A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, Volumes 1-2

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W. Strahan; and T. Cadell in the Strand., 1775 - Authors, English - 268 pages

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Page 61 - The day was calm, the air soft, and all was rudeness, silence and solitude. Before me, and on either side, were high hills, which by hindering the eye from ranging, forced the mind to find entertainment for itself. Whether I spent the hour well I know not ; for here I first conceived the thought of this narration.
Page 134 - Length of life is distributed impartially to very different modes of life in very different climates ; and the mountains have no greater examples of age and health than the...
Page 242 - Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me and...
Page 104 - We were entertained with the usual hospitality by Mr. Macdonald, and his lady Flora Macdonald, a name that will be mentioned in history, and, if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour. She is a woman of middle stature, soft features, gentle manners, and elegant presence.
Page 176 - Strong reasons for incredulity will readily occur. This faculty of seeing things out of sight is local, and commonly useless. It is a breach of the common order of things, without any visible reason or perceptible benefit. It is ascribed only to a people very little enlightened; and among them, for the most part, to the mean and ignorant.
Page 191 - It would be easy to shew it if he had it ; but whence could it be had? It is too long to be remembered, and the language formerly had nothing written. He has...
Page 61 - I sat down on a bank, such as a writer of Romance might have delighted to feign. I had indeed no trees to whisper over my head, but a clear rivulet streamed at my feet. The day was calm, the air soft, and all was rudeness, silence, and solitude.
Page 192 - A Scotchman must be a very sturdy moralist, who does not love Scotland better than truth ; he will always love it better than inquiry : and if falsehood flatters his vanity, will not be very diligent to detect it.
Page 179 - ... one generation of ignorance effaces the whole series of unwritten history. Books are faithful repositories, which may be a while neglected or forgotten; but when they are opened again, will again impart their instruction: memory, once interrupted, is not to be recalled. Written learning is a fixed luminary, which, after the cloud that had hidden it has passed away, is again bright in its proper station. Tradition is but a meteor, which, if once it falls, cannot be rekindled.
Page 173 - Sight is an impression made either by the mind upon the eye, or by the eye upon the mind, by which things distant or future are perceived, and seen as if they were present.

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