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 not a great many, to be sure; but I could have shewn him more than two at Balmuto, from whence my ancestor came. In the grotto, we saw a wonderful large lobster claw. In 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." our names, and He was a very We left St. Andrew's 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 begged he would tell us what he knew about it. 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 if 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." Upon the road we talked of the Roman Catholick faith. He mentioned (I think) Second Edition.-Line 7: Altered to "there are certainly not a great many." Ibid.-Line 9: Altered to "from whence my ancestors came, and which now belongs to a branch of my family. In the grotto we saw a lobster's claw uncommonly large.' Third Edition.-Line 10: Dele "In the grotto," &c., to "claw;" and read— "The grotto was ingeniously constructed."? 1 Scotticisms. Mr. Boswell no doubt felt that there VOL. III. was a want of dignity in recording the incident of the lobster-claw. 16 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." "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. Andrew's, 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." He said our judges had not gone deep in 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." "1 Third Edition.-On line 16 put a note: "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. 53, and following 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 finger 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 Music 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 inferiour, it is oppressive; to a superiour, 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 the best. He once said to me, 'Sir, you are like a ghost. You never speak till you are spoken to."" 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 dancingroom, and other rooms for tea-drinking. The appearance of the town from it is very well, only many of the houses are built with their ends to the street, which looks aukward. When we came down from it, I met Mr. Gleg, the 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. Second Edition.-Line 25: A note-"This description of Dr. Johnson, appears to have been borrowed from Tom Jones,' Book XI. chap. ii. The other who, like a ghost, only wanted to be spoke to, readily answered,' &c." Ibid.-Line 33: 64 the merchant here "altered to " a merchant here." Dr. Johnson gave a shilling extraordinary to the clerk, saying, "He belongs to an honest church." 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." Dr. Johnson went into an apothecary's, 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 Laurence 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." I mentioned it to Dr. Johnson, who said, "He would go two miles out of his way to see Lord Monboddo." I therefore sent forward Joseph, with the following note: "Montrose, 21 August. "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 your's." As we travelled onwards from Montrose, we had the Grampion hills in our view, and some good land around us, but clear of trees and hedges. Dr. Johnson has said ludicrously, in his "Journey," that the hedges were of stone; 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, where our great grammarian, Ruddiman, 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, one of our judges, collected • There were several points of similarity between them; learning, clearness of head, precision of speech, and a love of research on many subjects which people in general do not investigate. Foote paid Lord Monboddo the compliment of saying, that he was 66 an Elzevir edition of Johnson." Second Edition.-Added to note: "It has been shrewdly observed that Foote must have meant a diminutive, or pocket edition." money to raise a monument to him at this place, which I hope will be well executed. 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, 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. 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. Several of the members wished to keep you out. Burke told me, he doubted if you was 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." 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 un Second Edition.-On line 30, a note: "This, I find, is considered as obscure. I suppose Dr. Johnson meant, that I assiduously and earnestly recommended myself to some of the members, as in a canvass for an election into parliament." Ibid.-Line 32: was" altered to 66 were." 66 1 One of Boswell's Scotticisms, this first edition was full of such. |