Sam DID make the crack about oats — he was the man who made it originally. I believe it’s in his famous Dictionary, as the definition of OATS - “A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.”
He was notoriously anti-Scot, but if he knew you he would always make an exception. Boswell, his autobiographer, was a Scotsman and a close friend, but he had to put up with a certain amount of anti-Caledonian sniping.
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I thought better of him; not only making a stupid remark but going into print with it. Oh well, even Jove nods, e.g., David Hume, a non-stupid man by most accounts (and a Scot) had similarly stupid views about non-whites.
You have to understand, as far as Hume is concerned, that most people in England (and especially Scotland) had never even SEEN a non-white person. His remarks were purely theoretical, not personal.