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A landlord's duty to give leases. [Oct. 10-11.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10.

There was this day the most terrible storm of wind and rain that I ever remember'. It made such an awful impression on us all, as to produce, for some time, a kind of dismal quietness in the house. The day was passed without much conversation: only, upon my observing that there must be something bad in a man's mind, who does not like to give leases to his tenants, but wishes to keep them in a perpetual wretched dependence on his will, Dr. Johnson said, 'You are right it is a man's duty to extend comfort and security among as many people as he can. He should not wish to have his tenants mere Ephemera,-mere beings of an hour'.' BOSWELL. But, Sir, if they have leases is there not some danger that they may grow insolent? I remember you yourself once told me, an English tenant was so independent, that, if provoked, he would throw his rent at his landlord.' JOHNSON. Depend upon it, Sir, it is the landlord's own fault, if it is thrown at him. A man may always keep his tenants in dependence enough, though they have leases. He must be a good tenant indeed, who will not fall behind in his rent, if his landlord will let him; and if he does fall behind, his landlord has him at his mercy. Indeed, the poor man is always much at the mercy of the rich; no matter whether landlord or tenant. If the tenant lets his landlord have a little rent beforehand, or has lent him money, then the landlord is in his power. There cannot be a greater man than a tenant who has lent money to his landlord; for he has under subjection the very man to whom he should be subjected.'

MONDAY, OCTOBER II.

We had some days ago engaged the Campbelltown vessel to carry us to Mull, from the harbour where she lay. The

1 See post, Dempster's Letter of Feb. 16, 1775.

'See ante, ii. 389, where Johnson said that ‘if he were a gentleman of landed property, he would turn out all his tenants who did not vote for the candidate whom he supported.'

morning

Oct. 12.]

Return to Mr. M'Sweyn's.

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morning was fine, and the wind fair and moderate; so we hoped at length to get away.

BOSWELL.

Mrs. M'Sweyn, who officiated as our landlady here, had never been on the main land. On hearing this, Dr. Johnson said to me, before her, That is rather being behind-hand with life. I would at least go and see Glenelg.' 'You yourself, Sir, have never seen, till now, any thing but your native island.' JOHNSON. But, Sir, by seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can shew'.' BosWELL. You have not seen Pekin.' JOHNSON. 'What is Pekin? Ten thousand Londoners would drive all the people of Pekin: they would drive them like deer.'

We set out about eleven for the harbour; but, before we reached it, so violent a storm came on, that we were obliged again to take shelter in the house of Captain M'Lean, where we dined, and passed the night.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12.

After breakfast, we made a second attempt to get to the harbour; but another storm soon convinced us that it would be in vain. Captain M'Lean's house being in some confusion, on account of Mrs. M'Lean being expected to lie-in, we resolved to go to Mr. M'Sweyn's, where we arrived very wet, fatigued, and hungry. In this situation, we were somewhat disconcerted by being told that we should have no dinner till late in the evening, but should have tea in the mean time. Dr. Johnson opposed this arrangement; but they persisted, and he took the tea very readily. He said to me afterwards, 'You must consider, Sir, a dinner here is a matter of great consequence. It is a thing to be first planned, and then executed. I suppose the mutton was brought some miles off, from some place where they knew there was a sheep killed.'

Talking of the good people with whom we were, he said, 'Life has not got at all forward by a generation in M'Sweyn's family; for the son is exactly formed upon the

See ante, iii. 430.

father.

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Johnson's particularities.

[Oct. 12. father. What the father says, the son says; and what the father looks, the son looks.'

There being little conversation to-night, I must endeavour to recollect what I may have omitted on former occasions. When I boasted, at Rasay, of my independency of spirit, and that I could not be bribed, he said, 'Yes, you may be bribed by flattery.' At the Reverend Mr. M'Lean's, Dr. Johnson asked him, if the people of Col had any superstitions. He said, 'No.' The cutting peats at the increase of the moon was mentioned as one; but he would not allow it, saying, it was not a superstition, but a whim. Dr. Johnson would not admit the distinction. There were many superstitions, he maintained, not connected with religion; and this was one of them'. On Monday we had a dispute at the Captain's, whether sand-hills could be fixed down by art. Dr. Johnson said, How the devil can you do it?' but instantly corrected himself, How can you do it'?' I never before heard him use a phrase of that nature.

6

He has particularities which it is impossible to explain', He never wears a night-cap, as I have already mentioned; but he puts a handkerchief on his head in the night. The day that we left Talisker, he bade us ride on. He then turned the head of his horse back towards Talisker, stopped for some time; then wheeled round to the same direction with ours, and then came briskly after us. He sets open a

'They have opinions which cannot be ranked with superstition, because they regard only natural effects. They expect better crops of grain by sowing their seed in the moon's increase. The moon has great influence in vulgar philosophy. In my memory it was a precept annually given in one of the English almanacks, “to kill hogs when the moon was increasing, and the bacon would prove the better in boiling." Johnson's Works, ix. 104. Bacon, in his Natural History (No. 892), says:- For the increase of moisture, the opinion received is, that seeds will grow soonest if they be set in the increase of the moon.'

'The question which Johnson asked with such unusual warmth might have been answered, 'by sowing the bent, or couch grass.' WALTER SCOTT.

'See ante, i. 560.

Oct. 12.]

His disgust at coarse manners.

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window in the coldest day or night, and stands before it. It may do with his constitution; but most people, amongst whom I am one, would say, with the frogs in the fable, This may be sport to you; but it is death to us.' It is in vain to try to find a meaning in every one of his particularities, which, I suppose, are mere habits, contracted by chance; of which every man has some that are more or less remarkable. His speaking to himself, or rather repeating, is a common habit with studious men accustomed to deep thinking; and, in consequence of their being thus rapt, they will even laugh by themselves, if the subject which they are musing on is a merry one. Dr. Johnson is often uttering pious ejaculations, when he appears to be talking to himself; for sometimes his voice grows stronger, and parts of the Lord's Prayer are heard'. I have sat beside him with more than ordinary reverence on such occasions'.

In our Tour, I observed that he was disgusted whenever he met with coarse manners. He said to me, 'I know not how it is, but I cannot bear low life': and I find others, who have as good a right as I to be fastidious, bear it better, by having mixed more with different sorts of men. You would think that I have mixed pretty well too.'

He read this day a good deal of my Journal, written in a small book with which he had supplied me, and was pleased, for he said, 'I wish thy books were twice as big.' He helped me to fill up blanks which I had left in first writing it, when

1 See ante, i. 559.

It is remarkable, that Dr. Johnson should have read this account of some of his own peculiar habits, without saying any thing on the subject, which I hoped he would have done. BOSWELL. See ante, p. 146, note 2, and iv. 211, where Boswell 'observed he must have been a bold laugher who would have ventured to tell Dr. Johnson of any of his peculiarities.'

'In this he was very unlike Swift, who, in his youth, when travelling in England, 'generally chose to dine with waggoners, hostlers, and persons of that rank; and he used to lie at night in houses where he found written over the door Lodgings for a penny. He delighted in scenes of low life.' Lord Orrery's Swift, ed. 1752, p. 33.

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Departure for Mull.

[Oct. 13.

I was not quite sure of what he had said, and he corrected any mistakes that I had made. They call me a scholar, (said he,) and yet how very little literature there is in my conversation.' BOSWELL. That, Sir, must be according to your company. You would not give literature to those who cannot taste it. Stay till we meet Lord Elibank.' We had at last a good dinner, or rather supper, and were very well satisfied with our entertainment.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13.

Col called me up, with intelligence that it was a good day for a passage to Mull; and just as we rose, a sailor from the vessel arrived for us. We got all ready with dispatch. Dr. Johnson was displeased at my bustling, and walking quickly up and down. He said, 'It does not hasten us a bit. It is getting on horseback in a ship'. All boys do it; and you are longer a boy than others.' He himself has no alertness, or whatever it may be called; so he may dislike it, as Oderunt hilarem tristes.

Before we reached the harbour, the wind grew high again. However, the small boat was waiting and took us on board. We remained for some time in uncertainty what to do: at last it was determined, that, as a good part of the day was over, and it was dangerous to be at sea at night, in such a vessel, and such weather, we should not sail till the morning tide, when the wind would probably be more gentle. We resolved not to go ashore again, but lie here in readiness. Dr. Johnson and I had each a bed in the cabin. Col sat at the fire in the forecastle, with the captain, and Joseph, and the rest. I eat some dry oatmeal, of which I found a barrel in the cabin. I had not done this since I was a boy. Dr. Johnson owned that he too was fond of it when a boy';

I This is from the Fests of Hierocles. CROKER.

The grave a gay companion shun.' FRANCIS. Horace, 1 Epis. xviii. 89.

' Boswell in 1776 found that 'oats were much used as food in Dr. Johnson's own town.' Ante, ii. 530.

a circumstance