These Castles Afford Another Evidence That The Fictions Of
Romantick Chivalry Had For Their Basis The Real Manners Of The
Feudal Times, When Every Lord Of A Seignory Lived In His Hold
Lawless And Unaccountable, With All The Licentiousness And
Insolence Of Uncontested Superiority And Unprincipled Power.
The
traveller, whoever he might be, coming to the fortified habitation
of a Chieftain, would, probably, have been interrogated
From the
battlements, admitted with caution at the gate, introduced to a
petty Monarch, fierce with habitual hostility, and vigilant with
ignorant suspicion; who, according to his general temper, or
accidental humour, would have seated a stranger as his guest at the
table, or as a spy confined him in the dungeon.
Lochbuy means the Yellow Lake, which is the name given to an inlet
of the sea, upon which the castle of Mr. Maclean stands. The
reason of the appellation we did not learn.
We were now to leave the Hebrides, where we had spent some weeks
with sufficient amusement, and where we had amplified our thoughts
with new scenes of nature, and new modes of life. More time would
have given us a more distinct view, but it was necessary that Mr.
Boswell should return before the courts of justice were opened; and
it was not proper to live too long upon hospitality, however
liberally imparted.
Of these Islands it must be confessed, that they have not many
allurements, but to the mere lover of naked nature. The
inhabitants are thin, provisions are scarce, and desolation and
penury give little pleasure.
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