He should have written 'a M'Ginnis.' See ante, p. 135, note 3.
[906] 'The fruitfulness of Iona is now its whole prosperity. The inhabitants are remarkably gross, and remarkably neglected; I know not if they are visited by any minister. The island, which was once the metropolis of learning and piety, has now no school for education, nor temple for worship, only two inhabitants that can speak English, and not one that can write or read.' Johnson's Works, ix. 149. Scott, who visited it in 1810, writes:--'There are many monuments of singular curiosity, forming a strange contrast to the squalid and dejected poverty of the present inhabitants.' Lockhart's Scott, ed. 1839, iii. 285. In 1814, on a second visit, he writes:--'Iona, the last time I saw it, seemed to me to contain the most wretched people I had anywhere seen. But either they have got better since I was here, or my eyes, familiarized with the wretchedness of Zetland and the Harris, are less shocked with that of Iona.' He found a schoolmaster there. Ib. iv. 324.
[907] Johnson's Jacobite friend, Dr. King (ante, i. 279), says of Pulteney, on his being made Earl of Bath:--'He deserted the cause of his country; he betrayed his friends and adherents; he ruined his character, and from a most glorious eminence sunk down to a degree of contempt. The first time Sir Robert (who was now Earl of Orford) met him in the House of Lords, he threw out this reproach:--"My Lord Bath, you and I are now two as insignificant men as any in England." In which he spoke the truth of my Lord Bath, but not of himself. For my Lord Orford was consulted by the ministers to the last day of his life.' King's Anec. p. 43.
[908] See ante, i. 431, and iii. 326.
[909] 'Sir Robert Walpole detested war. This made Dr. Johnson say of him, "He was the best minister this country ever had, as, if we would have let him (he speaks of his own violent faction), he would have kept the country in perpetual peace."' Seward's Biographiana, p. 554. See ante, i. 131.
[910] See ante, iii. Appendix C.
[911] I think it incumbent on me to make some observation on this strong satirical sally on my classical companion, Mr. Wilkes. Reporting it lately from memory, in his presence, I expressed it thus:--'They knew he would rob their shops, if he durst; they knew he would debauch their daughters, if he could;' which, according to the French phrase, may be said rencherir on Dr. Johnson; but on looking into my Journal, I found it as above, and would by no means make any addition. Mr. Wilkes received both readings with a good humour that I cannot enough admire. Indeed both he and I (as, with respect to myself, the reader has more than once had occasion to observe in the course of this Journal,) are too fond of a bon mot, not to relish it, though we should be ourselves the object of it.
Let me add, in justice to the gentleman here mentioned, that at a subsequent period, he was elected chief magistrate of London [in 1774], and discharged the duties of that high office with great honour to himself, and advantage to the city. Some years before Dr. Johnson died, I was fortunate enough to bring him and Mr. Wilkes together; the consequence of which was, that they were ever afterwards on easy and not unfriendly terms. The particulars I shall have great pleasure in relating at large in my Life of Dr. Johnson. BOSWELL. In the copy of Boswell's Letter to the People of Scotland in the British Museum is entered in Boswell's own hand--
'Comes jucundus in via pro vehiculo est.
To John Wilkes, Esq.: as pleasant a companion as ever lived. From the Author.
--will my Wilkes retreat, And see, once seen before, that ancient seat, etc.'
See ante, iii. 64, 183; iv. 101, 224, note 2.
[912] See ante, iv. 199.
[913] Our afternoon journey was through a country of such gloomy desolation that Mr. Boswell thought no part of the Highlands equally terrifick.' Johnson's Works, ix. 150.
[914] Johnson describes Lochbuy as 'a true Highland laird, rough and haughty, and tenacious of his dignity: who, hearing my name, inquired whether I was of the Johnstons of Glencoe (sic) or of Ardnamurchan.' Ib.
[915] Boswell totally misapprehended Lochbuy's meaning. There are two septs of the powerful clan of M'Donaid, who are called Mac-Ian, that is John's-son; and as Highlanders often translate their names when they go to the Lowlands,--as Gregor-son for Mac-Gregor, Farquhar-son for Mac-Farquhar,--Lochbuy supposed that Dr. Johnson might be one of the Mac-Ians of Ardnamurchan, or of Glencro. Boswell's explanation was nothing to the purpose. The Johnstons are a clan distinguished in Scottish border history, and as brave as any Highland clan that ever wore brogues; but they lay entirely out of Lochbuy's knowledge--nor was he thinking of them. WALTER SCOTT.
[916] This maxim, however, has been controverted. See Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. ii. p. 291; and the authorities there quoted. BOSWELL. 'Blackstone says:--From these loose authorities, which Fitzherbert does not hesitate to reject as being contrary to reason, the maxim that a man shall not stultify himself hath been handed down as settled law; though later opinions, feeling the inconvenience of the rule, have in many points endeavoured to restrain it.' Ib.