6],
Vel mente felix, vel studiis cultus,
Immorare paululum memoriae
TOBIAE SMOLLET, M.D.
Viri iis virtutibus
Quas in homine et cive
Et laudes, et imiteris,

Postquam mira--
Se ----

Tali tantoque viro, suo patrueli,

Hanc columnam,
Amoris eheu! inane monumentum,
In ipsis Leviniae ripis,
Quas primis infans vagitibus personuit,
Versiculisque jam fere moriturus illustravit[987],
Ponendam curavit[988].

We had this morning a singular proof of Dr. Johnson's quick and
retentive memory. Hay's translation of _Martial_ was lying in a window.
I said, I thought it was pretty well done, and shewed him a particular
epigram, I think, of ten, but am certain of eight, lines. He read it,
and tossed away the book, saying--'No, it is not pretty well.' As I
persisted in my opinion, he said, 'Why, Sir, the original is
thus,'--(and he repeated it;) 'and this man's translation is thus,'--and
then he repeated that also, exactly, though he had never seen it before,
and read it over only once, and that too, without any intention of
getting it by heart[989].

Here a post-chaise, which I had ordered from Glasgow, came for us, and
we drove on in high spirits. We stopped at Dunbarton, and though the
approach to the castle there is very steep, Dr. Johnson ascended it with
alacrity, and surveyed all that was to be seen. During the whole of our
Tour he shewed uncommon spirit, could not bear to be treated like an old
or infirm man, and was very unwilling to accept of any assistance,
insomuch that, at our landing at Icolmkill, when Sir Allan M'Lean and I
submitted to be carried on men's shoulders from the boat to the shore,
as it could not be brought quite close to land, he sprang into the sea,
and waded vigorously out. On our arrival at the Saracen's Head Inn, at
Glasgow, I was made happy by good accounts from home; and Dr. Johnson,
who had not received a single letter since we left Aberdeen[990], found
here a great many, the perusal of which entertained him much. He enjoyed
in imagination the comforts which we could now command, and seemed to be
in high glee. I remember, he put a leg up on each side of the grate, and
said, with a mock solemnity, by way of soliloquy, but loud enough for me
to hear it, 'Here am I, an ENGLISH man, sitting by a _coal_ fire.'

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29.

The professors[991] of the University being informed of our arrival, Dr.
Stevenson, Dr. Reid[992]