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Second sight.

[Sept. 7. 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 enquired here if there were any remains of the second sight'. Mr. M'Pherson, 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. M'Kinnon mentioned one M'Kenzie, 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. M'Kinnon, 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 M'Kenzie 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 extraor dinary. We should have sent for M'Kenzie, had we not been informed that he could speak no English. Besides, the facts were not related with sufficient accuracy.

Mrs. McKinnon, 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

1 Sir Walter Scott, when in Sky in 1814, wrote:-'We learn that most of the Highland superstitions, even that of the second sight, are still in force.' Lockhart's Scott, ed. 1839, iv. 305. See ante, ii. 12, 363. 2 Of him Johnson wrote:-'One of the ministers honestly told me that he came to Sky with a resolution not to believe it.' Works, ix. 106. By the term second sight seems to be meant a mode of seeing superadded to that which nature generally bestows. In the Erse it is called Taisch; which signifies likewise a spectre or a vision.' Johnson's Works, ix. 105.

them

Sept. 8.]

Mrs. M'Kinnon.

183

them was an English taisck, which they 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. M'Kinnon, 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 would it 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 to 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

Gray's Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College, 1. 44.

2 A tonnage bounty of thirty shillings a ton was at this time given to the owners of busses or decked vessels for the encouragement of

country

184

Mr. Donald M'Queen.

[Sept. 8.

country fishing-boat. But while we were preparing to set out, there arrived a man with the following card from the Reverend Mr. Donald M'Queen:

'Mr. M'Queen'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's' 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.'

This card was most agreeable; it was a prologue to that hospitable and truly polite reception which we found at Rasay. In a little while arrived Mr. Donald M'Queen himself; a decent minister, an elderly man with his own black hair, courteous, and rather slow of speech, but candid, sensible, and well informed, nay learned. Along with him came, as our pilot, a gentleman whom I had a great desire to see, Mr. Malcolm Macleod, one of the Rasay family, celebrated in the year 1745-6. He was now sixty-two years of age, hale, and well proportioned,-with a manly countenance, tanned by the weather, yet having a ruddiness in his cheeks, over a great part of which his rough beard extended. His eye was quick and lively, yet his look was not fierce, but he appeared at once firm and good-humoured. He wore a pair of brogues',-Tartan hose which came up only near to his knees, and left them bare,-a purple camblet kilt',-a black waistcoat, a short green cloth coat bound with gold cord, -a yellowish bushy wig,—a large blue bonnet with a gold

the white herring fishery. Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations, iv. 5) shews how mischievous was its effect.

The Highland expression for Laird of Rasay. BOSWELL.

2 In Sky I first observed the use of brogues, a kind of artless shoes, stitched with thongs so loosely, that, though they defend the foot from stones, they do not exclude water.' Johnson's Works, ix. 46.

3

To evade the law against the tartan dress, the Highlanders used to dye their variegated plaids and kilts into blue, green, or any single colour. WALTER SCOTT.

thread

Sept. 8.]

Rasay's 'carriage.

185

thread button. I never saw a figure that gave a more perfect representation of a Highland gentleman. I wished much to have a picture of him just as he was. I found him frank and polite, in the true sense of the word.

The good family at Corrichatachin said, they hoped to see us on our return. We rode down to the shore; but Malcolm walked with graceful agility.

We got into Rasay's carriage, which was a good strong open boat made in Norway. The wind had now risen pretty high, and was against us; but we had four stout rowers, particularly a Macleod, a robust black-haired fellow, half naked, and bareheaded, something between a wild Indian and an English tar. Dr. Johnson sat high on the stern, like a magnificent Triton. Malcolm sung an Erse song, the chorus of which was 'Hatyin foam foam eri,' with words of his own'. The tune resembled Owr the muir amang the heather. The boatmen and Mr. M'Queen chorused, and all went well. At length Malcolm himself took an oar, and rowed vigorously. We sailed along the coast of Scalpa, a rugged island, about four miles in length. Dr. Johnson proposed that he and I should buy it, and found a good school, and an episcopal church, (Malcolm' said, he would come to it,) and have a printing-press, where he would print all the Erse that could be found.

Here I was strongly struck with our long projected scheme of visiting the Hebrides being realized'. I called to him, 'We are contending with seas;' which I think were the words of one of his letters to me. Not much,' said he; and though the wind made the sea lash considerably upon

1 See post, Oct. 5.

"The Highlanders were all well inclined to the episcopalian form, proviso that the right king was prayed for. I suppose Malcolm meant to say, 'I will come to your church because you are honest folk,' viz. Jacobites. WALTER SCOTT.

'See ante, i. 521, and ii. 332.

Perhaps he was thinking of Johnson's letter of June 20, 1771 (ante, ii. 162), where he says:-'I hope the time will come when we may try our powers both with cliffs and water.'

us,

186

Johnson crossing the Atlantick.

[Sept. 8. us, he was not discomposed. After we were out of the shelter of Scalpa, and in the sound between it and Rasay, which extended about a league, the wind made the sea very rough'. I did not like it. JOHNSON. This now is the Atlantick. If I should tell at a tea table in London, that I have crossed the Atlantick in an open boat, how they'd shudder, and what a fool they'd think me to expose myself to such danger?' He then repeated Horace's ode,

In the confusion and hurry of this boisterous sail, Dr. Johnson's spurs, of which Joseph had charge, were carried over-board into the sea, and lost'. This was the first misfortune that had befallen us. Dr. Johnson was a little angry at first, observing that 'there was something wild in letting a pair of spurs be carried into the sea out of a boat;' but then he remarked, that, as Janes the naturalist had said upon losing his pocket-book, it was rather an inconvenience than a loss.' He told us, he now recollected that he dreamt the night before, that he put his staff into a river, and chanced to let it go, and it was carried down the stream and lost. 'So now you see, (said he,) that I have lost my spurs; and this story is better than many of those which we have concerning second sight and dreams.' Mr. M'Queen said he did not believe the second sight; that he never met with any well attested instances; and if he should, he should impute them to chance: because all who pretend to that quality often fail in their predictions, though they take a great scope, and sometimes interpret literally, sometimes figuratively, so

''The wind blew enough to give the boat a kind of dancing agitation.' Piozzi Letters, i. 142. The water was calm, and the rowers were vigorous; so that our passage was quick and pleasant.' Johnson's Works, ix. 54.

2

Caught in the wild Ægean seas,

The sailor bends to heaven for ease.'

FRANCIS. Horace, 2 Odes, xvi. 1.

See ante, iv. under Dec. 9, 1784, note.

as