We know the House of Peers have made noble stands, when
the House of Commons durst not. The two last years of parliament they
dare not contradict the populace[314].'
This room is ornamented with a number of fine prints, and with a whole
length picture of Lord Errol, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. This led Dr.
Johnson and me to talk of our amiable and elegant friend, whose
panegyrick he concluded by saying, 'Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir, is the
most invulnerable man I know; the man with whom if you should quarrel,
you would find the most difficulty how to abuse[315].'
Dr. Johnson observed, the situation here was the noblest he had ever
seen,--better than Mount Edgecumbe, reckoned the first in England;
because, at Mount Edgecumbe[316], the sea is bounded by land on the
other side, and though there is there the grandeur of a fleet, there is
also the impression of there being a dock-yard, the circumstances of
which are not agreeable. At Slains is an excellent old house. The noble
owner has built of brick, along the square in the inside, a gallery,
both on the first and second story, the house being no higher; so that
he has always a dry walk, and the rooms, to which formerly there was no
approach but through each other, have now all separate entries from the
gallery, which is hung with Hogarth's works, and other prints. We went
and sat a while in the library.
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