This morning the subject of politicks was introduced. JOHNSON. 'Pulteney
was as paltry a fellow as could be[907]. He was a Whig, who pretended to
be honest; and you know it is ridiculous for a Whig to pretend to be
honest. He cannot hold it out[908].' He called Mr. Pitt a meteor; Sir
Robert Walpole a fixed star[909]. He said, 'It is wonderful to think
that all the force of government was required to prevent Wilkes from
being chosen the chief magistrate of London[910], though the liverymen
knew he would rob their shops,--knew he would debauch their
daughters[911].'
BOSWELL. 'The History of England is so strange, that, if it were not so
well vouched as it is, it would hardly be credible.'
JOHNSON. 'Sir, if it were told as shortly, and with as little
preparation for introducing the different events, as the History of the
Jewish Kings, it would be equally liable to objections of
improbability.' Mr. M'Leod was much pleased with the justice and novelty
of the thought. Dr. Johnson illustrated what he had said, as follows:
'Take, as an instance, Charles the First's concessions to his
parliament, which were greater and greater, in proportion as the
parliament grew more insolent, and less deserving of trust. Had these
concessions been related nakedly, without any detail of the
circumstances which generally led to them, they would not have been
believed.'
Sir Allan M'Lean bragged, that Scotland had the advantage of England, by
its having more water. JOHNSON. 'Sir, we would not have your water, to
take the vile bogs which produce it. You have too much! A man who is
drowned has more water than either of us;'--and then he laughed. (But
this was surely robust sophistry: for the people of taste in England,
who have seen Scotland, own that its variety of rivers and lakes makes
it naturally more beautiful than England, in that respect.) Pursuing his
victory over Sir Allan, he proceeded: 'Your country consists of two
things, stone and water. There is, indeed, a little earth above the
stone in some places, but a very little; and the stone is always
appearing. It is like a man in rags; the naked skin is still
peeping out.'
He took leave of Mr. M'Leod, saying, 'Sir, I thank you for your
entertainment, and your conversation.'
Mr. Campbell, who had been so polite yesterday, came this morning on
purpose to breakfast with us, and very obligingly furnished us with
horses to proceed on our journey to Mr. M'Lean's of _Lochbuy_, where we
were to pass the night. We dined at the house of Dr. Alexander M'Lean,
another physician in Mull, who was so much struck with the uncommon
conversation of Dr. Johnson, that he observed to me, 'This man is just a
_hogshead_ of sense.'
Dr. Johnson said of the _Turkish Spy_[912], which lay in the room, that
it told nothing but what every body might have known at that time; and
that what was good in it, did not pay you for the trouble of reading
to find it.
After a very tedious ride, through what appeared to me the most gloomy
and desolate country I had ever beheld[913], we arrived, between seven
and eight o'clock, at May, the seat of the Laird of _Lochbuy_. _Buy_, in
Erse, signifies yellow, and I at first imagined that the loch or branch
of the sea here, was thus denominated, in the same manner as the _Red
Sea_; but I afterwards learned that it derived its name from a hill
above it, which being of a yellowish hue has the epithet of _Buy_.
We had heard much of Lochbuy's being a great roaring braggadocio, a kind
of Sir John Falstaff, both in size and manners; but we found that they
had swelled him up to a fictitious size, and clothed him with imaginary
qualities. Col's idea of him was equally extravagant, though very
different: he told us he was quite a Don Quixote; and said, he would
give a great deal to sec him and Dr. Johnson together. The truth is,
that Lochbuy proved to be only a bluff, comely, noisy old gentleman,
proud of his hereditary consequence, and a very hearty and hospitable
landlord. Lady Lochbuy was sister to Sir Allan M'Lean, but much older.
He said to me, 'They are quite _Antediluvians_.' Being told that Dr.
Johnson did not hear well, Lochbuy bawled out to him, 'Are you of the
Johnstons of Glencro, or of Ardnamurchan[914]?' Dr. Johnson gave him a
significant look, but made no answer; and I told Lochbuy that he was not
Johns_ton_, but John_son_, and that he was an Englishman[915]. Lochbuy
some years ago tried to prove himself a weak man, liable to imposition,
or, as we term it in Scotland, a _facile_ man, in order to set aside a
lease which he had granted; but failed in the attempt. On my mentioning
this circumstance to Dr. Johnson, he seemed much surprized that such a
suit was admitted by the Scottish law, and observed, that 'In England no
man is allowed to _stultify_ himself[916].'
Sir Allan, Lochbuy, and I, had the conversation chiefly to ourselves
to-night: Dr. Johnson, being extremely weary, went to bed soon
after supper.