He shewed in the
chapel at Rasay[879] his horrour at dead men's bones. He shewed it again
at Col's house. In the Charter-room there was a remarkable large
shin-bone, which was said to have been a bone of _John Garve_[880], one
of the lairds. Dr. Johnson would not look at it; but started away.
At breakfast, I asked, 'What is the reason that we are angry at a
trader's having opulence[881]?' JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, the reason is,
(though I don't undertake to prove that there is a reason,) we see no
qualities in trade that should entitle a man to superiority. We are not
angry at a soldier's getting riches, because we see that he possesses
qualities which we have not. If a man returns from a battle, having lost
one hand, and with the other full of gold, we feel that he deserves the
gold; but we cannot think that a fellow, by sitting all day at a desk,
is entitled to get above us.' BOSWELL. 'But, Sir, may we not suppose a
merchant to be a man of an enlarged mind, such as Addison in the
_Spectator_ describes Sir Andrew Freeport to have been?' JOHNSON. 'Why,
Sir, we may suppose any fictitious character. We may suppose a
philosophical day-labourer, who is happy in reflecting that, by his
labour, he contributes to the fertility of the earth, and to the support
of his fellow-creatures; but we find no such philosophical day-labourer.
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