Books: The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.

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Saturday, 9th October

As, in our present confinement, any thing that had even the name of
curious was an object of attention, I proposed that Col should show me
the great stone, mentioned in a former page, as having been thrown by
a giant to the top of a mountain. Dr Johnson, who did not like to be
left alone, said he would accompany us as far as riding was
practicable. We ascended a part of the hill on horseback, and Col and
I scrambled up the rest. A servant held our horses, and Dr Johnson
placed himself on the ground, with his back against a large fragment
of rock. The wind being high, he let down the cocks of his hat, and
tied it with his handkerchief under his chin. While we were employed
in examining the stone, which did not repay our trouble in getting to
it, he amused himself with reading Gataker On Lots and on the
Christian Watch, a very learned book, of the last age, which had been
found in the garret of Col's house, and which he said was a treasure
here. When we descried him from above, he had a most eremitical
appearance; and on our return told us, he had been so much engaged by
Gataker, that he had never missed us. His avidity for variety of
books, while we were in Col, was frequently expressed; and he often
complained that so few were within his reach. Upon which I observed to
him, that it was strange he should complain of want of books, when he
could at any time make such good ones.

We next proceeded to the lead mine. In our way we came to a strand of
some extent, where we were glad to take a gallop, in which my learned
friend joined with great alacrity. Dr Johnson, mounted on a large bay
mare without shoes, and followed by a foal, which had some difficulty
in keeping up with him, was a singular spectacle.

After examining the mine, we returned through a very uncouth district,
full of sand hills; down which, though apparent precipices, our horses
carried us with safety, the sand always gently sliding away from their
feet. Vestiges of houses were pointed out to us, which Col, and two
others who had joined us, asserted had been overwhelmed with sand
blown over them. But, on going close to one of them, Dr Johnson shewed
the absurdity of the notion, by remarking, that 'it was evidently only
a house abandoned, the stones of which had been taken away for other
purposes; for the large stones, which form the lower part of the
walls, were still standing higher than the sand. If THEY were not
blown over, it was clear nothing higher than they could be blown
over.' This was quite convincing to me; but it made not the least
impression on Col and the others, who were not to be argued out of a
Highland tradition.

We did not sit down to dinner till between six and seven. We lived
plentifully here, and had a true welcome. In such a season, good
firing was of no small importance. The peats were excellent, and
burned cheerfully. Those at Dunvegan, which were damp, Dr Johnson
called 'a sullen fuel'. Here a Scottish phrase was singularly applied
to him. One of the company having remarked that he had gone out on a
stormy evening, and brought in a supply of peats from the stack, old
Mr M'Sweyn said, 'that was MAIN HONEST!'

Blenheim being occasionally mentioned, he told me he had never seen
it: he had not gone formerly; and he would not go now, just as a
common spectator, for his money: he would not put it in the power of
some man about the Duke of Marlborough to say, 'Johnson was here; I
knew him, but I took no notice of him.' He said, he should be very
glad to see it, if properly invited, which in all probability would
never be the case, as it was not worth his while to seek for it. I
observed, that he might be easily introduced there by a common friend
of ours, nearly related to the duke. He answered, with an uncommon
attention to delicacy of feeling, 'I doubt whether our friend be on
such a footing with the duke as to carry any body there; and I would
not give him the uneasiness of seeing that I knew he was not, or even
of being himself reminded of it.'

Sunday, 10th October

There was this day the most terrible storm of wind and rain that I
ever remember. It made such an awful impression on us all, as to
produce, for some time, a kind of dismal quietness in the house. The
day was passed without much conversation: only, upon my observing that
there must be something bad in a man's mind, who does not like to give
leases to his tenants, but wishes to keep them in a perpetual wretched
dependence on his will, Dr Johnson said, 'You are right: it is a man's
duty to extend comfort and security among as many people as he can. He
should not wish to have his tenants mere Ephemerae--mere beings of an
hour.' BOSWELL. 'But, sir, if they have leases, is there not some
danger that they may grow insolent? I remember you yourself once told
me, an English tenant was so independent, that,--if provoked, he would
throw his rent at his landlord.' JOHNSON. 'Depend upon it, sir, it is
the landlord's own fault, if it is thrown at him. A man may always
keep his tenants in dependence enough, though they have leases. He
must be a good tenant indeed, who will not fall behind in his rent, if
his landlord will let him; and if he does fall behind, his landlord
has him at his mercy. Indeed, the poor man is always much at the mercy
of the rich; no matter whether landlord or tenant. If the tenant lets
his landlord have a little rent before-hand, or has lent him money,
then the landlord is in his power. There cannot be a greater man than
a tenant who has lent money to his landlord; for he has under
subjection the very man to whom he should be subjected.'

Monday, 11th October

We had some days ago engaged the Campbell-town vessel to carry us to
Mull, from the harbour where she lay. The morning was fine, and the
wind fair and moderate; so we hoped at length to get away.

Mrs M'Sweyn, who officiated as our landlady here, had never been on
the main land. On hearing this, Dr Johnson said to me, before her,
'That is rather being behind-hand with life. I would at least go and
see Glenelg.' BOSWELL. 'You yourself, sir, have never seen, till now,
any thing but your native island.' JOHNSON. 'But, sir, by seeing
London, I have seen as much of life as the world can shew.' BOSWELL.
'You have not seen Pekin.' JOHNSON. 'What is Pekin? Ten thousand
Londoners would DRIVE all the people of Pekin: they would drive them
like deer.'

We set out about eleven for the harbour; but, before we reached it, so
violent a storm came on, that we were obliged again to take shelter in
the house of Captain M'Lean, where we dined, and passed the night.

Tuesday, 12th October

After breakfast, we made a second attempt to get to the harbour; but
another storm soon convinced us that it would be in vain. Captain
M'Lean's house being in some confusion, on account of Mrs M'Lean being
expected to lie-in, we resolved to go to Mr M'Sweyn's, where we
arrived very wet, fatigued, and hungry. In this situation, we were
somewhat disconcerted by being told that we should have no dinner till
late in the evening; but should have tea in the mean time. Dr Johnson
opposed this arrangement; but they persisted, and he took the tea very
readily. He said to me afterwards, 'You must consider, sir, a dinner
here is a matter of great consequence. It is a thing to be first
planned, and then executed. I suppose the mutton was brought some
miles off, from some place where they knew there was a sheep killed.'

Talking of the good people with whom we were, he said, 'Life has not
got at all forward by a generation in M'Sweyn's family; for the son is
exactly formed upon the father. What the father says, the son says;
and what the father looks, the son looks.'

There being little conversation to-night, I must endeavour to
recollect what I may have omitted on former occasions. When I boasted,
at Rasay, of my independency of spirit, and that I could not be
bribed, he said, 'Yes, you may be bribed by flattery.' At the Reverend
Mr M'Lean's, Dr Johnson asked him, if the people of Col had any
superstitions. He said, 'No.' The cutting peats at the increase of the
moon was mentioned as one; but he would not allow it, saying, it was
not a superstition, but a whim. Dr Johnson would not admit the
distinction. There were many superstitions, he maintained, not
connected with religion; and this was one of them. On Monday we had a
dispute at the Captain's, whether sand-hills could be fixed down by
art. Dr Johnson said, 'How THE DEVIL can you do it?' but instantly
corrected himself, 'How can you do it?' I never before heard him use a
phrase of that nature.

He has particularities which it is impossible to explain. He never
wears a night-cap, as I have already mentioned; but he puts a
handkerchief on his head in the night. The day that we left Talisker,
he bade us ride on. He then turned the head of his horse back towards
Talisker, stopped for some time; then wheeled round to the same
direction with ours, and then came briskly after us. He sets open a
window in the coldest day or night, and stands before it. It may do
with his constitution; but most people, amongst whom I am one, would
say, with the frogs in the fable, 'This may be sport to you; but it is
death to us.' It is in vain to try to find a meaning in every one of
his particularities, which, I suppose, are mere habits, contracted by
chance; of which every man has some that are more or less remarkable.
His speaking to himself, or rather repeating, is a common habit with
studious men accustomed to deep thinking; and, in consequence of their
being thus rapt, they will even laugh by themselves, if the subject
which they are musing on is a merry one. Dr Johnson is often uttering
pious ejaculations, when he appears to be talking to himself; for
sometimes his voice grows stronger, and parts of the Lord's Prayer are
heard. I have sat beside him with more than ordinary reverence on such
occasions. [Footnote: It is remarkable, that Dr Johnson should have
read this account of some of his own peculiar habits, without saying
any thing on the subject which I hoped he would have done.]

In our tour, I observed that he was disgusted whenever he met with
coarse manners. He said to me, 'I know not how it is, but I cannot
bear low life: and I find others, who have as good a right as I to be
fastidious, bear it better, by having mixed more with different sorts
of men. You would think that I have mixed pretty well too.'

He read this day a good deal of my Journal, written in a small book
with which he had supplied me, and was pleased, for he said, 'I wish
thy books were twice as big.' He helped me to fill up blanks which I
had left in first writing it, when I was not quite sure of what he had
said, and he corrected any mistakes that I had made. 'They call me a
scholar,' said he, 'and yet how very little literature is there in my
conversation.' BOSWELL. 'That, sir, must be according to your company.
You would not give literature to those who cannot taste it. Stay till
we meet Lord Elibank.'

We had at last a good dinner, or rather supper, and were very well
satisfied with our entertainment.

Wednesday, 13th October

Col called me up, with intelligence that it was a good day for a
passage to Mull; and just as we rose, a sailor from the vessel arrived
for us. We got all ready with dispatch. Dr Johnson was displeased at
my bustling, and walking quickly up and down. He said, 'It does not
hasten us a bit. It is getting on horseback in a ship. All boys do it;
and you are longer a boy than others.' He himself has no alertness, or
whatever it may be called; so he may dislike it, as Oderunt hilarem
tristes.

Before we reached the harbour, the wind grew high again. However, the
small boat was waiting, and took us on board. We remained for some
time in uncertainty what to do: at last it was determined, that, as a
good part of the day was over, and it was dangerous to be at sea at
night, in such a vessel, and such weather, we should not sail till the
morning tide, when the wind would probably be more gentle. We resolved
not to go ashore again, but lie here in readiness. Dr Johnson and I
had each a bed in the cabbin. Col sat at the fire in the forecastle,
with the captain, and Joseph, and the rest. I eat some dry oatmeal, of
which I found a barrel in the cabbin. I had not done this since I was
a boy. Dr Johnson owned that he too was fond of it when a boy; a
circumstance which I was highly pleased to hear from him, as it gave
me an opportunity of observing that, notwithstanding his joke on the
article of oats, he was himself a proof that this kind of food was not
peculiar to the people of Scotland.

Thursday, 14th October

When Dr Johnson awaked this morning, he called, 'Lanky!' having, I
suppose, been thinking of Langton; but corrected himself instantly,
and cried, 'Bozzy!' He has a way of contracting the names of his
friends. Goldsmith feels himself so important now, as to be displeased
at it. I remember one day, when Tom Davies was telling that Dr Johnson
said, 'We are all in labour for a name to Goldy's play,' Goldsmith
cried, 'I have often desired him not to call me Goldy.'

Between six and seven we hauled our anchor, and set sail with a fair
breeze; and, after a pleasant voyage, we got safely and agreeably into
the harbour of Tobermorie, before the wind rose, which it always has
done, for some days, about noon.

Tobermorie is an excellent harbour. An island lies before it, and it
is surrounded by a hilly theatre. The island is too low, otherwise
this would be quite a secure port; but, the island not being a
sufficient protection, some storms blow very hard here. Not long ago,
fifteen vessels were blown from their moorings. There are sometimes
sixty or seventy sail here: to-day there were twelve or fourteen
vessels. To see such a fleet was the next thing to seeing a town. The
vessels were from different places; Clyde, Campbelltown, Newcastle,
etc. One was returning to Lancaster from Hamburgh. After having been
shut up so long in Col, the sight of such an assemblage of moving
habitations, containing such a variety of people, engaged in different
pursuits, gave me much gaiety of spirit. When we had landed, Dr
Johnson said, 'Boswell is now all alive. He is like Antaeus; he gets
new vigour whenever he touches the ground.' I went to the top of a
hill fronting the harbour, from whence I had a good view of it. We had
here a tolerable inn. Dr Johnson had owned to me this morning, that he
was out of humour. Indeed, he shewed it a good deal in the ship; for
when I was expressing my joy on the prospect of our landing in Mull,
he said, he had no joy, when he recollected that it would be five days
before he should get to the main land. I was afraid he would now take
a sudden resolution to give up seeing Icolmkill. A dish of tea, and
some good bread and butter, did him service, and his bad humour went
off. I told him, that I was diverted to hear all the people whom we
had visited in our tour, say, 'Honest man! he's pleased with every
thing; he's always content!' 'Little do they know,' said I. He
laughed, and said, 'You rogue!'

We sent to hire horses to carry us across the island of Mull to the
shore opposite to Inchkenneth, the residence of Sir Allan M'Lean,
uncle to young Col, and chief of the M'Leans, to whose house we
intended to go the next day. Our friend Col went to visit his aunt,
the wife of Dr Alexander M'Lean, a physician, who lives about a mile
from Tobermorie.

Dr Johnson and I sat by ourselves at the inn, and talked a good deal.
I told him, that I had found, in Leandro Alberti's Description of
Italy, much of what Addison has given us in his Remarks. He said, "The
collection of passages from the Classicks has been made by another
Italian: it is, however, impossible to detect a man as a plagiary in
such a case, because all who set about making such a collection must
find the same passages; but, if you find the same applications in
another book, then Addison's learning in his Remarks tumbles down. It
is a tedious book; and, if it were not attached to Addison's previous
reputation, one would not think much of it. Had he written nothing
else, his name would not have lived. Addison does not seem to have
gone deep in Italian literature: he shews nothing of it in his
subsequent writings. He shews a great deal of French learning. There
is, perhaps, more knowledge circulated in the French language than in
any other. There is more original knowledge in English.' 'But the
French,' said I, 'have the art of accommodating literature.' JOHNSON.
'Yes, sir; we have no such book as Moreri's Dictionary.'" BOSWELL.
"Their Ana are good.' JOHNSON. 'A few of them are good; but we have
one book of that kind better than any of them; Selden's Table-talk. As
to original literature, the French have a couple of tragick poets who
go round the world, Racine and Corneille, and one comick poet,
Moliere.'--BOSWELL. 'They have Fenelon.' JOHNSON. 'Why, sir,
Telemachus is pretty well.' BOSWELL. 'And Voltaire, sir.' JOHNSON. 'He
has not stood his trial yet And what makes Voltaire chiefly circulate
is collection; such as his Universal History.' BOSWELL. 'What do you
say to the Bishop of Meaux?' JOHNSON. 'Sir, nobody reads him.'
[Footnote: I take leave to enter my strongest protest against this
judgement Bossuet I hold to be one of the first luminaries of religion
and literature. If there are who do not read him, it is full time they
should begin.] He would not allow Massillon and Bourdaloue to go round
the world. In general, however, he gave the French much praise for
their industry.

He asked me whether he had mentioned, in any of the papers of the
Rambler, the description in Virgil of the entrance into Hell, with an
application to the press; 'for,' said he, 'I do not much remember
them'. I told him, 'No.' Upon which he repeated it:

Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus orci,
Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;
Pallentesque habitant Morbi, tristisque Senectus,
Et Metus, et malesuada Fames, et turpis Egestas,
Terribiles visu formae; Lethumque, Laborque.
[Footnote: Just in the gate, and in the jaws of hell,
Revengeful cares, and sullen sorrows dwell;
And pale diseases, and repining age;
Want, fear, and famine's unresisted rage;
Here toils and death, and death's half-brother, sleep,
Forms terrible to view, their sentry keep. DRYDEN.]

'Now,' said he, 'almost all these apply exactly to an authour; all
these are the concomitants of a printing-house.' I proposed to him to
dictate an essay on it, and offered to write it. He said, he would not
do it then, but perhaps would write one at some future period.

The Sunday evening that we sat by ourselves at Aberdeen, I asked him
several particulars of his early years, which he readily told me; and
I wrote them down before him. This day I proceeded in my inquiries,
also writing them in his presence. I have them on detached sheets. I
shall collect authentick materials for The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.
D.; and, if I survive him, I shall be one who will most faithfully do
honour to his memory. I have now a vast treasure of his conversation,
at different times, since the year 1762, when I first obtained his
acquaintance; and, by assiduous inquiry, I can make up for not knowing
him sooner. [Footnote: It is no small satisfaction to me to reflect,
that Dr Johnson read this, and, after being apprised of my intention,
communicated to me, at subsequent periods, many particulars of his
life, which probably could not otherwise have been preserved.]

A Newcastle ship-master, who happened to be in the house, intruded
himself upon us. He was much in liquor, and talked nonsense about his
being a man for 'Wilkes and Liberty', and against the ministry. Dr
Johnson was angry, that 'a fellow should come into OUR company, who
was fit for NO company'. He left us soon.

Col returned from his aunt, and told us, she insisted that we should
come to her house that night. He introduced to us Mr Campbell, the
Duke of Argyle's factor in Tyr-yi. He was a genteel, agreeable man. He
was going to Inveraray, and promised to put letters into the
post-office for us. I now found that Dr Johnson's desire to get on the
main land, arose from his anxiety to have an opportunity of conveying
letters to his friends.

After dinner, we proceeded to Dr M'Lean's, which was about a mile from
our inn. He was not at home, but we were received by his lady and
daughter, who entertained us so well, that Dr Johnson seemed quite
happy. When we had supped, he asked me to give him some paper to write
letters. I begged he would write short ones, and not EXPATIATE, as we
ought to set off early. He was irritated by this, and said, 'What must
be done, must be done: the thing is past a joke.' 'Nay, sir,' said I,
'write as much as you please; but do not blame me, if we are kept six
days before we get to the main land. You were very impatient in the
morning: but no sooner do you find yourself in good quarters, than you
forget that you are to move.' I got him paper enough, and we parted in
good humour.

Let me now recollect whatever particulars I have omitted. In the
morning I said to him, before we landed at Tobermorie, 'We shall see
Dr M'Lean, who has written the History of the M'Leans.' JOHNSON. 'I
have no great patience to stay to hear the history of the M'Leans. I
would rather hear the history of the Thrales.' When on Mull, I said,
'Well, sir, this is the fourth of the Hebrides that we have been
upon.' JOHNSON. 'Nay, we cannot boast of the number we have seen. We
thought we should see many more. We thought of sailing about easily
from island to island; and so we should, had we come at a better
season; but we, being wise men, thought it would be summer all the
year where we were. However, sir, we have seen enough to give us a
pretty good notion of the system in insular life.'

Let me not forget, that he sometimes amused himself with very slight
reading; from which, however, his conversation shewed that he
contrived to extract some benefit. At Captain M'Lean's he read a good
deal in The Charmer, a collection of songs.

Friday, 15th October

We this morning found that we could not proceed, there being a violent
storm of wind and rain, and the rivers being impassable. When I
expressed my discontent at our confinement, Dr Johnson said, 'Now that
I have had an opportunity of writing to the main land, I am in no such
haste.' I was amused with his being so easily satisfied; for the truth
was, that the gentleman who was to convey our letters, as I was now
informed, was not to set out for Inveraray for some time; so that it
was probable we should be there as soon as he: however, I did not
undeceive my friend, but suffered him to enjoy his fancy.

Dr Johnson asked, in the evening, to see Dr M'Lean's books. He took
down Willis De Anima Brutorum, and pored over it a good deal.

Miss M'Lean produced some Erse poems by John M'Lean, who was a famous
bard in Mull, and had died only a few years ago. He could neither read
nor write. She read and translated two of them; one, a kind of elegy
on Sir John M'Lean's being obliged to fly his country in 1715;
another, a dialogue between two Roman Catholick young ladies, sisters,
whether it was better to be a nun or to marry. I could not perceive
much poetical imagery in the translation. Yet all of our company who
understood Erse, seemed charmed with the original. There may, perhaps,
be some choice of expression, and some excellence of arrangement, that
cannot be shewn in translation.

After we had exhausted the Erse poems, of which Dr Johnson said
nothing, Miss M'Lean gave us several tunes on a spinnet, which, though
made so long ago, as in 1667, was still very well toned. She sung
along with it. Dr Johnson seemed pleased with the musick, though he
owns he neither likes it, nor has hardly any perception of it. At Mr
M'Pherson's, in Slate, he told us, that 'he knew a drum from a
trumpet, and a bagpipe from a guitar, which was about the extent of
his knowledge of musick'. To-night he said, that, 'if he had learnt
musick, he should have been afraid he would have done nothing else but
play. It was a method of employing the mind, without the labour of
thinking at all, and with some applause from a man's self.'

We had the musick of the bagpipe every day, at Armidale, Dunvegan, and
Col. Dr Johnson appeared fond of it, and used often to stand for some
time with his ear close to the great drone.

The penurious gentleman of our acquaintance, formerly alluded to,
afforded us a topick of conversation to-night. Dr Johnson said, I
ought to write down a collection of the instances of his narrowness,
as they almost exceeded belief. Col told us, that O'Kane, the famous
Irish harper, was once at that gentleman's house. He could not find in
his heart to give him any money, but gave him a key for a harp, which
was finely ornamented with gold and silver, and with a precious stone,
and was worth eighty or a hundred guineas. He did not know the value
of it; and when he came to know it, he would fain have had it back;
but O'Kane took care that he should not. JOHNSON. 'They exaggerate the
value; every body is so desirous that he should be fleeced. I am very
willing it should be worth eighty or a hundred guineas; but I do not
believe it.' BOSWELL. 'I do not think O'Kane was obliged to give it
back.' JOHNSON. 'No, sir. If a man with his eyes open, and without any
means used to deceive him, gives me a thing, I am not to let him have
it again when he grows wiser. I like to see how avarice defeats
itself; how, when avoiding to part with money, the miser gives
something more valuable.' Col said, the gentleman's relations were
angry at his giving away the harp-key, for it had been long in the
family. JOHNSON. 'Sir, he values a new guinea more than an old
friend.'

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