Thursday, 28th October. Mr. Smollet pleased Dr. Johnson, by producing a collection of news-papers in the time of the Usurpation, from which it appeared that all sorts of crimes were very frequent during that horrible anarchy. By the side of the high road to Glasgow, at some distance from his house, he had erected a pillar to the memory of his ingenious kinsman, Dr. Smollet; and he consulted Dr. Johnson as to an inscription for it. Lord Kames, who, though he had a great store of knowledge, with much ingenuity, and uncommon activity of mind, was no profound scholar, had it seems recommended an English inscription. Dr. Johnson treated this with great contempt, saying "An English inscriptian would be a disgrace to Dr. Smollet ;" and in answer to what Lord Kames had urged, as to the advantage of its being in English, because it would be generally understood, I observed, that all to whom Dr. Smollet's merit could be an object of respect and imitation, would understand it as well in Latin; and that surely it was not meant for the Highland drovers, or other such people, who pass and repass that way. We were then shewn a Latin inscription, proposed for this monument. Dr. Johnson sat down with an ardent and liberal earnestness to revise it, and greatly improved it by several additions and variations. I unfortunately did not take a copy of it, as it originally stood; but I have happily preserved every fragment of what Dr. Johnson wrote: Quisquis ades, viator, Vel mente felix, vel studiis cultus, Viri iis virtutibus Quas in nomine et cive * * Postquam mira *** Se * Tali tantoque viro, suo patrueli, *** Hanc columnam, Amoris eheu! inane monumentum, Quas primis infans vagitibus personuit, ** Ponendam curavit* * * *The epitaph which has been inscribed on the pillar erected on the banks of the Leven, in honour of Dr. Smollet, 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, Quas in homine et cive Morte acerba raptus Anno ætatis 51 We had this morning a singular proof of Dr. Johnson's quick and retentive memory. Hay's translation of Eheu! quam procul a patria! Tali tantoque viro, patrueli, suo, Amoris, eheu! inane monumentum Quas versiculis sub exitu vitæ illustratas JACOBUS SMOLLET de Bonhill. Hoc quidem honore, Non modo defuncti memoriæ, Verum etiam exemplo, prospectum esse : Aliis enim, si modo digni sint, Idem erit virtutis præmium! That the reader might be enabled to judge of the propriety of the additions made by Dr. Johnson to the epitaph on Mr. Maclaurin, mentioned in p. 35, I wished to have inserted it at large, but being at a distance from the press when the former part of this work was printed, the note intended for that page did not arrive in time. I shall therefore introduce it here. Mr. Maclaurin's epitaph, as engraved on a marble tomb-stone, in the GreyFriars church-yard, Edinburgh: Infra situs est COLIN MACLAURIN, Non ut nomini paterno consulat, Ubi luctus regnant et pavor, Corpori caduco superstitem crede. Martial was lying in a window. I said, I thought it was pretty well done, and shewed him a particular epigram, I think, of ten, but am certain of eight, lines. He read it, and tossed away the book saying "No, it is not pretty well." As I persisted in my opinion, he said, "Why, sir, the original is thus,"-(and he repeated it;)"and this man's translation is thus,❞—and then he repeated that also, exactly, though he had never seen it before, and read it over only once, and that too, without any intention of getting it by heart. Here a post-chaise, which I had ordered from Glasgow, came for us, and we drove on in high spirits. We stopped at Dunbarton, and though the approach to the castle there is very steep, Dr. Johnson ascended it with alacrity, and surveyed all that was to be seen. During the whole of our Tour he shewed uncommon spirit, could not bear to be treated like an old or infirm man, and was very unwilling to accept of any assistance, insomuch that, at our landing on Icolmkill, when Sir Allan M'Lean and I submitted to be carried on men's shoulders from the boat to the shore, as it could not be brought quite close to land, he sprang into the sea, and waded vigorously out. On our arrival at the Saracen's Head Inn, at Glas- · gow, I was made happy by good accounts from home; and Dr. Johnson, who had not received a single letter since we left Aberdeen, found here a great many, the perusal of which entertained him much. He enjoyed in imagination the comforts which we could now command, and seemed to be in high glee. I remember, he put a leg up on each side of the grate, and said, with a mock solemnity, by way of soliloquy, but loud enough for me to hear it, "Here am I, an ENGLISH man, sitting by a coal fire !” Friday, 29th October. The professors of the university being informed of our arrival, Dr. Stevenson, Dr. Reid, and Mr. Anderson, breakfasted with us. Mr. Anderson accompanied us while Dr. Johnson viewed this beautiful city. He had told me, that one day in London, when Dr. Adam Smith was boasting of it, he turned to him and said, "Pray, sir, have you ever seen Brentford ?"-This was surely a strong instance of his impatience, and spirit of contradiction. I put him in mind of it to-day, while he expressed his admiration of the elegant buildings, and whispered him, "Don't you feel some remorse ?" We were received in the college by a number of the professors, who shewed all due respect to Dr. Johnson; and then we paid a visit to the principal, Dr. Leechman, at his own house, where Dr. Johnson had the satisfaction of being told that his name had been gratefully celebrated in one of the parochial congregations in the Highlands, as the person to whose influence it was chiefly owing, that the New Testament was allowed to be translated into the Erse language. It seems some political members of the Society in Scotland for propagating Christian Knowledge, had opposed this pious undertaking, as tending to preserve the distinction between the Highlanders and Lowlanders. Dr. Johnson wrote a long letter upon the subject to a friend, which being shewn to them, made them ashamed, and afraid of being publickly exposed; so they were forced to a compli ance. It is now in my possession, and is, perhaps, one of the best productions of his masterly pen. Professors Reid and Anderson, and the two Messieurs Foulis, the Elzevirs of Glasgow, dined and drank |