dispute about _Anaitis_, Mr. M'Queen said, Asia Minor was peopled by
Scythians, and, as they were the ancestors of the Celts, the same
religion might be in Asia Minor and Sky. JOHNSON. 'Alas! Sir, what can a
nation that has not letters tell of its original. I have always
difficulty to be patient when I hear authours gravely quoted, as giving
accounts of savage nations, which accounts they had from the savages
themselves. What can the _M'Craas_[619] tell about themselves a thousand
years ago? There is no tracing the connection of ancient nations, but by
language; and therefore I am always sorry when any language is lost,
because languages are the pedigree of nations[620]. If you find the same
language in distant countries, you may be sure that the inhabitants of
each have been the same people; that is to say, if you find the
languages a good deal the same; for a word here and there being the
same, will not do. Thus Butler, in his _Hudibras_, remembering that
_Penguin_, in the Straits of Magellan, signifies a bird with a white
head, and that the same word has, in Wales, the signification of a
white-headed wench, (_pen_ head, and _guin_ white,) by way of ridicule,
concludes that the people of those Straits are Welsh[621].'
A young gentleman of the name of M'Lean, nephew to the Laird of the isle
of Muck, came this morning; and, just as we sat down to dinner, came the
Laird of the isle, of Muck himself, his lady, sister to Talisker, two
other ladies their relations, and a daughter of the late M'Leod of
Hamer, who wrote a treatise on the second sight, under the designation
of THEOPHILUS INSULANUS[622]. It was somewhat droll to hear this Laird
called by his title. _Muck_ would have sounded ill; so he was called
_Isle of Muck_, which went off with great readiness. The name, as now
written, is unseemly, but it is not so bad in the original Erse, which
is _Mouach_, signifying the Sows' Island. Buchanan calls it INSULA
PORCORUM. It is so called from its form. Some call it Isle of _Monk_.
The Laird insists that this is the proper name. It was formerly
church-land belonging to Icolmkill, and a hermit lived in it. It is two
miles long, and about three quarters of a mile broad. The Laird said, he
had seven score of souls upon it. Last year he had eighty persons
inoculated, mostly children, but some of them eighteen years of age. He
agreed with the surgeon to come and do it, at half a crown a head. It is
very fertile in corn, of which they export some; and its coasts abound
in fish. A taylor comes there six times in a year. They get a good
blacksmith from the isle of Egg.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19.
It was rather worse weather than any that we had yet. At breakfast Dr.
Johnson said, 'Some cunning men choose fools for their wives, thinking
to manage them, but they always fail. There is a spaniel fool and a mule
fool. The spaniel fool may be made to do by beating. The mule fool will
neither do by words or blows; and the spaniel fool often turns mule at
last: and suppose a fool to be made do pretty well, you must have the
continual trouble of making her do. Depend upon it, no woman is the
worse for sense and knowledge.[623]' Whether afterwards he meant merely
to say a polite thing, or to give his opinion, I could not be sure; but
he added, 'Men know that women are an over-match for them, and therefore
they choose the weakest or most ignorant. If they did not think so, they
never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.'[624] In
justice to the sex, I think it but candid to acknowledge, that, in a
subsequent conversation, he told me that he was serious in what he
had said.
He came to my room this morning before breakfast, to read my Journal,
which he has done all along. He often before said, 'I take great delight
in reading it.' To-day he said, 'You improve: it grows better and
better.' I observed, there was a danger of my getting a habit of writing
in a slovenly manner. 'Sir,' said he, 'it is not written in a slovenly
manner. It might be printed, were the subject fit for printing[625].'
While Mr. Beaton preached to us in the dining-room, Dr. Johnson sat in
his own room, where I saw lying before him a volume of Lord Bacon's
works, _The Decay of Christian Piety_, Monboddo's _Origin of Language_,
and Sterne's _Sermons_[626]. He asked me to-day how it happened that we
were so little together: I told him, my Journal took up much time. Yet,
on reflection, it appeared strange to me, that although I will run from
one end of London to another to pass an hour with him, I should omit to
seize any spare time to be in his company, when I am settled in the same
house with him. But my Journal is really a task of much time and labour,
and he forbids me to contract it.
I omitted to mention, in its place, that Dr. Johnson told Mr. M'Queen
that he had found the belief of the second sight universal in Sky,
except among the clergy, who seemed determined against it. I took the
liberty to observe to Mr. M'Queen, that the clergy were actuated by a
kind of vanity. 'The world, (say they,) takes us to be credulous men in
a remote corner. We'll shew them that we are more enlightened than they
think.' The worthy man said, that his disbelief of it was from his not
finding sufficient evidence; but I could perceive that he was prejudiced
against it[627].
After dinner to-day, we talked of the extraordinary fact of Lady
Grange's being sent to St. Kilda, and confined there for several years,
without any means of relief[628]. Dr. Johnson said, if M'Leod would let
it be known that he had such a place for naughty ladies, he might make
it a very profitable island. We had, in the course of our tour, heard of
St. Kilda poetry. Dr. Johnson observed, 'it must be very poor, because
they have very few images.' BOSWELL. 'There may be a poetical genius
shewn in combining these, and in making poetry of them.' JOHNSON. 'Sir,
a man cannot make fire but in proportion as he has fuel. He cannot coin
guineas but in proportion as he has gold.' At tea he talked of his
intending to go to Italy in 1775. M'Leod said, he would like Paris
better. JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; there are none of the French literati now
alive, to visit whom I would cross a sea. I can find in Buffon's book
all that he can say[629].'
After supper he said, 'I am sorry that prize-fighting is gone out[630];
every art should be preserved, and the art of defence is surely
important. It is absurd that our soldiers should have swords, and not be
taught the use of them. Prize-fighting made people accustomed not to be
alarmed at seeing their own blood, or feeling a little pain from a
wound. I think the heavy _glaymore_ was an ill-contrived weapon. A man
could only strike once with it. It employed both his hands, and he must
of course be soon fatigued with wielding it; so that if his antagonist
could only keep playing a while, he was sure of him. I would fight with
a dirk against Rorie More's sword. I could ward off a blow with a dirk,
and then run in upon my enemy. When within that heavy sword, I have him;
he is quite helpless, and I could stab him at my leisure, like a calf.
It is thought by sensible military men, that the English do not enough
avail themselves of their superior strength of body against the French;
for that must always have a great advantage in pushing with bayonets. I
have heard an officer say, that if women could be made to stand, they
would do as well as men in a mere interchange of bullets from a
distance: but, if a body of men should come close up to them, then to be
sure they must be overcome; now, (said he,) in the same manner the
weaker-bodied French must be overcome by our strong soldiers.'
The subject of duelling was introduced[631] JOHNSON. 'There is no case
in England where one or other of the combatants _must_ die: if you have
overcome your adversary by disarming him, that is sufficient, though you
should not kill him; your honour, or the honour of your family, is
restored, as much as it can be by a duel. It is cowardly to force your
antagonist to renew the combat, when you know that you have the
advantage of him by superior skill. You might just as well go and cut
his throat while he is asleep in his bed. When a duel begins, it is
supposed there may be an equality; because it is not always skill that
prevails. It depends much on presence of mind; nay on accidents. The
wind may be in a man's face. He may fall. Many such things may decide
the superiority. A man is sufficiently punished, by being called out,
and subjected to the risk that is in a duel.' But on my suggesting that
the injured person is equally subjected to risk, he fairly owned he
could not explain the rationality of duelling.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20.
When I awaked, the storm was higher still. It abated about nine, and the
sun shone; but it rained again very soon, and it was not a day for
travelling. At breakfast, Dr. Johnson told us, 'there was once a pretty
good tavern in Catherine-street in the Strand, where very good company
met in an evening, and each man called for his own half-pint of wine, or
gill, if he pleased; they were frugal men, and nobody paid but for what
he himself drank. The house furnished no supper; but a woman attended
with mutton-pies, which any body might purchase. I was introduced to
this company by Cumming the Quaker[632], and used to go there sometimes
when I drank wine. In the last age, when my mother lived in London,
there were two sets of people, those who gave the wall, and those who
took it; the peaceable and the quarrelsome. When I returned to
Lichfield, after having been in London, my mother asked me whether I was
one of those who gave the wall, or those who took it. Now, it is fixed
that every man keeps to the right; or, if one is taking the wall,
another yields it, and it is never a dispute[633].' He was very severe
on a lady, whose name was mentioned. He said, he would have sent her to
St. Kilda. That she was as bad as negative badness could be, and stood
in the way of what was good: that insipid beauty would not go a great
way; and that such a woman might be cut out of a cabbage, if there was a
skilful artificer.
M'Leod was too late in coming to breakfast. Dr. Johnson said, laziness
was worse than the tooth-ach. BOSWELL. 'I cannot agree with you, Sir; a
bason of cold water or a horse whip will cure laziness.' JOHNSON. 'No,
Sir, it will only put off the fit; it will not cure the disease. I have
been trying to cure my laziness all my life, and could not do it.'
BOSWELL. 'But if a man does in a shorter time what might be the labour
of a life, there is nothing to be said against him.' JOHNSON (perceiving
at once that I alluded to him and his _Dictionary_). 'Suppose that
flattery to be true, the consequence would be, that the world would have
no right to censure a man; but that will not justify him to
himself[634].'
After breakfast, he said to me, 'A Highland Chief should now endeavour
to do every thing to raise his rents, by means of the industry of his
people. Formerly, it was right for him to have his house full of idle
fellows; they were his defenders, his servants, his dependants, his
friends. Now they may be better employed. The system of things is now so
much altered, that the family cannot have influence but by riches,
because it has no longer the power of ancient feudal times. An
individual of a family may have it; but it cannot now belong to a
family, unless you could have a perpetuity of men with the same views.
M'Leod has four times the land that the Duke of Bedford has. I think,
with his spirit, he may in time make himself the greatest man in the
King's dominions; for land may always be improved to a certain degree. I
would never have any man sell land, to throw money into the funds, as is
often done, or to try any other species of trade. Depend upon it, this
rage of trade will destroy itself. You and I shall not see it; but the
time will come when there will be an end of it. Trade is like gaming. If
a whole company are gamesters, play must cease; for there is nothing to
be won. When all nations are traders, there is nothing to be gained by
trade[635], and it will stop first where it is brought to the greatest
perfection. Then the proprietors of land only will be the great men.' I
observed, it was hard that M'Leod should find ingratitude in so many of
his people. JOHNSON. 'Sir, gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation;
you do not find it among gross people.' I doubt of this. Nature seems to
have implanted gratitude in all living creatures[636]. The lion,
mentioned by Aulus Gellius, had it[637]. It appears to me that culture,
which brings luxury and selfishness with it, has a tendency rather to
weaken than promote this affection.
Dr. Johnson said this morning, when talking of our setting out, that he
was in the state in which Lord Bacon represents kings. He desired the
end, but did not like the means[638]. He wished much to get home, but
was unwilling to travel in Sky. 'You are like kings too in this, Sir,
(said I,) that you must act under the direction of others.'
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21.
The uncertainty of our present situation having prevented me from
receiving any letters from home for some time, I could not help being
uneasy. Dr. Johnson had an advantage over me, in this respect, he having
no wife or child to occasion anxious apprehensions in his mind[639]. It
was a good morning; so we resolved to set out. But, before quitting this
castle, where we have been so well entertained, let me give a short
description of it.
Along the edge of the rock, there are the remains of a wall, which is
now covered with ivy. A square court is formed by buildings of different
ages, particularly some towers, said to be of great antiquity; and at
one place there is a row of false cannon of stone[640]. There is a very
large unfinished pile, four stories high, which we were told was here
when _Leod_, the first of this family, came from the Isle of Man,
married the heiress of the M'Crails, the ancient possessors of Dunvegan,
and afterwards acquired by conquest as much land as he had got by
marriage. He surpassed the house of Austria; for he was _felix_ both
_bella gerere_ et _nubere_[641]. John _Breck_ M'Leod, the grandfather of
the late laird, began to repair the castle, or rather to complete it:
but he did not live to finish his undertaking[642]. Not doubting,
however, that he should do it, he, like those who have had their
epitaphs written before they died, ordered the following inscription,
composed by the minister of the parish, to be cut upon a broad stone
above one of the lower windows, where it still remains to celebrate what
was not done, and to serve as a memento of the uncertainty of life, and
the presumption of man:--
'Joannes Macleod Beganoduni Dominus gentis suae Philarchus[643],
Durinesiae Haraiae Vaternesiae, &c.: Baro D. Florae Macdonald
matrimoniali vinculo conjugatus turrem hanc Beganodunensem proavorum
habitaculum longe vetustissimum diu penitus labefectatam Anno aerae
vulgaris MDCLXXXVI. instauravit.
'Quem stabilire juvat proavorum tecta vetusta,
Omne scelus fugiat, justitiamque colat.
Vertit in aerias turres magalia virtus,
Inque casas humiles tecta superba nefas.'
M'Leod and Talisker accompanied us. We passed by the parish church of
_Durinish_. The church-yard is not inclosed, but a pretty murmuring
brook runs along one side of it. In it is a pyramid erected to the
memory of Thomas Lord Lovat, by his son Lord Simon, who suffered on
Tower-hill[644]. It is of free-stone, and, I suppose, about thirty feet
high. There is an inscription on a piece of white marble inserted in it,
which I suspect to have been the composition of Lord Lovat himself,
being much in his pompous style:--
'This pyramid was erected by SIMON LORD FRASER of LOVAT, in honour of
Lord THOMAS his Father, a Peer of Scotland, and Chief of the great and
ancient Clan of the FRASERS. Being attacked for his birthright by the
family of ATHOLL, then in power and favour with KING WILLIAM, yet, by
the valour and fidelity of his clan, and the assistance of the
CAMPBELLS, the old friends and allies of his family, he defended his
birthright with such greatness and fermety of soul, and such valour and
activity, that he was an honour to his name, and a good pattern to all
brave Chiefs of clans. He died in the month of May, 1699, in the 63rd
year of his age, in Dunvegan, the house of the LAIRD of MAC LEOD, whose
sister he had married: by whom he had the above SIMON LORD FRASER, and
several other children. And, for the great love he bore to the family of
MAC LEOD, he desired to be buried near his wife's relations, in the
place where two of her uncles lay. And his son LORD SIMON, to shew to
posterity his great affection for his mother's kindred, the brave MAC
LEODS, chooses rather to leave his father's bones with them, than carry
them to his own burial-place, near Lovat.'
I have preserved this inscription[645], though of no great value,
thinking it characteristical of a man who has made some noise in the
world. Dr. Johnson said, it was poor stuff, such as Lord Lovat's butler
might have written.
I observed, in this church-yard, a parcel of people assembled at a
funeral, before the grave was dug. The coffin, with the corpse in it,
was placed on the ground, while the people alternately assisted in
making a grave. One man, at a little distance, was busy cutting a long
turf for it, with the crooked spade which is used in Sky; a very aukward
instrument. The iron part of it is like a plough-coulter. It has a rude
tree for a handle, in which a wooden pin is placed for the foot to press
upon. A traveller might, without further enquiry, have set this down as
the mode of burying in Sky. I was told, however, that the usual way is
to have a grave previously dug.
I observed to-day, that the common way of carrying home their grain here
is in loads on horseback. They have also a few sleds, or _cars_, as we
call them in Ayrshire, clumsily made, and rarely used[646].
We got to Ulinish about six o'clock, and found a very good farm-house,
of two stories. Mr. M'Leod of Ulinish, the sheriff-substitute of the
island, was a plain honest gentleman, a good deal like an English
Justice of peace; not much given to talk, but sufficiently sagacious,
and somewhat droll. His daughter, though she was never out of Sky, was a
very well-bred woman. Our reverend friend, Mr. Donald M'Queen, kept his
appointment, and met us here.
Talking of Phipps's voyage to the North Pole, Dr. Johnson observed, that
it 'was conjectured that our former navigators have kept too near land,
and so have found the sea frozen far north, because the land hinders the
free motion of the tide; but, in the wide ocean, where the waves tumble
at their full convenience, it is imagined that the frost does not take
effect.'[647]
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22.
In the morning I walked out, and saw a ship, the Margaret of Clyde, pass
by with a number of emigrants on board. It was a melancholy sight. After
breakfast, we went to see what was called a subterraneous house, about a
mile off. It was upon the side of a rising ground. It was discovered by
a fox's having taken up his abode in it, and in chasing him, they dug
into it. It was very narrow and low, and seemed about forty feet in
length. Near it, we found the foundations of several small huts, built
of stone. Mr. M'Queen, who is always for making every thing as ancient
as possible, boasted that it was the dwelling of some of the first
inhabitants of the island, and observed, what a curiosity it was to find
here a specimen of the houses of the _Aborigines_, which he believed
could be found no where else; and it was plain that they lived without
fire. Dr. Johnson remarked, that they who made this were not in the
rudest state; for that it was more difficult to make _it_ than to build
a house; therefore certainly those who made it were in possession of
houses, and had this only as a hiding-place. It appeared to me, that the
vestiges of houses, just by it, confirmed Dr. Johnson's opinion.
From an old tower, near this place, is an extensive view of
Loch-Braccadil, and, at a distance, of the isles of Barra and South
Uist; and on the land-side, the _Cuillin_, a prodigious range of
mountains, capped with rocky pinnacles in a strange variety of shapes.
They resemble the mountains near Corte in Corsica, of which there is a
very good print. They make part of a great range for deer, which, though
entirely devoid of trees, is in these countries called a _forest_.
In the afternoon, Ulinish carried us in his boat to an island possessed
by him, where we saw an immense cave, much more deserving the title of
_antrum immane_[648] than that of the Sybil described by Virgil, which I
likewise have visited. It is one hundred and eighty feet long, about
thirty feet broad, and at least thirty feet high. This cave, we were
told, had a remarkable echo; but we found none[649]. They said it was
owing to the great rains having made it damp. Such are the excuses by
which the exaggeration of Highland narratives is palliated. There is a
plentiful garden at Ulinish, (a great rarity in Sky,) and several trees;
and near the house is a hill, which has an Erse name, signifying, _'the
hill of strife'_, where, Mr. M'Queen informed us, justice was of old
administered. It is like the _mons placiti_ of Scone, or those hills
which are called _laws_[650], such as Kelly _law_, North Berwick _law_,
and several others. It is singular that this spot should happen now to
be the sheriff's residence.
We had a very cheerful evening, and Dr. Johnson talked a good deal on
the subject of literature. Speaking of the noble family of Boyle, he
said, that all the Lord Orrerys, till the present, had been writers.
The first wrote several plays[651]; the second[652] was Bentley's
antagonist; the third[653] wrote the _Life of Swift_, and several other
things; his son Hamilton wrote some papers in the _Adventurer_ and
_World_. He told us, he was well acquainted with Swift's Lord Orrery. He
said, he was a feebleminded man; that, on the publication of Dr.
Delany's _Remarks_ on his book, he was so much alarmed that he was
afraid to read them. Dr. Johnson comforted him, by telling him they were
both in the right; that Delany had seen most of the good side of
Swift,--Lord Orrery most of the bad. M'Leod asked, if it was not wrong
in Orrery to expose the defects of a man with whom he lived in intimacy.
JOHNSON. 'Why no, Sir, after the man is dead; for then it is done
historically[654].' He added, 'If Lord Orrery had been rich, he would
have been a very liberal patron. His conversation was like his writings,
neat and elegant, but without strength. He grasped at more than his
abilities could reach; tried to pass for a better talker, a better
writer, and a better thinker than he was[655]. There was a quarrel
between him and his father, in which his father was to blame; because it
arose from the son's not allowing his wife to keep company with his
father's mistress. The old lord shewed his resentment in his
will[656],--leaving his library from his son, and assigning, as his
reason, that he could not make use of it.'
I mentioned the affectation of Orrery, in ending all his letters on the
_Life of Swift_ in studied varieties of phrase[657], and never in the
common mode of _'I am'_, &c., an observation which I remember to have
been made several years ago by old Mr. Sheridan. This species of
affectation in writing, as a foreign lady of distinguished talents once
remarked to me, is almost peculiar to the English. I took up a volume of
Dryden, containing the CONQUEST of GRANADA, and several other plays, of
which all the dedications had such studied conclusions. Dr. Johnson
said, such conclusions were more elegant, and in addressing persons of
high rank, (as when Dryden dedicated to the Duke of York[658],) they
