Chapter XXI: Part 21

[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._

He then wrote

_Legitimas faciunt pura labella preces._

That line was erased, and the line as it stands in the _Works_ is substituted in Mr. Langton's hand, as is also an alteration in the 16th line, _velit_ into _jubet_.' _Jubet_ however is in the copy as printed by Boswell. Mr. Langton edited some, if not all, of Johnson's Latin poems. (_Ante_, iv. 384.)

[878] 'Boswell, who is very pious, went into the chapel at night to perform his devotions, but came back in haste for fear of spectres.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 173.

[879] _Ante_ p. 169.

[880] John Gerves, or John the Giant, of whom Dr. Johnson relates a curious story; _Works_ ix. 119.

[881] Lord Chatham in the House of Lords, on Nov. 22, 1770, speaking of 'the honest, industrious tradesman, who holds the middle rank, and has given repeated proofs that he prefers law and liberty to gold,' had said:--'I love that class of men. Much less would I be thought to reflect upon the fair merchant, whose liberal commerce is the prime source of national wealth. I esteem his occupation, and respect his character.' _Parl. Hist._ xvi. 1107.

[882] See _ante_, iii. 382.

[883] He was born in Nordland in Sweden, in 1736. In 1768 he and Mr. Banks accompanied Captain Cook in his first voyage round the world. He died in 1782. Knight's _Eng. Cyclo._ v. 578. Miss Burney wrote of him in 1780:--'My father has very exactly named him, in calling him a philosophical gossip.' Mme. D'Arblay's _Diary_, i. 305. Horace Walpole the same year, just after the Gordon Riots, wrote (_Letters_, vii. 403):--'Who is secure against Jack Straw and a whirlwind? How I abominate Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, who routed the poor Otaheitans out of the centre of the ocean, and carried our abominable passions amongst them! not even that poor little speck could escape European restlessness.' See _ante_ ii. 148.

[884] Boswell tells this story again, _ante_, ii. 299. Mrs. Piozzi's account (_Anec_. p. 114) is evidently so inaccurate that it does not deserve attention; she herself admits that Beauclerk was truthful. In a marginal note on Wraxall's _Memoirs_, she says:--'Topham Beauclerk (wicked and profligate as he wished to be accounted), was yet a man of very strict veracity. Oh Lord! how I did hate that horrid Beauclerk!' Hayward's _Piozzi_, i. 348. Johnson testified to 'the correctness of Beauclerk's memory and the fidelity of his narrative.' _Ante_, ii. 405.

[885] 'Mr. Maclean of Col, having a very numerous family, has for some time past resided at Aberdeen, that he may superintend their education, and leaves the young gentleman, our friend, to govern his dominions with the full power of a Highland chief.' _Johnson's Works_, ix. 117.

[886] This is not spoken of hare-coursing, where the game is taken or lost before the dog gets out of wind; but in chasing deer with the great Highland greyhound, Col's exploit is feasible enough. WALTER SCOTT.

[887] See _ante_, pp. 45, III, for Monboddo's notion.

[888] Mme. Riccoboni in 1767 wrote to Garrick of the French:--'Un mensonge grossier les révolte. Si on voulait leur persuader que les Anglais vivent de grenouilles, meurent de faim, que leurs femmes sont barbouillées, et jurent par toutes les lettres de l'alphabet, ils leveraient les épaules, et s'écriraient, _quel sot ose écrire ces misères-là?_ mais à Londres, diantre cela prend!' _Garrick Corres_. ii. 524.

[889] Just opposite to M'Quarrie's house the boat was swamped by the intoxication of the sailors, who had partaken too largely of M'Quarrie's wonted hospitality. WALTER SCOTT. Johnson wrote from Lichfield on June 13, 1775;--'There is great lamentation here for the death of Col. Lucy [Miss Porter] is of opinion that he was wonderfully handsome.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 235. See ante, ii. 287.

[890] Iona.

[891] See _ante_, p. 237.

[892] See _ante_, 111. 229.

[893] Sir James Mackintosh says (_Life_, ii. 257):--'Dr. Johnson visited Iona without looking at Staffa, which lay in sight, with that indifference to natural objects, either of taste or scientific curiosity, which characterised him.' This is a fair enough sample of much of the criticism under which Johnson's reputation has suffered.

[894] Smollett in _Humphry Clinker_ (Letter of Sept. 3) describes a Highland funeral. 'Our entertainer seemed to think it a disparagement to his family that not above a hundred gallons of whisky had been drunk upon such a solemn occasion.

[895] 'We then entered the boat again; the night came upon us; the wind rose; the sea swelled; and Boswell desired to be set on dry ground: we, however, pursued our navigation, and passed by several little islands in the silent solemnity of faint moon-shine, seeing little, and hearing only the wind and water.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 176.

[896] Cicero _De Finibus_, ii. 32.

[897] I have lately observed that this thought has been elegantly expressed by Cowley:--

'Things which offend when present, and affright,
In memory, well painted, move delight.'

BOSWELL.

The lines are found in the _Ode upon His Majesty's Restoration and Return_, stanza 12. They may have been suggested by Virgil's lines--

'Revocate animos, maestumque timorem
Mittite; forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit.'

Aeneid, i. 202.

[898] Had our Tour produced nothing else but this sublime passage, the world must have acknowledged that it was not made in vain. The present respectable President of the Royal Society was so much struck on reading it, that he clasped his hands together, and remained for some time in an attitude of silent admiration, BOSWELL. Boswell again quotes this passage (which is found in Johnson's _Works_, ix. 145), _ante_, iii. 173. The President was Sir Joseph Banks, Johnson says in _Rasselas_, ch. xi:--'That the supreme being may be more easily propitiated in one place than in another is the dream of idle superstition; but that some places may operate upon our own minds in an uncommon manner is an opinion which hourly experience will justify. He who supposes that his vices may be more successfully combated in Palestine will, perhaps, find himself mistaken, yet he may go thither without folly; he who thinks they will be more freely pardoned dishonours at once his reason and religion.'

[899] 'Sir Allan went to the headman of the island, whom fame, but fame delights in amplifying, represents as worth no less than fifty pounds. He was, perhaps, proud enough of his guests, but ill prepared for our entertainment; however he soon produced more provision than men not luxurious require.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 146.

[900] _An Account of the Isle of Man. With a voyage to I-Columb-Kill_. By W. Sacheverell, Esq., late Governour of Man. 1702.

[901] 'He that surveys it [the church-yard] attended by an insular antiquary may be told where the kings of many nations are buried, and if he loves to soothe his imagination with the thoughts that naturally rise in places where the great and the powerful lie mingled with the dust, let him listen in submissive silence; for if he asks any questions his delight is at an end.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 148.

[902] On quitting the island Johnson wrote: 'We now left those illustrious ruins, by which Mr. Boswell was much affected, nor would I willingly be thought to have looked upon them without some emotion.' _Ib_. p. 150.

[903] Psalm xc. 4.

[904] Boswell wrote on Nov. 9, 1767:--'I am always for fixing some period for my perfection as far as possible. Let it be when my account of Corsica is published; I shall then have a character which I must support.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 122. Five weeks later he wrote:--'I have been as wild as ever;' and then comes a passage which the Editor has thought it needful to suppress. _Ib_.p.128.

[905] Boswell here speaks as an Englishman. He should have written '_a_ M'Ginnis.' See _ante_, p. 135, note 3.

[906] 'The fruitfulness of Iona is now its whole prosperity. The inhabitants are remarkably gross, and remarkably neglected; I know not if they are visited by any minister. The island, which was once the metropolis of learning and piety, has now no school for education, nor temple for worship, only two inhabitants that can speak English, and not one that can write or read.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 149. Scott, who visited it in 1810, writes:--'There are many monuments of singular curiosity, forming a strange contrast to the squalid and dejected poverty of the present inhabitants.' Lockhart's _Scott_, ed. 1839, iii. 285. In 1814, on a second visit, he writes:--'Iona, the last time I saw it, seemed to me to contain the most wretched people I had anywhere seen. But either they have got better since I was here, or my eyes, familiarized with the wretchedness of Zetland and the Harris, are less shocked with that of Iona.' He found a schoolmaster there. _Ib_. iv. 324.

[907] Johnson's Jacobite friend, Dr. King (_ante_, i. 279), says of Pulteney, on his being made Earl of Bath:--'He deserted the cause of his country; he betrayed his friends and adherents; he ruined his character, and from a most glorious eminence sunk down to a degree of contempt. The first time Sir Robert (who was now Earl of Orford) met him in the House of Lords, he threw out this reproach:--"My Lord Bath, you and I are now two as insignificant men as any in England." In which he spoke the truth of my Lord Bath, but not of himself. For my Lord Orford was consulted by the ministers to the last day of his life.' King's _Anec_. p. 43.

[908] See _ante_, i. 431, and iii. 326.

[909] 'Sir Robert Walpole detested war. This made Dr. Johnson say of him, "He was the best minister this country ever had, as, if _we_ would have let him (he speaks of his own violent faction), he would have kept the country in perpetual peace."' Seward's _Biographiana_, p. 554. See _ante_, i. 131.

[910] See _ante_, iii. Appendix C.

[911] I think it incumbent on me to make some observation on this strong satirical sally on my classical companion, Mr. Wilkes. Reporting it lately from memory, in his presence, I expressed it thus:--'They knew he would rob their shops, _if he durst;_ they knew he would debauch their daughters, _if he could;_' which, according to the French phrase, may be said _renchérir_ on Dr. Johnson; but on looking into my Journal, I found it as above, and would by no means make any addition. Mr. Wilkes received both readings with a good humour that I cannot enough admire. Indeed both he and I (as, with respect to myself, the reader has more than once had occasion to observe in the course of this Journal,) are too fond of a _bon mot_, not to relish it, though we should be ourselves the object of it.

Let me add, in justice to the gentleman here mentioned, that at a subsequent period, he _was_ elected chief magistrate of London [in 1774], and discharged the duties of that high office with great honour to himself, and advantage to the city. Some years before Dr. Johnson died, I was fortunate enough to bring him and Mr. Wilkes together; the consequence of which was, that they were ever afterwards on easy and not unfriendly terms. The particulars I shall have great pleasure in relating at large in my _Life of Dr. Johnson_. BOSWELL. In the copy of Boswell's _Letter to the People of Scotland_ in the British Museum is entered in Boswell's own hand--

'Comes jucundus in via pro vehiculo est.

To John Wilkes, Esq.: as pleasant a companion as ever lived. From the Author.

--will my Wilkes retreat,
And see, once seen before, that ancient seat, etc.'

See _ante_, iii. 64, 183; iv. 101, 224, note 2.

[912] See _ante_, iv. 199.

[913] Our afternoon journey was through a country of such gloomy desolation that Mr. Boswell thought no part of the Highlands equally terrifick.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 150.

[914] Johnson describes Lochbuy as 'a true Highland laird, rough and haughty, and tenacious of his dignity: who, hearing my name, inquired whether I was of the Johnstons of Glencoe (_sic_) or of Ardnamurchan.' _Ib_.

[915] Boswell totally misapprehended _Lochbuy's_ meaning. There are two septs of the powerful clan of M'Donaid, who are called Mac-Ian, that is _John's-son_; and as Highlanders often translate their names when they go to the Lowlands,--as Gregor-son for Mac-Gregor, Farquhar-son for Mac-Farquhar,--_Lochbuy_ supposed that Dr. Johnson might be one of the Mac-Ians of Ardnamurchan, or of Glencro. Boswell's explanation was nothing to the purpose. The _Johnstons_ are a clan distinguished in Scottish _border_ history, and as brave as any _Highland_ clan that ever wore brogues; but they lay entirely out of _Lochbuy's_ knowledge--nor was he thinking of _them_. WALTER SCOTT.

[916] This maxim, however, has been controverted. See Blackstone's _Commentaries_, vol. ii. p. 291; and the authorities there quoted. BOSWELL. 'Blackstone says:--From these loose authorities, which Fitzherbert does not hesitate to reject as being contrary to reason, the maxim that a man shall not stultify himself hath been handed down as settled law; though later opinions, feeling the inconvenience of the rule, have in many points endeavoured to restrain it.' _Ib_. p. 292.

[917] Begging pardon of the Doctor and his conductor, I have often seen and partaken of cold sheep's head at as good breakfast-tables as ever they sat at. This protest is something in the manner of the late Culrossie, who fought a duel for the honour of Aberdeen butter. I have passed over all the Doctor's other reproaches upon Scotland, but the sheep's head I will defend _totis viribus_. Dr. Johnson himself must have forgiven my zeal on this occasion; for if, as he says, _dinner_ be the thing of which a man thinks _oftenest during the day, breakfast_ must be that of which he thinks _first in the morning_. WALTER SCOTT. I do not know where Johnson says this. Perhaps Scott was thinking of a passage in Mrs. Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 149, where she writes that he said: 'A man seldom thinks with more earnestness of any thing than he does of his dinner.'

[918] A horrible place it was. Johnson describes it (_Works_, ix. 152) as 'a deep subterraneous cavity, walled on the sides, and arched on the top, into which the descent is through a narrow door, by a ladder or a rope.'

[919] See _ante_, p. 177.

[920] Sir Allan M'Lean, like many Highland chiefs, was embarrassed in his private affairs, and exposed to unpleasant solicitations from attorneys, called, in Scotland, _writers_ (which indeed was the chief motive of his retiring to Inchkenneth). Upon one occasion he made a visit to a friend, then residing at Carron lodge, on the banks of the Carron, where the banks of that river are studded with pretty villas: Sir Allan, admiring the landscape, asked his friend, whom that handsome seat belonged to. 'M---, the writer to the signet,' was the reply. 'Umph!' said Sir Allan, but not with an accent of assent, 'I mean that other house.' 'Oh ! that belongs to a very honest fellow Jamie---, also a writer to the signet.' 'Umph!' said the Highland chief of M'Lean with more emphasis than before, 'And yon smaller house?' 'That belongs to a Stirling man; I forget his name, but I am sure he is a writer too; for---.' Sir Allan who had recoiled a quarter of a circle backward at every response, now wheeled the circle entire and turned his back on the landscape, saying, 'My good friend, I must own you have a pretty situation here; but d--n your neighbourhood.' WALTER SCOTT.

[921] Loch Awe.

[922] 'Pope's talent lay remarkably in what one may naturally enough term the condensation of thoughts. I think no other English poet ever brought so much sense into the same number of lines with equal smoothness, ease, and poetical beauty. Let him who doubts of this peruse his _Essay on Man_ with attention.' Shenstone's _Essays on Men and Manners. [Works_, 4th edit. ii. 159.] 'He [Gray] approved an observation of Shenstone, that "Pope had the art of condensing a thought."' Nicholls' _Reminiscences of Gray_, p. 37. And Swift [in his _Lines on the death of Dr. Swift_], himself a great condenser, says--

'In Pope I cannot read a line
But with a sigh I wish it mine;
When he can in one couplet fix
More sense than I can do in six.'

P. CUNNINGHAM.

[923] He is described by Walpole in his _Letters_, viii. 5.

[924] 'The night came on while we had yet a great part of the way to go, though not so dark but that we could discern the cataracts which poured down the hills on one side, and fell into one general channel, that ran with great violence on the other. The wind was loud, the rain was heavy, and the whistling of the blast, the fall of the shower, the rush of the cataracts, and the roar of the torrent, made a nobler chorus of the rough musick of nature than it had ever been my chance to hear before.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 155. He wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'All the rougher powers of nature except thunder were in motion, but there was no danger. I should have been sorry to have missed any of the inconveniencies, to have had more light or less rain, for their co-operation crowded the scene and filled the mind.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 177.

[925] I never tasted whiskey except once for experiment at the inn in Inverary, when I thought it preferable to any English malt brandy. It was strong, but not pungent, and was free from the empyreumatick taste or smell. What was the process I had no opportunity of inquiring, nor do I wish to improve the art of making poison pleasant.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 52. Smollett, medical man though he was, looked upon whisky as anything but poison. 'I am told that it is given with great success to infants, as a cordial in the confluent small-pox.' _Humphry Clinker_. Letter of Sept. 3.

[926] _Regale_ in this sense is not in Johnson's _Dictionary_. It was, however, a favourite word at this time. Thus, Mrs. Piozzi, in her _Journey through France_, ii. 297, says:--'A large dish of hot chocolate thickened with bread and cream is a common afternoon's regale here.' Miss Burney often uses the word.

[927] Boswell, in answering Garrick's letter seven months later, improved on this comparison. 'It was,' he writes, 'a pine-apple of the finest flavour, which had a high zest indeed among the heath-covered mountains of Scotia.' _Garrick Corres_. i. 621.

[928] See _ante_, p. 115.

[929] See _ante_, i. 97.

[930] 'Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane.' _Macbeth_, act v. sc. 8.

[931]

'From his first entrance to the closing scene
Let him one equal character maintain.'

FRANCIS. Horace, _Ars Poet._ l. 126.

[932] I took the liberty of giving this familiar appellation to my celebrated friend, to bring in a more lively manner to his remembrance the period when he was Dr. Johnson's pupil. BOSWELL.

[933] See _ante_, p. 129.

[934] Boswell is here quoting the Preface to the third edition of his _Corsica_:--'Whatever clouds may overcast my days, I can now walk here among the rocks and woods of my ancestors, with an agreeable consciousness that I have done something worthy.'

[935] See _ante_, i. 148, and _post_, Nov. 21.

[936] I have suppressed my friend's name from an apprehension of wounding his sensibility; but I would not withhold from my readers a passage which shews Mr. Garrick's mode of writing as the Manager of a Theatre, and contains a pleasing trait of his domestick life. His judgment of dramatick pieces, so far as concerns their exhibition on the stage, must be allowed to have considerable weight. But from the effect which a perusal of the tragedy here condemned had upon myself, and from the opinions of some eminent criticks, I venture to pronounce that it has much poetical merit; and its authour has distinguished himself by several performances which shew that the epithet _poetaster_ was, in the present instance, much misapplied. BOSWELL. Johnson mentioned this quarrel between Garrick and the poet on March 25, 1773 (_Piozzi Letters_, i. 80). 'M---- is preparing a whole pamphlet against G----, and G---- is, I suppose, collecting materials to confute M----.' M---- was Mickle, the translator of the _Lusiad_ and author of the _Ballad of Cumnor Hall_ (_ante_, ii. 182). Had it not been for this 'poetaster,' _Kenilworth_ might never have been written. Scott, in the preface, tells how 'the first stanza of _Cunmor Hall_ had a peculiar species of enchantment for his youthful ear, the force of which is not even now entirely spent.' The play that was refused was the _Siege of Marseilles_. Ever since the success of Hughes's _Siege of Damascus_ 'a siege had become a popular title' (_ante_, iii. 259, note 1).

[937] She could only have been away for the day; for in 1776 Garrick wrote:--'As I have not left Mrs. Garrick one day since we were married, near twenty-eight years, I cannot now leave her.' _Garrick Corres_. ii. 150.

[938] Dr. Morell once entered the school-room at Winchester College, 'in which some junior boys were writing their exercises, one of whom, struck no less with his air and manner than with the questions he put to them, whispered to his school-fellows, "Is he not a fine old Grecian?" The Doctor, overhearing this, turned hastily round and exclaimed, "I am indeed an old Grecian, my little man. Did you never see my head before my Thesaurus?"' The Praepostors, learning the dignity of their visitor, in a most respectful manner showed him the College. Wooll's _Life of Dr. Warton_, p. 329. Mason writing to Horace Walpole about some odes, says:--'They are so lopped and mangled, that they are worse now than the productions of Handel's poet, Dr. Morell.' Walpole's _Letters_, v. 420. Morell compiled the words for Handel's _Oratorios_.

[939] _Ante_, i. 148.

[940] I doubt whether any other instance can be found of _love_ being sent to Johnson.

[941] The passage begins:--'A _servant_ or two from a revering distance cast many a wishful look, and condole their honoured master in the language of sighs.' Hervey's _Meditations_, ed. 1748, i. 40.

[942] _Ib_. ii. 84.

[943] The _Meditation_ was perhaps partly suggested by Swift's _Meditation upon a Broomstick_. Swift's _Works_ (1803), iii. 275.

[944] Thomas Burnet of the Charterhouse, in his _Sacred Theory of the Earth_, ed. 1722, i. 85.

[945] See _ante_, i. 476, and ii. 73.

[946] Elizabeth Gunning, celebrated (like her sister, Lady Coventry) for her personal charms, had been previously Duchess of Hamilton, and was mother of Douglas, Duke of Hamilton, the competitor for the Douglas property with the late Lord Douglas: she was, of course, prejudiced against Boswell, who had shewn all the bustling importance of his character in the Douglas cause, and it was said, I know not on what authority, that he headed the mob which broke the windows of some of the judges, and of Lord Auchinleck, his father, in particular. WALTER SCOTT. See _ante_, ii. 50.

[947] See _ante_, i. 408, and ii. 329.

[948] She married the Earl of Derby, and was the great-grandmother of the present Earl. Burke's _Peerage_.

[949] See _ante_, iv. 248.

[950] Lord Macaulay's grandfather, Trevelyan's _Macaulay_, i. 6.

[951] See _ante_, p. 118.

[952] On reflection, at the distance of several years, I wonder that my venerable fellow-traveller should have read this passage without censuring my levity. BOSWELL.

[953] _Ante_, p. 151.

[954] See _ante_, i. 240.

[955] As this book is now become very scarce, I shall subjoin the title, which is curious:--The Doctrines of a Middle State between Death and the Resurrection: Of Prayers for the Dead: And the Necessity of Purification; plainly proved from the holy Scriptures, and the Writings of the Fathers of the Primitive Church: and acknowledged by several learned Fathers and Great Divines of the Church of England and others since the Reformation. To which is added, an Appendix concerning the Descent of the Soul of Christ into Hell, while his Body lay in the Grave. Together with the Judgment of the Reverend Dr. Hickes concerning this Book, so far as relates to a Middle State, particular Judgment, and Prayers for the Dead as it appeared in the first Edition. 'And a Manuscript of the Right Reverend Bishop Overall upon the Subject of a Middle State, and never before printed. Also, a Preservative against several of the Errors of the Roman Church, in six small Treatises. By the Honourable Archibald Campbell. Folio, 1721. BOSWELL.

[956] The release gained for him by Lord Townshend must have been from his last imprisonment after the accession of George I; for, as Mr. Croker points out, Townshend was not Secretary of State till 1714.

[957] See _ante_, iv. 286.

[958] He was the grandson of the first Marquis, who was beheaded by Charles II in 1661, and nephew of the ninth Earl, who was beheaded by James II in 1685. Burke's _Peerage_. He died on June 15, 1744, according to the _Gent. Mag._ xiv. 339; where he is described as 'the consecrated Archbishop of St. Andrews.' See _ante_, ii. 216.

[959] George Hickes, 1642-1715. A non-juror, consecrated in 1693 suffragan bishop of Thetford by three of the deprived non-juror bishops. Chalmers's _Biog. Dict._ xvii. 450. Burnet (_Hist. of his own Time_, iv. 303) describes him as 'an ill-tempered man, who was now [1712] at the head of the Jacobite party, and who had in several books promoted a notion, that there was a proper sacrifice made in the Eucharist.' Boswell mentions him, _ante_, iv. 287.

[960] See _ante_, ii. 458.

[961] This must be a mistake for _He died_.

[962] 'It is generally supposed that life is longer in places where there are few opportunities of luxury; but I found no instance here of extraordinary longevity. A cottager grows old over his oaten cakes like a citizen at a turtle feast. He is, indeed, seldom incommoded by corpulence, Poverty preserves him from sinking under the burden of himself, but he escapes no other injury of time.' Johnson's Works, ix. 81.

[963] Lady Lucy Graham, daughter of the second Duke of Montrose, and wife of Mr. Douglas, the successful claimant: she died in 1780, whence Boswell calls her '_poor_ Lady Lucy.' CROKER

[964] Her first husband was the sixth Duke of Hamilton and Brandon. On his death she refused the Duke of Bridgewater. She was the mother of four dukes--two of Hamilton and two of Argyle. Her sister married the Earl of Coventry. Walpole's _Letters_, ii. 259, note. Walpole, writing on Oct. 9, 1791, says that their story was amazing. 'The two beautiful sisters were going on the stage, when they were at once exalted almost as high as they could be, were Countessed and double-Duchessed.' _Ib_. ix. 358. Their maiden name was Gunning. The Duchess of Argyle was alive when Boswell published his _Journal_.

[965] See _ante_, iv. 397, and v. 210. It was Lord Macaulay's grandfather who was thus reprimanded. Mr. Trevelyan remarks (_Life of Macaulay_, i. 7), 'When we think what well-known ground this [subject] was to Lord Macaulay, it is impossible to suppress a wish that the great talker had been at hand to avenge his grandfather.' The result might well have been, however, that the great talker would have been reduced to silence--one of those brilliant flashes of silence for which Sydney Smith longed, but longed in vain.

[966] See _ante_, ii. 264, note 2.

[967] See _ante_, iv. 8, for his use of 'O brave!'

[968] Having mentioned, more than once, that my _Journal_ was perused by Dr. Johnson, I think it proper to inform my readers that this is the last paragraph which he read. BOSWELL. He began to read it on August 18 (_ante_, p. 58, note 2).

[969] See _ante_, ii. 320.

[970] Act i. sc. 1. The best known passage in _Douglas_ is the speech beginning 'My name is Norval.' Act ii. The play affords a few quotations more or less known, as:--

'I found myself
As women wish to be who love their lords.'
Act i.

'He seldom errs
Who thinks the worse he can of womankind.'
Act iii.

'Honour, sole judge and umpire of itself.'
Act iv.

'Unknown I die; no tongue shall speak of me.
Some noble spirits, judging by themselves,
May yet conjecture what I might have proved,
And think life only wanting to my fame.'
Act v.

'An honest guardian, arbitrator just
Be thou; thy station deem a sacred trust.
With thy good sword maintain thy country's cause;
In every action venerate its laws:
The lie suborn'd if falsely urg'd to swear,
Though torture wait thee, torture firmly bear;
To forfeit honour, think the highest shame,
And life too dearly bought by loss of fame;
Nor to preserve it, with thy virtue give
That for which only man should wish to live.'

[_Satires_, viii. 79.]

For this and the other translations to which no signature is affixed, I am indebted to the friend whose observations are mentioned in the notes, pp. 78 and 399. BOSWELL. Sir Walter Scott says, 'probably Dr. Hugh Blair.' I have little doubt that it was Malone. 'One of the best criticks of our age,' Boswell calls this friend in the other two passages. This was a compliment Boswell was likely to pay to Malone, to whom he dedicated this book. Malone was a versifier. See Prior's _Malone_, p. 463.

[971] I am sorry that I was unlucky in my quotation. But notwithstanding the acuteness of Dr. Johnson's criticism, and the power of his ridicule, _The Tragedy of Douglas_ sill continues to be generally and deservedly admired. BOSWELL. Johnson's scorn was no doubt returned, for Dr. A. Carlyle (_Auto._ p. 295) says of Home:--'as John all his life had a thorough contempt for such as neglected his poetry, he treated all who approved of his works with a partiality which more than approached to flattery.' Carlyle tells (pp. 301-305) how Home started for London with his tragedy in one pocket of his great coat and his clean shirt and night-cap in the other, escorted on setting out by six or seven Merse ministers. 'Garrick, after reading his play, returned it as totally unfit for the stage.' It was brought out first in Edinburgh, and in the year 1757 in Covent Garden, where it had great success. 'This tragedy,' wrote Carlyle forty-five years later, 'still maintains its ground, has been more frequently acted, and is more popular than any tragedy in the English language.' _Ib._ p. 325. Hannah More recorded in 1786 (_Memoirs_, ii. 22), 'I had a quarrel with Lord Monboddo one night lately. He said _Douglas_ was a better play than Shakespeare could have written. He was angry and I was pert. Lord Mulgrave sat spiriting me up, but kept out of the scrape himself, and Lord Stormont seemed to enjoy the debate, but was shabby enough not to help me out.'

[972] See _ante_, ii. 230, note 1.

[973] See _ante_, p. 318.

[974] See _ante_, iii. 54

[975] See _ante_, p. 356.

[976] See _ante_, iii. 241, note 2.

[977] As a remarkable instance of his negligence, I remember some years ago to have found lying loose in his study, and without the cover, which contained the address, a letter to him from Lord Thurlow, to whom he had made an application as Chancellor, in behalf of a poor literary friend. It was expressed in such terms of respect for Dr. Johnson, that, in my zeal for his reputation, I remonstrated warmly with him on his strange inattention, and obtained his permission to take a copy of it; by which probably it has been preserved, as the original I have reason to suppose is lost. BOSWELL. See _ante_, iii. 441.

[978] 'The islets, which court the gazer at a distance, disgust him at his approach, when he finds, instead of soft lawns and shady thickets, nothing more than uncultivated ruggedness.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 156.

[979] See _ante_, i. 200, and iv. 179.

[980] In these arguments he says:--'Reason and truth will prevail at last. The most learned of the Scottish doctors would now gladly admit a form of prayer, if the people would endure it. The zeal or rage of congregations has its different degrees. In some parishes the Lord's Prayer is suffered: in others it is still rejected as a form; and he that should make it part of his supplication would be suspected of heretical pravity.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 102. See _ante_, p. 121.

[981] 'A very little above the source of the Leven, on the lake, stands the house of Cameron, belonging to Mr. Smollett, so embosomed in an oak wood that we did not see it till we were within fifty yards of the door.' _Humphry Clinker_, Letter of Aug. 28.

[982] Boswell himself was at times one of 'those absurd visionaries.' _Ante_, ii. 73.

[983] See _ante_, p. 117.

[984] Lord Kames wrote one, which is published in Chambers's _Traditions of Edinburgh_, ed. 1825, i. 280. In it he bids the traveller to 'indulge the hope of a Monumental Pillar.'

[985] See _ante_, iii. 85; and v. 154.

[986] This address does not offend against the rule that Johnson lays down in his _Essay on Epitaphs_ (_Works_, v. 263), where he says:--'It is improper to address the epitaph to the passenger.' The impropriety consists in such an address in a church. He however did break through his rule in his epitaph in Streatham Church on Mr. Thrale, where he says:--'Abi viator.' _Ib._ i. 154.

[987] In _Humphry Clinker_ (Letter of Aug. 28), which was published a few months before Smollett's death, is his _Ode on Leven-Water_.

[988] The epitaph which has been inscribed on the pillar erected on the banks of the Leven, in honour of Dr. Smollett, is as follows. The part which was written by Dr. Johnson, it appears, has been altered; whether for the better, the reader will judge. The alterations are distinguished by Italicks.

Siste viator!
Si lepores ingeniique venam benignam,
Si morum callidissimum pictorem, Unquam es miratus,
Immorare paululum memoriae
TOBIAE SMOLLET, M.D.
Viri virtutibus _hisce_
Quas in homine et cive
Et laudes et imiteris,
Haud mediocriter ornati:
Qui in literis variis versatus,
Postquam felicitate _sibi propria_
Sese posteris commendaverat,
Morte acerba raptus
Anno aetatis 51,
Eheu: quam procul a patria!
Prope Liburni portum in Italia, Jacet sepultres.
Tali tantoque viro, patrueli suo, Cui in decursu lampada
Se potius tradidisse decuit, Hanc Columnam,
Amoris, eheu! inane monumentum In ipsis Leviniae ripis,
Quas _versiculis sub exitu vitae illustratas_
Primis infans vagitibus personuit, Ponendam curavit
JACOBUS SMOLLET de Bonhill. Abi et reminiscere,
Hoc quidem honore, Non modo defuncti memoriae,
Verum etiam exemplo, prospectum esse;
Aliis enim, si modo digni sint,
Idem erit virtutis praemium!

BOSWELL.

[989] Baretti told Malone that, having proposed to teach Johnson Italian, they went over a few stanzas of Ariosto, and Johnson then grew weary. 'Some years afterwards Baretti said he would give him another lesson, but added, "I suppose you have forgotten what we read before." "Who forgets, Sir?" said Johnson, and immediately repeated three or four stanzas of the poem.' Baretti took down the book to see if it had been lately opened, but the leaves were covered with dust. Prior's _Malone_, p. 160. Johnson had learnt to translate Italian before he knew Baretti. _Ante_, i. 107, 156. For other instances of his memory, see _ante_, i. 39, 48; iii. 318, note 1; and iv. 103, note 2.

[990] For sixty-eight days he received no letter--from August 21 (_ante_, p. 84) to October 28.

[991] Among these professors might possibly have been either Burke or Hume had not a Mr. Clow been the successful competitor in 1751 as the successor to Adam Smith in the chair of Logic. 'Mr. Clow has acquired a curious title to fame, from the greatness of the man to whom he succeeded, and of those over whom he was triumphant.' J.H. Burton's _Hume_, i. 351.

[992] Dr. Reid, the author of the _Inquiry into the Human Mind_, had in 1763 succeeded Adam Smith as Professor of Moral Philosophy. Dugald Stewart was his pupil the winter before Johnson's visit. Stewart's _Reid_, ed. 1802, p. 38.

[993] See _ante_, iv. 186.

[994] Mr. Boswell has chosen to omit, for reasons which will be presently obvious, that Johnson and Adam Smith met at Glasgow; but I have been assured by Professor John Miller that they did so, and that Smith, leaving the party in which he had met Johnson, happened to come to another company _where Miller was_. Knowing that Smith had been in Johnson's society, they were anxious to know what had passed, and the more so as Dr. Smith's temper seemed much ruffled. At first Smith would only answer, 'He's a brute--he's a brute;' but on closer examination, it appeared that Johnson no sooner saw Smith than he attacked him for some point of his famous letter on the death of Hume (_ante_, p. 30). Smith vindicated the truth of his statement. 'What did Johnson say?' was the universal inquiry. 'Why, he said,' replied Smith, with the deepest impression of resentment, 'he said, _you lie!_' 'And what did you reply?' 'I said, you are a son of a------!' On such terms did these two great moralists meet and part, and such was the classical dialogue between two great teachers of philosophy. WALTER SCOTT. This story is erroneous in the particulars of the _time, place,_ and _subject_ of the alleged quarrel; for Hume did not die for [nearly] three years after Johnson's only visit to Glasgow; nor was Smith then there. Johnson, previous to 1763 (see _ante_, i. 427, and iii. 331), had an altercation with Adam Smith at Mr. Strahan's table. This may have been the foundation of Professor Miller's misrepresentation. But, even _then_, nothing of this offensive kind could have passed, as, if it had, Smith could certainly not have afterwards solicited admission to the Club of which Johnson was the leader, to which he was admitted 1st Dec. 1775, and where he and Johnson met frequently on civil terms. I, therefore, disbelieve the whole story. CROKER.

[995] 'His appearance,' says Dr. A. Carlyle (_Auto_. p. 68), 'was that of an ascetic, reduced by fasting and prayer.' See _ante_, p. 68.

[996] See _ante_, ii. 27, 279.

[997] See _ante,_ p. 92.

[998] Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'I was not much pleased with any of the Professors.' _Piozzi Letters,_ i. 199. Mme. D'Arblay says:-- 'Whenever Dr. Johnson did not make the charm of conversation he only marred it by his presence, from the general fear he incited, that if he spoke not, he might listen; and that if he listened, he might reprove.' _Memoirs of Dr. Burney,_ ii. 187. See _ante_, ii. 63

[999] Boswell has not let us see this caution. When Robertson first came in, 'there began,' we are told, 'some animated dialogue' (_ante,_ p.32). The next day we read that 'he fluently harangued to Dr. Johnson' (_ante,_ p.43).

[1000] See _ante,_ iii. 366.

[1001] He was Ambassador at Paris in the beginning of the reign of George I., and Commander-in-Chief in 1744. Lord Mahon's _England_, ed. 1836, i. 201 and iii. 275.

[1002] The unwilling gratitude of base mankind. POPE. [_Imitations of Horace_, 2 _Epis_. i. 14.] BOSWELL.

[1003] Dr. Franklin (_Memoirs_, i. 246-253) gives a curious account of Lord Loudoun, who was general in America about the year 1756. 'Indecision,' he says, 'was one of the strongest features of his character.' He kept back the packet-boats from day to day because he could not make up his mind to send his despatches. At one time there were three boats waiting, one of which was kept with cargo and passengers on board three months beyond its time. Pitt at length recalled him, because 'he never heard from him, and could not know what he was doing.'

[1004] See Chalmers's _Biog. Dict._ xi. 161 for an account of a controversy about the identity of this writer with an historian of the same name.

[1005] He had paid but little attention to his own rule. See _ante_, ii. 119.

[1006] 'I believe that for all the castles which I have seen beyond the Tweed, the ruins yet remaining of some one of those which the English built in Wales would supply Materials.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 152.

[1007] See _ante_, p. 40, note 4.

[1008] Johnson described her as 'a lady who for many years gave the laws of elegance to Scotland.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 200. Allan Ramsay dedicated to her his _Gentle Shepherd_, and W. Hamilton, of Bangour, wrote to her verses on the presentation of Ramsay's poem. Hamilton's _Poems_, p. 23.

[1009] See _ante_, ii. 66, and iii. 188.

[1010] 'She called Boswell the boy: "yes, Madam," said I, "we will send him to school." "He is already," said she, "in a good school;" and expressed her hope of his improvement. At last night came, and I was sorry to leave her.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 200. See _ante_, iii. 366.

[1011] See _ante_, pp. 318, 362.

[1012] Burns, who was in his fifteenth year, was at this time living at Ayr, about twelve miles away. When later on he moved to Mauchline, he and Boswell became much nearer neighbours.

[1013] He had, however, married again. _Ante_, ii. 140, note I. It is curious that Boswell in this narrative does not mention his step-mother.

[1014]
'Asper
Incolumi gravitate jocum tentavit.'
'Though rude his mirth, yet laboured to maintain
The solemn grandeur of the tragic scene.'

FRANCIS. Horace, _Ars Poet_. l. 221.

[1015] See _ante_, iii. 65, and v. 97.

[1016] See _ante_, iv. 163, 241.

[1017] Johnson (_Works_, vii. 425) says of Addison's dedication of the opera of _Rosamond_ to the Duchess of Marlborough, that 'it was an instance of servile absurdity, to be exceeded only by Joshua Barnes's dedication of a Greek _Anacreon_ to the Duke.' For Barnes see _ante_, iii. 284, and iv. 19.

[1018] William Baxter, the editor of _Anacreon_, was the nephew of Richard Baxter, the nonconformist divine.

[1019] He says of Auchinleck (_Works_, ix. 158) that 'like all the western side of Scotland, it is _incommoded_ by very frequent rain.' 'In all September we had, according to Boswell's register, only one day and a half of fair weather; and in October perhaps not more.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 182.