be totally forgetful of a future state; and, on the other hand, a steady
contemplation of the awful concerns of eternity renders all objects here
so insignificant, as to make us indifferent and negligent about them.'
JOHNSON. 'Sir, Dr. Cheyne has laid down a rule to himself on this
subject, which should be imprinted on every mind:--"_To neglect nothing
to secure my eternal peace, more than if I had been certified I should
die within the day: nor to mind any thing that my secular obligations
and duties demanded of me, less than if I had been ensured to live fifty
years more[463]_."'

I must here observe, that though Dr. Johnson appeared now to be
philosophically calm, yet his genius did not shine forth as in
companies, where I have listened to him with admiration. The vigour of
his mind was, however, sufficiently manifested, by his discovering no
symptoms of feeble relaxation in the dull, 'weary, flat and
unprofitable[464]' state in which we now were placed.

I am inclined to think that it was on this day he composed the following
Ode upon the _Isle of Sky_, which a few days afterwards he shewed me
at Rasay:--

ODA,

Ponti profundis clausa recessibus,
Strepens procellis, rupibus obsita,
Quam grata defesso virentem
Skia sinum nebulosa pandis.

His cura, credo, sedibus exulat;
His blanda certe pax habitat locis:
Non ira, non moeror quietis
Insidias meditatur horis.

At non cavata rupe latescere,
Menti nec aegrae montibus aviis
Prodest vagari, nec frementes
E scopulo numerare fluctus.

Humana virtus non sibi sufficit,
Datur nec aequum cuique animum sibi
Parare posse, ut Stoicorum
Secta crepet nimis alta fallax.

Exaestuantis pectoris impetum,
Rex summe, solus tu regis arbiter,
Mentisque, te tollente, surgunt,
Te recidunt moderante fluctus[465].

After supper, Dr. Johnson told us, that Isaac Hawkins Browne drank
freely for thirty years, and that he wrote his poem, _De Animi
Immortalitate_, in some of the last of these years[466]. I listened to
this with the eagerness of one who, conscious of being himself fond of
wine, is glad to hear that a man of so much genius and good thinking as
Browne had the same propensity[467].

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 6.

We set out, accompanied by Mr. Donald M'Leod, (late of Canna) as our
guide. We rode for some time along the district of Slate, near the
shore. The houses