Hebrid. Tour to It may be objected by some persons, as it has been by one of my friends, that he who has the power of thus exhibiting an exact transcript of conversations is not a desirable member of society. I repeat the answer which I made to that friend: "Few, very few, need be afraid that their sayings will be recorded. Can it be imagined that I would take the trouble to gather what grows on every hedge, because I have collected such fruits as the Nonpareil and the BON CHRETIEN?" On the other hand, how useful is such a faculty, if well exercised. To it we owe all those interesting apophthegms and memorabilia of the ancients, which Plutarch, Xenophon, and Valerius Maximus, have transmitted to us. To it we owe all those instructive and entertaining collections which the French have made under the title of "Ana," affixed to some celebrated name. To it we owe the "Table-Talk" of Selden, the "Conversation" between Ben Jonson and Drummond of Hawthornden, Spence's "Anecdotes of Pope," and other valuable remains in our own language. How delighted should we have been, if thus introduced into the company of Shakspeare and of Dryden, of whom we know scarcely any thing but their admirable writings! What pleasure would it have given us, to have known their petty habits, their characteristick manners, their modes of composition, and their genuine opinion of preceding writers and of their contemporaries! All these are now irrecoverably lost. Considering how many of the strongest and most brilliant effusions of exalted intellect must have perished, how much is it to be regretted that all men of distinguished wisdom and wit have not been attended by friends, of taste enough to relish, and abilities enough to register their conversation : Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona Multi, sed omnes illacrymabiles Nocte, carent quia vate sacro. They whose inferior exertions are recorded, as serving to explain or illustrate the sayings of such men, may be proud of being thus associated, and of their names being transmitted to posterity, by being appended to an illustrious character. Before I conclude, I think it proper to say, that I have suppressed' every thing which I thought could really hurt any one now living. Vanity and selfconceit indeed may sometimes suffer. With respect to what is related, I considered it my duty to "extenuate nothing, nor set down ought in malice;" and with those lighter strokes of Dr. Johnson's satire, proceeding from a warmth and quickness of imagination, not from any malevolence of heart, and which, on account of their excellence, could not be omitted, 1 Having found, on a revision of the first edition of this work, that, notwithstanding my best care, a few observations had escaped me, which arose from the instant impression, the publication of which might perhaps be considered as passing the bounds of a strict decorum, I immediately ordered that they should be omitted in the subsequent editions. I was pleased to find that they did not amount in the whole to a page. If any of the same kind are yet left, it is owing to inadvertence alone, no man being more unwilling to give pain to others than I am. A contemptible scribbler, of whom I have learned no more than that, after having disgraced and deserted the clerical character, he picks up in London a scanty livelihood by scurrilous lampoons under a feigned name, has impudently and falsely asserted that the passages omitted were defamatory, and that the omission was not voluntary, but compulsory. The last insinuation I took the trouble publickly to disprove; yet, like one of Pope's dunces, he persevered in "the lie o'erthrown." As to the charge of defamation, there is an obvious and certain mode of refuting it. Any person who thinks it worth while to compare one edition with the other will find that the passages omitted were not in the least degree of that nature, but exactly such as I have represented them in the former part of this note, the hasty effusion of momentary feelings, which the delicacy of politeness should have suppressed.-BOSWELL. [The only passages of this kind that the editor has observed are those relating to Sir Alexander Macdonald, ante, v. ii. p. 380, and to Mr. Tytler, ante, p. 83.-ED. I believe the scribbler alluded to was William Thompson, author of the "Man in the Moon," and other satirical novels, half clever, half crazy kind of works. He was once a member of the kirk of Scotland, but being deposed by the presbytery of Auchterarder, became an author of all works in London, could seldom finish a work, on whatever subject, without giving a slap by the way to that same presbytery with the unpronounceable name. Boswell's denial of having retracted upon compulsion refutes what was said by Peter Pindar and others about "M'Donald's rage."-WALTER SCOTT.] Tour to Hebrid. that they who are the subject of them have good and good temper enough not to be displeased. I have only to add, that I shall ever reflect with great pleasure on a Tour, which has been the means of preserving so much of the enlightened and instructive conversation of one whose virtues will, I hope, ever be an object of imitation, and whose powers of mind were so extraordinary, that ages may revolve before such a man shall again appear. His stay in Scotland was from the 18th of August, on which day he arrived, till the 22d of November, when he set out on his return to London; and I believe ninety-four days were never passed by any man in a more vigorous exertion. * * 1 1. He saw the four universities of Scotland, its three principal cities, and as much of the Highland and insular life as was sufficient for his philosophical contemplation. He was respectfully entertained by the great, the 1 [Here followed in the original text: "He came by the way of Berwickupon-Tweed to Edinburgh, where he remained a few days, and then went by St. Andrews, Aberdeen, Inverness, and Fort Augustus, to the Hebrides, to visit which was the principal object he had in view. He visited the isles of Sky, Rasay, Col, Mull, Inchkenneth, and Icolmkill. He travelled through Argyleshire by Inverary, and from thence by Lochlomond and Dunbarton to Glasgow, then by Loudon to Auchinleck in Ayrshire, the seat of my family, and then by Hamilton, back to Edinburgh, where he again spent some time. I had the pleasure of accompanying him during the whole of his journey." These sentences, and another subsequent paragraph, are removed from the text, as rendered superfluous by the insertion of the Tour, but are preserved in the notes, that the whole of Mr. Boswell's original work may be preserved in this edition.-ED.] The authour was not a small gainer by this extraordinary Journey; for Dr. Johnson thus writes to Mrs. Thrale, 3d Nov. 1773: "Boswell will praise my resolution and perseverance, and I shall in return celebrate his good humour and perpetual cheerfulness. He has better faculties than I had imagined; more justness of discernment, and more fecundity of images. It is very convenient to travel with him; for there is no house where he is not received with kindness and respect."-Let. 90, to Mrs. Thrale.—MALONE. [The editor asked Lord Stowell in what estimation he found Boswell amongst his countrymen. "Generally liked as a good-natured jolly fellow," replied his lordship. "But was he respected ?" "Why, I think he had about the proportion of respect that you might guess would be shown to a jolly fellow." His lordship evidently thought that there was more regard than respect.-ED.] learned, and the elegant, wherever he went; nor was he less delighted with the hospitality which he experienced in humbler life1. His various adventures, and the force and vivacity of his mind, as exercised during this peregrination, upon innumerable topicks, have been faithfully, and to the best of my abilities, displayed in [the foregoing] "Journal of our Tour," * *2 which exhibits as striking a view of his powers in conversation, as his works do of his excellence in writing. Nor can I deny to myself the very flattering gratification of inserting here the character which my friend Mr. Courtenay has been pleased to give of that work: "With Reynolds' pencil, vivid, bold, and true, And Samuel sings, The king shall have his ain.'” During his stay at Edinburgh, after his return from the Hebrides, he was at great pains to obtain information concerning Scotland; and it will appear from his subsequent letters, that he was not less solicitous for intelligence on this subject after his return to London. [He was long remembered amongst the lower orders of Hebrideans by the title of the Sassenach More, the big Englishman.-WALTER SCOTT.] [Here followed in the original text, "to the Hebrides, to which, as the public has been pleased to honour it by a very extensive circulation, I beg leave to refer, as to a separate and remarkable portion of his life, which may be there seen in detail, and "-ED.] 3" The celebrated Flora Macdonald."-COURTENAY. “TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "27th Nov. 1773. "DEAR SIR,—I came home last night, without any incommodity, danger, or weariness, and am ready to begin a new journey. I shall go to Oxford on Monday. I know Mrs. Boswell wished me well to go1; her wishes have not been disappointed. Mrs. Williams has received Sir A.'s2 letter. "Make my compliments to all those to whom my compliments may be welcome. "Let the box be sent as soon as it can, and let me know when to expect it. “Inquire, if you can, the order of the clans: Macdonald is first*, Maclean second; further I cannot go. Quicken Dr. Webster. I am, sir, yours affectionately, "SAM. JOHNSON." "MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. "Edinburgh, 2d Dec. 1773. "You shall have what information I can procure as to the order of the clans. A gentleman of the name of Grant tells In this he showed a very acute penetration. My wife paid him the most assiduous and respectful attention while he was our guest; so that I wonder how he discovered her wishing for his departure. The truth is, that his irregular hours and uncouth habits, such as turning the candles with their heads downwards, when they did not burn bright enough, and letting the wax drop upon the carpet, could not but be disagreeable to a lady. Besides, she had not that high admiration of him which was felt by most of those who knew him; and what was very natural to a female mind, she thought he had too much influence over her husband. She once, in a little warmth, made, with more point than justice, this remark upon that subject: "I have seen many a bear led by a man; but I never before saw a man led by a bear."-BOSWELL. [The reader will, however, hereafter see that the repetition of this observation as to Mrs. Boswell's feelings towards him was made so frequently and pertinaciously, as is hardly reconcilable with good taste and good manners. ED.] * Sir Alexander Gordon, one of the professors at Aberdeen.-Boswell. 3 This was a box containing a number of curious things which he had picked up in Scotland, particularly some horn-spoons.-BOSWELL. 4 [The Macdonalds always laid claim to be placed on the right of the whole clans, and those of that tribe assign the breach of this order at Culloden as one cause of the loss of the day. The Macdonalds, placed on the left wing, refused to charge, and positively left the field unassailed and unbroken. Lord George Murray in vain endeavoured to urge them on by saying that their behaviour would make the left the right, and that he himself would take the name of Macdonald. On this subject there are some curious notices, in a very interesting journal written by one of the seven men of Moidart, as they were called Macdonalds of the Clanronald sept, who were the first who declared for the prince at his landing in their chief's country. It is in the Lockhart papers, vol. ii. p. 510.-WALTER SCOTT.] 5 The Reverend Dr. Alexander Webster, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, a man of distinguished abilities, who had promised him information concerning the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.-BOSWELL. [See ante, vol. ii. p. 286. -ED.] |