[399] 'Which taketh away the sin' &c. St. John, i. 29.
[400] See Boswell's Hebrides, August 22.
[401] This unfortunate person, whose full name was Thomas Fysche Palmer, afterwards went to Dundee, in Scotland, where he officiated as minister to a congregation of the sect who called themselves Unitarians, from a notion that they distinctively worship ONE GOD, because they deny the mysterious doctrine of the TRINITY. They do not advert that the great body of the Christian Church, in maintaining that mystery, maintain also the Unity of the GODHEAD; the 'TRINITY in UNITY!--three persons and ONE GOD.' The Church humbly adores the DIVINITY as exhibited in the holy Scriptures. The Unitarian sect vainly presumes to comprehend and define the ALMIGHTY. Mr. Palmer having heated his mind with political speculations, became so much dissatisfied with our excellent Constitution, as to compose, publish, and circulate writings, which were found to be so seditious and dangerous, that upon being found guilty by a Jury, the Court of Justiciary in Scotland sentenced him to transportation for fourteen years. A loud clamour against this sentence was made by some Members of both Houses of Parliament; but both Houses approved of it by a great majority; and he was conveyed to the settlement for convicts in New South Wales. BOSWELL. This note first appears in the third edition. Mr. Palmer was sentenced to seven (not fourteen) years transportation in Aug. 1793. It was his fellow prisoner, Mr. Muir, an advocate, who was sentenced to fourteen years. Ann. Reg. 1793, p. 40. When these sentences were brought before the House of Commons, Mr. Fox said that it was 'the Lord-Advocate's fervent wish that his native principles of justice should be introduced into this country; and that on the ruins of the common law of England should be erected the infamous fabric of Scottish persecution. ... If that day should ever arrive, if the tyrannical laws of Scotland should ever be introduced in opposition to the humane laws of England, it would then be high time for my hon. friends and myself to settle our affairs, and retire to some happier clime, where we might at least enjoy those rights which God has given to man, and which his nature tells him he has a right to demand.' Parl. Hist. xxx. 1563. For Unitarians, see ante, ii. 408, note I.
[402] Taken from Herodotus. [Bk. ii. ch. 104.] BOSWELL.
[403] 'The mummies,' says Blakesley, 'have straight hair, and in the paintings the Egyptians are represented as red, not black.' Ib. note.
[404] See ante, i. 441, and post, March 28, and June 3, 1782.
[405] Mr. Dawkins visited Palmyra in 1751. He had 'an escort of the Aga of Hassia's best Arab horsemen.' Johnson was perhaps astonished at the size of their caravan, 'which was increased to about 200 persons.' The writer treats the whole matter with great brevity. Wood's Ruins of Palmyra, p. 33. On their return the travellers discovered a party of Arab horsemen, who gave them an alarm. Happily these Arabs were still more afraid of them, and were at once plundered by the escort, 'who laughed at our remonstrances against their injustice.' Wood's Ruins of Balbec, p. 2.
[406] He wrote a Life of Watts, which Johnson quoted. Works, viii. 382.
[407] See ante, iii. 422, note 6.
[408] In the first two editions formal.
[409] Johnson maintains this in The Idler, No. 74. 'Few,' he says, 'have reason to complain of nature as unkindly sparing of the gifts of memory ... The true art of memory is the art of attention.' See ante, iii. 191.
[410]The first of the definitions given by Johnson of to remember is to bear in mind anything; not to forget. To recollect he defines to recover to memory. We may, perhaps, assume that Boswell said, 'I did not recollect that the chair was broken;' and that Johnson replied, 'you mean, you did not remember. That you did not remember is your own fault. It was in your mind that it was broken, and therefore you ought to have remembered it. It was not a case of recollecting; for we recollect, that is, recover to memory, what is not in our mind.' In the passage ante, i. 112, which begins, 'I indeed doubt if he could have remembered,' we find in the first two editions not remembered, but recollected. Perhaps this change is due to euphony, as collected comes a few lines before. Horace Walpole, in one of his Letters (i. 15), distinguishes the two words, on his revisiting his old school, Eton:--'By the way, the clock strikes the old cracked sound--I recollect so much, and remember so little.'
[411] He made the same boast at St. Andrews. See Boswell's Hebrides, Aug. 19. He was, I believe, speaking of his translation of Courayer's Life of Paul Sarpi and Notes, of which some sheets were printed off. Ante, i. 135.
[412] Horace Walpole, after mentioning that George III's mother, who died in 1772, left but L27,000 when she was reckoned worth at least L300,000, adds:--'It is no wonder that it became the universal belief that she had wasted all on Lord Bute. This became still more probable as he had made the purchase of the estate at Luton, at the price of L114,000, before he was visibly worth L20,000; had built a palace there, another in town, and had furnished the former in the most expensive manner, bought pictures and books, and made a vast park and lake.' Journal of the Reign of George III, i.