—­’Sincerity,
     Thou first of virtues! let no mortal leave
     Thy onward path, although the earth should gape,
     And from the gulph of hell destruction cry,
     To take dissimulation’s winding way[970].’

JOHNSON.  ’That will not do, Sir.  Nothing is good but what is consistent with truth or probability, which this is not.  Juvenal, indeed, gives us a noble picture of inflexible virtue:—­

     “Esto bonus miles, tutor bonus, arbiter idem
     Integer:  ambiguae si quando citabere testis,
     Incertaeque rei, Phalaris licet imperet ut sis,
     Falsus, et admoto dictet perjuria tauro,
     Summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudori,
     Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas[2]."’

He repeated the lines with great force and dignity; then added, ’And, after this, comes Johnny Home, with his earth gaping, and his destruction crying:—­Pooh[971]!’

While we were lamenting the number of ruined religious buildings which we had lately seen, I spoke with peculiar feeling of the miserable neglect of the chapel belonging to the palace of Holyrood-house, in which are deposited the remains of many of the Kings of Scotland, and many of our nobility.  I said, it was a disgrace to the country that it was not repaired:  and particularly complained that my friend Douglas, the representative of a great house and proprietor of a vast estate, should suffer the sacred spot where his mother lies interred, to be unroofed, and exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather.  Dr. Johnson, who, I know not how, had formed an opinion on the Hamilton side, in the Douglas cause, slily answered, ’Sir, Sir, don’t be too severe upon the gentleman; don’t accuse him of want of filial piety!  Lady Jane Douglas was not his mother.’  He roused my zeal so much that I took the liberty to tell him he knew nothing of the cause:  which I do most seriously believe was the case[972].

We were now ‘in a country of bridles and saddles[973],’ and set out fully equipped.  The Duke of Argyle was obliging enough to mount Dr. Johnson on a stately steed from his grace’s stable.  My friend was highly pleased, and Joseph said, ‘He now looks like a bishop.’

We dined at the inn at Tarbat, and at night came to Rosedow, the beautiful seat of Sir James Colquhoun, on the banks of Lochlomond, where I, and any friends whom I have introduced, have ever been received with kind and elegant hospitality.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27.

When I went into Dr. Johnson’s room this morning, I observed to him how wonderfully courteous he had been at Inveraray, and said, ’You were quite a fine gentleman, when with the duchess.’  He answered, in good humour, ‘Sir, I look upon myself as a very polite man:’  and he was right, in a proper manly sense of the word[974].  As an immediate proof of it, let me observe, that he would not send back the Duke of Argyle’s horse without a letter of thanks, which I copied.