And we were too proud not to carry him to the Abbey of
Holyrood-house, that beautiful piece of architecture, but, alas! that
deserted mansion of royalty, which Hamilton of Bangour, in one of his
elegant poems, calls
'A virtuous palace, where no monarch dwells[111].'
I was much entertained while Principal Robertson fluently harangued to
Dr. Johnson, upon the spot, concerning scenes of his celebrated _History
of Scotland_. We surveyed that part of the palace appropriated to the
Duke of Hamilton, as Keeper, in which our beautiful Queen Mary lived,
and in which David Rizzio was murdered; and also the State Rooms. Dr.
Johnson was a great reciter of all sorts of things serious or comical. I
overheard him repeating here in a kind of muttering tone, a line of the
old ballad, _Johnny Armstrong's Last Good Night_:
'And ran him through the fair body[112]!'
We returned to my house, where there met him, at dinner, the Duchess of
Douglas[113], Sir Adolphus Oughton, Lord Chief Baron, Sir William
Forbes, Principal Robertson, Mr. Cullen[114], Advocate. Before dinner he
told us of a curious conversation between the famous George
Faulkner[115] and him. George said that England had drained Ireland of
fifty thousand pounds in specie, annually, for fifty years. 'How so,
Sir! (said Dr. Johnson,) you must have a very great trade?' 'No trade.
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