Here's the other side of the coin. From the book I cited, Boswell writes on, Friday, 17th September:


I must observe here, that in Sky there seems to be much idleness; for men and boys follow you, as colts follow passengers upon a road. The usual figure of a Sky-boy, is a lown with bare legs and feet, a dirty kilt,ragged coat and waistcoat, a bare head, and a stick in his hand, which, I suppose, is partly to help the lazy rogue to walk, partly to serve as a kind of a defensive weapon. (269)

Here are links to the two works over at Project Gutenberg, if you want to look at them.

Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland by Samuel Johnson
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. by James Boswell