Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

178 ST. KILDA.
condemned the present inhabitants to worship in their
storehouse, may here, according to Johnson's remark,
be contrasted with the laziness of the monks who pro-
vided them with the means of performing- the public
duties of religion with respect and decency. But the
Scottish Society for the Propagation of Christian Know-
ledge had laudably exerted itself to remove the chief
part of this evil, by the establishment of a resident
Missionary, on a salary of £35 a year; a sum which,
small as it may appear, seems to have been adequate
to the providing of competent persons. I understand
by a recent report, that the minister who held this office
in 1815, the period of my visit, has left the island.
But he will probably be replaced. Independently of
its more obvious advantages, the presence of such a
person serves to connect the people under the form
of a political society. In a narrow circle like this,
the existence of one superior intellect is a bond of gene-
ral union, and a habit of deference becomes equivalent
to law ; as it indeed does in states much larger than St.
Kilda, where its value has sometimes scarcely been sus-
pected till the progress of reason, as it is called, had
demolished it. At that time, there was no school, and
not one of the inhabitants could read. Mr. Quidam
hopes that his representations were at least aiding and
abetting towards the establishment of the present school-
master ; while the only reason for his vain-glory is, that
it is the only good result, to himself or any one else, that
has ever flowed, or ever will, from all his uncountable
labours. If you ask who " the Gentleman " is, I must
answer as the Jesuits used in similar cases, " talis qua-
lis." English is still unknown here, though now found
more or less diflfused throughout all the maritime High-
lands. I know not if it is to be taught in this school.