652. London’s Golden Age: The Ghosts of Culloden (Part 3)

I had desired to visit the Hebrides or western islands of Scotland so long that I scarcely remember how the wish was originally excited, and was, in the autumn of the year 1773, induced to undertake the journey by finding in mister Boswell a companion whose acuteness would help my inquiry, and whose gaiety of conversation and civility of manners are sufficient to counteract the inconveniences of travel in countries less hospitable than we have passed. On the eighteenth of August we left Edinburgh. So that was the son of Litchfield, Samuel Johnson. and he is describing one of the great journeys in all history, one of certainly the most intrepid journeys in all history.

And he's describing it in his book A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, which is actually one of the great classics of travel literature. And Johnson, the ultimate Englishman, is describing how, for the first time in his life, he ventured beyond England's borders. He goes up to the Hebrides, a journey that, in the eighteenth century, would have seemed to the average Englishman, especially a Midlander like Johnson, to be going to the very ends of the earth, into the very heart of darkness and the den of savagery, because, of course, you're going to the most Scottish place imaginable. So Tom, the Western Islands. Have you been to the Western Islands?

I have, yes. Savage? Uh, wet is my chief memory of them. Uh won't surprise people to hear, but um very interesting for all the reasons that Johnson will be discovering and Boswell will be discovering. That's good.

We already have this episode, so unlocking it is cheap and permanent: the full transcript (63 minutes, 11,048 words), segment and word-level timestamps, and .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like, forever.

No account needed, we create one from your checkout email. With credits it is 1 credit; packs start at 10 episodes for $5, and monthly plans are cheaper still.