1775:--'I have offended; and what is stranger, have justly offended, the
nation of Rasay. If they could come hither, they would be as fierce as
the Americans. _Rasay_ has written to Boswell an account of the injury
done him by representing his house as subordinate to that of Dunvegan.
Boswell has his letter, and, I believe, copied my answer. I have
appeased him, if a degraded chief can possibly be appeased: but it will
be thirteen days--days of resentment and discontent--before my
recantation can reach him. Many a dirk will imagination, during that
interval, fix in my heart. I really question if at this time my life
would not be in danger, if distance did not secure it. Boswell will find
his way to Streatham before he goes, and will detail this great affair.'
_Piozzi Letters_, i. 216.

[1143] In like manner he communicated to Sir William Forbes part of his
journal from which he made the _Life of Johnson_. _Ante_, iii. 208.

[1144] In justice both to Sir William Forbes, and myself, it is proper
to mention, that the papers which were submitted to his perusal
contained only an account of our Tour from the time that Dr. Johnson and
I set out from Edinburgh (p. 58), and consequently did not contain the
elogium on Sir William Forbes, (p. 24), which he never saw till this
book appeared in print; nor did he even know, when he wrote the above
letter, that this _Journal_ was to be published. BOSWELL. This note is
not in the first edition.

[1145] _Hamlet_, act iii. sc. 1.

[1146] Both _Nonpareil_ and _Bon Chretien_ are in Johnson's
_Dictionary_; _Nonpareil_, is defined as _a kind of apple_, and _Bon
Chretien_ as _a species of pear_.

[1147] See _ante_, p. 311.

[1148] See _ante_, iv. 9.

[1149] 'Dryden's contemporaries, however they reverenced his genius,
left his life unwritten; and nothing therefore can be known beyond what
casual mention and uncertain tradition have supplied.' Johnson's
_Works_, vii. 245. See _ante_, iii. 71.

[1150]

'Before great Agamemnon reign'd
Reign'd kings as great as he, and brave
Whose huge ambition's now contain'd
In the small compass of a grave;
In endless night they sleep, unwept, unknown,
No bard had they to make all time their own.'

FRANCIS. Horace, _Odes_, iv. 9. 25.

[1151] Having found, on a revision of the first edition of this work,
that, notwithstanding my best care, a few observations had escaped me,
which arose from the instant impressi