If I was disposed to be critical, I should say this house of Cameron is
too near the lake, which approaches, on one side, to within six or seven
yards of the window. It might have been placed in a higher site, which
would have afforded a more extensive prospect and a drier atmosphere;
but this imperfection is not chargeable on the present proprietor, who
purchased it ready built, rather than be at the trouble of repairing his
own family-house of Bonhill, which stands two miles from hence on the
Leven, so surrounded with plantation, that it used to be known by the
name of the Mavis (or thrush) Nest. Above that house is a romantic glen
or clift of a mountain, covered with hanging woods having at bottom a
stream of fine water that forms a number of cascades in its descent to
join the Leven; so that the scene is quite enchanting. A captain of a
man of war, who had made the circuit of the globe with Mr Anson, being
conducted to this glen, exclaimed, ‘Juan Fernandez, by God!’
Indeed, this country would be a perfect paradise, if it was not, like
Wales, cursed with a weeping climate, owing to the same cause in both,
the neighbourhood of high mountains, and a westerly situation, exposed
to the vapours of the Atlantic ocean. This air, however, notwithstanding
its humidity, is so healthy, that the natives are scarce ever visited by
any other disease than the smallpox, and certain cutaneous evils, which
are the effects of dirty living, the great and general reproach of the
commonalty of this kingdom. Here are a great many living monuments of
longaevity; and among the rest a person, whom I treat with singular
respect, as a venerable druid, who has lived near ninety years,
without pain or sickness, among oaks of his own planting.--He was once
proprietor of these lands; but being of a projecting spirit, some of
his schemes miscarried, and he was obliged to part with his possession,
which hath shifted hands two or three times since that period; but every
succeeding proprietor hath done every thing in his power, to make
his old age easy and comfortable. He has a sufficiency to procure
the necessaries of life; and he and his old woman reside in a small
convenient farm-house, having a little garden which he cultivates with
his own hands. This ancient couple live in great health, peace, and
harmony, and, knowing no wants, enjoy the perfection of content. Mr
Smollet calls him the admiral, because he insists upon steering his
pleasure-boat upon the lake; and he spends most of his time in ranging
through the woods, which he declares he enjoys as much as if they were
still his own property--I asked him the other day, if he was never sick,
and he answered, Yes; he had a slight fever the year before the union.
If he was not deaf, I should take much pleasure in his conversation; for
he is very intelligent, and his memory is surprisingly retentive--These
are the happy effects of temperance, exercise, and good nature--
Notwithstanding all his innocence, however, he was the cause of great
perturbation to my man Clinker, whose natural superstition has been
much injured, by the histories of witches, fairies, ghosts, and goblins,
which he has heard in this country--On the evening after our arrival,
Humphry strolled into the wood, in the course of his meditation, and all
at once the admiral stood before him, under the shadow of a spreading
oak. Though the fellow is far from being timorous in cases that are not
supposed preternatural, he could not stand the sight of this apparition,
but ran into the kitchen, with his hair standing on end, staring wildly,
and deprived of utterance. Mrs Jenkins, seeing him in this condition,
screamed aloud, ‘Lord have mercy upon us, he has seen something!’ Mrs
Tabitha was alarmed, and the whole house in confusion. When he was
recruited with a dram, I desired him to explain the meaning of all this
agitation; and, with some reluctance, he owned he had seen a spirit,
in the shape of an old man with a white beard, a black cap, and a plaid
night-gown. He was undeceived by the admiral in person, who, coming in
at this juncture, appeared to be a creature of real flesh and blood.
Do you know how we fare in this Scottish paradise? We make free with our
landlord’s mutton, which is excellent, his poultry-yard, his garden,
his dairy, and his cellar, which are all well stored. We have delicious
salmon, pike, trout, perch, par, &c. at the door, for the taking. The
Frith of Clyde, on the other side of the hill, supplies us with mullet,
red and grey, cod, mackarel, whiting, and a variety of sea-fish,
including the finest fresh herrings I ever tasted. We have sweet, juicy
beef, and tolerable veal, with delicate bread from the little town of
Dunbritton; and plenty of partridge, growse, heath cock, and other game
in presents.
We have been visited by all the gentlemen in the neighbourhood, and they
have entertained us at their houses, not barely with hospitality, but
with such marks of cordial affection, as one would wish to find among
near relations, after an absence of many years.
I told you, in my last, I had projected an excursion to the Highlands,
which project I have now happily executed, under the auspices of Sir
George Colquhoun, a colonel in the Dutch service, who offered himself
as our conductor on this occasion. Leaving our women at Cameron, to
the care and inspection of Lady H-- C--, we set out on horseback for
Inverary, the county town of Argyle, and dined on the road with the
Laird of Macfarlane, the greatest genealogist I ever knew in any
country, and perfectly acquainted with all the antiquities of Scotland.
The Duke of Argyle has an old castle in Inverary, where he resides when
he is in Scotland; and hard by is the shell of a noble Gothic palace,
built by the last duke, which, when finished, will be a great ornament
to this part of the Highlands. As for Inverary, it is a place of very
little importance.
This country is amazingly wild, especially towards the mountains, which
are heaped upon the backs of one another, making a most stupendous
appearance of savage nature, with hardly any signs of cultivation, or
even of population. All is sublimity, silence, and solitude. The people
live together in glens or bottoms, where they are sheltered from the
cold and storms of winter: but there is a margin of plain ground spread
along the sea side, which is well inhabited and improved by the arts of
husbandry; and this I take to be one of the most agreeable tracts of the
whole island; the sea not only keeps it warm, and supplies it with fish,
but affords one of the most ravishing prospects in the whole world; I
mean the appearance of the Hebrides, or Western Islands to the number
of three hundred, scattered as far as the eye can reach, in the most
agreeable confusion. As the soil and climate of the Highlands are but
ill adapted to the cultivation of corn, the people apply themselves
chiefly to the breeding and feeding of black cattle, which turn to good
account. Those animals run wild all the winter, without any shelter or
subsistence, but what they can find among the heath. When the snow lies
so deep and hard, that they cannot penetrate to the roots of the grass,
they make a diurnal progress, guided by a sure instinct, to the seaside
at low water, where they feed on the alga marina, and other plants that
grow upon the beach.
Perhaps this branch of husbandry, which required very little attendance
and labour, is one of the principal causes of that idleness and want of
industry, which distinguishes these mountaineers in their own country.
When they come forth into the world, they become as diligent and alert
as any people upon earth. They are undoubtedly a very distinct species
from their fellow subjects of the Lowlands, against whom they indulge
an ancient spirit of animosity; and this difference is very discernible
even among persons of family and education. The Lowlanders are generally
cool and circumspect, the Highlanders fiery and ferocious:’ but this
violence of their passions serves only to inflame the zeal of their
devotion to strangers, which is truly enthusiastic.
We proceeded about twenty miles beyond Inverary, to the house of a
gentleman, a friend of our conductor, where we stayed a few days, and
were feasted in such a manner, that I began to dread the consequence to
my constitution.
Notwithstanding the solitude that prevails among these mountains, there
is no want of people in the Highlands. I am credibly informed that the
duke of Argyle can assemble five thousand men in arms, of his own clan
and surname, which is Campbell; and there is besides a tribe of the same
appellation, whose chief’ is the Earl of Breadalbine. The Macdonalds
are as numerous, and remarkably warlike: the Camerons, M’Leods, Frasers,
Grants, M’Kenzies, M’Kays, M’Phersons, M’Intoshes, are powerful clans;
so that if all the Highlanders, including the inhabitants of the Isles,
were united, they could bring into the field an army of forty thousand
fighting men, capable of undertaking the most dangerous enterprize. We
have lived to see four thousand of them, without discipline, throw
the whole kingdom of Great Britain into confusion. They attacked and
defeated two armies of regular troops accustomed to service. They
penetrated into the centre of England; and afterwards marched back
with deliberation, in the face of two other armies, through an enemy’s
country, where every precaution was taken to cut off their retreat. I
know not any other people in Europe, who, without the use or knowledge
of arms, will attack regular forces sword in hand, if their chief
will head them in battle. When disciplined, they cannot fail of being
excellent soldiers. They do not walk like the generality of mankind, but
trot and bounce like deer, as if they moved upon springs. They greatly
excel the Lowlanders in all the exercises that require agility; they are
incredibly abstemious, and patient of hunger and fatigue,--so steeled
against the weather, that in travelling, even when the ground is covered
with snow, they never look for a house, or any other shelter but their
plaid, in which they wrap themselves up, and go to sleep under the cope
of heaven. Such people, in quality of soldiers, must be invincible,
when the business is to perform quick marches in a difficult country,
to strike sudden strokes, beat up the enemy’s quarters, harrass their
cavalry, and perform expeditions without the formality of magazines,
baggage, forage, and artillery. The chieftainship of the Highlanders
is a very dangerous influence operating at the extremity of the island,
where the eyes and hands of government cannot be supposed to see [and]
act with precision and vigour. In order to break the force of clanship,
administration has always practised the political maxim, Divide et
impera. The legislature hath not only disarmed these mountaineers, but
also deprived them of their antient garb, which contributed in a great
measure to keep up their military spirit; and their slavish tenures are
all dissolved by act of parliament; so that they are at present as
free and independent of their chiefs, as the law can make them: but the
original attachment still remains, and is founded on something prior to
the feudal system, about which the writers of this age have made such a
pother, as if it was a new discovery, like the Copernican system. Every
peculiarity of policy, custom, and even temperament, is affectedly
traced to this origin, as if the feudal constitution had not been common
to almost all the natives of Europe. For my part, I expect to see the
use of trunk-hose and buttered ale ascribed to the influence of the
feudal system. The connection between the clans and their chiefs is,
without all doubt, patriarchal. It is founded on hereditary regard
and affection, cherished through a long succession of ages. The clan
consider the chief as their father, they bear his name, they believe
themselves descended from his family, and they obey him as their lord,
with all the ardour of filial love and veneration; while he, on his
part, exerts a paternal authority, commanding, chastising, rewarding,
protecting, and maintaining them as his own children. If the legislature
would entirely destroy this connection, it must compel the Highlanders
to change their habitation and their names. Even this experiment has
been formerly tried without success--In the reign of James VI a battle
was fought within a few short miles of this place, between two clans,
the M’Gregors and the Colquhouns, in which the latter were defeated: the
Laird of M’Gregor made such a barbarous use of his victory, that he was
forfeited and outlawed by act of parliament: his lands were given to the
family of Montrose, and his clan were obliged to change their name.
They obeyed so far, as to call themselves severally Campbell, Graham, or
Drummond, the surnames of the families of Argyle, Montrose, and Perth,
that they might enjoy the protection of those houses; but they still
added M’Gregor to their new appellation; and as their chief was deprived
of his estate, they robbed and plundered for his subsistence.--Mr
Cameron of Lochiel, the chief of that clan, whose father was attainted
for having been concerned in the last rebellion, returning from France
in obedience to a proclamation and act of parliament, passed at the
beginning of the late war, payed a visit to his own country, and hired a
farm in the neighbourhood of his father’s house, which had been burnt
to the ground. The clan, though ruined and scattered, no sooner heard of
his arrival than they flocked to him from all quarters, to welcome his
return, and in a few days stocked his farm with seven hundred black
cattle, which they had saved in the general wreck of their affairs: but
their beloved chief, who was a promising youth, did not live to enjoy
the fruits of their fidelity and attachment.
The most effectual method I know to weaken, and at length destroy this
influence, is to employ the commonalty in such a manner as to give them
a taste of property and independence. In vain the government grants them
advantageous leases on the forfeited estates, if they have no property
to prosecute the means of improvement--The sea is an inexhaustible fund
of riches; but the fishery cannot be carried on without vessels, casks,
salt, lines, nets, and other tackle. I conversed with a sensible man of
this country, who, from a real spirit of patriotism had set up a fishery
on the coast, and a manufacture of coarse linen, for the employment of
the poor Highlanders. Cod is here in such plenty, that he told me he
had seen several hundred taken on one line, at one hawl--It must be
observed, however, that the line was of immense length, and had two
thousand hooks, baited with muscles; but the fish was so superior to
the cod caught on the banks of Newfoundland, that his correspondent at
Lisbon sold them immediately at his own price, although Lent was just
over when they arrived, and the people might be supposed quite cloyed
with this kind of diet--His linen manufacture was likewise in a
prosperous way, when the late war intervening, all his best hands were
pressed into the service.
It cannot be expected, that the gentlemen of this country should execute
commercial schemes to render their vassals independent; nor, indeed, are
such schemes suited to their way of life and inclination; but a company
of merchants might, with proper management, turn to good account a
fishery established in this part of Scotland--Our people have a strange
itch to colonize America, when the uncultivated parts of our own island
might be settled to greater advantage.
After having rambled through the mountains and glens of Argyle, we
visited the adjacent islands of Ila, Jura, Mull, and Icomkill. In the
first, we saw the remains of a castle, built in a lake, where Macdonald,
lord or king of the isles, formerly resided. Jura is famous for having
given birth to one Mackcrain, who lived one hundred and eighty years
in one house, and died in the reign of Charles the Second. Mull affords
several bays, where there is safe anchorage: in one of which, the
Florida, a ship of the Spanish armada, was blown up by one of Mr
Smollett’s ancestors--About forty years ago, John duke of Argyle is
said to have consulted the Spanish registers, by which it appeared,
that this ship had the military chest on board--He employed experienced
divers to examine the wreck; and they found the hull of the vessel still
entire, but so covered with sand, that they could not make their way
between decks; however, they picked up several pieces of plate, that
were scattered about in the bay, and a couple of fine brass cannon.
Icolmkill, or Iona, is a small island which St Columba chose for his
habitation--It was respected for its sanctity, and college or seminary
of ecclesiastics--Part of its church is still standing, with the
tombs of several Scottish, Irish, and Danish sovereigns, who were
here interred--These islanders are very bold and dexterous watermen,
consequently the better adapted to the fishery: in their manners they
are less savage and impetuous than their countrymen on the continent;
and they speak the Erse or Gaelick in its greatest purity.
Having sent round our horses by land, we embarked in the district of
Cowal, for Greenock, which is a neat little town, on the other side of
the Frith, with a curious harbour formed by three stone jetties, carried
out a good way into the sea--Newport-Glasgow is such another place,
about two miles higher up. Both have a face of business and plenty, and
are supported entirely by the shipping of Glasgow, of which I counted
sixty large vessels in these harbours--Taking boat again at Newport,
we were in less than an hour landed on the other side, within two short
miles of our head-quarters, where we found our women in good health and
spirits. They had been two days before joined by Mr. Smollett and his
lady, to whom we have such obligations as I cannot mention, even to you,
without blushing.
To-morrow we shall bid adieu to the Scotch Arcadia, and begin our
progress to the southward, taking our way by Lanerk and Nithsdale,
to the west borders of England. I have received so much advantage and
satisfaction from this tour, that if my health suffers no revolution in
the winter, I believe I shall be tempted to undertake another
expedition to the Northern extremity of Caithness, unencumbered by those
impediments which now clog the heels of,
Yours, MATT. BRAMBLE CAMERON, Sept. 6.
To Miss LAETITIA WILLIS, at Gloucester.