to
Lords, who thought they honoured him by being with him; and to choose
such Lords as Burlington, and Cobham, and Bolingbroke! Bathurst was
negative, a pleasing man; and I have heard no ill of Marchmont; and then
always saying, "I do not value you for being a Lord;" which was a sure
proof that he did. I never say, I do not value Boswell more for being
born to an estate, because I do not care.' BOSWELL. 'Nor for being
a Scotchman?' JOHNSON. 'Nay, Sir, I do value you more for being a
Scotchman. You are a Scotchman without the faults of a Scotchman.
You would not have been so valuable as you are, had you not been a
Scotchman.'

Amongst the numerous prints pasted on the walls of the dining-room at
Streatham, was Hogarth's 'Modern Midnight Conversation.' I asked him
what he knew of Parson Ford, who makes a conspicuous figure in the
riotous group. JOHNSON. 'Sir, he was my acquaintance and relation,
my mother's nephew. He had purchased a living in the country, but not
simoniacally. I never saw him but in the country. I have been told he
was a man of great parts; very profligate, but I never heard he was
impious.' BOSWELL. 'Was there not a story of his ghost having appeared?'
JOHNSON. 'Sir, it was believed. A waiter at the Hummums, in which house
Ford died, had been absent for some time, and returned, not knowing that
Ford was dead. Going down to the cellar, according to the story, he
met him; going down again he met him a second time. When he came up, he
asked some of the people of the house what Ford could be doing there.
They told him Ford was dead. The waiter took a fever, in which he lay
for some time. When he recovered, he said he had a message to deliver to
some women from Ford; but he was not to tell what, or to whom. He walked
out; he was followed; but somewhere about St. Paul's they lost him.
He came back, and said he had delivered the message, and the women
exclaimed, "Then we are all undone!" Dr. Pellet, who was not a credulous
man, inquired into the truth of this story, and he said, the evidence
was irresistible. My wife went to the Hummums; (it is a place where
people get themselves cupped.) I believe she went with intention to hear
about this story of Ford. At first they were unwilling to tell her; but,
after they had talked to her, she came away satisfied that it was
true. To be sure the man had a fever; and this vision may have been the
beginning of it. But if the message to the women, and their behaviour
up