Grampian Club > Boswelliana

BOSWELLIANA. 301
Darius* ' What/ said he, ' do you think him the son of
Cyrus ? ' laughing at Lord Selkirk. I did not think he'd have
said this, though a distinguished law lord."
" When Pitt the second made his first appearance in the
House of Commons in opposition to Fox, Gibbonf said, ' There
is a beautiful painted pinnace just going to be run down by a
black collier.' He never was more mistaken. Pitt has more
forcible indignation in him than Fox." Wilkes.
" As a playful instance of the proverb, I said, ' Every man has
his price. Lord Shelburne :{: has his price [meaning Dr. Price],§
whom I love and call Fretium affectionis.' "
Monday, 18th April, 1785, at
Dr. Brocklesby's.|1
" General Paoli said more good things than almost anybody,
yet he talks of them with contempt. I told him he had always
* .Tohn, Lord Daer, tliird son of Dunbar Hamilton Douglas, fourth
Earl of Selkirk.
f The celebrated Edward G-ibbon was born in 1737, and died in
1794. In conversation he was genial and elegant, but he occasionally
indulged in flashes of irony.
X William, second Earl of Shelburne, subsequently Marquess of
Lansdown, a distinguished statesman. In 1783 he succeeded the
Marquess of Eockingham as Prime Minister. At one period he much
frequented the society^ of Dr. Johnson. The Marquess died in May,
1805.
§ Eichard Price, D.D., a Dissenting minister in London, and eminent
philosophical writer, was born in 1723, and died in March, 1791.
Dr. Price was a friend and correspondent of Lord Shelburne. An
advocate of civil and religious liberty, he supported the cause of
American independence, and welcomed the early triumphs of the
French Eevolution.
II Dr. Brocklesby, an accomplished physician, and the generous
Mend of Edmund Burke and Dr. Johnson. He published various
periodical papers on professional subjects. Dr. Brocklesby Avas born
in 1702. and died 1797.