deed, it may be answered, that we must first know he
has lived; and that we have never known the learning of the Scottish
clergy. Mr. M'Queen, though he was of opinion that Dr. Johnson had
deserted the point really in dispute, was much pleased with what he
said, and owned to me, he thought it very just; and Mrs. M'Leod was so
much captivated by his eloquence, that she told me 'I was a good
advocate for a bad cause.'

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24.

This was a good day. Dr. Johnson told us, at breakfast, that he rode
harder at a fox chace than any body[695]. 'The English (said he) are the
only nation who ride hard a-hunting. A Frenchman goes out, upon a
managed[696] horse, and capers in the field, and no more thinks of
leaping a hedge than of mounting a breach. Lord Powerscourt laid a
wager, in France, that he would ride a great many miles in a certain
short time. The French academicians set to work, and calculated that,
from the resistance of the air, it was impossible. His lordship however
performed it.'

Our money being nearly exhausted, we sent a bill for thirty pounds,
drawn on Sir William Forbes and Co.[697], to Lochbraccadale, but our
messenger found it very difficult to procure cash for it; at length,
however, he got us value from the master of a vessel which was to carry
away some emigrants. There is a great scarcity of specie in Sky[698].
Mr. M'Queen said he had the utmost difficulty to pay his servants'
wages, or to pay for any little thing which he has to buy. The rents are
paid in bills[699], which the drovers give. The people consume a vast
deal of snuff and tobacco, for which they must pay ready money; and
pedlars, who come about selling goods, as there is not a shop in the
island, carry away the cash. If there were encouragement given to
fisheries and manufactures, there might be a circulation of money
introduced. I got one-and-twenty shillings in silver at Portree, which
was thought a wonderful store.

Talisker, Mr. M'Queen, and I, walked out, and looked at no less than
fifteen different waterfalls near the house, in the space of about a
quarter of a mile[700]. We also saw Cuchillin's well, said to have been
the favourite spring of that ancient hero. I drank of it. The water is
admirable. On the shore are many stones full of crystallizations in
the heart.

Though our obliging friend, Mr. M'Lean, was but the young laird, he had
the title of _Col_ constantly given him. After dinner he and I walked to
t