Fort Augustus

August 31, 1773, Boswell and Johnson depart from Fort Augustus, which is situated by Loch Ness. The fort served as a launching point for them to cross the Highlands. Johnson writes on the fort's utility. Scott, in his "The Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland" remarks that "No one will stay an hour in Fort Augustus if he can avoid it." Both Johnson and Scott discuss the common perception that Loch Ness does not freeze. Johnson speculates that high wind must agitate the surface so that freezing is not possible. Scott does not speculate, but comments on the futility of uninformed attempts to explain the unexplainable. Scott is referring to common philosophies, not on Dr. Johnson's attempt to rationally explain this phenomena.

Louis XI

This day (August 30) in 1483 saw the death of France's Louis XI. According to Wikipedia, Louis was largely responsible for undermining the fuedal system. The changing structure of political life was a focus of Scott's Quentin Durward. From that novel:

"...Among those who were the first to ridicule and abandon the self-denying principals in which the young knight was instructed, and to which he was so carefully trained up, Louis XI was the chief. The sovereign was of a character so purely selfish - so guiltless of entertaining any purpose unconnected with his ambition, covetousness and desire of selfish enjoyment - that he seems almost an incarnation of the devil himself, permitted to do his utmost ot corrupt our ideas of honour at the very source."

Inverness

Johnson and Boswell are in Inverness today; the year is 1773. Johnson's commentary depicts what I think is not unusual of the English perspective toward Scotland at this time.

"...Yet what the Romans did to other nations, was in a great degree done by Cromwell to the Scots; he civilized them by conquest, and introduced by useful violence the arts of peace. I was told at Aberdeen that the people learned from Cromwell's soldiers to make shoes and plant kail..."

Compare to with some of Scott's description (The Highland and Western Isles of Scotland):

"Inverness has been strangely underrated. To compare the country again with Edinburgh, there is a careless wealth of surface about it...contrasted with the dry and cold economy of Edinburgh, where the trees that are to be seen only remind us of the million that are wanting, and where every field and road is deformed by a stone wall, as if it was a land of thieves and law, as if the bones of a country were appearing through its meager surface

Inverness

On August 28th in 1773, Sam Johnson and James Boswell start their day in Calder, reaching Inverness by nightfall. They began their Highlands tour on the 18th of August, so were 10 days in at that point.

Scott too toured the Highlands, and he describes, in his "The Highlands and Western Isles of Scootland", meeting a local, and perceiving how unpopular English roads were. According to Scott, the roads were viewed as a form of tyranny. Many still walked, or rode horseback, on the old country tracks, rather than use the newer roads; especially to avoid the "turnimspike".

St. Malrubius

Today is the feast day of St. Malrubius, a hermit who re-entered the world after Norwegians invaded his region of Scotland, to tend to the people and convert the Norwegians. He ended up a martyr. Malrubius' region was Mearns, now roughly Kincardine. It was in Kincardine Castle that John Baliol was forced to confess his rebellion against England's King Edward, and to forfeit his Scottish throne, creating the power vacuum that led ultimately to William Wallace's rise to fame (see 8/23/09).

The Black Prince

August 26th, 1346 saw the Battle of Crecy, with the English battling the French for Edward III's claim to the French throne. Edward's son (Edward, Prince of Wales) was known as the black prince, and he distinguished himself in this battle. It is possible that this battle included the first use of cannon.

There is a connection between the black prince and Scott's Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe was the name of one of the three manors that were forfeited by a John Hampden, who had unwisely struck the black prince, possibly during a jousting match.

David Hume

The historian David Hume died this day in 1776. Hume published a History of England that became the standard for many years. Scott covered Hume's letters in the Edinburgh Annual Register, volume 2.