The gentlemen of the clan went away early in the morning to the
harbour of Lochbradale, to take leave of some of their friends who
were going to America. It was a very wet day. We looked at Rorie
More's horn, which is a large cow's horn, with the mouth of it
ornamented with silver curiously carved. It holds rather more than a
bottle and a half. Every laird of M'Leod, it is said, must, as a proof
of his manhood, drink it off full of claret, without laying it down.
From Rorie More many of the branches of the family are descended; in
particular, the Talisker branch; so that his name is much talked of.
We also saw his bow, which hardly any man now can bend, and his
glaymore, which was wielded with both hands, and is of a prodigious
size. We saw here some old pieces of iron armour, immensely heavy. The
broadsword now used, though called the glaymore (i.e. the great
sword), is much smaller than that used in Rorie More's time. There is
hardly a target now to be found in the Highlands. After the disarming
act, they made them serve as covers to their butter-milk barrels; a
kind of change, like beating spears into pruning-hooks. Sir George
Mackenzie's Works (the folio edition) happened to lie in a window in
the dining room. I asked Dr Johnson to look at the Characteres
Advocatorum. He allowed him power of mind, and that he understood very
well what he tells; but said, that there was too much declamation, and
that the Latin was not correct. He found fault with approprinquabant,
in the character of Gilmour. I tried him with the opposition between
gloria and palma, in the comparison between Gilmour and Nisbet, which
Lord Hailes, in his Catalogue of the Lords of Session, thinks
difficult to be understood. The words are, penes ittum gloria, penes
hunc palma. In a short Account of the Kirk of Scotland, which I
published some years ago, I applied these words to the two contending
parties, and explained them thus: 'The popular party has most
eloquence; Dr Robertson's party most influence.' I was very desirous
to hear Dr Johnson's explication. JOHNSON. 'I see no difficulty.
Gilmour was admired for his parts; Nisbet carried his cause by the
skill in law. Palma is victory.' I observed, that the character of
Nicholson, in this book resembled that of Burke: for it is said, in
one place, in omnes lusos & jocos se saepe resolvebat; [Footnote: He
often indulged himself in every species of pleasantry and wit.] and,
in another, sed accipitris more e conspectu aliquando astantium
sublimi se protrahens volatu, in praedam miro impetu descendebat.
[Footnote: But like the hawk, having soared with a lofty flight to a
height which the eye could not reach, he was want to swoop upon his
quarry with wonderful rapidity.] JOHNSON. 'No, sir; I never heard
Burke make a good joke in my life.' BOSWELL. 'But, sir, you will allow
he is a hawk.' Dr Johnson, thinking that I meant this of his joking,
said, 'No, sir, he is not the hawk there. He is the beetle in the
mire.' I still adhered to my metaphor. 'But he SOARS as the hawk.'
JOHNSON. 'Yes, sir; but he catches nothing.' M'Leod asked, what is the
particular excellence of Burke's eloquence? JOHNSON. 'Copiousness and
fertility of allusion; a power of diversifying his matter, by placing
it in various relations. Burke has great information, and great
command of language; though, in my opinion, it has not in every
respect the highest elegance.' BOSWELL. 'Do you think, sir, that Burke
has read Cicero much?' JOHNSON. 'I don't believe it, sir. Burke has
great knowledge, great fluency of words, and great promptness of
ideas, so that he can speak with great illustration on any subject
that comes before him. He is neither like Cicero, nor like
Demosthenes, nor like any one else, but speaks as well as he can.'
In the 65th page of the first volume of Sir George Mackenzie, Dr
Johnson pointed out a paragraph beginning with 'Aristotle', and told
me there was an error in the text, which he bade me try to discover. I
was lucky enough to hit it at once. As the passage is printed, it is
said that the devil answers EVEN in ENGINES. I corrected it to--EVER
in AENIGMAS. 'Sir,' said he, 'you are a good critick. This would have
been a great thing to do in the text of an ancient authour.'