hospitable
than we have passed[154].' Dr. Johnson thought it unnecessary to put
himself to the additional expence of bringing with him Francis Barber,
his faithful black servant; so we were attended only by my man, Joseph
Ritter, a Bohemian; a fine stately fellow above six feet high, who had
been over a great part of Europe, and spoke many languages. He was the
best servant I ever saw. Let not my readers disdain his introduction!
For Dr. Johnson gave him this character: 'Sir, he is a civil man, and a
wise man[155].'

From an erroneous apprehension of violence, Dr. Johnson had provided a
pair of pistols, some gunpowder, and a quantity of bullets: but upon
being assured we should run no risk of meeting any robbers, he left his
arms and ammunition in an open drawer, of which he gave my wife the
charge. He also left in that drawer one volume of a pretty full and
curious Diary of his Life, of which I have a few fragments; but the book
has been destroyed. I wish female curiosity had been strong enough to
have had it all transcribed; which might easily have been done; and I
should think the theft, being _pro bono publico_, might have been
forgiven. But I may be wrong. My wife told me she never once looked into
it[156].--She did not seem quite easy when we left her: but away
we went!

Mr. Nairne, advocate, was to go with us as far as St. Andrews. It gives
me pleasure that, by mentioning his _name_, I connect his title to the
just and handsome compliment paid him by Dr. Johnson, in his book: 'A
gentleman who could stay with us only long enough to make us know how
much we lost by his leaving us[157]. 'When we came to Leith, I talked
with perhaps too boasting an air, how pretty the Frith of Forth looked;
as indeed, after the prospect from Constantinople, of which I have been
told, and that from Naples, which I have seen, I believe the view of
that Frith and its environs, from the Castle-hill of Edinburgh, is the
finest prospect in Europe. 'Ay, (said Dr. Johnson,) that is the state of
the world. Water is the same every where.

"Una est injusti caerula forma maris[158]."'

I told him the port here was the mouth of the river or water of _Leith_.
'Not _Lethe_; said Mr. Nairne. 'Why, Sir, (said Dr. Johnson,) when a
Scotchman sets out from this port for England, he forgets his native
country.' NAIRNE. 'I hope, Sir, you will forget England here.' JOHNSON.
'Then 'twill still be more _Lethe_' He observed of the Pier or Quay,
'yo