think so,
and I allow that argument to be very convincing, and rather more
conclusive, than if you had said, "I don't know that."

[Footnote 43: "Thomas Boswell obtained from James IV., as a signal mark
of royal favour, the estate of Auchinleck. He was slain at
Flodden."--"Memoir of James Boswell," by Rev. C. Rogers, p. 3.--ED.]

You complain much of the country, and you assign various reasons for
disliking it; among others, you imagine the atmosphere too moist and
heavy; I agree with you in that opinion, all the black clouds in the sky
are continually pressing upon you, for as the proverb says, Like draws
to like. Believe me, I have sometimes taken you at a distance, for the
pillar of smoke which used to accompany the Israelites out of Egypt; it
would be impossible to tell how many things I have taken you for at
different times; sometimes I have taken you for the witches' cauldron in
Macbeth; this resemblance was in some degree warranted by your figure
and shape; sometimes for an enormous ink-bottle; sometimes for a funeral
procession; now and then for a chimney sweeper, and not unfrequently for
a black-pudding. For my part, Boswell, I must confess I am fond of the
country to a degree; things there are not so artificially disguised as
in towns, real sentiments are discovered, and the passions play
naturally and without restraint. As for example, it was only in the
country I could have found out Lady J----'s particular attachment to the
tune of _Appie Mac-Nab_; in the town, no doubt, she would have pretended
a great liking for Voi Amante; in the town, I never would have seen Lady
B---- go out armed for fear of the Turkey-cock, which is her daily
practice here, and leaves room for numberless reflections: she cannot
eat Turkeys when roasted or boiled; and she dreads them when alive so
much, that she displays every forenoon a cudgel to them, fitted by its
size to strike terror into a bull, or a butting cow. What can her
keeping of Turkeys be owing to? Assuredly to vanity, which is of such an
insinuating nature, that we are apt very often to meet it where we least
expect it; I have seen it in an old shoe, in a dirty shirt, in a long
nose, a crooked leg, and a red face. So much it seemed good for me to
say upon the subject of vanity, supporting by the most irrefragable
arguments, the doctrine of Solomon.

We had a visit from Mr. C---- of S---- here this morning; he came in a
chaise drawn by four bay horses; I am certain of