those who have had their epitaphs written before they died, ordered the following inscription, composed by the minister of the parish, to be cut upon a broad stone above one of the lower windows, where it still remains to celebrate what was not done, and to serve as a memento of the uncertainty of life, and the presumption of man: "Joannes Macleod, Beganoduni Dominus, gentis suæ Philarchus ' Durinesiæ, Haraiæ, Vaternesiæ, &c. Baro: D. Flora Macdonald matrimoniali vinculo conjugatus, turrem hanc Beganodunensem, proavorum habitaculum longe vetustissimum, diu penitus labefectatam, Anno æræ vulgaris MDCLXXXVI instauravit. "Quem stabilire juvat proavorum tecta vetusta, Inque casas humiles tecta superba nefas." Macleod and Talisker accompanied us. We passed by the parish church of Durinish. The churchyard is not enclosed, but a pretty murmuring brook runs along one side of it. In it is a pyramid erected to the memory of Thomas Lord Lovat, by his son Lord Simon, who suffered on Tower Hill. It is of freestone, and, I suppose, about thirty feet high. 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 of Lord Thomas his father, a peer of Scotland, and chief of the great and ancient clan of the Frasers. Being attacked for his birthright by the family of Atholl, then in power and favour with King William, yet, by the valour and fidelity of his clan, and the assistance of the Campbells, the old friends and allies of his family, he defended his birthright with such greatness and fermety of soul, and such valour and activity, that he was an honour to his name, and a good pattern to all brave chiefs of clans. He died in the month of 1 This should have been Phylarchus. Macleod's titles run in English, "Lord of Dunvegan, Chief of his Clan, Baron of Durinish, Harris, Vaternisch," &c.-Croker. May, 1699, in the sixty-third year of his age, in Dunvegan, the house of the Laird of Macleod, whose sister he had married: by whom he had the above Simon Lord Fraser, and several other children. And, for the great love he bore to the family of Macleod, he desired to be buried near his wife's relations, in the place where two of her uncles lay. And his son Lord Simon, to show to posterity his great affection for his mother's kindred, the brave Macleods, chooses rather to leave his father's bones with them, than carry them to his own burialplace, near Lovat.” I have preserved this inscription, though of no great value, thinking it characteristical of a man who has made some noise in the world. Dr. Johnson said, it was poor stuff, such as Lord Lovat's butler might have written. I observed, in this churchyard, a parcel of people assembled at a funeral, before the grave was dug. The coffin, with the corpse in it, was placed on the ground, while people alternately assisted in making a grave. One man, at a little distance, was busy cutting a long turf for it, with the crooked spade which is used in Sky; a very awkward instrument. The iron part of it is like a plough-coulter. It has a rude tree for a handle, in which a wooden pin is placed for the foot to press upon. A traveller might, without further inquiry, have set this down as the mode of burying in Sky. I was told, however, that the usual way is to have a grave previously dug. I observed to-day, that the common way of carrying home their grain here is in loads on horseback. They have also a few sleds, or cars, as we call them in Ayrshire, clumsily made, and rarely used. We got to Ulinish about six o'clock, and fouud a very good farm-house, of two stories. Mr. Macleod of Ulinish, the sheriff-substitute of the island, was a plain honest gentleman, a good deal like an English justice of peace; not much given to talk, but sufficiently sagacious, and somewhat droll. His daughter, though she was never out of Sky, was a very wellbred woman. Our reverend friend, Mr. Donald M'Queen, kept his appointment, and met us here. Talking of Phipps's voyage to the North Pole, Dr. Johnson observed, that it was "conjectured that our former navigators have kept too near land, and so have found the sea frozen far north, because the land hinders the free motion of the tide ; but, in the wide ocean, where the waves tumble at their full convenience, it is imagined that the frost does not take effect." 1 Wednesday, Sept. 22.—In the morning I walked out, and saw a ship, the Margaret of Clyde, pass by with a number of emigrants on board. It was a melancholy sight. After breakfast, we went to see what was called a subterraneous house, about a mile off. It was upon the side of a rising ground. It was discovered by a fox's having taken up his abode in it, and in chasing him they dug into it. It was very narrow and low, and seemed about forty feet in length. Near it, we found the foundations of several small huts, built of stone. Mr. M'Queen, who is always for making everything as ancient as possible, boasted that it was the dwelling of some of the first inhabitants of the island, and observed, what a curiosity it was to find here a specimen of the houses of the aborigines, which he believed could be found nowhere else; and it was plain that they lived without fire. Dr. Johnson remarked, that they who made this were not in the rudest state; for that it was more difficult to make it than to build a house; therefore certainly those who made it were in possession of houses, and had this only as a hiding-place. It appeared to me, that the vestiges of houses just by it confirmed Dr. Johnson's opinion. From an old tower, near this place, is an extensive view of Loch-Braccadale, and, at a distance, of the isles of Barra and South Uist; and, on the land-side, the Cuillin, a prodigious 1 Navigation in coast waters, the importance of which was first discovered by Parry, is now regarded as the incontrovertible canon of ice navigation. See Payer's New Lands Within the Arctic Circle, vol. i., p. 21 Macmillan, 1876.— Editor. 2 These picturesque mountains of Sky take their name from the ancient hero Cuchullin. The name is pronounced Quillen. I wonder that Boswell nowhere mentions Macleod's Maidens-two or three immense stacks of rock, like the Needles at the Isle of Wight; and Macleod's Dining range of mountains, capped with rocky pinnacles in a strange variety of shapes. They resemble the mountains near Corté, in Corsica, of which there is a very good print. They make part of a great range for deer, which, though entirely devoid of trees, is in these countries called a forest. In the afternoon, Ulinish carried us in his boat to an island possessed by him, where we saw an immense cave, much more deserving the title of antrum immane than that of the Sibyl described by Virgil, which I likewise have visited. It is one hundred and eighty feet long, about thirty feet broad, and at least thirty feet high. This cave, we were told, had a remarkable echo; but we found none. They said it was owing to the great rains having made it damp. Such are the excuses by which the exaggeration of Highland narratives is palliated. There is a plentiful garden at Ulinish (a great rarity in Sky), and several trees; and near the house is a hill, which has an Erse name, signifying "the hill of strife," where, Mr. M'Queen informed us, justice was of old administered. It is like the mons placiti of Scone, or those hills which are called laws, such as Kelly law, North-Berwick law, and several others. It is singular that this spot should happen now to be the sheriff's residence. We had a very cheerful evening, and Dr. Johnson talked a good deal on the subject of literature. Speaking of the noble family of Boyle, he said, that all the Lord Orrerys, till the present, had been writers. The first wrote several plays; the second' was Bentley's antagonist; the third wrote the life of Swift, and several other things; his son Hamilton wrote some papers in the Adventurer and World. He told us he was well acquainted with Swift's Lord Orrery. He said he Tables-hills which derive their name from their elevated, steep sides, and flat tops.-Walter Scott. 1 1 Dr. Johnson is not quite accurate in his enumeration. The first Lord Orrery wrote, as he says, several plays. Horace Walpole called him "a man who never made a bad figure but as an author." Roger, the second, and Lionel, the third, Earls, are not known as authors. Charles, the fourth, was the antagonist of Bentley, and wrote a comedy; John, the fifth Earl, was the biographer of Swift and friend of Johnson.-Croker. was a feeble-minded man: that, on the publication of Dr. Delany's Remarks on his book, he was so much alarmed that he was afraid to read them. Dr. Johnson comforted him, by telling him they were both in the right; that Delany had seen most of the good side of Swift,-Lord Orrery most of the bad. Macleod asked, if it was not wrong in 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 done historically." He added, "If Lord Orrery had been rich, he would have been a very liberal patron. His conversation was like his writings, neat and elegant, but without strength. He grasped at more than his abilities could reach; tried to pass for a better talker, a better writer, and a better thinker than he was. There was a quarrel between him and his father, in which his father was to blame; because it arose from his son's not allowing his wife to keep company with his father's mistress. The old lord showed his resentment in his will,' leaving his library from his son, and assigning, as his reason, 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, and 1 The young lord was married on the 8th of May, 1728, and the father's will is dated the 6th of Nov. following. Having," says the testator, never observed that my son hath showed much taste or inclination, either for the entertainment or knowledge which study and learning afford, I give and bequeath all my books and mathematical instruments (except my Journals of the House of Lords, and except those books and instruments which, at the time of my death, shall be in and belonging to my houses at Marston and Britwell) to Christchurch College, in Oxford, &c. my said son, within two years next after my decease, taking thereout, and which I do hereby give him for his sole use and benefit, such books relating to the English constitution and parliamentary affairs, as he shall think fit to make choice of." The quarrel, however, was probably made up, as Earl John is represented as being excessively grieved by the death of his father, and he himself, in an affectionate copy of verses on that loss, says, "I weep a father, but I've lost a friend." And Theobald published a poetical epistle of condolence to the young lord on that same occasion, in terms which would have been too glaringly ridiculous if he had been on notorious bad terms with his father.--Croker. |