ith being hidden from the invasion of human
evils and human passions, in the darkness of a thicket; that I am busy
in gathering shells and pebbles on the shore, or contemplative on a
rock, from which I look upon the water, and consider how many waves are
rolling between me and Streatham.

The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and,
instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are. Here are
mountains which I should once have climbed; but to climb steeps is now
very laborious, and to descend them, dangerous; and I am now content
with knowing, that, by scrambling up a rock, I shall only see other
rocks, and a wider circuit of barren desolation. Of streams, we have
here a sufficient number; but they murmur not upon pebbles, but upon
rocks. Of flowers, if Chloris herself were here, I could present her
only with the bloom of heath. Of lawns and thickets, he must read that
would know them, for here is little sun, and no shade. On the sea I look
from my window, but am not much tempted to the shore; for since I came
to this island, almost every breath of air has been a storm, and, what
is worse, a storm with all its severity, but without its magnificence,
for the sea is here so broken into channels, that there is not a
sufficient volume of water either for lofty surges, or a loud roar.

On Sept. 6th, we left--to visit Raarsa, the island which I have already
mentioned. We were to cross part of Skie on horseback; a mode of
travelling very uncomfortable, for the road is so narrow, where any road
can be found, that only one can go, and so craggy, that the attention
can never be remitted; it allows, therefore, neither the gaiety of
conversation, nor the laxity of solitude; nor has it, in itself, the
amusement of much variety, as it affords only all the possible
transpositions of bog, rock, and rivulet. Twelve miles, by computation,
make a reasonable journey for a day.

At night we came to a tenant's house, of the first rank of tenants,
where we were entertained better than at the landlord's. There were
books, both English and Latin. Company gathered about us, and we heard
some talk of the second sight, and some talk of the events of forty-five;
a year which will not soon be forgotten among the islanders. The
next day we were confined by a storm. The company, I think, increased,
and our entertainment was not only hospitable, but elegant. At night, a
minister's sister, in very fine brocade, sung Er