The governour has a very good garden. We looked at it, and at the rest
of the fort, which is but small, and may be commanded from a variety of
hills around. We also looked at the galley or sloop belonging to the
fort, which sails upon the Loch, and brings what is wanted for the
garrison. Captains Urie and Darippe, of the 15th regiment of foot,
breakfasted with us. They had served in America, and entertained Dr.
Johnson much with an account of the Indians.[424] He said, he could make
a very pretty book out of them, were he to stay there. Governour Trapaud
was much struck with Dr. Johnson. 'I like to hear him, (said he,) it is
so majestick. I should be glad to hear him speak in your court.' He
pressed us to stay dinner; but I considered that we had a rude road
before us, which we could more easily encounter in the morning, and that
it was hard to say when we might get up, were we to sit down to good
entertainment, in good company: I therefore begged the governour would
excuse us. Here too, I had another very pleasing proof how much my
father is regarded. The governour expressed the highest respect for him,
and bade me tell him, that, if he would come that way on the Northern
circuit, he would do him all the honours of the garrison.
Between twelve and one we set out, and travelled eleven miles, through a
wild country, till we came to a house in Glenmorison, called _Anoch_,
kept by a McQueen[425]. Our landlord was a sensible fellow; he had
learned his grammar[426], and Dr. Johnson justly observed, that 'a man
is the better for that as long as he lives.' There were some books here:
_a Treatise against Drunkenness_, translated from the French; a volume
of _The Spectator_; a volume of _Prideaux's Connection_, and _Cyrus's
Travels_[427]. McQueen said he had more volumes; and his pride seemed to
be much piqued that we were surprised at his having books.
Near to this place we had passed a party of soldiers, under a serjeant's
command, at work upon the road. We gave them two shillings to drink.
They came to our inn, and made merry in the barn. We went and paid them
a visit, Dr. Johnson saying, 'Come, let's go and give 'em another
shilling a-piece.' We did so; and he was saluted 'MY LORD' by all of
them. He is really generous, loves influence, and has the way of gaining
it. He said, 'I am quite feudal, Sir.' Here I agree with him. I said, I
regretted I was not the head of a clan; however, though not possessed of
such an hereditary advantage, I would always endeavour to make my
tenants follow me. I could not be a _patriarchal_ chief, but I would be
a _feudal_ chief.
The poor soldiers got too much liquor. Some of them fought, and left
blood upon the spot, and cursed whiskey next morning. The house here was
built of thick turfs, and thatched with thinner turfs and heath. It had
three rooms in length, and a little room which projected. Where we sat,
the side-walls were _wainscotted_, as Dr. Johnson said, with wicker,
very neatly plaited. Our landlord had made the whole with his own hands.
After dinner, McQueen sat by us a while, and talked with us. He said,
all the Laird of Glenmorison's people would bleed for him if they were
well used; but that seventy men had gone out of the Glen to America.
That he himself intended to go next year; for that the rent of his farm,
which twenty years ago was only five pounds, was now raised to twenty
pounds. That he could pay ten pounds and live; but no more.[428] Dr.
Johnson said, he wished M'Queen laird of Glenmorison, and the laird to
go to America. M'Queen very generously answered, he should be sorry for
it; for the laird could not shift for himself in America as he could do.
I talked of the officers whom we had left to-day; how much service they
had seen, and how little they got for it, even of fame. JOHNSON. 'Sir, a
soldier gets as little as any man can get.' BOSWELL. 'Goldsmith has
acquired more fame than all the officers last war, who were not
Generals.'[429] JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, you will find ten thousand fit to do
what they did, before you find one who does what Goldsmith has done. You
must consider, that a thing is valued according to its rarity. A pebble
that paves the street is in itself more useful than the diamond upon a
lady's finger.' I wish our friend Goldsmith had heard this.[430]
I yesterday expressed my wonder that John Hay, one of our guides, who
had been pressed aboard a man of war, did not choose to continue in it
longer than nine months, after which time he got off. JOHNSON. 'Why,
Sir, no man will be a sailor, who has contrivance enough to get himself
into a jail; for, being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of
being drowned.'[431] We had tea in the afternoon, and our landlord's
daughter, a modest civil girl, very neatly drest, made it for us. She
told us, she had been a year at Inverness, and learnt reading and
writing, sewing, knotting[432], working lace, and pastry. Dr. Johnson
made her a present of a book which he had bought at Inverness[433].
The room had some deals laid across the joists, as a kind of ceiling.
There were two beds in the room, and a woman's gown was hung on a rope
to make a curtain of separation between them. Joseph had sheets, which
my wife had sent with us, laid on them. We had much hesitation, whether
to undress, or lie down with our clothes on. I said at last, 'I'll
plunge in! There will be less harbour for vermin about me, when I am
stripped!' Dr. Johnson said, he was like one hesitating whether to go
into the cold bath. At last he resolved too. I observed he might serve a
campaign. JOHNSON. 'I could do all that can be done by patience: whether
I should have strength enough, I know not.' He was in excellent humour.
To see the Rambler as I saw him to-night, was really an amusement. I
yesterday told him, I was thinking of writing a poetical letter to him,
_on his return from Scotland_, in the style of Swift's humorous epistle
in the character of Mary Gulliver to her husband, Captain Lemuel
Gulliver, on his return to England from the country of the HOUYHNHUMS:--
'At early morn I to the market haste,
Studious in ev'ry thing to please thy taste.
A curious _fowl_ and _sparagrass_ I chose;
(For I remember you were fond of those:)
Three shillings cost the first, the last sev'n groats;
Sullen you turn from both, and call for OATS[434]:'
He laughed, and asked in whose name I would write it. I said, in Mrs.
Thrale's. He was angry. 'Sir, if you have any sense of decency or
delicacy, you won't do that!' BOSWELL. 'Then let it be in Cole's, the
landlord of the _Mitre tavern_; where we have so often sat together.'
JOHNSON. 'Ay, that may do.'
After we had offered up our private devotions, and had chatted a little
from our beds, Dr. Johnson said, 'GOD bless us both, for Jesus Christ's
sake! Good night!' I pronounced 'Amen.' He fell asleep immediately. I
was not so fortunate for a long time. I fancied myself bit by
innumerable vermin under the clothes; and that a spider was travelling
from the _wainscot_ towards my mouth. At last I fell into insensibility.