Amen.'
'SIR ALEXANDER DICK TO DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.
'Prestonfield, Feb. 17, 1777.
'SIR, I had yesterday the honour of receiving your book of your Journey
to the Western Islands of Scotland, which you was so good as to send me,
by the hands of our mutual friend, Mr. Boswell, of Auchinleck; for which
I return you my most hearty thanks; and after carefully reading it over
again, shall deposit in my little collection of choice books, next our
worthy friend's Journey to Corsica. As there are many things to admire
in both performances, I have often wished that no Travels or Journeys
should be published but those undertaken by persons of integrity and
capacity to judge well, and describe faithfully, and in good language,
the situation, condition, and manners of the countries past through.
Indeed our country of Scotland, in spite of the union of the crowns,
is still in most places so devoid of clothing, or cover from hedges and
plantations, that it was well you gave your readers a sound Monitoire
with respect to that circumstance.
Pages:
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669