Chapter V: Preface (1)

No apology is deemed necessary for bringing this History of the Scottish Highlands before the public. A work under a similar title was brought out by the present publishers upwards of thirty years ago, under the care of Dr. James Browne, and met with a sale so extensive and sustained as to prove that it supplied a real want.

Since the publication of Browne’s History, which it is only the simple truth to say had no rival, research has brought to light so much that is new connected both with the general history of the Highlands and the history of the various clans, and so many new laurels have been added to those already won by the Highland regiments during the past century, and the early part of the present, that the publishers believed the time had come for the preparation and issue of a new work.

In preparing it, the editor has done all in his power to make it complete and accurate. The object of Dr. Browne’s work was to present in one book all that is interesting and valuable concerning the Highlands and Highlanders, a great deal of information on this subject having lain scattered in various quarters inaccessible to the general public. In the preparation of the present work this object has been kept steadily in view; and it may be said of it, with even more force than of Browne’s, that it is a _collectanea_ of information concerning the Scottish Highlands of an extent and kind to be met with in no other single publication.

The general plan of Dr. Browne’s work has been adhered to. In the First Part, that dealing with the General History of the Highlands, which, from the nature of the case, is more a chronicle of clan battles than a homogeneous history, it has been found possible, as might have been expected, to retain much of Browne’s text. This, however, has been subjected to a careful revision and comparison with the original authorities, as well as with the many new ones that have been brought to light during the past thirty years. Moreover, many portions throughout this section have been rewritten, and considerable additions made. One of the largest and most important of these is the continuation of the General History from 1745 down to the present day. The editor felt that, so far as the social history of the Highlands is concerned, the period embraced in the past hundred years was of even more importance than any previous time; he has therefore attempted to do what, so far as he knows, has not been done before, to present a sketch of the progress of the Highlands during that period. For this purpose he has had to consult a multitude of sources, and weigh many conflicting statements, his aim being simply to discover and tell the truth. Such matters have been gone into as Depopulation, Emigration, Agriculture, Large and Small Farms, Sheep and Deer, Fishing, Manufactures, Education, &c. It is hoped, therefore, that the First Part of the work will be found to contain a complete account of the Highlands, historical, antiquarian, and social.

An original and important feature of this part of the work is a history of the Gaelic Language and Literature, by the well known Celtic scholar, the Rev. T. Maclauchlan, LL.D., F.S.A. Scot.

In the Second Part, relating to the History of the Highland Clans, it will be found that, in the case of every clan, modifications and additions have been made. In some instances the histories have been entirely rewritten, and several border clans have been included that were not noticed in Browne’s work. The history of each clan, has, as far as possible, been traced from its founder through all the branches and offshoots down to the present day; the part it took in the various clan strifes, in the disputes between the Highlands and Lowlands, and in the general wars of Scotland, being set forth. In the case of most of the clans, gentlemen who have made a special study of particular clan histories have kindly revised the proofs.

The Third Part, the History of the Highland Regiments, occupies a prominent place in the present work. Of these regiments one-half have had their complete history published now for the first time, and in the case of the others so many changes and additions have been made, that this part of the work may be considered as entirely new. The history of each of the nine regiments which now rank as Highland has been gone into from its embodiment, and the trustworthiness of this unique body of military history may be inferred from the fact, that, in the case of every regiment, it is founded upon the original Regimental Record, supplemented in many instances by the diaries and recollections of officers; and in two cases, at least, as will be seen, by materials collected by officers who have made a special study of their regimental histories. The general reader will find this part of the work of very great interest.

With regard to the Illustrations, the publishers feel justified in alluding to them with considerable pride. No attempt has been made to make the present work a mere picture-book; it will be invariably found that the numerous plates, woodcuts, and clan-tartans either add interest to the text, or throw light upon it. Every effort has been made to secure authentic portraits and original views, and to have every illustration executed in a thoroughly artistic style; and it is hoped that, in these respects, the exertions of the editor and publishers have been crowned with success. The specimens of clan-tartans represent in every case those recognised by the heads of the various clans. The illustrations, therefore, will be found both historically and artistically valuable.

Throughout this work the editor has endeavoured to acknowledge the authorities which he has in any way made use of. Were he to mention the names of the numerous individuals to whom he has been indebted for assistance during its preparation, it would add very considerably to the length of this preface; in his own name and that of the publishers, he expresses sincere gratitude to all who have in any way lent a helping hand. Special thanks, however, are due to the Duke of Athole for assistance in various ways, and particularly for permission to engrave the portrait of Lord George Murray; to Lady Elizabeth Pringle for the portrait of the first Earl of Breadalbane, and to Mrs. Campbell of Monzie for that of the “Gentle Lochiel,”--all published in this work for the first time. As mentioned in the text, the beautiful miniature of “Prince Charlie” is copied from the original in possession of Donald Cameron, Esq. of Lochiel, who has also lent assistance in other ways. The originals of other valuable illustrations, as will be seen, have been kindly placed at the publishers’ service by the Duke of Sutherland, the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Strathmore, the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, The Mackintosh, The Chisholm, Duncan Forbes, Esq. of Culloden, David Laing, Esq., LL.D., James Drummond, Esq., R.S.A., and many others.

The editor has in the proper place in the text referred to the assistance given him in connection with the important history of “Clan Chattan” by Alexander Mackintosh Shaw, Esq., whose own history of the clan is nearly completed; the narrative in the present work owes its value almost entirely to his kindness. For assistance in the history of this clan the editor was also indebted to the late Rev. W. G. Shaw of Forfar.

To the Colonels-commanding of all the Highland regiments special thanks are due for hearty co-operation in procuring material for the Third Part of the work. Many other officers have, with the greatest readiness, either volunteered assistance or given it when asked. In this connection special mention must be made of Lieutenant-Colonels Wheatley, Clephane, and Sprot, Captain Colin Mackenzie, and Captain Thackeray.

The large and increasing demand for this work during its publication, and the extremely favourable notices of the press, afford good grounds for believing that it will be found to fulfil the purpose for which it has been compiled. May it ever meet with a kindly welcome from all who are in any way interested in the romantic Highlands of Scotland.

JOHN S. KELTIE.

LONDON, FEBRUARY 1875.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

PAGE

REMARKS ON THE SCENERY OF THE HIGHLANDS. By Professor WILSON, xiii

PART FIRST.--GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS, 1

CHAPTER

I. B.C. 55.-A.D. 446.--Highlands defined--Ancient
Scotland--Transactions of the Romans in the North of
Scotland--Roman Remains--Roads--Camps, 1

II. B.C. 55.-A.D. 446.--Early Inhabitants--Roman
Writers--Aristotle--Tacitus--Internal History of the
Highlands during the Time of the Romans, 16

III. A.D. 446-843.--Early History--Settlement of the Scots
in Scotland--Conversion of Picts--Druidism--St Columba
--Iona--Spread of Christianity, 32

IV. A.D. 843-1107.--Norse Invasions--Danes--Effect of
Norwegian Conquest--Influx of Anglo-Saxons--Table of
Scottish Kings, A.D. 843 to 1097, 48

V. A.D. 1107-1411.--Insurrections--Intestine Feuds
--Expedition of Haco--Battle of Largs--Robert Bruce
--Lord of the Isles invades Scotland--Battle of Harlaw, 59

VI. A.D. 1424-1512.--Policy of James I. to the Highland
Chiefs--Disturbances in Sutherland and Caithness--Wise
Policy of James IV.--Battle of Flodden, 71

VII. A.D. 1516-1588.--Doings in Sutherland--Dissensions
among the Clan Chattan--The “Field of Shirts”--The
Queen-Regent visits the Highlands--Queen Mary’s
Expedition against Huntly--Unruly State of North, &c., 80

VIII. A.D. 1588-1601.--Strife between Earls of Caithness
and Sutherland--Clan Feuds, 102

IX. A.D. 1602-1613.--Feud between the Colquhouns and
Macgregors--Lawless Proceedings in Sutherland--Other
Clan Feuds, 113

X. A.D. 1613-1623.--Clan Feuds--Reduction and Pacification
of Caithness, 128

XI. A.D. 1624-1636.--Insurrections--Disputes--Feuds--First
Marquis of Huntly, 148

XII. A.D. 1636-1644.--Charles I. attempts to introduce
Episcopacy into Scotland--Doings in the North--Earl of
Montrose--Covenanters--Battle of Tippermuir, 165

XIII. A.D. 1644 (September)-1645 (February).--Montrose
crosses the Tay, and his movements in the North, till
Battle of Inverlochy, 186

XIV. A.D. 1645 (February-September).--Montrose’s movements
in the North--at Inverness, Elgin, Banff, Aberdeen,
Stonehaven, Perth, Dundee, &c.--Montrose enters Glasgow
--Submission of Edinburgh--Battle of Philiphaugh, 200

XV. A.D. 1645-1649.--Huntly refuses to join Montrose
--Executions by the Covenanters--Meeting of the
Covenanting Parliament--Montrose disbands his Army
--Proceedings of General Leslie--Leslie in the Western
Isles--Cromwell arrives in Edinburgh--Execution of
Charles I., 234

XVI. A.D. 1649-1650.--Negotiations with Charles II.
--Proceedings of Montrose--Pluscardine’s Insurrection
--Montrose defeated at Carbisdale--Captured, and sent
to Edinburgh--Trial and Execution, 260

XVII. A.D. 1650-1660.--Charles II. in Scotland--Cromwell
invades Scotland--Battle of Dunbar--Flight of the
King--Insurrections in the Highlands--Proceedings of
Cromwell--Battle of Worcester--Operations of Monk in
Scotland--Cameron of Lochiel--State of the Country
--Restoration of Charles II, 278

XVIII. Character of Ancient Highlanders, Manners, Customs, &c.
Appendix to Chapter XVIII.--Highland Dress and Arms, 298

XIX. A.D. 1660-1689.--Execution of the Marquis of Argyll
--Argyll and Monmouth’s Invasion--Execution of Earl
of Argyll--Designs of the Prince of Orange--Proceedings
of King James--State of feeling in Scotland--Viscount
Dundee, 331

XX. A.D. 1689 (March-July).--General Hugh Mackay--Details
of Dundee’s Insurrection till his Death at
Killiecrankie--His Character, 350

XXI. A.D. 1689-1691.--General Mackay’s movements--Colonel
Cannon--The Cameronians at Dunkeld--Erection of
Fort-William--Cessation of Hostilities, 378

XXII. A.D. 1691-1702.--Negotiations with the Highland Chiefs
--Massacre of Glencoe--Master of Stair--King William III.
--Subsequent enquiry--State of Highlands during
William’s reign--Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, 394

XXIII. A.D. 1695-1714.--The Darien Bubble--Death of James II.
--Death of King William--The Union--Proceedings of the
Jacobites--Death of Queen Anne, 407

XXIV. A.D. 1714-1715.--Proceedings of the Whigs--The Chevalier
de St George--Arrival of George I. in England--Jacobite
Intrigues--The Earl of Mar, 420

XXV. A.D. 1715.--Measures of the Government--Attempt to
surprise Edinburgh Castle--Duke of Argyll appointed to
the command of the Government forces--Proceedings of
Mar--Rebels march into England--Battle of Preston, 431

XXVI. A.D. 1715-1716.--Earl of Mar--Battle of Sheriffmuir
--Dispersion of the Insurgents, 456

XXVII. A.D. 1716-1737.--Trial and Execution of Rebels
--Proceedings of General Cadogan in the Highlands--Act
of Grace--Disarming of the Highlanders--New Jacobite
Conspiracy--Bolingbroke--The Disarming Act--Disgrace
of the Earl of Mar--The Chevalier’s Domestic affairs
--Death of George I., 476

XXVIII. A.D. 1739-1745.--Foreign Intrigues--Edinburgh
Association--Jacobite Intrigues--Prince Charles Edward
resolves to invade Scotland, 502

XXIX. A.D. 1745.--Prince Charles’ landing--He raises his
standard--Manifesto, 511

XXX. A.D. 1745.--Conduct of the Government--Sir John Cope
--Prince Charles at Perth--The Prince marches South
--Alarm in Edinburgh--Municipal Intrigues, 527

XXXI. A.D. 1745.--Highlanders Capture Edinburgh--Prince
Charles at Holyrood--The Chevalier de St George
proclaimed--Battle of Prestonpans, 540

XXXII. A.D. 1745.--Prince Charles’ proceedings at Edinburgh
--Resolves to invade England, 566

XXXIII. A.D. 1745.--Plan of the march of the Rebels into
England--Composition of the Highland Army--March of
Prince Charles into England--Proceedings there
--Consternation at London--Retreat into Scotland, 584

XXXIV. A.D. 1745-1746.--Highland Army returns to Scotland
--Proceedings of the Jacobites in the North
--Proceedings till Battle of Falkirk, 611

XXXV. A.D. 1746.--Duke of Cumberland sent to Scotland
--Highland Army’s Retreat to the North--Expedition of
Lord George Murray into Athole, 630

XXXVI. A.D. 1746.--Duke of Cumberland marches North--Battle
of Culloden--Apprehension of Lord Lovat and others
--Suppression of the Rebellion, 648

XXXVII. A.D. 1746.--Prince Charles’ Wanderings and Narrow
Escapes--Arrives in France, 683

XXXVIII. A.D. 1746-1747.--Trial of Prisoners--Execution of
Lords Kilmarnock, Cromarty, Balmerino, and Lovat--Act
of Indemnity, 722

XXXIX. A.D. 1747-1748.--Prince Charles’ arrival in Paris--His
Treatment of Lord George Murray--His Advisers,
Difficulties, and Plans, 738

XL. A.D. 1748-PRESENT TIME.--Charles visits London--Arrest
and Execution of Dr Cameron--Death of the Chevalier
--Marriage of Charles--His death--Death of Cardinal
York--Descendants of the Stewarts, 753

XLI. Proceedings which followed Culloden--Influence of Clan
feeling--Disarming Act--The Old Jacobites--Queen
Victoria--Jacobitism at the Present Day, 762

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOLUME I.

Subject. Painted by
Engraved by Page

PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART, From Lochiel’s Original Miniature,
W. Holl, To face title.

THE GREAT MARQUIS OF MONTROSE, From a Rare Contemporary Print,
W. Holl, 271

VIEW OF KILLIECRANKIE, D. O. Hill,
W. Forrest, 369

ARMOUR WORN BY VISCOUNT DUNDEE }
AT KILLIECRANKIE, } Original Drawing,
J. R. Collie, 376

VIEW OF THE BATTLEFIELD OF }
SHERIFFMUIR, } J. C. Brown,
John Smith, 464

JAMES STUART, “THE CHEVALIER,” From an Original Painting,
W. Holl, 469

JOHN ERSKINE, 11TH EARL OF MAR, Sir G. Kneller,
S. Freeman, 498

VIEW OF LOCH SHIEL, with Monument }
on the spot where Prince }
Charles Edward first raised his }
Standard, 19th August 1745, } John Fleming,
W. Forrest, 523

WILLIAM, DUKE OF CUMBERLAND, Sir Joshua Reynolds,
J. Le Conte, 631

VIEW OF BALMORAL, Sam Bough,
W. Forrest, 775

TARTANS.

MACINTYRE, 58
MACNEILL, see page 162 Vol. II., 74
ROSS, ” 235 ” 78
MACLEAN, ” 223 ” 99
MACLEOD, }
MACKENZIE,} ” 191 ” 112
STUART, ” 297 ” 186
MUNRO, ” 232 ” 258
SUTHERLAND, see page 272 Vol. II., 266
CAMERON OF LOCHIEL, ” 217 ” 296
MACPHERSON (full dress), ” 210 ” 380
ROBERTSON, ” 169 ” 411
MACFARLANE, ” 173 ” 527
FRASER, ” 302 ” 606
MACKINNON, ” 256 ” 702
CHISHOLM, ” 307 ” 713

WOODCUTS IN THE LETTERPRESS.

1. Representation of an ancient Caledonian on Sculptured Stone
in the Church of Meigle, 4
2. Representation of an ancient Caledonian on Sculptured Stone
found at St Andrews, 4
3. Ancient British War-chariot, 6
4. Map and Profile of Antonine’s Wall, 10
5. Sculptured Stone, with inscription, from Antonine’s Wall, 11
6. Sketch Plan of the Roman Camp at Ardoch in 1755, 15
7. Stonehenge, 36
8. Circle of Callernish in Lewis, 37
9. Ruins of Ancient Monastery, Iona, 38
10. Seal of King Edgar (1097-1107), 56
11. Alexander III., 62
12. Effigy of the “Wolf of Badenoch” in Dunkeld Cathedral, 68
13. James I. (of Scotland), 73
14. Old Castle of Dunrobin, as in 1712, 83
15. Castle Duart, 98
16. Dornoch, showing the Cathedral, &c., 117
17. Stornoway Castle, 120
18. Castles Sinclair and Girnigo, 125
19. Dunyveg Castle, Islay, 130
20. Frendraught House, 156
21. First Marquis of Huntly, 163
22. First Marchioness of Huntly, 163
23. First Marquis of Argyll, 178
24. Inverlochy Castle, 199
25. Dunnottar Castle in the 17th Century, 205
26. Perth in the 17th Century, 220
27. Old Aberdeen in the 17th Century, 246
28. Second Marquis of Huntly, 254
29. General David Leslie, 264
30. Castle of Ardvraick, 269
31. William, Ninth Earl of Glencairn, 292
32. Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, 296
33. The Scottish “Maiden,” devised by Regent Morton, 333
34. Ninth Earl of Argyle, 339
35. John Graham, Viscount Dundee, 351
36. General Hugh Mackay of Scourie, 361
37. Pass of Killiecrankie in the 18th Century, 375
38. Dunkeld in the 17th Century, 384
39. First Earl of Breadalbane, 394
40. View of Glencoe, 400
41. Edinburgh Castle in 1715, 432
42. Inverness in the 17th Century, 456
43. Dunblane about 1715, 460
44. Second Duke of Argyll, 472
45. Fort Augustus, 485
46. Lieutenant General Wade, 491
47. Donald Cameron of Lochiel, “The Gentle Chief,” 1745, 519
48. Autograph of Sir John Cope, 531
49. Holyrood House in 1745, 550
50. Plan of the Battle of Prestonpans, 21st Sept. 1745, 561
51. Colonel James Gardiner, 563
52. Colonel Gardiner’s House, near Prestonpans, 566
53. The Duke of Perth, 586
54. Carlisle in 1745, 604
55. Stirling about A.D. 1700, 616
56. Plan of the Battle of Falkirk, 17th January 1746, 624
57. Lady Anne Mackintosh, 1745, 637
58. Blair Castle, as it stood in 1745-6 before being dismantled, 643
59. Old Culloden House as in 1746, 657
60. Plan of the Battle of Culloden, 16th April 1746, 661
61. Lord George Murray, 672
62. Duncan Forbes of Culloden, Lord President, 679
63. Flora Macdonald (with her autograph), 1747, 690
64. Loch Arkaig, with view of Achnacarry, the seat of Cameron
of Lochiel, 709
65. Dr. Archibald Cameron, 1745, 718
66. Simon, Lord Lovat, 1747, 734
67. A Representation of the Execution of Lord Lovat, 737
68. Henry, Cardinal Duke of York, 745
69,}
70.} Medal, Prince Charles and his Wife Louisa, 753
71. Prince Charles Edward Stuart as in 1776, 758
72,}
73.} Medal of Henry, Cardinal Duke of York, 760

REMARKS

ON THE

SCENERY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

BY

PROFESSOR WILSON.

In no other country does Nature exhibit herself in more various forms of beauty and sublimity than in the north of England and the Highlands of Scotland. This is acknowledged by all who, having studied their character, and become familiar with the feelings it inspires, have compared the effects produced on their minds by our own mountainous regions, with what they have experienced among the scenery of the Alps. There, indeed, all objects are on so vast a scale, that we are for a while astonished as we gaze on the gigantic; and all other emotions are sunk in an overwhelming sense of awe that prostrates the imagination. But on recovering from its subjection to the prodigious, that faculty everywhere recognises in those mighty mountains of dark forests, glittering glaciers, and regions of eternal snow--infinite all--the power and dominion of the sublime. True that all these are but materials for the mind to work on, and that to its creative energy Nature owes much of that grandeur which seems to be inherent in her own forms; yet surely she in herself is great, and there is a regality belonging of divine right to such a monarch as Mont Blanc.

Those are the very regions of sublimity, and if brought into immediate comparison with them in their immense magnitude, the most magnificent scenery of our own country would no doubt seem to lose its character of greatness. But such is not the process of the imagination in her intercourse with Nature. To her, sufficient for the day is the good thereof; and on each new glorious sight being shown to her eyes, she employs her God-given power to magnify or irradiate what she beholds, without diminishing or obscuring what she remembers. Thus, to her all things in nature hold their own due place, and retain for ever their own due impressions, aggrandized and beautified by mutual reaction in those visionary worlds, which by a thought she can create, and which, as they arise, are all shadowy representations of realities--new compositions in which the image of the earth we tread is reflected fairer or greater than any realities, but not therefore less, but more true to the spirit of nature. It is thus that poets and painters at once obey and control their own inspirations. They visit all the regions of the earth, but to love, admire, and adore; and the greatest of them all, native to our soil, from their travel or sojourn in foreign lands, have always brought home a clearer insight into the character of the scenery of their own, a profounder affection for it all, and a higher power of imaging its attributes in colours or in words. In our poetry, more than in any other, Nature sees herself reflected in a magic mirror; and though many a various show passes processionally along its lustre, displaying the scenery of “lands and seas, whatever clime the sun’s bright circle warms,” among them all there are none more delightful or elevating to behold than those which genius, inspired by love, has framed of the imagery, which, in all her pomp and prodigality, Heaven has been pleased to shower, through all seasons, on our own beautiful island. It is not for us to say whether our native painters, or the “old masters,” have shown the greatest genius in landscape; but if the palm must be yielded to them whose works have been consecrated by a reverence, as often, perhaps, superstitious as religious, we do not fear to say, that their superiority is not to be attributed in any degree to the scenery on which they exercised the art its beauty had inspired. Whatever may be the associations connected with the subjects of their landscapes--and we know not why they should be higher or holier than those belonging to innumerable places in our own land--assuredly in themselves they are not more interesting or impressive; nay, though none who have shared with us the spirit of the few imperfect sentences we have now written, will for a moment suppose us capable of instituting an invidious comparison between our own scenery and that of any other country, why should we hesitate to assert that our own storm-loving Northern Isle is equally rich in all kinds of beauty as the Sunny South, and richer far in all kinds of grandeur, whether we regard the forms or colouring of nature--earth, sea, or air--

“Or all the dread magnificence of heaven.”

What other region in all the world like that of the Lakes in the north of England! And yet how the true lover of nature, while he carries along with him its delightful character in his heart, and can so revive any spot of especial beauty in his imagination, as that it shall seem in an instant to be again before his very eyes, can deliver himself up, after the lapse of a day, to the genius of some savage scene in the Highlands of Scotland, rent and riven by the fury of some wild sea-loch! Not that the regions do not resemble one another, but surely the prevailing spirit of the one--not so of the other--is a spirit of joy and of peace. Her mountains, invested, though they often be, in gloom--and we have been more than once benighted during day, as a thunder-cloud thickened the shadows that for ever sleep in the deepest dungeons of Helvellyn--are yet--so it seems to us--such mountains as in nature ought to belong to “merry England.” They boldly meet the storms, and seen in storms you might think they loved the trouble; but pitch your tent among them, and you will feel that theirs is a grandeur that is congenial with the sunshine, and that their spirit fully rejoices in the brightness of light. In clear weather, verdant from base to summit, how majestic their repose! And as mists slowly withdraw themselves in thickening folds up along their sides, the revelation made is still of more and more of the beautiful--arable fields below, then coppice woods studded with standard trees--enclosed pastures above and among the woods--broad breasts of close-nibbled herbage here and there adorned by rich dyed rocks, that do not break the expanse--till the whole veil has disappeared; and, lo! the long lofty range, with its wavy line, rising and sinking so softly in the blue serenity, perhaps, of an almost cloudless sky. Yet though we have thus characterised the mountains by what we have always felt to be the pervading spirit of the region, chasms and ravines, and cliffs and precipices, are there; in some places you see such assemblages as inspire the fear that quakes at the heart, when suddenly struck in the solitude with a sense of the sublime; and though we have called the mountains green--and during Spring and Summer, in spite of frost or drought, they are green as emerald--yet in Autumn they are many-coloured, and are girdled with a glow of variegated light, that at sunset sometimes seems like fire kindled in the woods.

The larger Vales are all serene and cheerful; and among the sylvan knolls with which their wide levels, highly cultivated, are interspersed, cottages, single or in groups, are frequent, of an architecture always admirably suited to the scenery, because in a style suggested not by taste or fancy, which so often disfigure nature to produce the picturesque, but resorted to for sake of the uses and conveniences of in-door life, to weather-fend it in storms, and in calm to give it the enjoyment of sunshine. Many of these dwellings are not what are properly called cottages, but statesmen’s houses, of ample front, with their many roofs, over-shadowed by a stately grove, and inhabited by the same race for many generations. All alike have their suitable gardens, and the porches of the poorest are often clustered with roses; for everywhere among these hills, even in minds the most rude and uncultivated, there is a natural love of flowers. The villages, though somewhat too much modernised in those days of improvement--and indeed not a few of them with hardly any remains now of their original architecture--nothing old about them but the church tower, perhaps the parsonage--are nevertheless generally of a pleasing character, and accordant, if not with the great features of nature, which are unchanged and unchangeable, with the increased cultivation of the country, and the many villas and ornamented cottages that have risen and are rising by every lake and river side. Rivers indeed, properly so called, there are none among these mountains; but every vale, great and small, has at all times its pure and undefiled stream or rivulet; every hill has its hundreds of evanescent rills, almost every one its own perennial torrent flowing from spring, marsh, or tarn; and the whole region is often alive with waterfalls, of many of which, in its exquisite loveliness, the scenery is fit for fairy festivals--and of many, in its horrid gloom, for gatherings of gnomes revisiting “the glimpses of the moon” from their subterraneous prisons. One lake there is, which has been called “wooded Winandermere, the river lake;” and there is another--Ulswater--which you might imagine to be a river too, and to have come flowing from afar; the one excelling in isles, and bays, and promontories, serene and gentle all, and perfectly beautiful; the other, matchless in its majesty of cliff and mountain, and in its old forests, among whose hoary gloom is for ever breaking out the green light of young generations, and perpetual renovation triumphing over perpetual decay. Of the other lakes--not river-like--the character may be imagined even from that we have faintly described of the mountains; almost every vale has its lake, or a series of lakes; and though some of them have at times a stern aspect, and have scenes to show almost of desolation, descending sheer to the water’s edge, or overhanging the depth that looks profounder in the gloom, yet even these, to eyes and hearts familiar with their spirit, wear a sweet smile which seldom passes away. Witness Wastwater, with its huge single mountains, and hugest of all the mountains of England, Scawfell, with its terrific precipices--which, in the accidents of storm, gloom, or mist, has seemed, to the lonely passer-by, savage in the extreme--a howling or dreary wilderness--but in its enduring character, is surrounded with all quiet pastoral imagery, the deep glen in which it is embedded being, in good truth, the abode of Sabbath peace. That hugest mountain is indeed the centre from which all the vales irregularly diverge; the whole circumjacent region may be traversed in a week; and though no other district of equal extent contains such variety of the sublime and beautiful, yet the beautiful is so prevalent that we feel its presence, even in places where it is overpowered; and on leaving “The Lakes,” our imagination is haunted and possessed with images, not of dread, but of delight.

We have sometimes been asked, whether the north of England or the Highlands of Scotland should be visited first; but, simple as the question seems, it is really one which it is impossible to answer, though we suspect it would equally puzzle Scotchman or Englishman to give a sufficient reason for his wishing to see any part of any other country, before he had seen what was best worth seeing in his own. His own country ought to be, and generally is, dearest to every man. There, if nothing forbid, he should not only begin his study of nature, but continue his education in her school, wherever it may happen to be situated, till he has taken his first degree. We believe that the love of nature is strong in the hearts of the inhabitants of our island. And how wide and profound may that knowledge of nature be, which the loving heart has acquired, without having studied her anywhere but within the Four Seas! The impulses that make us desire to widen the circle of our observation, are all impulses of delight and love; and it would be strange indeed, did they not move us, first of all, towards whatever is most beautiful belonging to our own land. Were it otherwise, it would seem as if the heart were faithless to the home affections, out of which, in their strength, spring all others that are good; and it is essential, we do not doubt, to the full growth of the love of country, that we should all have our earliest imaginative delights associated with our native soil. Such associations will for ever keep it loveliest to our eyes; nor is it possible that we can ever as perfectly understand the character of any other; but we can afterwards transfer and transfuse our feelings in imagination kindled by our own will; and the beauty, born before our eyes, among the banks and braes of our childhood, and then believed to be but there, and nothing like it anywhere else in all the world, becomes a golden light, “whose home is everywhere,” which if we do not darken it, will shine unshadowed in the dreariest places, till “the desert blossom like the rose.”

For our own parts, before we beheld one of “the beautiful fields of England,” we had walked all Scotland thorough, and had seen many a secret place, which now, in the confusion of our crowded memory, seem often to shift their uncertain ground; but still, wherever they glimmeringly re-appear, invested with the same heavenly light in which long ago they took possession of our soul. And now that we are almost as familiar with the fair sister-land, and love her almost as well as Scotland’s self, not all the charms in which she is arrayed--and they are at once graceful and glorious--have ever for a day withdrawn our deeper dreams from the regions where,

“In life’s morning march when our spirit was young,”

unaccompanied but by our own shadow in the wilderness, we first heard the belling of the red deer and the eagle’s cry.

In those days there was some difficulty, if not a little danger, in getting in among some of the noblest regions of our Alps. They could not be traversed without strong personal exertion; and a solitary pedestrian excursion through the Grampians was seldom achieved without a few incidents that might almost have been called adventures. It is very different now; yet the _Genius Loci_, though tamed, is not subdued; and they who would become acquainted with the heart of the Highlands, will have need of some endurance still, and must care nothing about the condition of earth or sky. Formerly, it was not possible to survey more than a district or division in a single season, except to those unenviable persons who had no other pursuit but that of amusement, and waged a weary war with time. The industrious dwellers in cities, who sought these solitudes for a while to relieve their hearts from worldly anxieties, and gratify that love of nature which is inextinguishable in every bosom that in youth has beat with its noble inspirations, were contented with a week or two of such intercommunion with the spirit of the mountains, and thus continued to extend their acquaintance with the glorious wildernesses, visit after visit, for years. Now the whole Highlands, western and northern, may be commanded in a month. Not that any one who knows what they are will imagine that they can be exhausted in a lifetime. The man does not live who knows all worth knowing there; and were they who made the trigonometrical survey to be questioned on their experiences, they would be found ignorant of thousands of sights, any one of which would be worth a journey for its own sake. But now steam has bridged the Great Glen, and connected the two seas. Salt water lochs the most remote and inaccessible, it has brought within reach of a summer day’s voyage. In a week a joyous company can gather all the mainland shores, leaving not one magnificent bay uncircled; and, having rounded St Kilda and

“the Hebride Isles,
Placed far amid the melancholy main,”

and heard the pealing anthem of waves in the cave-cathedral of Staffa, may bless the bells of St Mungo’s tolling on the first Sabbath. Thousands and tens of thousands, who but for those smoking sea-horses, had never been beyond view of the city spires, have seen sights which, though passing by almost like dreams, are not like dreams forgotten, but revive of themselves in memory and imagination; and, when the heart is weary with the work of the hand, quicken its pulses with a sudden pleasure that is felt like a renovation of youth.

All through the interior, too, how many hundreds of miles of roads now intersect regions not long ago deemed impracticable!--firm on the fen, in safety flung across the chasm--and winding smoothly amidst shatterings of rocks, round the huge mountain bases, and down the glens once felt as if interminable, now travelled almost with the speed of the raven’s wing!

In the Highlands now, there is no _terra incognita_. But there are many places yet well worth seeing, which it is not easy for all men to find, and to which every man must be his own guide. It is somewhat of a selfish feeling, indeed, but the pride is not a mean one, with which the solitary pedestrian sits down to contemplate some strange, or wild, or savage scene, or some view of surpassing sweetness and serenity, so far removed from the track of men, that he can well believe for a time that his eyes have been the first to behold it, and that for them alone it has now become a visible revelation. The memory of such places is sometimes kept as a secret which we would not communicate but to a congenial friend. They are hallowed by those mysterious “thoughts that, like phantoms, trackless come and go;” no words can tell another how to find his way thither; and were we ourselves to seek to return, we should have to trust to some consciousness mysterious as the instinct of a bird that carries it through the blind night to the place of its desire.

It is well to have in our mind the conception of a route; but without being utterly departed from--nay, without ceasing to control us within certain bounds--it admits of almost any degrees of deviation. We have known persons apparently travelling for pleasure who were afraid to turn a few miles to the right or the left, for fear of subjecting themselves to the reproach of their own conscience for infirmity of purpose. They had “chalked out a route,” and acted as if they had sworn a solemn oath to follow it. This is to be a slave among the boundless dominions of nature, where all are free. As the wind bloweth wherever it listeth, so move the moods of men’s minds, when there is nought to shackle them, and when the burden of their cares has been dropt, that for a while they may walk on air, and feel that they too have wings.

“A voice calls on me from the mountain depths,
And it must be obeyed.”

The voice was our own--and yet though but a whisper from the heart, it seemed to come from the front of yon distant precipice--sweet and wild as an echo.

On rising at dawn in the shieling, why think, much less determine, where at night we are to lay down our head? Let this be our thought:

“Among the hills a hundred homes have I:
My table in the wilderness is spread:
In these lone spots one honest smile can buy
Plain fare, warm welcome, and a rushy bed.”

If we obey any powers external to our own minds, let them be the powers of Nature--the rains, the winds, the atmosphere, sun, moon and stars. We must keep a look out--

“To see the deep, fermenting tempest brewed,
In the grim evening sky;”

that next day we may cross the red rivers by bridges, not by fords; and if they roll along unbridged, that we may set our face to the mountain, and wind our way round his shoulder by sheep-tracks, unwet with the heather, till we behold some great strath, which we had not visited but for that storm, with its dark blue river streaked with golden light,--for its source is in a loch among the Eastern Range; and there, during the silent hours, heather, bracken, and greensward rejoiced in the trembling dews.

There is no such climate for all kinds of beauty and grandeur as the climate of the Highlands. Here and there you meet with an old shepherd or herdsman, who has beguiled himself into a belief, in spite of many a night’s unforeseen imprisonment in the mists, that he can presage its changes from fair to foul, and can tell the hour when the long-threatening thunder will begin to mutter. The weather-wise have often perished in their plaids. Yet among a thousand uncertain symptoms, there are a few certain, which the ranger will do well to study, and he will often exult on the mountain to feel that “knowledge is power.” Many a glorious hour has been won from the tempest by him before whose instructed eye--beyond the gloom that wide around blackened all the purple heather--“far off its coming shone.” Leagues of continuous magnificence have gradually unveiled themselves on either side to him, as he has slowly paced, midway between, along the banks of the River of Waterfalls; having been assured by the light struggling through the mist, that it would not be long till there was a break-up of all that ghastly dreariment, and that the sun would call on him to come forth from his cave of shelter, and behold in all its pride the Glen affronting the Sea.

Some Tourists--as they call themselves--are provided with map and compass; and we hope they find them of avail in extremities, though we fear few such understand their use. No map can tell--except very vaguely--how the aspect of the localities, looked at on its lines, is likely to be affected by sunrise, meridian, or sunset. Yet, true it is, that every region has its own happy hours, which the fortunate often find unawares, and know them at once to be so the moment they lift up their eyes. At such times, while “our hearts rejoice in Nature’s joy,” we feel the presence of a spirit that brings out the essential character of the place, be it of beauty or of grandeur. Harmonious as music is then the composition of colours and of forms. It becomes a perfect picture in memory, more and more idealised by imagination, every moment the veil is withdrawn before it; its aërial lineaments never fade; yet they too, though their being be but in the soul, are mellowed by the touch of time--and every glimpse of such a vision, the longer we live, and the more we suffer, seems suffused with a mournful light, as if seen through tears.

It would serve no good purpose, supposing we had the power, to analyse the composition of that scenery, which in the aggregate so moves even the most sluggish faculties, as to make “the dullest wight a poet.” It rises before the mind in imagination, as it does before the eyes in nature; and we can no more speak of it than look at it, but as a whole. We can indeed fix our mental or our visual gaze on scene after scene to the exclusion of all beside, and picture it even in words that shall be more than shadows. But how shall any succession of such pictures, however clear and complete, give an idea of that picture which comprehends them all, and infinite as are its manifestations, nevertheless is imbued with one spirit?

Try to forget that in the Highlands there are any Lochs. Then the sole power is that of the Mountains. We speak of a sea of mountains; but that image has never more than momentary possession of us, because, but for a moment, in nature it has no truth. Tumultuary movements envelope them; but they themselves are for ever steadfast and for ever still. Their power is that of an enduring calm no storms can disturb--and is often felt to be more majestical, the more furious are the storms. As the tempest-driven clouds are franticly hurrying to and fro, how serene the summits in the sky! Or if they be hidden, how peaceful the glimpses of some great mountain’s breast! They disregard the hurricane that goes crashing through their old woods; the cloud-thunder disturbs not them any more than that of their own cataracts, and the lightnings play for their pastime. All minds under any excitation more or less personify mountains. When much moved, that natural process affects all our feelings, as the language of passion awakened by such objects vividly declares; and then we do assuredly conceive of mountains as indued with life--however dim and vague the conception may be--and feel their character in their very names. Utterly strip our ideas of them of all that is attached to them as impersonations, and their power is gone. But while we are creatures of imagination as well as of reason, will those monarchs remain invested with the purple and seated on thrones.

In such imaginative moods as these must every one be, far more frequently than he is conscious of, and in far higher degrees, who, with a cultivated mind and a heart open to the influences of nature, finds himself, it matters not whether for the first or the hundredth time, in the Highlands. We fancy the Neophyte wandering, all by himself, on the “longest day;” rejoicing to think that the light will not fail him, when at last the sun must go down, for that a starry gloaming will continue its gentle reign till morn. He thinks but of what he sees, and that is--the mountains. All memories of any other world but that which encloses him with its still sublimities, are not excluded merely, but obliterated: his whole being is there! And now he stands on table-land, and with his eyes sweeps the horizon, bewildered for a while, for it seems chaos all. But soon the mighty masses begin arranging themselves into order; the confusion insensibly subsides as he comprehends more and more of their magnificent combinations; he discovers centres round which are associated altitudes towering afar off; and finally, he feels, and blesses himself on his felicity, that his good genius has placed him on the very centre of those wondrous assemblages altogether, from which alone he could command an empire of realities, more glorious far than was ever empire of dreams.

It is a cloudy, but not a stormy day; the clouds occupy but portions of the sky,--and are they all in slow motion together, or are they all at rest? Huge shadows stalking along the earth, tell that there are changes going on in heaven; but to the upward gaze, all seems hanging there in the same repose; and with the same soft illumination the sun to continue shining, a concentration rather than an orb of light. All above is beautiful, and the clouds themselves are like celestial mountains; but the eye forsakes them, though it sees them still, and more quietly now it moves along the pageantry below that endures for ever--till chained on a sudden by that range of cliffs. ’Tis along them that the giant shadows are stalking--but now they have passed by--and the long line of precipice seems to come forward in the light. To look down from the brink might be terrible--to look up from the base would be sublime--but fronting the eye thus, horrid though it be, the sight is most beautiful;--for weather-stains, and mosses, and lichens, and flowering-plants--conspicuous most the broom and the heather--and shrubs that, among their leaves of light, have no need of flowers--and hollies, and birks, and hazels, and many a slender tree besides with pensile tresses, besprinkle all the cliffs, that in no gloom could ever lose their lustre; but now the day though not bright is fair, and brings out the whole beauty of the precipice--call it the hanging garden of the wilderness.

The Highlands have been said to be a gloomy region, and worse gloom than theirs might well be borne, if not unfrequently illumined with such sights as these; but that is not the character of the mountains, though the purple light in which, for usual, they are so richly steeped, is often for a season tamed, or for a short while extinguished, while a strange night-like day lets fall over them all a something like a shroud. Such days we have seen--but now in fancy we are with the pilgrim, and see preparation making for a sunset. It is drawing towards evening, and the clouds that have all this time been moving, though we knew it not, have assuredly settled now, and taken up their rest. The sun has gone down, and all that unspeakable glory has left the sky. Evening has come and gone without our knowing that she had been here; but there is no gloom on any place in the whole of this vast wilderness, and the mountains, as they wax dimmer and dimmer, look as if they were surrendering themselves to a repose like sleep. Day had no voice here audible to human ear--but night is murmuring--and gentle though the murmur be, it filleth the great void, and we imagine that ever and anon it awakens echoes. And now it is darker than we thought, for lo! one soft-burning star! And we see that there are many stars; but not theirs the light that begins again to reveal object after object as gradually as they had disappeared; the moon is about to rise--is rising--has arisen--has taken her place high in heaven; and as the glorious world again expands around us, faintly tinged, clearly illumined, softly shadowed, and deeply begloomed, we say within our hearts,

“How beautiful is night!”

There are many such table-lands as the one we have now been imagining, and it requires but a slight acquaintance with the country to conjecture rightly where they lie. Independently of the panoramas they display, they are in themselves always impressive; perhaps a bare level that shows but bleached bent, and scatterings of stones, with here and there an unaccountable rock; or hundreds of fairy greensward knolls, fringed with tiny forests of fern that have almost displaced the heather; or a wild withered moor or moss intersected with pits dug not by men’s hands; and, strange to see! a huge log lying half exposed, and as if blackened by fire. High as such places are, on one of them a young gorcock was stricken down by a hawk close to our feet. Indeed, hawks seem to haunt such places, and we have rarely crossed one of them, without either seeing the creature’s stealthy flight, or hearing, whether he be alarmed or preying, his ever-angry cry.

From a few such stations, you get an insight into the configuration of the whole Western Highlands. By the dip of the mountains, you discover at a glance all the openings in the panorama around you into other regions. Follow your fancies fearlessly wherever they may lead; and if the blue aërial haze that hangs over a pass winding eastward, tempt you from your line of march due north, forthwith descend in that direction, and haply an omen will confirm you--an eagle rising on the left, and sailing away before you into that very spot of sky.

No man, however well read, should travel by book. In books you find descriptions, and often good ones, of the most celebrated scenes, but seldom a word about the vast tracts between; and it would seem as if many Tourists had used their eyes only in those places where they had been told by common fame there was something greatly to admire. Travel in the faith, that go where you will, the cravings of your heart will be satisfied, and you will find it so, if you be a true lover of nature. You hope to be inspired by her spirit, that you may read aright her works. But such inspiration comes not from one object or another, however great or fair, but from the whole “mighty world of eye and ear,” and it must be supported continuously, or it perishes. You may see a thousand sights never before seen by human eye, at every step you take, wherever be your path; for no steps but yours have ever walked along that same level; and moreover, never on the same spot twice rested the same lights or shadows. Then there may be something in the air, and more in your own heart, that invests every ordinary object with extraordinary beauty; old images affect you with a new delight; a grandeur grows upon your eyes in the undulations of the simplest hills; and you feel there is sublimity in the common skies. It is thus that all the stores of imagery are insensibly gathered, with which the minds of men are filled, who from youth have communed with Nature. And it is thus that all those feelings have flowed into their hearts by which that imagery is sanctified; and these are the poets.

It is in this way that we all become familiar with the Mountains. Far more than we were aware of have we trusted to the strong spirit of delight within us, to prompt and to guide. And in such a country as the Highlands, thus led, we cannot err. Therefore, if your desire be for the summits, set your face thitherwards, and wind a way of your own, still ascending and ascending, along some vast brow, that seems almost a whole day’s journey, and where it is lost from your sight, not to end, but to go sweeping round, with undiminished grandeur, into another region. You are not yet half-way up the mountain, but you care not for the summit now; for you find yourself among a number of green knolls--all of them sprinkled, and some of them crowned, with trees--as large almost as our lowland hills--surrounded close to the brink with the purple heather--and without impairing the majesty of the immense expanse, embuing it with pastoral and sylvan beauty;--and there, lying in a small forest glade of the lady-fern, ambitious no longer of a throne on Benlomond or Bennevis, you dream away the still hours till sunset, yet then have no reason to weep that you have lost a day.

But the best way to view the mountains is to trace the Glens. To find out the glens you must often scale the shoulders of mountains; and in such journeys of discovery, you have for ever going on before your eyes glorious transfigurations. Sometimes for a whole day one mighty mass lowers before you unchanged; look at it after the interval of hours, and still the giant is one and the same. It rules the region, subjecting all other altitudes to its sway, though many of them range away to a great distance; and at sunset retains its supremacy, blazing almost like a volcano with fiery clouds. Your line of journey lies, perhaps, some two thousand feet above the level of the sea, and seldom dips down to one thousand; and these are the heights from which all above and all below you look most magnificent, for both regions have their full power over you--the unscaleable cliffs, the unfathomable abysses--and you know not which is the more sublime. The sublimity indeed is one. It is then that you may do well to ascend to the very mountain top. For it may happen to be one of those heavenly days indeed, when the whole Highlands seem to be reposing in the cloudless sky.