I am now little short of the Ultima Thule, if this appellation properly
belongs to the Orkneys or Hebrides. These last are now lying before me,
to the amount of some hundreds, scattered up and down the Deucalidonian
sea, affording the most picturesque and romantic prospect I ever
beheld--I write this letter in a gentleman’s house, near the town of
Inverary which may be deemed the capital of the West Highlands, famous
for nothing so much as for the stately castle begun, and actually
covered in by the late duke of Argyle, at a prodigious expence--Whether
it will ever be completely finished is a question.--
But, to take things in order--We left Edinburgh ten days ago; and the
further North we proceed, we find Mrs Tabitha the less manageable; so
that her inclinations are not of the nature of the loadstone; they point
not towards the pole. What made her leave Edinburgh with reluctance at
last, if we may believe her own assertions, was a dispute which she left
unfinished with Mr Moffat, touching the eternity of hell torments. That
gentleman, as he advanced in years, began to be sceptical on this head,
till, at length, he declared open war against the common acceptation of
the word eternal. He is now persuaded, that eternal signifies no more
than an indefinite number of years; and that the most enormous sinner
may be quit for nine millions, nine hundred thousand, nine hundred and
ninety-nine years of hell-fire; which term or period, as he very well
observes, forms but an inconsiderable drop, as it were, in the ocean of
eternity--For this mitigation he contends, as a system agreeable to the
ideas of goodness and mercy, which we annex to the supreme Being--Our
aunt seemed willing to adopt this doctrine in favour of the wicked; but
he hinted that no person whatever was so righteous as to be exempted
entirely from punishment in a future state; and that the most pious
Christian upon earth might think himself very happy to get off for
a fast of seven or eight thousand years in the midst of fire and
brimstone. Mrs Tabitha revolted at this dogma, which filled her at once
with horror and indignation--She had recourse to the opinion of Humphry
Clinker, who roundly declared it was the popish doctrine of purgatory,
and quoted scripture in defence of the fire everlasting, prepared for
the devil and his angels--The reverend master Mackcorkendal, and all the
theologists and saints of that persuasion were consulted, and some of
them had doubts about the matter; which doubts and scruples had begun to
infect our aunt, when we took our departure from Edinburgh.
We passed through Linlithgow, where there was an elegant royal palace,
which is now gone to decay, as well as the town itself--This too is
pretty much the case with Stirling, though it still boasts of a fine
old castle in which the kings of Scotland were wont to reside in their
minority--But Glasgow is the pride of Scotland, and, indeed, it might
very well pass for an elegant and flourishing city in any part of
Christendom. There we had the good fortune to be received into the house
of Mr Moore, an eminent surgeon, to whom we were recommended by one of
our friends at Edinburgh; and, truly, he could not have done us more
essential service--Mr Moore is a merry facetious companion, sensible and
shrewd, with a considerable fund of humour; and his wife an agreeable
woman, well bred, kind, and obliging. Kindness, which I take to be
the essence of good-nature and humanity, is the distinguishing
characteristic of the Scotch ladies in their own country--Our landlord
shewed us every thing, and introduced us to all the world at Glasgow;
where, through his recommendation, we were complimented with the freedom
of the town. Considering the trade and opulence of this place, it cannot
but abound with gaiety and diversions. Here is a great number of young
fellows that rival the youth of the capital in spirit and expence; and
I was soon convinced, that all the female beauties of Scotland were
not assembled at the hunters ball in Edinburgh--The town of Glasgow
flourishes in learning as well as in commerce--Here is an university,
with professors in all the different branches of science, liberally
endowed, and judiciously chosen--It was vacation time when I passed,
so that I could not entirely satisfy my curiosity; but their mode of
education is certainly preferable to ours in some respects. The students
are not left to the private instruction of tutors; but taught in public
schools or classes, each science by its particular professor or regent.
My uncle is in raptures with Glasgow--He not only visited all the
manufactures of the place, but made excursions all round to Hamilton,
Paisley, Renfrew, and every other place within a dozen miles, where
there was any thing remarkable to be seen in art or nature. I believe
the exercise, occasioned by those jaunts, was of service to my sister
Liddy, whose appetite and spirits begin to revive--Mrs Tabitha displayed
her attractions as usual, and actually believed she had entangled one
Mr Maclellan, a rich inkle-manufacturer, in her snares; but when matters
came to an explanation, it appeared that his attachment was altogether
spiritual, founded upon an intercourse of devotion, at the meeting of
Mr John Wesley; who, in the course of his evangelical mission, had come
hither in person--At length, we set out for the banks of Lough-Lomond,
passing through the little borough of Dumbarton, or (as my uncle will
have it) Dunbritton, where there is a castle, more curious than any
thing of the kind I had ever seen. It is honoured with a particular
description by the elegant Buchanan, as an arx inexpugnabilis,
and, indeed, it must have been impregnable by the antient manner of
besieging. It is a rock of considerable extent, rising with a double
top, in an angle formed by the confluence of two rivers, the Clyde and
the Leven; perpendicular and inaccessible on all sides, except in one
place where the entrance is fortified; and there is no rising ground
in the neighbourhood from whence it could be damaged by any kind of
battery.
From Dumbarton, the West Highlands appear in the form of huge, dusky
mountains, piled one over another; but this prospect is not at all
surprising to a native of Glamorgan--We have fixed our headquarters
at Cameron, a very neat country-house belonging to commissary Smollet,
where we found every sort of accommodation we could desire--It is
situated like a Druid’s temple, in a grove of oak, close by the side
of Lough-Lomond, which is a surprising body of pure transparent water,
unfathomably deep in many places, six or seven miles broad, four and
twenty miles in length, displaying above twenty green islands, covered
with wood; some of them cultivated for corn, and many of them stocked
with red deer--They belong to different gentlemen, whose seats are
scattered along the banks of the lake, which are agreeably romantic
beyond all conception. My uncle and I have left the women at Cameron, as
Mrs Tabitha would by no means trust herself again upon the water, and
to come hither it was necessary to cross a small inlet of the sea, in an
open ferry-boat--This country appears more and more wild and savage the
further we advance; and the People are as different from the Low-land
Scots, in their looks, garb, and language, as the mountaineers of
Brecknock are from the inhabitants of Herefordshire.
When the Lowlanders want to drink a chearupping-cup, they go to the
public house, called the Change-house, and call for a chopine of
two-penny, which is a thin, yeasty beverage, made of malt; not quite so
strong as the table-beer of England,--This is brought in a pewter stoop,
shaped like a skittle, from whence it is emptied into a quaff; that is,
a curious cup made of different pieces of wood, such as box and ebony,
cut into little staves, joined alternately, and secured with delicate
hoops, having two cars or handles--It holds about a gill, is sometimes
tipt round the mouth with silver, and has a plate of the same metal at
bottom, with the landlord’s cypher engraved.--The Highlanders, on the
contrary, despise this liquor, and regale themselves with whisky; a malt
spirit, as strong as geneva, which they swallow in great quantities,
without any signs of inebriation. They are used to it from the cradle,
and find it an excellent preservative against the winter cold, which
must be extreme on these mountains--I am told that it is given with
great success to infants, as a cordial in the confluent smallpox, when
the eruption seems to flag, and the symptoms grow unfavourable--The
Highlanders are used to eat much more animal food than falls to the
share of their neighbours in the Low-country--They delight in hunting;
have plenty of deer and other game, with a great number of sheep,
goats, and black-cattle running wild, which they scruple not to kill as
vension, without being much at pains to ascertain the property.
Inverary is but a poor town, though it stands immediately under the
protection of the duke of Argyle, who is a mighty prince in this part of
Scotland. The peasants live in wretched cabins, and seem very poor; but
the gentlemen are tolerably well lodged, and so loving to strangers,
that a man runs some risque of his life from their hospitality--It must
be observed that the poor Highlanders are now seen to disadvantage. They
have been not only disarmed by act of parliament, but also deprived of
their ancient garb, which was both graceful and convenient; and what
is a greater hardship still, they are compelled to wear breeches; a
restraint which they cannot bear with any degree of patience: indeed,
the majority wear them, not in the proper place, but on poles or long
staves over their shoulders--They are even debarred the use of their
striped stuff called Tartane, which was their own manufacture, prized
by them above all the velvets, brocades, and tissues of Europe and Asia.
They now lounge along in loose great coats, of coarse russet, equally
mean and cumbersome, and betray manifest marks of dejection--Certain it
is, the government could not have taken a more effectual method to break
their national spirit.
We have had princely sport in hunting the stag on these mountains. These
are the lonely hills of Morven, where Fingal and his heroes enjoyed the
same pastime; I feel an enthusiastic pleasure when I survey the brown
heath that Ossian wont to tread; and hear the wind whistle through
the bending grass--When I enter our landlord’s hall, I look for the
suspended harp of that divine bard, and listen in hopes of hearing the
aerial sound of his respected spirit--The poems of Ossian are in every
mouth--A famous antiquarian of this country, the laird of Macfarlane, at
whose house we dined a few days ago, can repeat them all in the original
Gallick, which has a great affinity to the Welch, not only in the
general sound, but also in a great number of radical words; and I make
no doubt that they are both sprung from the same origin. I was not a
little surprised, when asking a Highlander one day, if he knew where we
should find any game? he replied, ‘hu niel Sassenagh’, which signifies
no English: the very same answer I should have received from a Welchman,
and almost in the same words. The Highlanders have no other name for
the people of the Low-country, but Sassenagh, or Saxons; a strong
presumption, that the Lowland Scots and the English are derived from the
same stock--The peasants of these hills strongly resemble those of Wales
in their looks, their manners, and habitations; every thing I see, and
hear, and feel, seems Welch--The mountains, vales, and streams; the
air and climate; the beef, mutton, and game, are all Welch--It must be
owned, however, that this people are better Provided than we in some
articles--They have plenty of red deer and roebuck, which are fat
and delicious at this season of the year. Their sea teems with amazing
quantities of the finest fish in the world, and they find means to
procure very good claret at a very small expence.
Our landlord is a man of consequence in this part of the country; a
cadet from the family of Argyle and hereditary captain of one of his
castles--His name, in plain English, is Dougal Campbell; but as there is
a great number of the same appellation, they are distinguished (like
the Welch) by patronimics; and as I have known an antient Briton called
Madoc ap-Morgan ap-Jenkin, ap-Jones, our Highland chief designs himself
Dou’l Mac-amish mac-’oul ichian, signifying Dougal, the son of James,
the son of Dougal, the son of John. He has travelled in the course
of his education, and is disposed to make certain alterations in his
domestic oeconomy; but he finds it impossible to abolish the ancient
customs of the family; some of which are ludicrous enough--His piper for
example, who is an hereditary officer of the household, will not part
with the least particle of his privileges. He has a right to wear the
kilt, or ancient Highland dress, with the purse, pistol, and durk--a
broad yellow ribbon, fixed to the chanter-pipe, is thrown over his
shoulder, and trails along the ground, while he performs the function of
his minstrelsy; and this, I suppose, is analogous to the pennon or flag
which was formerly carried before every knight in battle.--He plays
before the laird every Sunday in his way to the kirk, which he circles
three times, performing the family march which implies defiance to all
the enemies of the clan; and every morning he plays a full hour by the
clock, in the great hall, marching backwards and forwards all the time,
with a solemn pace, attended by the laird’s kinsmen, who seem much
delighted with the music--In this exercise, he indulges them with a
variety of pibrochs or airs, suited to the different passions, which he
would either excite or assuage.
Mr Campbell himself, who performs very well on the violin, has an
invincible antipathy to the sound of the Highland bagpipe, which
sings in the nose with a most alarming twang, and, indeed, is quite
intolerable to ears of common sensibility, when aggravated by the echo
of a vaulted hall--He therefore begged the piper would have some
mercy upon him, and dispense with this part of the morning service--A
consultation of the clan being held on this occasion, it was unanimously
agreed, that the laird’s request could not be granted without a
dangerous encroachment upon the customs of the family--The piper
declared, he could not give up for a moment the privilege he derived
from his ancestors; nor would the laird’s relations forego an
entertainment which they valued above all others--There was no remedy;
Mr Campbell, being obliged to acquiesce, is fain to stop his ears with
cotton; to fortify his head with three or four night-caps and every
morning retire into the penetralia of his habitation, in order to avoid
this diurnal annoyance. When the music ceases, he produces himself at an
open window that looks into the courtyard, which is by this time filled
with a crowd of his vassals and dependents, who worship his first
appearance, by uncovering their heads, and bowing to the earth with
the most humble prostration. As all these people have something to
communicate in the way of proposal, complaint, or petition, they wait
patiently till the laird comes forth, and, following him in his walks,
are favoured each with a short audience in his turn. Two days ago, he
dispatched above an hundred different sollicitors, in walking with us to
the house of a neighbouring gentleman, where we dined by invitation.
Our landlord’s housekeeping is equally rough and hospitable, and savours
much of the simplicity of ancient times: the great hall, paved with flat
stones, is about forty-five feet by twenty-two, and serves not only for
a dining-room, but also for a bedchamber, to gentlemen-dependents and
hangers-on of the family. At night, half a dozen occasional beds are
ranged on each side along the wall. These are made of fresh heath,
pulled up by the roots, and disposed in such a manner as to make a very
agreeable couch, where they lie, without any other covering than the
plaid--My uncle and I were indulged with separate chambers and down beds
which we begged to exchange for a layer of heath; and indeed I never
slept so much to my satisfaction. It was not only soft and elastic, but
the plant, being in flower, diffused an agreeable fragrance, which is
wonderfully refreshing and restorative.
Yesterday we were invited to the funeral of an old lady, the grandmother
of a gentleman in this neighbourhood, and found ourselves in the midst
of fifty people, who were regaled with a sumptuous feast, accompanied by
the music of a dozen pipers. In short, this meeting had all the air of
a grand festival; and the guests did such honour to the entertainment,
that many of them could not stand when we were reminded of the business
on which we had met. The company forthwith taking horse, rode in a very
irregular cavalcade to the place of interment, a church, at the distance
of two long miles from the castle. On our arrival, however, we found
we had committed a small oversight, in leaving the corpse behind; so we
were obliged to wheel about, and met the old gentlewoman half way, being
carried upon poles by the nearest relations of her family, and attended
by the coronach, composed of a multitude of old hags, who tore their
hair, beat their breasts, and howled most hideously. At the grave, the
orator, or senachie, pronounced the panegyric of the defunct, every
period being confirmed by a yell of the coronach. The body was committed
to the earth, the pipers playing a pibroch all the time; and all the
company standing uncovered. The ceremony was closed with the discharge
of pistols; then we returned to the castle, resumed the bottle, and
by midnight there was not a sober person in the family, the females
excepted. The ‘squire and I were, with some difficulty, permitted to
retire with our landlord in the evening; but our entertainer was a
little chagrined at our retreat; and afterwards seemed to think it a
disparagement to his family, that not above a hundred gallons of whisky
had been drunk upon such a solemn occasion. This morning we got up by
four, to hunt the roebuck, and, in half an hour, found breakfast ready
served in the hall. The hunters consisted of Sir George Colquhoun and
me, as strangers (my uncle not chusing to be of the party), of the laird
in person, the laird’s brother, the laird’s brother’s son, the laird’s
sister’s son, the laird’s father’s brother’s son, and all their foster
brothers, who are counted parcel of the family: but we were attended by
an infinite number of Gaelly’s, or ragged Highlanders without shoes or
stockings.
The following articles formed our morning’s repast: one kit of boiled
eggs; a second, full of butter; a third full of cream; an entire cheese,
made of goat’s milk; a large earthen pot full of honey; the best part
of a ham; a cold venison pasty; a bushel of oat meal, made in thin cakes
and bannocks, with a small wheaten loaf in the middle for the strangers;
a large stone bottle full of whisky, another of brandy, and a kilderkin
of ale. There was a ladle chained to the cream kit, with curious wooden
bickers to be filled from this reservoir. The spirits were drank out of
a silver quaff, and the ale out of hems: great justice was done to the
collation by the guest in general; one of them in particular ate above
two dozen of hard eggs, with a proportionable quantity of bread, butter,
and honey; nor was one drop of liquor left upon the board. Finally,
a large roll of tobacco was presented by way of desert, and every
individual took a comfortable quid, to prevent the bad effects of the
morning air. We had a fine chace over the mountains, after a roebuck,
which we killed, and I got home time enough to drink tea with Mrs
Campbell and our ‘squire. To-morrow we shall set out on our return for
Cameron. We propose to cross the Frith of Clyde, and take the towns of
Greenock and Port-Glasgow in our way. This circuit being finished, we
shall turn our faces to the south, and follow the sun with augmented
velocity, in order to enjoy the rest of the autumn in England, where
Boreas is not quite so biting as he begins already to be on the tops
of these northern hills. But our progress from place to place shall
continue to be specified in these detached journals of
Yours always, J. MELFORD ARGYLSHIRE, Sept. 3.
To Dr LEWIS.