BOSWELL. See _ante_, i. 488, note 3, and ii. 332, note I.
[91] In _The Idler_, No. viii, Johnson has the following fling at
tragedians. He had mentioned the terror struck into our soldiers by the
Indian war-cry, and he continues:--'I am of opinion that by a proper
mixture of asses, bulls, turkeys, geese, and tragedians a noise might be
procured equally horrid with the war-cry.' See _ante_, ii.92.
[92] _Tom Jones_, Bk. xvi. chap. 5. Mme. Necker in a letter to Garrick
said:--'Nos acteurs se metamorphosent assez bien, mais Monsieur Garrick
fait autre chose; il nous metamorphose tous dans le caractere qu'il a
revetu; _nous sommes remplis de terreur avec Hamlet_,' &c. _Garrick
Corres_. ii. 627.
[93] See _ante_, i. 432, and ii. 278.
[94] See _ante_, ii. 11.
[95] Euphan M'Cullan (not Eupham Macallan) is mentioned in Dalrymple's
[Lord Hailes] _Remarks on the History of Scotland_, p. 254. She
maintained that 'she seldom ever prayed but she got a positive answer.'
The minister of her parish was ill. 'She prayed, and got an answer that
for a year's time he should be spared; and after the year's end he fell
sick again.' 'I went,' said she, 'to pray yet again for his life; but
the Lord left me not an mouse's likeness (a proverbial expression,
meaning _to reprove with such severity that the person reproved shrinks
and becomes abashed_), and said, 'Beast that thou art! shall I keep my
servant in pain for thy sake?' And when I said, 'Lord, what then shall I
do?' He answered me, 'He was but a reed that I spoke through, and I will
provide another reed to speak through.
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