Grampian Club > Boswelliana

BOSWELLIANA. 205
"Nichols said one should never dispute with a woman,
for she has not understanding enough to be convinced ; at least,
never will own herself in the wrong, and always will be angry
with you." 22nd Sept., 1780.
" Nichols said he liked better to converse with women than
with men of the greatest sense and knowledge. He owned he
coidd gain no acquisition to his intellectual stock from them,
but they diverted and cheered him. I said he had them like
housemaids to sweep the cobwebs from his mind and give it a
polish." 22nd Sept., 1780.
" A man who wishes just to be easy will always avoid those
subjects which he has discovered are hard and puzzling. Nay,
he will not even take the trouble to make the selection, but like
a luxurious indolent eater, wherever he finds any piece in the
least degree tough he will let it alone." 23rd Sept., 1780.
" Nichols said that a man of the ton, as the phrase is, — of
high breeding, and fashionable air, has at first an irresistible
superiority over plain men, others who have not such superficial
advantages. He has a shake of the head which frightens you,
but when you are once used to him you laugh at the shake."
23rd Sept., 1780.
" In winter 1779, after Scotland had been exhausted by raising
new levies, Sir William Augustus Cunningham * boasted in
the House of Commons that 20,000 men might yet be raised in
that country and never be missed, either from manufactures or
agriculture. The Hon. Henry Ershire f said he believed it was
true. But they must be raised from the churchyards."
From himself.
* Sir William Augustus Cunynghame, fourth baronet of Milncraig,
Ayrshire, was eldest son of Lieutenant-General Sir David Cunyng-
hame and his wife, Lady Mary Montgomery, only daughter of
Alexander, ninth Earl of Eglinton. For many years he represented
the county of Linlithgow in the House of Commons ; he also held
several important offices in the public service. He died 17th
January, 1828.
I The Hon. Henry Erskine, a celebrated humorist, was second son