Soon after he left Edinburgh in June he wrote to his friend and fellow-student Dr. Bostock:
I have seen Mrs. Siddons in ‘Douglas,’ the ‘Grecian Daughter,’ the ‘Mourning Bride,’ the ‘Provoked Husband,’ the ‘Fatal Marriage,’ ‘Macbeth,’ and ‘Venice Preserved.’ She was neither below nor much above my expectation. I can form an idea of something more perfect. My friend Cruikshanks, when I went to take my leave of him, took me aside and, after much preamble, told me he heard I had been at the play, and hoped that I should be able to contradict it. I told him ‘I had been several times, and thought it right to go,’ &c. &c., as civilly as I could. ‘I know you are determined to discourage my dancing and singing, and I am determined to pay no regard whatever to what you say. You think I shall never be able to play the flute well, and I am pretty sure that I may if I choose; as to dancing, the die is cast.’
At this time he gave up the dress and all the other peculiarities of the Quakers.
On June 5 he started on a journey through the Highlands ‘in se totus teres atque rotundus,’ as a friend described him.
I was mounted on a stout, well-made black horse, fourteen hands high, young and spirited, which I had purchased from my friend Cathcart. I had before me my oiled linens, the spencer with a separate camlet cover; under me a pair of saddle-bags, well filled with three or four changes of linen, a waistcoat, and breeches; materials for writing and for drawing; paper, pens, ink, pencils, and colours; packing-paper and twine for minerals; soap, brushes, and a razor; a small edition of Thomson’s ‘Seasons,’ a third flute in a bag; some music, principally Scotch, bound with some blank music-paper; wafers; a box for botanising; a thermometer; two little bottles with spirits for preserving insects; a bag for picking up stones; two maps of Scotland—Ainslie’s small one and Sayer’s; letters of recommendation. The bags had pockets at the end, one containing a pair of shoes, the other boards with straps and paper for drying plants. I found my bags at first an encumbrance, but became afterwards more reconciled to them. They are to a saddle what pockets are to a coat; and who objects to wearing pockets? But they were wetted the first day and stained their contents. This will make me more careful in future.
Some of his notes at Gordon and Inverary Castles are cabinet pictures.
It was Lady Georgina’s birthday (afterwards Duchess of Bedford); the flag was hoisted. Lord Alexander’s regiment of little boys was paraded, and employed in racing and dancing on the green, and in the evening a ball was given to the servants; all the family went downstairs and amused themselves with observing the agility of the lads and lasses. Every person employed about the house, except one man, is married, and most of them are descended from those who have served the family before them. The Duchess proposed, in honour of the day, that Sir George Abercrombie and I should dance a reel with the two younger ladies; for they danced nothing but reels. Afterwards the Duke danced with one of the upper servants. Some time after our party joined again in the amusement at the same time with two others; when it was late, and Sir George was tired, we took a girl in his place and resumed the sport. Lady Madeline (Sinclair) sat by, and made the music play till the other sets quitted the field, and left us victorious to reel through the whole room. I have now written as much of dancing in my tour as Johnson has in his, and as much more as a young man may be expected to write of it than an old one.
At Inverary [he writes] after breakfast the party were to ride, and the Doctor gravely submitted to my determination whether I would go at a slow pace with him and the Duke to view the country leisurely on the way, or ride with the ladies and be galloped over. I told him that of all things I liked to be galloped over, and therefore should be of the youthful party....
After dinner the Duke rode again, and the younger men of the party took a walk. I left them about nine, and joined the ladies at tea. I was showing Lady Charlotte some of my sketches; she begged to see my notes, and I showed the greatest part of them. All the family are musical; the ladies sing admirably. Cards and a fine piano occupied the evening. After supper, besides other songs, I heard a most beautiful canzonet by Jackson, beginning ‘Love in thy eyes.’ It was twelve o’clock when we retired. After breakfast I took my leave, not without regretting that I had so little time to observe the beauties of Inverary. Lady Charlotte is handsomer than Lady Augusta: she sings better, but she has less good sense and less sweetness. An innocent girlishness sometimes gives her the appearance of a little affectation. She is to Lady Augusta what Venus is to Minerva. I suppose she wishes for no more. Both are goddesses.
On October 7 he left London to graduate at Göttingen; he went by Hamburg.
On December 14 he wrote to Dr. Bostock: