Hebrid. Tour to far from being that robust wise man who is sufficient for his own happiness. I felt a kind of lethargy of indolence. I did not exert myself to get Dr. Johnson to talk, that I might not have the labour of writing down his conversation. He inquired here, if there were any remains of the second sight. Mr. Macpherson, minister of Slate, said, he was resolved not to believe it, because it was founded on no principle. JOHNSON. "There are many things then, which we are sure are true, that you will not believe. What principle is there, why a loadstone attracts iron? why an egg produces a chicken by heat? why a tree grows upwards, when the natural tendency of all things is downwards? Sir, it depends upon the degree of evidence that you have." Young Mr. M'Kinnon mentioned one M'Kenzie, who is still alive, who had often fainted in his presence, and when he recovered, mentioned visions which had been presented to him. He told Mr. M'Kinnon, that at such a place he should meet a funeral, and that such and such people would be the bearers, naming four; and three weeks afterwards he saw what M'Kenzie had predicted. The naming the very spot in a country where a funeral comes a long way, and the very people as bearers, when there are so many out of whom a choice may be made, seems extraordinary. We should have sent for McKenzie, had we not been informed that he could speak no English. Besides, the facts were not related with sufficient accuracy. Mrs. McKinnon, who is a daughter of old Kingsburgh [a Macdonald], told us that her father was one day riding in Sky, and some women, who were at work in a field on the side of the road, said to him, they had heard two taischs (that is, two voices of persons about to die), and what was remarkable, one of them was an English taisch, which they never Hebrid. heard before. When he returned, he at that very Tour to place met two funerals, and one of them was that of a woman who had come from the main land, and could speak only English. This, she remarked, made a great impression upon her father. How all the people here were lodged, I know not.. It was partly done by separating man and wife, and putting a number of men in one room, and of women in another. Wednesday, 8th September.-When I waked, the rain was much heavier than yesterday; but the wind had abated. By breakfast, the day was better, and in a little while it was calm and clear. I felt my spirits much elated. The propriety of the expression, "the sunshine of the breast'," now struck me with peculiar force; for the brilliant rays penetrated into my very soul. We were all in better humour than before. Mrs. M'Kinnon, with unaffected hospitality and politeness, expressed her happiness in having such company in her house, and appeared to understand and relish Dr. Johnson's conversation, as indeed all the company seemed to do. When I knew she was old Kingsburgh's daughter, I did not wonder at the good appearance which she made. She talked as if her husband and family would emigrate, rather than be oppressed by their landlord2; and said, "how agreeable would it be, if these gentlemen should come in upon us when we are in America." Somebody observed that Sir Alexander Macdonald was always frightened at sea. JOHNSON. "He is frightened at sea; and his tenants are frightened when he comes to land." [Gray's "Ode on the Prospect of Eton College." It may be here observed that no poet has, in proportion to the quantity of his works, furnished so many expressions which, by their felicity, have become proverbial, as Gray. He has written little, but his lines are in every mouth, and fall from every pen.-ED.} * [Sir Alexander Macdonald.-ED.] 2 Tour to We resolved to set out directly after breakfast. We had about two miles to ride to the sea side, and there we expected to get one of the boats belonging to the fleet of bounty' herring-busses then on the coast, or at least a good country fishing-boat. But while we were preparing to set out, there arrived a man with the following card from the Reverend Mr. Donald M'Queen : 2 "Mr. M'Queen's compliments to Mr. Boswell, and begs leave to acquaint him that, fearing the want of a proper boat, as much as the rain of yesterday, might have caused a stop, he is now at Skianwden with Macgillichallum's carriage, to convey him and Dr. Johnson to Rasay, where they will meet with a most hearty welcome, and where Macleod, being on a visit, now attends their motions. 66 Wednesday afternoon." 4 This card was most agreeable; it was a prologue to that hospitable and truly polite reception which we found at Rasay. In a little while arrived Mr. Donald M'Queen himself; a decent minister, an elderly man with his own black hair, courteous, and rather slow of speech, but candid, sensible, and well informed, nay learned. Along with him came, as our pilot, a gentleman whom I had a great desire to see, Mr. Malcolm Macleod, one of the Rasay family, celebrated in the year 1745-6. He was now sixtytwo years of age, hale, and well-proportioned,-with a manly countenance, tanned by the weather, yet having a ruddiness in his cheeks, over a great part 1 [Boats which fished under the encouragement of a bounty.-ED.] [What is now called a note was, at the period at which Mr. Boswell wrote, frequently called a card.—ED.] 3 The Highland expression for Laird of Rasay.-BOSWELL. [Meaning "the son of the youth, Colin," the ancestor of this branch having been, no doubt, in his day designated as young Colin Macleod."-ED.] 66 4 [Wigs were, at this period, still generally worn; a fashion at which posterity will wonder, as we now do, at the excess of the fashion, as exhibited in the pictures of Lely and Kneller. We can hardly reconcile ourselves to "a yellowish, bushy wig" as part of the costume of a perfect Highland gentleman.” -ED.] Hebrid. of which his rough beard extended. His eye was Tour to quick and lively, yet his look was not fierce, but he appeared at once firm and good-humoured. He wore a pair of brogues; tartan hose which came up only near to his knees, and left them bare; a purple camblet kilt1; a black waistcoat; a short green cloth coat bound with gold cord; a yellowish bushy wig; a large blue bonnet with a gold thread button. I never saw a figure that gave a more perfect representation of a Highland gentleman. I wished much to have a picture of him just as he was. I found him frank and polite, in the true sense of the word. The good family at Corrichatachin said they hoped to see us on our return. We rode down to the shore: but Malcolm walked with graceful agility. We got into Rasay's carriage, which was a good strong open boat made in Norway. The wind had now risen pretty high, and was against us; but we had four stout rowers, particularly a Macleod, a robust, black-haired fellow, half naked, and bare-headed, something between a wild Indian and an English tar. Dr. Johnson sat high on the stern, like a magnificent Triton. Malcolm sung an Erse song, the chorus of which was " Hatyin foam foam eri," with words of his own. The tune resembled "Owr the muir amang the heather." The boatmen and Mr. M'Queen chorused, and all went well. At length Malcolm himself took an oar, and rowed vigorously. We sailed along the coast of Scalpa, a rugged island, about four miles in length. Dr. Johnson proposed that he and I should buy it, and found a good school, and an episcopal church (Malcolm said [A purple camlet kilt.-To evade the law against the tartan dress, the Highlands used to dye their variegated plaids and kilts into blue, green, or any single colour.-WALTER SCOTT.] ย [See post, 5th Oct. 1773, a translation of this song.-ED.] Hebrid. Tour to he would come to it1), and have a printing-press, where he would print all the Erse that could be found. Here I was strongly struck with our long projected scheme of visiting the Hebrides being realized. I called to him, "We are contending with seas;" which I think were the words of one of his letters to me. "Not much," said he; and though the wind made the sea lash considerably upon us, he was not discomposed. After we were out of the shelter of Scalpa, and in the sound between it and Rasay, which extended about a league, the wind made the sea very rough. I did not like it. JOHNSON. "This now is the Atlantick. If I should tell at a tea-table in London, that I have crossed the Atlantick in an open boat, how they'd shudder, and what a fool they'd think me to expose myself to such danger!" then repeated Horace's ode, He In the confusion and hurry of this boisterous sail, Dr. Johnson's spurs, of which Joseph had charge, were carried overboard into the sea, and lost. This was the first misfortune that had befallen us. Dr. Johnson was a little angry at first, observing that "there was something wild in letting a pair of spurs be carried into the sea out of a boat;" but then he remarked, "that, as Janes the naturalist had said3 upon losing his pocket-book, it was rather an inconvenience than a loss." He told us, he now recollected that he dreamt the night before, that he put [The Highlanders were all well inclined to the episcopalian form, proviso that the right king was prayed for. I suppose Malcolm meant to say, I will come to your church because you are honest folk; viz. Jacobites. -WALTER SCOTT.] [Johnson, in his letters to Mrs. Thrale, intimates that Mr. Boswell was a timid sailor.-ED.] 3 [Probably at their recent meeting at Armidale, &c. ante, 2d Sept.-ED.] |