'
['Though he was black, and thou art heavenly fair,
Trust not too much to that enchanting face.'
DRYDEN. Virgil, _Eclogues_, ii. 16.] Mr. Maclaurin wrote an essay
against the Homeric tale of 'Troy divine,' I believe, for the sole
purpose of introducing a happy motto,--
'Non anni domuere decem non mille carinae.'
[AEneid, ii. 198.] Croker's _Boswell_, p. 279.
[605] There is, no doubt, some malice in this second mention of Dundas's
Scottish accent (see _ante_, ii. 160). Boswell complained to Temple in
1789 that Dundas had not behaved well to himself or his brother David.
'The fact is, he writes, 'on David's being obliged to quit Spain on
account of the war, Dundas promised to my father that he would give him
an office. Some time after my father's death, Dundas renewed the
assurance to me in strong terms, and told me he had said to Lord
Caermarthen, "It is a deathbed promise, and I must fulfil it." Yet
David has now been kept waiting above eight years, when he might have
established himself again in trade.... This is cruel usage.' Boswell
adds:--'I strongly suspect Dundas has given Pitt a prejudice against me.
The excellent Langton says it is disgraceful; it is utter folly in Pitt
not to reward and attach to his Administration a man of my popular and
pleasant talents, whose merit he has acknowledged in a letter under his
own hand.
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