and we could see no inscriptions. How far short was this of marble monuments, like those in Westminster Abbey, which I had imagined here! The grave-stones of Sir Allan Maclean's family, and of that of Macquarrie, had as good an appearance as the royal grave-stones; if they were royal, we doubted.

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.

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.

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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 the clan of Maclean. Sir Allan had been told that this man had refused to send him some rum, at which the knight was in great indignation. "You rascal! (said he) don't you know that I can hang you, if I please?"-Not adverting to the Chieftain's power over his clan, I imagined that Sir Allan had known of some capital crime that the fellow had committed, which he could discover, and so get him condemned; and said, "How so?"-" Why, (said Sir Allan) are they not all my people ?"-Sensible of my inadvertency, and most willing to contribute what I could towards the continuation of feudal authority: "Very true," said 1.-Sir Allan went on : "Refuse to send rum to me, you rascal! Don't you know, that if I order you to go and cut a man's throat, you are to do it?"-" Yes, an't please your honour! and my own too, and hang myself too."-The poor fellow denied that he had refused to send the rum. His making these professions was not merely a pretence in presence of his Chief; for after he and I were out of Sir Allan's hearing, he told me, "Had he sent his dog for the rum, I would have given it; I would cut my bones for him "-It was very remarkable to find such an attachment to a Chief,

though he had then no connection 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 landing on Mull, near the house of the Reverend Mr. Neil 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

*This spot has always borne the name of "Port a' Curragh;" 1. e., the Bay of the Wicker Boat. Boswell had mistaken the Celtic pronunciation. The length of Columba's curragh must have been sixty feet, if the artificial mound represent truly its dimensions. The Island of Iona is now too well known to require description. Like ancient Rome, "it is visited by every caste; for moralists, antiquaries, painters, architects, devotees, all meet here to examine, to draw, to measure, and to pray." (Forsyth's "Italy.") Johnson did much for its celebrity, and the steamboats that ply weekly from Oban afford ready facilities to tourists; still the sacred island does not flourish. A miserable population crowd its shores, destitute of land or money; and the condition of the "crofter," or small tenant, of ten or fifteen pounds, has been reduced by the decline in the value of cattle and the failure of the potato. The export of produce has diminished materially since 1846, notwithstanding that the crofts are generally larger and the soil better in Iona than in the neighbouring islands. When Sacheverel visited Iona in 1688, he found the number of families to be about 30; the entire population is now about 400, but it is gradually lessening by emigration.-ED.

+ A singular use of the adjective cleanest; clearest would seem to be the word, but it is the same in all the editions; and it is consistent with Johnson's own definition of clean, in one sense, as elegant, not unwieldy; not encumbered with anything useless, or disproportioned." The minister did not live to read the unusual compliment; he died April 28, 1780. Johnson notices this gentleman in his "Journey," but by mistake calls him Maclean-"A minister who lives upon the coast, whose elegance of conversation and strength of judgment would make him conspicuous in places of greater celebrity." A daughter of this gentleman's-Miss Mary Macleod, residing at Tobermory-is, perhaps, the only person now alive (1852) who remembers having seen Dr. Johnson in the Hebrides. She was then but a child; but she has a distinct recol lection of Johnson's appearance. Alexander, one of Mr. Macleod's sons, deserves notice. He emigrated to the United States in 1792, and became a minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. He distinguished himself by his opposition to slavery, and during the first year of his ministry, the presbytery, through his influence, a resolution, that no slave-holder should be retained in their communion. P

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, OCTOBER 21.

This morning the subject of politics 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."-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 liverymen knew he would rob their shops-knew he would debauch their daughters."*

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 introducing 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 conces

author of several valuable theological works, and died at New York in 1833. His son the Rev. Dr. John Neil Macleod (grandson of Johnson's entertainer), now worthily fills his father's place in the Reformed Presbyterian Church at New York.-ED.

* 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 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 observe in the course of this "Journal") are too fond of a bon mot not to relish it though we should be ourselves the object of it. Let me add, in justice to the gentle. man 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 advantage to the city. Some years before Dr. Johnson died, I was fortunate enough tc 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 at large in my "Life of Dr. Johnson."-Boswell.

sions been related nakedly, without any detail of the circumstances which generally led to them, they would not have been believed.”

Sir Allan Maclean 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, “Sır, I thank you for your entertainment, and your conversation.”

Mr. Campbell, who had been so polite yesterday, came this morning on purpose to breakfast with us, and very obligingly furnished us with horses to proceed on our journey to Mr. Maclaine's of Lochbuy, where we were to pass the night. We dined at the house of Dr. Alexander Maclean, another physician in Mull, who was so much struck with the uncommon conversation of Dr. Johnson, that he observed to me, "This man is just a hogshead of sense."

Dr. Johnson said of the "Turkish Spy," which lay in the room, that it told nothing but what every body might have known at that time; and that what was good in it, did not pay you for the trouble of reading to find it.

After a very tedious ride, through what appeared to me the most gloomy and desolate country I had ever beheld, we arrived, between seven and eight o'clock, at Moy, the seat of the Laird of Lochbuy.— Buy, in Erse, signifies yellow, and I at first imagined that the loch or branch of the sea here, was thus denominated, in the same manner as the Red Sea; but I afterwards learned that it derived its name from a hill above it, which being of a yellowish hue, has the epithet of Buy.

We had heard much of Lochbuy's being a great, roaring braggadocio, a kind of Sir John Falstaff, both in size and manners; but we found that they had swelled him up to a fictitious size, and clothed him with imaginary qualities. Col's idea of him was equally extravagant, though very different: he told us he was quite a Don Quixote; and said, he would give a great deal to see him and Dr. Johnson together. The truth is, that Lochbuy proved to be only a bluff, comely noisy, old gentleman, proud of his hereditary consequence,

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and a very hearty and hospitable landlord. Lady Lochbuy was sister to Sir Allan Maclean, but much older. He said to me, They are quite antediluvians." Being told that Dr. Johnson did not hear well, Lochbuy bawled out to him, "Are you of the Johnstons of Glencro, or of Ardnamurchan?"-Dr. Johnson gave him a significant look, but made no answer; and I told Lochbuy that he was not Johnston, but Johnson, and that he was an Englishman.*

Lochbuy some years ago tried to prove himself a weak man, liable to imposition, or, as we term it in Scotland, a facile man, in order to set aside a lease which he had granted; but failed in the attempt. On my mentioning this circumstance to Dr. Johnson, he seemed much surprised that such a suit was admitted by the Scottish law, and observed, that "In England no man is allowed to stultify himself.Ӡ

Sir Allan, Lochbuy, and I, had the conversation chiefly to ourselves to-night. Dr. Johnson, being extremely weary, went to bed soon after supper.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22.

Before Dr. Johnson came to breakfast, Lady Lochbuy said, "He was a dungeon of wit;" a very common phrase in Scotland to express a profoundness of intellect, though he afterwards told me, that he never had heard it. She proposed that he should have some cold sheeps'-head for breakfast. Sir Allan seemed displeased at his sister's vulgarity, and wondered how such a thought should come into her head. From a mischievous love of sport, I took the lady's part; and very gravely said, "I think it is but fair to give him an offer of it. If he does not choose it, he may let it alone."—"I think so,” said the lady, looking at her brother with an air of victory. Sir Allan, finding the matter desperate, strutted about the room, and took snuff. When Dr. Johnson came in, she called to him, "Do you choose any cold sheep's-head, sir?"—" No, MADAM," said he, with a tone of surprise and anger."—" It is here, sir," said she, supposing he had refused it to save the trouble of bringing it in. Thus they went on at cross

* Dr. Clarke heard this related differently on the island. The old laird, on being informed that his visitor was neither of the Johnsons of Glencoe, nor of the Johnsons of Ardnamurchan, bluntly said to him, "Then you must be a bastard!" The name of Johnson or John's son, in Gaelic, is Mac Ian. The Mac Ians of Glencoe, and those of Ardnamurchan, were well known branches of the Clan Colla or Macdonald; and as Dr. Johnson belonged to neither of these septs, Lochbuy concluded that he was illegitimate. Boswell had not understood the question, and confounded Glencoe, famous for its rugged scenery and the massacre of the Mac Ians in 1692, with Glencroe, also a magnificent valley, in Argyleshire, through which the travellers passed on their return. Old Lochbuy, after escaping the accident which proved fatal to young Coll, died April 4th, 1778.-ED.

This maxim, however, has been controverted. See "Blackstone's Commen taries," Vol. II., p. 291; and the authorities there quoted.-BOSWELL.