64 JOHNSON. 



say, even of the English nation at large, their obvious 

 nature and considerable magnitude has never made them 

 very safe to dwell upon. Nor was it a moderate courage 

 that could make Johnson venture upon the plain state- 

 ment of a truth, however manifest, yet very unpalatable, 

 that " not one play, if it were now exhibited as the 

 work of a contemporary writer, would be heard to the 

 conclusion/' The Preface is more to be commended 

 than the work itself. As a commentator, he is certainly 

 far from successful. 



The tour in Scotland produced, in 1775, his 'Jour- 

 ney to the Western Islands/ certainly one of his least 

 valuable writings. The strong prejudices against the 

 Scotch under which he laboured, and which he may be 

 said to have cherished, partly from perverseness, partly 

 in a kind of half jest, certainly do not break out as might 

 have been expected; and nothing can be more unfair 

 than the attacks made upon him by the zeal of national 

 feeling as if he unjustly described a country in which he 

 had been hospitably received. This charge is so plainly 

 without foundation, nay, so kindly does he express him- 

 self, so respectfully, so gratefully of all with whom he 

 came in contact, and so just is he almost always to the 

 merits both of the country and its inhabitants, that no 

 one can hesitate to what cause he shall ascribe the violence 

 of the animosity excited by his book. Had he only 

 believed in 'Ossian's Poems/ nothing would ever have 

 been heard but satisfaction with the * Journey ' and re- 

 spect for its author. His opinion was strong, his argu- 

 ments were powerful : he plainly gave the right name to 

 an attempt at deceiving, which had failed with him : it 

 was highly offensive to those concerned in the fabrication, 



