Before breakfast, Dr. Johnson came up to my room to forbid me to mention
that this was his birthday; but I told him I had done it already; at
which he was displeased[616]; I suppose from wishing to have nothing
particular done on his account. Lady M'Leod and I got into a warm
dispute. She wanted to build a house upon a farm which she has taken,
about five miles from the castle, and to make gardens and other
ornaments there; all of which I approved of; but insisted that the seat
of the family should always be upon the rock of Dunvegan. JOHNSON. 'Ay,
in time we'll build all round this rock. You may make a very good house
at the farm; but it must not be such as to tempt the Laird of M'Leod to
go thither to reside. Most of the great families in England have a
secondary residence, which is called a jointure-house: let the new house
be of that kind.' The lady insisted that the rock was very inconvenient;
that there was no place near it where a good garden could be made; that
it must always be a rude place; that it was a _Herculean_ labour to make
a dinner here. I was vexed to find the alloy of modern refinement in a
lady who had so much old family spirit. 'Madam, (said I,) if once you
quit this rock, there is no knowing where you may settle. You move five
miles first;--then to St. Andrews, as the late Laird did;--then to
Edinburgh;--and so on till you end at Hampstead, or in France. No, no;
keep to the rock: it is the very jewel of the estate. It looks as if it
had been let down from heaven by the four corners, to be the residence
of a Chief. Have all the comforts and conveniences of life upon it, but
never leave Rorie More's cascade.' 'But, (said she,) is it not enough if
we keep it? Must we never have more convenience than Rorie More had? he
had his beef brought to dinner in one basket, and his bread in another.
Why not as well be Rorie More all over, as live upon his rock? And
should not we tire, in looking perpetually on this rock? It is very well
for you, who have a fine place, and every thing easy, to talk thus, and
think of chaining honest folks to a rock. You would not live upon it
yourself.' 'Yes, Madam, (said I,) I would live upon it, were I Laird of
M'Leod, and should be unhappy if I were not upon it.' JOHNSON. (with a
strong voice, and most determined manner), 'Madam, rather than quit the
old rock, Boswell would live in the pit; he would make his bed in the
dungeon.' I felt a degree of elation, at finding my resolute feudal
enthusiasm thus confirmed by such a sanction. The lady was puzzled a
little. She still returned to her pretty farm,--rich ground,--fine
garden. 'Madam, (said Dr. Johnson,) were they in Asia, I would not leave
the rock.' My opinion on this subject is still the same. An ancient
family residence ought to be a primary object; and though the situation
of Dunvegan be such that little can be done here in gardening, or
pleasure-ground, yet, in addition to the veneration required by the
lapse of time, it has many circumstances of natural grandeur, suited to
the seat of a Highland Chief: it has the sea--islands--rocks,--hills,
--a noble cascade; and when the family is again in opulence, something
may be done by art. Mr. Donald M'Queen went away to-day, in order to
preach at Bracadale next day. We were so comfortably situated at
Dunvegan, that Dr. Johnson could hardly be moved from it. I proposed to
him that we should leave it on Monday. 'No, Sir, (said he,) I will not
go before Wednesday. I will have some more of this good[617].' However,
as the weather was at this season so bad, and so very uncertain, and we
had a great deal to do yet, Mr. M'Queen and I prevailed with him to
agree to set out on Monday, if the day should be good. Mr. M'Queen,
though it was inconvenient for him to be absent from his harvest,
engaged to wait on Monday at Ulinish for us. When he was going away, Dr.
Johnson said, 'I shall ever retain a great regard for you[618];' then
asked him if he had _The Rambler_. Mr. M'Queen said, 'No; but my brother
has it.' JOHNSON. 'Have you _The Idler_? M'QUEEN. 'No, Sir.' JOHNSON.
'Then I will order one for you at Edinburgh, which you will keep in
remembrance of me.' Mr. M'Queen was much pleased with this. He expressed
to me, in the strongest terms, his admiration of Dr. Johnson's wonderful
knowledge, and every other quality for which he is distinguished. I
asked Mr. M'Queen, if he was satisfied with being a minister in Sky. He
said he was; but he owned that his forefathers having been so long
there, and his having been born there, made a chief ingredient in
forming his contentment. I should have mentioned that on our left hand,
between Portree and Dr. Macleod's house, Mr. M'Queen told me there had
been a college of the Knights Templars; that tradition said so; and that
there was a ruin remaining of their church, which had been burnt: but I
confess Dr. Johnson has weakened my belief in remote tradition. In the
dispute about _Anaitis_, Mr. M'Queen said, Asia Minor was peopled by
Scythians, and, as they were the ancestors of the Celts, the same
religion might be in Asia Minor and Sky. JOHNSON. 'Alas! Sir, what can a
nation that has not letters tell of its original. I have always
difficulty to be patient when I hear authours gravely quoted, as giving
accounts of savage nations, which accounts they had from the savages
themselves. What can the _M'Craas_[619] tell about themselves a thousand
years ago? There is no tracing the connection of ancient nations, but by
language; and therefore I am always sorry when any language is lost,
because languages are the pedigree of nations[620]. If you find the same
language in distant countries, you may be sure that the inhabitants of
each have been the same people; that is to say, if you find the
languages a good deal the same; for a word here and there being the
same, will not do. Thus Butler, in his _Hudibras_, remembering that
_Penguin_, in the Straits of Magellan, signifies a bird with a white
head, and that the same word has, in Wales, the signification of a
white-headed wench, (_pen_ head, and _guin_ white,) by way of ridicule,
concludes that the people of those Straits are Welsh[621].'
A young gentleman of the name of M'Lean, nephew to the Laird of the isle
of Muck, came this morning; and, just as we sat down to dinner, came the
Laird of the isle, of Muck himself, his lady, sister to Talisker, two
other ladies their relations, and a daughter of the late M'Leod of
Hamer, who wrote a treatise on the second sight, under the designation
of THEOPHILUS INSULANUS[622]. It was somewhat droll to hear this Laird
called by his title. _Muck_ would have sounded ill; so he was called
_Isle of Muck_, which went off with great readiness. The name, as now
written, is unseemly, but it is not so bad in the original Erse, which
is _Mouach_, signifying the Sows' Island. Buchanan calls it INSULA
PORCORUM. It is so called from its form. Some call it Isle of _Monk_.
The Laird insists that this is the proper name. It was formerly
church-land belonging to Icolmkill, and a hermit lived in it. It is two
miles long, and about three quarters of a mile broad. The Laird said, he
had seven score of souls upon it. Last year he had eighty persons
inoculated, mostly children, but some of them eighteen years of age. He
agreed with the surgeon to come and do it, at half a crown a head. It is
very fertile in corn, of which they export some; and its coasts abound
in fish. A taylor comes there six times in a year. They get a good
blacksmith from the isle of Egg.