[1057] I desire not to be understood as agreeing entirely with the opinions of Dr. Johnson, which I relate without any remark.  The many imitations, however, of Fingal, that have been published, confirm this observation in a considerable degree.  BOSWELL.  Johnson said to Sir Joshua of Ossian:—­’Sir, a man might write such stuff for ever, if he would abandon his mind to it.’ Ante, iv. 183.

[1058] In the first edition (p. 485) this paragraph ran thus:—­’Young Mr. Tytler stepped briskly forward, and said, “Fingal is certainly genuine; for I have heard a great part of it repeated in the original.”—­Dr. Johnson indignantly asked him, “Sir, do you understand the original?”—­Tytler.  “No, Sir.”—­Johnson.  “Why, then, we see to what this testimony comes:—­Thus it is.”—­He afterwards said to me, “Did you observe the wonderful confidence with which young Tytler advanced, with his front already brased?"’

[1059] For in company we should perhaps read in the company.

[1060] In the first edition, this gentleman’s talents and integrity are, &c.

[1061] ’A Scotchman must be a very sturdy moralist who does not love Scotland better than truth:  he will always love it better than inquiry; and if falsehood flatters his vanity, will not be very diligent to detect it.’  Johnson’s Works, ix. 116.  See ante, ii. 311.

[1062] See ante, p. 164.

[1063] See ante, p. 242.

[1064] See ante, iv. 253.

[1065] Lord Chief Baron Geoffrey Gilbert published in 1760 a book on the Law of Evidence.

[1066] See ante, ii. 302.

[1067] Three instances, ante, pp. 160, 320.

[1068] See ante, ii. 318.

[1069] An instance is given in Sacheverell’s Account of the Isle of Man, ed. 1702, p. 14.

[1070] Mr. J. T. Clark, the Keeper of the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, obligingly informs me that in the margin of the copy of Boswell’s Journal in that Library it is stated that this cause was Wilson versus Maclean.

[1071] See ante, iv. 74, note 3.

[1072] See ante, iii 69, 183.

[1073] He is described in Guy Mannering, ed. 1860, iv. 98.

[1074] See ante, p. 50.

[1075] See ante, i. 458.

[1076] ’We now observe that the Methodists, where they scatter their opinions, represent themselves as preaching the Gospel to unconverted nations; and enthusiasts of all kinds have been inclined to disguise their particular tenets with pompous appellations, and to imagine themselves the great instruments of salvation.’  Johnson’s Works, vi. 417.

[1077]

     Through various hazards and events we move.

Dryden, [Aeneid, I. 204].  BOSWELL.

[1078]

     Long labours both by sea and land he bore.