[588] See post, Oct. 25.

[589] See ante, iv. under Dec. 2, 1784.

[590] Miss Mulso (Mrs. Chapone) wrote in 1753:—­’I had the assurance to dispute with Mr. Johnson on the subject of human malignity, and wondered to hear a man, who by his actions shews so much benevolence, maintain that the human heart is naturally malevolent, and that all the benevolence we see in the few who are good is acquired by reason and religion.’ _ Life of Mrs. Chapone_, p.73.  See post, p. 214.

[591] This act was passed in 1746.

[592] Isaiah, ii. 4.

[593] Sir Walter Scott, after mentioning Lord Orford’s (Horace Walpole) History of His Own Time, continues:—­’The Memoirs of our Scots Sir George Mackenzie are of the same class—­both immersed in little political detail, and the struggling skirmish of party, seem to have lost sight of the great progressive movements of human affairs.’  Lockhart’s Scott vii. 12.

[594] ’Illum jura potius ponere quam de jure respondere dixisses; eique appropinquabant clientes tanquam judici potius quam advocato.’  Mackenzie’s Works, ed. 1716, vol. i. part 2, p. 7.

[595] ’Opposuit ei providentia Nisbetum:  qui summa doctrina consummataque eloquentia causas agebat, ut justitiae scalae in aequilibrio essent; nimia tamen arte semper utens artem suam suspectam reddebat.  Quoties ergo conflixerunt, penes Gilmorum gloria, penes Nisbetum palma fuit; quoniam in hoc plus artis et cultus, in illo naturae et virium.’ Ib.

[596] He often indulged himself in every species of pleasantry and wit.  BOSWELL.

[597] But like the hawk, having soared with a lofty flight to a height which the eye could not reach, he was wont to swoop upon his quarry with wonderful rapidity.  BOSWELL.  These two quotations are part of the same paragraph, and are not even separated by a word. Ib. p. 6.

[598] See ante, i. 453; iii. 323; iv. 276; and v. 32.

[599] Some years later he said that ’when Burke lets himself down to jocularity he is in the kennel.’ Ante, iv. 276.

[600] Cicero and Demosthenes, no doubt, were brought in by the passage about Nicholson.  Mackenzie continues:—­’Hic primus nos a Syllogismorum servitute manumisit et Aristotelem Demostheni potius quam Ciceroni forum concedere coegit.’  P. 6.

[601] See ante ii. 435 and iv. 149, note 3.

[602] See ante, i. 103.

[603] See ante ii 436

[604] See ante, i. 65.

[605] On Sept. 13, 1777, Johnson wrote:—­’Boswell shrinks from the Baltick expedition, which, I think, is the best scheme in our power.’ Ante, iii. 134, note 1.

[606] See ante, ii. 59, note 1.

[607] See ante, iii. 368.

[608] ’Every man wishes to be wise, and they who cannot be wise are almost always cunning ... nor is caution ever so necessary as with associates or opponents of feeble minds.’ The Idler, No. 92.  In a letter to Dr. Taylor Johnson says:—­’To help the ignorant commonly requires much patience, for the ignorant are always trying to be cunning.’ Notes and Queries, 6th S. v. 462.  Churchill, in The Journey (Poems, ed. 1766, ii. 327), says:—­