After supper, Dr. Johnson told us that Isaac Hawkins Browne drank freely for thirty years, and that he wrote his poem, "De Animi 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, SEPTEMBER 6.

We set out, accompanied by Mr. Donald Macleod (late of Canna) as our guide; we rode on for some time along the district of Slate, near the shore. The houses in general are made of turf covered with grass. The country seemed well peopled. We came into the district of Strath, and passed along a wild moorish tract of land till we arrived at the shore. There we found good verdure and some curious whin-rocks, or collections of stones, like the ruins of the foundations of old buildings we saw also three cairns of considerable size.

About a mile beyond Broadfoot [Broadford] is Corrichatachin, a farm of Sir Alexander Macdonald's, possessed by Mr. Mackinnon,1 who received us with a hearty welcome, as did his wife,

Close on old ocean's utmost bounds,
Girt with wild waves and rocky mounds,
How grateful to the wearied eye
Spreads thy green bosom, misty SKYE!

Care surely flies these soft retreats,
And Peace adorns thy gentle seats;
Nor Grief nor Anger's voice affright
The calm tranquillity of night.

And yet to climb the hilly heath,
Or seek the hollow cave beneath,
Or count the white waves as they flow,
Can bring no cure to mental woe.
All human aid is weak. The mind
Contentment cannot force or bind,
And more delusive, weak, and vain
The ancient Stoic's lofty strain !

The storms that heave the troubled breast,
GREAT KING! Thou only lull'st to rest;
And, as Thy wise decrees dispose,
The tide of passion ebbs or flows.-ED.]

1 That my readers may have my narrative in the style of the country through which I am travelling, it is proper to inform them that the chief of

who was what we call in Scotland a lady-like woman. Mr. Pennant, in the course of his tour to the Hebrides, passed two nights at this gentleman's house. On its being mentioned that a present had here been made to him of a curious specimen of Highland antiquity, Dr. Johnson said, “Sir, it is more than he deserved the dog is a Whig."

We here enjoyed the comfort of a table plentifully furnished, the satisfaction of which was heightened by a numerous and cheerful company; and we, for the first time, had a specimen of the joyous social manners of the inhabitants of the Highlands. They talked in their own ancient language with fluent vivacity, and sung many Erse songs with such spirit that, though Dr. Johnson was treated with the greatest respect and attention, there were moments in which he seemed to be forgotten. For myself, though but a Lowlander, having picked up a few words of the language, I presumed to mingle in their mirth, and joined in the choruses with as much glee as any of the company. Dr. Johnson being fatigued with his journey retired carly to his chamber, where he composed the following Ode, addressed to Mrs. Thrale :—

ODA.

Permeo terras, ubi nuda rupes
Saxeas miscet nebulis ruinas,
Torva ubi rident steriles coloni

Rura labores.

Pervagor gentes, hominum ferorum
Vita ubi nullo decorata cultu

Squallet informis, tugurique fumis

Fœda latescit.

a clan is denominated by his surname alone; as Macleod, Mackinnon, Mackintosh. To prefix Mr. to it would be a degradation from the Macleod, &c. My old friend, the laird of Macfarlane, the great antiquary, took it highly amiss when General Wade called him Mr. Macfarlane. Dr. Johnson said he could not bring himself to use this mode of address, it seemed to him to be too familiar, as it is the way in which, in all other places, intimates or inferiors are addressed. When the chiefs have titles they are denominated by them, as Sir James Grant, Sir Allan Maclean. The other Highland gentlemen, of landed property, are denominated by their estates, as Rasay, Boisdale; and the wives of all of them have the title of ladies. The tacksmen, or principal tenants, are named by their farms, as Kingsburgh, Corrichatachin; and their wives are called the mistress of Kingsburgh, the mistress of Corrichatachin. Having given this explanation, I am at liberty to use that mode of speech which generally prevails in the Highlands and the Hebrides.

Dr. Johnson was much pleased with his entertainment here. There were many good books in the house: Hector Boethius, in Latin; Cave's Lives of the Fathers; Baker's Chronicle; Jeremy Collier's Church History; Dr. Johnson's small Dictionary: Craufurd's Officers of State, and several more:-a mezzotinto of Mrs. Brooks the actress (by some strange chance in Sky), and also a print of Macdonald of Clanranald, with a Latin inscription about the cruelties after the battle of Culloden, which will never be forgotten.

It was a very wet, stormy day; we were therefore obliged to remain here, it being impossible to cross the sea to Rasay.

I employed a part of the forenoon in writing this Journal. The rest of it was somewhat dreary, from the gloominess of the weather and the uncertain state which we were in, as we could not tell but it might clear up every hour. Nothing is more painful to the mind than a state of suspense, especially when it depends upon the weather, concerning which there can be so little calculation. As Dr. Johnson said of our weariness on the Monday at Aberdeen, "Sensation is sensation;" Corrichatachin, which was last night a hospitable house, was, in my mind, changed today into a prison. After dinner I read some of Dr. Macpherson's "Dissertations on the Ancient Caledonians." I was disgusted by the unsatisfactory conjectures as to antiquity before the days of record. I was happy when tea came. Such, I take it, is the state of those who live in the country. Meals are wished for from the cravings of vacuity of mind as well as from the desire

of eating. I was hurt to find even such a temporary feebleness, and that I was so far from being that robust wise man who is sufficient for his own happiness. I felt a kind of lethargy of indolence. I did not exert myself to get Dr. Johnson to talk, that I might not have the labour of writing down his conversation. He inquired here if there were any remains of the second sight. Mr. Macpherson, minister of Slate, said he was resolved not to believe it, because it was founded on no principle.—JOHNSON: "There are many things, then, which we are sure are true that you will not believe. What principle is there why a loadstone attracts iron; why an egg produces a chicken by heat; why a tree grows upwards, when the natural tendency of all things is downwards? Sir, it depends upon the degree of evidence that you have." Young Mr. Mackinnon mentioned one Mackenzie who is still alive, who had often fainted in his presence, and when he recovered mentioned visions which had been presented to him. He told Mr. Mackinnon that at such a place he should meet a funeral, and that such and such people would be the bearers, naming four: and three weeks afterwards he saw what Mackenzie had predicted. The naming the very spot in a country where a funeral comes a long way, and the very people as bearers when there are so many out of whom a choice may be made, seems extraordinary. We should have sent for Mackenzie had we not been informed that he could speak no English. Besides, the facts were not related with sufficient accuracy.

Mrs. Mackinnon, who is a daughter of old Kingsburgh, told us that her father was one day riding in Sky, and some women, who were at work in a field on the side of the road, said to him they had heard two taiscks (that is, two voices of persons about to die), and what was remarkable, one of them was an English taisck, which they had never heard before. When he returned, he at that very place met two funerals, and one of them was that of a woman who had come from the main land, and could speak only English. This, she remarked, made a great impression upon her father.

How all the people here were lodged I know not. It was partly done by separating man and wife, and putting a number of men in one room, and of women in another.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8.

When I waked the rain was much heavier than yesterday; but the wind had abated. By breakfast the day was better, and in a little while it was calm and clear. I felt my spirits much elated; the propriety of the expression, "the sunshine of the breast," now struck me with peculiar force, for the brilliant rays penetrated into my very soul. We were all in better humour than before. Mrs. Mackinnon, with unaffected hospitality and politeness, expressed her happiness in having such company in her house, and appeared to understand and relish Dr. Johnson's conversation, as indeed all the company seemed to do. When I knew she was old Kingsburgh's daughter, I did not wonder at the good appearance which she made.

She talked as if her husband and family would emigrate rather than be oppressed by their landlord; and said, "How agreeable it would be if these gentlemen should come in upon us when we are in America!" Somebody observed that Sir Alexander Macdonald was always frightened at sea.-JOHNSON : "He is frightened at sea, and his tenants are frightened when he comes on land."

We resolved to set out directly after breakfast. We had about two miles to ride to the sea-side, and there we expected to get one of the boats belonging to the fleet of bounty herring-busses then on the coast, or at least a good country fishing-boat. But while we were preparing to set out, there arrived a man with the following card from the Rev. Mr. Donald Macqueen :

"Mr. Macqueen's compliments to Mr. Boswell, and begs leave to acquaint him that, fearing the want of a proper boat, as much as the rain of yesterday, might have caused a stop, he is now at Skianwden with Macgillichallum's1 carriage, to convey him and Dr. Johnson to Rasay where they will meet with a most hearty welcome, and where Macleod, being on a visit, now attends their motions.

"Wednesday afternoon."

1 The Highland expression for Laird of Rasay.