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of his salary, enabled him to be splendidly hospitable. Tour to It may be fortunate for an individual amongst ourselves to be lord chief baron, and a most worthy man' now has the office; but, in my opinion, it is better for Scotland in general, that some of our publick employments should be filled by gentlemen of distinction from the south side of the Tweed, as we have the benefit of promotion in England. Such an interchange would make a beneficial mixture of manners, and render our union more complete. Lord Chief Baron Orde was on good terms with us all, in a narrow country, filled with jarring interests and keen parties; and, though I well knew his opinion to be the same with my own, he kept himself aloof at a very critical period indeed, when the Douglas cause shook the sacred security of birthright in Scotland to its foundation; a cause, which had it happened before the union, when there was no appeal to a British House of Lords, would have left the great fortress of honours and of property in ruins.

When we got home, Dr. Johnson desired to see my books. He took down Ogden's Sermons on Prayer, on which I set a very high value, having been much edified by them, and he retired with them to his room. He did not stay long, but soon joined us in the drawing-room. I presented to him Mr. Robert Arbuthnot, a relation of the celebrated Dr.

[James Montgomery, created a baronet in 1801, on his resignation of the office of chief baron.-ED.]

[It must be recollected that Mr. Boswell was not only counsel, but a violent partisan in this cause. There was, in fact, no attempt at "shaking the sacred security of birthright." The question was, "to whom the birthright belonged; that is, whether Mr. Douglas was or was not the son of those he called his father and mother.-ED]

3 [Robert Arbuthnot, Esq. was secretary to the board of trustees for the encouragement of the arts and manufactures of Scotland; in this office he was succeeded by his son William, lord provost of Edinburgh when King George the Fourth visited Scotland, who was made a baronet on that occasion, and has lately died much lamented. Both father and son were accomplished gentlemen, and elegant scholars.-WALTER SCOTT.]

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Tour to Arbuthnot, and a man of literature and taste. Το him we were obliged for a previous recommendation, which secured us a very agreeable reception at St. Andrews, and which Dr. Johnson, in his "Journey,” ascribes to "some invisible friend."

Of Dr. Beattie, Mr. Johnson said, "Sir, he has written like a man conscious of the truth, and feeling his own strength. Treating your adversary with respect, is giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled. The greatest part of men cannot judge of reasoning, and are impressed by character; so that, if you allow your adversary a respectable character, they will think, that though you differ from him, you may be in the wrong. Sir, treating your adversary with respect, is striking soft in a battle. And as to Hume, a man who has so much conceit as to tell all mankind that they have been bubbled for ages, and he is the wise man who sees better than they-a man who has so little scrupulosity as to venture to oppose those principles which have been thought necessary to human happinessis he to be surprised if another man comes and laughs at him? If he is the great man he thinks himself, all this cannot hurt him: it is like throwing peas against a rock.” He added "something much too rough," both as to Mr. Hume's head and heart, which I suppress'. Violence is, in my opinion, not suitable to the christian cause. Besides, I always lived on good terms with Mr. Hume, though I have frankly told him, I was not clear that it was right in me to keep company with him. "But," said I,

[It may be supposed that it was somewhat like what Mrs. Piozzi relates that he said of an eminent infidel, whose name she does not give, but who was probably either Hume or Gibbon (Malone thought Gibbon). "You will at least," said some one, "allow him the lumières." "Just enough," replied the doctor, "to light him to hell.'-Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 72.-ED.]

"how much better are you than your books!"
was cheerful, obliging, and instructive; he was chari-
table to the poor; and many an agreeable hour have
I passed with him. I have preserved some enter-
taining and interesting memoirs of him, particularly
when he knew himself to be dying, which I may
some time or other communicate to the world. I
shall not, however, extol him so very highly as Dr.
Adam Smith does, who says, in a letter to Mr.
Strahan, the printer (not a confidential letter to his
friend, but a letter which is published with all
formality): "Upon the whole, I have always consi-
dered him, both in his lifetime and since his death,
as approaching as nearly to the idea of a perfectly
wise and virtuous man as perhaps the nature of
human frailty will permit." Let Dr. Smith consider,
Was not Mr. Hume blest with good health, good
spirits, good friends, a competent and increasing for-
tune? And had he not also a perpetual feast of
fame? But, as a learned friend has observed to me,
"What trials did he undergo, to prove the perfection
of his virtue? Did he ever experience any great
instance of adversity?" When I read this sentence,
delivered by my old professor of moral philosophy, I

This letter, though shattered by the sharp shot of Dr. Horne of Oxford's wit, in the character of "One of the People called Christians," is still prefixed to Mr. Hume's excellent History of England, like a poor invalid on the piquet guard, or like a list of quack medicines sold by the same bookseller, by whom a work of whatever nature is published; for it has no connexion with his History, let it have what it may with what are called his Phil sophical Works. A worthy friend of mine in London was lately consulted by a lady of quality, of most distinguished merit, what was the best History of England for her son to read. My friend recommended Hume's. But upon recollecting that its usher was a superlative panegyrick on one, who endeavoured to sap the credit of our holy religion, he revoked his recommendation. I am really sorry for this ostentatious alliance; because I admire "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," and value the greatest part of "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations." Why should such a writer be so forgetful of human comfort, as to give any countenance to that dreary infidelity which would "make us poor indeed!"-BoswELL.

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Tour to could not help exclaiming with the Psalmist, "Surely I have now more understanding than my teachers!" While we were talking, there came a note to me from Dr. William Robertson.

“DEAR SIR,—I have been expecting every day to hear from you of Dr. Johnson's arrival. Pray, what do you know about his motions? I long to take him by the hand. I write this from the college, where I have only this scrap of paper. Ever yours, "W. R.

"Sunday."

It pleased me to find Dr. Robertson thus eager to meet Dr. Johnson. I was glad I could answer that he was come; and I begged Dr. Robertson might be with us as soon as he could.

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Sir William Forbes, Mr. Scott, Mr. Arbuthnot, and another gentleman, dined with us. 'Come, Dr. Johnson," said I, "it is commonly thought that our veal in Scotland is not good. But here is some which I believe you will like." There was no catching him. JOHNSON. "Why, sir, what is commonly thought, I should take to be true. Your veal may be good; but that will only be an exception to the general opinion, not a proof against it."

Dr. Robertson, according to the custom of Edinburgh at that time, dined in the interval between the forenoon and afternoon service, which was then later than now; so we had not the pleasure of his company til dinner was over, when he came and drank wine with us; and then began some animated dialogue, of which here follows a pretty full note.

We talked of Mr. Burke. Dr. Johnson said, he had great variety of knowledge, store of imagery, copiousness of language. ROBERTSON. "He has wit too." JOHNSON. "No, sir; he never succeeds there. "Tis low; 'tis conceit. I used to I used to say, Burke

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never once made a good joke'. What I most envy Tour
Burke for is, his being constantly the same. He is

This was one of the points upon which Dr. Johnson was strangely heterodox.
For surely Mr. Burke, with his other remarkable qualities, is also distinguished
for his wit, and for wit of all kinds too; not merely that power of language which
Pope chooses to denominate wit:

"True wit is Nature to advantage dress'd;

What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd;"

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but surprising allusions, brilliant sallies of vivacity, and pleasant conceits. His
speeches in parliament are strewed with them. Take, for instance, the variety
which he has given in his wide range, yet exact detail, when exhibiting his re-
form bill. And his conversation abounds in wit. Let me put down a specimen. I
told him I had seen, at a blue stocking assembly, a number of ladies sitting round
a worthy and tall friend of ours [Mr. Langton], listening to his literature. " Ay,"
said he, "like maids round a May-pole." I told him, I had found out a perfect
definition of human nature, as distinguished from the animal. An ancient
philosopher said, man was "a two-legged animal without feathers;" upon which
his rival sage had a cock plucked bare, and set him down in the school before
all the disciples, as a philosophick man." Dr. Franklin said, man was "a
tool-making animal," which is very well; for no animal but man makes a thing,
by means of which he can make another thing. But this applies to very few of
the species. My definition of man is," a cooking animal." The beasts have
memory, judgment, and all the faculties and passions of our mind, in a certain
degree; but no beast is a cook. The trick of the monkey using the cat's paw
to roast a chestnut is only a piece of shrewd malice in that turpissima bestia,
which humbles us so sadly by its similarity to us. Man alone can dress a good
dish; and every man whatever is more or less a cook, in seasoning what he him-
self eats. "Your definition is good," said Mr. Burke, “and I now see the full
force of the common proverb, There is reason in roasting of eggs.' When
Mr. Wilkes, in his days of tumultuous opposition, was borne upon the shoulders
of the mob, Mr. Burke (as Mr. Wilkes told me himself, with classical admira-
tion) applied to him what Horace says of Pindar,

Sir Joshua Reynolds, who agrees with me entirely as to Mr. Burke's fertility of wit, said, that this was "dignifying a pun." He also observed, that he has often heard Burke say, in the course of an evening, ten good things, each of which would have served a noted wit (whom he named) to live upon for a twelvemonth.

I find, since the former edition, that some persons have objected to the instances which I have given of Mr. Burke's wit, as not doing justice to my very ingenious friend; the specimens produced having, it is alleged, more of conceit than real wit, and being merely sportive sallies of the moment, not justifying the encomium which they think, with me, he undoubtedly merits. I was well aware, how hazardous it was to exhibit particular instances of wit, which is of so airy and spiritual a nature as often to elude the hand that attempts to grasp it. The excellence and efficacy of a bon mot depend frequently so much on the occasion on which it is spoken, on the particular manner of the speaker, on the person of whom it is applied, the previous introduction, and a thousand minute particulars which cannot be easily enumerated, that it is always dangerous to detach a witty saying from the group to which it belongs, and to set it before the eye of the spectator, divested of those concomitant circumstances, which gave it animation, mellowness, and relief. I ventured, however, at all hazards, to put down the first instances that occurred to me, as proofs of Mr. Burke's lively and brilliant fancy; but am very sensible that his numerous friends could have suggested many of a superior quality. Indeed, the being in company with him, for a single day, is sufficient to show that what I have asserted is well founded; and it was only necessary to have appealed to all who know him in