.-Walter Scott.] 66 4 [Lady Margaret Dalrymple, only daughter of John, Earl of Stair, married, in 1700, to Hugh, third Earl of Loudoun. She died in 1777, aged one hundred. Of this venerable lady, and of the Countess of Eglintoune, whom Johnson visited next day, he thus speaks in his Journey: different modes of life in very different climates; Length of life is distributed impartially to very and the mountains have no greater examples of age and health than the Lowlands, where I was introduced to two ladies of high quality, one of whom (Lady Loudoun), in her ninety-fourth year, presided at her table with the full exercise of all her powers; and the other (Lady Eglintoune) had attained her eighty-fourth year, without any diminution of her vivacity, and little reason to accuse time of depredations on her beauty."Works, vol. viii. p. 313.-ED.] 5 [Fourth Earl, born in 1705, died in 1782. He had considerable military commands, and was ther of the late and present earl. I assured him he would find himself amply recompensed for the trouble; and he yielded to my solicitations, though with some unwillingness. We were well mounted, and had not many miles to ride. He talked of the attention that is necessary in order to distribute our charity judiciously. "If thoughtserving objects; and, as every man has but a certain proportion to give, if it is lavished upon those who first present themselves, there may be nothing left for such as have a better claim. A man should first relieve those who are nearly connected with him, by whatever tie; and then, if he has any thing to spare, may extend his bounty to a wider circle." county of Ayr in general, as well as to individuals in it, than any man we have ever had. It is painful to think that he met with much ingratitude from persons both in high and low rank: but such was his temper, such his knowledge of" base mankind'," that, as if he had expected no other return, his mind was never soured, and he retained his good humour and benevolence to the last.lessly done, we may neglect the most deThe tenderness of his heart was proved in 1745-6, when he had an important command in the Highlands, and behaved with a generous humanity to the unfortunate. I cannot figure a more honest politician; for though his interest in our county was great, and generally successful, he not only did not deceive by fallacious promises, but was anxious that people should not deceive themselves by too sanguine expectations. As we passed very near the castle of DunHis kind and dutiful attention to his mother donald, which was one of the many resiwas unremitted. At his house was true dences of the kings of Scotland, and in hospitality; a plain but a plentiful table; which Robert the Second lived and died, and every guest being left at perfect free- Dr. Johnson wished to survey it particulardom, felt himself quite easy and happy.ly. It stands on a beautiful rising ground, While I live, I shall honour the memory of which is seen at a great distance on several this amiable man. quarters, and from whence there is an extensive prospect of the rich district of Cuninghame, the western sea, the isle of Arran, and a part of the northern coast of Ireland. It has long been unroofed; and, though of considerable size, we could not, by any power of imagination, figure it as having been a suitable habitation for majesty. Dr. Johnson, to irritate my old Scottish enthusiasm, was very jocular on the homely accommodation of "King Bob," and roared and laughed till the ruins echoed. At night, we advanced a few miles far- Sunday, 31st October. We reposed Monday, 1st November.-Though Dr. The unwilling gratitude of base mankind. 2 [Susanna, daughter of Sir Alexander Kennedy, of Culzeen, third wife of the ninth Earl of Eglintoune. She was a clever woman, and a patroness of the Belles Lettres. Allan Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd was dedicated to her in a very fulsome style of panegyric. She died in Ayrshire, Lady Eglintoune, though she was now in her eighty-fifth year, and had lived in the retirement of the country for almost half a century, was still a very agreeable woman. She was of the noble house of Kennedy, and had all the elevation which the consciousness of such birth inspires. Her figure was majestick, her manners high-bred, her reading extensive, and her conversation elegant. She had been the admiration of the gay circles of life, and the patroness of poets. Dr. Johnson was delighted with his reception here. Her principles in church and state were congenial with his. She knew all his merit, and had heard much of him from her son, Earl Alexander3, who loved to cultivate the acquaintance of men of talents in every department. All who knew his lordship will allow that his understanding and accomplishments in 1780, aged ninety-one. (See ante, 30th Oct. n.) The eighth Earl of Eglintoune, the father of her lord, had married, as his second wife, Catherine St. Quentin, the widow of three husbands, and aged above ninety at the time of her last marriage; being, it is presumed, the oldest bride on record.-ED.] [See ante, p. 252.-ED.] |