She knows French, musick, and drawing,
sews neatly, makes shellwork, and can milk cows; in short, she can do
every thing. She talks sensibly, and is the first person whom I have
found, that can translate Erse poetry literally[855].' We set out,
mounted on little Mull horses. Mull corresponded exactly with the idea
which I had always had of it; a hilly country, diversified with heath
and grass, and many rivulets. Dr. Johnson was not in very good humour.
He said, it was a dreary country, much worse than Sky. I differed from
him. 'O, Sir, (said he,) a most dolorous country[856]!'
We had a very hard journey to-day. I had no bridle for my sheltie, but
only a halter; and Joseph rode without a saddle. At one place, a loch
having swelled over the road, we were obliged to plunge through pretty
deep water. Dr. Johnson observed, how helpless a man would be, were he
travelling here alone, and should meet with any accident; and said, 'he
longed to get to _a country of saddles and bridles_' He was more out of
humour to-day, than he has been in the course of our Tour, being fretted
to find that his little horse could scarcely support his weight; and
having suffered a loss, which, though small in itself, was of some
consequence to him, while travelling the rugged steeps of Mull, where he
was at times obliged to walk. The loss that I allude to was that of the
large oak-stick, which, as I formerly mentioned, he had brought with him
from London[857].
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