' The supposition of the coolness seems
needless. With so little to go upon, guessing is very hazardous.
[821] Topham Beauclerk, who had married the Duke's sister, after she had
been divorced for adultery with him from her first husband Viscount
Bolingbroke. _Ante_, ii. 246, note 1.
[822] See _post_, Dempster's Letter of Feb. 16, 1775.
[823] See _ante_, ii. 340, where Johnson said that 'if he were a
gentleman of landed property, he would turn out all his tenants who did
not vote for the candidate whom he supported.'
[824] See _ante_, iii. 378.
[825] 'They have opinions which cannot be ranked with superstition,
because they regard only natural effects. They expect better crops of
grain by sowing their seed in the moon's increase. The moon has great
influence in vulgar philosophy. In my memory it was a precept annually
given in one of the English almanacks, "to kill hogs when the moon was
increasing, and the bacon would prove the better in boiling."' Johnson's
_Works,_ ix. 104. Bacon, in his _Natural History_(No.892) says:--'For
the increase of moisture, the opinion received is, that seeds will grow
soonest if they be set in the increase of the moon.'
[826] The question which Johnson asked with such unusual warmth might
have been answered, 'by sowing the bent, or couch grass.' WALTER SCOTT.
[827] See _ante,_ i.
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