"I am sorry Lord Hailes does not intend to publish Walton; I am afraid it will not be done so well, if it be done at all.

"I purpose now to drive the book forward. Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, and let me hear often from you. I am, dear Sir,

"Your affectionate humble servant,

"London, Octob. 1, 1774..

"SAM. JOHNSON."

This tour to Wales, which was made in company with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, though it no doubt contributed to his health and amusement, did not give an occasion to such a discursive exercise of his mind as our tour to the Hebrides. I do not find that he kept any journal or notes of what he saw there."" All that I

[77 It now appears that Dr. Johnson did keep a journal of this Tour, which was published in 1816, under the title of “ A Diary of a Journey into North Wales, in the year 1774. By Samuel Johnson, L. L. D. Edited, with illustrative notes, by R. Duppa, L. L. B. Barrister at Law." 12mo. This Diary consists chiefly of very short notes to assist the writer's memory. The following is the only passage which is elaborated with the Doctor's usual skill and elegance.

"We saw Hawkestone, the seat of Sir Rowland Hill, and were conducted by Miss Hill over a large tract of rocks and woods; a region abounding with striking scenes and terrific grandeur. We were always on the brink of a precipice, or at the foot of a lofty rock: but the steeps were seldom naked; in many places, oaks of uncommon magnitude shot up from the crannies of stone; and where there were no trees there were underwoods and bushes.

"Round the rocks is a narrow path cut upon the stone, which is very frequently hewn into steps; but art has proceeded no further than to make the succession of wonders safely accessible. The whole circuit is somewhat laborious: it is terminated by a grotto cut in the rock to a great extent, with many windings, and supported by pillars, not hewn into regularity, but such as imitate the sports of nature by asperities and protuberances.

"The place is without any dampness, and would afford an habitation not uncomfortable. There were from space to space seats cut out in the rock. Though it wants water, it excels Dovedale by the ex

heard him say of it was, that "instead of bleak and barren mountains, there were green and fertile ones; and that one of the castles in Wales would contain all the castles that he had seen in Scotland."

Parliament having been dissolved, and his friend Mr. Thrale, who was a steady supporter of government, having again to encounter the storm of a contested election, he wrote a short political pamphlet, entitled "The Patriot," addressed to the electors of Great Britain; a title which, to factious men who con sider a patriot only as an opposer of the measures of government, will appear strangely misapplied. It was, however, written with energetick vivacity; and, except those passages in which it endeavours to vindicate the glaring outrage of the House of Commons in the case

tent of its prospects, the awfulness of its shades, the horrors of its precipices, the verdure of its hollows, and the loftiness of its rocks: the ideas which it forces upon the mind are, the sublime, the dreadful, and the vast. Above is inaccessible altitude, below is horrible profundity. But it excels the garden of Ilam only in extent..

"Ilam has grandeur, tempered with softness: the walker congratulates his own arrival at the place, and is grieved to think he must ever leave it. As he looks up to the rocks his thoughts are elevated; as he turns his eyes on the vallies he is composed and soothed.

“He that mounts the precipices at Hawkestone wonders how he came thither, and doubts how he shall return. His walk is an adventure, and his departure an escape. He has not the tranquillity, but the horrors of solitude: a kind of turbulent pleasure between fright and admiration.

"Ilam is the fit abode of pastoral virtue, and might properly diffuse its shades over nymphs and swains. Hawkestone can have no fitter inhabitants than giants of mighty bone and bold emprise : † men of lawless courage and heroic violence. Hawkestone should be described by Milton, and Ilam by Parnell."

See some notice of Ilam in vol. iii. A. C.]

† Paradise Lost, book xi. v. 642.

of the Middlesex election, and to justify the attempt to reduce our fellow-subjects in America to unconditional submission, it contained an admirable display of the properties of a real patriot, in the original and genuine sense; a sincere, steady, rational, and unbiassed friend to the interests and prosperity of his King and country. It must be acknowledged, however, that both in this and his two former pamphlets, there was, amidst many powerful arguments, not only a considerable portion of sophistry, but a contemptuous ridicule of his opponents, which was very provoking.

66 SIR,

66 TO MR. PERKINS.8

"You may do me a very great favour. Mrs. Williams, a gentlewoman whom you may have seen at Mr. Thrale's, is a petitioner for Mr. Hetherington's charity; petitions are this day issued at Christ's Hospital.

"I am a bad manager of business in a crowd; and if I should send a mean man, he may be put away without his errand. I must therefore entreat that you will go, and ask for a petition for Anna Williams, whose paper of enquiries was delivered with answers at

8 Mr. Perkins was for a number of years the worthy superintendant of Mr. Thrale's great brewery, and after his death became one of the Proprietors of it; and now resides in Mr. Thrale's house in Southwark, which was the scene of so many literary meetings, and in which he continues the liberal hospitality for which it was eminent. Dr. Johnson esteemed him much. He hung up in the counting-house a fine proof of the admirable mezzotinto of Dr. Johnson, by Doughty: and when Mrs. Thrale asked him somewhat flippantly, Why do you put him up in the counting-house?" He answered, Because, Madam, I wish to have one wise man there." Sir, (said Johnson,) I thank you. It is a very handsome compliment, and I believe you speak sincerely."

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66

the counting-house of the hospital on Thursday the 20th. My servant will attend you thither, and bring the petition home when you have it.

"The petition which they are to give us, is a form which they deliver to every petitioner, and which the petitioner is afterwards to fill up, and return to them again. This we must have, or we cannot proceed according to their directions. You need, I believe, only ask for a petition; if they enquire for whom you ask, you can tell them.

"I beg pardon for giving you this trouble; but it is a matter of great importance. I am, Sir,

"Your most humble servant,

"October 25, 1774.

"SAM. JOHNSON."

"TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.

"DEAR SIR,

"THERE has appeared lately in the papers ar account of the boat overset between Mull and Ulva, in which many passengers were lost, and among them Maclean of Col. We, you know, were once drowned;9 I hope, therefore, that the story is either wantonly or erroneously told. Pray satisfy me by the next post.

"I have printed two hundred and forty pages. am able to do nothing much worth doing to dear Lord: Hailes's book. I will, however, send back the sheets; and hope, by degrees, to answer all your reasonable expectations.

"Mr. Thrale has happily surmounted a very violent and acrimonious opposition; but all joys have their abatement: Mrs. Thrale has fallen from her horse and

hurt herself very much.

The rest of our friends, I

believe, are well. My compliments to Mrs. Boswell.

"I am, Sir,

"Your most affectionate servant,

"London, Octob. 27, 1774.

"SAM. JOHNSON."

This letter, which shews his tender concern for an amiable young gentleman to whom he had been very much obliged in the Hebrides, I have inserted according to its date, though before receiving it I had informed him of the melancholy event that the young Laird of Col was unfortunately drowned.

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66

TO JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.
DEAR SIR,

"LAST night I corrected the last page of our Journey to the Hebrides.' The printer has detained it all this time, for I had, before I went into Wales, written all except two sheets. The Patriot' was called for by my political friends on Friday, was written on Saturday, and I have heard little of it. So vague are conjectures at a distance.1 As soon as I can, I will take care that copies be sent to you, for I would wish that they might be given before they are bought; but I am afraid that Mr. Strahan will send to you and to the booksellers at the same time. Trade is as diligent as courtesy. I have mentioned all that you recommended. Pray make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell and the younglings. The club has, I think, not yet met.

1 Alluding to a passage in a letter of mine, where, speaking of his "Journey to the Hebrides," I say "But has not The Patriot' been an interruption, by the time taken to write it, and the time luxuriously spent in listening to its applauses?"