\^ \V / Pnia ^ i^ // \' ^^>H A -M m mmm l ^ .^Mmmti^'' -J >' ^^-^ X THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES^' IN MEMORY OP Jsmes J. McBride PRESENTED BY Margaret McBride ''/>>j/kP^ f^'f iM •«1 K O P o n M D o n El o o H ta o O ^ SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED WITH PEN AND PENCIL BY SAMUEL G. GREEN, D.D. and THOMAS FAULKNER. -t^ei?^f*^r W^mr^ AFTON WATEB. XF.W YORK : HURST AND COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 0(0 -^ CARRON SIDE. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Windings of the Forth (froui painting by Bough) Frontispiece Afton Water, Ayrshire ..... Title Carron Side ....... 5 Ailsa Craig ...... 8 Lasswade Church ...... 10 ACROSS THE BORDER: TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. The Braes of Yarrow Tower at Prestoupans . Berwick-ou-Tweed Dunbar Castle . . Mrs. Carlyle's Grave; Haddington Church: " the Lamp of Lothian " The Bass Rock : Waiting for the Home- ward Bound .... Tantallou Castle Colonel Gardiner's Monument Melrose Abbey, from the River Dryburgh Abbey .... On the Upper Doou LOE PAGE 11 Abbotsford .... 21 11 Abbotsford : the Drawing-Room . 22 12 Abbotsford : tlie Study 22 13 Hawthornden .... 23 Abbotsford : the Library . 25 14 Abbotsford : the Armory 25 Roslin Chapel, with the 'Prentice Pillar 2G 15 Habbie's Howe .... 27 17 Stonebyres Falls .... 29 18 The Auld Brig 0' Doon, Alloway, Ayrshire 31 19 The Martyrs' Grave, Irougray 33 20 Covenanters' Monument . 36 34 LFST OF ILLUSTRAT/OXS. GLIMPSES OF EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. PAGE Holyrood P.ilace aud Chapel, with Ar- thur's Seat . . . .42 Edinburgh, from "Rest aud be Thankful " 43 Birthplace of Lord Brougham, Cowgate, Edinburgh . . . .44 Staircase, Holyrood ... 44 Castle and Grassmarket, Edinburgh . 45 Edinburgh University ... 47 Magdalen Chapel, Cowgate, Edinburgh . 48 Signing the Covenant, Greyfriars' Church- yard . . . . .49 John Knox's Study ... 51 Knox's Grave . . . .51 The Covenant Stone ... 52 Head of "West Bow, Edinburgh, with the Assembly Hall ; and old houses (now removed) .... 53 The Broomielaw, Glasgow Covenanters' Monument, Greyfriars' Churchyard . . . .52 Craigcrook Castle, residence of Jeffrey . 55 Knox's Pulpit .... 50 Tiie Scott Monument ... 57 Choir of St. Giles's Church. Edinburgh 59 View from the Burns Monument, Calton Hill 60 The Forth Bridge, from the South Side 61 Queen Margaret's Bower, Linlithgow . 63 Queen Margaret's Bower, Linlithgow (In- terior) . . . . .63 Glasgow Cathedral, from the South-east . 64 The Trongate, Glasgow . . 65 Interior of Glasgow Cathedral . 67 Glasgow University . . .68 Glasgow University in the IStli Century 69 The " College " Railway Station, Glasgow 70 71 BY THE CLYDE, TO THE WESTERN COAST. Arran . . . . .73 Bothwell Castle ... 74 Entrance to Fingal's Cave . . 75 The Clyde, Dumbarton . . 76 Loch Ranza . . . .77 Goat Fell, from Brodick B.ay . . 78 Oban . . . . .79 Zona ..... 80 The Shore of lona . . . .81 Tombs of the Kings, lona . . 83 Fingal's Cave . . . .84 Fingal's Cave, from the Interior . 85 Scene of the Massacre, Glencoe . . 87 The Sisters, Glencoe ... 88 Scottish Crofter at Work Glencoe : a " Wild Day " . . 89 The Great Glen of Scotland . . 90 Ben Nevis . . . . . Dl Observatory Station on the Summit of Ben Nevis 92 Marscow from Scuir-na-Gillean . 93 Loch Coruisk . . . .95 Scene in the Hebrides: " Return from the Shieling" .... 96 The Quiraing, Skye . . .97 Interior of Crofter's Cottage, Skye . 97 An Open-air Service in Skye . . 99 Portree ..... 100 A Female Crofter . . . .101 103 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. THROUGH THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS. Vll Through the Trossachs "The Deep Trossachs' WiUlest Nook" Ben Arthur, or " The Cobbler " . Ben Lomoud, from the Loch . Loch Katrine, with Ellen's Isle . Ben Venue ..... The Silver Strand, Loch Katrine A Clyde Steamer PAGE 105 In Glen Dochart . . . . PA'-.E 114 107 Head of Loch Awe and Kilchurn Castle 115 108 Lower Fall of Foyers . 117 109 Inverness .... lis 110 Flowerdale, Gairloch, Koss-shire . 119 111 Loch Maree 121 113 Ben Slioch .... 122 123 THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS: STIRLING TO INVERNESS. Belies of Birnam Wood View from Stirling Castle The Bore Stone, Bannockburn Stirling Castle Wallace Monument, Stirling Dunblane Cathedral Carse of Gowrie Larches at Duukeld Loch Turrit Hermitage Bridge, Duukeld Pass of Killiecrankie . Birks of Aberfeldy . Glen Tilt . . . . Taymouth Castle Mountain Pass in the Grampians Loch Ruicht and Cairngorm 125 127 128 130 131 132 132 133 135 136 137 138 139 1-11 142 143 Bruar Water .... The Grampians as seen from Aviemore : Eothiemurchus Forest in the Middle Distance ..... Elgin Cathedral On the Fiudhorn . On the Findhoru Dulsie Bridge .... View from the Ladies' Walk, Grantown, Speyside ..... Cawdor Castle .... Mouth of Nairn Harbor in the Flood of 1829 Culloden Moor .... Scotch Fisher-Folk 145 147 149 150 151 152 153 155 156 157 158 THE EASTERN COAST AND DEESIDE. Curling . . . . .159 Banks of the Devon, near liumbliug Bridge .... 161 Loch Leveu .... 1()2 Royal Palace, Dunfermline . . 163 St Andrew's Cathedral : West Front . 165 Priory Gateway, St. Andrews . . 166 The Tay Bridge, prior to Dec. 28, 1879 167 Dundee ..... 167 Triumphal Arch, Dundee . . . 168 Bell Rock Lighthouse . . .168 Dr. Guthrie's House, Loch Lee . . 169 LIST OF ILLL'STRATIOXS. Locli Lee Churchyard Kiuf^'s College, Aberdeen . Crathie Church .... Lochnagar .... The Albert Cairn, Balmoral The " Cauklrou : l-ACE PAGB 170 The Home Farm, Balmoral . . 176 171 I Balmoral .... 177 172 Sceue in the Grampians : Stormy . 179 173 Linn of Dee .... 180 175 ! Bridge over Sluggau Water, near Braemar 181 BuUers of Buchau 182 TO THE FAR XORTH. Sunday on the Northern Coast: Going Home . . . . .185 Kirkabister Lighthouse . . 187 St. Duthus' Church, Tain . . .187 " Murray's Pulpit," Tain . . 188 Aultnagealgach, Sutherlandshire . . 189 Smoo Cave, near Durness; on the North- ern Coast .... 190 Suilven-Assynt, near Lochinver . . 191 Duurobin Castle .... 192 " John o' Groat's "... 193 Cape Wrath Badgall B.iy, Edrachillis ; on the Western Coast . . . . .194 Haiida Island : above Scourie Bay, Suth- erlandshire .... 195 Orkney and Shetland Islands . . 196 Fair Isle ; the " Sheep Craig " . 197 Fair Isle ; " Sheldio Cliff " . . 198 The Holm of Noss ... 199 " Giant's Leg," Noss, Shetland . . 200 The Drongs, Shetland . . .201 Lerwick, Shetland .... 202 The Brough of Mousa . . .203 . 204 AILSA CRAIG. n o (4 D M w » pt to to O THE BIIAES UF VAKUUW. ACROSS THE BORDER: TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. across infant POR practical purposes, a pleasure tour in Scot- ^ land generally begins with Edinburgh or Glasgow. Travelers are too much in haste to reach the Highlands to spare time for the Border, re- nowned though it be in song and story ; or to take any leisurely survey of the country that lies between the last towns left on the English side and the two great Scottish cities. Yet this country is wortii visiting in every part of it, for its own sake, and for that of its memories. '/ Draw a straight line across from Greenock to Leith, and south of it, from east to west, will be found much, if not most, that is associated with the ■~^' ;- chief historic glories of Scotland. The tourist may well then linger ; antl it is hard to say which particular route will prove of the highest interest. There is the Eastern line, by Berwick-on-Tweed and the coast of the Firth of Forth ; or the Western, which crosses the Solway Firth near Carlisle. Travelers, again, by the latter may strike to Edinburgh by tlu; " Waverley Route," or may follow the course of the Clyde by way of Carstairs Junction, or may take the South-western line to AC/iOSS THE BORDER: TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. Glasgow by the dales of the Annan and the Nith. We have traveled by all these lines in turn, and have found in every one a special cliarin. In picturesqueness perhaps the palm must be conceded to the route by the East coast, on which, from the first glimpse of Berwick with its encircling wall, its high red roofs, and its houses, seeming from the railway above to be crowded together on the steep river's bank, every mile is full of charm; cspecialh- wh(Te the line reaches the verge of the cliff, wiih the nol)lc expanse of the German Ocean full in view, or where, diverging inland, it passes through the rich pastures and great cornfields of Haddingtonshire, throughout which, down to the close-cropped hedges, economizing arable space, everything speaks of high farming on a kindly soil. The traveler may do worse than stay for a night, or, still better, pass a quiet Sab- bath, at DuNUAR, with its old shattered castle on a rockv brow, in which time and BERWICK-ON-TWEED. weather and the hand of man have wrought such havoc that it is hard to distinguish the foundations of the fabric from the rugged cliff, or to decide which of the under- ground recesses are ocean-hollowed caves, and which are ancient castle crypts. Here was spent the strange sad honeymoon of Bothwell and Mary : and with this the history of the fortress really ends, as the pile was soon afterward reduced to a ruin by the Queen's half-brother, the Regent Murray. The precincts of the castle now form a fine recreation-ground for the week-day use of the people : on the Sabbath, it was observable that chains were drawn across the swing-gates at the entrances — showing that we were in Scotland. The chains, however, it may be remarked, were there rather by way of testimony than as a material hindrance ; not a few graceless urchins having climbed over them, without let or hindrance, into the enclosure. But upon the whole, the still- ness and peacefulness of the daj^ were very refreshing. We remarked here, what after- wards became so noticeable in many a Scottish town, the peculiar resonant tramp of feet ACROSS THE BORDER: TO EDINBURGH AXD GLASGOW. on the pavement at the time of the services. There was little or no sound of wheels to break the effect, rendered more impressive by contrast with the previous silence. Much in the neighborhood of Dunbar invited a longer stay, had it been possible. To the south-east there is the undulating pastoral district of Lammermoor — scene of Sir Walter Scott's most tragic story, the localities of which are duly pointed out to the visitor. Wolfs Crag, the home of the Master of Ravenswood, famous for the humors and the devices of Caleb Balderstone, is unquestionably recognizable in Fast Castle, on JJUMUAK CASl'Li;. a wild promontory to the east. Not far from the town, again, is the battle-field where, in i65o. Cromwell defeated the Scottish army under General Leslie. Readers of Car- lyle's Cromii'i'Il will recollect the careful accuracy with which the locality is sketched : "The small town of Dunbar stands high and windy, looking down over its herring- boats, over its grim old castle, now much honey-combed, on one of those projecting rock-promontories with which that shore of the Firth of Forth is niched and v^andyked, as far as the eye can reach. A beautiful sea; good land, too. now tliat the plougher understands his trade ; a grim niched barrier of whinstone sheltering it from the chafings ACHOSS THE BORDER: TO EDIXDL'RGH AXD GLASGOW. and tumblings of the big blue German Ocean. Seaward, St. Abb's Head, t>f whinstone, bounds your horizon to the east, not very far off; west, close b\ , is the deep bay and fishv little village of Belhaven, the gloomy Bass and other rock islets, and farther the hills of Fife and foreshadows of the Highlands are visible as you look seaward. From the bottom of Belhaven Bay to that of the next sea-bight St. Abb's-ward, the town and its environs form a peninsula. Along the base of which peninsula, ' not much above a mile and a half from sea to sea,' Oliver Cromwell's army, on Monday, the 2d of September, i65o, stands ranked, with its tents and town behind it — in very forlorn circumstances." The description, as we Know from Carlyle's biography, was the result of careful personal examination ; and in the Letters of Mrs. Carlylc we read of the author's \'isit, MRS. carlyle's grave ; HADDINOTOX CHURCH : " THE LAJIP OF LOTHIAN." and his windy walk over the high plain. Equally striking is the battle picture. '"I never saw such a charge of foot and horse,' says one; nor did I. Oliver was still near to Yorkshire Hodgson, when the shock succeeded. Hodgson heard them say: 'They run! I profess they run.' And over St. Abb's Head, and the German Ocean, just then, bursts the first gleam of tlie level sun upon us ; and I heard Nol say, in the words of the Psalmist, ' Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered,' or in Rous's metre : " ' Let God arise, and scattered Let all his enemies be ; And let all tho^e that do Him hate Before His presence flee !' " Even so, the Scotch army is shivered to utter ruin ; rushes in tumultuous wreck, hither, thither, to Belhaven, or, in their distraction, even to Dunbar ; the chase goes ACROSS THE BORDER: TO EDINBURGH AXD GLASGOW. as far as Haddington, ltd by Hacker. 'The Lord General made a halt,' says Hod^'-son, 'and sang the hundred and seventeenth psalm,' till our horse could gather for the chase. Hundred and seventeenth psalm, at the foot of the Doon hill. Then we uplift it, to the tune of Bangor, or some still higher score, and roll it strong and great against the skj- : TANTALLON CASTLE. " 'O Rive ye praise uiuo the Lord All nati-ons tliat be ; Likewisi! ye people all, accord His name to magnify I For great to us-ward ever are His loving-kindnesses ; His truth endures for evermore ; The Lord O do ve bless.' ACHOSS THE BORDER: TO EDIXBCRGII AXD GLASGOW. " And now, to the chase again ! " The remembrance of it survives in the local popular name of the battle, Tues- days Race, from the day of the week on which it was fouj^ht, and from the hurr)- of the flight and pursuit which followed. Out at sea the Bass Rock is grandly in sight, and those who have visited it describe the excursion as very pleasant. The enormous flight of sea-birds when disturbed by visitors or by the firing of a gun, is truly wonderful. The ruins of Tantallon Castle occupy a rocky promontory nearly oppo-.ite, at a short distance from the pretty sea- bathing resort of North Berwick. Apparently corresponding to the Bass Rock are the COLONEL GAKDINEU'S MONUMENT. inland craggy hills peculiar to this district, and termed Laws. North Berwick Law is one of the most commanding of these heights. Traprain Law is another, near Linton Station, inland, and not far from Hailes Casde, where Mary and Bothwell lived for a time before the surrender of the former at Carberry Hill. The country people say that the name '^Traprain Law" was derived from this capture, as it was thereabouts that la rciiic was trapped. Not a bad illustration (jf the way in which etymologies are On the way to Edinburgh the leisurely traveler may turn aside to Haddington with its fine Gothic remains. The town is famous as John Knox's birthplace ; and the i8 ^ ACJiOSS THE BORDER: TO EDINBURGH AXD GLASGOW. grave of Mrs. Carlyle will, to many visitors, invest the ruined abbey with a new and pathetic interest. Nearer Edinburgh is Preston Pans (the pans are for getting salt by evaporation), where Prince Charles Stuart defeated the King's troops under Sir John Cope, on the 2 1st (if September, 1745. It was chiefly this delusive gleam of success which en- coura,;ed the Young Pretender to march southward, to his ruin ; but the chief interest of the scene to ourselves is that Colonel James Gardiner fell in the skirmish, for it was little more. We give, on the preceding page, a sketch of his monument, as it stands on the field. To this day the Life of Gardiner b)- Dr. Doddridge remains one of the MKLU(J.Sli Al;llEV, l-liUM THK UlVEa finest portraitures we possess of a type of character very real, and happily not infre- quent in our ilay — the brave and humble-minded Christian soldier. .And Sir Walter Scott, in Wavcrley, has done more justice to this brave God-fearing man than to some other of his Puritan heroes. Soon after leaving Preston Pans the train plunges into a tunnel, from which it emerges in the ravine over which seem to tower, height beyond height, the massive buildings of Edinuurch. " The approach is curiously unlike that to any other city; but we must not linger in the metropolis at present, for we have yet to glance at the other routes enumerated above, at least as rich in their personal and historical associations. 19 ACJiOSS THE BORDER: TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. Instead, then, of Berwick, we will suppose the traveler to have chosen Carlisle as. his starting-point, and to have fixed upon the Waverley Route, as the railway com- pany has named it in memory of Scott. After crossing and recrossing the Esk, a little above the Solway Firth, the line runs up Liddisdalc, undulating and beautifully wooded, with glimpses of distant hills : then for mile after mile, after crossing the Border at Kershopefoot, in long sweeps and curves, traverses the bare pastoral Cheviots, whose vast rounded summits and grassy slopes fill up the whole field ol view ; only a few clumps of fir-trees appearing here and there at the bottom of the dells, where scanty streams pursue their way. Just before reaching Hawick, where we cross the Teviot, Branksome Tower is passed on the left ; still beyond is the \'ale of Ettrick, famous for "the Shepherd," James Hogg, who was a very real personage in his da)-, though Professor Wilson in the Nocks Am- brosiancT did his best to render his honest friend a mythical being. Still farther again is the Yarrow, with its " dowie dens," famous in Scottish pastoral poetry, but better known to us in three lovely poems of Wordsworth. At Ettrick, too, lie the remains of an author whose work, now perhaps little read, used to be the great " Sunday book " in grave Scottish households during several gen- erations — Thomas Boston, the writer of \h& Fourfold State. But Ettrick and Yarrow must both remain " unvisited" by us now, as they may be better approached another time from Mofifat on the west, or from Selkirk on the north, and we are nearing Mel- rose, having crossed from the valley of the Teviot to that of the Tweed ; and we shall need all the time at disposal for the Abbey, for Abbotsford, and for Dryburgh. ACROSS THE BORDER: TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. To describe " fair Melrose " would be superfluous. The impression even of a first visit is that we have seen it before, so vividlv has it been brou(:ht before us both b\' poet and artist. Its position, close upon the outskirts of the little town, does not destroy, but rather enhances its charm. Instead of finding it, like Tintern or Furness, in the heart of a romantic valley, we enter it direct from a modern street, to be plunged at once into its solemn stillness, and awed by the glimpses of its old-world beauty, still most apparent amid the restorations, in which different ages have by turns •displayed their sense of the fitness of things. To see it by moonlight is of course the ambition of every tourist, the achievement of but few ; and it has been said that Scott himself never visited it at this witching time, having evolved from his own imagination the description which has enraptured so many by its accuracy as well as by its loveliness. ABBOTSFOUD. Two roads from Melrose attract the traveler almost equally ; the one, westward, to Abbotsford, the other in the opposite direction, to Uryburgh Abbey. Happily, on the occasion of our visit, there was time for both, in a long summer-day's leisurely survey* The walk to Dryburgh was somewhat long, and might have been saved in great part by taking the train back to St. Boswell's, the station passed before reaching Melrose. But the way was very beautiful, including one magnificent view of the Tweed, with its •wooded banks. The ruin itself is not extensive, but the aisle in which Scott lies buried is surely the ideal of a poet's resting-place. His beloved Tweed half encircles the spot, the ruin is embosomed in fair trees, while the Ijroken walls, still noble in their decay, arc more ap|)ro[)riately and solemnly suggestive than th.e stateliest mausoleum could have been. The remains of Sir Walter Scott are there among those of his kindred — his wife, his eldest son, and his sonin-law and biographer, Mr. Lockhart. The guardian of the ruins also will not fail to jxiint out the tombstone of Henry Erskine, whose sens. ACJ?nss THE nnnnER : to edixburgh axd Glasgow. ABBOTSFORD : THE DRAWING- BOOM. Ralph and Ebenezer, founded in 1 740 the Secession Church of Scotland, now merged in the United Presbyterian body. But the journey to Abbotsford re- mained. Probably the natural order would have been to visit the home which Scott occupitd in his lifetime before this |)ily^rimajje to his grave. Why a differ- ent course of proceeding was adopted need not be explained ; we did not regret it afterward, when, even after iiaving duly inspected all the relics so lovingly preserved and so courteously shown, the deepest impression left was still that of the quiet, lovely tomb. The visitor cannot choose but look with interest on Abbotsford as the poet's favorite home — a noble residence and beautiful for situation, although owcr in the valley than modern taste approves. It might be ungenerous :-^ to ask whether the rearing of this lordly abode was worth the toirand struggle that it entailed ; the world at least is the richer for those stupendous intellectual labors which at length, though slowly, exhausted the poet's life. There still we find ourselves in the very scene of these great achievements. The library contains his books as he left them: in the study there is the writing-table where he used to sit, the desk at which he wrote, and which was closed when he ceased, more than half a century ago. The quaint suits of armor that he loved to collect are where he left them; but their sight awakens no enthusiasm now for the days of ancient chivalry. That passion seems extinct new habits of thought have succeeded, and not the greatest of novelists would venture, if he could, to give to the reader of this generation another Ivanhoe. From casque and mail the visitor turns to the homely memorial of the man himself; his coat and hat and stick, preserved with reverent affection. Yet these vestiges of life seemed only to make the fact of death more near : and there was a deeper interest in jonder quiet Abbey, and in the words o^ Chris- tian faith and hope upon the poet's tomb. Still it was something to have seen even the books and the writing-desk ; for everything connected with the daily habits of a great man tends to illumin- ate his biography, and in some measure to increase our interest in the works Sfil:. ABBOTSFORD : THE STUDY. HAWTHORNDEN. ACJiOSS THE BORDER: TO EDINBURGH AXD GLASGOW. ABBOTSFORD : THE LIBRARY. in which his spirit most truly lives among men. After Melrose there is little of in- terest immediately bordering the Wa- verley Route, unless indeed the traveler can spare time to change at Galashiels into a line which will take him to Edin- burgh by a more circuitous course, pass- ing from the valley of the Tweed (which it follows upward as far as Peebles) to the dale of the North Esk, with the wonderfully beautiful ravine of Haw- thornden and the famous Roslin Chapel. The visit will in most cases be made from Edinburgh: but the traveler who is not incommoded by luggage may save time on his northward journey by stopping at Hawthornden station, from which to the entrance of the -\\^> > grounds is an easy walk. Here lived the poet Drummond, so famous in his day that Ben Jonson traveled on foot from London to Scotland, chiefly, it is said, to ■converse with him. But his melancholy strains are now little read; and to most visitors the beauty of the place is more than the fame of the former inhabitant. We •do not say, " It was here that Drummond lived," but " It was Drummond who lived here." The house is sufficiently picturesque — a mansion of the seventeenth -- century upon a grey cliff towering above the glen, with the ruined fragment rr- of a tower hard by. But the beauty of the scene is in the glen itself, to SS^^-_ which we descend through prettily laid-out grounds, noting, as we pass, the caverns in the rock beneath the house, constructed with evident care in ancient times for some unknown purpose ; also, " Ben Jonson's Tree," the '• Poet Drummond's Seat," and "John Kno.x's Pulpit." These may be more or less apocryphal ; but there is no doubt about the charm of the deep glen where the stream, albeit defiled by the works of man, pursues its way between broken cliffs and overhanging wooils. It is the sense of nearness to busy manufactures and great cities in this romantic and apparently sequestered spot, that cither heightens or destroys the charm, accord- ing to the spectator's mood. He will have abundant time to decitlt- whether the sense of beauty or of incongruity is the stronger; as, after crossing the little bridge from Hawthornden grounds, it is a long walk up the valley to Roslin, 25 ABBOTSFORD : TIIK ARMORY. ACJiOSS THE BORDER: TO EDIXBCRtlH AXD GLASGOW. which he must also see. The regular plan is to climb from the glen to the castle, approached by a lofty bridge, and to recross to the chapel. We venture to suggest that the castle may be omitted, as, apart from the view of tiie glen from the rocky platform on which the ruin stands, there is neither picturesqueness nor real historic interest to repay the visitor. The chapel, situated on the high ground beyond, overlooking the castle, must by all means be examined, as an almost unique speci- EOSLIN CHAPEL, WITH THE PliENTICE PILLAK. men of decorative art applied to somewhat heavy architecture. It is a small build* ing, massive in its details, with a general impression of heaviness that the splendid and even excessive ornamentation but serves to relieve. Had the structure been completed according to the original design, in which this chapel was but the choir of a great collegiate church, the magnificence would have seemed more in place. The chapel is now fitted up with seats, has an organ gallery at the western end, and 26 ACROSS THE BORDER : TO EDINBURGH AXD GLASGOW. is used for the worship of the Scottish Episcopal Church, The 'Prentice Pillar, with its wreathed- work of foliaj^e, will of course be noted by the visitor; and the custodian of the place tells the story effectivclj-, as he has rehearsed it a thousand '^^ >}S^/^:'^-?- •J HABBIE S HOWE. times. Is there any one oi our readers who has not heard it? In the temporary ab- sence of the master-builder, an apprentice, essayini,' his hand upon a portion of the fabric, so far surpassed him in skill that the jealous and exasperated master struck the youth dead upon the spot. The story is found in various forms, but with the same main incident, in many as,'es, and in relation to different walks of art. It is probably but a 27 ACROSS THE BORDER. TO ED IX BURGH AND GLASGOW. legend, so true to human nature that it has been accepted as an "ower true tale," and shows to us how myths are made. Leaving the cliapel, we find ourselves in the little village of Roslin, or Rosslyn, as it seems now generally to be written, and about seven minutes' distance from the rail- way station for Edinburgh. There are, however, very few trains in the day, and care- ful arrangement is necessary that time may not be vexatiously thrown away in a place where, after the glen and the chapel, there is literally nothing to see. Part of the interest of this excursion, no doubt, as Sir Walter Scott long ago remarked, is that its picturesque features lorm so sudden and unexpected a contrast to the surrounding country. In the highlands few persons would take the trouble to walk up Haw- thornden glen, but its nearness to Edinburgh, and the neighborhood of Roslin, attract crowds of visitors every summer. Still farther south, below the south-eastern slopes of the Pentland Hills, is the yet more romantic glen of Habbie's Howe, with its waterfall, supposed to have suggested the description in Ramsay's Geiiile Shepherd; and the whole surrounding region is full of pastoral and sylvan beauty. Returning, however, to Carlisle: there are two other railway routes of great inter- est, and more direct, at least in their access to Glasgow. They unitedly traverse the old Solway Moss, once the notorious haunt of freebooters, and pass through the flat "debateable ground" where, until the union of the two kingdoms, bold marauders bade defiance to the laws of both, until the little river Sark is crossed, and the train reaches Gretna Green, once famous for runaway weddings. The idea of making the Scottish marriao-e law available to fuoritives from EnMand. seems to have first occurred to a man named Paisley, residing here about 1760 ; Gretna being fixed upon as near the Border, although, of course, any other part of Scotland would have answered the purpose; and it was not until i856 that the usage was stopped by Act of Parliament, requiring pre- vious residence as a condition of marriage. The country now has but little attraction ; once it was a vast forest, but in the days of Border rapine the wood was cleared away to destroy the haunts of the moss-troopers, and it is now for the most part a bare open plain. On the left is Annandale, where Edward Irving spent his youthful days; and some twelve miles from the Border the traveler reaches Ecclefechan, an uninteresting- looking village, but famous as the native place of Thomas Carlyle. Visitors are show^n the "work "of Carlyle's father, the sturdy God-fearing Scottish mason. And truly, whatever else may be thought of Carlyle's Reminiscences, the pictures of his father and mother as there delineated, will live as long as the fame of their illustrious son shall last. The type of man is familiar to all who have watched the stalwart shepherd tramp- ing over the hills with his colley by his side, or who have stopped for a little talk with a fisherman on the shore, or who have joined the group of country folk on the moun- tain side as they wended their way on the Sabbath morning to the humble house of prayer; but Carlyle has disclosed the secret of its inner nobleness, and has shown to us how a living faith, with that true humility that does not shrink from self-assertion where it knows itself in the right, creates the true heroic character. Carlyle could hardly have written his Cromwell so sympathetically, had he not known his father so well. And w^ho is not touched by the picture of that peasant mother, with her anxious cares for her son, denying herself and caring for all his little material comforts, that he might be able to climb to a level whither her earnest spirit could not follow him, save with anxious longings for his spiritual welfare! To read those simple-hearted letters of 28 c 6= 03 ACROSS THE BORDER; TO EDIXBURGH AND GLASGOW. hers is infinitely toucliinj^, and we do not wonder that the son who cherished them and gave them to the worlil after more than half a centur\-, notwithstanding the scorn and bitterness with which he looked upon men in general, and especially on those who had found a deeper secret in life than his own, could not but believe in the truth and goodness embodied in the belief, the work and the worship of that lowly home. But we must pass from Ecclefechan, over the district where the line climbs upward along the banks of the Annan, to Beattock, from which station a line is now opened to Moffat, a charming little town among the hills of Upper Annandale, overtopped by the Hartfell range, the highest in Southern Scotland. There is a pleasant walk to the Spa, with its mildly sulphureous water, in great request; or a longer excursion between the bare hill-ranges to the waterfall called the Grey Mare's Tail, and over the THE ACLD BlilG DOON, .\LLOWAY, AVKSHIRE. summit of the pass to St. Mar\'s Loch, where, near the famous little hostelry of Tibbie Shiel, a statue of the Ettrick Shepherd stands by the roadside. From the Loch, at the other extremity, springs the Yarrow; but, for the present, we return to spend pleasant restful days at Moffat. The air is most pure and exhilarating, and, in addition to the ordinary watering-place accommodations, there is, in the immediate neighborhood, a noble Hydropathic Establishment, as at Melrose, Peebles, Crieff, Dunblane, Pitlochrie, Callander, Rothesay, Forres, and many other placf-s of popular resort in Scotland. We resume our journey at the Beattock junction, and having crossed the water- shed at the height of about a thousand feet above the sea, soon discern a narrow stream making its wax with many a winding over the green moor. This is the Clyde, which we cross and recross before reaching the junction at Carstairs, whence radiate lines to Edinburgh, to Glasgow, to Stirling, and the North. It will be a pity, however, not to stav at least for two or three hours to see Lanark and the Falls of the AC/iOSS THE BORDER , TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. Clyde. The town itself has little that is interesting, unless we are moved by curiosity or by old association to visit the settlement in which Robert Owen, about seventy )ears ago, strove to organize industry, and to inaugurate a new moral world. The parallelo- grams and manufactories of the Socialist schemes tailed, as might have been expected; but there was some practical wisdom in his choice of a locality, since the mills of New Lanark, now the property of Manchester manufacturers, are thriving and successful, while the aspect of regularity and good order which they present may be in some measure due to the projector's plans. But we must hurry on to the waterfalls, which may perhaps impress us all the more because the glen in which the)- make their grand successive descents is surrounded by few accessories of beauty of any kind. The country, to say the truth, is uninteresting until the river is reached; but the three falls are magnificent. Cora Linn, the central one, nearest to New Lanark, is the finest; but Bonnington Linn, the highest, divided into two parts, with a rocky island between — a miniature Schaffhausen — is also imposing, and Stonebyres, three miles from Lanark, by the roadside, with its surroundings of cliff and foliage, is also well worth visiting. The tourist will see no finer waterfalls than these three until he reaches Foyers on Loch Ness. The railway journey from Carstairs to Edinburgh has no points of special interest; that to Glasgow gives the opportunity, by a very slight detour, of visiting Hamilton Palace, once famous for its art-treasures, and still sumptuous, although despoiled. INIore attractive, however, will be the remains of the old Caledonian Forest, where the celebrated herd of Scotch wild cattle still roam at large, with the ruins of Cadzow Castle, the ancient Hamilton Palace, commemorated by Sir Walter Scott. Very near also is " Bothwell Brig," where the Covenanters were defeated by the Duke of Mon- mouth and Claverhouse, on the 22nd of June, 1679, as described in Old Mm'tality. But these scenes of historic interest will, perhaps, be better visited from Glasgow, than taken on the way to the city. A day could scarcely be better spent than in traversing them. The last of the alternative routes to Glasgow, as mentioned above, denominated the "South-western," is more circuitous than that just described, but derives a special interest from its giving the tourist an opportunity of visiting, at small expenditure of time, the land of Burns. Turning aside at Gretna, the line passes through Annan, where it crosses the river, and at Dumfries reaches the Nith, up which it pursues its way. For lovely glimpses ot hill and woodland, with fertile cornfields and pastures between, and the gleaming river amidst them all, there can hardly be a pleasanter summer evening's journey than this. At least, so we found it, after a long morning of wonderful interest spent at Dumfries, beginning, of course, with a visit to the old churchyard of St. Michael's Church, where the Mausoleum is erected over the grave of Robert Burns, after a design of Thomas F. Hunt, architect, below the dome of which is a marble group, by Turnerelli, of a plough of two figures, representing the genius of Coila finding her favorite son at the plough and casting her inspiring mantle over him. The vault contains the remains of the poet, and of his wife Jean Armour, and the rest of the family, the last buried being the poet's second and last surviving son (Colonel William Nicol Burns), who was interred here in February, 1872. The modest house in which the poet died, and in which his widow continued to live for more than thirty years, may be seen a short distance from the church. A marble statue of Burns, by Mrs. D. O. Hill, is erected in front of the Greyfriars Church. 32 ACJiOSS THE BORDER ; TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. Dumfries is famous in tlie annals of martyrdom. In the cemetery itself, a plain obelisk marks the grave of some who suffered in 1667. A lovely drive by the Water of Cairn brought us to Irongray Church, near which, among overshadowing trees, is the grave of two others, with the quaint inscription: "By Legg ami Bloodie Bruce' commands We were hung up by hellish hands; And so, their furious wrath to stay, We died near Kirk of Irongray ; And boundless peace we nuw partake For freedom's and religion's sake."- THE MAltTYlls' GRAVE, IRONGItAY. In the churchyard, at close distance, is the tomb of Helen Walker, the original of Jeanie Deans, with an inscription written by Sir Walter Scott. But we had not yet finished witli the Covenanters' memorials : as perhaps the most interesting of all was one among the hills, not to be discovered without difficulty — a long drive, then an ascent through a rugged lane, and a walk over a piece of barren 33 ACHOSS THE BORDER : TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. undulating moorland, with much chmbing over stone fences. The place was well adapted in its seclusion for a solemn service held there in the summer of 167S, when for the last time a band of Covenanting brethren met together to celebrate the Lord's Sup- per. Then they parted, some to fall in battle, others to suffer on the gibbet, few to sur- vive the conflict of that terrible time, but all to hold fast by the faith to which they then renewed their solemn pledge. It is no wonder that this bleak spot is regarded with affectionate veneration, the very stones which served for the table and for seats in the service being marked as the Communion Stones of Irongfrav. But, k^st the outward features of the scene should become obliterated or unrecognizable, a simple monument, surmounted by the representation of the Cup, has been raised in recent years ; and in all Scotland there is scarcely a memorial so deeply impressive as this emblem of our faith and hope, with all its sacred and stern associations, on those lonely moorland hills! Near the head of Nithsdale may be visited another " Martyrs' Grave," not far from Cumnock; but that w^e did not stay to see. The country has many such memorials ; and not far off is the battle-field of Drumclog, where the Covenanters gained a temporary success, June i, 1679, three weeks before the rout of Bothwell Bridge. But the neighborhood of Ayr attracted us again a little from the direct line, to visit Alloway Kirk, the "Tw^a Brigs," the birthplace and the monu- ment of Burns. The town of Ayr is situated on the sea-coast, at the mouth of the river of the same name, is well laid out, and contains a number of handsome public and private buildings. Of the former the principal are the county and town buildings, nu- merous churches and banks, barracks, and an academy. The "Wallace Tower," in which Wal- lace is said to have been confined, was a rude old building, which stood in the eastern part of the High Street, at the head of a lane named the Mill Vennel. Having become ruinous, it was replaced in 1835 by a Gothic tower, containing the " Drowsy Dungeon Clock" and the bells of the Dungeon steeple, and a statue of Wallace executed by Mr. Thom, a self-taught sculptor. Another statue of Wallace was placed by a citizen of Ayr on the front of a dwelling-house at the corner of Newmarket Street, which occupies the site of the ancient court-house. A very handsome statue to the Poet Burns has recently been erected near the railway station. A few fragments of the Fort of Ayr (the ramparts), which was built by Oliver Cromwell in i652, upon a level piece of ground between the town and the sea, still remain, together with an old tower (recently modernized and fitted up as a private resi- dence), which formed part of St. John's Church, founded in the twelfth century. Crom- well enclosed this church within the walls of his citadel, and converted it into an armory, 34 COVENANTERS MONUMENT. ACHOSS THE BORDER: TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. giving a compensation to the inhabitants of $760 toward the erection of the present old church. This old church is built upon the site of the Dominican monastery, where Robert Bruce held the parliament which settled his succession. The ancient Castle of Ayr, built by William the Lion, who constituted Ayr a ro\al burgh, is supposed to have stood at the north-eastern angle of the fort, close upon the harbor. In Fort Greene are the barracks. The harbor occupies both sides of the river from the New Bridge to the sea. The south pier projects some distance into the sea, and at the north side there is a large breakwater, with spacious new dry dock. On the south of the harbor a fine esplanade has been constructed, which forms an agreeable promenade. The views from the bay of Ayr are very fine, and comprise the hills of Bute and Arran, Ailsa Craig, and the coast of Ireland. Shipbuilding is carried on to a considerable extent, and there is a large manufacture of carpets and other woolen fabrics. The Ayr is crossed by two bridges, termed respectively the Auld and New — " The Twa Brigs " of Burns's poem. The Auld Bridge is said to have been Iniilt in the reign of Alexander III. (i 249-1 285) by two maiden sisters of the name of Low, whose effigies were carved on the eastern parapet, near the south end of the fabric. The new bridge was erected in 1878, chiefly through the exertions of Provost Ballantyne, to whom Burns dedicated his poem; but it gave way in 1877, and another had to be built in its place. Even that proved insecure shortly afterwards, so that the prophecy which Burns put in the mouth of the "Auld Brig" came literallv true : "Conceited gowk ! pulFd up wi' windy pride ! This monie a year I've stood the flood an' tide And tho' wi' crazy eild I'm sair forfairn, I'll be a Brig when ye're a shapeless cairn!" The sea-coast, which, near the town of Ayr, is comparatively flat and sandv, rises on the south into bold rocky headlands, among which are the " Heads of Ayr," well- known landmarks to mariners. Two miles in this direction are the ruins of Greenan Castle, overhanging the sea, and commanding an extensive seaward view; and Dunure Castle, a tall empty tower, the remains of an old stronghold of the Kennedys. Here Allan Stewart, Commendator of the Abbey of Crossraguel, was roasted before a slow fire by Gilbert, fourth Earl of Cassilis, to extort his surrender of certain lands. The casde, which has been in the ruins since the 17th century, now gives » territorial designation to a branch of the Kennedy family. Bj- a short excursion from Ayr, principal!}' up the banks ot the river Doon, the tourist may visit some of the more interesting scenes connected with the poet Burns. The town is no sooner left than various localities are reached mentioned in " Tam o' Shanter." At the distance of about i5g yards from Slaphouse Bridge is "The ford, Whare in the snaw chapman smoor'd." About 100 yards from the " ford," and about twenty from the road, is the plot of ground behind the house occupied b\- the Rozelle gamekeeper, is the 'Meikle stane. Whare drucken ChairUi brak's neckbane." Passing on the left, the mansion of Rozelle, at the distance of about two miles from 35 ACHOSS THE BORDER: TO EDINBURGH AXD GLASGOW. Ayr, we reach the cottage where Burns was born, 25th January, 1759. The original erection was a clay biggin, consisting of two apartments, the kitchen and the spciicc, or sitting-room. The cottage was built on part of seven acres of ground, of which Burns's father took a perpetual lease from Dr. Campbell, physician in Ayr, with the view of commencing business as nurseryman and gardener. Having b'lilt this house with his own hands, he married, in December, 1757, Agnes Brown, the mother of the poet; and though becominir ear- dener and overseer to Mr. Ferguson, of Doonliolm (now the seat of Lord Blackburn), he abandoned his design of forming a nursery. He continued to reside in the cottage until Whitsunday, 1766. On removing to Lochlee he sold his leasehold to the corporation of shoemakers in Ayr. The cottage is now the property of the Ayr Burns Monument Trustees, by whom it is set apart as a museum, in which relics of the ooet are gathered together. The cottage is shown to visitors for a small fee. In the interior of the kitchen is shown a recess, where the poet was born. On an eminence about a mile and a half to the south- east of the cottage stands the farm of Mount Oli- phant, to which Burns's father removed on leaving the cottage, and where the family lived for twelve years. Proceeding toward Burns's monument, we perceive in a field a single tree, en- closed with a paling, the last remnant of a group which covered "The cairn Wharc hunters fand the murder'd bairn." The position of the ■•cairn," and also of the "ford," at a distance from the high- way, is accounted for by the old road from Ayr, by which the poet supposed his hero 36 ON THE UPPER DOOM. ACROSS THE BORDER : TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. to have approached Alloway Kirk, having been to the west of the present line. Beyond this stands " Alloway 's auld haunted Kirk," roofless, but with walls pretty well preserved, and still retaining its bell at the east end. The woodwork has all been taken away to form snuff-boxes and other memorials. In the area of the Kirk the late Lord Alloway, one of the Judges of the Court of Session, was interred; and near the gate of the churchyard is the grave of Burns's father, marked by a plain tombstone, a renewal of the original, which was carried away in fragments. Near the ruined Kirk, between 200 and 300 yards off the public road, is Mungo's Well, " Whare Mungn's mitlier hang'd hersel'," It is reached by a footpath, and the spot, beyond its interest, is to the spectator one of the loveliest on the banks of Doon. "Before him Doon pours all his floods; The doubling storm roars thro' the woods." The Doon, to which the writings of Burns have given such celebrity, is seen to great advantage from the New Bridge, which has been built since the time of Burns. Looking up the river from this we see the " Auld Brig" of Doon, which figures so con- spicuously in the tale of " Tarn o' Shanter," a structure evidently of great antiquity. The river rises in a lake of the same name, about eight miles in length, situated in the ereat mineral district of Dalmellington. It has a course of eifjhteen miles, throughout which it amply sustains its right to the title of " Bonny Doon "; its banks are indeed "fresh and fair"; and in the summer time, especially, are absolutely laden with floral richness and beauty. The scenery of the Ness Glen, which is about two miles from Dalmellington, and through which the river runs immediately after issuing from the lake, is woody and picturesque, and the glen is a favorite resort of picnic parties. On a small island, near the upper extremity of the loch, are the ruins of an ancient castle of con- siderable strength, which figured in the wars between England and Scotland during the time of Robert Bruce. Farther down the stream, near the village of Dalrymple, we •come upon some romantic green hills in the neighborhood of Cassilis House, the ancient seat of the Earl of Cassilis, which forms the opening scene of Burns's " Halloween." Lower down, on a beautiful bend of the river, is Auchendrane, built on the site of the castle — the scene of Scott's "Ayrshire Tragedy." In succession follow Old Auchen- drane, Doonholm, and Cambusdoon. The new parish church at Alloway stands on the opposite side of the road; and in the immediate vicinity is the modern mansion of Cambusdoon, formerly Craigwell. Burns's Monument, which stands close by on a conspicuous position, is a chaste building designed by the late Thomas Hamilton, architect, Edinburgh, and founded on the 25th of January, 1820. The project originated with the late Sir Alexander Boswcll, of Auchinleck. The surrounding grounds measure about an acre, and are tastefully laid out. In a circular apartment on the ground-floor there are exhibited several appro- priate articles — various editions of the poet's works, a snuff-box made from the wootl- ■\vork of Alloway Kirk, a copy of the original portrait of Burns by Nasmyth, and the Bible given bv Burns to liis Highland Mar\'. A staircase conducts to the upper part of 37 ACROSS THE BORDER : TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. the monument, from \vhich a view is obtained of the surrounding scenery. In a small grotto at the south side of the enclosed ground are two statues of Tani o" Shanter and Souter Johnnie, by Mr. Thom, of Ayr. Burns's subsequent career takes us to a more distant part of the county, and to the north-east of the town of Ayr. Burns's father, on the death of his landlord, Provost Ferguson, removed from Mount Oliphant, in 1777, to Lochlee, in the parish of Tar- bolton, and about three miles from the village, that can be reached by rail from Ayr. While residing on this farm the poet established a Bachelor's Club in Tarbolton, in the latter part of the year 1780; and here, in 1783, he was initiated into the mysteries of Freemasonry. About 200 yards north of the village, on the road leading to Galston, lies the scene of " Death and Dr. Hornbook." " Willie's Mill," alluded to in tlie poem, was the mill of Tarbolton, situated on the Faile, about 200 yards east of the village, and was called by the name used in the poem in consequence of its then being occupied by William Muir, a friend of the Burns family. About half a mile from Tarbolton stands the mansion-house of Coilsfield, designated by Burns " The Castle o' Montgomery," from its being in his time the residence of Colonel Hugh Montgomery, afterward Earl of Eglington. Here Mary Campbell, Burns's " Highland Mary," lived in the capacity of dairymaid. And in this neighborhood, near the junction of the river Faile with the Ayr, lies the scene of the parting which the poet has described in such exquisite terms. According to unvarying tradition, Coilsfield derived its designation from " Auld Kinor Coil," who is said to have been overthrown and slain in this neighborhood in a battle with Fergus, King of Scots. Burns alluded to this tradition in his poem of " The Vision": " There were a spectred Pictish shade, Stalk'd round his ashes lowly laid, I mark'd a martial race portray'd In colors strong; Bold, soldier-featured, undismay'd They strode along." The " martial race " here referred to are the Montgomeries. Coilsfield has now the more poetical name of " Montgomerie." On the death of Burns's father, his widow and family removed to Mossgiel, a farm about a mile north of Mauchline, which the poet and his brother Gilbert had taken some months before. Here Burns lived from his 25th to his 28th year, the period during which he wrote his principal poems. The spence of this farm-house is the scene described in the opening of" The Vision," and in the " stable-loft," where he slept, many of his most admired poems were written. Mauchline, which appropriated a large share of the notice of the poet during his residence at Mossgiel, lies about nine miles from Kilmarnock and eleven from Ayr. It is situated on the face of a slope, about a mile from the river Ayr, and contains upward of 1300 inhabitants. It was the scene of the " Holy Fair," and of the "Jolly Beggars," and here dwelt John Dove, Nanse Tinnock, " Daddy Auld," and other characters who figure conspicuously in the poet's writings. The churchyard was the scene of "The Holy Fair," but the present church is a recent substitute for the old barn-like edifice which existed in Burns's time. Near the church is the " Whitefoord Arms Inn," where Burns wrote on a pane of glass the amusing epitaph on the Landlord, John Dove. Nearly opposite the churchyard ACJiOSS THE BORDER: TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. gate is the house of " Auld Xanse Tinnock," bearing over the door the date 1744. The cottage of Poosie Nansie, the scene of " The Jolly Beggars," is also pointed out. Close behind the churchyard is the house in which Mr. Gavin Hamilton, the early friend of Burns, lived, and here is shown the room in which Burns composed the satirical poem entitled " The Calf." This room is further remarkable as the one in which the poet was married. The scenes of some of Burns's most admired lyrics are to be found on the banks of the river Ayr, at a short distance from Mauchline. " The Braes of Balloohmyle," the scene of his exquisite song, "The Lass o' Ballochmyle," are situated a mile from the village, extending along the north bank of the Ayr, between Catrine and Howford Bridge. They form part of the pleasure-grounds connected with Ballochmyle House, which was at one time the property of the Whitefoords, an old and once powerful Ayr- shire family. Colonel Allan Whitefoord, one of the members of this family, was the original of the character of Colonel Talbot, described in Scott's Waverley. Another of them, Caleb Whitefoord, " the best-natured man with the Avorst-natured muse," has been immortalized by Goldsmith in a postscript to his witty poem entitled " Retaliation." Sir John Whitefoord, the representative of the family in the time of Burns, having been forced to part with his estate in consequence of reduced circumstances. Burns wrote some plaintive verses on the occasion, referring to the grief of JNIaria Whitefoord, after- ward Mrs. Cranstoun, on leaving the family inheritance: "Through faded groves Maria sang, Hersel' in beauty's bloom the while. And aye the wildwood echoes rang, Farewell the braes of Ballochmyle." Ballochmyle was purchased by Claud Alexander, Esq., and shortly after that gentle- man had taken possession of the mansion, his sister. Miss Wilhelmina Alexander, a famed beauty, walking out along the braes one evening in July, 17S6, encountered Burns, with his shoulder placed against one of the trees. The result was that the poet, during his homeward walk, composed the well-known song above alluded to. The spot where the meeting took place is now distinguished by a rustic grotto or moss-house, ornamented with appropriate devices, in the back of which there is inscribed on a tablet a facsimile of two of the verses of the poem, as it appeared in the holograph of the author. Near Ballochmyle is the manufacturing village of Catrine, adjoining which lay at one time the seat of Dr. Stewart, father of the celebrated Professor Dugald Stewart. To them Burns alluded in the following stanza in " The \'iro;in ": "With deep-struck reverential awe The learned sire and son I saw ; To nature's God and nature's law They gave their lore ; This all its source and end to draw, That to adore." Barskimming House is about two miles distant from Mauchline, and occupies a ro- mantic situation on the banks of the Ayr. The scenery of the river at this spot is re- markably beautiful. Barskimming and its then proprietor, Lord President Miller, are thus alluded to in the above-mentioned poem: 39 ACIiOSS THE BORDER: TO EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. "Through many a wild romantic grove, Near many a hermit-fancied cove, Fit haunts for friendship or for love, In musing mood. An aged judge, I saw him rove, Dispensing good." A short distance farther up the river, near the point where the Lugar joins, is the spot where Burns composed the poem entitled: " Man was made to mourn." In returning to Glasgow we stop at Kilmarnock for a few hours to view the Burns Memorial in Kay Park. The site of the monument is very appropriate, as it overlooks what was once the little printing-office of " Wee Johnny," the printer of the first Kilmarnock edition (1786) of the poems. To the east is seen the mole-shaped hill of Loudon, and beyond the Galston Moors, and the scene of " Mauchline Holy Fair." To the west a magnificent view of the hills of Arran is obtained, the rising ground hiding all but a narrow strip of the estuary which separates the island from the main- land. To the south may be observed the monument of Wallace, erected, so tradition says, on the spot where the hero stood and watched the burning of the barns of Ayr. Not many miles distant are "The Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon," " Lugar's Winding Stream," "Auld Hermit Ayr," and other localities rendered famous by the muse of the Ayrshire ploughman. The monument is of Scottish baronial desicrn, the ornamental buildinsf in which the statue is enshrined, consisting of two storys, and a tower rising to the height of eighty feet. Two flights of stairs lead to a terrace where, in an alcove fifteen feet high, facing the south, the statue is placed, ample space being left to enable visitors to walk round the figure. On the level with the alcove is a museum for relics of Burns, already containing the M'Kie Burnsiana Library of about 300 volumes, besides a large number of manuscripts, including " Epistle to a Young Friend," " Holy Willie's Prayer," " Last May a Braw Wooer," " Lassie wi' the Lintwhite Locks," etc. There are in the monument several portraits of Burns, one believed to be by Nasmyth ; besides por- traits of Mr. Kay, the donor of the Park, and Mr. M'Kie, the Kilmarnock historian, A third flight of steps leads from the museum to a balcony, which forms an agreeable promenade, and from which a stair is carried to the top. The building is constructed of red sandstone peculiar to the country. The statue, which is of marble, represents the poet as in the act of composing. tUI.NBDKGH, FliOil "liESr AKD HE THAJSKFUL." GLIMPSES OF EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. nPHE first sig-ht of Edinburgh is something never to be forgotten. Many strangers -^ have their earhest view of the city from the high bridge that crosses from the Old Town to the New, as they emerge from the railway station below; others more fortu- nate, who have arrived after dark, or in the twilicfht of a summer's eveninof, see it for the first time in the morning light from some hotel window in Princes Street, commanding the long sweep of Old Edinburgh downward from the Castle Rock, fronted by tall buildings and towers that overhang the ravine; while the slopes below are gay with shrubs and flowers, antl Arthur's Seat beyond rears its massive head. The graceful spire of the Scott Monument forms an appropriate foreground; to the right the low col- onnades of the Art Galleries close in the garden view, while to the left the eye ranges from the monuments of the Calton Hill and the stately buildings at its foot, almost down to the level on which stand Holyrood Palace and Chapel; although indeed these are quite shut out of sight by intervening buildings and the lofty North Bridge. One excellence of Edinburgh is that its plan is so simple. There is first the Old Town, Edinburgh proper — the Edinburgh of eighteenth-century writers — an immense sweep of tall houses with spires and towers interspersed, "from a palace in the plain to a castle in the air "; behind these narrow streets, with some more modern, as "Chambers Street" and 'Jeffrey Street," worthily preserving the names of men of whom Scotland is proud; at the back of all these one of the noblest of infirmaries, built on the " pavilion system," with its spacious grounds, and a fair walk close by; the far-famed Heriot's Hospital, and 43 Gf.IMPSES OF EDIXBURGH AND GLASGOW. Si ii ^ III the yet more famous Greyfriars' Churchyard, beside which we may descend by several different ways to the broad level Grassmarket at the foot of the precipitous Castle Rock, and return to the higher parts of the city by the Cowgate, stopping, if we please, to look at the house in which Lord Brougham was born. It is no part of our purpose to describe the city in detail. Excellent guide-books are to be had, and intelli- gent canny guides also, by those who care to be " per- sonally conducted " from spot to spot in regulated order, and to be duly reminded of the history or the legend at- tached to each. Hut most visitors, we suspect, prefer to wander at their own will, and to select the special localities or objects to whicii their taste or their know- ledge may attract them. The Castle is visited, of course, as much for its superb view of the city, as for anything that it contains, the Mons Meg, or even the Scottish BIRTHPLACE OF LORD BROUGHHAM, Recralia. At the Other extremity, Holyrood must also cowGATE, EDINBURGH. ^^ ^^^^ ^^,j^,^ ;^^ apartments, strangely small for royalty, its pathetic associations, and that dim stain of Rizzio's blood! The chapel behind is lovely in its ruins, though tourists often neglect it for the more easily comprehended wonders of the palace. Then, from Holyrood, few who are good walkers, or who en- joy a fine drive, will fail to ascend Arthur's Seat, where on one side they will come upon a lonely loch, to all appearance as far from the haunts of men as though it were in some Highland mountain recess ; and on the other will skirt or traverse Salisbury Cracs, and think of the Heart of Mid-Lothian. From the summit the view is fine, embracing the city outspread as a map at the beholder's feet, though too often veiled in smoke, with the Firth of Forth extending to the north and east, and in an opposite direction a fair reach of country terminated by the graceful outlines of the Pendand Hills. But the city view here is less in- teresting on the whole than that from the Castle Rock; while the Firth of Forth, with the hills of Fife behind, is seen better from the Calton Hill. In returning to the city, the tourist may pass through Newington, and by the aid of a horse-car may proceed along Nicolson Street for the sake of looking at least at the outside of the University Buildings and at the College of Surgeons opposite, reachine the head of Princes Street, near the Post Office, over the North Bridge. Should a keen north-east wind be blowing as he crosses this bridge, he will understand why many people in- veigh against the spring climate of Edinburgh. The wind whose praises Kingsley has sung nowhere gives a better taste of its quality than in Edinburgh; and this lofty crossing from the Old Town to the New STAIRCASE, HOLYROOD. 44 c V- S tr C c GLIMPSES OF EDINBURGH AXD GLASGOW. is the very place to test it to the uttermost. Shall we look down from the North Bridge for a moment, into what we have called a ravine, where once spread the unfragrant waters of a shallow loch, but where dingj- roofs of iron and glass, and long station platforms, and high flights of steps, and multitudinous branching lines of rail occupy the whole space, from tunnel to tunnel? Is it a blemish upon this noble city that the railway is thus in the very heart of it? At the first view it would appear so; and yet there arc two sides to this question. Think of the Charing Cross Terminus and '1 lJ4*-^pS vJ 1 -^ M'JBSi i.a «i : Jf «?ri^ ,gf.-. y;- ,-,.;^.;,, ,..,.,, ,, I J EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY. the Cannon Street Station in London, and it will appear a happy thing for the effect of Edinburgh architecture that its main railway offices are packed away, so to speak, below the general surface. Still, it is true, there is too much smoke and steam for the fair gardens that border on part of the line; but at any rate there is no obtrusive ugliness; even the spectator on the Waverley Bridge has so much to attract his up- ward looks in every direction that he forgets to look downward at all ! Add to this, that the traveler entering Edinburgh from the south is not carried past the upper 47 GLIMPSES OF EDIXBURGH AND GLASGOW. storys of mean and squalid streets, as in so many towns and cities, but is afforded just one glimpse of Holyrood, a glance at Arthur's Seat, and is then plunged into a tunnel from which he emerges at the foot of all that is most characteristic in the archi- tecture of the city. In this respect, therefore, the balance of advantage seems to be with the northern capital. The Old Town, as might be expected, contains many memorials of the past, although more have disappeared. Ancient courts and wynds sufficiently illustrate the street architecture of bygone days. Common stairs stilllead — and not in these parts of the city only — to tenement above tenement, the value and the respectability diminishing with the height. To all pastoral visita- tion and mission work in Edinburgh and most Scottish towns, this style of building adds a toilsome n ess that doubles the fatigue. It is remarkable that, while the arrancrement into flats seems coming into fashion in London for the middle classes, there seems a growing preference in Scotland for "self- contained houses." Certainly the great height which the former method enables architects to give the tenements for all classes is a great element in pictur- esqueness ; and when several of these vast dwellings are lighted up at night the effect is singularly fine. There can hardly be a city in the world in which a general illumination is so imposing as it is in Edinburgh. Of the old houses which the traveler may care to visit, none perhaps will attract him more than the manse of John Knox, dark and small, the rooms of which have been carefully preserved, thoueh filled with modern "relics" and accessories. The quaint inscription over the lower story: "Lufe . God ABOVE . AL . AND . YOVR . NICHTBOVR . AS . VI . SELF;" and the figure above the door pointing to the word God graven in three languages, date, it is said, from Knox's own time. It is natural to ask for the grave of the great preacher, but the spot is uncertain. He would have no monument to commemorate his fame. No, he would be laid among his people in the old burying-place of St. Giles's, and the rude inscription, "I. K. i572," on a stone in the pavement of what is now Par- liament Square, close by the Cathedral and the interesting City Cross, restored at Mr. Gladstone's expense, is the only indication of the place where Knox's remains are supposed to rest. For the monuments of others, who after his time helped to make Scotland famous, we must go to the Greyfriars' Churchyard, entered- 48 iL\GD.\LE:>' CHAPEL, COWGATE, EDINBUKGH. 5*. 2 o ■ o > •tz! 1^ W 02 O a • a w o na > o GLIMPSES OF EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. KNOX's GRAVE. through a gateway to the right, after crossing the high causeway leading to the Infirm- ary and Heriot's Hospital, called George the Fourth's Bridge. The large ugly building just inside the gateway is Greyfriars' Church, where the National Covenant was adopted in 1638. The document was brought out into the churchyard for signature, so as to make room for the anxious crowd who pressed forward to add their names or to witness the signature of others. The stone is still pointed out — an authentic and very characteristic Scottish relic! But more impressive still are the ranges of tombs, with the names they bear of the noble and the obscure. All ranks, all characters, all creeds, are here, with inscriptions, curt or elaborate, ?ii quaintly original or elegantly commonplace — material enough for a Biographical History of Scotland! The scene is one in which to spend musing hours, though destitute of the romantic accessories which tempt the sentimental traveler into many a " God's acre." The situation indeed is mas^nificent beneath the Castle walls and with a errand view over the city; but nothing can be more formal than the arrangement, nor more taste- less than most of the tombs. The favorite mode of honoring the illustrious dead in this cemetery is by enclosing a flat grave by tall iron railings, which are sometimes carried over it as well as on its three sides, the wall with its monument forming tlie back of the enclosure. The effect is that of a great iron cage; and many of the plots, being uncared for even to the planting of a flower, have a singularly desolate appear- ance. But for all that there are few, if any, places in Edinburgh to compare in true interest with this Greyfriars' Churchyard. Here the persecutor and the persecuted rest together; one of the most elaborate of the monu- memts is that to " Bluidy Mackenzie," as he was long called by those of whom in his lifetime he had been the terror; while the memorial to the Covenanters who suf- ered for their faith, many of them in the Grassmarket be- low, is of a touching simplicity. If we wish to pass from these extinct forms of strife to the discussions, and often the controversies of the present, we should take care to visit Edinburgh in May, and to secure tickets for the meetings of the three great Ecclesiastical Parliaments, the Established, the Free, and that which is universally called in Scotland the U. P., ''United Presbyterian" being too large a phrase for every-day use. An American is above all things struck by the prominent place which the theological and eccle- siastical debates of the several Assemblies occupy in the newspapers. Discussions on difficult points of Biblical criticism, or on details of church polity and order, engross a space in the daily press which in New York would rarely be accorded to anything but politics, art, or popular amusements. In the As- semblies themselves, the galleries are thronged by audiences content to listen for hours; dispersing late in the afternoon, only to resume their eager attendance in the evening. Now and then the atmosphere of the Assemblies grows electric with the discus- si JOHN KNOX's STUDY. GLIMPSES OF EDIXBi'RGH AXD GLASGOW. THE COVENANT STONE. sion of great religious questions; and of late years, as every one knows, these have had to do witli very vital matters of Biblical criticism and interpretation, as well as with the doctrine of inspiration itself. The in- tense seriousness, as well as the vigor and brilliancy with which the debates are con- ducted gives them a surpassing interest; the hearers in the galleries take sides, and are often loud in their expressions of approval ij or otherwise. The keenness with which all classes thus engage in religious discussion no doubt sometimes degenerates into acri- mony; and the eagerness with which some minor points are debated appears to an American out of proportion to their real im- portance; and yet on the whole the enthusiasm is healthy. Almost anything is better than religious indifference. The associations of Edin- burgh with literature, art, and science are in their way as signal and unique as its con- nection with matters theolog- ical and ecclesiastical. But this is a topic hardly within our present scope, or our de- scription might well include a portrait-gallery of men \v\\o have done more to influence thought and action during the past century than any equal number of persons taken from any single locality. Whether the title of "The Modern Ath- ens" was first conferred in banter, or whetlier the chief reference was originally to the outward semblance of the city, with the Castle Rock for the Acropolis, we need not inquire. In sober seriousness, the intel- lectual pre-eminence of Edin- burgh justifies the name. The very atmosphere of society in this favored city seems charged with mental energy. For the scientific visitor there is the Museum of Science and covenanters' MONUMENT, GEEYFRIARS' CHURCHYARB. 52 o v- H c s5 td d H 5 w O [-■ o a o a cc K O O GLIMPSES OF EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. .Art, adjoining the University buildings, and admirably arranged, especially in the de- partments of Natural History and of British manufactures. The National Gallery of Antiquities, upon the Mound, contains a splendidly-arranged series of objects illustrat- ing the history of civilization in Scotland, from the flint axes and arrow-heads of a bar- barous people, with relics from their caves and lake dwellings, down to the time when the ancient Celtic Church had attained to a high degree of artistic refinement, as shown in ecclesiastical relics and sculptures of much beauty, and onward to quite modern times. There are some grim memorials, too, recalling times of strife and persecution : the "thumbikins" used to extort the secrets of the Covenanting recusants, and the "Maiden," that primitive guillotine beneath whose cruel knife so many of the best and bravest in Scotland fell. John Knox's pulpit from St. Giles's Church is also pre- served in this great collection: with originals of the •Covenants in their successive forms; and — not the least noteworthy among the curiosities — the very " cutty -stool " that Jenny Geddes hurled at the Dean's head in St. Giles's when he attempted to introduce the Eng- lish Liturgy into the Scottish Church, on the 23rd ol July, 1637. Autograph letters of David Hume, Robert Burns, James Hogg, and other Scottish worthies add •to the interest of this superb collection. There is also .a cheque written and signed by Sir Walter Scott, with •deeds, charters, and royal signatures, not a few. Under the same roof is a gallery of sculpture, small and •crowded, but with fine fac-similes of the most notable statues in the world. Close by, again, is the National Gallery of Art, a noble collection, which if it were only in a foreign city, every visitor would make a point ■of seeing. Here also in the early spring is held the .annual Exhibition of the Scottish Academy, gener- ally, as might be expected, peculiarly rich in pictures ■of Scottish scenery, though with a fair number of other paintings, and often including masterpieces from the London Academy Exhibition of the preceding year. The visitor to Edinburgh who has time and inclination to inspect the interiors of ■great buildings must by all means visit two great churches, at least, in the city. The principal, St. Giles's, is often called the Cathedral; though rigid Presbyterians disclaim the appellation, there being no cathedra or bishop's chair in their ecclesiastical arrange- ments. A mournful interest attached to the sumptuous and tasteful restoration of this building, which for the first time brought out its full design, in stateliness of plan and ricluiess of decoration. The work was carried on at the expense of William Chambers, the elder of the two brothers who more than any other men have set their mark on the popular literature of the age, and the simple and graceful record of whose lives will probably outlast all the works that bear their name. Chambers's yoitriial, be it re- membered, was before the Penny Magazine, which it has long outlived, both having -been started in 1832 ; and the two for many years remained the chief helps in periodi- ClUIUCliUUK C.\STLE, RESIDENCE OP JEFFERY. GLIMPSES OF EDIXBURGH AND GLASGOW. cal literature to youths and workingmen athirst for knowledge. Their one defect — and we must be honest enough to avow this — was that they were exclusively secular^ giving hardly so much as a glance at the deeper problems of existence, or at the principles of life and conduct which only religion supplies. The great saying of Dp Arnold, now a commonplace, about treating common subjects in a Christian tone, ex- presses an aim which sixty years ago hardly existed. Nor did writers of the Chambers and the old " Useful Knowledge " school ever recognize it. It was not that they were always insensible to the supreme claim ot Christianity; but they had deliberately chosen another line of popular instruction. And yet, that the last work of the veteran publisher and philanthropist should bcgivert to a Christian church, which was solemnly re-dedicated to Divine service two days after his funeral, in 1S83, is a fact signifi- cant and beautiful. But we have been led too far from St. Giles's Church, especially as we have to- refer to another and a very different ecclesi- astical structure in Edinburgh as well worthy of a visit. This is St. Mary's Ca- thedral, erected for the worship of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and one of the most important works of the late Sir Gilbert Scott. It would be superfluous to attempt a description of this truly magnificent build- ino-; the first view of those who look for a masterpiece of architectural design may be- a little disappointing, owing to the dispro- portionate heaviness of the spire, which, we may add, will not have its full effect until it is balanced by the two lofty towers with the spires at the western front, which as yet exist only in the architect's plan. On entering the interior, the beauty and harmony of every part is felt at once, the great simplicity of plan being well set off by the elaborate splendor of the details, especially in the choir. To pass in one morning from St. Giles's, the oldest of Edinburgh churches, to this of St. Mary's, the newest, is most interesting and impressive. IMore than six hundred years separate the two structures in point of date; and between the forms of faith which they sev- erally represent, the difference has sometimes seemed correspondingly great. From these ecclesiastical reflections, into which we have been betrayed by our visits to these great churches, it is good to escape again into the open air, and, quitting St. Mary's Cathedral, by way of Melville Street, and passing by St. George's Church, and through Charlotte Square, to make our way, either by the stately houses and ter- races which lie to the north of Princes Street, or by Princes Street itself, with its range 56 Kxox a puLi'i r. THE BCOTT MONUMENT. GLLMPSES OF EDINBURGH AXD GLASGOW. -of shops and hotels on one side, and its lovely gardens on the other, extending as far as the Scott Monument and the Waverley Bridge, and along Waterloo Place to the Calton Hill. Here the visitor, if he feels so inclined, may ascend the Nelson Monu- ment, which towers above the city like a gigantic telescope, and commands a magnifi- cent view over the Firth of Forth in one direction, and beyond the city southward to the Pentland Hills. We do not know, however, that the prospect from the summit is so much finer than that from the base, as to repay the labor of climbing. Certainly, on a clear summer's day in early morning, before the smoke of the city, with that of Leith and Portobello, has obscured the scene, there can hardly be a more enchanting view than this from the Calton Hill, rich as it is in the beauty of both land and sea, while the " romantic town " as a forecfround serves to enhance the charm. To the other monu- ments on the hill no doubt a pass- ings oflance will be cfiven. Much cannot be said in their favor indi- vidually, yet in their combination they certainly add to the attract- iveness of the place. The National Monument has the effect of a classic ruin; although, as every one knows, the picturesque incompleteness is due only to want of funds. Why the Parthenon should have been adopted as the most appropriate type for the commemoration of the Waterloo heroes, it is hard to say; nor why the monument to Burns, a little lower down, should also be classical in form. It was the taste of the times : and, to say the truth, the adoption of another style in the Wallace Monument near Stirling has not been so conspicuously success- ful as to make us altogether discon- tented with the classic ideal. In satisfying beauty of form, the Scott Monument re- mains unap])roached. Still, the grouping of the somewhat heterogeneous structures on the Calton Hill is without doubt effective: and the large buildings on its southern edge, the High School and the Prison, are even imposing. The visitor to Edinburgh who is not intending to proceed northwards in the direc- tion of Dundee and Aberdeen, ought, at any rate, to devote an afternoon to visitino- the Forth Bridge on the line of the North British Railway. Even should he be takino- the longer journey, he will find it worth while to make a special trip to Queensferry, to view the stupendous structure from the foot; as in crossing the bridge by train but little notion can be gained of its structure and proportions. The drive from the city, of 59 CHUlli UF 8T. aiLKS S ClUliCH, KDlNUUKLill. GLIMPSES OF EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. about seven miles along a wide well-kept road, will be found far pleasanter than the short railway ride. Large four-horse waggonettes are constantly plying on the route which passes beneath Corstorphine Hill, and Lord Jeffrey's Craigcrook Castle on the left: and soon afterward skirts on the right Lord Rosebery's beautiful estate of Dalineny. Then the Forth is reached, a wide and beautiful estuary, although here contracted to a strait, with a small rocky island near the middle, as if to afford facilities for this wonder- ful structure. From the front of the little inn, or the stone pier used for the ferry-boats of a former time, the eye takes in the plan and outline of the bridge at once, as shown in our cut; but it is some time before its real vastness is apprehended. Trains and en- VIEW FKOil THE BURNS MONUMENT, CALTON HILL. gines crossing it appear from below like mere toys, and one has to adjust one's sense of size and distance before fully apprehending the facts that each of the two great arches spans the distance of one-third of a mile. From the Oueensferry pier small steamers, in fine weather, are continually passing to and fro, enabling passengers to have a good view of the structure, the immense elaboration and cost of which, and of the Tay Bridge, to be noticed further on, enable the traveler to save an hour or so in the journey be- tween Edinburgh and Aberdeen. It is, however, for their own sake, and as triumphs of modern engineering, that they are noticeable here. The railway journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow is not particularly interesting, save for the opportunity of visiting Linlithgow by the way, if the Icnger route be taken. The walls of the old Palace in their square massiveness are a striking object 60 CO H o H O H a: o c! H m t=a GLIMPSES OF EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. QUEEN MAUGABET S BOWER, LINLITHGOW. from the railway, and the traveler who has an hour or two to spare may well alight to explore the ruin, with the picturesque little lake on the border of which it stands. " Of all the palaces so fair, Built for the royal dwelling', In Scotland, lar bejond compare Linlithgow is excelling; And in its park, in jovial June, How sweet the merry linnet's tune. How blithe the blackbird's lav ! The wild buck bells from ferny brake, The coot dives merry on the lake. The saddest heart might pleasure take To see all Nature gay." So sings the Minstrel, in Martnion. The fern-brakes are still there, the linnet carols as in the olden days, and there is enough of state- liness remaining in the shattered pile to show what the place must have been when the Lady Margaret, Queen of James the Fourth, there had her bower, in which, after the fatal day of Flodden, she mourned in widowed state. To Linlithgow James the Fifth conducted his bride Mary of Guise, who expressed her admiration of the place in words which are still remembered; and here their ill-fated daughter Mary Stuart was born, in a room which is pointed out to the visitor. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, also de- serves a visit, as "one of the few specimens still left of the ancient Scottish parish church." Part of it is still used for Divine worship. It was in this church that James the Fourth is said to have been warned hy an apparition not to advance to Flodden: " Sir King, m\- mother hath sent me to desire thee not to pass at this time whither thou art purposed: for if thou dost, thou wilt not fare well on th\- journey, nor any that passeth with thee." It was in the street of Linlithgow, also, that the Regent Murray was shot l)y Hamilton of Bothwellhaiudi, in revenge for a grievous wrong, for which, however, the Regent was not wholly responsible. Proceeding down this street, the visitor will notice one or two drinking fountains, one ot whicii, dedicated to St. Michael, is surmounted by a rudely-carved representation of the QUEEN MABGAUEt's BOWER, (interior). LINLITHGOW 63 GLIMPSES OF EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. archangel, with the inscription underneath, " 1720. Saint Michael is kinde to STRANGERS." A speedy run by Polmont Junction, past the great Carron Ironworks, brings the traveler to Glasgow. Here he enters an altogether new scene, in a great, energetic, progressive, hospitable city. It is a second London ; our view of the Trongate, will be thought to bear more than a distant resemblance to Cheapside; and the Clyde will at least stand comparison with the Thames; while in the glories of the estuary into which it opens not very far from the city there is no comparison at all ! We can linger in our capacity as tourists only for a little while in the city itself. The broad and noble -Streets, mostly intersecting one another at right angles, the most important of them GLASGOW CATHEDB.IL, ITtOJI THE SOUTH-EAST. Toeing traversed ceaselessly by horse-cars, — among the best appointed in the kingdom, — occupy a slope upward from the north bank of the Clyde. The business streets are nearest the river; Argyle Street, continued by the Trongate, being the chief; farther upward the straight thoroughfares are lined with stately residences and offices, with many handsome churches, chiefly belonging to the three Presbyterian communities. To the north-east is the grand Cathedral, with its wonderful crypt, a magnificent though gloomy vaulted chamber, part of which was formerly used as a church; the " laigh (low) kirk," as Scott calls it in Rob Roy. In this crypt is the grave of Edward Irving, distinguished by a brass plate under a stained glass window representing John the Baptist. Next to the crypt, the most notable feature of the cathedral is the profusion of stained glass, Avhich cost, it is said, a hundred thousand pounds. It is chieflv modern, the finest of 64 ft C c »^ H J^ O C c GLIMPSES OF EDINBURGH AXD GLASGOW. the windows having been executed at Munich. An hour or two may well be spent in the study of these very splendid specimens of modern skill, reproducing the style and tone of ancient art. The suljjects are arranged in Bible order, beginning with the Ex- pulsion from Paradise, and continuing the Old Testament history along both sides of the nave; the choir and Lady chapel being devoted to the New. A catalogue, to be ISTEKlUK UF CiLASUUW CATllEDliAL. had in the building, gives a description of the pictures, with the names of the donors, and of the persons to whose memory the windows are severally dedicated. That this cathcilral remains in so good a state of preservation, when most ol the ecclesiastical buildings of Scotland are in ruins, furnishes a fine illustration of the national forethought. The Glasgow people in the year i579 were bent upon its demolition, and had alreatl)- destrojed many of the images in its niches, when the chief magistrate of ^67 G/./MPSES OF EDIXBURGH A.\D GLASGOW. the city shrewdly proposed that a new church sliould be built before the old one was pulled down. A counsel, this, of wide application ! The citizens acknowledged the good sense of the advice, and so the cathedral continues to tliis day: " A brave kirk," says Andrew Fairservice: " None of your whigmaleeries and curliewurlies and open- steek hems about it — a' solid, weel-jointed mason-wark, that will stand as lang as the world keeps hands and gunpowther aff it." The choir of the cathedral is used, under the name of the High Church, for the simple Presbyterian worship. Nearl}- opposite the cathedral, on the side of the old Arciibishops' Palace, is the Glasgow Royal Infirmary: and a little farther on, crossing a bridge, aptly named the Bridge of Sighs, we reach the Necropolis, a burial-ground notable, perhaps, beyond all GLASGOW UNIYERSITY. other British cemeteries, for the number and variety of its monuments. The hillside on which they stand contributes greatly to their effect, when viewed from a little dis- tance, and the column erected to the memory of Knox, towering in the midst of them. seems to give a fine completeness to the whole. From the east to the west of the city, we may pass by the unpronounceable Sau- chiehall Street, leading to Kelvin Grove Park, which rises steeply to the new Univer- sity buildings. Few of our cities can boast a place of public resort at once so accessible, so beautifully laid out, and with so superb a prospect, reaching from the smoky city away to the verge of the Highlands. The University is a noble pile, worthy of a great nation, and it is characteristic of Scotland that the finest site in its greatest commercial city should be crowned by a building devoted to liberal education. Pursuing our way westward across the Kelvin, by the Botanic Gardens, the wealth 68 GLIMPSES OF EDIXBURGH AND GLASGOW. and tastefulness of the merchant princes ot Glasgow show thtmselves in the long lines of sumptuous buildings with many a charming pleasaunce. The distant hills now rise to view. Few suburban drives are in their way more beautiful than that by the Great Western Road, through a pleasantly-undulating wooded country, to the verge of the Kilpatrick Hills, where tiie Clyde is reached; and the way back is through the ancient village of Partick, older, it is said, than Glasgow itself. At some points along the route the river may be crossed by well-appointed ierries, giving access to what is really an- other citv, — Glascfow south of the Clvde, extending from Govan and Pollokshields in the west to the crowded districts of Tradeston, Lauriestown, Hutchinsontown, and the Gorbals, with a nobly-situated park, the " Queen's," on a height to the south. From K>.^' -I- : ■ Is'jSiV'f - ri- m # # GLASGOW UNIVKltSili I.N TUE EIGHTEENTH CENTUUY. this district, several handsome bridires lead back to the northern side, where to the east of the city the great open Glasgow Green will well repaj- a visit It was in the University of Glasgow, our readers will remember, that Archibald Campbell Tait, the great Archbishop of Canterbury, received (1S27-1S30) part of his collegiate training; and from this University also he received the Exhibition which en- abled him to proceed to Balliol College, Oxford. A record of great names, indeed, might easily be compiled from the lists of students, generally at an age much younger than that of English collegians, and who have attentled the classes within the ancient walls which now in their massiveness enclose a railway station. Nor need we senti- mentally regret the change. Rather let us regard it as characteristic of a practical and ingenious people, who, however, before devoting their academic halls to baser purposes, took care to [)rovide k)r learning so appropriate and magnificent a home. 69 GLIMPSES OF EDIXBL'RGH AXD GLASGOW. The visit to this College Station has taken us ag^ain into the neighborhood of the Cathedral. Few who have bent their steps hitherward will fail to notice the statue of Dr. Norman Macleod. the genial minister of the Barony Church, whose multifarious labors, pastoral and literary, were the admiration of his contemporaries, and exhausted at leniJ^th the energies of his superb constitution. I he church in which he ministered, a plain unlovely building, has now given place to a noble structure, and his work is worthily carried on, as he himself could have wished. If there is time for yet another walk, it must be to the Broomielavv, as the great quav is called from which the Clyde steamers depart to the fascinating seaside resorts, ihe access to which is one of the attractions of this busy city. In our next chapter we THE " COLLEGE KAILWAY STATIO.^', GLASGOW. shall give some glimpses of the various destinations of these vessels, some of which are among the finest that float upon the waters of any nation, and which in the season are alwavs crowded. As several of them start betimes in the morning, we recommend an early visit; and if the atmosphere of the quay is dark with smoke, it may only quicken the sense of contrast with the clear sky and blue waters which are so near to the fortunate denizens of Glasgow. Inland, there are not many excursions to take. Bothwell Castle and Hamilton Palace have been already noticed; with the pleasant drive to the Kilpatrick Hills and Partick. For the rest, the highways leading from the great city bear too many traces of manufacturing industry to be picturesque; and the Clyde itself, tiiough in places imposing from its breadth is but sluggish — not to say turbid — above Dumbarton. A 70 GLIMPSES OF EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW. visit to one or another of the great shipbuilding yards which Hne the river will be full of interest to all who can discern in such forms of busy activity much, at least, of the secret of our national greatness. On the whole, these yards are, and must remain, the greatest sight of prosperous, ambitious, energetic Glasgow. THE BKOUMIELAW, GLASGOW. 7> •^ ^ 1: ' :'v I a X a H O pf H CO «) O a H D ENTKANCE TO FINGAL S CAVE. BY THE CLYDE, TO THE WESTERN COAST FOR ;ill Glasorow people, as was intimated at tlic close of the preceding chapter, the yreat holida\- is down the Clyde. No cit\- in Great Hritian, perhaps none in Europe, has such immediate access to scenes where the highest beauty of land and sea comliines with every bracini^' and exhilarating^ quality of the atmosphere to minister ln-alth and delight. Accordingly, " the coast," as it is familiarly called, is annualh thronged by visitors, and the brciad waters of the estuary are crowded by one ot the finest fleets of rivc-r steamers in the world. For several miles below Glasgow the river pursues a somewhat monotonous course between low banks, vast ranges of shi[)building jards extending lar beyond the city. The waters are muddy, and, it must be said, odoriferous, especially when churned by the paddles or the screw of some mighty steamer. Let no s(]uiamish traveler arrange to leave Glasgow by a boat where breakfast is served between the city ami Greenock. In truth, the fare is so good that it is a pity to spoil its relish by any intrusive access- ories from the river. Many tt)urists prefer to save time and avoid discomfort by taking the rail to Greenock, or to Helensburgh, nearly opposite; but once, at an)- rate, the visitor who desires to have a full impression of what the commerce of this great city "75 BF THE CLYDE, TO THE WESTERN COAST. really is should embark at the Broomielaw, and note, as the steamer bears him swiftly- down the river, the enormous vessels, countless in number, and, as it would seem, from every nation under heaven, busily loading- or unloading-, or anchored in the stream. We do not wish to trouble the reader with stating the tonnage that annual- ly enters or leaves the port of Glasgow. These are found in all books of com- mercial statistics; and every one who has passed through those miles of shipping will easily understand that the amount is something enormous. But our errand to- day is one of recreation. After passing Dumbarton, with its singular two-peaked rock, the river widens out; we are in the blue water; and before Greenock or Hel- ensburgh is reached the eye already revels in the splendiil panorama of encircling hills, girdled by fair woods and studded with white villas, with misty mountain-tops here and there beyond. From Greenock for some distance the river seems at many points closed in by the hilly shores like a lake. Large creeks or sea lochs run in- land upon the right, suggesting more ex- quisite beauties still of shore and mountain. Were there time, it would be pleasant to sail by Helensburgh up the Gareloch, or, better still, to ascend Loch Lawn to Arro- char; whence again a short walk over a hill}' pass would conduct to Tarbet, where the fflories of Loch Lomond are full in view. But this cannot be for us to-day: we pass the pretty watering-places of Kil- mun, Dunoon, Inellan, and others, looking very lovely from the water, and all crowd- ed with sunimer guests. We do not land at any of these places now; they are too hot and relaxing for us, although they have the glorious freshness of the sea, and their accessibility from Glasgow makes them favorite resorts of men of business with their families. On the left a more level shore faces the west, with thebracingseaside villages of Wemyss Bay, now accessible 76 o % a a p Br THE CLYDE, TU THE WESTERX COAST. from Glasgow by railway, Skelmorlie, and Largs. TIk- Gnat and Little Cumbraes seem, in the distance, to bar the entrance to the river, and complete its lake-like ap- pearance. But the steamer now crosses to Rothesay, on its lovely little bay in the Isle of Bute. There a multitude generally disembark; and truly, f(jr a day's or a week's holi- da\-, they could tmd no fairer resting-place. The wooded hills beyond the town are picturesque and attractive, antl suggest many a pleasant little excursion over the heights or through the valleys of the island. Leaving Rothesay, the steamer enters the narrow passage between Bute and the mainland in a channel between green hills, strikingly beautiful in one or two places, especially where, near the entrance to a small sea loch (Loch Ridden), lies the village of Tighnabriuaich, which has only recently been dis- covered, as it were, 1)\- summer holida}-makers, but is rapidly btxoming a crowded LOCII UANZA. watering-place. We now turn shar])l\- to the south, and soon emerge from the narrow Kyles into open water, with the peaks of Arran full in \iew. But our vessel to-day does not sfo near this island — which must be reached in other wavs, but which should on no account be omitted by the lovers of bracing air and of noble scenery, especially if their pedestrian powers are good. Loch Ranza. Corrie, Brodick, Lamlash, Whiting Bay, have all their attractions; but Corrie or Brodick should be chosen by the stranger for his landing-place, as he ;«7^i'/ ascend Goat Fell. Every one will ask him if he did this; in fact, the ([uestion is so universal that, having failed in our first attempt, we found it advisable whenever we referred afterward to having visited Arran, to add, " but we did not ascend Goat Fell." The ascent (2866 feet) is at once easy and most charming, in the two grand glens, up one or other of which the finest ])art of the rt)ute lies. Glen Sanno.\ from Corrie, Glen Rosa from Brotlick. We follow the burn nearly to its source, then turn off to a track amid vast rough boulders, very precipitous in parts, and dan- gerous, if the prescribetl path be left. When the summit is gained, the view over sea 77 BV Tilt: CI.VDE, TO THE WESTERX COAST. and land is on all sides magriificent: and \vc no Ioniser woniler at the question with which we were plied by our friends. Not to have ascerulcd Goat Fell is to have missed one of the noblest and most varied prospects which Great Britain affords. But Arran has attractions for others than mountain-climbers. Its climate seems, if a flying visit gives sufificient warrant to speak of it, simply perfect — at least when it does not rain ! The belt between the shore and the hills is so equable in temperature that the plants and shrubs of warm climates flourish there all the year round, while on every side breezy uplands are accessible. The glens, besides those just named, are rich in foliage as they approach the sea, stern and craggv in their upper reaches; the burns GOAT I'KLL, FJiUM UKOUICK BAY. that ripple over their rocky beds abound in trout ami perch, generalh^ small, but de- licious. No doubt the accommodation ami the fare are in general homely. At Brodick the traveler may live sumptuously in a fine hotel, with prices corresponding; but in gen- eral the lodgings are the farmhouses of the island, quitted for the summer visitors by their occupants, who themselves make shift in cottage outbuildings. The houses are in great request, and themselves form a refreshing contrast with the arrangements and supposed necessities of city life. If any one wishes to prove with how little luxury he and his family can be contented, blithe and strong, let him apply early in the year — for this is necessary — to secure a farm lodging for July or .August in the interior of Arran. But we must resume our sail, now rapidly drawing to a close, as rounding Ardla- mont Point, we turn our back on Arran, and the breadth of Loch Fyne opens before 7X BF IIIE CUDE, TU THE WESTtRX COAST. US. Calling at Tarbert, separated only by a narrow isthmus from the waters of the Atlantic, we sail rapidly past beautifully wooded shores into a litde recess on the left, Loch Gilp, at the head of which the passengers stream forth upon the quay, many of them starting to walk across tlie neck of land that separates them from the Hebridean sea, others making their way over a dusty hillside to the canal steamer, and passing through some lochs, rather tediously, to Crinan on the other side. Women and children selling milk and flowers greet us in our progress pleasantly, but importunately. At last we reach the steamer for Oban, aid perceive at once from the difference of its build that it is made for rougher seas than the one we have just left. The course now lies past OBAN. theonce terrible whirlpool of Corryvreken (••the cauKlron of the haunted sea"), through a vast archipelago, the islands varjing almost inhnitel\- in form and extent. Sometimes they almost close around the shi[), then again they open out grandly, disclosing the basaltic precipices of Mull to the north west. The rocks on both sides now become grander, and give to the voyager who purposes to follow the coast-line to the extreme north of Scotland a foretaste of what he may expect. For soon the steamer enters a narrow sound between the green island of Kerrera ;uul tht- mainland; a liltlc bay opens to the right, and he is at Ohax. where the long range of stores ami hotels fronting the shore, and the villas on the heights, with an immense unfmished building intended lor a Hydropathic Establishment, not to mention the sound of the railway whistle, tell him 79 Bl' THE CLYDE, TO THE WESTERX COAST. that he has reached the great tourist centre, the " Charirii^ Cross of Western Scotland." The charm of Oban to the stranyer is that it affords so ready a way of access to all that is most beautiful in Scotland. Yet a Sunday spent in the little town several years ago is not to be forgotten. It was a sacramental occasion. From an early hour boats were seen com- ing in from the surrounding islands, and at the time of service the little church on the hill was crowded to its utmost canacitv, while a larger conirrcgation still had assembled on the srreen sward without for a Gaelic service. The Highland folk had evidenth' come for a feast, and hour after hour they remained there beneath the blue sky, as one minister after another ascended the " pulpit of wood " which had been placed there for the purpose, and by turns expounded or prayed, or called the congregation to sing, all seated, according to their wont ; the Psalms being given out line by line. One of the tunes was the " plaintive Martyrs^ and never did those touching strains so much affect lO^iA. us as when the melody floated upward in the still summer air from that congregation of hardy men and women. The sermon appeared amazingly to interest the audience, though no sign of emotion of any kind escaped them. Then came the " fencing of the tables," and the solemn adminstration, with further exhortation and appeal; at the close of which the benediction was uttered, and the congfretration — suddenlv, as it seemed — exchanged their quiet, reverent attitude, for a scamper down the hills to their boats, while the delisfht of the do^'f' va«*st.^'- 'as^^i THE SISTERS, GLENCOE. ing." As Lord Macaula\- says, in his History of Eng- land : "The progress of civilization, which has turned so many wastes into fields yellow with harvest, or gay with apple- blossoms, has only made Glencoe more desolate." Some travelers pursue their course up Glencoe over the dreary summit of the pass to Kingshouse, and thence u|) a tremendous ascent, followed by a descent through a vast treeless " Forest" — for in Scotland a forest does not by any means necessarily imply trees — to a little lake, then over a wild pass again to Tyndrum, near which the road is crossed by the Oban railway, of which more anon; and the route loses its character of wild sterility as it ap]:)roach(s the head of Loch Lomond. The journey is one whch emphatically is not to be recommended. For wearying monotony of savage stony grandeur it stands out bi-yond any other day's excursion we remember; but this was betore the days of the railway. A much finer finish to the drive from Ballachulish would be to turn westward from Kingshouse, and to descend to Loch Etive, following the northern bank, and crossing the lock near its mouth, at Connel Ferry, opposite BY THE CLYDE, TO THE WESTERN COAST. Dunstaffnage Castle. The road leads between fine mountain masses all the way, with Ben Cruachan yrandlv toweriny to the south. But instead of turning- aside at Ballachulish, the tourist may pursue his way up Loch Eil, into whicli Loch Linnhe suddenly narrows. Both sides are bounded by low hills descending to a level sliore, where we now see the "crofts" or small homesteads with plots of land attached, of which so much has lately been heard. Some of these have a comfortable, well-to-do appearance, as seen from the deck of the steamer, and contrast well with tlie heathery wastes above, while others seem hardly more than a part and parcel of the waste, forced by painful efforts into some semblance of fertility. GLEXCOE: A "WILD DAY." The steamer touches at Ardgour, near the narrow entrance ot the loch, where, on oc- casion of our last visit, the inhabitants of the village seemed all to have assembled on the pier to welcome a bright-looking lad apparently of nineteen or twenty, with whom we had been chatting a little on board the steamer, who had been sent up from some cottage home to " Glasgow College," and was returning radiant wiih good humor from Ills first session. It was good to sec how he went from one to another, shaking hamls with fishermen and peasants, and respectfully greeting the minister, who stood in the background of the animated group; then walking off rapidly with his mother and sister, raising his hat as he passed to the occupants ol a carriage, evidently containing the 89 BY I HE CLYDE, TO THE WESTERN COAST. great people of the village, who had tlrivcn ilown to the pier to show their interest in the youth's return. The whole scene, rapidly as it passed, was like some charming idyll, and was characteristic of one of the best sides of Scottish peasant life. As the steamer pursues its way up the loch, Hen Nevis comes into view on the right hand, a vast elephantine mass, with none of the picturesque grandeur of oudine which in some aspects it presents. After seeing the peaked Ben Cruachan, and the gracefully towering outline of Ben Lomond, it is hard to believe that this mountain surpasses both in height. Snow, it is said, lies here in drifts all the year round. When we were there once in April the whole summit was covered with snow — some who had recently ascended the mountain telling us to the depth of eighteen feet. The " swift steamers " had not yet begun to ply on these rough waters; the Cale- donian Canal, which opens into the head of Loch Eil, was still closed, and Fort William was the. end of the journey. The weather, however, was Ijright and genial, and the great Glen Nevis, which leads up to the heart of the mountain, was lovely with spring flowers and mosses in every crevice nf its vast and rugged rocks, while the stream, Swollen by the melting snow, dashed grandly downwards amongst the boulders. There was a charm in the place which summer visitors lose; and in a home-like little inn, exquisitely clean and comfortable, at the extremity of the village, one had leisure, denied in the full rush of the " tourist season," to dwell upon the aspect of the scene. Crossing the canal by a bridge near its outlet, we had a magnificent view of Hen Nevis; its snows and precipices lighted by the declining sun; and it was possible now to feel the grandeur of this monarch among Scottish mountains. With a very deep interest, too, we heard, on returning to the inn, of those meteorological observations which have of late years made Ben Nevis so notable in a scientific point of view. If the tourist should be disposed for an excursion in which every form of beautiful scenery, mountain, lake, and glen, rich woodland and rippling stream, may be enjoyed in ever-varying combination, and where a fairly good road, out of the line of the crowd of travelers, opens up these attractions to easy access, let him drive^ or walk from Banavie, on the opposite side ^f the loch to Fort William, to Arisaig, on the Atlantic coast. The distance is about thirty-nine miles, the road for one-third of the way continuing along the shore of Loch Eil, which at Fort William makes an abrupt bend westward. At the foot of Glenfinnan, some six miles beyond the loch, there is a little inn, very welcome to pedestrians as a " half-way house." Here there is a colossal statue of Prince Charles, to mark the place where he first unfurled his stand- THE GREAT GLEN OF SCOT- LAND. ' The mail-cart here, as in many other parts of the High'ands, is a really comfortable " trap," the driver of which is permitted to take three passengers at a reasonable charge ; although, of course, they must rot have much luggaqe. 90 By THE CLYDE, TO THE WESTERN COAST. arcl in 1745, with a part of the clan Cameron, headed b_\- the laird of Lochiel. Loch Shiel is now in view, grandly stretching in a south-westerly direction to the Atlantic. Leaving this, the road winds on in alternate ascents and descents, passing to the left a lovely little lake, and reaching the inn of Kinloch Aylort, ten miles from Arisaig. From this point every mile is full of beauty, especially when on the approach of autumn the hill- sides put on all their splendor of coloring; while in all seasons, excepting those of incessant misty rain, the sea views are very fine. Arisaig is prettily situated on the head of an inlrt, in face of a picturesque group of rocky islets, and just opposite the singular basaltic island of Eigg. with its almos'; tlat-topped precipitous peak (Scuir Eigg), like a stupen- dous broken column, towering to a height of 1,274 ^^^^ above the sea. By timing the visit to Arisaig carefully, the tourist may catch the steamer south- ward to Oban; or northward to Skve, Lewis, and Ca[)e Wrath, should he wish to ex- 9' ^-^^ BY THE CLYDE. TO THE WESTER X COAST. tend his journey to the grandest and wildest coast and island scenery in Great Britan. From Arisaig the steamer crosses the open s*^a, passing to the left the rocky islands of Rum and Muck, names to which the long u's give a pronunciation more elegant than the appearance of the words! Thence Loch Scavaig, on the southern side of Skye, is reached, magnificent in the lonely desolation of its broken cliffs of basalt and iis rocky caves, though not without softer touches of foliage, shrubs, and flowers, in the ravines that descend from the Cuchullin (or Coolin) hills to the shore. OBSEBVATORy STATION ON THE SUMMIT OF BEN NEVIS. The description of Loch Scavaig by Sir Walter Scott in the Lord of the Isles is well known, and is as accurate as it is poetical: " For rarelv human eve has known A scene so stern as that dread lake, With its dark ledge of barren stone. Seems that primeval earthquake's sway Hath rent a strange and shattered way Through the rude bosom of the hill; And that each naked precipice, Sable ravine and dark ab)ss, Tells of the outrage still. The wildest glen but this can show Some touch of Nature's genial glow: On high Ben More green mos'es grow And healhbclls bud in deep Glencoe, And copse in Cruchan-Ben: But here — above, around, below, On mountain or in glrn, No tree nor shrub, nor plant nor flower, 92 iillPWil^^ w ai o o o xiY THE CLYDE, TO THE WESTERN COAST. Nor aught of vegetative power, The wear}' eye may ken : For all is rocks at random thrown, Black waves, bare crags, and banks of stone, As if were here denied The summer sun, the spring's deep dew, That clothe with many a varied hue The bleakest mountain side." Canto iil. 14. Loch Coruisk is a little inland, and the passengers have often the opportunity, while the steamer waits, of climbing over rocky ground to take a rapid view of its mel- ancholy grandeurs, as it lies there among vast and sterile rocks at the base of the pin- LOCH CORUISK. nacled mountains. A long walk leads from the foot of Loch Coruisk through Glen Sligachan toward the inhabited part of the island. The path, which throughout is very wild, and in parts romantic, runs along the western flank of Cuchullins, first climbing steeply upward, with fine views of Loch Coruisk to the left, then skirting in its descent a little stream, beyond which tiie view of the peaked hills, and especialh' of Scuir-na- Gillean (the "scaur of the gillies," i.e., rock of the young men), is very fine. From the Sligachan Hotel there is a long uninteresting carriage road to Portree, the capital of Skye, which travelers who have kept to the steamer have reached more quickly than those who left the vessel at Loch Scavaig. The little town on its steep upward slope has few attractions, beyond the fact of its opening up to the visitor rock and mountain scenery of whose wild rtiggedness nothing that he has yet seen could iiave given him an adequate idea. The drives inland are as well kept as with such a soil and climate could be expected; there are abundant facilities for hiring; guides offer themselves at 95 BY THE CLYDE, TO THE WESTERN COAST. every turn, and the siyns of poverty ami liard living,'' everywhere proves that " the sea- son " is an inestimable boon to the inhabitants. To the visitor who looks beyond the immediate enjoyment, and endeavors to estimate what must be the conditions of living all the year round, the very elements of the summer |)icturesqueness appear almost mournful. But our business is now with the picturesque. The excursion to L'ig and Qui- raing, with its fantastic table rock, will of course be taken ; also, quite as interesting, SCENE IN THE HEBRIDES; "BETURN FROM THE SHIELING."' though less strange in its surroundings, the drive to Dunvegan Castle, on the north- west of the island, the whole route affording mairnificent views of mountain and sea. The Cuchullin hills are better seen from the road between Dunvegan and Sligacharr than from any other part of the island; but to the nearer view of this wild romantic mountain-range we are inclined to prefer such distant prospects as may be gained, for instance, from the heights above Strome Ferry, on the mainland opposite. On a still ' In the Hebrides, during Ihe summer months, the cattle are translerred from the low jiaslures near the villages to more distant and higher ground. Durmg this period the women live in shielings (huts built of luif on ihe hillsid-) tending the cattle; earh day, however, returning to the villages with the milk. This they carry in large cans which are placed in their "creels," and covered over with a flaky moss, which serves for future store of litter. 96 By THE CLYDE, TO THE WESTERN COAST. summer's evening, nothing can be more beautiful than the view of the island beyond the narrow strait, with the bold and peaked range bej'ond. blue-gray and purple, dappled with cloud shadows and the gloom of many a ravine, standing out against the sunset sky. From this wonderful island, the King of the Hebrides, the tourist may, if he will, pursue his way over a grandly open sea to Stornoway, the little capital of Lewis, or " the Lews." The charm of this voyage is chiefly that of the fresh and bracing air, with the changeful coloring of sea and sky. Lewis is bleak and wild enough, but after the won- ders of Skye, few will care to explore this island or its neighbor Harris very closelv. The sportsman ami fisherman, however, will reap here a rich harvest. Another ■grand sea excursion is to Caj)e Wrath, the north-westerly extremity of Scotland, a magnificent granite headland chafed incessantly by an angry sea. The whole coast of INTEUIOlt OF CUOFTEU S HUT, SKYE. AN OPEN'-AIU SEUVUE l.N WKYK. 99 BV THE CLYDE, 10 THE WESTERS COAST. Ross-shire and Sutherlandshire, indeed, from Strome Ferry to this promontory, is one succession of noble cliffs, indented by lochs and fiiced by innumerable islets; while at almost half the distance. Loch Inver will be found one of those charming- seaside nooks about which all who have ever explored their beauties prove enthusiastic. Sea, shore. ¥m .-^ C., VY' A FEMALE GlioriEK. river and lake, glen and mountain height, combine to make this little spot an earthly paradise. Would it were more accessible! The calls of the steamer here are infre- quent, and the only other public conveyance is the mail-cart from Lairg, nearly fifty miles inland. But we must leave these fascinating scenes. None but those who have explored them can understand how great are their fascinations. Pure air, glorious Br THE CLYDE, TO THE WESTERN COAST. scenery, the splendor of the sea and sky, and the pleasant if transitory companionship of the like-minded, who have also learned to love these islands and shores, deepen the attachment of visitors, who year by year desire no better holiday resort, and find that they can visit these scenes with increasing facility and comfort. Yet, to confess the truth, these fair western isles, so lovely amid their grandeur in the summer sunlight, have their seasons of gloom and tempest, with long and trying days of driving rain and mist, with what to many will be worse, an angry raging sea. But even these have their compensations. The sunsets after storm are often gorgeous beyond a poet's dream; and the "mountain glory" is hardly to be apprehended by those who know nothing of the "mountain gloom," while the effect of both is aided beyond description by the changing aspects of the sea. 8C0TTIBH CROFTER AT WORK. X03 n w o O K H W tn o 0- o "THE DEEP TROSSACHS' WILDEST NOOK," THROUGH THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS. THE route by sea from Glasgow to Oban, described in the foregoing pages, has of late years found a formidable rival in the railway, which also gives to leisurely travel- ers a fine opportunity of visiting Loch Lomond, with Loch Katrine and the Trossachs. The " circular tour" to these scenes is indeed the best known excursion in Scotland, but it is too hurried for perfect enjoyment. If the reader who has not visited the country would like to know how in three or four days he can see as much as possible of its most characteristic and most beautiful scenery, we would recommend him to go from Glasgow to Oban by way of Loch Lomond, his halting-places being Tarbet, the foot of Loch Katrine, and Killin or Dalmally. A short railway journey from Glasgow by way of Dumbarton takes him to Balloch, where the Loch Lomontl steamer is waiting for passengers at a little inlet, whence there is hardly a glimpse of the loveliness and grand- eur beyond. It is well to begin such a tour quietly — it may be with a little disappoint- ment. But the beauties of the lake soon unfold themselves, as the steamer swiftly makes its way among green wooded islands, and the mountain heights which line the upper reaches of the lake become visible in the distance. When the pretty village of Luss, on the western bank, is fairly passed, the mountain grandeurs disclose themselves in ever-varying forms beyond the expanse of blue water at their feet. Ben Lomond towers on the rigiit, while to the left the fantastic peaks of Ben Arthur, or the " Cob- bler," and the grand precipices of Ben Voirlicii stand out against tlie sk)-. There v.-ill lie time, should the weather prove favorable, for the hardy pedestrian to land at Row- ardennan, and to walk over the summit of Ben Lomond, descending at Inversnaid. 107 THROUGH THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS. The path is comparatively easy, and the prospect on a clear summer's evening is of transcendent beauty, ranging from Arran in the west to the Firth of Forth in the east. Travelers who decline this effort will nevertheless have from Tarbet, on the opposite shore, a magnificent view ol the mountain, seeming to descend sheer into the waters to an unfathomable depth, and rising upward to a noble pyramid. I \ BEN AKTHUR, OR "THE COBBLER." Across a narrow isthmus Loch Long is easily reached, or a long day's ramble may be taken in the wild and rugged Glencoe, at least as far as the " Rest and be thankful" seat to which Wordsworth's sonnet reters: — loS " Doubling and doubling with laborious walk, Who that has gained at length the wished for height, This brief, this simple wayside call can slight, And rest not thankful ?" THROUGH THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS. From this point it is time for us to return toTarbet, wlience we cross to Inversnaid, made famous again by Wordsworth, in his Highland Girl. "The bay, the waterfall," of which the poet sings, are still there in unspoiled beauty: but the " cabin small " has been replaced by a large hotel, chiefly known to tourists as the starting-point for Loch Katrine, which is reached bv a five miles' drive or walk over a roucjh and uninteresting road that crosses one part of the watershed between the Clyde and the Forth. For the two lakes, so near, and to the thoughts of many persons so inseparable, belong to two different water systems. Loch Lomond, almost on the sea-level, discharges its waters in the great western estuary. Loch Katrine, 35o feet higher, issues by Lochs Achray and Vennachar into the Teith, which joins the Forth a little above Stirling, and so flows into the German Ocean. Such at least is the natural course of the Katrine waters: we all know how science and skill have interfered to turn a great portion of them west- ward also, and to make them tributary to human needs. Somewhat sneeringly I was BKN LOMOND, FROM THE LOCH. told by a fellow-traveler that we were going to see the great " Glasgow Reservoir;" and, in fact, knowing that the level of the lake had been raised four or five feet by embankment, with a view to this water supply, and that of course large engineering works had been constructed at the place of issue, it was natural to expect some diminution of the old romantic charm. But there is really little, if any. For one thing, the water- works are placed at some distance from the more picturesque part of the lake, and are passed by the little steamer, on which we embarked at Stronachlachar pier, sometime before we reached fair Ellen's Isle, the Silver Strand, or the opening to the Trossachs. The beauty that surrounds the outlet of the lake is thus left unimpaired. Then, the flow of water for Glasgow uses, vast as it is, bears but a small proportion to the capac- ity of the lake. Loch Katrine contains in round numbers 5, 620 millions of gallons: the daily supply required for Glasgow and its suburbs is at the rate of 54 gallons a head per day for a population of three-quarters of a million; something less than forty millions of gallons in all. Speaking roughly, therei'ore, the lake contains 140 days' supply, were the rainfall entirely to cease and every tributary stream from. 109 THROUGH THE WESTERS HIUULAXDS. the mountains around to be cut off. As it is, there is no deficiency, and though tlie trees on the margin of the lake seem in places to have suffered, the outfall to Loch Achray is, generally speaking, as copious as ever; while, to prevent any diminution in the River Teith, Loch Vennachar has been embanked, so as greatly to increase its storage; while little Loch Drunkie, a mountain tarn 416 feet above the sea, that discharges into Loch Vennachar (269 feet) is also used for storage.^ There is thus no fear that the supply may prove insufficient; and in fact Loch Katrine at the very low- est falls but three feet below the old summer level, while, as we have seen, it may touch four feet above that le\'el, a total range of but seven feet. From the lake the water is conveyed to Glasgow, a distance of thirty-four miles; partly by tunnels through the hills, partly by aqueducts, overarched, and carried across valleys by lofty bridges; while in three valleys, those of the Dochray Water, the River Endrick, and the Blane Water, the water is conducted down the slope and ascends on the opposite side in cast-iron pipes ySS&S^ LOCH KATlilNE, WITH ELLEN S ISLE. four feet in diameter. Eight miles out of Glasgow, at Mugdock, there is a great service reservoir 317 feet above the sea-level, with a capacity of 55o millions of gallons; and from this the water is carried to Glasgow by several mains, each to its own quarter of the city and suburbs. The result is that the inhabitants of this favored town have everywhere in their houses and manufactories a practically unlimited supply of the purest water, carefully filtered in its course, and carrying health, cleanliness, and comfort everywhere. Who that knows facts like these will not look on Loch Katrine with an interest even deeper than that inspired by the Lady of the Lake? Or, at any rate, who will not be willing to turn his thoughts for a m.oment from the adventures of Fitzjames ' Here are the exact figures f)r the information of the curious: — Loc/i Katrine, raised 4 feet above the old summer level, has a water surface of 3,059 acres, and a capacity of 5,623,581,250 gallons; Loch Vennachar, raised 5 feet 9 inches, covering 1,025 acres, capacity 2,588,960,350 gallons; Loch Drunkie, raised 25 feet, coTering 13S acres, capacity 773,750,063 gallons; total 4,222 acres of water level, and a capacity of 8,986,291,663 gallons. These figures, and the facts given above, are taken from a remarkably in- teresting paper On the Latest Additions to the Loch Katrine Waterworks, by Mr. James M. Gale, C.E., in the Transactions of tht Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland. via BEX A-ENrE. THROUGH THE WESTLRX HIGHLANDS. and RocUM-ick Dhu, tc ackno\vledL;e that tlic most illustrious memor\- connected with this beautiful lake is that on the fourteenth of October, iSSq, the Queen, by opening the first sluice and letting the waters flow, conferred upon one of the greatest cities of her empire this gift beyond all price ? We have been led to dwell on this achievement ot science somewhat dispropor- tionately perhaps for a book like the present; and )et it seemed necessary, to meet an impression not uncommon among those who have never seen Lochs Katrine, \^ennachar, and Achray, with their guardian mountains'" huge Ben Venue" and " Ben Ledi's ridge in air." Nothing has impaired, and truly nothing can excel, the beauties of the opening to the Trossachs as they unfold before the traveler, borne swiftly past Ellen's Isle, and stepping, full of expectancy and of Sir Walter Scott, upon the little landing near Aird- cheanochrochan. This portentous word, we believe, is Gaelic for " the high point at the end of the knoll." He is now in the Trossachs, or the "bristly country;'' and per- THE SILVER STRAND, LUCll KAMilNE. haps his expectations have been unduly raised by the poet's description, for we have known some visitors to confess disappointment, and have even been confidentially asked, " But which arc the Trossachs ?" The truth is, we pass through this lovely glen too quickly to take in all its beauties. We are in a hurry, perhaps, for luncheon at the hotel, or are wondering whether there will be room on the coach. It is best to linger. The crowd will soon have left; and when the distant horn announces the departure of the coach, the lover of solitude may have his fill of delight as he makes his way to the Silver Strand that edges the lake on the western side a little less than a mile from the landing, or rambles on the opposite side to the Pass of Beal-nam-bo (' Pass of the Cattle,)" on the rocky flank of Ben V^enue. The name speaks of the wild times when the cattle stolen by Highland C^terans from the pastures beyond were driven down this pass to the refuge of the Trossachs. Katrine itself, so melodious in its sound, is only this Catcran disguised ! The Robber Lake ! So at least Sir Walter Scott informs us. But, without endeavoring to settle this point of etymology, we can now re-enter the «'3 THROUGH THE WESTERX HJGHLAXDS. glen, in the light of the western sun, and give ourselves up to the full beauty of the scene. On each side the crags, knolls, and mounds rise " confusedly," streaked gray IN GLEN UUCHAltT. weather-Stained, green with moss, purple with heather. From every crevice where a root could fasten the feathery birch-tree and quivering aspen, spring " Aloft the ash and warrior oak Cast anchor in the rifted rock." 114 o o O > M o f Q H a o CO THROUGH THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS. Look upward at the sunlight gHstening through the boughs, or downward on the long shadows that cross the path, or through the trees at the gray mountain forms dimly discernible. The view at every point is l.DWKK lALL UK ruVEUS. " So wondrous wild, the who'e might seem The scenery of a fiiry dteam." But even more beautiful is the qu'ct summer's morning in this exquisite glen, when the dew glistens on every spray, and the birds fill tiie air with music. The crowd of tourists will soon arrive, but at present the place is free. Walk or drive to Callander, "7 THROCGH THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS. by the Bridge of Turk and beautiful Vennachar; you will soon meet the long procession of carriages and coaches, with red-coated drivers showing to their passengers the suc- cessive points of scenery described in the Lady of the Lake. " There" — pointing with his whip — " is Coilantogle Ford — now occupied by the sluice and salmon-ladders con- nected with the water-works." Then, breaking into poetry, the driver recites some lines of Scott. To him there is but one poem; and every character in it is historical. It is pleasant to see such en- thusiasm, even thougfh after-thoughts of profit may be connected with it. We have driven through famous historic scenes beside some sul- len coachman who had nothing but a gruff Yes or A^to our most eager questions. Such drivers would find no place in the Trossachs! Probably we may not be able to remain in the neighborhood of Loch Vennachar , for there are lovely spots that would well repay the explorer. As a rule, however, these are as i lonely all through the summer season as though the crowd of ex- cursionists were not One bright summer day stands out in memory, spent years ago with con- genial friends by " the only Lake in Scotland." For all the rest are lochs: this of Menteith, for some inscrutable reason, is always called a lake. Here is "Queen Mary's Bower" in Inch-ma- home, the " Island of Rest;" and here, with the " four Maries " as her attendants, the ill-fated princess passed her brief and happy childhood. For varied loveliness of woodland, streamlet, hill, lake, and island, with glimpses of sterner majesty beyond, no little excursion could well be more charming than this from Dullater, at the outlet of Ven- nachar, to the Port of Menteith, and to Aberfoyle, near the foot of beautiful Loch Ard, described in J^od Roy. From this village a mountain road leads past Loch Drunkie to the Trossachs. Callander itself, excepting the pretty fall of Bracklinn, above the village, presents ii8 INVERNESS. daily rushi.ig past. o s 5 > » > 3 f o o o S3 THROUGH THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS. no points of special interest. The " Dreadnought" Hotel is familiar to tourists as a place for coming and going; but most travelers now seek the railway station; and if bound, as we are now, forOljan, they will soon find themselves on one of the finest routes by rail which these islands can boast. Many people complain that railways inter- fere with the enjoyment of scenery. In some localities this may be true. But here the natural features of the country are on so vast a scale that the little railway line (mostly single) and the infrequent trains seem no profanation either of the stillness or of the beaut)-. To the traveler almost every mile is now full of charm. First of all he proceeds up the glen of the Leny, a stream that flows over rocky banks from Loch Lubnaig to the Teith: the lake then opens up, and the railway continues close upon its banks from end to end in view of crags and wooded knolls gn the opposite side. Soon the line mounts upward to a height above Loch Earn Head, a magnifi- cent view of the loch with its girdling mountains being obtained from the railway carriage windows. Glen Ogle that follows is wild and rocky, the line being carried like a slender thread among its gigantic crags. At Killin Station, three. or four miles from the village, there is a junction for Loch Tay, beyond which Ben Lawers rises grandly. Glen Dochart, which is next ascended, brings into view the mighty pyra- mid of Ben More, and the line still rises to Crianlarich, at the head of Glen Fal- loch, and to Tyndrum. After passing the summit level, we obtain a fine open view over Glen Orchy to the north, and soon after passing Dalmally reach the head of Loch Awe, near Kilchurn Castle. At Loch Awe Station a fine hotel commands a grand prospect of lake and mountain, seen in too brief glimpses from the train, which after pursuing its way for somewhat more than a mile by the lake side plunges into the Pass of Brander, shared by the railway with the road and the broad swift river. The latter is crossed just above Taynuilt, and Loch Etive is reached, near the outlet of which, b)- Dunstaffnage Castle, the train turns off through a green valley encircled by low rocky hills to its destifiation at Ouan. The only other railway route to compare with this in varied beauty also crosses the Highlands from east to west, but is much farther north. It may be entered at Inverness, thougli its proper starting-point is at Dingwall, where the line diverges westward from tiie railway to the north. From Oban to Inverness the best way is up what has been called the Great Glen of Scotlaml,' by way of Loch Linnhe, the ' See map, p. qo. THROUGH THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS. Caledonian Canal, Loch Lochy, and Loch Ness. This route has already been sketched in these pages, as far as Fort William: the part beyond, though the passing of the canal locks is tedious, is very beautiful in fine summer weather, especially between the green hills and woods that line the shore of Loch Ness. Foyers will of course be visited; though it is far better to take a more leisurely survey of this grand waterfall, "out of all sight and sound," says Professor Wilson, "the finest in Great Britain," than is possible amid the rush of tourists while the steamer waits. It is a scene over which to linger through half a summer's day: and although the Lower Fall is by far the finer, the Upper is worth visiting too, and the paths up the glen are of rich and various beauty. BEN SLIOCH. LwERNESs was to us unexpectedly attractive. We had read of a "little Highland town," but we found a modern city, bright, clean, and evidently prosperous, while the swift clear Ness flowing from the loch to the sea (quite independently of the outlet to the Caledonian Canal) added greatly to the charm. But there was no time to stay beyond one quiet Sunday, where in a church beside the Ness we not only heard a most admirable sermon, but listened to some remarkably fine choral and congregational sing- mg without any instrumental accompaniment. If the service of song could always be so conducted, we thought, there would be no " organ question " to disturb the Assem- blies and the churches! The next morning early found us on the way to Dingwall for what is called the " Skye Railway," having its terminus at Strome Ferry, in full view of that wonderful island. From Dingwall the first stage led to the broad open vale of Strathpeffer, with Ben Wyvis rising grandly to the north, while from the nearer foreground in every THROUGH THE WESTERh HIGHLANDS. direction arose mountains exquisitely diversified in contour. The place invited a longer stay, even apart from the attractions of its mineral waters: but time forbade, and Auchnasheen farther on promised yet greater charms. After passing through a won- derful ravine and through many a rocky cutting, an expanse of rich pasture and lovely woods opened upon the view, with glimpses of a calm lake seeming to recede among the hills. The mountain-heights that bounded the valley in all directions became softer and less rugged to the view, as well as almost infinitely varied in form. At Auchnasheen, on the margin also of a little lake, the railway was left awhile for an ex- cursion to Loch Maree and Gairloch, easily attainable by a good pedestrian, though in the season there is generally sufficient coach accommodation for the tourists who come so far. So much is now said about Loch Maree by those who have visited it that ex- pectation is apt to be disappointed. Yet those who care most for the sterner aspects of Nature, who delight in bold mountain forms, and see more beauty in the dark green of pine forests on gray hills lopes than in the " birks of Aberfeldy " or the oaks and hazels of the Trossachs, will give the palm to Loch Maree over perhaps all other scenery in Scotland. The green islands on the lake are picturesquely beautiful, and Ben Slioch rises on the farther shore, a very giant among the surrounding mountains. '»j K r c c o VIEW FliOJI SlIKLIXti CASTLE. THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS: STIRLLNG TO INVERNESS. THE Scottish Highlands are sometimes spoken of so as to convey tlie impression that there is a clearly-defined mountain district, contrasted uitii " the Lowlands," as thou;^di the latter were a vast plain. Then- could harilly be a i^reatcr mistake. From Kirkcudbright to Caithness there is hardly a county without its hill-ranges; and with- out leaving the Southern districts, the lover of mountain beauty will find noble heights and solitary glens, with many a rippling burn from tarns among the hills. At some of these we have already glanced; and it is almost with reluctance that we leave the rest for the grander, sterner hill country of the North. It is at Stirling that the thiveler from the South first begins to discern the immcn- "7 THE CENTRAL UIGHL.WDH : SlIRLlNG lO A^ JARXESS. sity of the mountain region to which he is directing his way; and in comparison with the other routes that have been already described in these pages, or that may be sketched hereafter, possibly the region that lies about " the Highland Railway" affords the most varied as well as the wildest and most magnificent range of scenery. The line really starts from Perth, but the access from Stirling is an appropriate and striking introduc- tion to its wonders, although it may be approached a little more directly from Edinburgh by crossing the Firth of Forth, and proceeding through F'ifeshire. A detour by Dunfermline and Kinross we found very pleasant, especially as it gAve the opportunity of visiting , '""" " -•-- r -. Loch Leven, famed for Queen Mary's romantic escape; but the journey on the whole proved rather tedious, and the route by Stirling proved preferable, especially if the traveler is imbued with the romance of Scottish history, and is able to stop at Bannockburn. The name had always a peculiar charm to us through Sir Walter Scott's Tales of a Grandfather — surely the best child's history ever written: and although the place itself is flat and rather disenchanting, the very sight of it brings back some of the old enthusiasm. Stand- ing by " the Bore Stone, " where Bruce placed his banner — now protected by an iron grating — it is impossible not to recall that noblest of 'battle-songs, " Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled;" or the stirring lines in which Scott describes the frenzy that fired the mixed multitude that watched the contest from afar: — 128 THE BORE STONE, BANNOCKBURN. THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS .■ STIRLING TO INVERNESS. " Each heart had caught the patriot spark, Old man and stripHng, priest and clerk, Bondsmen and serf; even female hand Strelched to the hatchet or the brand. ***** ' To us, as to our lords, are given A native earih, a promised heaven; To us, as to our lords, belongs The vengeance for our nation's wrongs; The chdice 'twixt death or freedom warms Our breasts as theirs. To arms ! to arms I' To arms they flew, — a.xe, club, or spear, — And mimic ensigns high they rear. And like a bannered host afar. Bear down on England's wearied war." It is somewhat remarkable that in all the strifes of this period our English sym- pathies should be with the Scotch ! The pride of the Scottish people themselves in their patriot heroes, no Act of Union or blending of interests seems ever able to diminish. In Stirling itself the chief interest ir. concentrated in the Castle, which, as every- one knows, surmounts a precipice fronting the plain of the Forth, the town being built upon the slopes behind. From the terraces of this grand rock the view is magnificent. Courteous guides will tell the visitor where Queen Mary stood to admire the prospect, or where Queen Victoria gazeil upon the scene. Or, enticing you within, they will show the " Douglas room," and repeat the tradition of the murder foully wrought, pointing out also memorials of John Knox, side by side with relics from Bannockburn — a singular combination ! Then for the sightseer there are the quaint decorations of the Palace, and the Chapel Royal, now a store-room. But the chief attraction is still without, in the glorious open plain girded by its amphitheater of mountains. The windings of the Forth, partially seen from the Rock, so fertilize the vale as to have given rise to the saying, " The lairdship of the bonnv Links of Forth Is better than an earldom in the North." Appearing to rise almost sheer from the level in the distance, may be traced, in the west, the outlines of Ben Lomond, Ben Venue, Ben Ledi, Ben Voirlich, and of many lesser heights, while in the east the nearer and still more beautiful Ochill Hills close in the prospect. The view is a fitting introduction to the mountain huul. Of course we cast our stone, metaphoricall)-, at the unfortunate Wallace Monument, erected in the "baronial style" — whatever that may be — upon a wooded crag nearly two miles off, an outlying spur of the Ochills that had formerly been one of the most charming features of the scene. We are told for our comfort that the structure is 220 feet high, and that if we please we can ascend it for the sake of the extensive view from its summit. Declining the offer, and hardly caring to remain in Stirling, we pass on to rest for the night at the Bridge of Allan, a watering-place on the brow of the Airthrey range, lu.xuriantly wooded, and favored not only by invigorating air. but by mineral waters, which, on a.scending to the pimip-room before breakfast the next morning, we find we 139 THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS: STIRLING TO INVERNESS. may drink c£^y^fe,tJa DtTNBLANE CATHEDRAL. that is called distinctively the " Highland Railway"; and happy are those travelers who can linger at its successive points of interest, and explore at leisure the wonderful regions tliat lie eastward and westward, offerinsf within a short distance scenes of alternate grandeur and loveliness, enhanced by the stern and rugged desolation, by which, on the eastern side especially, they are shut in. At first, however, all is tranquil loveliness, as the train rapidly ascends the valley of the Tay, with many a view of the fair river. Dunkeld is soon reached — to many travelers the first introduction to the Highlands. The town is at some distance from the station, and the best way to apprehend its beauty is to walk to the bridge over the Tay, from which a panorama of the richest beauty is obtained; the hills, nowhere vast, but pic- turesque in outline, being clothed to their summits with thickly planted trees. The little town with its old cathedral tower is in front of the spectator; Birnam Hill, beyond the railway station, rises behind him. Undoubtedly at Dfunkeld the two things to be done are to ascend this hill, and to walk through the Duke of Athole's grounds. Birnam is perfectly accessible, even to ordinary walkers; the " wood" which Shakespeare has made famous ^ is represented by some fine old trees; the patli to the summit winds round a dense plantation of fir and birch; above which a grand view of the distant mountains is obtained, with Dunkeld in the foreground, guarded as it were by the wooded bluff of Craigie- Barns. The sparkle of lakelets in the valley, and the luxuriance of the foliage on every height, afford a charming contrast in color to the purple and gray of the mountains; while the broad and beautiful Tay may be traced both upward and downward for many a mile. It is only the background of ru^rcfed desolateness that seems wanting to the perfection of this fine view. The harsher features are softened by distance, and the spectator looks abroad as on an earthly Paradise. Descending to Dunkeld, and visiting the cathedral or not, as his antiquarian tastes may incline him, the traveler must next make a point of visiting the Duke of Athole's grounds, passing on the way some old larch-trees, among the first introduced into Great Britain, having been brought from the Tyrol in 1738. There is a payment at the Duke's gates which no- CAKSE OF GOWBIE. ' Mr. Pennant says that 132 ' Birnam Wood has never recovered ihe march which its aacestors made to Dunsinane." THE CENTRAL H/GHLAXDS .- STIRTLXG TO IXVERXESS. body will grudge, and the prejudice with which some persons are apt to enter show- grounds of any kind will soon disappear. True, there is much of art in the lay- ing out of walks and shrubberies, and opinions will differ as to the effect produced in " Ossian's Hail," near the Hermitage, where the throwing open of a door suddenly discloses a cataract, which a cunning disposition of mirrors makes to appear as though environing the spectator on all sides, and ready to pour on his head. Some jears ago a traveler, whose aesthetics probably were too much for his honesty, wantonly destroyed the place with gunpowder, and left the falls to produce their own impression. Ossian's Hall has, however, been rebuilt, and forms a more tasteful, if less astonishing, framework for the Hills than before. But apart from such devices, the natural beauties of the scene are of such a kind as to be really enhanced by taste and culture. The Tay, with its lovely tributary the Braan, the surrounding hills, and the kindly soil, were all ready to hand; and the result of wisely directed expenditure and labor is seen in the charm of the turfy walks, the magnificence of the innumerable LOCH TUKRIT. trees, and the selection of best points for the opening up of vistas, whence the chief beauties of the place may be seen. The Hermitage Bridge and Fall in the Braan Val- ley is perhaps tiie place that will most tempt the lingering footsteps of the visitor; although the " Rumbling Bridge" beyond (not to be confounded with tlie more cele- brated Rumbling Bridge over the Devon, between Kinross and Stirling) is romantically wild. Altogether, it will be seen, Dunkeld is a place that may well become the Capua of the tourist who gives way to its fascinations. There is harder work before him, if he wishes to see the Highlands as they are. For, as we proceed northward, we shall leave this lu.xuriance and splendor behind, and shall better perhaps be able to enter into the description of Dr. Beattie, author of T/ic Minstrel and of Essays on TcisU\ who thus refers to the Scottish Highlands : "The Higiilandsof Scotland are a picturesque but in general a melancholy coun- try. Long tracts of mountainous desert, covered with dark heath, and often obscured "35 THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS: STIRLING TO INVERNESS. by misty weather; narrow valleys, thinly inhabited, and bounded by precipices resound- ing with the fall of torrents; a soil so rugged and a climate so dreary as in many parts to admit neither the amusements of pasturage nor the labors of agriculture; the mourn- ful dashing of waves along the friths and lakes that intersect the country; the portent- ous noises which every change of the wind and every increase and diminution of the waters is apt to raise in a lonely region, full of echoes, and rocks, and caverns; the gro- tesque and ghastly appearance of such a landscape by the light of the moon — objects HERMITAGE BKIDGE, DUNKELD. like these diffuse a gloom over the fancy, which may be compatible enough with occa- sional and social merriment, but cannot fail to tincture the thoughts of a native in the hour of silence and solitude." Dr. Beattie's remarks occur in an Essav on Music, and are intended to explain how the Highland music is naturally plaintive and much in minor key; but that it is not therefore devoid of pleasing melody, the works of great composers, notably Mendels- sohn in his Highland Symphony , as well as the native Scottish music, sufficiently attest. Yet the description has interest, as showing how much the enthusiasm about Highland scenery is the result of association. That the taste for such scenery is of comparatively recent origin is shown in the Lctte7's of the poet Gray, who writes almost as if the won- der and beauty of the Highlands were a new discovery. It must be remembered that General Wade's roads, giving easy access for the first time to the chief beauties of this mountain district, were but newly opened. " The Lowlands," writes Grav, " are worth 136 THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS : STIRLING TO INVERNESS. seeing once, but the mountains are ecstatic, and ought to be visited in pilgrimage once a year." And again, speatcing of Killiecrankie: " A hill rises, covered with oak, with grotesque masses of rock staring from among their trunks, like the sullen countenance of Fingal and all his family, frowning on the little mortals of modern days. From be- tween this hill and the adjacent mountains, pent in a narrow channel, comes roarin'T out the river Tummel, and falls headlong down, enclosed in white foam, which rises in a mist all around it. But my paper is deficient, and 1 must say nothing of the Pass itself, the black river Garry, the Blair of Athol, Mount Beni-gloe, my return (by another road) to i'AbS OF lilL.UJb;CU.\.NKI£. Dunkeld, the Hermitage, the Stra-Braan, and the Rumbling Brigg. In short, since I saw the Aljjs 1 lune seen nothing sublime till now." The railway, keeping for the most part to the valley, shuts out at present the sterner features of the scener\'; though by-and-by it will pass through a dreary country enough! The route continues from Dunkeld to the point where, in an open valley, the Fay branches to the west: the river that comes down from the north to join it at this spot is the Tummel. It is worth while again to leave the direct line for a brief visit to Aber- feldy with its " hirks," or birch-trees, and pretty waterfall. As far as this point there is now a branch railway, so that the visit can be made with but small e.xpenditure of time, although the leisurely traveler will find the drive or walk by the river past Taymouth Castle and as far as Kenmore verv lovelw Here Loch Tav opens up amid a scene of «J7 THE CfXJRAL II/GHLAXDS .■ ST/RL/XG TO IXVERXESS. perfect sylvan beauty, with Ben Lawers, the sixth' highest mountain in Scotland, 3984 feet in height, rising grandly to tlie north, and the purple hills about Killin at the head of the loch, ten miles distant, affording some hint of the sterner grandeurs in the west. At Killin, as shown in a previous chapter, the railway to Oban may be joined: but our present purpose is to return to the northward route. The Tuinniel, whose course the railway now ascends as far as Pitlochrie, has been called the "loveliest river in Scot- land"; but its chief beauties \\\\\ be seen by those who have time to turn off from Pit- lochrie up to Lochs Tummel and Rannoch. The combinations of wood and rock almost along the whole route are exquisite, and the Falls of the Tumni