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gouram stones; they are found by digging, or in fissures of the rocks. About the middle of Glen Tilt, the river is joined by the Tarf, which coming through a chasm of dark shattered overhanging rocks, forms two falls, and is altogether a pleasing scene. Misinformed of the distance to Blair, I was overtaken by night long before I had passed the glen; the moon was up, but it was faint and misty, and hardly yielded light sufficient to distinguish the road; sometimes it threw a gleam on the water which roared below, and marked the tufted foliage of the wooded steeps. The river, whose sound was the only one that could be heard, sometimes seemed to rush below, then to melt away in the distance, and suddenly return with a redoubled roar. The effect was solemn, yet pleasing; it was a scene fitted for calm and silent meditation, wherein no discordant sound disturbed the peaceful harmony of the mind, no glaring object drew off the wandering eye, the imagination, unbiassed and unrestrained, pursued its flight through the darkened solitude, and gave each object a fancied form and semblance, adapted to its own particular feelings, and to local circumstances. In a situation nearly similar, Dr. Johnson makes this remark, "In travelling even thus, almost without light, through naked solitude, when there is a guide whose conduct may be trusted; a mind not naturally too much disposed to fear, may preserve some degree of cheerfulness; but what must be the solicitude of him who should be wandering among the craggs and hollows, benighted, ignorant, and alone?" At length, proceeding through groves of fir, which totally excluded the faint light, and reduced me to the necessity of feeling my way, I arrived at Blair, weary and hungry, having travelled for eleven hours, for the most part without seeing a human being, or the sign of any habitation except the deserted shelins, without having tasted any other refreshment than what the limpid brooks afforded, and at last met with an inn, so crowded with company, as with difficulty to procure accommodations for the night.

Monday, 15th.-In the morning I visited the lower parts of the Tilt, some of which I had passed on the preceding evening, within the grounds enclosed by the Duke of Athol; it is in several parts very romantic and beautiful; the walk winds by its side, which is finely concealed by wood, through which some small and pleasing waterfalls are seen on the opposite side. But, as Mr. Gilpin has observed, the unnecessary preparation on this side hurts the effect; never do these scenes strike with such force, as when they suddenly break upon the view from some natural opening of wood; all that art can do is to imitate nature as nearly as possible; where partial concealment is necessary, to produce it by shrubs, not by a wall; and where the point of view should open, to leave it artfully neglected, not fancifully embellished by grotesque buildings, and palisaded terraces; nothing in nature can be more incongruous, than such a mixture of wild simplicity and fantastic finery. Above this, the Tilt passes through an extremely rugged channel; its sides rocky and high, and generally adorned with woods, chiefly of the birch and fir. The latter prevails in all the plantations around, and near the house forms a consider

able wood. With respect to the house, it is extensive and irregular, but not grand; ranges of low buildings extend from each side, without beauty or uniformity, while every thing that might conceal or give variety to its appearance, seems carefully to have been avoided. This place makes no inconsiderable figure in the history of this part, from the many sieges it has endured or withstood in repeated wars, from the year 1644: the last circumstance of this kind, was in the year 1746, when Sir Andrew Agnew bravely defended it against the rebels, who retired from before it a few weeks previous to the battle of Culloden. Upon the whole, this seat has its beauties, but immediately round the house, they are certainly capable of great improvement; and in hands of taste, might have attained to a high degree of celebrity. Those shrubs, which in the hands of the artist form so essential an article in picturesque gardening, seem here to have been wholly neglected; they form the intermediate step from the flowery parterre to the forest tree; and where they are omitted, the latter will look low, bare, and naked, more particularly the tall-stemmed fir, which here generally prevails.

Tuesday, 16th.-The country improves in beauty, as the road proceeds towards the pass of Killicranky. The river Garry, after having received the waters of the Tilt, now takes the lead, winding through wooded scenes, which every moment become more interesting, while the grand mountains about the pass overtop all, and form a magnificent back ground. Previous to entering this formidable defile, a small rivulet is pointed out, near which the battle of Killicranky took place, in 1689; and a large adjacent stone marks the spot where the gallant ill-fated Dundee expired. From hence, we soon open the pass, bounded on each side by mountains of vast height and steepness, but clothed with wood a considerable way up, which softens and harmonizes the natural rudeness of the scene. The river Garry runs below through a rugged channel; and the Crief road passes it over a high-arched bridge. From hence, the view is very fine on either hand,-upwards, terminated by the grand summit of Ben-gloe, and downwards by wooded hills and knolls; while the intermediate space displays the rocky towering heads of the abrupt lateral boundaries overtopping the woods with wild grandeur. At length the southern hills begin to appear, and the vast heights of the Pass dwindle down in that direction, but still retain, in retrospective views, all their sublimity. As these fade away in distance, the former, however, gradually improve; and near the half-way house, yield a very picturesque scene, in which the meandering Garry, now joined by the Tumel, forms a principal object, sometimes appearing in long stretches, and suddenly losing itself by an abrupt turn; sometimes brilliantly gleaming through the foliage of its wooded banks, as the winding road displays it more fully to view. The Garry is at length lost in the Tay; and this river, broad, deep, and majestic, accompanies the road to Dunkeld. The grandeur of the scenery, which had gradually fallen off from the termination of the Pass, here again rises to the highest magnificence, and exhibits as we proceed, all the beauties of water, of wooded knolls, and of

neighbours, whose dreary abodes resemble more the habitations of the Kamtschadales than those of the subjects of the British empire. The country to Perth has little variety from hence, but seems extremely fertile, and is at present covered with corn fields. This town is of considerable extent, and contains some handsome buildings; a new bridge crosses the Tay, it is a noble structure, and consists of nine large arches. The whole town wears the appearance of business and industry: it has been greatly improved of late years; the military have here very large and commodious barracks. The road to Kinross in its ascent gives a fine view of Perth; the Tay, here swelled to an estuary, is ornamented with vessels of a small size; and, after a few graceful turns, makes a grand sweep round the hill of Kinnoul, from thence gradually increasing till it unites with the Eastern Sea below Dundee. From the adjacent hills there is a fine view of that rich flat called the Carse of Gourie, famous for the fertility of the soil, but the haze of a fine evening had now totally veiled it from the view. The remaining part of the road, which passes through Strath Erne, has little remarkable in it till we reach Kinross, seated at the head of Loch Levin.

high mountains, where the sterile rock is contrasted with the luxuriance of vegetation. So situated is the pleasing, the sweetly romantic solitude of Dunkeld, placed beneath high towering craggs, of which only sufficient parts appear to give variety to the whole; the rest is occupied by the hardy pine, which appears struggling for victory, with the natural sterility of its situation. These rocky heights are immediately from the town on the north and west: on the opposite side the Tay rolls gracefully beneath it; beyond which appears the hills of Birnam, now wholly divested of those forests, whose awful march, according to Shakspeare, once carried dismay and terror to the bloody tyrant of Dunsinane. Nothing can be more impressive to a stranger, than an evening's entrance into this place, winding among darksome woods that shade the road with double gloom, where silence is only interrupted by the deep-toned bell of the tower of the ruined cathedral, sounding the hour of night, or the mournful hooting of the solitary owl, among the arches of the long, long deserted chancel. Such was the scene, such the impressions, with little variation, which I had twice felt on my entrance into Dunkeld; the latter time, indeed, had added a new beauty; the rising moon, shrouded with the horizon mists, had now thrown a faint gleam of light on the tufted trees, as it emerged from behind a heavy buttress of the building, while the latter looked more deeply solemn and grand from the imperfect light. This cathedral gives a degree of grandeur to the appearance of the town, independently of the surrounding scenery; and as it is approached from Perth, it has a very picturesque appearance. The duke's house is so surrounded with woods,. as to be hardly visible from the town, except in front. The walks and pleasure-grounds are very extensive; the former lead along the bourn, where there is a small but pleasing waterfall, best seen from the window of a fanciful summer house. Beyond this, spanning a nar-ged rocks, is just perceived; the depth seems row chasm of rock, stands the Rumbling brig, so called from the hollow sound of the water, which, after a rugged fall, forces itself through an extremely narrow cleft. The duke resides alternately at Dunkeld, and Blair; and between the two seats, commands some of the most grand and beautiful views in this country.

Thursday, 18th.-Left this romantic spot in the morning, and crossing the Tay, took the course towards Perth; the road passes along the side of Berman-hill, which here presents a very rocky and rugged appearance, in general destitute of all kinds of vegetation. For some time the Tay keeps in sight, winding through a pleasant country; on the left appears an ancient building, situated on a wooded bank, beneath which the dark river glides slowly along. Quitting the Tay, we lose all its beautiful accompaniments; the country becomes flat, but well cultivated, and the grander scenery is only in part observed in the retrospect. Every circumstance gave indications of quitting the Highlands; the language was now changed, and from Blair the increased population proved the increased fertility of the soil; the houses were no longer the turf-huts of the more northern parts, but neat stone buildings, more commodious in their construction, and less expressive of the poverty and wretchedness of their

Friday, 19th.-This loch has nothing of the greatness and grandeur of the more northern lakes; it has considerable extent, but its boundaries are flat, except on the south side, where a chain of hills sweep into it. At a distance stands on a small island the castle where the unfortunate Mary was confined, and from whence she was rescued by the enamoured Douglas. The country for some time continues level, and the terminating hills of the Highlands still form a chain to the northward. About seven miles from Kinross, the rocky end of Glen Devon appears, and a foot-path leads to the Rumbling bridge, a small arch thrown over a deep and horrid chasm, at the bottom of which the water, rolling among rug

immense; and to add to the terror naturally inspired by a near approach, the bridge has been left without parapet walls on the sides, and the generality of those who wish for the downward view, must lay themselves flat on the ground, and take a cautious peep. The situation of the bridge, however, is better seen a little below, where the rocks open and are finely fringed with wood; the river seems almost blocked up by the immense fragments of the fallen cliffs. About a mile lower is the Cawdron Glen: here the water by an oblique fall is thrown into a circular eddy, which has through time worn several basons, rendered perfectly smooth and polished by the continually agitated water, which constantly preserves its whirling motion. These cawdrons, as they are called, have an invisible subterraneous communication with each other, so that the discharge of the water is unseen. It appears somewhat wonderful how these cavities were first formed, since there is no appearance of their having been once connected by an upper stream, and yet their rocky sides are equally worn from the surface downwards. One of these pots, if we may so term them, collects in a remarkable manner all the scum and froth which is formed by the fall; it has the appearance of an immense brewing vessel, filled with

and won." As we proceed, three eminences strike the eye, rising from the plain, similar in their forms, though unequal in their extent. On the centre one stands the town of Stirling, the castle occupying the precipitous end, which is perpendicular and rocky, and the tower shelving gradually from thence to the plain. The bridge over the Forth consists of four arches, and is a plain and firm structure.

fermenting liquor, and has, I believe, a name applicable thereto. There seems to be something peculiar in the nature of this work, as every cavity which is formed, whatever its size may be, is perfectly similar in its concavity. The whole is blackened by the waters, and has a tremendous appearance, but the curious, as at the Rumbling bridge, must take their view by prostration. From the last of these the water rushes through a natural arch, and forms a Sunday, 21st.-The town has a grand and picgood fail, which can only be seen to advantage by turesque appearance from the Glasgow road; descending to the bottom of the valley. It is the abrupt cliff on which the castle is situated, called the Cawdron Lin; Lin being the general appears to great advantage; its rocky height name for a water-fall. A few miles further, near mingled with woods, or seen at intervals the village of Dolor, stand the remains of the through the intervening branches of trees. The old Castle Campbell, or, as it is sometimes called, approach from this side is altogether admirable, the Castle of Gloom, situated on a natural and far exceeds that from the northward. The mount, surrounded by a deep, though narrow, road from hence continues through a fertile and in some parts rocky, glen, thickly wooded, and pleasing country, in parts mingled with through which the water is heard to rush with wood, and with sufficient inequality of surface great rapidity. I was rather late in my visit to give it variety; but the bold, the magnificent to this place, and by the time I had finished a grandeur of the Highlands, is lost, or faintly slight sketch, from the opposite bank, the seen at intervals, in the distance. From Cumshades of evening were drawn over the dis-berland, on the new Glasgow road, a cross road tance. By a circuitous route I at length gained leads to Ardrie, passing through a similar an entrance into the castle; the dark vaulted country to that on the opposite side. The inn rooms, rendered more obscure by the faint at this place is a very handsome and extensive light, the spiral ruined staircase, and the general building, lately erected. At a little distance desolation of the place, might serve to give from Cumberland, near the kirk, the minister hints for romantic description; they could not was giving an evening's lecture, it being safail to be strongly impressive, and the effect was crament Sunday, to a very numerous congreconsiderably increased by the gloom and gation, who were assembled from a great dissilence which were interrupted only by the tance around, as is generally the case on these roaring of the water below. The deserted, occasions: they occupied, in a considerable ruined appearance, brought forcibly to my group, the whole side of an adjacent eminence. mind, that beautiful description of Ossian's, in his poem of Carthon. "I have seen the walls of Balclutha, but they were desolate. The fire had resounded in the halls, and the voice of the people is heard no more. The stream of Clutha was removed from its place, by the fall of the walls. The thistle shook there its lonely head; the moss whistled to the wind. The fox looked out from the windows, the rank grass of the wall waved round his head. Desolate is the dwelling of Moina, silence is in the house of her fathers.--Raise the song of mourning, O bards, over the land of strangers. They have fallen before us; for one day, we must fall. Why dost thou build the hall, son of the winged days? Thou lookest from thy towers to-day; yet a few years and the blast of the desert comes, it howls in thy empty court, and whistles round thy half-worn shield." The

front court-wall has a circular tower at each angle, though these would rather appear for ornament than use, as on that side it seems totally inaccessible. Upon the whole, this castle, before the invention of gunpowder, must have been deemed almost impregnable. It was taken and destroyed by the Marquis of Montrose, in the civil wars of 1645.

Saturday, 20th.-A continuance of similar scenery to that of the preceding day, extends most of the way to Stirling; the mountains on the one hand indeed become more lofty, and terminate abruptly; their acclivities frequently well wooded, and adorned with handsome seats and villas, form a pleasing variety with the level open plain below. About six miles from Stirling, a rude stone, of considerable size, stands in an adjacent field on the left; on what occasion it has been there placed I could not learn, probably it marked the spot of some battle "lost

Monday, 22d.-From Ardrie, a cross-road leads through Carlicke to Lanark. Between the two former places stands Colsfield, the seat of Sir James Stuart, a handsome building of free-stone. Approaching towards Lanark, the country again begins to swell into eminences; and a wooded glen, through which the road passes, with the distant view of a ruined castle, breaks in some measure the uniformity which had long prevailed. From Stirling, the country gradually becomes less interesting in a picturesque view, till it arrives at this place, where the vicinity of the falls of the Clyde gives room for the expectation of something that may repay the traveller for the fatigue he has undergone in his approach to them.

Tuesday, 23d.-About a mile and a half from Lanark, is the fall called Cory-Lin; it is the first and largest single fall: the inequalities of the rocks give it, in a side view, a bending surface, that adds much to the effect. The rocks which form the adjacent sides of the river are perpendicular, rugged, and finely wooded, and continue the same for a considerable way below, the water pouring through an extremely broken channel. The second fall is about a quarter of a mile distant, and is called the Boniton fall. It is higher in the aggregate than the former, but it is broken into several parts, which however they may add to the variety, greatly diminish the grandeur. To visit the lin of Stone Biers, it is necessary to return to the town, as it is situated about 2 miles on the Hamilton road. A place has been formed, to which a board directs the stranger, where a very good view of it is obtained. It is a combination of three distinct falls, which unite with a good deal of beauty, and are nothing inferior to Cory-Lin. Between Lanark

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Her Royal Highnas The Duchess of Kent, &.

Published by Henry Fisher. Caxton Liverpool 1820.

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