first place where liquor could be bought. Having
never been before in a place so wild and unfrequented I was glad of
their arrival, because I knew that we had made them friends; and to gain
still more of their goodwill we went to them, where they were carousing
in the barn, and added something to our former gift.' _Works_, ix. 31-2.

[436]

'Why rather sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee.' &c.

2 _Henry IV._ act iii. sc. 1.

[437] Spain, in 1719, sent a strong force under the Duke of Ormond to
Scotland in behalf of the Chevalier. Owing to storms only a few hundred
men landed. These were joined by a large body of Highlanders, but being
attacked by General Wightman, the clansmen dispersed and the Spaniards
surrendered. Smollett's _England_, ed. 1800, ii. 382.

[438] Boswell mentions this _ante_, i. 41, as a proof of Johnson's
'perceptive quickness.'

[439] Dr. Johnson, in his _Journey_, thus beautifully describes his
situation here:--'I sat down on a bank, such as a writer of romance
might have delighted to feign. I had, indeed, no trees to whisper over
my head; but a clear rivulet streamed at my feet. The day was calm, the
air soft, and all was rudeness, silence, and solitude. Before me, and on
either side, were high hills, which, by hindering the eye from ranging,
forced the mind to find entertainment for itself. Whether I spent the
hour well, I know not; for here I first conceived the thought of this
narration.' The _Critical Reviewers_, with a spirit and expression
worthy of the subject, say,--'We congratulate the publick on the event
with which this quotation concludes, and are fully persuaded that the
hour in which the entertaining traveller conceived this narrative will
be considered, by every reader of taste, as a fortunate event in the
annals of literature. Were it suitable to the task in which we are at
present engaged, to indulge ourselves in a poetical flight, we would
invoke the winds of the Caledonian Mountains to blow for ever, with
their softest breezes, on the bank where our author reclined, and
request of Flora, that it might be perpetually adorned with the gayest
and most fragrant productions of the year.' BOSWELL. Johnson thus
described the scene to Mrs. Thrale:--'I sat down to take notes on a
green bank, with a small stream running at my feet, in the midst of
savage solitude, with mountains before me and on either hand covered
with hea