OF MY LITERARY LIFE. 
account of my various pofhuma I refer the reader to the latter 
pages of this book. ~ 
In this year I kept a regular journal of the road between my 
houfe and London, and did the fame on my return, digreffing to 
the right or to the left, as the places which merit notice hap- 
pened to lie. 
I secan the account of this excurfion with faying, that al- 
moft all my tours were performed on horfeback ; to that, and 
to the perfect eafe of mind I enjoyed in thefe pleafing jour- 
nies, 1 owe my viridis fenectus; 1 full retain, as far as poffible, 
the fame fpecies of removal from place to place. I confider the 
abfolute refignation of one’s perfon to the luxury of a carriage, 
to forebode a very fhort interval between that, and the vehicle 
which is to convey us to our laft ftage. 
In 1774 I publifhed a third edition of my Your in Scotland, 
1769, in quarto, with the xxi new plates; but, to accommodate 
the purchafers of the firft edition, I republifhed, with letter-prefs 
of the oftavo fize, all thofe plates. 
In this edition appeared a {mall poem of mine, in reply to a 
moft amiable dignitary, now high on the bench of bifhops, who 
had written to me, half-jeft, half-earneft, on an invidious compa- 
rifon I had made between the Exglifh and Scotch clergy. I thought 
it beft to make my defence in rhyme, fo fent him the lines in 
p. 173 of that edition, and all was well again; my coloring of 
the portraits I gave is certainly high, but the likenefies are con- 
feffed by all who have feen the originals. The readez aeed not 
be informed, that the feven firft lines are borrowed from the ini- 
mitable author of the New Bath Guide. 
D2 *‘ FRIEND. 
1g 
~s 
(HSE 
Tuirp EpitTion 
OF MY First 
Tour in Scots 
LAND. 
