the whole, it left rather a disagreeable impression upon my mind; though I readily own there are many things in it which pleased me.

"The Bishop of Chester's thoughts on this subject are so pertinent and so well expressed, that I am sure you will like to see them: "You

will," says his Lordship in a letter which I received yesterday, "be entertained with Mr Boswell's "book, and edified with some of Johnson's pray66 ers; but you will wish that many things in "both those publications had been omitted: and,

perhaps, if they had not existed at all, it would "have been better still. Johnson's friends will

absolutely kill him with kindness. His own character, if left to itself, would naturally raise "him very high in the estimation of mankind; "but by loading it with panegyric, anecdotes, "lives, journals, &c. and by hanging round it "even all his little foibles and infirmities, they "will sink it lower in the opinion of the best judges of merit. I saw lately a letter from Mrs

Piozzi, (late Mrs Thrale,) in which she an"nounces her Anecdotes of Dr Johnson' to be "published this winter; and after that are to "follow his Letters to her, &c. Mr Boswell also "is to give us his Life; and Sir John Hawkins

"is writing another, to be prefixed to a complete "edition of his works. Our modest and worthy "friend, Mr Langton, is the only one who ob

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serves a profound silence on this occasion; and "yet no one could speak to better purpose, if he pleased, and if he thought it would answer any "good end."

"Johnson's harsh and foolish censure of Mrs Montagu's book does not surprise me; for I have heard him speak contemptuously of it. It is, for all that, one of the best, most original, and most elegant, pieces of criticism in our language, or any other. Johnson had many of the talents of a critic; but his want of temper, his violent prejudices, and something, I am afraid, of an envious turn of mind, made him often a very unfair one. Mrs Montagu was very kind to him; but Mrs Montagu has more wit than any body; and Johnson could not bear that any person should be thought to have wit but himself. Even Lord Chesterfield, and, what is more strange, even Mr Burke, he would not allow to have wit. He preferred Smollett to Fielding. He would not grant that Armstrong's poem on 'Health,' or the tragedy of Douglas,' had any merit. He told me, that he never read Milton through, till

he was obliged to do it, in order to gather words for his Dictionary. He spoke very peevishly of the masque of Comus; and when I urged that there was a great deal of exquisite poetry in it; "Yes," said he, "but it is like gold hid under a "rock;" to which I made no reply; for indeed I did not well understand it. Pray, did you ever see Mr Potter's Remarks on Johnson's Lives of 'the Poets?' It is very well worth reading.

By a Latin letter which I lately received from Holland, I am informed, that Dutch translations of the first part of my last book, and of my 'Remarks on Laughter,' have been published, the one at Haerlem, the other at Dort. I am greatly obliged to the Dutch. The Essay on 'Truth,' they translated twelve years ago; and I have a copy of the version, which I am told, by those who understand the language, is very ex

act.

"I become every day more and more doubtful of the propriety of publishing the Scotticisms. Our language (I mean the English) is degenerating very fast; and many phrases, which I know to be Scottish idioms, have got into it of late years so that many of my strictures are liable to be opposed by authorities which the world ac

counts unexceptionable. However, I shall send you the manuscript, since you desire it, and let you dispose of it as you please."

On this subject of Mr Boswell's 'Tour to the 'Hebrides,' I likewise received a letter, some time thereafter from Dr Beattie, which I shall insert here. But as it refers to one of mine, to which it is in answer; and as that letter contains some information respecting the publication of that work of Mr Boswell's which I am not ill pleased should be known, I shall venture, for the first and only time, to insert in this work a letter of my own. I found it among some hundreds, which Dr Beattie had preserved: for he seems seldom or never to have destroyed the letters he received from his friends.

LETTER CLXXXVII.

SIR WILLIAM FORBES TO DR BEATTIE.

Edinburgh, 9th January, 1786.

"Boswell's book, which I dare say you have seen before now, contains many things that might, and several that ought to have been omitted. In regard to those of the first description, Mr Boswell seems to have adopted the idea of the writers on

*Mr Boswell's acquaintance and mine began at a very early period of life, and an intimate correspondence continued between us ever after. It scarcely requires to be mentioned here, that he was the chosen friend of General Paoli and of Dr Johnson. The circle of his acquaintance among the learned, the witty, and indeed among men of all ranks and professions, was extremely extensive, as his talents were considerable, and his convivial powers made his company much in request. His warmth of heart towards his friends, was very great; and I have known few men who possessed a stronger sense of piety, or more fervent devotion, (tinctured, no doubt, with some little share of superstition, which had probably been in some degree fostered by his habits of intimacy with Dr Johnson,) perhaps not always sufficient to regulate his imagination or direct his conduct, yet still genuine, and founded both in his understanding and his heart. His Life' of that extraordinary man, with all the faults with which it has been charged, must be allowed to be one of