'
On Tuesday, May 19, I was to set out for Scotland in the evening. He was
engaged to dine with me at Mr. Dilly's, I waited upon him to remind
him of his appointment and attend him thither; he gave me some salutary
counsel, and recommended vigorous resolution against any deviation from
moral duty. BOSWELL. 'But you would not have me to bind myself by a
solemn obligation?' JOHNSON. (much agitated,) 'What! a vow--O, no, Sir,
a vow is a horrible thing, it is a snare for sin. The man who cannot go
to Heaven without a vow--may go--' Here, standing erect, in the middle
of his library, and rolling grand, his pause was truly a curious
compound of the solemn and the ludicrous; he half-whistled in his usual
way, when pleasant, and he paused, as if checked by religious awe.
Methought he would have added--to Hell--but was restrained. I humoured
the dilemma. 'What! Sir, (said I,) In caelum jusseris ibit?' alluding to
his imitation of it,--
'And bid him go to Hell, to Hell he goes.'
We had a quiet comfortable meeting at Mr.
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