Life of Johnson Volume V Part 48

[418] 'The way was very pleasant; the rock out of which the road was cut was covered with birch trees, fern, and heath. The lake below was beating its bank by a gentle wind.... In one part of the way we had trees on both sides for perhaps half a mile. Such a length of shade, perhaps, Scotland cannot shew in any other place.' _Piozzi Letters_, i.

123. The travellers must have pa.s.sed close by the cottage where James Mackintosh was living, a child of seven.

[419] Boswell refers, I think, to a pa.s.sage in act iv. sc. I of Farquhar's Comedy, where Archer says to Mrs. Sullen:--'I can't at this distance, Madam, distinguish the figures of the embroidery.' This pa.s.sage is copied by Goldsmith in _She Stoops to Conquer_, act iii., where Marlow says to Miss Hardcastle: 'Odso! then you must shew me your embroidery.'

[420] Johnson (_Works_, ix. 28) gives a long account of this woman.

'Meal she considered as expensive food, and told us that in spring, when the goats gave milk, the children could live without it.'

[421] It is very odd, that when these roads were made, there was no care taken for _Inns_. The _King's House_, and the _General's Hut_, are miserable places; but the project and plans were purely military. WALTER SCOTT. Johnson found good entertainment here, 'We had eggs and bacon and mutton, with wine, rum, and whisky. I had water.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 124.

[422] 'Mr. Boswell, who between his father's merit and his own is sure of reception wherever he comes, sent a servant before,' &c. Johnson's _Works_, ix. 30.

[423] On April 6, 1777, Johnson noted down: 'I pa.s.sed the night in such sweet uninterrupted sleep as I have not known since I slept at Fort Augustus.' _Pr. and Med._ p.159. On Nov. 21, 1778, he wrote to Boswell: 'The best night that I have had these twenty years was at Fort Augustus.' _Ante_, iii. 369.

[424] See _ante_, iii. 246.

[425] A McQueen is a Highland mode of expression. An Englishman would say _one_ McQueen. But where there are _clans_ or _tribes_ of men, distinguished by _patronymick_ surnames, the individuals of each are considered as if they were of different species, at least as much as nations are distinguished; so that a _McQueen_, a _McDonald_, a _McLean_, is said, as we say a Frenchman, an Italian, a Spaniard.

BOSWELL.

[426] 'I praised the propriety of his language, and was answered that I need not wonder, for he had learnt it by grammar. By subsequent opportunities of observation I found that my host's diction had nothing peculiar. Those Highlanders that can speak English commonly speak it well, with few of the words and little of the tone by which a Scotchman is distinguished ... By their Lowland neighbours they would not willingly be taught; for they have long considered them as a mean and degenerate race.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 31. He wrote to Mrs. Thrale: 'This man's conversation we were glad of while we staid. He had been out, as they call it, in forty-five, and still retained his old opinions.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 130.

[427] By the Chevalier Ramsay.

[428] 'From him we first heard of the general dissatisfaction which is now driving the Highlanders into the other hemisphere; and when I asked him whether they would stay at home if they were well treated, he answered with indignation that no man willingly left his native country.

Johnson's _Works_, ix. 33. See _ante_, p. 27.

[429] 'The chief glory of every people arises from its authors.' _Ib._ v. 49.

[430] Four years later, three years after Goldsmith's death, Johnson 'observed in Lord Scarsdale's dressing-room Goldsmith's _Animated Nature_; and said, "Here's our friend. The poor doctor would have been happy to hear of this."' _Ante_, iii.162.

[431] See _ante_, i. 348 and ii. 438 and _post_, Sept. 23. Mackintosh says: 'Johnson's idea that a s.h.i.+p was a prison with the danger of drowning is taken from Endymion Porter's _Consolation to Howell_ on his imprisonment in the _Fleet_, and was originally suggested by the pun.'

_Life of Mackintosh_, ii. 83. The pa.s.sage to which he refers is found in Howell's letter of Jan. 2, 1646 (book ii. letter 39), in which he writes to Porter:--'You go on to prefer my captivity in this _Fleet_ to that of a voyager at sea, in regard that he is subject to storms and springing of leaks, to pirates and picaroons, with other casualties.'

[432] See _ante_, iii. 242.

[433] This book has given rise to much enquiry, which has ended in ludicrous surprise. Several ladies, wis.h.i.+ng to learn the kind of reading which the great and good Dr. Johnson esteemed most fit for a young woman, desired to know what book he had selected for this Highland nymph. 'They never adverted (said he) that I had no _choice_ in the matter. I have said that I presented her with a book which I _happened_ to have about me.' And what was this book? My readers, prepare your features for merriment. It was _c.o.c.ker's Arithmetick_!--Wherever this was mentioned, there was a loud laugh, at which Johnson, when present, used sometimes to be a little angry. One day, when we were dining at General Oglethorpe's, where we had many a valuable day, I ventured to interrogate him. 'But, Sir, is it not somewhat singular that you should _happen_ to have _c.o.c.ker's Arithmetick_ about you on your journey? What made you buy such a book at Inverness?' He gave me a very sufficient answer. 'Why, Sir, if you are to have but one book with you upon a journey, let it be a book of science. When you have read through a book of entertainment, you know it, and it can do no more for you; but a book of science is inexhaustible.' BOSWELL.

Johnson thus mentions his gift: 'I presented her with a book which I happened to have about me, and should not be pleased to think that she forgets me.' _Works_, ix. 32. The first edition of _c.o.c.ker's Arithmetic_ was published about 1660. _Brit. Mus. Cata._ Though Johnson says that 'a book of science is inexhaustible,' yet in _The Rambler_, No. 154, he a.s.serts that 'the principles of arithmetick and geometry may be comprehended by a close attention in a few days.' Mrs. Piozzi says (_Anec_. p. 77) that 'when Mr. Johnson felt his fancy disordered, his constant recurrence was to arithmetic; and one day that he was confined to his chamber, and I enquired what he had been doing to divert himself, he shewed me a calculation which I could scarce be made to understand, so vast was the plan of it; no other indeed than that the national debt, computing it at 180,000,000, would, if converted into silver, serve to make a meridian of that metal, I forget how broad, for the globe of the whole earth.' See _ante_, iii. 207, and iv. 171, note 3.

[434] Swift's _Works_ (1803), xxiv. 63.

[435] 'We told the soldiers how kindly we had been treated at the garrison, and, as we were enjoying the benefit of their labours, begged leave to shew our grat.i.tude by a small present.... They had the true military impatience of coin in their pockets, and had marched at least six miles to find the first place where liquor could be bought. Having never been before in a place so wild and unfrequented I was glad of their arrival, because I knew that we had made them friends; and to gain still more of their goodwill we went to them, where they were carousing in the barn, and added something to our former gift.' _Works_, ix. 31-2.

[436]

'Why rather sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee.' &c.

2 _Henry IV._ act iii. sc. 1.

[437] Spain, in 1719, sent a strong force under the Duke of Ormond to Scotland in behalf of the Chevalier. Owing to storms only a few hundred men landed. These were joined by a large body of Highlanders, but being attacked by General Wightman, the clansmen dispersed and the Spaniards surrendered. Smollett's _England_, ed. 1800, ii. 382.

[438] Boswell mentions this _ante_, i. 41, as a proof of Johnson's 'perceptive quickness.'

[439] Dr. Johnson, in his _Journey_, thus beautifully describes his situation here:--'I sat down on a bank, such as a writer of romance might have delighted to feign. I had, indeed, no trees to whisper over my head; but a clear rivulet streamed at my feet. The day was calm, the air soft, and all was rudeness, silence, and solitude. Before me, and on either side, were high hills, which, by hindering the eye from ranging, forced the mind to find entertainment for itself. Whether I spent the hour well, I know not; for here I first conceived the thought of this narration.' The _Critical Reviewers_, with a spirit and expression worthy of the subject, say,--'We congratulate the publick on the event with which this quotation concludes, and are fully persuaded that the hour in which the entertaining traveller conceived this narrative will be considered, by every reader of taste, as a fortunate event in the annals of literature. Were it suitable to the task in which we are at present engaged, to indulge ourselves in a poetical flight, we would invoke the winds of the Caledonian Mountains to blow for ever, with their softest breezes, on the bank where our author reclined, and request of Flora, that it might be perpetually adorned with the gayest and most fragrant productions of the year.' BOSWELL. Johnson thus described the scene to Mrs. Thrale:--'I sat down to take notes on a green bank, with a small stream running at my feet, in the midst of savage solitude, with mountains before me and on either hand covered with heath. I looked around me, and wondered that I was not more affected, but the mind is not at all times equally ready to be put in motion.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 131.

[440] 'The villagers gathered about us in considerable numbers, I believe without any evil intention, but with a very savage wildness of aspect and manner.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 38.

[441] The M'Craas, or Macraes, were since that time brought into the king's army, by the late Lord Seaforth. When they lay in Edinburgh Castle in 1778, and were ordered to embark for Jersey, they with a number of other men in the regiment, for different reasons, but especially an apprehension that they were to be sold to the East-India Company, though enlisted not to be sent out of Great-Britain without their own consent, made a determined mutiny, and encamped upon the lofty mountain, _Arthur's seat_, where they remained three days and three nights; bidding defiance to all the force in Scotland. At last they came down, and embarked peaceably, having obtained formal articles of capitulation, signed by Sir Adolphus Oughton, commander in chief, General Skene, deputy commander, the Duke of Buccleugh, and the Earl of Dunmore, which quieted them. Since the secession of the Commons of Rome to the _Mons Sacer_, a more spirited exertion has not been made. I gave great attention to it from first to last, and have drawn up a particular account of it. Those brave fellows have since served their country effectually at Jersey, and also in the East-Indies, to which, after being better informed, they voluntarily agreed to go. BOSWELL. The line which Boswell quotes is from _The Chevalier's Muster Roll_:--

'The laird of M'Intosh is coming, M'Crabie & M'Donald's coming, M'Kenzie & M'Pherson's coming, And the wild M'Craw's coming.

Little wat ye wha's coming, Donald Gun and a's coming.'

Hogg's _Jacobite Relics_, i. 152.

Horace Walpole (_Letters_, vii. 198) writing on May 9, 1779, tells how on May 1 'the French had attempted to land [on Jersey], but Lord Seaforth's new-raised regiment of 700 Highlanders, a.s.sisted by some militia and some artillery, made a brave stand and repelled the intruders.'

[442] 'One of the men advised her, with the cunning that clowns never can be without, to ask more; but she said that a s.h.i.+lling was enough. We gave her half a crown, and she offered part of it again.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 133.

[443] Of this part of the journey Johnson wrote:--'We had very little entertainment as we travelled either for the eye or ear. There are, I fancy, no singing birds in the Highlands.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 135. It is odd that he should have looked for singing birds on the first of September.

[444] Act iii. sc. 4.

[445] It is amusing to observe the different images which this being presented to Dr. Johnson and me. The Doctor, in his _Journey_, compares him to a Cyclops. BOSWELL. 'Out of one of the beds on which we were to repose, started up at our entrance, a man black as a Cyclops from the forge.' _Works_, ix. 44. Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'When we were taken up stairs, a dirty fellow bounced out of the bed where one of us was to lie. Boswell bl.u.s.tered, but nothing could be got'. _Piozzi Letters_, i, 136. Macaulay (_Essays_, ed. 1843, i. 404) says: 'It is clear that Johnson himself did not think in the dialect in which he wrote. The expressions which came first to his tongue were simple, energetic, and picturesque. When he wrote for publication, he did his sentences out of English into Johnsonese. His letters from the Hebrides to Mrs. Thrale are the original of that work of which the _Journey to the Hebrides_ is the translation; and it is amusing to compare the two versions.' Macaulay thereupon quotes these two pa.s.sages. See _ante_, under Aug. 29, 1783.

[446] 'We had a lemon and a piece of bread, which supplied me with my supper.'_Piozzi Letters_, i, 136. Goldsmith, who in his student days had been in Scotland, thus writes of a Scotch inn:--'Vile entertainment is served up, complained of, and sent down; up comes worse, and that also is changed, and every change makes our wretched cheer more unsavoury.'

_Present State of Polite Learning_, ch. 12.

[447] General Wolfe, in his letter from Head-quarters on Sept. 2, 1759, eleven days before his death wrote:--'In this situation there is such a choice of difficulties that I own myself at a loss how to determine.'

_Ann. Reg._ 1759, p. 246.

[448] See _ante_, p. 89.

[449] See _ante_, ii. 169, note 2.

[450] Boswell, in a note that he added to the second edition (see _post_, end of the _Journal_), says that he has omitted 'a few observations the publication of which might perhaps be considered as pa.s.sing the bounds of a strict decorum,' In the first edition (p. 165) the next three paragraphs were as follows:--'Instead of finding the head of the Macdonalds surrounded with his clan, and a festive entertainment, we had a small company, and cannot boast of our cheer. The particulars are minuted in my Journal, but I shall not trouble the publick with them. I shall mention but one characteristick circ.u.mstance. My shrewd and hearty friend Sir Thomas (Wentworth) Blacket, Lady Macdonald's uncle, who had preceded us in a visit to this chief, upon being asked by him if the punch-bowl then upon the table was not a very handsome one, replied, "Yes--if it were full." 'Sir Alexander Macdonald having been an Eton scholar, Dr. Johnson had formed an opinion of him which was much diminished when he beheld him in the isle of Sky, where we heard heavy complaints of rents racked, and the people driven to emigration. Dr.

Johnson said, "It grieves me to see the chief of a great clan appear to such disadvantage. This gentleman has talents, nay some learning; but he is totally unfit for this situation. Sir, the Highland chiefs should not be allowed to go farther south than Aberdeen. A strong-minded man, like his brother Sir James, may be improved by an English education; but in general they will be tamed into insignificance." 'I meditated an escape from this house the very next day; but Dr. Johnson resolved that we should weather it out till Monday.' Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale:--'We saw the isle of Skie before us, darkening the horizon with its rocky coast. A boat was procured, and we launched into one of the straits of the Atlantick Ocean. We had a pa.s.sage of about twelve miles to the point where ---- ---- resided, having come from his seat in the middle of the island to a small house on the sh.o.r.e, as we believe, that he might with less reproach entertain us meanly. If he aspired to meanness, his retrograde ambition was completely gratified... Boswell was very angry, and reproached him with his improper parsimony.' _Piozzi Letters_, i.

137. A little later he wrote:--'I have done thinking of ---- whom we now call Sir Sawney; he has disgusted all mankind by injudicious parsimony, and given occasion to so many stories, that ---- has some thoughts of collecting them, and making a novel of his life.' _Ib_. p. 198. The last of Rowlandson's _Caricatures_ of Boswell's _Journal_ is ent.i.tled _Revising for the Second Edition_. Macdonald is represented as seizing Boswell by the throat and pointing with his stick to the _Journal_ that lies open at pages 168, 169. On the ground lie pages 165, 167, torn out.

Boswell, in an agony of fear, is begging for mercy.

[451]

'Here, in Badenoch, here in Lochaber anon, in Lochiel, in Knoydart, Moydart, Morrer, Ardgower, and Ardnamurchan, Here I see him and here: I see him; anon I lose him.'

Clough's _Bothie_, p. 125

[452] See his Latin verses addressed to Dr. Johnson, in this APPENDIX.

BOSWELL.

[453] See _ante_, ii. 157.