When we got home, and were again at table with Dr. Johnson, we first
talked of portraits. He agreed in thinking them valuable in families. I
wished to know which he preferred, fine portraits, or those of which the
merit was resemblance. JOHNSON. 'Sir, their chief excellence is being
like.' BOSWELL. 'Are you of that opinion as to the portraits of
ancestors, whom one has never seen?' JOHNSON. 'It then becomes of more
consequence that they should be like; and I would have them in the dress
of the times, which makes a piece of history. One should like to see how
_Rorie More_ looked. Truth, Sir, is of the greatest value in these
things[611].' Mr. M'Queen observed, that if you think it of no
consequence whether portraits are like, if they are but well painted,
you may be indifferent whether a piece of history is true or not, if
well told.
Dr. Johnson said at breakfast to-day, 'that it was but of late that
historians bestowed pains and attention in consulting records, to attain
to accuracy[1]. Bacon, in writing his history of Henry VII, does not
seem to have consulted any, but to have just taken what he found in
other histories, and blended it with what he learnt by tradition.' He
agreed with me that there should be a chronicle kept in every
considerable family, to preserve the characters and transactions of
successive generations.
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