man, Jacobie Corbet,[329] a merchant, and a noted man for humour,
accosted him one day in the familiar style of ‘How are you, Hugh?’
‘Hugh, sir?’ said he, ‘is that a proper way of talking to the Lord
Provost of Glasgow?—Officer, take this fellow to prison directly.’ It
was accordingly done. Some time after commissions for justices of the
peace came down, and amongst the rest was one for —— Montgomerie, of
Skermorly. ‘Ay,’ said he, ‘this is pretty odd. I should think the Queen
might have been better acquainted with my name.’ ‘Indeed,’ replied
Corbet, ‘I dare say she remembered your name, but she knew that if she
called you Hugh she would have got the Tolbooth.’”
LORD AUCHINLECK.
* * * * *
“When Campbell,[330] of Shawfield, returned with all his riches to
Glasgow, everybody flocked about him to pay their respects except
Corbet, with whom he had served his apprenticeship, who never troubled
his head or went near him. Shawfield, concerned at this, and willing
to ingratiate himself with everybody, came up to him as he was walking
before his shop. ‘Oh, my good old friend, Jacobie Corbet, I rejoice to
see you. I protest I know no odds upon you these twenty years.’ ‘Say
you so, Daniel?’ cried he, ‘but I know a very great odds upon you; you
came here at first wanting bretches, and now you are riding a coach and
six.’”
LORD AUCHINLECK.
* * * * *
“Colonel Irwin[331] was dancing down a country dance at Bath, when
somebody said, ‘I hope Mrs. Irwin is well.’ The colonel, dancing on,
bowed and smiled and replied, ‘Dead a fortnight,—dead a fortnight.’”
LORD KELLY.
* * * * *
“Sanderson, the Quaker, and Lady Galloway, had a violent dispute about
religion. ‘Well, well, Catherine,’[332] said he, ‘you have but an Act
of Parliament for your religion; I have the same for mine.’”
LORD GALLOWAY.
* * * * *
“Lady Garlies[333] was making a cap to herself one evening. Says old
Galloway, with much slyness, ‘If you were a milliner, madam, you would
have plenty of business.’ ‘Yes,’ said Garlies, one way or t’other.’”
I was present.
* * * * *
“A young extravagant dog had contrived to swell his bills prodigiously,
and among other articles he had this:—‘To an entertainment to my
friends the night before I left Oxford, £40.’ ‘My dear Tom,’ said his
father, ‘I rejoice to find you so fortunate a man, for by what I can
see you have a greater number of friends than any man in England.’”
MR. ALLAN WHITEFOORD.[334]
* * * * *
“A company of strolling players were rehearsing ‘Macbeth,’ and singing
the chorus of ‘We fly by night.’ ‘Oh,’ cried the landlord, who
overheard them, ‘I’ll take care of that;’ and immediately called a
constable to lay hold of them.”
MR. LOVE.
* * * * *
“As Lord Mark Ker was going one night to pay a visit, one of his
chairmen jostled a gentleman upon the street, who immediately knocked
him down. Lord Mark came out of his chair, and as the fellow recovered
himself, he desired the gentleman to chastise him for his insolence,
which he declined. ‘Why, then, sir,’ said Lord Mark, ‘you will excuse
me for taking notice of you for knocking down my chairman,’ and caned
him most heartily.”
LORD GALLOWAY.
* * * * *
“Sir William Maxwell of Springkell[335] said that Lord Fife[336] and
Miss Willy[337] Maxwell resembled one another, for they had both bought
their titles dear enough.”
I was present.
* * * * *
“Whenever a young man was recommended to old Lord Stormont[338] for
one of his kirks, he used allways to ask, ‘Is he good-natured in his
drink?’ and if that was the case he said he should be his man.”
SIR JOHN DOUGLAS.
* * * * *
“Lady Elibank[339] was regretting that old families should sink.
Sir William Baird of Newbyth,[340] an ugly-looking dog, was there,
who laughed and said, ‘What is all that stuff about old families?
All nonsense! I should be glad to know who is the representative of
Nebuchadnezzar’s family?’ This Lord Elibank, then a boy, replied, ‘You,
sir, and he got you when he was eating grass with the beasts of the
field.’”
SIR WILLIAM MAXWELL.
* * * * *
“At a hunters’ meeting at Dumfries, Mr. Riddle[341] of Glenriddle came
up to the Duke of Hamilton,[342] with his hand in his coat pocket.
‘Will your Grace crack any walnuts?’ The duke, who had lost his teeth,
took it as an affront, and was very sulky.”
SIR WILLIAM MAXWELL.
“When this story was told, somebody said, ‘That’s nuts for B[oswell].’”
* * * * *
“When Sir Peter Frazer of Dores[343] brought home his lady to the
Highlands, he said to his English coachman, ‘All these hills are mine,
John.’ ‘Indeed, sir,’ said he, ‘they’re all not worth a groat. I would
not take off my hat and thank God Almighty for all this part of the
creation.’ Just as he spoke the coach overturned.”
SIR WILLIAM MAXWELL.
* * * * *
“When Lord Hyndford[344] was ambassador at the court of Berlin, the
King of Prussia said to him one morning at the levee, ‘Do you know, my
lord, that two of my soldiers have this morning died of the English
distemper? they have hanged themselves.’ ‘True, sire,’ replied Lord
Hyndford; ‘but it was for a very different reason. Suicide amongst
our people is occasioned by an over-fulness; but I am told that these
fellows hanged themselves because they were dying of hunger.’”
LORD AUCHINLECK.
* * * * *
“Lord Dunmore[345] was telling Lord Cassillis[346] that his little
child was beginning to speak, and could allready say Dun. ‘Well, my
lord,’ said he, ‘it will say _more_ by and by.’”
From himself.
* * * * *
“Colonel Murray was imposing on some ignorant young fellow at play.
Lord Mark Ker said nobody but a scoundrel and a villain would do so.
Murray came to Lord Mark, and asked him if he had said so. ‘Sir,’ said
he, ‘to the best of my remembrance these were my words. I am not sure
but I likewise added rascal.’”
SIR W. MAXWELL.
* * * * *
“A fellow was swearing most terribly in a coffee-house. Colonel
Forrester came up to him. ‘Pray sir, what entitles you to swear and
blaspheme at this rate?’ ‘Eh, colonel,’ said he, ‘What! are you
reproving me for it? I’m sure you used to swear as much as any man.’
‘Yes sir,’ said he, ‘when it was the fashion. But now it is only
practised by porters and chairmen. I left it off as below a gentleman.’”
MR. GOLDIE, of Hoddam.
* * * * *
“Cosmo Alexander[347] the painter, upon a slight acquaintance with
a Roman Catholic lady, took her out to dance in the Edinburgh
assembly, and as he was figuring away in black velvet with various
gesticulations, ‘Lord Elibank,’ asked Sir William Maxwell, ‘who’s that
who dances?’ Being told Mr. Alexander the painter, ‘Upon my word,’ said
his lordship, ‘a very picturesque minuet.’”
SIR WILLIAM MAXWELL.
* * * * *
“The Duke of Newcastle[348] had a very mixed character, was not
deficient in parts, but was remarkable for being inattentive, confused,
and hurried. Lord Chesterfield said he was like a man who had lost half
an hour in the morning and was running about all the day, in order to
find it again.”
LORD KAMES.
* * * * *
“Lady——, a woman of low birth, whose father and uncle had both been
strung at Tyburn, asked George Selwyn[349] to come and see an elegant
room which she was fitting up at her house in Pall Mall. George,
observing some vacant places for pictures, inquired what she was to
put there. She said she intended to hang some family pictures there.
‘O, madam’ replied he, ‘I thought all your ladyship’s family had been
hanged already.’”
CAPTAIN ERSKINE.
* * * * *
“The Laird of Macfarlane[350] was maintaining one day that the
highlands was much better country than Fife, and that Kelly Law would
make no figure among the hills in his country. ‘I grant you,’ said
Captain Erskine, ‘it would make but a contemptible figure as a hill,
but it would make an admirable plain.’”
From CAPTAIN ERSKINE.
* * * * *
“An Irish servant told his master that his best horse had fallen over a
precipice. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘there is no help for it; let us at least
save something; go directly and skin him, and come quickly back.’ The
fellow, being very long of returning, was asked what he had been about.
‘An’t please your honour,’ said he, ‘the horse run so fast, that it was
three hours before I could overtake him to get the skin off.’”
LADY BETTY MACFARLANE.[351]
* * * * *
“The same gentleman sent his servant one dark night with a friend to
conduct him through a bad step in the road. His friend fell into the
very middle of the mire. The servant being asked upon his return if he
had shown the gentleman the hole, ‘Indeed sir,’ said he, ‘he did not
need to be shown it, for he found it himself.’”
LADY BETTY MACFARLANE.
* * * * *
“A countryman was carrying a hare over his shoulder in the streets. A
waggish young fellow accosted him thus:—‘Pray sir, is that your own
hare, or a wig?’”
CAPTAIN ERSKINE.
* * * * *
“When Mr. Love was engaged for Drury Lane, he went to Covent Garden
and saw Shuter[352] play Falstaff the night before he appeared in that
character himself. After the play was over, Mr. Shuter said, ‘He has
satisfied me very much—because he satisfied nobody else.’”
From himself.
* * * * *
“The Duke de Nivernois[353] is a man of fine parts and address, but a
very diminutive figure. When he made his appearance in London in the
year 1762, Charles Townshend said, ‘It is impossible this can be an
ambassador, for he has not even the preliminaries of a man.’”
LORD KELLY.
* * * * *
“Eating supper is nothing. ’Tis drinking supper hurts a man.”
29th May, 1783.
* * * * *
“Mr. Burke said at Chelsea College dinner, a poor French cook was
persecuted by the mob at Edinburgh as a Papist. Said young Burke, ‘They
had taken him for a _frier_!’”
* * * * *
“At Chelsea College dinner, 29th May, 1783, Sir George Howard,[354] the
Governor, drank to the memory of Charles the Second, the founder; and
then to the glorious and immortal memory of William the Third, its last
royal benefactor. Mr. Burke, who used to joke with Mr. Boswell as a
friend to the House of Stewart, observed that no notice had been taken
of James the Second, whose name is still inscribed upon the college as
a benefactor. Mr. Boswell then said, merely from the connection of the
word _medio_ with that prince as the _middle_ king who had promoted
that institution, ‘Sir George, you are unmindful of _medio tutissimus
ibis_.’ Sir George answered, very justly, ‘That is a maxim I think he
did not understand.’”
* * * * *
“My friends are to me like the cinnamon tree, which produces nutmeg,
mace, and cinnamon; not only do I get wisdom and worth out of them,
but amusement. I use them as the Chinese do their animals; nothing is
lost; there a very good dish is made of the poorest parts. So I make
the follies of my friends serve as a dessert after their valuable
qualities.”
* * * * *
“It is very disagreeable to hear a man going about a subject and about
it, and hesitating, while one perceives what he means to say. Mental
stammering hurts one as much as a stammering in speech.”
Mrs. Boscawen,[355] 17th May, 1784.
* * * * *
“I was observing at Mr. Dilly’s how terrible an idea it was when Mr.
Perry was going to the East Indies for ten years in quest of languages.
Dr. Johnson said, with his wonderful shrewdness, ‘He went _to_ the
East Indies. The question is, what did he go _from_?’”
* * * * *
“My only objection to living in London is that there is too much space
and too little time.”
27th May 1784.
* * * * *
“I said Suard had a feeble venom spit-spit.”
1784.
* * * * *
“I told General Paoli that Dr. Johnson said Langton was first a
talking man—then he would be a silent man. ‘All upon system, to be
distinguished,’ said the General. ‘He wanted to go into the cave of
Trophonius, and he went into that of Polyphemus’ (alluding to his being
a disciple of Dr. Johnson).”
1784.
* * * * *
“My son Alexander,[356] one day in December [1783], when in a passion
at his sister Phemie for something she had said, used this strong
expression,—‘Phemie, if your tongue be not cut out, it will soon be
full of lies.’”
1784.
“January 7. He understood that there was a violent opposition to the
king; and he imagined Sir Philip Ainslie[357] was on that side. He said
the king should send messengers to discover all that are against him.
That would soon turn Sir Philip Ainslie’s brain right.”
* * * * *
“January 10. He complained that his brother James beat him. Grange said
he should not mind him, as he was but a child. ‘Ay,’ said he, ‘but he
must not be a big man to me’ (alluding to the weight of his blows).”
* * * * *
“The difference between an ancient family is sometimes not visible.
Above the ground the tree may be the same. The ancient has only deeper
roots, which only antiquarian diggers observe. Yet from the deep
roots there are plants of a more stately air, so that in general the
difference appears even in the stem and branches; sometimes, indeed, by
rich and happy culture, the new ones will look almost as well.”
* * * * *
“In a book of science or of general information, one may introduce an
eloquent sentence, if not too flighty; or, when an elevated thought
occurs stand on tiptoe, but not rise from the ground. I made this
remark to Mr. Lumsden, while reading a passage of higher tone in
his account of Rome. It will also apply to Sir John Pringle’s[358]
Discourses before the Royal Society.”
* * * * *
“A man begged sixpence from a gentleman and was refused. With a
melancholy look he said, ‘Well, then, I know what to do.’ The gentleman
struck with this, and dreaming the poor man meant to kill himself, gave
him the sixpence, and then asked him, ‘What would you do?’ ‘Why, sir,’
said he, ‘I should be obliged to work.’”
DR. WEBSTER.
* * * * *
“Peter Boyle[359] has so much milk of temper one can hardly be angry
with him. But even milk will offend, when it goes down the _wrong
throat_.”
* * * * *
“Asparagus is like gentility; it cannot be brought to the table till
several generations from the dunghill.”
* * * * *
“The arsenic sophistry of Gibbon—sweet and poisonous.”
* * * * *
“The minds of some men are like a dark cellar—their knowledge lies
concealed; while the minds of others are all sunshine and mirror, and
reflect all that they read or hear in a lively manner.”
* * * * *
“Sir John Wemyss[360] calling on R. Colville[361] in the abbey a few
weeks after losing £500 by him, was offered by him a tune on the
fiddle. ‘Stay,’ said Sir John, ‘till the rest of your creditors get a
share.’”
* * * * *
“‘Who’s there?’ said the Lord President Arniston, one morning at
breakfast, in winter, 1782-3; ‘I dinna see.’ John Swinton, then
a candidate for a gown, courteously said, ‘The light is in your
lordship’s eyes.’ ‘No, John,’ said he, ‘the light’s out of my e’en.’”
* * * * *
“Burke said that it was of great consequence to have a British peerage,
for each generation is born in a great theatre where he may display his
talents. I told this to General Paoli, who was of a different opinion.
‘It is true,’ said the general, he is born in a great theatre, but he
is applauded before he acts.’”
* * * * *
“When it was asked in India why Sir Thomas Rumbold’s[362] acquisition
of wealth made more noise than that of others, a black man said,
‘Others pluck one feather, and one feather from the fowl, and the fowl
do not make noise; but Rumbold tear all the feathers all at once, and
the fowl cry Zua, Zua.’”
MR. DEMPSTER.
* * * * *
“General Paoli said of Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose deafness made him use
a trumpet, ‘He has a horn only at one ear; if he had one at both he
would be a Jupiter.’”
6th May, 1781.
* * * * *
“I told young Burke that Wilkes said he was an enemy to General Paoli
from the natural antipathy of good to bad. ‘Which _is_ the bad?’ said
Burke.”
6th May, 1781.
* * * * *
“General Paoli described a blue-stocking meeting very well:—Here, four
or five old ladies talking formally, and a priest (Dr. Barnard, Provost
of Eton), with a wig like the globe, sitting in the _middle_, as if he
were confessing them.’”
May, 1781.
* * * * *
“Mrs. Thrale spoke slightingly of Paradise.[363] She said, ‘I never
heard him say anything, but my fader vos not a Greek, but my moder was
a Greek.’ Young Burke and I thought her too severe; ‘but,’ said young
Burke, ‘it seems she does not find the tree of knowledge in Paradise.’”
6th May, 1781.
* * * * *
“Lady Preston[364] had catched cold by going to some meeting. Capt.
Brisbane[365] wrote to Lady Maxwell,[366] ‘Some ladies have a zeal, I
do not say without knowledge, but without constitution to support it.’”
* * * * *
“When Wilkes and I sat together, each glass of wine produced a flash of
wit, like gunpowder thrown into the fire—Puff! puff!”
* * * * *
“Lord Mountstuart said at J. R. McKye’s, 30th April, 1783, that it was
observed I was like Charles Fox. ‘I have been told so,’ said I. ‘You’re
much uglier,’ said Col. James Stuart, with his sly drollery. I turned
to him, full as sly and as droll: ‘Does _your wife_ think so, Colonel
James?’ Young Burke said, ‘Here was less meant than meets the ear.’”
* * * * *
“Mr. Charles Cochrane[367] was applied to requesting freestone to erect
a monument at Falkirk to Sir Harry Monro,[368] who was killed at the
battle there, fighting against Prince Charles in 1745. Mr. Cochrane
very readily granted the request, and said he should be very glad to
give stones for burying all the Whigs in Scotland.”
From MR. STOBIE, Mr. Cochrane’s agent.
* * * * *
“One who boasted of being an infidel said to Mr. Allan Logan that he
wished much to see a spirit, but had in vain visited churchyards and
every other place where he had the best chance. Mr. Logan, who was a
very serious and even superstitious and credulous believer, answered,
‘Why, man, you was a great fool for making the experiment, and you
would have the devil to be as great a fool as yourself. He is sure of
you at present, and you would have him to appear to you, that you might
be convinced of a future state and escape him? No, no; he is too wise
for that.’”
1st Oct., 1780, from the Rev. Mr. ROLLAND[369] of Culross.
* * * * *
“The Earl of Dumfries,[370] in Charles the Second’s time, was a
hard-hearted, unfeeling father. His son, Lord Crichton, had gone to
Edinburgh, foolishly, as he thought. He died there, and his corpse
was brought home to be buried in the family vault. As the earl saw
the hearse from his window he said, ‘Ay, ay, Charles, thou went to
Edinburgh without an errand; I think thou hast got one to bring thee
back again.’ My father, who was always averse to my going to London,
often told this story before me. I said one day of the earl, ‘What a
barbarian!’”
* * * * *
“Mr. Beauclerc told Dr. Johnson that Dr. James[371] said to him he knew
more Greek than Mr. Walmsley.[372] ‘Sir,’ said he, ‘Dr. James did not
know enough of Greek to be sensible of his ignorance of the language.
Walmsley did.’”
MR. LANGTON.
* * * * *
“A certain young clergyman used to come about Dr. Johnson. The Doctor
said it vexed him to be in his company, his ignorance was so hopeless.
‘Sir,’ said Mr. Langton, ‘his coming about you shows he wishes to help
his ignorance.’ ‘Sir,’ said the Doctor, ‘his ignorance is so great, I
am afraid to show him the bottom of it.’”
MR. LANGTON.
* * * * *
“To account for the common remark that the more a man advances in
knowledge, the less he seems to himself to know, Mr. Burke said that
what is in itself infinite, there is a larger circle without the first,
and a larger without the next, and so on.”
Young MR. BURKE.
* * * * *
“Dr. Johnson desired me to tell Sheridan[373] he’d be glad to see him
and shake hands with him. I said Sheridan was unwilling to come, as he
never could forget the attack —— half told him. ‘But it was wrong to
keep up resentment so long,’ said the Doctor; ‘the truth is, he knows
I despise his character; ’tis not all resentment; partly out of habit,
and rather disgust, as at a drug that has made him sick.’”
* * * * *
“Lady Townshend[374] sent to Mr. Winnington for his coach and six
horses one day. He asked her afterwards if they came in proper time,
and her ladyship was pleased with them. ‘Oh,’ said she, ‘I only invited
them to dine. I wished they should have one good dinner, so I ordered
them plenty of hay and straw.’”
MR. LANGTON.
* * * * *
“I said it was a strange thing that Short,[375] the famous telescope
maker in London, left a legacy of a thousand pounds to Lady Mary
Douglas, who had no need of money, when he had a number of poor
relations. Thomas Earl of Kelly said upon this, ‘He was not a
reflecting telescope maker.’”
* * * * *
“It was mentioned at Lady Colville’s[376] that Mrs. C., of S., whose
husband was a very big man, had once been very fond of Colonel M., and
had suffered much from his forsaking her. ‘What!’ said a lady; ‘she
seems to like her husband so well, that I could not believe she was
ever fond of any other man.’ ‘She _was_ very fond of another man,’ said
I. ‘But her husband _smothered_ that passion.’” 1783.
* * * * *
“At a dinner at Mr. Crosbie’s, when the company were very merry, the
Rev. Dr. Webster told them he was sorry to go away so early, but was
obliged to catch the tide, to cross the Frith of Forth to Fife. ‘Better
stay a little,’ said Thomas Earl of Kelly,[377] ‘till you be half seas
over.’”
Rev. DR. WEBSTER.
* * * * *
“Harry Erskine and another advocate, had written papers in a cause
before Lord Westhall.[378] They thought them very good papers. But a
clerk came to Mr. Erskine with a message that ‘My Lord had read the
papers, and could not _understand_ them, and he would send a note of
what he _wanted_.’ ‘Make my compliments to his lordship,’ said Erskine,
‘and tell him (pointing to his forehead) I have none to spare.’”
From MR. ERSKINE himself.
* * * * *
“On the 2nd December, 1782, I went to dine at Walker’s tavern with a
committee of the Presbytery of Edinburgh, who were taking evidence in a
criminal process—the heritors of Carsphairn[379] against Mr. Affleck,
who had a presentation to that parish. The agent for the heritors was
the entertainer. I was asked to take the head of the table thus:—‘Mr.
Boswell, you’ll take this end.’ ‘No,’ said I, ‘the Moderator will sit
there.’ ‘Then you’ll take this end,’ the foot of the table. ‘No,’ said
I, pointing to the agent. I placed myself about the middle of the
table, and said, ‘I have no end in view but a good dinner.’ Said the
Rev. Mr. Brown,[380] of Edinburgh, ‘The end is lawful if the means be
good.’”
* * * * *
“Miss Leslie, General Leslie’s[381] daughter, had a pretty necklace,
she obligingly took it off, and let me look at it. I said, ‘It is
pretty, even when it’s off.’”
12th Nov., 1782.
* * * * *
“Sir James Johnstone[382] asked me if turning off nominal and
fictitious voters now upon the roll would not be an act of violence.
‘Yes,’ said I, ‘it would be an act of violence. But it would be an act
of violence like turning thieves out of your house.’”
12th Nov., 1782.
* * * * *
“Mr. Keith,[383] the envoy, was in company with a good Highland lady,
some of whose sons had been successful in the army. The company were
talking of putting their sons to different professions. Said she, with
great earnestness, ‘If I had twenty _sons_, I would put them all to the
_sword_.’”
From his eldest daughter, 12th Nov., 1782.[384]
* * * * *
“I said Lord Monboddo chose to vary Horace’s _Mens sana in corpore
sano_, and to have _mens insana incorpore sano_; for his endeavour is
to keep his mind wild and his body robust.”
12th Nov., 1782.
* * * * *
“Langton said he could not laugh at Burke’s wit. The Bishop of Killaloe
said, ‘I’ll tell you a story: Colonel Lutterel was at the house of
a gentleman who insisted on his drinking more than he chose, and
locked the door on him. The colonel fell upon a contrivance to get off
which succeeded. “Come,” said the gentleman, “fill your glass, you
must drink;” “Sir,” said the colonel, “I don’t like your wine.” The
gentleman had nothing to say.’”
27th May, 1783.
* * * * *
“Langton said Burke hammered his wit upon an anvil, and the iron was
cold. There were no sparks flashing and flying all about. Said the
Bishop of Killaloe,[385] ‘I don’t think the iron is cold, but Burke
is not so much a smith as he is a chymist, he analyzes a word, he
decomposes it, and brings out all its different^{meaning} senses.’”
27th May, 1783.
* * * * *
“I said to General Paoli, it was wonderful how much Corsica had done
for me, how far I had got in the world by having been there. I had got
upon a rock in Corsica and jumped into the middle of life.”
27th May, 1783.
* * * * *
“It was observed by somebody that Lord Dundonald attended to the
church very ill. Miss Preston said that their two black servants were
generally there every Sunday,—‘Ay,’ said Mr. Charles Preston, ‘but two
blacks don’t make a white.’”
Valley Field, 17th October, 1778.
* * * * *
UXORIANA.
“When I was warm, telling of my own consequence and generosity, my wife
made some cool humbling remarks upon me. I flew into a violent passion;
I said if you throw cold water on a plate of iron much heated it will
burst into shivers.”
* * * * *
“She recommended reading the ‘Arabian Nights Entertainments’ to one
in bad health and low spirits; ‘not,’ said she; ‘to be taken into the
mind, but to keep out disturbing thoughts; let them be like a sentry,
whom we do not admit into the chamber of a sick person, but place at
the door to prevent noisy intruders.’”
* * * * *