d nature. The inhabitants are
thin, provisions are scarce, and desolation and penury give little
pleasure.' Johnson's _Works_, ix. 153. In an earlier passage (p. 138),
in describing a rough ride in Mull, he says:--'We were now long enough
acquainted with hills and heath to have lost the emotion that they once
raised, whether pleasing or painful, and had our minds employed only on
our own fatigue.'

[1022] See _ante_, ii. 225.

[1023] In like manner Wesley said of Rousseau:--'Sure a more consummate
coxcomb never saw the sun.... He is a cynic all over. So indeed is his
brother-infidel, Voltaire; and well-nigh as great a coxcomb.' Wesley's
_Journal,_, ed. 1830, iii. 386.

[1024] This gentleman, though devoted to the study of grammar and
dialecticks, was not so absorbed in it as to be without a sense of
pleasantry, or to be offended at his favourite topicks being treated
lightly. I one day met him in the street, as I was hastening to the
House of Lords, and told him, I was sorry I could not stop, being rather
too late to attend an appeal of the Duke of Hamilton against Douglas. 'I
thought (said he) their contest had been over long ago.' I answered,
'The contest concerning Douglas's filiation was over long ago; but the
contest now is, who shall have the estate.' Then, assuming the air of
'an ancient sage philosopher,' I proceeded thus: 'Were I to _predicate_
concerning him, I should say, the contest formerly was, What _is_ he?
The contest now is, What _has_ he?'--'Right, (replied Mr. Harris,
smiling,) you have done with _quality_, and have got into
_quantity_.' BOSWELL.

[1025] Most likely Sir A. Macdonald. _Ante_, p. 148.

[1026] Boswell wrote on March 18,1775:--'Mr. Johnson, when enumerating
our Club, observed of some of us, that they talked from books,--Langton
in particular. "Garrick," he said, "would talk from books, if he talked
seriously." "_I_," said he, "do not talk from books; _you_ do not talk
from books." This was a compliment to my originality; but I am afraid I
have not read books enough to be able to talk from them.' _Letters of
Boswell_, p. 181. See _ante_, ii. 360, where Johnson said to Boswell:--
'I don't believe you have borrowed from Waller. I wish you would enable
yourself to borrow more;' and i. 105, where he described 'a man of a
great deal of knowledge of the world, fresh from life, not strained
through books.'

[1027] 'Lord Auchinleck has built a house of hewn stone, very stately
and durable,