sselas_, ch.
xi:--'That the supreme being may be more easily propitiated in one place
than in another is the dream of idle superstition; but that some places
may operate upon our own minds in an uncommon manner is an opinion which
hourly experience will justify. He who supposes that his vices may be
more successfully combated in Palestine will, perhaps, find himself
mistaken, yet he may go thither without folly; he who thinks they will
be more freely pardoned dishonours at once his reason and religion.'

[899] 'Sir Allan went to the headman of the island, whom fame, but fame
delights in amplifying, represents as worth no less than fifty pounds.
He was, perhaps, proud enough of his guests, but ill prepared for our
entertainment; however he soon produced more provision than men not
luxurious require.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 146.

[900] _An Account of the Isle of Man. With a voyage to I-Columb-Kill_.
By W. Sacheverell, Esq., late Governour of Man. 1702.

[901] 'He that surveys it [the church-yard] attended by an insular
antiquary may be told where the kings of many nations are buried, and if
he loves to soothe his imagination with the thoughts that naturally rise
in places where the great and the powerful lie mingled with the dust,
let him listen in submissive silence; for if he asks any questions his
delight is at an end.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 148.

[902] On quitting the island Johnson wrote: 'We now left those
illustrious ruins, by which Mr. Boswell was much affected, nor would I
willingly be thought to have looked upon them without some emotion.'
_Ib_. p. 150.

[903] Psalm xc. 4.

[904] Boswell wrote on Nov. 9, 1767:--'I am always for fixing some
period for my perfection as far as possible. Let it be when my account
of Corsica is published; I shall then have a character which I must
support.' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 122. Five weeks later he wrote:--'I
have been as wild as ever;' and then comes a passage which the Editor
has thought it needful to suppress. _Ib_.p.128.

[905] Boswell here speaks as an Englishman. He should have written '_a_
M'Ginnis.' See _ante_, p. 135, note 3.

[906] 'The fruitfulness of Iona is now its whole prosperity. The
inhabitants are remarkably gross, and remarkably neglected; I know not
if they are visited by any minister. The island, which was once the
metropolis of learning and piety, has now no school for education, nor
temple for worship, only two inhabitants that can speak Engli