evil. He has resolved, he has declared, in the former case as in the
latter.' He had last night looked into Lord Hailes's Remarks on the
History of Scotland. Dr Robertson and I said, it was a pity Lord
Hailes did not write greater things. His lordship had not then
published his Annals of Scotland. JOHNSON. 'I remember I was once on a
visit at the house of a lady for whom I had a high respect. There was
a good deal of company in the room. When they were gone, I said to
this lady, "What foolish talking have we had!" "Yes," said she, "but
while they talked, you said nothing." I was struck with reproof. How
much better is the man who does nothing. Besides, I love anecdotes. I
fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically, except
in narrative; grow weary of preparation, and connection, and
illustration, and all those arts by which a big book is made. If a man
is to wait till he weaves anecdotes into a system, we may be long in
getting them, and get but a few, in comparison of what we might get.'

Dr Robertson said, the notions of Eupham Macallan. a fanatick woman,
of whom Lord Hailes gives a sketch, were still prevalent among some of
the Presbyterians; and therefore it was right in Lord Hailes, a man of
known piety, to undeceive them.

We walked out, that Dr Johnson might see some of the things which we
have to shew at Edinburgh. We went to the Parliament House, where the
Parliament of Scotland sat, and where the Ordinary Lords of Session
hold their courts; and to the New Session House adjoining to it, where
our Court of Fifteen (the fourteen Ordinaries, with the Lord President
at their head) sit as a court of Review. We went to the Advocates'
Library, of which Dr Johnson took a cursory view, and then to what is
called the Laigh (or Under) Parliament House, where the records of
Scotland, which has an universal security by register, are deposited,