The uncertainty of our present situation having prevented me from
receiving any letters from home for some time, I could not help being
uneasy. Dr. Johnson had an advantage over me, in this respect, he having
no wife or child to occasion anxious apprehensions in his mind[639]. It
was a good morning; so we resolved to set out. But, before quitting this
castle, where we have been so well entertained, let me give a short
description of it.
Along the edge of the rock, there are the remains of a wall, which is
now covered with ivy. A square court is formed by buildings of different
ages, particularly some towers, said to be of great antiquity; and at
one place there is a row of false cannon of stone[640]. There is a very
large unfinished pile, four stories high, which we were told was here
when _Leod_, the first of this family, came from the Isle of Man,
married the heiress of the M'Crails, the ancient possessors of Dunvegan,
and afterwards acquired by conquest as much land as he had got by
marriage. He surpassed the house of Austria; for he was _felix_ both
_bella gerere_ et _nubere_[641]. John _Breck_ M'Leod, the grandfather of
the late laird, began to repair the castle, or rather to complete it:
but he did not live to finish his undertaking[642]. Not doubting,
however, that he should do it, he, like those who have had their
epitaphs written before they died, ordered the following inscription,
composed by the minister of the parish, to be cut upon a broad stone
above one of the lower windows, where it still remains to celebrate what
was not done, and to serve as a memento of the uncertainty of life, and
the presumption of man:--
'Joannes Macleod Beganoduni Dominus gentis suae Philarchus[643],
Durinesiae Haraiae Vaternesiae, &c.: Baro D. Florae Macdonald
matrimoniali vinculo conjugatus turrem hanc Beganodunensem proavorum
habitaculum longe vetustissimum diu penitus labefectatam Anno aerae
vulgaris MDCLXXXVI. instauravit.
'Quem stabilire juvat proavorum tecta vetusta,
Omne scelus fugiat, justitiamque colat.
Vertit in aerias turres magalia virtus,
Inque casas humiles tecta superba nefas.'
M'Leod and Talisker accompanied us. We passed by the parish church of
_Durinish_. The church-yard is not inclosed, but a pretty murmuring
brook runs along one side of it. In it is a pyramid erected to the
memory of Thomas Lord Lovat, by his son Lord Simon, who suffered on
Tower-hill[644]. It is of free-stone, and, I suppose, about thirty feet
high. There is an inscription on a piece of white marble inserted in it,
which I suspect to have been the composition of Lord Lovat himself,
being much in his pompous style:--
'This pyramid was erected by SIMON LORD FRASER of LOVAT, in honour of
Lord THOMAS his Father, a Peer of Scotland, and Chief of the great and
ancient Clan of the FRASERS. Being attacked for his birthright by the
family of ATHOLL, then in power and favour with KING WILLIAM, yet, by
the valour and fidelity of his clan, and the assistance of the
CAMPBELLS, the old friends and allies of his family, he defended his
birthright with such greatness and fermety of soul, and such valour and
activity, that he was an honour to his name, and a good pattern to all
brave Chiefs of clans. He died in the month of May, 1699, in the 63rd
year of his age, in Dunvegan, the house of the LAIRD of MAC LEOD, whose
sister he had married: by whom he had the above SIMON LORD FRASER, and
several other children. And, for the great love he bore to the family of
MAC LEOD, he desired to be buried near his wife's relations, in the
place where two of her uncles lay. And his son LORD SIMON, to shew to
posterity his great affection for his mother's kindred, the brave MAC
LEODS, chooses rather to leave his father's bones with them, than carry
them to his own burial-place, near Lovat.'
I have preserved this inscription[645], though of no great value,
thinking it characteristical of a man who has made some noise in the
world. Dr. Johnson said, it was poor stuff, such as Lord Lovat's butler
might have written.
I observed, in this church-yard, a parcel of people assembled at a
funeral, before the grave was dug. The coffin, with the corpse in it,
was placed on the ground, while the people alternately assisted in
making a grave. One man, at a little distance, was busy cutting a long
turf for it, with the crooked spade which is used in Sky; a very aukward
instrument. The iron part of it is like a plough-coulter. It has a rude
tree for a handle, in which a wooden pin is placed for the foot to press
upon. A traveller might, without further enquiry, have set this down as
the mode of burying in Sky. I was told, however, that the usual way is
to have a grave previously dug.
I observed to-day, that the common way of carrying home their grain here
is in loads on horseback. They have also a few sleds, or _cars_, as we
call them in Ayrshire, clumsily made, and rarely used[646].
We got to Ulinish about six o'clock, and found a very good farm-house,
of two stories. Mr. M'Leod of Ulinish, the sheriff-substitute of the
island, was a plain honest gentleman, a good deal like an English
Justice of peace; not much given to talk, but sufficiently sagacious,
and somewhat droll. His daughter, though she was never out of Sky, was a
very well-bred woman. Our reverend friend, Mr. Donald M'Queen, kept his
appointment, and met us here.
Talking of Phipps's voyage to the North Pole, Dr. Johnson observed, that
it 'was conjectured that our former navigators have kept too near land,
and so have found the sea frozen far north, because the land hinders the
free motion of the tide; but, in the wide ocean, where the waves tumble
at their full convenience, it is imagined that the frost does not take
effect.'[647]