Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland

Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland

Samuel Johnson

5.0
Comment(s)
9
View
30
Chapters

I had desired to visit the Hebrides, or Western Islands of Scotland, so long, that I scarcely remember how the wish was originally excited; and was in the Autumn of the year 1773 induced to undertake the journey, by finding in Mr. Boswell a companion, whose acuteness would help my inquiry, and whose gaiety of conversation and civility of manners are sufficient to counteract the inconveniences of travel, in countries less hospitable than we have passed.

Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland Chapter 1 INCH KEITH

I had desired to visit the Hebrides, or Western Islands of Scotland, so long, that I scarcely remember how the wish was originally excited; and was in the Autumn of the year 1773 induced to undertake the journey, by finding in Mr. Boswell a companion, whose acuteness would help my inquiry, and whose gaiety of conversation and civility of manners are sufficient to counteract the inconveniences of travel, in countries less hospitable than we have passed.

On the eighteenth of August we left Edinburgh, a city too well known to admit description, and directed our course northward, along the eastern coast of Scotland, accompanied the first day by another gentleman, who could stay with us only long enough to shew us how much we lost at separation.

As we crossed the Frith of Forth, our curiosity was attracted by Inch Keith, a small island, which neither of my companions had ever visited, though, lying within their view, it had all their lives solicited their notice. Here, by climbing with some difficulty over shattered crags, we made the first experiment of unfrequented coasts. Inch Keith is nothing more than a rock covered with a thin layer of earth, not wholly bare of grass, and very fertile of thistles. A small herd of cows grazes annually upon it in the summer. It seems never to have afforded to man or beast a permanent habitation.

We found only the ruins of a small fort, not so injured by time but that it might be easily restored to its former state. It seems never to have been intended as a place of strength, nor was built to endure a siege, but merely to afford cover to a few soldiers, who perhaps had the charge of a battery, or were stationed to give signals of approaching danger. There is therefore no provision of water within the walls, though the spring is so near, that it might have been easily enclosed. One of the stones had this inscription: 'Maria Reg. 1564.' It has probably been neglected from the time that the whole island had the same king.

We left this little island with our thoughts employed awhile on the different appearance that it would have made, if it had been placed at the same distance from London, with the same facility of approach; with what emulation of price a few rocky acres would have been purchased, and with what expensive industry they would have been cultivated and adorned.

When we landed, we found our chaise ready, and passed through Kinghorn, Kirkaldy, and Cowpar, places not unlike the small or straggling market-towns in those parts of England where commerce and manufactures have not yet produced opulence.

Though we were yet in the most populous part of Scotland, and at so small a distance from the capital, we met few passengers.

The roads are neither rough nor dirty; and it affords a southern stranger a new kind of pleasure to travel so commodiously without the interruption of toll-gates. Where the bottom is rocky, as it seems commonly to be in Scotland, a smooth way is made indeed with great labour, but it never wants repairs; and in those parts where adventitious materials are necessary, the ground once consolidated is rarely broken; for the inland commerce is not great, nor are heavy commodities often transported otherwise than by water. The carriages in common use are small carts, drawn each by one little horse; and a man seems to derive some degree of dignity and importance from the reputation of possessing a two-horse cart.

Continue Reading

Other books by Samuel Johnson

More

You'll also like

One Night With The Wrong Brother

One Night With The Wrong Brother

Tangye Wanzi
5.0

I thought I was waking up in the arms of Arthur, the man I loved. But as the morning light hit the Hamptons estate, the man buttoning his cuffs by the window turned around with eyes like chips of ice. It was Augustus Riddle, Arthur’s cruel younger brother, and I had just spent the night whispering confessions of love into the wrong man's ear. The night I thought was a beautiful beginning turned into a devastating nightmare. Instead of comfort, Gus treated me like a stain on his expensive carpet, scribbling a check for "services rendered" before shoving me into a dark service corridor to hide my existence from his brother. "How much does it cost to buy your silence?" He sneered, before leaving me barefoot in a torrential downpour while he drove away in a luxury Cadillac. Four years later, I am a struggling actress in Los Angeles, working double shifts as a barista just to keep the lights on. My life was finally stable until my roommate dragged me to a high-end dinner to meet her new "influential" boyfriend. The man sitting at the table, looking more arrogant and lethal than ever, was Augustus. He spent the entire night humiliating me, calling me a pathetic amateur and a social climber in front of my only friends. When I fled into the rain and collapsed on the sidewalk, skinning my knee until I bled, he watched from his car. He saw me clutching a plastic baggie containing the taped-together pieces of that four-year-old check—the only proof of my shame. He looked at me like roadkill, rolled up his window, and drove off into the dark. I couldn't understand why he was doing this. Why did he hate me enough to crush me, yet remember that I couldn't handle the smell of cigarette smoke? Why did he leave me bleeding in the street, only to send expensive medical supplies and coffee to my door the very next morning? "I'm moving out." I told my roommates, realizing that Gus Riddle didn't just want to destroy me; he wanted to haunt me. I grabbed my suitcase and walked out with eighty dollars to my name, finally ready to disappear into the city before he could burn the rest of my life to the ground.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book
Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland Samuel Johnson Modern
“I had desired to visit the Hebrides, or Western Islands of Scotland, so long, that I scarcely remember how the wish was originally excited; and was in the Autumn of the year 1773 induced to undertake the journey, by finding in Mr. Boswell a companion, whose acuteness would help my inquiry, and whose gaiety of conversation and civility of manners are sufficient to counteract the inconveniences of travel, in countries less hospitable than we have passed.”
1

Chapter 1 INCH KEITH

18/11/2017

2

Chapter 2 ST. ANDREWS

18/11/2017

3

Chapter 3 ABERBROTHICK

18/11/2017

4

Chapter 4 MONTROSE

18/11/2017

5

Chapter 5 ABERDEEN

18/11/2017

6

Chapter 6 SLANES CASTLE, THE BULLER OF BUCHAN

18/11/2017

7

Chapter 7 BAMFF

18/11/2017

8

Chapter 8 ELGIN

18/11/2017

9

Chapter 9 FORES. CALDER. FORT GEORGE

18/11/2017

10

Chapter 10 INVERNESS

18/11/2017

11

Chapter 11 LOUGH NESS

18/11/2017

12

Chapter 12 FALL OF FIERS

18/11/2017

13

Chapter 13 FORT AUGUSTUS

18/11/2017

14

Chapter 14 ANOCH

18/11/2017

15

Chapter 15 GLENSHEALS

18/11/2017

16

Chapter 16 THE HIGHLANDS

18/11/2017

17

Chapter 17 GLENELG

18/11/2017

18

Chapter 18 SKY. ARMIDEL

18/11/2017

19

Chapter 19 CORIATACHAN IN SKY

18/11/2017

20

Chapter 20 RAASAY

18/11/2017

21

Chapter 21 DUNVEGAN

18/11/2017

22

Chapter 22 ULINISH

18/11/2017

23

Chapter 23 TALISKER IN SKY

18/11/2017

24

Chapter 24 OSTIG IN SKY

18/11/2017

25

Chapter 25 COL

18/11/2017

26

Chapter 26 GRISSIPOL IN COL

18/11/2017

27

Chapter 27 CASTLE OF COL

18/11/2017

28

Chapter 28 MULL

18/11/2017

29

Chapter 29 ULVA

18/11/2017

30

Chapter 30 INCH KENNETH

18/11/2017