at and good Dr. Johnson esteemed most fit for a young
woman, desired to know what book he had selected for this Highland
nymph. 'They never adverted (said he) that I had no _choice_ in the
matter. I have said that I presented her with a book which I _happened_
to have about me.' And what was this book? My readers, prepare your
features for merriment. It was _Cocker's Arithmetick_!--Wherever this
was mentioned, there was a loud laugh, at which Johnson, when present,
used sometimes to be a little angry. One day, when we were dining at
General Oglethorpe's, where we had many a valuable day, I ventured to
interrogate him. 'But, Sir, is it not somewhat singular that you should
_happen_ to have _Cocker's Arithmetick_ about you on your journey? What
made you buy such a book at Inverness?' He gave me a very sufficient
answer. 'Why, Sir, if you are to have but one book with you upon a
journey, let it be a book of science. When you have read through a book
of entertainment, you know it, and it can do no more for you; but a book
of science is inexhaustible.' BOSWELL.

Johnson thus mentions his gift: 'I presented her with a book which I
happened to have about me, and should not be pleased to think that she
forgets me.' _Works_, ix. 32. The first edition of _Cocker's Arithmetic_
was published about 1660. _Brit. Mus. Cata._ Though Johnson says that 'a
book of science is inexhaustible,' yet in _The Rambler_, No. 154, he
asserts that 'the principles of arithmetick and geometry may be
comprehended by a close attention in a few days.' Mrs. Piozzi says
(_Anec_. p. 77) that 'when Mr. Johnson felt his fancy disordered, his
constant recurrence was to arithmetic; and one day that he was confined
to his chamber, and I enquired what he had been doing to divert himself,
he shewed me a calculation which I could scarce be made to understand,
so vast was the plan of it; no other indeed than that the national debt,
computing it at L180,000,000, would, if converted into silver, serve to
make a meridian of that metal, I forget how broad, for the globe of the
whole earth.' See _ante_, iii. 207, and iv. 171, note 3.

[434] Swift's _Works_ (1803), xxiv. 63.

[435] 'We told the soldiers how kindly we had been treated at the
garrison, and, as we were enjoying the benefit of their labours, begged
leave to shew our gratitude by a small present.... They had the true
military impatience of coin in their pockets, and had marched at least
six miles to find the