Mr. Scott came to breakfast, at which I introduced to Dr. Johnson and
him, my friend Sir William Forbes, now of Pitsligo[55]; a man of whom
too much good cannot be said; who, with distinguished abilities and
application in his profession of a Banker, is at once a good companion,
and a good christian; which I think is saying enough. Yet it is but
justice to record, that once, when he was in a dangerous illness, he was
watched with the anxious apprehension of a general calamity; day and
night his house was beset with affectionate enquiries; and, upon his
recovery, _Te deum_ was the universal chorus from the _hearts_ of his
countrymen. Mr. Johnson was pleased with my daughter Veronica[56],
then a child of about four months old. She had the appearance of
listening to him. His motions seemed to her to be intended for her
amusement; and when he stopped, she fluttered, and made a little
infantine noise, and a kind of signal for him to begin again. She would
be held close to him; which was a proof, from simple nature, that his
figure was not horrid. Her fondness for him endeared her still more to
me, and I declared she should have five hundred pounds of additional
fortune[57].
We talked of the practice of the law. Sir William Forbes said, he
thought an honest lawyer should never undertake a cause which he was
satisfied was not a just one. 'Sir, (said Mr. Johnson,) a lawyer has no
business with the justice or injustice of the cause which he undertakes,
unless his client asks his opinion, and then he is bound to give it
honestly. The justice or injustice of the cause is to be decided by the
judge. Consider, Sir; what is the purpose of courts of justice? It is,
that every man may have his cause fairly tried, by men appointed to try
causes. A lawyer is not to tell what he knows to be a lie: he is not to
produce what he knows to be a false deed; but he is not to usurp the
province of the jury and of the judge, and determine what shall be the
effect of evidence,--what shall be the result of legal argument. As it
rarely happens that a man is fit to plead his own cause, lawyers are a
class of the community, who, by study and experience, have acquired the
art and power of arranging evidence, and of applying to the points at
issue what the law has settled. A lawyer is to do for his client all
that his client might fairly do for himself, if he could. If, by a
superiority of attention, of knowledge, of skill, and a better method of
communication, he has the advantage of his adversary, it is an
advantage to which he is entitled. There must always be some advantage,
on one side or other; and it is better that advantage should be had by
talents than by chance. Lawyers were to undertake no causes till they
were sure they were just, a man might be precluded altogether from a
trial of his claim, though, were it judicially examined it might be
found a very just claim[58].' This was sound practical doctrine, and
rationally repressed a too refined scrupulosity[59] of conscience.
Emigration was at this time a common topick of discourse[60]. Dr.
Johnson regretted it as hurtful to human happiness: 'For (said he) it
spreads mankind, which weakens the defence of a nation, and lessens the
comfort of living. Men, thinly scattered, make a shift, but a bad shift,
without many things. A smith is ten miles off: they'll do without a nail
or a staple. A taylor is far from them: they'll botch their own clothes.
It is being concentrated which produces high convenience[61].'
Sir William Forbes, Mr. Scott, and I, accompanied Mr. Johnson to the
chapel[62], founded by Lord Chief Baron Smith, for the Service of the
Church of England. The Reverend Mr. Carre, the senior clergyman,
preached from these words, 'Because the Lord reigneth, let the earth be
glad[63].' I was sorry to think Mr. Johnson did not attend to the
sermon, Mr. Carre's low voice not being strong enough to reach his
hearing. A selection of Mr. Carre's sermons has, since his death, been
published by Sir William Forbes[64], and the world has acknowledged
their uncommon merit. I am well assured Lord Mansfield has pronounced
them to be excellent.
Here I obtained a promise from Lord Chief Baron Orde[65], that he would
dine at my house next day. I presented Mr. Johnson to his Lordship, who
politely said to him, I have not the honour of knowing you; but I hope
for it, and to see you at my house. I am to wait on you to-morrow.' This
respectable English judge will be long remembered in Scotland, where he
built an elegant house, and lived in it magnificently. His own ample
fortune, with the addition of his salary, enabled him to be splendidly
hospitable. It may be fortunate for an individual amongst ourselves to
be Lord Chief Baron; and a most worthy man now has the office; but, in
my opinion, it is better for Scotland in general, that some of our
publick employments should be filled by gentlemen of distinction from
the south side of the Tweed, as we have the benefit of promotion in
England. Such an interchange would make a beneficial mixture of manners,
and render our union more complete. Lord Chief Baron Orde was on good
terms with us all, in a narrow country filled with jarring interests and
keen parties; and, though I well knew his opinion to be the same with my
own, he kept himself aloof at a very critical period indeed, when the
_Douglas cause_ shook the sacred security of _birthright_ in Scotland
to its foundation; a cause, which had it happened before the Union, when
there was no appeal to a British House of Lords, would have left the
great fortress of honours and of property in ruins[66]. When we got
home, Dr. Johnson desired to see my books. He took down Ogden's _Sermons
on Prayer_[67], on which I set a very high value, having been much
edified by them, and he retired with them to his room. He did not stay
long, but soon joined us in the drawing room. I presented to him Mr.
Robert Arbuthnot, a relation of the celebrated Dr. Arbuthnot[68], and a
man of literature and taste. To him we were obliged for a previous
recommendation, which secured us a very agreeable reception at St.
Andrews, and which Dr. Johnson, in his _Journey_, ascribes to 'some
invisible friend[69].'
Of Dr. Beattie, Mr. Johnson said, 'Sir, he has written like a man
conscious of the truth, and feeling his own strength[70]. Treating your
adversary with respect is giving him an advantage to which he is not
entitled[71]. The greatest part of men cannot judge of reasoning, and
are impressed by character; so that, if you allow your adversary a
respectable character, they will think, that though you differ from him,
you may be in the wrong. Sir, treating your adversary with respect, is
striking soft in a battle. And as to Hume,--a man who has so much
conceit as to tell all mankind that they have been bubbled[72] for ages,
and he is the wise man who sees better than they,--a man who has so
little scrupulosity as to venture to oppose those principles which have
been thought necessary to human happiness,--is he to be surprized if
another man comes and laughs at him? If he is the great man he thinks
himself, all this cannot hurt him: it is like throwing peas against a
rock.' He added '_something much too rough_' both as to Mr. Hume's head
and heart, which I suppress. Violence is, in my opinion, not suitable to
the Christian cause. Besides, I always lived on good terms with Mr.
Hume, though I have frankly told him, I was not clear that it was right
in me to keep company with him. 'But, (said I) how much better are you
than your books!' He was cheerful, obliging, and instructive; he was
charitable to the poor; and many an agreeable hour have I passed with
him[73]: I have preserved some entertaining and interesting memoirs of
him, particularly when he knew himself to be dying, which I may some
time or other communicate to the world[74]. I shall not, however, extol
him so very highly as Dr. Adam Smith does, who says, in a letter to Mr.
Strahan the Printer (not a confidential letter to his friend, but a
letter which is published[75] with all formality:) 'Upon the whole, I
have always considered him, both in his life time and since his death,
as approaching as nearly to the idea of a perfectly wise and virtuous
man as perhaps the nature of human frailty will permit.' Let Dr. Smith
consider: Was not Mr. Hume blest with good health, good spirits, good
friends, a competent and increasing fortune? And had he not also a
perpetual feast of fame[76]? But, as a learned friend has observed to
me, 'What trials did he undergo to prove the perfection of his virtue?
Did he ever experience any great instance of adversity?'--When I read
this sentence delivered by my old _Professor of Moral Philosophy_, I
could not help exclaiming with the _Psalmist_, 'Surely I have now more
understanding than my teachers[77]!'
While we were talking, there came a note to me from Dr. William
Robertson.
'DEAR SIR,
'I have been expecting every day to hear from you, of Dr. Johnson's
arrival. Pray, what do you know about his motions? I long
to take him by the hand. I write this from the college, where I have
only this scrap of paper. Ever yours,
'W. R.'
'Sunday.'
It pleased me to find Dr. Robertson thus eager to meet Dr. Johnson. I
was glad I could answer, that he was come: and I begged Dr. Robertson
might be with us as soon as he could.
Sir William Forbes, Mr. Scott, Mr. Arbuthnot, and another gentleman
dined with us. 'Come, Dr. Johnson, (said I,) it is commonly thought that
our veal in Scotland is not good. But here is some which I believe you
will like.' There was no catching him. JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, what is
commonly thought, I should take to be true. _Your_ veal may be good; but
that will only be an exception to the general opinion; not a proof
against it.'
Dr. Robertson, according to the custom of Edinburgh at that time, dined
in the interval between the forenoon and afternoon service, which was
then later than now; so we had not the pleasure of his company till
dinner was over, when he came and drank wine with us. And then began
some animated dialogue[78], of which here follows a pretty full note.
We talked of Mr. Burke. Dr. Johnson said, he had great variety of
knowledge, store of imagery, copiousness of language. ROBERTSON. 'He has
wit too.' JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; he never succeeds there. 'Tis low; 'tis
conceit. I used to say, Burke never once made a good joke[79]. What I
most envy Burke for, is his being constantly the same. He is never what
we call hum-drum; never unwilling to begin to talk, nor in haste to
leave off.' BOSWELL. 'Yet he can listen.' JOHNSON. 'No: I cannot say he
is good at that[80]. So desirous is he to talk, that, if one is speaking
at this end of the table, he'll speak to somebody at the other end.
Burke, Sir, is such a man, that if you met him for the first time in the
street where you were stopped by a drove of oxen, and you and he stepped
aside to take shelter but for five minutes, he'd talk to you in such a
manner, that, when you parted, you would say, this is an extraordinary
man[81]. Now, you may be long enough with me, without finding any thing
extraordinary.' He said, he believed Burke was intended for the law; but
either had not money enough to follow it, or had not diligence
enough[82]. He said, he could not understand how a man could apply to
one thing, and not to another. ROBERTSON said, one man had more
judgment, another more imagination. JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; it is only, one
man has more mind than another. He may direct it differently; he may, by
accident, see the success of one kind of study, and take a desire to
excel in it. I am persuaded that, had Sir Isaac Newton applied to
poetry, he would have made a very fine epick poem. I could as easily
apply to law as to tragick poetry.' BOSWELL. 'Yet, Sir, you did apply to
tragick poetry, not to law.' JOHNSON. 'Because, Sir, I had not money to
study law. Sir, the man who has vigour, may walk to the east, just as
well as to the west, if he happens to turn his head that way[83].'
BOSWELL. 'But, Sir, 'tis like walking up and down a hill; one man will
naturally do the one better than the other. A hare will run up a hill
best, from her fore-legs being short; a dog down.' JOHNSON. 'Nay, Sir;
that is from mechanical powers. If you make mind mechanical, you may
argue in that manner. One mind is a vice, and holds fast; there's a good
memory. Another is a file; and he is a disputant, a controversialist.
Another is a razor; and he is sarcastical.' We talked of Whitefield. He
said he was at the same college with him[84], and knew him _before he
began to be better than other people_ (smiling;) that he believed he
sincerely meant well, but had a mixture of politicks and ostentation:
whereas Wesley thought of religion only[85]. ROBERTSON said, Whitefield
had strong natural eloquence, which, if cultivated, would have done
great things. JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, I take it, he was at the height of
what his abilities could do, and was sensible of it. He had the ordinary
advantages of education; but he chose to pursue that oratory which is
for the mob[86].' BOSWELL. 'He had great effect on the passions.'
JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, I don't think so. He could not represent a
succession of pathetic images. He vociferated, and made an impression.
_There_, again, was a mind like a hammer.' Dr. Johnson now said, a
certain eminent political friend of our's[87] was wrong, in his maxim of
sticking to a certain set of _men_ on all occasions. 'I can see that a
man may do right to stick to a _party_ (said he;) that is to say, he is
a _Whig_, or he is a _Tory_, and he thinks one of those parties upon the
whole the best, and that to make it prevail, it must be generally
supported, though, in particulars it may be wrong. He takes its faggot
of principles, in which there are fewer rotten sticks than in the other,
though some rotten sticks to be sure; and they cannot well be separated.
But, to bind one's self to one man, or one set of men, (who may be right
to-day and wrong to-morrow,) without any general preference of system, I
must disapprove[88].'
He told us of Cooke, who translated Hesiod, and lived twenty years on a
translation of Plautus, for which he was always taking subscriptions;
and that he presented Foote to a Club, in the following singular manner:
'This is the nephew of the gentleman who was lately hung in chains for
murdering his brother[89].' In the evening I introduced to Mr.
Johnson[90] two good friends of mine, Mr. William Nairne, Advocate, and
Mr. Hamilton of Sundrum, my neighbour in the country, both of whom
supped with us. I have preserved nothing of what passed, except that Dr.
Johnson displayed another of his heterodox opinions,--a contempt of
tragick acting[91]. He said, 'the action of all players in tragedy is
bad. It should be a man's study to repress those signs of emotion and
passion, as they are called.' He was of a directly contrary opinion to
that of Fielding, in his _Tom Jones_; who makes Partridge say, of
Garrick, 'why, I could act as well as he myself. I am sure, if I had
seen a ghost, I should have looked in the very same manner, and done
just as he did[92].' For, when I asked him, 'Would you not, Sir, start
as Mr. Garrick does, if you saw a ghost?' He answered, 'I hope not. If I
did, I should frighten the ghost.'