386. Perhaps the Duchess shewed him 'the
same marked coldness' as at Inverary. Boswell's _Hebrides_, Oct. 25.
[587] At Auchinleck he had 'exhorted Boswell to plant assiduously.'
Boswell's _Hebrides_, Nov. 4.
[588] See _ante_, i. 72. In Scotland it was Cocker's _Arithmetic_ that
he took with him. Boswell's _Hebrides_, Aug. 31. He was not always
correct in his calculations. For instance, he wrote to Mrs. Thrale from
Ashbourne less than a fortnight after Boswell's departure: 'Mr. Langdon
bought at Nottingham fair fifteen tun of cheese; which, at an ounce
a-piece, will suffice after dinner for four-hundred-and-eighty thousand
men.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 2. To arrive at this number he must have
taken a hundredweight as equal to, not 112, but 100, pounds.
[589] Johnson wrote the next day:--'Boswell is gone, and is, I hope,
pleased that he has been here; though to look on anything with pleasure
is not very common. He has been gay and good-humoured in his usual way,
but we have not agreed upon any other expedition.' _Piozzi Letters_,
i. 384.
[590] He lent him also the original journal of his _Hebrides_, and
received in return a complimentary letter, which he in like manner
published.
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