When we got
home, Dr. Johnson desired to see my books. He took down Ogden's _Sermons
on Prayer_[67], on which I set a very high value, having been much
edified by them, and he retired with them to his room. He did not stay
long, but soon joined us in the drawing room. I presented to him Mr.
Robert Arbuthnot, a relation of the celebrated Dr. Arbuthnot[68], and a
man of literature and taste. To him we were obliged for a previous
recommendation, which secured us a very agreeable reception at St.
Andrews, and which Dr. Johnson, in his _Journey_, ascribes to 'some
invisible friend[69].'
Of Dr. Beattie, Mr. Johnson said, 'Sir, he has written like a man
conscious of the truth, and feeling his own strength[70]. Treating your
adversary with respect is giving him an advantage to which he is not
entitled[71]. The greatest part of men cannot judge of reasoning, and
are impressed by character; so that, if you allow your adversary a
respectable character, they will think, that though you differ from him,
you may be in the wrong. Sir, treating your adversary with respect, is
striking soft in a battle. And as to Hume,--a man who has so much
conceit as to tell all mankind that they have been bubbled[72] for ages,
and he is the wise man who sees better than they,--a man who has so
little scrupulosity as to venture to oppose those principles which have
been thought necessary to human happiness,--is he to be surprized if
another man comes and laughs at him? If he is the great man he thinks
himself, all this cannot hurt him: it is like throwing peas against a
rock.
Pages:
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45