England her American colonies. Lord North was not a great speaker, but his high courage, his abundant common sense, his ready wit, his equanimity of temper, supplied the higher qualities of statesmanship, and in other times he might have left behind him a reputation very different from that which he now occupies in history. During his long term of office he was confronted by an opposition that numbered among its members Charles James Fox, Burke, Dunning, and in later times the younger Pitt, and against this powerful array of orators he was able to hold his own.

Johnson's pamphlet was followed by many others on the same subject, but there was one which soon attracted universal attention. "The Thoughts on the Cause of the present Discontents " appeared on the 24th of April, and a second edition was issued on the 29th of the same month. It was published anonymously, but it was unnecessary to give the name of its author. There was

no man living at that time, who could have written such a work, but Edmund Burke. It is a masterpiece of political writing. Its moderation, its impartial tone, its clear logic, and its powerful array of facts, made it impossible to answer, and it is still the best source of information for a knowledge of the history of that time.

"The False Alarm" was followed in 1771 by "Thoughts on the late Transactions respecting Falkland's Islands." The circumstances connected with the rival claims of England and Spain for the possession of these barren islands have long been forgotten, and probably few persons now know in what part of the world they are situated. But Johnson's pamphlet is still interesting from

the excellent geographical and historical account of the place, and from the powerful invective which it contains against Funius, who remained, however, silent under the

attack.

Johnson's health and spirits had much improved from his visits to the Thrales. He mixed now a great deal in society, and made pretty frequent excursions to Lichfield. For some time he had meditated a journey to the Hebrides, and Boswell, who was in London in 1773, constantly pressed him to carry out the project. It was in this year that the biographer dined at Johnson's house on Easter Day. "I had gratified my curiosity much," he writes, "in dining with Jean Jacques Rousseau while he lived in the wilds of Neufchâtel. I had a great curiosity to dine with Dr. Samuel Johnson in the dusky recesses of a court in Fleet Street. I supposed we should scarcely have knives and forks, and only some strange, uncouth, and ill-drest dish. But I found everything in very good order." Foote, in allusion to Francis Barber, the negro servant, suggested that the dinner would consist of black broth, but the bill of fare, as given by Boswell, contained soup, a boiled leg of lamb and spinach, a veal pie, and a rice pudding.

Boswell left London in May, and, soon after his arrival in Scotland, wrote a pressing letter to Johnson, begging him to persevere in the visit to the Hebrides. Mrs. Thrale, too, used her influence in the matter, and on the 14th of August Johnson arrived in Edinburgh. The tour extended over two months, and must have been a strange experience to Johnson. He had on some occasions to undergo serious hardships, and even dangers, but he

derived no harm from his exertions, which for a man of sixty-four were pretty severe. On the very day after his arrival in London he wrote, "I came home last night without incommodity, danger, or weariness, and am ready to begin a new journey." Johnson's own account of the tour was not published till January, 1775. It is a plain, straightforward history of what he saw and did, related in characteristic language, and with not a few sarcastic sallies on the country and its inhabitants. It has no great literary value, but it may still be read with interest as a genuine description of the impressions which a visit to the wild scenes of the Hebrides produced on the mind of a man who thought that "the full tide of existence was at Charing Cross."

I

CHAPTER VII.

N 1774 Johnson accompanied the Thrales on a Welsh tour, and on the way the party stopped at Lichfield, where he introduced his travelling companions to his step-daughter, Lucy Porter; to Peter Garrick, the brother of the great actor; to Mrs. Elizabeth Aston, the unmarried sister of his former flame, Molly Aston (now Mrs. Brodie); and to other residents of his native city. From Lichfield they went to Ashbourne, and passed a Sunday with Dr. Taylor. Boswell was not aware that Johnson during this time kept a diary, which has been since brought to light. After his death this interesting manuscript came into the possession of his servant, Francis Barber, and it was published by Mr. Duppa in 1816.

In the autumn of the following year Johnson went with the Thrales to Paris, and passed several weeks in visiting the sights of the place. A trip, too, was made to Versailles, where they saw the King and Queen at dinner, and Marie Antoinette must have made Mrs. Thrale very proud and happy by sending one of the gentlemen of the Court to ask the name of her daughter, Queenie Thrale. Boswell was very anxious for Johnson to publish an

account of the visit to France, but he wisely refused to comply with the suggestion. Such a book, he said, would have an interest for Reynolds and the other members of the "Club," but would contain nothing that was not known already. One event, however, recorded in the journal, which he kept during his stay in Paris, deserves to be mentioned, on account of its literary interest. At the English convent of the order of St. Augustine, he had some conversation with the niece of Arabella Fermor, who, under the name of "Belinda," is immortalized in Pope's "Rape of the Lock." The lady of the convent was not, however, proud of her aunt's celebrity, and considered Pope's poem rather an insult than an honour. Another incident, of no importance in itself, has given rise to so much controversy that it cannot be passed over in silence. A visit was paid to the house of a Madame d'Argenson, and Johnson, like the Spectator in Leonora's library, examined the books in the lady's closet. Amongst them was the "Histoire du Prince Titi," and on this Mr. Croker observes in a note, “The history of Prince Titi' was said to be the autobiography of Frederick, Prince of Wales, but was probably written by Ralph, his secretary. (See Parks' 'Royal and Noble Authors,' vol. i. p. 171)." On this Lord Macaulay remarks, "A more absurd note was never penned. The history of Prince Titi to which Mr. Croker refers, whether written by Prince Frederick or by Ralph, was certainly never published. If Mr. Croker had taken the trouble to read with attention the very passage in Parks' 'Royal and Noble Authors' which he cites as his authority, he would have seen that the MS. was given up to the Govern