dinner, Sir Allan said he had got Dr. Campbell about a hundred subscribers to his "Britannica Elucidata," (a work since published under the title of "A Political Survey of Great Britain,") of whom he believed twenty were dead, the publication having been so long delayed.JOHNSON : "Sir, I imagine the delay of publication is owing to this, that, after publication, there will be no more subscribers, and few will send the additional guinea to get their books: in which they will be wrong; for there will be a great deal of instruction in the work. I think highly of Campbell. In the first place, he has very good parts. In the second place, he has very extensive reading; not, perhaps, what is properly called learning, but history, politics, and, in short, that popular knowledge which makes a man very useful. In the third place, he has learned much by what is called the vox viva. He talks with a great many people." Speaking of this gentleman, at Rasay, he told us that he one day called on him, and they talked of "Tull's Husbandry." Dr. Campbell said something. Dr. Johnson began to dispute it. "Come," said Dr. Campbell," we do not want to get the better of one another: we want to increase each other's ideas." Dr. Johnson took it in good part, and the conversation then went on coolly and instructively. His candour in relating this anecdote does him much credit, and his conduct on that occasion proves how easily he could be persuaded to talk from a better motive than " for victory." Dr. Johnson here showed so much of the spirit of a Highlander, that he won Sir Allan's heart: indeed, he has shown it during the whole of our tour. One night, in Col, he strutted about the room with a broad-sword and target, and made a formidable appearance; and, another night, I took the liberty to put a large blue bonnet on his head. His age, his size, and his bushy grey wig, with this covering on it, presented the image of a venerable Senachi; and, however unfavourable to the Lowland Scots, he seemed much pleased to assume the appearance of an ancient Caledonian. We only regretted that he could not be prevailed with to partake of the social glass. One of his arguments against drinking appears to me not convincing. He urged, that "in proportion as drinking makes a man different from what he is before he has drunk, it is bad; because it has so far affected his reason." But may it not be answered, that a man may be altered by it for the better; that his spirits may be exhilarated without his reason being affected? On the general subject of drinking, however, I do not mean positively to take the other side. I am dubius non improbus. In the evening, Sir Allan informed us that it was the custom of his house to have prayers every Sunday; and Miss Maclean read the R evening service, in which we all joined. I then read Ogden's second and ninth Sermons on Prayer, which, with their other distinguished excellence, have the merit of being short. Dr. Johnson said, that it was the most agreeable Sunday he had ever passed; and it made such an impression on his mind, that he afterwards wrote the following Latin verses upon Inchkenneth: INSULA SANCTI KENNETHI. Parva quidem regio, sed religione priorum Mollia non deerant vacuæ solatia vitæ, Spes hominum ac curas cum procul esse jubet, Quid quod sacrifici versavit femina libros, Quo vagor ulterius ? quod ubique requiritur hic est; * Johnson made various alterations on these verses, as may be seen from the copy printed in his Works, Oxford edit., Vol. I. The poem was thus translated by the late Sir Daniel K. Sandford, Professor of Greek in the University of Glasgow "Scarce spied amidst the West-sea foam, Yet once Religion's chosen home, By Kenneth's voice was won to grace. In lonely cottage great Maclean Held his high ancestral reign, With daughters fair, whom Love might deem The Naiads of the Ocean-stream; Yet not in chilly cavern rude Were they, like Danube's lawless brood, But all that charms a polished age, The tuneful lyre, the learned page, MONDAY, OCTOBER 18. We agreed to pass this day with Sir Allan, and he engaged to have everything in order for our voyage to-morrow. Being now soon to be separated from our amiable friend, young Col, his merits were all remembered. At Ulva he had appeared in a new character, having given us a good prescription for a cold. On my mentioning him with warmth, Dr. Johnson said, "Col does everything for us: we will erect a statue to Col."-"Yes," said I, "and we will have him with his various attributes and characters, like Mercury, or any other of the heathen gods. We will have him as a pilot; we will have him as a fisherman, as a hunter, as a husbandman, as a physician." I this morning took a spade, and dug a little grave in the floor of Did Worship here forget to dwell. Sir Allan Maclean had unfortunately but little of the ancient possessions of the chiefs of Maclean. Coll, Lochbuy, and Ardgour had long passed to younger branches of the house, and most of the remainder had been forfeited in 1715 and 1745, and came into the hands of the Argyle family. "The ashes of Sir Allan," says the "Statistical Account," "rest near the spot where he related to Dr. Johnson his American campaign; but the estate has long since gone from the family. It is now the property of Colonel Robert Macdonald, who has built a mansion-house on the island, and, like Sir Allan, resides there in agreeable retirement, after having fought and bled in the cause of his country." Sir Allan's two daughters both married Macleans; the eldest, a neighbouring proprietor, Maclean of Lochaline The huts in which the military baronet received Johnson and Boswell were afterwards abandoned and left to ruin; the walls remain, and assist the imagination in recalling the scene of sequestered beauty and piety so exquisitely drawn by Johnson. Sir Allan Maclean died at Inchkenneth, December 10th, 1783. "The family of Maclean of Duart," says Mr. Gregory, in his work on the Western Highlands, "in the reign of James VI. was the most powerful in the Hebrides, but had, before the end of the seventeenth century, lost nearly all its possessions, and was almost deprived of influence. The seeds of the decay of this important family were sown in the reign of Queen Mary, when the great feud between the Macleans and Macdonald first broke out. In the reigns of James VI. and Charles 1., many debts had accumulated against the barony of Duart, which enabled the Marquis of Argyle and his successors to establish a claim to that estate; and this claim the Macleans, owing to their exertions in favour of the Stuarts, never had an opportunity of shaking off. Sir Lauchlan Maclean of Morven, immediate younger brother of Hector Maclean, of Duart, and grandson of Lauchlan Mor, was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia by Charles I. On the death of his clder brother, Sir Lauchlan succeeded to the estate of Duart, and on the failure of the male issue of Sir Lauchlan, some generations later, the baronetcy devolved (in 1750) on Allan Maclean, of Brolos (Johnson's entertainer), descended from Donald, a younger brother of the first Baronet of Duart. Sir Allan's heir male, who now bears the title, is Lieutenant-General Sir Fitzroy Maclean of Morarven, eighth baronet.-ED. a ruined chapel, near Sir Allan Maclean's house, in which I buried some human bones I found there.* Dr. Johnson praised me for what I had done, though he owned he could not have done it. He showed in the chapel at Rasay his horror at dead men's bones. He showed it again at Col's house. In the charter-room there was a remarkably large shin-bone, which was said to have been a bone of John Garve, one of the lairds.† 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 us."-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.-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 Laplander.-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 origi 66 * Johnson, always interested in the ruins of religious houses, describes this chapel ninutely, and in a letter to Mrs. Thrale gives a characteristic anecdote of his fellow traveller. He says-" Boswell, who is very pious, went into it at night to perform his devotions, but came back in haste, for fear of spectres.'-ED. ↑ John Garve was the first laird of Coll, and founder of the Coll branch of the Macleans. He held the principal part of the estate by a charter granted by James II. of Scotland.-ED. A very pertinent question, and one which Johnson answered but lamely. Dr. Solander was born at Norland, in Sweden. His labours as a botanist, and his voyage with Cook in company with Sir Joseph Banks, have justly rendered him eminent. He died in London, May 13, 1782.-ED. nally 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 to land in the night, and carry off everything 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. Dr. Johnson looked steadily at them for a little while; and then, as one would separate two little boys, who were 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. 1 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 cn obligation, it might be dangerous; for I have been told, that in Otaheite, 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." 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. "When we inquired into the truth of this story, he answered, 'The dogs have been somewhat magnified, I believe. They were, as I remember, two stout young pointers, but the story has gained but little. '—Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes. Johnson would have thought it had gained a good deal if related of any other party.-ED |
