His lordship had not then published
his _Annals of Scotland_[93]. JOHNSON. 'I remember I was once on a
visit at the house of a lady for whom I had a high respect. There was a
good deal of company in the room. When they were gone, I said to this
lady, "What foolish talking have we had!" "Yes, (said she,) but while
they talked, you said nothing." I was struck with the reproof. How much
better is the man who does anything that is innocent, than he who does
nothing. Besides, I love anecdotes[94]. I fancy mankind may come, in
time, to write all aphoristically, except in narrative; grow weary of
preparation, and connection, and illustration, and all those arts by
which a big book is made. If a man is to wait till he weaves anecdotes
into a system, we may be long in getting them, and get but few, in
comparison of what we might get.
Dr. Robertson said, the notions of _Eupham Macallan_, a fanatick woman,
of whom Lord Hailes gives a sketch, were still prevalent among some of
the Presbyterians; and therefore it was right in Lord Hailes, a man of
known piety, to undeceive them[95].
We walked out[96], that Dr. Johnson might see some of the things which
we have to shew at Edinburgh. We went to the Parliament-House[97],
where the Parliament of Scotland sat, and where the _Ordinary Lords_ of
Session hold their courts; and to the New Session-House adjoining to it,
where our Court of Fifteen (the fourteen _Ordinaries_, with the Lord
President at their head,) sit as a court of Review.
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