' JOHNSON. 'Then, Sir, let him go
abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place where he is _not_
known. Don't let him go to the devil where he _is_ known!'
He then said, 'I see a number of people bare-footed here: I suppose you
all went so before the Union. Boswell, your ancestors went so, when they
had as much land as your family has now. Yet _Auchinleck_ is the _Field
of Stones_: there would be bad going bare-footed there. The _Lairds_,
however, did it.' I bought some _speldings_, fish (generally whitings)
salted and dried in a particular manner, being dipped in the sea and
dried in the sun, and eaten by the Scots by way of a relish. He had
never seen them, though they are sold in London. I insisted on
_scottifying_[160] his palate; but he was very reluctant. With
difficulty I prevailed with him to let a bit of one of them lie in his
mouth. He did not like it.
In crossing the Frith, Dr. Johnson determined that we should land upon
Inch Keith[161]. On approaching it, we first observed a high rocky
shore. We coasted about, and put into a little bay on the North-west. We
clambered up a very steep ascent, on which was very good grass, but
rather a profusion of thistles. There were sixteen head of black cattle
grazing upon the island. Lord Hailes observed to me, that Brantome calls
it _L'isle des Chevaux_, and that it was probably 'a _safer_ stable'
than many others in his time.
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