Note 77 — Chapter XXIX
Reading edition
"I should have mentioned, that in going down the Pentland Frith this morning, we saw Johnnie Groat's house, or rather the place where it stood, now occupied by a storehouse. Our pilot opines there was no such man as Johnnie Groat, for, he says, he cannot hear that anybody ever saw him. This reasoning would put down most facts of antiquity. They gather shells on the shore, called Johnnie Groat's buckies, but I cannot procure any at present. I may also add, that the interpretation given to wells may apply to the Wells of Slain, in the fine ballad of Clerk Colvill; such eddies in the romantic vicinity of Slains Castle would be a fine place for a mermaid.[77]