fon's part not to be mine, and pointed out exactly. where it began, and where it ended. Dr. Johnson faid, "It is much, now, that his lordship can diftinguish fo." In Dr. Johnson's Vanity of Human Wishes, there is the following passage: "The teeming mother, anxious for her race, Begs, for each birth, the fortune of a face : "Yet Vane could tell, what ills from beauty fpring; Lord Hailes told him, he was mistaken in the inftances he had given of unfortunate fair ones; for neither Vane nor Sedley had a title to that defcription. His Lordfhip has fince been fo obliging as to fend me a note of this, for the communication of which I am fure my readers will thank me. "The lines in the tenth Satire of Juvenal, ac"cording to my alteration, fhould have run thus: "The first was a penitent by compulfion, the "fecond by fentiment; though the truth is, Made"moiselle de la Valiere threw herself (but ftill from fentiment) in the King's way. "Our friend chofe Vane, who was far from being "well-looked; and Sedley, who was fo ugly, that "Charles II. faid, his brother had her by way of penance." 66 Mr. Maclaurin's learning and talents enabled him to do his part very well in Dr. Johnson's company. He produced two epitaphs upon his father, the celebrated D 3 *Miftrefs of Edward IV. Mistress of Louis XIV. lebrated mathematician. One was in English, of which Dr. Johnson did not change one word. In the other, which was in Latin, he made feveral alterations. In place of the very words of Virgil, "Ubi luctus et pavor et plurima mortis imago," he wrote "Ubi lulus regnant et pavor." He introduced the word prorfus into the line "Mortalibus prorfus non abfit folatium" and after "Hujus enim fcripta evolve, he added, " Mentemque tantarum rerum capacem corpori caduco fuperftitem crede;" which is quite applicable to Dr. Johnson himself.* Mr. Murray, advocate, who married a niece of Lord Mansfield's and is now one of the Judges of Scotland, by the title of Lord Henderland, fat with us a part of the evening; but did not venture to fay any thing, that I remember, though he is certainly poffeffed of talents which would have enabled him to have fhewn himself to advantage, if too great anxiety had not prevented him. At fupper we had Dr. Alexander Webster, who, though not learned, had such a knowledge of mankind, such a fund of information and entertainment, fo clear a head and fuch accommodating manners, that * Mr. Maclaurin's epitaph, as engraved on a marble tombstone, in the Gray-Friars church-yard, Edinburgh: that Dr. Johnson found him a very agreeable companion. When Dr. Johnson and I were left by ourselves, I read to him my notes of the Opinions of our Judges upon the queftions of Literary Property. He did not like them; and faid, "they make me think of your Judges not with that refpect which I fhould wish to do." To the argument of one of them, that there can be no property in blafphemy or nonsense, he anfwered, "then your rotten sheep are mine! By that rule, when a man,s houfe falls into decay, he must lofe it. "—I mentioned an argument of mine, that literary performances are not taxed. As Churchill fays, "No statesman yet has thought it worth his pains and therefore they are not property." Yet, (faid he,) we hang a man for stealing a horse, and horfes are not taxed."-Mr. Pitt has fince put an end to that argument. Wednesday 18th Auguft. On this day we fet out from Edinburgh. We fhould gladly have had Mr. Scott to go with us; but he was obliged to return to England. I have given a fketch of Dr. Johnfon: my readers may wish to know a little of his fellow traveller. Think then, of a gentleman of ancient blood, the pride of which was his predominant paffion. He was then in his thirty-third year, and had been about four years happily married. His inclination was to be a foldier; but his father, a refpectable Judge, had preffed him into the profeffion of the law. He had travelled a good deal, and feen many varieties of human life. He had thought more than any body fuppofed, and had a pretty good stock of general learning and knowledge. He had all Dr. Johnson's principles, with fome degree of relaxation. He had rather too little, than too much prudence, and, his imagination being lively, he often faid things of which the effect was very different from the intention. He refembled fometimes "The best good man, with the worst natur'd mufe." He cannot deny himself the vanity of finishing with the encomium of Dr. Johnson, whose friendly partiality to the companion of his Tour represents him as one," whofe acutenefs would help my inquiry, and whofe gaiety of converfation, and civility of manners, are fufficient to counteract the inconveniences of travel, in countries less hofpitable than we have paffed." Dr. Johnson thought it unneceffary to put himfelf to the additional expence of bringing with him Francis Barber, his faithful black fervant; fo we were attended only by my man, Jofeph Ritter, a Bohemian; a fine ftately fellow above fix feeţ high, who had been over a great part of Europe, and spoke many languages. He was the beft fervant I ever faw. Let not my readers disdain his introduction! For Dr. Johnfon gave him this character: "Sir, he is a civil man, and a wife man." From an erroneous apprehenfion of violence, Dr. Johnfon had provided a pair of piftols, fome gunpowder, and a quantity of bullets: but upon being affured we should run no risk of meeting any robbers, he left his arms and ammunition in an open drawer, drawer, of which he gave my wife the charge. He alfo left in that drawer one volume of a pretty full and curious Diary of his Life, of which I have a few fragments; but the book has been destroyed. I wish female curiofity had been strong enough to have had it all tranfcribed, which might easily have been done; and I fhould think the theft, being pro bono publico, might have been forgiven. But I may be wrong. My wife told me fhe never once looked into it. She did not feem quite eafy when we left her but away we went! Mr. Nairne, advocate, was to go with us as far as St. Andrews. It gives me pleasure that, by mentioning his name, I connect his title to the just and handsome compliment paid him by Dr. Johnson, in his book: "A gentleman who could ftay with us only long enough to make us know how much we loft by his leaving us." When we came to Leith, I talked with perhaps too boafting an air, how pret ty the Frith of Forth looked; as indeed, after the profpect from Conftantinople, of which I have been told, and that from Naples, which I have seen, I believe the view of that Frith and its environs, from the Castle-hill of Edinburgh, is the finest profpect in Europe. "Ay, (faid Dr. Johnfon,) that is the ftate of the world. Water is the fame every where. Una eft injufti cærula forma maris*." I told him the port here was the mouth of the river or water of Leith. "Not Lethe," said Mr. * Non illic urbes, non tu mirabere filvas: Una eft injufti cærula forma maris. Nairne, Ovid. Amor: L. II. El. xi. Nor groves nor towns the ruthlefs ocean fhows; |