95.
[477] By John Macpherson, D.D. See post, Sept. 13.
[478] Sir Walter Scott, when in Sky in 1814, wrote:--'We learn that most of the Highland superstitions, even that of the second sight, are still in force.' Lockhart's Scott, ed. 1839, iv. 305. See .ante, ii. 10, 318.
[479] Of him Johnson wrote:--'One of the ministers honestly told me that he came to Sky with a resolution not to believe it.' Works, ix. 106.
[480] 'By the term second sight seems to be meant a mode of seeing superadded to that which nature generally bestows. In the Erse it is called Taisch; which signifies likewise a spectre or a vision.' Johnson's Works, ix. 105.
[481] Gray's Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College, 1. 44.
[482] A tonnage bounty of thirty shillings a ton was at this time given to the owners of busses or decked vessels for the encouragement of the white herring fishery. Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations, iv. 5) shews how mischievous was its effect.
[483] The Highland expression for Laird of Rasay. BOSWELL.
[484] 'In Sky I first observed the use of brogues, a kind of artless shoes, stitched with thongs so loosely, that, though they defend the foot from stones, they do not exclude water.' Johnson's Works, ix 46.
[485] To evade the law against the tartan dress, the Highlanders used to dye their variegated plaids and kilts into blue, green, or any single colour. WALTER SCOTT.
[486] See post, Oct. 5.
[487] The Highlanders were all well inclined to the episcopalian form, proviso that the right king was prayed for. I suppose Malcolm meant to say, 'I will come to your church because you are honest folk,' viz. Jacobites. WALTER SCOTT.
[488] See ante, i. 450, and ii. 291.
[489] Perhaps he was thinking of Johnson's letter of June 20, 1771 (ante, ii. 140), where he says:--'I hope the time will come when we may try our powers both with cliffs and water.'
[490] 'The wind blew enough to give the boat a kind of dancing agitation.' Piozzi Letters, i. 142. 'The water was calm and the rowers were vigorous; so that our passage was quick and pleasant.' Johnson's Works, ix. 54.
[491]
'Caught in the wild Aegean seas, The sailor bends to heaven for ease.'
FRANCIS. Horace, 2, Odes, xvi. 1.
[492] See ante, iv. Dec. 9, 1784, note.
[493] Such spells are still believed in. A lady of property in Mull, a friend of mine, had a few years since much difficulty in rescuing from the superstitious fury of the people, an old woman, who used a charm to injure her neighbour's cattle. It is now in my possession, and consists of feathers, parings of nails, hair, and such like trash, wrapt in a lump of clay. WALTER SCOTT.
[494] Sir Walter Scott, writing in Skye in 1814, says:--'Macleod and Mr. Suter have both heard a tacksman of Macleod's recite the celebrated Address to the Sun; and another person repeat the description of Cuchullin's car. But all agree as to the gross infidelity of Macpherson as a translator and editor.' Lockhart's Scott, iv. 308.
[495] See post, Nov. 10.
[496] 'The women reaped the corn, and the men bound up the sheaves. The strokes of the sickle were timed by the modulation of the harvest-song, in which all their voices were united.' Johnson's Works, ix. 58.
[497] 'The money which he raises annually by rent from all his dominions, which contain at least 50,000 acres, is not believed to exceed L250; but as he keeps a large farm in his own hands, he sells every year great numbers of cattle ... The wine circulates vigorously, and the tea, chocolate, and coffee, however they are got, are always at hand.' Piozzi Letters, i. 142. 'Of wine and punch they are very liberal, for they get them cheap; but as there is no custom-house on the island, they can hardly be considered as smugglers.' Ib. p. 160. 'Their trade is unconstrained; they pay no customs, for there is no officer to demand them; whatever, therefore, is made dear only by impost is obtained here at an easy rate.' Johnson's Works, ix. 52.
[498] 'No man is so abstemious as to refuse the morning dram, which they call a skalk.' Johnson's Works, ix. p. 51.
[499] Alexander Macleod, of Muiravenside, advocate, became extremely obnoxious to government by his zealous personal efforts to engage his chief Macleod, and Macdonald of Sky, in the Chevalier's attempts of 1745. Had he succeeded, it would have added one third at least to the Jacobite army. Boswell has oddly described M'Cruslick, the being whose name was conferred upon this gentleman, as something between Proteus and Don Quixote. It is the name of a species of satyr, or esprit follet, a sort of mountain Puck or hobgoblin, seen among the wilds and mountains, as the old Highlanders believed, sometimes mirthful, sometimes mischievous. Alexander Macleod's precarious mode of life and variable spirits occasioned the soubriquet. WALTER SCOTT.
[500] Johnson also complained of the cheese. 'In the islands they do what I found it not very easy to endure. They pollute the tea-table by plates piled with large slices of Cheshire cheese, which mingles its less grateful odours with the fragrance of the tea.' Works, ix.