East Indies, I became very sick, but kept above board though it rained hard. As we had been detained so long in Sky by bad weather, we gave up the scheme that Col had planned for us of visiting several islands, and contented ourselves with the prospect of seeing Mull, and Icolmkill and Inchkenneth, which lie near to it. the harbours in Col. "Then let us run for it in God's name," said the skipper; and instantly we turned towards it. The little wherry which had fallen behind us had hard work. The master begged that, if we made for Col, we should put out a light to him. Accordingly, one of the sailors waved a glowing peat for some time. The various difficulties that were Mr. Simpson was sanguine in his hopes for started gave me a good deal of apprehension, awhile, the wind being fair for us. He said he from which I was relieved, when I found we would land us at Icolmkill that night. But were to run for a harbour before the wind. when the wind failed, it was resolved we should But my relief was but of short duration; for I make for the Sound of Mull, and land in the soon heard that our sails were very bad, and harbour of Tobermorie. We kept near the were in danger of being torn in pieces, in which five herring vessels for some time; but after- case we should be driven upon the rocky shore wards four of them got before us, and one of Col. It was very dark, and there was a little wherry fell behind us. When we got in heavy and incessant rain. The sparks of the full view of the point of Ardnamurchan, the burning peat flew so much about, that I dreaded wind changed, and was directly against our the vessel might take fire. Then, as Col was a getting into the Sound. We were then sportsman, and had powder on board, I figured obliged to tack, and get forward in that tedious that we might be blown up. Simpson and he manner. As we advanced, the storm grew appeared a little frightened, which made me greater, and the sea very rough. Col then more so; and the perpetual talking, or rather began to talk of making for Egg, or Canna, or shouting, which was carried on in Erse, alarmed his own island. Our skipper said, he would me still more. A man is always suspicious of get us into the Sound. Having struggled for what is saying in an unknown tongue; and, if this a good while in vain, he said, he would fear be his passion at the time, he grows more push forward till we were near the land of afraid. Our vessel often lay so much on one Mull, where we might cast anchor, and lie till side, that I trembled lest she should be overset ; the morning; for although, before this, there and indeed they told me afterwards, that they had been a good moon, and I had pretty dis- had run her sometimes to within an inch of the tinctly seen not only the land of Mull, but up water, so anxious were they to make what haste the Sound, and the country of Morven as at they could before the night should be worse. I one end of it, the night was now grown very now saw what I never saw before, a prodigious dark. Our crew consisted of one M'Donald, sea, with immense billows coming upon a vessel, our skipper, and two sailors, one of whom had so as that it seemed hardly possible to escape. but one eye; Mr. Simpson, himself, Col, and There was something grandly horrible in the Hugh M'Donald his servant, all helped. Simp- sight. I am glad I have seen it once. son said, he would willingly go for Col, if all these terrifying circumstances, I endeavoured young Col or his servant would undertake to to compose my mind. It was not easy to do pilot us to a harbour; but, as the island is low it; for all the stories that I had heard of the land, it was dangerous to run upon it in the dangerous sailing among the Hebrides, which dark. Col and his servant appeared a little is proverbial, came full upon my recollection. dubious. The scheme of running for Canna When I thought of those who were dearest to seemed then to be embraced; but Canna was me, and would suffer severely, should I be lost, ten leagues off, all out of our way; and they I upbraided myself, as not having a sufficient were afraid to attempt the harbour of Egg. cause for putting myself in such danger. Piety All these different plans were successively in afforded me comfort; yet I was disturbed by agitation. The old skipper still tried to make the objections that have been made against a for the land of Mull; but then it was consi- particular providence, and by the arguments dered that there was no place there where we of those who maintain that it is in vain to hope could anchor in safety. Much time was lost in that the petitions of an individual, or even of striving against the storm. At last it became congregations, can have any influence with the so rough, and threatened to be so much worse, Deity; objections which have been often made, that Col and his servant took more courage, and which Dr. Hawkesworth has lately reand said they would undertake to hit one of vived, in his Preface to the Voyages to the 1 The general disapprobation with which the doctrines happily advanced by Hawkesworth in this preface were received, deprived him," says the Biographical Dictionary," of peace of mind and of life itself;" and Mrs. Piozzi says, (Anec. dotes, p. 143.)" Hawkesworth, the pious, the virtuous, and the wise, fell a lamented sacrifice to newspaper abuse; " and Mr. Malone, in a MS. note on that passage, in his copy of Piozzi's Anecdotes (which Mr. Markland has been so good as to communicate to me), states, that, "after Hawkesworth had published Cooke's first voyage, he was attacked severely in the newspapers, by a writer who signed himself A Chris Amidst tian, for some tenets in that work, which so preyed on his spirits that he put an end to his life by a large dose of opium." There is some reason, however, to believe that these accounts -both of the public indignation, and of Dr. Hawkesworth's consequent distress of mind-were exaggerated; for he was, between the publication of his preface in Spring, 1773, and his death in the November of the same year, elected a Director of the East India Company, a distinction which, if the accounts before-mentioned were true, it is not likely that he should have either solicited or obtained. In the periodicals of the day he is stated to have "died of a linger Macdonald' was very angry at Talisker for joking on such a serious occasion, as Kingsburgh was really in danger of his life. Mrs. M'Kinnon added, that Lady Margaret was quite adored in Sky. That when she travelled through the island, the people ran in crowds before her, and took the stones off the road, lest her horse should stumble and she be hurt.2 Her husband, Sir Alexander, is also remembered with great regard. We were told that every week a hogshead of claret was drunk at his table. with a strong Celtic pronunciation, "Toctor Shonson, Toctor Shonson, your health!" This evening one of our married ladies, a lively pretty little woman, good humouredly sat down upon Dr. Johnson's knee, and, being encouraged by some of the company, put her hands round his neck, and kissed him. "Do it again," said he, "and let us see who will tire first." He kept her on his knee some time, while he and she drank tea. He was now like a buck indeed. All the company were much entertained to find him so easy and pleasant. To me it was highly comic, to see the grave philosopher the Rambler toying with a Highland beauty! But what could he do? He must have been surly, and weak too, had he not behaved as he did. He would have been laughed at, and not more respected, though less loved. This was another day of wind and rain; but good cheer and good society helped to beguile the time. I felt myself comfortable enough in the afternoon. I then thought that my last night's riot was no more than such a social excess as may happen without much moral blame; and recollected that some physicians maintained, that a fever produced by it He read to-night, to himself, as he sat in comwas, upon the whole, good for health: so dif-pany, a great deal of my Journal, and said to ferent are our reflections on the same subject, me, "The more I read of this, I think the more at different periods; and such the excuses highly of you." The gentlemen sat a long with which we palliate what we know to be time at their punch, after he and I had retired to our chambers. The manner in which they wrong. Monday, Sept. 27.—Mr. Donald Macleod, our original guide, who had parted from us at Dunvegan, joined us again to-day. The weather was still so bad that we could not travel. I found a closet here, with a good many books, besides those that were lying about. Dr. Johnson told me, he found a library in his room at Talisker; and observed, that it was one of the remarkable things of Sky, that there were so many books in it. Though we had here great abundance of provisions, it is remarkable that Corrichatachin has literally no garden: not even a turnip, a carrot, or a cabbage. After dinner, we talked of the crooked spade used in Sky, already described, and they maintained that it was better than the usual garden-spade, and that there was an art in tossing it, by which those who were accustomed to it could work very easily with it. "Nay," said Dr. Johnson, "it may be useful in land where there are many stones to raise; but it certainly is not a good instrument for digging good land. A man may toss it, to be sure; but he will toss a light spade much better: its weight makes it an incumbrance. A man may dig any land with it; but he has no occasion for such a weight in digging good land. You may take a field-piece to shoot sparrows; but all the sparrows you can bring home will not be worth the charge." He was quite social and easy amongst them; and, though he drank no fermented liquor, toasted Highland beauties with great readiness. His conviviality engaged them so much, that they seemed eager to show their attention to him, and vied with each other in crying out, 1 See antè, p. 326.- C. Johnson made a compliment on this subject to Lady M. "3 were attended struck me as singular. The bell being broken, a smart lad lay on a table in the corner of the room, ready to spring up and bring the kettle whenever it was wanted. They continued drinking, and singing Erse songs, till near five in the morning, when they all came into my room, where some of them had beds. Unluckily for me, they found a bottle of punch in a corner, which they drank; and Corrichatachin went for another, which they also drank. They made many apologies for disturbing me. I told them, that, having been kept awake by their mirth, I had once thoughts of getting up and joining them again. Honest Corrichatachin said, "To have had you done So, I would have given a cow." Tuesday, Sept. 28. The weather was worse than yesterday. I felt as if imprisoned. Dr. Johnson said it was irksome to be detained thus: yet he seemed to have less uneasiness, or more patience, than I had. What made our situation worse here was, that we had no rooms that we could command; for the good people had no notion that a man could have any occa sion but for a mere sleeping place; so, during the day, the bed-chambers were common to all the house. Servants eat in Dr. Johnson's, and mine was a kind of general rendezvous of all under the roof, children and dogs not excepted. As the gentlemen occupied the parlour, the ladies had no place to sit in, during the day, but Dr. Johnson's room. I had always some quiet time for writing in it, before he was up and, by degrees, I accustomed the ladies to let me sit in it after breakfast, at my Journal, without minding me. Macdonald, when he afterwards met her, at dinner, in Loa don. See 8th April, 1779. — CROKER. 3 Of you!-CROKER. Dr. Johnson was this morning for going to see as many islands as we could, not recollecting the uncertainty of the season, which might detain us in one place for many weeks. He said to me, "I have more the spirit of adventure than you." For my part, I was anxious to get to Mull, from whence we might almost any day reach the main land. labourers, at times when provisions are high, than to raise their wages; because, if wages are once raised, they will never get down again." Happily the weather cleared up between one and two o'clock, and we got ready to depart; but our kind host and hostess would not let us go without taking a snatch, as they called it; which was in truth a very good dinner. While the punch went round, Dr. Johnson kept a close whispering conference with Mrs. M'Kinnon, which, however, was loud enough to let us hear that the subject of it was the particulars of Prince Charles's escape.' The company were entertained and pleased to observe it. Upon that subject, there was something congenial between the soul of Dr. Samuel Johnson and that of an Isle of Sky farmer's wife. It is curious to see people, how far soever removed from each other in the general system of their lives, come close together on a particular point which is common to each. We were merry with Corrichatachin, on Dr. Johnson's whispering with his wife. She, perceiving this, humorously cried, "I am in love with him. What is it to live and not to love?" Upon her saying something, which I did not hear, or cannot recollect, he seized her hand eagerly, and kissed it. Dr. Johnson mentioned, that the few ancient Irish gentlemen yet remaining have the highest pride of family; that Mr. Sandford, a friend of his, whose mother was Irish, told him, that O'Hara (who was true Irish, both by father and mother) and he, and Mr. Ponsonby, son to the Earl of Besborough, the greatest man of the three, but of an English family, went to see one of those ancient Irish, and that he distinguished them thus: "O'Hara, you are welcome! Mr. Sandford, your mother's son is welcome! Mr. Ponsonby, you may sit down!" He talked both of threshing and thatching. He said it was very difficult to determine how to agree with a thresher. "If you pay him by the day's wages, he will thresh no more than he pleases: though, to be sure, the negligence of a thresher is more easily detected than that of most labourers, because he must always make a sound while he works. If you pay him by the piece, by the quantity of grain As we were going, the Scottish phrase of which he produces, he will thresh only while "honest man!" which is an expression of kindthe grain comes freely, and though he leaves a ness and regard, was again and again applied good deal in the ear, it is not worth while to by the company to Dr. Johnson. I was also thresh the straw over again; nor can you fix treated with much civility; and I must take him to do it sufficiently, because it is so diffi- some merit from my assiduous attention to him, cult to prove how much less a man threshes and from my contriving that he shall be easy than he ought to do. Here then is a dilemma: wherever he goes, that he shall not be asked but, for my part, I would engage him by the twice to eat or drink any thing (which always day; I would rather trust his idleness than his disgusts him), that he shall be provided with fraud." He said, a roof thatched with Lin-water at his meals, and many such little things, colnshire reeds would last seventy years, as he was informed when in that county; and that he told this in London to a great thatcher, who said, he believed it might be true. Such are the pains that Dr. Johnson takes to get the best information on every subject. He proceeded: "It is difficult for a farmer in England to find day-labourers, because the lowest manufacturers can always get more than a day-labourer. It is of no consequence how high the wages of manufacturers are; but it would be of very bad consequence to raise the wages of those who procure the immediate necessaries of life, for that would raise the price of provisions. Here then is a problem for politicians. It is not reasonable that the most useful body of men should be the worst paid; yet it does not appear how it can be ordered otherwise. It were to be wished, that a mode for its being otherwise were found out. In the mean time, it is better to give temporary assistance by charitable contributions to poor It must be remembered that Mrs. M'Kinnon was old Kingsburgh's daughter, and was in the house when the Preteuder was there in woman's clothes. Ascanius relates an ancodate of her being alarmed (she was then very young) which, if not attended to, would fret him. I also may be allowed to claim some merit in leading the conversation: I do not mean leading, as in an orchestra, by playing the first fiddle; but leading as one does in examining a witness starting topics, and making him pursue them. He appears to me like a great mill, into which a subject is thrown to be ground. It requires, indeed, fertile minds to furnish materials for this mill. I regret whenever I see it unemployed; but sometimes I feel myself quite barren, and having nothing to throw in. I know not if this mill be a good figure; though Pope makes his mind a mill for turning verses. We set out about four. Young Corrichatachin went with us. We had a fine evening, and arrived in good time at Ostig, the residence of Mr. Martin M'Pherson, minister of Slate. It is a pretty good house, built by his father, upon a farm near the church. We were received here with much kindness by Mr. and with the masculine manners and bold strides of the "muckle woman" in the hall. Mrs. M'Kinnon was the maternal grandmother of my friend Major-General Macdonald, now (1846) Adjutant-General. -CROKER. " Mrs. M'Pherson, and his sister, Miss M'Pherson, who pleased Dr. Johnson much by singing Erse songs, and playing on the guitar. He afterwards sent her a present of his "Rasselas.' In his bed-chamber was a press stored with books, Greek, Latin, French, and English, most of which had belonged to the father of our host, the learned Dr. M'Pherson; who, though his "Dissertations" have been mentioned in a former page as unsatisfactory, was a man of distinguished talents. Dr. Johnson looked at a Latin paraphrase of the Song of Moses, written by him, and published in the "Scots Magazine" for 1747, and said, "It does him honour; he has a great deal of Latin, and good Latin." Dr. M'Pherson published also in the same Magazine, June, 1739, an original Latin ode, which he wrote from the Isle of Barra, where he was minister for some years. It is very poetical, and exhibits a striking proof how much all things depend upon comparison: for Barra, it seems, appeared to him so much worse than Sky, his natale solum, that he languished for its "blessed mountains," and thought himself buried alive amongst barbarians where he was. My readers will probably not be displeased to have a specimen of this ode: "Hei mihi! quantos patior dolores, "Ingemo, indignor, crucior, quod inter After wishing for wings to fly over to his dear country, which was in his view, from what he calls Thule, as being the most western isle of Scotland, except St. Kilda; after describing the pleasures of society, and the miseries of solitude; he at last, with becoming propriety, has recourse to the only sure relief of thinking men, · Sursum corda1, the hope of a better world, and disposes his mind to resignation: [JOHNSON TO MACLEOD "Ostig, 28th Sept. 1773 "DEAR SIR, — We are now on the margin of the sea, waiting for a boat and a wind. Boswell grows impatient; but the kind treatment which I find wherever I go, makes me leave, with some heaviness see again. Having now gone as far as horses can of heart, an island which I am not very likely to will, I hope, be received with kindness; — he has carry us, we thankfully return them. My steed and steep, with great fidelity; and for the use of borne me, heavy as I am, over ground both rough him, as for your other favours, I hope you will be lieve me thankful, and willing, at whatever distance we may be placed, to show my sense of your kindness, by any offices of friendship that may fall within my power. 66 Lady Macleod and the young ladies have, by their hospitality and politeness, made an impression pleased to tell them, that I remember them with on my mind, which will not easily be effaced. Be great tenderness, and great respect. — I am, Sir, your most obliged and most humble servant, "SAM. JOHNSON." "P.S. We passed two days at Talisker very elegance of our reception."] happily, both by the pleasantness of the place and -Macleod MSS. Wednesday, Sept. 29. — After a very good sleep, I rose more refreshed than I had been for some nights. We were now at but a little distance from the shore, and saw the sea from our windows, which made our voyage seem nearer. Mr. M'Pherson's manners and address pleased us much. He appeared to be a man such intelligence and taste as to be sensible of the extraordinary powers of his illustrious guest. He said to me, "Dr. Johnson is an honour to mankind, and, if the expression may be used, is an honour to religion." of Camuscross, joined us this morning at breakCol, who had gone yesterday to pay a visit at enjoy the entertainment of Dr. Johnson's confast. Some other gentlemen also came to versation. The day was windy and rainy, so that we had just seized a happy interval for our journey last night. We had good entertainment here, better accommodation than at Corrichatachin, and time enough to ourselves. The hours slipped along imperceptibly. We talked of Shenstone. Dr. Johnson said, he was a good layer-out of land, but would not allow him to approach excellence as a poet. He said, he believed he had tried to read all He concludes in a noble strain of orthodox his "Love Pastorals," but did not get through piety: "Vita tum demum vocitanda vita est. 1 The Latin for the apostrophe in the Communion Service, "Lift up your hearts."-CROKER. 2 For this letter I am indebted to the present Macleod. - CROKER, 1831. them. I repeated the stanza, "She gazed as I slowly withdrew; My path I could hardly discern; I thought that she bade me return."' 3 He quotes this and some other stanzas from the same poem in his Life of Shenstone.-P. CUNNINGHAM. He said, "That seems to be pretty." I observed that Shenstone, from his short maxims in prose, appeared to have some power of thinking; but Dr. Johnson would not allow him that merit. He agreed, however, with Shenstone, that it was wrong in the brother of one of his correspondents to burn his letters; "for," said he, “Shenstone was a man whose correspondence was an honour." He was this afternoon full of critical severity, and dealt about his censures on all sides. He said, Hammond's "Love Elegies" were poor things. He spoke contemptuously of our lively and elegant, though too licentious lyric bard, Hanbury Williams, and said, "he had no fame, but from boys who drank with him." 2 While he was in this mood, I was unfortunate enough, simply perhaps, but I could not help thinking undeservedly, to come within "the whiff and wind of his fell sword." I asked him, if he had ever been accustomed to wear a nightcap. He said, "No." I asked, if it was best not to wear one. JOHNSON." Sir, I had this custom by chance, and perhaps no man shall ever know whether it is best to sleep with or without a night-cap." Soon afterwards he was laughing at some deficiency in the Highlands, and said, "One might as well go without shoes and stockings." Thinking to have a little hit at his own deficiency, I ventured to add, "or without a night-cap, Sir." But I had better have been silent, for he retorted directly, "I do not see the connection there (laughing). Nobody before was ever foolish enough to ask whether it was best to wear a night-cap or not. This comes of being a little wrong-headed." He carried the company along with him: and yet the truth is, that if he had always worn a night-cap, as is the common practice, and found the Highlanders did not wear one, he would have wondered at their barbarity; so that my hit was fair enough. Thursday, Sept. 30.-There was as great a storm of wind and rain as I have almost ever seen, which necessarily confined us to the house; but we were fully compensated by Dr. Johnson's conversation. He said, he did not grudge Burke's being the first man in the House of Commons, for he was the first man every where; but he grudged that a fellow who makes no figure in company, and has a mind as narrow as the neck of a vinegar cruet, should make a figure in the House of Commons, merely by having the knowledge of a few forms, and being furnished with a little occasional information. He told us, the first time he saw Dr. Young was at the house of Mr. Richardson, the author of "Clarissa." He was sent for, that the doctor might read to him his "Conjectures on Original Composition," which he did, and Dr. Johnson made his remarks; and he was surprised to find Young receive as novelties, what he thought very common maxims. He said, he believed Young was not a great scholar, nor had studied regularly the art of writing; that there were very fine things in his "Night Thoughts," though you could not find twenty lines together without some extravagance. He repeated two passages from his "Love of Fame," the characters of Brunetta and Stella, which he praised highly. He said Young pressed him much to come to Welwyn. He always intended it, but never went. He was sorry when Young died. The cause of quarrel between Young and his son, he told us, was, that his son insisted Young should turn away a clergyman's widow, who lived with him, and who, having acquired great influence over the father, was saucy to the son. Johnson said, she could not conceal her resentment at him, for saying to Young, that "an old man should not resign himself to the management of any body." I asked him if there was any improper connection between them. "No, Sir, no more than between two statues. He was past fourscore, and she a very coarse woman. She read to him, and, I suppose, made his coffee, and frothed his chocolate, and did such things as an old man wishes to have done for him."5 Dr. Dr. Doddridge being mentioned, he observed, "he was author of one of the finest epigrams in the English language. It is in Orton's Life of him. The subject is his family motto, Dum vivimus vivamus,' which, in its primary signification, is, to be sure, not very suitable to a Christian divine; but he paraphrased it thus: Think nought a trifle, though it small appear: "See Stella; her eyes shine as bright 5 Mrs. Hallows was a woman of piety, improved by reading. She was always treated by Dr. Young and by his guests, even those of the highest rank, with the politeness and respect due to a gentlewoman. She died in 1780. ANDERSON. 6 Dr. Philip Doddridge, an eminent dissenting divine, born in 1702, died at Lisbon (whither he had gone for the recovery of his health) in 1751. Some of his letters have been recently published, with no great advantage to his fame. CROKER. |