Part 1

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FOOTSTEPS OF DR. JOHNSON

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“’Tis pleasant through the loop-holes of retreat To peep at such a world.”

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Footsteps of Dr. Johnson

(SCOTLAND)

BY

GEORGE BIRKBECK HILL, D.C.L.

PEMBROKE COLLEGE, OXFORD

_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY LANCELOT SPEED_

LONDON:

SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RIVINGTON (LIMITED)

St. Dunstan’s House, Fetter Lane

1890.

CHISWICK PRESS:—C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.

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TO

The Prior and Members

OF

The Johnson Club,

(MOST CLUBABLE OF MEN)

IN MEMORY OF

PLEASANT EVENINGS SPENT WITH THEM IN

FLEET STREET, LICHFIELD, AND OXFORD,

This Work is Dedicated.

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PREFACE.

At the beginning of last year, at the request of Messrs. Sampson Low and Co., I began to prepare a work in which, under the title of _Footsteps of Dr. Johnson_, I was to describe the various places that he had either inhabited or visited. It was to be copiously illustrated with views. I had made considerable progress with my task when I saw that its extent required that it should be divided into two separate works. Scotland in itself afforded ample materials for at least a single volume. In this opinion I was confirmed by my friend Mr. Lancelot Speed, the artist who was to prepare the illustrations. My publishers yielded to our advice and allowed us to confine ourselves entirely to that country. The materials which I had got together for England and Wales I have put on one side, in the hope that the present venture will prove sufficiently successful to encourage author, artist, and publishers alike to follow it up with a companion work.

Of Johnson’s journey through Scotland we have three different accounts, his _Letters to Mrs. Thrale_, his _Journey to the Western Islands_, and Boswell’s _Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides_. In writing his _Journey_ he may have had before him the letters which he had written on the spot. Many interesting circumstances, however, which he mentioned in them he omitted in his formal narrative. Boswell’s _Journal_, though published ten years after Johnson’s work, was written first; and it was not only written, but it was published before the publication of the _Letters_. His single account, therefore, and Johnson’s two accounts are independent narratives. It would have been easy to weave all three together into one work, and to have done nothing more. It went, however, against the grain with me to make a mixture of that sort. The plan which I have pursued has been much more laborious; but it will, I trust, commend itself both to “the gentle reader”—who is, I take it, a somewhat indolent reader—and also to the student of the manners and customs of a past age. Of all history there was no part which Johnson held equal in value to the history of manners. With this judgment my own taste leads me to agree. I take far greater interest in the daily life, the briars and roses of the working-day world as it was known to our forefathers, than in all the conquests of Chatham and of Clive. I have made, therefore, the attempt to bring before my readers the Scotland which Johnson saw, the Scotland which he had expressly come to study. “The wild objects” which he said he wished to see I have not neglected, but here I trust chiefly to Mr. Speed’s art. “The peculiar manners” which interested him far more than natural objects have been my special study. Even before I took the present work in hand I had examined them somewhat closely; but last summer, on my return from Scotland, in a quiet recess of the Bodleian Library, I carried my inquiries a good deal farther. In covering so large an extent of ground and in such a mass of details it is idle to hope that no error has been made. I can honestly say that I have done my best to be accurate.

The country which Johnson traversed is famous for other footsteps besides his. I have called in the earlier and later travellers to add interest to the scene, and I have thrown in anecdotes with a liberal hand. “I love anecdotes,” he said. To Boswell’s descriptions of the men with whom he associated I have often been able to add a great deal from memoirs and other books to which that writer had not access; I have gathered some few traditions of the _Sassenach mohr_, the big Englishman, which still linger in the Highlands and the Hebrides.

The tour in which I followed his course I was forced to divide into two parts. Beginning at Inverness I went first through the Western Highlands and the Hebrides, and so southwards through Glasgow to Auchinleck, Boswell’s home in Ayrshire. Later on I visited Edinburgh and its neighbourhood, and completed my task by going northwards to Inverness. I mention this to guard against any apparent inaccuracy in dates which might be discovered in my narrative. I cannot pretend to have seen every place which Johnson saw; but those spots which I passed by are few in number. In the former part of my trip I was fortunate enough to have Mr. Speed for my companion; but over the latter part of the ground we had, to my regret, to travel at different times. Like Boswell he had done much “to counteract the inconveniences of travel.”

I have the pleasant duty of expressing my acknowledgments for the kindness with which I was received and for the assistance which was given me in my inquiries. Most of all am I indebted to the Rev. Roderick Macleod, of Macleod, Vicar of Bolney, who, by the numerous introductions with which he honoured me, greatly facilitated my progress in the Isle of Skye. To his father Macleod of Macleod, and his aunt, Miss Macleod of Macleod, I am under great obligations. My thanks are due also to the Duke of Argyle; the Earl of Cawdor; the Earl of Erroll; Sir Charles Dalrymple, of New Hailes; Captain Burnett, of Monboddo House; Mr. Macleane of Lochbuie; Mr. John Lorne Stewart, Laird of Coll; Mr. J. Maitland Anderson, Librarian of the University of St. Andrews; Mr. G. J. Campbell, of Inverness; Mr. P. M. Cran, the City Chamberlain, and Mr. William Gordon, the Town Clerk of Aberdeen; Mr. Lachlan Mackintosh, of Old Lodge, Elgin; Dr. Paterson, of Clifton Bank, St. Andrews; Professor Stephenson, of the University of Aberdeen; Mr. A. E. Stewart, of Raasay; and to my friend Mr. G. J. Burch, B.A., Librarian of the Institution of Civil Engineers, for some time the Compiler of the Subject Catalogue in the Bodleian Library.

To my friend, General Cadell, C.B., of Cockenzie House, I owe the sketches of the ruins of Ballencrieff, and of a group of ash-trees which were said to have been planted on Johnson’s suggestion.

Both at Inverary Castle and at Dunvegan Castle I was allowed to have photographs taken not only of the rooms, but also of the interesting portraits of the former owners who had been Johnson’s hosts.

To the Rev. Alexander Matheson, minister of Glenshiel, who came many miles over the mountains to help me with his knowledge as a local antiquary, I am, alas! too late in bringing my acknowledgments. It was with great regret that early in the spring I learnt of the sudden death of this amiable man.

I have once more the pleasure of giving my thanks to Mr. G. K. Fortescue, Superintendent of the Reading Room of the British Museum, who does so much to lighten the labours of the student.

Should any of my readers be able to add to the traditions of Johnson which I have collected, or to throw light on any of the questions which I have investigated I trust that they will honour me with their communications. Hope comes to all, and a second edition of these _Footsteps_ is within the range of possibility. In it their kindness shall meet with proper acknowledgment.

G. B. H. _OXFORD; July 4th, 1890._

TITLES OF MOST OF THE WORKS QUOTED IN THIS BOOK.

_The date in each case shows, not the year of the original publication, but of the edition to which I have referred._

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Boswell, Sir Alexander. _Songs chiefly in the Scottish Dialect._ Edinburgh, 1803. (Published anonymously.)

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Buchanan, J. L. _Travels in the Western Highlands from 1782 to 1790._

Camden, William. _Description of Scotland._ Edinburgh, 1695.

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Carlyle, Thomas. _Early Letters_, ed. by C. E. Norton. 2 vols. London, 1886. _Reminiscences_, ed. by J. A. Froude. London, 1881.

_Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland_, by David Macgibbon and Thomas Ross. 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1887-9.

Chalmers, George. _Life of Thomas Ruddiman._ London and Edinburgh, 1794.

Chambers, Robert. _Traditions of Edinburgh._ London and Edinburgh, 2 vols., 1825; 1 vol., 1869. _History of the Rebellion in Scotland, 1745._ 2 vols. Constable’s _Miscellany, 1827._

Cockburn, Lord. _Life of Lord Jeffrey._ 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1852. _Memorials of His Time._ 1 vol. 1856.

_Court and City Register for 1769._ London.

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_Edinburgh Chronicle, or Universal Intelligencer for 1759-60._

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_Gentleman’s Magazine._

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LIST OF FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAP.

Portrait of Dr. Johnson, after Reynolds _frontispiece_ Staffa _facing page_ 24 Loch Ness ” ” 28 Inch Keith ” ” 84 Montrose ” ” 104 Findlater ” ” 130 The Fiddler’s Walk, Cawdor ” ” 142 Foyers ” ” 150 The Moriston River ” ” 152 Mam Rattachan ” ” 164 Bernera Barracks, Glenelg ” ” 166 Corrichatachin, near Broadford, Skye ” ” 168 Raasay Castle ” ” 172 Dunvegan Castle ” ” 184 Island Isa ” ” 200 The Cuchullin Hills, from the Cave on Wia Island, Skye ” ” 204 McLeod’s Maidens, Skye ” ” 206 Sligachan, the Cuchullin Hills, Skye ” ” 210 Coll Island ” ” 216 Sandiland ” ” 224 Lochbuy ” ” 232 Ben Cruachan, from the Hill Above Oban ” ” 244 Trees at Ballencrieff, planted at Dr. Johnson’s Suggestion ” ” 300 Facsimile Letter ” ” 308 Route Map of Scotland ” ” 318

LIST OF TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS.

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