more. started gave me a good deal of apprehension, from which I was relieved, when I found we were to run for a harbour before the wind. But my relief was but of short duration; for I soon heard that our sails were very bad, and were in danger of being torn in picces, in which case we should be driven upon the rocky shore of Col. It was very dark, and there was a heavy and incessant rain. The sparks of the burning peat flew so much about, that I dreaded the vessel might take fire. Then, as Col was a sportsman, and had powder on board, I figured that we might be blown up. Simpson and he appeared a little frightened, which made me more so; and the perpetual talking, or rather shouting, which was carried on in Erse, alarmed me still A man is always suspicious of what [another] is saying in an unknown tongue; and, if fear be his passion at the time, he grows more afraid. Our vessel often lay so much on one side, that I trembled lest she should be overset, and indeed they told me afterwards, that they had run her sometimes to within an inch of the water, so anxious were they to make what haste they could before the night should be worse. I now saw what I never saw before, a prodigious sea, with immense billows coming upon a vessel, so as that it seemed hardly possible to escape. There was something grandly horrible in the sight. I am glad I have seen it once. Amidst all these terrifying circumstances, I endeavoured to compose my mind. It was not easy to do it; for all the stories that I had heard of the dangerous sailing among the Hebrides, which is proverbial, came full upon my recollection. When I thought of those who were dearest to me, and would suffer severely, should I be lost, I upbraided myself, as not having a sufficient cause for putting myself in such danger. Piety afforded me comfort; yet I was disturbed by the objections that have been made against a particular providence, and by the arguments of those who maintain that it is in vain to hope that the petitions of an individual, or even of congregations, can have any influence with the Deity-objections which have been often made, and which Dr. Hawkesworth has lately revived, in his Preface to the "Voyages to the South Seas;" but Dr. Ogden's excellent doctrine on the efficacy of intercession prevailed. It was half-an-hour after eleven before we set ourselves in the course for Col. As I saw them all busy doing something, I asked Col, with much earnestness, what I could do. He, with a happy readiness, put into my hand a rope, which was fixed to the top of one of the masts, and told me to hold it till he bade me pull. If I had considered the matter, I might have seen that this could not be of the least service; but his object was to keep me out of the way of those who were busy working the vessel, and at the same time to divert my fear, by employing me, and making me think that I was of use. Thus did I stand firm to my post, while the wind and rain beat upon me, always expecting a call to pull my rope. The man with one eye steered; old Macdonald, and Col and his servant lay upon the forecastle, looking sharp out for the harbour. It was necessary to carry much cloth as they termed it; that is to say, much sail, in order to keep the vessel off the shore of Col. This made violent plunging in a rough sea. At last they spied the harbour of Lochiern, and Col cried, "Thank God, we are safe!" We ran up till we were opposite to it, and soon afterwards we got into it, and cast anchor. He Dr. Johnson had all this time been quiet and unconcerned. had lain down on one of the beds, and, having got free from sickness, was satisfied. The truth is, he knew nothing of the danger we were in; but, fearless and unconcerned, might have said, in the words which he has chosen for the motto to his "Rambler," "Quo me cunque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes." Once, during the doubtful consultations, he asked whither we were going; and upon being told that it was not certain whether to Mull or Col, he cried, "Col for my money!" I now went down, with Col and Mr. Simpson, to visit him. He was lying in philosophic tranquillity, with a greyhound of Col's at his back, keeping him warm. Col is quite the Juvenis qui gaudet canibus. He had, when we left Talisker, two greyhounds, two terriers, a pointer, and a large Newfoundland water-dog. He lost one of his terriers by the road, but had still five dogs with him. I was very ill, and very desirous to get to shore. When I was told that we could not land that night, as the storm had now increased, I looked so miserably, as Col afterwards informed that what Shakespeare has made the Frenchman say of the English soldiers, when scantily dieted, "Piteous they will look, like drowned mice!"+ might, I believe, have been applied to me. There was in the harbour before us a Campbell-town vessel, the Betty, Kenneth Morrison master, taking in kelp, and bound for Ireland. We sent our boat to beg beds for two gentlemen, and that the master would send his boat, which was larger than ours. He accordingly did so, and Col and I were accommodated in his vessel till the morning. me, * C For, as the tempest drives, I shape my way."-FRANCIS. And have their provender tied to their mouths, Or piteous they will look, like drowned mice. FIRST PART OF KING HENRY VI., Act i., sc. 2. MONDAY, OCTOBER 4. About eight o'clock we went in the boat to Mr. Simpson's vessel, and took in Dr. Johnson. He was quite well, though he had tasted nothing but a dish of tea since Saturday night. On our expressing some surprise at this, he said that, "When he lodged in the Temple, and had no regular system of life, he had fasted for two days at a time, during which he had gone about visiting, though not at the hours of dinner or supper; that he had drunk tea, but eaten no bread; that this was no intentional fasting, but happened just in the course of a literary life." There was a little miserable public-house close upon the shore, to which we should have gone had we landed last night; but this morning Col resolved to take us directly to the house of Captain Lauchlan Maclean, a descendant of his family, who had acquired a fortune in the East Indies, and taken a farm in Col. We had about an English mile to go to it. Col, and Joseph, and some others, ran to some little horses, called here Shelties, that were running wild on a heath, and catched one of them. We had a saddle with us, which was clapped upon it, and a straw halter was put on its head. Dr. Johnson was then mounted, and Joseph very slowly and gravely led the horse. I said to Dr. Johnson, "I wish, sir, the club saw you in this attitude."* It was a very heavy rain, and I was wet to the skin. Captain Maclean had but a poor temporary house, or rather hut; however, it was a very good haven to us. There was a blazing peat-fire, and Mrs. Maclean, daughter of the minister of the parish, got us tea. I felt still the motion of the sea. Dr. Johnson said, it was not in imagination, but a continuation of motion on the fluids, like that of the sea itself after the storm is over. There were some books on the board which served as a chimneypiece. Dr. Johnson took up "Burnet's History of his own Times." He said, "The first part of it is one of the most entertaining books in the English language-it is quite dramatic; while he went about every where, saw every where, and heard every where. By the first part, I mean so far as it appears that Burnet himself was actually engaged in what he has told; and this may be easily distinguished." Captain Maclean censured Burnet for his high praise of Lauderdale * This curious exhibition may perhaps remind some of my readers of the ludicrous lines, made, during Sir Robert Walpole's administration, on Mr. George (afterwards Lord) Lyttelton, though the figures of the two personages must be allowed to be very different: "But who is this astride the pony; So long, so lean, so lank, so bony? Dat be de great orator, Littletony."-Boswell. P in a dedication, when he shows him in his history to have been so bad a man.-JOHNSON: "I do not myself think that a man should say in a dedication what he could not say in a history. However, allowance should be made; for there is a great difference. The known style of a dedication is flattery-it professes to flatter. There is the same difference between what a man says in a dedication and what he says in a history, as between a lawyer's pleading a cause and reporting it." The day passed away pleasantly enough. The wind became fair for Mull in the evening, and Mr. Simpson resolved to sail next morning; but having been thrown into the island of Col, we were unwilling to leave it unexamined, especially as we considered that the Campbell-town vessel would sail for Mull in a day or two; and therefore we determined to stay. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5. I rose, and wrote my Journal till about nine; and then went to Dr. Johnson, who sat up in bed, and talked and laughed. I said, it was curious to look back ten years, to the time when we first thought of visiting the Hebrides. How distant and improbable the scheme then appeared! Yet here we were actually among them." Sir,” said he, "people may come to do anything almost, by talking of it. I really believe I could talk myself into building a house upon island Isa, though I should probably never come back again to see it. I could easily persuade Reynolds to do it; and there would be no great sin in persuading him to do it. Sir, he would reason thus: 'What will it cost me to be there once in two or three summers? Why, perhaps, five hundred pounds; and what is that, in comparison of having a fine retreat, to which a man can go, or to which he can send a friend?'-He would never find out that he may have this within twenty miles of London. Then I would tell him that he may marry one of the Miss Macleods, a lady of great family. Sir, it is surprising how people will go to a distance for what they may have at home. I knew a lady who came up from Lincolnshire to Knightsbridge with one of her daughters, and gave five guineas a-week for a lodging and a warm bath-that is, mere warm water. That, you know, could not be had in Lincolnshire! She said it was made either too hot or too cold there." After breakfast, Dr. Johnson and I, and Joseph mounted horses, and Col and the Captain walked with us about a short mile across the island. We paid a visit to the Reverend Mr. Hector Maclean. His parish consists of the islands of Col and Tyr-yi. He was about nty-seven years of age-a decent ecclesiastic, dressed in a full suit of black clothes, and a black wig. He appeared like a Dutch pastor, or one of the assembly of divines at Westminster. Dr. Johnson observed to me afterwards, "That he was a fine old man, and was as well dressed, and had as much dignity in his appearance as the dean of a cathedral." We were told that he had a valuable library, though but poor accommodation for it, being obliged to keep his books in large chests. I was curious to see him and Dr. Johnson together. Neither of them heard very distinctly; so each of them talked in his own way, and at the same time. Mr. Maclean said he had a confutation of Bayle, by Leibnitz.-JOHNSON: "A confutation of Bayle, sir! What part of Bayle do you mean? The greatest part of his writings is not confutable; it is historical and critical." Mr. Maclean said, "The irreligious part;" and proceeded to talk of Leibnitz's controversy with Clarke, calling Leibnitz a great man.-JOHNSON: "Why, sir, Leibnitz persisted in affirming that Newton called space sensorium numinis, notwithstanding he was corrected, and desired to observe that Newton's words were, QUASI sensorium numinis. No, sir, Leibnitz was as paltry a fellow as I know. Out of respect to Queen Caroline, who patronised him, Clarke treated him too well." During the time that Dr. Johnson was thus going on, the old minister was standing with his back to the fire, cresting up erect, pulling down the front of his periwig, and talking what a great man Leibnitz was. To give an idea of the scene would require a page with two columns; but it ought rather to be represented by two good players. The old gentleman said Clarke was very wicked, for going so much into the Arian system.-"I will not say he was wicked," said Dr. Johnson; "he might be mistaken."-MACLEAN: "He was wicked, to shut his eyes against the Scriptures; and worthy men in England have since confuted him to all intents and purposes."JOHNSON: "I know not who has confuted him to all intents and purposes.”―Here, again, there was a double talking, each continuing to maintain his own argument, without hearing exactly what the other said. I regretted that Dr. Johnson did not practise the art of accommodating himself to different sorts of people. Had be been softer with this venerable old man, we might have had more conversation; but his forcible spirit, and impetuosity of manner, may be said to spare neither sex nor age. I have seen even Mrs. Thrale stunned; but I have often maintained, that it is better he should retain his own manner. Pliability of address I conceive to be inconsistent with that majestic power of mind which he possesses, and which produces such noble effects. A lofty oak will not bend like a supple willow. He told me afterwards he liked firmness in an old man, and was |