tomorrow.' This respectable English judge will be long remembered in
Scotland, where he built an elegant house, and lived in it
magnificently. His own ample fortune, with the addition of his salary,
enabled him to be splendidly hospitable. It may be fortunate for an
individual amongst ourselves to be Lord Chief Baron; and a most worthy
man now has the office; but, in my opinion, it is better for Scotland
in general, that some of our publick employments should be filled by
gentlemen of distinction from the south side of the Tweed, as we have
the benefit of promotion in England. Such an interchange would make a
beneficial mixture of manners, and render our union more complete.
Lord Chief Baron Orde was on good terms with us all, in a narrow
country filled with jarring interests and keen parties; and, though I
well knew his opinion to be the same with my own, he kept himself
aloof at a very critical period indeed, when the Douglas cause shook
the sacred security of birthright in Scotland to its foundation; a
cause, which had it happened before the Union, when there was no
appeal to a British House of Lords, would have left the great fortress
of honours and of property in ruins.

When we got home, Dr Johnson desired to see my books. He took down
Ogden's Sermons on Prayer, on which I set a very high value, having
been much edified by them, and he retired with them to his room. He
did not stay long, but soon joined us in the drawing room. I presented
to him Mr Robert Arbuthnot, a relation of the celebrated Dr Arbuthnot,
and a man of literature and taste. To him we were obliged for a
previous recommendation, which secured us a very agreeable reception
at St Andrews, and which Dr Johnson, in his Journey, ascribes to 'some
invisible friend'.

Of Dr Beattie, Mr Johnson said, 'Sir, he has written like a man