Saturday, May 30, 2020
Inexhaustible
James Boswell (1740-1795), The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (August 31, 1773):
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One day, when we were dining at General Oglethorpe's, where we had many a valuable day, I ventured to interrogate him, "But, sir, is it not somewhat singular that you should happen to have Cocker's Arithmetick about you on your journey? What made you buy such a book at Inverness?" — He gave me a very sufficient answer. "Why, sir, if you are to have but one book with you upon a Journey, let it be a book of science. When you have read through a book of entertainment, you know it, and it can do no more for you; but a book of science is inexhaustible."
