Early in the morning we surveyed the remains of antiquity at this
place, accompanied by an illiterate fellow, as cicerone, who called
himself a descendant of a cousin of Saint Columba, the founder of the
religious establishment here. As I knew that many persons had already
examined them, and as I saw Dr Johnson inspecting and measuring
several of the ruins of which he has since given so full an account,
my mind was quiescent; and I resolved; to stroll among them at my
ease, to take no trouble to investigate minutely, and only receive the
general impression of solemn antiquity, and the particular ideas of
such objects as should of themselves strike my attention.
We walked from the monastery of nuns to the great church or cathedral,
as they call it, along an old broken causeway. They told us, that this
had been a street; and that there were good houses built on each side.
Dr Johnson doubted if it was any thing more than a paved road for the
nuns. The convent of monks, the great church, Oran's chapel, and four
other chapels, are still to be discerned. But I must own that
Icolmkill did not answer my expectations; for they were high, from
what I had read of it, and still more from what I had heard and
thought of it, from my earliest years. Dr Johnson said, it came up to
his expectations, because he had taken his impression from an account
of it subjoined to Sacheverel's History of the Isle of Man, where it
is said, there is not much to be seen here. We were both disappointed,
when we were shewn what are called the monuments of the kings of
Scotland, Ireland, and Denmark, and of a king of France. There are
only some grave-stones flat on the earth, and we could see no
inscriptions. How far short was this of marble monuments, like those
in Westminster Abbey, which I had imagined here! The grave-stones of
Sir Allan M'Lean's family, and of that of M'Quarrie, had as good an
appearance as the royal grave-stones; if they were royal, we doubted.
My easiness to give credit to what I heard in the course of our tour
was too great. Dr Johnson's peculiar accuracy of investigation
detected much traditional fiction, and many gross mistakes. It is not
to be wondered at, that he was provoked by people carelessly telling
him, with the utmost readiness and confidence, what he found, on
questioning them a little more, was erroneous. Of this there were
innumerable instances.
I left him and Sir Allan to breakfast in our barn, and stole back
again to the cathedral, to indulge in solitude and devout meditation.
While contemplating the venerable ruins, I reflected with much
satisfaction, that the solemn scenes of piety never lose their
sanctity and influence, though the cares and follies of life may
prevent us from visiting them, or may even make us fancy that their
effects are only 'as yesterday, when it is past', and never again to
be perceived. I hoped, that, ever after having been in this holy
place, I should maintain an exemplary conduct. One has a strange
propensity to fix upon some point of time from whence a better course
of life may begin.
Being desirous to visit the opposite shore of the island, where Saint
Columba is said to have landed, I procured a horse from one M'Ginnis,
who ran along as my guide. The M'Ginnises are said to be a branch of
the clan of M'Lean. Sir Allan had been told that this man had refused
to send him some rum, at which the knight was in great indignation.
'You rascal!' said he. 'Don't you know that I can hang you, if I
please?' Not averting to the chieftain's power over his clan, I
imagined that Sir Allan had known of some capital crime that the
fellow had committed, which he could discover, and so get him
condemned; and said, 'How so?' 'Why,' said Sir Allan, 'are they not
all my people?' Sensible in my inadvertency, and most willing to
contribute what I could towards the continuation of feudal authority,
'Very true,' said I. Sir Allan went on: 'Refuse to send rum to me, you
rascal! Don't you know that, if I order you to go and cut a man's
throat, you are to do it?' 'Yes, an't please your honour! and my own
too, and hang myself too.' The poor fellow denied that he had refused
to send the rum. His making these professions was not merely a
pretence in presence of his chief; for after he and I were out of Sir
Allan's hearing, he told me, 'Had he sent his dog for the rum, I would
have given it: I would cut my bones for him.' It was very remarkable
to find such an attachment to a chief, though he had then no
connection with the island, and had not been there for fourteen years.
Sir Allan, by way of upbraiding the fellow, said, 'I believe you are a
CAMPBELL.'
The place which I went to see is about two miles from the village.
They call it Portawherry, from the wherry in which Columba came;
though, when they shew the length of his vessel, as marked on the
beach by two heaps of stones, they say, 'Here is the length of the
currach,' using the Erse word.
Icolmkill is a fertile island. The inhabitants export some cattle and
grain; and I was told, they import nothing but iron and salt. They are
industrious, and make their own woollen and linen cloth; and they brew
a good deal of beer, which we did not find in any of the other
islands.
We set sail again about mid-day, and in the evening landed on Mull,
near the house of the Reverend Mr Neal M'Leod, who having been
informed of our coming, by a message from Sir Allan, came out to meet
us. We were this night very agreeably entertained at his house. Dr
Johnson observed to me, that he was the cleanest-headed man that he
had met in the Western islands. He seemed to be well acquainted with
Dr Johnson's writings, and courteously said, 'I have been often
obliged to you, though I never had the pleasure of seeing you before.'
He told us, he had lived for some time in St Kilda, under the tuition
of the minister or catechist there, and had there first read Horace
and Virgil. The scenes which they describe must have been a strong
contrast to the dreary waste around him.