Johnson said, "He is a noble animal.

He is as complete an islander

as the mind can figure. He is a farmer, a sailor, a hunter, a fisher: he will run you down a dog. If any man has a tail, it is Col. He is hospitable; and he has intrepidity of talk, whether he understands the subject or not. I regret that he is not more intellectual."

Dr. Johnson observed, that there was nothing of which he would not undertake to persuade a Frenchman in a foreign country. "I'll carry a Frenchman to St. Paul's Churchyard, and I'll tell him, By our law you may walk half round the church; but, if you walk round the whole, you will be punished capitally;' and he will believe me at once. Now, no Englishman would readily swallow such a thing: he would go and inquire of somebody else."-The Frenchman's credulity, I observed, must be owing to his being accustomed to implicit submission ; 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.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19.

After breakfast, we took leave of the young ladies, and of our excellent companion Col, 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; 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."

Sir Allan, who obligingly undertook to accompany us to Icolmkill, had a strong, good boat, with four stout rowers. We coasted along Mull till we reached Gribon, where is what is called Mackinnon's

* September 25, 1774, Archibald Murdoch, Esq., younger, of Gartincaber, Mr. Maclean, of Coll, Mr. Fisher from England, and Mr. Malcolm Macdonald, drover in Mull, with five attendants, unfortunately drowned in crossing a ferry in the Isle of Mull. Mr. Murdoch had gone to Mull on a visit to Mr. Maclaine, of Lochbuy, and having dined in a friend's house, the melancholy accident happened on their return. The barge overset within a gunshot of the lands of Ulva and Mull. Mr. Maclaine of Lochbuy, and three young men in the barge, having got hold of the mast, continued dashing in the waves for three quarters of an hour, and were saved by the ferry-boat of Ulva, which reached them just as they were ready to sink. ("Scots' Magazine.") In 1797 Dr. E. D. Clarke, when in the Highlands, experienced great kindness from the brother of the lamented Coll The hospitality of the family was proverbial.-ED.

cave, compared with which that at Ulinish is inconsiderable. It is in a rock of great height, close to the sea. Upon the left of its entrance there is a cascade, almost perpendicular from the top to the bottom of the rock. There is a tradition that it was conducted thither artificially, to supply the 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 religion, are yet often so ready to believe 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 candle-light, 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 far, 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.

*

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."

*The author of the statistical account of the parish supposes that the cave was formed by the wasting of a trap vein. The breadth at the entrance is about forty-five feet, and the roof, rising almost in a regular arch, is so high and lofty that the torches and lights used are insufficient to show it distinctly; and from its general depth or length it is not very possible to form a notion of its dimensions from any point of view Passing inwards from the sea to a great depth on the right-hand side, is a narrow pas sage about six feet wide, obstructed by large stones, over which, having passed, there is a second cave of about twenty-five feet in breadth; and here is a square stone called Fingal's Table. Onwards still the cave leads, until tokens of a feculent or corrupted atmosphere, beginning to affect the lights, warn the traveller as to the propriety of returning. The cave derives its name from a tradition that a gentleman of the name of Mackinnon was lost in seeking to explore the cave.-ED.

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 are 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-so much dross mixed up 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 of 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 cathe dral, 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 emotions 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 !"t

*I have lately observed that this thought has been elegantly expressed by Cowley, [Ode upon his Majesty's restoration]:

"Things which offend when present, and affright,

In memory, well painted, move delight."-BOSWELL.

+ Had our Tour produced nothing else but this sublime passage, the world must

Upon hearing that Sir Allan Maclean was arrived, the inhabitants, who still consider themselves as the people of Maclean, to 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 Macleans, the great English moralist, and myself, lying thus extended in such a situation.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20.

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 St. 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 minutely, and only receive the general impression of solemn antiquity, and the particular ideas of such objects as should of themselves strike my attention.

We walked from the monastery of nuns to the great church or cathedral, as they call it, along an old broken causeway. They told us, that this had been a street, and that there were good houses built on each side. Dr. Johnson doubted if it was anything more than a paved road for the nuns. The convent of monks, the great church, Oran's chapel, and four other chapels, are still to be discerned. But I must own that Icolmkill did not answer my expectations; for they were high, from what I had read of it, and still more from what I had heard and thought of it, from my earliest years. Dr. Johnson said, it came up to his expectations, because he had taken his impression from an account of it, subjoined to Sacheverel's "History of the Isle of Man," where it is said, there is not much to be seen here. We were both disappointed when we were shown what are called the monuments of the kings of Scotland, Ireland, and Denmark, and of a king of France. There are only some grave-stones flat on the earth,

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.