Johnson and Boswell: Journey to the Western Islands

Johnson and Boswell called on James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, at Monboddo House. They knew him as an urbane Edinburgh Court of Session judge, philosopher and proto-evolutionary thinker, so they were astounded to find him at home "in his primitive attire as a farmer." The meeting set the tone for an eighty-three-day journey through Scotland and the Hebrides in the late summer and autumn of 1773.

On Raasay the travellers found "nothing but civility, elegance, and plenty." After the evening refreshments the carpet was rolled off the floor, a musician was called and the whole company danced: "nor did ever fairies trip with greater alacrity," Johnson wrote. Six and thirty people then sat down to supper at two tables. Boswell spent a day crossing at least twenty-four miles of rugged ground and danced a Highland reel on top of Dùn Can. Raasay House is now a hotel, restaurant, bar and outdoor activity centre.

Visitor guidance: Raasay House is a hotel, restaurant, bar and outdoor activity centre.

On the small island of Inch Kenneth the travellers were entertained by Sir Allan MacLean, head of the Maclean clan. It was one of the last island stops, after Skye, Raasay, Coll and Mull and just before Iona. Both Johnson and Boswell published accounts of the visit, so the stay can be read from two sides.

Location precision: The sources place the visit on the island as a whole; the pin marks Inch Kenneth, not a particular building.

On Iona Johnson found an island "which was once the metropolis of learning and piety" but now had "no school for education, nor temple for worship." His reflection on the place became one of his best-known lines: that man is little to be envied "whose piety would not grow warmer amid the ruins of Iona." The pin marks Iona Abbey.

Location precision: Johnson's remarks concern the island and its ruins in general; the pin marks Iona Abbey.

Back on the mainland, on their way home from the Hebrides, the pair stopped at Auchinleck House in Ayrshire, Boswell's family home. From here the tour ran on through Hamilton to its end in Edinburgh. In 1999 the house was bought by the Landmark Trust, a building preservation charity.