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246 first fermented liquor," says Boswell, "that he tasted during his travels." He forgets, however, the brandy which he was prevailed on to drink at Dunvegan when he was suffering from cold. "Come, (said Johnson) let me know what it is that makes a Scotchman happy." He thought it preferable to any English malt brandy. "What was the process," he writes, "I had no opportunity of enquiring, nor do I wish to improve the art of making poison pleasant." To the excellence of the inn at Inverary, Pennant also bears testimony. Far otherwise does Burns speak of it, in his indignation

INVERARY CASTLE.

at the incivility of the landlord, whose whole attention was occupied by the visitors of the Duke of Argyle.

"Whoe'er he be that sojourns here,
 * I pity much his case,

Unless he comes to wait upon
 * The Lord their God his Grace.

"There's naething here but Highland pride,
 * And Highland scab and hunger;

If Providence has sent me here,
 * 'Twas surely in an anger."

At Inverary our travellers rested from Saturday evening till Tuesday morning. This pleasant little town had a very different, look from that which it now bears. "This place," wrote Pennant, "will in time be very magnificent; but at present the space between the front of the castle and the water is disgraced with the old town,