mount one of Vass's greys. As he rode upon it down hill, it did not go
well; and he grumbled. I walked on a little before, but was excessively
entertained with the method taken to keep him in good humour. Hay led
the horse's head, talking to Dr. Johnson as much as he could; and
(having heard him, in the forenoon, express a pastoral pleasure on
seeing the goats browzing) just when the Doctor was uttering his
displeasure, the fellow cried, with a very Highland accent, 'See, such
pretty goats!' Then he whistled, _whu!_ and made them jump. Little did
he conceive what Dr. Johnson was. Here now was a common ignorant
Highland clown, imagining that he could divert, as one does a
child,--_Dr. Samuel Johnson!_ The ludicrousness, absurdity, and
extraordinary contrast between what the fellow fancied, and the reality,
was truly comick.
It grew dusky; and we had a very tedious ride for what was called five
miles; but I am sure would measure ten. We had no conversation. I was
riding forward to the inn at Glenelg, on the shore opposite to Sky, that
I might take proper measures, before Dr. Johnson, who was now advancing
in dreary silence, Hay leading his horse, should arrive. Vass also
walked by the side of his horse, and Joseph followed behind: as
therefore he was thus attended, and seemed to be in deep meditation, I
thought there could be no harm in leaving him for a little while. He
called me back with a tremendous shout, and was really in a passion with
me for leaving him. I told him my intentions, but he was not satisfied,
and said, 'Do you know, I should as soon have thought of picking a
pocket, as doing so?' BOSWELL. 'I am diverted with you, Sir.' JOHNSON.
'Sir, I could never be diverted with incivility. Doing such a thing,
makes one lose confidence in him who has done it, as one cannot tell
what he may do next.' His extraordinary warmth confounded me so much,
that I justified myself but lamely to him; yet my intentions were not
improper. I wished to get on, to see how we were to be lodged, and how
we were to get a boat; all which I thought I could best settle myself,
without his having any trouble. To apply his great mind to minute
particulars, is wrong: it is like taking an immense balance, such as is
kept on quays for weighing cargoes of ships,--to weigh a guinea. I knew
I had neat little scales, which would do better; and that his attention
to every thing which falls in his way, and his uncommon desire to be
always in the right, would make him weigh, if he knew of the
particulars: it was right therefore for me to weigh them, and let him
have them only in effect. I however continued to ride by him, finding he
wished I should do so.
As we passed the barracks at Bernera, I looked at them wishfully, as
soldiers have always every thing in the best order: but there was only a
serjeant and a few men there. We came on to the inn at Glenelg. There
was no provender for our horses; so they were sent to grass, with a man
to watch them. A maid shewed us up stairs into a room damp and dirty,
with bare walls, a variety of bad smells, a coarse black greasy fir
table, and forms of the same kind; and out of a wretched bed started a
fellow from his sleep, like Edgar in _King Lear_[444], '_Poor Tom's a
cold_[445].' This inn was furnished with not a single article that we
could either eat or drink[446]; but Mr. Murchison, factor to the Laird
of Macleod in Glenelg, sent us a bottle of rum and some sugar, with a
polite message, to acquaint us, that he was very sorry that he did not
hear of us till we had passed his house, otherwise he should have
insisted on our sleeping there that night; and that, if he were not
obliged to set out for Inverness early next morning, he would have
waited upon us. Such extraordinary attention from this gentleman, to
entire strangers, deserves the most honourable commemoration.
Our bad accommodation here made me uneasy, and almost fretful. Dr.
Johnson was calm. I said, he was so from vanity. JOHNSON. 'No, Sir, it
is from philosophy.' It pleased me to see that the _Rambler_ could
practise so well his own lessons.
I resumed the subject of my leaving him on the road, and endeavoured to
defend it better. He was still violent upon that head, and said, 'Sir,
had you gone on, I was thinking that I should have returned with you to
Edinburgh, and then have parted from you, and never spoken to you more.'
I sent for fresh hay, with which we made beds for ourselves, each in a
room equally miserable. Like Wolfe, we had a 'choice of
difficulties[447]'. Dr. Johnson made things easier by comparison. At
M'Queen's, last night, he observed that few were so well lodged in a
ship. To-night he said, we were better than if we had been upon the
hill. He lay down buttoned up in his great coat. I had my sheets spread
on the hay, and my clothes and great coat laid over me, by way
of blankets.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2.
I had slept ill. Dr. Johnson's anger had affected me much. I considered
that, without any bad intention, I might suddenly forfeit his
friendship; and was impatient to see him this morning. I told him how
uneasy he had made me, by what he had said, and reminded him of his own
remark at Aberdeen, upon old friendships being hastily broken off. He
owned he had spoken to me in passion; that he would not have done what
he threatened; and that, if he had, he should have been ten times worse
than I; that forming intimacies, would indeed be 'limning the
water[448],' were they liable to such sudden dissolution; and he added,
'Let's think no more on't.' BOSWELL. 'Well then, Sir, I shall be easy.
Remember, I am to have fair warning in case of any quarrel. You are
never to spring a mine upon me. It was absurd in me to believe you.'
JOHNSON. 'You deserved about as much, as to believe me from night
to morning.'
After breakfast, we got into a boat for Sky. It rained much when we set
off, but cleared up as we advanced. One of the boatmen, who spoke
English, said, that a mile at land was two miles at sea. I then
observed, that from Glenelg to Armidale in Sky, which was our present
course, and is called twelve, was only six miles: but this he could not
understand. 'Well, (said Dr. Johnson,) never talk to me of the native
good sense of the Highlanders. Here is a fellow who calls one mile two,
and yet cannot comprehend that twelve such imaginary miles make in
truth but six.'
We reached the shore of Armidale before one o'clock. Sir Alexander
M'Donald came down to receive us. He and his lady, (formerly Miss
Bosville of Yorkshire[449],) were then in a house built by a tenant at
this place, which is in the district of Slate, the family mansion here
having been burned in Sir Donald Macdonald's time. The most ancient
seat of the chief of the Macdonalds in the isle of Sky was at Duntulm,
where there are the remains of a stately castle. The principal residence
of the family is now at Mugstot, at which there is a considerable
building. Sir Alexander and Lady Macdonald had come to Armidale in their
way to Edinburgh, where it was necessary for them to be soon after this
time. Armidale is situated on a pretty bay of the narrow sea, which
flows between the main land of Scotland and the Isle of Sky. In front
there is a grand prospect of the rude mountains of Moidart and
Knoidart[451]. Behind are hills gently rising and covered with a finer
verdure than I expected to see in this climate, and the scene is
enlivened by a number of little clear brooks.
Sir Alexander Macdonald having been an Eton scholar[452], and being a
gentleman of talents, Dr. Johnson had been very well pleased with him in
London[453]. But my fellow-traveller and I were now full of the old
Highland spirit, and were dissatisfied at hearing of racked rents and
emigration, and finding a chief not surrounded by his clan. Dr. Johnson
said, 'Sir, the Highland chiefs should not be allowed to go farther
south than Aberdeen. A strong-minded man, like Sir James Macdonald[454],
may be improved by an English education; but in general, they will be
tamed into insignificance.'
We found here Mr. Janes of Aberdeenshire, a naturalist. Janes said he
had been at Dr. Johnson's in London, with Ferguson the astronomer[455].
JOHNSON. 'It is strange that, in such distant places, I should meet with
any one who knows me. I should have thought I might hide myself in Sky.'
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3.
This day proving wet, we should have passed our time very uncomfortably,
had we not found in the house two chests of books, which we eagerly
ransacked. After dinner, when I alone was left at table with the few
Highland gentlemen who were of the company, having talked with very high
respect of Sir James Macdonald, they were all so much affected as to
shed tears. One of them was Mr. Donald Macdonald, who had been
lieutenant of grenadiers in the Highland regiment, raised by Colonel
Montgomery, now Earl of Eglintoune, in the war before last; one of those
regiments which the late Lord Chatham prided himself in having brought
from 'the mountains of the North[456]:' by doing which he contributed to
extinguish in the Highlands the remains of disaffection to the present
Royal Family. From this gentleman's conversation, I first learnt how
very popular his Colonel was among the Highlanders; of which I had such
continued proofs, during the whole course of my Tour, that on my return
I could not help telling the noble Earl himself, that I did not before
know how great a man he was.
We were advised by some persons here to visit Rasay, in our way to
Dunvegan, the seat of the Laird of Macleod. Being informed that the Rev.
Mr. Donald M'Queen was the most intelligent man in Sky, and having been
favoured with a letter of introduction to him, by the learned Sir James
Foulis, I sent it to him by an express, and requested he would meet us
at Rasay; and at the same time enclosed a letter to the Laird of
Macleod, informing him that we intended in a few days to have the honour
of waiting on him at Dunvegan.
Dr. Johnson this day endeavoured to obtain some knowledge of the state
of the country; but complained that he could get no distinct information
about any thing, from those with whom he conversed[457].
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4.
My endeavours to rouse the English-bred Chieftain[458], in whose house
we were, to the feudal and patriarchal feelings, proving ineffectual,
Dr. Johnson this morning tried to bring him to our way of thinking.
JOHNSON. 'Were I in your place, Sir, in seven years I would make this an
independant island. I would roast oxen whole, and hang out a flag as a
signal to the Macdonalds to come and get beef and whiskey.' Sir
Alexander was still starting difficulties. JOHNSON. 'Nay, Sir; if you
are born to object, I have done with you. Sir, I would have a magazine
of arms.' SIR ALEXANDER. 'They would rust.' JOHNSON. 'Let there be men
to keep them clean. Your ancestors did not use to let their arms
rust[459].'
We attempted in vain to communicate to him a portion of our enthusiasm.
He bore with so polite a good nature our warm, and what some might call
Gothick, expostulations, on this subject, that I should not forgive
myself, were I to record all that Dr. Johnson's ardour led him to
say.--This day was little better than a blank.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5.
I walked to the parish church of Slate, which is a very poor one. There
are no church bells in the island. I was told there were once some; what
has become of them, I could not learn. The minister not being at home,
there was no service. I went into the church, and saw the monument of
Sir James Macdonald, which was elegantly executed at Rome, and has the
following inscription, written by his friend, George Lord Lyttelton:--
To the memory
Of SIR JAMES MACDONALD, BART.
Who in the flower of youth
Had attained to so eminent a degree of knowledge,
In Mathematics, Philosophy, Languages,
And in every other branch of useful and polite learning
As few have acquired in a long life
Wholly devoted to study:
Yet to this erudition he joined
What can rarely be found with it,
Great talents for business,
Great propriety of behaviour,
Great politeness of manners!
His eloquence was sweet, correct, and flowing;
His memory vast and exact;
His judgement strong and acute;
All which endowments, united
With the most amiable temper
And every private virtue,
Procured him, not only in his own country,
But also from foreign nations[460],
The highest marks of esteem.
In the year of our Lord 1766,
The 25th of his life,
After a long and extremely painful illness,
Which he supported with admirable patience and fortitude,
He died at Rome,
Where, notwithstanding the difference of religion,
Such extraordinary honours were paid to his memory,
As had never graced that of any other British Subject,
Since the death of Sir Philip Sidney.
The fame he left behind him is the best consolation
To his afflicted family,
And to his countrymen in this isle,
For whose benefit he had planned
Many useful improvements,
Which his fruitful genius suggested,
And his active spirit promoted,
Under the sober direction
Of a clear and enlightened understanding.
Reader, bewail our loss,
And that of all Britain.
In testimony of her love,
And as the best return she can make
To her departed son,
For the constant tenderness and affection
Which, even to his last moments,
He shewed for her,
His much afflicted mother,
The LADY MARGARET MACDONALD,
Daughter to the EARL of EGLINTOUNE,
Erected this Monument,
A.D. 1768[461]'
Dr. Johnson said, the inscription should have been in Latin, as every
thing intended to be universal and permanent should be[462].
This being a beautiful day, my spirits were cheered by the mere effect
of climate. I had felt a return of spleen during my stay at Armidale,
and had it not been that I had Dr. Johnson to contemplate, I should have
sunk into dejection; but his firmness supported me. I looked at him, as
a man whose head is turning giddy at sea looks at a rock, or any fixed
object. I wondered at his tranquillity. He said, 'Sir, when a man
retires into an island, he is to turn his thoughts entirely to another
world. He has done with this.' BOSWELL. 'It appears to me, Sir, to be
very difficult to unite a due attention to this world, and that which is
to come; for, if we engage eagerly in the affairs of life, we are apt to
be totally forgetful of a future state; and, on the other hand, a steady
contemplation of the awful concerns of eternity renders all objects here
so insignificant, as to make us indifferent and negligent about them.'
JOHNSON. 'Sir, Dr. Cheyne has laid down a rule to himself on this
subject, which should be imprinted on every mind:--"_To neglect nothing
to secure my eternal peace, more than if I had been certified I should
die within the day: nor to mind any thing that my secular obligations
and duties demanded of me, less than if I had been ensured to live fifty
years more[463]_."'
I must here observe, that though Dr. Johnson appeared now to be
philosophically calm, yet his genius did not shine forth as in
companies, where I have listened to him with admiration. The vigour of
his mind was, however, sufficiently manifested, by his discovering no
symptoms of feeble relaxation in the dull, 'weary, flat and
unprofitable[464]' state in which we now were placed.
I am inclined to think that it was on this day he composed the following
Ode upon the _Isle of Sky_, which a few days afterwards he shewed me
at Rasay:--
ODA,
Ponti profundis clausa recessibus,
Strepens procellis, rupibus obsita,
Quam grata defesso virentem
Skia sinum nebulosa pandis.
His cura, credo, sedibus exulat;
His blanda certe pax habitat locis:
Non ira, non moeror quietis
Insidias meditatur horis.
At non cavata rupe latescere,
Menti nec aegrae montibus aviis
Prodest vagari, nec frementes
E scopulo numerare fluctus.
Humana virtus non sibi sufficit,
Datur nec aequum cuique animum sibi
Parare posse, ut Stoicorum
Secta crepet nimis alta fallax.
Exaestuantis pectoris impetum,
Rex summe, solus tu regis arbiter,
Mentisque, te tollente, surgunt,
Te recidunt moderante fluctus[465].
After supper, Dr. Johnson told us, that Isaac Hawkins Browne drank
freely for thirty years, and that he wrote his poem, _De Animi
Immortalitate_, in some of the last of these years[466]. I listened to
this with the eagerness of one who, conscious of being himself fond of
wine, is glad to hear that a man of so much genius and good thinking as
Browne had the same propensity[467].
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6.
We set out, accompanied by Mr. Donald M'Leod, (late of Canna) as our
guide. We rode for some time along the district of Slate, near the
shore. The houses in general are made of turf, covered with grass. The
country seemed well peopled. We came into the district of Strath, and
passed along a wild moorish tract of land till we arrived at the shore.
There we found good verdure, and some curious whin-rocks, or collections
of stones like the ruins of the foundations of old buildings. We saw
also three Cairns of considerable size.
About a mile beyond Broadfoot, is Corrichatachin, a farm of Sir
Alexander Macdonald's, possessed by Mr. M'Kinnon[468], who received us
with a hearty welcome, as did his wife, who was what we call in Scotland
a _lady-like_ woman. Mr. Pennant in the course of his tour to the
Hebrides, passed two nights at this gentleman's house. On its being
mentioned, that a present had here been made to him of a curious
specimen of Highland antiquity, Dr. Johnson said, 'Sir, it was more than
he deserved; the dog is a Whig[469].'
We here enjoyed the comfort of a table plentifully furnished[470], the
satisfaction of which was heightened by a numerous and cheerful company;
and we for the first time had a specimen of the joyous social manners of
the inhabitants of the Highlands. They talked in their own ancient
language, with fluent vivacity, and sung many Erse songs with such
spirit, that, though Dr. Johnson was treated with the greatest respect
and attention, there were moments in which he seemed to be forgotten.
For myself, though but a _Lowlander_, having picked up a few words of
the language, I presumed to mingle in their mirth, and joined in the
choruses with as much glee as any of the company. Dr. Johnson being
fatigued with his journey, retired early to his chamber, where he
composed the following Ode, addressed to Mrs. Thrale[471]:--
ODA.
Permeo terras, ubi nuda rupes
Saxeas miscet nebulis ruinas,
Torva ubi rident steriles coloni
Rura labores.
Pervagor gentes, hominum ferorum
Vita ubi nullo decorata cultu
Squallet informis, tugurique fumis
Foeda latescit.
Inter erroris salebrosa longi,
Inter ignotae strepitus loquelae,
Quot modis mecum, quid agat, requiro,
Thralia dulcis?
Seu viri curas pia nupta mulcet,
Seu fovet mater sobolem benigna,
Sive cum libris novitate pascet
Sedula mentem;
Sit memor nostri, fideique merces,
Stet fides constans, meritoque blandum
Thraliae discant resonare nomen
Littora Skiae.
Scriptum in Skia, Sept. 6, 1773[472].
