Sir Alexander and Lady Macdonald had come to Armidale in their
way to Edinburgh, where it was necessary for them to be soon after this
time. Armidale is situated on a pretty bay of the narrow sea, which
flows between the main land of Scotland and the Isle of Sky. In front
there is a grand prospect of the rude mountains of Moidart and
Knoidart[451]. Behind are hills gently rising and covered with a finer
verdure than I expected to see in this climate, and the scene is
enlivened by a number of little clear brooks.
Sir Alexander Macdonald having been an Eton scholar[452], and being a
gentleman of talents, Dr. Johnson had been very well pleased with him in
London[453]. But my fellow-traveller and I were now full of the old
Highland spirit, and were dissatisfied at hearing of racked rents and
emigration, and finding a chief not surrounded by his clan. Dr. Johnson
said, 'Sir, the Highland chiefs should not be allowed to go farther
south than Aberdeen. A strong-minded man, like Sir James Macdonald[454],
may be improved by an English education; but in general, they will be
tamed into insignificance.'
We found here Mr. Janes of Aberdeenshire, a naturalist. Janes said he
had been at Dr. Johnson's in London, with Ferguson the astronomer[455].
JOHNSON. 'It is strange that, in such distant places, I should meet with
any one who knows me.
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