[1286] See ante, i. 446.
[1287] See ante, ii. 121, and post, Oct. 27, 1779.
[1288] See ante, p. 424.
[1289] See post, under April 4, 1781.
[1290] See ante, p. 315.
[1291] See ante, i. 398.
[1292] 'Hume told Cadell, the bookseller, that he had a great desire to be introduced to as many of the persons who had written against him as could be collected. Accordingly, Dr. Douglas, Dr. Adams, &c., were invited by Cadell to dine at his house, in order to meet Hume. They came; and Dr. Price, who was of the party, assured me that they were all delighted with David.' Rogers's Table Talk, p. 106.
[1293] Boswell, in his Corsica, ed. 1879, p. 204, uses a strange argument against infidelity. 'Belief is favourable to the human mind were it for nothing else but to furnish it entertainment. An infidel, I should think, must frequently suffer from ennui.' In his Hebrides, Aug. 15, note, he attacks Adam Smith for being 'so forgetful of human comfort as to give any countenance to that dreary infidelity which would "make us poor indeed."'
[1294] 'JEMMY TWITCHER. Are we more dishonest than the rest of mankind? What we win, gentlemen, is our own, by the law of arms and the right of conquest. CROOK-FINGER'D JACK. Where shall we find such another set of practical philosophers, who to a man are above the fear of death?' The Beggar's Opera, act ii. sc. i.
[1295] Boswell, I think, here aims a blow at Gibbon. He says (post, under March 19, 1781), that 'Johnson had talked with some disgust of Mr. Gibbon's ugliness.' He wrote to Temple on May 8, 1779:—'Gibbon is an ugly, affected, disgusting fellow, and poisons our literary club to me.' He had before classed him among 'infidel wasps and venomous insects.' Letters of Boswell, pp. 233, 242. The younger Coleman describes Gibbon as dressed 'in a suit of flowered velvet, with a bag and sword.' Random Records, i. 121.