A Scot, perhaps unaware of Dr. Johnson's intense distaste for all things Scottish, once chose his native home as a topic of conversation, claiming that it had a great many noble and wild prospects.

"I believe, sir, you have a great many," Johnson replied. "Norway, too, has noble wild prospects; and Lapland is remarkable for prodigious noble wild prospects. But, sir, let me tell you, the noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high-road that leads him to England."