We reached the shore of Armidale before one o'clock. Sir Alexander Macdonald came down to receive us. He and his lady (formerly Miss Boswell,' of Yorkshire), were then in a house built by a tenant at this place, which is in the district of Slate, the family mansion here having been burned in Sir Donald Macdonald's time. The most ancient seat of the chief of the Macdonalds in the Isle of Sky was at Duntulm, where there are the remains of a stately castle. The principal residence of the family is now at Mugstot, at which there is a considerable building. Sir Alexander and Lady Macdonald had come to Armidale in their way to Edinburgh, where it was necessary for them to be soon after this time. Armidale is situated on a pretty bay of the narrow sea, which flows between the main land of Scotland and the Isle of Sky. In front there is a grand prospect of the rude mountains of Moidart and Knoidart. Behind are hills gently rising and covered with a finer verdure than I expected to see in this climate, and the scene is enlivened by a number of little clear brooks.2 Sir Alexander Macdonald having been an Eton scholar, and being a gentleman of talents, Dr. Johnson had been very well pleased with him in London. But my fellow-traveller and I were now full of the old Highland spirit, and were dissatisfied at hearing of rents racked and a chief not surrounded by his clan. Dr. John 1 The Yorkshire branch of the family have generally spelt the name Bosville. Their estates are now possessed by Lord Macdonald. * Instead of finding the head of the Macdonalds surrounded with his clan, and a festive entertainment, we had a small company, and cannot boast of our cheer. The particulars are 'minuted in my "Journal," but I shall not trouble the public with them. I shall mention but one characteristic circumstance. My shrewd and hearty friend, Sir Thomas (Wentworth) Blacket, Lady Macdonald's uncle, who had preceded us in a visit to this chief, upon being asked by him, if the punch-bowl, then upon the table, was not a very handsome one, replied, "Yes, if it were full."--Boswell's First Edit. Johnson, in a letter to Mrs. Thrale, says, "We had a passage of about twelve miles to the point where Sir Alexander Macdonald resided, having come from his seat, in the middle of the island, to a small house on the shore, as we believe, that he might with less reproach entertain us meanly. If he aspired to meanness, his retrograde ambition was completely gratified; but he did not succeed equally in escaping reproach. He had no cook, nor I suppose much provision; nor had the lady the common decencies of her tea-table: we picked up our sugar with our fingers. Boswell was very angry, and reproached him with his improper parsimony.”— Letters, vol. i. p. 137. And again: "I have done thinking of Sir Alexander Macdonald, whom we now call Sir Sawny; he has disgusted all mankind by injudicious parsimony, and given occasion to so many stories, that Boswell has some thoughts collecting them, an? making novel of his life." son said, "Sir, the Highland chiefs should not be allowed to go far ther south than Aberdeen. A strong-minded man, like (his brother) Sir James Macdonald, may be improved by an English education; but in general they will be tamed into insignificance."1 We found here Mr. Janes of Aberdeenshire, a naturalist. Janes said he had been at Dr. Johnson's in London, with Furguson the astronomer. JOHNSON. "It is strange that, in such distant places, I should meet with any one who knows me. I should have thought I might hide myself in Sky." Friday, Sept. 3.-This day proving wet, we should have passed our time very uncomfortably, had we not found in the house two chests of books, which we eagerly ransacked. After dinner, when I alone was left at table with the few Highland gentlemen who were of the company, having talked with very high respect, of Sir James Macdonald, they were all so much affected as to shed tears. One of them was Mr. Donald Macdonald, who had been lieutenant of grenadiers in the Highland regiment, raised by Colonel Montgomery, now Earl of Eglintoune, in the war before last; one of those regiments which the late Lord Chatham prided himself in having brought from "the mountains of the north :" by doing which he contributed to extinguish in the Highlands the remains of disaffection to the present royal family. From this gentleman's conversation I first learnt how very popular his colonel was among the Highlanders; of which I had such continued proof, during the whole course of my Tour, that on my return I could not help telling the noble Earl himself, that I did not before know how great a man he was. We were advised by some persons here to visit Rasay, in our way to Dunvegan, the seat of the Laird of Macleod. Being informed that the Rev. Mr. Donald M'Queen was the most intelligent man in Sky, and having been favored with a letter of introduction "But my fellow-traveller and I were now full of the old Highland spirit, and were dissatisfied at hearing heavy complaints of rents racked, and the people driven to emigration; and finding a chief not summoned by his clan, Dr. Johnson said, 'It grieves me to see the chief of a great clan appear to such disadvantage. This gentleman has talents, nay, some learning; but he is totally unfit for his situation. I meditated an escape from this house the very next day; but Dr. Johnson resolved that we should weather it out till Mon day."-First Edit פר to him, by the learned Sir James Foulis,' I sent it to him, by an express, and requested he would meet us at Rasay; and at the same time enclosed a letter to the Laird of Macleod, informing him that we intended in a few days to have the honour of waiting on him at Dunvegan. Dr. Johnson this day endeavoured to obtain some knowledge of the state of the country; but complained that he could get no distinct information about anything, from those with whom he conversed. Saturday, Sept. 4.-My endeavours to rouse the English-bred chieftain, in whose house we were, to the feudal and patriarchal feelings, proving ineffectual, Dr. Johnson this morning tried to bring him to our way of thinking. JOHNSON. "Were I in your place, Sir, in seven years I would make this an independent island. I would roast oxen whole, and hang out a flag as a sigual to the Macdonalds, to come and get beef and whisky." Sir Alexander was still starting difficulties. JOHNSON. "Nay, Sir; if you are born to object, I have done with you. Sir, I would have a magazine of arms." SIR ALEXANDER. JOHNSON. They would rust." there be men to keep them clean. Your ancestors did not use to let their arms rust." * Let We attempted in vain to communicate to him a portion of our enthusiasm. He bore with so polite a good-nature our warm, and what some might call Gothic, expostulations on this subject, that I should not forgive myself were I to record all that Dr. Johnson's ardour led him to say. This day was little better than a blank. Sunday, Sept. 5.-I walked to the parish church of Slate, which is a very poor one. There are no church bells in the island. I was told there were once some; what has become of them, I could not 1 Sir James Foulis, of Collinton, Bart., was a man of an ancient family, a good scholar, and a hard student; duly imbued with a large share both of Scottish shrewdness and Scottish prejudice. His property, his income at least, was very moderate. Others might have increased it in a voyage to India, which he made in the character of a commissioner; but Sir James returned as poor as he went there. Sir James Foulis was one of the few Lowland rs whom Highlanders allowed to be well skilled in the Gaelic, an acquaintance which he made late in life.-WALTER SCOTT. 2 Dr. Johnson seems to have forgotten that a Highlander going armel at this period curred the penalty of serving as a common soldier for the first, and of transportation beyond sea for a second offence. And as for "calling out his clan," twelve Highlanders and bagpipe made a rebellion.-Walter Scott. learn. The minister not being at home, there was no service. I went into the church, and saw the monument of Sir James Mac donald, which was elegantly executed at Rome, and has an inscription, written by his friend, George Lord Lyttelton.' Dr. Johnson said, the inscription should have been in Latin, as everything intended to be universal and permanent should be. This being a beautiful day, my spirits were cheered by the mere effect of climate. I had felt a return of spleen during my stay at Armidale, and had it not been that I had Dr. Johnson to contemplate, I should have sunk into dejection; but his firmness supported me. I looked at him, as a man whose head is turning giddy at sea looks at a rock, or any fixed object. I wondered at his tranquillity. He said, "Sir, when a man retires into an island, he is to turn his thoughts entirely to another world. He has done with this." BosWELL. "It appears to me, Sir, to be very difficult to unite a due attention to this world, and that which is to come; for if we engage eagerly in the affairs of life, we are apt to be totally forgetful of a future state; and, on the other hand, a steady contemplation of the awful concerns of eternity renders all objects here so insignificant, as to make us indifferent and negligent about them." JOHNSON." Sir, Dr. Cheyne has laid down a rule to himself on this subject, which should be imprinted on every mind: To neglect nothing to secure my eternal peace, more than if I had been certified I should die within the day; nor to mind anything that my secular obligations and duties demanded of me, less than if I had been insured to live fifty years more.” I must here observe, that though Dr. Johnson appeared now to be philosophically calm, yet his genius did not shine forth as in companies, where I have listened to him with admiration. The vigour of his mind was, however, sufficiently manifested, by his discovering no symptoms of feeble relaxation in the dull, unprofitable" state in which we now were placed. weary, flat, aud I am inclined to think that it was on this day he composed the following Ode upon the Isle of Sky, which a few days afterwards he showed me at Rasay :~ 1 Which, as well as two letters, written by Sir James in his last illness, to his mother, will be found in the Appendix, No. L. "ODA. "Ponti profundus clausa recessibus, "His cura, credo, sedibus exulat; "At non cavata rupe latescere, "Humana virtus non sibi sufficit, Secta crepet nimis alta fallax. "Exæstuantis pectoris impetum, Te recidunt moderante fluctus." " After supper, Dr. Johnson told us, that Isaac Hawkins Browne drank freely for thirty years, and that he wrote his poem, “De Auimi Immortalitate," in some of the last of these years." I listened to this with the eagerness of one, who conscious of being himself fond of wine, is glad to hear that a man of so much genius and good thinking as Browne had the same propensity. Monday, Sept. 6.-We set out accompanied by Mr. Donald M'Leod, late of Canna, as our guide. We rode for some time along the district of Slate, near the shore. The houses in general are Various Readings.-Line 2. In the manuscript, Dr. Johnson, instead of rupibus obsita, had written imbribus uvida, and uvida nubibus, but struck them both out. Lines 15 and 16. Instead of these two lines, he had written, but afterwards struck out, the fol Jowing: Parare posse, utcunque jactet Grandiloquus nimis alta Zeno. * Browne died in 1760, aged fifty-four. |