Sunday 12 June 2016

1940? No, 1740


I was not aware of this portrait by Joshua Reynolds of Samuel Johnson as a wigless young man until yesterday. The curious position of his hands denotes the Tourette syndrome which he apparently had, although it was not called that until Tourette named it after himself, whenever that was. Doesn't this picture look as though it could have been painted in the 1940s?

I took Johnson's account of his travels in the Western Highlands (of Scotland) with me to Spain, and in it I found the most clear and concise explanation of how and why Highland society is like it is.

In one chapter, Johnson simply explained the combination of events set in the rugged and inhospitable country, in a way which I have never heard set out so sensibly. It has taken me years to finally half understand Highland economics and politics, and the situation up there now is pretty much the same as it was during Johnson's time, so the history still applies.

In a nutshell, long before he wrote about it, the power was taken from the feudal lairds, who were bought off by the English at a time when money was of little use in the Highlands. The English excise men were virtually powerless in a mountainous terrain in which the agile clansmen always held the higher positions in the landscape they had known since birth, and the Highlanders were well used to fending off invaders amongst their own people, building numerous forts and castles against each other, and swearing allegiance to their own chief whilst warring against another clan which may only have been twenty miles away. Even the Romans did not attempt to conquer the Scots - or even trade with them as they had done with the Cornish.

The lairds were forced to submit to the Southern kings, in return for payment as governors of their own little kingdoms, and the surrender of arms as they disbanded their little armies was part and parcel of the deal. Up until then, a laird would not set foot outside his own stronghold without a retinue of about twenty well-armed men, rattling and jangling alongside him on horseback.

The facilitation of English rule in Scotland was always carried out by the Campbells, because their seat in Inverary was on a wide plain surrounded by mountains. The position of Inverary castle was such that the various armies could be seen and monitored as they approached downwards to relinquish their arms and sign treaties. The Campells are still universally despised by the other clans, even today. The Scots have long memories.

By the time Johnson and Boswell arrived, the lairds had English accents (as they do today), and were able to entertain guests very comfortably - with wine and brandy from France, and tobacco from America - and their farms and estates were run by factors, with middlemen called 'tacksmen', who were a despised necessity  then as they are today.

I love reading travel books when I am travelling - even if I am in a country which bears no resemblance to the book, and even if the book was written 200 years ago. It all helps, and there is no such thing as a relaxing holiday in my experience.

11 comments:

  1. Tourettes? I thought that he was playing an 'air' ukulele.

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    1. Ha ha! Room for a bit of online graphics!

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    2. Now you have said this, I really am beginning to suspect that you could just place a lute into the painting, and the interpreter may be just as wrong as every other interpreter.

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    3. Yes, I believe you have hit on it, Potty. It is air lute or ukulele.

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    4. No, it's definitely thumb cramp from texting.

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    5. Texting an entire dictionary.

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  2. What do you know about this "fact". After the Scots were so defeated at Culloden Moore, their unique clan plaids were invented and imposed by the British for the purpose of telling them apart. I was told that, but could never substantiate it.

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    1. I have not heard that one, Joanne. Johnson said that he rarely saw any plaid at all in the Highlands, but when he did, it was in the form of a wrap-around shawl, not a kilt, or 'philibeg' as they are called by the Scots. I do know that the tartan kilts were more or less invented by the Victorian English and adopted by the loyal supporters of Victoria when she spent all that time in Balmoral after the death of Albert. Prior to that, they wore a sort of loose trousers with bound leggings. Johnson surmised that the cloak or shawl was make-shift bedding for when on the march, as it would have been hampering in battle.

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  3. Thanks for reminding me of Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands, which I read decades ago on honeymoon in the outer Hebrides. It's one of the few books I have not given away in my recent culling.

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