dispute about _Anaitis_, Mr. M'Queen said, Asia Minor was peopled byScythians, and, as they were the ancestors of the Celts, the samereligion might be in Asia Minor and Sky. JOHNSON. 'Alas! Sir, what can anation that has not letters tell of its original. I have alwaysdifficulty to be patient when I hear authours gravely quoted, as givingaccounts of savage nations, which accounts they had from the savagesthemselves. What can the _M'Craas_[619] tell about themselves a thousandyears ago? There is no tracing the connection of ancient nations, but bylanguage; and therefore I am always sorry when any language is lost,because languages are the pedigree of nations[620]. If you find the samelanguage in distant countries, you may be sure that the inhabitants ofeach have been the same people; that is to say, if you find thelanguages a good deal the same; for a word here and there being thesame, will not do. Thus Butler, in his _Hudibras_, remembering that_Penguin_, in the Straits of Magellan, signifies a bird with a whitehead, and that the same word has, in Wales, the signification of awhite-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 isleof Muck, came this morning; and, just as we sat down to dinner, came theLaird of the isle, of Muck himself, his lady, sister to Talisker, twoother ladies their relations, and a daughter of the late M'Leod ofHamer, who wrote a treatise on the second sight, under the designationof THEOPHILUS INSULANUS[622]. It was somewhat droll to hear this Lairdcalled by his title. _Muck_ would have sounded ill; so he was called_Isle of Muck_, which went off with great readiness. The name, as nowwritten, is unseemly, but it is not so bad in the original Erse, whichis _Mouach_, signifying the Sows' Island. Buchanan calls it INSULAPORCORUM. It is so called from its form. Some call it Isle of _Monk_.The Laird insists that this is the proper name. It was formerlychurch-land belonging to Icolmkill, and a hermit lived in it. It is twomiles long, and about three quarters of a mile broad. The Laird said, hehad seven score of souls upon it. Last year he had eighty personsinoculated, mostly children, but some of them eighteen years of age. Heagreed with the surgeon to come and do it, at half a crown a head. It isvery fertile in corn, of which they export some; and its coasts aboundin fish. A taylor comes there six times in a year. They get a goodblacksmith 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, thinkingto manage them, but they always fail. There is a spaniel fool and a mulefool. The spaniel fool may be made to do by beating. The mule fool willneither do by words or blows; and the spaniel fool often turns mule atlast: and suppose a fool to be made do pretty well, you must have thecontinual trouble of making her do. Depend upon it, no woman is theworse for sense and knowledge.[623]' Whether afterwards he meant merelyto say a polite thing, or to give his opinion, I could not be sure; buthe added, 'Men know that women are an over-match for them, and thereforethey choose the weakest or most ignorant. If they did not think so, theynever could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.'[624] Injustice to the sex, I think it but candid to acknowledge, that, in asubsequent conversation, he told me that he was serious in what hehad 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 delightin reading it.' To-day he said, 'You improve: it grows better andbetter.' I observed, there was a danger of my getting a habit of writingin a slovenly manner. 'Sir,' said he, 'it is not written in a slovenlymanner. It might be printed, were the subject fit for printing[625].'While Mr. Beaton preached to us in the dining-room, Dr. Johnson sat inhis own room, where I saw lying before him a volume of Lord Bacon'sworks, _The Decay of Christian Piety_, Monboddo's _Origin of Language_,and Sterne's _Sermons_[626]. He asked me to-day how it happened that wewere 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 fromone end of London to another to pass an hour with him, I should omit toseize any spare time to be in his company, when I am settled in the samehouse 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'Queenthat he had found the belief of the second sight universal in Sky,except among the clergy, who seemed determined against it. I took theliberty to observe to Mr. M'Queen, that the clergy were actuated by akind of vanity. 'The world, (say they,) takes us to be credulous men ina remote corner. We'll shew them that we are more enlightened than theythink.' The worthy man said, that his disbelief of it was from his notfinding sufficient evidence; but I could perceive that he was prejudicedagainst it[627].After dinner to-day, we talked of the extraordinary fact of LadyGrange'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 letit be known that he had such a place for naughty ladies, he might makeit a very profitable island. We had, in the course of our tour, heard ofSt. Kilda poetry. Dr. Johnson observed, 'it must be very poor, becausethey have very few images.' BOSWELL. 'There may be a poetical geniusshewn 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 coinguineas but in proportion as he has gold.' At tea he talked of hisintending to go to Italy in 1775. M'Leod said, he would like Parisbetter. JOHNSON. 'No, Sir; there are none of the French literati nowalive, to visit whom I would cross a sea. I can find in Buffon's bookall 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 surelyimportant. It is absurd that our soldiers should have swords, and not betaught the use of them. Prize-fighting made people accustomed not to bealarmed at seeing their own blood, or feeling a little pain from awound. I think the heavy _glaymore_ was an ill-contrived weapon. A mancould only strike once with it. It employed both his hands, and he mustof course be soon fatigued with wielding it; so that if his antagonistcould only keep playing a while, he was sure of him. I would fight witha 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 enoughavail themselves of their superior strength of body against the French;for that must always have a great advantage in pushing with bayonets. Ihave heard an officer say, that if women could be made to stand, theywould do as well as men in a mere interchange of bullets from adistance: but, if a body of men should come close up to them, then to besure they must be overcome; now, (said he,) in the same manner theweaker-bodied French must be overcome by our strong soldiers.'The subject of duelling was introduced[631] JOHNSON. 'There is no casein England where one or other of the combatants _must_ die: if you haveovercome your adversary by disarming him, that is sufficient, though youshould not kill him; your honour, or the honour of your family, isrestored, as much as it can be by a duel. It is cowardly to force yourantagonist to renew the combat, when you know that you have theadvantage of him by superior skill. You might just as well go and cuthis throat while he is asleep in his bed. When a duel begins, it issupposed there may be an equality; because it is not always skill thatprevails. It depends much on presence of mind; nay on accidents. Thewind may be in a man's face. He may fall. Many such things may decidethe superiority. A man is sufficiently punished, by being called out,and subjected to the risk that is in a duel.' But on my suggesting thatthe injured person is equally subjected to risk, he fairly owned hecould not explain the rationality of duelling.MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20.When I awaked, the storm was higher still. It abated about nine, and thesun shone; but it rained again very soon, and it was not a day fortravelling. At breakfast, Dr. Johnson told us, 'there was once a prettygood tavern in Catherine-street in the Strand, where very good companymet in an evening, and each man called for his own half-pint of wine, orgill, if he pleased; they were frugal men, and nobody paid but for whathe himself drank. The house furnished no supper; but a woman attendedwith mutton-pies, which any body might purchase. I was introduced tothis company by Cumming the Quaker[632], and used to go there sometimeswhen 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 whotook it; the peaceable and the quarrelsome. When I returned toLichfield, after having been in London, my mother asked me whether I wasone of those who gave the wall, or those who took it. Now, it is fixedthat 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 severeon a lady, whose name was mentioned. He said, he would have sent her toSt. Kilda. That she was as bad as negative badness could be, and stoodin the way of what was good: that insipid beauty would not go a greatway; and that such a woman might be cut out of a cabbage, if there was askilful artificer.M'Leod was too late in coming to breakfast. Dr. Johnson said, lazinesswas worse than the tooth-ach. BOSWELL. 'I cannot agree with you, Sir; abason 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 havebeen 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 labourof a life, there is nothing to be said against him.' JOHNSON (perceivingat once that I alluded to him and his _Dictionary_). 'Suppose thatflattery to be true, the consequence would be, that the world would haveno right to censure a man; but that will not justify him tohimself[634].'After breakfast, he said to me, 'A Highland Chief should now endeavourto do every thing to raise his rents, by means of the industry of hispeople. Formerly, it was right for him to have his house full of idlefellows; they were his defenders, his servants, his dependants, hisfriends. Now they may be better employed. The system of things is now somuch altered, that the family cannot have influence but by riches,because it has no longer the power of ancient feudal times. Anindividual of a family may have it; but it cannot now belong to afamily, 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 theKing's dominions; for land may always be improved to a certain degree. Iwould never have any man sell land, to throw money into the funds, as isoften done, or to try any other species of trade. Depend upon it, thisrage of trade will destroy itself. You and I shall not see it; but thetime will come when there will be an end of it. Trade is like gaming. Ifa whole company are gamesters, play must cease; for there is nothing tobe won. When all nations are traders, there is nothing to be gained bytrade[635], and it will stop first where it is brought to the greatestperfection. Then the proprietors of land only will be the great men.' Iobserved, it was hard that M'Leod should find ingratitude in so many ofhis people. JOHNSON. 'Sir, gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation;you do not find it among gross people.' I doubt of this. Nature seems tohave 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 toweaken than promote this affection.Dr. Johnson said this morning, when talking of our setting out, that hewas in the state in which Lord Bacon represents kings. He desired theend, but did not like the means[638]. He wished much to get home, butwas 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 fromreceiving any letters from home for some time, I could not help beinguneasy. Dr. Johnson had an advantage over me, in this respect, he havingno wife or child to occasion anxious apprehensions in his mind[639]. Itwas a good morning; so we resolved to set out. But, before quitting thiscastle, where we have been so well entertained, let me give a shortdescription of it.Along the edge of the rock, there are the remains of a wall, which isnow covered with ivy. A square court is formed by buildings of differentages, particularly some towers, said to be of great antiquity; and atone place there is a row of false cannon of stone[640]. There is a verylarge unfinished pile, four stories high, which we were told was herewhen _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 bymarriage. He surpassed the house of Austria; for he was _felix_ both_bella gerere_ et _nubere_[641]. John _Breck_ M'Leod, the grandfather ofthe 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 theirepitaphs written before they died, ordered the following inscription,composed by the minister of the parish, to be cut upon a broad stoneabove one of the lower windows, where it still remains to celebrate whatwas not done, and to serve as a memento of the uncertainty of life, andthe presumption of man:--'Joannes Macleod Beganoduni Dominus gentis suae Philarchus[643],Durinesiae Haraiae Vaternesiae, &c.: Baro D. Florae Macdonaldmatrimoniali vinculo conjugatus turrem hanc Beganodunensem proavorumhabitaculum longe vetustissimum diu penitus labefectatam Anno aeraevulgaris 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 murmuringbrook runs along one side of it. In it is a pyramid erected to thememory of Thomas Lord Lovat, by his son Lord Simon, who suffered onTower-hill[644]. It is of free-stone, and, I suppose, about thirty feethigh. 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 ofLord THOMAS his Father, a Peer of Scotland, and Chief of the great andancient Clan of the FRASERS. Being attacked for his birthright by thefamily of ATHOLL, then in power and favour with KING WILLIAM, yet, bythe valour and fidelity of his clan, and the assistance of theCAMPBELLS, the old friends and allies of his family, he defended hisbirthright with such greatness and fermety of soul, and such valour andactivity, that he was an honour to his name, and a good pattern to allbrave Chiefs of clans. He died in the month of May, 1699, in the 63rdyear of his age, in Dunvegan, the house of the LAIRD of MAC LEOD, whosesister he had married: by whom he had the above SIMON LORD FRASER, andseveral other children. And, for the great love he bore to the family ofMAC LEOD, he desired to be buried near his wife's relations, in theplace where two of her uncles lay. And his son LORD SIMON, to shew toposterity his great affection for his mother's kindred, the brave MACLEODS, chooses rather to leave his father's bones with them, than carrythem 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 theworld. Dr. Johnson said, it was poor stuff, such as Lord Lovat's butlermight have written.I observed, in this church-yard, a parcel of people assembled at afuneral, before the grave was dug. The coffin, with the corpse in it,was placed on the ground, while the people alternately assisted inmaking a grave. One man, at a little distance, was busy cutting a longturf for it, with the crooked spade which is used in Sky; a very aukwardinstrument. The iron part of it is like a plough-coulter. It has a rudetree for a handle, in which a wooden pin is placed for the foot to pressupon. A traveller might, without further enquiry, have set this down asthe mode of burying in Sky. I was told, however, that the usual way isto have a grave previously dug.I observed to-day, that the common way of carrying home their grain hereis in loads on horseback. They have also a few sleds, or _cars_, as wecall 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 theisland, was a plain honest gentleman, a good deal like an EnglishJustice of peace; not much given to talk, but sufficiently sagacious,and somewhat droll. His daughter, though she was never out of Sky, was avery well-bred woman. Our reverend friend, Mr. Donald M'Queen, kept hisappointment, and met us here.Talking of Phipps's voyage to the North Pole, Dr. Johnson observed, thatit 'was conjectured that our former navigators have kept too near land,and so have found the sea frozen far north, because the land hinders thefree motion of the tide; but, in the wide ocean, where the waves tumbleat their full convenience, it is imagined that the frost does not takeeffect.'[647]WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22.In the morning I walked out, and saw a ship, the Margaret of Clyde, passby with a number of emigrants on board. It was a melancholy sight. Afterbreakfast, we went to see what was called a subterraneous house, about amile off. It was upon the side of a rising ground. It was discovered bya fox's having taken up his abode in it, and in chasing him, they duginto it. It was very narrow and low, and seemed about forty feet inlength. Near it, we found the foundations of several small huts, builtof stone. Mr. M'Queen, who is always for making every thing as ancientas possible, boasted that it was the dwelling of some of the firstinhabitants of the island, and observed, what a curiosity it was to findhere a specimen of the houses of the _Aborigines_, which he believedcould be found no where else; and it was plain that they lived withoutfire. Dr. Johnson remarked, that they who made this were not in therudest state; for that it was more difficult to make _it_ than to builda house; therefore certainly those who made it were in possession ofhouses, and had this only as a hiding-place. It appeared to me, that thevestiges of houses, just by it, confirmed Dr. Johnson's opinion.From an old tower, near this place, is an extensive view ofLoch-Braccadil, and, at a distance, of the isles of Barra and SouthUist; and on the land-side, the _Cuillin_, a prodigious range ofmountains, capped with rocky pinnacles in a strange variety of shapes.They resemble the mountains near Corte in Corsica, of which there is avery good print. They make part of a great range for deer, which, thoughentirely devoid of trees, is in these countries called a _forest_.In the afternoon, Ulinish carried us in his boat to an island possessedby 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 Ilikewise have visited. It is one hundred and eighty feet long, aboutthirty feet broad, and at least thirty feet high. This cave, we weretold, had a remarkable echo; but we found none[649]. They said it wasowing to the great rains having made it damp. Such are the excuses bywhich the exaggeration of Highland narratives is palliated. There is aplentiful garden at Ulinish, (a great rarity in Sky,) and several trees;and near the house is a hill, which has an Erse name, signifying, _'thehill of strife'_, where, Mr. M'Queen informed us, justice was of oldadministered. It is like the _mons placiti_ of Scone, or those hillswhich are called _laws_[650], such as Kelly _law_, North Berwick _law_,and several others. It is singular that this spot should happen now tobe the sheriff's residence.We had a very cheerful evening, and Dr. Johnson talked a good deal onthe subject of literature. Speaking of the noble family of Boyle, hesaid, that all the Lord Orrerys, till the present, had been writers.The first wrote several plays[651]; the second[652] was Bentley'santagonist; the third[653] wrote the _Life of Swift_, and several otherthings; his son Hamilton wrote some papers in the _Adventurer_ and_World_. He told us, he was well acquainted with Swift's Lord Orrery. Hesaid, he was a feebleminded man; that, on the publication of Dr.Delany's _Remarks_ on his book, he was so much alarmed that he wasafraid to read them. Dr. Johnson comforted him, by telling him they wereboth in the right; that Delany had seen most of the good side ofSwift,--Lord Orrery most of the bad. M'Leod asked, if it was not wrongin 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 donehistorically[654].' He added, 'If Lord Orrery had been rich, he wouldhave been a very liberal patron. His conversation was like his writings,neat and elegant, but without strength. He grasped at more than hisabilities could reach; tried to pass for a better talker, a betterwriter, and a better thinker than he was[655]. There was a quarrelbetween him and his father, in which his father was to blame; because itarose from the son's not allowing his wife to keep company with hisfather's mistress. The old lord shewed his resentment in hiswill[656],--leaving his library from his son, and assigning, as hisreason, 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 thecommon mode of _'I am'_, &c., an observation which I remember to havebeen made several years ago by old Mr. Sheridan. This species ofaffectation in writing, as a foreign lady of distinguished talents onceremarked to me, is almost peculiar to the English. I took up a volume ofDryden, containing the CONQUEST of GRANADA, and several other plays, ofwhich all the dedications had such studied conclusions. Dr. Johnsonsaid, such conclusions were more elegant, and in addressing persons ofhigh rank, (as when Dryden dedicated to the Duke of York[658],) they