Aberdeen, viz. Sir Archibald Grant, has planted above fifty millions of trees on a piece of very wild ground at Monimusk: I must inquire if he has fenced them well, before he enters my list; for that is the soul of enclosing. I began myself to plant a little, our ground being too valuable for much, and that is now fifty years ago; and the trees, now in my seventy-fourth year, I look up to with reverence, and show them to my eldest son, now in his fifteenth year; and they are the full height of my country-house here, where I had the pleasure of receiving you, and hope again to have that satisfaction with our mutual friend, Mr. Boswell. I shall always continue, with the truest esteem, dear doctor, your much obliged and obedient humble servant, "ALEXANDER DICK '." "TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "18th February, 1777. "DEAR SIR,—It is so long since I heard any thing from you, that I am not easy about it; write something to me next post. When you sent your last letter, every thing seemed to be mending; I hope nothing has lately grown worse. I suppose young Alexander continues to thrive, and Veronica is now very pretty company. I do not suppose the lady is yet reconciled to me; yet let her know that I love her very well, and value her very much. "Dr. Blair is printing some sermons. If they are all like the first, which I have read, they are sermones aurei, ac auro magis aurei. It is excellently written both as to doctrine and language. Mr. Watson's book 3 seems to be much esteemed. * * "Poor Beauclerk still continues very ill. * Langton lives on as he used to do. His children are very pretty, and, I think, his lady loses her Scotch. Paoli I never see. "I have been so distressed by difficulty of breathing, that I lost, as was computed, six-and-thirty ounces of blood in a few days. I am better, but not well. "I wish you would be vigilant and get me Graham's Telemachus,' that was printed at Glasgow, a very little book; and 'Johnstoni Poemata',' another little book, printed at Middleburgh. For a character of this very amiable man, see ante, vol. ii. p. 283, and the Biographical Dictionary. He died in 1785.-BOSWELL. By the then course of the post, my long letter of the 14th had not yet reached him.-BOSWELL. 3 History of Philip the Second.-BOSWELL. 4 [Lady Rothes was a native of England, but she had lived long in Scotland, and never, is said, entirely lost the accent she had acquired there.-ED.] 5 [See ante, vol. ii. p. 328-ED.] "Mrs. Williams sends her compliments, and promises that when you come hither she will accommodate you as well as ever she can in the old room. She wishes to know whether you sent her book to Sir Alexander Gordon. My dear Boswell, do not neglect to write to me; for your kindness is one of the pleasures of my life, which I should be sorry to lose. I am, sir, your humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON.” Pemb. "TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. "Edinburgh, 24th February, 1777. "Dear sir,—Your letter dated the 18th instant, I had the pleasure to receive last post. Although my late long neglect, or rather delay, was truly culpable, I am tempted not to regret it, since it has produced me so valuable a proof of your regard. I did, indeed, during that inexcusable silence, sometimes divert the reproaches of my own mind, by fancying that I should hear again from you, inquiring with some anxiety about me, because, for aught you knew, I might have been ill. "You are pleased to show me that my kindness is of some consequence to you. My heart is elated at the thought. Be assured, my dear sir, that my affection and reverence for you are exalted and steady. I do not believe that a more perfect attachment ever existed in the history of mankind. And it is a noble attachment; for the attractions are genius, learning, and piety. "Your difficulty of breathing alarms me, and brings into my imagination an event, which, although, in the natural course of things, I must expect at some period, I cannot view with composure. My wife is much honoured by what you say of her. She begs you may accept of her best compliments. She is to send you some marmalade of oranges of her own making. "I ever am, my dear sir, your most obliged and faithful humble servant, "JAMES BOSWELL." ["DR. JOHNSON TO MRS. ASTON. "Bolt-court, Fleet-street, 8th March, 1777. "DEAR MADAM,-As we pass on through the journey of life, we meet, and ought to expect, many unpleasing occurrences, but many likewise encounter us unexpected. I have this morning heard from Lucy of your illness. I heard indeed in MS. the next sentence that you are to a great degree recovered. Pemb. May your recovery, dearest madam, be complete and lasting! The hopes of paying you the annual visit is one of the few solaces with which my imagination gratifies me, and my wish is, that I may find you happy. "My health is much broken; my nights are very restless, and will not be made more comfortable by remembering that one of the friends whom I value most is suffering equally with myself. "Be pleased, dearest lady, to let me know how you are; and if writing be troublesome, get dear Mrs. Gastrel to write for you. I hope she is well and able to assist you; and wish that you may so well recover, as to repay her kindness, if she should want you. May you both live long happy together! I am, dear madam, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."] "TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. "14th March, 1777. "DEAR SIR,-I have been much pleased with your late letter, and am glad that my old enemy, Mrs. Boswell, begins to feel some remorse. As to Miss Veronica's Scotch, I think it cannot be helped. An English maid you might easily have; but she would still imitate the greater number, as they would be likewise those whom she must most respect. Her dialect will not be gross. Her mamma has not much Scotch, and you have yourself very little. I hope she knows my name, and does not call me Johnston'. "The immediate cause of my writing is this: One Shaw, who seems a modest and a decent man, has written an Erse Grammar, which a very learned Highlander, Macbean, has, at my request, examined and approved. "The book is very little, but Mr. Shaw has been persuaded by his friends to set it at half a guinea, though I advised only a crown, and thought myself liberal. You, whom the authour considers as a great encourager of ingenious men, will receive a parcel of his proposals and receipts. I have undertaken to give you notice of them, and to solicit your countenance. ask no poor man, because the price is really too high. Yet such a work deserves patronage. You must Johnson is the most common English formation of the surname from John; Johnston the Scotch. My illustrious friend observed that many North Britons pronounced his name in their own way.-BoswELL. Pemb. "It is proposed to augment our club from twenty to thirty, of which I am glad; for as we have several in it whom I do not much like to consort with, I am for reducing it to a mere miscellaneous collection of conspicuous men, without any determinate character. * I am, dear sir, most affectionately yours, "SAM. JOHNSON. ["TO MRS. ASTON. "15th March, 1777. "DEAREST MADAM,-The letter with which I was favoured, by the kindness of Mrs. Gastrell, has contributed very little to quiet my solicitude. I am indeed more frighted than by Mrs. Porter's account. Yet since you have had strength to conquer your disorder so as to obtain a partial recovery, I think it reasonable to believe, that the favourable season which is now coming forward may restore you to your former health. Do not, dear madam, lose your courage, nor by despondence or inactivity give way to the disease. Use such exercise as you can bear, and excite cheerful thoughts in your own mind. Do not harass your faculties with laborious attention: nothing is, in my opinion, of more mischievous tendency in a state of body like yours, than deep meditation or perplexing solicitude. Gaiety is a duty, when health requires it. Entertain yourself as you can with small amusements or light conversation, and let nothing but your devotion ever make you serious. But while I exhort you, my dearest lady, to merriment, I am very serious myself. The loss or danger of a friend is not to be considered with indifference; but I derive some consolation from the thought, that you do not languish unattended; that you are not in the hands of strangers or servants, but have a sister at hand to watch your wants and supply them. If, at this distance, I can be of any use, by consulting physicians, or for any other purpose, I hope you will employ me. I have thought on a journey to Staffordshire; and hope, in a few weeks, to climb Stow Hill, and to find there the pleasure which I have so often found. Let me hear again from you. I am, dear madam, your most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON."] On account of their differing from him as to religion and politicks.-BosWELL. [Messrs. Burke, Beauclerk, Fox, &c. It was about this time that Mr. Sheridan, Lord Upper-Ossory, Dr. Barclay, and Mr. Dunning were admitted.-ED.] "MR. BOSWELL TO DR. JOHNSON. "Edinburgh, 4th April, 1777. After informing him of the death of my little son David, and that I could not come to London this spring: “I think it hard that I should be a whole year without seeing you. May I presume to petition for a meeting with you in the autumn? You have, I believe, seen all the cathedrals in England, except that of Carlisle. If you are to be with Dr. Taylor, at Ashbourne, it would not be a great journey to come thither. We may pass a few most agreeable days there by ourselves, and I will accompany you a good part of the way to the southward again. Pray think of this. "You forget that Mr. Shaw's Erse Grammar was put into your hands by myself last year. Lord Eglintoune put it into mine. I am glad that Mr. Macbean approves of it. I have received Mr. Shaw's proposals for its publication, which I can perceive are written by the hand of a master. "Pray get for me all the editions of Walton's Lives.' I have a notion that the republication of them with notes will fall upon me, between Dr. Horne and Lord Hailes '." Mr. Shaw's proposals † for an "Analysis of the Scotch Celtic Language" were thus illuminated by the pen of Johnson: "Though the Erse dialect of the Celtic language has, from the earliest times, been spoken in Britain, and still subsists in the northern parts and adjacent islands, yet, by the negligence of a people rather warlike than lettered, it has hitherto been left to the caprice and judgment of every speaker, and has floated in the living voice, without the steadiness of analogy, or direction of rules. An Erse grammar is an addition to the stores of literature; and its authour hopes for the indulgence always shown to those that attempt to do what was never done before. If his work shall be found defective, it is at least all None of the persons here mentioned executed the work which they had in contemplation. Walton's valuable book, however, has been correctly republished in quarto and octavo, with notes and illustrations by the Rev. Mr. Zouch.-MALONE. [It was also printed at the Clarendon press, in 1805, in two volumes, 12mo., and one vol. 8vo., 1824.-HALL.] |