tory of James IV., the patron of my
family.' The freedom of the city was conferred on Johnson. Was this an
honour, or an excuse for a social glass among the civic Solons of an
unreformed corporation? The latter may be the case, when we reflect that
none of the four universities thought of giving him an honorary degree,
though Beattie at this time had received the doctorate in laws from
Oxford, and Gray some years before this had declined the offer from
Aberdeen. Nor can we forget the taunt of George Colman the younger about
Pangloss in his _Heir at Law_, and his own recollection how, when a lad
at King's College, he had been 'scarcely a week in Old Aberdeen when the
Lord Provost of the New Town invited me to drink wine with him, one
evening in the Town Hall;' and presented him on October 8th, 1781, with
the freedom of the city. No negative inference can be established from
the contemporary notices in the _Aberdeen Journal_ over the visit. Every
paragraph is contemptuous in its tone; and till October 4th no notice is
taken of the honour, when 'a correspondent says he is glad to find that
the city of Aberdeen has presented Dr Johnson with the freedom of that
place, for he has sold his freedom on this side of the Tweed for a
pension.' The definition of _oats_ in the Dictionary is brought up
against its author, and Bozzy is also attacked in a doggerel epigram on
his Corsican Tour and his system of spelling. But the doctor easily
maintained his conversational supremacy over his academic hosts, who
'started not a single mawkin for us to pursue.'

Ellon, Slains Castle, and Elgin were visited. They passed Gordon Castle
at Fochabers, drove over the heath where Macbeth met the witches,
'classic ground to an Englishman,' as the old editor of Shakespeare
felt, and reached Nairn, where now they heard for the first time the
Gaelic tongue,--'one of the songs of Ossian,' quoth the justly
incredulous doctor,--and saw peat fires. At Fort George they were
welcomed by Sir Eyre Coote. The old military aspirations of Bozzy flared
up and were soothed: 'for a little while I fancied myself a military
man, and it pleased me.' As they left, the commander reminded them of
the hardships by the way, in return as Boswell interposed for the rough
things Johnson had said of Scotland. 'You must change your name, sir,'
said Sir Eyre. 'Ay, to Dr M'Gregor,' replied Bozzy. The notion of the
lexicographer's assuming the forbidden name of the bold outlaw, with