Transactions. 71 



the favour of one should not refuse it to any of the rest, he is in 

 danger of drinking more than he can conveniently cany. "This 

 accounts for the overloaded condition in which Ochtertyre's potu- 

 lent young man was discovered on leaving " the house of mourn- 

 ing." " When one set has been thus treated others are introduced, 

 and when all have had their turn they accompany the corpse to 

 the grave, where it generally arrives at noon. The minister is 

 always particularly invited, though he performs no kind of service 

 over the dead of whatever fortune or rank. Part of the company 

 is selected to return to the house, where wine is filled as fast as 

 it can be drunk, till there is scarcely a sober person amongst them. 

 In the end, however, some sweetmeats are put into their hats, or 

 thrust into their pockets, with which they afterwards compliment 

 the women of their acquaintance. This ceremony they call the 

 ' dradgy.' " 



Dr Johnson, who visited the Highlands and Western Islands 

 in 1773, gives in his Tour a glowing narrative of the exuberant 

 hospitality with which he was received. Even in the Hebrides he 

 found " neither plenty nor delicacy wanting " at the tables of his 

 hosts. It was after a Hebridean dejeuner that he penned the 

 immortal sentence — " If an epicure could remove by a wish, in 

 quest of sensual gratifications, wherever he had supped he would 

 breakfast in Scotland." He found, too, the crockery for common 

 use to be of " Queen's ware," and silver used on all occasions 

 where it was at the time common in England. But Johnson 

 visited only among the " upper crust " both in Highlands and 

 Islands, and his observations furnish confirmation of the fact that 

 the difference in condition between the classes and the masses 

 there and then was abnormally great. The savage character of 

 the habitations of the people is noticed by him, and even in the 

 dwellings of the better-off classes he found, as he euphemistically 

 observes, " that the house and furniture were not always nicely 

 suited." "We were driven," he says, " once, by missing a passage, 

 to the hut of a gentleman, where, after a very liberal supper, 

 when I was conducted to my chamber, I found an elegant bed of 

 Indian cotton, and spread with fine sheets. The accommodation 

 was flattering ; I undressed myself, and felt my feet in the mire. 

 The bed stood on the bare earth, which a long course of rain had 

 softened into a puddle." 



