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168 table plentifully furnished, and here for the first time they had a specimen of the joyous social manners of the inhabitants of the Highlands." Books, too, were not wanting, both Latin and English; among them was a copy of the abridgment of Johnson's Dictionary. He might have said here, as four years later with some eagerness he said at Lord Scarsdale's, when he discovered the same book in his lordship's dressing-room, "Quæ regio in terris nostri non plena laboris?" Here, too, he wrote that Latin Ode to Mrs. Thrale, which so caught Sir Walter Scott's imagination, that when he first set foot on Skye, it was the thing which first came into his thoughts. And here on their return after a lapse of nearly three weeks, Boswell got so tipsy and so piously penitent next day. He had not gone to bed till nearly five o'clock on a Sunday morning, by which time four bowls of punch had been finished.

Before the afternoon was over, by the help of good cheer and good society, he felt himself comfortable enough, and his piety was drowned in philosophy.

The Highlanders were more seasoned drinkers than he was, for the following night they had another drinking-bout.

"They kept a smart lad lying on a table in the corner of the room, ready to spring up and bring the kettle whenever it was wanted. They continued drinking,