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At Kingfburgh we were very liberally feafted, and I flept in the bed on which the Prince repofed in his diftrefs; the sheets which he ufed were never put to any meaner offices, but were wrapped up by the lady of the houfe, and at laft, according to her defire, were laid round her in her grave. These are not Whigs.

On the 13th, travelling partly on horfeback where we could not row, and partly on foot where we could not ride, we came to Dunvegan. Here, though poor Macleod had been left by his grandfather overwhelmed with debts, we had another exhibition of feudal hofpitality. There were two ftags in the house, and venifon came to the table every day in its various forms. Macleod, befides his eftate in Skie, larger I fuppofe than fome Englifh counties, is proprietor of nine inhabited ifles; and of his islands uninhabited I doubt if he very exactly knows the number. I told him that he was a mighty monarch. Such dominions fill an Englishman with envious wonder; but when he furveys the naked mountain, and treads the quaking moor, and wanders over the wild regions of gloomy barrennefs, his wonder may continue, but his envy ceases. Lady Macleod has a fon and four daughters; they have lived long in England, and have the language and manners of English ladies. We have lived with them very easily. The hofpitality of this remote region is like that of the golden age. We have found ourselves treated at every houfe as if we came to confer a benefit. . ..... We were eight days at Dunvegan, but we took the firft opportunity which the weather afforded, after the firft days, of going away, and on the 21ft went to Ulinish, where we were well entertained, and wandered a little after curiofities. In the afternoon an interval of calm funfhine courted us out to fee a cave on the shore famous for its echo. When we went into the boat, one of our companions was

asked in Earfe, by the boatmen, who they were that came with him? He gave us characters, I fuppofe, to our advantage, and was asked, in the fpirit of the Highlands, whether I could recite a long series of ancestors? The boatmen faid, as I perceived afterwards, that they heard the cry of an English ghoft. This, Bofwell fays, disturbed him. We came to the cave, and clambering up the rocks, came to an arch, open at one end, one hundred and eighty feet long, thirty broad in the broadest part, and about thirty high. There was no echo; fuch is the fidelity of report; but I faw what I had never feen before, muffels and whilks in their natural state. There was another arch in the rock, open at both ends.

You find that all the islanders, even in these receffes of life, are not barbarous. One of the minifters who has adhered to us almost all the time is an excellent fcholar. We have now with us the young Laird of Col, who is heir perhaps to two hundred fquare miles of land. He has firft ftudied at Aberdeen, and afterwards gone to Hertfordshire to learn agriculture, being much impreffed with defire of improvement: he likewife has the notions of a chief, and keeps a piper. At Macleod's the bagpipe always played while we were dining.

You remember the Doge of Genoa, who being asked what struck him most at the French court? answered, “Myfelf." I cannot think many things here more likely to affect the fancy than to see Johnson ending his fixty-fourth year in the wilderness of the Hebrides. But now I am here, it will gratify me very little to return without feeing, or doing my beft to fee what thofe places afford. I have a defire to inftruct myfelf in the whole fyftem of paftoral life; but I know not whether I shall be able to perfect the idea. However, I have many pictures in my mind, which I could not have had without this journey, and should have paffed

it with great pleasure, had you, and Matter, and Queeney been in the party. We fhould have excited the attention and enlarged the obfervation of each other, and obtained many pleafing topics of future converfation. As it is, I travel with my mind too much at home, and perhaps mifs many things worthy of obfervation, or pafs them with tranfient notice; fo that the images, for want of that reimpreffion which difcuffion and comparifon produce, cafily fade away; but I keep a book of remarks, and Bofwell writes a regular journal of our travels, which, I think, contains as much of what I fay and do as of all other occurrences together; "for fuch a faithful chronicler as Griffith."

Mr Thrale probably wonders how I live all this time without fending to him for money. Travelling in Scotland is dear enough, dearer in proportion to what the country affords than in England, but refidence in the ifles is unexpensive. Company is, I think, confidered as a fupply of pleasure, and a relief of that tedioufnefs of life which is felt in every place, elegant or rude. Of wine and punch they are very liberal, for they get them cheap; but as there is no cuftom-houfe on the island, they can hardly be confidered as fmugglers. Their punch is made without lemons, or any fubstitute.,

Their tables are very plentiful; but a very nice man would not be pampered. As they have no meat but as they kill it, they are obliged to live while it lafts upon the fame flefh. They kill a fheep, and fet mutton boiled and roaft on the table together. They have fish both of the fea and of the brooks; but they can hardly conceive that it requires any fauce. To fauce in general they are strangers; now and then butter is melted, but I dare not always take, left I fhould offend by difliking it. Barley-broth is a conftant difh, and is made well in every house. A ftranger, if he is prudent, will fecure his fhare, for it is not certain that he will be able to eat any thing elfe.

VOL. VII. No 40.

Their meat being often newly killed is very tough, and as nothing is fufficiently fubdued by the fire, is not ealy to be eaten. Carving is here a very laborious employment, for the knives. are never whetted. Table-knives are not of long fubfiftence in the Highlands; every man, while arms were aregular part of drefs, had his knife and fork appendant to his dirk. Knives they now lay upon the table, but the handles are apt to fhew that they have been in other hands, and the blades have neither brightness nor edge.

Of filver there is no want; and it will last long, for it is never cleaned. They are a nation just rising from barbarity; long contented with neceffaries, now fomewhat studious of convenience, but not yet arrived at delicate difcriminations. Their linen is however both clean and fine. Bread, fuch as we mean by that name, I have. never feen in the Isle of Skie. They have ovens, for they bake their pies, but they never ferment their meal, nor mould a loaf. Cakes of oats and barley are brought to the table, but I believe wheat is referved for ftrangers. They are commonly too hard for me, and therefore I take potatoes to my meat, and I am fure to find them on almoft every table.

They retain fo much of the paftoral life, that fome preparation of milk is commonly one of the dishes both, at dinner and fupper. Tea is always, drank at the ufual times; but in the morning the table is polluted with a plate of flices of ftrong cheefe. This is peculiar to the Highlands; at Edinburgh there are always honey and fweet-meats on the morning teatable.

Strong liquors they feem to love.. Every man, perhaps woman, begins the day with a dram; and the punch is made both at dinner and fupper.

They have neither wood nor coal, for fuel, but burn peat or turf in their chimnies. It is dug out of the muirs or moffes, and makes a strong and lafing fire, not always very fweet, and fomewhat apt to finoke the pot. Kk

The houfes of inferior gentlemen are very fmall, and every room ferves many purpofes. In the bed-rooms, perhaps, are laid up ftores of different kinds; and the parlour of the day is a bed-room at night. In the room which I inhabited laft, åbout fourteen feet fquare, there were three chefts of drawers, a long cheft for larger clothes, two clofet cupboards, and the bed. Their rooms are commonly dirty, of which they feem to have little fenfibility, and if they had more, clean floors would be difficultly kept, where the Erft ftep from the door is into dirt. They are very much inclined to car pets, and feldom fail to lay down fomething under their feet, better or worse, as they happen to be furnished.

The Highland drefs, being forbidden by law, is very little ufed; fometimes it may be feen, but the English traveller is ftruck with nothing fo much as the nudité des pies of the common people.

Skie is the greatest ifland, or the greatest but one, among the Hebrides. Of the foil, I have already given fome account, it is generally barren, but fome fpots are not wholly unfruitful. The gardens have apples and pears, cherries, ftrawberries, rafberries, currants, and goofeberries, but all the fruit that I have feen is fmall. They

attempt to fow nothing but oats and barley. Oats conftitute the bread-corn of the place. Their harvest is about the beginning of October; and being fo late, is very much fubject to difap pointments from the rains that follow the equinox. This year has been par icularly difaftrous. Their rainy feafon lafts from Autumn to Spring. They have feldom very hard frofts; nor was it ever known that a lake was covered with ice ftrong enough to bear a fkater. The fea round them is al ways open. The fnow falls, but foon melts; only in 1771 they had a cold Spring, in which the island was fo long covered with it, that many beasts, both wild and domeftic, perifhed, and the

whole country was reduced to distress, from which I know not if it is even yet recovered.

The animals here are not remarks ably fmall; perhaps they recruit their breed from the main land. The cows are fometimes without horns. The horned and unhorned cattle are not accidental variations, but different species, they will however breed toge ther.

Oct. 3d, The wind is now changed, and if we fnatch the moment of opportunity, an efcape from this ifland is become practicable; I have no reason to complain of my reception, yet I long to be again at home.

You and my mafter may perhaps expect, after this defcription of Skie, fome account of myfelf. My eye is, I am afraid, not fully recovered; my ears are not mended; my nerves feem to grow weaker, and I have been otherwife not as well as I fometimes am, but think myself lately better. This climate perhaps is not within my degree of healthy latitude.

Thus I have given my moft honoured miftrefs the ftory of me and my little ramble.

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Tranflation, by Mifs KNIGHT.
'fony
'ER ftony lands, where naked rocks,

In mifty clouds appear;
Through difinal fields, whose barren foil
Derides the fwain's laborious toil,

My wand'ring fteps I bear.
Through nations wild, a hardy race,
Where life no cultivated grace,

No elegance can know;
But fhrinks abash'd from human eyes,
And in the fmoaky hovel lyes;

Through fcenes like thefe I go.
Amidft unknown and barb'rous speech,
While wand'ring o'er this diftant beach,
In all my wat'ry way;
How think'ft thou of thy abfent friend?
How doft thou? whither doft thou tend?

My gentle Thralia, say.

If, pious wife, thy husband's cares,
Thou foftly footh; or infant heirs,

Watch o'er as mother kind:
Or, 'mid the charms of letter'd lore,
Thou add new treasures to thy ftore,

And feed thy active mind;
Remember me, thy friendship guard,
Of conftant friendfhip due reward,

Howe'er on diflant ground;, Ah! let thy faith be ftill the fame, And juftly Thralia's pleafing name Shall Skia's fhores refound.

Letter from Mrs Thrale to a Gentle man on his Marriage.

I

MY DEAR SIR,

RECEIVED the news of your marriage with infinite delight, and hope that the fincerity with which I with your happiness may excufe the liberty I take in giving you a few rules whereby more certainly to obtain it. I fee you fmile at my wrongheaded kindness, and reflecting on the charms of your bride, cry out in a rapture, that you are happy enough without my rules. I know you are; but after one of the forty years, which I hope you will pafs pleafingly toge ther, are over, this letter may come in turn, and rules for felicity may not be found unneceffary, however fome of them may appear impracticable.

Could that kind of love be kept alive through the marriage ftate, which

makes the charm of a fingle one, the fought for, in the union of two raithfovereign good would no longer be

ful lovers it would be found; but reafon fhews us that it is impoffible, and experience informs us that it never was fo; we must preferve it as long, and fupply it as happily as we can.

When your prefent violence of paffion fubfides however, and a more cool and tranquil affection takes its place, be not hafty to cenfure yourfelf as indifferent, or to lament yourself as unhappy; you have loft that only which it was impoffible to retain, and it were graceless, amid the pleasures of a profperous Summer, to regret the bloffoms of a tranfient Spring. Neither unwarily condemn your bride's infipidity, till you have recollected, that no obje&t however sublime, no sounds however charming, can continue to tranfport us with delight when they no longer ftrike us with novelty. The kill to renovate he powers of pleafing are faid indeed to be poffeffed by fome women in an eminent degree, but the artifices of maturity are feldom seen to adorn the innocence of youth; you have made your choice, and ought to approve it.

Satiety follows quick upon the heels of poffeflion; and to be happy, we mult always have fomething in view. The perfon of your lady is already all your awn, and will not grow more pleafing in your eyes I doubt, tho' the rest of your fex will think her handsomer for thefe dozen years. Turn therefore all your attention to her mind, which will daily grow brighter by polishing. Study fome eafy feience together, and acquire a fimilarity of taftes while you enjoy a community of pleafures. You will, by this means, have many images in common, and be freed from the neceflity of feparating to find amusement: nothing is fo dangerous to wedded love as the poffibility of either being happy out of the company of the other; endeavour therefore to cement the prefent intimacy on every fide; let

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your wife never be kept ignorant of your income, your expences, your friendships, or averfion; let her know your very faults, but make them amiable by your virtucs; confider all concealment as a breach of fidelity; let her never have any thing to find out in your character, and remember, that from the moment one of the partners turns fpy upon the other, they have commenced a state of hoftility.

Seek not for happiness in fingularity; and dread a refinement of wifdom as a deviation into folly. Liften not to thofe fages who advife you always to fcorn the counsel of a woman, and if you comply with her requefts pronounce you to be wife-ridden. Think not any privation, except of pofitive evil, an excellence; and do not congratulate yourself that your wife is not a learned lady, that fhe never touches a card, or is wholly ignorant how to make a pudding. Cards, cookery, and learning, are all good in their places, and may all be ufed with advantage.

With regard to expence, I can only obferve, that the money laid out in the purchase of diftinction is feldom or ever profitably employed. We live in an age when fplendid furniture and glittering equipage are grown too common to catch the notice of the meaneft fpectator; and for the greater ones, they only regard our wafteful folly with filent contempt, or open indignation. This may perhaps be a difpleafing reflection, but the following confideration ought to make amends. The age we live in pays, I think, peculiar attention to the higher diftinctions of wit, knowledge, and virtue, to which we may more fafely, more cheaply, and more honourably afpire. The giddy flirt of quality frets at the respect fhe fees paid to Lady Edgecumbe, and the gay dunce fits pining for a partner, while Jones the Orientalift leads up the ball.

I said that the perfon of your lady would not grow more pleafing to you,

but pray let her never fufpe&t that it grows lefs fo: that a woman will pardon an affront to her understanding much fooner than one to her perfon is well known; nor will any of us contradict the affertion. All our attainments, all our arts, are employed to gain and keep the heart of man; and what mortification can exceed the difappointment, if the end be not obtained? Theres no reproof however pointed, no punithment however fevere, that a woman of spirit will not prefer to neglect; and if fhe can endure it without complaint, it only proves that she means to make herself amends by the attention of others for the flights of her husband. For this, and for every reafon, it behoves a married man not to let his politenefs fail, though his ardour may abate, but to retain, at least, that general civility towards his own lady which he is fo willing to pay to every other, and not shew a wife of eighteen or twenty years old, that every man in company can treat her with more complaifance than he who fo often vowed to her eternal fondness.

It is not my opinion that a young woman fhould be indulged in every wild with of her gay heart or giddy head; but contradiction may be foftened by domeftic kindness, and quiet pleasures fubftituted in the place of noily ones.

Public amufements are not indeed fo expenfive as is fometimes imagined, but they tend to alienate the minds of married people from each other. A well-chofen fociety of friends and acquaintance, more eminent for virtue and good fenfe than for gaiety and fplendour, where the converfation of the day may afford comment for the evening, feems the most rational pleafure this great town can afford; and to this, a game at cards now and then gives an additional relish.

That your own fuperiority should always be feen, but never felt, seems an excellent general rule. A wife fhould outfhine her husband in nothing, not even in her drefs. If the

happens

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