These lines were beneath a caricature called _The Motion_, described by
Horace Walpole in his letter of March 25, 1741, and said by Mr.
Cunningham to be 'the earliest good political caricature that we
possess.' Walpole's _Letters_, i. 66. Mr. Croker says that 'the exact
words are:--
bony? O he be de great orator Little-Tony.'
[776] See _ante_, ii. 213.
[777] In 1673 Burnet, who was then Professor of Theology in Glasgow,
dedicated to Lauderdale _A Vindication of the Authority, &c., of the
Church and State of Scotland_. In it he writes of the Duke's 'noble
character, and more lasting and inward characters of his princely mind.'
[778] See _ante_, i. 450.
[779] See _ante_, p. 250.
[780] 'Others have considered infinite space as the receptacle, or
rather the habitation of the Almighty; but the noblest and most exalted
way of considering this infinite space, is that of Sir Isaac Newton, who
calls it the _sensorium_ of the Godhead. Brutes and men have their
_sensoriola_, or little _sensoriums_, by which they apprehend the
presence, and perceive the actions, of a few objects that lie contiguous
to them. Their knowledge and observation turn within a very narrow
circle. But as God Almighty cannot but perceive and know everything in
which he resides, infinite space gives room to infinite knowledge, and
is, as it were, an organ to Omniscience.' Addison, _The Spectator_,
No. 565.
[781] 'Le célèbre philosophe Leibnitz ... attaqua ces expressions du
philosophe anglais, dans une lettre qu'il écrivit en 1715 à la feue
reine d'Angleterre, épouse de George II. Cette princesse, digne d'être
en commerce avec Leibnitz et Newton, engagea une dispute reglée par
lettres entre les deux parties. Mais Newton, ennemi de toute dispute et
avare de son temps, laissa le docteur Clarke, son disciple en physique,
et pour le moins son égal en métaphysique, entrer pour lui dans la lice.
La dispute roula sur presque toutes les idées métaphysiques de Newton,
et c'est peut-être le plus beau monument que nous ayons des combats
littéraires.' Voltaire's _Works_, ed. 1819, xxviii. 44.
[782] See _ante_, iii. 248.
[783] See _ante_, iv. 295, where Boswell asked Johnson 'if he would not
have done more good if he had been more gentle.' JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; I
have done more good as I am. Obscenity and impiety have always been
repressed in my company.'
[784] 'Mr. Maclean has the reputation of great learning: he is
seventy-seven years old, but not infirm, with a look of venerable
dignity, excelling what I remember in any other man. His conversation
was not unsuitable to his appearance. I lost some of his good will by
treating a heretical writer with more regard than in his opinion a
heretick could deserve. I honoured his orthodoxy, and did not much
censure his asperity. A man who has settled his opinions does not love
to have the tranquillity of his conviction disturbed; and at
seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 118.
[785] 'Mr. Maclean has no publick edifice for the exercise of his
ministry, and can officiate to no greater number than a room can
contain; and the room of a hut is not very large... The want of churches
is not the only impediment to piety; there is likewise a want of
ministers. A parish often contains more islands than one... All the
provision made by the present ecclesiastical constitution for the
inhabitants of about a hundred square miles is a prayer and sermon in a
little room once in three weeks.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 118.
[786]
'Our Polly is a sad slut, nor heeds
what we have taught her.
I wonder any man alive will
ever rear a daughter.
For she must have both hoods
and gowns, and hoops to
swell her pride,
With scarfs and stays, and
gloves and lace; and she
will have men beside;
And when she's drest with care
and cost, all-tempting, fine and gay,
As men should serve a cucumber,
she flings herself away.'
Air vii.
[787] See _ante_, p. 162.
[788] In 1715.
[789]
'When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,
The line too labours, and the words move slow.'
Pope, _Essay on Criticism_, l. 370.
[790] Johnson's remark on these stones is curious as shewing that he had
not even a glimpse of the discoveries to be made by geology. After
saying that 'no account can be given' of the position of one of the
stones, he continues:--'There are so many important things of which
human knowledge can give no account, that it may be forgiven us if we
speculate no longer on two stones in Col.' _Works_, ix. 122. See _ante_,
ii. 468, for his censure of Brydone's 'anti-mosaical remark.'
[791]
'Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella.'
'My Phillis me with pelted apples plies.'
DRYDEN. Virgil, _Eclogues_, iii. 64.
[792]
'The helpless traveller, with wild surprise,
Sees the dry desert all around him rise,
And smother'd in the dusty whirlwind dies.'
_Cato_ act ii. sc. 6.
[793] Johnson seems unwilling to believe this. 'I am not of opinion that
by any surveys or land-marks its [the sand's] limits have been ever
fixed, or its progression ascertained. If one man has confidence enough
to say that it advances, nobody can bring any proof to support him in
denying it.' _Works_, ix. 122. He had seen land in like manner laid
waste north of Aberdeen; where 'the owner, when he was required to pay
the usual tax, desired rather to resign the ground.' _Ib_. p. 15.
[794] _Box_, in this sense, is not in Johnson's _Dictionary_.
[795] See _ante_, ii. 100, and iv. 274.
[796] In the original, _Rich windows. A Long Story_, l. 7.
[797] 'And this according to the philosophers is happiness.' Boswell
says of Crabbe's poem _The Village_, that 'its sentiments as to the
false notions of rustick happiness and rustick virtue were quite
congenial with Johnson's own.' _Ante_, iv. 175.
[798] 'This innovation was considered by Mr. Macsweyn as the idle
project of a young head, heated with English fancies; but he has now
found that turnips will really grow, and that hungry sheep and cows will
really eat them.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 121. 'The young laird is heir,
perhaps, to 300 square miles of land, which, at ten shillings an acre,
would bring him £96,000 a year. He is desirous of improving the
agriculture of his country; and, in imitation of the Czar, travelled for
improvement, and worked with his own hands upon a farm in
Hertfordshire.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 168.
[799] 'In more fruitful countries the removal of one only makes room for
the succession of another; but in the Hebrides the loss of an inhabitant
leaves a lasting vacuity; for nobody born in any other parts of the
world will choose this country for his residence.' Johnson's
_Works_, ix. 93.
[800] 'In 1628 Daillé wrote his celebrated book, _De l'usage des Pères_,
or _Of the Use of the Fathers_. Dr. Fleetwood, Bishop of Ely, said of it
that he thought the author had pretty sufficiently proved they were of
_no use_ at all.' Chalmers's _Biog. Dict_. xi. 209.
[801] _Enquiry after Happiness_, by Richard Lucas, D.D., 1685.
[802] _Divine Dialogues_, by Henry More, D.D. See _ante_, ii. 162, note
I.
[803] By David Gregory, the second of the sixteen professors which the
family of Gregory gave to the Universities. _Ante_, p. 48.
[804] 'Johnson's landlord and next neighbour in Bolt-court.' _Ante_,
iii. 141.
[805] 'Cuper's Gardens, near the south bank of the Thames, opposite to
Somerset House. The gardens were illuminated, and the company
entertained by a band of music and fireworks; but this, with other
places of the same kind, has been lately discontinued by an act that has
reduced the number of these seats of luxury and dissipation.' Dodsley's
_London and its Environs_, ed. 1761, ii. 209. The Act was the 25th
George II, for 'preventing robberies and regulating places of public
entertainment.' _Parl. Hist_. xiv. 1234.
[806] 'Mr. Johnson,' according to Mr. Langton, 'used to laugh at a
passage in Carte's _Life of the Duke of Ormond,_ where he gravely
observes "that he was always in full dress when he went to court; too
many being in the practice of going thither with double lapells."'
_Boswelliana_, p. 274. The following is the passage:--'No severity of
weather or condition of health served him for a reason of not observing
that decorum of dress which he thought a point of respect to persons and
places. In winter time people were allowed to come to court with
double-breasted coats, a sort of undress. The duke would never take
advantage of that indulgence; but let it be never so cold, he always
came in his proper habit, and indeed the king himself always did the
same, though too many neglected his example to make use of the liberty
he was pleased to allow.' Carte's _Life of Ormond_, iv. 693. See _ante_,
i. 42. It was originally published in _three_ volumes folio in 1735-6.
[807] Seneca's two epigrams on Corsica are quoted in Boswell's
_Corsica_, first edition, p. 13. Boswell, in one of his _Hypochondriacks
(London Mag._ 1778, p. 173), says:--'For Seneca I have a double
reverence, both for his own worth, and because he was the heathen sage
whom my grandfather constantly studied.'
[808] 'Very near the house of Maclean stands the castle of Col, which
was the mansion of the Laird till the house was built.... On the wall
was, not long ago, a stone with an inscription, importing, that if any
man of the clan of Maclonich shall appear before this castle, though he
come at midnight, with a man's head in his hand, he shall there find
safety and protection against all but the king. This is an old Highland
treaty made upon a very memorable occasion. Maclean, the son of John
Gerves, who recovered Col, and conquered Barra, had obtained, it is
said, from James the Second, a grant of the lands of Lochiel, forfeited,
I suppose, by some offence against the state. Forfeited estates were not
in those days quietly resigned; Maclean, therefore, went with an armed
force to seize his new possessions, and, I know not for what reason,
took his wife with him. The Camerons rose in defence of their chief, and
a battle was fought at Loch Ness, near the place where Fort Augustus now
stands, in which Lochiel obtained the victory, and Maclean, with his
followers, was defeated and destroyed. The lady fell into the hands of
the conquerors, and, being found pregnant, was placed in the custody of
Maclonich, one of a tribe or family branched from Cameron, with orders,
if she brought a boy, to destroy him, if a girl, to spare her.
Maclonich's wife, who was with child likewise, had a girl about the same
time at which Lady Maclean brought a boy; and Maclonich, with more
generosity to his captive than fidelity to his trust, contrived that the
children should be changed. Maclean, being thus preserved from death, in
time recovered his original patrimony; and, in gratitude to his friend,
made his castle a place of refuge to any of the clan that should think
himself in danger; and, as a proof of reciprocal confidence, Maclean
took upon himself and his posterity the care of educating the heir of
Maclonich.' Johnson's _Works,_ ix. 130.
[809] 'Mr. Croker tells us that the great Marquis of Montrose was
beheaded at Edinburgh in 1650. There is not a forward boy at any school
in England who does not know that the Marquis was hanged.' Macaulay's
_Essays_, ed. 1843, i. 357
[810] It is observable that men of the first rank spelt very ill in the
last century. In the first of these letters I have preserved the
original spelling. BOSWELL.
[811] See _ante,_ i., 127.
[812] Muir-fowl is grouse. _Ante_ p. 44.
[813] See ante, p. 162, note 1.
[814] 'In Col only two houses pay the window tax; for only two have six
windows, which, I suppose, are the laird's and Mr. Macsweyn's.'
Johnson's _Works_, ix. 125. 'The window tax, as it stands at present
(January 1775)...lays a duty upon every window, which in England
augments gradually from twopence, the lowest rate upon houses with not
more than seven windows, to two shillings, the highest rate upon houses
with twenty-five windows and upwards.' _Wealth of Nations,_ v. 2. 2 .1.
The tax was first imposed in 1695, as a substitute for hearth money.
Macaulay's _England,_ ed. 1874, vii. 271. It was abolished in 1851.
[815] Thomas Carlyle was not fourteen when, one 'dark frosty November
morning,' he set off on foot for the University at Edinburgh--a distance
of nearly one hundred miles. Froude's _Carlyle_, i. 22.
[816] _Ante_, p. 290.
[817] _Of the Nature and Use of Lots: a Treatise historicall and
theologicall._ By Thomas Gataker. London, 1619. _The Spirituall Watch,
or Christ's Generall Watch-word._ By Thomas Gataker. London, 1619.
[818] See _ante_, p. 264.
[819] He visited it with the Thrales on Sept. 22, 1774, when returning
from his tour to Wales, and with Boswell in 1776 (_ante_, ii. 451).
[820] Mr. Croker says that 'this, no doubt, alludes to Jacob Bryant, the
secretary or librarian at Blenheim, with whom Johnson had had perhaps
some coolness now forgotten.' The supposition of the coolness seems
needless. With so little to go upon, guessing is very hazardous.
[821] Topham Beauclerk, who had married the Duke's sister, after she had
been divorced for adultery with him from her first husband Viscount
Bolingbroke. _Ante_, ii. 246, note 1.
[822] See _post_, Dempster's Letter of Feb. 16, 1775.
[823] See _ante_, ii. 340, where Johnson said that 'if he were a
gentleman of landed property, he would turn out all his tenants who did
not vote for the candidate whom he supported.'
[824] See _ante_, iii. 378.
[825] 'They have opinions which cannot be ranked with superstition,
because they regard only natural effects. They expect better crops of
grain by sowing their seed in the moon's increase. The moon has great
influence in vulgar philosophy. In my memory it was a precept annually
given in one of the English almanacks, "to kill hogs when the moon was
increasing, and the bacon would prove the better in boiling."' Johnson's
_Works,_ ix. 104. Bacon, in his _Natural History_(No.892) says:--'For
the increase of moisture, the opinion received is, that seeds will grow
soonest if they be set in the increase of the moon.'
[826] The question which Johnson asked with such unusual warmth might
have been answered, 'by sowing the bent, or couch grass.' WALTER SCOTT.
[827] See _ante,_ i. 484.
[828] See _ante_, i. 483.
[829] It is remarkable, that Dr. Johnson should have read this account
of some of his own peculiar habits, without saying any thing on the
subject, which I hoped he would have done. BOSWELL. See _ante_, p. 128,
note 2, and iv. 183, where Boswell 'observed he must have been a bold
laugher who would have ventured to tell Dr. Johnson of any of his
peculiarities.'
[830] In this he was very unlike Swift, who, in his youth, when
travelling in England, 'generally chose to dine with waggoners,
hostlers, and persons of that rank; and he used to lie at night in
houses where he found written of the door _Lodgings for a penny_. He
delighted in scenes of low life.' Lord Orrery's _Swift_, ed. 1752,
p. 33.
[831] This is from the _Jests of Hierocles._ CROKER.
[832] 'The grave a gay companion shun.' FRANCIS. Horace, 1 _Epis._
xviii. 89.
[833] Boswell in 1776 found that 'oats were much used as food in Dr.
Johnson's own town.' _Ante_, ii. 463.
[834] _Ante_, i. 294.
[835] See _ante_, ii. 258.
[836] 'The richness of the round steep green knolls, clothed with copse,
and glancing with cascades, and a pleasant peep at a small fresh-water
loch embosomed among them--the view of the bay, surrounded and guarded
by the island of Colvay--the gliding of two or three vessels in the more
distant Sound--and the row of the gigantic Ardnamurchan mountains
closing the scene to the north, almost justify the eulogium of
Sacheverell, [_post,_ p. 336] who, in 1688, declared the bay of
Tobermory might equal any prospect in Italy.' Lockhart's _Scott,_
iv. 338.
[837] 'The saying of the old philosopher who observes, that he who wants
least is most like the gods who want nothing, was a favourite sentence
with Dr. Johnson, who, on his own part, required less attendance, sick
or well, than ever I saw any human creature. Conversation was all he
required to make him happy.' Piozzi's _Anec._ p. 275.
[838] _Remarks on Several Parts of Italy_ (_ante_, ii. 346). Johnson
(_Works_, vii. 424) says of these _Travels_:--'Of many parts it is not a
very severe censure to say that they might have been written at home.'
He adds that 'the book, though awhile neglected, became in time so much
the favourite of the publick, that before it was reprinted it rose to
five times its price.'
[839] See _ante_, iii. 254, and iv. 237.
[840] Johnson (_Works_, viii. 320) says of Pope that 'he had before him
not only what his own meditation suggested, but what he had found in
other writers that might be _accomodated_ to his present purpose.'
Boswell's use of the word is perhaps derived, as Mr. Croker suggests,
from _accommoder_, in the sense of _dressing up or cooking meats_. This
word occurs in an amusing story that Boswell tells in one of his
Hypochondriacks (_London Mag_. 1779, p. 55):--'A friend of mine told me
that he engaged a French cook for Sir B. Keen, when ambassador in Spain,
and when he asked the fellow if he had ever dressed any magnificent
dinners the answer was:--"Monsieur, j'ai accommodé un dîner qui faisait
trembler toute la France."' Scott, in _Guy Mannering_ (ed. 1860, iii.
138), describes 'Miss Bertram's solicitude to soothe and _accommodate_
her parent.' See _ante_, iv. 39, note 1, for '_accommodated_ the
ladies.' To sum up, we may say with Justice Shallow:--'Accommodated! it
comes of _accommodo_; very good; a good phrase.' 2 _Henry IV_, act
iii. sc. 2.
[841] 'Louis Moréri, né en Provence, en 1643. On ne s'attendait pas que
l'auteur du _Pays d'amour_, et le traducteur de _Rodriguez_, entreprît
dans sa jeunesse le premier dictionnaire de faits qu'on eût encore vu.
Ce grand travail lui coûta la vie... Mort en 1680.' Voltaire's _Works_,
ed. 1819, xvii. 133.
[842] Johnson looked upon _Ana_ as an English word, for he gives it in
his _Dictionary_.
[843] I take leave to enter my strongest protest against this judgement.
_Bossuet_ I hold to be one of the first luminaries of religion and
literature. If there are who do not read him, it is full time they
should begin. BOSWELL.
[844]
Just in the gate, and in the jaws of hell,
Revengeful cares, and sullen sorrows dwell;
And pale diseases, and repining age;
Want, fear, and famine's unresisted rage;
Here toils and death, and death's half-brother, sleep,
Forms terrible to view their sentry keep.
Dryden, _Aeneid_, vi. 273. BOSWELL. Voltaire, in his Essay _Sur les
inconvéniens attachés à la Littérature_ (_Works_, xliii. 173),
says:--'Enfin, après un an de refus et de négociations, votre ouvrage
s'imprime; c'est alors qu'il faut ou assoupir les _Cerbères_ de la
littérature ou les faire aboyer en votre faveur.' He therefore carries
on the resemblance one step further,--
'Cerberus haec ingens latratu regna trifauci Personat.' _Aeneid_, vi.
417.
[845] It was in 1763 that Boswell made Johnson's acquaintance. _Ante_,
i. 391.
[846] It is no small satisfaction to me to reflect, that Dr. Johnson
read this, and, after being apprized of my intention, communicated to
me, at subsequent periods, many particulars of his life, which probably
could not otherwise have been preserved. BOSWELL. See _ante_, i. 26.
[847] Though Mull is, as Johnson says, the third island of the Hebrides
in extent, there was no post there. _Piozzi Letters_, i. 170.
[848] This observation is very just. The time for the Hebrides was too
late by a month or six weeks. I have heard those who remembered their
tour express surprise they were not drowned. WALTER SCOTT.
[849] _ The Charmer, a Collection of Songs Scotch and English._
Edinburgh, 1749.
[850] By Thomas Willis, M.D. It was published in 1672. 'In this work he
maintains that the soul of brutes is like the vital principle in man,
that it is corporeal in its nature and perishes with the body. Although
the book was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury, his orthodoxy, a
matter that Willis regarded much, was called in question.' Knight's
_Eng. Cyclo_. vi. 741. Burnet speaks of him as 'Willis, the great
physician.' _History of his Own Time_, ed. 1818, i. 254. See _Wood's
Athenae_, iii. 1048.
[851] See _ante_, ii. 409 and iii. 242, where he said:--'Had I learnt to
fiddle, I should have done nothing else.'
[852] _Ante_, p. 277.
[853] _Ante_, p. 181.
[854] Mr. Langton thinks this must have been the hasty expression of a
splenetick moment, as he has heard Dr. Johnson speak of Mr. Spence's
judgment in criticism with so high a degree of respect, as to shew that
this was not his settled opinion of him. Let me add that, in the preface
to the _Preceptor_, he recommends Spence's _Essay on Papers Odyssey_,
and that his admirable _Lives of the English Poets_ are much enriched by
Spence's Anecdotes of Pope. BOSWELL. For the _Preceptor_ see _ante_, i.
192, and Johnson's _Works_, v. 240. Johnson, in his _Life of Pope (ib_.
viii. 274), speaks of Spence as 'a man whose learning was not very
great, and whose mind was not very powerful. His criticism, however, was
commonly just; what he thought he thought rightly; and his remarks were
recommended by his coolness and candour.' See _ante_, iv. 9, 63.
[855] 'She was the only interpreter of Erse poetry that I could ever
find.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 134. See _ante_, p. 241.
[856] 'After a journey difficult and tedious, over rocks naked and
valleys untracked, through a country of barrenness and solitude, we
came, almost in the dark, to the sea-side, weary and dejected, having
met with nothing but waters falling from the mountains that could raise
any image of delight.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 170. 'It is natural, in
traversing this gloom of desolation, to inquire, whether something may
not be done to give nature a more cheerful face.' Johnson's _Works_,
ix. 136.
[857] _Ante_, p. 19.
[858] See _ante_, i. 521.
[859] See _ante_, p. 212.
[860] Sir William Blackstone says, in his _Commentaries_, that 'he
cannot find that ever this custom prevailed in England;' and therefore
he is of opinion that it could not have given rise to _Borough-English_.
BOSWELL. 'I cannot learn that ever this custom prevailed in England,
though it certainly did in Scotland (under the name of _mercketa_ or
_marcheta_), till abolished by Malcolm III.' _Commentaries_, ed. 1778,
ii. 83. Sir H. Maine, in his _Early History of Institutions_, p. 222,
writes:--'Other authors, as Blackstone tells us, explained it ["Borough
English"] by a supposed right of the Seigneur or lord, now very
generally regarded as apocryphal, which raised a presumption of the
eldest son's illegitimacy.'
[861] 'Macquarry was used to demand a sheep, for which he now takes a
crown, by that inattention to the uncertain proportion between the value
and the denomination of money, which has brought much disorder into
Europe. A sheep has always the same power of supplying human wants, but
a crown will bring, at one time more, at another less'. Johnson's
_Works_, ix. 139.
[862] 'The house and the furniture are not always nicely suited. We were
driven once, by missing a passage, to the hut of a gentleman, where,
after a very liberal supper, when I was conducted to my chamber, I found
an elegant bed of Indian cotton, spread with fine sheets. The
accommodation was flattering; I undressed myself, and felt my feet in
the mire. The bed stood upon the bare earth, which a long course of rain
had softened to a puddle.' _Works_, ix. 98.
[863] Inchkenneth is a most beautiful little islet, of the most verdant
green, while all the neighbouring shore of Greban, as well as the large
islands of Colinsay and Ulva, are as black as heath and moss can make
them. But Ulva has a good anchorage, and Inchkenneth is surrounded by
shoals. It is now uninhabited. The ruins of the huts, in which Dr.
Johnson was received by Sir Allan M'Lean, were still to be seen, and
some tatters of the paper hangings were to be seen on the walls. Sir G.
O. Paul was at Inchkenneth with the same party of which I was a member.
[See Lockhart's _Scott_, ed. 1839, iii. 285.] He seemed to suspect many
of the Highland tales which he heard, but he showed most incredulity on
the subject of Johnson's having been entertained in the wretched huts of
which we saw the ruins. He took me aside, and conjured me to tell him
the truth of the matter. 'This Sir Allan,' said he, 'was he a _regular
baronet_, or was his title such a traditional one as you find in
Ireland?' I assured my excellent acquaintance that, 'for my own part, I
would have paid more respect to a knight of Kerry, or knight of Glynn;
yet Sir Allan M'Lean was a _regular baronet_ by patent;' and, having
giving him this information, I took the liberty of asking him, in
return, whether he would not in conscience prefer the worst cell in the
jail at Gloucester (which he had been very active in overlooking while
the building was going on) to those exposed hovels where Johnson had
been entertained by rank and beauty. He looked round the little islet,
and allowed Sir Allan had some advantage in exercising ground; but in
other respects he thought the compulsory tenants of Gloucester had
greatly the advantage. Such was his opinion of a place, concerning which
Johnson has recorded that 'it wanted little which palaces could afford.'
WALTER SCOTT.
[864] 'Sir Allan's affairs are in disorder by the fault of his
ancestors, and while he forms some scheme for retrieving them he has
retreated hither.' _Piozzi Letters_ i. 172.
[865] By Francis Gastrell, Bishop of Chester, published in 1707.
[866] _Travels through different cities of Germany, &c.,_, by Alexander
Drummond. Horace Walpole, on April 24, 1754 (_Letters_, ii. 381),
mentions 'a very foolish vulgar book of travels, lately published by one
Drummond, consul at Aleppo.'
[867] _ Physico-Theology; or a Demonstration of the Being and Attributes
of God from his Works of Creation._ By William Derham, D.D., 1713.
Voltaire, in _Micromégas,_ ch. I, speaking of 'l'illustre vicaire
Derham' says:--'Malheureusement, lui et ses imitateurs se trompent
souvent dans l'exposition de ces merveilles; ils s'extasient sur la
sagesse qui se montre dans l'ordre d'un phénomène et on découvre que ce
phénomène est tout différent de ce qu'ils ont supposé; alors c'est ce
nouvel ordre qui leur paraît un chef d'oeuvre de sagesse.'
[868] This work was published in 1774. Johnson said on March 20, 1776
(_ante_, ii. 447), 'that he believed Campbell's disappointment on
account of the bad success of that work had killed him.'
[869] Johnson said of Campbell:--'I am afraid he has not been in the
inside of a church for many years; but he never passes a church without
pulling off his hat. This shows that he has good principles.' _Ante_,
i. 418.
[870] _New horse-shoeing Husbandry_, by Jethro Tull, 1733.
[871] 'He owned he sometimes talked for victory.' _Ante_, iv. 111, and
v. 17.
[872] 'They said that a great family had a _bard_ and a _senachi_, who
were the poet and historian of the house; and an old gentleman told me
that he remembered one of each. Here was a dawn of intelligence....
Another conversation informed me that the same man was both bard and
senachi. This variation discouraged me.... Soon after I was told by a
gentleman, who is generally acknowledged the greatest master of
Hebridian antiquities, that there had, indeed, once been both bards and
senachies; and that _senachi_ signified _the man of talk_, or of
conversation; but that neither bard nor senachi had existed for some
centuries.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 109.
[873] See _ante_, iii. 41, 327
[874] 'Towards evening Sir Allan told us that Sunday never passed over
him like another day. One of the ladies read, and read very well, the
evening service;--"and Paradise was opened in the wild."' _Piozzi
Letters_, i. 173. The quotation is from Pope's _Eloisa to Abelard_,
l. 134:--
'You raised these hallowed walls; the desert smil'd,
And Paradise was open'd in the wild.'
[875] He sent these verses to Boswell in 1775. _Ante_ ii. 293.
[876] Boswell wrote to Johnson on Feb. 2, 1775, (_ante_, ii. 295):--'Lord
Hailes bids me tell you he doubts whether--
"Legitimas faciunt pectora pura preces,"
be according to the rubrick, but that is your concern; for you know, he
is a Presbyterian.'
[877] In Johnson's _Works_, i. 167, these lines are given with
amendments and additions, mostly made by Johnson, but some, Mr. Croker
believes, by Mr. Langton. In the following copy the variations are
marked in italics.
INSULA KENNETHI, INTER HEBRIDAS.
Parva quidem regio sed religione priorum
_Clara_ Caledonias panditur inter aquas.
Voce ubi Cennethus populos domuisse feroces
Dicitur, et vanos dedocuisse deos.
Huc ego delatus placido per caerula cursu,
Scire _locus_ volui quid daret _iste_ novi.
Illic Leniades humili regnabat in aula,
Leniades, magnis nobilitatus avis.
Una duas _cepit_ casa cum genitore puellas,
Quas Amor undarum _crederet_ esse deas.
_Nec_ tamen inculti gelidis latuere sub antris,
Accola Danubii qualia saevus habet.
Mollia non _desunt_ vacuae solatia vitae
Sive libros poscant otia, sive lyram.
_Fulserat_ illa dies, legis _qua_ docta supernae
Spes hominum _et_ curas _gens_ procul esse jubet.
_Ut precibus justas avertat numinis iras,
Et summi accendat pectus amore boni._
Ponti inter strepitus _non sacri_ munera cultus
Cessarunt, pietas hic quoque cura fuit.
_Nil opus est oeris sacra de turre sonantis
Admonitu, ipsa suas nunciat hora vices._
Quid, quod sacrifici versavit foemina libros?
_Sint pro legitimis pura labella sacris._
Quo vagor ulterius? quod ubique requiritur hic est,
Hic secura quies, hic et honestus amor.
Mr. Croker says of the third line from the end, that in a copy of these
verses in Johnson's own hand which he had seen, 'Johnson had
first written
_Sunt pro legitimis pectora pura sacris._