Edinburgh on 18 Aug. they travelled by St. Andrews and the east coast to Inverness, crossed to Skye, and spent some time in visiting the neighbouring islands. They returned by Inverary to Glasgow, and by Auchinleck, where he had a smart encounter with the elder Boswell, to Edinburgh.
The account of his journey was published in 1775, and, if it shows little taste for the picturesque, proved a keen interest in the social condition of the natives. It was commended by Burke and others, much to Johnson's pleasure (ib. iii. 137); but its dignified disquisition is less amusing than Boswell's graphic account of the same journey, in which Johnson is himself the chief figure. An expression of disbelief in the authenticity of Ossian's poems, chiefly on the ground that MacPherson had appealed to original manuscripts which were never produced, caused MacPherson to write an angry letter to Johnson. Johnson replied in a contemptuous letter saying that he ‘would not be deterred from detecting what he thought a cheat by the menaces of a ruffian’ (original sold in 1875 for 50l.). The letter implies that MacPherson had threatened violence (see Academy, 19 Oct. 1878, for MacPherson's letters), which Johnson despised. Boswell relates that when Foote threatened to mimic him on the stage he sent for a stout oak stick to administer punishment. Foote judiciously gave up the plan (Boswell, ii. 299).
In 1774 Johnson made a Welsh tour with the Thrales, and in 1775 accompanied them to Paris. His brief diaries give little of the impressions made upon him. In France he persisted in talking Latin, and saw nothing of the literary society which had welcomed Hume. His name was probably little known, and it was as well for the credit of English good manners that his hosts should not hear his opinion of them. Although Johnson had talked of a visit to Ireland in early days, and after his Scottish tour wanted Boswell to go up the Baltic with him, he never left England except on his French tour. An intended journey to Italy with the Thrales in 1776 was abandoned in consequence of the death of Thrale's only son (see Mr. Hill's list of Johnson's travels, Boswell, iii. App. B).
In his later years Johnson's health gradually declined. He suffered much from asthma and gout. The comforts of Streatham and Mrs. Thrale's attentions were the more valuable as he became more of an invalid. On 4 April 1781 Thrale, who had had an apoplectic attack in 1779, died of another fit, to Johnson's profound sorrow. ‘I looked,’ he said, ‘for the last time upon the face that for fifteen years had never been turned upon me but with respect and benignity.’ Johnson was appointed executor with a legacy of 200l., and enjoyed a taste of practical business, observing at the sale of the brewery that ‘we are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice’ (Boswell, iv. 87). According to Mrs. Piozzi he took a simple-minded pleasure in discharging his duties as executor and signing cheques for large sums.
For some time the loss of Thrale did not affect Johnson's position in the family. In the autumn he made his usual visit to Lichfield, where he was depressed by the growing infirmities of his friends, especially Miss Aston and his stepdaughter Lucy Porter. In the beginning of 1782 he was seriously ill; and his household was made desolate by the death of Levett (17 Jan.) and the decline of Miss Williams, who, however, lingered till 1 Sept. 1783 (Piozzi, Letters, ii. 309).
The comforts of Streatham were therefore more valuable than ever; but in the autumn of 1782 this resource failed. Mrs. Piozzi in her ‘Anecdotes’ (1785) gave an account of the circumstances, which was an implicit apology for her own conduct. She says that she had only been able to bear Johnson's ‘yoke’ while she had the support of her ‘coadjutor’ Thrale; that, after Thrale's death, Johnson's roughness and demands upon her time became intolerable; and that she ‘took advantage of a lost lawsuit’ to abandon London and Streatham on the plea of economy, and retire to Bath, where she could be free. Johnson's health, she adds, no longer needed her attention, as he suffered from nothing but ‘old age and infirmity,’ and had abundance of medical advice and attendance. This statement, accepted by her biographer, Hayward, has helped to support the accusations of brutality made against Johnson. The documents, however, which he publishes show that it is incomplete and misleading. During Thrale's illness of two years, and for a year or so after his death, Johnson's ‘yoke’ had been a most valued support. She had attended him affectionately during his illness in 1781–2, and in her diary had spoken even passionately of his value. ‘If I lose him,’ she says 1 Feb. 1782, ‘I am more than undone’ (Hayward, Piozzi, i. 164, 167). A sudden change appears when she made up her mind to travel in Italy in order to economise. She felt that it was impossible to take Johnson, and yet that it would be ‘shocking’ to leave him. A temporary improvement in his health encouraged her (22 Aug.) to reveal her plan to him. To her annoyance he approved of it, and told her daughter that he
