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 belongs
to an honest church[223].' 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.' 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[224].
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[225]; yet I was unwilling not to visit his Lordship; and
was also curious to see them together[226]. I mentioned my doubts to Dr.
Johnson, who said, he would go two miles out of his way to see Lord
Monboddo[227]. I therefore sent Joseph forward with the
following note:--
'Montrose, August 21.
'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 yours,
'JAMES BOSWELL.'
As we travelled onwards from Montrose, we had the Grampion hills in our
view, and some good land around us, but void of trees and hedges. Dr.
Johnson has said ludicrously, in his _Journey_, that the _hedges_ were
of _stone_[228]; 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[229], where our great Grammarian,
Ruddiman[230], 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[231], one of our judges, collected money to
raise a monument to him at this place, which I hope will be well
executed[232]. 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[233], 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[234]. 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[235]. Several of the members wished to keep you out.
Burke told me, he doubted if you were 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[236].' 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 uncommon." JOHNSON.
'Yes, Sir; and everything comes from him so easily. It appears to me
that I labour, when I say a good thing.' BOSWELL. 'You are loud, Sir;
but it is not an effort of mind[237].'
Monboddo is a wretched place, wild and naked, with a poor old house;
though, if I recollect right, there are two turrets which mark an old
baron's residence. Lord Monboddo received us at his gate most
courteously; pointed to the Douglas arms upon his house, and told us
that his great-grandmother was of that family. 'In such houses (said
he,) our ancestors lived, who were better men than we.' 'No, no, my lord
(said Dr. Johnson). We are as strong as they, and a great deal
wiser[238].' This was an assault upon one of Lord Monboddo's capital
dogmas, and I was afraid there would have been a violent altercation in
the very close, before we got into the house. But his lordship is
distinguished not only for 'ancient metaphysicks,' but for ancient
_politesse_, '_la vieille cour_' and he made no reply[239].
His lordship was dressed in a rustick suit, and wore a little round
hat; he told us, we now saw him as _Farmer Burnet_[240], and we should
have his family dinner, a farmer's dinner. He said, 'I should not have
forgiven Mr. Boswell, had he not brought you here, Dr. Johnson.' He
produced a very long stalk of corn, as a specimen of his crop, and said,
'You see here the _loetas segetes_[241];' he added, that _Virgil_ seemed
to be as enthusiastick a farmer as he[242], and was certainly a
practical one. JOHNSON. 'It does not always follow, my lord, that a man
who has written a good poem on an art, has practised it. Philip Miller
told me, that in Philips's _Cyder_, a poem, all the precepts were just,
and indeed better than in books written for the purpose of instructing;
yet Philips had never made cyder[243].'
I started the subject of emigration[244]. JOHNSON. 'To a man of mere
animal life, you can urge no argument against going to America, but that
it will be some time before he will get the earth to produce. But a man
of any intellectual enjoyment will not easily go and immerse himself and
his posterity for ages in barbarism.'
He and my lord spoke highly of Homer. JOHNSON. 'He had all the learning
of his age. The shield of Achilles shews a nation in war, a nation in
peace; harvest sport, nay, stealing[245].' MONBODDO. 'Ay, and what we
(looking to me) would call a parliament-house scene[246]; a cause
pleaded.' JOHNSON. 'That is part of the life of a nation in peace. And
there are in Homer such characters of heroes, and combinations of
qualities of heroes, that the united powers of mankind ever since have
not produced any but what are to be found there.' MONBODDO. 'Yet no
character is described.' JOHNSON. 'No; they all develope themselves.
Agamemnon is always a gentleman-like character; he has always [Greek:
Basilikon ti]. That the ancients held so, is plain from this; that
Euripides, in his _Hecuba_, makes him the person to interpose[247].'
MONBODDO. 'The history of manners is the most valuable. I never set a
high value on any other history.' JOHNSON. 'Nor I; and therefore I
esteem biography, as giving us what comes near to ourselves, what we can
turn to use[248].' BOSWELL. 'But in the course of general history, we
find manners. In wars, we see the dispositions of people, their degrees
of humanity, and other particulars.' JOHNSON. 'Yes; but then you must
take all the facts to get this; and it is but a little you get.'
MONBODDO. 'And it is that little which makes history valuable.' Bravo!
thought I; they agree like two brothers. MONBODDO. 'I am sorry, Dr.
Johnson, you were not longer at Edinburgh to receive the homage of our
men of learning.' JOHNSON. 'My lord, I received great respect and great
kindness.' BOSWELL. 'He goes back to Edinburgh after our tour.' We
talked of the decrease of learning in Scotland, and of the _Muses'
Welcome_[249]. JOHNSON. 'Learning is much decreased in England, in my
remembrance[250].' MONBODDO. 'You, Sir, have lived to see its decrease
in England, I its extinction in Scotland.' However, I brought him to
confess that the High School of Edinburgh did well. JOHNSON. 'Learning
has decreased in England, because learning will not do so much for a man
as formerly. There are other ways of getting preferment. Few bishops are
now made for their learning. To be a bishop, a man must be learned in a
learned age,--factious in a factious age; but always of eminence[251].
Warburton is an exception; though his learning alone did not raise him.
He was first an antagonist to Pope, and helped Theobald to publish his
_Shakspeare_; but, seeing Pope the rising man, when Crousaz attacked his
_Essay on Man_, for some faults which it has, and some which it has not,
Warburton defended it in the Review of that time[252]. This brought him
acquainted with Pope, and he gained his friendship. Pope introduced him
to Allen, Allen married him to his niece: so, by Allen's interest and
his own, he was made a bishop[253]. But then his learning was the _sine
qua non_: he knew how to make the most of it; but I do not find by any
dishonest means.' MONBODDO. 'He is a great man.' JOHNSON. 'Yes; he has
great knowledge,--great power of mind. Hardly any man brings greater
variety of learning to bear upon his point[254].' MONBODDO. 'He is one
of the greatest lights of your church.' JOHNSON. 'Why, we are not so
sure of his being very friendly to us[255]. He blazes, if you will, but
that is not always the steadiest light. Lowth is another bishop who has
risen by his learning.'
Dr. Johnson examined young Arthur, Lord Monboddo's son, in Latin. He
answered very well; upon which he said, with complacency, 'Get you gone!
When King James comes back[256], you shall be in the _Muses Welcome_!'
My lord and Dr. Johnson disputed a little, whether the Savage or the
London Shopkeeper had the best existence; his lordship, as usual,
preferring the Savage. My lord was extremely hospitable, and I saw both
Dr. Johnson and him liking each other better every hour.
Dr. Johnson having retired for a short time, his lordship spoke of his
conversation as I could have wished. Dr. Johnson had said, 'I have done
greater feats with my knife than this;' though he had eaten a very
hearty dinner. My lord, who affects or believes he follows an
abstemious system, seemed struck with Dr. Johnson's manner of living. I
had a particular satisfaction in being under the roof of Monboddo, my
lord being my father's old friend, and having been always very good to
me. We were cordial together. He asked Dr. Johnson and me to stay all
night. When I said we _must_ be at Aberdeen, he replied, 'Well, I am
like the Romans: I shall say to you, "Happy to come;--happy to depart!"'
He thanked Dr. Johnson for his visit.
JOHNSON. 'I little thought, when I had the honour to meet your Lordship
in London, that I should see you at Monboddo.'
After dinner, as the ladies[257] were going away, Dr. Johnson would
stand up. He insisted that politeness was of great consequence in
society. 'It is, (said he,) fictitious benevolence[258]. It supplies the
place of it amongst those who see each other only in publick, or but
little. Depend upon it, the want of it never fails to produce something
disagreeable to one or other. I have always applied to good breeding,
what Addison in his _Cato_[259] says of honour:--
"Honour's a sacred tie; the law of Kings;
The noble mind's distinguishing perfection,
That aids and strengthens Virtue where it meets her;
And imitates her actions where she is not."'
When he took up his large oak stick, he said, 'My lord, that's
_Homerick_[260];' thus pleasantly alluding to his lordship's
favourite writer.
Gory, my lord's black servant, was sent as our guide, to conduct us to
the high road. The circumstance of each of them having a black servant
was another point of similarity between Johnson and Monboddo. I
observed how curious it was to see an African in the North of Scotland,
with little or no difference of manners from those of the natives. Dr.
Johnson laughed to see Gory and Joseph riding together most cordially.
'Those two fellows, (said he,) one from Africa, the other from Bohemia,
seem quite at home.' He was much pleased with Lord Monboddo to-day. He
said, he would have pardoned him for a few paradoxes, when he found he
had so much that was good: but that, from his appearance in London, he
thought him all paradox; which would not do. He observed that his
lordship had talked no paradoxes to-day. 'And as to the savage and the
London shopkeeper, (said he,) I don't know but I might have taken the
side of the savage equally, had any body else taken the side of the
shopkeeper.[261]' He had said to my lord, in opposition to the value of
the savage's courage, that it was owing to his limited power of
thinking, and repeated Pope's verses, in which 'Macedonia's madman' is
introduced, and the conclusion is,
'Yet ne'er looks forward farther than his nose[262].'
I objected to the last phrase, as being low. JOHNSON. 'Sir, it is
intended to be low: it is satire. The expression is debased, to debase
the character.'
When Gory was about to part from us, Dr. Johnson called to him, 'Mr.
Gory, give me leave to ask you a question! are you baptised?' Gory told
him he was, and confirmed by the Bishop of Durham. He then gave him
a shilling.
We had tedious driving this afternoon, and were somewhat drowsy. Last
night I was afraid Dr. Johnson was beginning to faint in his resolution;
for he said, 'If we must ride much, we shall not go; and there's an end
on't.' To-day, when he talked of _Sky_ with spirit, I said, 'Why, Sir,
you seemed to me to despond yesterday. You are a delicate Londoner;--you
are a maccaroni[263]; you can't ride.' JOHNSON. 'Sir, I shall ride
better than you. I was only afraid I should not find a horse able to
carry me.' I hoped then there would be no fear of getting through our
wild Tour.
We came to Aberdeen at half an hour past eleven. The New Inn, we were
told, was full. This was comfortless. The waiter, however, asked, if one
of our names was Boswell, and brought me a letter left at the inn: it
was from Mr. Thrale, enclosing one to Dr. Johnson[264]. Finding who I
was, we were told they would contrive to lodge us by putting us for a
night into a room with two beds. The waiter said to me in the broad
strong Aberdeenshire dialect, 'I thought I knew you by your likeness to
your father.' My father puts up at the New Inn, when on his circuit.
Little was said to-night. I was to sleep in a little press-bed in Dr.
Johnson's room. I had it wheeled out into the dining-room, and there I
lay very well.