Lucy
[Miss Porter] is of opinion that he was wonderfully handsome.' _Piozzi
Letters_, i. 235. See ante, ii. 287.
[890] Iona.
[891] See _ante_, p. 237.
[892] See _ante_, 111. 229.
[893] Sir James Mackintosh says (_Life_, ii. 257):--'Dr. Johnson visited
Iona without looking at Staffa, which lay in sight, with that
indifference to natural objects, either of taste or scientific
curiosity, which characterised him.' This is a fair enough sample of
much of the criticism under which Johnson's reputation has suffered.
[894] Smollett in _Humphry Clinker_ (Letter of Sept. 3) describes a
Highland funeral. 'Our entertainer seemed to think it a disparagement to
his family that not above a hundred gallons of whisky had been drunk
upon such a solemn occasion.
[895] 'We then entered the boat again; the night came upon us; the wind
rose; the sea swelled; and Boswell desired to be set on dry ground: we,
however, pursued our navigation, and passed by several little islands in
the silent solemnity of faint moon-shine, seeing little, and hearing
only the wind and water.' _Piozzi Letters_, i. 176.
[896] Cicero _De Finibus_, ii. 32.
[897] I have lately observed that this thought has been elegantly
expressed by Cowley:--
'Things which offend when present, and affright,
In memory, well painted, move delight.
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