bone of John Garve, one of the lairds. | to land in the night, and carry off every Dr. Johnson would not look at it, but started away. At breakfast, I asked, "What is the reason that we are angry at a trader's having opulence?" JOHNSON. "Why, sir, the reason is (though I don't undertake to prove that there is a reason) we see no qualities in trade that should entitle a man to superiority. We are not angry at a soldier's getting riches, because we see that he possesses qualities which we have not. If a man returns from a battle, having lost one hand, and with the other full of gold, we feel that he deserves the gold; but we cannot think that a fellow, by sitting all day at a desk, is entitled to get above uз." BosWELL. "But, sir, may we not suppose a merchant to be a man of an enlarged mind, such as Addison in the Spectator describes Sir Andrew Freeport to have been?" JOHNSON. "Why, sir, we may suppose any fictitious character. We may suppose a philosophical day-labourer, who is happy in reflecting that, by his labour, he contributes to the fertility of the earth, and to the support of his fellow-creatures; but we find no such philosophical day-labourer. A merchant may, perhaps, be a man of an enlarged mind; but there is nothing in trade connected with an enlarged mind." I mentioned that I had heard Dr. Solander say he was a Swedish Laplander 1. JOHNSON. "Sir, I don't believe he is a Laplander. The Laplanders are not much above four feet high. He is as tall as you; and he has not the copper colour of a Lap lander." BoSWELL. "But what motive could he have to make himself a Laplander?" JOHNSON. "Why, sir, he must either mean the word Laplander in a very extensive sense, or may mean a voluntary degradation of himself. 'For all my being the great man that you see me now, I was originally a barbarian ;' as if Burke should say, 'I came over a wild Irishman'-which he might say in his present state of exaltation." Having expressed a desire to have an island like Inchkenneth, Dr. Johnson set himself to think what would be necessary for a man in such a situation. "Sir, I should build me a fortification, if I came to live here; for, if you have it not, what should hinder a parcel of ruffians 1 [Daniel Charles Solander was born in the province of Nordland, in Sweden, in 1736; he came to England in 1760; became F. R. S. 1764. In 1768 he accompanied Sir Joseph Banks in his voyage with Captain Cook. He died one of the librarians of the British Museum, in 1782. The Biographical Dictionary says, that "he was a short fair man, rather fat, with small eyes, and good humoured expression of countenance."ED.] thing you have in the house, which, in a remote country, would be more valuable than cows and sheep? add to all this the danger of having your throat cut." BosWELL. "I would have a large dog." JOHNsoN. "So you may, sir; but a large dog is of no use but to alarm." He, however, I apprehend, thinks too lightly of the power of that animal. I have heard him say, that he is afraid of no dog. "He would take him up by the hinder legs, which would render him quite helpless; and then knock his head against a stone, and beat out his brains." Topham Beauclerk told me, that at his house in the country, two large ferocious dogs were fighting 2. Dr. Johnson looked steadily at them for a little while; and then, as one would separate two little boys, who are foolishly hurting each other, he ran up to them, and cuffed their heads till he drove them asunder. But few men have his intrepidity, Herculean strength, or presence of mind. Most thieves or robbers would be afraid to encounter a mastiff. I observed, that when young Col talked of the lands belonging to his family, he always said, "my lands." For this he had a plausible pretence; for he told me, there has been a custom in this family, that the laird resigns the estate to the eldest son when he comes of age, reserving to himself only a certain life-rent. He said, it was a voluntary custom; but I think I found an instance in the charter-room, that there was such an obligation in a contract of marriage. If the custom was voluntary, it was only curious; but if founded on obligation, it might be dangerous; for I have been told, that in Otaheité, whenever a child is born (a son, I think), the father loses his right to the estate and honours, and that this unnatural, or rather absurd custom, occasions the murder of many children. Young Col told us he could run down a greyhound; "for," said he, "the dog runs himself out of breath, by going too quick, and then I get up with him. 3." I accounted for his advantage over the dog, by remarking that Col had the faculty of reason, and knew how to moderate his pace, which the dog had not sense enough to do. Dr. Johnson said, "He is a noble animal. can figure. He is a farmer, a sailor, a He is as complete an islander as the mind hunter, a fisher: he will run you down a 2 [See post, sub Feb. 1775, where this story is repeated.-Ed.] 3 [This is not spoken of hare-coursing, where the game is taken or lost before the dog gets out of wind; but in chasing deer with the great Highland greyhound, Col's exploit is feasible enough. -WALTER SCOTT.] dog: if any man has a tail1, it is Col. He is hospitable; and he has an intrepidity of talk, whether he understands the subject or not. I regret that he is not more intellectual." and this imperfect memorial, joined to the high honour of being tenderly and respectfully mentioned by Dr. Johnson, is the only return which the uncertainty of human events has permitted us to make to this deserving young man. Dr. Johnson observed, that there was nothing of which he would not undertake Sir Allan, who obligingly undertook to to persuade a Frenchman in a foreign coun- accompany us to Icolmkill, had a strong try. "I'll carry a Frenchman to St. Paul's good boat, with four stout rowers. We churchyard, and I'll tell him, by our law coasted along Mull till we reached Gribon, you may walk half round the church; but, where is what is called Mackinnon's cave, if you walk round the whole, you will be compared with which that at Ulinish is inpunished capitally; and he will believe me considerable. It is in a rock of a great at once. Now, no Englishman would read- height, close to the sea. Upon the left of ily swallow such a thing: he would go and its entrance there is a cascade, almost perinquire of somebody else." The French-pendicular from the top to the bottom of man's credulity, I observed, must be ow- the rock. There is a tradition that it was ing to his being accustomed to implicit sub-conducted thither artificially, to supply the mission; whereas every Englishman reasons upon the laws of his country, and instructs his representatives, who compose the legislature. This day was passed in looking at a small island adjoining Inchkenneth, which afforded nothing worthy of observation; and in such social and gay entertainments as our little society could furnish. inhabitants of the cave with water. Dr. Johnson gave no credit to this tradition. As, on the one hand, his faith in the Christian religion is firmly founded upon good grounds; so, on the other, he is incredulous when there is no sufficient reason for belief; being in this respect just the reverse of modern infidels, who, however nice and scrupulous in weighing the evidences of Tuesday, 19th October.-After break-religion, are yet often so ready to beheve fast we took leave of the young ladies, and of our excellent companion Col2, to whom we had been so much obliged. He had now put us under the care of his chief; and was to hasten back to Sky. We parted from him with very strong feelings of kindness and gratitude, and we hoped to have had some future opportunity of proving to him the sincerity of what we felt; but in the following year he was unfortunately lost in the Sound between Ulva and Mull; [In allusion to Lord Monboddo's theory, that a perfect man would have a tail. See ante, p. 346.-ED.] the most absurd and improbable tales of another nature, that Lord Hailes well observed, a good essay might be written Sur la Credulité des Incredules. The height of this cave I cannot tell with any tolerable exactness; but it seemed to be very lofty, and to be a pretty regular arch. We penetrated, by candlelight, a great way; by our measurement, no less than four hundred and eighty-five feet. Tradition says, that a piper and twelve men once advanced into this cave, nobody can tell how far3, and never returned. At the distance to which we proceeded the air was quite pure; for the candle burned freely, without the least appearance of the flame growing globular; but as we had only one, we thought it dangerous to venture farther, lest, should it have been extinguished, we should have had no means of ascertaining whether we could remain without danger. Dr. Johnson said, this was the greatest natural curiosity he had ever seen. [Just opposite to M'Quarrie's house the boat was swamped by the intoxication of the sailors, who had partaken too largely of M'Quarrie's wonted hospitality.-WALTER SCOTT. Johnson says in his Journey, "Here we had the last embrace of this amiable man, who, while these pages were preparing to attest his virtues, perished in the passage between Ulva and Inchkenneth."-Works, vol. viii. p. 391. The account given in the Journey of young Donald Maclean, made him a popular character. The. Laird of 3 [There is little room for supposing that any Col is a character in O'Keefe's comedy, called person ever went farther into M'Kinnon's cave The Highland Reel. Johnson writes from Lich- than any man may now go. Johnson's admirafield, 13th June, 1775: “There is great lamentation of it seems exaggerated. A great number of tion here for poor Col;" and a review of the Journey, Gent. Mag. 1775, p. 86, thus concludes: "But whatever Dr. Johnson saw, whatever he described, will now be perpetuated; and though the buildings of Icolmkill are mouldering into dust, and the young Laird of Col is insensible of praise, readers yet unborn will feel their piety warmed by the ruins of Iona, and their sensibility touched by the untimely fate of the amiable Maclean."-ED.] the M'Kinnons, escaping from some powerful enemy, hid themselves in this cave till they could get over to the isle of Sky. It concealed themselves and their birlings, or boats, and they show M'Kinnon's harbour, M'Kinnon's dining-table, and other localities. M'Kinnon's candlestick was a fine piece of spar, destroyed by some traveller in the frantic rage for appropriation, with which tourists are sometimes animated.-WALTER SCOTT.] We saw the island of Staffa, at no very great distance, but could not land upon it, the surge was so high on its rocky coast. Sir Allan, anxious for the honour of Mull, was still talking of its woods, and pointing them out to Dr. Johnson, as appearing at a distance on the skirts of that island, as we sailed along. JOHNSON. "Sir, I saw at Tobermorie what they called a wood, which I unluckily took for heath. If you show me what I shall take for furze, it will be something." In the afternoon we went ashore on the coast of Mull, and partook of a cold repast, which we carried with us. We hoped to have procured some rum or brandy for our boatmen and servants, from a public-house near where we landed; but unfortunately a funeral a few days before had exhausted all their store. Mr. Campbell, however, one of the Duke of Argyle's tacksmen, who lived in the neighbourhood, on receiving a message from Sir Allan, sent us a liberal supply. We continued to coast along Mull, and passed by Nuns' Island, which, it is said, belonged to the nuns of Icolmkill, and from which, we were told, the stone for the buildings there was taken. As we sailed along by moonlight, in a sea somewhat rough, and often between black and gloomy rocks, Dr. Johnson said, "If this be not roving among the Hebrides, nothing is." The repetition of words which he had so often previously used made a strong impression on my imagination; and, by a natural course of thinking, led me to consider how our present adventures would appear to me at a future period. I have often experienced, that scenes through which a man has passed improve by lying in the memory: they grow mellow. Acti labores sunt jucundi. This may be owing to comparing them with present listless ease. Even harsh scenes acquire a softness by length of time; and some are like very loud sounds, which do not please, or at least do not please so much, till you are removed to a certain distance. They may be compared to strong coarse pictures, which will not bear to be viewed near. Even pleasing scenes improve by time, and seem more exquisite in recollection, than when they were present; if they have not faded to dimness in the memory. Perhaps, there is so much evil in every human enjoyment, when present, 1 I have lately observed that this thought has been elegantly expressed by Cowley: "Things which offend when present, and affright, In memory, well painted, move delight."-BOSWELL. [It is odd that Mr. Boswell, who had lately made so apt a quotation from the Æneid, should have forgotten the "Forsan et hæc olim meminisse juvabit."-ED.] so much dross mixed with it, that it requires to be refined by time; and yet I do not see why time should not melt away the good and the evil in equal proportions;why the shade should decay, and the light remain in preservation. After a tedious sail, which, by our following various turnings of the coast of Mull, was extended to about forty miles, it gave us no small pleasure to perceive a light in the village at Icolmkill, in which almost all the inhabitants of the island live, close to where the ancient building stood. As we approached the shore, the tower of the cathedral, just discernible in the air, was a picturesque object. When we had landed upon the sacred place, which, as long as I can remember, I had thought on with veneration, Dr. Johnson and I cordially embraced. We had long talked of visiting Icolmkill; and, from the lateness of the season, were at times very doubtful whether we should be able to effect our purpose. To have seen it, even alone, would have given me great satisfaction; but the venerable scene was rendered much more pleasing by the company of my great and pious friend, who was no less affected by it than I was; and who has described the impressions it should make on the mind, with such strength of thought, and energy of language, that I shall quote his words, as conveying my own sensations much more forcibly than I am capable of doing: "We were now treading that illustrious island, which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge, and the blessings of religion. To abstract the mind from all local emotion would be impossible if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me, and from my friends, be such frigid philosophy as may conduct us indifferent and unmoved over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. That man is little to be envied, whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona 2 ! "` Upon hearing that Sir Allan M'Lean was 2 Had our Tour produced nothing else but this sublime passage, the world must have acknowledged that it was not made in vain. The present respectable President of the Royal Society [Sir Joseph Banks] was so much struck on reading it, that he clasped his hands together, and remained for some time in an attitude of silent admiration. -BOSWELL. arrived, the inhabitants, who still consider | appearance as the royal grave-stones, if themselves as the people of M'Lean, to they were royal; we doubted. whom the island formerly belonged, though the Duke of Argyle has at present possession of it, ran eagerly to him. We were accommodated this night in a large barn, the island affording no lodging that we should have liked so well. Some good hay was strewed at one end of it, to form a bed for us, upon which we lay with our clothes on; and we were furnished with blankets from the village. Each of us had a portmanteau for a pillow. When I awaked in the morning, and looked round me, I could not help smiling at the idea of the chief of the M'Leans, the great English | moralist, and myself, lying thus extended in such a situation. Wednesday, 20th October.-Early in the morning, we surveyed the remains of antiquity at this place, accompanied by an illiterate fellow, as cicerone, who called himself a descendant of a cousin of Saint Columba, the founder of the religious establishment here. As I knew that many persons had already examined them, and as I saw Dr. Johnson inspecting and measuring several of the ruins of which he has since given so full an account, my mind was quiescent; and I resolved to stroll among them at my ease, to take no trouble to investigate min utely, and only receive the general impression of solemn antiquity, and the particular ideas of such objects as should of thernselves strike my attention. My easiness to give credit to what I heard in the course of our Tour was too great. Dr. Johnson's peculiar accuracy of investigation detected much traditional fiction, and many gross mistakes. It is not to be wondered at that he was provoked by people carelessly telling him, with the utmost readiness and confidence, what he found, on questioning them a little more, was erroneous. Of this there were innumerable instances 1. I left him and Sir Allan at breakfast in our barn, and stole back again to the cathedral, to indulge in solitude and devout meditation. While contemplating the venerable ruins, I reflected with much satisfaction, that the solemn scenes of piety never lose their sanctity and influence, though the cares and follies of life may prevent us from visiting them, or may even make us fancy that their effects are only "as yesterday, when it is past," and never again to be perceived. I hoped that, ever after having been in this holy place, I should maintain an exemplary conduct. One has a strange propensity to fix upon some point of time from whence a better course of life may begin. Being desirous to visit the opposite shore of the island, where Saint Columba is said to have landed, I procured a horse from one M'Ginnis, who ran along as my guide. The M'Ginnises are said to be a branch of We walked from the monastery of nuns the clan of M'Lean. Sir Allan had been to the great church or cathedral, as they told that this man had refused to send him call it, along an old broken causeway. some rum, at which the knight was in great They told us that this had been a street, indignation. "You rascal!" said he, "do n't and that there were good houses built on you know that I can hang you, if I please? each side. Dr. Johnson doubted if it was Not adverting to the chieftain's power over any thing more than a paved road for the his clan, I imagined that Sir Allan had nuns. The convent of monks, the great known of some capital crime that the felchurch, Oran's chapel, and four other chap- low had committed, which he could discovels, are still to be discerned. But I must er, and so get him condemned; and said, own that Icolmkill did not answer my ex- "How so?"—"Why," said Sir Allan," are pectations; for they were high, from what they not all my people?" Sensible of my I had read of it, and still more from what I inadvertency, and most willing to contribute had heard and thought of it, from my ear-what I could towards the continuation of liest years. Dr. Johnson said it came up feudal authority, " Very true," said I. Sir to his expectations, because he had taken Allan went on: "Refuse to send rum to his impression from an account of it sub-me, you rascal! Do n't you know that if I joined to Sacheverel's History of the Isle of order you to go and cut a man's throat, you Man, where it is said, there is not much to are to do it?"-"Yes, an 't please your be seen here. We were both disappointed | honour! and my own too, and hang myself when we were shown what are called the too." The poor fellow denied that he had monuments of the kings of Scotland, Ire- refused to send the rum. His making land, and Denmark, and of a king of these professions was not merely a pretence France. There are only some grave-stones in presence of his chief; for after he and I flat on the earth, and we could see no in- were out of Sir Allan's hearing, he told me, scriptions. How far short was this of mar-" Had he sent his dog for the rum, I would ble monuments, like those in Westminster- have given it: I would cut my bones for Abbey, which I had imagined here! The him." It was very remarkable to find such grave-stones of Sir Allan M'Lean's family, and of that of M'Quarrie, had as good an 1 [See post, 7th Feb. 1775.-ED.] an attachment to a chief, though he had then no connexion with the island, and had not been there for fourteen years. Sir Allan, by way of upbraiding the fellow, said, "I believe you are a Campbell." The place which I went to see is about two miles from the village. They call it Portawherry, from the wherry in which Columba came; though, when they show the length of his vessel, as marked on the beach by two heaps of stones, they say, "Here is the length of the Currach," using the Erse word. Icolmkill is a fertile island. The inhabitants export some cattle and grain; and I was told they import nothing but iron and salt. They are industrious, and make their own woollen and linen cloth; and they brew a good deal of beer, which we did not find in any of the other islands. We set sail again about mid-day, and in the evening landed on Mull, near the house of the Reverend Mr. Neal Macleod, who having been informed of our coming, by a message from Sir Allan, came out to meet us. We were this night very agreeably entertained at his house. Dr. Johnson observed to me that he was the cleanest-headed man that he had met with in the Western Islands. He seemed to be well acquainted with Dr. Johnson's writings, and courteously said, "I have been often obliged to you, though I never had the pleasure of seeing you before." He told us he had lived for some time in St. Kilda, under the tuition of the minister or catechist there, and had there first read Horace and Virgil. The scenes which they describe must have been a strong contrast to the dreary waste around him. Thursday, 21st October.—This morning the subject of politicks was introduced. JOHNSON. "Pulteney was as paltry a fellow as could be. He was a whig who pretended to be honest; and you know it is ridiculous for a whig to pretend to be honest. He cannot hold it out 2." He called Mr. Pitt a meteor; Sir Robert Walpole a fixed star. He said, "It is wonderful to think that all the force of government was required to prevent Wilkes from being chosen the chief magistrate of London, though the livery-men knew he would rob their shops, knew he would debauch their daugh ters 3." BOSWELL. "The History of England is so strange that, if it were not so well vouched as it is, it would hardly be credible." JOHNSON. "Sir, if it were told as shortly, and with as little preparation for introdncing the different events, as the History of the Jewish Kings, it would be equally liable to objections of improbability." Mr. Macleod was much pleased with the justice and novelty of the thought. Dr. Johnson illustrated what he had said as follows: "Take, as an instance, Charles the First's concessions to his parliament, which were greater and greater, in proportion as the parliament grew more insolent, and less deserving of trust. Had these concessions been related nakedly, without any detail of the circumstances which generally led to them, they would not have been believed." Sir Allan M'Lean bragged, that Scotland had the advantage of England, by its having more water. JOHNSON. "Sir, we would not have your water, to take the vile bogs which produce it. You have too much! A man who is drowned has more water than either of us; "-and then he laughed. (But this was surely robust sophistry: for the people of taste in England, who have seen Scotland, own that its variety of rivers and lakes makes it naturally more beautiful than England, in that respect.) Pursuing his victory over Sir Allan, he proceeded: "Your country consists of two things, stone and water. There is, indeed, a little earth above the stone in some places, but a very little; and the stone is always appearing. It is like a man in rags-the naked skin is still peeping out." He took leave of Mr. Macleod, saying, "Sir, I thank you for your entertainment, and your conversation." shops, if he durst; they knew he would debauch their daughters, if he could;" which, according to the French phrase, may be said rencherir on Dr. Johnson; but on looking into my Journal, I found it as above, and would by no means make any addition. Mr. Wilkes received both readings with a good humour that I cannot enough admire. Indeed both he and I (as, with respect to myself, the reader has more than once had occasion to fond of a bon mot, not to relish it, though we observe in the course of this Journal) are too should be ourselves the object of it. Let me add, in justice to the gentleman here mentioned, that, at a subsequent period, he was elected chief magistrate of London, and discharged the duties of that high office with great honour to himself, and ad [Quere clearest? but it is cleanest in all the editions. Dr. Johnson, if he said cleanest meant freest from prejudice; but it has an odd sound in juxtaposition with the head of a Highlander.vantage to the city. Some years before Dr. ED.] 2 [See ante, p. 299.-ED.] 3 [I think it incumbent on me to make some observation on this strong satirical sally on my classical companion, Mr. Wilkes. Reporting it lately from memory, in his presence, I expressed it thus: "They knew he would rob their Johnson died, I was fortunate enough to bring him and Mr. Wilkes together; the consequence of which was, that they were ever afterwards on easy and not unfriendly terms. The particulars I shall have great pleasure in relating hereafter.-BOSWELL. [Post, 15th May, 1776, 8th May, 1781, and 21st May, 1788.-ED.] |