el, and such weather, we should not sail till the morning
tide, when the wind would probably be more gentle. We resolved not to go
ashore again, but lie here in readiness. Dr. Johnson and I had each a
bed in the cabin. Col sat at the fire in the fore-castle, with the
captain, and Joseph, and the rest. I eat some dry oatmeal, of which I
found a barrel in the cabin. I had not done this since I was a boy. Dr.
Johnson owned that he too was fond of it when a boy[833]; a circumstance
which I was highly pleased to hear from him, as it gave me an
opportunity of observing that, notwithstanding his joke on the article
of OATS[834], he was himself a proof that this kind of _food_ was not
peculiar to the people of Scotland.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14.

When Dr. Johnson awaked this morning, he called _'Lanky!'_ having, I
suppose, been thinking of Langton; but corrected himself instantly, and
cried, _'Bozzy!'_ He has a way of contracting the names of his friends.
Goldsmith feels himself so important now, as to be displeased at it. I
remember one day, when Tom Davies was telling that Dr. Johnson said, We
are all in labour for a name to _Goldy's_ play,' Goldsmith cried 'I have
often desired him not to call me _Goldy[835].'_

Between six and seven we hauled our anchor, and set sail with a fair
breeze; and, after a pleasant voyage, we got safely and agreeably into
the harbour of Tobermorie, before the wind rose, which it always has
done, for some days, about noon. Tobermorie is an excellent harbour.
An island lies before it, and it is surrounded by a hilly theatre[836].
The island is too low, otherwise this would be quite a secure port; but,
the island not being a sufficient protection, some storms blow very hard
here. Not long ago, fifteen vessels were blown from their moorings.
There are sometimes sixty or seventy sail here: to-day there were twelve
or fourteen vessels. To see such a fleet was the next thing to seeing a
town. The vessels were from different places; Clyde, Campbelltown,
Newcastle, &c. One was returning to Lancaster from Hamburgh. After
having been shut up so long in Col, the sight of such an assemblage of
moving habitations, containing such a variety of people, engaged in
different pursuits, gave me much gaiety of spirit. When we had landed,
Dr. Johnson said, 'Boswell is now all alive. He is like Antaeus; he gets
new vigour whenever he touches the ground.' I went to the top of a hill
fronting the harbour, from whenc