The proportion in these
countries of the poor to the rich is such, that if we suppose the
quality to be accidental, it can very rarely happen to a man of
education; and yet on such men it has sometimes fallen. There is
now a Second Sighted gentleman in the Highlands, who complains of
the terrors to which he is exposed.
The foresight of the Seers is not always prescience; they are
impressed with images, of which the event only shews them the
meaning. They tell what they have seen to others, who are at that
time not more knowing than themselves, but may become at last very
adequate witnesses, by comparing the narrative with its
verification.
To collect sufficient testimonies for the satisfaction of the
publick, or of ourselves, would have required more time than we
could bestow. There is, against it, the seeming analogy of things
confusedly seen, and little understood, and for it, the indistinct
cry of national persuasion, which may be perhaps resolved at last
into prejudice and tradition. I never could advance my curiosity
to conviction; but came away at last only willing to believe.
As there subsists no longer in the Islands much of that peculiar
and discriminative form of life, of which the idea had delighted
our imagination, we were willing to listen to such accounts of past
times as would be given us.
