Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, vol 1 | Page 4

Scotch
Manse. In the first decade of the eighteenth century Aulay Macaulay,
the great-grandfather of the historian, was minister of Tiree and Coll;
where he was "grievously annoyed by a decreet obtained after instance
of the Laird of Ardchattan, taking away his stipend." The Duchess of
Argyll of the day appears to have done her best to see him righted; "but
his health being much impaired, and there being no church or
meeting-house, he was exposed to the violence of the weather at all
seasons; and having no manse or plebe, and no fund for communion
elements, and no mortification for schools or any pious purpose in
either of the islands, and the air being unwholesome, he was
dissatisfied;" and so, to the great regret of the parishioners whom he
was leaving behind, he migrated to Harris, where he discharged the
clerical duties for nearly half a century.
Aulay was the father of fourteen children, of whom one, Kenneth, the
minister of Ardnamurchan, still occupies a very humble niche in the
temple of literature. He wrote a History of St. Kilda which happened to
fall into the hands of Dr. Johnson, who spoke of it more than once with
favour. His reason for liking the book is characteristic enough. Mr.
Macaulay had recorded the belief prevalent in St. Kilda that, as soon as
the factor landed on the island, all the inhabitants had an attack which
from the account appears to have partaken of the nature both of
influenza and bronchitis. This touched the superstitious vein in Johnson,
who praised him for his "magnanimity" in venturing to chronicle so
questionable a phenomenon; the more so because,--said the
Doctor,--"Macaulay set out with a prejudice against prejudice, and
wanted to be a smart modern thinker." To a reader of our day the
History of St. Kilda appears to be innocent of any trace of such
pretension; unless it be that the author speaks slightingly of

second-sight, a subject for which Johnson always had a strong
hankering. In 1773 Johnson paid a visit to Mr. Macaulay, who by that
time had removed to Calder, and began the interview by congratulating
him on having produced "a very pretty piece of topography,"--a
compliment which did not seem to the taste of the author. The
conversation turned upon rather delicate subjects, and, before many
hours had passed, the guest had said to the host one of the very rudest
things recorded by Boswell! Later on in the same evening he atoned for
his incivility by giving one of the boys of the house a pocket Sallust,
and promising to procure him a servitorship at Oxford. Subsequently
Johnson pronounced that Mr. Macaulay was not competent to have
written the book that went by his name; a decision which, to those who
happen to have read the work, will give a very poor notion of my
ancestor's abilities.
The eldest son of old Aulay, and the grandfather of Lord Macaulay,
was John, born in the year 1720. He was minister successively of Barra,
South Uist, Lismore, and Inverary; the last appointment being a proof
of the interest which the family of Argyll continued to take in the
fortunes of the Macaulays. He, likewise, during the famous tour in the
Hebrides, came across the path of Boswell, who mentions him in an
exquisitely absurd paragraph, the first of those in which is described the
visit to Inverary Castle. ["Monday, Oct. 25.--My acquaintance, the Rev.
Mr. John M'Aulay, one of the ministers of Inverary, and brother to our
good friend at Calder, came to us this morning, and accompanied us to
the castle, where I presented Dr. Johnson to the Duke of Argyll. We
were shown through the house; and I never shall forget the impression
made upon my fancy by some of the ladies' maids tripping about in
neat morning dresses. After seeing for a long time little but rusticity,
their lively manner, and gay inciting appearance, pleased me so much,
that I thought for a moment I could have been a knight-errant for
them."] Mr. Macaulay afterwards passed the evening with the travellers
at their inn, and provoked Johnson into what Boswell calls warmth, and
anyone else would call brutality, by the very proper remark that he had
no notion of people being in earnest in good professions if their
practice belied them. When we think what well-known ground this was
to Lord Macaulay, it is impossible to suppress a wish that the great

talker had been at hand to avenge his grandfather and grand-uncle.
Next morning "Mr. Macaulay breakfasted with us, nothing hurt or
dismayed by his last night's correction. Being a man of good sense he
had a just admiration of Dr. Johnson." He was rewarded by seeing
Johnson at his very best, and hearing him declaim some