power_ of being very wicked;
but not to _be_ very wicked. A man who has the power, which great
abilities procure him, may use it well or ill; and it requires more
abilities to use it well, than to use it ill. Wickedness is always
easier than virtue; for it takes the short cut to every thing. It is
much easier to steal a hundred pounds, than to get it by labour, or any
other way. Consider only what act of wickedness requires great abilities
to commit it, when once the person who is to do it has the power; for
_there_ is the distinction. It requires great abilities to conquer an
army, but none to massacre it after it is conquered.'

The weather this day was rather better than any that we had since we
came to Dunvegan. Mr. M'Queen had often mentioned a curious piece of
antiquity near this, which he called a temple of the Goddess ANAITIS.
Having often talked of going to see it, he and I set out after
breakfast, attended by his servant, a fellow quite like a savage. I must
observe here, that in Sky there seems to be much idleness; for men and
boys follow you, as colts follow passengers upon a road. The usual
figure of a Sky-boy, is a _lown_ with bare legs and feet, a dirty
_kilt_, ragged coat and waistcoat, a bare head, and a stick in his hand,
which, I suppose, is partly to help the lazy rogue to walk, partly to
serve as a kind of a defensive weapon. We walked what is called two
miles, but is probably four, from the castle, till we came to the sacred
place. The country around is a black dreary moor on all sides, except to
the sea-coast, towards which there is a view through a valley; and the
farm of _Bay_ shews some good land. The place itself is green ground,
being well drained by means of a deep glen on each side, in both of
which there runs a rivulet with a good quantity of water, forming
several cascades, which make a considerable appearance and sound. The
first thing we came to was an earthen mound, or dyke, extending from the
one precipice to the other. A little farther on was a strong stone-wall,
not high, but very thick, extending in the same manner. On the outside
of it were the ruins of two houses, one on each side of the entry or
gate to it. The wall is built all along of uncemented stones, but of so
large a size as to make a very firm and durable rampart. It has been
built all about the consecrated ground, except where the precipice is
steep enough to form an inclosure of itself. The sacred spot contains
more th