[883] He was born in Nordland in Sweden, in 1736. In 1768 he and Mr. Banks accompanied Captain Cook in his first voyage round the world. He died in 1782. Knight's Eng. Cyclo. v. 578. Miss Burney wrote of him in 1780:—'My father has very exactly named him, in calling him a philosophical gossip.' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 305. Horace Walpole the same year, just after the Gordon Riots, wrote (Letters, vii. 403):—'Who is secure against Jack Straw and a whirlwind? How I abominate Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, who routed the poor Otaheitans out of the centre of the ocean, and carried our abominable passions amongst them! not even that poor little speck could escape European restlessness.' See ante ii. 148.
[884] Boswell tells this story again, ante, ii. 299. Mrs. Piozzi's account (Anec. p. 114) is evidently so inaccurate that it does not deserve attention; she herself admits that Beauclerk was truthful. In a marginal note on Wraxall's Memoirs, she says:—'Topham Beauclerk (wicked and profligate as he wished to be accounted), was yet a man of very strict veracity. Oh Lord! how I did hate that horrid Beauclerk!' Hayward's Piozzi, i. 348. Johnson testified to 'the correctness of Beauclerk's memory and the fidelity of his narrative.' Ante, ii. 405.
[885] 'Mr. Maclean of Col, having a very numerous family, has for some time past resided at Aberdeen, that he may superintend their education, and leaves the young gentleman, our friend, to govern his dominions with the full power of a Highland chief.' Johnson's Works, ix. 117.
[886] This is not spoken of hare-coursing, where the game is taken or lost before the dog gets out of wind; but in chasing deer with the great Highland greyhound, Col's exploit is feasible enough. WALTER SCOTT.
[887] See ante, pp. 45, III, for Monboddo's notion.
[888] Mme. Riccoboni in 1767 wrote to Garrick of the French:—'Un mensonge grossier les révolte. Si on voulait leur persuader que les Anglais vivent de grenouilles, meurent de faim, que leurs femmes sont barbouillées, et jurent par toutes les lettres de l'alphabet, ils leveraient les épaules, et s'écriraient, quel sot ose écrire ces misères-là? mais à Londres, diantre cela prend!' Garrick Corres. ii. 524.
[889] Just opposite to M'Quarrie's house the boat was swamped by the intoxication of the sailors, who had partaken too largely of M'Quarrie's wonted hospitality. WALTER SCOTT. Johnson wrote from Lichfield on June 13, 1775;—'There is great lamentation here for the death of Col. Lucy [Miss Porter] is of opinion that he was wonderfully handsome.' Piozzi Letters, i. 235. See ante, ii. 287.
[890] Iona.
[891] See ante, p. 237.
[892] See ante, 111. 229.