temper of the beauteous sex[571]:'--

'Like birds new-caught, who flutter for a time,
And struggle with captivity in vain;
But by-and-by they rest, they smooth their plumes,
And to _new masters_ sing their former notes[572].'

Surely such notes are much better than the querulous growlings of
suspicious Whigs and discontented Republicans.

* * * * *

Kingsburgh conducted us in his boat across one of the lochs, as they
call them, or arms of the sea, which flow in upon all the coasts of
Sky,--to a mile beyond a place called _Grishinish_. Our horses had been
sent round by land to meet us. By this sail we saved eight miles of bad
riding. Dr. Johnson said, 'When we take into computation what we have
saved, and what we have gained, by this agreeable sail, it is a great
deal.' He observed, 'it is very disagreeable riding in Sky. The way is
so narrow, one only at a time can travel, so it is quite unsocial; and
you cannot indulge in meditation by yourself, because you must be always
attending to the steps which your horse takes.' This was a just and
clear description of its inconveniences.

The topick of emigration being again introduced[573], Dr. Johnson said,
that 'a rapacious chief would make a wilderness of his estate.' Mr.
Donald M'Queen told us, that the oppression, which then made so much
noise, was owing to landlords listening to bad advice in the letting of
their lands; that interested and designed[574] people flattered them
with golden dreams of much higher rents than could reasonably be paid:
and that some of the gentlemen _tacksmen_[575], or upper tenants, were
themselves in part the occasion of the mischief, by over-rating the
farms of others. That many of the _tacksmen_, rather than comply with
exorbitant demands, had gone off to America, and impoverished the
country, by draining it of its wealth; and that their places were filled
by a number of poor people, who had lived under them, properly speaking,
as servants, paid by a certain proportion of the produce of the lands,
though called sub-tenants. I observed, that if the men of substance were
once banished from a Highland estate, it might probably be greatly
reduced in its value; for one bad year might ruin a set of poor tenants,
and men of any property would not settle in such a country, unless from
the temptation of getting land extremely cheap; for an inhabitant of any
good county in Britain, had better