This day there was a new moon, and the weather changed for the better.
Dr. Johnson said of Miss M'Lean, 'She is the most accomplished lady that
I have found in the Highlands. She knows French, musick, and drawing,
sews neatly, makes shellwork, and can milk cows; in short, she can do
every thing. She talks sensibly, and is the first person whom I have
found, that can translate Erse poetry literally[855].' We set out,
mounted on little Mull horses. Mull corresponded exactly with the idea
which I had always had of it; a hilly country, diversified with heath
and grass, and many rivulets. Dr. Johnson was not in very good humour.
He said, it was a dreary country, much worse than Sky. I differed from
him. 'O, Sir, (said he,) a most dolorous country[856]!'
We had a very hard journey to-day. I had no bridle for my sheltie, but
only a halter; and Joseph rode without a saddle. At one place, a loch
having swelled over the road, we were obliged to plunge through pretty
deep water. Dr. Johnson observed, how helpless a man would be, were he
travelling here alone, and should meet with any accident; and said, 'he
longed to get to _a country of saddles and bridles_' He was more out of
humour to-day, than he has been in the course of our Tour, being fretted
to find that his little horse could scarcely support his weight; and
having suffered a loss, which, though small in itself, was of some
consequence to him, while travelling the rugged steeps of Mull, where he
was at times obliged to walk. The loss that I allude to was that of the
large oak-stick, which, as I formerly mentioned, he had brought with him
from London[857]. It was of great use to him in our wild peregrination;
for, ever since his last illness in 1766[858], he has had a weakness in
his knees, and has not been able to walk easily. It had too the
properties of a measure; for one nail was driven into it at the length
of a foot; another at that of a yard. In return for the services it had
done him, he said, this morning he would make a present of it to some
Museum; but he little thought he was so soon to lose it. As he
preferred riding with a switch, it was entrusted to a fellow to be
delivered to our baggage-man, who followed us at some distance; but we
never saw it more. I could not persuade him out of a suspicion that it
had been stolen. 'No, no, my friend, (said he,) it is not to be expected
that any man in Mull, who has got it, will part with it. Consider, Sir,
the value of such a _piece of timber_ here!'
As we travelled this forenoon, we met Dr. McLean, who expressed much
regret at his having been so unfortunate as to be absent while we were
at his house.
We were in hopes to get to Sir Allan Maclean's at Inchkenneth, to-night;
but the eight miles, of which our road was said to consist, were so very
long, that we did not reach the opposite coast of Mull till seven at
night, though we had set out about eleven in the forenoon; and when we
did arrive there, we found the wind strong against us. Col determined
that we should pass the night at M'Quarrie's, in the island of Ulva,
which lies between Mull and Inchkenneth; and a servant was sent forward
to the ferry, to secure the boat for us; but the boat was gone to the
Ulva side, and the wind was so high that the people could not hear him
call; and the night so dark that they could not see a signal. We should
have been in a very bad situation, had there not fortunately been lying
in the little sound of Ulva an Irish vessel, the Bonnetta, of
Londonderry, Captain M'Lure, master. He himself was at M'Quarrie's; but
his men obligingly came with their long-boat, and ferried us over.
M'Quarrie's house was mean; but we were agreeably surprized with the
appearance of the master, whom we found to be intelligent, polite, and
much a man of the world. Though his clan is not numerous, he is a very
ancient Chief, and has a burial place at Icolmkill. He told us, his
family had possessed Ulva for nine hundred years; but I was distressed
to hear that it was soon to be sold for payment of his debts.
Captain M'Lure, whom we found here, was of Scotch extraction, and
properly a McLeod, being descended of some of the M'Leods who went with
Sir Normand of Bernera to the battle of Worcester; and after the defeat
of the royalists, fled to Ireland, and, to conceal themselves, took a
different name. He told me, there was a great number of them about
Londonderry; some of good property. I said, they should now resume
their real name. The Laird of M'Leod should go over, and assemble them,
and make them all drink the large horn full[859], and from that time
they should be M'Leods. The captain informed us, he had named his ship
the Bonnetta, out of gratitude to Providence; for once, when he was
sailing to America with a good number of passengers, the ship in which
he then sailed was becalmed for five weeks, and during all that time,
numbers of the fish Bonnetta swam close to her, and were caught for
food; he resolved therefore, that the ship he should next get, should be
called the Bonnetta.
M'Quarrie told us a strong instance of the second sight. He had gone to
Edinburgh, and taken a man-servant along with him. An old woman, who was
in the house, said one day, 'M'Quarrie will be at home to-morrow, and
will bring two gentlemen with him;' and she said, she saw his servant
return in red and green. He did come home next day. He had two gentlemen
with him; and his servant had a new red and green livery, which
M'Quarrie had bought for him at Edinburgh, upon a sudden thought, not
having the least intention when he left home to put his servant in
livery; so that the old woman could not have heard any previous mention
of it. This, he assured us, was a true story.
M'Quarrie insisted that the _Mercheta Mulierum_, mentioned in our old
charters, did really mean the privilege which a lord of the manor, or a
baron, had, to have the first night of all his vassals' wives. Dr.
Johnson said, the belief of such a custom having existed was also held
in England, where there is a tenure called _Borough English_, by which
the eldest child does not inherit, from a doubt of his being the son of
the tenant[860]. M'Quarrie told us, that still, on the marriage of each
of his tenants, a sheep is due to him; for which the composition is
fixed at five shillings[861]. I suppose, Ulva is the only place where
this custom remains.
Talking of the sale of an estate of an ancient family, which was said to
have been purchased much under its value by the confidential lawyer of
that family, and it being mentioned that the sale would probably be set
aside by a suit in equity, Dr. Johnson said, 'I am very willing that
this sale should be set aside, but I doubt much whether the suit will be
successful; for the argument for avoiding the sale is founded on vague
and indeterminate principles, as that the price was too low, and that
there was a great degree of confidence placed by the seller in the
person who became the purchaser. Now, how low should a price be? or what
degree of confidence should there be to make a bargain be set aside? a
bargain, which is a wager of skill between man and man. If, indeed, any
fraud can be proved, that will do.'
When Dr. Johnson and I were by ourselves at night, I observed of our
host, '_aspectum generosum habet;'--'et generosum animum_', he added.
For fear of being overheard in the small Highland houses, I often talked
to him in such Latin as I could speak, and with as much of the English
accent as I could assume, so as not to be understood, in case our
conversation should be too loud for the space.
We had each an elegant bed in the same room; and here it was that a
circumstance occurred, as to which he has been strangely misunderstood.
From his description of his chamber, it has erroneously been supposed,
that his bed being too short for him, his feet during the night were in
the mire; whereas he has only said, that when he undressed, he felt his
feet in the mire: that is, the clay-floor of the room, on which he stood
upon before he went into bed, was wet, in consequence of the windows
being broken, which let in the rain[862].