APPENDIX IV

Martin's Description of the Western Islands

The copy of this book (the first edition) which accompanied the travellers is now in the Advocates' Library. It contains an inscription in Boswell's hand.

The following are passages alluded to by Johnson or by Boswell. The references are to the pages of this reprint, to which the pages of Martin's second edition (1716) are added in brackets.

Pages 57, 270 (164). The crosses in Rasay.-' They preserve the Memory of the deceased Ladies of the Place, by erecting a little Pyramid of Stone for each of them, with the Lady's Name. These Pyramids are by them called Crosses; several of them are built of Stone and Lime, and have three steps of gradual ascent to 'em. There are eight such Crosses about the Village.'

Page 269 (164). The old tower of Rasay.- an Artificial Fort, three Stories high,... called Castle Vreokle'.

Page 270 (58). False Sentinels. There are three Stones erected ... on Eminences about a mile from Loch-Maddy, to amuse Invaders; for which reason they are still call'd false Sentinels.'

Page 273 (163-4). Description of Rasay.

Page 97 (110, 334). Browny. They [the Islanders in general] had an universal Custom, of pouring a Cow's Milk upon a little Hill, or big Stone, where the Spirit call'd Browny was believ'd to lodg: this Spirit always appear'd in the shape of a tall Man, having very long brown Hair.'

Page 107 Martin mentions Irish, but never any Earse manuscripts, to be found in the Islands in his time.' Cf. e. g. Martin p. (264): The Life of Columbus, written in the Irish Character, is in the custody of John Mack-Neil in the Isle of Barray; another Copy of it is kept by Mack-Donald of Benbecula.' Page (89): Fergus Beaton hath the following antient Irish Manuscripts in the Irish Character; to wit, Avicenna, Averroes, Joannes de Vigo, Bernardus Gordonus, and several volumes of Hypocrates.'

Johnson's inference, however, seems to be false; for by Irish Martin always means what Johnson calls Erse. See e. g. p. (346): 'Pedlars. . . travel thro the remotest Isles without any Molestation ; tho' some of those Pedlars speak no Irish'.

Pages 60, 276 (151). The cave at Portree.- On the South side Loch-Portry, there is a large Cave, in which many Sea-Cormorants do

build the Natives carry a bundle of Straw to the door of the Cave in the night-time, and there setting it on fire, the Fowls fly with all speed to the Light, and so are caught in Baskets laid for that purpose.' Page 298 (271). Birth-rate of Col and Tyr-yi. The Isle of Coll produces more Boys than Girls, and the Isle of Tire-iy more Girls than Boys; as if Nature intended both these Isles for mutual Alliances, without being at the trouble of going to the adjacent Isles or Continent to be matched. The Parish-Book, in which the number of the Baptized is to be seen, confirms this Observation.'

There are other passages in Martin's book which Johnson may have had in mind, though he makes no direct allusion to them. His discussion of the Second Sight in particular (pp. 97-100) has several points of contact with Martin's elaborate Account of the Second-Sight, in Irish called Taish (pp. 300-335). And the argument from the loadstone, used by Johnson at Corrichatachin (supra p. 262), probably came from Martin, p. (309): For instance, Yawning, and its influence, and that the Loadstone attracts Iron; and yet these are true as well as harmless, tho we can give no satisfying account of their Causes.'

With Johnson's account of Bards and Senachies (supra p. 101) may be compared the following from Martin:

Page 200 Several of both Sexes have a quick Vein of Poesy, and in their Language (which is very Emphatick) they compose Rhyme and Verse, both which powerfully affect the Fancy: And in my Judgment (which is not singular in this matter) with as great force as that of any antient or modern Poet I ever yet read.'

...

Page 115: The Orators, in their Language call'd Is-Dane, were in high esteem both in these Islands and the Continent; until within these forty Years, they sat always among the Nobles and Chiefs of Families in the Streah or Circle. . . . The Orators, after the Druids were extinct, were brought in to preserve the Genealogy of Families, and to repeat the same at every Succession of a Chief. . . . I must not omit to relate their way of Study, which is very singular: They shut their Doors and Windows for a day's time, and lie on their backs, with a Stone upon their Belly, and Plads about their Heads, and their Eyes being cover'd, they pump their Brains for Rhetorical Encomium or Panegyrick; and indeed they furnish such a Stile from this dark Cell, as is understood by very few.'

In indexing general topics the alphabet is an unintelligent guide; in this index of subjects an arrangement roughly logical has therefore been followed; in some articles no arrangement has been attempted.

SAMUEL JOHNSON. See also BOSWELL. For his opinions on persons
and books see Index II.

I. His Character by Boswell :

Boswell's full-length portrait 169-71; physical activity 410; riding
211, 243; walked with difficulty 375; would not change wet clothes
392; particularities: beating with his feet 197; wore no nightcap
366; open windows 229, 366; turned his horse's head 366; speaking
to himself 366; voraciously fond of good eating 172; tea at all hours
173; dislike of being pressed to eat or drink 241, 338, 391; reason for
eating fish with his fingers 296; English pronunciation 212; not fond
of rural beauties 230; horror of human bones 269, 381;
a great deal
of that quality called humour' 172; love of anecdote 184; indulgence
and good humour 333; in a passion 252; 'no man more polite when
he chose' 174; complaisance in good company 403; avoids the appear-
ance of courting the great 399; love of children 175, 214; delicacy of
feeling 364; his philosophy 253, 258; attention to detail 252; vivacity
in retort 411; spares neither sex nor age' 353; sophistry in argument
329, 356; full of the old Highland spirit' 255, 256, 268, 309, 338, 379;
reverence for consecrated ground 270; habit of contracting his friends'
names 368; amused himself with slight reading 371; ignorance of musick
372; negligent of papers 406; drank brandy 302, whisky 393; love of
London 167; a permanent London object' 394; a John Bull 172;
powers of mind: transcendant 157; illustrated from Baker's Chronicle
166; his memory 410; accuracy of investigation 387; ages may revolve
before such a man shall again appear' 443.

II. Opinions on general topics, recorded in the Journey:

Instability of vernacular languages 5; places propitious to learning 7;
beggars 11, 117; the first race of scholars 13; the true state of any
nation is the state of common life 20; advantages of travelling light 25
(contrast 133); military impatience of coin in the pocket 32; computation
of heights 34; uses of travel in barren countries 35, 125; phantoms
which haunt a desert 36; mountainous countries not easily conquered
38, nor civilized 38, preserve their original language 39, are prone to feuds
39, their provincial judicature 40, their contempt of law 41, their clannish
spirit 42; national prejudices in diet 54; records of illiterate peoples
58,65; fictions of the Gothick romances 69, 141; supreme beauty seldom
found in cottages 75; longevity 76; uses of middlemen 78; political
regulations 82, 85; proud spirit of little nations 82; ought a great
nation to be purely commercial? 83; inequality of rich and poor in courts
of judicature 85; power and wealth 85; emigration: its motives 87, its
evils 86-8; supposed depopulation of Northern Europe 88; ancient
exaggeration of numbers 89; condition of the poor in pastoral countries
92; man unwilling to live for long on fish 92; extemporary prayer 95;
the idea of pain predominant 98; recollection a revival of vexations 98;
superiority of written records over oral tradition 101; at seventy-seven
it is time to be in earnest' 110; shops 118; famine 125; afforestation
126-7; value of money 129; travellers' errors 133; local emotion 134;
the rough musick of nature 144; education of the deaf and dumb 147.

III. His Sayings and Opinions quoted in the Tour:

(1) Religion and Philosophy :

The Trinity 215; the Satisfaction of Christ 215; transubstantiation
203; origin of evil 408; sorrow inherent in humanity 199; free will
and necessity 233; death 276; prayer 183, 202; the monastic life 198;
religious tests 200; observance of Sunday: 'people may walk, but not
throw stones at birds' 202; Sunday reading 378; on saying grace 237;
'Sir, you are a bigot to laxness' 235; Sir, you know no more of our
church than a Hottentot' 419; Methodists 425; missionaries 425.
(2) Morals and Casuistry:

Principles and practice 299, 403; preparation for death: 'if one was
to think constantly of death, the business of life would stand still? 373;
dispositions when dying 320; 'wickedness is always easier than virtue
304; suicide 193; duelling 174, 313; importance of the chastity of
women 298; misers 231; he has not learnt to be a miser' 373; narrow-
ness, shown in quotidian expences 393; laziness 314; selfishness of the
old 374; any of us would kill a cow, rather than not have beef' 325;
luxury defended 402; drinking less than our ancestors 197; smoking,
'which requires so little exertion, and yet preserves the mind from total
vacuity, condemned 197; treating your adversary with respect, in
giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled' 177; prescription of
murder 174, 214; a lawyer has no business with the justice or injustice
of the cause' 175; gratitude not found among gross people 315; cunning,
its effect from the credulity of others' 304.

(3) Literature and Criticism:

'A man may write at any time' 184; 'it was easier for him to write
poetry than to compose his Dictionary' 188, 445; a young man should
write as fast as he can' 201; 'I wonder that so many people have
written, who might have let it alone' 197; inscriptions should be in
Latin 258; dedications: studied conclusions more elegant 319; 'the
known style of a dedication is flattery' 352; biography of no literary
man well written 320; patronage 197; publication by subscription 183,
379; literary property 191, 204; abridgements 204; 'attacks on
authours did them much service' 344; fame is a shuttlecock... to
keep it up, it must be struck at both ends' 431; textual criticism 301;
there is no end of negative criticism' 307; languages are the pedigree
of nations' 310; decline of learning, its causes 209; 'how very little
literature is there in my conversation' 367; 'you and I do not talk from
books' 417; I can find in books all that he has read; but he has a great
deal of what is in books, proved by the test of real life' 421; 'I never
frighten young people with difficulties 373; that popular knowledge
which makes a man very useful' 379.

(4) Politics:

Sticking to a party 182; the dog is a whig' 261; 'you know every
bad man is a Whig 342; it is ridiculous for a Whig to pretend to be
honest. He cannot hold it out' 388; kept better company, and became
a Tory' 401; political difference increased by opposition 421; the