d. Lady Errol pressed us to stay all night, and
ordered the coach to carry us to see the great curiosity on the coast at
Dunbui, which is a monstrous cauldron, called by the country people the
Pot. Dr. Johnson insisted on taking a boat and sailing into the Pot, and
we found caves of considerable depth on each side.

Returning to the castle, Dr. Johnson observed that its situation was the
noblest he had ever seen, better than Mount Edgcumbe, reckoned the first
in England. About nine, the earl, who had been absent, came home. His
agreeable manners and softness of address prevented that constraint
which the idea of his being Lord High Constable of Scotland might
otherwise have occasioned. He talked very easily and sensibly with his
learned guest. We left Slains Castle next morning, and, driving by Banff
and Elgin, where the noble ruins of the cathedral were examined by Dr.
Johnson with a patient attention, reached Forres on the night of August
26. That afternoon we drove over the very heath where Macbeth met the
witches, according to tradition. Dr. Johnson solemnly recited:

How far is't called to Forres? What are these,
So withered, and so wild is their attire?
They look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on't.

From Forres we came to Nairn, and thence to the manse of the minister of
Calder, Mr. Kenneth Macaulay, author of the "History of St. Kilda,"
where we stayed the night, after visiting the old castle, the seat of
the Thane of Cawdor. Thence we drove to Fort George, where we dined with
the governor, Sir Eyre Coote (afterwards the gallant conqueror of Hyder
Ali, and preserver of our Indian Empire), and then got safely to
Inverness. Next day we went to Macbeth's Castle. I had a romantic
satisfaction in seeing Dr. Johnson actually in it. It perfectly
corresponds with Shakespeare's description, which Sir Joshua Reynolds
has so happily illustrated in one of his notes on our immortal poet:

This castle has a pleasant seat: the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.

Just as we came out of it a raven perched upon one of the chimney-tops
and croaked. Then I repeated:

The raven himself is hoarse,
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements.

On Monday, August 30, we began our equitation. We had three horses for
Dr. Johnson, myself, and Joseph, my servant, and one which carried our
portmanteaus, and two Highlanders walk