O N
DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON'S
JOURNEY to the HEBRIDES;
IN WHICH ARE CONTAINED,
OBSERVATIONS oil the ANTIQUITIES, LAN-
GUAGE, GENIUS, and MANNERS of the
HIGHLANDERS of SCOTLAND.
y
B Y
the Rev. DONALD M'NICOL, A.M.
Minifter of LISMORE in ARGYLESHIRE.
Old Men and Yravelleri LIE by Authority. .
RAY'S Proverbs.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR T. CADELL, IN THE STRAND.
M.DCC.LXXIX.
o
TO
HUGH S E T O N, ESQ,
OF APPIN,
THE FOLLOWING SHEETS
ARE
WITH GREAT RESPECT
INSCRIBED
BY
THE AUTHOR.
ADVERTISEMENT,
THE following Sheets were writ-
ten foon after Dr. Johnfon's
*' Journey to the Hebrides" was
printed. But as the writer had never
made his appearance at the bar of the
Public, he was unwilling to enter the
lifts, with fuch a powerful antagonift,
without previoufly confulting a few
learned friends. The diftance of thofe
friends made it difficult to procure
their opinion, without fome trouble
and a great lofs of time : belides, the
Author was not fo fond of his work
as to be very anxious about its pub-
lication.
He
He is, however, fenfible, that the
publication, if it was at all to happen,
has been too long delayed. Anfwers
to eminent writers are generally in-
debted, for their fale and circulation,
to the works which they endeavour to
refute. Unfortunately, Dr. Johnfon's
v Journey" has lain dead in the libra-
ry, for fome time pail. This confider-
ation is fo difcouraging, that the
writer of the Remarks expefts little
literary reputation, and lefs profit,
from his labours. But, as he had gone
fo far, he was induced to go further
{till, were it for nothing more than
the ambition of fending his work
to Jlcep, on the fame flielf, with that;
of the learned Dr. Johnfon.
REMARKS
O N
t)r. SAMUEL jOHNSON's
TRAVELLING through the diffe-
rent kingdoms of Europe has greatly
prevailed, of late years, among men of
curiofity and tafte. Some are led abroad
by the mere love of novelty ; others have
a more folid purpofe in view, a defire of
acquiring an extenfive knowledge of man-
kind. As the obfervations of the former
are generally of a curfory nature, and fel-
B dom
dom extend beyond the circle of their pri-
vate acquaintance, it is from the latter only
that we can expert a more public and
particular information relative to foreign
parts. Some ingenious and valuable pro-
ductions of this kind have lately made their
appearance ; and when a man communi-
cates, with candour and fidelity, what he
has feen in other countries, he cannot
render a more agreeable or lifeful fervice
to his own.
By fuch faithful portraits of men and
manners, we are prefented with a view of
.the world around us, as it really is. Our
Author, like a trufty guide, conducts us
through the fcenes he defcribes, and makes
us acquainted with the inhabitants; and
thus we reap all the pleafures and advan-
tages of travel, without the inconveniencies
attending it. There is no country fo con-
temptible as not to furnifh fome things
that may pleafe, nor is any arrived to that
degree
( 3 )
degree of perfection as to afford no matter
of diflike. When, therefore, no falfe co-
louring is ufed, to diminifh what is com-
mendable, or magnify defects, we often
find reafon to give up much of our fup-
pofed fuperiority over other nations. Hence
our candour increafes with our knowledge
of mankind, and we get rid of the folly of
prejudice and felf-conceit ; which is equally
ridiculous in a people as individuals, and
equally an obftacle to improvement.
It were to be wilhed that the Treatife,
which is the fubjedt of the following fheets,
had been formed on fuch a plan as has
been now mentioned, as it would be a
much more agreeable tafk to commend
than cenfure it. But it will appear, from
the fequel, how far its author has acquitted
himfelf with that candour which could
inform the curious, or undeceive the pre-
judiced.
B 2 When
( 4 )
When it was known, about two years
ago, that Dr. Samuel Johnfon, a man of
fome reputation for letters, had undertaken
a tour through Scotland, it was naturally
enough expected, that one of his con-
templative turn would, fome time or other,
give a public account of his journey. His
early prejudices againft the country were
fufficiently known ; but every one expected
a fair, if not a flattering, reprefentation,
from the narrative of grey hairs. But
there was another circumftance which pro-
mifed a collateral fecurity for the Doctor's
fair dealing. Mr. Pennant, and other
gentlemen of abilities and integrity, had
made the fame tour before him, and,
like men of liberal fentiments, fpoke re-
fpectfully of the Scotch nation. It was
thought, therefore, that this, if nothing
elfe, would prove a check on his prepoflef-
fions, and make him extremely cautious,
were it only for his own fake, how he
contradicted fuch refpectable authorities.
Neither
( s )
Neither of thefe confiderations, how-
ever, had any weight. The Doctor hated
Scotland ; that was the mafler-pqffion> and
it fcorned all reftraints. He feems to have
fet out with a defign to give a diftorted
reprefentation of every thing he faw on the
north fide of the Tweed; and it is but
doing him juftice to acknowledge, that he
has not failed in the execution.
But confiftency has not always been
attended to in the courfe of his narration.
He differs no more from other travellers,
than he often does from himfelf, denying
at one time what he has afferted at ano-
ther, as prejudice, or a more generous
paflion, happened, by turns, to prevail ;
which, to fay no worfe, is but an aukward
fituation for a man who makes any pre-
tenfions to be believed.
At the fame time I am not fo partial to
my country, as to fay that Dr. Johnfon is
always in the wrong when he finds fault.
B 3 On
On the contrary, I am ready to allow him,
as, I believe, will every Scotchman, that the
road through the mountains, from Fort
Auguftus to Glenelg, is not quite fo fmooth
as that between London and Bath ; and
that he could not find, in the huts or cot-
tages at Anoch and Glen/heals, the fame
luxuries and accommodations as in the inns
on an Englim poft-road. In thefe, and
fuch like remarks, the Doctor's veracity
muft certainly remain unimpeached. But
the bare merit of telling truth will not
always atone for a want of candour in the
intention. In the more remote and un-
frequented parts of a country, little refine-
ment is to be expe'cled ; it is, therefore,
no lefs frivolous to examine them with too
critical an eye, than difingenuous to exhibit
them as fpecimens of the reft. This, how-
ever, has been too much the practice with
)r. Johnfon, in his account of Scotland ;
every trifling defect is eagerly brought for-
ward, while the more perfect parts of the
piece
( 7 )
piece are as carefully kept out of view. If
other travellers were to ^proceed on the
fame plan, what nation ia Europe but
might be made to appear ridiculous ?
The objects of any moment, which have
been chiefly diftinguimed by that odium
which Dr. Johnfon bears to every thing
that is Scotch, feem to be the Poems of
Oflian, the whole Gallic language, our
feminaries of learning, the Reformation,
and the veracity of all Scotch> and par-
ticularly Highland narration. The utter
extinction of the two former feerns to have
been the principal motive of his journey
to the North. To pave the way for this
favourite purpofe, and being aware that
the influence of tradition, to which all ages
and nations have ever paid fome regard in
matters of remote antiquity, muft be re-
moved, he refolves point blank to deny the
validity of all Scotch, and particularly
Highland narration. This he employs all
B 4 his
( 8 )
his art to perfuade the Public Is always
vague and fabulous, and deferves no man-
ner of credit, except when it proves unfa-
vourable to the country ; then, indeed, it is
deemed altogether infallible, and is adduced
by himfelf, upon all occafions, in proof of
what he aflerts. But this .is a mode of
reafoning with which the world has been
totally unacquainted before the Doctor's
days.
The Poems of Oflian were no fooner
made known to the Public, though flript
of their native ancient garb, than they
became the delight and admiration of the
learned over all Europe. Dr. Johnfon, per-
haps, was the only man, of any pretenfions
to be ranked in that clafs, who chofe to dif-
fent from the general voice. The moment he
heard of the publication and fame of thofe
Poems, he declared them fpurious, without
waiting for the common formality of a
perufal. His cynical difpofition inftantly
took
( 9 )
took the alarm ; and that, aided by his
prejudices, would not fuffer him to admit
that a competition of fuch acknowledged
merit could originate from a country which,
becaufe he hated, he always affected to
defpife.
But what is the confequence of this hafty
and abfurd declaration ? After all that has
been faid upon the fubject, the Poems muft
flill be confidered as the production either
of Oflian or Mr. Macpherfon. Dr. Johnfon
does not vouchfafe to tell us who elfe was
the author ; and confequently the national
claim remains perfectly entire. In labour-
ing to deny their antiquity, therefore, the
Doctor only plucks the wreath of ages
from the tomb of the ancient bard, to adorn
the brow of the modern Caledonian. For
the moment Mr. Macpherfon ceafes to be
admitted as a tranflator, he inflantly ac-
quires a title to the original. This confe-
quence is unavoidable, though it is not to
be
be fuppofed Dr. Johnfon intended it. Na-
turally pompous and vain, and ridiculoufly
ambitious of an exclufive reputation in
letters, it can hardly be believed that he
would voluntarily beftow fo envied a com-
pliment on a young candidate for fame,
who had already, in other refpecls, made a
difcovery of talents fufficient to alarm his
own pride : but we often derive from' the
folly of fome men, more than we claim from
their juftice.
From the firft appearance of Offian's
Poems in public, we may date the origin
of Dr. Johnfon's intended tour to Scot-
land ; whatever he may pretend to tell us a
in the beginning of his narration. There
are many circumftances to juftify this opi-
nion ; among which a material one is, that
a gentleman of uridobted honour and vera-
city, who happened to be at London foon
after that period, informed me upon his
return to the country, that Caledonia might,
fome
fome day, look for an unfriendly vifit from
the Doctor. So little able was he, it feems,
to conceal his ill-humour on that occafion,
that it became the fubject of common dif-
courfe; and the event has fully verified
what was predicated as the confequence.
In the year 1 773 he accomplifhed his
purpofe ; and fometime in the year follow-
ing he publifhed an account of his journey,
which plainly fhews the fpirit with which
it was undertaken. All men have their
prejudices more or lefs, nor are the beft
always without them ; but fo fturdy an in-
ftance as this is hardly to be met with. It
is without example, in any attempt of the
like kind that has gone before it ; and it is
to be hoped, for the fake of truth and the
credit of human nature, it will furnifh none
to fuch as may come after.
As, in refuting the mifreprefentations
and detecting the inconfiftencies of Dr.
Johnfon,
Johnfon, it may fometimes be found necef-
fary to draw a comparifon between the
north and the fouth fide of the Tweed, if
is proper to premife here, that this fhall
always be done, without the leaft intention
to reflect on the Englifh nation. My mind
was perfectly free from the narrownefs of
national prejudice before this occafion;
and I am not yet fufficiently provoked, by
the Doctor's injuftice to my country, to
retaliate againft his. To illuftrate the fub-
jet by fimilar inftances, is my only aim ;
as then, like objecls brought nearer to the
eye, obfervations, when applied more im-
mediately to ourfelves, will ftrike more
forcibly. This much, I hope, will fuffice
as an apology with every candid Eng-
lifhman. And as to fome people among
ourfelves, who eafily give up many points
of national honour, they are chiefly up-
ftarts in the world ; a fet of men, who,
in all countries, are apt to make light of
diftinctions
( 13 )
diftin&ions from which their own obfcurity
excludes them.
My firft intention was to write what I
had to fay on this fubject in the form of
an Effay. Upon farther confideration,
however, " the method I have now adopted
appeared the moft eligible; as, by citing
the Doctor's own words, the Public will
be the better enabled to judge what juftice
is done to his meaning. This plan, on
account of the frequent interruptions, may
not, perhaps, render the performance fo
entertaining to fome readers ; but it gives
an opportunity for a more clofe inveftiga-
tion, and to fuch as are not poffeflfed of the
Doctor's book, it will, in a great meafure,
fupply its place.
That the reader may not be difappointed,
I muft tell him before-hand, that he is not
to expect, in the following (heets, what Dr.
Johnfon calls '* ornamental fpkndors" Im-
3 partiality
( '4 )
partiality of obfervation fhall be more at-
tended to than elegance of didion ; and if
I appear fometimes fevere, the Doctor fhall
have no reafon to fay I am unjuft. He is
to be tried all along by his own evidence ;
and, therefore, he cannot complain, if,
" out of his own mouth, he is condemned/'
Dr. Johnfon informs us, that he fet out
from Edinburgh, upon his intended pere-
grination, the 1 8th of Auguft 1773. This
muft undoubtedly appear an uncommon
feafon of the year for an old frail inhabitant
of London to undertake a journey to the He-
brides, if he propofed the tour mould prove
agreeable to himfelf, or amufing to the Pub-
lic. Moft other travellers make choice of
the fummer months, when the countries
through which they pafs are feen to mod
advantage; and as the Dodor acknow-
ledges he had been hitherto but little out
of the metropolis, one fhould think he
would have wilhed to have made the moft
of
( 15 )
of his journey. But it was not beauties
the Doctor went to find out in Scotland,
but defects ; and for the northern fituation
of the Hebrides, the advanced time of the
year fuited his purpofe beft.
He pafles over the city of Edinburgh
almoft without notice; though furely its
magnificent caftle, its palace, and many
ftately buildings, both public and private,
were not unworthy of a flight touch, at
leaft, from the Doctor's pencil. Little,
therefore, is to be expected from a man
who would turn his back on the capital
with a fupercilious filence. But, indeed,
he is commonly very fparing of his re-
marks where there is any thing that merits
attention ; though we find he has always
enough to fay where none but himfelf could
find matter of obfervation.
In page 3d, his account of the ifland of
Inch Keith is trifling and contradictory.
Ke
7
He reprefents it as a barren rock where there*
formerly was a fort ; and yet he tells us
again, that it was never intended for a place
of flrength, and that a " herd of cows grazes
annually upon it in the fummer." But a
fort without Jlrength is furely fomething
new, and grazing for cattle a moft uncommon
mark of barrennefs*
Before the Doctor difmifies this wonder-
ful fpot, which he has made fomething and
nothing all in a breath, he amufes him-
felf with thinking " on the different ap-
pearance that it would have made, if it had
been placed at the fame diftance from
London ;" and then he adds, with an air
of exultation, " with what emulation of
price a few rocky acres would have been
purchafed, and with what expenfive in-
duftry they would have been cultivated and
adorned."
The cenfure implied in the above paflage
is obvious ; but, to give it effect, the Doctor
ought
( '7 ) ' '
ought firft to determine whether Inch
Keith is not dill a royal property. Should
that be found to be the cafe, no emulation
of price could purchafe it ; and confequently
the citizens of Edinburgh are not to be
blamed for not cultivating and adorning
what they cannot make their own.
But this confideration fet apart, let me
afk the Dodor, Whether the Londoners
have fhewn themfelves fo very deferving of
the ranting compliment he pays them ? If
I am not mifmformed, there are, at this
prefent moment, even in the very heart of
the cities of London and Weftminfter,
many extenfive fpots of ground, which
exhibit at once the mod miferable marks of
defolation, and proofs of neglect. Inftead
of being cultivated and adorned^ thefe are
reprefented as dangerous to the paffenger,
and loathfome to the view. What then
are we to think of this boafted emulation to
purchafe, this induftry to improve ? Is it
C very
very credible, that a people fhould go fuch
expenfive lengths for an agreeable fituation
without their walls, who permit the vileft
{inks of filth and corruption to incommode
and difgrace their ftreets ?
The Doctor fays, he difcovered no woods
in his way towards Cowpar. This may be
true, as the Doctor's optics, I am told, are
none of the beft. But furely the fine ex-
tenfive plantations of the Earl of Leven's
eftate, and not very diftant from the public
road, could not well have efcaped the no-
tice of any other paflenger. He then tells
us, that " a tree is as great a curiofity in
Scotland, as a horfe at Venice." I cannot
decide upon the merits of this aflertion, as
I am not acquainted with the numbers of
the Venetian cavalry. But, whatever the
Doctor may infmuate about the prefent
fcarcity of trees in Scotland, we are much
deceived by fame, if a very near anceftor
of his, who was a native of that country,
did
( I? )
did not find to his coft, that a tree was not
quite fuch a rarity in his days.
It is allowed, indeed, he might pafs
through fome parts of Scotland where
there are not many trees ; as, I believe, is
the cafe in England, and moft other coun-
tries. But as he is fo very careful in de-
fcribing the nakednefs of the country where
trees were not, he ought to have had the
candour likewife to inform us where they
were.
Such, however, as are defirous of fatif-
fadion on this head, may confult Mr. Pen-
nanfs Tour, and they will find a very
different account of the matter from that
given by the Doctor. That gentleman
found abundance of woods, and even frees,
in different parts of the country, if thofe of
twelve and fifteen feet in circumference
may deferve that name. But he travelled
with his judgment unbiaffedy and his eyes
G 2 open;
open ; two circumftances in which he dif-
fered very materially from Dr. Johnfon,
and which, rather fomewhat unluckily for
the latter, has occafioned fucli a frequent
difference in their accounts.
As the Do&or arrived at St. Andrews at
two in the morning, it is pleafant enough
to hear him fay, " Though we were yet in
the moft populous part of Scotland, and at
fo fmall a diftance from the capital, we met
few paflengers." Few people, I believe,
would complain of this circumftance, at the
fame hours, and at fa fmall a diftance from
the Englim capital. But it is pretty evi-
dent, that the Doctor meant nothing lefs
than a compliment to the Scots, for the
fecurity with which he performed this noc-
turnal expedition.
But the night is the natural feafon for
reft; and that being confidered, it effec-
tually takes the fling from the above filly
remark.
remark. What man in his fenfes would
expect to find crowded roads at midnight ?
Or what man of common honefty would
be bold enough to aflert, that there were
few or no trees in Fife, becaufe forfooth
they were not to be feen in the dark ?
He fays (page 7), that there is hardly
fo much of the cathedral of St. Andrews
remaining " as to exhibit, even to an artift,
a fufficient fpecimen of the architecture."
I am at a lofs to know what he means by
a fufficient fpecimen , if a great part of one
of the fide-walls, with a fpire at each end,
and the main entry entire, are not fufficient
for the purpofe he mentions : for all thefe
ftill remain in fpite of Knox's reformation,
as he farcaftically exprefles it.
In 1543* a bill was pafled in the parlia-
ment of Scotland, granting leave to the
people to read the fcriptures in the vulgar
tongues ; and this bill was notified to the
C 3 Public,
.Public, by a proclamation from the regent.
He even went fo far as to defire Sir Ralph
Sadler, the Englifh ambaflador, to fend
for Englifh bibles from London. As this
deed, therefore, had the fanclion of the
regent and parliament, let the world judge
of the candour of the man who calls it
Knox's reformation.
Page 8th.' He mentions the miferable
but juft fate of cardinal Beatoune, in fuch
a manner as might make it be thought to
have proceeded from the religious animo-
fities of thofe times ; for he fays, c< that he
was murdered by the ruffians of reforma-
tion." But it is well known to fuch as
are converfant in the hiftory of that period,
that it was not for his religion that this
peft of fociety was brought to an untimely
end. His numberlefs cruelties and op-
preffions had raifed him many enemies
among all ranks of people; and in parti-
cular there was aa old quarrel between
him
him and Norman Lejly^ fon to the Earl of
Rothes, who was the principal agent in
ridding the world of a monfter, who ought
rather to have fallen by the hand of public
juftice.
But while our Author condemns this
act with fo much malignant acrimony, he
takes care, with his ufual candour, to con-
ceal from his reader the more to be
lamented fate of the amiable Wi/Joart ; who
but a few days before, and that for con-
fcience fake alone, was condemned to the
flames, and fuffered accordingly, by one
of the many barbarous decrees of the
Doctor's favourite cardinal, though there
was an exprefs order from the regent to
the contrary. If this was not murder with
a vengeance, I fhould be glad to know its
proper name. But as it was perpetrated
under the fanction of a popifh judicatory,
the Doctor may, perhaps, foften perfecu-
tion into juftice, and roundly affirm that
C 4 the
the devoted Wifhart deferred no mercy,
for the unpardonable crime, according to
him, of being one of the ruffians of reform-
atlon. He feems, indeed, to have a good
deal of the old leaven in his compofition ;
and whatever may be his notions of civil
liberty, he fhews himfelf, upon moft occa-
fions, to be no great friend to that of con-
fcience.
Towards the bottom of the fame page,
he aflerts, that all the civilization intro-
duced into Scotland, is entirely owing to
our trade and intercourfe with England.
It is but too common with Englifh writers
to fpeak contemptuoufly, of other coun-
tries, and arrogate very largely to their
own ; and what with national vanity on
the one hand, and national prejudice on
the other, the Doctor has, in this inftance,
either fuffered himfelf to be betrayed into
a moft grofs and wilful mifreprefentation,
or he difcovers an amazing ignorance of
the
the hiftory of Europe. This miracle of
knowledge did not know, or is willing to
forget, that, long before the period he
alludes to, we had an intercourfe of many
centuries with France; a nation as polity
at leaft, as England, and, perhaps, full as
ready to do juftice to the characters of their
neighbours.
Our firft league with France was in the
reign of Charlemagne, in 792, figned by
that monarch, and afterwards by our king
Achaius, at Inverkchoy. Charles the Great
was fo fond of ennobling France, not only
by arms but by arts, that he fent for
learned men from Scotland, fays Buchanan,
to read philofophy, in Greek and Latin, at
Paris. He himfelf had for his preceptor,
Johannes Scotus, or Albinus, a man emi-
nent for learning.
Many other Scots went over about that
to inftruct the inhabitants about the
Rhine
Rhine in the doctrines of Chriftianity ;
which they did with fuch fuccefs, that the
people built monafteries in many places.
The Germans paid fuch a refpedl to their
memories, that, even in Buchanan's time,
Scotchmen were made governors of thofe
monafteries.
From the time of Achaius to the Union,
our alliance with France .continued. A
complete catalogue of all thofe treaties,
with an Englifh tranflation, was published
in 1751 ; to which I refer the Doctor, to
convince him, that we had fome importance
as a nation, before we had any connection
with his country. There he will fee the
uncommon privileges we enjoyed in
France : That we were entrufted with
the higheft offices, civil, military, and
ccclefiaftical : That we were compliment-
ed with all the rights and franchifes of
native fubje&s, which we poflefs to this
day: And that we were diftinguifhed
2 by
( 27 )
by the fingular honour of acting as. life-
guards to the French kings ; a truft, one
would think, not to be conferred on fuch
favages and barbarians as the Doctor would
make us.
Our merchants likewife enjoyed the
moft uncommon privileges and immuni-
ties in France : and many of our nobility
and gentlemen obtained extenfive eftates in
that kingdom, as rewards for their fignal
fervices to the ftate, which the pofterity of
moft of them inherit to this day.
There cannot, I think, be a more con-
vincing proof of the entire confidence
which the French repofed in the honour
and fidelity of the Scots, than their
making choice of them for guarding
the perfons of their fovereigns. After
Lewis XII. had fet forth, in terms the
moft honourable to our nation, the fervices
which
which the Scots had performed for Charles
the Seventh, in expelling the Englifh out
of France, and reducing the kingdom to
his obedience, he adds, " Since which
" reduction, and for the fervice the Scots
" rendered to Charles the Seventh, upon
" that occafion, and for the great loyalty
<f and virtue which he found in them, he
" feleded 200 of them for the guard of his
" perfon, of whom he made an hundred
<c men at arms, and an hundred life-guards :
<c And the hundred men at arms are the
" hundred lances of our ancient ordinances;
'* and the life-guard men are thofe of our
" guard, who flill are near and about our
" perfon."
With refped to the fidelity of the Scots
in this honourable ftation, let us hear the
teftimony of Claud Seyfil, Matter of
Requefts to the fame Lewis XII. and
afterwards Archbifhop of Turin, in the
hiftory of that prince ; where, fpeaking of
i Scotland,
Scotland, he fays, '* The French have fo
<{ ancient a friendfhip and alliance with
" the Scots, that, of 400 men appointed
" for the king's life-guard, there are an
" hundred of the faid nation who are the
" neareft to his perfon, and, in the night,
M keep the keys of the apartment where
" he fleeps. There are, moreover, an
" hundred complete lances, and two hun-
" dred yeomen of the faid nation, befides
" feveral that are difperfed through the
" companies : and for fo long a time as
" they have ferved in France, never hath
" there been one of them found, that hath
" committed, or done any fault, againft
" the kings or their ftate ; and they make
" ufe of them as of their own fubjects."
The ancient rights and privileges of the
Scottifh life-guards were very honourable.
Here follows a defcription of the functions
and precedence belonging to their com-
pany, and efpecially to the twenty-four
firft
( 3 )
firft guards ; to whom the firft gendarme^
of France being added, they make up the
number of twenty-five, commonly called
gardes de manche (fleeve guards) who were
all Scotch by nation. The Author of the
ancient alliance fays, " Two of them
" aflift at mafs, fermon, vefpers, and or-
" dinary meals. On high holidays, ac the
tc ceremony of the royal touch^ the erec-
tion of Knights of the King's order, the
reception of extraordinary ambafladors,
and the public entries of cities, there
" muft be fix of their number next to the
" King's perfon, three on each fide of his
<c Majefty : and the body of the king muft
" be carried by thefe only, wherefoever
" ceremony requires ; and his effigy muft
" t?e attended by them. They have the
*' keeping of the keys of the king's lodg-
" ing at night, the keeping of the choir
" of the chapel, the keeping of the boats
*' when the king pafies the rivers ; and
{ they
( 3 )
" they have the honour of bearing the
' white filk fringe in their arms, which,
" in France, is the coronal colour. The
" keys of all the cities where the king
*' makes his entry are given to their cap-
" tain, in waiting, or out of waiting. He
" has the privilege, in waiting, or out of
" waiting, at ceremonies, fuch as corona-
* { tions, marriages, and funerals of the
" kings, and at the baptifms and marriages
" of their children, to take duty upon
" him. The coronation robe belongs to
" him : and this company, by the death
" or change of a captain, never changes its
" rank, as do the three others."
It would be eafy to produce the moft
honourable teftimonies of our national
character, from the writers of all the ftates
of any note in Europe, our neareft neigh-
bours excepted. But this much may fuffice
to convince the moft partial and credulous
of
( 3* )
of Doctor Johnfon's readers, that, when
we began to have "trade and intercourfe
with England,'* our manners could not
ftand in much need of any cultivation from
that quarter. It will be allowed, I believe,
that the Englifh, like moft other nations,
are indebted for their own chief improve-
ments to the French. It would, therefore,
be ridiculous to fuppofe, that we, who had
accefs to the original fo long before them-
felves, mould have occafion, at laft, to
borrow from the copy, and thus to acquire
the little polifh he allows us, at fecond-
hand only.
Page ioth. When fpeaking of the uni-
verfity of St. Andrews, the Doctor fays,
<c That the univerfities in Scotland are
" mouldering into duft.*' This remark is
the more extraordinary, as a great part of
St. Salvator's college was built from the
foundation not above twenty years ago,
( 33 )
It cati hardly be believed, therefore, that
fuch a vifible tendency to decay could al-
ready have taken place, though, inftead
of folid ftone, the, building had been
conftru&ed of fuch brittle materials as
Englijh bricks.
He next complains, with more virulence
than juftice, of the neglected flate of the
chapel of St. Leonard's college. But as
that college has been, with great propriety,
diflblved, a ftrict attention to its chapel,
which is no longer wanted for religious
purpofes, does not appear neceflary. The
chapel of St. Salvator's, however, which,
within thefe few years, has been very
neatly repaired, and that at a considerable
cxpence, has entirely efcaped the Doctor's
notice. Not a word of this; otherwife>
as it now fupplies the place of the other,
the dilapidation would haveLeen accounted
for, and this heinous charge of facrilege
D fliewn
( 34 )
{hewn to be unjuft. To be confiftent,
therefore, it was necefTary to be filent.
And the Doctor's tender regard to deco-
rum, in this inftance, illuftrates a beautiful
obfervation of his own, in the page I have
laft quoted, when he fays, " Where there
" is yet ftiame, there may in time be vir-
tue."
The library of St. Andrews is the next
object of his remarks, which, he tells us,
" is not very fpacious. 5 ' This, however,
is a vague and indefinite way of fpeaking,
to which the Doctor is rather too frequently
addicted. General terms convey no dif-
tinct ideas ; and, if he wifhed to be under-
ftood, he fhould have given the feveral
dimenfions, that the public might judge for.
themfelves. For my own part, I am at a
lofs to know what he means by very
fyas'wus* It is not, indeed, fo fpacious as
St. Paul's ; but it is fufficiently large and
elegant,
( 35 )
elegant, as a repofitory of books, for any
literary fociety in the kingdom.
He informs us, that the gentleman by
whom it was fhewn, hoped to mortify his
Englifli vanity, by telling him, that they
had no fuch library in England. This
obfervation, I confefs, was needlefs; and,
perhaps, unjuft. But, be that as it may,
the Doctor feems determined to have his
revenge, by faying fomething to difpa-
rage it.
Nothing can be more uncandid and
erroneous, than the account he gives of
the rates at which the different claffes of
fludents may pafs their feflion, or term,
at St. Andrews. His calculation, in gene-
ral, falls fhort of the neceflary expences,
by more than one half. Formerly, per-
haps, the fums he mentions might have
been nearly fufficient ; but it is well known,
D 2 that,
( 36 )
that, of late years, the expence of an aca-
demical education in Scotland, as is pro-
bably the cafe in England too, has increafed
very confiderably.
When a man attempts to inform the
Public in any thing, he fhould take fome
care to be firfl well informed himfelf.
But our traveller, on moft occafions, feems
not to be very nice in that refpedt. Mi-
nute enquiries might either be troublefome,
or not fuit his purpofe; and, therefore,
to cut the matter fhort, and come eafily at
his point, he often makes a confident afier-
rion fland for authority.
The Doclor, at length, takes leave of
St. Andrews; though not, to do him juf-
tice, without making decent mention of
the kindnefs of the profefTors. But even
that, he fays, " did not contribute to abate
*' the uneafy remembrance of an univerfity
*' declining,
( 37 )
" declining, a college alienated, and a
" church profaned and haftening to the
" ground." From thefe circumftances he
is led into a train of reveries, which he
concludes in thefe pathetic words: " Had
" the univerfity been deftroyed two centu-
" ries ago, we fhould not have regretted
** it; but to fee it pining in decay and
" ftruggling for life, fills the mind with
" mournful images and ineffe&ual wimes."
This is certainly fine language ; and a
proof, no doubt, of fine feelings. I hear-
tily fympathize with his generous diftrefs,
efpecially as there is no remedy but Ineffec-
tual ivijhes. But I muft tell the good man,
for his comfort, that the matter is not quite
fo bad as his too lively imagination repre-
fents it; and that the mournful images
which fill his mind, are the mere vagaries
of a diftempered fancy. His readers, there-
fore, need not be too deeply imprefled
D 3 with
( 38 )
with the calamities he fpeaks of; as it is
not the firft time, I am told, that the Doc*
tor has amufed the public with a Falfe
Alarm,
But to follow our traveller a little more
clofely on this fubjet. What he calls an
unvverfay declining , muft certainly refer to
the college of St. Leonard; for I have
mentioned a little above, that the college of
St. Salvator had undergone a thorough re-
pair within thefe laft twenty years. As
this, then, is what ought, in propriety, to
be now called the univerfity, the other be-
ing diflblved ; and as he acknowledges the
the abilities of the profeflbrs ; the moft
partial, I think, muft fee the folly, as well
as the falfehood of this affertion. But had
thofe walls, which he defcribes as pining in
decay, and the other univerfities in Scot-
land, of which he gives not a much better
produced as few eminent men, as
fome
( 39 )
fome other univerfities that might be
named, the Doctor's antipathy to this
country had not, perhaps, been fo great ;
nor would he, probably, have taken the
trouble of examining our feminaries of
learning upon the fpot.
As to his alienated college, he faves me
the trouble of faying much on that head,
by confefling (page 10.) that u the diffolu-
tion of St. Leonard's college was doubtlefs
neceflary." If this be fo, why complain
of the meafure ? To be neceflary and yet a
reproach, feems rather fomewhat incom-
patible, and prefents us with a combination
of terms, for which, perhaps, we can find
no authority, unlefs in the Doctor's Dic-
tionary.
We come now, along with the Doctor,
to the melancholy talk of viewing " a
church profaned and haftening to the
D 4 ground."
( 40 )
ground." This church is no other than
the old chapel of the annexed, not the
alienated, college of St. Leonard. Its
having been formerly confecrated by the
Romifli rites, may give fome little Jillip to
the Doctor's zeal ; but in what manner it
has been profaned of late years, unlefs he
means by the Prejbyterian religion, I am
unable to conjecture. Since the diflblution
of the feminary to which it belonged, it
has ceafed to be occupied as a place of wor-
fhip. I fee no profanation, therefore, in
applying it to any other ufeful purpofe ; as
no degree of fanctity can furely remain
in the walls. The Scots, at leaft, do
not carry their veneration for fuch relics
fo far as the Doctor did in the ifland of
Jona, as we fhall fee in its proper place ;
a circumftance which is no bad index tQ
his religious
Page 1 6th. Ke represents <e the whole
country as extending in uniform naked-
6 nefs,
nefs, except that in the road between
Kirkaldy and Cowpar, he patted for a few
yards between two hedges." Here I
could venture to lay an hundred to one,
that our doughty traveller miftook two
extenfive parks for two fmall hedges ;
from whence we may form an idea of
the corrednefs of his defcription. This
notable gentleman came to Scotland with-
out eyes to fee the objeds that lay in his
way ; and therefore to follow him through
the account he gives of his journey with
too much confidence, would be literally
trufting to a blind guide.
He pafles very rapidly through the town
of Dundee, for fear, I fuppofe, of being
obliged to take notice of its increafmg
trade. Befides a variety of other extenfive
and profitable manufactures, the dying of
linen yarn is brought to a greater degree
of perfection in that place, than any where
D 5 dfe
( 42 )
elfe in Great Britain. As this is a very
curious art, and employs fome thoufands
of people, one would think it as deferv-
ing of notice, as many other things that
attracted the Doctor's attention.
To fee commerce flourifh, induftry re-
warded, and the poor have bread, are
objects which would have given pleafure to
a benevolent mind ; and they would have
been related with rapture. But England
had not yet made any great progrefs in this
branch ; and the Doctor did not choofe to
acknowledge, that his countrymen were in
any thing outdone by the Scots. I profefs,
I mean nothing local in this remark. But,
as the Doctor is fo very ready to fpeak out,
when the balance is on the other fide ; I
think it but juftice to claim that {hare of
comparative merit, which his filence has
here denied us*
His
( 43 )
His next flage was Aberbrothick, to
which he pays a very unufual compliment,
on account of its ancient and magnificent,
but now decayed monaftery ; for he tells
us, in page 2oth, " that he mould fcarcely
have regretted his journey, had it afforded
nothing more than the fight of Aberbro-
thick."
I know not with what degree of plea-
fure the Doctor furveyed the ruins of this
venerable pile ; but his abrupt defcription
of it cannot convey much to the reader,
nor induce any other ftranger to travel fo
far for the fame fight. He endeavours to
account for this deficiency, by pleading
the approach of night, which obliged them
to defift from their refearches. Had there
been no other day to fucceed that night,
this indeed might be fome excufe ; but it
affords none for not returning next morn-
ing, to have a more cosyplete view of an
( 44 )
object, which he owns had captivated his
fancy fo much.
There was no occafion, however, to call
in the afliftance of the night to conceal
from his' readers, a fcene which did fome
credit to the country. The Doctor, while
in Scotland, never faw more than he was
willing to communicate. He touches very
ilightly, or not at all, on fuch objects as
might excite the curiofity of the inquifi-
tive ; but the moft trifling handle for
obloquy is greedily laid hold of, and
tedioufly difplayed.
Page 2 1 ft. At Montrofc, he complains
much of the behaviour of the Inn-keeper.
But, happily for this nation, he found out
that his hoft was an Englishman, other-
wife " every mother's fon of us" would
have been reprobated for his fake.
Whil?
( 45 )
While at this place, he obferves, that
our beggars " folicit filently, or very mo-
deftly." Here, one would naturally expect,
he had found fomething to fpeak well of j
but not fo with the Doctor. He begins a
harangue on the merits of the begging-
trade, and concludes in favour of clamour
and perfeverance. When a man will not
allow the filent modefty of a Scotch beggar
to efcape the lam, it is enough to mew that
he is determined not to be pleafed.
I intended to have made a remark on
what I thought an impropriety in our tra-
veller's language, when he fays that " the
hedges near Montrofe are vijlone" But I
{hall leave the thorn of correction for the
abler hand of Lexiphanes ; a name which
the Doctor may long remember, for a
former complete trimming of his Vocabu-
lary.
In
(. 46 )
In his way from Montrofe, he obferves,
" that the fields are fo generally plowed,
that it is hard to imagine where grafs is
found for the horfes that till them."
Alas ! what {hall poor Scotland do to pleafe
the good Doctor ? In one place he finds too
little tillage, in another too much. Not
long ago, he told us, " that the whole
country was extended in uniform naked-
uefs ;" but here he feems to forget himfelf,
and fays, " the harveft, which was almoft
ripe appeared very plentiful/' A country
covered with a plentiful crop, cannot cer-
tainly be called naked. But let the reader
account for fuch caprices, and reconcile
flich contradictions, if he can.
He infinuates, page 24, that there are
no robbers in Scotland. But, as he feldom
beftows with the one hand, without taking
away with the other, he concludes his ob-
fervatipn by adding, " But where there
are
( 47 ) .
are fo few travellers, why fhould there be
robbers ?" If he means any thing by this,
it muft be, that the poverty with which he
every where brands the Scotch nation., makes
the poorer fort honeft. This is one good
confequence from a misfortune at leaft;
but the conclufion will by no means follow.
Riches and poverty are relative all the
world over; and confequently, where
there is but little wealth, the wants of
the moft indigent, will be as effectually
relieved by depredations on their neigh-
bours, as in more opulent countries. In
fpite of the Doctor's fophiftry, therefore,
a pretended want of inducements to rapine,
fails to account here for the want of the
practice. The fafety with which, as he
confefles, he purfued his journey, both
by night and by day, called for a more
generous interpretation. It is principle
alone, and neither the penury or paucity
of its inhabitants, that exempts the travel-
ler
( 48 )
Jer in Scotland from the terrors of the
piftol and dagger.
This communicative gentleman, among
other curious anecdotes, informs us, that
he feldom found in Scotland any method
of keeping their windows open, when there
was occafion for admitting frefli air, but
by holding them up with the hand, un-
lefs now and then among good contrivers
there be a nail which one might flick into
a hole to keep them from falling. The
misfortune is, whatever the Doclor meets
with but once, if it fuits his purpofe, he
will make univerfal. That he might meet
with fome inftances of what he mentions,
I will not difpute ; nor in remote corners,
nor even elfewhere when the pullies may
happen to be out of order, do I think it a
bad fhifc ; and if our neighbours of the
South have not a nail y or fome fuch expe-
dient, in the like circumftances, they are
not what he calls good contrivers,
For
( 4.9 )
For once, however, he feems to feel a
confcious blufh for the futility of his ceri-
fures ; and we find him have the good grace
to offer an apology for abafing himfelf fo
far, as to mention fuch trifles as nails to
fupport windows, by alleging, " that the
great outlines or charaderiftic of a nation
are to be marked out not in palaces, or
among the learned, but among the bulk
of the people." This is certainly a juft
pbfervation, in which I heartily agree with
him ; and had he begun to mark out thefe
outlines or characleriflics a little nearer
home, he might, perhaps, have found
fewer novelties on this fide of the Tweed.
Page 48. He obferves, <c A Scotch army
was very cheaply kept after the time of
the Reformation." I know not indeed,
how cheap thofe armies might have been
to their friends ; but the hiftory of England
can vouch that they often proved very dear
to their enemies. To be particular on this
E head
( 5 )
head would be invidious ; nor fhall the
Doctor's malevolence provoke me to draw
afide the veil which a happy union between
the two kingdoms has long fmce, among
men of fenfe and moderation, thrown over
paft tranfactions.
In reflecting upon the ruinous ftate of
our cathedrals, he faces about for once,
and tells the Engliih likewife, that " their
cathedrals are mouldering by unregarded
dilapidation." Here his own countrymen
exclaim againft his want of candour, and
clearly convict him of a moft audacious
mifreprefentation, by pointing out feveral
large fums which have been lately ex-
pended on the reparation of fome of their
churches.
We have reafon to complain of him in-
almft every page ; and the prefent inftance
of his infmcerity may fatisfy others that
we have not always had fair play. Intro-
ducing
I
C 51 )
ducing the Scots, he might hope, as the
fcene lies at a diftance, to exercife the
common, though not very honourable pri-
vilege of a traveller, without fear of dif-
eovery. But what fliall the world think of
a man who, regardlefs of the infamy, ven-
tures to trefpafs where detection is un-
avoidable ? A fenfe of fhame and a regard
to truth generally go together; and -when
a man has loft the one, he feldom retains
the other^
He fays, pages 50, i, that <e the firfl
orchard and plantation of oak he faw in
Scotland was at Fochabers," though it is
well known there were feveral of both
kinds in his way, had he been difpofed to
obferve them. But where the Doctor could
not get a good dinner, a circumftance
which is generally thought to have an un-
common influence on his narrations, he
feldom found any agreeable objects. At
any rate it does not feem a very judicious
E 2 fit nation
ft
C 5* )
fituation for orchards, to place them fo near
the road, that a perfon who hardly fees his
finger-length before him fhould be able to
defcry them.
At Forres, Dr. Johnfon " found nothing
worthy of particular remark." Mr. Pen-
nant^ however, was a little more fortunate
here, as well as every where elfe. " Near
Forres," fays that gentleman, " on the
road fide is a vaft column three feet ten
inches broad, and one foot three inches
thick ; the height above the ground is
twenty-three feet ; below, as is faid, twelve
or fifteen feet. On one fide are numbers
of rude figures of animals and armed men,
with colours flying : fome of the men
feemed bound like captives. On the oppo-
fite fide was a crofs included in a circle,
and raifed a little above the furface of the
fame. This is called king Sueao^s- Hone,
and feems to be, as Mr. Gordon conjec-
tures, erected by the Scots, in memory of
the
( 53 )
the final retreat of the Danes." This mo-
nument of Scotch triumph over the Danes,
who had put England under the .yoke,
Dr. Johnfon did not fee, or he did not
choofe to record an event fo much to their
honour.
Before he left Forres, he might have
found fomething worthy of remark in con-
templating the ruins of the old caftle,
which flood at the weft end of the town,
and was formerly a place of great extent
and flrength. He might likewife have
entertained himfelf agreeably by taking a
view, from the town, of the fertile plain
below, which ftretches for many miles
towards the fea, as well as to the Eaft and
\Veft ; and where he could have feen
gentlemen's feats, with hedges, trees, and
every other mark of cultivation, fcattered
before him in the rnoft delightful pro-
fufion. But the Doctor mentions none of
thofe things, as it was not his intention to
E 3 give
give his reader the leail favourable idea of
the grandeur of our anceflors, or the in-
duftry of the prefent times.
Not far from this town, in his way to
Nairn, he had an opportunity of feeing the
caftle of Tarnaivay, an ancient and noble
feat of the Earls of Murray. Here he
would have found, what he pretends fo
often to have looked for in vain, parks,
plantations, and natural woods in abun-
dance ; which, with other beauties of na-
ture and art, might fufficiently compenfate
for the trouble of a fhort peep as he went
along ; it would not have taken him much
out of his way, and he would have made
a fhift to vilit a popifo church, or even
the ruins of one, at a greater diftance.
Of Fort George^ which he owns to be
the moft regular in the iflarid, he mentions
little elfe than the good entertainment he
received at the governor's table. His pre-
tence;
f 55 )
tence for not giving a more particular
account of this important place 'is, " be-
caufe he could not delineate it fcienti-
fically," as he phrafes it. But the true
reafon was, that he did not wifti his coun-
trymen to know that there was any thing
in the North of fo fuperior a nature, and
fo well worth their feeing. Had Fort
George, inftead of what it is, been the
meaneft and moft irregular in the ifland,
the good Doctor would have found other
language to delineate it, if he could not
be fcientifically exat ; or, in other words,
where fcience failed, farcafm would have
done the reft.
Page 54. One 'can hardly forbear fmi-
ling to hear him talk of Scotland being
conquered by Cromwell. But a man muft
r
have little knowledge of facts, or ftill lefs
honefty, who can gravely advance fuch an
opinion ; as it is well known to every perfon
who is in the leaft acquainted with hiftory,
E 4 that
C 56 )
that Scotland has never been conquered.
The country has been often invaded, and
its armies have been fometimes defeated,
but it never yet has fubmitted to a foreign
yoke.
To reduce Scotland was an attempt that
defied the whole power of the Roman
empire, even at the height of its glory.
The Danes, who made fo eafy a conqueft
of ^England, acquired nothing but death
and graves in Scotland ; and the united
fraud, force, and perfeverance of Edward I.
and fome of his fuccefibrs, though always
alTifted by a powerful faction in the
country, could never fubdue the fpirit of a
people who were determined to be free,
and difdained the control of an ufurper.
But in order to clear up this matter a
little, it is neceflary to flop the Do&or for
a while, in his journey and conqueft s, and
defire him, by way of prelude, to look
<,,..- ... . - .
back,
( 57 )
back, and fee what antiquity fays on the
fubjed.
In the year 55 before Chrift, when
Julius Ctfar invaded Britain, it is known
he was repulfed with confiderable lofs.
Afterwards, in the year 165, it appears
from hiftory, that the Caledonians cut the
Romans to pieces ; while the Englifh hifto-
rians, however ready on moft occafions to
do ample juftice to their country, do not
pretend to fay, that South Britain, at that
sera, made any ftand againft that warlike
people.
Ammlanus Marcellinus owns that the
North Britons killed Follafandus, a Roman
general, and Neftariacs^ count of the ma-
ritime coaft. Thsodofiusi one of the moft
renowned generals of the times, was then
fent with a powerful army againft them,
and relieved the city of London, then
under dreadful apprehenfions from the
North Britons.
After
C 58 )
After repeated attempts of the Romans
to conquer the Caledonians, the emperor
Severus went himfelf in perfon againft
them, in the year 208, with the ftrength
of the whole empire ; and though he had
the affiftance of South Britain, and of part
of the fouth of Scotland, then Roman pro-
vinces, he was contented at laft, after a
lofs of more than feventy thoufand * men
in one campaign, to treat with them and
the Meates f, and ereft a new wall to flop
their incurfions.
Twenty years after the death of Severus,
the Caledonians were confidered as fuch
formidable enemies, that Dio tells us, in
his account of the difpofition of the Roman
legions, about the year 230, that the Ro-
jmans kept two legions on the borders
* Stillingfleet t an Englifti -writer, acknowledges on the
authority of Tacitus, that the Romans loft feventy thoufand
men in one year, fighting againft the North Britons.
f The ancient name of the people in that part of Scot-
land which lies on the fouth of the river Clyde.
againft
againft the unconquered Britons ; whereas
one legion was fufficient to keep all the?
reft of Britain in fubjection *.
This is the account which the moft
candid and unexceptionable of the Roman
hiftorians give of this matter. From hence,
therefore, it appears, that the Romans,
eyen at a time when they were matters of
the known world, and had attained to their
higheft pitch of grandeur, were fometimes
obliged to compound matters with the
Caledonians, and at laft utterly to abandon
all thoughts of conquering a people whom
they generoufly confefled to be the moft
warlike they had ever encountered.
Here, I muft own, I cannot help being
in fome pain for the poor Doctor's fitua-
tion, as he muft fatljjlrain hard to fwal-
Jow this harfh pill ; and yet, difagreeable
Lib. Iv. 564.
'
as
( 60 )
as it is, down it muft go, fmce tliis" is not
a flory founded upon Scotch narration.
But further, it will readily occur to the
intelligent iaeader, that the inroads of the
Romans, as well as thofe of Edward I.
hardly reached, and never went beyond
Dmim-alba ; fo that at the worft, fuppoling
all the tract to the fouthward to have been
completely conquered, inftead of being only
over-run fometimes, the greateft part of
the country muft ftill have retained its
liberty.
I am fenfible, that with fome a common
anfwer to all this is, " that the conqueft of
Scotland was not worth while." Should
Dotor Johnfon choofe to retreat under
the fame cover, let him inform us, if
he can, why fo fenfible a people as the
Romans fhould perfevere fo long, and
be fo very obftinate in their laft effort,
as to facrifice feventy thoufand men in
the
the purfult of fo contemptible an object ?
And why Edward J. of England, among
whofe failings folly has never been reckoned
the chief, fhould have employed almoft
his whole life, and wafted fb much blood
and treafure, on the fame unprofitable
attempt ? From hence, I think, it does not
feem very probable, that fuch an acquifi-
tion was formerly deemed a matter of fo
little confequence ; .whatever may now be
the opinion of a wifer pofterity. It muft
be conferled, however, that the anpwer is
fc/
a convenient one ; it is like cutting the
Gordian knot^ which could not be untied.
As to the conqueft fo ridiculoufly afcribed
to Cromwell, little need be faid to fuch as
are acquainted with the circumftances of
thofe times. A powerful party of the Scots
had early oppofed the impolitic meafures
of the king, and they were the firfl to
appear in the field againfl him; though
from different motives, they had embarked
in
in the fame enterprife with Cromwell, and
confequently there, could be no ground o
quarrel between them. When, therefore,
that regicide went afterwards to the North,
it was not to conquer a whole kingdom,
but only to curb a party that ftill continued
to at for the royal caufe ; and even in that
he was afiifted by many of their own coun-
trymen, who were fanguine enemies to the
Houfe of Stuart. Had he gone with more
ambitious views, and againft an united
people, his expedition might have ended,
like many others from the fame quarter, in
a manner which Dr. Johnfon would not
choofe to relate.
None furely can be weak enough to be^
lieve that Cromwell could do more in a
few weeks, than the moft renowned com-
manders had been able to atchieve in as
many centuries. The whole glory of this
conqueft, therefore, muft belong to the
Doflor alone. What could not be done in
the
the field, he has accomplimed in his clofet,
and Jhamed the fword of the foldier with
one dafh of his pen.
The Doctor next proceeds to enumerate
the many and great advantages which we
derived from the lofs of our freedom. He
fays, page 55, " Cromwell civilized them
by conqueft, and introduced by ufeful
violence the arts of peace :" and then, as
the fum total of thefe valuable arts, he
adds very gravely, <e that he was told at
Aberdeen, that the people learned from
Cromwell's foldiers, to make ihoes and to.
plant kail."
Thefe to be fure were two very goof
things, as they adminiftered at once both to
our external and internal wants ; but that our
traveller fliould be told fo at Aberdeen, feems
rather a little fufpicious. That has long
been a city of extenfive trade and frequent
ihtercourfe with the continent of Europe :
it
( 64 )
it cannot be fuppofed, therefore, that the 1
people were ftrangers to the making of {hoes
at that period; unlefs we can fuppofe at
the fame time, that no fuch thing as fhoes
were then in ufe any where elfe; and that
Cromwell's foldiers were afterwards dif-
perfed among all nations, as fo many
mljjlonary coblers y to inftruct the people in
that ufeful art of peace.
But let the Doctor's credibility ftand or
fall by his own teftimony. He acknow-
ledges (page 56), that the Scots are in-
genious and inquifitive, that they had
early attained the liberal arts, and ex-
celled in ornamental knowledge. Is it con-
iiftent with fuch a defcription then, that a
manual art for fupplying fo eflential a con-
.
. veniency of life, fhould be totally unknpwri
to them ? Even among a ruder people, the
feelings of nature would certainly fuggeft
expedients, however imperfect, to guard
j againft
( 65 )
againft the rigours of particular feafons and
climates.
We come next to confider the probability
of what relates to the article of kail. Dr.
Johnfon would no doubt infinuate, that
kail and other garden vegetables had
abounded in England long before they were
cultivated in Scotland ; but if he confults
Anderfon's Hiftory of the Rife and Progrefs
of Commerce, he will find that our fouthern
neighbours have fo little to boaft of in this
particular, that in 1509 there was not a
fallad in all England, and that cabbages,
carrots, turnips, and other plants and roots,
were imported from the Netherlands. The
whole country could not furnifli a fingle
fallad, &c. for Henry the Eighth's queen,
till gardeners and different forts of plants
were brought from foreign countries.
Let this be compared with what we read
in a hiftory of Scotland by John Leflie,
popifh bifhop of Rofs, who flourifhed in
F the
( 66 )
the year 1560, and dedicated his book to
the pope. la the fecond edition of this
work, printed at Rome in 1675, the Doctor
will find, that in the bifhop's time Glaf-
gow was a market famous not only for
wine, &c. &c. but that it likewife abounded
in orchards and garden herbs *. And
again, that Murray was famous for all
forts, of corn, and likewife for orchards,
&ct- It is not very likely then, that a
country which abounded in thefe things
fhould want fo ordinary an article as com-
mon kail.
From hence it appears, as bifliop Leflie
wrote about a century before Cromwell
went to Scotland, that Dr. Johnfon*s ac-
count of this matter cannot be juft. And
indeed I am apt to think, if he had any
information at all, it was a mere trick of
* Page n. Glafguam celeberrimum emporium vini,
aquse vitae, Brogat. &c. &c. &c. pomiferis hortis et horten-
fibus herbis abundans.
-j- Page 26. Moravia omni frumenti genere, pomiferis
hortis, &c. deleftat.
fome
( 67 )
fome wag, who diverted himfelf with his
Englilh vanity, and now laughs at his weak-
nefs for recording a Canterbury tale.
After concluding his hljlory of kail, the
Doctor gives a fpecimen of his abilities as
a philofopher. " How they lived without
kail," fays he, " it is not eafy to guefs :
they cultivate hardly any other plant for
common tables, and when they had not
kail, they probably had nothing." What
force of reafoning ! how beautiful, how
juft the conclufion ! The fable of the Cha-
meleon needs no longer give furprife. Air
is fomething to live upon ; but this miracle
of EngHQi erudition has found out, that a
whole nation of people can live for ages
upon nothing. All great difcoveries, to be
fure, have been referved for that favourite
fpot of heaven, called England. But Dr.
Johnfon's nathmg furpafles every thing-Z
In the laft quoted page, he acknowledges,
** that literature, foon after its revival, found
F 2 its
( 68 )
its way to Scotland ; and that from the
middle of the fixteenth century, almoft to
the middle of the feventeenth, the politer
ftudies were very diligently purfued." '
The force of truth feems, for once, to have
unfealed the Do&or's eye-lids. But the
apparent candour of this confeffion is
effaced by his concealing, that the Scots
had likewife their fhare of the fciences
before the fubverfion of learning. Such
of them as were known in Europe at the
time, were cultivated at I, Oronfa, and
other places, fo early as the fifth and fixth
centuries. Collum Cille> or St. Columba,
came to I about the year 565, and of his
age the forty-third ; which was an hundred
and thirty-five years after the building of
that abbey by Fergus II.
King Ed'win^of Saxon race, firft embraced
Chriftianity only in 627 ; whereas it had
prevailed in Scotland fmce 165. Ofivald,
king of Northumberland, fent for learned
men to Scotland in 634. St. Aidan was
confecrated
( 69 )
confecrated bifhop of Northumberland in
635. Finan, from lona, fucceeded him in
652. Colman fucceeded Finan in 661, but
retired to Scotland again in 664, when the
difpute about Eafter and the Tonfure was
decided in the fynod againft him.
In the reign of Malduinus, who fucceeded
to the crown of Scotland in 668, Buchanan
fays, u the Scottifh monks propagated the
" doctrines of Chrift over almoft all Eng-
" land, and had fo inftruded the Englifh
" youth, that now they Teemed able of
" themfeives to preach the gofpel in a
" proper manner to their countrymen ;
" but their envy againft their mafters grew
" in proportion to their learning; and
" their prejudice in this refpect went fo
<c far, that the Scottifh monks were obliged
*' to return to their own country. Though
" this contumely cut off, at that time, the
<c concord between the two nations, the
"_ modefty of thofe who had received the
F 3 infult,
( 7 )
' infult, kept both kingdoms from an
" open war."
From this event, the violence on one
fide, and moderation on the other, the
reader can eafily trace out the ancient cha-
radteriftic of the two nations ; and, if we
may judge from that good temper with
which the Scots have, of late years, borne
the inveftives of their fouthern neigh-
bours, the fame traits of national character
will ftill appear uniformly to diftinguifli
both. The indecent fcurrilities of a
Churchill, a Wilkes, and others, and more
latterly, the coarfer attacks of a Johnfon,
have not hitherto met with any other
mark of refentment than a filenf con-
tempt.
In the Bifhop of Rofs's book * we
may fee, that about the year 273, there
* Floruere circa haec tempora (A. D. 273) apud Scotos
Amphibalus, Modacus, &c. &c. nuilticjue alii viri, doftrina
et religione infignes, Dei cultores (Culdei noflra lingua vul-
gari difli), Pag, 115.
flouriflied
{ 7' )
flourifhed among the Scots, Amphibalus,
Medacus, and many other men eminent
for their learning and religion, who were
worfhippers of God, and called, in our
common language, viz. the Galic, Cul-
dich (or Culdees).
We may obferve from the famous paffage
in Tertullian, wrote about A. D. 209, that
there were already believers in Chrift, evett
in thofe parts of the ifland which ths Ro-
mans had not been able to fubduef.
Before the end of the fourth century the
Chriftian religion was fpread from one end
of the province of Valencia to the other;
a fpace comprehending the fouth-weft part
of t Scotland, from the Sol way Frith to Dun-
barton. St. Ninian was born of Chriftian
parents in what was afterwards called Gal-
loway, and formed the one extremity of
this province ; and in the other, near Dun-
barton, St. Patrick was alfo born of
f- Britannorum inaccefla loca, Chriilo veio fubdita. Ter-
tullian. contra Judxos, cap. 7.
F 4 Chriftian
( 72 )
Ohriftian parents, and in a place wholly
peopled by Chriftians. And thofe two
faints became, by themfelves and their
difciples, the firft apoftles of the Pi&s and
Scots, both in Scotland and in Ireland.
Laft of all, the Saxons of the north of
England were alfo converted by St. Aidan, as
already mentioned, in the feyenth century.
Thefe few hints relative to the rife and
progrefs of civilization in general, and of
Chriftianity in particular, in both king-
doms, will, it is to be hoped, pull down
one ftory at leaft of the Doctor's height,
and fatisfy the Public that the odds, in point
of time, is greatly in favour of Scotland.
Page 57. He fays, " the Scots muft be
for ever content to owe to the Englifh all
their elegance and culture." Had the
Dodor been here giving an account of any
other nation in Europe, I make no doubt
but he would likewife have found fome
opportunity of making a fimilar claim in
( 73 )
favour of old England. Our good neigh-
bours have been always pretty remarkable
for the mode/I virtue of felf-applaufe, and
confidering their own country, at all times
and in all things, as the true ftandard of all
perfe&ion.
What has been already faid, concerning
our early connection with France, may be
a fufficient anfwer to the abfurdity and
arrogance of this aflertion. It is with an
ill grace, indeed, that the Englifh pretend
to be a model of tafte for others : they
~\ *
themfelves are daily copying from the
Gallic fchool ; and though 'they have been
long under tutorage, the world have not
yet conceived any high opinion of their
elegance and culture. In fpite of difcipline,
there is ftill a roughnefs in their manners
which has rendered them proverbial.
But the frequent repetition of the above
remark, to be found in the Doctor's per-
formance,
( 74 )
formance, renders it neceflary to have re-
courfe to a few fads, for fetting that matter
in a proper light : and, therefore, I muft
recal his attention to fome circumftances
relating to the ftate of the two kingdoms,
long before any friendly intercourfe be-
tween them could give us an opportunity
of receiving thofe boa/led improvements.
In the year 1234, ftraw was ufed for
the king's bed in England. In 1300, wine
was fold in England, only by apothecaries,
as a cordial. But it was then quite other-
ways in Scotland, becaufe of our extenfive
trade, in proportion to the commerce of
thofe days, with ^France and Spain ; and
till I adverted to this circumftance, it often
furprifed me to find frequent mention made,
in many of our ancient Gallic poems, of
the drinking of wine and burning of wax
in the habitations of our chieftains. In
1340, the parliamentary grants to the king
of England were only in kind j and thirty
thoufand
( 75 )
thoufand facks of wool was this year's
grant. In 1505, the firft (hilling was
coined in England. In 1561, Queen Eli-
zabeth wore the firft pair of knitted filk
ftockings that ever were in that country.-
In 1543, pins were firft made in Eng-
land ; and before that time the ladies ufed
Jkeivert.
To all this let me oppofe, but particu-
larly to the Jkeivers of the Englifh ladies,
the account which the Bifhop of Rofs gives
of the drefs of the women among the
ancient Scots. We fhall there find, " that
<c they were clothed with purple and em-
" broidery of moft exquifite workmanfhip,
" with bracelets and necklaces on their arms
" and necks, fo as to make a moft graceful
*' appearance *." Nor needs it be matter
* Malierum habitus apud illos (fell, prifcos Scotos) de
entiffimus erat. Nam talari tunics, arte phrygia ut pluri-
mum confeflae, amplas chlamydes atque illas qutdem poly-
mitas, fuperinduerunt. lllarum hrachia armillis, et colla
monilibus elegantius ornata, maximam habenc decoris fpeciem.
55'
Of
of furprife how the Scots had opportunities
of procuring fuch ornaments, fince the
fame authpr fhews they -had, at that time,
a confiderable trade with: France and Spain,
from Inverlochay, near Fort William *.
After this view of the matter, it is diffi-
cult to fay, whether we are to accufe Dr,
Johnfon of ignorance, or infmcerity, in what
he has fo boldly^ but with fo little appear-
ance of juftice, afferted. It is certain, had
he been in the leaft acquainted with the
hiftory of his own country, he might eafily
have feen fl that the Englim have been a
little too trdy in their own improvements,
to fupport them in any decent claim of hav-
ing civilized their neighbours,
But notwithstanding all that can be faid
to the contrary, the Doctor feems deter-
'
* Ad Loucbaeae oflia fita olim erat opulentiffima civitaa
Inverlothasa appeilata, ad quam Galli, Hifpanique, com-
mercii caufa frequentius trajecerant. Hac poitea a Norvegis,
Danifque everfa, et nunquam a nobis ueinceps, qux noftra eft
jgnavia, in/lauraiur. Pag, 23.
mined,
( 77 )
mined, right or wrong, to maintain his
pofition. He therefore goes on, and tells
us again very roundly, " that till the union
made the Scots acquainted with Englifh.
manners, their tables were coarfe as the
feafts of Efldmeaux, and their houfes filthy
as the cottages of Hottentots." There is
an expreffion among lawyers, " that what
proves too much, proves nothing." It is
juft fo with my 'worthy friend the Doctor,
in this place : he has laid on his Jilt h fo very
thick, that I am of opinion it will fall off
by its own weight.
But in the name of wonder, who could
expect fuch a remark to drop from the pen
of a man on whom the witty Lord Chejler-
fdd, many years ago, beftowed the appel-
lation of, Hottentot *? His lordfhip was
When talking of our Author, the Earl of Cheflerfield
faid, " that he could never confider Dr. Johnfon in any
other point of view than as a more readable kind of
Hottentot."
allowed
( 78 )
allowed not only to be a good judge of
character, but likewife to have a good hand
at drawing a likenefs. It was, therefore,
unlucky in our Author to come blundering
out with an expreffion which muft call to
our remembrance this ftriking fpecimen of
the noble artift's {kill. For I will be bold
to affirm, that no man has ever yet feen
Dr. Johnfon in the act of feeding^ or
beheld the infide of his cell in Fleet-Jlreet,
but would think the feafts of EJkimeaitx
or the cottages of Hottentots injured by a
comparifon.
But fuppofing the Doctor's charge to
hold good in very diftant times, let me afk
him whether England and every other
country under the fun has not had
its ages of ignorance and barbarity ?
If this folemn pedant will deign to look
back, he will find many things in the
hiftory of his own country which ought to
convince him that civilization did not begin
very
( 79 )
very early there, nor advance with a quick
pace. I am always forry when I am
obliged to trace out anecdotes of this kind ;
but his ill-manners and want of candou*
render it neceflary.
Alfred the Great, who died in the year
900, complained " that from the Hummer
to the Thames there was not a prieft that
underflood the Liturgy in his mother-
tongue ; and that from the Thames to the
fea there was not one that could tranflate
the eafieft piece of Latin. This univerfal
ignorance, and the little relifh the Englifh
had for arts and fciences, made the King
invite learned and ingenious foreigners."'
In 1167 King Henry the Second fends to
Ireland, and caufes build a palace of r w attics
in Dublin, after the manner of the country,
wherein he keeps his Chriftmas. It was
not till 1209 that London began to be
governed by a Mayor ; and fo near our
own
( 80 )
own times as the year 1246 moft of the
houfes in that capital were thatched with
JlraiV) the windows were without glafs,
and all the fires flood to the wall without
chimneys. In the year 1300, and after-
wards, almoft all the houfes in England
were built of wood, &c. &c.
Such facts as thefe are the fureft tefts of
the progrefs of civilization in any country,
as they fhew the tafte and manners of the
inhabitants at different periods of time.
If the Doctor doubts their authenticity, he
will find them confirmed by Rapin and
other hiftorians.
As our traveller gives us only his own
authority for what he fays of Scotland at
the time of the union, a teftimony which
the reader, by this time, cannot think
altogether unexceptionable ; let us now fee
what others have reported of the ftate of
civilization
civilization among us long before that
period.
When Margaret, daughter of Henry the
Seventh of England, became the Queen of
our James the Fourth, fhe was attended to
the Scotch court by many of the firft nobi-
lity of both fexes ; and yet the Englifli
hiftorians of thofe days allow, that they
were fully equalled, or even excelled, by the
Scotch nobility, in politenefs of manners,
the number of their jewels, and the richnefs
of their drefs ; and particularly, that the
entertainments they received at the houfes
of our great people did not yield to any
thing they had ever
In 1546, Contarini was Pope's legate in
Scotland ; and upon his return to the con-
tinent, he celebrated the Scotch nation as
a polite and hof pit able people. He bore
this teftimony to their merit, though he
could not fucceed in the object of his em-
G bafly;
( 82 )
bafly ; which was, to fupport the Romifli
religion, then faft declining in that king-
dom, on account of the intolerable cruelties
of Cardinal Betoun. But this prelate, very
unlike to Dr. Jobnfon, could not permit his
prejudices as an ambaiTador to warp his
veracity as a man.
The Queen of James the Fifth, though
a princefs of fo civilized a nation as France,
acknowledged, " that the court and inha-
bitants of Scotland were the moft polite
and civilized fhe had ever feen, and the
palace of Linlithgow the moft magnifi-
As a further fpecimen of our tables, let
us take the Earl of Athole's feaft to James
the Fifth, as related by Lindfay the hifto-
rian.
The Earl of Atholes Feaft to "James 7.
" Syne (then) the next fummer the
" King paft to the Highland to hunt in
" Athole,
st Athole, and took with him his mother;
'* Margaret Queen of Scotland, and ari
*< EmbafTador of the Pope's, who was iii
' Scotland for the time. The Earl of
" Athole, hearing of the King's coming,
ic made great provifion in all things per-
" taining to a Prince, that he was as well
*' ferved and eafed, with all things necef-
* { fary to his eftate, as he had been in his
" own palace of Edinburgh. For I heard
*' fay, this noble Earl gart (caufed) make
" a curious palace to the King, .to his
" mother, and to the Embaflador, where
<l they were fo honourably eafed and lodged '
" as they had been in England, France^
'* Italy, or Spain, concerning the time,
and equivalent for their hunting and
** paftime ; which was builded in the midft
^ of a fair meadow, a fair palace of green
** timber, wind witti green birks, that
'* were green both under and above; which
'* was famioned in four quarters, and in
* l every quarter and nuik thereof a great
G 2 round,
<>e
" round, as it had been a block-houfc,
*' which was lofted and gefted the fpace of
* l three houfe height ; the floors laid with
" green fcarets and fpreats, med warts
<{ and flowers, that no man knew whereon
" he zeid, but as he had been in a garden,
" Further, there were two great rounds in
" ilk fide of the gate, and a great port-
" culleis of tree, falling down wjth the
" manner of a barrace, with a draw-bridge,
tc and a great ftank of water of fixteen
" foot deep, and thirty foot of breadth.
" And alfo this palace within was hung
41 with fine tapeftry and arrafles of filk,
" and lighted with fine glafs windows in
" all airths (directions); that this palace was
Ce as pleafantly decored with all neceflaries
" pertaining to a Prince, as it had been
" his own palace-royal at home. Further,:
" this Earl gart make fuch provifion for
" the King, and his mother, and the Em-
*' Uaflador, that they had all manner of
" meats,
** meats, drinks and delicates that were to
" be gotten at that time, in all Scotland,
" either in burgh or land ; that is to fay,
<: all kind of drink, as ale, beer, wine both
" white and claret, malvery, mufkadel,
fi hippocras and aqua vitae. Further, there
" was of meats, white-bread, main-bread,
" and ginge-bread, with flefhes, beef,
" mutton, lamb, veal, venifon, goofe,
*' grice, capon, coney, cran, fwan, par-
" tridge, plover, duck, drake, brifle-cock,
" and pawnies, black-cock and muir-fool
" cappercaillies : and alfo the flanks that
<c were round about the palace were full
" of all delicate fifties, as falmonds, trouts,
" pearches, pikes, eels, and all other kind
*' of delicate fifties that could be gotten in
<c frefti waters ; and all ready for the ban-
ic ket. Syne were there prpper ftewards,
" cunning baxters, excellent cooks and
* c potengars, with confections and drugs
* e for their deferts : and the halls and
G 3 " chambers
*5 chambers were prepared with coftly bed-
<c ding,' veflel and napery, according for a
" king ; fo that he wanted none of his
". orders more than he had been at home
" in his own palace. The King remained
*' in this wildernefs, at the hunting, the
* { fpace qf three days and three nights,
** and his company, as I have fhewn. I
" heard men fay, it coft the Earl of
" Athole, every day, in expences a thqu-
f e fand pounds.
" The EmbafTador of the Pope, feeing
<c this great banquet and triumph which
* c was made in the wildernefs, where there
" was no town near by twenty miles>
c thought it a great marvel, that fuch a
*' thing mould be in Scotland, confidering
" that it was named the end of the world
? c by other countries ; and that there mould
*' be fuch honefty and policy in it, efpecially
*' in the Highland, where there was fo much
f c wood and wildernefs. But moft of all,
< this,
( 8; )
*' this EmbalFador marvelled to fee, when
*' the King departed, and all his men took
* c their leave, the Highland-men fet all
" this fair place on a fire, that the King
'* and the EmbafTador might fee it. Then
" the EmbafTador faid to the King, " I
" marvel, Sir, that you fhould thole (fuffer)
" yon fair place to be burnt, that your Grace
" has been fo well lodged in." Then the
" King anfwered the Embaffiulor, and faid,
'*' It is the ufe of our Highland-men,
" though they be never fo well lodged,
" to burn their lodging when they de-
" part." See Lindfay's Hiftory of Scot,
p. 266, &c.
From thefe circumftances it may appear,
fhould the Journey to the Hebrides fur-
vive its author, how miferably deceived
they muft be, who, in future times, fhall
take the Doctor's account of Scotland for
truth. When, therefore, he boafts of the
advantages which, in thefe refpecls, the
Q 4 Scots
( 88 )
Scots have derived from the union, he
ought to have affigned a caufe, why we
were lefs refined in the beginning of the
eighteenth century, than our forefathers
have been proved to have been fome cen-
turies before. Either, then, he is unac-
quainted with, our ancient manners, or he
grofsly mifreprefents our modern character.
His ignorance, therefore, or his malice,
whichever the Doctor fhall think the moft
eligible, can only account for the prefump-
tion of his aflertions.
But were we to admit, with our traveller,
that the Englifh, have taught us how to
procure any of the good things of this life,
it might fairly be faid, that they have like-
wife taught us the art of /pending them.
We daily fee more of a cl unify affectation,
taftelefs extravagance, and giddy diffipa-
tion, which many of our countrymen carry
home with them from the fouth fide of the
Tweed, than of polite improvements, or
V-feful
inventions. If thefe are the advan-
tages which Dr. Johnfon means to charge
againft us in favour of the Englifh, as the
precious effects of the union, he has an un-
doubted right to perfift in his claim, and
we are ready to acknowledge ourfelves their
Debtors.
At the fame time, we do not mean to
difclaim all advantages from the union, but
only to {hew, that they are not of that
kind which Dr. Johnfon infmuates. Con-
fidered in a political light, it was certainly
a wife and falutary meafure for both king-
doms ; but, even in that view, the Englifli
are the principal gainers. The Doctor
cannot well deny this^pofition, if he but
recollects, that the Englifli were the firft
to propofe the union, and that it was at
length carried with difficulty in Scotland.
They call themfelves a generous people;
but we cannot fuppofe them to be fo very
ptravagantly fo, as to take fo much pains
in
( 9 )
in prefling a meafure, from which WE
were to reap the chief advantages. If this
really was the cafe, they had furely a much
greater love and affection for their fellow-
fubjecls of the North in the reign of Queen
Anne t than, I am afraid, they poflefs for
them in the reign of George the Third
if we are to judge of the whole nation
from the fample given us by Dr. Johnfon t
who is reckoned one of their wifeft an4
belt men.
Page 58 brings our traveller to a road
upon which " no wheel had ever rolled.**
There can appear nothing extraordinary
in this remark, unlefs the good Doctor had
afierted, at the fame time, that every bye-
road in England was fit for a carriage.
We have already feen, that in 1300 all
the houfes in England were built of wood ;
and long after that period it was accounted
a fort of luxury to ride in a two- wheeled
cart. Befides, if we may credit even
( 9' )
hiftorians, their favourite Queen.
Elizabeth had np other mode of travelling,
than by riding behind one of her domeftics ;
which evidently (hews, that the rolling of
wheels has not been fo very long known,
or generally practifed, even in England
itfelf. But further, I am credibly in-
formed, that within thefe forty years, a
time, I prefume, within the Doctor's re-
membrance, moft of the roads within
twenty miles of London were hardly fit
for rijding, much lefs for carriages. Who
then b,ut our traveller could remark, that,
in the remote and unfrequented parts of the
mountains of Scotland, there were not rer
gular poft roads f
In page 60 he finds out, that c< civility
feems part of the national character of
Highlanders.' 1 If ever Dr. Jobnfon has
his good-humoured intervals, this compli-
ment certainly efcaped him in one of
|hem. But how are we to reconcile this
I with
( 9O
with the epithets of rude, barbarous, grofs,
and favage, &c. which, in other parts of
his work, he fo. liberally beftows on the
whole nation ? If the decent behaviour of
common borfe-hirers, to ufe a Scottifli ex-
preffion, who attended him in his journey,
extorted this confeffion from him, we can-
pot well fuppofe, that he found the better
fort of people deficient in agreeable qualifi-
cations. Either, then, the Doctor means
fomething by \.\\z civility of his horfe-hirers,
which is not underftood by others, or his
national epithets can have no foundation
in truth. We fhould, therefore, be glad to
hear him give fome confident explanation
of thefe particulars ; as the civility 'of a
fude and barbarous, or, in other words, of
an uncivilized people, conveys an uncom-
,
mon fort of idea. For my part, I have
looked into his own Dictionary, and could
not find, even in that perverter of the
. *
Englifli language, any definition of the
above
(93 )
above terms that can make them hang
together.
When riding along the fide of Loch
Nefs, a ray of good-humour feems to have
ftolen into the Doctor's mind. For a while
we find him pleafed with the goodnefs of
the road, and the cheerful nefs of the day ;
but this fudden gleam, like funfliine before
a ftorm, was of {hort duration. His natural
gloomiriefs foon returns; and his reftlefs
caprice finds a thoufand faults. At that
feafon of the year no mortal, but himfelf,
could have quarrelled with the objects
around him. If ever the wild magnifi-
cence of nature could pleafe, that day's
journey furnifhed ample matter of enter-
tainment. Even his own defcription of the
fcene through which he pafled, in fpite of
all his endeavours to the contrary, conveys
enough to the mind of the reader to make
him regret that he has not a more perfect:
view.
He
( 94: )
He gives, here and there, a peep of forri
beauties which he faw ; but unluckily, as
On moft other occafions, he feems lefs
willing to exhibit thefe at full length, than
to point out a " rock fdmetimes towering
in horrid nakednefs."
From the banks of Loch Nefs the Doctor
turns his obfervation to its waters. He
had been told at Fort Auguftus, that it
tbntiniies open in the hardeft winters,
though another lake not far from it Is
covered with ice. This being an excep-
tion from the common courfe of things,
he feems much difpofed to doubt tne fail: ;
for he will not fuffer nature to fport with
her own laws in Scotland, except in pro-
ducing deformities. Then, indeed, fhe may
play a$ many wild pranks as fhe thinks
proper ; and fhe pleafes him the better, the
more, like himfelf, fhe becomes a Rambler.
( 95 )
As there could be no motive to deceive
him in a matter of fo little confequence to
the country, as the freezing or not freezing
of Loch Afc/r, it is ftrange he fhould ex-
pofe his own weaknefs, by taking fo much
pains to render it doubtful. He difputes
this trivial fact with a folemnity truly ridi-
culous. At length, however, finding him-
felf unable to give any decent colour to his
objections, he endeavours to account for
fo fingular a phenomenon; though ftill with
this cautious provzfo^ " if it be true." But
this he does in a manner fo very unphilo-
fophical, as clearly fhews, either that na-
tural inquiries have not made a great
part of the Doctor's ftudies, or that his
genius is not much adapted to fuch nice
refearches. Every man has his peculiar
gift from nature ; and to compile vocabu-
laries, or compound hard words, feems to
be the tafk which (he has allotted for our
traveller. He ought therefore to confine
himfelf
C 96 )
himfelf to his proper province, remember-
ing the maxim, nefntor ultra crepidam.
N *
In Glenmorifon, the Doctor feems fur-
prifed, that the innkeeper's daughter (hewed
no fort of embarraffment in his prefence.
So, indeed, are moft others who have read
that paflage, as fhe certainly had never
feen " bis like" before. But the little
gipfy* it feems, was not to be moved by
the elegance of his figure, the foftnefs of
his addrefs, or the fplendour of his reputa-
tion. She was faucy enough to appear
perfect miftrefs of herfelf, without betray-
ing the leaft mark of diffidence, confufion,
or the melting power of love.
At this place he takes care to refrefh our
memory with his bounty to the foldiers,
wliom he pafled on the road, and who'
came to the fame inn to fpend the evening.
One would be jtempted to think, that ads
of generofity are but rare things with the
6 Doctor,
( 97 )
boclor, when he dwells fo oftentatioufly oil
this trifling piece of liberality.
In page 58, he discovers what feems to
have been one of his motives for undertak-
ing his journey, namely, an inclination to
difiuade all fuch ftrangers as would be
directed by him from ever vifiting Scotland,
as being altogether unworthy of the atten-
tion of the curious. In proof of this he
fays, " that uniformity of barrennefs can
afford little ainufement to the traveller;
that it is eafy to fit at home and conceive
rocks, and heath, and waterfalls ; and that
thefe journeys are ufelefs labours, which
neither impregnate the imagination nor
enlarge the underftanding."
If rocks, heath, and waterfalls conftitute
uniformity, I (hould be glad to learn from
the Do&or wherein variety confifts ? As to
his reafoning in the above paflage, he faves
me the trouble of a refutation, by having
H imme-
( 98 ) ' . '
immediately after refuted himfelf. After
the eafy mode of information which he
had propofed, viz. by fitting at home and
conceiving what we pleafed, who would
expeft to hear him, in the fame page, ex-
prefs himfelf as follows ? " But thefe ideas
are always incomplete, and, till we have
compared them with realities, we do not
know them to be juft. As we fee more,
we become poflefled of more certainties,
and confequently gain more principles of
reafoning, and found a wider bafis of
analogy. Regions mountainous and wild,
thinly inhabited, and little cultivated, make
a great part of the earth ; and he that has
never feen them, muft live unacquainted
with much of the face of nature, and with
one of the great fcenes of human exift-
ence." Let the reader now judge of the
confiftency between this language and what
he had before aflerted, " that thefe jour-
nies are ufelefs labours, which neither
$ impregnate
( 99 )
impregnate the imagination nor enlarge
the underftanding."
We have oftener than once feen the
Doctor in the fame aukward fituation, fay-
ing and unfaying in the fame breath.
Who but himfelf would not have drawn
his pen through the former lines, after
adding the latter ? But he feems to be above
cancelling any thing he has once fet down ;
otherwife he is too indolent to give himfelf
the trouble of correction.
After endeavouring to imprefs the mind
of his reader with the wildnefs of the hills
of Glen'morifon, he feems afraid of having
faid too much, and making the country
appear too remarkable, even by allowing
it to be fo very mountainous. He there-
fore inftantly fweeps away this negative
compliment by afking, " yet what are
thefe hillocks to the ridges of Taurus, or
thefe fpots of wildnefs to the defarts of
H a America?"
America ?" This churlim author will not
allow us to excel even in wildnefs.
It was in thefe hills, while fitting on a
bank to let the horfes reft, about the middle
of the day, that the Doctor tells us he
" firft conceived the thought of his narra-
tion." Should we pay his veracity the
compliment of believing this to be true,
we muft certainly allow him to be endowed
with a retentive memory. There are fo
many mnuti& in the preceding part of his
narration^ that it is furprifmg they could
occur without the affiftance of fome pre-
vious memorandums ; and yet we can fee
no reafon for his being at that trouble, be-
fore he had conceived the thought of mak-
ing ufe of them.
Speaking ftill of the fame fpot, he fays,
" We were in this place at eafe and by
choice, and had no evils to fuffer or to
fear." If this was really fo, how can he
fay
fay afterwards, page 98, that the High-
landers live by theft and robbery ? It was
certainly very bold in the Doctor to fear
nothing, in the midft of their wildeft
mountains, if the character he gives the
inhabitants be juft. But, indeed, it is not
eafy for any reader, who is unacquainted
with the country, to form -any confident
idea of the people from Dr. Johnfotf*
vague and contradictory accounts of them.
Pages 98, 99, he fays, that <c thirty years
ago no herd had ever been conducted
through the mountains, without paying
tribute in the night to fome of the clans."
This, however, is a grofs mifreprefenta-
tion. There are many people ftill living,
who drove hundreds of cattle through the
mountains long before that period, and
never once paid the tribute he mentions.
Here, therefore, we may retort upon him-
felf the fubftance of a fage obfervation,
which, in page 63, he applies to the High-
H 3 landers
( 102 )
]anders concerning the freezing of Loch
Nefs ; and that is, that accuracy of narra-
tion is not very common with him, and
that he is feldom fo rigidly philofophical as
not to reprefent as conftant, what is fome-
times only cafual.
He acknowledges, page loo, that " the
different clans were unconnected with the
general fyftem, and accuftomed to reve-
rence only their own lords." If this
really was fo, their quarrels with their
neighbours, and the mutual injuries refult^
ing from them, are to be explained on the
fame liberal principles as thofe which daily
happen between the moft independent
ftates, The rule of morality is the fame
in both cafes; and injury always juftifies
retaliation, whether we fpeak of the High-*
land clans, or of larger communities.
Under the fame head, in fpeaking of the
power of the chiefs } he fays, " thofe who
Bad
( I0 3 )
had thus the difpenfation of law, were by
confequence themfelves lawlefs. Their
vaflals had no fhelter from outrages or
oppreffions ; but were condemned to en-
dure, without refiftance, the caprice of
wantonnefs, and the rage of cruelty."
Here the Doctor betrays his total ignorance
of the ancient law of chieftainry. The
chiefs, or difpenfers of laws, as he calls
them, knew their own intereft much better
than ever to think of adopting the Doctor's
tyrannical plan. They were under a necef-
fity of acting in a much more humane and
mild manner towards their clans, or people,
as they knew that their own fecurity and
importance depended on their attachment ;
and that, without that, their power and
influence would be nothing. Even he
himfelf confefles, page 195, " that the
laird was the father of his clan." I
leave it to himfelf to reconcile fo glaring
a contradiction ; and to convince the
H 4 world,
world, if he can, that a cruel oppreflbr
and a kind father are one and the fame
thing.
In page 109 he mentions an old anec-
dote, which, he fays, he was told at Sir
Alexander Macdonald's table, and which
relates to a very barbarous effect of the
feuds between two of the clans, if in reality
fuch an event ever exifted ; though, at the
fame time, we are not to fuppofe that the
fame fpirit of revenge, in thofe remote and
lefs polifhed times, was peculiar to the
Highlands. But be that as it may, he
takes occafion to make the following re-
mark: " Narrations like this," fays he,
* l however uncertain, deferve the notice of
a traveller, becaufe they are the only re-
cords of a nation that has no hiftorians,
and afford the mo(l genoiine reprefentation
of the life and character of the ancient
Highlanders,"
Here
Here it is obfervable, that the Doctor
admits the teftimony of Highlanders, be^
caufe, in his opinion, it makes againft
their country. But had the matter been in
their favour, he would neither have re-
corded nor believed it.
It may, perhaps, be true, that High-
landers in general have been too negligent
in committing to writing what related to
their country. In remote ages, they trufted
too much to their Bards and Seannachies,
as other nations then did. What they
wrote at lona and elfewhere, on that and
Other fubje&s, was deftroyed by various
accidents. Hiftorians affirm* that lona
fuffered fix different devaftations in the
tenth century alone. What efcaped thofe
ravages was carried away either by that
generous friend to learning and the Scots
nation, Edward the Firft, in the fame fpirit
of meeknefs in which he butchered the
Welch Bard*) or afterwards by Oliver
Cromwell,
Cromwell> and other fcourges and de-
ftroyers of antiquities, who wanted to abo-
lifh every monument of the ancient inde-
pendence of this nation ; or, laftly, by our
own priefts at the time of the Reformation.
Every thing relating to the Highlands,
in particular, has met with many difcourage-
ments of late years. This, no doubt, has
occafioned many other valuable vouchers
to be buried in an oblivion, from which,
in all probability, we ftiall never be able to
recover them.
The Doctor is egregioufly miftaken
when he fays that the Highlanders have
no particular hiftorians. It feems he has
never heard of Macaulay, the two Macpber*
fens, Martin, the Dean of the Ifles, &c.
It is to the hiftorical and other fuperior
merits of fome of thefe gentlemen, that
their country is indebted for fo much of
the Do&or's critical regard. Had they
never
never written fo well, he had never been
fo fcurrilous. Hinc illas lachrym<e ! Buchan-
nan too was a Highlander ; as was likewife
/. Ninian, who was born in Galloway,
then an Highland country ; and &. Patrick
was born near Dumbarton.
His obfervations in the four following
pages are of fo extraordinary a nature,
and furnifh fuch unequivocal proofs of his
rancour and malevolence, that I (hall give
them at full length.
Pages no, m, 112, 113. <c My inqui-
ries about brogues gave me an early fpecimen
of Highland information. One day I was
told, that to make brogues was a domeftic
art, which every man praclifed for him-
felf, and that a pair of brogues was the
work of an hour. I fuppofed that the
hufband made brogues as the wife made
an apron, till next day it was told me,
that a brogue-maker was a trade, and that
a pair
a pair would coft half a crown. It will
eafily occur, that thefe reprefentations may
both be true, and that in fome places men
may buy them, and in others make -them
for themfelves ; but I had both the ac-
counts in the fame houfe within two
days.
" Many of my fubfequent inquiries upon
more interefting topics ended in the like
uncertainty. He that travels in the High-
lands may eafily faturate his foul with
intelligence, if he will acquiefce in the firft
account. The Highlander gives to every
queftion an anfwer fo prompt and peremp-
tory, that fcepticifm itfelf is dared into
filence, and the mind finks before the bold
reporter in unrefifting credulity ; but if a
fecond queftion is ventured, it breaks the
enchantment; for it is immediately difco-
vered, that what was told fo confidently
was told at hazard, and that fuch fear-
kfihefs of aflertion was either the fport
of
of negligence, or the refuge of igno-
rance.
" If individuals are thus at variance with
themfelves, it can be no wonder that the
accounts of different men are contradictory.
The traditions of an ignorant and favage
people have been for ages negligently heard,
and unfkilfully related. Diftant events
muft have been mingled together, and the
actions of one man given to another.
Thefe, however, ars deficiencies in ftory,
for which no man is now to be cenfured.
It were enough, if what there is yet oppor-
tunity of examining were accurately in-
fpe&ed, and juftly reprefented; but fuch
is the laxity of Highland converfation,
that the enquirer is kept in continual
fufpenfe, and, by a kind of intellectual retro-
gradation, knows lefs as he hears more.' 1
In this learned harangue on the important
fubject of orogtic-fnaking, the Doctor makes
a double
( "0 )
a double difcovery. Firft, lie mews, that
two different accounts may be given of the
fame thing, and yet both may be true. In
the next place, he proves, after making
this acknowledgment, that the fubfequent
part of his criticifm has no object; and,
confequently, that it is as nugatory in itfelf
as his conclufions are falfe and improbable.
To make a filly ftory about the art of
brogue-making the teft of national can-
dour and fincerity, is too ridiculous for any
pen but that of Dr.
*
It is true, in order to account, in fome
meafure, for his going beyond his laft y he
tells us, that many of his fubfequent in-
quiries upon more interefting topics ended
in the like uncertainty. It were well if he
had mentioned what thefe interefting topics
were, to whom his inquiries were addrefTed,
and what anfwers he received. A know-
ledge of thefe circumftances would enable
us to decide more certainly on the merits
of
of his fucceeding remarks. The Do&or,
lefs anxious, perhaps, to " faturate his foul
with intelligence," than to fatiate his pre-
judices againft Scotland with the means of
mifreprefentation, might have adopted fuch
a mode of inquiry as would beft anfwer his
purpofe.
He might, for inftance, queftion one of
his brogue-makers concerning fome nice
point of antiquity, to which the poor fellow
could make but a very imperfect anfwer.
The next taylor he met with might vary,
in fome circumftances, from the former;
and a third perfon, not better informed
than either of them, might differ a little
from both. What then ? Is there any
thing furprifing or uncommon in all this ?
Or can fuch a variation in the accounts of
illiterate mechanics juftify the Doctor's
general inference, " that there can be no
reliance upon Highland narration ?"
Should
Should there remain the leaft doubt upon
this head, let me fuppofe, for argument's
fake, that I am making a fimilar tour
through fome parts of England. In the
courfe of my travels, I fee the ruins of
fbme old abby, or, as the Doctor would
more elegantly exprefs it, .the " dilapidated
remains of ancient fandtity." I wifh to
know fomething of its hiftory, and accoft
the firft labourer I find ia the neighbouring
fields to obtain information : he gives me
very honeftly, no doubt, fome confufedy<;/77/>.r
of what he had heard concerning it ; but his
ftory is full of perplexity, and feveral parts
of it differ confiderably from others. I then
inquire of one after another, but with little
better fuccefs. At length, tired with the
deficiencies and contradictions of former
accounts, I apply to the 'Squire and Parfon
of the parifh ; hoping, from men of their
more enlarged notions, to have my curio-
fity fully fatisfied. Their tales, are more
plaufible,
( "3 )
plaufible, but ftill defective, and differ*
in feveral particulars, from each other. I
find myfelf, therefore, obliged to fit down
in the dark, and go in fearch of other
objects of curiofity fomewhere elfe. But>
wherever I go, I often meet with the fame
difappoiritments.
That this might fometimes be the fate
of a traveller in England, or, indeed, in
any other country, none, I believe, will
pretend to doubt. Were I, therefore, in-
clined to revenge my fruftrated inquiries,
by making life of the Doctor's illiberal
pencil, it would be eafy to delineate the
Englifli character in the fame unfavourable
colours. I am fure, in doing fo, I fhould
do the people of that country much in-
juftice; but I fhould have exactly the^fame
reafons for charging them, in the lump,
with ignorance and a difregard to truth.
Becaufe every man I met with could not
anfwer every queftion I chofe to put to
I him,
( "4 )
him, I might pronounce them all a nation
of blockheads. And becaufe different men
differed a little fometimes in their relations
of facts, I might fay, with the fame peremp-
tory aflurance as hath been faid by our
Author above, that " fuch is the laxity of
Englifh converfation, that the inquirer is
kept in continual fufpenfe, and, by a kind
of intellectual retrogradation, knows lefs
as he hears more."
Befides, it deferves to be confidered,
that many of thofe whom the Doctor
thought proper to interrogate, might not
have Englifh enough to underftand his
queftions, or return diftinct anfwers; that
others might not be competent judges of
the fubjects propofed to them, and confe-
quently might give defective or erroneous
accounts, from a too forward zeal to oblige
a ft ranger as far as they were able ; and,
likewife, that, even among the higher and
more intelligent ranks of people, it was
weak
( H5 )
weak and abfurd to expert an uniformity
of narration. Men, according to their
opportunities, derive their knowledge from
different fources. Authors themfelves are
not always agreed in their communications
upon the fame topics. We cannot there-
fore fuppofe that their readers will think
alike.
A judicious author would have attended
to thefe things, to avoid the imputation
of malice or folly to himfelf. When a
man attempts to traduce a whole people,
he ought to ftand upon firm ground. But
here, amidft a number of bold affertions,
there is not a fingle fact produced, which
will not apply to any fpot oh the face o
the earth, as well as to the Highlands of
Scotland. By endeavouring to prdve too
much, therefore, the Doctor proves no-
thing; as fuch indifcriminate abufe can
never obtain credit, even with the moft
credulous. The excefs of his rancour has
I 2 effectually
effectually defeated its own purpofe ; and
he is literally in the fituation of thofe
reptiles, wliich, as naturalifts tell us, are
fometimes poifoned by their own flings.
As the Doctor acknowledges he was
every where hofpitably received by the
Highlanders, let the world judge of the
man, by this fample of his gratitude for
their civilities. To fearch for information
among the lower orders of the people, to
tamper with their fimplicity, to lie in wait
for their anfwers, and catch at every trifling
incoherence in their difcourfe, was, beyond
defcription, mean and ungenerous. But
to do all this with the infidious purpofe of
retailing their crude opinions to the public,
a? the ftanclard of all Highland learning
and fcience, is a fpecies of literary aflaflina-
tion, with which the world was not ac-
quainted before the Doctor publimed his
Journey,.
There
There is one excufe, however, for this
part of our Author's conduct, and that is,
that it was unavoidable. He had one
favourite purpofe toTerve, of which I {hall
take notice in its proper place ; and to pave
the way for that, it was neceflary to dif-
credit all Highland narration. When the
Doctor has an object in view, nothing
muft ftand in his way ; he goes on with
giant ftrides. Probability, truth, and de-
corum muft yield to his ftubborn refolution,
and all be facrificed to his infolence, caprice,
or difguft. When his prejudices operate,
we look in vain for thofe reftraints, either
from (hame or virtue, which regulate the
writings of others. He can be abfurd
without a blum, and unjuft without re-
morfe.
Before I difmifs this article, I will juft
take notice of, what one would leaft expect,
an inaccuracy in the Doctor's language.
In the paflage laft quoted, he fays he was
I 3 told,
( "8 )
told, " that a brogue-maker was a trade."
He certainly meant to have faid, that
brogue-making was a trade. This, how-
ever, is but a trifling flip of his pen, and
the mere effect of inadvertency ; nor do I
mention it with any defign to make it an
object of criticifm. I wifh the fame inno-
cent careleflhefs could be pleaded for more
material miftakes.
Page 113, in fpeaking of the garb
he fays, " The fame poverty that made it
then difficult for them to change their
clothing, hinders them now from chang-
ing it again.'* The truth is ? however,
that an attachment to their ancient garb
made the firft change difagreeable, and not
willingly complied with ; and a fecond
change, at the time alluded to, was ftill
prevented by a Britifh ad of parliament,
which the Doctor feems willing to over-
look, that he might have an opportu-
nity, according to his ufual candour, of
afligning
( "9 )
aligning a more favourable reafon of
his own.
Page 1 1 6, he fays, " The fummer can
do little more than feed itfelf, and winter
comes with its cold and its fcarcity upon
families very flenderly provided." As the
Doctor never, fpent a winter in the Hebrides^
it is fomewhat extraordinary, how he
fhould pretend to know fo much of the
diftreffes of that feafon. But thofe who
have patted what he calls the dark months
in thofe parts, could tell a very different
tale. A particular provifion muft be made
for the winter every where ; and that,
together with what the fummer can fpare,
and which greatly exceeds what the Doctor
would infmuate, makes the fhort days, in
the Hebrides, as comfortable as any part of
the year.
In the fame page he proceeds to obferve,
" It is incredible how foon the account
I 4 of
of any event is propagated in thefe narrow
X
countries by the love of talk, which much
leifure produces, and the relief given to
the mind, in the penury of infular conver-.
fation, by a new topic. The arrival of
ftrangers at a place fo rarely vifited, excites
rumour, and quickens curiofity. I know
not whether we touched at any corner
where fame had not already prepared us a
reception." Here it is to be obferved, that
the hofpitality and civility, which hive
been univerfally allowed to predominate
among Highlanders, fince the firft accounts
we have had of them, are exduded from
any fhare in their defire of feeing ftrangers.
He fays, curiofity was their chief motive.
This may pafs well enough with the fuper-
ficial j but with more obfervant readers it
will not do, as he unluckily tells us, iii
page 238, that the fame people are totally
void of curiofity.
Page
( I" )
t
4
Page 1 20, he fays, c * There are no houfes
in the iflands where travellers are enter-
tained for money." This, I fuppofe, he
would reckon no great difappointment.
He had occafion to expend but very little
money in Scotland ; and that little he
always mentions with regret. But did he
inquire for inns at Broad-ford, Port-ree,
or Dunvegan ? I apprehend not. He knew
he might have found them there ; and fo he
did not chufe to hazard the queftion, as he
wimed to have an apology for living in a
more private and lefs expenfive manner.
"With his ufual inconfiftency, however, he
acknowledges, in page 151, that he dined
at a public-houfe.
Page 128, he tells us, that " the mili-
tary ardour of the Highlanders is extin-
guimed." I mould be glad to know upon
what the Doctor founds this aflertion.
The contrary is fo univerfally acknow-
ledged, that few of his own countrymen,
I believe,
( 122 )
I believe, will allow it to be juft. The
laft war bears ample teftimony to their
valour, and proves that they ftill retain the
fpirit of their anceftors. The fuccefles of
that glorious period have been afcribed, in
a great meafure, to their bravery. Prince
Ferdinand has diftinguifhed them by public
thanks 'in the field. Every other General
tinder whom they ferved has been lavifh in
encomiums on their courage, and the un-
common intrepidity of their behaviour.
The Britifh fenate itfelf has recorded their
praifes. And in particular the panegyric
of Mr. Pitt) fpoken in the Houfe of Com-
mons a little before he was created Earl of
Chatham, is a monument to their military
fame, which defies the impudent but feeble
attacks of a pedants envy and malice.
In the fame page he fays, <c Of what the
Highlanders had before the late conqueft
of their country, there remain only their
language and their poverty." What he here
dignifies
( "3 )
dignifies with the name of conqueft, is the
defeat of a few rebels at Culloden. Becaufe
an handful of malcontents, who had taken
up arms, were routed and difperfed, is the
Doctor hardy enough to call that a national
conqueft ? The general loyalty of the
Scotch, at that time, rendered a general
conqueft as unneceflary as a general refift-
ance would have rendered it impracticable.
But this is much of a piece with his Crom-
wellian conqueft, which has been already
difproved. It is truly pitiable to find a
man of his years, and reputed erudition,
fo blinded by prejudice, as gravely to ad-
vance for facts what the moft illiterate
cannot believe, and every fchool-boy could
confute.
He takes every opportunity to inculcate
the poverty of the Scotch. This feems to
be a rich topic to him ; and, without it, I
know not how he could have eked out his
work, It is fo often obtruded upon the
reader,
( 124 )
reader, and that too when he would leaft
expect it, that one muft naturally think
there was a want of other matter. When,
therefore, he labours moft to prove their
poverty as a people, he infallibly proves
his own as an author, at the fame time.
He introduces this fubject very unnecef-
farily, as ufual, in the laft quotation. I
{hall juft cohtraft what he fays there with
fome other paffages from himfelf, and
leave the reader to draw his own inference.
At the bottom of page 121, and the be-
ginning of page 122, he fays, <{ He that
fhall complain of his fare in the Hebrides^
has improved his delicacy more than his
manhood." In page 124, " The breakfaft
is a meal in which the Scots, whether of
the Lowlands or mountains, muft be con-
fefled to excel us. The tea and coffee are
accompanied not only with butter, but
with honey, conferves, and marmalades.
If an epicure could remove by a wifh, in
queft
( '25 )
queft of fenfual gratifications, wherever he
had flipped he would breakfaft in Scot-
land." Page 125, "A dinner in the
Weftern Iflands differs very little from a
dinner in England."
Here we have the moft undoubted proofs
not only of plenty, but of elegance. What
now is become of that poverty into which
the Doctor had fo unmercifully plunged us
but a little ago ? His charity has at length
prevailed ; and the fame hand that had
funk us fo low, has raifed us at once to
affluence. When a man is fo much at
variance with himfelf, the leaft we can fay
is, that his teftimony can have but little
effect. But, as I have promifed, I will not
take up time in pointing out inconfiften-
cies, which cannot efcape the moft carelefs
obferver.
Page 129, he fays, " A longer journey
than to the Highlands muft be taken by
6 him
( 126 )
him whofe curiofity pants for favage virtues
and barbarous grandeur." As the Doctor,
in many places before, had fo liberally
beftowed the epithets rude, favage, and
barbarous upon the Highlanders, one
would think, from the foftening ft rain of
this paflage, that our traveller, after a more
intimate acquaintance with them, had found
reafon to alter his ftyle, and confequently
that there would be a truce vrhhfcurritities
for the future. But many of the following
pages will (hew, that there is no fuch
reformation in the Doctor's language. This
is but a fhort fufpenfion, not an entire
ceflation, of obloquy and abufe. He only
elevates a little, to make the fall the greater ;
and his compliments, like the tears of the
crocodile, are but a deceitful prelude to an
approaching facrifice.
Page 15*1, our traveller comes to Dun-
*vegan y where, he fays, he was agreeably
entertained by Lady Mackod t "who had
refided
refided many years in England, and knew
all the arts of fouthern elegance, and all
the modes of Englifti ceconomy." This
manner of accounting for the goodnefs of
his reception is, at beft, but a bad compli-
ment to that lady, as Old England is made
to run away with more than half the
praife.
But there is fomething as nationally
invidious in the above remark, as it is
indelicate to Lady Macleod. It certainly
is intended to infmuate, that he had found
the bulk of our Scotch-bred ladies deficient
in point of accomplifhments. If he did
not mean thus much, I fhould be glad to
know what he meant by fo improper art
introduction of a long refidencc in England^
to fet off Lady Macleod^ character. Had
he already forgot the ladies of Raafay*
whom he had left but a day or two before,
and whom he often mentions in a manner
that feems to render a refidence in England
nowife
nowife neceflary for attaining all the arts
of elegance, and the modes of a perfed
ceconomy ? But his own words will make
the beft comment upon this fubject. In
finiming his defcription of Raqfay, he fays,
page 149, " Such a feat of hofpitality,
amidft the winds and waters/ fills the ima-
gination with a delightful contrariety of
images. Without is the rough ocean and
the rocky land, the beating billows and
the howling ftorm ; within is plenty and
elegance, beauty and gaiety, the fong and
the dance."
Page 154, " A Highland laird," he fays,
" made a trial of his wife for a certain
time, and if (he did not pleafe him, he
was then at liberty to fend her away."
As there never was a law in Scotland
authorifing fuch a cuftom, the Doctor
fhould have told us where he had made
this wonderful difcovery. He gives one
inftance, indeed; of a gentleman fending
back
back his wife to her friends; and moft
other countries, I believe, could furnifh
many; but the bad confequences of the
feud occafioned, on this account, between
the two different clans, even as related by
himfelf, is fufficient to prove, that the
practice could never have been common.'
There is fuch an unfortunate contrariety
in moft of the Doctor's narratives, that he
generally furnifhes an antidote againft the
poifon which he means to communicate.
Page 155, he talks of people " lying
dead by families as they flood.'* Lying
as they flood is a mode of expreflion which
none but a Lexicographer, who can give
to words what meaning "he pleafes, would
venture to put upon paper. ' It would
appear, from this accurate phrafe, as if
the Doctor intended to enrich the Engli/h
language by fupplies from the Info efta-
blifhment.
K From
From an anxiety to annihilate, if pof-
fible, every veftige of antiquity in the
Highlands, he is at much pains, in pages
160, 161, 162, to explain away a Dun y or
Danifli fort, of which there are many in
the country, into a fence for fecuring
cattle from thieves. This attempt is the
more chimerical and abfurd, as it cannot
be conceived how fo fmall an area, though
much larger than he makes it, could con-
tain fuch a number of cattle as would
compenfate the trouble of rearing it ; and
which, according to his own account of
the matter, muft have been very great.
The dimenfions of this building, as
ftated by Dr. Johnfon, are very erroneous.
He fays the area is but forty-two feet in
diameter, and the height of the wall only
about nine ; but the fact is, that the former
is feventy-two feet, and the latter about
fifteen and upwards; So fmall a fpace, at
beft, could not have anfwered the purpofe
afligned
(
afligned to it by the Doctor ; but, accord-
ing to his own meafure, it would have
been altogether ufelefs. In thofe paftoral
times, it could not contain the cattle of a
fmgle individual, who was of confequence
enough to raife fuch a fabric ; much lefs
could it afford fhelter for the ftock of a
whole clan, or a country.
The height is another argument againft
the Doctor's hypothefis. Even the nine
feet, which he allows, were by far too
much for a mere fence from thieves ; as
the half of that would have been fully
fufficient. He is apt enough, at other
times, to accufe the Highlanders of lazinefs
and poverty. How, then, will he be able
to account for fo great a fuperfluity of
labour and expence, when, inftead of nine
feet, the height is, at leaft, fifteen ? A
direct anfwer to this queftion muft puzzle
even Dr. Johnfon ; and it would certainly
put any other man, in the fame fituation,
K 2 to
to fomething more than a difficulty it
would put him to the blufti.
" The walls," he fays, <c are very
thick." This likewife is againft him, as a
moderate degree of thicknefs would have
been fufficient to refift the fudden incur-
fions of freebooters. They never carried
any levelling inftruments, and they gene-
rally remained too fhort a time to overcome
the ftrength of 'very thick walls by manual
force alone.
Another, and perhaps not the lead
forcible objection to our Author's idea, is,
that he tells us, " within the great circle
were feveral fmaller rounds of wall, which
formed diftincl: apartments." Ingenuity
itfelf muft be at a lofs to conceive how
fuch a contrivance as this could have been
devifed for the more convenient ftowage of
cattle. But Dr. Johnfon faves his reader
the trouble of thinking long about the
5 matter,
( '33 )
matter, and folves the difficulty by faying,
that thefe interior apartments " were pro-
bably the flickers of the keepers." This,
I think, fettles the point at once. For, if
the whole of the great circle is fubdivided
into a number of fmaller chambers, which
were occupied by the keepers, it is evident
there could be no room for the cattle. The
Doctor has with one flroke of his pen over-
turned his own fyftem, and clearly proved
againft himfelf, that the Duns, or Towers,
fo frequent in the iflands, were intended
as flickers for men, and not for beafts.
Had he acquiefced in the natural account
of this matter, which, he fays, was given
him by Mr. Macqueen, it would have faved
him all the trouble of framing an opinion
of his own, as well as the ridicule of being
at length obliged to abandon it as untenable.
The antiquity of thofe buildings cannot
be exactly known ; but it is highly probable
K 3 that
( 134 )
that they are of Danijh origin. They
might have been ufed partly as fortrefles,
and partly as fignal-houfes, from which
the gok-man, which in the Danifh lan-
guage fignifies zftgnal-man, generally gave
the alarm, and announced the approach of
ftrangers either by fea or land.
Page 170, he fays, the feas are commonly
top rough in winter for nets, or boats, fo
that the inhabitants cannot fifh. This afler-
tion feems the more extraordinary, as he had
faid before, page 156, that while he was
in the Hebrides^ though the wind was ex-
tremely turbulent, he had never feen very
high billows. Here, however, he had an
hypothecs to fupport. He wanted to have
another ftroke at the poverty of the inha*
bitants ; and therefore he found it necefTary
to make ',the fea ftormy, that by depriving
them of fifh he might create a famine, as
he flatly fays, that other provifion fails at
that feafon. When the good Doctor has a
point
( 13S )
point of this nature to carry, he laughs
at the reftridlions of confiftency and com-
mon fenfe.
Page 175, we find the Dodor at Oftig in
Sky y where he was hofpitably entertained
for fome days by Mr. Martin Macpherfon,
minifter of Slate^ and fon to the late reve-
rend and learned Dr. John Macpherfon>
formerly minifter of the fame parilh.
As our traveller was now upon the fpot
where Dr. Macphcrfon had fo long refided,
and where he had fo fuccefsfully employed
his talents as a writer, one might naturally
expert that he would have taken fome
opportunity of mentioning fo diftinguifhed
a character with refpedt. By fuch a tribute
to the memory of the father, he would
have repaid the hofpitality of the fon in
the moft agreeable manner ; while, at the
fame time, by doing juftice to another's
merit, he would have given a generous
K 4 proof
( '36 )
proof of his own candour and impar-
tiality.
But, inftead of that, the Doctor chufes
to be filent ; and we hear not a fingle word
of Dr. Macpbcrfon or his writings. This
muft certainly be owing to one or other of
thefe caufes, or to both ; either to the
jealoufy of a little mind, which is incapable
of conferring praife ; or to our traveller's
unwillingnefs to inform the public, that an
author of fuch eminent abilities was a
native of the Highlands.
Among other things, Dr. Macpherfon
had written profefledly, and in a mafterly
manner, on the antiquities of his country ;
not from that tradition, which Dr. John-
fon explodes, but, to ufe one of our tra-
veller's expreffions, from the <l unconta-
minated fountains of Greek and Roman
literature." Where tradition completed
the figure, of which the ancients drew the
outlines.
( '37 )
outlines, Dr. Macpherfon paid it that atten-
tion which it claims from writers whofe
object is truth ; where it differed from in-
conteftible authorities, he rejected it with
proper contempt.
But it was not convenient for Dr. John-
fon's plan to mention even the name of a
native of the Highlands, whofe know-
ledge as a fcholar, and elegance as an
author, reflected fo much honour on his
country. As our dogmatical journalift
wifhed to draw a veil over the hiftory of
our country, as well as over the genius of
our countrymen, it would have been a
fpecies of literary fuicide to have taken
any notice of a writer whofe induftry and
talents have placed the exiftence and truth
f both beyond difpute. The directing his
readers to Dr. Macpherforfs works, would
infallibly pull down the fabulous fabric
which Dr. Johnfon intended to raife; and
we mull, therefore, commend his prudence,
whilft
( '38 )
whilft we exclude him from every pretence
to candour.
Let me, therefore, tell the Doctor, that
he would have done much greater juftice to
the public, as well as to Scotland, if, in-
flead of trufting to his own ingenuity in
many things, he had related the opinions
of Dr. Macpherfon and others. A few
anecdotes from thofe authors would have
been full as valuable to the purchafers of
his book, as telling them, fhat, one day^
Mr. Bofwell borrowed a boys fijhing-rod
and caught a cuddy ; with a thoufand
other impertinent trifles of the fame na-
ture.
Page 183, in fpeaking of minerals, he
fays, " Common ores would be here of no
great value ; for what requires to be fepa-
rated by fire muft, if it were found, be
carried away in its mineral ftate, here
being no fuel for the fmeltirig-houfe or
forge."
( 139 )
forge.*' If this be true, how happens it
that feveral Englifh companies come to
different parts of the Weft coaft for char-
coal, and bring ore all the way from Eng-
land to be there fmelted ? Befides, it is
well known that there is pit-coal in Mull\
and, I am told, it is likewife to be had in
one or more of the other iflands.
Immediately after, he adds, " Perhaps,
by dill-gent fearch in this world of ftone,
fome valuable fpecies of marble might be
difcovered. But neither philofophical cu-
riofity nor commercial induftry have yet
fixed their abode here." Had our doughty
itinerant himfelf carried any reafonable
{hare of " philofophical curiofity" along
with him, he might have obferved abund-
ance of white marble near Corichattachan>
where he acknowledges he had been twice.
Page 1 86, he fays, " The cattle go from
the iflands very lean, and are not offered
to
to the butcher till they have been long
fatted in Englifh paftures." The cattle that
are fent from the iflands are not generally
fo very lean when they fet out, but they
naturally become fo before they are driven
fix or feven hundred miles. Were the
fatteft bullocks in England to travel in the
fame manner to the iflands, they would
probably not be very fit for being offered
to die butcher when they arrived there.
If the Doctor doubts the fact, let him
drive a live ftock before him, when he fets
out on his next journey, and I will be an-
fiverable for the confequence.
Page 204, " The inhabitants," fays
he, " were for a long time perhaps not
unhappy ; but their content was a muddy
mixture of pride and ignorance, an in-
difference for pleafures which they did not
know, a blind veneration for their chiefs,
and a ftrong conviction of their own im-
portance." It may with more truth be
faid,
( HI )
faid, that this obfervation is a muddy mix-
ture of a ftill lefs honourable pride and more
contemptible ignorance \ a total indifference
for truth, if the contrary can but ferve the
turn ; a blind prejudice againft the whole
Scottifh nation ; and zjlrong conviction in
the Author's own mind, that he has here,
as on many other occafions, mod infa-
moufly and grofsly mifreprefented them.
As to our pride, he fays in the following
page, " Their pride has been crufhed by
the heavy hand of a vindictive conqueror."
This is another retrofpeft to the year
1745. If ever the faying, that " old men
are twice children" was verified by ex-
ample, it is certainly on the prefent occa-
fion. The peevifh veteran has once taken
it into his head to fay, that the Scotch
were then conquered, and he muft be
allowed to fay fo ftill, or there can be no
peace with him. He therefore diverts him-
felf with founding the horn of victory, as
an
( I 4 2 )
an overgrown lubberly boy would be pleafed
with the noife of his rattle, or the blowing
of his '
I have already endeavoured to place this
matter in its proper light. I (hall now
borrow a little of the Doctor's own afTift-
ance to flrengthen my arguments. Page
207, he fays, " To difarm part of the High-
lands, could give no reafonable occafion
of complaint. Every government muft be
allowed the power of taking away the
weapon that is lifted againft it. But the
loyal clans murmured, with fome appear-
ance of juftice, that, after having defended
the king, they were forbidden for the
future to defend themfelves ; and that the
fword mould be forfeited, which had been
legally employed. Their cafe is undoubt-
edly hard," &c.
Whoever reads this paflage will require
little further proof, that the idea of a
national
( 143 )
national conqueft is moft abfurd, and that
the Doctor himfelf has furnimed a decifive
argument againft it. After this conceffion,
could any one expert to hear him fay in
the very fame page, " But the law, which
followed the victory of Culloden, found
the whole nation dejected and intimi-
dated ?'* He tells us in one place, that
there were loyal clans, and that they de-
fended the king. What occafion then had
the whole nation to be dejefted and intimi-
dated, unlefs we can fuppofe that neaf two
millions of people, who were innocent,
were to be involved in the guilt of a few
thoufands ? Such bare-faced contradictions
are an anfwer to themfelves.
But let me tell . the Doctor, that without
the afliftance of the loyal clans he mentions,
the victory of Culloden had never been
heard of. Had he known, or rather ad-
verted to this, I am perfuaded he would
have been at lefs pains to celebrate an event,
wherein
wherein the Scotch themfelves had more
than an equal {hare.
The rebellion of 1 745 was only a partial
infurrection of a few difcontented chiefs
and their followers. Neither were thofe
gentlemen the heads of the moft nume-
rous clans ; nor did the whole of their
refpective tribes attend them to the field.
Only nine parifhes in the Highlands con-
tributed a part of their inhabitants towards
furnifhing the rebel army. It would feem,
however, that Dr. Johnfori > & fears, and
probably the fears of thofe about him at
that time, had magnified the danger to a
very high degree; and that may be one
reafon for his exalting the fuppreflion of
an inconfiderable tumult into a fpkndid
victory. If the Doctor is not afhamed
to confefs his own panic, he ought not, for
decency's fake, to have expofed that of his
country.
That
( '45 )
That the infurgents met with little
encouragement in Scotland, is evident.
Their whole number amounted hardly to
feven thoufand ; and of thefe about two tfcou-
fand were Englifh. That a much greater
proportion of our fouthern neighbours did
not repair to the fame ftandard, was by no
means owing to their poflefling a greater
fhare of loyalty. The difaffedion of moft
of their leading men, and the meafures
they had concerted, are well known ; they
only waited for fome favourable moment
to declare their intentions ; in which, it
muft be allowed, they {hewed themfelves
much more prudent, if lefs refolute, than
the Scotch.
He goes on to difcufs what he had
aflerted in page 204, as above quoted.
Having " crufhed our pride by the heavy
hand of a vindictive conqueror, " in the
manner we have feen, he comes next to
L expofe
expofe rather than to coramiferate our
ignorance.
Ol "''' "
Page 206, he fays, cc Their ignorance
grows every day lefs, but their knowledge
is yet of little other ufe than to fhew them
1
their wants. " As to the.firft part of this
pompous apophthegm, " that our, ignorance
grows every day lefs," I fhall only ob-
ferve, that if the fame thing cannot be faid
of our friends the Englifh, they muft be
a much duller people than I ever took
them for. In regard to the fecond, he
gives our knowledge its proper ufe. When
people find out their wants, they will
foon fall upon means to fupply them.
From the parade which accompanies this
piece of intelligence, one would be apt,
at firft fight, to expect a great deal from
it; but, when we examine it more nar-
rowly, we fhall find it only informs us,
that as our knowledge becomes greater,
our ignorance grows lefs.
But
( '47 )
But to be a little more ferrous with the
Doctor, let me afk him, in what that ig-
norance confifted, which is fo miracu~
culoujly growing lefs, by our learning to
know more ?
He feems to conned it with what he
calls " an indifference for pleafures which
we did not know," Does he mean the
fafhionable pleafures of the Englifh metro-
polis ? If he does, he has, at laft, paid us
no fmall compliment. To make frequent
vows at the fhrine of the voluptuous god-
defs, is no great fign of the wifdom of any
people. The puny fize and meagre form
which mark out her votaries, afford no
great temptation to follow their example.
I would gladly hope, however, that Dr.
Johnfon is not a ferious advocate for in-
temperate pleafures ; as it would give me
a much worfe opinion of his morals,
at leaft, than I would wifti to entertain.
L * Though
Though he has been a Rambler in his
younger days, he would certainly cut a
bad figure as an old Rake. To fay no
worfe, it would be ridiculous in the ex-
treme* to fee fuch an aggregate of un-
fafliioned matter " tottering, with paralytic
flride, after fenfual gratifications, and auk-
wardly affuming the light airs of modern
libertinifm."
I have already given feveral proofs that
the Scotch were not behind their neigh-
bours, either in ufeful or ornamental im-
provements, many centuries ago. I will
now mention fome other circumftances, to
fhew that the Doctor's charge of what he
calls ignorance cannot apply to thofe times.
To give his aflertion weight, therefore,
he ought to have told us when this national
misfortune commenced, and wherein it
now confifts ; for it muft appear fomewhat
unaccountable, that the Scotch, who had
once their full proportion of the improve-
ments commonly known in Europe, fhould
have
( 149 )
have made a retrograde motion, while
other nations have been in a progreffive
flate.
As to the ftate of learning among us,
we have already feen how that matter,
flood in very early times. In particular,
it has appeared from hiftory, that St. Aydan
and others were ferit from Scotland, in the
feventh century, to inftrut fome of the
Doctor's countrymen in the firft principles
of Chriftianity. In fucceeding times it
muft be allowed, that learning had con-
fiderably declined among our anceftors ;
but, even in that refpect, the Scotch had
only their fhare of the fame Gothic cloud
which, for a feafon, darkened the face of
all Europe. This misfortune was owing
every where to the Roman Catholic clergy,
with whom it was an eftablifhed maxim,
that " ignorance was the mother of devo-
tion." In mentioning the effecT:, there-
fore, the Doctor ihould have afligned the
L 3 caufe;
caufe ; but as that could not be done with-?
out a juft cenfure on his favourite fed, he
chufes to leave it behind the curtain. He
takes -fuch frequent opportunities of ex-
tolling the piety of monks, priefts, and
cardinals, that the dulleft of his readers
may eafily difcover his attachment to their
tenets.
In regard to fuch arts and manufactures
as were then commonly known over
Europe, there are many proofs to {hew,
that they were anciently cultivated, not
only in Scotland at large, but even in the
Hebrides, in as great perfection as any
where elfe. As to the iflands in particular,
I might venture to aflert, that fome inge-
nious arts, which were well underftood by
our forefathers, are now in a great meafure
loft, from that change in our modes of life
which time and circumftances have intro-
duced. This may appear a paradox to the
Doctor, and perhaps to fome others ; but
I mould
I (hould find no difficulty in proving it .to
be true, if fuch a difcuffioa ftiould appear
to be neceflary.
That a knowledge of the feveral arts
9
muft have been very generally diffeminated
over the Highlands, there can be no reafon
to doubt. It is well known that our kings
refided often in that part of their domi-
nions, as at Dunftaffnage, Dunmacfni-
chain, or Berigonium, Inverlochay, Inver-
nefs, and Logirate, &c. It is natural,
therefore, to fuppofe, that they had at all
thofe places a number of artifts of all kinds,
becoming their ftate and quality ; and like-
wife, that the {kill and knowledge of thefe
men muft neceflarily be communicated to
others. Several of the caftl.es and magni-
ficent palaces wherein the kings refided
are ftill to be feen, though our traveller
feems to have been determined to take no
notice of them.
L 4 But
( '5* )
But though no king of Scotland had
ever refided in the Highlands, our feveral
chieftains lived in all the ftate of inde-
pendent princes. Like the feudal lords of
all other countries, they were often at vari-
ance with fome of their neighbours ; and
that rendered it abfolutely neceflary, that
they fliould be provided with the means
of every fpecies of accommodation, either
for peace or war, within their own terri-
tories. This is another undeniable proof,
that a very large proportion of the High-
landers muft have been well fkilled in the
different arts.
i
There are yet many monuments of an-
cient mafonry among us, of different kinds,
which greatly excel any thing of that
nature in modern times. The curious
hieroglyphics on fome of our tombs de-
ferved particular notice, though Dr. Johri-
foti pafles over them in fileqce. Among
pther things, the huge mafles of ftone fet
up
up in druidical circles, particularly thofe
fupported . upon other ftones for druidical
altars, and the obelifks ereded in com-
memoration of battles, are demonftrable
proofs of our knowledge of mechanics.
Many monuments of this kind are ftill-
to be feen, not only upon the continent or
main-land of Scotland, but likewife in the
iflands ; though many others, within the
memory of fome people ftill living, have
been deftroyed to make way for the plough,
or by other accidents. In particular, at
Irwerliver on the fide of Lochete, at Glen-
cetkn in Qlenete, in different parts in Ifla t
and at Callanu and Barvas in the ifland
of Lewis, there are mafles of fuch enor-
mous fize and weight, as could not be raifed
by any number of men that could ftand
round t ' urn. Clachan-an-Truifeil near Bar-
vas, particularly, is from two to two and
a half feet thick, fix feet broad, and from
feventeen to eighteen feet above ground.
As
( 1*4 )
As the ftone (lands in a peat-tnofs, or bog,
there can be no lefs than a third part of it
under ground ; and it is probable there may
be more. .There are no ftones or quarry*
of the fame kind nearer to it than the
fea-fide, from which it ftands about half a
mile, on the afcent of a fteep hill, and
having a deep bog between.
In trie ifland called from O'Cbormaic, on
the coaft of Knapdale y and I think on the
riorth-eaft fide, there is a fmall com-
modious harbour, a great part of which is
fur rounded with a wall or quay, ex-
tremely well built ; and the foundation of
it is fo deep, that it cannot be feen even at
low water. What is remarkable of this is,
that it is fo old that no one pretends to
know, even by tradition, when or by whom
it was built.
The Fletchers of Glenlyon, in Perth-
fhire, were the moft famous arrow-makers
of
( '55 )
of their time, fo long as that weapon con*
tinued to be ufed.
The fmelting and working of iron was
well underftood, and conftantly pradifed,
over all the Highlands and Iflands for
time immemorial. Inftead of improving
in that art, we have fallen off exceedingly
of late years, and at prefent make little or
none. Tradition bears, that they made it
in the blomary way ; that is, by laying it
under the hammers, in order to make it
malleable with the fame heat that melted
4t in the furnace.
There is ftill in the Highlands a clan
of the name of Mac Nuithear> who are
defcended from thofe founders, and have
from thence derived their furname. I am
likewife well informed, that there is in
Glenurchy, in Argylefhire, a family of the
name of Mac Nab, who have lived in the
fame place, and have been a race of fmiths,
from
C '56 )
from father to fon, for more, perhaps,
than three hundred years paft; and who,
in confequence of the father having in-
ftrucled the fon, have carried down fo
much of their ancient art, that they excel
all others in the country, in the way of
their profeflion ; even thofe taught in the
fouth of Scotland, as well as in England,
not excepted. A tinker or fmith of the
name of Mac Feadearan y a tribe now almoft
extinct, was the moft famous of his time
for making arrow-heads.
%
It is certain that Mac Donald was for-
merly poflefTed of moft of the iveftern ifles,
as well as of feveral large diftricts upon the
continent or main-land. He had many
places of refidence, fuch as Ardtormifh y
&c. ; but the moft common one was in an
ifland in Lochfinlagan in I/la. Near this
place, and not far from Port AJkaic on
the found of Ifla, lived the fmith Mac
Cregie (that is, the fon of the Rock), and
his
( 157 )
his pofterity for a great; length of time.
There is ftill pointed out, by the inhabit-
ants, the rock out of which he dug his
iron ore. Near the rock is a large folid
Hone, of a very hard confiftency, on which
he knapped his ore ; and, at a little diftance,
there is a cafcade on a rivulet, where flood
his mill for polifhing, or otherwife pre-
paring the iron which he had manufac-
tured. Here he and his defcendents made
complete fuits of armour, according to the
fafhion of the times ; fuch as helmets,
fwords, coats of mail, &c. The IJla hilt
for the broad fword is well known, and
fo famous as to have become proverbial.
As to our navigation^ there is reafon
to believe that it bore a near proportion to
that of our neighbours : fea-engagements
with Birlins were very common in the
Highlands till of late. Lymphad, or Gal-
ley, was the fame witb Lwgb-fhad (Long-
(hip), or Birlin.
There
( '58 )
There was a fhip of war built in Scot-
land, in the minority of James IV. the
equal of which had never been built in
Britain, nor feen upon the feas in thofe
times. Its dimenfions I am not juft now
able to afcertain ; but they have been accu-
rately defcribed by feveral of our hiftorians,
whom I have not at prefent an opportunity
of confulting*
In 1490, Andrew Wood, with two Scots
fliips, took five mips belonging to the
Englifh, though much fuperior to his own
in fize. With the fame two fhips he after-
wards took three Englim mips, the beft
that could be picked out of Henry the
Eighth's whole fleet, and equipped for the
purpofe. They were commanded by Ste-
phen Bulb as admiral, the only man in
England that could be found to undertake
the expedition ; and they had the further
advantage of being clean out of the dock,
while
( >S9 )
while Wood had been fome time uporl a
cruife on the coaft of Holland, and totally
ignorant of the trap that was intended for
him on his return.
From this the Doctor may perceive, that
we could and did cope with the formidable
fleets of England, and even obtained fignal
advantages over them, at a time long prior
to that in which he continues to reprefent
us as a nation of ignorant favages and
barbarians.
With refpecl: to carpentry, or joiner's
work, we have flill many fpecimens, in
oak, of very high antiquity, which greatly
excel any thing that is done by modem
artifts.
Our fhields, or targets, likewifc, con-
fifting of wood, leather, and often a plate
of fteel, with regularly placed and polilhed
brafs
brafs ftuds, which fometimes formed dif-
ferent figures and reprefentations of things,
prove, beyond a doubt, that we had people
very early who could work with dexterity
in a variety of materials.
Many more inftances might be given;
but thofe above, I flatter myfelf, will be
fufficient to convince the Doctor, though
perhaps he may not confefs it, that fuch
arts as were known to other nations, were
not at any period of time unknown in
Scotland. The EngHJh are but too apt to
claim a fuperiority, in moft things, over
all their neighbours; but we know per-
fectly well, that they can boaft but of few
inventions, and that they are not over
remarkable for making quick improve-
ments on the inventions of others. But I
wifti not, by any means, to launch into
general reflections, for the indifcretion of
Dr. Johnfon and a few others.
We
We are fully fatisfied ourfelves, and fo>
we hope, are others, that it is not our
ignorance or want of genius that has
brought fuch a deluge of falfehood and
abufe upon us from our worthy traveller*
It is fomething elfe, which he himfelf
thinks the reverfe of thefe, that has pro-
voked fo much afperity ; and we hope we
{hall always continue to furnifli him with
the fame reafons for jealoufy and detrac-
tion. We wifh not that Dr. Jobnfon fhould
ever fpeak of us in a different %le. As his
pride and envy know no bounds, he is fel-
dom obliging where others would confer
applaufe. His cenfure, therefore, implies
a claim to merit*
In a long firing of quaint axioms, he
tells us, page 211, *' That the martial
character cannot prevail in a whole people,
but by the diminution of all other virtues."
By this, he endeavours to rob the High-
landers of every thing that is valuable, but
M their
their bravery. He could devife no means
to deprive them of that, and therefore he
was refolved to leave them no other quali-
fication. But, in aiming this thruft at the
Scotch, he feems not aware what a deep
wound he gives to Old England at the
fame time. His own countrymen will not
eafily give up their claim to the marti.al
character ; and yet, I believe, they would
not chufe to confirm the Doctor's reafon-
ing, by renouncing their pretenfions to
all other 'virtues. The French, Germans,
and Swifs, are all allowed to pofTefs the
martial character ; but their politenefs, hu-
manity, and other virtues cannot be called
in queftion. Among individuals, it has
commonly been obferved, that the moft
cowardly were always the moft cruel and
barbarous. I thought likewife that the
fame maxim had been eftablifhed in regard
to nations; and I muft think fo (till, 'till
fomething ftronger has appeared againft it
than has been advanced by Dr. Johiifon.
When
When a man is at variance with the
common fenfe of mankind, his opinions
may, at firft, furprife a little by their
novelty; but the furprife excited by im-
pudent fingularity is foon followed by
contempt.
In the fame and the following page, he
fays, " Every provocation was revenged
with blood, and no man that ventured into
a numerous company, by whatever occa-
fion brought together, was fure of return-
ing without a wound." What the Doctor
fays here is, fo far, very right. No man cer-
tainly could be fure of any thing that was to
happen, without the gift of prefcience ; but
there was a much greater probability of a
man returning fafe, in the cafe he ftates,
than that an inhabitant of London, after
going to bed, {hall not have his houfe
.robbed, or his throat cut, before next
morning.
M 2 Different
Different interefts, as happened in all
other countries, under the feudal inftitu-
tion, made different clans fometimes inter-
fere with one another. The fame caufes,
I believe, are attended with fimilar effects
in moft parts of England, even in this
refined age. There are few contefted elec-
tions, I am told, without producing tumult,
diforder, danger, and fometimes death.
In regard to thofe of the fame clan, at the
time alluded to, they not only lived peace-
ably together, but likewife in the moft
friendly manner; and generally with lefs
defign upon each other than, I am afraid,
is to be found among fome people who
confider themfelves as much more civi-
lifed. Were the Doctor's reprefentation of
the country juft, it muft certainly have
been long fince depopulated.
Page 213, he fays, " The power of
deciding controverfies, and of puniming
offences, as fome fuch power there muft
always
always be, was entrufted to the lairds of
the country, to thofe whom the people
confidered as their natural judges. It
cannot be fuppofed that a rugged proprietor
of the rocks, unprincipled and unenlight-
ened, was a nice refolver of entangled
claims, or very exact in proportioning
punifhment to offences." To make good
his point, the Doctor here takes fomething
for granted.
Why fhould he fuppofe the lairds to be
unprincipled^ though fome of them might
happen, now and then, to be fomewhat
unenlightened in the intricate points of
law ? In matters of equity, which were
the only queftions that could come before
them, and thefe by a reference from both
the parties, a man of a good understanding
and folid fenfe might not make a bad
arbiter ; and Highlanders in general have
not been reckoned deficient in a reafonable
{hare of fagacity. Thofe whom the Doctor
M 3 calls
calls nice rcfohers of entangled claims, are
often as great confounders of plain cafes.
But the Doctor's obfervado'ns on the
mode of distributing juftice among the
Highlanders muft fall to the ground, as
they are not founded upon jnatter of fail.
The chiefs never fat as judges, either in
civil or criminal cafes. The ctinftitution
of the Highlands, if the expreffion may
be ufed, was exactly the fame with that of
all other countries, where the feudal fyftem
of government prevailed. The chief, as
proprietor of the land, nominated a judge
to decide upon differences between his
'tenants. In matters of property, there lay
an appeal to the King's courts in a regular
gradation.
In criminal cafes, though the culprit
was tried in 'the diftrict where the crime
was committed, a jury was fummoned from
the whole county, and formed in^ the fame
juft
juft and unexceptionable manner as is
pradifed at prefent by the High Court of
Jufticiary in Scotland. The jurymen did
not confift, as I am informed they fre-
quently do in the Doctor's country, of low
and unenlightened tradefmen and mechanics.
On the contrary, they were men of landed
property in the county ; all gentlemen of
confequence and confideration, who had a
character to lofe by any deviation from
the eftablifhed maxims of juftice ; of which,
as they are imprinted on the human mind,
the bulk of mankind are judges in every
country. The number of the jurymen,
likewife, was always greater in Scotland
than in England ; which was an additional
fecurity for juftice.
The Doctor makes fome amends for
what he had fo rafhly aflerted, in the next
paragraph. " When the chiefs," adds he,
w were men of knowledge and virtue, the
convenience of a domeftic judicature was
great. No long journies were neceflary,
M 4 great.
( 168 )
no artificial delays could be pradtifed ; the
character, the alliances, and interefts of
the litigants were known to the court, and
all falfe pretences were eafily detected.
The fentence, when it was paft, could not
be evaded ; the power of the laird fuper-
feded formalities, and juftice could not be
defeated by intereft or ftratagem." Here
he fpeaks with more decency, though he
is ftill wrong in the principle.
Page 215. " The roads are fecure in
thofe places, through which, forty years
ago, no traveller could pafs without a con-
voy." To borrow a little of his own polite
language, it may juftly be laid here, that
the Doctor is either " unprincipled" or
" unenlightened." His information, if he
had any, was certainly very bad ; and if
he fpeaks at hazard, the infamy of his
mifreprefentation is apparent.
I am forry when the Doctor obliges me
to draw comparifons between the two kingr
doms ;
( 169 )
doms; but I muft inform him, that the
Highlanders never lurked on the public
roads to difturb ordinary travellers, like
the banditti who at prefent infeft all the
roads in England. A robbery or murder
was always a rare thing in the Highlands.
Even in the rudeft times our anceftors dif-
dained fuch practices ; it is not therefore
probable, that the prefent generation fhould
be lefs civilifed than their forefathers.
Whatever hoftilities they committed, it
was always openly and avowedly ; and only
by way of reprifal on thofe with whom they
were at enmity. The moft polite nations
in Europe take ftill the fame advantagss,
when in a ftate of war with their neigh-
bours. When therefore two clans were at
variance, it might happen, indeed, that
thofe belonging to either of them might
fometimes find it convenient to travel in
larger parties than ufual for fecurity, efper
2 cially
cially if their route led them near the terri-
tories of the other.
If the Doctor's convoy was not of this
fort, I am at a lofs to find it out. I never
heard of any other ; and even the neceflity
of that did not come fo far down as he
dates it. In any other cafe, a fingle tra-
veller might pafs from one end of the
country to the other unmolefted, and with
much lefs danger of infult or depredation
than even in Fleet-Jlreet^ where, I am told,
the pure Dr. yobnfon has not difdained to
fix his abode.
In the very next fentence of the fame
page, he fays, " All trials -of right by the
fword are forgotten." This mode of de-
ciding points of right would, I confefs,
have been a reproach to our forefathers,
had it been only in ufe among them. But
as the fame kind of appeal prevailed in
England, and other European countries, at
the
the fame time, it is rather fomewhat little
in this great man to exhibit that cuftom
now, as a characteriftic of the ancient
Highlanders.
Page 227, he obferves> " England has
for feveral years been filled with the at-
chievements of feventy thoufand High-
landers employed in America. I have
heard from an Englifli officer, not much
inclined to favour them, that their beha-
viour deferved a very high degree of mili-
tary praife; but their number has been
much exaggerated. One of the minifters
told me, that feventy thoufand men could
not have been found in all the Highlands,
and that more than twelve thoufand never
took the field." The number faid 4 to have
been employed in America, if the Doctor
ever heard fuch a report, was certainly
much exaggerated, No more than about
five thoufand were' employed on the Ame-
rican fervice 5 and thofe were only the
Royal
Royal Highlanders, with Frazer's and
Montgomery's regiments. The former con-
fided of two battalions of eleven hundred
each ; and each of the latter had fourteen
hundred men. They did not act in a
body together; every corps had a feparate
destination.
'
Though there were not feventy thoufand
Highlanders employed in America, nor
indeed in the whole fervice, there were
certainly more than that number of men
raifed in Scotland, during the courfe of the
laft war ; but a large proportion of thefe
were Loivlanders ; and they, likewife, did
much honour to the Britifh arms, as well
as to their native country. The Doctor,
however, makes the Scotch levies all High-
landers, and fends the whole feventy thou-
fand to America, as he could not allow the
atchievements of which he had heard to
five thoufand only. This furnifhes an
equal proof of his admiration and envy.
( 173 )
As the Doctor is never long of one mind,
he foon veers about, and reduces his feventy
thoufand to twelve. He fays he was told
by one of the minifters, that feventy thou-
fand men could not be found in all the
Highlands, and that more than twelve
thoufand never took the field.
The Doctor, on more occafions than one,
feems to have been much indebted to the
Scotch clergy for intelligence ; at leaft, he
often adduces them as vouchers for what
he fays. It is remarkable, however, that
when he makes ufe of their teftimony for
any thing that derogates from the import-
ance of the country, he always conceals
their names. This has a very fufpicious
look, as we have no direction for invefti-
gating the fact ; and none of thofe gentle-
men can find himfelf refponfihle to refute
an anonymous charge.
*
I will
( '74 )
I will allow the Doctor, if he pleafes,
that feventy thoufand men could not eafily
be found in the Highlands, to enter the
fervice all at one time ; and, I believe, it
might even diftrefs Old England itfelf to
furnifh an equal number of efficient re-
cruits on a fudden emergency. But I will
deny that no more than twelve thoufand
Highlanders were employed in our different
armies, in the courfe of the laft war ; and
I will be bold to aver, that no minifter
ever gave him the information he pretends.
There is not a minifter in Scotland, much
lefs in the Highlands, but knows the con-
trary. There were, at one time, fifteen
battalions of Highlanders, diftmguifhed by
their native drefs ; which may be reckoned
at fixteen thoufand men at leaft : for if
two or three of thofe corps, and I am fure
there were no more, fell a little (hort of
their full complement of a thoufand each,
all the reft had a furplus much more than
fufficient to make up the deficiency.
In
In this there can be no deception. Who-
ever has curiofity enough, may have re-
courfe to the War-office for a confirmation
of the fact. Befides, it is certain, that
many more than the number I have juft
now mentioned, were difperfed through
other regiments, without any external dif-*
tin&ion as Highlanders. We had con-
ftantly recruiting parties among us, and
they feldom beat up without finding
volunteers.
Hence we find that our author is not
more lucky in the ftories which he palms
upon others, than in the fidelity of his
own obfervations ; but he does not always
deal in anonymous authority. He pro-
fefledly places fome things to Mr. Bofive/l's
account, which I am forry to fee. Had I
therefore an opportunity of meeting that
gentleman, I would certainly afk him,
whether his fellow-traveller, Dr. Samuel
i) had not taken improper liberties
3 with
with his name ? and if he avowed the fads,
I would not hefitate to tell him, that, if he
had not ignorance for an excufe, he had
{hewn little regard to candour.
As to the Englifh officer, who profefled
himfelf not much inclined to favour the
Highlanders, but owned that their beha-
viour deferved a very high degree of mili-
tary praife, the Doctor has done him a
kindnefs in fupprefiing his name. If
known, he could hardly have accounted to
the world for fo ftrange an antipathy ; and
though concealed, if he has lived to fee the
journey to the Hebrides, and recollecls
himfelf in the above paffage, he muft feel
fomewhat aukwardly in his own mind.
To avow a diflike, and to acknowledge a
claim to praife at the fame time, exceeds
even the ufual extravagance of Englifh
prejudice.
Page
Page 230, he fays, " The traveller, who
comes hither from more opulent countries,
to fpeculate upon the remains of pafloral
life, will not much wonder that a common
Highlander has no ftrong adherence to his
native foil." The attachment of Scotch-
men in general, and of Highlanders in
particular, to their native country, has
always been remarkable, even to a degree
of enthufiafm ; which certainly would not
have been the cafe, were that country as
deftitute of comfortable enjoyments as the
Doctor often reprefents it; He is here
confuted by the general voice of his own
countrymen, who daily upbraid the Scotch
for their national adherence. His afTer-
tion, therefore, muft lofe credit on both
hands. The Highlander will fpurn the
malignant infmuation with contempt ; and
no Englifhman will believe it.
But as Dr. Jobnfon will prove the moil
unexceptionable evidence againfl himfelf,
N I {hall
( 1 7 8 )
I {hall to this pafTage oppofe another from
his own work. When he was leaving
dnoch in Glenmorrifon, where he had ftaid
a night, and was fo much captivated with
the genteel appearance and behaviour of
his landlord's daughter, he tells us, that
their hoft, when they left his houfe in the
morning, walked by them a great way,
and entertained them with converfation
both on his own condition and that of the
country. " From him," continues he,
page 79, " we firft heard of the general
diflatisfadion (the raifmg of the rents),
which t is now driving the Highlanders
into the other hemifphere ; and when I
aiked him whether they would flay at
home, if they were well treated, he an-
fwered with indignation, that no man wil-
lingly left his native country." This, I
prefume, will be deemed a fufficient com-
ment upon the preceding quotation.
It
It is not the firft time we have feen the
Doctor's narrations at crofs purpofes with
each other. We can account for his mif-
reprefentations from his prejudices ; his
contradictions, however, will require a
different folution. A badnefs of heart may
induce a man to calumniate others ; but
there is a degree of infanity in- expofing
one's own (hame.
Page 238. We have here another of
our traveller's inconfiftencies. " The ge-
neral converfation of the Iflanders,". fays
he, "has nothing particular. I. did not
meet with the inquifitivenefs of which I
have read, and fufpecT: the judgment to.
have been rafhly made." How will this be
reconciled with what he has faid before in
page 1 1 6, where he defcribes the fame
people as full of curiofity and of the love
of talk ?
N 2 But
But the cafe is fo very different from
what the Doctor alleges in this place, that
the inquifitivenefs of the common people in
the Highlands has been generally thought
to border upon a good-natured kind of
officioufnefs. I do not mention this as a
circumftance very much to be applauded ;
but it is harmlefs at leaft, and mews that
the Doctor has formed a wrong eftimate of
that part of their character, if he ftates the
matter as he really found it. Many of
them, however, for want of his language,
might be unable to exprefs their cliriofity,
let it be ever fo great.
As to the better fort, they were always
very delicate in their inquiries, as th,e
Doctor's anfwers were generally rude and
unmannerly. While in the Hebrides, he
was for the moft part fo fulky and ill-
humoured, that even their afliduities to
pleafe him feemed to give offence. It may
3 naturally
naturally be .fuppofed, therefore, that a
people always remarkable for their polite-
nefs to ftrangers, would be very fhy in
obtruding any thing that might prove dif-
agreeable to their gueft. When the Doctor
was in a mood for converfation, they
heard him with attention, and anfwered
his queftions with civility; but, with all
that curiofity and love of 'talk, which he
has allowed them in another place, they
feldoin ventured to folicit him for any
information in return. The natural rough-
nefs of his manners was fometimes fo
exceffive, that he even treated the ladies
with difrefpecl: ; and nothing but a regard
to the laws of .hofpitality prevented the
gentlemen often from fhewing marks of
their difpleafure.
Page 239. " There are now parochial
fchools, to which the lord of every manor
pays a certain ftipend. Here tke children
are taught to read; but, by the rule of
N 3 their
( 182 )
their inftitution, they teach only Engli/h,
fo that the natives read a language which
they may never ufe or tinderftand." The
Doctor undertakes to give too much inform- 1
ation for the fhort ftay he made in the
Hebrides. The time could not allow a
proper inveftigation of fo many particulars,
were he more difpofed to be faithful in his
accounts ; and therefore it is no wonder
that we fo often find him miftaken.
Here he evidently confounds the paro-
chial with the charity fchools. The former
are provided with falaries in the manner
he mentions ; but the latter are fupported
by royal bounty. There has not been a
parifh in Scotland for fome centuries with-
out a parochial fchool ; and every thing
within the compafs of the matter's know-
ledge, who is always a man of univerfity
education, is regularly taught. There is
no prohibition againft teaching any thing,
not
C 183 )
not even the Gaelic, fo much the Do&or's
abhorrence, excepted ; though, at the fame
time, that is not a branch of education in
thofe feminaries.
The charity fchools are of much later
inftitution; and, being intended originally
for the poorer fort, the children pay no
fees. The fame qualifications are not re-
quifite in the m afters of thefe. They
chiefly teach Englim, writing, and arith-
metic ; though feveral of them teacb book-
keeping likewife in fo great perfection as
to fit the youth under their care for the
counting-houfe. By their firft inftitution,
it is true, they were prohibited to teach the
Gaelic ; but the impropriety of that prohi-
bition ftruck the managers fo forcibly after-
wards, that in their next inftruclions they
altered that claufe, and gave orders for
teaching it.
N 4 Page
( '84 )
Page 240. In Sky, he fays, " The
fcholars are birds of paflage, who live at
fchool only in the fummer; for in winter
provifions cannot be made for any confider*
able number in one place. This periodical
difperfion imprefles ftrongly the fcarcity of
thefe countries." It may with more juftice
be faid, that this account of the matter
imprejfes much more jlrongly the author's
uniform intention of mifreprefenting fads.
The very reverfe of what he here fays is
true ; for the fchools over all the Highlands
are much more frequented in winter than
in fummer. I have already had occafioo
to mention, that the winter is far from being
a feafon of fcarcity in the Hebrides ; as the
people, by that kind of providence which
is common to all mankind, prepare for it
in due time. Nor is the abience of feveral
of the fcholars in fummer owing to the
illiberal caufe affigned by Dr. Johnfon, as
affe&ing the winter. The children of the
lefs
kfs opulent fort of people, who are fit for
domeftic fervices, are more wanted in that
feafon at home.
Page 242. The Iflanders, fays he, " have
no reafon to complain of infufficient paftors ;
for I faw not one in the iflands whom I
had reafon to think either deficient in learn-
ing or irregular in life ; but found feveral
with whom I could not converfe without
wiming, as my refpect increased, that they
had not been Prefbyterians." A few lines
after he goes on, " The minifters in the
iflands had attained fuch knowledge as may
juftly be admired in men who have no
motive to ftudy, but generous curiofity, or,
what is ftill better, defire of ufefulnefs ;
with fuch politenefs as fo narrow a circle of
converfe could not have fupplied, but to
minds naturally difpofed to elegance."
Some regard to truth and candour has
prevailed for once. But notwithftanding
thefe
thefe generous efFufions, for which fome
acknowledgments are due to the Doctor,
let me afk him, how this account of the
Highland clergy, for their learning an4
politenefs, accords with what he fays, in
page 376, of our Scotch education ? Speak-
ing there of the univerfities of Scotland,
he declares, that " men bred in them ob-
tain only a mediocrity of knowledge, be-
tween learning and ignorance." As none
of thofe gentlemen were bred any where
elfe, it will readily occur to the reader,
that fuch oppofite accounts of the Highland
minifters and the Scotch colleges cannot be
both true. He will therefore judge for
himfelf which to reject.
But whatever refpect Dr. Johnfon had
for the minifters as men, he feems to have
no charity for them as Prejbyterians. His
confeffion on that head may ferve as a key
to many other things s and mews that much
juftice and impartiality is not to be expected
from
from a man who is not afhamed to own
fuch prejudices. The compliment to the
minifters, therefore, ends in a fa tire upon
himfelf.
In the fame page he fays, he " met with
prejudices fufficiently malignant among the
Prefbyterians, but they were prejudices of
ignorance." As he does not fpecify the
nature of thofe prejudices, no reply can
be made. His difpofition, I believe, was
fufficiently malignant to have pointed them
out, had there been any that could have
ferved his purpofe. By being particular,
a man aflumes an air of truth at leaft ; but
a general aflertion will not do, at this time
of day, from Dr. Jobnfon. We have
already feen too much laxity in his obfer-
vations to give him credit for more than
he is able to render probable, if not to
prove. But while the good Doctor talks
of malignant prejudices among the Prefby-
terians, as being the effects of ignorance,
let
.88 )
let me civilly afk him, if he muft not be
fufpedted of ignorance, to what more dig-
nified caufe we are to impute thofe malig-
nant prejudices of his own, which have
disgraced almoft every page of his work ?
Page 245. " There is in Scotland, as
among ourfelves, a reftlefs fufpicion of
popifh machinations, and a clamour of
numerous converts to the Romifh religion.
The report is, I believe, in both parts of
the ifland equally falfe. The Romifh reli-
gion is profefled only in Egg and Canna,
two fmall iflands, into which the Reforma-
tion never made its way. If any miffiona-
ries are bufy in the Highlands, their zeal
.entitles them to refpect, even from thofe
who cannot think favourably of their doc-
trine."
We have here a frefh and very ftriking
inftance of the Doctor's attachment to the
Romifh religion. He affe&s to diibelieve
the
( 1*9 )
the reports of numerous converts being
made, left people fhould take the alarm,
and put a flop to the practice ; and he
concludes the paflage with a very curious
argument in favour of toleration. No one,
I believe, will doubt his refpect for popiflx
miflionaries ; but how their zeal, in propa-
gating their tenets, fhould entitle them to
refpect from thofe who difapprove of them,
is fomething beyond my comprehenfipn.
In confining the Romifli religion in the
Highlands to Egg and Canna only, he
muft be either ignorant or infmcere. It is
fomevvhat furprifing, indeed, that a man,
who, as he terms it himfelf, came pur-
pofely " to fpeculate upon the country,"
fhould return fo very ill informed iu a
matter of fo much confequence. Had he
taken a little more pains, he muft have
heard, that there were many of the Romijh
religion in Strath-glafs, Brae- mar, Loch-
aber, and Glengary; and that the inha-
bitants
bitants of Cnoideart, Muideart, Arafaig,
Morthair, South-Uift, and Barra, in all a
vaft extent of country, are Roman catholics
almoft to a man.
This is a more juft flate of the fact than
what has been given by the Doctor. He
will not, I fuppofe, be difpleafed to hear
it ; and I am forry I cannot help giving
him the further pleafure of alluring him,
that the Romi/h religion has been confider-
ably upon the growing hand in all the
three kingdoms for feveral years paft.
Page 246, he fays, " The ancient fpirit
that appealed only to the fword is yet
among the Highlanders." This furely
muft appear a bold aflertion, after telling
us before, in page 128, " That the mili-
tary ardour of the Highlanders was extin-
guifhed," and ftill more directly, in page
215, " That all trials of right by the
fword are forgotten." When the Doctor
has
has a turn to ferve, he throws out at
random whatever fuits him beft ; and
when another purpofe requires a different
account of the very fame matter, he is
not over fcrupulous about altering his
detail. The poor Highlanders muft be
moulded into all ihapes, to conform with
his views. At one time, we fee them an
abject and difyir'itcd race of men; at .ano-
ther, they fwagger in all the favage pride
of their " ancient ferocity "
When we meet with fuch grofs and
palpable contradictions, it would be a mild
conftruction only to fuppofe that the Doctor
fometimes forgets what he has fai$ before.
This is as far as charity can go. But the
writer who needs our charity is in a more
contemptible fituation than the wretch who
lives by it.
In page 248, our traveller comes to exa-
mine the queftion of the fee ond fight ; and
4 it
it is truly furprifing to fee with what a
credulous weaknefs he endeavours to defend
fo vifionary an opinion. Other things,
which are believed by every man in the
country, which are probable in themfelves,
and are fupported by all the evidence that
a reafonable man could expedt, the Dotor
often rejeds ; but this point, abfurd in
itfelf, uncountenanced by any decent au-
thority, and to which only a few of the
moft ignorant vulgar give the leaft faith,
he maintains with a zeal which mews him
to be amamed of nothing but thinking like
other men.
In attempting to define the fecond Jigbt,
he feems to be much at a lols. In page
149, he calls it a faculty, for power,
he fays, it cannot be called; and yet,
in page 154, he veers about fcgain, and
calls the fecond fight of the Hebrides a
power.
If
( '93 )
If there is any real diftin&ion between
a faculty and a power, it would appear,
from this variation of language, that the
Doctor has not been able to find it out.
His reafonings upon the fubject, for
they cannot be called arguments, may
amufe fome readers, but they can convince
none. They are too obfcure to be under-
flood by the illiterate, and they want
flrength to imprefs men of knowledge.
But though our peregrinator has not been
afhamed to exhibit his own fuperftitious
credulity, it is a daring piece of infolence
to introduce the names of a Bacon and a
Boyle to give credit to fuch ridiculous non-
fenfe.
Such a faculty or power, or whatever
the Doctor pleafes to call it, muft always
have depended, if ever it exifted, upon
fome fuperior agency, and confequently
muft have been excited at particular times
O for
( 194 )
for fome good purpofes. We can fee no ade-
quate reafon, therefore, for the fecond fight
being local ; and ftill lefs, if poflible, for its
being confined to the lower ranks of people.
To have anfwered the intention of fuch a
gift, it ought to have been general, in
China, and at the Land's End^ as well as
in the Hebrides ^z.^ conferred upon the
rich and the learned, as well as upon the
poor and the ignorant.
In fupport of the fecond fight, Dr. John-
fen ufes only two particular arguments, if
they deferve that name, which feem worthy
of any notice. In page 254, he fays,
" Where we are unable to decide by ante-
, cedent reafon, we muft be content to yield
to the force of teftimony." This, in ge-
neral, is certainly a very juft obfervation,
and worthy of a better fubjecl;. Had the
Doctor always applied it in cafes where
a rational teftimony was to be obtained,
he would have been entitled to that claim
to
( '95 )
to candour which he has fo often for*
feited.
His next plea is as follows : in the
fame page he fays, ie By pretenfion to
fecond fighty no profit was ever fought or
gained. It is an involuntary affection, in
which neither hope nor fear are known to
have any part. Thofe who profefs to feel
it, do not boaft of it as a privilege, nor are
cdnfidered by others as advantageoufly
dlftinguifhed. They have no temptation
to feign, and their hearers have no motive
to encourage the impofture."
Here the Doctor is evidently under a
very grofs miftake. Whatever he may
think, if he really writes as he thinks, it
is a well known fact, that thofe who have
pretended to the fecand fight always con-
fidered it as a peculiar diftinction, of which
they were not a little vain ; and it is no
lefs true, that fuch as were weak enough
O2 to
( '96 }
to pay any regard to their pretenfions
were always afraid of offending, and defi-
rous of pleafing them, as believing they
had a communication with a fuperior order
of beings. "Whether the artful might not
find here a temptation for impofture, I
fliall leave the reader to judge.
If this faculty, power, or affection, had
ever any exiftence, except in the prefump-
tion of the defigning or the imagina-
tion of the credulous, it is now vifibly
upon the decline, without any lofs to the
country ; and it is to be hoped a few years
more will extinguifh the very memory of
fo great a reproach to the human under-
ftanding. In proportion as the light of
knowledge has dawned upon mankind,
their eagernefs for wonders and belief in
fupernatural endowments have gradually
abated. We may, therefore, naturally
expect that the fecond fight of the Hebrides
will
( 197 )
will foon fhare the fame fate with the late
witchcrafts of Old England.
The Doctor fays, that one of the minifters
told him that he came to Sky with a refo-
ution not to believe the fe c ond fight ; a
declaration which he (hews a willingnefs
to cenfure, as implying an unreafonable
degree of incredulity. But as our traveller
feems to have gone to Sky with a refolution
to believe nothing elfe, we (hall leave the
merits of his credulity in this cafe, and
incredulity in all others, with the impartial
public.
I fhall now difmifs this fubject, as un-
worthy of any further difcuffion, and per-
mit Dr. Jobnfon, with all his pretenjions
to philofophy, to believe the fecond fight
as long as he pleafes. It is a harmlefs
delufion, and can hurt nobody. Some
minds have a ftronger propenfity to fuper-
ftition than others; and there is the lefs
O 3 reafon
( '98 )
reafon to be furprifed at this inftance of it
in the Dodor, that I am told he was one
of thofe 'wife men who fat up whole nights,
fome years ago, repeating paternojlers and
other exorcifmsi amidft a group of old
women, to conjure the Cock-lane ghoft.
Our traveller next proceeds to other
obfervations. In pages 256 and 257, he
fays, " As there fubfifts no longer in the
iflands much of that peculiar and difcrimi-
native form of life, of which the idea had
delighted our imagination, we were willing
to liften to fuch accounts of paft times as
would be given us ; but we foon found
what memorials were to be expected from
an illiterate people, whofe whole time is a
feries of diftrefs ; where every morning is
labouring with expedients for the evening ;
and where all mental pains or pleafure
arofe from the dread of winter, the ex-
pectations of fpring, the caprices of their
chiefs, and the motions of the neighbour-
ing
( 199 )
ing clans ; where there was neither fliame
from ignorance, nor pride from know-
ledge ; neither curiofity to inquire, nor
vanity to communicate."
Were this reprefentation of the Iflanders
true, it is certainly a very difmal one.
But it is always fome confolation to the
miferable, to find others in no better a fjtu-
ation than themfelves. Let us compare
this account with what he gives us, a
little before, of the human race in general.
In page 250, he fays, " Good feems to
have the fame proportion in thofe vifionary
fcenes, as it obtains in real life : almoft all
remarkable events have evil for their bafis,
and are either miferies incurred, or miferies
efcaped. Our fenfe is fo much ftronger
of what we fuffer, than of what we enjoy,
that the ideas of pain predominate in
almoft every mind. What is recollection
but a revival of vexations, or hiftory, but
a record of wars, treafons, and calamities ?
4 Death,
( 200 )
Death, which is confidered as the greateft
evil, happens to all. The greateft good,
be it what it will, is the lot but of a
part."
Here is exhibited a picture of human
life more ghaftly than the Gorgon's head,
and fufficient to chill every breaft with
horror. We may naturally confider the
Doctor, while he wrote in this manner,
to have been actuated by a deep fit of
melancholy and defpair ; and what he fays
of the Iflanders fo foon afterwards, feems
to have been dictated under the remains of
the fame gloomy paroxyfm." Thofe who
find an exact reprefentation of their own
Hate in the general portrait of mifery here
given, can have no re'afon to contemplate
the inhabitants of the . iflands as diftin-
guifhed by peculiar calamities. But fuch
as can perceive no fimilitude of themfelves
in that frightful group (and it is to be
hoped there are many), will be naturally
difpofed
difpofed to make fome allowance for an
extraordinary dam of colouring in the
Doctor's account of the Hebrides.
Though the matter might be fuffered
to reft here, it may be worth while to
examine the rhapfody of our traveller,
concerning the Iflanders, fomewhat more
minutely. I mail therefore beg the Doc-
tor's leave to analyfe that remarkable para-
graph ; that by contrafting its feveral parts
feparately, with what he has advanced on
other occafions, we may the better deter-
mine what degree of credit he can claim
from the public. As he is to be weighed
in his own balance, he will have him-
felf only to blame, if " ha is found
wanting"
<e We foon found what memorials .were
to be expected from an illiterate -people.'*
His panegyric on the learning and polite-
nefs of the .Highland clergy has been
already
( 202 )
already obferved : in page 119, he acknow-
ledges that he never was in any houfe of
the iflands, where he did not find books
in more languages than one; adding, in
the beginning of the next page, that lite-
rature is not neglected by the higher rank
of the Hebridians : and, from what he
fays of the inn-keeper at Anoch, and others
of the fame clafs, it is evident that he
often found an unexpected degree of edu-
cation in the intermediate fpheres of life.
"With what confidence then can Dr.
Johnfon talk of an illiterate people ? So
indifcriminate a charge is certainly intended
to be underftood as general ; but if there
is any truth in himfelf, it cannot appear
to be juft. He has admitted learning
among the Iflanders, where a man of fenfe
and candour would expect to find it any
where elfe ; and to infmuate that it goes
no further, if that really be his meaning,
is but giving a frefh proof of his own
abfurdity.
abfurdity. He has, therefore, no other
alternative. He muft either ftand con-
victed of infmcerity in his accounts of the
higher and middle ranks of men, or he
muft confine the appellation of illiterate
to the very loweft of the people. If he
chufes the latter, he can derive no great
credit from the remark he makes ; as it
appears from his own words, that it was
among this order only that he fought for
what he calls memorials.
In that cafe, it is no great wonder if he
was often difappointed. But that can be
deemed no peculiar reproach to the infe-
rior inhabitants of the iflands, till .the
Doctor proves that every cottager in Eng-
land is a man of letters, and capable of
fatisfying the curiofity of a traveller in the
niceft points of inquiry.
" Every morning is labouring with ex-
pedients for the evening." This is a proof
Z of
of their induftry at leaft, in contradiction
to that lazinefs and aver/ton to labour, with
which the Doctor fo often upbraids them
in other places. That the time prefent
fhould labour for the future can appear
nothing remarkable* as we generally find
it to be the ' great, bufinefs of life .in every
country whatever. We, therefore, can fee
nothing here to find fault with, unlefs it
be that Dr. Johnfon was angry becaufe
thofe favages and barbarians, as he fre-
quently calls them, were as wife and pro-
vident as their neighbours.
" All mental pains or pleafure arife
from the dread of winter, the expectation
of fpring, the caprices of their chiefs,
and the motions of the neighbouring
clans."
There has been occafion to fhew, more
than once, that the winter is not fo very
dreadful a feafon in the Hebrides^ as our
traveller
traveller reprefents it. I fhall therefore
refer this part of the argument to the
reader's recollection of what has been
already faid.
As to the evils to be apprehended from
the caprices of the chiefs, the Doctor him-
felf is kind enough, as on moft other
occafions, to help me out with an anfwer.
He takes frequent opportunities to obferve,
that the patriarchal authority of the chiefs
is, in a great meafure, abolifhed ; but I
fhall only take notice of what he fays in
pages 205 and 215.
In the former of thefe he tells us, " That
the chiefs being now deprived of their
jurifdiction, have already loft much of
their influence, and that they are in a fair
way of being foon diverted of the little
that remains." Whether this be true or
not, is of little confequence in the prefent
queftion ; it is fufficient to (hew that the
5- Doctor
( 206 )
Doctor is inconfiftent with himfelf. Irt
the laft-mentioned page, after comparing
the prefent with ancient times, he fays,
" that now, however, there is happily
an end to all fear or hope from malice or
from favour;" and a little after, "that
the mean are in as little danger from the
powerful as in other places."
If the Doctor has not been miftaken in
thefe obfervations, I would afk him, on
what foundation he now builds the caprices
of the chiefs ?
The motions of the neighbouring clans
ceafed with the jurifdictions and other pre-
rogatives of the chiefs. The Doctor is
fufficiently fenfible of this change, and is
at abundant pains, in other places, to fhew
by what means it was effected j though,
in his ufual way, having a particular pur-
pofe to anfwer at this time, he is refolved
to keep up the old cuftom.
A paffage
A paflage or two from himfelf will
difcover, whether he has always given
reafon to believe that there is now any
caufe of dread from the motions of the
neighbouring clans. In page 206, he
fays, " The chief has loft his formidable
retinue ; and the Highlander walks his
heath unarmed and defencelefs, with the
peaceable fubmiflion of a French peafant
or Englifli cottager." In page 359, he
obferves, that the infular chieftains have
quitted the caftles that flickered their an-
ceftors, arid generally live near them, in
jnanfions not very fpacious or fplendid :
" Yet," fays he, " they (the modern houfes)
bear teftimony to the progrefs of arts and
civility, as they fhew that rapine and fur-
prife are no longer dreaded."
Can there be a greater variance than
between thefe two paflages and what our
author infmuates in regard to the neigh-
bouring clans ? Or can any thing be more
clearly
clearly demonflrative of Dr. Johnfon^ par-
tial, vague, and contradictory mode of
writing ?
" There is neither fhame from igno-
rance, nor pride from knowledge." Un-
lefs the Doctor has a mind to retract what
he formerly allowed in favour of the clergy,
gentry, and middle rank of people, this
obfervation can only regard the loweft clafs
of the inhabitants; and we have already
feen with how little reafon or juftice they
can become the objects of fuch critical
animadverfion. It is not their natural
character to be thought ignorant of fuch
things as commonly belong to their ftate
and fituation in life ; and few, I believe,
of the fame rank in other countries, ex-
tend their knowledge much beyond thofe
bounds.
Had the Doctor and they been able to
converfe freely in the fame language, he
would
( 209 )
would have difcovered in them a degree
* of acutenefs, fagacity, and intelligence,
not very common perhaps in the fame
ftation of life; and which, I am perfuaded,
he would have had no great inclination to
relate. That much, with a knowledge of
their own domeftic operations and con-
cerns, is all that could be expected from
them; and it ought to have exempted
them from ib fcurrilous an attack. A
comprehenfive view of the prefent ftate of
the country, or a minute acquaintance with
the hiftory of former times, was not to be
obtained in huts and cottages. Their ig-
norance of fuch matters muft neceflarily
be great, and their knowledge but little.
There can, therefore, be no reafon for
Jhante from the one, nor for pride from
the other.
" Neither curiofity to inquire, nor vanity
to communicate." In different parts of his
work, he gives a very different account of
P their
their curiofity. In particular, in page 1 16,
he reprefents them as much addicted to
curiofity, a love of talk, and a fondnefs
for new topics of converfation. But the
Doctor has a peculiar knack at making
them what he pleafes, and unmaking them
again, as different purpofes may require.
If they have really fo little defire to com-
municate, as is here aflerted, I fhould be
glad to know how he came by thofe nume-
rous anecdotes in his Journey to the He-
brideS) relating to the ancient friendfhips,
feuds, intermarriages, military alliances,
and other tranfadions, of many of the
infular chiefs. He often infifts that we
have no written vouchers for thefe things,
nor any other authority than what is
founded on tradition alone. If this be
true, I can fee no other channel through
which he could have received his intelli-
gence, than by communication from the
inhabitants.
Either
( an )
Either then, contrary to what the Do&or
has afierted elfewhere, there mu'ft be re-
cords to furnifh fuch materials; or, con-
trary to what he aflerts in this place, the
people muft have had fome little vanity,
or defire, at leaft, to communicate. I main-
tain the affirmative of both ; but both
cannot be as the Doctor fays, unlefs, in-
deed, we can fuppofe him to have obtained
a retrofpeclive view of things, by means
of his favourite faculty of the fee 'end fight.
Befides this general argument, which
I think is conclufive, the Doctor himfelf
furnifhes a variety of inftances to prove a
communicative difpofition in the High-
landers. Of thefe I fhall feled: only a
few.
The old woman whofe hut he entered,
by the fide of Loch Nefs, feems to have
been fufficiently communicative ; for he
tells us, page 67, " that fhe was willing
P 2 enough
enough to difplay her whole fyftem of
economy." This much, furely, is all the
information that could be expected from
her. The Doctor, in his turn, feems as
willing to defcribe as me was willing to
difplay ; and it muft be confefled that he
has acquitted himfelf in that part with
great dexterity. The minutenefs of trifling
detail and the garrulity peculiar to an old
woman are fo happily hit off, that one
would think it natural for our traveller
to exhibit that character. Were fuch a
reprefentation wanted in a fcenic enter-
tainment, Dr. Johnfon promifes fair to
give general fatisfaction. His landlord at
Anoch, Hkewife, feems to have had no
great averfion to a pretty free communica-
tion ; and the Doctor acknowledges his
being indebted to him for many particu-
lars, which he was defirous to know,
relating to that part of the country. But
the moft direct inftance againft the Doctor's
aflertion
( 213 )
aflertion we have in page 251. He there
tells us, that their defire of information
was keen, their inquiry frequent, and that
every body was communicative.
Enough, I prefume, has been faid upon
thefe heads for the conviction of the reader,
and too much, perhaps, for his patience ;
but as the attack was complicated, it was
neceflary the defence againft each part
fhould be particular.
In the above paflage, the whole artillery
of Dr. Jotinfons malice is brought to the
field at once. Before, he generally levelled
but one engine at a time ; namely, either
the pride, the poverty, or the ignorance
of the country. But here he plays them
off all together ; and that they might not
fail of the intended execution, he has taken
care to fuccour them with a frefli recruit of
calumny.
P 3 Aa
sv ufual, he aflerts with a boldnsfs that
bids defiance to contradiction ; but an info-
lent and peremptory manner, the pomp
of an inflated di&ion, and the grng/e of a
quaint and laboured antithefis, are left to
fupply the place of argument and proof.
By fuch a parade, no doubt, he hoped to
do much ; but we have feen how Httle he
has been able to efrcft. The weapons
which he aimed with fo much care have
been flung in vain. His own tefttrnony
has blunted the point of every fhaft.
We can therefore only fay, that if Dr.
Johnforfs praifes be well founded, his cen-
fures muft be deftitute of truth. It is
impoffible we can give our aflent to con-
traries at one and the fame time. But
whichever we may chufe to believe, our
author ftands in that mortifying kind of
predicament, that he can be trufted no, fur-
ther than he agrees with other writers.
This
( "5 )
This defcription in caricature, which the
Doctor gives of the Iflanders in general,
feems fo much the more inexplicable, that
he fpeaks favourably of every individual
whom he had occafion to know or con-
verfe with.
The behaviour even of the lower clafs
of people, on every occafion, feemed to
pleafe him. The two horfe-hircrs, who
attended him from Invernefs to the ferry-
paflage for Sky^ acquitted themfelves fo
much to his fatisfaction, for their fidelity,
care, and alertnefs, that he recommends
them at parting to any future travellers.
When travelling from place to place, in
the different iflands which he vifited, the
men who were occafionally employed either
as guides, or to walk by his horfe through
rough grounds, have all obtained their
{hare of his praife, for their care, atten-
tion, and civil behaviour. . The rowers of
boats, or mariners of veflels, in paffing
P 4 from
from one ifland to another, he allows to
be dexterous and obliging. Every hut he
enters gives him ftriking fpecimens of ho-
fpitality, and the kind and liberal difpofi-
tion of the inhabitants. Wherever there
is a houfe, he fays, the traveller finds a
welcome. And, in fhort, it was the good
behaviour of the lower clafs of people that
drew from him that remarkable obfervation
in page 60, " that civility feems part of
the national character of Highlanders.**
As to the better fort, again, he may be
faid to be even lavifh of praife. His enco-
miums are as frequent as there were fami-
lies he vifited, or perfons he converfed
with. A few inftances of this kind will
be fufficient.
At the laird of Mackinnon's in Sky, the
company was numerous and genteel, and
fo very agreeable to the Doctor, that their
convention fufficiently compenfated the
interruption
( 217 )
interruption given to his journey by the
badnefs of the weather. At Raafay* he
was enchanted by every fpecies of ele-
gance. At Dunvegan, the feat of the laird
of Macleod t he had tafted lotus, and was
in danger of forgetting that he was ever
to depart. The amiable manners, and many
other virtues, of the young laird of <?<?/,
are frequently and liberally difplayed. At
Dr. Maclean's, a phyfician in Mull, he
found very kind and good entertainment,
and very pleafing coeverfation. At Inch
Kenneth, the refidence of Sir Allan Maclean,
he fays he could have been eafily per-
fuaded to a longer ftay ; but life could not
be always pafled in delight. And, of Mr.
Maclean^ a minifter in Mull, at whofe
houfe he ftaid a night, our traveller fays,
that the elegance of his converfation, and
ftrength of judgment, would make him
confpicuous in places of greater cele-
brity.
After
, ( 218 )
After hearing Dr. Johnfon give fuch
teftimonies as thefe, in favour of the High-
landers, could any one believe, that in the
paflage I have laft quoted from his work,
he was fpeaking of the fame people ? Indi-
*uidualfy, he allows them to be entitled to
commendation; but collectively^ he loads
them with (lander and abufe. Though
every man is civil, the whole taken toge-
ther make a nation of favages and barba-
rians. Though he faw plenty and elegance
every where, the country is pining in
poverty, and deftitute of every comfort of
life. And though he gives fo many in-
ftances of an uncommon fhare of learning
and knowledge being pretty widely diffufed
among them, he pronounces them, in the
bulk, to be an illiterate and ignorant
,
people.
This furely is a very extraordinary way
of drawing conclufions. To prove its
abfurdity, would be to prove a felf-evident
proportion.
proportion. As well might Dr. Jobnfon
pretend to tell us, that if a number of
pieces of pure gold were to be fufed toge-
ther in a furnace, the product would turn
,
out a mafs or aggregate of a bafer metal.
-
Page 257, he obferves, that in the houfes
of the chiefs were preferved what accounts
remained of paft ages. ." But the chiefs,"
fays he, ." were fometimes ignorant and
carelefs, and fometimes kept bufy by tur-
bulence and contention ; and one genera-
tion of ignorance effaces the whole feries
of unwritten hiftory. Books are faithful
repofitories, which may be a while neg-
leded or forgotten; but when they #re
opened again, will again impart their in-
ftru&ion : memory once interrupted, is not
to be recalled. Written learning is a fixed
luminary, which, after the cloud that had
hidden has patted away, is again bright in,
its proper ftation. Tradition is but a
5 meteor,
meteor, which, if once it falls, cannot be
rekindled."
Here the Doctor is making his ap-
proaches very faft, and is now almoft on
the point of fpringing the mine which he
has been fo long in digging. In this place
he prepares his reader, by an artful infi-
nuation, for what he means to afTert boldly
afterwards. To invalidate the credit of
Highland antiquities, feems to have been
the great object of his journey. As the
Doctor hates the trouble of much inquiry,
and to accomplifli this end in the moft
cafy and compendious manner, he finds it
neceflary firft to fuppofe that we had no
written accounts of pad ages, and then,
but without any proof, to convert that
fuppofition into a matter of fact,
I am as ready as Dr. Johnfon to ac-
knowledge the fuperiority of books over
mere tradition, when they are written with
candour
candour and care. But even books therti-
felves are not always to be trufted. There
are falfe books as well as falfe traditions ;
and the journey to the Hebrides , I am.
afraid, is one of thofe books which will
not be thought to deferve the name of a
faithful repofitory. As to the circumftance
of our writings, I fhall fpeak to that point
in its place ; and doubt not but the good
Doctor will appear to as much difadvantage
in that part of his ftory, as he has already
done in many other cafes.
Let us fuppofe, however, in the mean
time, were it only for argument's fake,
that, fome centuries ago, there were few
or no written authorities among us ; what
would be the confequence ? Not furely that
general one which Dr. Johnfon fo unlogi-
cally affirms, namely, " That one genera-
tion of ignorance effaces the whole feries
of unwritten hiftory." One or more chiefs,
at a particular time, might, as he fays, be
* 3 carelefs,
222
carelefs, not very knowing, or kept bufy
by turbulence and contention ; but I fee no
reafon to conclude from thence, that the
whole of the chiefs, ana 1 all the generation
of men then living, fhould be Ib too. Un-
lefs, therefore, contrary to all probability,
we are to fuppofe this much, our traveller's
inference cannot follow, and his argument
amounts to nothing. For, if there could
not be a whole generation of ignorance at
once, the whole feries of unwritten hiftory
could not be effaced.
At the fame time, I am not inclined to
lay more ftrefs upon mere vague tradition
than other men. I am certain I would
truft it as little as the fcrupulous Doctor
himfelf, and perhaps even a little lefs than
he would, when it might feem to lean to
a favourable purpofe. In defending the vul-
gar doclrine of \\\efecond fight ^ he had no
better foundation to reft upon ; and yet he
finds no difficulty in telling us upon that
head,
( 223 )
head, that when we are unable to decide
by other reafons, we muft be content to
yield to the force of fuch teftimony.
Tradition, however, in the liberal fenfe
of the word, has, in all ages, been deemed
of fome weight ; and the beft writers have
often appealed to it, not only when other
evidence has been wanting, but likewife
as an auxiliary proof. The tradition re-
garded by the Highlanders, in matters of
any confequence, was of that nature which
could not eafily deceive them. It was fo
clofely interwoven with the cuftom and
conftitution of the country, that it could
not be feparated from them ; and it was
handed down from one generation to ano-
ther, not by Ba^ds and Seannachies only,
but by the general voice and confent of a
whole nation.
It was not of that vague and uncertain
nature which Dr. Johnfon reprefents it to
be;
( 224 )
be -, nor of that weak and unmanly kind,
which he himfelf has admitted, on parti-
cular occafions, as fufficient. But one
thing is perfectly evident, that when tra-
dition is for the country, the Doctor rejects
it ; and when it operates on the other fide,
he admits it as proof. Such a partial mode
of reprefentation fpeaks for itfelf.
That the Highlanders were not fo liable
to be impofed upon by the flattering com-
pofitions and tales of their Bards and
Sea'htidc&ies, as our traveller would infi-
nuate, is beyond all difpute. Befides thofe
who were employed in thofe profeflions,
there were multitudes in the country who
fpent moft of their leifure hours in hearing,
recording, and rehearfing the atchieve-
ments of their anceftors and countrymen.
Among thefe, there were many who com-
pofed poems in a ftrain equal to the Bards
themfelves ; and fuch private perfons were
always a check upon the Bards and Sean-
nachies
( -25 )
liachies by profeffion, to prevent their de-
viating from the truth.
Though the Bards and Seannachies are
no longer retained as formerly, this cuftom
in the country is not yet difcontinued. I
myfelf, as well as thoufands flill alive, have
feen and heard inftances of what I have
juft now mentioned. Had the t)otor
chofen it, he might likewife have been a
witnefs to fuch recitals, notwithftanding
the curfory view he took of the country.
He acknowledges, however, that he had
feen fome who remembered the practice.
This much from him is pretty well ;
though, by putting the matter a little fur-
ther back, it mews a vifible defign to nar-
row the real truth.
But though the Doctor's curiofity did
not lead him this far, he might very eafily,
had he been a little more inquifitive, have
heard much more concerning this matter
than
( 226 )
than he has thought fit to communicate.
It is not to be fuppofed that the High-
landers would have concealed any thing
of what they knew, though he fometimes
infmuates as much, had he but known how
to make his inquiries agreeable.
But the misfortune was, that the Doctor
was commonly deficient in that refpect.
His firft queftion was generally rude, and
the fecond a downright infult. This furely
was not the moft likely way to encourage
intelligence. Yet there is ftill more reafon
to believe, from the general tenor of his
work, either that he chofe to avoid know-
ing what might be in favour of the country,
or to mifreprefent or fupprefs it when
known, than that he mould be refufed in-
formation, had he been capable of afking
it like a gentleman.
No other traveller but himfelf has at-
tempted to tax the inhabitants of this
5 country
(22; )
country with a difpofition to conceal the
truth. I could cite feveral inftances from
his own tour to prove the contrary. In
particular, the ftories which he relates of
the kirk of Culloden, and of the cave in
the ifland of Egg, are manifeftly againft
.the country. Is it credible, therefore, that
they fliould be lefs ready to communicate
faithfully what might be in its favour ?
But as the Dodtor gives thefe, and fuch
like anecdotes, without the leaft expreffion
of diffidence, it would feem that he never
believed he was told the truth, but when
he was told fomething to the prejudice of
Scotland.
Page 258. It feems to be univerfally
fuppofed, fays he, that much of the local
hiftory was preferved by the Bards, of
whom one is faid to have been retained by
every great family. He then tells us, that
he made feveral inquiries after thefe Bards,
and received fuch anfwers as, for a while,
made
( "8 )
made him pleafed with his increafe of
knowledge j but, alas ! he adds immedi-
ately after, that he was only pleafed, " as
he had not then learned how to eftimate
the narration of a Highlander."
This fage remark at the end of his
paragraph is owing to the fame important
caufe, as a fimilar obfervation formerly
about the bufmefs of brogue -making \
namely, fome inconfiderable variation in
the fubfequent accounts he received. At
one time he was told that a great family
had a .Bard and a Seannachie^ who were
the poet and hiftorian of the houfe ; and an
old gentleman faid, that he remembered
one of each. But unluckily, another con-
verfation informed him, that the fame man
was both Bard and Seannachie; and this
variation difcouraged the accurate and con-
ft/lent Dr. yohnfon.
It
22 9 )
It is the more furprifing to hear him .
exprefs any difcouragement in this cafe,
that he immediately after gives fo eafy
and natural a folution of the difficulty
himfelf, if it may be thought deferving of
that name. He fays very properly, as he
faid before concerning the two different
accounts of brogue-making , that the practice
might be different in different times, or at
the fame time in different families. This
mofl certainly was the true ftate of the
matter; and this plain account of it re-
moves the ftumbling-block at once.
I will venture to affert, from my own
perfonal knowledge of fome people, from
whom the Doctor received a great part of
his intelligence, that the affair was ex-
plained to him in this very manner upon
the fpot. I will ftill go further ; I have
authority to fay fo. It is, therefore, worfe
than childifh in our author to continue ftill
to exprefs his diftruft, on account of a
to
( 23 )
circumftance fo clearly reconcileable both
to reafon and truth, and for which he
himfelf has furnifhed a folid and fatisfadtory
explanation.
To difcover doubts in fuch plain cafes,
is a mark of weaknefs ; but to lay hold of
them as a handle for general calumny, if
a man is not a downright ideot, is wicked
to the laft degree. Such trivial variations
are not only common, but even unavoid-
able, in the difcourfe of different perfons,
all the world over ; and if that could be
reckoned a valid objection, we find likewife
from experience, that the writings of the
moft approved authors are liable to the
fame condemnation.
We have often feen our traveller driven
to pitiful fhifts to criminate the country ;
but, like many others, the prefent one
happily proves only his own rancour and
difmgenuity, not the infmcerity of Scotch
or Highland narration,
But
( 231 )
But to follow out this matter a little
further, as the Doctor builds fo much upon
it afterwards, let me ferioufly afk him, if
he really found fo much improbability in
the above narrations, as to make him the
complete infidel he pretends ? If he did,
he is truly a man " of little faith ;" of
much lefs, indeed, than I fhould have
expected from the conjurer of the Cock-
lane ghoft, or the champion of the fecond
fight.
Was the Doctor weak enough to believe,
that the world would deem it a fufficient
argument to overturn any fact, that one
part of its hiftory was related by one per-
fon, and another part by another ? Yet, by
his own confeflion, this is clearly the cafe
in the prefent point in difpute. In Eng-
land, I prefume, and in every other country
whatever, a man might receive, from
different people, different parts of inform-
ation concerning the fame thing. That,
however.
however, could be no juft ground for
charging the inhabitants with impofition.
In fuch a cafe, I believe, the Doctor
would be ready enough to acquit the Eng-
hfo, and perhaps any other nation but the
Scotch. If this be fo, it only proves, that
he was fo ridiculoufly extravagant as to
expect more from the Highlanders than
from any other people. But how could
he imagine that every man he met with,
even the moft illiterate in other refpects,
mould be a complete mafter of the whole
hjflory and antiquities of his country ?
None but a fnarling Cynic would find fault
with a deficiency of this kind ; and no
man of a moderate degree of experience in
common life would expect fuch abfolute
precifion, even from the moft knowing of
the better fort themfelves.
But let me interrogate my good friend
the Doctor a little further. Did he never
read
( 2 33 )
read in one hiftorian any particular that
was omitted by another ? Did he ever read
any two hiftqrians who were exactly the
fame ? and, if they were exactly the fame
in all points, would he call their works
different hiftories ? Does he think it im-
poflible, that any two writers, having each
the ftricleft regard to truth, fhould difagree
in fome points of narration relating to the
fame fact ? and, if they fhould fo difagree,
does he think that would be a fufficient caufe
for rejecting their authority, and impeaching
their veracity, in all other cafes whatever ?
If the Doctor anfwers thefe queries
in a manner that is confiftent with
the common fenfe of mankind, he muft
drop his objections to the accounts which
he received of the brogue-makers and Sean-
nachies ; unlefs he intends to maintain,
that tradition ought to be more certain and
infallible than his " faithful repofitory" of
written hi/lory.
If
( 234 )
If any thing more fhould be wanting to
convince Dr. Jobnfon of the inconclufivenefs
of his reafoning, let me entreat his leave
to ftate a fimilar cafe ; for, as the Bards
and Seannacbies were of the domeftic order
of people, I mall confine myfelf to that
line.
Let us fuppofe, then, that a traveller in
England is told, that, in one houfe, there
is both a cook-maid and a chamber-maid,
but that, in another houfe, the fame per-
fon aded in thefe two different capacities.
This is exactly a parallel inftance with that
under confederation ; and none, will doubt,
I prefume, but there are many examples
of both kinds on the fouth-fide of the
Tweed. Where tjien would be the incon-
fiftency in thefe different accounts ? Or
would it be reafonable to infer, from fuch
a difference in the economy of different
families, either that the intelligence muft
be falfe, or that the exigence of fuch
female
( 235 )
female occupations was rendered doubtful ?
And yet one or other of thefc muft follow,
if the Doctor's conclufions concerning the
Bards and Seannachies are allowed to be
juft.
I could have illuftrated this fubjecT: from
the various profeflions of the parti- coloured
gentry ; but I chofe to exemplify in the
female line, as the Doctor, I am told, is
more than commonly attached to the fex,
for a man of his advanced years. I fhali
leave him, therefore, to fettle the matter
with Kate and Moll, as well as he is able;
and doubt not, but the " priftine remi-
nifcence of juvenile jucundity" will induce
him, for their fakes at leaft, to renounce
an argument which would infallibly de-
prive the poor wenches of their places.
Should he provoke them by his obftinacy,
I am in fome pain for the confequences.
The Doctor's '* mode of ratiocination," I
afraid, could not long hold out againft
the
( 236 )
the more fmiple but 'weighty arguments of
ihefpit and mop-faff.
There appears nothing in the accounts
concerning the Bards and Seannachies^
which fo much difcouraged the Dodlor,
that can either call in queftion the belief of
their own exiftence, or throw the leaft
doubt on the hiftories of the families in
which they refided. In moft great houfes
there was one of each; while, in fome
others, there was a Bard only. In the
latter cafe, however, the accuracy of the
family hiftory could be but little affeded ;
as the Bard, whofe buiinefs it was to repeat
the genealogies of the chiefs, and to fmg
the atchievements of their anceftors, muft
be no inconfiderable Seannachie, or anti-
quarian, in order to be qualified for thofe
purpofes.
The Bards and Seannachies were not only
" fuppofed," as Dr. Johnfon exprefles him-
j felf,
( 2 37 )
felf, " to preferve the local hiftory," but
they actually did preferve it ; and they
were not only " faid to have been retained
by every great family," but they really
were retained. The truth of this does not
reft upon tradition alone. The charters
of many great families bear witnefs con-
cerning them ; and they are likewife men-
tioned by many eminent writers. Both
thefe, as being written authority, muft
almoft perfuade the unbelieving Doctor
himfelf to renounce his infidelity.
Mr. Innes, who, in general, is no great
friend to the Bards, tells us, that in the thir-
teenth century, at the coronation of Alex-
ander III., a Highland Bard pronounced
an oration on the genealogy of the kings
of Scotland. As this happened in the year
1249, before the deftru&ion of fo many of
our records by Edward I. of England, and
in the prefence of the three eftates of the
kingdom,
kingdom, affembled on that occafion, we
may naturally fuppofe the Bards and Sean-
nachies of thofe times to have been pretty
accurate in their accounts ; otherwife, it
muft have been difficult to find one who
would venture to undertake fuch a tafk.
At fo public a folemnity there muft have
been many prefent who could have con-
tradicted him, if he erred in his narration ;
and amidft the multitude of written tefti-
monies then exifting, he was fure of being
detected, fuppofing none of his auditors
had been able to correct him.
The fame author allows, in page 237,
that this genealogy was one of the moft
accurate performances of the kind which
had ever exifted.
The fame circumftance is mentioned by
all Fordun's continuators, and 'likewife by
Major.
Ammianus
( 2 S9 )
Ammlanus MarceHinus, book xv. page
51, fays, " The Bards fung the remarkable
atchievements of their heroes, in verfe, to
the fweet melody of their harps."
Vakfius* who pretends to write notes
on this author, betrays a grofs ignorance
of his meaning, as well as of the profeffion
or employment of the Bards, when he fays,
in page 93, " that the Bards were a fpecies
of parafites or buffoons, who diverted the
foldiers at their banquets with their jefts
and mimical geftures." This is a moft
falfe and ridiculous account of the matter,
and entirely explains away the meaning of
his author ; for Ammianus Marcellinus fays
no fuch thing. Befides, it is well known
that they had others who acted in the capa-
city he mentions ; that is, jefters, who
likewife conftituted a part of their domeftics,
as well as the Bards.
( 240 )
In page 258, the Dodor fays, " that an
old gentleman told him, that he remem-
bered one of each," namely, a Bard and
a Seannachie. There was no occafion to
make the gentleman very old to remember
this much, as will foon be made appear.
But Dr. Johnfon does not chufe to flop
here ; for, in the very next page, he fets
every evidence for the extftence of either
Bards or Seannachies* beyond all memory
whatever. His words are, " I was told
by a gentleman, who is generally acknow-
ledged the greateft m after of Hebridian
antiquities, that there had been once both
Bards and Senachies ; and that Senachi fig-
nified the man of talk, or of converfation ;
but that neither Bard nor Senachi had
exifted for fome centuries."
Here the teftimony of the old gentle-
man, who faid that he had feen both a
Bard and a Seannachie, is entirely fet
afide,
afide, by the contrary teftimony of another,
gentleman, who, as Dr. Jobnfon fays, told
him, that none of either had exifted for
fome centuries. I am rather apt to fufpect
the accuracy of the Doctor's reprefentation,
concerning this latter gentleman. Almoft
every man in the Highlands knows the
contrary to be true ; and if any one told
him what he afferts, we may doubt his
title to the character of an antiquarian.
But the Doctor, with his ufual caution,
conceals his author's name ; which cer-
tainly was prudent, as by this means the
hazard of a perfonal refutation is avoided.
It was well judged in the Doctor, how-
ever, to make his gentleman fo great a
mafter of Hebridian antiquities. By this
policy he fecures a better title to be be-
lieved ; and immediately after, he makes
his own ufe of what he pretends to have
received from fuch undoubted authority.
" Whenever the practice of recitation was
R difufed,"
difufed," fays he, tl the works, whether
poetical or hiftorical, perifhed with the
authors ; for in thofe times nothing had
been written in the Earfe language."
There has been occafion to obferve>
oftener than once, that it was the great
object of the Doctor's 'Journey, to find out
fome pretence or other for denying the
authenticity of the ancient compofitions in
the Gaelic language ; and now that defign
begins to unfold itfelf beyond a poflibility
of doubt. To effect his purpofe, he takes
a fhort but very ingenious method. He
finds it only neceflary to fay, that no Bards
have exifted for fome centuries; that, as
nothing was then written in the Gaelic
language, their works muft have perifhed
with themfelves; and confequently, that
every thing now attributed to them, by
their modern countrymen, muft be falfe
and fpurious.
As the Do&or gives no authority for the
fafts, from which he draws this inference,
he might as well have remained at home,
as he fays upon another occafion, and have
fancied to himfelf all that he pretends to
have heard on this fubjecl:. His bare word,
without leaving Fleet-Jlreet> would have
been juft as good as his bare word after
returning from the Hebrides. A Journey,
however, was undertaken ; though there
is every reafon to believe, that it was not
fo much with a view to obtain information,
as to give a degree of fanction to what he
had before .refolved to aflert.
But though there had really been no
Bards or Seannachies for fuch a length of
time, and though the Gaelic had really
been an unwritten language, there is no
reafon for fuppofmg that all the ancient
compofitions periftied immediately with
their authors. I have already {hewn, that
the pra&ice of recitation was not formerly
R 2 confined
( 244 )
confined to the Bards and Seannachies alone,
and that it is not altogether difufed even
in our own times. It muft therefore fol-
low, that many of their works would ftill
be preferved by this means only, even
after the Bards and Seannachies, by pro-
feflion, might ceafe to exift.
There is no neceffity, however, for truft-
ing to this argument alone. I may hereafter
take an opportunity of fhewing, that the
Gaelic has not always been an uncultivated
language ; which will weaken one part of
the foundation on which the Doctor builds.
In the mean time, I fhall produce fome
fads to evince, that the domeftic offices in
queftion exifted much later than he is wil-
ling to allow ; and that, I prefume, will
go nigh to fap the remaining part of his
fabric.
It is not neceflary, nor will I pretend ex-
actly to fay, when the office of Seannacbie, as
s diftinO;
diftind from that of Bard, fell into difufe.
By this I mean only the Seannachie by
profeilion ; for as to Seannachies from
choice, and for the amufement of them-
felves and friends, they have always exift-
ed j and there are feveral, and thofe not
contemptible ones, both of the better and
lower fort of people, ftill living in the
country. It will be enough to (hew, from
well known facts, that the regular pro-
feffion of Bard, who occafionally like wife
officiated as Seannachie, has not been fo
long out of fafhion.
The Maceivens had free lands in Lorn
in Argylefhire., for acting as Bards to the
family of Argyle, to that of Breadalbane,
and likewife to Sir John Macdougal of
Dunolly, in 1 572. The two laft of the race
were Airne and his fon Neil.
I have now before me an Elegy upon
the Death of Sir Duncan DOIV Campbel of
R 3 Glenurchy,
( 246 )
Glenurchy, compofed by Neil Macewen.
The date, which is 1630, is in the body
of the poem. How long he lived after
this, I cannot take upon me to fay ; but as
there is much of the hiftory and genealogy
of the family interwoven with the per-
formance, he muft certainly have been
both Bard and Seannachie.
John Macodrum in North Uift, who is
{till alive, and not a very old man, had a
yearly allowance from the late Sir James
Macdonald of Slate, which, I believe, may
be ftill continued, by the prefent Lord
Macdonald. I have, in my pofleffion,
many of his competitions, which are far
from being deftitute of merit.
I have likewife, in my hands, fome
poems, compofed by one Bard Mathonach\
in one of which he acknowledges to have
received gold from the earl of Seaforth, at
parting on board the fhip that was to carry
his
his benefactor out of the kingdom, after
the battle of Sheriffmuir, in the year 1715.
Another of his poems is in praife of the
late Lord Lovat, who made him a prefent
of a gun. Whether he was retained in the
official quality of Bard, by either of thofe
noblemen, I cannot pretend to determine.
Many of my readers know, that one of
the moft remarkable Bards of modern
times, was John Macdonald^ defcended of
the family of Keppoch in Lochaber. He
was commonly called John Lorn ; and
fometimes John Mantach or Mabach, from
an impediment in his fpeech. He com-
pofed as many poems as would fill a pretty
large volume. A great number of them
are ftill extant, and many of them are in
my pofleffion. Moft of his compofitions
have great merit.
He lived from the reign of Charles I. to
the time of king William. But what may
\* R 4 ftartle
ftartle Dr. Johnfon not a little, Charles II.
fettled a yearly penfion upon him, for
officiating as his Bard. As many of his
poems mention the chief tranfactions of
the times, as wdl as the names of the
princes, chiefs, and nobility, whofe at-
chievements he fung, they carry their
dates in their bofoms, and fix the aera in
which they were compofed. He lived to
an extreme old age, fo that there are ftill
a few people of very advanced years who
remember to have feen him.
But to come more clofely to the point.
I wifli the Doctor may preferve his
temper and patience when I inform him,
that Neil Macvuricb^ defcended of the
famous race of Macvurichs, Bards and
Seannachies to the Clanronald family, is
ftill alive, and enjoys free lands from Allan
Macdonald of Clanronald, as his Bard and
Seannachie. This man writes the Celtic
or Gaelic character, which was, taught him
by
( 249 )
by his predeceflbrs, but he imderftands ho
other language or charader whatever.
This piece of intelligence muft equally
furprife and gall our traveller ; but, as the
thing is true, there is no .help for it.
There is no fad whatever more certain or
better known ; and it could be attefted by
the moft reputable people in that part of
the kingdom, if the evidence of ct High-
land narration," which the Dodor has fb
often reprobated, could be admitted as fatiGr
fadory. But what is ftill more, he might
eafily, while in the country, have had the
laft and beft proof of what is here aflerted,
even ocular demonftration. He might
have feen the Bard Macvurich, and others,
with his own eyes ; and he might likewife
have had the fame unerring teftimony for
the exiftence of many manufcripts in the
Gaelic language, for feveral centuries
back.
This
This mode of information, however, the
Doctor always avoided. It would not have
anfwered the purpofe with which he had
fet out. His plan was laid ; and he never
, f
wifhed to fee or hear any thing that could
induce him to alter it. As, therefore, he
was determined to write in the very man-
ner he has done, he has this one claim to
virtue at leaft, that he did not chufe to
write againft conviction.
Thefe inftances are but a few of many
that might be given ; but, I flatter myfelf,
they will prove fufficient to fatisfy the
public, if not even Dr. *johnfon himfelf,
that his Hebridian antiquarian, if fuch
there was, has grofsly mifinformed him ;
and confequently, that the \ngeniousjyllo-
gifm, which he has formed upon that in-
formation, however agreeable to mode and
fgure, is not agreeable to truth.
Unlefs
Unlefs the Doctor would have every
teftimony rejected but his own, I hope
I have given reafons for believing, that
there have been always regular Bards and
Seannachies in the country, and that there
are ftill fome of both ; that the practice
of recitation has not yet ceafed, and that
the Gaelic has not been an unwritten
language ; and, of courfe, that the Doctor's
conclufion, from the oppofite premifes^ does
not neceflarily follow, namely, " That the
works of the ancient Bards and Seanna-
chies, whether poetical or hiftorical, perifh-
ed with the authors^"
In addition to what has been faid, I can
allure the reader, that many poems of the
Bards I have already mentioned, as well as
of feveral others, are in my own pofleffion ;
and that many other gentlemen, in dif-
ferent parts of the Highlands, have like-
wife large collections, among which there
are productions of very old dates. Thefe
are
f 2 5 2 )
are always open to the infpedtion of curi-
ofity, when a ftranger fignifies a defire to
fee them ; and a confiderable number of
them have been lately published, in a
moderate volume, for the fatisfaction of
fuch as may not have an opportunity of
vifiting the country, and feeing the ori-
ginals.
In regard to our hiftorical works of any
long ftanding, I have already mentioned,
that they fuffered greatly by the ravages
of Edward the Firft, and of Cromwell.
The Doctor ftill continues to reproach us
with the want of them, though he knows
by what means there is fuch a deficiency
in our national annals; and that the un-
happy divifions among ourfelves, at thofe
two periods, gave an eafy opportunity to
thofe inveterate enemies to the antiquities
of Scotland, to deftroy fome part of our
records, and carry off another.
As
X
( 2 53 )
As it now appears, that many of our
Seannachies were alfo Bards, it may natu-
rally be fuppofed, that much of our ancient
hiftory was in verfe. The fame practice
obtained in all other nations, in the early
ages, and in the like circumftances. Ac-
cordingly, many of our poems confift of
defcriptions of battles, deaths of heroes,
and concife narratives of other hiftorical
facts.
Page 260, he fays, " Whether the man
of talk was a hiftorian, whofe office was
to tell truth, or a ftory-teller, like thofe
which were in the laft century, and per-
haps are now among the Irljh^ whofe trade
was only to amufe, it now would be vain
to inquire." It would be far from vain
to make this inquiry , were it neceflary;
but the matter has been already cleared
up. The cafe is fufficiently plain ; but
the Do&or generally creates doubts where
there
there are none, and puzzles his reader with
difficulties of his own making.
In the fame page, he proceeds, " Pro-
bably the laureat of a clan was always the
fon of the laft laureat. The hiftory of the
race could no otherwife be communicated,
or retained ; but what genius could be
expected in a poet by inheritance?"
Though the Doctor fpeaks doubtfully of
this fact, he concludes with a triumphant
query^ in the fame confident manner as if
he had proved it.
I fhall grant him, indeed, that genius, any
more than other endowments, cannot be
expected to go by inheritance ; and I fhould
as little think it neceflary for the fon of
the laft laureat, as he 'wittily calls the
Highland Bard, to be a poet, as for the
fon of our pompous journaliu 1 to be a pedant.
Sons may often poffefs qualities very oppo-
fite to thofe of their fathers. A mere
2 blockhead
blockhead has fometimes, no doubt, been
the fon of a very good Bard ; and there
can be no reafon why the offspring of
even a Dr. Johrifon, though without a title
by inheritance, fhould not hereafter be
diftinguifhed for truth, candour, good
breeding, and other virtues.
If the fon of the lail Bard had a genius
equal to the office, there is no doubt, but
among a friendly and generous people, it
would be reckoned an aft of juftice to
prefer him to another ; but if he was
found deficient in that refpect, it is evident,
from the practice of the country, that. he
could not fucceed. There were regular
fchools for the education of Bards, called,
in the Gaelic language, Scoil Bhairdeachd,
in which the youth, or candidates for the
profeffion, underwent a long courfe of dif-
cipline ; and, after all this preparation,
fuch as were found incapable were always
rejected. From this it would feem, that
thofe
thofe who had the fuperintendency of thofe
fchools paid a ftriS regard to the judicious
rule of the ancients nafcimur poetz. But
more of this hereafter.
In the fame page he ftill goes on.
" The nation was wholly illiterate. Nei-
ther Bards nor Seannachies could write or
read." I wifh the Dodor had fixed the
period to which he alludes ; but that, like
all other points accompanied with a charge,
he prudently leaves undetermined. But
let him choofe what time he pleafes, it
will be eafy to fhew the fallacy and un-
principled prefumption of thefe afTertions.
The early introduction of learning into
Scotland is acknowledged by all the hiftories
of Europe. In the firft ages of Chriftianity,
for our traveller, I fuppofe, does not carry
his obfervations back to the times of the
Druids, our learning, no doubt, was chiefly
confined to the priefthood. But what
then ?
( *SJ )
then ? Will the Doftor pretend to fay, that
the cafe was then different in any other
country ? If he will not, I fhould be glad
to know wherein the force of his firft
aflertion confifts. While we had priefts only,
the nation could not be " wholly illiterate'*
at any period of time*
Many inftances have been already men-
tioned to prove the progrefs of literature
among us, before the univerfal gloom of
Gothic defolation ; and the Doctor himfelf
acknowledges, in page 56, that foon after
its revival it found its way to Scotland.
Where then will he fix the period for
juftifying his prefent aflertion? If there is
truth in hiftory, if there is truth in Dr.
Johnfon himfelf* what he now fays muft
appear to be unjuft ; and that the Scotch
nation was not illiterate at any time, or
in any fenfe of the word, while other
nations could pretend to have been more
enlightened.
S Being
Being thus driven from his poft, our
author has no refuge but in ignorance or
wilful mifreprefentation. To a man of
the leaft dignity of mind, or fenfe of
honour, either muft be intolerable. But
let him take whfch ftation he pleafes, he
will find himfelf difappointed in both.
He forfeits every pretenfion to wifdom or
to virtue j whether he prefers the weak
fhelter of the fool, or the more obftinate
retreat of the knave.
It is always with reluctance I have re-
courfe to any afperity of language ; but the
infolence and injullice of Dr. Johnfon de-
mand fome feverity. When a man dares
to traduce a nation with fo much indecent
freedom, it would bcfalfe delicacy, indeed,
not to treat him, in his turn, with all that
contempt that is confident with truth.
Oppofed to a whole people, an individual
finks into nothing ; and, if he forgets the
fuperior refpect that is due to the many, he
4 neceflarily
neceflarily divefts himfelf of all title to
complaifance.
As to his next afTertion, that " neither
Bards nor Seannachies could write or read,"
I would afk him what he means ? If it is
that the ancient Bards and Seannachies
could not write or read Englifh, I will not
, difpute the point. That language was as
foreign to the old Celtic or Scotch Bards
and Seannachies, as it is to the French or
Italian poets and hiftorians at this day.
Will the Doctor call the latter igrk.ant,
becaufe they neither write nor read the
language of his country ? If he will not,
the abfurdity of his infinuation againft the
former is too evident to require an anfwer
on that account.
But as he told us before, and repeats it
afterwards, that nothing had been written
formerly in what he calls the Earfe, his
meaning more probably is, that our Bards
and Seannachies could neither write nor
S 3 read
( 260 )
read any language whatever. If this really
be fo, the anfwer is fhort and eafy, and I
will tell him, without any ceremony, that
the allegation is falfe and untrue.
As to the Doctor's Earfe, it has a filthy
found, and I muft reject it, as never being a
word of ours. It is only a barbarous term
introduced by ftrangers, and feems to be a
corruption of Iriftj. The Caledonians al-
ways called their native language Gaelic ;
and they never knew it by any other name.
If we go back to fo early a period as the
inftitution of the monafteries or abbacies of
7, or lona, Oronfay, and Ardchattan, &c. it
is not to be doubted, but the ufe of letters
was known in thofe feminaries, as well as
in other places of the like kind in Europe.
Were there no pofitive proofs of the facl:
now exifting, it would be abfurd to the laft
degree to deny it. Our monks muft have
underftood the learned languages ; and they
muft likewife have wrote them.
This
This much being granted, or rather
felf-evident, I can fee no reafon to prevent
them from writing in their own language,
more than the religious in all other coun-
tries. The Gaelic was the language in
which they ufually converfed ; it was that
into which it behoved the learned ones to
be tranflated ; and I well know it is the
language by which my own leflbns or
exercifes at fchool have been often ex-
plained to me, before I had acquired Eng-
lifh enough to underftand them otherwife.
I (hall proceed, however, to more poiitive
proofs.
Of what has been written at lona, I have
heard, in particular, of a tranflation of St.
Auguftine De Civitate Dei^ and a Treatife
in Phyfic, which is very old. The former
was in the pofleflion of the late Mr. Archi-
bald Lambie, minifter of Killmartine in
Argylefhire; and the latter was preferved
S 3 in
( 262 )
in the Advocates library at Edinburgh,
where, no doubt, it is (till to be feen.
Two brothers of the name of Rtthune
were famous for the profeflion of phyfic,
in the iflands of I/lay and Mull\ and they
were defigned, from the places of their
refidence, * Olla Uich and Olla Mulich.
They were both educated in Spain, and
were well verfed in the Greek and Latin
languages; but they did not underftand
one word of Englifh.
Olla Ilich lived in the reign of James
VI., and held free lands of his Majefty,
as one of his phyficians. He wrote a
Treatife in Phyfic, in the Gaelic character,
with quotations from Hippocrates. This
riianufcript was feen at Edinburgh fome
years ago, by a gentleman of my acquaint-
* Olla fignifies a Doftor or Profeffor in any fcience, parti-
cularly in phyfic.
ance,
ance, in the pofTeflion of Dr. William Mac-
y now the laird of Macfarlane.
One Dr. O'Connacbar of Lorn, in Ar-
gylefhire, wrote all his prefcriptions in
Gaelic ; and his MS. has been feen by
many gentlemen ftill alive in that county.
There are, at prefent, two very old
manufcripts in the pofieflion of a gentle-
man in Argylefhire. One of them con-
tains the Adventures of Smerbie More, one
of the predeceflbrs of the family of Argyle ;
who, as appears from the genealogy of
that family, lived in the fifth century.
The Doctor, perhaps, will not be much
pleafed to hear, that the other contains the
Hiftory of Clanuifneacbain, or the fons of
Ufnoch, a fragment in Fingal.
i
The fame gentleman is likewife poflefTed
of * Profnachadh Catha Chlann D.omhnuill>
* A fpeech to cheer up the Macdonalds, when beginning
the battle.
84 at
at the battle of Harlaw in 1411, compofed
by Lacblan More Macvurich, the Bard.
This performance is in exact alphabetical
order, like the Doctor's famous Dictionary.
It contains four epithets upon every letter of
the alphabet, beginning with the firft letter,
and ending with the laft. Every epithet
upon the fame letter begins with vhat
letter ; which proves to a demonftration,
that fome of the Bards, at leaft, were not
unacquainted with letters in that age.
In the body of the genealogy of the
JAacvuricb Bards, this piece is mentioned,
as the production of the abovenamed
Lachlan More. Since I began thefe Re-
jnarks, the poem has been publilhed by Mr.
Macdonald in his collection) where it may
be feen by the curious,
A
So far were the Bards from neglecting
learning, that, as I have already obferved,
they had poetical fchools (Scoil Rbair-r
ckachd
( =65 )
deachd) regularly eftablifhed at Invernefs,
in Sky, and other places. In thefe they
went through certain exercifes, or pieces
of trials, which were prefcribed to them.
Such as did not acquit themfelves to the
fatisfaclion of the proper judges, were
rejected, as unqualified for the office; and
this often happened, after many years
ftudy and preparation.
Their fubjecT:, or thefis, was often pro-
pofed to them without any previous warn-
ing *. It was generally a fentence, though,
fometimes, but a fingle word ; and, at
other times, it was altogether unintelli-
gible, like the Barbara, celarent, Darii,
ferio, &c. in logic. Of this laft fort was
the fubjecT: which James VI. gave to fome
* Biftiop Leflie obferves, page 54, that illis (pueris)
cxempla illullrium virorum, ad quorum fe imiuitionem fin-
gerent, rythmi cujufdam et carminis concentu, ad volupiatem
illjftrata proponcre. *
poets,
( 266 )
poets, as a trial of ikjll in their pro-
feflion *.
I can aflert from as good authority as
Dr. Johnfon can pretend to, that, during
even the later periods, fome of the Mac-
vurich (or Macpherfon) race of Bards kept
an academy in Sky, where they taught the
Greek and Latin languages, as well as the
Gaelic art of poetry.
If any ingenuous fenfe yet remains with
the Doctor, he muft necefiarily feel fore
at this account of the Scotch Bards. Igno-
* SUBJECT.
Snamhaul an Lach is an Fhaoilin
Da chois chapail chaoilin chorr.
ANSWER.
'D fhuaras Deoch a Laimh Rl Alba,
A Cup Airgid agus Oir ;
An Aite nach do fhaoil mi f hetin.
'S da chois chapail chaoilin chorr f .
f The poet who performed beft was to get one cup-full of wine from
the king's own hand, and another cup-full of gold, as his reward.
miny
( 267 )
zniny and difappointment flare him, at
once, in the face. His impudent aflertions
are difproved, and his darling purpofe de-
feated. He muft therefore be doubly
ftung, if he is capable of fhame from
falfehood, or of chagrin for the failure of
his project.
But this forgery of our traveller, in aflert-
ing that the Bards were fo very illiterate,
feems the more extraordinary, 'as he ac-
knowledges, that there were regular fchools
or colleges in Sky t and other places, for
the education of pipers. His admitting
this fact gives additional ftrength to what
has been advanced concerning the acade-
mies of the Bards ; as it is not very likely,
that a people, who were fo attentive to an
inferior art, ftiould neglect the cultivation
of genius, for a more important profelfion.
It muft be confeflfed, however, that the
fchools of the Bards began to be confider-
i **
ably
( 268 )
ably upon the decline, within thefe laft
two centuries, Whether their not meeting
with the ufual encouragement was owing
to their prefuming too much on their own
importance, to the introduction of new
cuftoms, or to their profeflion not appear-
ing fo neceflary after the revival of letters,
it is not material to inquire : nor need we
be more furprifed, that the race of Bards
is now almofl extinct, than that we hear
no longer of the Harpers, Scialachies (tale-
tellers), and Jefters of former times, or
that even the bagpipe itfelf is approaching
to the eve of its laft groans. Our great
people, like thofe of other nations, have
found out new modes of amufement and
expence, which probably, in their turn,
will foon give way to others.
Upon the decay of their own ferninaries
at home, the Bards went to Irijh fchools
of the fame kind ; the confequence of
which was, . that they contracted much of
the
the Irifh poetical ftyle, and a fondnefs for
talking the Irifh dialed of the Celtic lan-
guage.
Many of our own countrymen, who
were ignorant of this fact, have miftaken
fome of the writings and compofitions of
thofe Irifh-bred Bards, for real Irifh. A-
mong the performances of this kind now
extant, there are feveral which we would
not hefitate to conclude to be true Irifh, if
we had not the moft convincing proofs to
the contrary.
We have a ftriking inftance of this in
the Elegy on Sir Duncan Dow Campbel,
which has been mentioned above, and was
compofed by the Bard Maceiven in 1630.
This poem is, in many places, altogether
unintelligible to moft Highlanders ; though
other productions of a much earlier date,
as being compofed in the Albion dialect of
the Celtic, are perfectly underftood. In
particular,
( 270 )
particular, there is a MS. poem by Mac-
leaned Bard, in praife of Colin earl of
Argyle, in 1529, a complete century be-
fore the Elegy, which is entirely free from
the obfcurities to be found in that per-
formance. But Maceiven was one of thofe
Bards who refided fome time in Ireland.
His poem is in the Gaelic character, and
in his own hand-writing ; and it is ftill
preferved, among the papers of the family
of Breadalbane, at Taymouth.
Befides adopting much of the poetical
language of Ireland, the Bards who went
to that country for education wrote many
things in imitation of Irim pieces. This
has given occafion to that people to claim,
as their own, various compofitions, which
were in reality the productions of Scotch
Bards.
Though I flatter myfelf, by this time,
ihat.the arrogant afiertions of Dr. jQbnfon
will
will appear fufficiently refuted, and confe-
quently, that the conclufions he fo confi-
dently draws from them muft fall harmlefs
to the ground ; yet I {hall fubjoin a few
obfervations more, which feem to offer
themfelves properly in this place.
It will not be denied, I believe, that our
religious focieties muft have been poflefTed
of learning. That they were fo in an
eminent degree, appears from their being
in fo great requeft among other nations ;
for that of lona, in particular, fent pro-
feflbrs to Cologne, Luvaine, Paris, and
other places. Is it therefore probable,
that, while they were employed in in-
ftructing foreigners, their own countrymen
alone mould remain uninformed ? Such a
fuppofition is too violent for common
fenfe.
As a proof that learning was much cul-
tivated among us, all the abbots, priors,
and
( 2 7 2 )
and monks, of thofe feminaries, were real
Highlanders. The Doctor might have
been fatisfied of this, from obferving the
names of Macphingon (Mackinnon) and
Mackenzie, on the tomb-ftones of two of
the abbots of lona ; and the name of Mac-
dougall, prior of Ardchattan^ upon his
tomb-ftone at that place.
The fame obfervation will hold, with
regard to our nunneries. In that of lona,
one of the abbeiTes is defigned, upon her
tomb, in the patronymic manner, accord-
ing to the cuftom of the country. The
inicription both in Latin and in Gaelic is,
' Domina Anna Donaldi Terleti filia,
Ann Ni mhic Dhonuill mhic Thearlaich.
In Englifh, it means, Ann the daughter
of Donald the fon of Charles.
At Oronfay^ and other places, the cafe
was exactly the fame. If therefore our
religious feminaries, which were not a few,
were
were filled with natives of the country,
the nation cannot in any juftice be faid to
have been illiterate; though, contrary to
all probability, literature had been confined
to thofe focieties alone. We likewife find,
that there were monumental infcriptions,
in the Gaelic language, in very early pe-
riods of time. I fee no reafon then, if the
Highlanders could cut out their language
upon marble or ftone, why the,y might not
be able to write it upon parchment or
paper.
Among other things, I might add, that
as many of our kings, with their whole
courts, refided often in the Highlands, it
is to be prefumed, whatever was known
any where elfe, muft have been known
there alfo.
Before the time of King Malcolm Cean
More^ as may be judged from his very
name, no other language but the Gaelic
T was
was fpoken in Scotland. It was in compli-
ment to Margaret, the queen of that mo-
narch, and the eldeft fitter of Edgar, that
the Englijh language was firft introduced
even at court. This happened in 1068-9;
and, from that asra, we may date, at lead
in the fouthern parts of the kingdom, the
gradual decline of the Celtic^ once the de-
light of all the courts of Europe.
It continued long, after this, to maintain
its ground in the Highlands; but even
there, at laft, it began to be neglected to
fuch a degree, that, but for the uncommon
beauties of its poetical compofidons, it would
fcarcely have exifted, except amongft the
vulgar alone. But, of late years, the
better tafte of a few has directed the atten-
tion of others to its fuperior excellence;
and now again it begins, as it were, to
recover new life.
Nothing
Nothing can more effectually illuftrate
the copioufnefs and energy of the Gaelic
language than this, that feveral of the
poems, which have been lately published,
and are now fo much admired by the
learned, were the extempore effufions of
fome men, who were not otherwife very
learned themfelves. But if, as Dr. Jobnfon
exprefTes himfelf, they were ftrangers to
the " fplendors of ornamental erudition,"
they were equally fo to that conftraint,
which is occafioned by the unnatural fetters
of modern criticifm. Genius prevailed
over art ; and they have found the power
to pleafe, without any guide but nature.
To what has been already faid on thefe
heads, I mail now beg leave to add the '
authority of Bifhop Leflie ; which moft
people, I prefume, will deem fully as good
in this cafe, as that of our intelligent and
candid traveller. In page 157, that learned
prelate fays, " that Eugenius VII., in the
T 2 year
year 699, took care to have many learned
men aflembled together from all parts of
his dominions, and to be fupported at
his expence, who were to record not only
the tranfactions or exploits of the Scots,
but likewife thofe of all other nations."
It may appear from hence, that the Sean-
nachies, or hiftorians of thofe early times,
were not an illiterate fet of men, who could
neither write nor read. When they be-
came afterwards fo very ignorant as the
Doctor fays, is incumbent upon him to
point out ; and before he urges that igno-
rance as a reproach, if he really can make
it appear, he ought likewife to prove, that
their fouthern neighbours, at leaft, were
more knowing at the fame time.
I fhall next borrow an argument from
Dr. Johnfon's Journey, to confute himfelf.
Through the whole courfe of this work,
his own contradictions have ferved me in
much
(' 277 )
much ftead ; and I take this opportunity of
acknowledging my obligations, as the
prefent afliftance is none of the leaft con-
fiderable.
What he fays, in fpeaking of lona in
particular, feems very inconfiftent with
what he has fo lately advanced concerning
the total ignorance of the country. As
the paflage is remarkable, I mall tranfcribe
it for the fake of thofe who may not be
pofleffed of his book.
" We were now," fays he, page 346,
" treading that illuftrious ifland, which
was once the luminary of the Caledonian
regions, whence favage clans and xoving
barbarians derived the benefits of know-
ledge, and the bleffings of religion. To
abftract the mind from all local emotion
would be impoflible, if it were endeavour-
ed, and would be fooliih, if it were poflible.
Whatever draws us from the power of
T 3 our
( 278 )
our fenfes; whatever makes the paft, the
diftant, or the future predominate over the
prefent, advances us in the dignity of
thinking beings. Far from me and from
my friends be fuch frigid philofophy as
may conduct us indifferent and unmoved
over any ground which has been dignified
by wifdom, bravery, or virtue ! That man
is little to be envied, whofe patriotifm
would not gain force upon the plain of
Marathon^ or whofe piety would not grow
warmer among the ruins of lona."
In thefe tranfports of a not unlaudable
enthufiafm, the celebrity of lona, as an
ancient feat of learning, is very ftrongly
imprefTed. That title to fame muft, in-
deed, be allowed to be juft, which could
extort fuch glowing ftrokes of eulogy
from the pen of Dr. Johnfon ; whofe tefti-
mony, when favourable to Scotland^ no
one can have reafon to fufpeft.
it
( 279 )
It will naturally occur to every reader,
that inftitutions of this fort, and lona was
but one of many, cannot afford proofs of
an ignorant, rude, or barbarous people.
The Doctor, by way of eminence, calls
this the luminary of the Caledonian regions ;
and to {hew that he does not dignify it
with that appellation in vain, he fays it
was a fource of knowledge and religion to
the inhabitants of the country. It is true,
he talks, as ufual, of favage clans and
roving barbarians. But as this may be
the effedt of a habit, which he cannot eafily
lay afide, and by which, perhaps, he means
no great harm, I fhall take no further
notice of it at prefent, than only to obferve,
that fuch rough epithets do not feem to be
very happily chofen for the difciples of his
revered Iona\ a feminary, which he ex-
tols fo much for its wifdom and virtue.
Without wrangling about words, there-
fore, it is enough for my purpofe, that he
T 4 has
has allowed the Highlanders to have derived
knowledge from Iona\ and for his o*wn pur-
pofe, I am afraid, that conceffion will rather
be a little too much. He will find it no eafy
matter to perfuade the public, that a nation
can be " 'wholly illiterate" and inftrnfted
in know/edge at the fame time. There is
a manifcft repugnance between thefe two ;
and they never can be reconciled, unlefs,
contrary to the ufual interpretation of the
word, it will appear, from the Doctor's
Dictionary, that knowledge is but another
term for ignorance.
This inconfiftency in the Doctor's man-
ner of writing, exceeds thofe marvellous
variations in the different accounts of
brogue-making, which ftaggered our con-
fcientious traveller fo much, as to make
him queftion the veracity of " Highland
narration." The reader will be able to
judge, by this time, to which of the parties
fuch 2ijligma moft properly belongs. Should
he
he think of transferring it to the Dodor,
I am only afraid he may create fome em-
barraffment to himfelf. Having already
feen fo many of his contradictions, he muft
find him fo' branded all over, that he will
hardly know where to ftamp a new mark
of difgrace.
I know not what degree of force the
Doctor's patriotifm might gain upon the
plain of Mafatbon ; but if we are to
judge of his piety from his regard to
truth, it feems not to have grown remark-
ably r warm among the ruins of lona. Ac-
cording to his own decifion, therefore,
" he is a man little to be envied."
Having, as he thinks, though without
other proof than his bare aflertion, efta-
blimed the non-exiftence of literature
among us, he proceeds to apply that nega-
tive do&rine to our genealogies.
Page
Page 261, he fays, " The recital of
genealogies has never fubfifted within time
of memory, nor was much credit due to
fuch rehearfers, who might obtrude ficti-
tious pedigrees, either to pleafe their
matters, or to hide the deficiency of their
own memories. Where the chiefs of the
Highlands have found the hiftories of their
defcent is difficult to tell ; for no Earfe
genealogy was ever written,"
What our author means by what he calls
" within time of memory " I am at a lofs to
know. If he means the memory of man,
in its enlarged fenfe, he evidently contra-
dicts himfelf in the preceding part of the
fame paragraph, where he fays, that fuch
recitals were anciently made when the heir
of the family came to manly age. If he
means the memory of any man now living,
that would be but a trifling confideration,
had it not even been already proved that
the practice ftill continues.
Ai
As to the rehearfers of genealogies ob-
truding fictitious pedigrees on their matters,
the Highlanders in general were too atten-
tive to that branch of their antiquities, and
too well verfed in what related to their
own defcent and connections in the country,
to admit eafily of fuch an impofition ;
though there had been no other means of
preventing it, than by rehearfal only. But
it will immediately appear, that they had
other fecurities for accuracy in that point.
When the Doctor tells us that " no
Earfe genealogy was ever written," he
ought to have told us likewife upon what
authority he founds fo peremptory an
aflertion. Contrary to a fimilar falfehood
of his, it has been already proved, that
many other things had been written in the
Gaelic language. It is not, therefore,
likely, that a people fo tenacious of their
anceftry fhould leave the hiftories of their
defcent
( 284 j
defcent unrecorded. But to prefumptive,
I mall add pofitive proof.
I have juft now in my poflefiion very
complete genealogical accounts of fix dif-
ferent families, <ulz. that of the Royal
Houfe of Stuart, the family of Argyk)
Macdonald) Mac Ian of Glenco, Macneil
of Barra, and the Bard Macvurich. They
are all written in the Gaelic language and
character ; and as a proof that they have
fubfifted for a confiderable length of time,
it may be proper to inform the Doctor,
that the laft perfon mentioned in the fecond
of thefe genealogies is Archibald earl of
Argyle, who fucceeded his father in 1661.
I could appeal to many others of very
ancient dates ; but this much will be fuffi-
cient as an anfwer to our traveller's equally
mode/I and well-founded affertion, that " no
Earfe genealogy was ever written." I
5 fliall
{hall not, therefore, trouble the public with
a- catalogue, which appears unneceflary.
There is enough to fatisfy the candid ;
and nothing, I know, will convince the
captious. But fhould any one be ftill dif-
pofed to pay lefs regard to my private
teftimony, than to that of Dr. Johufon y he
may be completely fatisfied by applying,
in any manner he pleafes, to the heads of
the families I have mentioned, or to any
gentleman or clergyman in the country at
large.
It will not, I hope, appear now fo very
" difficult to tell, where the chiefs of the
Highlands have found the hiftories of their
defcent." But though nothing of this kind
had been anciently written in Gaelic, a
man of lefs penetration than the Doctor
might eafily have conceived, that the gene-
alogies of our great families would natu-
rally be preferved by the fame means, to
which
( 286 )
which the families of other countries owe
the knowledge of their anceftry ; that is,
by charters of lands, contracts of marriage,
and fuch other deeds of a public or private
nature as were always recorded every
where, and connected the chain of family
fucceflion.
Page 262. " Thus hopelefs," fays he,
*' are all attempts to find any traces of
Highland learning. Nor are their primi-
tive cuftoms and ancient manner of life
otherwife than very faintly and uncertainly
remembered by the prefent race."
After what has been advanced, thus hope*
kfs too, I truft, are all his malignant and
impotent attempts to deftroy either the
reality or credit of Highland learning.
The traces of it are not fo obfcure as not
to have been eafily found, had fuch a
refearch made any part of his bufmefs.
But he never inquired about any monument
of
( 287 )
of our antiquities, among fuch as were the
ableft to inform him. He dreaded to hear
difagreeable truths from the better fort; and
therefore he either made no inquiries at all,
or contented himfelf with the intelligence
of the vulgar.
As to what he fays about the " primitive
cuftoms and ancient manner of life," his
obfervation is too vague and indefinite, in
point of time, to admit of an anfwer, if it
otherwife deferved one. Are the cuftoms
and manners of remote times otherwife
than very faintly and uncertainly remem-
bered by the prefent race of Engliflj ? I
believe it would puzzle the omnipotent
genius of the Doctor himfelf, to give fatis-
factory accounts of thofe matters at any
period before the Norman conqueft of his
country, or even for fome centuries after-
wards. There is a folly in the fubjecl: of
this remark which challenges our contempt
more
( 288 )
more than a ferious reply. If it proves
any thing, it is the meannefs and malig-
nity of the author's own mind ; for it
fhews, that there is nothing either fo ab-
furd or trivial but he lays hold of, to form
a ground of calumny againft the Scotch.
In the fame page, he fays, " To the
fervants and dependents that were not
domeftics (and if an eftimate be made from
the capacity of any of their old houfes
which I have feen, their domeftics could
have been but few) were appropriated cer-
tain portions of land for their fupport.
Macdonald has a piece of ground yet, called
the Bards or Senachies field."
It is evident in this place, that the
Doctor eftimates the number of the do-
meftics by a very falfe rule. What now is
to be feen of the old houfes is generally
the principal part only, and fometimes but
a portion even of that. Around the caftle,
which
Which was always referved for the chief's
own family, and fome of their moft parti-
cular friends, there were feveral fmaller
buildings for the accommodation of fuch
other branches of the clan as might occa-
fionally happen to be there ; and on the
outfide of all thefe, were the lodging-houfefc
of the domeftics.
The traces of thofe exterior buildings ate
ftill vifible in many places ; particularly in
the neighbourhood of Lochfinlagan, at
Dunivaig in Jjla^ and at Ardtorinifh in
Morvein. They were likewife, no doubt,
to be feen where the Doctor pretends to
have made his obfervations ; but he chofe
to fupprefs that circumftance, that he
might take occafion to diminifh the
grandeur of our ancient chieftains, in the
number of their domeftics ; which was
certainly much greater than in the prefent
times.
U His
His mentioning a piece of ground, be-
longing to Macdonald, which is ftill called
the Bard's or Seannachie's field, furnifhes
an argument againft himfelf. He faid fome
time ago, that neither Bard nor Seannachie
had exifted for feveral centuries ; and he
has faid lately, that primitive cufloms were
but faintly and uncertainly remembered
by the prefent race of Highlanders. Now,
with all due fubmiflion to the Doclor, I
muft beg leave to obferve, that, take it
which way he will, the one of thefe afier-
tions muft refute the other. If the former
be true, the name of the field gives one clear
inftance of their remembering a primitive
cuftom ; but if the Doctor chufes to abide
by the latter, it neceflarily brings the ex-
iftence of Bards and Seannachies nearer to
our own times, than he had formerly
admitted.
In page 267, Dr. Johnfon enters into a
kind of difquifition concerning the Earfe,
the
the vulgar appellation of the Gaelic lan-
guage. Though he acknowledges that " he
understands nothing of it," he pronounces
it, upon an authority worfe, I fuppofe,
than that of his horfe-hirers, " the rude
fpeech of a barbarous people." To per-
fons as ignorant of the language, and as
prejudiced as the Doctor appears to be, this
bold aflertion may pafs for matter of fact.
But thofe who know the Earfe or Gaelic
critically, know that our traveller has as
much mifreprefented our language as he
has done our manners.
I have a flight knowledge, at leaft, of
fome ancient languages ; I underftand a
few living tongues ; and I can aver for
truth, before the world, that the Gaelic is
as copious as the Greek, and not lefs fuit-
able to poetry than the modern Italian.
Things of foreign or of late invention,
may not, probably, have obtained names
in the Gaelic language; but every object
U 2 of
( 29* )
of nature, and every inftrument of the
common and general arts, has many vocables
to exprefs it ; fuch as fuit all the elegant
variations that either the poet or orator
may chufe to make.
"to prove the copioufnefs of our tongue,
it is fufficient to allure the public, that we
have a poetical dialect, as well as one fuit-
able to profe only, that the one never
encroaches on the other ; and yet that both
are perfectly underftood by the moft illite-
rate, or, if the Doctor rather chufe the
word, the moft unenlightened High-
landers*
The chief defect in the Gaelic tongue
proceeds from that, which is reckoned the
greateft beauty in other languages. It has
too many vowels and diphthongs, which,
though fuitable to poetry, renders the pro-
nunciation lefs diftinct and marked than
happens in lefs harmonious and confe-
quently
C 293 )
quently more barbarous tongues. Some
ignorant writers of the Gaelic have of late,
it is true, briftled over their competitions
with too many confonants ; but thefe are
generally quiefcent in the beginning and
end of wprds, and are preferved only to
mark the Etymon.
" Of the Earfe language," fays he, " as
I underftand nothing, I cannot fay more
than I have been told. It is the rude
fpeech of a barbarous people, who had few
thoughts to exprefs, and were content, as
they conceived grofsly, to be grofsly under-
ftood." If the Doctor was ever told what
he has here afl'erted, it mutt have been by
fome perfon as ignorant of the language as
he profefles himfelf to be, and confequently
fuch authority can carry no weight. That
a Highlander, who could be the only judge
of the matter, fhould have pafled fo un-
favourable a verdict on his own language
and countrymen, as to call the one a rude
U 3 fpeech,
( 294 )
fpeech, and the other a barbarous peoples
is improbable to the laft degree. We mud
fuppofe, therefore, that our traveller was
never told fo, or that his informer was an
ignorant and prefumptuous blockhead.
It will not eafily be believed, that the
Gaelic, which was the language of the
Celtic nations, can be fo very rude a fpeech
as the Do&or reprefents it ; or that a
powerful people, who extended their domi-
nion over all the countries between Cape
Finifterre and the mouth of the river Oby 9
could be fo very barbarous, and have fa
fc'w thoughts to exprefs, Conqueft gene-
rally civilizes either the victors or the van-
quifhed. It is of no confequence to in-
quire, what were the manners of our Celtic
anceftors before they left their native homes.
One thing is evident, that, after mingling
with other nations, there appears.no reafon
why their Scotch defcendants mould be
more barbarous' than their other tribes.
8 In
( 295 )
In every country the public as well as
private bufmefs of a people muft be tranf-
acled in their native language ; and that,
by degrees, will improve it into elegance. I
know of no inftance to the contrary, except
in England after the Norman conqueftj
where, for many centuries, the inhabitants
were obliged to learn the language, and to
be governed by the laws of their French in-
vaders. Many of their legal forms and
fhrafesy as well as of their national cuf-
toms, are ftill French. In particular, the
ceremony of pafling bills in parliament is
the fame with that which was introduced
by their foreign lords ; and the nightly
toll of the curfeiv is an everlafting but
mournful monument of Norman defpotifm
and Englifti fubjugation,
Thefe circumftances, no doubt, contri-
buted greatly to retard the improvement
of the Englifh language; and accordingly
we find, that it was long thought, as Dr.
U 4 Johnfon
Johnfon expreffes it, but a " rude fpeech"
pven by the natives themfelves ; for their
beft authors, till of very late, wrote always
in Latin.
The Gaelic was formerly the general lan-
guage of all Europe. In Scotland it was
long the common language, not only of the
whole country, but likewife of the court.
All the pleadings in the courts of juftice,
as well as in parliament, were anciently
in Gaelic; and we have undoubted tefti-
monies, that even fo very lately as in the
parliament held at Ardchattan in Argyle-
(hire, in the reign of the great Robert
Bruce, it was the language in which all
their debates were carried on.
It cannot furely appear, from thefe ch>
eumftances, that the Gaelic was formerly
an uncultivated tongue. If it has not re-
ceived much improvement of late years, I
am certain it has loft little of what it had.
It is ftill the language of a. large traft o,f
country ;
country ; and there are many who write it
with elegance and correctnefs.
This, I think, is as little an evidence of
the Earfe or Gaelic being at prefent a
*< rude fpcech" as the Doctor's frequent
encomiums on individuals are proofs of a
" Barbarous people"
But as it was a cuftom with the Greek
and Roman authors to call every thing
rude and barbarous which did not belong
to themfelves, our traveller, perhaps, may
think himfelf entitled to take an equal li-
berty with whatever is not Englijh. If the
greateft admirers of the ancients, however,
cannot altogether acquit them of illiberality
in that mode of fpeaking, how fhall we be '
able to find an excufe for Dr. Johnfon in
afpiring to the fame privilege ? The great
inferiority of his pretenfions heightens the
offence ; and what was only blameable in
them,
them, becomes in him a ridiculous and
unpardonable prefumption.
" After what has been lately talked/*
continues he in the fame page, " of High-
land Bards, and Highland genius, many
will ftartle when they are told, that the
Earfe never was a written language ; that
there is not in the world an Earfe manu*
fcript a hundred years old ; and that the
founds of the Highlanders were never ex-
prefied by letters, till fome little books of
piety were tranflated, and a metrical ver-
fion of the Pfalms was made by the fynod
of Argyle"
As we have nothing here but repetitions
of former aflertions, the whole of this
paflage might be difmifled, as having been
refuted in other places. But I fhall add a
few things more, in confirmation of what
has been already faid.
( 2 99 )
That not only poems of confiderable
length, but likewife genealogies of fami-
lies, and treatifes on different fubjects,
Lave been anciently written in the Gaelic^
has been proved by a variety of inftances.
Let me now produce an additional tefti-
mony from Mr. Innes. In page 603 of
fris Inquiry, he mentions a chronicle of a
few of our kings, from Kenneth Macalpine
to Kenneth the Third, fon to Malcolm the
firft ; and he fays, that the original chro-
nicle or hiftory, from which that piece was
extracted, feems evidently to have been
written in the Gaelic language, and that
fome time too before the year 1291. He
Jias preferved, in his Appendix, the Latin
chronicle, which is a copy of the ori-
ginal.
Befides the manufcripts already taken
notice of, I could mention many more,
were it neceflary, in this place, to trouble
the
( 300 )
the reader with a longer lift; and other
gentlemen are acquainted with a ftill greater
number than has come within my know-
ledge. Thofe that yet remain afford more
than a prefumptive proof, that there once
muft have been more. I have already
pointed out the means, by which moft of
them were either deftroyed or carried
away ; and even of fuch as are preferved,
many, no doubt, are little heard of, by
having fallen into hands that are ignorant
of their contents.
From the many accidents, therefore, to
which old manufcripts are liable, it would
be an unfair way of reafoning to fay, that
becaufe they are not always to be feen, or
becaufe every one is not acquainted with
them, they never had exifted ; and yet this
is the very ground upon which Dr. John-
fon proceeds. If the firft perfon he chanced
to interrogate did not fay that he had feen
the Gaelic original of this or that particular
fubied,
fubject, he inquired no further, but im-
mediately fet it down as a fad, that no
body elfe had ever feen it, and that no
fuch manufcript had ever exifted.
At other times when he met with more
intelligent people, who offered to direct
him to old manufcripts, he would not
fuffer himfelf to be convinced that any
fuch things exifted ; and if they continued
to aflert the fact, he generally broke out
into an unmannerly rage, declaring, with
great vehemence, that if there were any
manufcripts in the Highlands, they could
not be Gaelic ', but muft certainly be Irijh*
Thus does Dr. Johnfon attempt to dif-
prove all traces of Highland learning, by
a twofold kind of method ; by refting fatif-
fied, in his inquiry, with the anfwers of
the ignorant ; and rejecting the affiftance
of fuch as were better able to inform him.
His
His fecond aflertion fays, " that there is
not in the world an Earfe manufcript a
hundred years old." This is fufficiently
refuted by the dates I have already men-
tioned, none of which are later than the
year 1630; which of itfelf alone, were
there none of a higher antiquity, is enough
to put our author to filence, if not to
ihame.
Among the old MSS. of cOnfiderable
length, I took notice particularly of two.
One gives the hiftory of Smerbie More, one
of the anceftors of the Duke of Argyle*
who lived in the fifth century, according
to a MS. genealogy of that illuftrious fa-
mily ; and the other contains the hiftory
of the fons of Ufnoth. They are both in
the Gaelic language and character, and are
fo very old as to be difficult to be read.
They are in the pofTeffion of Mr. Macintyre
of Glenoe, near Bunaw in Argylefliire.
But
( 303 )
But as the Doctor may think it too great
a trouble to travel again to the Highlands
for a fight of old manufcripts, I fhall put
him upon a way of being fatisfied nearer
home. If he will but call fome morning on
John Mackenzie, Efq; of the Temple, Se-
cretary to the Highland Society at the
Shakefpeare, Covent-Garden, he will find
in London more volumes in the Gaelic
language and character than perhaps he
will be pleafed to look at, after what he
has faid. They are written on vellum
in a very elegant manner; and they
all bear very high marks of antiquity.
None of them are of fo modern an origin
as that mentioned by the Doctor. Some
have been written more than five hundred
years ago ; and others are fo very old, that
their dates can only be guefled at, from
the fubjecls of which they treat.
Among
( 34 )
Among thefe are two volumes which are
very remarkable. The one is a large folio MS*
called An Duanmreadb Ruadh^ or the Red
rhymer p , which was given by Mr. Macdonald
of Glenealladel in Muideart to Mr. Mac-
donald of Kyles in Cnoideart^ who gave it
to Mr. Macpherfon. It contains a variety
of fubjects, fuch as fome of Ojfians Poems,
Highland Tales, &c. The other is called
An Leabhar Dearg> or the Red Book^ which
was given to Mr. Macpherfon by the Bard
Macvurich. This was reckoned one of
the moft valuable MSS. in the Bard's po-
feflion.
Since I began thefe Remarks, I have
been informed by Mr. Macdonald, the
publifher of the Gaelic poetry, that his
uncle, Mr. Lachlan Macdonald in South-
Uiftt was well acquainted with the laft of
thefe manufcripts ; and as that gentleman
is
is a great matter of the Gaelic language
and character, his opinion concerning its
antiquity, from the character and other
circumftances, is the more to be relied
upon.
To finifh this head at prefent, let me
next inform the Doctor, that the Bard
Macvurich alone is in pofleflion of a greater
number of Gaelic manufcripts than the
Doctor perhaps would choofe to read in.
any language. At the earned and repeated
requeft of Mr. Macdonald^ the publisher
juft mentioned, the Bard has been at laft
prevailed upon to open his repofitories,
and to permit a part of them to be carried
to Edinburgh^ for the fatisfaction of the
curious, and the conviction of the incredu-
lous. I myfelf have feen more than a
thoufand pages of what has been thus ob-
tained, as have hundreds befides ; and Mr.
Macdonald aflures me, that what he has
X got
C ?c6 )
got leave to carry away, bears but a very
fmall proportion to what ftill remains with
the Bard.
It feems almoft unnecefTary to mention
that all thofe manufcripts are in the Gaelic
language and character. Some of them
have fuffered greatly by bad keeping ; but
many more by the ravages of time. The
character of feveral is allowed by all, who
have feen the manufcripts, to be the moft
beautiful they had ever beheld.
From all this, let the public judge of the
truth of the Doctor's third aflertion in the
laft cited paragraph, " That the founds of
the Highlanders were never exprefTed by
letters till fome little books of piety were
tranflated, and a metrical verfion of the
Pfalms was made by the fynod of Argyle?
Had he made the proper inquiries, he
would have found that Mr, Robert Kirk^
miniftei
( 307 )
inimfter of Ealquidder in Perthfhire; had
wrote a metrical verfion of the Pfalms prior
W that of the fynod of Argyle. The fame
gentleman likewife wrote a Gaelic Voca-
bulary, which is mentioned, I think, in
Lbuyd's Archaeologia Britannica ; and from
which I have fome extracts. But long
before all this, there was publifhed a Gaelic
Treatife on Religion by Bifhop Carfwell
of Argyle.
More inftances might be given ; but
thefe, or any one of them indeed, rouft as
effectually deftroy the veracity of the
Doctor's aflertiori, as if a hundred had
been produced.
Though it has already appeared that
much has been written in the Gaelic^ and
there has, no doubt, been much more than
we are now able to difcover, I am ready
to admit that an equal proportion has not
been printed in that language, as in mod
X 2 others.
( 308 )
others. That, however, is eafily accounted
for. Before publifhing in vernacular lan-
guages was much ufed in Europe, the
Royal Houfe of Scotland had fucceeded to
the crown of England. That event natu-
rally induced men either of ambition or
genius to repair to the feat of government,
and rendered a more general cultivation of
the Englifh language neceflary. As there-
fore every perfon of any note in the High-
lands underftood the Englifli perfectly,
there could be no great encouragement for
many publications in another language,
which the poorer fort only had occafion to
purchafe. Befides, as I obferved before,
it was thought at one time good policy to
fupprefs the Gaelic* though afterwards it
has appeared to be a very bad one.
In the fame page, our author proceeds,
" Whoever therefore now writes in this
language, fpells according to his own per-
ception
( 309 )
ception of the founds, and his own idea of
the power of the letters. The Welch and
the Irijh are cultivated tongues. The
Welch, two hundred years ago, infulted
their Englifh neighbours for the inftability
of their orthography ; while the Earfe
merely floated in the breath of the people,
and could therefore receive little improve-
ment."
Nothing can be more falfe than what is
here faid of the uncertainty of Gaelic
orthography. It has a regular and efta-
blifhed ftandard, as is well known to many
gentlemen of tafte, candour, and curiofity,
who, though not natives of the Highlands,
have been at much pains to become ac-
quainted with our language. I (hall only
appeal to two refpectable evidences, namely,
General Sir Adolphus Ougbton and Sir
James Foulis. Thefe gentlemen will give
a very different account of the matter from
X 3 that
that which is exhibited by Dr. Johnfon\
and yet they cannot be fufpedted of any
national partiality for the Gaelic, as Sir
Adolf bus is an EnglifbnMn^ and Sir James
a South-country Scot.
This much, together with the proofs
already given of fo many manufcripts,
treatifes, and books in the Gaelic language,
is fufficient to (hew what truth is in the
Doctor's aflertion, that our language ha
merely floated in the breath of the people.
It would be unneceflary, therefore, to en-
large upon this branch of his doctrine.
In allowing the Welch and Irijh to be
cultivated tongues, our author feems not
aware that he is paying an indirect compli-
ment to the Gaelic at the fame time. The
Welch has ever been acknowledged to be a
dialect of the Celtic or Gaelic; and Mr.
) a learned and worthy "YVelchman,
8 who
who travelled over all the Highlands, fays,
in a letter of his to Mr. Rowland, author
of Mond Antiqua, and publifhed towards
the end of that work, that " about two-
thirds of the Scots Gaelic is the fame with
the Welch." As to the Irijh, it is well
known to every proper judge to have a ftill
greater affinity to our language ; for the
Albion and Irifh Gaelic differ not perhaps
fo much from each other as any two dialects
of the Greek.
But without meaning to derogate from
the Welch and Info languages, I fliould
be glad to hear the Doclor explain in what
particular fenfe he calls them cultivated
tongues. If it is only becaufe they form
the common fpeech of their refpective coun-
tries, the Gaelic, in that refpeft, ftands.
upon an equal footing. I have heard of
no memorable hiftories, no fyftems of phi-
Jofophy or politics, which have been pub-
X 4 lifted
. (
lifhed in either of thofe languages. There
are Welch and Irifli tranflations of the
Bible, and perhaps of fome other fmall
A. > i
tra&s, fuch as the Doctor calls " little
books of piety;" and printing, I believe,
has not yet been carried much further in
any of them. As therefore the Gaelic en-
joys all thefe advantages at leaft, it feems
to have equal pretenfions to {lability.
Page 269. " That the Bards could not
read more than the reft of their country-*
men, it is reafonable to fuppofe ; becaufe,
if they had read, they could probably have
written ; and how high their compofitions
may reafonably be rated, an inquirer may
beft judge by confidering what ftores of
imagery, what principles of ratiocination,
what comprehenfion of knowledge, and
what delicacy of elocution he has known,
man attain who cannot read,"
Here the Do&or feems determined to go
to the root of the matter at once. It was
neceflfary for his defign to make the Bards
appear incapable of recording their own
compofitions, by aflerting that they could
neither read nor write ; but as that alone
would do but half his bufmefs, he refolves
to. go a little further. Among his readers
there might be fome fancy folks, who
jnight take upon them to doubt that the
Bards could always be fo very illiterate, if
tljere was any learning in the country.
The leaft fufpicion of this kind would have
marred the whole plot ; and therefore it
became abfolutely indifpenfible, with the
next dafh of his pen, to make the reft of
their countrymen as ignorant as he had
made the Bards themfelves. As this needs
no further comment, I {hall leave the
Doctor, with all the benefit he can derive
from pleading the law ofneceffity, to receive
the verdict of the public.
( SH )
As it has fo often appeared that Bards
could both read and write, the pompous
jargon, which clofes the above quotation,
cannot apply to them, and confequently
is only fo much ink fpilt. But, though
the inference deduced therefrom by no
means affects the Bards, there is a fallacy
in the reafoning, which deferves to be
noticed.
I am as ready to admit the general ad-
vantages which refult from books, as our
bwk-ccixpilmg journalift himfelf ; but I
cannot agree with him in thinking, that
the^exercife of the mental powers depends
entirely upon their afliftance. True genius
fprings from nature : it is her gift alone :
it may be improved by reading, but never
can be fupplied. Every age and country
has furnifhed inftancec of men, who, by
dint of natural talents alone, have acquired
a diftinclion, which others could never at-
tain
( 315 )
tain with their loads of learned lumber.
Even the wilds of America have produced
orators ; and poets have flourifhed beneath
arcYic ikies. In the harangues of the In~
dian t there have been difcovered " prin-
ciples of ratiocination," and a " delicacy
of elocution," that would not difgrace a
Cicero ; and, iq the free effufions of the
Scandinavian mufe, there are often '* ftores
of imagery," which would equally enrich
and adorn the moft laboured compofitions
pf Dr. Johnfon.
In the fame page, our traveller proceeds :
' The Bard," fays he, " was a barbarian
among barbarians, who, knowing nothing
himfelf, lived with others that knew no
more." To know but little is a misfor-
tune ; but to know nothing is the full mea-
fure of mifery complete.
At what time the whole country was in
this forlorn ftate of combined ignorance
and
and barbarity, is not very eafy to tell. If
it was before the eftablifhment of lona,
which he extols fo much for learning and
virtue, the Doctor, I am afraid, fpeaks
from conjecture ; for the period is fo very
diftant, that he could afcertain but little of
the true condition of our anceftors before
that time. But if it was afterwards, let me
afk him, what becomes now of thofe " be-
nefits of knowledge," and thofe " bleflings
of religion," which he allows the clans, in
p. 346, to have derived from that luminary
of the Caledonian regions ? That furely
was an unprofitable knowledge, which left
the people ignorant ; and that a feeble re-
ligion, under which they flill remained
barbarians,
In page 270, he mentions an illiterate
poet lately in the Iflands, who, among other
things, had compofed a dialogue, of which
he heard a part tranflated by a young lady
in
in Mull, and thought it had more meaning
than he expected from a man totally un-
educated. Though this is but a faint way
of acknowledging the merits of the dia-
logue, the anecdote furnifhes one ftrong
objection to his late doctrine, concerning
the total incapacity of men who could not
read. He feems fenfible of this ; and,
to evade the force of it, he endeavours to
account for the fact by telling us, that this
man " had fome opportunities of know-
ledge ; be lived among a learned people."
This, however, is only changing his
object with removing the difficulty ; for,
as through the whole of his Journey,
contradiction follows the IXactor like a
fhadow, in attempting to avoid one abfur-
dity, he here falls plump inro another.
To derogate from the native genius of one
poor poet, he now makes the ivhole Ifland-
ers a learned people ; though, at other times,
to
to give the greater weight to his own mif-
reprefentations, he mentions them in a dif-
ferent language. In particular, we cannot
have forgot how he chara&erifes them in
p. 256, 257. He there fays, they are an
illiterate people; that they have neither
fliame from ignorance, nor pride in know-
ledge; neither curiofity to inquire, nor
vanity to communicate.
He next tells us, that there is an anti-
pathy between our language and literature ;
and that " no man that has learned only
Earfe is, at this time, able to read." -
This antipathy, I believe, exifts no where
but in the Doctor's brain ; and it has
been already fhewn, that many who had
" learned only Earfe" have, at all times,
been able both to read and write. Such
people correfpond regularly in the Gaelic
language.
His
( 3 J 9 )
His remarks upon the different dialects
of the Gaelic feem hardly to merit notice.
If that circumftance be a defect, it has
been the fate of all languages, even the
mofl polimed. The Greek had many dia-
le&s ; and, I believe, there is not a pro-
vince hi France \ or a county in England,
at this day, that has not many words and
modes of pronunciation which are not well
underftood in others. The inconveniency,
however, has the fame remedy in the Gaelic
as in other languages ; there is a written
diclion, which pervades all dialects, and is
underftood in every ifland.
In p. 271, he fays, " In an unwritten
fpeech, nothing that is not very ihort is
tranfmitted from one generation to another.
Few have opportunities of hearing a long
compofition often enough to learn it, or
have inclination to repeat it fo often as is
neceflary
( 3*0 )
neceflary to retain it ; and what is once
forgotten is loft for ever.'*
Having already given fo many proofs
that the Gaelic is not " an unwritten
fpeech," I might fave myfelf the trouble of
any particular remarks upon this paflage ;
but as there is fomething fpecious in the
argument, which might impofe upon un-
wary readers, a few collateral obfervations
may not be improper.
Though nothing had ever been written
in the Gaelic^ the manners and cuftoms of
the Highlanders were peculiarly adapted
for preferving the various productions in
their language. The conftant practice of
recitation, which is not yet altogether dif-
ufed, gave them u opportunities of hear-
ing a long compofition often enough to
learn it ;" and their defire to amufe them-
felves
felves in the folitudes of hunting, or a
paftoral life, as well as to bear their part
in focial entertainments, gave them " in-
clination to repeat it as often as was necef-
fary to retain it."
In this manner did the inhabitants of
.
every village and valley fupply to them-
felves the want of the more fafhionable
amufements of towns and cities, and wear
off the winter evenings alternately in each
other's, houfes ; and in this manner have
many things, " not very fhort,'* partly
written and partly not written, been " tranf-
mitted from one generation to another."
By thefe means, there was no great
danger of any thing being fo far forgotten
as to be " loft for ever ;" for if any one
perfon mould forget a particular part, there
were always tboufands who remembered
the whole. Befides, in poetical compofi-
Y tions,
( 322 )
tions, it is well known that the memory is
greatly afllfted by the cadence and rhyme ;
and as to fuch pieces of any length as we
have in profe, they are the more eafily re-
tained, as they generally confift of a va-
riety of epifodes, depending on each other,
and highly adapted to captivate the fancy.
Among the latter kind are our Tales,
which are, for the moft part, of confiderable
length, and bear a great refemblance to the
Arabian Nights Entertainments. One of
thofe, in particular, is long enough to fur-
nifh fubjecT: of amufement for feveral nights
running. It is called Sctalachd Choife Ce,
or Cian O Cathan's Tale; and though
ScialachieS) or tellers of tales by profeflion,
are not now retained by our great families,
as formerly, there are many flill living,
who can repeat it from end to end, very
accurately.
This
This cannot appear improbable to thofe
who confider, how much the memory is
ftrengthened and improved by frequent
ufe. When duly and conftantly exercifed,
it is capable of furprifing exertions ; and
we have fometimes read of inftances, which
amount even to prodigies.
I myfelf once knew a man, who, I am
certain, could repeat no lefs than 15,000
lines ; and there is now living one poet
Macintyre, who can repeat feveral thou-
fands. This man is altogether illiterate,
though not a defpicable poet. Befides re-
membering many of the compofitions of
others, and likewife of his own not yet
publifhed, he lately dictated, from me-
mory, as many fongs, compofed by him-
felf, as fill a fmall volume of 162 pages,
and amount to upwards of 4000 lines.
There is no doubt, but, in ages when
the Highlanders had fewer avocations than,
Y 2 at
at prefent, there have been inftances of
memory among them as far fuperior to
thofe now mentioned, a& they are to that
of Dr. Johnfon ; whofe weaknefs of reten-
tion feems to be fo great, that he often
forgets in the next page what he has ad-
vanced in the preceding.
But, if more feems necefTary, I muft
requeft the Dodor to call to mind what
was faid in anfwer to his attack upon the
Poems of Offian, by W. Cambmifis, in the
St. James's Chronicle of the 23d of March,
I 77S- " I prefume," fays that gentle-
man, " the Dodor muft remember boys at
fchool, who would repeat one or all the
Eclogues, or a Georgic of Virgil. I can
with truth aver, and what many will af-
firm, that there are feveral perfons in Wales,
who can repeat the tranfaftions (however
fabulous) of Arthur and his mil-ivyr, i. e.
his thoufand heroes, which are as long as
the
the Poems of Offian." A little after, he
adds, " We have ftill extant in the fame
manner, i. e. handed down by tradition,
fome of the poems of laliefyn pen Byrdd,
i. e. the Chief of Bards, or Poets, in the
Welch language, and they not inferior to
modern poetry of high eflimation. Taliefyn
flourished in the year 500."
The practice of committing much to
memory feems to be very old, and pro-
bably was borrowed from the Druids,
who, as we are affured by authors of credit,
were obliged to get 20,000 lines by heart,
before they were judged fit to exercife their
office ; for it was an eftablifhed maxim
among them, never to commit any of their
religious tenets to writing. I hope the
Doctor will not confider it as an affront,
that I have taken the liberty to mention an
hiftorical fact, which a man of his profound
erudition might be fuppofed to know.
Y 3 In
( 3*6 ).
In the fame page, he goes on : '< I be-
lieve, there cannot be recovered, in the
whole Earfe language, five hundred lines,
of which there is any evidence to prove *
them a hundred years old. Yet I hear
that the father of Oflian boafts of two
chefts more of ancient poetry, which he
fupprefles, becaufe they are too good for
the Englifh."
I fhall make no other anfwer {o the firft
part of this paflage, than by referring the
reader to the numerous manufcripts, vo-
lumes, and dates, which have been already
mentioned. As to the anecdote relative to
Mr. Macpherfon, whom our traveller far-
caftically terms the Father of Oflian, I am
glad to have it in my power to expofe its
falfehood, by the moft direct and unequi-
vocal proof.
Though I had found fo many reafons to
doubt the credit of Dr. Johnfon's bare af-
fertion,
( 327 )
fertion, and though the general character
of the gentleman he accufes, rendered it
highly improbable that he could have ex-
prefled himfelf in terms fo inconfiftent with
moderation, if not with prudence and good
fenfe, yet I was defirous, in a point fo very
delicate, to have fomething pofitive to pro-
duce. As I had not the pleafure of Mr.
Macpherfon's acquaintance, I requefted the
favour of one of his friends, to whom I
am known, to defire him to give a true
flate of the matter. He was obliging
enough to comply ; and Mr. Macpherfon's
anfwer was nearly in thefe words :
" Dr. Johnfon has either been deceived
himfelf, or he wittingly deceives others.
That I might have faid in company, that
there ftill remained many poems in my
hands untranjlated, is not improbable, as
the fact is true ; but that I fhould have
accompanied that aflertion with a farcafm
Y 4 on
( 338 )
on the English nation, is Impqfftble ; as I
have all along mod thoroughly defpifed
and detefted thofe narrow principles, which
fuggeft national reflections to illiberal minds.
I have lived in England long ; I have met
with public favour ; I have experienced
private friendship; and, I truft, I {hall not,
like fome others, fpeak difrefpeclfally of
the bulk of a nation, by whom, as indivi-
duals, I have been uniformly treated with
civility, and from whom I have often re-
ceived favours. As I never courted the
friendship, nor was ambitious of the com-
pany, of Dr. johnfon, he cann'ot authen-
ticate the afiertibn, from his own know-
ledge ; and if lie received the anecdote
from others, they either flattered his pre-
judices, or impofed upon his weaknefs."
Page 272, he gives fuch an account of
Highland narration, as plainly difcovers
what fort of people he interrogated. In
one
one place, he fays, " The inhabitants'
knowing the ignorance of all ftrangers in
their language and antiquities, perhaps are
not very fcrupulous adherents to truth.'*
Soon after, he adds, " They have inquired
and confidered little, and do not always
feel their own ignorance. They are not
much accuftorned to be interrogated by
others, and feem never to have thought
upon interrogating themfelves,"
.
After what we have heard the Doctor
fay before, in favour of the clergy and
better fort of people, it is evident he can
here mean only the vulgar. What, then,
are we to think of a man who could be
weak enough to expecl: accurate intelligence
from that clafs of the inhabitants, and af-
terwards be fo very difingenuous as to
characterife the whole country from their
meafure of knowledge ? Their anfwers, I
allow, could not always be fatisfq,ctory
3 and
( 330 )
and juft 5 but yet, though fuch poor people
could have little elfe than the received
traditions of the country to affift them, it
is fimply impoflible they fhould always
be in the wrong. It was when their
anfwers came neareft to the truth, that
they were moft offenfive to Dr. Jobnfon.
A genuine account of the facts did not
fuit his purpofe, and therefore it became
neceflary to difparage the teftimony he
received. To effect this, a double charge
of ignorance and deceit, in the inhabitants,
is made ufe of, though any one of them
would have been fufficient. But it has
been all along the peculiar misfortune of
our traveller to overact his part; fo that
by endeavouring to be too fecure, he has
often defeated his own views,
To corroborate the above remarks, the
Doctor calls in the teftimony of his friend
and fellow-traveller. " Mr. Bofwell,"
8 continues
C 33' )
continues he, " was very diligent in his
inquiries ; and the refult of his inveftiga-
tions was, that the anfwer to the fecond
queftion was commonly fuch as nullified
the anfwer to the firft."
Though Mr. James Bofwell was the
fdus Achates of our " Peregrinator," his
attendance and fervices are feldom " com-
memorated" in the work now under con-
fideration. The laft time he was men-
tioned, we found him employed in the
notable exploit of " catching a cuddy ;"
now he is brought in by the head and
fhoulders, as an evidence againft High-
land narration. This fullen filence of our
author, relative to his friend, is but a
fcurvy kind of behaviour towards a man,
who evidently wiftied, that his jolly-boat
might be carried down in tow, along the
tide of time, by this frjl-rate man of
letters.
Y 6 Mr.
( 332 )
Mr. Bofwell, it feems, has made feveral
attempts to place his own ftatue in one of
the niches in the temple of Fame. HQ
Joo, like our traveller, wrote tc a Journey.''.
In a violent epifode in his work, he has
introduced his learned friend in the cha-
racter of a legiflator among the wilds of
Corjica. There is more of ridicule> than
of applaufe, in making a man, who has
not the leaft command over his own paf-
fions, " the fabricator of a fyftem of polity
to an infant flate." But I dare fay, that
Mr. Bofwell was ferious ; and that whaj:
fome might confider as an injudicious piece
of adulation, was actually the refult of a
fixed admiration of the talents of his lite-*
rary friend.
The return made by this literary friend
is more fuitable to his own malevolence,
than to his gratitude to Mr. Bofwell. That
gentleman's polite acquiefcence, he has
moft probably perverted, in this place, to
proof of a fadt, which he was refolved,
at
( 333 )
ai all events, to eftablifh. Mr. Bofwell, i|
is well known, is as abfolute a ftranger tQ
what Doctor Johnfon calls the Earfe lan-
guage, as the Doctor himfelf j and, con-*
fequently, the latter might as well have
taken his own opinion upon the fubject,
as to have called in the aid of his fellow-
traveller's teftimony.
There is, however, a degree of judg*
ment, though none of candour, in the
Doctor's conduct upon this occafion. The
fuppofed teftimony of a native, who muft
have had a natural attachment to his own
country, could not fail to ftrengthen the
probability of facts, tending to throw dif-
credit on Scotland. In this light, even the
acquiefcence of Mr. Bofwell was blameable;
as he might have perceived the drift of the
Doctor's query. Good-nature may be
fometimes carried to an extreme that is
culpable. To this weak, though amiable
virtue, we are willing to afcribe Mr. Bof-
well's conduct ; and not to a defire of fa-
Y 7 crificing
( 334 )
orificing every thing to the prejudices of a
literary Moloch, whom he feems to have
too much worfhipped.
Page 273. " We were si while told,"
fays the Doctor, * { that they had an old
tranflation of the Scriptures ; and told it
till it would appear obfttnacy to inquire
again. Yet by continued accumulation of
queftions we found, that the tranflation
meant, if any meaning there were, was
nothing elfe than the Irlfh Bible."
When the Doctor acknowledges that he
was fo repeatedly told of an old tranflation
of the Scriptures in the Gaelic language,
and at the fame time avows his own obfti-
nacy in disbelieving the fact, he gives a
ftriking proof how difficult it was to con-
vince him of any thing in favour of the
country. A ftubborn incredulity in fuch
circumftances, and a refolution not to be
perfuaded, is one and tfye fame thing. If
6 he
he was to reject all teftimony, I would
beg leave to afk him, in what manner he
could propofe to be fatisfied ? He could not
furely be abfurd enough to imagine, that
every perfon, who mentioned the exiftence
of fuch a manufcript tranflation, fhould be
able to prove his aflertion, by producing a
copy. It was a work of too great length and
labour to be looked for in private hands.
That there was fuch a tranflation, is
beyond all doubt. It was lately in the
library of Archibald Duke of Argyle ; and
it is ftill> no doubt, in the pofleffion of
his fucceflbrs. It was never printed, for
reafons already obferved. Before the two
kingdoms fell under the fway of one fove-
reign, there was little printed any where
in vernacular tongues. After that period,
a kind of policy was adopted, though fince
found to be a bad one, for refufing any
public encouragement to the Gaelic lan-
guage,
( 336 )
guage^that the lower fort of people in the
Highlands might be under a neceffity of
learning the Englifh. The intention was,,
to abolifh the chief national diftindtion
between the inhabitants of both kingdoms,
and affimilate them more to each other, by
an uniformity of fpeech. This, for a long
time, prevented any publication of confe-
quence from appearing in our language.
But the error has been at length difcovered ;
and now the Gaelic, by degrees, has begun
to find employment for the prefs.
With regard to the other portions of
Scripture, I fhall refer the Dodor to Mr.
Pennant's Tour in 1769. In page 134 of
the Appendix 3 he will find, that " Gilbert
Murray archdeacon, afterwards bifhop of
Murray, tranflated the Pfalms and Gofpels
into the Irifh language and Scots Gaelic,
in the I2th century." He may here
obferve, that the Irifh language and the
Scots
( 337 )
Scots Gaelic are ufed as fynonymous
terms. This, I have already taken notice,
is a very improper way of fpeaking ; but
as it has been fometimes a practice, on
account of the very inconfiderable differ-
ence between thefe two dialects of the
ancient Celtic, to exprefs the one by the
other, it is fufficient to deftroy the effect
intended by our traveller, from the autho-
rity of Martin, in the following paflage.
" We heard," he goes on, " of manu-
fcripts that were, or that had been in the
hands of fomebody's father, or grand-
father ; but at laft we had no reafon to
believe they were other than Irifh. Martin
mentions Irim, but never any Earfe manu-
fcripts, to be found in the iflands in his
time."
The Doctor repeats the fame thing fo
often, that, in following him through the
progrefs of his Journey, I find myfelf like-
Z wife
wife led into tautologies, for which I muft
beg the reader's indulgence.
Had he inquired of the proper people,
he wouM not have heard fuch a vague
account of manufcripts, as that they only
" were, or had been in the hands of fome-
body's father, or grandfather." He would
have met with gentlemen, who could have
{hewn him there were manufcripts in their
own hands ; and that they had been tranf-
mitted in their families, through the hands
of a long feries of forefathers. But the
laugh, which the Doctor means to excite,
by this mode of expreflion, is loft in the
improbability of the fat which he relates.
We behold, therefore, the harmlefs but
pitiful trick of an old man, who hopes, but
without effect, to cheat his reader into the
belief of a fiction, by an attempt to put
him firft in good humour.
Though
( 339 )
Though the manufcripts I have already
mentioned are fufficient to eftablifh the
antiquity, as well as the great diverfity of
writing in the Gaelic language, I {hall
here add a few obfervations more ; and
hope it will be the laft time I fhall have
occafion to refume any difcuffion on the
fame fubjeft.
There are ftill many other manufcripts
in the Highlands, both in verfe and profe,
which are of great antiquity, and of which
I fhall take notice only of a few.
Among the former, in particular are,
a poem called Coachac na Srona, and the
Aged Bard's Wifh^ both of which have
been lately publifhed. Thefe, with a
variety of others, feem to go as far back
as the ages of hunting; for they contain
not the fmalleft allufion to agriculture, or
any of the modern arts of life. Among
other circumftances of a very ancient
Z 2 nature,
( 34 )
nature, fome of them make frequent men-
tion of a fpecies of deer, which has been
extinct in the Highlands for fome cen-
turies; and of which we know nothing
now but from thefe poems, and from their
huge heads and horns, which are often
dug up in our bogs and mofles. Many
will underftand, that the creature I mean
is the Lon ; which was probably a fpecies
of the elk or moofe deer.
But to relieve our peregrinator, at once,
from his " ivild-goofe chace" after manu-
fcriptS). of which he could only learn that
they formerly had been in fomebody'&
hands, I will refer him to two gentlemen,
who will give him a more pofitive inform-
anon. Dr. Alexander Campbel in Argyle-
fhire will, among other things, make him
acquainted with a very old MS. in Gaelic
character, which makes a large volume of
a quarto fiz,e ; and which, with a variety
of
cf other fubjects, gives a particular account
of the feuds which had formerly fubfifted
between the families of Fion (or Fingal)
and Gaul.-
Dr. Camplel is 5 in every other view, a
very refpectable character ; and his great
age, being now upwards of eighty years,
has enabled him, in particular, to acquire a
very extenfive knowledge of the antiquities
of his country. He was told by his father,
the celebrated Mr. Colin Campbel minifter
of Ardchattan, a man eminent for learn-
ing in general, and for mathematical and
antiquarian knowledge in particular, that
the greateft part of the books of value
belonging to lona, in the latter centuries,
were carried to Doivay in French Flanders ;
where the Scots had a feminary, which
flill. continues. Here the curious will, no
doubt, find fomething worth the trouble
of inquiry.
The
( 342 )
The other gentleman I intend to men*
tion, and who, after the many teftimonies
already produced, fhall be the laft autho-
rity I will advance on the fubjecT: of Gaelic
manufcripts, is Mr. Maclachla n of Kilbride,
He has been efteemed, and very defervedly,
one of the greateft antiquarians, of his
time, in the Highlands ; and our traveller
will find in his family a variety of Gaelic
manufcripts and fragments, which have
been tranfmitted, from father to fon, for
many generations.
As for the antiquity of learning and
writing in general, in Scotland, it is uni-
verfally acknowledged by all nations ; and
notwithstanding the many misfortunes
which have befallen the works of our
learned men, there ftill remain convincing
proofs, that we had our full proportion of
them in former times. I fhall but (lightly
touch upon a few particulars.
The
( 343 )
The Doctor will ftartle, perhaps, when
he is told, that Gildas was born at Dun-
barton, which is {till the capital of a High-
land county. Cumineus and Adamnanus
were abbots of lona ; and befides the Life
of St. Columba, they wrote other hiftorical
treatifes. They fiourifhed above eleven
hundred years ago ; and their writings that
remain are fuftained as genuine by all the
learned in Europe. They wrote before
the Saxon hiftorian Beds. Gould we re-
cover more of what has been anciently
written at lona, there is good authority
for believing, that we (hould find the lives,
deaths, and chief actions of their kings,
who, before the union of the Scottifh and
Piclifh kingdoms, ufed to be crowned and
buried there, recorded by thofe and other
religionijls of that renowned feminary.
An author of the I2th century men-
tions Scots records, as then reckoned an-
7* 4 cient.
i ( 344 )
cient. He was cotemporary with Andrew
bifliop of Caithnefs) who died in 1185,
and is quoted by Camden. This writer,
in a defcription of Albany , the ancient
name of Scotland, fpeaks of our hiftories
to this effect. " We read," fays he, " in
the hiftories and chronicles of the ancient
Britons, and in the ancient achievements
and annals of the Scots and Picts, &c."
This, I prefume, will fatisfy the moft fcru-
pulous, that writings, which could be called
ancient by an author of the I2th age, muft
have been of no fhort ftanding.
In the laft cited page, " I fuppofe," fays
our traveller, " my opinion of the Poems
of Offian is already difcovered." Indeed !
There is no need, furely, for a very
uncommon degree of penetration to make
this difcovery. The cloven foot has ap-
peared long ago ; and a man muft be very
d'ul!, who could not perceive which way
it
( 345 ),
it pointed. To render the authenticity of
thofe poems fufpicious, was the great
object of his Journey ; and to facilitate
the execution of that project has he
tolled fo much before-hand in difcrediting
Highland learning and narration. How
far he has fucceeded in the preparatory
part, the public will judge from what
has gone before ; with what effect he now
makes a more direct attack upon the poems
themfelves, will appear from what follows,,
I mail only premife, that I will not
here, as on other occafions, quote the par-
ticular objections of our traveller, and
anfwer them one by one ; but continue the
thread of obfervation, without any inter-
ruption, and with as little perfonal appli-
cation as poffible. The malignity of a
few others, the prejudices of fevcral, and
the weaknefs of many have fuggefted fimi-
lar objections to the authenticity of OJunf.*
Poems,
( 34* )
Poems, which have lately come to my
hands. I fhall therefore endeavour to
obviate the whole upon the fame general
ground.
The concurrent tefUmony of a whole
people, and the evidence of many refpect-
able individuals, laid before the public by
that elegant writer and refpectable clergyr
man, Dr. Blair, have been found incapable,
it feems, to fatisfy the minds of men, who
are unwilling to give credit to any thing
calculated to reflect honour on the anceftors
of the Scotch nation. To perfuade fuch
men of the truth of any fact, which they
are refolved not to believe, is beyond my
with, as well as my expectation. But as
many candid and well-meaning perfons
have been feduced into an error, by the
bold a (Tertian 8 of the prejudiced and incre-
dulous, I fhall examine, in a fuccinct
manner, the objections on which they
found their want of faith.
8 Some
( 347 )
Some derive an objection to the authen-
ticity of OJJians Poems, from an alleged
fupercilioufnefs in Mr. Macpherfon^ in re-
fufing fatisfaction, on that head, to every
writer, with or without a name, who
choofes to demand that fatisfadion, at the
bar of the public. Though I am told that
fupercilioufnefs is no part of Mr. Macpher-
fon's character, I think he has a right to
aflume it on fuch occafions. To anfwer
the queries of the prejudiced would have
no effect ; and there can be no end to
folving the difficulties ftarted by the igno-
rant. The moft loud and clamorous are
generally thofe who are leaft entitled to
fatisfaction ; and were Mr. Macpberfon to
defcend into a controverfy, upon a mere
matter of fact, he would, in a manner,
leave truth to the decifion of fophiftry.
Mr. Macpherfon has done all that could,
or ought to be expected. He has never
refufcd
( 348 .) I
refufed the examination or perufal of his
manufcripts to perfons of tafte and know-
ledge in the Celtic language. Thefe are
the heft, if not the only judges of the
fubject ; and as thefe are perfectly fatisfied
as to the authenticity of the poems, Mr.
Macpherfon has a right to be totally indif-
ferent to the incredulity of others.
To extend the opportunity of judging
for themfelves, to fuch as are converfant
in the language of the ancient Scots, and
yet have no opportunity of examining Mr.
Macpherfon^ B originals, he has publifhed
the feventh Book of Temora, He went
further. He publifhed propofals for print-
ing all the poems by fubfcription ; but, as
no fubfcribers appeared, he juftly took it
as the fenfe of the public, that the authen-
ticity, as being a matter of fuch general
notoriety, was abfolutely and decifively
admitted.
The
( 349 )
The fpecimen, which the tranflator has
published, carries to my mind, and, I truft,
I have fome right to form a judgment on
fuch fubjects, a thorough conviction, that
the feventh Book of Temora is not of Mr.
Macpherfon\ compofition. If it had been
of his own compofition, how could he
miftake the meaning of a pafTage in it, as
it is evident he has done ? To every High-
lander, to every man of candour in any
country, this is a decifive proof of the
authenticity of the poems. Neither the
bold afiertions of the prejudiced, nor all
the fophiilry of criticifm, can perfuade the
world, that any man can miftake the
meaning of what he has written himfelf.
But though the Poems of Ojjian bear
every internal mark of originality, though
they convey no ideas, exhibit no orna-
ments, contain no fentiments, which are
not peculiarly Celtic^ according to the ac-
counts
( 350 )
counts we have received of Celtic manners
from the ancients, WE, the natives of the
Highlands, and f we certainly muft be
allowed to be the beft judges of the matter,
do not found their authenticity on internal
proofs. Every man of inquiry, every
perfon of the leaft tafte for the poetry, or
turn for the antiquities of his country, has
heard often repeated fome part or other of
the poems publifhed by Mr. Macpherfon.
Hundreds ftill alive have heard portions of
them recited, long before Mr. Macpberfon
was born ; fo that he cannot poflibly be
deemed the author of compositions, which
exifted before he had any exiftence him*
felf.
It is true, there is no man now living,
and perhaps there never has exifted any
one perfon, who either can or could repeat
the whole of the Poems of OJfian. It is
enough, that the whole has been repeated,
in
in detached pieces, through the Highlands
and Ifles. Mr. Macphcrforfs great merit
has been the collecting the disjecta membra
poetz ; and his fitting the parts fo well to-
gether, as to form a complete figure.
Even the perfect fymmetry of that figure
has been produced, as an argument againft
its antiquity. But arguments are loft, and
fads are thrown away, upon men, who
have predetermined to refift conviction
itfelf.
In vain has it been alleged, that the age
of hunting, in which the Fingalians are
faid to have lived, cannot be fuppofed to
have cultivated poetry. This objection is
flarted by men, who are more acquainted
with books than human nature. But had
they even confulted their books, they
might have received a complete anfwer to
their objection. The Scandinavians, who
lived in a country almoft as unfit for
pafture
( 35* )
pafture as for the plough, excelled in the
beautiful and fublime of poetry. Their
war fongs, their funeral elegies, their love
fonnets, convey more exalted ideas of mag-
nanimity, melancholy, and tendernefs, than
the mod laboured compofitions of Greece
and Rome, on the fame fubjecls. The
allufions are few and fimple ; but they are
calculated to imprefs the mind with that
" glow of feeling," which fprings only
from genuine poetry.
Are the Indians of America any more
than mere hunters ? Yet who can deny
them a claim to the pofleffion of poetry ?
Their whole language feems to be, as it
were, itifetfed with poetical metaphor*
Their orations at their Congreffes, upon
matters of bufmefs, are all in the poetical
ftyle. They referable more the fpeeches
in the Iliad^ than thofe dry fyllogiftical
difquifitions, which have banilhed all the
beautiful
(. 353 )
beautiful fimplicity of eloquence from
modern public aflemblies.
Befides, is there any perfon acquainted
with the natives of the Highlands, who
does not know, that fuch perfons as are
moft addicted to hunting, are moft given
to poetry ? One of the beft fongs preferved
in MacdonalcTs collection of Gaelic poems,
is altogether on the fubject of hunting,
and the date of its compofition is fo old,
that it lies beyond the reach of tradition
hfeif. The folitary life of a hunter is
peculiarly adapted to that melancholy, but
fpirited and magnificent turn of thought,
which diftinguifhes our ancient poetry.
,
But it is not neceflary to confider the
Fingalians as mere hunters. We fre-
quently find in Offian's Poems allufions to
flocks and herds ; and a paftoral life has
been univerfally allowed to have been
A a peculiarly
( 354 )
peculiarly favourable to the mufe. I could
never fee, for my own part, any reafon
for fuppofing that agriculture itfelf was
unknown in the days of OJJian^ though it
is not mentioned in his poems. With a
contempt for every thing but the honour
acquired by the fword, he perhaps con-
fidered the plough as too mean an inftru-
ment to be alluded to in compofitions
chiefly intended to animate the foul to
war.
The dignified fentiments, the exalted
manners, the humanity, moderation, ge-
nerofity, gallantry, and tendernefs for the
fair fex, which are fo confpicuous in the
Poems of Ojfian y have been brought as
arguments againft their authenticity. Thefe
objections, however, proceed either from
an ignorance of hiftory, a want of know-
ledge of human nature, or thofe confined
notions concerning the character of ages
and
( 355 )
and nations, which are too often enter-
tained in certain univerfities. With the
literature of ..Greece and Rome, they im-
bibe fuch an exalted idea of claflic cha-
racter, as induces them to confign to igno-
rance and barbarifm, all antiquity beyond
the pales of the Greek and Roman em-
But had they confulted the hiftory of
other nations, they might find that the
want of refinement, which is called barba-
rifm, does not abfolutely prove the want
of noble and generous qualities of the
mind. The powers of the foul are in
every country the fame. Why then fhould
not the Celtic Druid be as capable of im-
preffing ufeful inftruction on the followers
of his religion, as the bare-footed Selli *,
* The Selli were certainly as unpolilhed as any Druid, i \
the moft barbarous and fequeftrcd parts of the Hi^nlands
and Scottifo Ifles.
Iliad xvi. v. 234, z^.
A a 2 who
( 356 )
who facrifked to Jupiter on the cold top
of Dodona ? Or, by what prefcription has
the neighbourhood of the Hellefpont a right
to fentiments more exalted than thofe of
the chieftain who inhabits- the coaft of the
Vergivian ocean ? Have not many nations,
who have been called barbarians, excelled
the Romans in valour, and in that moft
exalted of all virtues, a fincere love for
their country ?
Have not even the Canadians of North
America, with fewer opportunities of im-
provement than the Finga/ians t been found
to poffefs almoft all the virtues celebrated
in the Poems of OJpan * ? Why therefore
ihould we deny to the ancient Caledonians
what we cannot refufe to the modern
neighbours of the Ejkimaux ?
The truth is, that the refemblance at
leaft, of all the virtues contained in the
* Abbe de Ra)nal, torn. iv.
Poems
( 357 )
Poems of Ojjlan^ and which are probably
exaggerated in the ufual manner of poetry,
ftill remains in the Highlands of Scotland.
The valour of the Highlanders is allowed
by their greateft enemies; and the mod
prejudiced cannot accufe them of cruelty.
Battle feems always to have been more
their object, than the rewards of victory.
In the focial virtues, the loweft High-
lander is not, even in this age, deficient.
He is civil, attentive, and hofpitable to
grangers, in a degree unknown in any
other country ; and as to matrimonial
fidelity and attachment, and delicacy to-
wards women, the Highlanders are ex-
ceeded by none ; I mean fuch of them as
have not improved their manners into a
neglect of trivial virtues, by a frequent
intercourfe with Dr. Joknfoti's countrymen.
In ancient times, the Highlanders had
much better opportunities 10 learn exalted
A a 3 fenti-
( 358 )
fentiments, if fuch muft be learnt, than in
later ages. The moft prejudiced of our
opponents will allow,, that refinement is in
every country, in a certain degree, an
infeparable appendage of a court. In the
days of Fingal, and for many ages after
hfm, the Highlands were the feat of go-
vernment. After the extinction, or rather
the conqueft of the Pifls, the kings of the
Scots fixed their refidence in the low
country. When the fouthern parts of Scot-
land were wrefted from the Saxons and
Danes, an extenfion of territory and the
danger of a fouthern enemy carried the
feat of government ftill further from the
jHighlanders. This circumftanee had cer-
<
tainly its weight in depriving the pofterity
of the Fingallans of fome part of that
exalted character, which diftinguifhed
their anceuors, But their retaining ftill
fo many of the virtues celebrated by Ojjlan,
is certainly a good argument, that thofe
virtues
( 359 )
virtues might have exifted in their per-
fetion, in more favourable times.
But there is little occafion for fpeculatlve
reafoning on a matter which is fo well
eftabliflied by fad:. A whole people give
their teftimony to the exiftence of the
Poems of OJ/tan; and gentlemen of the
firft reputation for veracity, and a capacity
to judge of the fubject, have long ago per-
mitted their names to be given to the
public, as vouchers for many parts of the
collection published by Mr. Macpherfon.
Many more are ready to join their tefti-
mony to that already given to the world.
The truth is, that even the defending a
matter of fuch notoriety, is the moft
plaufible argument that the prejudiced
could have brought againft the authenticity
of the poems.
To put the matter beyond the contra-
diction of the prejudiced, and the unbelief
A a 4 of
of the moft incredulous, I am glad to be
able to inform the public, that the whole
of the Poems of Offian are fpeedily to be
printed in the original Gaelic. In vain,
will it be faid by Dr. Johnfon and others,
who have manifeftly refolded not to believe
the authenticity of the poems, that the
fame man, who could invent them in
Englifh, might clothe them in a Celtic
drefs. To this I anfwer, that it would be
impoffible for any perfon, let his talents
be ever fo great, to impofe a tranjlatign^
for an original, on any critic in the Gaelic
language.
Dr. Johnfon will certainly permit me to
afk him, Whether any of his countrymen
could imitate the language of the age of
Chaucer, fo as to pafs his own work, for a
compofition of thofe times ? Dr. Johnfon's,
critical knowledge of the Englifh language
would fpurn the idea ; but I will venture
to
to affure the Doctor, that we have, among
us, feveral perfons as converfant in the old
Gaelic, as he himfelf is in the tongue of
the ancient Saxons.
In. the arrangement of the whole work,
and even in the improvement of particular
paflages, the public are perhaps indebted
to, the tafte and judgment of Mr. Macpher-
fon. Being perfectly mafter of all the tra-
ditions relative to the Fingalian times, he
has, no doubt, availed himfelf of that
advantage, in placing the poems in their
moft natural order ; and in reftoring the
fcattered members of fuch pieces, as he
found floating on tradition only, to their
original ftations. As he colleded fome
parts of the poems from what Dr. "John-
fon would call the " recitation of the aged,"
in different parts of the country, he was
certainly excufable in taking the " beft
readings in all the editions/' if the expref-
fion may be ufed.
Thus
( 36* )
Thus far we will admit, that Mr. Mao
pherfon is the anther of the poems. But
more we will neither grant to him, nor to
Dr. Johnfon ; who feems not to be aware
of the compliment he pays to a writer,
who, by meriting his envy, has excited his
malevolence.
It has upon the whole appeared, that
the knowledge of letters was introduced
into the Highlands and Hebrides, in as
early a period of time as into any of the
neighbouring countries. That one of the
firft ufes made of thofe letters was the
recording of works of genius, as well as
public events. That, as a collateral fecu-
rity for handing down the compofitions of
the poet, as well as the facts related by
the hiftorian, there were Bards and Seana-
cbies % educated in academies, and retained
afterwards by the principal families in
the Highlands and Ides. That thofe Bards
and Seanachies were not ,an illiterate race
of
( 363 )
of men, apt to corrupt poetry and miftake
facts. That both of them could, and
actually did, write the Gaelic language,
without receiving their knowledge of letters .
through the medium of any other tongue.
That the Bards and Seanachies were fo far
from becoming extinct fome centuries ago,
that a few of them ftill exift. That, befides
the regular and retained Bards and Seana-
chies, there were many other perfons, who
executed the duties of their offices, through
a particular turn of genius, or an attach-
ment to the antiquities and poetry of their
country. That of thefe feveral ftill exift ;
and many more were exifting a few years
ago. That the bufmefs of the eftablifhed
Bards and Seanachies, as well as of thofe
who followed the profeflions of both
through pleafure, was to tranfmit poetry
and hiftory to pofterity, fometimes by
writing, butoftener by oral tradition. That
the Poems of OJfian have been handed
down
( 364 )
down by thefe means, from age to age, to
the prefent times. That, in old times, no
doubt of their authenticity was ever enter-
tained ; and that there are ftill exifting
many hundreds, nay many thoufands, who
are ready to atteft their coming down to
them, from antiquity, with all the proofs
neceflary to eftablifh an indubitable fact.
The Doctor concludes his obfervations
on the Poems of Offian^ by pafling two
very fevere reflections ; the one of a per-
fonal, the other of a national kind. As
what he fays is pretty remarkable, I {hall
give it in his own words.
" I have yet," fays he, " fuppofed no
impofture but in the publisher ;" and, a
little after, he adds, " The Scots have
fomething to plead for their eafy reception
of an improbable fiction : they are fed need
by their fondnefs for their fuppofed an-
ceftors. A Scotchman muft be a very
fturdy
( 365 )
fturdy moralift, who does not love Scotland
better than truth ; he will always love it
better than inquiry ; and, if falfehood flat-
ters his vanity, will not be very diligent to
detect it."
As an impofture is the laft thing of
which a gentleman can be fuppofed guilty,
it is the laft thing with which he ought to
be charged. To bring forward fuch an
accufation, therefore, without proof to efta-
blifli it, is a ruffian mode of impeachment,
which feems to have been referved for Dr.
Johnfon. There is nothing in his " Jour-
ney to the Hebrides** to fupport fo grofs a
calumny, unlefs we admit his own bare
affertions for arguments ; and the publifher,
if by the publifher he means Mr, Macpher-
fonj is certainly as incapable of an im-
poflure, as the Doctor is of candour or
good manors.
The
( 366 )
The indelicacy of fuch language is ob-
vious. A gentleman would not have ex-
prefled himfelf in that manner, for his
own fake ; a man of prudence would not
have done it, for fear of giving juft offence
to Mr. Macpherfon. But the Doctor feems
to have been carelefs about the reputation
of the firft of thofe characters ; and the
malignity of his difpofition feems to have
made him overlook the forefight generally
annexed to the fecond. Though he was
bold in his aflertions, however, I do not
find he has been equally courageous in
their defence. His mere allegation on a
fubjec~t which he could not poffibly under-
fland, was unworthy of the notice of the
gentleman accufed ; but the language* in
which he exprefied his doubts, deferved
chaftifement. To prevent this, he had
age and infirmities to plead ; but not con-
tent with that fecurity, which, I dare ven-
ture to fay, was fufncient, he declared,
8 when
when questioned, that he would call the
laws of his country to his aid. Men, who
make a breach upon the laws of good
manners, have but a fcurvy claim to the
protection of any other laws.
Nor will our traveller come better off
with the public, in his more general aflault.
No man, whofe opinion is worth the re-
garding, will give credit to fo indifcrimi-
nate a calumny : the Doctor, therefore,
has exhibited this fpecimen of his rancour
to no other purpofe, than either to gratify
the prejudiced, 'or to impofe upon the weak
and credulous. If any thing can be in-
ferred from what he fays, it is only this,
that he himfelf is not fo " very fturdy a
moralift" as to love truth fo much as he
hates Scotland.
Soon after this, he tells us, that he left
Sky to vifit fome other iflands. But as
his
( 368 )
his obfervations, through that part of hrs
Journey > prefent nothing new, I fhall not
follow him in his progrefs ; and the reader,
I believe, as well as myfelf, will have no
objection to be relieved, from his long at-
tendance on fo uncouth a companion. We
{hall leave him, therefore, to rail, in the
old way, at the poverty, ignorance, and
barbarity of the inhabitants ; while, with
a peculiar confiftency, he acknowledges
plenty, intelligence, and politenefs, every
where. Neither mail we difturb his medi-
tations among the ruins of lona ; but per-
mit him to tread that once hallowed fpot
with reverential awe, and demonftrate the
true fpirit of his faith, by mourning over
the " dilapidated monuments of ancient
fancYity."
When he tells us, page 376, that men
bred in the univerfities of Scotland obtain
only a mediocrity of knowledge between
learning
( 369 )
learning and ignorance, he contradicts his
own atteflations to the contrary in a thou-
fand different places. I formerly compared
this paflage with his elogiums on the High-
land clergy ; I muft now contraft it with
what he mentions in two or three pages
after. " We now," fays he, " returned
to Edinburgh^ where I paffed fome days
with men of learning, whofe names want
no advancement from my commemoration."
It was fomewhat carelefs in the Doctor, to
fay no worfe, to hold fo very different a
language in page 379, while the cenfure
paffed on ouruniverfities, butfo little before,
muft be recent in the reader's memory.
But a regard to the trifling forms of con-
fiftency feems never to have been an object
of his attention.
It happens luckily, however, that the
reputation of the Scots for learning refts
upon a better foundation than the opinion
Bb of
( 370 )
of Dr. Johnfon. The teftimony of the
world is in their favour ; and, againft that,
his praife or cenfure can have but little
weight. The three learned profefiions
bear witnefs to their knowledge and talents.
In phyfic they fland unrivalled ; and in the
pulpit and at the bar they have no fupe-
riors.
But, befides profeflional merit, the Scots
have long occupied every other department
of literature; and they have diftinguimed
themfelves in each. The province of
hiftory is, in a manner, yielded up to them ;
they have added largely to the various
ftores of philofophy and the mathematics ;
and, in cridcifm and the belles lettres^ they
have discovered abilities, and acquired ap-
plaufe. Though they feldom defcend to
the ludicrous ) yet they have not wanted
writers, who have made fome figure in that
walk. If the Doclor doubts the fad, I
8 fhall
( S7 1 )
fliall refer him, for information, to the
author of Lexiphanes.
I (hall now take a final leave of Dr. John-
fan. That he fet out with an intention to
traduce the Scots nation, is evident ; and the
account he gives of his Journey {hews, with
what a ftubborn malignity he perfevered ia
that purpofe. Every line is marked with
prejudice; and every fentence teems with
the moft illiberal invectives. If he has
met with fome correction, in the courfe of
this examination, it is no more than he
ought to have expected ; unlefs he feels in
his own mind, what his pride perhaps will
not allow him to acknowledge, that mifre-
prefentation and abufe merit no paflion
fuperior to contempt.
FINIS.
ERRATA.
Page 4. line j. for about two years read fome years;
ib. 20. for on read to.
7. ' 9. /or Gallic mr</ Gaelic.
!&.- id. for of read on.
39. >\6.for no authority r^ad' no fynonimous au-
thority.
50. ult./or Introducing r^</ In traducing.
57. iS'/or Follafandus rMtf' Fullofaudes.
71. 5. /or Gallic read Gaelic.
74. 18. for Gallic read Gaelic.
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