are now such as give me no quiet rest; whether I have not lived resolving till the possibility of performance is past, I know GOD help me, I will yet try.

not.

Talisker, in Skie, Sep. 24, 1773.

ON last Saturday was my sixty-fourth birth-day. I might perhaps have forgotten it, had not Boswell told me of it; and, what pleased me less, told the family at Dunvegan.

The last year is added to those of which little use has been made. I tried in the summer to learn Dutch, and was interrupted by an inflammation in my eye. I set out in August on this journey to Skie. I find my memory uncertain, but hope it is only by a life immethodical and scattered. Of my body, I do not perceive that exercise or change of air, has yet either encreased the strength or activity. My nights are still disturbed by flatulencies.

My hope is, for resolution I dare no longer call it, to divide my time regularly, and to keep such a journal of my time, as may give me comfort in reviewing it. But when I consider my age, and the broken state of my

body, I have great reason to fear lest death should lay hold upon me, while I am yet only designing to live. But I have yet hope.

A

LMIGHTY GOD, most merciful Father, look down upon me with pity. Thou hast protected me in childhood and youth; support me, LORD, in my declining years. Preserve me from the dangers of sinful presumption. Give me, if it be best for me, stability of purposes, and tranquillity of mind. Let the year which I have now begun be spent to Thy glory, and to the furtherance of my salvation. Take not from me Thy HOLY SPIRIT, but as death approaches, prepare me to appear joyfully in Thy presence, for the sake of JESUS CHRIST Our LORD. Amen.

A

1774.

January 1, near 2 in the morning.

LMIGHTY GOD, merciful Father, who hatest nothing that Thou hast

made, but wouldest that all should be saved, have mercy upon me. As Thou hast extended my life, increase my strength, direct my purposes, and confirm my resolution, that I may truly serve Thee, and perform the duties which Thou shalt allot

me.

Relieve, O gracious LORD, according to Thy mercy, the pains and distempers of my body, and appease the tumults of my mind. Let my faith and obedience increase as my life advances; and let the approach of death incite my desire to please Thee, and invigorate my diligence in good works, till at last, when Thou shalt call me to another state, I shall lie down in humble hope, supported by Thy HOLY SPIRIT, and be received to everlasting happiness, through JESUS CHRIST Our LORD. Amen.

The beginning, &c.

I hope to read the Gospels before Easter.
To rise at eight. To be temperate in food.

THIS year has past with so little improvement, that I doubt whether I have not rather im

paired than increased my learning. To this omission, some external causes have contributed. In the winter I was distressed by a cough; in the summer an inflammation fell upon my useful eye, from which it has not yet, I fear, recovered; in the autumn I took a journey to the Hebrides, but my mind was not free from perturbation : yet the chief cause of my deficiency has been a life immethodical and unsettled, which breaks all purposes, confounds and suppresses memory, and perhaps leaves too much leisure to imagination. O LORD, have mercy upon me. January 9, 1774.

1775.

Maunday Thursday, April 13.

Of the use of time, or of my commendation of myself, I thought no more; but lost life in restless nights and broken days, till this week awakened my attention.

THIS

year has passed with very little improvement, perhaps with diminution of knowledge. Much time I have not left; infirmities oppress me. But much remains to be done. I hope to rise at eight, or sooner, in the morning.

Good Friday, April 14, 1775.

BOSWELL came in before I was up. We breakfasted; I only drank tea, without milk or bread. We went to church, saw Dr. Wetherel in the pew, and, by his desire, took him home with us. He did not go very soon, and

Boswell staid. Boswell and I went to church,
but came very
late. We then took tea, by
Boswell's desire; and I eat one bun, I think,
that I might not seem to fast ostentatiously.
Boswell sat with me till night; we had some
serious talk. When he went, I gave Francis
some directions for preparation to communi-
cate. Thus has passed, hitherto, this awful
day.

10.30 P.M.

WHEN I look back upon resolutions of improvement and amendment, which have year after year been made and broken, either by negligence, forgetfulness, vicious idleness, casual interruption, or morbid infirmity; when I find that so much of my life has stolen unprofitably away, and that I can descry by retrospection scarcely a few single days properly and vigorously employed; why do I yet try to resolve again? I try, because reformation is necessary, and despair is criminal. I try, in humble hope of the help of God.