Before Dr. Johnson came to breakfast, Lady Lochbuy said, 'he was a
_dungeon_ of wit;' a very common phrase in Scotland to express a
profoundness of intellect, though he afterwards told me, that he never
had heard it. She proposed that he should have some cold sheep's-head
for breakfast. Sir Allan seemed displeased at his sister's vulgarity,
and wondered how such a thought should come into her head. From a
mischievous love of sport, I took the lady's part; and very gravely
said, 'I think it is but fair to give him an offer of it. If he does not
choose it, he may let it alone.' 'I think so,' said the lady, looking at
her brother with an air of victory. Sir Allan, finding the matter
desperate, strutted about the room, and took snuff. When Dr. Johnson
came in, she called to him, 'Do you choose any cold sheep's-head, Sir?'
'No, MADAM,' said he, with a tone of surprise and anger[917]. 'It is
here, Sir,' said she, supposing he had refused it to save the trouble of
bringing it in. They thus went on at cross purposes, till he confirmed
his refusal in a manner not to be misunderstood; while I sat quietly by,
and enjoyed my success.
After breakfast, we surveyed the old castle, in the pit or dungeon of
which Lochbuy had some years before taken upon him to imprison several
persons[918]; and though he had been fined in a considerable sum by the
Court of Justiciary, he was so little affected by it, that while we were
examining the dungeon, he said to me, with a smile, 'Your father knows
something of this;' (alluding to my father's having sat as one of the
judges on his trial.) Sir Allan whispered me, that the laird could not
be persuaded that he had lost his heritable jurisdiction[919].
We then set out for the ferry, by which we were to cross to the main
land of Argyleshire. Lochbuy and Sir Allan accompanied us. We were told
much of a war-saddle, on which this reputed Don Quixote used to be
mounted; but we did not see it, for the young laird had applied it to a
less noble purpose, having taken it to Falkirk fair _with a drove of
black cattle._ We bade adieu to Lochbuy, and to our very kind
conductor[920], Sir Allan M'Lean, on the shore of Mull, and then got
into the ferry-boat, the bottom of which was strewed with branches of
trees or bushes, upon which we sat. We had a good day and a fine
passage, and in the evening landed at Oban, where we found a tolerable
inn. After having been so long confined at different times in islands,
from which it was always uncertain when we could get away, it was
comfortable to be now on the mainland, and to know that, if in health,
we might get to any place in Scotland or England in a certain number
of days.
Here we discovered from the conjectures which were formed, that the
people on the main land were entirely ignorant of our motions; for in a
Glasgow newspaper we found a paragraph, which, as it contains a just
and well-turned compliment to my illustrious friend, I shall
here insert:--
'We are well assured that Dr. Johnson is confined by tempestuous weather
to the isle of Sky; it being unsafe to venture, in a small boat, upon
such a stormy surge as is very common there at this time of the year.
Such a philosopher, detained on an almost barren island, resembles a
whale left upon the strand. The latter will be welcome to every body, on
account of his oil, his bone, &c., and the other will charm his
companions, and the rude inhabitants, with his superior knowledge and
wisdom, calm resignation, and unbounded benevolence.'