Page:Memoirs of a Trait in the Character of George III.djvu/280

NO. 7. Excise, as "the lowest of all human beings:" for they could have retorted with a vengeance, by appealing to the Doctor's nearest associates, who would have found it not a little puzzling to defend him from the imputation of being himself at the bottom of the scale; when we read—that, at his club, when Mr. Cox was in the chair, he exclaimed "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel!"— to a philosopher respected like Dr. Adam Smith, he could give the lie direct! And to his friend, Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose fame and consequence were mainly dependant on his skill in the art, he spoke with all possible contempt of painting. It is no excuse, that his sight was bad, for he knew it very well, and, unless he was ungovernably obstinate and opiniated, should have known his incompetency to decide without appeal on such a subject: besides he was opposed to the general sentiment, to which he could be no stranger; which tells us that— These polished arts have humanized mankind, Soften'd the rude, and calm'd the savage mind.

Again—he who well knowing his chief intimate, Boswell, had an over-measure of vanity, could harrow his feelings, by