34 LECTUKE III. 



ing, which is called after him. In his more 

 prosperous days he went a journey into Scot- 

 land, accompanied by his friend Mr. Boswell; 

 and as he was a large, heavy man, he had a 

 stout stick in proportion to his size. Now, it so 

 happened that he lost this stick, and deplored 

 his loss very much. His companion, in order 

 to comfort him, said that it would be found 

 again. "Never!" said Dr. Johnson: "con- 

 sider, sir, the value of such a piece of timber in 

 this country ! " Thus you see that trees were not 

 very abundant in those days in Scotland. This 

 being the case, a pair of magpies, for want of a 

 better place, resolved to make their nest in a 

 gooseberry-bush in a garden. They brought 

 great quantities of brambles, sticks, and gorse, 

 or furze, and made it so large, and with so many 

 twistings and turnings in it, that no arm (even if 

 it were as long as my own, and that is pretty 

 long, as you may see,) could reach either the 

 eggs or the young ones. It was considered a 

 curiosity, and was suffered to remain unmo- 

 lested ; and there it may be, for all I know, at 

 present, although the Scotch are a thrifty people, 

 and might not like to lose their crop of goose- 

 berries. 



