'
BOSWELL. 'But if a man does in a shorter time what might be the labour
of a life, there is nothing to be said against him.' JOHNSON (perceiving
at once that I alluded to him and his _Dictionary_). 'Suppose that
flattery to be true, the consequence would be, that the world would have
no right to censure a man; but that will not justify him to
himself[634].'
After breakfast, he said to me, 'A Highland Chief should now endeavour
to do every thing to raise his rents, by means of the industry of his
people. Formerly, it was right for him to have his house full of idle
fellows; they were his defenders, his servants, his dependants, his
friends. Now they may be better employed. The system of things is now so
much altered, that the family cannot have influence but by riches,
because it has no longer the power of ancient feudal times. An
individual of a family may have it; but it cannot now belong to a
family, unless you could have a perpetuity of men with the same views.
M'Leod has four times the land that the Duke of Bedford has. I think,
with his spirit, he may in time make himself the greatest man in the
King's dominions; for land may always be improved to a certain degree. I
would never have any man sell land, to throw money into the funds, as is
often done, or to try any other species of trade. Depend upon it, this
rage of trade will destroy itself.
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