Thomas Rowlandson’s engraving, below, records the scene at the Firth of Forth where James Boswell forced a piece of dried fish an Johnson as a means, he said, of “scottifying his palate…With difficulty I prevailed with him to let a bit of one of them lie in his mouth. He did not like it.”
—Scottifying the Palate from ‘Picturesque Beauties of Boswell, Part the First’, etched by Thomas Rowlandson, 1786 (etching) by Collings, Samuel (fl.1784-95) (after); Private Collection—Read More:http://www.bridgemanart.com/asset/368487/Collings-Samuel-fl.1784-95-after/Scottifying-the-Palate-from-%27Picturesque-Beauties-
Among other Johnsonian dislikes was the damage wreaked upon Saint Andrew’s Cathedral by fanatical followers of John Knox. At the cathedral Boswell “happened to ask where John Knox was buried. Dr. Johnson burst out, ‘I hope in the highway. I have been looking at his reformations.’ ”
ADDENDUM:
(see link at end)…Dr. Johnson’s veneration for the Hierarchy is well known. There is no wonder then, that he was affected with a strong indignation, while he beheld the ruins of religious magnificence. I happened to ask where John Knox was buried. Dr. Johnson burst out, ‘I hope in the high-way. I have been looking at his reformations.’ It was a very fine day. Dr. Johnson seemed quite wrapt up in the contemplation of the scenes which were now presented to him. He kept his hat off while he was upon any part of the ground where the cathedral had stood. He said well, that ‘Knox had set on a mob, without knowing where it would end; and that differing from a man in doctrine was no reason why you should pull his house about his ears.’ As we walked in the cloisters, there was a solemn echo, while he talked loudly of a proper retirement from the world. Mr. Nairne said, he had an inclination to retire. I called Dr. Johnson’s attention to this, that I might hear his opinion if it was right. JOHNSON. ‘Yes, when he has done his duty to society. In general, as every man is obliged not only to “love GOD, but his neighbour as himself,” he must bear his part in active life; yet there are exceptions. Those who are exceedingly scrupulous, (which I do not approve, for I am no friend to scruples[186],) and find their scrupulosity invincible, so that they are quite in the dark, and know not what they shall do,–or those who cannot resist temptations, and find they make themselves worse by being in the world, without making it better, may retire. I never read of a hermit, but in imagination I kiss his feet; never of a monastery, but I could fall on my knees, and kiss the pavement. But I think putting young people there, who know nothing of life, nothing of retirement, is dangerous and wicked. It is a saying as old as Hesiod, …Read More:http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/scottish-authors/james-boswell/life-of-johnson-vol_05/ebook-page-18.asp
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