Books: The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.

J >> James Boswell >> The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28

There is no reason to believe that this piece was not written by
Butler, but by Sir John Birkenhead; for Wood, in his Athenae
Oxonienses. Vol. II. p. 460. enumerates it among that gentleman's
works, and gives the following account of it:

The Assembly-man (or The Character of an Assembly-man) written 1647,
LOND. 1662-3, in three sheets in qu. The copy of it was taken from the
author by those who said they could not rob, because all was theirs;
so excised what they liked not; and so mangled and reformed it that it
was no character of an Assembly, but of themselves. At length, after
it had slept several years, the author published it, to avoid false
copies. It is also reprinted in a book entit. Wit and Loyalty Revived,
in a collection of some smart satyrs in verse and prose on the late
times. LOND. 1682, qu. said to be written by Abr. Cowley, Sir John
Birkenhead, and Hudibras, alias Sam. Butler.' For this information I
am indebted to Mr Reed, of Staple Inn.]

We had a dreary drive, in a dusky night, to St Andrews, where we
arrived late. We found a good supper at Glass's inn, and Dr Johnson
revived agreeably. He said, 'the collection called The Muses' Welcome
to King James (first of England, and sixth of Scotland), on his return
to his native kingdom, shewed that there was then abundance of
learning in Scotland; and that the conceits in that collection, with
which people find fault, were mere mode'. He added, 'we could not now
entertain a sovereign so; that Buchanan had spread the spirit of
learning amongst us, but we had lost it during the civil wars'. He did
not allow the Latin poetry of Pitcairne so much merit as has been
usually attributed to it; though he owned that one of his pieces,
which he mentioned, but which I am sorry is not specified in my notes,
was 'very well'. It is not improbable that it was the poem which Prior
has so elegantly translated.

After supper, we made a procession to Saint Leonard's College, the
landlord walking before us with a candle, and the waiter with a
lantern. That college had some time before been dissolved; and Dr
Watson, a professor here (the historian of Phillip II), had purchased
the ground, and what buildings remained. When we entered his court, it
seemed quite academical; and we found in his house very comfortable
and genteel accommodation. [Footnote: My Journal, from this day
inclusive, was read by Dr Johnson.]

Thursday, 19th August

We rose much refreshed. I had with me a map of Scotland, a Bible,
which was given me by Lord Mountstuart when we were together in Italy,
and Ogden's Sermons on Prayer. Mr Nairne introduced us to Dr Watson,
whom we found a well-informed man, of very amiable manners. Dr
Johnson, after they were acquainted, said, 'I take great delight in
him.' His daughter, a very pleasing young lady, made breakfast. Dr
Watson observed, that Glasgow University had fewer home-students,
since trade increased, as learning was rather incompatible with it.
JOHNSON. 'Why, sir, as trade is now carried on by subordinate hands,
men in trade have as much leisure as others; and now learning itself
is a trade. A man goes to a bookseller, and gets what he can. We have
done with patronage. In the infancy of learning, we find some great
man praised for it. This diffused it among others. When it becomes
general, an author leaves the great, and applies to the multitude.'
BOSWELL. 'It is a shame that authors are not now better patronized.'
JOHNSON. 'No, sir. If learning cannot support a man, if he must sit
with his hands across till somebody feeds him, it is as to him a bad
thing, and it is better as it is. With patronage, what flattery! What
falsehood! While a man is in equilibria, he throws truth among the
multitude, and lets them take it as they please: in patronage, he must
say what pleases his patron, and it is an equal chance whether that be
truth or falsehood.' WATSON. 'But is not the case now, that, instead
of flattering one person, we flatter the age?' JOHNSON. 'No, sir. The
world always lets a man tell what he thinks, his own way. I wonder
however, that so many people have written, who might have let it
alone. That people should endeavour to excel in conversation, I do not
wonder; because in conversation praise is instantly reverberated.'

We talked of change of manners. Dr Johnson observed, that our drinking
less than our ancestors was owing to the change from ale to wine. 'I
remember,' said he, 'when all the DECENT people in Lichfield got drunk
every night, and were not the worse thought of. Ale was cheap, so you
pressed strongly. When a man must bring a bottle of wine, he is not in
such haste. Smoking has gone out. To be sure, it is a shocking thing,
blowing smoke out of our mouths into other people's mouths, eyes, and
noses, and having the same thing done to us. Yet I cannot account, why
a thing which requires so little exertion, and yet preserves the mind
from total vacuity, should have gone out. Every man has something by
which he calms himself: beating with his feet, or so. [Footnote: Dr
Johnson used to practice this himself very much.] I remember when
people in England changed a shirt only once a week: a Pandour, when he
gets a shirt, greases it to make it last. Formerly, good tradesmen had
no fire but in the kitchen; never in the parlour, except on Sunday. My
father, who was a magistrate of Lichfield, lived thus. They never
began to have a fire in the parlour, but on leaving off business, or
some great revolution of their life.' Dr Watson said, the hall was as
a kitchen, in old squires' houses. JOHNSON. 'No, sir. The hall was for
great occasions, and never was used for domestick reflection.' We
talked of the Union, and what money it had brought into Scotland. Dr
Watson observed, that a little money formerly went as far as a great
deal now. JOHNSON. 'In speculation, it seems that a smaller quantity
of money, equal in value to a larger quantity, if equally divided,
should produce the same effect. But it is not so in reality. Many more
conveniences and elegancies are enjoyed where money is plentiful, than
where it is scarce. Perhaps a great familiarity with it, which arises
from plenty, makes us more easily part with it.'

After what Dr Johnson had said of St Andrews, which he had long wished
to see, as our oldest university, and the seat of our Primate in the
days of episcopacy, I can say little. Since the publication of Dr
Johnson's book, I find that he has been censured for not seeing here
the ancient chapel of St Rule, a curious piece of sacred architecture.
But this was neither his fault nor mine. We were both of us abundantly
desirous of surveying such sort of antiquities: but neither of us knew
of this. I am afraid the censure must fall on those who did not tell
us of it. In every place, where there is any thing worthy of
observation, there should be a short printed directory for strangers,
such as we find in all the towns of Italy, and in some of the towns in
England. I was told that there is a manuscript account of St Andrews,
by Martin, secretary to Archbishop Sharp; and that one Douglas has
published a small account of it. I inquired at a bookseller's, but
could not get it. Dr Johnson's veneration for the Hierarchy is well
known. There is no wonder then, that he was affected with a strong
indignation, while he beheld the ruins of religious magnificence. I
happened to ask where John Knox was buried. Dr Johnson burst out, 'I
hope in the high-way. I have been looking at his reformations.'

It was a very fine day. Dr Johnson seemed quite wrapt up in the
contemplation of the scenes which were now presented to him. He kept
his hat off while he was upon any part of the ground where the
cathedral had stood. He said well, that 'Knox had set on a mob,
without knowing where it would end; and that differing from a man in
doctrine was no reason why you should pull his house about his ears'.
As we walked in the cloisters, there was a solemn echo, while he
talked loudly of a proper retirement from the world. Mr Nairne said,
he had an inclination to retire. I called Dr Johnson's attention to
this, that I might hear his opinion if it was right. JOHNSON. 'Yes,
when he has done his duty to society. In general, as every man is
obliged not only to "love God, but his neighbour as himself", he must
bear his part in active life; yet there are exceptions. Those who are
exceedingly scrupulous (which I do not approve, for I am no friend to
scruples), and find their scrupulosity invincible, so that they are
quite in the dark, and know not what they shall do, or those who can
not resist temptations, and find they make themselves worse by being
in the world, without making it better, may retire. I never read of a
hermit, but in imagination I kiss his feet; never of a monastery, but
I could fall on my knees, and kiss the pavement. But I think putting
young people there, who know nothing of life, nothing of retirement,
is dangerous and wicked. It is a saying as old as Hesiod,

[words in Greek] [Footnote: Let youth in deeds, in counsel man engage;
Prayer is the proper duty of old age. ]

That is a very noble line: not that young men should not pray, or old
men not give counsel, but that every season of life has its proper
duties. I have thought of retiring, and have talked of it to a friend;
but I find my vocation is rather to active life.' I said, SOME young
monks might be allowed, to shew that it is not age alone that can
retire to pious solitude; but he thought this would only shew that
they could not resist temptation.

He wanted to mount the steeples, but it could not be done. There are
no good inscriptions here. Bad Roman characters he naturally mistook
for half Gothick, half Roman. One of the steeples, which he was told
was in danger, he wished not to be taken down; 'for,' said he, 'it may
fall on some of the posterity of John Knox; and no great matter!'
Dinner was mentioned. JOHNSON. 'Ay, ay; amidst all these sorrowful
scenes, I have no objection to dinner.'

We went and looked at the castle, where Cardinal Beaton was murdered,
and then visited Principal Murison at his college, where is a good
library-room; but the principal was abundantly vain of it, for he
seriously said to Dr Johnson, 'you have not such a one in England'.

The professors entertained us with a very good dinner. Present:
Murison, Shaw, Cooke, Hill, Haddo, Watson, Flint, Brown. I observed,
that I wondered to see him eat so well, after viewing so many
sorrowful scenes of ruined religious magnificence. 'Why,' said he, 'I
am not sorry, after seeing these gentlemen; for they are not sorry.'
Murison said, all sorrow was bad, as it was murmuring against the
dispensations of Providence. JOHNSON. 'Sir, sorrow is inherent in
humanity. As you cannot judge two and two to be either five, or three,
but certainly four, so, when comparing a worse present state with a
better which is past, you cannot but feel sorrow. It is not cured by
reason, but by the incursion of present objects, which wear out the
past. You need not murmur, though you are sorry.' MURISON. 'But St
Paul says, "I have learnt, in whatever state I am, therewith to be
content." 'JOHNSON. 'Sir, that relates to riches and poverty; for we
see St Paul, when he had a thorn in the flesh, prayed earnestly to
have it removed; and then he could not be content.' Murison, thus
refuted, tried to be smart, and drank to Dr Johnson, 'Long may you
lecture!' Dr Johnson afterwards, speaking of his not drinking wine,
said, 'The Doctor spoke of lecturing' (looking to him). 'I give all
these lectures on water.'

He defended requiring subscription in those admitted to universities,
thus: 'As all who come into the country must obey the King, so all who
come into an university must be of the Church.'

And here I must do Dr Johnson the justice to contradict a very absurd
and ill-natured story, as to what passed at St Andrews. It has been
circulated, that, after grace was said in English, in the usual
manner, he with the greatest marks of contempt, as if he had held it
to be no grace in an university, would not sit down till he had said
grace aloud in Latin. This would have been an insult indeed to the
gentlemen who were entertaining us. But the truth was precisely thus.
In the course of conversation at dinner, Dr Johnson, in very good
humour, said, 'I should have expected to have heard a Latin grace,
among so many learned men: we had always a Latin grace at Oxford. I
believe I can repeat it.' Which he did, as giving the learned men in
one place a specimen of what was done by the learned men in another
place.

We went and saw the church, in which is Archbishop Sharp's monument. I
was struck with the same kind of feelings with which the churches of
Italy impressed me. I was much pleased, to see Dr Johnson actually in
St Andrews, of which we had talked so long. Professor Haddo was with
us this afternoon, along with Dr Watson. We looked at St Salvador's
College. The rooms for students seemed very commodious, and Dr Johnson
said, the chapel was the neatest place of worship he had seen. The key
of the library could not be found; for it seems Professor Hill, who
was out of town, had taken it with him. Dr Johnson told a joke he had
heard of a monastery abroad, where the key of the library could never
be found.

It was somewhat dispiriting, to see this ancient archiepiscopal city
now sadly deserted. We saw in one of its streets a remarkable proof of
liberal toleration; a nonjuring clergyman, strutting about in his
canonicals, with a jolly countenance and a round belly, like a
well-fed monk.

We observed two occupations united in the same person, who had hung
out two sign-posts. Upon one was, JAMES HOOD, WHITE IRON SMITH (i.e.
tin-plate worker). Upon another, THE ART OF FENCING TAUGHT, BY JAMES
HOOD. Upon this last were painted some trees, and two men fencing, one
of whom had hit the other in the eye, to shew his great dexterity; so
that the art was well taught. JOHNSON. 'Were I studying here, I should
go and take a lesson. I remember Hope, in his book on this art, says,
"the Scotch are very good fencers".'

We returned to the inn, where we had been entertained at dinner, and
drank tea in company with some of the professors, of whose civilities
I beg leave to add my humble and very grateful acknowledgement to the
honourable testimony of Dr Johnson, in his Journey.

We talked of composition, which was a favourite topick of Dr Watson's,
who first distinguished himself by lectures on rhetorick. JOHNSON. 'I
advised Chambers, and would advise every young man beginning to
compose, to do it as fast as he can, to get a habit of having his mind
to start promptly; it is so much more difficult to improve in speed
than in accuracy.' WATSON. 'I own I am for much attention to accuracy
in composing, lest one should get bad habits of doing it in a slovenly
manner.' JOHNSON. 'Why, sir, you are confounding DOING inaccurately
with the NECESSITY of doing inaccurately. A man knows when his
composition is inaccurate, and when he thinks fit he'll correct it.
But, if a man is accustomed to compose slowly, and with difficulty,
upon all occasions, there is danger that he may not compose at all, as
we do not like to do that which is not done easily; and, at any rate,
more time is consumed in a small matter than ought to be.' WATSON. 'Dr
Hugh Blair has taken a week to compose a sermon.' JOHNSON. 'Then, sir,
that is for want of the habit of composing quickly, which I am
insisting one should acquire.' WATSON. 'Blair was not composing all
the week, but only such hours as he found himself disposed for
composition.' JOHNSON. 'Nay, sir, unless you tell me the time he took,
you tell me nothing. If I say I took a week to walk a mile, and have
had the gout five days, and been ill otherwise another day, I have
taken but one day. I myself have composed about forty sermons. I have
begun a sermon after dinner, and sent it off by the post that night. I
wrote forty-eight of the printed octavo pages of the life of Savage at
a sitting; but then I sat up all night. I have also written six sheets
in a day of translation from the French.' BOSWELL. 'We have all
observed how one man dresses himself slowly, and another fast.'
JOHNSON. 'Yes, sir; it is wonderful how much time some people will
consume in dressing; taking up a thing and looking at it, and laying
it down, and taking it up again. Every one should get the habit of
doing it quickly. I would say to a young divine, "Here is your text;
let me see how soon you can make a sermon." Then I'd say, "Let me see
how much better you can make it." Thus I should see both his powers
and his judgement.'

We all went to Dr Watson's to supper. Miss Sharp, great grandchild of
Archbishop Sharp, was there; as was Mr Craig, the ingenious architect
of the new town of Edinburgh, and nephew of Thomson, to whom Dr
Johnson has since done so much justice, in his Lives of the Poets.

We talked of memory, and its various modes. JOHNSON. 'Memory will play
strange tricks. One sometimes loses a single word. I once lost fugaces
in the Ode Posthume, Posthume. I mentioned to him, that a worthy
gentleman of my acquaintance actually forgot his own name. JOHNSON.
'Sir. that was a morbid oblivion.'

Friday, 2Oth August

Dr Shaw, the professor of divinity, breakfasted with us. I took out my
Ogden On Prayer, and read some of it to the company. Dr Johnson
praised him. 'Abernethy,' said he, 'allows only of a physical effect
of prayer upon the mind, which may be produced many ways, as well as
by prayer; for instance, by meditation. Ogden goes farther. In truth,
we have the consent of all nations for the efficacy of prayer, whether
offered up by individuals, or by assemblies; and Revelation has told
us, it will be effectual.' I said, 'Leechman seemed to incline to
Abernethy's doctrine.' Dr Watson observed, that Leechman meant to
shew, that, even admitting no effect to be produced by prayer,
respecting the Deity, it was useful to our own minds. He had given
only a part of his system: Dr Johnson thought he should have given the
whole.

Dr Johnson enforced the strict observance of Sunday. 'It should be
different,' he observed, 'from another day. People may walk, but not
throw stones at birds. There may be relaxation, but there should be no
levity.'

We went and saw Colonel Nairne's garden and grotto. Here was a fine
old plane tree. Unluckily the colonel said, there was but this and
another large tree in the county. This assertion was an excellent cue
for Dr Johnson, who laughed enormously, calling to me to hear it. He
had expatiated to me on the nakedness of that part of Scotland which
he had seen. His Journey has been violently abused, for what he has
said upon this subject. But let it be considered, that, when Dr
Johnson talks of trees, he means trees of good size, such as he was
accustomed to see in England; and of these there are certainly very
few upon the EASTERN COAST of Scotland. Besides, he said, that he
meant to give only a map of the road; and let any traveller observe
how many trees, which deserve the name, he can see from the road from
Berwick to Aberdeen. Had Dr Johnson said, 'there are NO trees' upon
this line, he would have said what is colloquially true; because, by
no trees, in common speech, we mean few. When he is particular in
counting, he may be attacked. I know not how Colonel Nairne came to
say there were but TWO large trees in the county of Fife. I did not
perceive that he smiled. There are certainly not a great many; but I
could have shewn him more than two at Balmuto, from whence my
ancestors came, and which now belongs to a branch of my family.

The grotto was ingeniously constructed. In the front of it were
petrified stocks of fir, plane, and some other tree. Dr Johnson said,
'Scotland has no right to boast of this grotto: it is owing to
personal merit. I never denied personal merit to many of you.'
Professor Shaw said to me, as we walked, 'This is a wonderful man: he
is master of every subject he handles.' Dr Watson allowed him a very
strong understanding, but wondered at his total inattention to
established manners, as he came from London.

I have not preserved, in my Journal, any of the conversation which
passed between Dr Johnson and Professor Shaw; but I recollect Dr
Johnson said to me afterwards, 'I took much to Shaw.'

We left St Andrews about noon, and some miles from it observing, at
Leuchars, a church with an old tower, we stopped to look at it. The
manse, as the parsonage-house is called in Scotland, was close by. I
waited on the minister, mentioned our names, and begged he would tell
us what he knew about it. He was a very civil old man; but could only
inform us, that it was supposed to have stood eight hundred years. He
told us, there was a colony of Danes in his parish; that they had
landed at a remote period of time, and still remained a distinct
people. Dr Johnson shrewdly inquired whether they had brought women
with them. We were not satisfied as to this colony.

We saw, this day, Dundee and Aberbrothick, the last of which Dr
Johnson has celebrated in his Journey. Upon the road we talked of the
Roman Catholick faith. He mentioned (I think) Tillotson's argument
against transubstantiation; 'That we are as sure we see bread and wine
only, as that we read in the Bible the text on which that false
doctrine is founded. We have only the evidence of our senses for both.
If,' he added, 'God had never spoken figuratively, we might hold that
he speaks literally, when he says, "This is my body".' BOSWELL. 'But
what do you say, sir, to the ancient and continued tradition of the
Church upon this point?' JOHNSON. 'Tradition, sir, has no place, where
the Scriptures are plain; and tradition cannot persuade a man into a
belief of transubstantiation. Able men, indeed, have said they
believed it.'

This is an awful subject. I did not then press Dr Johnson upon it; nor
shall I now enter upon a disquisition concerning the import of those
words uttered by our Saviour,[Footnote: "Then Jesus said unto them,
verily, verily. I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the son of
man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." See St John's
Gospel, chap. vi. 5 3, and following verses.] which had such an effect
upon many disciples, that they 'went back, and walked no more with
him'. The Catechism and solemn office for Communion, in the Church of
England, maintain a mysterious belief in more than a mere
commemoration of the death of Christ, by partaking of the elements of
bread and wine.

Dr Johnson put me in mind, that, at St Andrews, I had defended my
profession very well, when the question had again been started,
whether a lawyer might honestly engage with the first side that offers
him a fee. 'Sir,' said I, 'it was with your arguments against Sir
William Forbes: but it was much that I could wield the arms of
Goliah.'

He said, our judges had not gone deep in the question concerning
literary property. I mentioned Lord Monboddo's opinion, that if a man
could get a work by heart, he might print it, as by such an act the
mind is exercised. JOHNSON. 'No, sir; a man's repeating it no more
makes it his property, than a man may sell a cow which he drives
home.' I said, printing an abridgement of a work was allowed, which
was only cutting the horns and tail off the cow. JOHNSON. 'No, sir;
'tis making the cow have a calf.'

About eleven at night we arrived at Montrose. We found but a sorry
inn, where I myself saw another waiter put a lump of sugar with his
fingers into Dr Johnson's lemonade, for which he called him 'Rascal!'
It put me in great glee that our landlord was an Englishman. I rallied
the Doctor upon this, and he grew quiet. Both Sir John Hawkins's and
Dr Burney's History of Musick had then been advertised. I asked if
this was not unlucky: would not they hurt one another? JOHNSON. 'No,
sir. They will do good to one another. Some will buy the one, some the
other, and compare them; and so a talk is made about a thing, and the
books are sold.'

He was angry at me for proposing to carry lemons with us to Sky, that
he might be sure to have his lemonade. 'Sir,' said he, 'I do not wish
to be thought that feeble man who cannot do without any thing. Sir, it
is very bad manners to carry provisions to any man's house, as if he
could not entertain you. To an inferior, it is oppressive; to a
superior, it is insolent.'

Having taken the liberty, this evening, to remark to Dr Johnson, that
he very often sat quite silent for a long time, even when in company
with only a single friend, which I myself had sometimes sadly
experienced, he smiled and said, 'It is true, sir. Tom Tyers' (for so
he familiarly called our ingenious friend, who, since his death, has
paid a biographical tribute to his memory) 'Tom Tyers described me the
best. He once said to me, "Sir, you are like a ghost: you never speak
till you are spoken to" [Footnote: This description of Dr Johnson,
appears to have been borrowed from Tom Jones, Book XI. chap, ii. "The
other, who like a ghost, only wanted to be spoke to, readily
answered.' &c.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28