From James Boswell’s Life of Johnson (1776):
I gave [Johnson] an account of a conversation which had passed between me and Captain Cook, the day before, at dinner at Sir John Pringle’s; and he was much pleased with the conscientious accuracy of that celebrated circumnavigator, who set me right as to many of the exaggerated accounts given by Dr Hawkesworth of his voyages. I told him that while I was with the captain I caught the enthusiasm of curiosity and adventure, and felt a strong inclination to go with him on his next voyage. JOHNSON. ‘Why, Sir, a man does feel so, till he considers how very little he can learn from such voyages.’ BOSWELL. ‘But one is carried away with the general, grand, and indistinct notion of A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORD.’ JOHNSON. ‘Yes, Sir, but a man is to guard himself against taking a thing in general.’
