'--BOSWELL.
There was here, most certainly, an affectation of more Jacobitism than
he really had. Yet there is no doubt that at earlier periods he was
wont often to exercise both his pleasantry and ingenuity in talking
Jacobitism. My much respected friend, Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of
Salisbury, has favoured me with the following admirable instance
from his Lordship's own recollection. One day, when dining at old
Mr. Langton's where Miss Roberts, his niece, was one of the company,
Johnson, with his usual complacent attention to the fair sex, took her
by the hand and said, 'My dear, I hope you are a Jacobite.' Old Mr.
Langton, who, though a high and steady Tory, was attached to the present
Royal Family, seemed offended, and asked Johnson, with great warmth,
what he could mean by putting such a question to his niece? 'Why, Sir,
(said Johnson) I meant no offence to your niece, I meant her a great
compliment. A Jacobite, Sir, believes in the divine right of Kings. He
that believes in the divine right of Kings believes in a Divinity.
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