Boswell's version, and alludes, happily I think, to the prayers having been read by the young lady.... The line as it stands in the Works [Sint pro legitimis pura labella sacris, i. 167], is substituted in Mr. Langton's hand.... As I have reason to believe that Mr. Langton assisted in editing these Latin poemata, I conclude that these alterations were his own.'
[871] The learned and worthy Dr. Lawrence, whom Dr. Johnson respected and loved as his physician and friend. BOSWELL. 'Dr. Lawrence was descended, as Sir Egerton Brydges informs me, from Milton's friend ['Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son.' Milton's Sonnets, xx.]. One of his sons was Sir Soulden Lawrence, one of the Judges of the King's Bench.' Croker's Boswell, p. 734. See post, March 19, 1782.
[872] My friend has, in this letter, relied upon my testimony, with a confidence, of which the ground has escaped my recollection. BOSWELL. Lord Shelburne said: 'Like the generality of Scotch, Lord Mansfield had no regard to truth whatever.' Fitzmaurice's Shelburne, i. 89.
[873] Dr. Lawrence. See Johnson's letter to Warren Hastings of Dec. 20, 1774. Post, beginning of 1781.
[874] I have deposited it in the British Museum. BOSWELL. Mr. P. Cunningham says:--'Of all the MSS. which Boswell says he had deposited in the British Museum, only the copy of the letter to Lord Chesterfield has been found, and that was not deposited by him, but after his death, "pursuant to the intentions of the late James Boswell, Esq."' Croker's Boswell, p. 430. The original letter to Macpherson was sold in Mr. Pocock's collection in 1875. It fetched L50, almost five times as much as Johnson was paid for his London. It differs from the copy, if we can trust the auctioneer's catalogue, where the following passage is quoted:--'Mr. James Macpherson, I received your foolish and impudent note. Whatever insult is offered me, I will do my best to repel, and what I cannot do for myself the law shall do for me. I will not desist from detecting what I think a cheat from any fear of the menaces of a Ruffian.'
[875] In the Gent. Mag. for 1773, p. 192, is announced: 'The Iliad of Homer. Translated by James Macpherson, Esq., 2 vols. 4to. L2 2s. Becket.' Hume writes:--'Finding the style of his Ossian admired by some, he attempts a translation of Homer in the very same style. He begins and finishes in six weeks a work that was for ever to eclipse the translation of Pope, whom he does not even deign to mention in his preface; but this joke was still more unsuccessful [than his History of Britain].' J. H. Burton's Hume, i. 478. Hume says of him, that he had 'scarce ever known a man more perverse and unamiable.' Ib p. 470.
[876] 'Within a few feet of Johnson lies (by one of those singular coincidences in which the Abbey abounds) his deadly enemy, James Macpherson.' Stanley's Westminster Abbey, p. 298.
[877] Hamlet, act iii. sc. I.
[878] 'Fear was indeed a sensation to which Dr. Johnson was an utter stranger, excepting when some sudden apprehensions seized him that he was going to die.' Piozzi's Anec. p. 277. In this respect his character might be likened to that of Fearing, in Pilgrim's Progress (Part ii), as described by Great-Heart:--'When he came to the Hill Difficulty, he made no stick at that, nor did he much fear the Lions; for you must know that his troubles were not about such things as these; his fear was about his acceptance at last.'
[879] See Boswell's Hebrides, Oct. 18, 1773.
[880] See ante, i. 249, where Garrick humorously foretold the Round-house for Johnson.
[881] See ante, ii. 95.
[882] 'It was,' writes Hawkins (Life, p. 491), 'an oak-plant of a tremendous size; a plant, I say, and not a shoot or branch, for it had had a root which, being trimmed to the size of a large orange, became the head of it. Its height was upwards of six feet, and from about an inch in diameter at the lower end, increased to near three; this he kept in his bed-chamber, so near the chair in which he constantly sat as to be within reach.' Macpherson, like Johnson, was a big man. Dr. A. Carlyle says (Auto. p. 398):--'He was good-looking, of a large size, with very thick legs, to hide which he generally wore boots, though not then the fashion. He appeared to me proud and reserved.'
[883] Boswell wrote to Temple on April 4:--'Mr. Johnson has allowed me to write out a supplement to his Journey.' Letters of Boswell, p. 186. On May 10 he wrote:--'I have not written out another line of my remarks on the Hebrides. I found it impossible to do it in London. Besides, Dr. Johnson does not seem very desirous that I should publish any supplement. Between ourselves, he is not apt to encourage one to share reputation with himself.' Ib p. 192.
[884] Colonel Newcome, when a lad, 'was for ever talking of India, and the famous deeds of Clive and Lawrence. His favourite book was a history of India--the history of Orme.' Thackeray's Newcomes, ch. 76. See post, April 15, 1778.
[885] Richard II, act i. sc. 3. See ante, i. 129.
[886] A passage in the North Briton, No.