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diff --git a/42857-0.txt b/42857-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb535d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/42857-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9062 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42857 *** + + JOURNALS + OF + DOROTHY WORDSWORTH + VOL. II + + + + +[Illustration: _William Wordsworth after Margaret Gillies_] + + + + + JOURNALS + OF + DOROTHY WORDSWORTH + + EDITED BY + WILLIAM KNIGHT + + VOL. II + + [Illustration: _Grasmere Church and Churchyard._] + + London + MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. + NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. + 1897 + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + VII. RECOLLECTIONS OF A TOUR MADE IN SCOTLAND + (A.D. 1803)--_Continued_ 1 + + VIII. JOURNAL OF A MOUNTAIN RAMBLE BY DOROTHY AND + WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, NOVEMBER 7TH TO 13TH, + 1805 151 + + IX. EXTRACTS FROM DOROTHY WORDSWORTH'S JOURNAL + OF A TOUR ON THE CONTINENT, 1820 161 + + X. EXTRACTS FROM DOROTHY WORDSWORTH'S TOUR IN + SCOTLAND, 1822 261 + + XI. EXTRACTS FROM MARY WORDSWORTH'S JOURNAL OF + A TOUR IN BELGIUM IN 1823 269 + + XII. EXTRACTS FROM DOROTHY WORDSWORTH'S TOUR IN + THE ISLE OF MAN, 1828 281 + + + + + VII + + RECOLLECTIONS + OF + A TOUR MADE IN SCOTLAND + (A.D. 1803) + (_Continued_) + + +CONTENTS + + +=Third Week= + + DAY PAGE + + 14. Left Loch Ketterine 5 + Garrison House--Highland Girls 6 + Ferry-House at Inversneyde 7 + Poem to the Highland Girl 11 + Return to Tarbet 13 + + 15. Coleridge resolves to go home 14 + Arrochar--Loch Long 15 + Parted with Coleridge 17 + Glen Croe--The Cobbler 18 + Glen Kinglas--Cairndow 20 + + 16. Road to Inverary 21 + Inverary 22 + + 17. Vale of Arey 27 + Loch Awe 29 + Kilchurn Castle 33 + Dalmally 34 + + 18. Loch Awe 36 + Taynuilt 38 + Bunawe--Loch Etive 39 + Tinkers 43 + + 19. Road by Loch Etive downwards 45 + Dunstaffnage Castle 47 + Loch Creran 49 + Strath of Appin--Portnacroish 51 + Islands of Loch Linnhe 52 + Morven 52 + Lord Tweeddale 53 + Strath of Duror 55 + Ballachulish 56 + + 20. Road to Glen Coe up Loch Leven 57 + Blacksmith's house 58 + Glen Coe 62 + Whisky hovel 65 + King's House 65 + + +=Fourth Week= + + 21. Road to Inveroran 70 + Inveroran--Public-house 71 + Road to Tyndrum 72 + Tyndrum 73 + Loch Dochart 74 + + 22. Killin 75 + Loch Tay 76 + Kenmore 77 + + 23. Lord Breadalbane's grounds 80 + Vale of Tay--Aberfeldy--Falls of Moness 81 + River Tummel--Vale of Tummel 82 + Fascally--Blair 83 + + 24. Duke of Athol's gardens 84 + Falls of Bruar--Mountain-road to Loch Tummel 87 + Loch Tummel 88 + Rivers Tummel and Garry 90 + Fascally 91 + + 25. Pass of Killicrankie--Sonnet 92 + Fall of Tummel 93 + Dunkeld 94 + Fall of the Bran 95 + + 26. Duke of Athol's gardens 96 + Glen of the Bran--Rumbling Brig 96 + Narrow Glen--Poem 97 + Crieff 99 + + 27. Strath Erne 99 + Lord Melville's house--Loch Erne 100 + Strath Eyer--Loch Lubnaig 101 + Bruce the Traveller--Pass of Leny-- + Callander 102 + + +=Fifth Week= + + 28. Road to the Trossachs--Loch Vennachar 103 + Loch Achray--Trossachs--Road up Loch + Ketterine 104 + Poem: "Stepping Westward" 105 + Boatman's hut 106 + + 29. Road to Loch Lomond 106 + Ferry-House at Inversneyde 107 + Walk up Loch Lomond 108 + Glenfalloch 109 + Glengyle 111 + Rob Roy's Grave--Poem 112 + Boatman's hut 116 + + 30. Mountain-Road to Loch Voil 117 + Poem: "The Solitary Reaper" 118 + Strath Eyer 119 + + 31. Loch Lubnaig 121 + Callander--Stirling--Falkirk 122 + + 32. Linlithgow--Road to Edinburgh 123 + + 33. Edinburgh 123 + Roslin 125 + + 34. Roslin--Hawthornden 126 + Road to Peebles 127 + + +=Sixth Week= + + 35. Peebles--Neidpath Castle--Sonnet 127 + Tweed 129 + Clovenford 130 + Poem on Yarrow 131 + + 36. Melrose--Melrose Abbey 133 + + 37. Dryburgh 136 + Jedburgh--Old Woman 138 + Poem 140 + + 38. Vale of Jed--Ferniehurst 142 + + 39. Jedburgh--The Assizes 144 + Vale of Teviot 145 + Hawick 147 + + 40. Vale of Teviot--Branxholm 147 + Moss Paul 148 + Langholm 148 + + 41. Road to Longtown 149 + River Esk--Carlisle 150 + + 42. Arrival at home 150 + + +RECOLLECTIONS OF A TOUR MADE IN SCOTLAND. A.D. 1803 (_Continued_) + + +_THIRD WEEK_ + +_Sunday, August 28th._--We were desirous to have crossed the mountains +above Glengyle to Glenfalloch, at the head of Loch Lomond, but it rained +so heavily that it was impossible, so the ferryman engaged to row us to +the point where Coleridge and I had rested, while William was going on +our doubtful adventure. The hostess provided us with tea and sugar for +our breakfast; the water was boiled in an iron pan, and dealt out to us +in a jug, a proof that she does not often drink tea, though she said she +had always tea and sugar in the house. She and the rest of the family +breakfasted on curds and whey, as taken out of the pot in which she was +making cheese; she insisted upon my taking some also; and her husband +joined in with the old story, that it was "varra halesome." I thought it +exceedingly good, and said to myself that they lived nicely with their +cow: she was meat, drink, and company. Before breakfast the housewife +was milking behind the chimney, and I thought I had seldom heard a +sweeter fire-side sound; in an evening, sitting over a sleepy, low-burnt +fire, it would lull one like the purring of a cat. + +When we departed, the good woman shook me cordially by the hand, saying +she hoped that if ever we came into Scotland again, we would come and +see her. The lake was calm, but it rained so heavily that we could see +little. Landed at about ten o'clock, almost wet to the skin, and, with +no prospect but of streaming rains, faced the mountain-road to Loch +Lomond. We recognised the same objects passed before,--the tarn, the +potato-bed, and the cottages with their burnies, which were no longer, +as one might say, household streams, but made us only think of the +mountains and rocks they came from. Indeed, it is not easy to imagine +how different everything appeared; the mountains with mists and torrents +alive and always changing: but the low grounds where the inhabitants had +been at work the day before were melancholy, with here and there a few +haycocks and hay scattered about. + +Wet as we were, William and I turned out of our path to the Garrison +house. A few rooms of it seemed to be inhabited by some wretchedly poor +families, and it had all the desolation of a large decayed mansion in +the suburbs of a town, abandoned of its proper inhabitants, and become +the abode of paupers. In spite of its outside bravery, it was but a poor +protection against "the sword of winter, keen and cold." We looked at +the building through the arch of a broken gateway of the courtyard, in +the middle of which it stands. Upon that stormy day it appeared more +than desolate; there was something about it even frightful. + +When beginning to descend the hill towards Loch Lomond, we overtook two +girls, who told us we could not cross the ferry till evening, for the +boat was gone with a number of people to church. One of the girls was +exceedingly beautiful; and the figures of both of them, in grey plaids +falling to their feet, their faces only being uncovered, excited our +attention before we spoke to them; but they answered us so sweetly that +we were quite delighted, at the same time that they stared at us with an +innocent look of wonder. I think I never heard the English language +sound more sweetly than from the mouth of the elder of these girls, +while she stood at the gate answering our inquiries, her face flushed +with the rain; her pronunciation was clear and distinct: without +difficulty, yet slow, like that of a foreign speech. They told us we +might sit in the ferry-house till the return of the boat, went in with +us, and made a good fire as fast as possible to dry our wet clothes. We +learnt that the taller was the sister of the ferryman, and had been left +in charge with the house for the day, that the other was his wife's +sister, and was come with her mother on a visit,--an old woman, who sate +in a corner beside the cradle, nursing her little grand-child. We were +glad to be housed, with our feet upon a warm hearth-stone; and our +attendants were so active and good-humoured that it was pleasant to have +to desire them to do anything. The younger was a delicate and +unhealthy-looking girl; but there was an uncommon meekness in her +countenance, with an air of premature intelligence, which is often seen +in sickly young persons. The other made me think of Peter Bell's +"Highland Girl:" + + As light and beauteous as a squirrel, + As beauteous and as wild![1] + + [Footnote 1: See _Peter Bell_, part iii. stanza 31.--ED.] + +She moved with unusual activity, which was chastened very delicately by +a certain hesitation in her looks when she spoke, being able to +understand us but imperfectly. They were both exceedingly desirous to +get me what I wanted to make me comfortable. I was to have a gown and +petticoat of the mistress's; so they turned out her whole wardrobe upon +the parlour floor, talking Erse to one another, and laughing all the +time. It was long before they could decide which of the gowns I was to +have; they chose at last, no doubt thinking that it was the best, a +light-coloured sprigged cotton, with long sleeves, and they both laughed +while I was putting it on, with the blue linsey petticoat, and one or +the other, or both together, helped me to dress, repeating at least half +a dozen times, "You never had on the like of that before." They held a +consultation of several minutes over a pair of coarse woollen stockings, +gabbling Erse as fast as their tongues could move, and looked as if +uncertain what to do: at last, with great diffidence, they offered them +to me, adding, as before, that I had never worn "the like of them." When +we entered the house we had been not a little glad to see a fowl stewing +in barley-broth; and now when the wettest of our clothes were stripped +off, began again to recollect that we were hungry, and asked if we could +have dinner. "Oh yes, ye may get that," the elder replied, pointing to +the pan on the fire. + +Conceive what a busy house it was--all our wet clothes to be dried, +dinner prepared and set out for us four strangers, and a second cooking +for the family; add to this, two rough "callans," as they called them, +boys about eight years old, were playing beside us; the poor baby was +fretful all the while; the old woman sang doleful Erse songs, rocking it +in its cradle the more violently the more it cried; then there were a +dozen cookings of porridge, and it could never be fed without the +assistance of all three. The hut was after the Highland fashion, but +without anything beautiful except its situation; the floor was rough, +and wet with the rain that came in at the door, so that the lasses' bare +feet were as wet as if they had been walking through street puddles, in +passing from one room to another; the windows were open, as at the other +hut; but the kitchen had a bed in it, and was much smaller, and the +shape of the house was like that of a common English cottage, without +its comfort; yet there was no appearance of poverty--indeed, quite the +contrary. The peep out of the open door-place across the lake made some +amends for the want of the long roof and elegant rafters of our +boatman's cottage, and all the while the waterfall, which we could not +see, was roaring at the end of the hut, which seemed to serve as a +sounding-board for its noise, so that it was not unlike sitting in a +house where a mill is going. The dashing of the waves against the shore +could not be distinguished; yet in spite of my knowledge of this I +could not help fancying that the tumult and storm came from the lake, +and went out several times to see if it was possible to row over in +safety. + +After long waiting we grew impatient for our dinner; at last the pan was +taken off, and carried into the other room; but we had to wait at least +another half hour before the ceremony of dishing up was completed; yet +with all this bustle and difficulty, the manner in which they, and +particularly the elder of the girls, performed everything, was perfectly +graceful. We ate a hearty dinner, and had time to get our clothes quite +dry before the arrival of the boat. The girls could not say at what time +it would be at home; on our asking them if the church was far off they +replied, "Not very far"; and when we asked how far, they said, "Perhaps +about four or five miles." I believe a Church of England congregation +would hold themselves excused for non-attendance three parts of the +year, having but half as far to go; but in the lonely parts of Scotland +they make little of a journey of nine or ten miles to a preaching. They +have not perhaps an opportunity of going more than once in a quarter of +a year, and, setting piety aside, have other motives to attend: they +hear the news, public and private, and see their friends and neighbours; +for though the people who meet at these times may be gathered together +from a circle of twenty miles' diameter, a sort of neighbourly connexion +must be so brought about. There is something exceedingly pleasing to my +imagination in this gathering together of the inhabitants of these +secluded districts--for instance, the borderers of these two large lakes +meeting at the deserted garrison which I have described. The manner of +their travelling is on foot, on horseback, and in boats across the +waters,--young and old, rich and poor, all in their best dress. + +If it were not for these Sabbath-day meetings one summer month would be +like another summer month, one winter month like another--detached from +the goings-on of the world, and solitary throughout; from the time of +earliest childhood they will be like landing-places in the memory of a +person who has passed his life in these thinly peopled regions; they +must generally leave distinct impressions, differing from each other so +much as they do in circumstances, in time and place, etc.,--some in the +open fields, upon hills, in houses, under large rocks, in storms, and in +fine weather. + +But I have forgotten the fireside of our hut. After long waiting, the +girls, who had been on the look-out, informed us that the boat was +coming. I went to the water-side, and saw a cluster of people on the +opposite shore; but being yet at a distance, they looked more like +soldiers surrounding a carriage than a group of men and women; red and +green were the distinguishable colours. We hastened to get ourselves +ready as soon as we saw the party approach, but had longer to wait than +we expected, the lake being wider than it appears to be. As they drew +near we could distinguish men in tartan plaids, women in scarlet cloaks, +and green umbrellas by the half-dozen. The landing was as pretty a sight +as ever I saw. The bay, which had been so quiet two days before, was all +in motion with small waves, while the swoln waterfall roared in our +ears. The boat came steadily up, being pressed almost to the water's +edge by the weight of its cargo; perhaps twenty people landed, one after +another. It did not rain much, but the women held up their umbrellas; +they were dressed in all the colours of the rainbow, and, with their +scarlet cardinals, the tartan plaids of the men, and Scotch bonnets, +made a gay appearance. There was a joyous bustle surrounding the boat, +which even imparted something of the same character to the waterfall in +its tumult, and the restless grey waves; the young men laughed and +shouted, the lasses laughed, and the elder folks seemed to be in a +bustle to be away. I remember well with what haste the mistress of the +house where we were ran up to seek after her child, and seeing us, how +anxiously and kindly she inquired how we had fared, if we had had a +good fire, had been well waited upon, etc. etc. All this in three +minutes--for the boatman had another party to bring from the other side +and hurried us off. + +The hospitality we had met with at the two cottages and Mr. Macfarlane's +gave us very favourable impressions on this our first entrance into the +Highlands, and at this day the innocent merriment of the girls, with +their kindness to us, and the beautiful figure and face of the elder, +come to my mind whenever I think of the ferry-house and waterfall of +Loch Lomond, and I never think of the two girls but the whole image of +that romantic spot is before me, a living image, as it will be to my +dying day. The following poem[2] was written by William not long after +our return from Scotland:-- + + [Footnote 2: _To a Highland Girl_, in "Memorials of a Tour in + Scotland, 1803."--ED.] + + Sweet Highland Girl, a very shower + Of beauty is thy earthly dower! + Twice seven consenting years have shed + Their utmost bounty on thy head: + And these grey rocks; this household lawn; + These trees, a veil just half withdrawn; + This fall of water, that doth make + A murmur near the silent Lake; + This little Bay, a quiet road + That holds in shelter thy abode; + In truth together ye do seem + Like something fashion'd in a dream; + Such forms as from their covert peep + When earthly cares are laid asleep! + Yet, dream and vision as thou art, + I bless thee with a human heart: + God shield thee to thy latest years! + I neither know thee nor thy peers; + And yet my eyes are filled with tears. + + With earnest feeling I shall pray + For thee when I am far away: + For never saw I mien or face, + In which more plainly I could trace + Benignity and home-bred sense + Ripening in perfect innocence. + Here, scattered like a random seed, + Remote from men, thou dost not need + Th' embarrass'd look of shy distress + And maidenly shamefacedness; + Thou wear'st upon thy forehead clear + The freedom of a mountaineer: + A face with gladness overspread! + Sweet smiles, by human-kindness bred! + And seemliness complete, that sways + Thy courtesies, about thee plays; + With no restraint but such as springs + From quick and eager visitings + Of thoughts that lie beyond the reach + Of thy few words of English speech: + A bondage sweetly brook'd, a strife + That gives thy gestures grace and life! + So have I, not unmoved in mind, + Seen birds of tempest-loving kind, + Thus beating up against the wind. + + What hand but would a garland cull + For thee, who art so beautiful? + O happy pleasure! here to dwell + Beside thee in some heathy dell; + Adopt your homely ways and dress, + A Shepherd, thou a Shepherdess! + But I could frame a wish for thee + More like a grave reality: + Thou art to me but as a wave + Of the wild sea: and I would have + Some claim upon thee, if I could, + Though but of common neighbourhood. + What joy to hear thee and to see! + Thy elder brother I would be, + Thy father--anything to thee. + + Now thanks to Heaven! that of its grace + Hath led me to this lonely place! + Joy have I had; and going hence + I bear away my recompence. + In spots like these it is we prize + Our memory, feel that she hath eyes: + Then why should I be loth to stir? + I feel this place is made for her; + To give new pleasure like the past + Continued long as life shall last. + Nor am I loth, though pleased at heart, + Sweet Highland Girl, from thee to part; + For I, methinks, till I grow old, + As fair before me shall behold + As I do now, the Cabin small, + The Lake, the Bay, the Waterfall, + And thee, the Spirit of them all. + +We were rowed over speedily by the assistance of two youths, who went +backwards and forwards for their own amusement, helping at the oars, and +pulled as if they had strength and spirits to spare for a year to come. +We noticed that they had uncommonly fine teeth, and that they and the +boatman were very handsome people. Another merry crew took our place in +the boat. + +We had three miles to walk to Tarbet. It rained, but not heavily; the +mountains were not concealed from us by the mists, but appeared larger +and more grand; twilight was coming on, and the obscurity under which we +saw the objects, with the sounding of the torrents, kept our minds alive +and wakeful; all was solitary and huge--sky, water, and mountains +mingled together. While we were walking forward, the road leading us +over the top of a brow, we stopped suddenly at the sound of a +half-articulate Gaelic hooting from the field close to us. It came from +a little boy, whom we could see on the hill between us and the lake, +wrapped up in a grey plaid. He was probably calling home the cattle for +the night. His appearance was in the highest degree moving to the +imagination: mists were on the hillsides, darkness shutting in upon the +huge avenue of mountains, torrents roaring, no house in sight to which +the child might belong; his dress, cry, and appearance all different +from anything we had been accustomed to. It was a text, as William has +since observed to me, containing in itself the whole history of the +Highlander's life--his melancholy, his simplicity, his poverty, his +superstition, and above all, that visionariness which results from a +communion with the unworldliness of nature. + +When we reached Tarbet the people of the house were anxious to know how +we had fared, particularly the girl who had waited upon us. Our praises +of Loch Ketterine made her exceedingly happy, and she ventured to say, +of which we had heard not a word before, that it was "bonnier to _her_ +fancy than Loch Lomond." The landlord, who was not at home when we had +set off, told us that if he had known of our going he would have +recommended us to Mr. Macfarlane's or the other farm-house, adding that +they were hospitable people in that vale. Coleridge and I got tea, and +William and the drawing-master chose supper; they asked to have a +broiled fowl, a dish very common in Scotland, to which the mistress +replied, "Would not a 'boiled' one do as well?" They consented, +supposing that it would be more easily cooked; but when the fowl made +its appearance, to their great disappointment it proved a cold one that +had been stewed in the broth at dinner. + + +_Monday, August 29th._--It rained heavily this morning, and, having +heard so much of the long rains since we came into Scotland, as well as +before, we had no hope that it would be over in less than three weeks at +the least, so poor Coleridge, being very unwell, determined to send his +clothes to Edinburgh and make the best of his way thither, being afraid +to face much wet weather in an open carriage. William and I were +unwilling to be confined at Tarbet, so we resolved to go to Arrochar, a +mile and a half on the road to Inverary, where there is an inn +celebrated as a place of good accommodation for travellers. Coleridge +and I set off on foot, and William was to follow with the car, but a +heavy shower coming on, Coleridge left me to shelter in a hut and wait +for William, while he went on before. This hut was unplastered, and +without windows, crowded with beds, uncomfortable, and not in the +simplicity of the ferryman's house. A number of good clothes were +hanging against the walls, and a green silk umbrella was set up in a +corner. I should have been surprised to see an umbrella in such a place +before we came into the Highlands; but umbrellas are not so common +anywhere as there--a plain proof of the wetness of the climate; even +five minutes after this a girl passed us without shoes and stockings, +whose gown and petticoat were not worth half a crown, holding an +umbrella over her bare head. + +We turned at a guide-post, "To the New Inn," and, after descending a +little, and winding round the bottom of a hill, saw, at a small +distance, a white house half hidden by tall trees upon a lawn that +slopes down to the side of Loch Long, a sea-loch, which is here very +narrow. Right before us, across the lake, was the Cobbler, which +appeared to rise directly from the water; but, in fact, it overtopped +another hill, being a considerable way behind. The inn looked so much +like a gentleman's house that we could hardly believe it was an inn. We +drove down the broad gravel walk, and, making a sweep, stopped at the +front door, were shown into a large parlour with a fire, and my first +thought was, How comfortable we should be! but Coleridge, who had +arrived before us, checked my pleasure: the waiter had shown himself +disposed to look coolly upon us, and there had been a hint that we could +not have beds;--a party was expected, who had engaged all the beds. We +conjectured this might be but a pretence, and ordered dinner in the hope +that matters would clear up a little, and we thought they could not have +the heart to turn us out in so heavy a rain if it were possible to lodge +us. We had a nice dinner, yet would have gladly changed our roasted lamb +and pickles, and the gentleman-waiter with his napkin in his pocket, for +the more homely fare of the smoky hut at Loch Ketterine, and the good +woman's busy attentions, with the certainty of a hospitable shelter at +night. After dinner I spoke to the landlord himself, but he was not to +be moved: he could not even provide one bed for me, so nothing was to be +done but either to return to Tarbet with Coleridge, or that William and +I should push on the next stage, to Cairndow. We had an interesting +close view from the windows of the room where we sate, looking across +the lake, which did not differ in appearance, as we saw it here, from a +fresh-water lake. The sloping lawn on which the house stood was prettily +scattered over with trees; but we had seen the place to great advantage +at our first approach, owing to the mists upon the mountains, which had +made them seem exceedingly high, while the strange figures on the +Cobbler appeared and disappeared, like living things; but, as the day +cleared we were disappointed in what was more like the permanent effect +of the scene: the mountains were not so lofty as we had supposed, and +the low grounds not so fertile; yet still it is a very interesting, I +may say beautiful, place. + +The rain ceased entirely, so we resolved to go on to Cairndow, and had +the satisfaction of seeing that our landlord had not told us an untruth +concerning the expected company; for just before our departure we saw, +on the opposite side of the vale, a coach with four horses, another +carriage, and two or three men on horseback--a striking procession, as +it moved along between the bare mountain and the lake. Twenty years ago, +perhaps, such a sight had not been seen here except when the Duke of +Argyle, or some other Highland chieftain, might chance to be going with +his family to London or Edinburgh. They had to cross a bridge at the +head of the lake, which we could not see, so, after disappearing about +ten minutes, they drove up to the door--three old ladies, two +waiting-women, and store of men-servants. The old ladies were as gaily +dressed as bullfinches in spring-time. We heard the next day that they +were the renowned Miss Waughs of Carlisle, and that they enjoyed +themselves over a game of cards in the evening. + +Left Arrochar at about four o'clock in the afternoon. Coleridge +accompanied us a little way; we portioned out the contents of our purse +before our parting; and, after we had lost sight of him, drove heavily +along. Crossed the bridge, and looked to the right, up the vale, which +is soon terminated by mountains: it was of a yellow green, with but few +trees and few houses; sea-gulls were flying above it. Our road--the same +along which the carriages had come--was directly under the mountains on +our right hand, and the lake was close to us on our left, the waves +breaking among stones overgrown with yellow sea-weed; fishermen's boats, +and other larger vessels than are seen on fresh-water lakes were lying +at anchor near the opposite shore; sea-birds flying overhead; the noise +of torrents mingled with the beating of the waves, and misty mountains +enclosed the vale;--a melancholy but not a dreary scene. Often have I, +in looking over a map of Scotland, followed the intricate windings of +one of these sea-lochs, till, pleasing myself with my own imaginations, +I have felt a longing, almost painful, to travel among them by land or +by water. + +This was the first sea-loch we had seen. We came prepared for a new and +great delight, and the first impression which William and I received, as +we drove rapidly through the rain down the lawn of Arrochar, the objects +dancing before us, was even more delightful than we had expected. But, +as I have said, when we looked through the window, as the mists +disappeared and the objects were seen more distinctly, there was less of +sheltered valley-comfort than we had fancied to ourselves, and the +mountains were not so grand; and now that we were near to the shore of +the lake, and could see that it was not of fresh water, the wreck, the +broken sea-shells, and scattered sea-weed gave somewhat of a dull and +uncleanly look to the whole lake, and yet the water was clear, and might +have appeared as beautiful as that of Loch Lomond, if with the same pure +pebbly shore. Perhaps, had we been in a more cheerful mood of mind we +might have seen everything with a different eye. The stillness of the +mountains, the motion of the waves, the streaming torrents, the +sea-birds, the fishing-boats were all melancholy; yet still, occupied as +my mind was with other things, I thought of the long windings through +which the waters of the sea had come to this inland retreat, visiting +the inner solitudes of the mountains, and I could have wished to have +mused out a summer's day on the shores of the lake. From the foot of +these mountains whither might not a little barque carry one away? Though +so far inland, it is but a slip of the great ocean: seamen, fishermen, +and shepherds here find a natural home. We did not travel far down the +lake, but, turning to the right through an opening of the mountains, +entered a glen called Glen Croe. + +Our thoughts were full of Coleridge, and when we were enclosed in the +narrow dale, with a length of winding road before us, a road that seemed +to have insinuated itself into the very heart of the mountains--the +brook, the road, bare hills, floating mists, scattered stones, rocks, +and herds of black cattle being all that we could see,--I shivered at +the thought of his being sickly and alone, travelling from place to +place. + +The Cobbler, on our right, was pre-eminent above the other hills; the +singular rocks on its summit, seen so near, were like ruins--castles or +watch-towers. After we had passed one reach of the glen, another opened +out, long, narrow, deep, and houseless, with herds of cattle and large +stones; but the third reach was softer and more beautiful, as if the +mountains had there made a warmer shelter, and there were a more gentle +climate. The rocks by the river-side had dwindled away, the mountains +were smooth and green, and towards the end, where the glen sloped +upwards, it was a cradle-like hollow, and at that point where the slope +became a hill, at the very bottom of the curve of the cradle, stood one +cottage, with a few fields and beds of potatoes. There was also another +house near the roadside, which appeared to be a herdsman's hut. The +dwelling in the middle of the vale was a very pleasing object. I said +within myself, How quietly might a family live in this pensive solitude, +cultivating and loving their own fields! but the herdsman's hut, being +the only one in the vale, had a melancholy face; not being attached to +any particular plot of land, one could not help considering it as just +kept alive and above ground by some dreary connexion with the long +barren tract we had travelled through. + +The afternoon had been exceedingly pleasant after we had left the vale +of Arrochar; the sky was often threatening, but the rain blew off, and +the evening was uncommonly fine. The sun had set a short time before we +had dismounted from the car to walk up the steep hill at the end of the +glen. Clouds were moving all over the sky--some of a brilliant yellow +hue, which shed a light like bright moonlight upon the mountains. We +could not have seen the head of the valley under more favourable +circumstances. + +The passing away of a storm is always a time of life and cheerfulness, +especially in a mountainous country; but that afternoon and evening the +sky was in an extraordinary degree vivid and beautiful. We often stopped +in ascending the hill to look down the long reach of the glen. The road, +following the course of the river as far as we could see, the farm and +cottage hills, smooth towards the base and rocky higher up, were the +sole objects before us. This part of Glen Croe reminded us of some of +the dales of the north of England--Grisdale above Ulswater, for +instance; but the length of it, and the broad highway, which is always +to be seen at a great distance, a sort of centre of the vale, a point of +reference, gives to the whole of the glen, and each division of it, a +very different character. + +At the top of the hill we came to a seat with the well-known +inscription, "Rest and be thankful." On the same stone it was recorded +that the road had been made by Col. Wade's regiment. The seat is placed +so as to command a full view of the valley, and the long, long road, +which, with the fact recorded, and the exhortation, makes it an +affecting resting-place. We called to mind with pleasure a seat under +the braes of Loch Lomond on which I had rested, where the traveller is +informed by an inscription upon a stone that the road was made by Col. +Lascelles' regiment. There, the spot had not been chosen merely as a +resting-place, for there was no steep ascent in the highway, but it +might be for the sake of a spring of water and a beautiful rock, or, +more probably, because at that point the labour had been more than +usually toilsome in hewing through the rock. Soon after we had climbed +the hill we began to descend into another glen, called Glen Kinglas. We +now saw the western sky, which had hitherto been hidden from us by the +hill--a glorious mass of clouds uprising from a sea of distant +mountains, stretched out in length before us, towards the west--and +close by us was a small lake or tarn. From the reflection of the crimson +clouds the water appeared of a deep red, like melted rubies, yet with a +mixture of a grey or blackish hue: the gorgeous light of the sky, with +the singular colour of the lake, made the scene exceedingly romantic; +yet it was more melancholy than cheerful. With all the power of light +from the clouds, there was an overcasting of the gloom of evening, a +twilight upon the hills. + +We descended rapidly into the glen, which resembles the lower part of +Glen Croe, though it seemed to be inferior in beauty; but before we had +passed through one reach it was quite dark, and I only know that the +steeps were high, and that we had the company of a foaming stream; and +many a vagrant torrent crossed us, dashing down the hills. The road was +bad, and, uncertain how we should fare, we were eager and somewhat +uneasy to get forward; but when we were out of the close glen, and near +to Cairndow, as a traveller had told us, the moon showed her clear face +in the sky, revealing a spacious vale, with a broad loch and sloping +corn fields; the hills not very high. This cheerful sight put us into +spirits, and we thought it was at least no dismal place to sit up all +night in, if they had no beds, and they could not refuse us a shelter. +We were, however, well received, and sate down in a neat parlour with a +good fire. + + +_Tuesday, August 30th._--Breakfasted before our departure, and ate a +herring, fresh from the water, at our landlord's earnest +recommendation--much superior to the herrings we get in the north of +England.[3] Though we rose at seven, could not set off before nine +o'clock; the servants were in bed; the kettle did not boil--indeed, we +were completely out of patience; but it had always been so, and we +resolved to go off in future without breakfast. Cairndow is a single +house by the side of the loch, I believe resorted to by gentlemen in the +fishing season: it is a pleasant place for such a purpose; but the vale +did not look so beautiful as by moonlight--it had a sort of sea-coldness +without mountain grandeur. There is a ferry for foot-passengers from +Cairndow to the other side of the water, and the road along which all +carriages go is carried round the head of the lake, perhaps a distance +of three miles. + + [Footnote 3: I should rather think so!--J. C. S.] + +After we had passed the landing-place of the ferry opposite to Cairndow +we saw the lake spread out to a great width, more like an arm of the sea +or a great river than one of our lakes; it reminded us of the Severn at +the Chepstow passage; but the shores were less rich and the hills +higher. The sun shone, which made the morning cheerful, though there was +a cold wind. Our road never carried us far from the lake, and with the +beating of the waves, the sparkling sunshiny water, boats, the opposite +hills, and, on the side on which we travelled, the chance cottages, the +coppice woods, and common business of the fields, the ride could not but +be amusing. But what most excited our attention was, at one particular +place, a cluster of fishing-boats at anchor in a still corner of the +lake, a small bay or harbour by the wayside. They were overshadowed by +fishermen's nets hung out to dry, which formed a dark awning that +covered them like a tent, overhanging the water on each side, and +falling in the most exquisitely graceful folds. There was a monastic +pensiveness, a funereal gloom in the appearance of this little company +of vessels, which was the more interesting from the general liveliness +and glancing motions of the water, they being perfectly still and silent +in their sheltered nook. + +When we had travelled about seven miles from Cairndow, winding round the +bottom of a hill, we came in view of a great basin or elbow of the lake. +Completely out of sight of the long track of water we had coasted, we +seemed now to be on the edge of a very large, almost circular, lake, the +town of Inverary before us, a line of white buildings on a low +promontory right opposite, and close to the water's edge; the whole +landscape a showy scene, and bursting upon us at once. A traveller who +was riding by our side called out, "Can that be the Castle?" +Recollecting the prints which we had seen, we knew it could not; but the +mistake is a natural one at that distance: it is so little like an +ordinary town, from the mixture of regularity and irregularity in the +buildings. With the expanse of water and pleasant mountains, the +scattered boats and sloops, and those gathered together, it had a truly +festive appearance. A few steps more brought us in view of the Castle, a +stately turreted mansion, but with a modern air, standing on a lawn, +retired from the water, and screened behind by woods covering the sides +of high hills to the top, and still beyond, by bare mountains. Our road +wound round the semicircular shore, crossing two bridges of lordly +architecture. The town looked pretty when we drew near to it in +connexion with its situation, different from any place I had ever seen, +yet exceedingly like what I imaged to myself from representations in +raree-shows, or pictures of foreign places--Venice, for +example--painted on the scene of a play-house, which one is apt to fancy +are as cleanly and gay as they look through the magnifying-glass of the +raree-show or in the candle-light dazzle of a theatre. At the door of +the inn, though certainly the buildings had not that delightful outside +which they appeared to have at a distance, yet they looked very +pleasant. The range bordering on the water consisted of little else than +the inn, being a large house, with very large stables, the county gaol, +the opening into the main street into the town, and an arched gateway, +the entrance into the Duke of Argyle's private domain. + +We were decently well received at the inn, but it was over-rich in +waiters and large rooms to be exactly to our taste, though quite in +harmony with the neighbourhood. Before dinner we went into the Duke's +pleasure-grounds, which are extensive, and of course command a variety +of lively and interesting views. Walked through avenues of tall +beech-trees, and observed some that we thought even the tallest we had +ever seen; but they were all scantily covered with leaves, and the +leaves exceedingly small--indeed, some of them, in the most exposed +situations, were almost bare, as if it had been winter. Travellers who +wish to view the inside of the Castle send in their names, and the Duke +appoints the time of their going; but we did not think that what we +should see would repay us for the trouble, there being no pictures, and +the house, which I believe has not been built above half a century, is +fitted up in the modern style. If there had been any reliques of the +ancient costume of the castle of a Highland chieftain, we should have +been sorry to have passed it. + +Sate after dinner by the fireside till near sunset, for it was very +cold, though the sun shone all day. At the beginning of this our second +walk we passed through the town, which is but a doleful example of +Scotch filth. The houses are plastered or rough-cast, and washed +yellow--well built, well sized, and sash-windowed, bespeaking a +connexion with the Duke, such a dependence as may be expected in a small +town so near to his mansion; and indeed he seems to have done his utmost +to make them comfortable, according to our English notions of comfort: +they are fit for the houses of people living decently upon a decent +trade; but the windows and door-steads were as dirty as in a dirty +by-street of a large town, making a most unpleasant contrast with the +comely face of the buildings towards the water, and the ducal grandeur +and natural festivity of the scene. Smoke and blackness are the wild +growth of a Highland hut: the mud floors cannot be washed, the +door-steads are trampled by cattle, and if the inhabitants be not very +cleanly it gives one little pain; but dirty people living in two-storied +stone houses, with dirty sash windows, are a melancholy spectacle +anywhere, giving the notion either of vice or the extreme of +wretchedness. + +Returning through the town, we went towards the Castle, and entered the +Duke's grounds by a porter's lodge, following the carriage-road through +the park, which is prettily scattered over with trees, and slopes gently +towards the lake. A great number of lime-trees were growing singly, not +beautiful in their shape, but I mention them for the resemblance to one +of the same kind we had seen in the morning, which formed a shade as +impenetrable as the roof of any house. The branches did not spread far, +nor any one branch much further than another; on the outside it was like +a green bush shorn with shears, but when we sate upon a bench under it, +looking upwards, in the middle of the tree we could not perceive any +green at all; it was like a hundred thousand magpies' nests clustered +and matted together, the twigs and boughs being so intertwined that +neither the light of the mid-day sun nor showers of hail or rain could +pierce through them. The lime-trees on the lawn resembled this tree both +in shape and in the manner of intertwisting their twigs, but they were +much smaller, and not an impenetrable shade. + +The views from the Castle are delightful. Opposite is the lake, girt +with mountains, or rather smooth high hills; to the left appears a very +steep rocky hill, called Duniquoich Hill, on the top of which is a +building like a watch-tower; it rises boldly and almost perpendicular +from the plain, at a little distance from the river Arey, that runs +through the grounds. To the right is the town, overtopped by a sort of +spire or pinnacle of the church, a thing unusual in Scotland, except in +the large towns, and which would often give an elegant appearance to the +villages, which, from the uniformity of the huts, and the frequent want +of tall trees, they seldom exhibit. + +In looking at an extensive prospect, or travelling through a large vale, +the Trough of the Clyde for instance, I could not help thinking that in +England there would have been somewhere a tower or spire to warn us of a +village lurking under the covert of a wood or bank, or to point out some +particular spot on the distant hills which we might look at with kindly +feelings. I well remember how we used to love the little nest of trees +out of which Ganton spire rose on the distant Wolds opposite to the +windows at Gallow Hill. The spire of Inverary is not of so beautiful a +shape as those of the English churches, and, not being one of a class of +buildings which is understood at once, seen near or at a distance, is a +less interesting object; but it suits well with the outlandish trimness +of the buildings bordering on the water; indeed, there is no one thing +of the many gathered together in the extensive circuit of the basin or +vale of Inverary, that is not in harmony with the effect of the whole +place. The Castle is built of a beautiful hewn stone, in colour +resembling our blue slates. The author-tourists have quarrelled with the +architecture of it, but we did not find much that we were disposed to +blame. A castle in a deep glen, overlooking a roaring stream, and +defended by precipitous rocks, is, no doubt, an object far more +interesting; but, dropping all ideas of danger or insecurity, the +natural retinue in our minds of an ancient Highland chieftain,--take a +Duke of Argyle at the end of the eighteenth century, let him have his +house in Grosvenor Square, his London liveries, and daughters glittering +at St. James's, and I think you will be satisfied with his present +mansion in the Highlands, which seems to suit with the present times and +its situation, and that is indeed a noble one for a modern Duke of the +mountainous district of Argyleshire, with its bare valleys, its rocky +coasts, and sea lochs. + +There is in the natural endowments of Inverary something akin to every +feature of the general character of the county; yet even the very +mountains and the lake itself have a kind of princely festivity in their +appearance. I do not know how to communicate the feeling, but it seemed +as if it were no insult to the hills to look on them as the shield and +enclosure of the ducal domain, to which the water might delight in +bearing its tribute. The hills near the lake are smooth, so smooth that +they might have been shaven or swept; the shores, too, had somewhat of +the same effect, being bare, and having no roughness, no woody points; +yet the whole circuit being very large, and the hills so extensive, the +scene was not the less cheerful and festive, rejoicing in the light of +heaven. Behind the Castle the hills are planted to a great height, and +the pleasure-grounds extend far up the valley of Arey. We continued our +walk a short way along the river, and were sorry to see it stripped of +its natural ornaments, after the fashion of Mr. Brown,[4] and left to +tell its tale--for it would not be silent like the river at Blenheim--to +naked fields and the planted trees on the hills. We were disgusted with +the stables, out-houses, or farm-houses in different parts of the +grounds behind the Castle: they were broad, out-spreading, fantastic, +and unintelligible buildings. + + [Footnote 4: "Capability" Brown.--J. C. S.] + +Sate in the park till the moonlight was perceived more than the light +of day. We then walked near the town by the water-side. I observed that +the children who were playing did not speak Erse, but a much worse +English than is spoken by those Highlanders whose common language is the +Erse. I went into the town to purchase tea and sugar to carry with us on +our journey. We were tired when we returned to the inn, and went to bed +directly after tea. My room was at the very top of the house--one flight +of steps after another!--but when I drew back the curtains of my window +I was repaid for the trouble of panting up-stairs by one of the most +splendid moonlight prospects that can be conceived: the whole circuit of +the hills, the Castle, the two bridges, the tower on Duniquoich Hill, +and the lake with many boats--fit scene for summer midnight festivities! +I should have liked to have seen a bevy of Scottish ladies sailing, with +music, in a gay barge. William, to whom I have read this, tells me that +I have used the very words of Browne of Ottery, Coleridge's +fellow-townsman:-- + + As I have seen when on the breast of Thames + A heavenly bevy of sweet English dames, + In some calm evening of delightful May, + With music give a farewell to the day, + Or as they would (with an admired tone) + Greet night's ascension to her ebon throne. + + BROWNE'S _Britannia's Pastorals_. + + +_Wednesday, August 31st._--We had a long day's journey before us, +without a regular baiting-place on the road, so we breakfasted at +Inverary, and did not set off till nine o'clock, having, as usual, to +complain of the laziness of the servants. Our road was up the valley +behind the Castle, the same we had gone along the evening before. +Further up, though the plantations on the hills are noble, the valley +was cold and naked, wanting hedgerows and comfortable houses. We +travelled several miles under the plantations, the vale all along +seeming to belong almost exclusively to the Castle. It might have been +better distinguished and adorned, as we thought, by neater farm-houses +and cottages than are common in Scotland, and snugger fields with warm +hedgerows, at the same time testifying as boldly its adherence to the +chief. + +At that point of the valley where the pleasure-grounds appear to end, we +left our horse at a cottage door, and turned a few steps out of the road +to see a waterfall, which roared so loud that we could not have gone by +without looking about for it, even if we had not known that there was +one near Inverary. The waterfall is not remarkable for anything but the +good taste with which it has been left to itself, though there is a +pleasure-road from the Castle to it. As we went further up the valley +the roads died away, and it became an ordinary Scotch glen, the poor +pasturage of the hills creeping down into the valley, where it was +little better for the shelter, I mean little greener than on the +hill-sides; but a man must be of a churlish nature if, with a mind free +to look about, he should not find such a glen a pleasing place to travel +through, though seeing little but the busy brook, with here and there a +bush or tree, and cattle pasturing near the thinly-scattered dwellings. +But we came to one spot which I cannot forget, a single green field at +the junction of another brook with the Arey, a peninsula surrounded with +a close row of trees, which overhung the streams, and under their +branches we could just see a neat white house that stood in the middle +of the field enclosed by the trees. Before us was nothing but bare +hills, and the road through the bare glen. A person who has not +travelled in Scotland can scarcely imagine the pleasure we have had from +a stone house, though fresh from the workmen's hands, square and sharp; +there is generally such an appearance of equality in poverty through the +long glens of Scotland, giving the notion of savage ignorance--no house +better than another, and barns and houses all alike. This house had, +however, other recommendations of its own; even in the fertile parts of +Somersetshire it would have been a delicious spot; here, "'Mid mountain +wild set like a little nest," it was a resting-place for the fancy, and +to this day I often think of it, the cottage and its green covert, as an +image of romance, a place of which I have the same sort of knowledge as +of some of the retirements, the little valleys, described so livelily by +Spenser in his _Fairy Queen_. + +We travelled on, the glen now becoming entirely bare. Passed a miserable +hut on a naked hill-side, not far from the road, where we were told by a +man who came out of it that we might refresh ourselves with a dram of +whisky. Went over the hill, and saw nothing remarkable till we came in +view of Loch Awe, a large lake far below us, among high mountains--one +very large mountain right opposite, which we afterwards found was called +Cruachan. The day was pleasant--sunny gleams and a fresh breeze; the +lake--we looked across it--as bright as silver, which made the islands, +three or four in number, appear very green. We descended gladly, invited +by the prospect before us, travelling downwards, along the side of the +hill, above a deep glen, woody towards the lower part near the brook; +the hills on all sides were high and bare, and not very stony: it made +us think of the descent from Newlands into Buttermere, though on a wider +scale, and much inferior in simple majesty. + +After walking down the hill a long way we came to a bridge, under which +the water dashed through a dark channel of rocks among trees, the lake +being at a considerable distance below, with cultivated lands between. +Close upon the bridge was a small hamlet,[5] a few houses near together, +and huddled up in trees--a very sweet spot, the only retired village we +had yet seen which was characterized by "beautiful" wildness with +sheltering warmth. We had been told at Inverary that we should come to +a place where we might give our horse a feed of corn, and found on +inquiry that there was a little public-house here, or rather a hut +"where they kept a dram." It was a cottage, like all the rest, without a +sign-board. The woman of the house helped to take the horse out of +harness, and, being hungry, we asked her if she could make us some +porridge, to which she replied that "we should get that," and I followed +her into the house, and sate over her hearth while she was making it. As +to fire, there was little sign of it, save the smoke, for a long time, +she having no fuel but green wood, and no bellows but her breath. My +eyes smarted exceedingly, but the woman seemed so kind and cheerful that +I was willing to endure it for the sake of warming my feet in the ashes +and talking to her. The fire was in the middle of the room, a crook +being suspended from a cross-beam, and a hole left at the top for the +smoke to find its way out by: it was a rude Highland hut, unadulterated +by Lowland fashions, but it had not the elegant shape of the ferry-house +at Loch Ketterine, and the fire, being in the middle of the room, could +not be such a snug place to draw to on a winter's night. + + [Footnote 5: Cladich.--J. C. S.] + +We had a long afternoon before us, with only eight miles to travel to +Dalmally, and, having been told that a ferry-boat was kept at one of the +islands, we resolved to call for it, and row to the island, so we went +to the top of an eminence, and the man who was with us set some children +to work to gather sticks and withered leaves to make a smoky fire--a +signal for the boatman, whose hut is on a flat green island, like a +sheep pasture, without trees, and of a considerable size: the man told +us it was a rabbit-warren. There were other small islands, on one of +which was a ruined house, fortification, or small castle: we could not +learn anything of its history, only a girl told us that formerly +gentlemen lived in such places. Immediately from the water's edge rose +the mountain Cruachan on the opposite side of the lake; it is woody +near the water and craggy above, with deep hollows on the surface. We +thought it the grandest mountain we had seen, and on saying to the man +who was with us that it was a fine mountain, "Yes," he replied, "it is +an excellent mountain," adding that it was higher than Ben Lomond, and +then told us some wild stories of the enormous profits it brought to +Lord Breadalbane, its lawful owner. The shape of Loch Awe is very +remarkable, its outlet being at one side, and only about eight miles +from the head, and the whole lake twenty-four miles in length. We looked +with longing after that branch of it opposite to us out of which the +water issues: it seemed almost like a river gliding under steep +precipices. What we saw of the larger branch, or what might be called +the body of the lake, was less promising, the banks being merely gentle +slopes, with not very high mountains behind, and the ground moorish and +cold. + +The children, after having collected fuel for our fire, began to play on +the green hill where we stood, as heedless as if we had been trees or +stones, and amused us exceedingly with their activity: they wrestled, +rolled down the hill, pushing one another over and over again, laughing, +screaming, and chattering Erse: they were all without shoes and +stockings, which, making them fearless of hurting or being hurt, gave a +freedom to the action of their limbs which I never saw in English +children: they stood upon one another, body, breast, or face, or any +other part; sometimes one was uppermost, sometimes another, and +sometimes they rolled all together, so that we could not know to which +body this leg or that arm belonged. We waited, watching them, till we +were assured that the boatman had noticed our signal.--By the bye, if we +had received proper directions at Loch Lomond, on our journey to Loch +Ketterine, we should have made our way down the lake till we had come +opposite to the ferryman's house, where there is a hut, and the people +who live there are accustomed to call him by the same signal as here. +Luckily for us we were not so well instructed, for we should have missed +the pleasure of receiving the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Macfarlane and +their family. + +A young woman who wanted to go to the island accompanied us to the +water-side. The walk was pleasant, through fields with hedgerows, the +greenest fields we had seen in Scotland; but we were obliged to return +without going to the island. The poor man had taken his boat to another +place, and the waters were swollen so that we could not go close to the +shore, and show ourselves to him, nor could we make him hear by +shouting. On our return to the public-house we asked the woman what we +should pay her, and were not a little surprised when she answered, +"Three shillings." Our horse had had a sixpenny feed of miserable corn, +not worth threepence; the rest of the charge was for skimmed milk, +oat-bread, porridge, and blue milk cheese: we told her it was far too +much; and, giving her half-a-crown, departed. I was sorry she had made +this unreasonable demand, because we had liked the woman, and we had +before been so well treated in the Highland cottages; but, on thinking +more about it, I satisfied myself that it was no scheme to impose upon +us, for she was contented with the half-crown, and would, I daresay, +have been so with two shillings, if we had offered it her at first. Not +being accustomed to fix a price upon porridge and milk, to such as we, +at least, when we asked her she did not know what to say; but, seeing +that we were travelling for pleasure, no doubt she concluded we were +rich, and that what was a small gain to her could be no great loss to +us. + +When we had gone a little way we saw before us a young man with a bundle +over his shoulder, hung on a stick, bearing a great boy on his back: +seeing that they were travellers, we offered to take the boy on the car, +to which the man replied that he should be more than thankful, and set +him up beside me. They had walked from Glasgow, and that morning from +Inverary; the boy was only six years old, "But," said his father, "he +is a stout walker," and a fine fellow he was, smartly dressed in tight +clean clothes and a nice round hat: he was going to stay with his +grandmother at Dalmally. I found him good company; though I could not +draw a single word out of him, it was a pleasure to see his happiness +gleaming through the shy glances of his healthy countenance. Passed a +pretty chapel by the lake-side, and an island with a farm-house upon it, +and corn and pasture fields; but, as we went along, we had frequent +reason to regret the want of English hedgerows and English culture; for +the ground was often swampy or moorish near the lake where comfortable +dwellings among green fields might have been. When we came near to the +end of the lake we had a steep hill to climb, so William and I walked; +and we had such confidence in our horse that we were not afraid to leave +the car to his guidance with the child in it; we were soon, however, +alarmed at seeing him trot up the hill a long way before us; the child, +having raised himself up upon the seat, was beating him as hard as he +could with a little stick which he carried in his hand; and when he saw +our eyes were on him he sate down, I believe very sorry to resign his +office: the horse slackened his pace, and no accident happened. + +When we had ascended half-way up the hill, directed by the man, I took a +nearer footpath, and at the top came in view of a most impressive scene, +a ruined castle on an island almost in the middle of the last +compartment of the lake, backed by a mountain cove, down which came a +roaring stream. The castle occupied every foot of the island that was +visible to us, appearing to rise out of the water; mists rested upon the +mountain side, with spots of sunshine between; there was a mild +desolation in the low grounds, a solemn grandeur in the mountains, and +the castle was wild, yet stately, not dismantled of its turrets, nor the +walls broken down, though completely in ruin. After having stood some +minutes I joined William on the high road, and both wishing to stay +longer near this place, we requested the man to drive his little boy on +to Dalmally, about two miles further, and leave the car at the inn. He +told us that the ruin was called Kilchurn Castle, that it belonged to +Lord Breadalbane, and had been built by one of the ladies of that family +for her defence during her Lord's absence at the Crusades, for which +purpose she levied a tax of seven years' rent upon her tenants;[6] he +said that from that side of the lake it did not appear, in very dry +weather, to stand upon an island; but that it was possible to go over to +it without being wet-shod. We were very lucky in seeing it after a great +flood; for its enchanting effect was chiefly owing to its situation in +the lake, a decayed palace rising out of the plain of waters! I have +called it a palace, for such feeling it gave to me, though having been +built as a place of defence, a castle or fortress. We turned again and +reascended the hill, and sate a long time in the middle of it looking on +the castle and the huge mountain cove opposite, and William, addressing +himself to the ruin, poured out these verses:[7]-- + + [Footnote 6: Not very probable.--J. C. S.] + + [Footnote 7: _Address to Kilchurn Castle, upon Loch Awe._--ED.] + + Child of loud-throated War! the mountain stream + Roars in thy hearing; but thy hour of rest + Is come, and thou art silent in thy age. + +We walked up the hill again, and, looking down the vale, had a fine view +of the lake and islands, resembling the views down Windermere, though +much less rich. Our walk to Dalmally was pleasant: the vale makes a turn +to the right, beyond the head of the lake, and the village of Dalmally, +which is, in fact, only a few huts, the manse or minister's house, the +chapel, and the inn, stands near the river, which flows into the head of +the lake. The whole vale is very pleasing, the lower part of the +hill-sides being sprinkled with thatched cottages, cultivated ground in +small patches near them, which evidently belonged to the cottages. + +We were overtaken by a gentleman who rode on a beautiful white pony, +like Lilly, and was followed by his servant, a Highland boy, on another +pony, a little creature, not much bigger than a large mastiff, on which +were slung a pair of crutches and a tartan plaid. The gentleman entered +into conversation with us, and on our telling him that we were going to +Glen Coe, he advised us, instead of proceeding directly to Tyndrum, the +next stage, to go round by the outlet of Loch Awe to Loch Etive, and +thence to Glen Coe. We were glad to change our plan, for we wanted much +to see more of Loch Awe, and he told us that the whole of the way by +Loch Etive was pleasant, and the road to Tyndrum as dreary as possible; +indeed, we could see it at that time several miles before us upon the +side of a bleak mountain; and he said that there was nothing but moors +and mountains all the way. We reached the inn a little before sunset, +ordered supper, and I walked out. Crossed a bridge to look more nearly +at the parsonage-house and the chapel, which stands upon a bank close to +the river, a pretty stream overhung in some parts by trees. The vale is +very pleasing; but, like all the other Scotch vales we had yet seen, it +told of its kinship with the mountains and of poverty or some neglect on +the part of man. + + +_Thursday, September 1st._--We had been attended at supper by a civil +boy, whom we engaged to rouse us at six o'clock, and to provide us each +a basin of milk and bread, and have the car ready; all which he did +punctually, and we were off in good time. The morning was not +unpleasant, though rather cold, and we had some fear of rain. Crossed +the bridge, and passed by the manse and chapel, our road carrying us +back again in the direction we had come; but on the opposite side of the +river. Passed close to many of the houses we had seen on the hill-side, +which the lame gentleman had told us belonged to Lord Breadalbane, and +were attached to little farms, or "crofts," as he called them. Lord +Breadalbane had lately laid out a part of his estates in this way as an +experiment, in the hope of preventing discontent and emigration. We were +sorry we had not an opportunity of seeing into these cottages, and of +learning how far the people were happy or otherwise. The dwellings +certainly did not look so comfortable when we were near to them as from +a distance; but this might be chiefly owing to what the inhabitants did +not feel as an evil--the dirt about the doors. We saw, however--a sight +always painful to me--two or three women, each creeping after her single +cow, while it was feeding on the slips of grass between the +corn-grounds. Went round the head of the lake, and onwards close to the +lake-side. Kilchurn Castle was always interesting, though not so grand +as seen from the other side, with its own mountain cove and roaring +stream. It combined with the vale of Dalmally and the distant hills--a +beautiful scene, yet overspread with a gentle desolation. As we went +further down we lost sight of the vale of Dalmally. The castle, which we +often stopped to look back upon, was very beautiful seen in combination +with the opposite shore of the lake--perhaps a little bay, a tuft of +trees, or a slope of the hill. Travelled under the foot of the mountain +Cruachan, along an excellent road, having the lake close to us on our +left, woods overhead, and frequent torrents tumbling down the hills. The +distant views across the lake were not peculiarly interesting after we +were out of sight of Kilchurn Castle, the lake being wide, and the +opposite shore not rich, and those mountains which we could see were not +high. + +Came opposite to the village where we had dined the day before, and, +losing sight of the body of the lake, pursued the narrow channel or +pass,[8] which is, I believe, three miles long, out of which issues the +river that flows into Loch Etive. We were now enclosed between steep +hills, on the opposite side entirely bare, on our side bare or woody; +the branch of the lake generally filling the whole area of the vale. It +was a pleasing, solitary scene; the long reach of naked precipices on +the other side rose directly out of the water, exceedingly steep, not +rugged or rocky, but with scanty sheep pasturage and large beds of small +stones, purple, dove-coloured, or red, such as are called Screes in +Cumberland and Westmoreland. These beds, or rather streams of stones, +appeared as smooth as the turf itself, nay, I might say, as soft as the +feathers of birds, which they resembled in colour. There was no building +on either side of the water; in many parts only just room for the road, +and on the other shore no footing, as it might seem, for any creature +larger than the mountain sheep, and they, in treading amongst the +shelving stones, must often send them down into the lake below. + + [Footnote 8: The Pass of Awe.--J. C. S.] + +After we had wound for some time through the valley, having met neither +foot-traveller, horse, nor cart, we started at the sight of a single +vessel, just as it turned round the point of a hill, coming into the +reach of the valley where we were. She floated steadily through the +middle of the water, with one large sail spread out, full swollen by the +breeze, that blew her right towards us. I cannot express what romantic +images this vessel brought along with her--how much more beautiful the +mountains appeared, the lake how much more graceful. There was one man +on board, who sate at the helm, and he, having no companion, made the +boat look more silent than if we could not have seen him. I had almost +said the ship, for on that narrow water it appeared as large as the +ships which I have watched sailing out of a harbour of the sea. A little +further on we passed a stone hut by the lake-side, near which were many +charcoal sacks, and we conjectured that the vessel had been depositing +charcoal brought from other parts of Loch Awe to be carried to the +iron-works at Loch Etive. A little further on we came to the end of the +lake, but where exactly it ended was not easy to determine, for the +river was as broad as the lake, and we could only say when it became +positively a river by the rushing of the water. It is, indeed, a grand +stream, the quantity of water being very large, frequently forming +rapids, and always flowing very quickly; but its greatness is +short-lived, for, after a course of three miles, it is lost in the great +waters of Loch Etive, a sea loch. + +Crossed a bridge, and climbing a hill towards Taynuilt, our +baiting-place, we saw a hollow to the right below us, through which the +river continued its course between rocks and steep banks of wood. +William turned aside to look into the dell, but I was too much tired. We +had left it, two or three hundred yards behind, an open river, the +hills, enclosing the branch of the lake, having settled down into +irregular slopes. We were glad when we reached Taynuilt, a village of +huts, with a chapel and one stone house, which was the inn. It had begun +to rain, and I was almost benumbed with the cold, besides having a bad +headache; so it rejoiced me to see kind looks on the landlady's face, +and that she was willing to put herself in a bustle for our comfort; we +had a good fire presently, and breakfast was set out--eggs, preserved +gooseberries, excellent cream, cheese, and butter, but no wheat bread, +and the oaten cakes were so hard I could not chew them. We wished to go +upon Loch Etive; so, having desired the landlady to prepare a fowl for +supper, and engaged beds, which she promised us willingly--a proof that +we were not in the great road--we determined to find our way to the lake +and endeavour to procure a boat. It rained heavily, but we went on, +hoping the sky would clear up. + +Walked through unenclosed fields, a sort of half-desolate country; but +when we came to the mouth of the river which issues out of Loch Awe, and +which we had to cross by a ferry, looking up that river we saw that the +vale down which it flowed was richly wooded and beautiful. + +We were now among familiar fireside names. We could see the town of +Bunawe, a place of which the old woman with whom William lodged ten +years at Hawkshead used to tell tales half as long as an ancient +romance. It is a small village or port on the same side of Loch Etive on +which we stood, and at a little distance is a house built by a Mr. Knott +of Coniston Water-head, a partner in the iron-foundry at Bunawe, in the +service of whose family the old woman had spent her youth. It was an +ugly yellow-daubed building, staring this way and that, but William +looked at it with pleasure for poor Ann Tyson's sake.[9] We hailed the +ferry-boat, and a little boy came to fetch us; he rowed up against the +stream with all his might for a considerable way, and then yielding to +it, the boat was shot towards the shore almost like an arrow from a bow. +It was pleasing to observe the dexterity with which the lad managed his +oars, glorying in the appearance of danger--for he observed us watching +him, and afterwards, while he conveyed us over, his pride redoubled; for +my part, I was completely dizzy with the swiftness of the motion. + + [Footnote 9: The village dame with whom he lived when a school-boy at + Hawkshead.--ED.] + +We could not have a boat from the ferry, but were told that if we would +walk to a house half a mile up the river, we had a chance of getting +one. I went a part of the way with William, and then sate down under the +umbrella near some houses. A woman came out to talk with me, and pressed +me to take shelter in her house, which I refused, afraid of missing +William. She eyed me with extreme curiosity, asking fifty questions +respecting the object of our journey. She told me that it rained most +parts of the year there, and that there was no chance of fine weather +that day; and I believe when William came to tell me that we could have +a boat, she thought I was half crazed. We went down to the shore of the +lake, and, after having sate some time under a wall, the boatman came to +us, and we went upon the water. At first it did not rain heavily, and +the air was not cold, and before we had gone far we rejoiced that we had +not been faint-hearted. The loch is of a considerable width, but the +mountains are so very high that, whether we were close under them or +looked from one shore to the other, they maintained their dignity. I +speak of the higher part of the loch, above the town of Bunawe and the +large river, for downwards they are but hills, and the water spreads out +wide towards undetermined shores. On our right was the mountain +Cruachan, rising directly from the lake, and on the opposite side +another mountain, called Ben Durinish,[10] craggy, and exceedingly +steep, with wild wood growing among the rocks and stones. + + [Footnote 10: Duirinnis.--ED.] + +We crossed the water, which was very rough in the middle, but calmer +near the shores, and some of the rocky basins and little creeks among +the rocks were as still as a mirror, and they were so beautiful with the +reflection of the orange-coloured seaweed growing on the stones or +rocks, that a child, with a child's delight in gay colours, might have +danced with joy at the sight of them. It never ceased raining, and the +tops of the mountains were concealed by mists, but as long as we could +see across the water we were contented; for though little could be seen +of the true shapes and permanent appearances of the mountains, we saw +enough to give us the most exquisite delight: the powerful lake which +filled the large vale, roaring torrents, clouds floating on the mountain +sides, sheep that pastured there, sea-birds and land birds. We sailed a +considerable way without coming to any houses or cultivated fields. +There was no horse-road on either side of the loch, but a person on +foot, as the boatman told us, might make his way at the foot of Ben +Durinish, namely on that side of the loch on which we were; there was, +however, not the least track to be seen, and it must be very difficult +and laborious. + +We happened to say that we were going to Glen Coe, which would be the +journey of a long day and a half, when one of the men, pointing to the +head of the loch, replied that if we were there we should be but an +hour's walk from Glen Coe. Though it continued raining, and there was no +hope that the rain would cease, we could not help wishing to go by that +way: it was an adventure; we were not afraid of trusting ourselves to +the hospitality of the Highlanders, and we wanted to give our horse a +day's rest, his back having been galled by the saddle. The owner of the +boat, who understood English much better than the other man, his helper, +said he would make inquiries about the road at a farm-house a little +further on. He was very ready to talk with us, and was rather an +interesting companion; he spoke after a slow and solemn manner, in book +and sermon language and phrases: + + A stately speech, + Such as grave livers do in Scotland use.[11] + + [Footnote 11: See _Resolution and Independence_, stanza xiv.--ED.] + +When we came to the farm-house of which the man had spoken, William and +he landed to make the necessary inquiries. It was a thatched house at +the foot of the high mountain Ben Durinish--a few patches or little beds +of corn belonging to it; but the spot was pastoral, the green grass +growing to the walls of the house. The dwelling-house was distinguished +from the outer buildings, which were numerous, making it look like two +or three houses, as is common in Scotland, by a chimney and one small +window with sash-panes; on one side was a little woody glen, with a +precipitous stream that fell into the bay, which was perfectly still, +and bordered with the rich orange-colour reflected from the sea-weed. +Cruachan, on the other side of the lake, was exceedingly grand, and +appeared of an enormous height, spreading out two large arms that made a +cove down which fell many streams swoln by the rain, and in the hollow +of the cove were some huts which looked like a village. The top of the +mountain was concealed from us by clouds, and the mists floated high and +low upon the sides of it. + +William came back to the boat highly pleased with the cheerful +hospitality and kindness of the woman of the house, who would scarcely +permit him and his guide to go away without taking some refreshment. She +was the only person at home, so they could not obtain the desired +information; but William had been well repaid for the trouble of +landing; indeed, rainy as it was, I regretted that I had not landed +also, for I should have wished to bear away in my memory a perfect image +of this place,--the view from the doors, as well as the simple Highland +comforts and contrivances which were near it. I think I never saw a +retirement that would have so completely satisfied me, if I had wanted +to be altogether shut out from the world, and at the same time among the +grandest of the works of God; but it must be remembered that mountains +are often so much dignified by clouds, mists, and other accidents of +weather, that one could not know them again in the full sunshine of a +summer's noon. But, whatever the mountains may be in their own shapes, +the farm-house with its pastoral grounds and corn fields won from the +mountain, its warm out-houses in irregular stages one above another on +the side of the hill, the rocks, the stream, and sheltering bay, must at +all times be interesting objects. The household boat lay at anchor, +chained to a rock, which, like the whole border of the lake, was edged +with sea-weed, and some fishing-nets were hung upon poles,--affecting +images, which led our thoughts out to the wide ocean, yet made these +solitudes of the mountains bear the impression of greater safety and +more deep seclusion. + +The rain became so heavy that we should certainly have turned back if we +had not felt more than usual courage from the pleasure we had enjoyed, +which raised hope where none was. There were some houses a little higher +up, and we determined to go thither and make further inquiries. We +could now hardly see to the other side of the lake, yet continued to go +on, and presently heard some people pushing through a thicket close to +us, on which the boatman called out, "There's one that can tell us +something about the road to Glen Coe, for he was born there." We looked +up and saw a ragged, lame fellow, followed by some others, with a +fishing-rod over his shoulder; and he was making such good speed through +the boughs that one might have half believed he was the better for his +lame leg. He was the head of a company of tinkers, who, as the men told +us, travel with their fishing-rods as duly as their hammers. On being +hailed by us the whole company stopped; and their lame leader and our +boatmen shouted to each other in Erse--a savage cry to our ears, in that +lonely and romantic place. We could not learn from the tinker all we +wished to know, therefore when we came near to the houses William landed +again with the owner of the boat. The rain was now so heavy that we +could see nothing at all--not even the houses whither William was going. + +We had given up all thought of proceeding further at that time, but were +desirous to know how far that road to Glen Coe was practicable for us. +They met with an intelligent man, who was at work with others in a hay +field, though it rained so heavily; he gave them the information they +desired, and said that there was an acquaintance of his between that +place and Glen Coe, who, he had no doubt, would gladly accommodate us +with lodging and anything else we might need. When William returned to +the boat we shaped our course back again down the water, leaving the +head of Loch Etive not only unvisited, but unseen--to our great regret. +The rain was very heavy; the wind had risen, and both wind and tide were +against us, so that it was hard labour for the boatmen to push us on. +They kept as close to the shore as they could, to be under the wind; but +at the doubling of many of the rocky points the tide was so strong that +it was difficult to get on at all, and I was sometimes afraid that we +should be dashed against the rocks, though I believe, indeed, there was +not much danger. + +Came down the same side of the lake under Ben Durinish, and landed at a +ferry-house opposite to Bunawe, where we gave the men a glass of whisky; +but our chief motive for landing was to look about the place, which had +a most wild aspect at that time. It was a low promontory, pushed far +into the water, narrowing the lake exceedingly; in the obscurity +occasioned by the mist and rain it appeared to be an island; it was +stained and weatherbeaten, a rocky place, seeming to bear no produce but +such as might be cherished by cold and storms, lichens or the +incrustations of sea rocks. We rowed right across the water to the mouth +of the river of Loch Awe, our boat following the ferry-boat which was +conveying the tinker crew to the other side, whither they were going to +lodge, as the men told us, in some kiln, which they considered as their +right and privilege--a lodging always to be found where there was any +arable land--for every farm has its kiln to dry the corn in: another +proof of the wetness of the climate. The kilns are built of stone, +covered in, and probably as good a shelter as the huts in which these +Highland vagrants were born. They gather sticks or heather for their +fire, and, as they are obstinate beggars, for the men said they would +not be denied, they probably have plenty of food with little other +trouble than that of wandering in search of it, for their smutty faces +and tinker equipage serve chiefly for a passport to a free and careless +life. It rained very heavily, and the wind blew when we crossed the +lake, and their boat and ours went tilting over the high waves. They +made a romantic appearance; three women were of the party; two men rowed +them over; the lame fellow sate at one end of the boat, and his +companion at the other, each with an enormous fishing-rod, which looked +very graceful, something like masts to the boat. When we had landed at +the other side we saw them, after having begged at the ferry-house, +strike merrily through the fields, no doubt betaking themselves to their +shelter for the night. + +We were completely wet when we reached the inn; the landlady wanted to +make a fire for me upstairs, but I went into her own parlour to undress, +and her daughter, a pretty little girl, who could speak a few words of +English, waited on me; I rewarded her with one of the penny books bought +at Dumfries for Johnny, with which she was greatly delighted. We had an +excellent supper--fresh salmon, a fowl, gooseberries and cream, and +potatoes; good beds; and the next morning boiled milk and bread, and +were only charged seven shillings and sixpence for the whole--horse, +liquor, supper, and the two breakfasts. We thought they had made a +mistake, and told them so--for it was only just half as much as we had +paid the day before at Dalmally, the case being that Dalmally is in the +main road of the tourists. The landlady insisted on my bringing away a +little cup instead of our tin can, which she told me had been taken from +the car by some children: we set no little value on this cup as a +memorial of the good woman's honesty and kindness, and hoped to have +brought it home.... + + +_Friday, September 2nd._--Departed at about seven o'clock this morning, +having to travel eight miles down Loch Etive, and then to cross a ferry. +Our road was at first at a considerable distance from the lake, and out +of sight of it, among undulating hills covered with coppice woods, +resembling the country between Coniston and Windermere, but it +afterwards carried us close to the water's edge; and in this part of our +ride we were disappointed. We knew that the high mountains were all at +the head of the lake, therefore had not expected the same awful grandeur +which we beheld the day before, and perceived by glimpses; but the +gentleman whom we met with at Dalmally had told us that there were many +fine situations for gentlemen's seats on this part of the lake, which +had made us expect greater loveliness near the shores, and better +cultivation. It is true there are pleasant bays, with grounds prettily +sloping to the water, and coppice woods, where houses would stand in +shelter and sun, looking on the lake; but much is yet wanting--waste +lands to be ploughed, peat-mosses drained, hedgerows reared; and the +woods demand a grant of longer life than is now their privilege. + +But after we had journeyed about six miles a beautiful scene opened upon +us. The morning had been gloomy, and at this time the sun shone out, +scattering the clouds. We looked right down the lake, that was covered +with streams of dazzling sunshine, which revealed the indentings of the +dark shores. On a bold promontory, on the same side of the loch where we +were, stood an old castle, an irregular tall building, not without +majesty; and beyond, with leagues of water between, our eyes settled +upon the island of Mull, a high mountain, green in the sunshine, and +overcast with clouds,--an object as inviting to the fancy as the evening +sky in the west, and though of a terrestrial green, almost as visionary. +We saw that it was an island of the sea, but were unacquainted with its +name; it was of a gem-like colour, and as soft as the sky. The shores of +Loch Etive, in their moorish, rocky wildness, their earthly bareness, as +they lay in length before us, produced a contrast which, with the pure +sea, the brilliant sunshine, the long distance, contributed to the +aërial and romantic power with which the mountain island was invested. + +Soon after, we came to the ferry. The boat being on the other shore, we +had to wait a considerable time, though the water was not wide, and our +call was heard immediately. The boatmen moved with surly tardiness, as +if glad to make us know that they were our masters. At this point the +lake was narrowed to the breadth of not a very wide river by a round ear +or promontory on the side on which we were, and a low ridge of +peat-mossy ground on the other. It was a dreary place, shut out from +the beautiful prospect of the Isle of Mull, and Dunstaffnage Castle--so +the fortress was called. Four or five men came over with the boat; the +horse was unyoked, and being harshly driven over rough stones, which +were as slippery as ice, with slimy seaweed, he was in terror before he +reached the boat, and they completed the work by beating and pushing him +by main force over the ridge of the boat, for there was no open end, or +plank, or any other convenience for shipping either horse or carriage. I +was very uneasy when we were launched on the water. A blackguard-looking +fellow, blind of one eye, which I could not but think had been put out +in some strife or other, held him by force like a horse-breaker, while +the poor creature fretted, and stamped with his feet against the bare +boards, frightening himself more and more with every stroke; and when we +were in the middle of the water I would have given a thousand pounds to +have been sure that we should reach the other side in safety. The tide +was rushing violently in, making a strong eddy with the stream of the +loch, so that the motion of the boat and the noise and foam of the waves +terrified him still more, and we thought it would be impossible to keep +him in the boat, and when we were just far enough from the shore to have +been all drowned he became furious, and, plunging desperately, his +hind-legs were in the water, then, recovering himself, he beat with such +force against the boat-side that we were afraid he should send his feet +through. All the while the men were swearing terrible oaths, and cursing +the poor beast, redoubling their curses when we reached the +landing-place, and whipping him ashore in brutal triumph. + +We had only room for half a heartful of joy when we set foot on dry +land, for another ferry was to be crossed five miles further. We had +intended breakfasting at this house if it had been a decent place; but +after this affair we were glad to pay the men off and depart, though I +was not well and needed refreshment. The people made us more easy by +assuring us that we might easily swim the horse over the next ferry. The +first mile or two of our road was over a peat-moss; we then came near to +the sea-shore, and had beautiful views backwards towards the Island of +Mull and Dunstaffnage Castle, and forward where the sea ran up between +the hills. In this part, on the opposite side of the small bay or elbow +of the sea, was a gentleman's house on a hillside,[12] and a building on +the hill-top which we took for a lighthouse, but were told that it +belonged to the mansion, and was only lighted up on rejoicing days--the +laird's birthday, for instance. + + [Footnote 12: Lochnell House.--J. C. S.] + +Before we had left the peat-moss to travel close to the sea-shore we +delighted ourselves with looking on a range of green hills, in shape +like those bordering immediately upon the sea, abrupt but not high; they +were, in fact, a continuation of the same; but retiring backwards, and +rising from the black peat-moss. These hills were of a delicate green, +uncommon in Scotland; a foaming rivulet ran down one part, and near it +lay two herdsmen full in the sun, with their dogs, among a troop of +black cattle which were feeding near, and sprinkled over the whole range +of hills--a pastoral scene, to our eyes the more beautiful from knowing +what a delightful prospect it must overlook. We now came under the +steeps by the sea-side, which were bold rocks, mouldering scars, or +fresh with green grass. Under the brow of one of these rocks was a +burying-ground, with many upright grave-stones and hay-cocks between, +and fenced round by a wall neatly sodded. Near it were one or two +houses, with out-houses under a group of trees, but no chapel. The +neatness of the burying-ground would in itself have been noticeable in +any part of Scotland where we have been; but it was more interesting +from its situation than for its own sake--within the sound of the +gentlest waves of the sea, and near so many quiet and beautiful +objects. There was a range of hills opposite, which we were here first +told were the hills of Morven, so much sung of by Ossian. We consulted +with some men respecting the ferry, who advised us by all means to send +our horse round the loch, and go ourselves over in the boat: they were +very civil, and seemed to be intelligent men, yet all disagreed about +the length of the loch, though we were not two miles from it: one said +it was only six miles long, another ten or fifteen, and afterwards a man +whom we met told us it was twenty. + +We lost sight of the sea for some time, crossing a half-cultivated +space, then reached Loch Creran, a large irregular sea loch, with low +sloping banks, coppice woods, and uncultivated grounds, with a +scattering of corn fields; as it appeared to us, very thinly inhabited: +mountains at a distance. We found only women at home at the ferry-house. +I was faint and cold, and went to sit by the fire, but, though very much +needing refreshment, I had not heart to eat anything there--the house +was so dirty, and there were so many wretchedly dirty women and +children; yet perhaps I might have got over the dirt, though I believe +there are few ladies who would not have been turned sick by it, if there +had not been a most disgusting combination of laziness and coarseness in +the countenances and manners of the women, though two of them were very +handsome. It was a small hut, and four women were living in it: one, the +mother of the children and mistress of the house; the others I supposed +to be lodgers, or perhaps servants; but there was no work amongst them. +They had just taken from the fire a great pan full of potatoes, which +they mixed up with milk, all helping themselves out of the same vessel, +and the little children put in their dirty hands to dig out of the mess +at their pleasure. I thought to myself, How light the labour of such a +house as this! Little sweeping, no washing of floors, and as to scouring +the table, I believe it was a thing never thought of. + +After a long time the ferryman came home; but we had to wait yet another +hour for the tide. In the meanwhile our horse took fright in consequence +of his terror at the last ferry, ran away with the car, and dashed out +umbrellas, greatcoats, etc.; but luckily he was stopped before any +serious mischief was done. We had determined, whatever it cost, not to +trust ourselves with him again in the boat; but sending him round the +lake seemed almost out of the question, there being no road, and +probably much difficulty in going round with a horse; so after some +deliberation with the ferryman it was agreed that he should swim over. +The usual place of ferrying was very broad, but he was led to the point +of a peninsula at a little distance. It being an unusual +affair,--indeed, the people of the house said that he was the first +horse that had ever swum over,--we had several men on board, and the +mistress of the house offered herself as an assistant: we supposed for +the sake of a share in eighteen-pennyworth of whisky which her husband +called for without ceremony, and of which she and the young lasses, who +had helped to push the boat into the water, partook as freely as the +men. At first I feared for the horse: he was frightened, and strove to +push himself under the boat; but I was soon tolerably easy, for he went +on regularly and well, and after from six to ten minutes' swimming +landed in safety on the other side. Poor creature! he stretched out his +nostrils and stared wildly while the man was trotting him about to warm +him, and when he put him into the car he was afraid of the sound of the +wheels. For some time our road was up a glen, the banks chiefly covered +with coppice woods, an unpeopled, but, though without grandeur, not a +dreary tract. + +Came to a moor and descended into a broad vale, which opened to Loch +Linnhe, an arm of the sea, the prospect being shut in by high mountains, +on which the sun was shining among mists and resting clouds. A village +and chapel stood on the opposite hill; the hills sloped prettily down +to the bed of the vale, a large level area--the grounds in general +cultivated, but not rich. We went perhaps half a mile down the vale, +when our road struck right across it towards the village on the +hill-side. We overtook a tall, well-looking man, seemingly about thirty +years of age, driving a cart, of whom we inquired concerning the road, +and the distance to Portnacroish, our baiting-place. We made further +inquiries respecting our future journey, which he answered in an +intelligent manner, being perfectly acquainted with the geography of +Scotland. He told us that the village which we saw before us and the +whole tract of country was called Appin. William said that it was a +pretty, wild place, to which the man replied, "Sir, it is a very bonny +place if you did but see it on a fine day," mistaking William's praise +for a half-censure; I must say, however, that we hardly ever saw a +thoroughly pleasing place in Scotland, which had not something of +wildness in its aspect of one sort or other. It came from many causes +here: the sea, or sea-loch, of which we only saw as it were a glimpse +crossing the vale at the foot of it, the high mountains on the opposite +shore, the unenclosed hills on each side of the vale, with black cattle +feeding on them, the simplicity of the scattered huts, the +half-sheltered, half-exposed situation of the village, the imperfect +culture of the fields, the distance from any city or large town, and the +very names of Morven and Appin, particularly at such a time, when old +Ossian's old friends, sunbeams and mists, as like ghosts as any in the +mid-afternoon could be, were keeping company with them. William did all +he could to efface the unpleasant impression he had made on the +Highlander, and not without success, for he was kind and communicative +when we walked up the hill towards the village. He had been a great +traveller, in Ireland and elsewhere; but I believe that he had visited +no place so beautiful to his eyes as his native home, the strath of +Appin under the heathy hills. + +We arrived at Portnacroish soon after parting from this man. It is a +small village--a few huts and an indifferent inn by the side of the +loch. Ordered a fowl for dinner, had a fire lighted, and went a few +steps from the door up the road, and turning aside into a field stood at +the top of a low eminence, from which, looking down the loch to the sea +through a long vista of hills and mountains, we beheld one of the most +delightful prospects that, even when we dream of fairer worlds than +this, it is possible for us to conceive in our hearts. A covering of +clouds rested on the long range of the hills of Morven, mists floated +very near to the water on their sides, and were slowly shifting about: +yet the sky was clear, and the sea, from the reflection of the sky, of +an ethereal or sapphire blue, which was intermingled in many places, and +mostly by gentle gradations, with beds of bright dazzling sunshine; +green islands lay on the calm water, islands far greener, for so it +seemed, than the grass of other places; and from their excessive beauty, +their unearthly softness, and the great distance of many of them, they +made us think of the islands of the blessed in the _Vision of Mirza_--a +resemblance more striking from the long tract of mist which rested on +the top of the steeps of Morven. The view was endless, and though not so +wide, had something of the intricacy of the islands and water of Loch +Lomond as we saw them from Inch-ta-vannach; and yet how different! At +Loch Lomond we could never forget that it was an inland lake of fresh +water, nor here that it was the sea itself, though among multitudes of +hills. Immediately below us, on an island a few yards from the shore, +stood an old keep or fortress;[13] the vale of Appin opened to the +water-side, with cultivated fields and cottages. If there were trees +near the shore they contributed little to the delightful effect of the +scene: it was the immeasurable water, the lofty mist-covered steeps of +Morven to the right, the emerald islands without a bush or tree, the +celestial colour and brightness of the calm sea, and the innumerable +creeks and bays, the communion of land and water as far as the eye could +travel. My description must needs be languid; for the sight itself was +too fair to be remembered. We sate a long time upon the hill, and +pursued our journey at about four o'clock. Had an indifferent dinner, +but the cheese was so excellent that William wished to buy the +remainder; but the woman would not consent to sell it, and forced us to +accept a large portion of it. + + [Footnote 13: Castle Stalker.--J. C. S.] + +We had to travel up the loch, leaving behind us the beautiful scene +which we had viewed with such delight before dinner. Often, while we +were climbing the hill, did we stop to look back, and when we had gone +twenty or thirty yards beyond the point where we had the last view of +it, we left the car to the care of some children who were coming from +school, and went to take another farewell, always in the hope of bearing +away a more substantial remembrance. Travelled for some miles along a +road which was so smooth it was more like a gravel walk in a gentleman's +grounds than a public highway. Probably the country is indebted for this +excellent road to Lord Tweeddale,[14] now a prisoner in France. His +house stands upon an eminence within a mile of Portnacroish, commanding +the same prospect which I have spoken of, except that it must lose +something in not having the old fortress at the foot of it--indeed, it +is not to be seen at all from the house or grounds. + + [Footnote 14: George, seventh Marquis of Tweeddale, being in France in + 1803, was detained by Bonaparte, and died at Verdun, 9th August + 1804.--J. C. S.] + +We travelled under steep hills, stony or smooth, with coppice-woods and +patches of cultivated land, and houses here and there; and at every +hundred yards, I may almost venture to say, a streamlet, narrow as a +ribbon, came tumbling down, and, crossing our road, fell into the lake +below. On the opposite shore, the hills--namely, the continuation of the +hills of Morven--were stern and severe, rising like upright walls from +the water's edge, and in colour more resembling rocks than hills, as +they appeared to us. We did not see any house, or any place where it was +likely a house could stand, for many miles; but as the loch was broad we +could not perhaps distinguish the objects thoroughly. A little after +sunset our road led us from the vale of the loch. We came to a small +river, a bridge, a mill, and some cottages at the foot of a hill, and +close to the loch. + +Did not cross the bridge, but went up the brook, having it on our left, +and soon found ourselves in a retired valley, scattered over with many +grey huts, and surrounded on every side by green hills. The hay grounds +in the middle of the vale were unenclosed, which was enough to keep +alive the Scottish wildness, here blended with exceeding beauty; for +there were trees growing irregularly or in clumps all through the +valley, rocks or stones here and there, which, with the people at work, +hay-cocks sprinkled over the fields, made the vale look full and +populous. It was a sweet time of the evening: the moon was up; but there +was yet so much of day that her light was not perceived. Our road was +through open fields; the people suspended their work as we passed along, +and leaning on their pitchforks or rakes, with their arms at their +sides, or hanging down, some in one way, some in another, and no two +alike, they formed most beautiful groups, the outlines of their figures +being much more distinct than by day, and all that might have been harsh +or unlovely softened down. The dogs were, as usual, attendant on their +masters, and, watching after us, they barked aloud; yet even their +barking hardly disturbed the quiet of the place. + +I cannot say how long this vale was; it made the larger half of a +circle, or a curve deeper than that of half a circle, before it opened +again upon the loch. It was less thoroughly cultivated and woody after +the last turning--the hills steep and lofty. We met a very tall stout +man, a fine figure, in a Highland bonnet, with a little girl, driving +home their cow: he accosted us, saying that we were late travellers, and +that we had yet four miles to go before we should reach Ballachulish--a +long way, uncertain as we were respecting our accommodations. He told us +that the vale was called the Strath of Duror, and when we said it was a +pretty place, he answered, Indeed it was, and that they lived very +comfortably there, for they had a good master, Lord Tweeddale, whose +imprisonment he lamented, speaking earnestly of his excellent qualities. +At the end of the vale we came close upon a large bay of the loch, +formed by a rocky hill, a continuation of the ridge of high hills on the +left side of the strath, making a very grand promontory, under which was +a hamlet, a cluster of huts, at the water's edge, with their little +fleet of fishing-boats at anchor, and behind, among the rocks, a hundred +slips of corn, slips and patches, often no bigger than a garden such as +a child, eight years old, would make for sport: it might have been the +work of a small colony from China. There was something touching to the +heart in this appearance of scrupulous industry, and excessive labour of +the soil, in a country where hills and mountains, and even valleys, are +left to the care of nature and the pleasure of the cattle that feed +among them. It was, indeed, a very interesting place, the more so being +in perfect contrast with the few houses at the entrance of the strath--a +sea hamlet, without trees, under a naked stony mountain, yet perfectly +sheltered, standing in the middle of a large bay which half the winds +that travel over the lake can never visit. The other, a little bowery +spot, with its river, bridge, and mill, might have been a hundred miles +from the sea-side. + +The moon was now shining, and though it reminded us how far the evening +was advanced, we stopped for many minutes before we could resolve to go +on; we saw nothing stirring, neither men, women, nor cattle; but the +linen was still bleaching by the stony rivulet, which ran near the +houses in water-breaks and tiny cataracts. For the first half mile +after we had left this scene there was nothing remarkable; and +afterwards we could only see the hills, the sky, the moon, and moonlight +water. When we came within, it might be, half a mile of Ballachulish, +the place where we were to lodge, the loch narrowed very much, the hills +still continuing high. I speak inaccurately, for it split into two +divisions, the one along which we went being called Loch Leven. + +The road grew very bad, and we had an anxious journey till we saw a +light before us, which with great joy we assured ourselves was from the +inn; but what was our distress when, on going a few steps further, we +came to a bridge half broken down, with bushes laid across to prevent +travellers from going over. After some perplexity we determined that I +should walk on to the house before us--for we could see that the bridge +was safe for foot-passengers--and ask for assistance. By great good +luck, at this very moment four or five men came along the road towards +us and offered to help William in driving the car through the water, +which was not very deep at that time, though, only a few days before, +the damage had been done to the bridge by a flood. + +I walked on to the inn, ordered tea, and was conducted into a +lodging-room. I desired to have a fire, and was answered with the old +scruple about "giving fire,"--with, at the same time, an excuse "that it +was so late,"--the girl, however, would ask the landlady, who was +lying-in; the fire was brought immediately, and from that time the girl +was very civil. I was not, however, quite at ease, for William stayed +long, and I was going to leave my fire to seek after him, when I heard +him at the door with the horse and car. The horse had taken fright with +the roughness of the river-bed and the rattling of the wheels--the +second fright in consequence of the ferry--and the men had been obliged +to unyoke him and drag the car through, a troublesome affair for +William; but he talked less of the trouble and alarm than of the +pleasure he had felt in having met with such true goodwill and ready +kindness in the Highlanders. They drank their glass of whisky at the +door, wishing William twenty good wishes, and asking him twice as many +questions,--if he was married, if he had an estate, where he lived, etc. +etc. This inn is the ferry-house on the main road up into the Highlands +by Fort-William, and here Coleridge, though unknown to us, had slept +three nights before. + + +_Saturday, September 3rd._--When we have arrived at an unknown place by +moonlight, it is never a moment of indifference when I quit it again +with the morning light, especially if the objects have appeared +beautiful, or in any other way impressive or interesting. I have kept +back, unwilling to go to the window, that I might not lose the picture +taken to my pillow at night. So it was at Ballachulish: and instantly I +felt that the passing away of my own fancies was a loss. The place had +appeared exceedingly wild by moonlight; I had mistaken corn-fields for +naked rocks, and the lake had appeared narrower and the hills more steep +and lofty than they really were. + +We rose at six o'clock, and took a basin of milk before we set forward +on our journey to Glen Coe. It was a delightful morning, the road +excellent, and we were in good spirits, happy that we had no more +ferries to cross, and pleased with the thought that we were going among +the grand mountains which we saw before us at the head of the loch. We +travelled close to the water's edge, and were rolling along a smooth +road, when the horse suddenly backed, frightened by the upright shafts +of a roller rising from behind the wall of a field adjoining the road. +William pulled, whipped, and struggled in vain; we both leapt upon the +ground, and the horse dragged the car after him, he going backwards down +the bank of the loch, and it was turned over, half in the water, the +horse lying on his back, struggling in the harness, a frightful sight! +I gave up everything; thought that the horse would be lamed, and the car +broken to pieces. Luckily a man came up in the same moment, and assisted +William in extricating the horse, and, after an hour's delay, with the +help of strings and pocket-handkerchiefs, we mended the harness and set +forward again, William leading the poor animal all the way, for the +regular beating of the waves frightened him, and any little gushing +stream that crossed the road would have sent him off. The village where +the blacksmith lived was before us--a few huts under the mountains, and, +as it seemed, at the head of the loch; but it runs further up to the +left, being narrowed by a hill above the village, near which, at the +edge of the water, was a slate quarry, and many large boats with masts, +on the water below, high mountains shutting in the prospect, which stood +in single, distinguishable shapes, yet clustered together--simple and +bold in their forms, and their surfaces of all characters and all +colours--some that looked as if scarified by fire, others green; and +there was one that might have been blasted by an eternal frost, its +summit and sides for a considerable way down being as white as +hoar-frost at eight o'clock on a winter's morning. No clouds were on the +hills; the sun shone bright, but the wind blew fresh and cold. + +When we reached the blacksmith's shop, I left William to help to take +care of the horse, and went into the house. The mistress, with a child +in her arms and two or three running about, received me very kindly, +making many apologies for the dirty house, which she partly attributed +to its being Saturday; but I could plainly see that it was dirt of all +days. I sat in the midst of it with great delight, for the woman's +benevolent, happy countenance almost converted her slovenly and lazy way +of leaving all things to take care of themselves into a comfort and a +blessing. + +It was not a Highland hut, but a slated house built by the master of the +quarry for the accommodation of his blacksmith,--the shell of an +English cottage, as if left unfinished by the workmen, without plaster, +and with floor of mud. Two beds, with not over-clean bedclothes, were in +the room. Luckily for me, there was a good fire and a boiling kettle. +The woman was very sorry she had no butter; none was to be had in the +village: she gave me oaten and barley bread. We talked over the fire; I +answered her hundred questions, and in my turn put some to her. She +asked me, as usual, if I was married, how many brothers I had, etc. etc. +I told her that William was married, and had a fine boy; to which she +replied, "And the man's a decent man too." Her next-door neighbour came +in with a baby on her arm, to request that I would accept of some fish, +which I broiled in the ashes. She joined in our conversation, but with +more shyness than her neighbour, being a very young woman. She happened +to say that she was a stranger in that place, and had been bred and born +a long way off. On my asking her where, she replied, "At Leadhills"; and +when I told her that I had been there, a joy lighted up her countenance +which I shall never forget, and when she heard that it was only a +fortnight before, her eyes filled with tears. I was exceedingly affected +with the simplicity of her manners; her tongue was now let loose, and +she would have talked for ever of Leadhills, of her mother, of the +quietness of the people in general, and the goodness of Mrs. Otto, who, +she told me, was a "varra discreet woman." She was sure we should be +"well put up" at Mrs. Otto's, and praised her house and furniture; +indeed, it seemed she thought all earthly comforts were gathered +together under the bleak heights that surround the villages of +Wanlockhead and Leadhills: and afterwards, when I said it was a wild +country thereabouts, she even seemed surprised, and said it was not half +so wild as where she lived now. One circumstance which she mentioned of +Mrs. Otto I must record, both in proof of her "discretion," and the +sobriety of the people at Leadhills, namely, that no liquor was ever +drunk in her house after a certain hour of the night--I have forgotten +what hour; but it was an early one, I am sure not later than ten. + +The blacksmith, who had come in to his breakfast, was impatient to +finish our job, that he might go out into the hay-field, for, it being a +fine day, every plot of hay-ground was scattered over with hay-makers. +On my saying that I guessed much of their hay must be spoiled, he told +me no, for that they had high winds, which dried it quickly,--the people +understood the climate, "were clever at the work, and got it in with a +blink." He hastily swallowed his breakfast, dry bread and a basin of +weak tea without sugar, and held his baby on his knee till he had done. + +The women and I were again left to the fireside, and there were no +limits to their joy in me, for they discovered another bond of +connexion. I lived in the same part of England from which Mr. Rose, +the superintendent of the slate-quarries, and his wife, had come. +"Oh!" said Mrs. Stuart--so her neighbour called her, they not giving +each other their Christian names, as is common in Cumberland and +Westmoreland,--"Oh!" said she, "what would not I give to see anybody +that came from within four or five miles of Leadhills?" They both +exclaimed that I must see Mrs. Rose; she would make much of me--she +would have given me tea and bread and butter and a good breakfast. I +learned from the two women, Mrs. Stuart and Mrs. Duncan--so the other +was called--that Stuart had come from Leadhills for the sake of better +wages, to take the place of Duncan, who had resigned his office of +blacksmith to the quarries, as far as I could learn, in a pet, intending +to go to America, that his wife was averse to go, and that the scheme, +for this cause and through other difficulties, had been given up. He +appeared to be a good-tempered man, and made us a most reasonable charge +for mending the car. His wife told me that they must give up the house +in a short time to the other blacksmith; she did not know whither they +should go, but her husband, being a good workman, could find employment +anywhere. She hurried me out to introduce me to Mrs. Rose, who was at +work in the hay-field; she was exceedingly glad to see one of her +country-women, and entreated that I would go up to her house. It was a +substantial plain house, that would have held half-a-dozen of the common +huts. She conducted me into a sitting-room up-stairs, and set before me +red and white wine, with the remnant of a loaf of wheaten bread, which +she took out of a cupboard in the sitting-room, and some delicious +butter. She was a healthy and cheerful-looking woman, dressed like one +of our country lasses, and had certainly had no better education than +Peggy Ashburner, but she was as a chief in this secluded place, a Madam +of the village, and seemed to be treated with the utmost respect. + +In our way to and from the house we met several people who interchanged +friendly greetings with her, but always as with one greatly superior. +She attended me back to the blacksmith's, and would not leave me till +she had seen us set forward again on our journey. Mrs. Duncan and Mrs. +Stuart shook me cordially, nay, affectionately, by the hand. I tried to +prevail upon the former, who had been my hostess, to accept of some +money, but in vain; she would not take a farthing, and though I told her +it was only to buy something for her little daughter, even seemed +grieved that I should think it possible. I forgot to mention that while +the blacksmith was repairing the car, we walked to the slate-quarry, +where we saw again some of the kind creatures who had helped us in our +difficulties the night before. The hovel under which they split their +slates stood upon an outjutting rock, a part of the quarry rising +immediately out of the water, and commanded a fine prospect down the +loch below Ballachulish, and upwards towards the grand mountains, and +the other horn of the vale where the lake was concealed. The blacksmith +drove our car about a mile of the road; we then hired a man and horse +to take me and the car to the top of Glen Coe, being afraid that if the +horse backed or took fright we might be thrown down some precipice. + +But before we departed we could not resist our inclination to climb up +the hill which I have mentioned as appearing to terminate the loch. The +mountains, though inferior to those of Glen Coe, on the other side are +very majestic; and the solitude in which we knew the unseen lake was +bedded at their feet was enough to excite our longings. We climbed steep +after steep, far higher than they appeared to us, and I was going to +give up the accomplishment of our aim, when a glorious sight on the +mountain before us made me forget my fatigue. A slight shower had come +on, its skirts falling upon us, and half the opposite side of the +mountain was wrapped up in rainbow light, covered as by a veil with one +dilated rainbow: so it continued for some minutes; and the shower and +rainy clouds passed away as suddenly as they had come, and the sun shone +again upon the tops of all the hills. In the meantime we reached the +wished-for point, and saw to the head of the loch. Perhaps it might not +be so beautiful as we had imaged it in our thoughts, but it was +beautiful enough not to disappoint us,--a narrow deep valley, a perfect +solitude, without house or hut. One of the hills was thinly sprinkled +with Scotch firs, which appeared to be the survivors of a large forest: +they were the first natural wild Scotch firs we had seen. Though thinned +of their numbers, and left, comparatively, to a helpless struggle with +the elements, we were much struck with the gloom, and even grandeur, of +the trees. + +Hastened back again to join the car, but were tempted to go a little out +of our way to look at a nice white house belonging to the laird of Glen +Coe, which stood sweetly in a green field under the hill near some tall +trees and coppice woods. At this house the horrible massacre of Glen Coe +began, which we did not know when we were there; but the house must +have been rebuilt since that time. We had a delightful walk through +fields, among copses, and by a river-side: we could have fancied +ourselves in some part of the north of England unseen before, it was so +much like it, and yet so different. I must not forget one place on the +opposite side of the water, where we longed to live--a snug white house +on the mountain-side, surrounded by its own green fields and woods, the +high mountain above, the loch below, and inaccessible but by means of +boats. A beautiful spot indeed it was; but in the retired parts of +Scotland a comfortable white house is itself such a pleasant sight, that +I believe, without our knowing how or why, it makes us look with a more +loving eye on the fields and trees than for their own sakes they +deserve. + +At about one o'clock we set off, William on our own horse, and I with my +Highland driver. He was perfectly acquainted with the country, being a +sort of carrier or carrier-merchant or shopkeeper, going frequently to +Glasgow with his horse and cart to fetch and carry goods and +merchandise. He knew the name of every hill, almost every rock; and I +made good use of his knowledge; but partly from laziness, and still more +because it was inconvenient, I took no notes, and now I am little better +for what he told me. He spoke English tolerably; but seldom understood +what was said to him without a "What's your wull?" We turned up to the +right, and were at the foot of the glen--the laird's house cannot be +said to be _in_ the glen. The afternoon was delightful,--the sun shone, +the mountain-tops were clear, the lake glittered in the great vale +behind us, and the stream of Glen Coe flowed down to it glittering among +alder-trees. The meadows of the glen were of the freshest green; one +new-built stone house in the first reach, some huts, hillocks covered +with wood, alder-trees scattered all over. Looking backward, we were +reminded of Patterdale and the head of Ulswater, but forward the +greatness of the mountains overcame every other idea. + +The impression was, as we advanced up to the head of this first reach, +as if the glen were nothing, its loneliness and retirement--as if it +made up no part of my feeling: the mountains were all in all. That which +fronted us--I have forgotten its name--was exceedingly lofty, the +surface stony, nay, the whole mountain was one mass of stone, wrinkled +and puckered up together. At the second and last reach--for it is not a +winding vale--it makes a quick turning almost at right angles to the +first; and now we are in the depths of the mountains; no trees in the +glen, only green pasturage for sheep, and here and there a plot of +hay-ground, and something that tells of former cultivation. I observed +this to the guide, who said that formerly the glen had had many +inhabitants, and that there, as elsewhere in the Highlands, there had +been a great deal of corn where now the lands were left waste, and +nothing fed upon them but cattle. I cannot attempt to describe the +mountains. I can only say that I thought those on our right--for the +other side was only a continued high ridge or craggy barrier, broken +along the top into petty spiral forms--were the grandest I had ever +seen. It seldom happens that mountains in a very clear air look +exceedingly high, but these, though we could see the whole of them to +their very summits, appeared to me more majestic in their own nakedness +than our imaginations could have conceived them to be, had they been +half hidden by clouds, yet showing some of their highest pinnacles. They +were such forms as Milton might be supposed to have had in his mind when +he applied to Satan that sublime expression-- + + His stature reached the sky. + +The first division of the glen, as I have said, was scattered over with +rocks, trees, and woody hillocks, and cottages were to be seen here and +there. The second division is bare and stony, huge mountains on all +sides, with a slender pasturage in the bottom of the valley; and towards +the head of it is a small lake or tarn, and near the tarn a single +inhabited dwelling, and some unfenced hay-ground--a simple impressive +scene! Our road frequently crossed large streams of stones, left by the +mountain-torrents, losing all appearance of a road. After we had passed +the tarn the glen became less interesting, or rather the mountains, from +the manner in which they are looked at; but again, a little higher up, +they resume their grandeur. The river is, for a short space, hidden +between steep rocks: we left the road, and, going to the top of one of +the rocks, saw it foaming over stones, or lodged in dark black dens; +birch-trees grew on the inaccessible banks, and a few old Scotch firs +towered above them. At the entrance of the glen the mountains had been +all without trees, but here the birches climb very far up the side of +one of them opposite to us, half concealing a rivulet, which came +tumbling down as white as snow from the very top of the mountain. +Leaving the rock, we ascended a hill which terminated the glen. We often +stopped to look behind at the majestic company of mountains we had left. +Before us was no single paramount eminence, but a mountain waste, +mountain beyond mountain, and a barren hollow or basin into which we +were descending. + +We parted from our companion at the door of a whisky hovel, a building +which, when it came out of the workmen's hands with its unglassed +windows, would, in that forlorn region, have been little better than a +howling place for the winds, and was now half unroofed. On seeing a +smoke, I exclaimed, "Is it possible any people can live there?" when at +least half a dozen, men, women, and children, came to the door. They +were about to rebuild the hut, and I suppose that they, or some other +poor creatures, would dwell there through the winter, dealing out whisky +to the starved travellers. The sun was now setting, the air very cold, +the sky clear; I could have fancied that it was winter-time, with hard +frost. Our guide pointed out King's House to us, our resting-place for +the night. We could just distinguish the house at the bottom of the +moorish hollow or basin--I call it so, for it was nearly as broad as +long--lying before us, with three miles of naked road winding through +it, every foot of which we could see. The road was perfectly white, +making a dreary contrast with the ground, which was of a dull earthy +brown. Long as the line of road appeared before us, we could scarcely +believe it to be three miles--I suppose owing to its being unbroken by +any one object, and the moor naked as the road itself, but we found it +the longest three miles we had yet travelled, for the surface was so +stony we had to walk most of the way. + +The house looked respectable at a distance--a large square building, +cased in blue slates to defend it from storms,--but when we came close +to it the outside forewarned us of the poverty and misery within. Scarce +a blade of grass could be seen growing upon the open ground; the +heath-plant itself found no nourishment there, appearing as if it had +but sprung up to be blighted. There was no enclosure for a cow, no +appropriated ground but a small plot like a church-yard, in which were a +few starveling dwarfish potatoes, which had, no doubt, been raised by +means of the dung left by travellers' horses: they had not come to +blossoming, and whether they would either yield fruit or blossom I know +not. The first thing we saw on entering the door was two sheep hung up, +as if just killed from the barren moor, their bones hardly sheathed in +flesh. After we had waited a few minutes, looking about for a guide to +lead us into some corner of the house, a woman, seemingly about forty +years old, came to us in a great bustle, screaming in Erse, with the +most horrible guinea-hen or peacock voice I ever heard, first to one +person, then another. She could hardly spare time to show us up-stairs, +for crowds of men were in the house--drovers, carriers, horsemen, +travellers, all of whom she had to provide with supper, and she was, as +she told us, the only woman there. + +Never did I see such a miserable, such a wretched place,--long rooms +with ranges of beds, no other furniture except benches, or perhaps one +or two crazy chairs, the floors far dirtier than an ordinary house could +be if it were never washed,--as dirty as a house after a sale on a rainy +day, and the rooms being large, and the walls naked, they looked as if +more than half the goods had been sold out. We sate shivering in one of +the large rooms for three-quarters of an hour before the woman could +find time to speak to us again; she then promised a fire in another +room, after two travellers, who were going a stage further, had finished +their whisky, and said we should have supper as soon as possible. She +had no eggs, no milk, no potatoes, no loaf-bread, or we should have +preferred tea. With length of time the fire was kindled, and, after +another hour's waiting, supper came,--a shoulder of mutton so hard that +it was impossible to chew the little flesh that might be scraped off the +bones, and some sorry soup made of barley and water, for it had no other +taste. + +After supper, the woman, having first asked if we slept on blankets, +brought in two pair of sheets, which she begged that I would air by the +fire, for they would be dirtied below-stairs. I was very willing, but +behold! the sheets were so wet, that it would have been at least a +two-hours' job before a far better fire than could be mustered at King's +House,--for, that nothing might be wanting to make it a place of +complete starvation, the peats were not dry, and if they had not been +helped out by decayed wood dug out of the earth along with them, we +should have had no fire at all. The woman was civil, in her fierce, wild +way. She and the house, upon that desolate and extensive Wild, and +everything we saw, made us think of one of those places of rendezvous +which we read of in novels--Ferdinand Count Fathom, or Gil Blas,--where +there is one woman to receive the booty, and prepare the supper at +night. She told us that she was only a servant, but that she had now +lived there five years, and that, when but a "young lassie," she had +lived there also. We asked her if she had always served the same master, +"Nay, nay, many masters, for they were always changing." I verily +believe that the woman was attached to the place like a cat to the empty +house when the family who brought her up are gone to live elsewhere. The +sheets were so long in drying that it was very late before we went to +bed. We talked over our day's adventures by the fireside, and often +looked out of the window towards a huge pyramidal mountain[15] at the +entrance of Glen Coe. All between, the dreary waste was clear, almost, +as sky, the moon shining full upon it. A rivulet ran amongst stones near +the house, and sparkled with light: I could have fancied that there was +nothing else, in that extensive circuit over which we looked, that had +the power of motion. + + [Footnote 15: Buchail, the Shepherd of Etive.--J. C. S.] + +In comparing the impressions we had received at Glen Coe, we found that +though the expectations of both had been far surpassed by the grandeur +of the mountains, we had upon the whole both been disappointed, and from +the same cause: we had been prepared for images of terror, had expected +a deep, den-like valley with overhanging rocks, such as William has +described in these lines, speaking of the Alps:-- + + Brook and road + Were fellow-travellers in this gloomy Pass, + And with them did we journey several hours + At a slow step. The immeasurable height + Of woods decaying, never to be decayed! + The stationary blasts of waterfalls; + And everywhere along the hollow rent + Winds thwarting winds, bewilder'd and forlorn; + The torrents shooting from the clear blue sky, + The rocks that mutter'd close upon our ears, + Black drizzling crags that spake by the way-side + As if a voice were in them; the sick sight + And giddy prospect of the raving stream; + The unfetter'd clouds, and region of the heavens, + Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light, + Were all like workings of one mind, the features + Of the same face, blossoms upon one tree, + Characters of the great Apocalypse, + The Types and Symbols of Eternity, + Of first, and last, and midst, and without end.[16] + + [Footnote 16: See _The Simplon Pass_, in "Poetical Works," + vol. ii. p. 69.--ED.] + +The place had nothing of this character, the glen being open to the eye +of day, the mountains retiring in independent majesty. Even in the upper +part of it, where the stream rushed through the rocky chasm, it was but +a deep trench in the vale, not the vale itself, and could only be seen +when we were close to it. + + +_FOURTH WEEK_ + +_Sunday, September 4th._--We had desired to be called at six o'clock, +and rose at the first summons. Our beds had proved better than we +expected, and we had not slept ill; but poor Coleridge had passed a +wretched night here four days before. This we did not know; but since, +when he told us of it, the notion of what he must have suffered, with +the noise of drunken people about his ears all night, himself sick and +tired, has made our discomfort cling to my memory, and given these +recollections a twofold interest. I asked if it was possible to have a +couple of eggs boiled before our departure: the woman hesitated; she +thought I might, and sent a boy into the out-houses to look about, who +brought in one egg after long searching. Early as we had risen it was +not very early when we set off, for everything at King's House was in +unison--equally uncomfortable. As the woman had told us the night +before, "They had no hay and that was a loss." There were neither stalls +nor bedding in the stable, so that William was obliged to watch the +horse while it was feeding, for there were several others in the stable, +all standing like wild beasts, ready to devour each other's portion of +corn: this, with the slowness of the servant and other hindrances, took +up much time, and we were completely starved, for the morning was very +cold, as I believe all the mornings in that desolate place are. + +When we had gone about a quarter of a mile I recollected that I had left +the little cup given me by the kind landlady at Taynuilt, which I had +intended that John should hereafter drink out of, in memory of our +wanderings. I would have turned back for it, but William pushed me on, +unwilling that we should lose so much time, though indeed he was as +sorry to part with it as myself. + +Our road was over a hill called the Black Mount. For the first mile, or +perhaps more, after we left King's House, we ascended on foot; then came +upon a new road, one of the finest that was ever trod; and, as we went +downwards almost all the way afterwards, we travelled very quickly. The +motion was pleasant, the different reaches and windings of the road were +amusing; the sun shone, the mountain-tops were clear and cheerful, and +we in good spirits, in a bustle of enjoyment, though there never was a +more desolate region: mountains behind, before, and on every side; I do +not remember to have seen either patch of grass, flower, or flowering +heather within three or four miles of King's House. The low ground was +not rocky, but black, and full of white frost-bleached stones, the +prospect only varied by pools, seen everywhere both near and at a +distance, as far as the ground stretched out below us: these were +interesting spots, round which the mind assembled living objects, and +they shone as bright as mirrors in the forlorn waste. We passed neither +tree nor shrub for miles--I include the whole space from Glen Coe--yet +we saw perpetually traces of a long decayed forest, pieces of black +mouldering wood. + +Through such a country as this we had travelled perhaps seven and a half +miles this morning, when, after descending a hill, we turned to the +right, and saw an unexpected sight in the moorland hollow into which we +were entering, a small lake bounded on the opposite side by a grove of +Scotch firs, two or three cottages at the head of it, and a lot of +cultivated ground with scattered hay-cocks. The road along which we were +going, after having made a curve considerably above the tarn, was seen +winding through the trees on the other side, a beautiful object, and, +luckily for us, a drove of cattle happened to be passing there at the +very time, a stream coursing the road, with off-stragglers to the +borders of the lake, and under the trees on the sloping ground. + +In conning over our many wanderings I shall never forget the gentle +pleasure with which we greeted the lake of Inveroran and its few grey +cottages: we suffered our horse to slacken his pace, having now no need +of the comfort of quick motion, though we were glad to think that one of +those cottages might be the public-house where we were to breakfast. A +forest--now, as it appeared, dwindled into the small grove bordering the +lake--had, not many years ago, spread to that side of the vale where we +were: large stumps of trees which had been cut down were yet remaining +undecayed, and there were some single trees left alive, as if by their +battered black boughs to tell us of the storms that visit the valley +which looked now so sober and peaceful. When we arrived at the huts, one +of them proved to be the inn, a thatched house without a sign-board. We +were kindly received, had a fire lighted in the parlour, and were in +such good humour that we seemed to have a thousand comforts about us; +but we had need of a little patience in addition to this good humour +before breakfast was brought, and at last it proved a disappointment: +the butter not eatable, the barley-cakes fusty, the oat-bread so hard I +could not chew it, and there were only four eggs in the house, which +they had boiled as hard as stones. + +Before we had finished breakfast two foot-travellers came in, and seated +themselves at our table; one of them was returning, after a long +absence, to Fort-William, his native home; he had come from Egypt, and, +many years ago, had been on a recruiting party at Penrith, and knew many +people there. He seemed to think his own country but a dismal land. + +There being no bell in the parlour, I had occasion to go several times +and ask for what we wanted in the kitchen, and I would willingly have +given twenty pounds to have been able to take a lively picture of it. +About seven or eight travellers, probably drovers, with as many dogs, +were sitting in a complete circle round a large peat-fire in the middle +of the floor, each with a mess of porridge, in a wooden vessel, upon his +knee; a pot, suspended from one of the black beams, was boiling on the +fire; two or three women pursuing their household business on the +outside of the circle, children playing on the floor. There was nothing +uncomfortable in this confusion: happy, busy, or vacant faces, all +looked pleasant; and even the smoky air, being a sort of natural indoor +atmosphere of Scotland, served only to give a softening, I may say +harmony, to the whole. + +We departed immediately after breakfast; our road leading us, as I have +said, near the lake-side and through the grove of firs, which extended +backward much further than we had imagined. After we had left it we came +again among bare moorish wastes, as before, under the mountains, so that +Inveroran still lives in our recollection as a favoured place, a flower +in the desert. + +Descended upon the whole, I believe very considerably, in our way to +Tyndrum; but it was a road of long ups and downs, over hills and through +hollows of uncultivated ground; a chance farm perhaps once in three +miles, a glittering rivulet bordered with greener grass than grew on the +broad waste, or a broken fringe of alders or birches, partly concealing +and partly pointing out its course. + +Arrived at Tyndrum at about two o'clock. It is a cold spot. Though, as I +should suppose, situated lower than Inveroran, and though we saw it in +the hottest time of the afternoon sun, it had a far colder aspect from +the want of trees. We were here informed that Coleridge, who, we +supposed, was gone to Edinburgh, had dined at this very house a few days +before, in his road to Fort-William. By the help of the cook, who was +called in, the landlady made out the very day: it was the day after we +parted from him; as she expressed it, the day after the "great speet," +namely, the great rain. We had a moorfowl and mutton-chops for dinner, +well cooked, and a reasonable charge. The house was clean for a Scotch +inn, and the people about the doors were well dressed. In one of the +parlours we saw a company of nine or ten, with the landlady, seated +round a plentiful table,--a sight which made us think of the fatted calf +in the alehouse pictures of the Prodigal Son. There seemed to be a whole +harvest of meats and drinks, and there was something of festivity and +picture-like gaiety even in the fresh-coloured dresses of the people and +their Sunday faces. The white table-cloth, glasses, English dishes, +etc., were all in contrast with what we had seen at Inveroran: the +places were but about nine miles asunder, both among hills; the rank of +the people little different, and each house appeared to be a house of +plenty. + +We were I think better pleased with our treatment at this inn than any +of the lonely houses on the road, except Taynuilt; but Coleridge had not +fared so well, and was dissatisfied, as he has since told us, and the +two travellers who breakfasted with us at Inveroran had given a bad +account of the house. + +Left Tyndrum at about five o'clock; a gladsome afternoon; the road +excellent, and we bowled downwards through a pleasant vale, though not +populous, or well cultivated, or woody, but enlivened by a river that +glittered as it flowed. On the side of a sunny hill a knot of men and +women were gathered together at a preaching. We passed by many droves of +cattle and Shetland ponies, which accident stamped a character upon +places, else unrememberable--not an individual character, but the soul, +the spirit, and solitary simplicity of many a Highland region. + +We had about eleven miles to travel before we came to our lodging, and +had gone five or six, almost always descending, and still in the same +vale, when we saw a small lake before us after the vale had made a +bending to the left; it was about sunset when we came up to the lake; +the afternoon breezes had died away, and the water was in perfect +stillness. One grove-like island, with a ruin that stood upon it +overshadowed by the trees, was reflected on the water. This building, +which, on that beautiful evening, seemed to be wrapped up in religious +quiet, we were informed had been raised for defence by some Highland +chieftain. All traces of strength, or war, or danger are passed away, +and in the mood in which we were we could only look upon it as a place +of retirement and peace. The lake is called Loch Dochart. We passed by +two others of inferior beauty, and continued to travel along the side of +the same river, the Dochart, through an irregular, undetermined +vale,--poor soil and much waste land. + +At that time of the evening when, by looking steadily, we could discover +a few pale stars in the sky, we saw upon an eminence, the bound of our +horizon, though very near to us, and facing the bright yellow clouds of +the west, a group of figures that made us feel how much we wanted in not +being painters. Two herdsmen, with a dog beside them, were sitting on +the hill, overlooking a herd of cattle scattered over a large meadow by +the river-side. Their forms, looked at through a fading light, and +backed by the bright west, were exceedingly distinct, a beautiful +picture in the quiet of a Sabbath evening, exciting thoughts and images +of almost patriarchal simplicity and grace. We were much pleased with +the situation of our inn, where we arrived between eight and nine +o'clock. The river was at the distance of a broad field from the door; +we could see it from the upper windows and hear its murmuring; the moon +shone, enlivening the large corn fields with cheerful light. We had a +bad supper, and the next morning they made us an unreasonable charge; +and the servant was uncivil, because, forsooth! we had no wine. + +_N.B._--The travellers in the morning had spoken highly of this inn.[17] + + [Footnote 17: Suie.--J. C. S. _Quære_, Luib.--ED.] + + +_Monday, September 5th._--After drinking a basin of milk we set off +again at a little after six o'clock--a fine morning--eight miles to +Killin--the river Dochart always on our left. The face of the country +not very interesting, though not unpleasing, reminding us of some of the +vales of the north of England, though meagre, nipped-up, or shrivelled +compared with them. There were rocks, and rocky knolls, as about +Grasmere and Wytheburn, and copses, but of a starveling growth; the +cultivated ground poor. Within a mile or two of Killin the land was +better cultivated, and, looking down the vale, we had a view of Loch +Tay, into which the Dochart falls. Close to the town, the river took up +a roaring voice, beating its way over a rocky descent among large black +stones: islands in the middle turning the stream this way and that; the +whole course of the river very wide. We crossed it by means of three +bridges, which make one continued bridge of a great length. On an island +below the bridge is a gateway with tall pillars, leading to an old +burying-ground belonging to some noble family.[18] It has a singular +appearance, and the place is altogether uncommon and romantic--a remnant +of ancient grandeur: extreme natural wildness--the sound of roaring +water, and withal, the ordinary half-village, half-town bustle of an +every-day place. + + [Footnote 18: The burial-place of Macnab of Macnab.--J. C. S.] + +The inn at Killin is one of the largest on the Scotch road: it stands +pleasantly, near the chapel, at some distance from the river Dochart, +and out of reach of its tumultuous noise; and another broad, stately, +and silent stream, which you cannot look at without remembering its +boisterous neighbour, flows close under the windows of the inn, and +beside the churchyard, in which are many graves. That river falls into +the lake at the distance of nearly a mile from the mouth of the Dochart. +It is bordered with tall trees and corn fields, bearing plentiful crops, +the richest we had seen in Scotland. + +After breakfast we walked onwards, expecting that the stream would lead +us into some considerable vale; but it soon became little better than a +common rivulet, and the glen appeared to be short; indeed, we wondered +how the river had grown so great all at once. Our horse had not been +able to eat his corn, and we waited a long time in the hope that he +would be better. At eleven o'clock, however, we determined to set off, +and give him all the ease possible by walking up the hills, and not +pushing beyond a slow walk. We had fourteen miles to travel to Kenmore, +by the side of Loch Tay. Crossed the same bridge again, and went down +the south side of the lake. We had a delightful view of the village of +Killin, among rich green fields, corn and wood, and up towards the two +horns of the vale of Tay, the valley of the Dochart, and the other +valley with its full-grown river, the prospect terminated by mountains. +We travelled through lanes, woods, or open fields, never close to the +lake, but always near it, for many miles, the road being carried along +the side of a hill, which rose in an almost regularly receding steep +from the lake. The opposite shore did not much differ from that down +which we went, but it seemed more thinly inhabited, and not so well +cultivated. The sun shone, the cottages were pleasant, and the +goings-on of the harvest--for all the inhabitants were at work in the +corn fields--made the way cheerful. But there is an uniformity in the +lake which, comparing it with other lakes, made it appear tiresome. It +has no windings: I should even imagine, although it is so many miles +long, that, from some points not very high on the hills, it may be seen +from one end to the other. There are few bays, no lurking-places where +the water hides itself in the land, no outjutting points or +promontories, no islands; and there are no commanding mountains or +precipices. I think that this lake would be the most pleasing in +spring-time, or in summer before the corn begins to change colour, the +long tracts of hills on each side of the vale having at this season a +kind of patchy appearance, for the corn fields in general were very +small, mere plots, and of every possible shade of bright yellow. When we +came in view of the foot of the lake we perceived that it ended, as it +had begun, in pride and loveliness. The village of Kenmore, with its +neat church and cleanly houses, stands on a gentle eminence at the end +of the water. The view, though not near so beautiful as that of Killin, +is exceedingly pleasing. Left our car, and turned out of the road at +about the distance of a mile from the town, and after having climbed +perhaps a quarter of a mile, we were conducted into a locked-up +plantation, and guessed by the sound that we were near the cascade, but +could not see it. Our guide opened a door, and we entered a dungeon-like +passage, and, after walking some yards in total darkness, found +ourselves in a quaint apartment stuck over with moss, hung about with +stuffed foxes and other wild animals, and ornamented with a library of +wooden books covered with old leather backs, the mock furniture of a +hermit's cell. At the end of the room, through a large bow-window, we +saw the waterfall, and at the same time, looking down to the left, the +village of Kenmore and a part of the lake--a very beautiful prospect. + + +MEMORANDUM BY THE AUTHOR + +The transcript of the First Part of this Journal, and the Second as far +as page 43, were written before the end of the year 1803. I do not know +exactly when I concluded the remainder of the Second Part, but it was +resumed on the 2nd of February 1804. The Third Part was begun at the end +of the month of April 1805, and finished on the 31st of May.[19] + + [Footnote 19: It is difficult to know what the Author meant by the + First, Second, and Third "Parts" of her Journal; as it is divided into + separate "Weeks" throughout. It is not of much consequence however, + and the above short "Memorandum"--inserted in the course of the + transcript--has a special interest, as showing that the work of + copying her Journal was carried on by Dorothy Wordsworth from 1803 to + 1805.--ED.] + + +On resuming her work of copying, the author wrote:-- + +_April 11th, 1805._--I am setting about a task which, however free and +happy the state of my mind, I could not have performed well at this +distance of time; but now, I do not know that I shall be able to go on +with it at all. I will strive, however, to do the best I can, setting +before myself a different object from that hitherto aimed at, which was, +to omit no incident, however trifling, and to describe the country so +minutely that you should, where the objects were the most interesting, +feel as if you had been with us. I shall now only attempt to give you an +idea of those scenes which pleased us most, dropping the incidents of +the ordinary days, of which many have slipped from my memory, and others +which remain it would be difficult, and often painful to me, to +endeavour to draw out and disentangle from other thoughts. I the less +regret my inability to do more, because, in describing a great part of +what we saw from the time we left Kenmore, my work would be little more +than a repetition of what I have said before, or, where it was not so, a +longer time was necessary to enable us to bear away what was most +interesting than we could afford to give. + + +_Monday, September 5th._--We arrived at Kenmore after sunset. + + +_Tuesday, September 6th._--Walked before breakfast in Lord Breadalbane's +grounds, which border upon the river Tay. The higher elevations command +fine views of the lake; and the walks are led along the river's banks, +and shaded with tall trees: but it seemed to us that a bad taste had +been at work, the banks being regularly shaven and cut as if by rule and +line. One or two of such walks I should well have liked to see; but they +are all equally trim, and I could not but regret that the fine trees had +not been left to grow out of a turf that cattle were permitted to feed +upon. There was one avenue which would well have graced the ruins of an +abbey or some stately castle. It was of a very great length, perfectly +straight, the trees meeting at the top in a cathedral arch, lessening in +perspective,--the boughs the roof, the stems the pillars. I never saw so +beautiful an avenue. We were told that some improver of pleasure-grounds +had advised Lord B. to cut down the trees, and lay the whole open to the +lawn, for the avenue is very near his house. His own better taste, or +that of some other person, I suppose, had saved them from the axe. Many +workmen were employed in building a large mansion something like that of +Inverary, close to the old house, which was yet standing; the situation, +as we thought, very bad, considering that Lord Breadalbane had the +command of all the ground at the foot of the lake, including hills both +high and low. It is in a hollow, without prospect either of the lake or +river, or anything else--seeing nothing, and adorning nothing. After +breakfast, left Kenmore, and travelled through the vale of Tay, I +believe fifteen or sixteen miles; but in the course of this we turned +out of our way to the Falls of Moness, a stream tributary to the Tay, +which passes through a narrow glen with very steep banks. A path like a +woodman's track has been carried through the glen, which, though the +private property of a gentleman, has not been taken out of the hands of +Nature, but merely rendered accessible by this path, which ends at the +waterfalls. They tumble from a great height, and are indeed very +beautiful falls, and we could have sate with pleasure the whole morning +beside the cool basin in which the waters rest, surrounded by high rocks +and overhanging trees. In one of the most retired parts of the dell, we +met a young man coming slowly along the path, intent upon a book which +he was reading: he did not seem to be of the rank of a gentleman, though +above that of a peasant. + +Passed through the village of Aberfeldy, at the foot of the glen of +Moness. The birks of Aberfeldy are spoken of in some of the Scotch +songs, which no doubt grew in the stream of Moness; but near the village +we did not see any trees that were remarkable, except a row of +laburnums, growing as a common field hedge; their leaves were of a +golden colour, and as lively as the yellow blossoms could have been in +the spring. Afterwards we saw many laburnums in the woods, which we were +told had been "planted"; though I remember that Withering speaks of the +laburnum as one of the British plants, and growing in Scotland. The +twigs and branches being stiff, were not so graceful as those of our +garden laburnums, but I do not think I ever before saw any that were of +so brilliant colours in their autumnal decay. In our way to and from +Moness we crossed the Tay by a bridge of ambitious and ugly +architecture. Many of the bridges in Scotland are so, having eye-holes +between the arches, not in the battlements but at the outspreading of +the pillar of the arch, which destroys its simplicity, and takes from +the appearance of strength and security, without adding anything of +lightness. We returned, by the same road, to the village of Weem, where +we had left our car. The vale of Tay was very wide, having been so from +within a short distance of Kenmore: the reaches of the river are long; +and the ground is more regularly cultivated than in any vale we had yet +seen--chiefly corn, and very large tracts. Afterwards the vale becomes +narrow and less cultivated, the reaches shorter--on the whole resembling +the vale of Nith, but we thought it inferior in beauty. + +One among the cottages in this narrow and wilder part of the vale fixed +our attention almost as much as a Chinese or a Turk would do passing +through the vale of Grasmere. It was a cottage, I believe, little +differing in size and shape from all the rest; but it was like a +visitor, a stranger come into the Highlands, or a model set up of what +may be seen in other countries. The walls were neatly plastered or +rough-cast, the windows of clean bright glass, and the door was +painted--before it a flower-garden, fenced with a curiously-clipped +hedge, and against the wall was placed the sign of a spinning-wheel. We +could not pass this humble dwelling, so distinguished by an appearance +of comfort and neatness, without some conjectures respecting the +character and manner of life of the person inhabiting it. Leisure he +must have had; and we pleased ourselves with thinking that some +self-taught mind might there have been nourished by knowledge gathered +from books, and the simple duties and pleasures of rural life. + +At Logierait, the village where we dined, the vale widens again, and the +Tummel joins the Tay and loses its name; but the Tay falls into the +channel of the Tummel, continuing its course in the same direction, +almost at right angles to the former course of the Tay. We were sorry to +find that we had to cross the Tummel by a ferry, and resolved not to +venture in the same boat with the horse. Dined at a little public-house, +kept by a young widow, very talkative and laboriously civil. She took me +out to the back-door, and said she would show me a place which had once +been very grand, and, opening a door in a high wall, I entered a ruinous +courtyard, in which was a large old mansion, the walls entire and very +strong, but the roof broken in. The woman said it had been a palace of +one of the kings of Scotland. It was a striking and even an affecting +object, coming upon it, as I did, unawares,--a royal residence shut up +and hidden, while yet in its strength, by mean cottages; there was no +appearance of violence, but decay from desertion, and I should think +that it may remain many years without undergoing further visible change. +The woman and her daughter accompanied us to the ferry and crossed the +water with us; the woman said, but with not much appearance of honest +heart-feeling, that she could not be easy to let us go without being +there to know how we sped, so I invited the little girl to accompany +her, that she might have a ride in the car. The men were cautious, and +the horse got over with less alarm than we could have expected. Our way +was now up the vale, along the banks of the Tummel, an impetuous river; +the mountains higher than near the Tay, and the vale more wild, and the +different reaches more interesting. + +When we approached near to Fascally, near the junction of the Garry with +the Tummel, the twilight was far advanced, and our horse not being +perfectly recovered, we were fearful of taking him on to +Blair-Athole--five miles further; besides, the Pass of Killicrankie was +within half a mile, and we were unwilling to go through a place so +celebrated in the dark; therefore, being joined by a traveller, we +inquired if there was any public-house near; he said there was; and that +though the accommodations were not good, we might do well enough for one +night, the host and his wife being very honest people. It proved to be +rather better than a common cottage of the country; we seated ourselves +by the fire, William called for a glass of whisky, and asked if they +could give us beds. The woman positively refused to lodge us, though we +had every reason to believe that she had at least one bed for me; we +entreated again and again in behalf of the poor horse, but all in vain; +she urged, though in an uncivil way, that she had been sitting up the +whole of one or two nights before on account of a fair, and that now she +wanted to go to bed and sleep; so we were obliged to remount our car in +the dark, and with a tired horse we moved on, and went through the Pass +of Killicrankie, hearing only the roaring of the river, and seeing a +black chasm with jagged-topped black hills towering above. Afterwards +the moon rose, and we should not have had an unpleasant ride if our +horse had been in better plight, and we had not been annoyed, as we were +almost at every twenty yards, by people coming from a fair held that day +near Blair--no pleasant prognostic of what might be our accommodation at +the inn, where we arrived between ten and eleven o'clock, and found the +house in an uproar; but we were civilly treated, and were glad, after +eating a morsel of cold beef, to retire to rest, and I fell asleep in +spite of the noisy drunkards below stairs, who had outstayed the fair. + + +_Wednesday, September 7th._--Rose early, and went before breakfast to +the Duke of Athol's gardens and pleasure-grounds, where we completely +tired ourselves with a three-hours' walk. Having been directed to see +all the waterfalls, we submitted ourselves to the gardener, who dragged +us from place to place, calling our attention to, it might be, +half-a-dozen--I cannot say how many--dripping streams, very pretty in +themselves, if we had had the pleasure of discovering them; but they +were generally robbed of their grace by the obtrusive ornaments which +were first seen. The whole neighbourhood, a great country, seems to +belong to the Duke of Athol. In his domain are hills and mountains, +glens and spacious plains, rivers and innumerable torrents; but near +Blair are no old woods, and the plantations, except those at a little +distance from the house, appear inconsiderable, being lost to the eye in +so extensive a circuit. + +The castle stands on low ground, and far from the Garry, commanding a +prospect all round of distant mountains, a bare and cold scene, and, +from the irregularity and width of it, not so grand as one should +expect, knowing the great height of some of the mountains. Within the +Duke's park are three glens, the glen of the river Tilt and two others, +which, if they had been planted more judiciously, would have been very +sweet retirements; but they are choked up, the whole hollow of the +glens--I do not speak of the Tilt, for that is rich in natural +wood--being closely planted with trees, and those chiefly firs; but many +of the old fir-trees are, as single trees, very fine. On each side of +the glen is an ell-wide gravel walk, which the gardener told us was +swept once a week. It is conducted at the top of the banks, on each +side, at nearly equal height, and equal distance from the stream; they +lead you up one of these paths, and down the other--very wearisome, as +you will believe--mile after mile! We went into the garden, where there +was plenty of fruit--gooseberries, hanging as thick as possible upon the +trees, ready to drop off; I thought the gardener might have invited us +to refresh ourselves with some of his fruit after our long fatigue. One +part of the garden was decorated with statues, "images," as poor Mr. +Gill used to call those at Racedown, dressed in gay painted clothes; and +in a retired corner of the grounds, under some tall trees, appeared the +figure of a favourite old gamekeeper of one of the former Dukes, in the +attitude of pointing his gun at the game--"reported to be a striking +likeness," said the gardener. Looking at some of the tall larches, with +long hairy twigs, very beautiful trees, he told us that they were among +the first which had ever been planted in Scotland, that a Duke of Athol +had brought a single larch from London in a pot, in his coach, from +which had sprung the whole family that had overspread Scotland. This, +probably, might not be accurate, for others might afterwards have come, +or seed from other trees. He told us many anecdotes of the present Duke, +which I wish I could perfectly remember. He is an indefatigable +sportsman, hunts the wild deer on foot, attended by twelve Highlanders +in the Highland dress, which he himself formerly used to wear; he will +go out at four o'clock in the morning, and not return till night. His +fine family, "Athol's honest men, and Athol's bonny lasses," to whom +Burns, in his bumpers, drank health and long life, are dwindled away: of +nine, I believe only four are left: the mother of them is dead in a +consumption, and the Duke married again. We rested upon the heather seat +which Burns was so loth to quit that moonlight evening when he first +went to Blair Castle, and had a pleasure in thinking that he had been +under the same shelter, and viewed the little waterfall opposite with +some of the happy and pure feelings of his better mind. The castle has +been modernized, which has spoiled its appearance. It is a large +irregular pile, not handsome, but I think may have been picturesque, and +even noble, before it was docked of its battlements and whitewashed. + +The most interesting object we saw at Blair was the chapel, shaded by +trees, in which the body of the impetuous Dundee lies buried. This quiet +spot is seen from the windows of the inn, whence you look, at the same +time, upon a high wall and a part of the town--a contrast which, I know +not why, made the chapel and its grove appear more peaceful, as if kept +so for some sacred purpose. We had a very nice breakfast, which we +sauntered over after our weary walk. + +Being come to the most northerly point of our destined course, we took +out the map, loth to turn our backs upon the Highlands, and, looking +about for something which we might yet see, we fixed our eyes upon two +or three spots not far distant, and sent for the landlord to consult +with him. One of them was Loch Rannoch, a fresh-water lake, which he +told us was bordered by a natural pine forest, that its banks were +populous, and that the place being very remote, we might there see much +of the simplicity of the Highlander's life. The landlord said that we +must take a guide for the first nine or ten miles; but afterwards the +road was plain before us, and very good, so at about ten o'clock we +departed, having engaged a man to go with us. The Falls of Bruar, which +we wished to visit for the sake of Burns, are about three miles from +Blair, and our road was in the same direction for two miles. + +After having gone for some time under a bare hill, we were told to leave +the car at some cottages, and pass through a little gate near a brook +which crossed the road. We walked upwards at least three quarters of a +mile in the hot sun, with the stream on our right, both sides of which +to a considerable height were planted with firs and larches +intermingled--children of poor Burns's song; for his sake we wished that +they had been the natural trees of Scotland, birches, ashes, +mountain-ashes, etc.; however, sixty or seventy years hence they will be +no unworthy monument to his memory. At present, nothing can be uglier +than the whole chasm of the hill-side with its formal walks. I do not +mean to condemn them, for, for aught I know, they are as well managed as +they could be; but it is not easy to see the use of a pleasure-path +leading to nothing, up a steep and naked hill in the midst of an +unlovely tract of country, though by the side of a tumbling stream of +clear water. It does not surely deserve the name of a pleasure-path. It +is three miles from the Duke of Athol's house, and I do not believe that +one person living within five miles of the place would wish to go twice +to it. The falls are high, the rocks and stones fretted and gnawed by +the water. I do not wonder at the pleasure which Burns received from +this stream; I believe we should have been much pleased if we had come +upon it as he did. At the bottom of the hill we took up our car, and, +turning back, joined the man who was to be our guide. + +Crossed the Garry, and went along a moor without any road but straggling +cart-tracks. Soon began to ascend a high hill, and the ground grew so +rough--road there was none--that we were obliged to walk most of the +way. Ascended to a considerable height, and commanded an extensive +prospect bounded by lofty mountains, and having crossed the top of the +fell we parted with our guide, being in sight of the vale into which we +were to descend, and to pursue upwards till we should come to Loch +Rannoch, a lake, as described to us, bedded in a forest of Scotch pines. + +When left to ourselves we sate down on the hillside, and looked with +delight into the deep vale below, which was exceedingly green, not +regularly fenced or cultivated, but the level area scattered over with +bushes and trees, and through that level ground glided a glassy river, +not in serpentine windings, but in direct turnings backwards and +forwards, and then flowed into the head of the Lake of Tummel; but I +will copy a rough sketch which I made while we sate upon the hill, +which, imperfect as it is, will give a better idea of the course of the +river--which I must add is more curious than beautiful--than my +description. The ground must be often overflowed in winter, for the +water seemed to touch the very edge of its banks. At this time the scene +was soft and cheerful, such as invited us downwards, and made us proud +of our adventure. Coming near to a cluster of huts, we turned thither, a +few steps out of our way, to inquire about the road; these huts were on +the hill, placed side by side, in a figure between a square and a +circle, as if for the sake of mutual shelter, like haystacks in a +farmyard--no trees near them. We called at one of the doors, and three +hale, stout men came out, who could speak very little English, and +stared at us with an almost savage look of wonder. One of them took much +pains to set us forward, and went a considerable way down the hill till +we came in sight of the cart road, which we were to follow; but we had +not gone far before we were disheartened. It was with the greatest +difficulty William could lead the horse and car over the rough stones, +and to sit in it was impossible; the road grew worse and worse, +therefore we resolved to turn back, having no reason to expect anything +better, for we had been told that after we should leave the untracked +ground all would be fair before us. We knew ourselves where we stood to +be about eight miles distant from the point where the river Tummel, +after having left the lake, joins the Garry at Fascally near the Pass of +Killicrankie, therefore we resolved to make our way thither, and +endeavour to procure a lodging at the same public-house where it had +been refused to us the night before. The road was likely to be very bad; +but, knowing the distance, we thought it more prudent than to venture +farther with nothing before us but uncertainty. We were forced to unyoke +the horse, and turn the car ourselves, owing to the steep banks on +either side of the road, and after much trouble we got him in again, and +set our faces down the vale towards Loch Tummel, William leading the car +and I walking by his side. + +For the first two or three miles we looked down upon the lake, our road +being along the side of the hill directly above it. On the opposite side +another range of hills rose up in the same manner,--farm-houses thinly +scattered among the copses near the water, and cultivated ground in +patches. The lake does not wind, nor are the shores much varied by +bays,--the mountains not commanding; but the whole a pleasing scene. Our +road took us out of sight of the water, and we were obliged to procure a +guide across a high moor, where it was impossible that the horse should +drag us at all, the ground being exceedingly rough and untracked: of +course fatiguing for foot-travellers, and on foot we must travel. After +some time, the river Tummel again served us for a guide, when it had +left the lake. It was no longer a gentle stream, a mirror to the sky, +but we could hear it roaring at a considerable distance between steep +banks of rock and wood. We had to cross the Garry by a bridge, a little +above the junction of the two rivers; and were now not far from the +public-house, to our great joy, for we were very weary with our +laborious walk. I do not think that I had walked less than sixteen +miles, and William much more, to which add the fatigue of leading the +horse, and the rough roads, and you will not wonder that we longed for +rest. We stopped at the door of the house, and William entered as +before, and again the woman refused to lodge us, in a most inhuman +manner, giving no other reason than that she would not do it. We pleaded +for the poor horse, entreated, soothed, and flattered, but all in vain, +though the night was cloudy and dark. We begged to sit by the fire till +morning, and to this she would not consent; indeed, if it had not been +for the sake of the horse, I would rather have lain in a barn than on +the best of feather-beds in the house of such a cruel woman. + +We were now, after our long day's journey, five miles from the inn at +Blair, whither we, at first, thought of returning; but finally resolved +to go to a public-house which we had seen in a village we passed +through, about a mile above the ferry over the Tummel, having come from +that point to Blair, for the sake of the Pass of Killicrankie and Blair +itself, and had now the same road to measure back again. We were obliged +to leave the Pass of Killicrankie unseen; but this disturbed us little +at a time when we had seven miles to travel in the dark, with a poor +beast almost sinking with fatigue, for he had not rested once all day. +We went on spiritless, and at a dreary pace. Passed by one house which +we were half inclined to go up to and ask for a night's lodging; and +soon after, being greeted by a gentle voice from a poor woman, whom, +till she spoke, though we were close to her, we had not seen, we +stopped, and asked if she could tell us where we might stay all night, +and put up our horse. She mentioned the public-house left behind, and we +told our tale, and asked her if she had no house to which she could take +us. "Yes, to be sure she had a house, but it was only a small cottage"; +and she had no place for the horse, and how we could lodge in her house +she could not tell; but we should be welcome to whatever she had, so we +turned the car, and she walked by the side of it, talking to us in a +tone of human kindness which made us friends at once. + +I remember thinking to myself, as I have often done in a stage-coach, +though never with half the reason to prejudge favourably, What sort of +countenance and figure shall we see in this woman when we come into the +light? And indeed it was an interesting moment when, after we had +entered her house, she blew the embers on the hearth, and lighted a +candle to assist us in taking the luggage out of the car. Her husband +presently arrived, and he and William took the horse to the +public-house. The poor woman hung the kettle over the fire. We had tea +and sugar of our own, and she set before us barley cakes, and milk which +she had just brought in; I recollect she said she "had been west to +fetch it." The Highlanders always direct you by east and west, north and +south--very confusing to strangers. She told us that it was her business +to "keep the gate" for Mr. ----, who lived at ----, just below,--that +is, to receive messages, take in letters, etc. Her cottage stood by the +side of the road leading to his house, within the gate, having, as we +saw in the morning, a dressed-up porter's lodge outside; but within was +nothing but the naked walls, unplastered, and floors of mud, as in the +common huts. She said that they lived rent-free in return for their +services; but spoke of her place and Mr. ---- with little respect, +hinting that he was very proud; and indeed her appearance, and subdued +manners, and that soft voice which had prepossessed us so much in her +favour, seemed to belong to an injured and oppressed being. We talked a +great deal with her, and gathered some interesting facts from her +conversation, which I wish I had written down while they were fresh in +my memory. They had only one child, yet seemed to be very poor, not +discontented but languid, and willing to suffer rather than rouse to any +effort. Though it was plain she despised and hated her master, and had +no wish to conceal it, she hardly appeared to think it worth while to +speak ill of him. We were obliged to sit up very late while our kind +hostess was preparing our beds. William lay upon the floor on some hay, +without sheets; my bed was of chaff; I had plenty of covering, and a +pair of very nice strong clean sheets,--she said with some pride that +she had good linen. I believe the sheets had been of her own spinning, +perhaps when she was first married, or before, and she probably will +keep them to the end of her life of poverty. + + +_Thursday, September 8th._--Before breakfast we walked to the Pass of +Killicrankie. A very fine scene; the river Garry forcing its way down a +deep chasm between rocks, at the foot of high rugged hills covered with +wood, to a great height. The Pass did not, however, impress us with awe, +or a sensation of difficulty or danger, according to our expectations; +but, the road being at a considerable height on the side of the hill, we +at first only looked into the dell or chasm. It is much grander seen +from below, near the river's bed. Everybody knows that this Pass is +famous in military history. When we were travelling in Scotland an +invasion was hourly looked for, and one could not but think with some +regret of the times when from the now depopulated Highlands forty or +fifty thousand men might have been poured down for the defence of the +country, under such leaders as the Marquis of Montrose or the brave man +who had so distinguished himself upon the ground where we were +standing. I will transcribe a sonnet suggested to William by this place, +and written in October 1803:-- + + Six thousand Veterans practised in War's game, + Tried men, at Killicrankie were array'd + Against an equal host that wore the Plaid, + Shepherds and herdsmen. Like a whirlwind came + The Highlanders; the slaughter spread like flame, + And Garry, thundering down his mountain road, + Was stopp'd, and could not breathe beneath the load + Of the dead bodies. 'Twas a day of shame + For them whom precept and the pedantry + Of cold mechanic battle do enslave. + Oh! for a single hour of that Dundee + Who on that day the word of onset gave: + Like conquest might the men of England see, + And her Foes find a like inglorious grave. + +We turned back again, and going down the hill below the Pass, crossed +the same bridge we had come over the night before, and walked through +Lady Perth's grounds by the side of the Garry till we came to the +Tummel, and then walked up to the cascade of the Tummel. The fall is +inconsiderable, scarcely more than an ordinary "wear"; but it makes a +loud roaring over large stones, and the whole scene is grand--hills, +mountains, woods, and rocks. ---- is a very pretty place, all but the +house. Stoddart's print gives no notion of it. The house stands upon a +small plain at the junction of the two rivers, a close deep spot, +surrounded by high hills and woods. After we had breakfasted William +fetched the car, and, while we were conveying the luggage to the outside +of the gate, where it stood, Mr. ----, _mal apropos_, came very near to +the door, called the woman out, and railed at her in the most abusive +manner for "harbouring" people in that way. She soon slipped from him, +and came back to us: I wished that William should go and speak to her +master, for I was afraid that he might turn the poor woman away; but she +would not suffer it, for she did not care whether they stayed or not. In +the meantime, Mr. ---- continued scolding her husband; indeed, he +appeared to be not only proud, but very ignorant, insolent, and +low-bred. The woman told us that she had sometimes lodged poor +travellers who were passing along the road, and permitted others to cook +their victuals in her house, for which Mr. ---- had reprimanded her +before; but, as she said, she did not value her place, and it was no +matter. In sounding forth the dispraise of Mr. ----, I ought not to omit +mentioning that the poor woman had great delight in talking of the +excellent qualities of his mother, with whom she had been a servant, and +lived many years. After having interchanged good wishes we parted with +our charitable hostess, who, telling us her name, entreated us, if ever +we came that way again, to inquire for her. + +We travelled down the Tummel till it is lost in the Tay, and then, in +the same direction, continued our course along the vale of Tay, which is +very wide for a considerable way, but gradually narrows, and the river, +always a fine stream, assumes more dignity and importance. Two or three +miles before we reached Dunkeld, we observed whole hill-sides, the +property of the Duke of Athol, planted with fir-trees till they are lost +among the rocks near the tops of the hills. In forty or fifty years +these plantations will be very fine, being carried from hill to hill, +and not bounded by a visible artificial fence. + +Reached Dunkeld at about three o'clock. It is a pretty, small town, with +a respectable and rather large ruined abbey, which is greatly injured by +being made the nest of a modern Scotch kirk, with sash windows,--very +incongruous with the noble antique tower,--a practice which we +afterwards found is not uncommon in Scotland. Sent for the Duke's +gardener after dinner, and walked with him into the pleasure-grounds, +intending to go to the Falls of the Bran, a mountain stream which here +joins the Tay. After walking some time on a shaven turf under the shade +of old trees, by the side of the Tay, we left the pleasure-grounds, and +crossing the river by a ferry, went up a lane on the hill opposite till +we came to a locked gate by the road-side, through which we entered into +another part of the Duke's pleasure-grounds bordering on the Bran, the +glen being for a considerable way--for aught I know, two miles--thridded +by gravel walks. The walks are quaintly enough intersected, here and +there by a baby garden of fine flowers among the rocks and stones. The +waterfall, which we came to see, warned us by a loud roaring that we +must expect it; we were first, however, conducted into a small +apartment, where the gardener desired us to look at a painting of the +figure of Ossian, which, while he was telling us the story of the young +artist who performed the work, disappeared, parting in the middle, +flying asunder as if by the touch of magic, and lo! we are at the +entrance of a splendid room, which was almost dizzy and alive with +waterfalls, that tumbled in all directions--the great cascade, which was +opposite to the window that faced us, being reflected in innumerable +mirrors upon the ceiling and against the walls. We both laughed +heartily, which, no doubt, the gardener considered as high commendation; +for he was very eloquent in pointing out the beauties of the place. + +We left the Bran, and pursued our walk through the plantations, where we +readily forgave the Duke his little devices for their sakes. They are +already no insignificant woods, where the trees happen to be oaks, +birches, and others natural to the soil; and under their shade the walks +are delightful. From one hill, through different openings under the +trees, we looked up the vale of Tay to a great distance, a magnificent +prospect at that time of the evening; woody and rich--corn, green +fields, and cattle, the winding Tay, and distant mountains. Looked down +the river to the town of Dunkeld, which lies low, under irregular hills, +covered with wood to their rocky summits, and bounded by higher +mountains, which are bare. The hill of Birnam, no longer Birnam "wood," +was pointed out to us. After a very long walk we parted from our guide +when it was almost dark, and he promised to call on us in the morning to +conduct us to the gardens. + + +_Friday, September 9th._--According to appointment, the gardener came +with his keys in his hand, and we attended him whithersoever he chose to +lead, in spite of past experience at Blair. We had, however, no reason +to repent, for we were repaid for the trouble of going through the large +gardens by the apples and pears of which he gave us liberally, and the +walks through the woods on that part of the grounds opposite to where we +had been the night before were very delightful. The Duke's house is +neither large nor grand, being just an ordinary gentleman's house, upon +a green lawn, and whitewashed, I believe. The old abbey faces the house +on the east side, and appears to stand upon the same green lawn, which, +though close to the town, is entirely excluded from it by high walls and +trees. + +We had been undetermined respecting our future course when we came to +Dunkeld, whether to go on directly to Perth and Edinburgh, or to make a +circuit and revisit the Trossachs. We decided upon the latter plan, and +accordingly after breakfast set forward towards Crieff, where we +intended to sleep, and the next night at Callander. The first part of +our road, after having crossed the ferry, was up the glen of the Bran. +Looking backwards, we saw Dunkeld very pretty under the hills, and +surrounded by rich cultivated ground, but we had not a good distant view +of the abbey. + +Left our car, and went about a hundred yards from the road to see the +Rumbling Brig, which, though well worth our going out of the way even +much further, disappointed us, as places in general do which we hear +much spoken of as savage, tremendous, etc.,--and no wonder, for they are +usually described by people to whom rocks are novelties. The gardener +had told us that we should pass through the most populous glen in +Scotland, the glen of Amulree. It is not populous in the usual way, with +scattered dwellings; but many clusters of houses, hamlets such as we had +passed near the Tummel, which had a singular appearance, being like +small encampments, were generally without trees, and in high +situations--every house the same as its neighbour, whether for men or +cattle. There was nothing else remarkable in the glen. We halted at a +lonely inn at the foot of a steep barren moor, which we had to cross; +then, after descending considerably, came to the narrow glen, which we +had approached with no little curiosity, not having been able to procure +any distinct description of it. + +At Dunkeld, when we were hesitating what road to take, we wished to know +whether that glen would be worth visiting, and accordingly put several +questions to the waiter, and, among other epithets used in the course of +interrogation, we stumbled upon the word "grand," to which he replied, +"No, I do not think there are any gentlemen's seats in it." However, we +drew enough from this describer and the gardener to determine us finally +to go to Callander, the Narrow Glen being in the way. + +Entered the glen at a small hamlet at some distance from the head, and +turning aside a few steps, ascended a hillock which commanded a view to +the top of it--a very sweet scene, a green valley, not very narrow, with +a few scattered trees and huts, almost invisible in a misty gleam of +afternoon light. At this hamlet we crossed a bridge, and the road led us +down the glen, which had become exceedingly narrow, and so continued to +the end: the hills on both sides heathy and rocky, very steep, but +continuous; the rocks not single or overhanging, not scooped into +caverns or sounding with torrents: there are no trees, no houses, no +traces of cultivation, not one outstanding object. It is truly a +solitude, the road even making it appear still more so: the bottom of +the valley is mostly smooth and level, the brook not noisy: everything +is simple and undisturbed, and while we passed through it the whole +place was shady, cool, clear, and solemn. At the end of the long valley +we ascended a hill to a great height, and reached the top, when the sun, +on the point of setting, shed a soft yellow light upon every eminence. +The prospect was very extensive; over hollows and plains, no towns, and +few houses visible--a prospect, extensive as it was, in harmony with the +secluded dell, and fixing its own peculiar character of removedness from +the world, and the secure possession of the quiet of nature more deeply +in our minds. The following poem was written by William on hearing of a +tradition relating to it, which we did not know when we were there:-- + + In this still place remote from men + Sleeps Ossian, in the Narrow Glen, + In this still place where murmurs on + But one meek streamlet, only one. + He sung of battles and the breath + Of stormy war, and violent death, + And should, methinks, when all was pass'd, + Have rightfully been laid at last + Where rocks were rudely heap'd, and rent + As by a spirit turbulent; + Where sights were rough, and sounds were wild, + And everything unreconciled, + In some complaining, dim retreat + Where fear and melancholy meet; + But this is calm; there cannot be + A more entire tranquillity. + + Does then the bard sleep here indeed? + Or is it but a groundless creed? + What matters it? I blame them not + Whose fancy in this lonely spot + Was moved, and in this way express'd + Their notion of its perfect rest. + A convent, even a hermit's cell + Would break the silence of this Dell; + It is not quiet, is not ease, + But something deeper far than these; + The separation that is here + Is of the grave; and of austere + And happy feelings of the dead: + And therefore was it rightly said + That Ossian, last of all his race, + Lies buried in this lonely place. + +Having descended into a broad cultivated vale, we saw nothing +remarkable. Observed a gentleman's house,[20] which stood pleasantly +among trees. It was dark some time before we reached Crieff, a small +town, though larger than Dunkeld. + + [Footnote 20: Monzie probably.--J. C. S.] + + +_Saturday, September 10th._--Rose early, and departed without breakfast. +We were to pass through one of the most celebrated vales of Scotland, +Strath Erne. We found it a wide, long, and irregular vale, with many +gentlemen's seats under the hills, woods, copses, frequent cottages, +plantations, and much cultivation, yet with an intermixture of barren +ground; indeed, except at Killin and Dunkeld, there was always something +which seemed to take from the composure and simplicity of the cultivated +scenes. There is a struggle to overcome the natural barrenness, and the +end not attained, an appearance of something doing or imperfectly done, +a passing with labour from one state of society into another. When you +look from an eminence on the fields of Grasmere Vale, the heart is +satisfied with a simple undisturbed pleasure, and no less, on one of the +green or heathy dells of Scotland, where there is no appearance of +change to be, or having been, but such as the seasons make. Strath Erne +is so extensive a vale that, had it been in England, there must have +been much inequality, as in Wensley Dale; but at Wensley there is a +unity, a softness, a melting together, which in the large vales of +Scotland I never perceived. The difference at Strath Erne may come +partly from the irregularity, the undefined outline, of the hills which +enclose it; but it is caused still more by the broken surface, I mean +broken as to colour and produce, the want of hedgerows, and also the +great number of new fir plantations. After some miles it becomes much +narrower as we approach nearer the mountains at the foot of the lake of +the same name, Loch Erne. + +Breakfasted at a small public-house, a wretchedly dirty cottage, but the +people were civil, and though we had nothing but barley cakes we made a +good breakfast, for there were plenty of eggs. Walked up a high hill to +view the seat of Mr. Dundas, now Lord Melville--a spot where, if he have +gathered much wisdom from his late disgrace or his long intercourse with +the world, he may spend his days as quietly as he need desire. It is a +secluded valley, not rich, but with plenty of wood: there are many +pretty paths through the woods, and moss huts in different parts. After +leaving the cottage where we breakfasted the country was very pleasing, +yet still with a want of richness; but this was less perceived, being +huddled up in charcoal woods, and the vale narrow. Loch Erne opens out +in a very pleasing manner, seen from a hill along which the road is +carried through a wood of low trees; but it does not improve afterwards, +lying directly from east to west without any perceivable bendings: and +the shores are not much broken or varied, not populous, and the +mountains not sufficiently commanding to make up for the deficiencies. +Dined at the head of the lake. I scarcely know its length, but should +think not less than four or five miles, and it is wide in proportion. +The inn is in a small village--a decent house. + +Walked about half a mile along the road to Tyndrum, which is through a +bare glen,[21] and over a mountain pass. It rained when we pursued our +journey again, and continued to rain for several hours. The road which +we were to take was up another glen, down which came a stream that fell +into the lake on the opposite side at the head of it, so, after having +crossed the main vale, a little above the lake, we entered into the +smaller glen. The road delightfully smooth and dry--one gentleman's +house very pleasant among large coppice woods. After going perhaps three +miles up this valley, we turned to the left into another, which seemed +to be much more beautiful. It was a level valley, not--like that which +we had passed--a wide sloping cleft between the hills, but having a +quiet, slow-paced stream, which flowed through level green grounds +tufted with trees intermingled with cottages. The tops of the hills were +hidden by mists, and the objects in the valley seen through misty rain, +which made them look exceedingly soft, and indeed partly concealed them, +and we always fill up what we are left to guess at with something as +beautiful as what we see. This valley seemed to have less of the +appearance of barrenness or imperfect cultivation than any of the same +character we had passed through; indeed, we could not discern any traces +of it. It is called Strath Eyer. "Strath" is generally applied to a +broad vale; but this, though open, is not broad. + + [Footnote 21: Glen Ogle.--J. C. S.] + +We next came to a lake, called Loch Lubnaig, a name which signifies +"winding." In shape it somewhat resembles Ulswater, but is much narrower +and shorter, being only four miles in length. The character of this lake +is simple and grand. On the side opposite to where we were is a range of +steep craggy mountains, one of which--like Place Fell--encroaching upon +the bed of the lake, forces it to make a considerable bending. I have +forgotten the name of this precipice: it is a very remarkable one, being +almost perpendicular, and very rugged. + +We, on the other side, travelled under steep and rocky hills which were +often covered with low woods to a considerable height; there were one or +two farm-houses, and a few cottages. A neat white dwelling[22] on the +side of the hill over against the bold steep of which I have spoken, had +been the residence of the famous traveller Bruce, who, all his travels +ended, had arranged the history of them in that solitude--as deep as any +Abyssinian one--among the mountains of his native country, where he +passed several years. Whether he died there or not we did not learn; but +the manner of his death was remarkable and affecting,--from a fall +down-stairs in his own house, after so many dangers through which +fortitude and courage had never failed to sustain him. The house stands +sweetly, surrounded by coppice-woods and green fields. On the other +side, I believe, were no houses till we came near to the outlet, where a +few low huts looked very beautiful, with their dark brown roofs, near a +stream which hurried down the mountain, and after its turbulent course +travelled a short way over a level green, and was lost in the lake. + + [Footnote 22: Ardhullary.--J. C. S.] + +Within a few miles of Callander we come into a grand region; the +mountains to a considerable height were covered with wood, enclosing us +in a narrow passage; the stream on our right, generally concealed by +wood, made a loud roaring; at one place, in particular, it fell down the +rocks in a succession of cascades. The scene is much celebrated in +Scotland, and is called the Pass of Leny. It was nearly dark when we +reached Callander. We were wet and cold, and glad of a good fire. The +inn was comfortable; we drank tea; and after tea the waiter presented us +with a pamphlet descriptive of the neighbourhood of Callander, which we +brought away with us, and I am very sorry I lost it. + + +_FIFTH WEEK_ + +_Sunday, September 11th._--Immediately after breakfast, the morning +being fine, we set off with cheerful spirits towards the Trossachs, +intending to take up our lodging at the house of our old friend the +ferryman. A boy accompanied us to convey the horse and car back to +Callander from the head of Loch Achray. The country near Callander is +very pleasing; but, as almost everywhere else, imperfectly cultivated. +We went up a broad vale, through which runs the stream from Loch +Ketterine, and came to Loch Vennachar, a larger lake than Loch Achray, +the small one which had given us such unexpected delight when we left +the Pass of the Trossachs. Loch Vennachar is much larger, but greatly +inferior in beauty to the image which we had conceived of its neighbour, +and so the reality proved to us when we came up to that little lake, and +saw it before us in its true shape in the cheerful sunshine. The +Trossachs, overtopped by Benledi and other high mountains, enclose the +lake at the head; and those houses which we had seen before, with their +corn fields sloping towards the water, stood very prettily under low +woods. The fields did not appear so rich as when we had seen them +through the veil of mist; but yet, as in framing our expectations we had +allowed for a much greater difference, so we were even a second time +surprised with pleasure at the same spot. + +Went as far as these houses of which I have spoken, in the car, and then +walked on, intending to pursue the road up the side of Loch Ketterine +along which Coleridge had come; but we had resolved to spend some hours +in the neighbourhood of the Trossachs, and accordingly coasted the head +of Loch Achray, and pursued the brook between the two lakes as far as +there was any track. Here we found, to our surprise--for we had expected +nothing but heath and rocks like the rest of the neighbourhood of the +Trossachs--a secluded farm, a plot of verdant ground with a single +cottage and its company of out-houses. We turned back, and went to the +very point from which we had first looked upon Loch Achray when we were +here with Coleridge. It was no longer a visionary scene: the sun shone +into every crevice of the hills, and the mountain-tops were clear. After +some time we went into the pass from the Trossachs, and were delighted +to behold the forms of objects fully revealed, and even surpassing in +loveliness and variety what we had conceived. The mountains, I think, +appeared not so high; but on the whole we had not the smallest +disappointment; the heather was fading, though still beautiful. + +Sate for half-an-hour in Lady Perth's shed, and scrambled over the rocks +and through the thickets at the head of the lake. I went till I could +make my way no further, and left William to go to the top of the hill, +whence he had a distinct view, as on a map, of the intricacies of the +lake and the course of the river. Returned to the huts, and, after +having taken a second dinner of the food we had brought from Callander, +set our faces towards the head of Loch Ketterine. I can add nothing to +my former description of the Trossachs, except that we departed with our +old delightful remembrances endeared, and many new ones. The path or +road--for it was neither the one nor the other, but something between +both--is the pleasantest I have ever travelled in my life for the same +length of way,--now with marks of sledges or wheels, or none at all, +bare or green, as it might happen; now a little descent, now a level; +sometimes a shady lane, at others an open track through green pastures; +then again it would lead us into thick coppice-woods, which often +entirely shut out the lake, and again admitted it by glimpses. We have +never had a more delightful walk than this evening. Ben Lomond and the +three pointed-topped mountains of Loch Lomond, which we had seen from +the Garrison, were very majestic under the clear sky, the lake +perfectly calm, the air sweet and mild. I felt that it was much more +interesting to visit a place where we have been before than it can +possibly be the first time, except under peculiar circumstances. The sun +had been set for some time, when, being within a quarter of a mile of +the ferryman's hut, our path having led us close to the shore of the +calm lake, we met two neatly dressed women, without hats, who had +probably been taking their Sunday evening's walk. One of them said to us +in a friendly, soft tone of voice, "What! you are stepping westward?" I +cannot describe how affecting this simple expression was in that remote +place, with the western sky in front, yet glowing with the departed sun. +William wrote the following poem long after, in remembrance of his +feelings and mine:-- + + "What! you are stepping westward?" Yea, + 'Twould be a wildish destiny + If we, who thus together roam + In a strange land, and far from home, + Were in this place the guests of chance: + Yet who would stop, or fear to advance, + Though home or shelter he had none, + With such a sky to lead him on? + + The dewy ground was dark and cold, + Behind all gloomy to behold, + And stepping westward seem'd to be + A kind of heavenly destiny; + I liked the greeting, 'twas a sound + Of something without place or bound; + And seem'd to give me spiritual right + To travel through that region bright. + + The voice was soft; and she who spake + Was walking by her native Lake; + The salutation was to me + The very sound of courtesy; + Its power was felt, and while my eye + Was fix'd upon the glowing sky, + The echo of the voice enwrought + A human sweetness with the thought + Of travelling through the world that lay + Before me in my endless way. + +We went up to the door of our boatman's hut as to a home, and scarcely +less confident of a cordial welcome than if we had been approaching our +own cottage at Grasmere. It had been a very pleasing thought, while we +were walking by the side of the beautiful lake, that, few hours as we +had been there, there was a home for us in one of its quiet dwellings. +Accordingly, so we found it; the good woman, who had been at a preaching +by the lake-side, was in her holiday dress at the door, and seemed to be +rejoiced at the sight of us. She led us into the hut in haste to supply +our wants; we took once more a refreshing meal by her fireside, and, +though not so merry as the last time, we were not less happy, bating our +regrets that Coleridge was not in his old place. I slept in the same bed +as before, and listened to the household stream, which now only made a +very low murmuring. + + +_Monday, September 12th._--Rejoiced in the morning to see the sun +shining upon the hills when I first looked out through the open +window-place at my bed's head. We rose early, and after breakfast, our +old companion, who was to be our guide for the day, rowed us over the +water to the same point where Coleridge and I had sate down and eaten +our dinner, while William had gone to survey the unknown coast. We +intended to cross Loch Lomond, follow the lake to Glenfalloch, above the +head of it, and then come over the mountains to Glengyle, and so down +the glen, and passing Mr. Macfarlane's house, back again to the +ferry-house, where we should sleep. So, a third time we went through the +mountain hollow, now familiar ground. The inhabitants had not yet got in +all their hay, and were at work in the fields; our guide often stopped +to talk with them, and no doubt was called upon to answer many +inquiries respecting us two strangers. + +At the ferry-house of Inversneyde we had not the happy sight of the +Highland girl and her companion, but the good woman received us +cordially, gave me milk, and talked of Coleridge, who, the morning after +we parted from him, had been at her house to fetch his watch, which he +had forgotten two days before. He has since told me that he questioned +her respecting the miserable condition of her hut, which, as you may +remember, admitted the rain at the door, and retained it in the hollows +of the mud floor: he told her how easy it would be to remove these +inconveniences, and to contrive something, at least, to prevent the wind +from entering at the window-places, if not a glass window for light and +warmth by day. She replied that this was very true, but if they made any +improvements the laird would conclude that they were growing rich, and +would raise their rent. + +The ferryman happened to be just ready at the moment to go over the lake +with a poor man, his wife and child. The little girl, about three years +old, cried all the way, terrified by the water. When we parted from this +family, they going down the lake, and we up it, I could not but think of +the difference in our condition to that poor woman, who, with her +husband, had been driven from her home by want of work, and was now +going a long journey to seek it elsewhere: every step was painful toil, +for she had either her child to bear or a heavy burthen. _I_ walked as +she did, but pleasure was my object, and if toil came along with it, +even _that_ was pleasure,--pleasure, at least, it would be in the +remembrance. + +We were, I believe, nine miles from Glenfalloch when we left the boat. +To us, with minds at ease, the walk was delightful; it could not be +otherwise, for we passed by a continual succession of rocks, woods, and +mountains; but the houses were few, and the ground cultivated only in +small portions near the water, consequently there was not that sort of +variety which leaves distinct separate remembrances, but one impression +of solitude and greatness. While the Highlander and I were plodding on +together side by side, interspersing long silences with now and then a +question or a remark, looking down to the lake he espied two small rocky +islands, and pointing to them, said to me, "It will be gay[23] and +dangerous sailing there in stormy weather when the water is high." In +giving my assent I could not help smiling, but I afterwards found that a +like combination of words is not uncommon in Scotland, for, at +Edinburgh, William being afraid of rain, asked the ostler what he +thought, who, looking up to the sky, pronounced it to be "gay and dull," +and therefore rain might be expected. The most remarkable object we saw +was a huge single stone, I believe three or four times the size of +Bowder Stone. The top of it, which on one side was sloping like the roof +of a house, was covered with heather. William climbed up the rock, which +would have been no easy task but to a mountaineer, and we constructed a +rope of pocket-handkerchiefs, garters, plaids, coats, etc., and measured +its height. It was _so_ many times the length of William's +walking-stick, but, unfortunately, having lost the stick, we have lost +the measure. The ferryman told us that a preaching was held there once +in three months by a certain minister--I think of Arrochar--who engages, +as a part of his office, to perform the service. The interesting +feelings we had connected with the Highland Sabbath and Highland worship +returned here with double force. The rock, though on one side a high +perpendicular wall, in no place overhung so as to form a shelter, in no +place could it be more than a screen from the elements. Why then had it +been selected for such a purpose? Was it merely from being a central +situation and a conspicuous object? Or did there belong to it some +inheritance of superstition from old times? It is impossible to look at +the stone without asking, How came it hither? Had then that obscurity +and unaccountableness, that mystery of power which is about it, any +influence over the first persons who resorted hither for worship? Or +have they now on those who continue to frequent it? The lake is in front +of the perpendicular wall, and behind, at some distance, and totally +detached from it, is the continuation of the ridge of mountains which +forms the vale of Loch Lomond--a magnificent temple, of which this spot +is a noble Sanctum Sanctorum. + + [Footnote 23: This is none other than the well-known Scottish word + "_gey_,"--indifferently, tolerable, considerable.--J. C. S.] + +We arrived at Glenfalloch at about one or two o'clock. It is no village; +there being only scattered huts in the glen, which may be four miles +long, according to my remembrance: the middle of it is very green, and +level, and tufted with trees. Higher up, where the glen parts into two +very narrow ones, is the house of the laird; I daresay a pretty place. +The view from the door of the public-house is exceedingly beautiful; the +river flows smoothly into the lake, and the fields were at that time as +green as possible. Looking backward, Ben Lomond very majestically shuts +in the view. The top of the mountain, as seen here, being of a pyramidal +form, it is much grander than with the broken outline, and stage above +stage, as seen from the neighbourhood of Luss. We found nobody at home +at the inn, but the ferryman shouted, wishing to have a glass of whisky, +and a young woman came from the hay-field, dressed in a white bed-gown, +without hat or cap. There was no whisky in the house, so he begged a +little whey to drink with the fragments of our cold meat brought from +Callander. After a short rest in a cool parlour we set forward again, +having to cross the river and climb up a steep mountain on the opposite +side of the valley. I observed that the people were busy bringing in the +hay before it was dry into a sort of "fauld" or yard, where they +intended to leave it, ready to be gathered into the house with the first +threatening of rain, and if not completely dry brought out again. Our +guide bore me in his arms over the stream, and we soon came to the foot +of the mountain. The most easy rising, for a short way at first, was +near a naked rivulet which made a fine cascade in one place. Afterwards, +the ascent was very laborious, being frequently almost perpendicular. + +It is one of those moments which I shall not easily forget, when at that +point from which a step or two would have carried us out of sight of the +green fields of Glenfalloch, being at a great height on the mountain, we +sate down, and heard, as if from the heart of the earth, the sound of +torrents ascending out of the long hollow glen. To the eye all was +motionless, a perfect stillness. The noise of waters did not appear to +come this way or that, from any particular quarter: it was everywhere, +almost, one might say, as if "exhaled" through the whole surface of the +green earth. Glenfalloch, Coleridge has since told me, signifies the +Hidden Vale; but William says, if we were to name it from our +recollections of that time, we should call it the Vale of Awful Sound. +We continued to climb higher and higher; but the hill was no longer +steep, and afterwards we pursued our way along the top of it with many +small ups and downs. The walk was very laborious after the climbing was +over, being often exceedingly stony, or through swampy moss, rushes, or +rough heather. As we proceeded, continuing our way at the top of the +mountain, encircled by higher mountains at a great distance, we were +passing, without notice, a heap of scattered stones round which was a +belt of green grass--green, and as it seemed rich, where all else was +either poor heather and coarse grass, or unprofitable rushes and spongy +moss. The Highlander made a pause, saying, "This place is much changed +since I was here twenty years ago." He told us that the heap of stones +had been a hut where a family was then living, who had their winter +habitation in the valley, and brought their goats thither in the summer +to feed on the mountains, and that they were used to gather them +together at night and morning to be milked close to the door, which was +the reason why the grass was yet so green near the stones. It was +affecting in that solitude to meet with this memorial of manners passed +away; we looked about for some other traces of humanity, but nothing +else could we find in that place. We ourselves afterwards espied another +of those ruins, much more extensive--the remains, as the man told us, of +several dwellings. We were astonished at the sagacity with which our +Highlander discovered the track, where often no track was visible to us, +and scarcely even when he pointed it out. It reminded us of what we read +of the Hottentots and other savages. He went on as confidently as if it +had been a turnpike road--the more surprising, as when he was there +before it must have been a plain track, for he told us that fishermen +from Arrochar carried herrings regularly over the mountains by that way +to Loch Ketterine when the glens were much more populous than now. + +Descended into Glengyle, above Loch Ketterine, and passed through Mr. +Macfarlane's grounds, that is, through the whole of the glen, where +there was now no house left but his. We stopped at his door to inquire +after the family, though with little hope of finding them at home, +having seen a large company at work in a hay field, whom we conjectured +to be his whole household--as it proved, except a servant-maid, who +answered our inquiries. We had sent the ferryman forward from the head +of the glen to bring the boat round from the place where he left it to +the other side of the lake. Passed the same farm-house we had such good +reason to remember, and went up to the burying-ground that stood so +sweetly near the water-side. The ferryman had told us that Rob Roy's +grave was there, so we could not pass on without going up to the spot. +There were several tomb-stones, but the inscriptions were either +worn-out or unintelligible to us, and the place choked up with nettles +and brambles. You will remember the description I have given of the +spot. I have nothing here to add, except the following poem[24] which it +suggested to William:-- + + [Footnote 24: See _Rob Roy's Grave_, in "Poetical Works," vol. ii. p. + 403.--ED.] + + A famous Man is Robin Hood, + The English Ballad-singer's joy, + And Scotland boasts of one as good, + She has her own Rob Roy! + + Then clear the weeds from off his grave, + And let us chaunt a passing stave + In honour of that Outlaw brave. + + Heaven gave Rob Roy a daring heart + And wondrous length and strength of arm, + Nor craved he more to quell his foes, + Or keep his friends from harm. + + Yet Robin was as wise as brave, + As wise in thought as bold in deed, + For in the principles of things + He sought his moral creed. + + Said generous Rob, "What need of books? + Burn all the statutes and their shelves: + They stir us up against our kind, + And worse, against ourselves. + + "We have a passion; make a law, + Too false to guide us or control: + And for the law itself we fight + In bitterness of soul. + + "And puzzled, blinded thus, we lose + Distinctions that are plain and few: + These find I graven on my heart: + That tells me what to do. + + "The Creatures see of flood and field, + And those that travel on the wind! + With them no strife can last; they live + In peace, and peace of mind. + + "For why? Because the good old rule + Suffices them, the simple plan + That they should take who have the power, + And they should keep who can. + + "A lesson which is quickly learn'd, + A signal this which all can see! + Thus nothing here provokes the strong + To tyrannous cruelty. + + "And freakishness of mind is check'd; + He tamed who foolishly aspires, + While to the measure of their might + All fashion their desires. + + "All kinds and creatures stand and fall + By strength of prowess or of wit, + 'Tis God's appointment who must sway, + And who is to submit. + + "Since then," said Robin, "right is plain, + And longest life is but a day; + To have my ends, maintain my rights, + I'll take the shortest way." + + And thus among these rocks he lived + Through summer's heat and winter's snow; + The Eagle, he was lord above, + And Rob was lord below. + + So was it--would at least have been + But through untowardness of fate; + For polity was then too strong: + He came an age too late. + + Or shall we say an age too soon? + For were the bold man living now, + How might he flourish in his pride + With buds on every bough? + + Then Rents and Land-marks, Rights of chase, + Sheriffs and Factors, Lairds and Thanes, + Would all have seem'd but paltry things + Not worth a moment's pains. + + Rob Roy had never linger'd here, + To these few meagre vales confined, + But thought how wide the world, the times + How fairly to his mind. + + And to his Sword he would have said, + "Do thou my sovereign will enact + From land to land through half the earth; + Judge thou of law and fact. + + "'Tis fit that we should do our part; + Becoming that mankind should learn + That we are not to be surpass'd + In fatherly concern. + + "Of old things all are over old, + Of good things none are good enough; + I'll shew that I can help to frame + A world of other stuff. + + "I, too, will have my Kings that take + From me the sign of life and death, + Kingdoms shall shift about like clouds + Obedient to my breath." + + And if the word had been fulfill'd + As might have been, then, thought of joy! + France would have had her present Boast, + And we our brave Rob Roy. + + Oh! say not so, compare them not; + I would not wrong thee, Champion brave! + Would wrong thee nowhere; least of all + Here, standing by thy Grave. + + For thou, although with some wild thoughts, + Wild Chieftain of a savage Clan, + Hadst this to boast of--thou didst love + The Liberty of Man. + + And had it been thy lot to live + With us who now behold the light, + Thou wouldst have nobly stirr'd thyself, + And battled for the right. + + For Robin was the poor man's stay; + The poor man's heart, the poor man's hand, + And all the oppress'd who wanted strength + Had Robin's to command. + + Bear witness many a pensive sigh + Of thoughtful Herdsman when he strays + Alone upon Loch Veol's heights, + And by Loch Lomond's Braes. + + And far and near, through vale and hill, + Are faces that attest the same; + Kindling with instantaneous joy + At sound of Rob Roy's name. + +Soon after we saw our boat coming over the calm water. It was late in +the evening, and I was stiff and weary, as well I might, after such a +long and toilsome walk, so it was no poor gratification to sit down and +be conscious of advancing in our journey without further labour. The +stars were beginning to appear, but the brightness of the west was not +yet gone;--the lake perfectly still, and when we first went into the +boat we rowed almost close to the shore under steep crags hung with +birches: it was like a new-discovered country of which we had not +dreamed, for in walking down the lake, owing to the road in that part +being carried at a considerable height on the hill-side, the rocks and +the indentings of the shore had been hidden from us. At this time, those +rocks and their images in the calm water composed one mass, the surfaces +of both equally distinct, except where the water trembled with the +motion of our boat. Having rowed a while under the bold steeps, we +launched out further when the shores were no longer abrupt. We hardly +spoke to each other as we moved along receding from the west, which +diffused a solemn animation over the lake. The sky was cloudless; and +everything seemed at rest except our solitary boat, and the +mountain-streams,--seldom heard, and but faintly. I think I have rarely +experienced a more elevated pleasure than during our short voyage of +this night. The good woman had long been looking out for us, and had +prepared everything for our refreshment; and as soon as we had finished +supper, or rather tea, we went to bed. William, I doubt not, rested +well, and, for my part, I slept as soundly on my chaff bed as ever I +have done in childhood after the long day's playing of a summer's +holiday. + + +_Tuesday, 13th September._--Again a fine morning. I strolled into the +green field in which the house stands while the woman was preparing +breakfast, and at my return found one of her neighbours sitting by the +fire, a feeble paralytic old woman. After having inquired concerning our +journey the day before, she said, "I have travelled far in my time," and +told me she had married an English soldier who had been stationed at the +Garrison; they had had many children, who were all dead or in foreign +countries; and she had returned to her native place, where now she had +lived several years, and was more comfortable than she could ever have +expected to be, being very kindly dealt with by all her neighbours. +Pointing to the ferryman and his wife, she said they were accustomed to +give her a day of their labour in digging peats, in common with others, +and in that manner she was provided with fuel, and, by like voluntary +contributions, with other necessaries. While this infirm old woman was +relating her story in a tremulous voice, I could not but think of the +changes of things, and the days of her youth, when the shrill fife, +sounding from the walls of the Garrison, made a merry noise through the +echoing hills. I asked myself, if she were to be carried again to the +deserted spot after her course of life, no doubt a troublesome one, +would the silence appear to her the silence of desolation or of peace? + +After breakfast we took a final leave of our hostess, and, attended by +her husband, again set forward on foot. My limbs were a little stiff, +but the morning being uncommonly fine I did not fear to aim at the +accomplishment of a plan we had laid of returning to Callander by a +considerable circuit. We were to go over the mountains from Loch +Ketterine, a little below the ferry-house on the same side of the water, +descending to Loch Voil, a lake from which issues the stream that flows +through Strath Eyer into Loch Lubnaig. Our road, as is generally the +case in passing from one vale into another, was through a settling +between the hills, not far from a small stream. We had to climb +considerably, the mountain being much higher than it appears to be, +owing to its retreating in what looks like a gradual slope from the +lake, though we found it steep enough in the climbing. Our guide had +been born near Loch Voil, and he told us that at the head of the lake, +if we would look about for it, we should see the burying-place of a part +of his family, the MacGregors, a clan who had long possessed that +district, a circumstance which he related with no unworthy pride of +ancestry. We shook hands with him at parting, not without a hope of +again entering his hut in company with others whom we loved. + +Continued to walk for some time along the top of the hill, having the +high mountains of Loch Voil before us, and Ben Lomond and the steeps of +Loch Ketterine behind. Came to several deserted mountain huts or shiels, +and rested for some time beside one of them, upon a hillock of its green +plot of monumental herbage. William here conceived the notion of writing +an ode upon the affecting subject of those relics of human society found +in that grand and solitary region. The spot of ground where we sate was +even beautiful, the grass being uncommonly verdant, and of a remarkably +soft and silky texture. + +After this we rested no more till we came to the foot of the mountain, +where there was a cottage, at the door of which a woman invited me to +drink some whey: this I did, while William went to inquire respecting +the road at a new stone house a few steps further. He was told to cross +the brook, and proceed to the other side of the vale, and that no +further directions were necessary, for we should find ourselves at the +head of the lake, and on a plain road which would lead us downward. We +waded the river and crossed the vale, perhaps half a mile or more. The +mountains all round are very high; the vale pastoral and unenclosed, not +many dwellings, and but few trees; the mountains in general smooth near +the bottom. They are in large unbroken masses, combining with the vale +to give an impression of bold simplicity. + +Near the head of the lake, at some distance from us, we discovered the +burial-place of the MacGregors, and did not view it without some +interest, with its ornamental balls on the four corners of the wall, +which, I daresay, have been often looked at with elevation of heart by +our honest friend of Loch Ketterine. The lake is divided right across by +a narrow slip of flat land, making a small lake at the head of the large +one. The whole may be about five miles long. + +As we descended, the scene became more fertile, our way being pleasantly +varied--through coppices or open fields, and passing farm-houses, +though always with an intermixture of uncultivated ground. It was +harvest-time, and the fields were quietly--might I be allowed to say +pensively?--enlivened by small companies of reapers. It is not uncommon +in the more lonely parts of the Highlands to see a single person so +employed. The following poem was suggested to William by a beautiful +sentence in Thomas Wilkinson's _Tour in Scotland_:[25] + + [Footnote 25: See _The Solitary Reaper_, in "Poetical Works," vol. ii. + p. 397, with note appended.--ED.] + + Behold her single in the field, + Yon solitary Highland Lass, + Reaping and singing by herself-- + Stop here, or gently pass. + Alone she cuts and binds the grain, + And sings a melancholy strain. + Oh! listen, for the Vale profound + Is overflowing with the sound. + + No nightingale did ever chaunt + So sweetly to reposing bands + Of travellers in some shady haunt + Among Arabian Sands; + No sweeter voice was ever heard + In spring-time from the cuckoo-bird + Breaking the silence of the seas + Among the farthest Hebrides. + + Will no one tell me what she sings? + Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow + For old unhappy far-off things, + And battles long ago;-- + Or is it some more humble lay-- + Familiar matter of to-day-- + Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain + That has been, and may be again? + + Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sung + As if her song could have no ending; + I saw her singing at her work, + And o'er the sickle bending; + I listen'd till I had my fill, + And as I mounted up the hill + The music in my heart I bore + Long after it was heard no more. + +Towards the foot of the lake, on the opposite side, which was more +barren than that on which we travelled, was a bare road up a steep hill, +which leads to Glen Finlas, formerly a royal forest. It is a wild and +rocky glen, as we had been told by a person who directed our notice to +its outlet at Loch Achray. The stream which passes through it falls into +that lake near the head. At the end of Loch Voil the vale is wide and +populous--large pastures with many cattle, large tracts of corn. We +walked downwards a little way, and then crossed over to the same road +along which we had travelled from Loch Erne to Callander, being once +again at the entrance of Strath Eyer. It might be about four or five +o'clock in the afternoon; we were ten miles from Callander, exceedingly +tired, and wished heartily for the poor horse and car. Walked up Strath +Eyer, and saw in clear air and sunshine what had been concealed from us +when we travelled before in the mist and rain. We found it less woody +and rich than it had appeared to be, but, with all deductions, a very +sweet valley. + +Not far from Loch Lubnaig, though not in view of it, is a long village, +with two or three public-houses, and being in despair of reaching +Callander that night without over-fatigue we resolved to stop at the +most respectable-looking house, and, should it not prove wretched +indeed, to lodge there if there were beds for us: at any rate it was +necessary to take some refreshment. The woman of the house spoke with +gentleness and civility, and had a good countenance, which reconciled me +to stay, though I had been averse to the scheme, dreading the dirt usual +in Scotch public-houses by the way-side. She said she had beds for us, +and clean sheets, and we desired her to prepare them immediately. It was +a two-storied house, light built, though in other respects no better +than the huts, and--as all the slated cottages are--much more +uncomfortable in appearance, except that there was a chimney in the +kitchen. At such places it is fit that travellers should make up their +minds to wait at least an hour longer than the time necessary to prepare +whatever meal they may have ordered, which we, I may truly say, did with +most temperate philosophy. I went to talk with the mistress, who was +baking barley cakes, which she wrought out with her hands as thin as the +oaten bread we make in Cumberland. I asked her why she did not use a +rolling-pin, and if it would not be much more convenient, to which she +returned me no distinct answer, and seemed to give little attention to +the question: she did not know, or that was what they were used to, or +something of the sort. It was a tedious process, and I thought could +scarcely have been managed if the cakes had been as large as ours; but +they are considerably smaller, which is a great loss of time in the +baking. + +This woman, whose common language was the Gaelic, talked with me a very +good English, asking many questions, yet without the least appearance of +an obtrusive or impertinent curiosity; and indeed I must say that I +never, in those women with whom I conversed, observed anything on which +I could put such a construction. They seemed to have a faith ready for +all; and as a child when you are telling him stories, asks for "more, +more," so they appeared to delight in being amused without effort of +their own minds. Among other questions she asked me the old one over +again, if I was married; and when I told her that I was not, she +appeared surprised, and, as if recollecting herself, said to me, with a +pious seriousness and perfect simplicity, "To be sure, there is a great +promise for virgins in Heaven"; and then she began to tell how long she +had been married, that she had had a large family and much sickness and +sorrow, having lost several of her children. We had clean sheets and +decent beds. + + +_Wednesday, September 14th._--Rose early, and departed before breakfast. +The morning was dry, but cold. Travelled as before, along the shores of +Loch Lubnaig, and along the pass of the roaring stream of Leny, and +reached Callander at a little past eight o'clock. After breakfast set +off towards Stirling, intending to sleep there; the distance eighteen +miles. We were now entering upon a populous and more cultivated country, +having left the mountains behind, therefore I shall have little to tell; +for what is most interesting in such a country is not to be seen in +passing through it as we did. Half way between Callander and Stirling is +the village of Doune, and a little further on we crossed a bridge over a +pleasant river, the Teith. Above the river stands a ruined castle of +considerable size, upon a woody bank. We wished to have had time to go +up to the ruin. Long before we reached the town of Stirling, saw the +Castle, single, on its stately and commanding eminence. The rock or +hill rises from a level plain; the print in Stoddart's book does indeed +give a good notion of its form. The surrounding plain appears to be of a +rich soil, well cultivated. The crops of ripe corn were abundant. We +found the town quite full; not a vacant room in the inn, it being the +time of the assizes: there was no lodging for us, and hardly even the +possibility of getting anything to eat in a bye-nook of the house. +Walked up to the Castle. The prospect from it is very extensive, and +must be exceedingly grand on a fine evening or morning, with the light +of the setting or rising sun on the distant mountains, but we saw it at +an unfavourable time of day, the mid-afternoon, and were not favoured by +light and shade. The Forth makes most intricate and curious turnings, so +that it is difficult to trace them, even when you are overlooking the +whole. It flows through a perfect level, and in one place cuts its way +in the form of a large figure of eight. Stirling is the largest town we +had seen in Scotland, except Glasgow. It is an old irregular place; the +streets towards the Castle on one side very steep. On the other, the +hill or rock rises from the fields. The architecture of a part of the +Castle is very fine, and the whole building in good repair: some parts +indeed, are modern. At Stirling we bought Burns's Poems in one volume, +for two shillings. Went on to Falkirk, ten or eleven miles. I do not +recollect anything remarkable after we were out of sight of Stirling +Castle, except the Carron Ironworks, seen at a distance;--the sky above +them was red with a fiery light. In passing through a turnpike gate we +were greeted by a Highland drover, who, with many others, was coming +from a fair at Falkirk, the road being covered all along with horsemen +and cattle. He spoke as if we had been well known to him, asking us how +we had fared on our journey. We were at a loss to conceive why he should +interest himself about us, till he said he had passed us on the Black +Mountain, near King's House. It was pleasant to observe the effect of +solitary places in making men friends, and to see so much kindness, +which had been produced in such a chance encounter, retained in a crowd. +No beds in the inns at Falkirk--every room taken up by the people come +to the fair. Lodged in a private house, a neat clean place--kind +treatment from the old man and his daughter. + + +_Thursday, September 15th._--Breakfasted at Linlithgow, a small town. +The house is yet shown from which the Regent Murray was shot. The +remains of a royal palace, where Queen Mary was born, are of +considerable extent; the banks of gardens and fish-ponds may yet be +distinctly traced, though the whole surface is transformed into smooth +pasturage where cattle graze. The castle stands upon a gentle eminence, +the prospect not particularly pleasing, though not otherwise; it is bare +and wide. The shell of a small ancient church is standing, into which +are crammed modern pews, galleries, and pulpit--very ugly, and +discordant with the exterior. Nothing very interesting till we came to +Edinburgh. Dined by the way at a small town or village upon a hill, the +back part of the houses on one side overlooking an extensive prospect +over flat corn fields. I mention this for the sake of a pleasant hour we +passed sitting on the bank, where we read some of Burns's poems in the +volume which we had bought at Stirling. + +Arrived at Edinburgh a little before sunset. As we approached, the +Castle rock resembled that of Stirling--in the same manner appearing to +rise from a plain of cultivated ground, the Firth of Forth being on the +other side, and not visible. Drove to the White Hart in the Grassmarket, +an inn which had been mentioned to us, and which we conjectured would +better suit us than one in a more fashionable part of the town. It was +not noisy, and tolerably cheap. Drank tea, and walked up to the Castle, +which luckily was very near. Much of the daylight was gone, so that +except it had been a clear evening, which it was not, we could not have +seen the distant prospect. + + +_Friday, September 16th._--The sky the evening before, as you may +remember the ostler told us, had been "gay and dull," and this morning +it was downright dismal: very dark, and promising nothing but a wet day, +and before breakfast was over the rain began, though not heavily. We set +out upon our walk, and went through many streets to Holyrood House, and +thence to the hill called Arthur's Seat, a high hill, very rocky at the +top, and below covered with smooth turf, on which sheep were feeding. We +climbed up till we came to St. Anthony's Well and Chapel, as it is +called, but it is more like a hermitage than a chapel,--a small ruin, +which from its situation is exceedingly interesting, though in itself +not remarkable. We sate down on a stone not far from the chapel, +overlooking a pastoral hollow as wild and solitary as any in the heart +of the Highland mountains: there, instead of the roaring of torrents, we +listened to the noises of the city, which were blended in one loud +indistinct buzz,--a regular sound in the air, which in certain moods of +feeling, and at certain times, might have a more tranquillizing effect +upon the mind than those which we are accustomed to hear in such places. +The Castle rock looked exceedingly large through the misty air: a cloud +of black smoke overhung the city, which combined with the rain and mist +to conceal the shapes of the houses,--an obscurity which added much to +the grandeur of the sound that proceeded from it. It was impossible to +think of anything that was little or mean, the goings-on of trade, the +strife of men, or every-day city business:--the impression was one, and +it was visionary; like the conceptions of our childhood of Bagdad or +Balsora when we have been reading the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. +Though the rain was very heavy we remained upon the hill for some time, +then returned by the same road by which we had come, through green flat +fields, formerly the pleasure-grounds of Holyrood House, on the edge of +which stands the old roofless chapel, of venerable architecture. It is a +pity that it should be suffered to fall down, for the walls appear to be +yet entire. Very near to the chapel is Holyrood House, which we could +not but lament has nothing ancient in its appearance, being +sash-windowed and not an irregular pile. It is very like a building for +some national establishment,--a hospital for soldiers or sailors. You +have a description of it in Stoddart's Tour, therefore I need not tell +you what we saw there. + +When we found ourselves once again in the streets of the city, we +lamented over the heavy rain, and indeed before leaving the hill, much +as we were indebted to the accident of the rain for the peculiar +grandeur and affecting wildness of those objects we saw, we could not +but regret that the Firth of Forth was entirely hidden from us, and all +distant objects, and we strained our eyes till they ached, vainly trying +to pierce through the thick mist. We walked industriously through the +streets, street after street, and, in spite of wet and dirt, were +exceedingly delighted. The old town, with its irregular houses, stage +above stage, seen as we saw it, in the obscurity of a rainy day, hardly +resembles the work of men, it is more like a piling up of rocks, and I +cannot attempt to describe what we saw so imperfectly, but must say +that, high as my expectations had been raised, the city of Edinburgh far +surpassed all expectation. Gladly would we have stayed another day, but +could not afford more time, and our notions of the weather of Scotland +were so dismal, notwithstanding we ourselves had been so much favoured, +that we had no hope of its mending. So at about six o'clock in the +evening we departed, intending to sleep at an inn in the village of +Roslin, about five miles from Edinburgh. The rain continued till we were +almost at Roslin; but then it was quite dark, so we did not see the +Castle that night. + + +_Saturday, September 17th._--The morning very fine. We rose early and +walked through the glen of Roslin, past Hawthornden, and considerably +further, to the house of Mr. Walter Scott at Lasswade. Roslin Castle +stands upon a woody bank above a stream, the North Esk, too large, I +think, to be called a brook, yet an inconsiderable river. We looked down +upon the ruin from higher ground. Near it stands the Chapel, a most +elegant building, a ruin, though the walls and roof are entire. I never +passed through a more delicious dell than the glen of Roslin, though the +water of the stream is dingy and muddy. The banks are rocky on each +side, and hung with pine wood. About a mile from the Castle, on the +contrary side of the water, upon the edge of a very steep bank, stands +Hawthornden, the house of Drummond the poet, whither Ben Jonson came on +foot from London to visit his friend. We did hear to whom the house at +present belongs, and some other particulars, but I have a very +indistinct recollection of what was told us, except that many old trees +had been lately cut down. After Hawthornden the glen widens, ceases to +be rocky, and spreads out into a rich vale, scattered over with +gentlemen's seats. + +Arrived at Lasswade before Mr. and Mrs. Scott had risen, and waited some +time in a large sitting-room. Breakfasted with them, and stayed till two +o'clock, and Mr. Scott accompanied us back almost to Roslin, having +given us directions respecting our future journey, and promised to meet +us at Melrose two days after.[26] + + [Footnote 26: See Lockhart's _Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter + Scott_, vol. i. pp. 402-7, for an account of this visit. Lockhart + says, "I have drawn up the account of this meeting from my + recollection, partly of Mr. W.'s conversation, partly from that of his + sister's charming 'Diary,' which he was so kind as to read to me on + the 16th May 1836."--ED.] + +We ordered dinner on our return to the inn, and went to view the inside +of the Chapel of Roslin, which is kept locked up, and so preserved from +the injuries it might otherwise receive from idle boys; but as nothing +is done to keep it together, it must in the end fall. The architecture +within is exquisitely beautiful. The stone both of the roof and walls is +sculptured with leaves and flowers, so delicately wrought that I could +have admired them for hours, and the whole of their groundwork is +stained by time with the softest colours. Some of those leaves and +flowers were tinged perfectly green, and at one part the effect was most +exquisite: three or four leaves of a small fern, resembling that which +we call adder's tongue, grew round a cluster of them at the top of a +pillar, and the natural product and the artificial were so intermingled +that at first it was not easy to distinguish the living plant from the +other, they being of an equally determined green, though the fern was of +a deeper shade. + +We set forward again after dinner. The afternoon was pleasant. Travelled +through large tracts of ripe corn, interspersed with larger tracts of +moorland--the houses at a considerable distance from each other, no +longer thatched huts, but farm-houses resembling those of the farming +counties in England, having many corn-stacks close to them. Dark when we +reached Peebles; found a comfortable old-fashioned public-house, had a +neat parlour, and drank tea. + + +_SIXTH WEEK_ + +_Sunday, September 18th._--The town of Peebles is on the banks of the +Tweed. After breakfast walked up the river to Neidpath Castle, about a +mile and a half from the town. The castle stands upon a green hill, +overlooking the Tweed, a strong square-towered edifice, neglected and +desolate, though not in ruin, the garden overgrown with grass, and the +high walls that fenced it broken down. The Tweed winds between green +steeps, upon which, and close to the river-side, large flocks of sheep +pasturing; higher still are the grey mountains; but I need not describe +the scene, for William has done it better than I could do in a sonnet +which he wrote the same day; the five last lines, at least, of his poem +will impart to you more of the feeling of the place than it would be +possible for me to do:[27]-- + + [Footnote 27: See in the "Memorials of a Tour in Scotland, 1803," the + _Sonnet composed at ---- Castle_.--ED.] + + Degenerate Douglas! thou unworthy Lord + Whom mere despite of heart could so far please, + And love of havoc (for with such disease + Fame taxes him) that he could send forth word + To level with the dust a noble horde, + A brotherhood of venerable trees, + Leaving an ancient Dome and Towers like these + Beggar'd and outraged! Many hearts deplored + The fate of those old Trees; and oft with pain + The Traveller at this day will stop and gaze + On wrongs which Nature scarcely seems to heed; + For shelter'd places, bosoms, nooks, and bays, + And the pure mountains, and the gentle Tweed, + And the green silent pastures yet remain. + +_I_ was spared any regret for the fallen woods when we were there, not +then knowing the history of them. The soft low mountains, the castle, +and the decayed pleasure-grounds, the scattered trees which have been +left in different parts, and the road carried in a very beautiful line +along the side of the hill, with the Tweed murmuring through the +unfenced green pastures spotted with sheep, together composed an +harmonious scene, and I wished for nothing that was not there. When we +were with Mr. Scott he spoke of cheerful days he had spent in that +castle not many years ago, when it was inhabited by Professor Ferguson +and his family, whom the Duke of Queensberry, its churlish owner, forced +to quit it. We discovered a very fine echo within a few yards of the +building. + +The town of Peebles looks very pretty from the road in returning: it is +an old town, built of grey stone, the same as the castle. Well-dressed +people were going to church. Sent the car before, and walked ourselves, +and while going along the main street William was called aside in a +mysterious manner by a person who gravely examined him--whether he was +an Irishman or a foreigner, or what he was; I suppose our car was the +occasion of suspicion at a time when every one was talking of the +threatened invasion. We had a day's journey before us along the banks of +the Tweed, a name which has been sweet to my ears almost as far back as +I can remember anything. After the first mile or two our road was seldom +far from the river, which flowed in gentleness, though perhaps never +silent; the hills on either side high and sometimes stony, but excellent +pasturage for sheep. In some parts the vale was wholly of this pastoral +character, in others we saw extensive tracts of corn ground, even +spreading along whole hill-sides, and without visible fences, which is +dreary in a flat country; but there is no dreariness on the banks of the +Tweed,--the hills, whether smooth or stony, uncultivated or covered with +ripe corn, had the same pensive softness. Near the corn tracts were +large farm-houses, with many corn-stacks; the stacks and house and +out-houses together, I recollect, in one or two places upon the hills, +at a little distance, seemed almost as large as a small village or +hamlet. It was a clear autumnal day, without wind, and, being Sunday, +the business of the harvest was suspended, and all that we saw, and +felt, and heard, combined to excite one sensation of pensive and still +pleasure. + +Passed by several old halls yet inhabited, and others in ruin; but I +have hardly a sufficiently distinct recollection of any of them to be +able to describe them, and I now at this distance of time regret that I +did not take notes. In one very sweet part of the vale a gate crossed +the road, which was opened by an old woman who lived in a cottage close +to it; I said to her, "You live in a very pretty place!" "Yes," she +replied, "the water of Tweed is a bonny water." The lines of the hills +are flowing and beautiful, the reaches of the vale long; in some places +appear the remains of a forest, in others you will see as lovely a +combination of forms as any traveller who goes in search of the +picturesque need desire, and yet perhaps without a single tree; or at +least if trees there are, they shall be very few, and he shall not care +whether they are there or not. + +The road took us through one long village, but I do not recollect any +other; yet I think we never had a mile's length before us without a +house, though seldom several cottages together. The loneliness of the +scattered dwellings, the more stately edifices decaying or in ruin, or, +if inhabited, not in their pride and freshness, aided the general effect +of the gently varying scenes, which was that of tender pensiveness; no +bursting torrents when we were there, but the murmuring of the river was +heard distinctly, often blended with the bleating of sheep. In one place +we saw a shepherd lying in the midst of a flock upon a sunny knoll, with +his face towards the sky,--happy picture of shepherd life. + +The transitions of this vale were all gentle except one, a scene of +which a gentleman's house was the centre, standing low in the vale, the +hills above it covered with gloomy fir plantations, and the appearance +of the house itself, though it could scarcely be seen, was gloomy. There +was an allegorical air--a person fond of Spenser will understand me--in +this uncheerful spot, single in such a country, + + "The house was hearsed about with a black wood." + +We have since heard that it was the residence of Lord Traquair, a Roman +Catholic nobleman, of a decayed family. + +We left the Tweed when we were within about a mile and a half or two +miles of Clovenford, where we were to lodge. Turned up the side of a +hill, and went along sheep-grounds till we reached the spot--a single +stone house, without a tree near it or to be seen from it. On our +mentioning Mr. Scott's name the woman of the house showed us all +possible civility, but her slowness was really amusing. I should suppose +it is a house little frequented, for there is no appearance of an inn. +Mr. Scott, who she told me was a very clever gentleman, "goes there in +the fishing season"; but indeed Mr. Scott is respected everywhere: I +believe that by favour of his name one might be hospitably entertained +throughout all the borders of Scotland. We dined and drank tea--did not +walk out, for there was no temptation; a confined barren prospect from +the window. + +At Clovenford, being so near to the Yarrow, we could not but think of +the possibility of going thither, but came to the conclusion of +reserving the pleasure for some future time, in consequence of which, +after our return, William wrote the poem which I shall here +transcribe:[28]-- + + [Footnote 28: See in "Memorials of a Tour in Scotland, 1803," _Yarrow + Unvisited_.--ED.] + + From Stirling Castle we had seen + The mazy Forth unravell'd, + Had trod the banks of Clyde and Tay, + And with the Tweed had travell'd. + And when we came to Clovenford, + Then said my winsome Marrow, + "Whate'er betide we'll turn aside + And see the Braes of Yarrow." + + "Let Yarrow Folk frae Selkirk Town, + Who have been buying, selling, + Go back to Yarrow:--'tis their own, + Each Maiden to her dwelling. + On Yarrow's banks let herons feed, + Hares couch, and rabbits burrow, + But we will downwards with the Tweed, + Nor turn aside to Yarrow. + + "There's Gala Water, Leader Haughs, + Both lying right before us; + And Dryburgh, where with chiming Tweed + The lintwhites sing in chorus. + There's pleasant Teviot Dale, a land + Made blithe with plough and harrow, + Why throw away a needful day, + To go in search of Yarrow? + + "What's Yarrow but a river bare, + That glides the dark hills under? + There are a thousand such elsewhere, + As worthy of your wonder." + Strange words they seem'd of slight and scorn, + My true-love sigh'd for sorrow, + And look'd me in the face to think + I thus could speak of Yarrow. + + "Oh! green," said I, "are Yarrow's Holms, + And sweet is Yarrow flowing, + Fair hangs the apple frae the rock, + But we will leave it growing. + O'er hilly path and open Strath + We'll wander Scotland thorough, + But though so near we will not turn + Into the Dale of Yarrow. + + "Let beeves and home-bred kine partake + The sweets of Burnmill Meadow, + The swan on still St. Mary's Lake + Float double, swan and shadow. + We will not see them, will not go, + To-day nor yet to-morrow; + Enough if in our hearts we know + There's such a place as Yarrow. + + "Be Yarrow stream unseen, unknown, + It must, or we shall rue it, + We have a vision of our own, + Ah! why should we undo it? + The treasured dreams of times long past, + We'll keep them, 'winsome Marrow,' + For when we're there, although 'tis fair, + 'Twill be another Yarrow. + + "If care with freezing years should come, + And wandering seem but folly, + Should we be loth to stir from home, + And yet be melancholy, + Should life be dull and spirits low, + 'Twill sooth us in our sorrow + That earth hath something yet to show-- + The bonny Holms of Yarrow." + +The next day we were to meet Mr. Scott, and again join the Tweed. I wish +I could have given you a better idea of what we saw between Peebles and +this place. I have most distinct recollections of the effect of the +whole day's journey; but the objects are mostly melted together in my +memory, and though I should recognise them if we revisit the place, I +cannot call them out so as to represent them to you with distinctness. +William, in attempting in verse to describe this part of the Tweed, says +of it, + + More pensive in sunshine + Than others in moonshine, + +which perhaps may give you more power to conceive what it is than all I +have said. + + +_Monday, September 19th._--We rose early, and went to Melrose, six +miles, before breakfast. After ascending a hill, descended, and +overlooked a dell, on the opposite side of which was an old mansion, +surrounded with trees and steep gardens, a curious and pleasing, yet +melancholy spot; for the house and gardens were evidently going to +decay, and the whole of the small dell, except near the house, was +unenclosed and uncultivated, being a sheep-walk to the top of the hills. +Descended to Gala Water, a pretty stream, but much smaller than the +Tweed, into which the brook flows from the glen I have spoken of. Near +the Gala is a large modern house, the situation very pleasant, but the +old building which we had passed put to shame the fresh colouring and +meagre outline of the new one. Went through a part of the village of +Galashiels, pleasantly situated on the bank of the stream; a pretty +place it once has been, but a manufactory is established there; and a +townish bustle and ugly stone houses are fast taking place of the +brown-roofed thatched cottages, of which a great number yet remain, +partly overshadowed by trees. Left the Gala, and, after crossing the +open country, came again to the Tweed, and pursued our way as before +near the river, perhaps for a mile or two, till we arrived at Melrose. +The valley for this short space was not so pleasing as before, the hills +more broken, and though the cultivation was general, yet the scene was +not rich, while it had lost its pastoral simplicity. At Melrose the vale +opens out wide; but the hills are high all round--single distinct +risings. After breakfast we went out, intending to go to the Abbey, and +in the street met Mr. Scott, who gave us a cordial greeting, and +conducted us thither himself. He was here on his own ground, for he is +familiar with all that is known of the authentic history of Melrose and +the popular tales connected with it. He pointed out many pieces of +beautiful sculpture in obscure corners which would have escaped our +notice. The Abbey has been built of a pale red stone; that part which +was first erected of a very durable kind, the sculptured flowers and +leaves and other minute ornaments being as perfect in many places as +when first wrought. The ruin is of considerable extent, but +unfortunately it is almost surrounded by insignificant houses, so that +when you are close to it you see it entirely separated from many rural +objects, and even when viewed from a distance the situation does not +seem to be particularly happy, for the vale is broken and disturbed, and +the Abbey at a distance from the river, so that you do not look upon +them as companions of each other. And surely this is a national +barbarism: within these beautiful walls is the ugliest church that was +ever beheld--if it had been hewn out of the side of a hill it could not +have been more dismal; there was no neatness, nor even decency, and it +appeared to be so damp, and so completely excluded from fresh air, that +it must be dangerous to sit in it; the floor is unpaved, and very rough. +What a contrast to the beautiful and graceful order apparent in every +part of the ancient design and workmanship! Mr. Scott went with us into +the gardens and orchards of a Mr. Riddel, from which we had a very sweet +view of the Abbey through trees, the town being entirely excluded. Dined +with Mr. Scott at the inn; he was now travelling to the assizes at +Jedburgh in his character of Sheriff of Selkirk, and on that account, as +well as for his own sake, he was treated with great respect, a small +part of which was vouchsafed to us as his friends, though I could not +persuade the woman to show me the beds, or to make any sort of promise +till she was assured from the Sheriff himself that he had no objection +to sleep in the same room with William. + + +_Tuesday, September 20th._--Mr. Scott departed very early for Jedburgh, +and we soon followed, intending to go by Dryburgh to Kelso. It was a +fine morning. We went without breakfast, being told that there was a +public-house at Dryburgh. The road was very pleasant, seldom out of +sight of the Tweed for any length of time, though not often close to it. +The valley is not so pleasantly defined as between Peebles and +Clovenford, yet so soft and beautiful, and in many parts pastoral, but +that peculiar and pensive simplicity which I have spoken of before was +wanting, yet there was a fertility chequered with wildness which to many +travellers would be more than a compensation. The reaches of the vale +were shorter, the turnings more rapid, the banks often clothed with +wood. In one place was a lofty scar, at another a green promontory, a +small hill skirted by the river, the hill above irregular and green, and +scattered over with trees. We wished we could have brought the ruins of +Melrose to that spot, and mentioned this to Mr. Scott, who told us that +the monks had first fixed their abode there, and raised a temporary +building of wood. The monastery of Melrose was founded by a colony from +Rievaux Abbey in Yorkshire, which building it happens to resemble in the +colour of the stone, and I think partly in the style of architecture, +but is much smaller, that is, has been much smaller, for there is not at +Rievaux any one single part of the ruin so large as the remains of the +church at Melrose, though at Rievaux a far more extensive ruin remains. +It is also much grander, and the situation at present much more +beautiful, that ruin not having suffered like Melrose Abbey from the +encroachments of a town. The architecture at Melrose is, I believe, +superior in the exactness and taste of some of the minute ornamental +parts; indeed, it is impossible to conceive anything more delicate than +the workmanship, especially in the imitations of flowers. + +We descended to Dryburgh after having gone a considerable way upon high +ground. A heavy rain when we reached the village, and there was no +public-house. A well-dressed, well-spoken woman courteously--shall I say +charitably?--invited us into her cottage, and permitted us to make +breakfast; she showed us into a neat parlour, furnished with prints, a +mahogany table, and other things which I was surprised to see, for her +husband was only a day-labourer, but she had been Lady Buchan's +waiting-maid, which accounted for these luxuries and for a noticeable +urbanity in her manners. All the cottages in this neighbourhood, if I am +not mistaken, were covered with red tiles, and had chimneys. After +breakfast we set out in the rain to the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey, which +are near Lord Buchan's house, and, like Bothwell Castle, appropriated to +the pleasure of the owner. We rang a bell at the gate, and, instead of a +porter, an old woman came to open it through a narrow side-alley cut in +a thick plantation of evergreens. On entering, saw the thatch of her hut +just above the trees, and it looked very pretty, but the poor creature +herself was a figure to frighten a child,--bowed almost double, having a +hooked nose and overhanging eyebrows, a complexion stained brown with +smoke, and a cap that might have been worn for months and never washed. +No doubt she had been cowering over her peat fire, for if she had +emitted smoke by her breath and through every pore, the odour could not +have been stronger. This ancient woman, by right of office, attended us +to show off the curiosities, and she had her tale as perfect, though it +was not quite so long a one, as the gentleman Swiss, whom I remember to +have seen at Blenheim with his slender wand and dainty white clothes. +The house of Lord Buchan and the Abbey stand upon a large flat +peninsula, a green holm almost covered with fruit-trees. The ruins of +Dryburgh are much less extensive than those of Melrose, and greatly +inferior both in the architecture and stone, which is much mouldered +away. Lord Buchan has trained pear-trees along the walls, which are +bordered with flowers and gravel walks, and he has made a pigeon-house, +and a fine room in the ruin, ornamented with a curiously-assorted +collection of busts of eminent men, in which lately a ball was given; +yet, deducting for all these improvements, which are certainly much less +offensive than you could imagine, it is a very sweet ruin, standing so +enclosed in wood, which the towers overtop, that you cannot know that it +is not in a state of natural desolation till you are close to it. The +opposite bank of the Tweed is steep and woody, but unfortunately many of +the trees are firs. The old woman followed us after the fashion of other +guides, but being slower of foot than a younger person, it was not +difficult to slip away from the scent of her poor smoke-dried body. She +was sedulous in pointing out the curiosities, which, I doubt not, she +had a firm belief were not to be surpassed in England or Scotland. + +Having promised us a sight of the largest and oldest yew-tree ever seen, +she conducted us to it; it was a goodly tree, but a mere dwarf compared +with several of our own country--not to speak of the giant of Lorton. We +returned to the cottage, and waited some time in hopes that the rain +would abate, but it grew worse and worse, and we were obliged to give up +our journey, to Kelso, taking the direct road to Jedburgh. + +We had to ford the Tweed, a wide river at the crossing-place. It would +have been impossible to drive the horse through, for he had not +forgotten the fright at Connel Ferry, so we hired a man to lead us. +After crossing the water, the road goes up the bank, and we had a +beautiful view of the ruins of the Abbey, peering above the trees of the +woody peninsula, which, in shape, resembles that formed by the Tees at +Lickburn, but is considerably smaller. Lord Buchan's house is a very +neat, modest building, and almost hidden by trees. It soon began to rain +heavily. Crossing the Teviot by a stone bridge--the vale in that part +very wide--there was a great deal of ripe corn, but a want of trees, and +no appearance of richness. Arrived at Jedburgh half an hour before the +Judges were expected out of Court to dinner. + +We gave in our passport--the name of Mr. Scott, the Sheriff--and were +very civilly treated, but there was no vacant room in the house except +the Judge's sitting-room, and we wanted to have a fire, being +exceedingly wet and cold. I was conducted into that room, on condition +that I would give it up the moment the Judge came from Court.[29] After +I had put off my wet clothes I went up into a bedroom, and sate +shivering there, till the people of the inn had procured lodgings for us +in a private house. + + [Footnote 29: Compare Lockhart's _Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter + Scott_, vol. i. p. 403.--ED.] + +We were received with hearty welcome by a good woman, who, though above +seventy years old, moved about as briskly as if she was only seventeen. +Those parts of the house which we were to occupy were neat and clean; +she showed me every corner, and, before I had been ten minutes in the +house, opened her very drawers that I might see what a stock of linen +she had; then asked me how long we should stay, and said she wished we +were come for three months. She was a most remarkable person; the +alacrity with which she ran up-stairs when we rung the bell, and guessed +at, and strove to prevent, our wants was surprising; she had a quick +eye, and keen strong features, and a joyousness in her motions, like +what used to be in old Molly when she was particularly elated. I found +afterwards that she had been subject to fits of dejection and +ill-health: we then conjectured that her overflowing gaiety and strength +might in part be attributed to the same cause as her former dejection. +Her husband was deaf and infirm, and sate in a chair with scarcely the +power to move a limb--an affecting contrast! The old woman said they had +been a very hard-working pair; they had wrought like slaves at their +trade--her husband had been a currier; and she told me how they had +portioned off their daughters with money, and each a feather-bed, and +that in their old age they had laid out the little they could spare in +building and furnishing that house, and she added with pride that she +had lived in her youth in the family of Lady Egerton, who was no high +lady, and now was in the habit of coming to her house whenever she was +at Jedburgh, and a hundred other things; for when she once began with +Lady Egerton, she did not know how to stop, nor did I wish it, for she +was very entertaining. Mr. Scott sate with us an hour or two, and +repeated a part of the Lay of the Last Minstrel. When he was gone our +hostess came to see if we wanted anything, and to wish us good-night. On +all occasions her manners were governed by the same spirit: there was no +withdrawing one's attention from her. We were so much interested that +William, long afterwards, thought it worth while to express in verse the +sensations which she had excited, and which then remained as vividly in +his mind as at the moment when we lost sight of Jedburgh:[30]-- + + [Footnote 30: See in "Memorials of a Tour in Scotland, 1803," _The + Matron of Jedborough and her Husband_.--ED.] + + Age! twine thy brows with fresh spring flowers, + And call a train of laughing Hours; + And bid them dance, and bid them sing, + And Thou, too, mingle in the Ring! + Take to thy heart a new delight! + If not, make merry in despite + That one should breathe who scorns thy power. + --But dance! for under Jedborough Tower + A Matron dwells who, tho' she bears + Our mortal complement of years, + Lives in the light of youthful glee, + And she will dance and sing with thee. + + Nay! start not at that Figure--there! + Him who is rooted to his Chair! + Look at him, look again; for He + Hath long been of thy Family. + With legs that move not, if they can, + And useless arms, a Trunk of Man, + He sits, and with a vacant eye; + A Sight to make a Stranger sigh! + Deaf, drooping, such is now his doom; + His world is in that single room-- + Is this a place for mirthful cheer? + Can merry-making enter here? + + The joyous Woman is the Mate + Of him in that forlorn estate; + He breathes a subterraneous damp; + But bright as Vesper shines her lamp, + He is as mute as Jedborough Tower, + She jocund as it was of yore + With all its bravery on, in times + When all alive with merry chimes + Upon a sun-bright morn of May + It roused the Vale to holiday. + + I praise thee, Matron! and thy due + Is praise, heroic praise and true. + With admiration I behold + Thy gladness unsubdued and bold: + Thy looks, thy gestures, all present + The picture of a life well spent; + This do I see, and something more, + A strength unthought of heretofore. + Delighted am I for thy sake, + And yet a higher joy partake: + Our human nature throws away + Its second twilight, and looks gay, + A Land of promise and of pride + Unfolding, wide as life is wide. + + Ah! see her helpless Charge! enclosed + Within himself as seems, composed; + To fear of loss and hope of gain, + The strife of happiness and pain-- + Utterly dead! yet in the guise + Of little Infants when their eyes + Begin to follow to and fro + The persons that before them go, + He tracks her motions, quick or slow. + Her buoyant spirits can prevail + Where common cheerfulness would fail. + She strikes upon him with the heat + Of July suns; he feels it sweet; + An animal delight, though dim! + 'Tis all that now remains for him! + + I look'd, I scann'd her o'er and o'er, + And, looking, wondered more and more: + When suddenly I seem'd to espy + A trouble in her strong black eye, + A remnant of uneasy light, + A flash of something over-bright! + Not long this mystery did detain + My thoughts. She told in pensive strain + That she had borne a heavy yoke, + Been stricken by a twofold stroke; + Ill health of body, and had pined + Beneath worse ailments of the mind. + + So be it!--but let praise ascend + To Him who is our Lord and Friend! + Who from disease and suffering + As bad almost as Life can bring, + Hath call'd for thee a second Spring; + Repaid thee for that sore distress + By no untimely joyousness; + Which makes of thine a blissful state; + And cheers thy melancholy Mate! + + +_Wednesday, September 21st._--The house where we lodged was airy, and +even cheerful, though one of a line of houses bordering on the +churchyard, which is the highest part of the town, overlooking a great +portion of it to the opposite hills. The kirk is, as at Melrose, within +the walls of a conventual church; but the ruin is much less beautiful, +and the church a very neat one. The churchyard was full of graves, and +exceedingly slovenly and dirty; one most indecent practice I observed: +several women brought their linen to the flat table-tombstones, and, +having spread it upon them, began to batter as hard as they could with a +wooden roller, a substitute for a mangle. + +After Mr. Scott's business in the Courts was over, he walked with us up +the Jed--"sylvan Jed" it has been properly called by Thomson--for the +banks are yet very woody, though wood in large quantities has been +felled within a few years. There are some fine red scars near the river, +in one or two of which we saw the entrances to caves, said to have been +used as places of refuge in times of insecurity. + +Walked up to Ferniehurst, an old hall, in a secluded situation, now +inhabited by farmers; the neighbouring ground had the wildness of a +forest, being irregularly scattered over with fine old trees. The wind +was tossing their branches, and sunshine dancing among the leaves, and I +happened to exclaim, "What a life there is in trees!" on which Mr. Scott +observed that the words reminded him of a young lady who had been born +and educated on an island of the Orcades, and came to spend a summer at +Kelso and in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. She used to say that in the +new world into which she was come nothing had disappointed her so much +as trees and woods; she complained that they were lifeless, silent, and, +compared with the grandeur of the ever-changing ocean, even insipid. At +first I was surprised, but the next moment I felt that the impression +was natural. Mr. Scott said that she was a very sensible young woman, +and had read much. She talked with endless rapture and feeling of the +power and greatness of the ocean; and with the same passionate +attachment returned to her native island without any probability of +quitting it again.[31] + + [Footnote 31: Compare Lockhart's _Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter + Scott_, vol. i. p. 404.--ED.] + +The valley of the Jed is very solitary immediately under Ferniehurst; we +walked down the river, wading almost up to the knees in fern, which in +many parts overspread the forest-ground. It made me think of our walks +at Alfoxden, and of _our own_ park--though at Ferniehurst is no park at +present--and the slim fawns that we used to startle from their +couching-places among the fern at the top of the hill. We were +accompanied on our walk by a young man from the Braes of Yarrow, an +acquaintance of Mr. Scott's,[32] who, having been much delighted with +some of William's poems which he had chanced to see in a newspaper, had +wished to be introduced to him; he lived in the most retired part of the +dale of Yarrow, where he had a farm: he was fond of reading, and +well-informed, but at first meeting as shy as any of our Grasmere lads, +and not less rustic in his appearance. He had been in the Highlands, and +gave me such an account of Loch Rannoch as made us regret that we had +not persevered in our journey thither, especially as he told us that the +bad road ended at a very little distance from the place where we had +turned back, and that we should have come into another good road, +continued all along the shore of the lake. He also mentioned that there +was a very fine view from the steeple at Dunkeld. + + [Footnote 32: William Laidlaw.--ED.] + +The town of Jedburgh, in returning along the road, as it is seen through +the gently winding narrow valley, looks exceedingly beautiful on its low +eminence, surmounted by the conventual tower, which is arched over, at +the summit, by light stone-work resembling a coronet; the effect at a +distance is very graceful. The hills all round are high, and rise +rapidly from the town, which though it stands considerably above the +river, yet, from every side except that on which we walked, appears to +stand in a bottom. + +We had our dinner sent from the inn, and a bottle of wine, that we might +not disgrace the Sheriff, who supped with us in the evening,--stayed +late, and repeated some of his poem. + + +_Thursday, September 22nd._--After breakfast, the minister, Dr. +Somerville, called upon us with Mr. Scott, and we went to the manse, a +very pretty house, with pretty gardens, and in a beautiful situation, +though close to the town. Dr. Somerville and his family complained +bitterly of the devastation that had been made among the woods within +view from their windows, which looked up the Jed. He conducted us to the +church, which under his directions has been lately repaired, and is a +very neat place within. Dr. Somerville spoke of the dirt and other +indecencies in the churchyard, and said that he had taken great pains to +put a stop to them, but wholly in vain. The business of the assizes +closed this day, and we went into Court to hear the Judge pronounce his +charge, which was the most curious specimen of old woman's oratory and +newspaper-paragraph loyalty that was ever heard. When all was over they +returned to the inn in procession, as they had come, to the sound of a +trumpet, the Judge first, in his robes of red, the Sheriffs next, in +large cocked hats, and inferior officers following, a show not much +calculated to awe the beholders. After this we went to the inn. The +landlady and her sister inquired if we had been comfortable, and +lamented that they had not had it in their power to pay us more +attention. I began to talk with them, and found out that they were from +Cumberland: they knew Captain and Mrs. Wordsworth, who had frequently +been at Jedburgh, Mrs. Wordsworth's sister having married a gentleman of +that neighbourhood. They spoke of them with great pleasure. I returned +to our lodgings to take leave of the old woman, who told me that I had +behaved "very discreetly," and seemed exceedingly sorry that we were +leaving her so soon. She had been out to buy me some pears, saying that +I must take away some "Jeddered" pears. We learned afterwards that +Jedburgh is famous in Scotland for pears, which were first cultivated +there in the gardens of the monks. + +Mr. Scott was very glad to part from the Judge and his retinue, to +travel with us in our car to Hawick; his servant drove his own gig. The +landlady, very kindly, had put up some sandwiches and cheese-cakes for +me, and all the family came out to see us depart. Passed the monastery +gardens, which are yet gardens, where there are many remarkably large +old pear-trees. We soon came into the vale of Teviot, which is open and +cultivated, and scattered over with hamlets, villages, and many +gentlemen's seats, yet, though there is no inconsiderable quantity of +wood, you can never, in the wide and cultivated parts of the Teviot, get +rid of the impression of barrenness, and the fir plantations, which in +this part are numerous, are for ever at war with simplicity. One +beautiful spot I recollect of a different character, which Mr. Scott +took us to see a few yards from the road. A stone bridge crossed the +water at a deep and still place, called Horne's Pool, from a +contemplative schoolmaster, who had lived not far from it, and was +accustomed to walk thither, and spend much of his leisure near the +river. The valley was here narrow and woody. Mr. Scott pointed out to us +Ruberslaw, Minto Crags, and every other remarkable object in or near the +vale of Teviot, and we scarcely passed a house for which he had not some +story. Seeing us look at one, which stood high on the hill on the +opposite side of the river, he told us that a gentleman lived there who, +while he was in India, had been struck with the fancy of making his +fortune by a new speculation, and so set about collecting the gods of +the country, with infinite pains and no little expense, expecting that +he might sell them for an enormous price. Accordingly, on his return +they were offered for sale, but no purchasers came. On the failure of +this scheme, a room was hired in London in which to exhibit them as a +show; but alas! nobody would come to see; and this curious assemblage of +monsters is now, probably, quietly lodged in the vale of Teviot. The +latter part of this gentleman's history is more affecting:--he had an +only daughter, whom he had accompanied into Spain two or three years ago +for the recovery of her health, and so for a time saved her from a +consumption, which now again threatened her, and he was about to leave +his pleasant residence, and attend her once more on the same errand, +afraid of the coming winter. + +We passed through a village, whither Leyden, Scott's intimate friend, +the author of _Scenes of Infancy_,[33] was used to walk over several +miles of moorland country every day to school, a poor barefooted boy. He +is now in India, applying himself to the study of Oriental literature, +and, I doubt not, it is his dearest thought that he may come and end his +days upon the banks of Teviot, or some other of the Lowland streams--for +he is, like Mr. Scott, passionately attached to the district of the +Borders. + + [Footnote 33: The full title was _Scenes of Infancy, descriptive of + Teviotdale_, published in 1803.--ED.] + +Arrived at Hawick to dinner; the inn is a large old house with walls +above a yard thick, formerly a gentleman's house. Did not go out this +evening. + + +_Friday, September 23rd._--Before breakfast, walked with Mr. Scott along +a high road for about two miles, up a bare hill. Hawick is a small town. +From the top of the hill we had an extensive view over the moors of +Liddisdale, and saw the Cheviot Hills. We wished we could have gone with +Mr. Scott into some of the remote dales of this country, where in almost +every house he can find a home and a hearty welcome. But after breakfast +we were obliged to part with him, which we did with great regret: he +would gladly have gone with us to Langholm, eighteen miles further. Our +way was through the vale of Teviot, near the banks of the river. + +Passed Branxholm Hall, one of the mansions belonging to the Duke of +Buccleuch, which we looked at with particular interest for the sake of +the Lay of the Last Minstrel. Only a very small part of the original +building remains: it is a large strong house, old, but not ancient in +its appearance--stands very near the river-side; the banks covered with +plantations. + +A little further on, met the Edinburgh coach with several passengers, +the only stage-coach that had passed us in Scotland. Coleridge had come +home by that conveyance only a few days before. The quantity of arable +land gradually diminishes, and the plantations become fewer, till at +last the river flows open to the sun, mostly through unfenced and +untilled grounds, a soft pastoral district, both the hills and the +valley being scattered over with sheep: here and there was a single +farm-house, or cluster of houses, and near them a portion of land +covered with ripe corn. + +Near the head of the vale of Teviot, where that stream is but a small +rivulet, we descended towards another valley, by another small rivulet. +Hereabouts Mr. Scott had directed us to look about for some old stumps +of trees, said to be the place where Johnny Armstrong was hanged; but +we could not find them out. The valley into which we were descending, +though, for aught I know, it is unnamed in song, was to us more +interesting than the Teviot itself. Not a spot of tilled ground was +there to break in upon its pastoral simplicity; the same soft yellow +green spread from the bed of the streamlet to the hill-tops on each +side, and sheep were feeding everywhere. It was more close and simple +than the upper end of the vale of Teviot, the valley being much +narrower, and the hills equally high and not broken into parts, but on +each side a long range. The grass, as we had first seen near +Crawfordjohn, had been mown in the different places of the open ground, +where it might chance to be best; but there was no part of the surface +that looked perfectly barren, as in those tracts. + +We saw a single stone house a long way before us, which we conjectured +to be, as it proved, Moss Paul, the inn where we were to bait. The +scene, with this single dwelling, was melancholy and wild, but not +dreary, though there was no tree nor shrub; the small streamlet +glittered, the hills were populous with sheep; but the gentle bending of +the valley, and the correspondent softness in the forms of the hills, +were of themselves enough to delight the eye. At Moss Paul we fed our +horse;--several travellers were drinking whisky. We neither ate nor +drank, for we had, with our usual foresight and frugality in travelling, +saved the cheese-cakes and sandwiches which had been given us by our +countrywoman at Jedburgh the day before. After Moss Paul, we ascended +considerably, then went down other reaches of the valley, much less +interesting, stony and barren. The country afterwards not peculiar, I +should think, for I scarcely remember it. + +Arrived at Langholm at about five o'clock. The town, as we approached, +from a hill, looked very pretty, the houses being roofed with blue +slates, and standing close to the river Esk, here a large river, that +scattered its waters wide over a stony channel. The inn neat and +comfortable--exceedingly clean: I could hardly believe we were still in +Scotland. + +After tea walked out; crossed a bridge, and saw, at a little distance up +the valley, Langholm House, a villa of the Duke of Buccleuch: it stands +upon a level between the river and a steep hill, which is planted with +wood. Walked a considerable way up the river, but could not go close to +it on account of the Duke's plantations, which are locked up. When they +ended, the vale became less cultivated; the view through the vale +towards the hills very pleasing, though bare and cold. + + +_Saturday, September 24th._--Rose very early and travelled about nine +miles to Longtown, before breakfast, along the banks of the Esk. About +half a mile from Langholm crossed a bridge. At this part of the vale, +which is narrow, the steeps are covered with old oaks and every variety +of trees. Our road for some time through the wood, then came to a more +open country, exceedingly rich and populous; the banks of the river +frequently rocky, and hung with wood; many gentlemen's houses. There was +the same rich variety while the river continued to flow through Scottish +grounds; but not long after we had passed through the last turnpike gate +in Scotland and the first in England--but a few yards asunder--the vale +widens, and its aspect was cold, and even dreary, though Sir James +Graham's plantations are very extensive. His house, a large building, +stands in this open part of the vale. Longtown was before us, and ere +long we saw the well-remembered guide-post, where the circuit of our six +weeks' travels had begun, and now was ended. + +We did not look along the white line of the road to Solway Moss without +some melancholy emotion, though we had the fair prospect of the +Cumberland mountains full in view, with the certainty, barring +accidents, of reaching our own dear home the next day. Breakfasted at +the Graham's Arms. The weather had been very fine from the time of our +arrival at Jedburgh, and this was a very pleasant day. The sun "shone +fair on Carlisle's walls" when we first saw them from the top of the +opposite hill. Stopped to look at the place on the sand near the bridge +where Hatfield had been executed. Put up at the same inn as before, and +were recognised by the woman who had waited on us. Everybody spoke of +Hatfield as an injured man. After dinner went to a village six miles +further, where we slept. + + +_Sunday, September 25th, 1803._--A beautiful autumnal day. Breakfasted +at a public-house by the road-side; dined at Threlkeld; arrived at home +between eight and nine o'clock, where we found Mary in perfect health, +Joanna Hutchinson with her, and little John asleep in the clothes-basket +by the fire. + + +SONNET[34] + + [Footnote 34: See "Memorials of a Tour in Scotland, 1803," "Fly, some + kind Harbinger, to Grasmere-dale!"--ED.] + + COMPOSED BETWEEN DALSTON AND GRASMERE, + SEPTEMBER 25th, 1803 + + Fly, some kind spirit, fly to Grasmere Vale! + Say that we come, and come by this day's light. + Glad tidings!--spread them over field and height, + But, chiefly, let one Cottage hear the tale! + There let a mystery of joy prevail, + The kitten frolic with unruly might, + And Rover whine as at a second sight + Of near-approaching good that will not fail: + And from that Infant's face let joy appear; + Yea, let our Mary's one companion child, + That hath her six weeks' solitude beguiled + With intimations manifold and dear, + While we have wander'd over wood and wild-- + Smile on its Mother now with bolder cheer! + + + + + VIII + + JOURNAL OF A MOUNTAIN RAMBLE + BY DOROTHY AND WILLIAM WORDSWORTH + NOVEMBER 7TH TO 13TH, 1805 + +JOURNAL OF A MOUNTAIN RAMBLE, WRITTEN BY DOROTHY WORDSWORTH[35] + + [Footnote 35: This title is given by the editor. There is none in the + original MS.--ED.] + + * * * * * + +_Wednesday, November 7th._--On a damp and gloomy morning we set forward, +William on foot, and I upon the pony, with William's greatcoat slung +over the saddle crutch, and a wallet containing our bundle of +"needments." As we went along the mist gathered upon the valleys, and it +even rained all the way to the head of Patterdale; but there was never a +drop upon my habit larger than the smallest pearls upon a lady's ring. +The trees of the larger island upon Rydale Lake were of the most +gorgeous colours; the whole island reflected in the water, as I remember +once in particular to have seen it with dear Coleridge, when either he +or William observed that the rocky shore, spotted and streaked with +purplish brown heath, and its image in the water, together were like an +immense caterpillar, such as, when we were children, we used to call +_Woolly Boys_, from their hairy coats.... As the mist thickened, our +enjoyments increased, and my hopes grew bolder; and when we were at the +top of Kirkstone (though we could not see fifty yards before us) we were +as happy travellers as ever paced side by side on a holiday ramble. At +such a time and in such a place every scattered stone the size of one's +head becomes a companion. There is a fragment of an old wall at the top +of Kirkstone, which, magnified yet obscured as it was by the mist, was +scarcely less interesting to us when we cast our eyes upon it, than the +view of a noble monument of ancient grandeur has been--yet this same +pile of stones we had never before observed. When we had descended +considerably, the fields of Hartsop, below Brotherswater, were first +seen like a lake, coloured by the reflection of yellow clouds. I mistook +them for the water; but soon after we saw the lake itself gleaming +faintly with a grey, steely brightness; then appeared the brown oaks, +and the birches of splendid colour, and, when we came still nearer to +the valley, the cottages under their tufts of trees and the old Hall of +Hartsop with its long irregular front and elegant chimneys.... + + +_Thursday, November 8th._--Incessant rain till eleven o'clock, when it +became fair, and William and I walked to Blowick. Luff joined us by the +way. The wind was strong, and drove the clouds forward along the side of +the hill above our heads; four or five goats were bounding among the +rocks; the sheep moved about more quietly, or cowered in their +sheltering-places. The two storm-stiffened black yew-trees on the crag +above Luff's house were striking objects, close under or seen through +the flying mists.... When we stood upon the naked crag upon the common, +overlooking the woods and bush-besprinkled fields of Blowick, the lake, +clouds, and mists were all in motion to the sound of sweeping winds--the +church and cottages of Patterdale scarcely visible from the brightness +of the thin mist. Looking backwards towards the foot of the water, the +scene less visionary. Place Fell steady and bold as a lion; the whole +lake driving down like a great river, waves dancing round the small +islands. We walked to the house. The owner was salving sheep in the +barn; an appearance of poverty and decay everywhere. He asked us if we +wanted to purchase the estate. We could not but stop frequently, both +in going and returning, to look at the exquisite beauty of the woods +opposite. The general colour of the trees was dark-brown, rather that of +ripe hazel-nuts; but towards the water there were yet beds of green, and +in some of the hollow places in the highest part of the woods the trees +were of a yellow colour, and through the glittering light they looked +like masses of clouds as you see them gathered together in the west, and +tinged with the golden light of the sun. After dinner we walked with +Mrs. Luff up the vale; I had never had an idea of the extent and width +of it, in passing through along the road, on the other side. We walked +along the path which leads from house to house; two or three times it +took us through some of those copses or groves that cover every little +hillock in the middle of the lower part of the vale, making an intricate +and beautiful intermixture of lawn and woodland. We left William to +prolong his walk, and when he came into the house he told us that he had +pitched upon the spot where he should like to build a house better than +in any other he had ever yet seen. Mrs. Luff went with him by moonlight +to view it. The vale looked as if it were filled with white light when +the moon had climbed up to the middle of the sky; but long before we +could see her face a while all the eastern hills were in black shade, +those on the opposite side were almost as bright as snow. Mrs. Luff's +large white dog lay in the moonshine upon the round knoll under the old +yew-tree, a beautiful and romantic image--the dark tree with its dark +shadow, and the elegant creature as fair as a spirit. + + +_Friday, November 9th._--It rained till near ten o'clock; but a little +after that time, it being likely for a tolerably fine day, we packed up, +and with Luff's servant to help to row, set forward in the boat. As we +proceeded the day grew finer, clouds and sunny gleams on the mountains. +In a grand bay under Place Fell we saw three fishermen with a boat +dragging a net, and rowed up to them. They had just brought the net +ashore, and hundreds of fish were leaping in their prison. They were all +of one kind, what are called Skellies. After we had left them the +fishermen continued their work, a picturesque group under the lofty and +bare crags; the whole scene was very grand, a raven croaking on the +mountain above our heads. Landed at Sanwick, the man took the boat home, +and we pursued our journey towards the village along a beautiful summer +path, at first through a copse by the lake-side, then through green +fields. The village and brook very pretty, shut out from mountains and +lake; it reminded me of Somersetshire. Passed by Harry Hebson's house; I +longed to go in for the sake of former times. William went up one side +of the vale, and we the other, and he joined us after having crossed the +one-arched bridge above the church; a beautiful view of the church with +its "base ring of mossy wall" and single yew-tree. At the last house in +the vale we were kindly greeted by the master.... We were well prepared +to face the mountain, which we began to climb almost immediately. +Martindale divides itself into two dales at the head. In one of these +(that to the left) there is no house to be seen, nor any building but a +cattle-shed on the side of a hill which is sprinkled over with wood, +evidently the remains of a forest, formerly a very extensive one. At the +bottom of the other valley is the house of which I have spoken, and +beyond the enclosures of this man's farm there are no other. A few old +trees remain, relics of the forest; a little stream passes in serpentine +windings through the uncultivated valley, where many cattle were +feeding. The cattle of this country are generally white or +light-coloured; but those were mostly dark-brown or black, which made +the scene resemble many parts of Scotland. When we sat on the hillside, +though we were well contented with the quiet everyday sounds, the lowing +of cattle, bleating of sheep, and the very gentle murmuring of the +valley stream, yet we could not but think what a grand effect the sound +of the bugle-horn would have among these mountains. It is still heard +once a year at the chase--a day of festivity for all the inhabitants of +the district, except the poor deer, the most ancient of them all. The +ascent, even to the top of the mountain, is very easy. When we had +accomplished it we had some exceedingly fine mountain views, some of the +mountains being resplendent with sunshine, others partly hidden by +clouds. Ulswater was of a dazzling brightness bordered by black hills, +the plain beyond Penrith smooth and bright (or rather _gleamy_) as the +sea or sea-sands. Looked into Boar Dale above Sanwick--deep and bare, a +stream winding down it. After having walked a considerable way on the +tops of the hills, came in view of Glenridding and the mountains above +Grisdale. Luff then took us aside, before we had begun to descend, to a +small ruin, which was formerly a chapel or place of worship where the +inhabitants of Martindale and Patterdale were accustomed to meet on +Sundays. There are now no traces by which you could discover that the +building had been different from a common sheepfold; the loose stones +and the few which yet remain piled up are the same as those which lie +about on the mountain; but the shape of the building being oblong is not +that of a common sheepfold, and it stands east and west. Whether it was +ever consecrated ground or not I know not; but the place may be kept +holy in the memory of some now living in Patterdale; for it was the +means of preserving the life of a poor old man last summer, who, having +gone up the mountain to gather peats, had been overtaken by a storm, and +could not find his way down again. He happened to be near the remains of +the old chapel, and, in a corner of it, he contrived, by laying turf and +ling and stones from one wall to the other, to make a shelter from the +wind, and there he lay all night. The woman who had sent him on his +errand began to grow uneasy towards night, and the neighbours went out +to seek him. At that time the old man had housed himself in his nest, +and he heard the voices of the men, but could not make _them_ hear, the +wind being so loud, and he was afraid to leave the spot lest he should +not be able to find it again, so he remained there all night; and they +returned to their homes, giving him up for lost; but the next morning +the same persons discovered him huddled up in the sheltered nook. He was +at first stupefied and unable to move; but after he had eaten and drunk, +and recollected himself a little, he walked down the mountain, and did +not afterwards seem to have suffered.[36] As we descend, the vale of +Patterdale appears very simple and grand, with its two heads, Deep Dale, +and Brotherswater or Hartsop. It is remarkable that two pairs of +brothers should have been drowned in that lake. There is a tradition, at +least, that it took its name from two who were drowned there many years +ago, and it is a fact that two others did meet that melancholy fate +about twenty years since.... + + [Footnote 36: Compare the account given of this incident in _The + Excursion_, towards the close of book ii.; also in the Fenwick note to + _The Excursion_.--ED.] + + +_Saturday, November 10th._--A beautiful morning. When we were at +breakfast we heard suddenly the tidings of Lord Nelson's death and the +victory of Trafalgar. Went to the inn to make further inquiries. +Returned by William's rock and grove, and were so much pleased with the +spot that William determined to buy it if possible, therefore we +prepared to set off to Parkhouse that William might apply to Thomas +Wilkinson to negotiate for him with the owner. We went down that side of +the lake opposite to Stybarrow Crag. I dismounted, and we sat some time +under the same rock as before, above Blowick. Owing to the brightness of +the sunshine the church and other buildings were even more concealed +from us than by the mists the other day. It had been a sharp frost in +the night, and the grass and trees were yet wet. We observed the +lemon-coloured leaves of the birches in the wood below, as the wind +turned them to the sun, sparkle, or rather flash, like diamonds. The day +continued unclouded to the end. + + +_Monday, November 12th._--The morning being fine, we resolved to go to +Lowther.... Crossed the ford at Yanworth. Found Thomas Wilkinson at work +in one of his fields; he cheerfully laid down the spade and walked by +our side with William. We left our horses at the mill below Brougham, +and walked through the woods till we came to the quarry, where the road +ends--the very place which has been the boundary of some of the happiest +of the walks of my youth. The sun did not shine when we were there, and +it was mid-day; therefore, if it had shone, the light could not have +been the same; yet so vividly did I call to mind those walks, that, when +I was in the wood, I almost seemed to see the same rich light of evening +upon the trees which I had seen in those happy hours.... + + +_Tuesday, November 13th._--A very wet morning; no hope of being able to +return home. William read in a book lent him by Thomas Wilkinson. I read +_Castle Rackrent_. The day cleared at one o'clock, and after dinner, at +a little before three, we set forward.... Before we reached Ullswater +the sun shone, and only a few scattered clouds remained on the hills, +except at the tops of the very highest. The lake perfectly calm. We had +a delightful journey.... The trees in Gowborough Park were very +beautiful, the hawthorns leafless, their round heads covered with rich +red berries, and adorned with arches of green brambles; and eglantine +hung with glossy hips; many birches yet tricked out in full foliage of +bright yellow; oaks brown or leafless; the smooth branches of the ashes +bare; most of the alders green as in spring. At the end of Gowborough +Park a large troop of deer were moving slowly, or standing still, among +the fern. I was grieved when our companions startled them with a +whistle, disturbing a beautiful image of grave simplicity and thoughtful +enjoyment, for I could have fancied that even they were partaking with +me a sensation of the solemnity of the closing day. I think I have more +pleasure in looking at deer than any other animals, perhaps chiefly from +their living in a more natural state. The sun had been set some time, +though we could only just perceive that the daylight was partly gone, +and the lake was more brilliant than before.... A delightful evening; +the Seven Stars close to the hill-tops in Patterdale; all the stars +seemed brighter than usual. The steeps were reflected in Brotherswater, +and above the lake appeared like enormous black perpendicular walls. The +torrents of Kirkstone had been swollen by the rains, and filled the +mountain pass with their roaring, which added greatly to the solemnity +of our walk. The stars in succession took their stations on the +mountain-tops. Behind us, when we had climbed very high, we saw one +light in the vale at a great distance, like a large star, a solitary +one, in the gloomy region. All the cheerfulness of the scene was in the +sky above us....[37] + + [Footnote 37: A curious _recast_ of this journal by his sister was + published by Wordsworth, in his _Description of the Scenery of the + Lakes_.--ED.] + + + + + IX + + EXTRACTS + FROM + DOROTHY WORDSWORTH'S JOURNAL + OF A + TOUR ON THE CONTINENT + 1820 + +EXTRACTS FROM DOROTHY WORDSWORTH'S TOUR ON THE CONTINENT, 1820 + + +_Monday, July 10th, 1820._--We--William, Mary, and Dorothy +Wordsworth--left the Rectory House, Lambeth, at a quarter to eight +o'clock. Had the "Union" coach to ourselves, till within two stages of +Canterbury, when two young ladies demanded inside places.... The +Cathedral of Canterbury, described by Erasmus as lifting itself up in +"such majesty towards heaven, that it strikes religion into the +beholders from a distance," looks stately on the plain, when first seen +from the gently descending road, and appeared to me a much finer +building than in former times; and I felt, as I had often done during my +last abode in London, that, whatever change, tending to melancholy, +twenty years might have produced, they had called forth the capacity of +enjoying the sight of ancient buildings to which my youth was, +comparatively, a stranger. Between London and Canterbury the scenes are +varied and cheerful; first Blackheath, and its bordering villas, and +shady trees; goats, asses, sheep, etc., pasturing at large near the +houses. The Thames glorious; ships like castles, cutting their way as +through green meadows, the river being concealed from view; then it +spreads out like a wide lake, scattered over with vessels. + + +_Dover, Tuesday, July 11th._--We walked to the Castle before breakfast. +The building, when you are close to it, appears even _sublime_, from +its immense height and bulk; but it is not rich or beautiful in +architecture. The old warder stood in waiting upon the hill to lead us +forward. After ascending above a hundred stone steps, we were greeted by +the slender tinkling of a bell, a delicately wild sound in that place. +It is fixed at the top of a pillar, on which is inscribed a poetical +petition in behalf of the prisoners confined above in the Castle. + + +_Calais, Tuesday, July 11th._--Landed on the shores of France at +half-past one. What shall I say of Calais? I looked about for what I +remembered, and looked for new things, and in both quests was +gratified.... On my bedroom door is inscribed "Sterne's Room," and a +print of him hangs over the fireplace. The walls painted in panels, +handsome carpets, chimney-piece marble-coloured, hearth red, +bed-curtains white, sheets coarse, coverlet a mixture of cotton and +woollen, beautifully white; but how clumsy all contrivances of braziers +and smiths! The bell hangs on the outside of the wall, and gives a +single, loud, dull stroke when pulled by the string, so that you must +stand and pull four or five times, as if you were calling the people to +prayers. + + +_Calais, Wednesday, July 12th._--We rose at five; sunshine and clear, +but rather cold air. The Cathedral, a large edifice, not finely wrought; +but the first effect is striking, from the size of the numerous pillars +and arches, though they are paltry in the finishing, merely whitewashed +and stuck over with bad pictures and tawdry images; yet the whole view +at the entrance was affecting. Old men and women--_young_ women and +girls kneeling at their silent prayers, and some we espied, in obscure +recesses, before a concealed crucifix, image, or altar. One grey-haired +man I cannot forget, whose countenance bore the impression of worldly +cares subdued, and peace in heavenly aspiration.... Another figure I +must not leave unnoticed, a squalid, ragged woman. She sate alone upon +some steps at the side of the entrance to the quire. There she sate, +with a white dog beside her; no one was near, and the dog and she +evidently belonged to each other, probably her only friend, for never +was there a more wretchedly forlorn and miserable-looking human being. +She did not notice us; but her rags and her sickly aspect drew a penny +from me, and the change in the woman's skinny, doleful face is not to be +imagined: it was brightened by a light and gracious smile--the effect +was almost as of something supernatural--she bowed her body, waved her +hand, and, with a politeness of gesture unknown in England in almost any +station of life, beckoned that we might enter the church, where the +people were kneeling upon chairs, of which there might be a +thousand--_two_ thousand--I cannot say how many--piled up in different +parts of the Cathedral.... + +_9 o'clock, Inn-yard, Calais._--Off we drove, preceded by our friends, +each postilion smacking his whip along the street with a dexterity truly +astonishing. Never before did I know the power of a clumsy whip, in +concert with the rattling of wheels upon rough pavement! The effect was +certainly not less upon the spectators, and we jolted away as merry as +children--showed our passports--passed the gateways, drawbridges, and +shabby soldiers, and, fresh to the feeling of being in a foreign land, +drove briskly forward, watchful and gay. The country for many miles +populous; this makes it amusing, though sandy and flat; no trees worth +looking at singly _as_ trees.... + +_Half-past 10._--The party gone to bed. This _salle_, where I sit, how +unlike a parlour in an English inn! Yet the history of a sea-fight, or a +siege, painted on the walls, with the costumes of Philip the Second, or +even of our own time, would have better suited my associations, with the +names of Gravelines and Dunkirk, than the story of Cupid and Psyche now +before my eyes, as large as life, on French paper! The paper is in +panels, with big mirrors between, in gilt frames. With all this taste +and finery, and wax candles,[38] and Brussels carpets, what a mixture of +troublesome awkwardness! They brought us a ponderous teapot that would +not pour out the tea; the latches (with metal enough to fasten up a +dungeon) can hardly, by unpractised hands, be made to open and shut the +doors! I have seen the diligence come into the yard and unload--heavy, +dirty, dusty--a lap-dog walking about the top, like a panther in its +cage, and viewing the gulf below. A monkey was an outside passenger when +it departed. + + [Footnote 38: A charge was made for wax candles.--D. W.] + + +_Furnes, July 13th, Thursday, 5 o'clock._--I will describe this Square. +Houses yellow, grey, white, and _there_ is a green one! Yet the effect +is not gaudy--a half Grecian church, with Gothic spire; storks have +built their nests, and are sitting upon the venerable tower of another +church, a sight that pleasingly reminds us of our neighbourhood to +Holland. The interior of that which outwardly mimics the Grecian is +Gothic, and rather handsome in form, but whitewashed, and bedaubed with +tinsel, and dolls, and tortured images.... Bells continually tinkling. +_There_ goes a woman to her prayers, in a long black cloak, and bright +blue stockings; _here_ comes a nicely-dressed old woman, leaning on her +staff! Surely it is a blessing to the aged in Roman Catholic countries +to have the churches always open for them, if it were only that it makes +a variety in the course of a long day! How soothing, how natural to the +aged, thus to withdraw from the stir of household cares, and occupations +in which they can no longer take a part! and I must say (little as I +have yet seen of this mode of worshipping God) I never beheld more of +the expression of piety and earnest feeling than in some of the very old +people in these churches. Every avenue of the square of this town +presents some picturesque continuation of buildings. All is old, and +old-_fashioned_; nothing to complain of but a want of Dutch cleanliness, +yet it does not obtrude on the eye, out of doors, and the exterior is +grave, decent, and quiet.... + +The priests in their gaudy attire, with their young white-robed +attendants, made a solemn appearance, while clouds of incense were +ascending over their heads to the large crucifix above the altar; and +the "pealing organ" sounded to the "full-voiced quire." There was a +beautiful nun in a grey garment with a long black scarf, white forehead +band, belt, and rosary. Intent upon her devotions, she did not cast an +eye towards us, and we stood to look at her. The faces of many of the +women are handsome, but the steady grace, the chastened motions of their +persons, and the mild seriousness of their countenances, are _most_ +remarkable.... + +From Furnes to Bruges we had travelled through a flat country, yet with +an endless variety, produced by the various produce of a beautiful soil +carefully cultivated. We had been told that the country between Ghent +and Bruges was much of the same kind, only not so interesting, therefore +we were not sorry to interpose the variety of the packet-boat to +Ghent.... And, when all was ready, took our places on the deck of the +vessel. The tinkling of a bell, the signal for departure; and we glided +gently away with motion only perceptible by the _eye_, looking at the +retreating objects on the shore.... Two nuns and a priest (his +prayer-book in his hand), an English dandy, a handsome lady-like Flemish +girl, dressed in an elegant gauze mob-cap with flowers, and robe _à la +française_, were the most noticeable people.... The groups under the +awning would make a lively picture. The priest, in his cocked hat, +standing at his prayers, the pretty maiden in her cap and flowers, and +_there_ are the nuns. My brother and the nuns are very merry. _They_ +seem to have left their prayer-books at home, and one of them has a +pamphlet in her hand that looks like a magazine. Low cottages, pretty +and clean, close to the bank; a woman scouring a copper vessel, in white +jacket, red cap, blue petticoat, and clean sailcloth apron; the flat +country to be seen over the low banks of the canal, spires and towers, +and sometimes a village may be descried among trees; many little +public-houses to tempt a landing; near one I see a pleasant arbour, with +seats aloft for smoking.... The nuns are merry; so is the priest, in his +spectacles; the dandy recommends shoes, in preference to boots, as more +convenient. "There is nobody that can clean either on the Continent." +For my part, I think they clean _them_ as well as anything else, except +their vessels for cookery! they cannot get the dust out of a chair, or +_rub_ a table!... William and I remained till the carriages were safely +landed, amid a confusion of tongues, French, German, and English, and +inarticulate shoutings, such as belong to all nations.... Canals round +the town, rows of trees, fortifications converted into pleasure-grounds. +We pass through old and picturesque streets, with an intermixture of +houses of a later date, and showy shops; an appearance of commerce and +bustle, which makes the contrast with Bruges the more striking, as the +architecture of the ancient houses is of the same kind. William and I, +with our English lady, reached first the appointed inn, though our +friends had left the boat long before us.... + + +_Ghent._--After tea, walked through the city. The buildings, streets, +squares, all are picturesque. The houses, green, blue, pink, yellow, +with richest ornaments still varying. Strange it is that so many and +such strongly-contrasted colours should compose an undiscordant whole. +Towers and spires overlook the lofty houses, and nothing is wanting of +venerable antiquity at Ghent to give to the mind the same melancholy +composure, which cannot but be felt in passing through the streets of +Bruges--nothing but the impression that no change is going on, except +through the silent progress of time. _There_ the very dresses of the +women might have been the same for hundreds of years. _Here_, though the +black cloak is prevalent, we see a mixture of all kinds, from the dress +of the English or French belle to that of the poorest of our poor in a +country town.... + + +_Saturday, July 15th._--The architecture is a mixture of Gothic and +Grecian. Three orders of pillars, one above another, the Gothic part +very rich.... Multitudes of swallows were wheeling round the roof, +regardless of carts and hammers, or whatever noise was heard below, and +the effect was indescribably interesting. The restless motions and +plaintive call of those little creatures seemed to impart a stillness to +every other object, and had the power to lead the imagination gently on +to the period when that once superb but now decaying structure shall be +"lorded over and possessed by nature."... + + +_Arrival at Brussels._--Light and shade very solemn upon the drawbridge. +Passing through a heavy gateway, we entered the city, and drove through +street after street with a pleasure wholly new to us. Garlands of fresh +boughs and flowers in festoons hung on each side, and the great height +of the houses, especially in the narrow streets (lighted as they were), +gave a beautiful effect to the exhibition. Some of the streets were very +steep, others long or winding; and in the triangular openings at the +junction of different streets there was generally some stately ornament. +For instance, in one place a canopy, with white drapery attached to the +centre, and suspended in four inverted arches by means of four pillars +at the distance of six or seven yards from the centre. + + +_Sunday, July 16th._--_Brussels._--After breakfast, proceeded through +the park, a very large open space with shady walks, statues, fountains, +pools, arbours, and seats, and surrounded by palaces and fine houses--to +the Cathedral, which, though immensely large, was so filled with people +that we could scarcely make our way so as, by standing upon chairs (for +which we paid two sous each), to have a view of the building over the +multitudes of heads. The priests, at high mass, could not be seen; but +the melody of human voices, accompanied by the organ, pierced through +every recess--then came bursts of sound like thunder; and, at times, the +solemn rousing of the trumpet. Powerful as was the effect of the music, +the excessive heat and crowding after a short while overcame every other +feeling, and we were glad to go into the open air. Our _laquais de +place_ conducted us to the house of a shopkeeper, where, from a room in +the attics, we might view the procession. It was close to one of the +triangular openings with which most of the streets of Brussels +terminate. To the right, we looked down the street along which the +procession was to come, and, a little to the left below us, overlooked +the triangles, in the centre of which was a fountain ornamented with +three marble statues, and a pillar in the midst, topped by a golden +ball--the whole decorated with festoons of holly, and large roses made +of paper, alternately red and yellow. In like manner the garlands were +composed in all the streets through which the procession was to pass; +but in some parts there were also young fir-trees stuck in the pavement, +leaving a foot-way between them and the houses. Paintings were hung out +by such as possessed them, and ribands and flags. The street where we +were was lined with people assembled like ourselves in expectation, all +in their best attire. Peasants to be distinguished by their short +jackets, petticoats of scarlet or some other bright colour (in +contrast), crosses, or other ornament of gold or gilding; the +bourgeoises, with black silk scarfs overhead, and reaching almost to +their feet; ladies, a little too much of the French or English; little +girls, with or without caps, and some in elegant white veils. The +windows of all the houses open, and people seen at full length, or +through doorways, sitting, or standing in patient expectation. It amused +us to observe _them_, and the arrangements of their houses--which were +even splendid, compared with those of persons of like condition in our +own country--with an antique cast over all. Nor was it less amusing to +note the groups or lines of people below us. Whether standing in the hot +sunshine, or the shade, they appeared equally contented. Some approached +the fountain--a sacred spot!--to drink of the pure waters, out of which +rise the silent statues. The spot is sacred; for there, before the +priests arrived in the procession, incense was kindled in the urns, and +a pause was made with the canopy of the Host, while they continued +chanting the service. But I am going too fast. + +The procession was, in its beginning, military, and its approach +announced by sound of trumpets. Then came a troop of cavalry, four +abreast, splendidly accoutred, dressed in blue and gold, and accompanied +by a full band of music; next, I think, the magistrates and constituted +authorities. But the order of the procession I do not recollect; only +that the military, civil, and religious authorities and symbols were +pleasingly combined, and the whole spectacle was beautiful. Long before +the sound of the sacred service reached our ears, the martial music had +died away in the distance, though there was no interruption in the line +of the procession. The contrast was very pleasing when the solemn +chaunting came along the street, with the stream of banners; priests and +choristers in their appropriate robes; and not the least pleasing part +of it was a great number of young girls, two and two, all dressed in +white frocks. It was a day made on purpose for this exhibition; the sun +seemed to be feasting on the gorgeous colours and glittering banners; +and there was no breeze to disturb garland or flower. When all was +passed away, we returned to the Cathedral, which we found not so crowded +as much to interrupt our view: yet the whole effect of the interior was +much injured by the decorations for the fête--especially by stiff +orange-trees in tubs, placed between the pillars of the aisles. Though +not equal to those of Bruges or Ghent, it is a very fine Gothic +building, massy pillars and numerous statues, and windows of painted +glass--an ornament which we have been so accustomed to in our own +cathedrals that we lamented the want of it at Ghent and Bruges. + + +_Monday, July 17th._--_Brussels._--Brussels exhibits in its different +quarters the stateliness of the ancient and the princely splendour of +modern times, mixed with an uncouth irregularity, resembling that of the +lofty tiers of houses at Edinburgh; but the general style of building in +the old streets is by no means so striking as in those of Ghent or +Bruges.... + +_Waterloo._--Waterloo is a mean village; straggling on each side of the +broad highway, children and poor people of all ages stood on the watch +to conduct us to the church. Within the circle of its interior are found +several mural monuments of our brave soldiers--long lists of naked names +inscribed on marble slabs--not less moving than laboured epitaphs +displaying the sorrow of surviving friends.... Here we took up the very +man who was Southey's guide (Lacoste), whose name will make a figure in +history. He bowed to us with French ceremony and liveliness, seeming +proud withal to show himself as a sharer in the terrors of that time +when Buonaparte's confusion and overthrow released him from unwilling +service. He had been tied upon a horse as Buonaparte's guide through the +country previous to the battle, and was compelled to stay by his side +till the moment of flight.... + + +_Monday, July 17th._--_Brussels._--The sky had been overshadowed by +clouds during most of our journey, and now a storm threatened us, which +helped our own melancholy thoughts to cast a gloom over the open +country, where few trees were to be seen except forests on the distant +heights. The ruins of the severely contested chateau of Hougomont had +been ridded away since the battle, and the injuries done to the +farm-house repaired. Even these circumstances, natural and trivial as +they were, suggested melancholy thoughts, by furnishing grounds for a +charge of ingratitude against the course of things, that was thus +hastily removing from the spot all vestiges of so momentous an event. +Feeble barriers against this tendency are the few frail memorials +erected in different parts of the field of battle! and we could not but +anticipate the time, when through the flux and reflux of war, to which +this part of the Continent has always been subject, or through some turn +of popular passion, _these_ also should fall; and "Nature's universal +robe of green, humanity's appointed shroud," enwrap them:--and the very +names of those whose valour they record be cast into shade, if not +obliterated even in their own country, by the exploits of recent +favourites in future ages. + + +_Tuesday, July 18th._--_Namur._--Before breakfast we went to the church +of the Jesuits; beautiful pillars of marble, roof of pumice-stone +curiously wrought, the colour chaste and sombre. The churches of Ghent +and Bruges are injured by being whitewashed: that of Brussels is of a +pale grey, or stone-colour, which has a much better effect, though +nothing equal to the roof of the Jesuits' church at Namur; yet in one +point (_i.e._ the painted windows) the Cathedral of Brussels surpasses +all the churches we have yet seen.... Several women passed us who had +come thither to attend upon the labourers employed in repairing and +enlarging the fortifications. Their dresses were neat and gay; and, in +that place of which we had so often read in histories of battles and +sieges, their appearance, while they struggled cheerfully with the +blustering wind, was wild and romantic. The fondness for flowers appears +in this country wherever you go. Nothing is more common than to see a +man, driving a cart, with a rose in his mouth. At the very top of our +ascent, I saw one at work with his spade, a full-blown rose covering his +lips, which he must have brought up the hill,--or had some favourite +lass there presented it to him?... + + +_Wednesday, July 19th._--_Liége._--My first entrance into the +market-place brought a shock of cheerful sensation. It was like the +bursting into life of a Flemish picture. Such profusion of fruit! such +outspreading of flowers! and heaps of vegetables! and such variety in +the attire of the women! A curious and abundant fountain, surrounded +with large stone basins, served to wash and refresh the vegetables. +Torrents of voices assailed us while we threaded our way among the fruit +and fragrant flowers; bouquets were held out to us by half a score of +sunburnt arms at once. The women laughed--_we_ laughed, took one +bouquet, and gave two sous, our all.... Left Liége about 9 o'clock--were +recognised and greeted by many of the women at their stalls as we passed +again through the market-place.... Ascended a very steep hill, on the +top of which stands the ruined convent of the Chartreuse, and there we +left our carriages to look back upon the fine view of the city, +spreading from the ridge of the crescent hill opposite to us (which is, +however, somewhat unpleasingly scarified by new fortifications), and +over the central plain of the vale, to the magnificent river which, +split into many channels, flows at the foot of the eminence where we +stood.... Still, as we proceed, we are reminded of England--the fields, +even the cottages, and large farm-houses, are English-like; country +undulating, and prospects extensive, yet continually some pretty little +spot detains the eye; groups of cottages, or single ones, green to the +very door.[39] + + [Footnote 39: Compare in _Tintern Abbey_, ll. 16, 17-- + + "these pastoral farms, + Green to the very door." ED.] + + +_Thursday, July 20th._--_Aix-la-Chapelle._--I went to the Cathedral, a +curious building, where are to be seen the chair of Charlemagne, on +which the Emperors were formerly crowned, some marble pillars much older +than _his_ time, and many pictures; but I could not stay to examine any +of these curiosities, and gladly made my way alone back to the inn to +rest there. The market-place is a fine old square; but at +Aix-la-Chapelle there is always a mighty preponderance of poverty and +dulness, except in a few of the showiest of the streets, and even there, +a flashy meanness, a slight patchery of things falling to pieces, is +everywhere visible.... + + +_Road to Cologne._--At the distance of ten miles we saw before us, over +an expanse of open country, the Towers of Cologne. Even at this distance +they appeared very tall and bulky; and Mary pointed out that one of them +was a ruin, which no other eyes could discover. To the left was a range +of distant hills; and, to the right, in front of us, another +range--rather a _cluster_--which we looked at with peculiar interest, as +guardians and companions of the famous river Rhine, whither we were +tending, and (sick and weary though I was) I felt as much of the glad +eagerness of hope as when I first visited the Wye, and all the world was +fresh and new. Having travelled over the intermediate not interesting +country, the massy ramparts of Cologne, guarded by grotesque turrets, +the bridges, and heavy arched gateways, the central towers and spires, +rising above the concealed mass of houses in the city, excited something +of gloomy yet romantic expectation. + + +_Friday, July 21st._--_Cologne._--I busied myself repairing garments +already tattered in the journey, at the same time observing the traffic +and business of the river, here very wide, and the banks low. I was a +prisoner; but really the heat this morning being oppressive, I felt not +even a wish to stir abroad, and could, I believe, have been amused more +days than one by the lading and unlading of a ferry-boat, which came to +and started from the shore close under my window. Steadily it floats on +the lively yet smooth water, a square platform, not unlike a section cut +out of a thronged market-place, and the busy crowd removed with it to +the plain of water. The square is enclosed by a white railing. Two +slender pillars rise from the platform, to which the ropes are attached, +forming between them an inverted arch, elegant enough. When the boat +draws up to her mooring-place, a bell, hung aloft, is rung as a signal +for a fresh freight. All walk from the shore, without having an inch to +rise or to descend. Carts with their horses wheel away--rustic, yet not +without parade of stateliness--the foreheads of the meanest being +adorned with scarlet fringes. In the neighbourhood of Brussels (and +indeed all through the _Low Countries_), we remarked the large size and +good condition of the horses, and their studied decorations, but near +Brussels those decorations were the _most_ splendid. A scarlet net +frequently half-covered each of the six in procession. The frock of the +driver, who paces beside the train, is often handsomely embroidered, and +its rich colour (Prussian blue) enlivens the scarlet ornaments of his +steeds. But I am straying from my ferry-boat. The first debarkation +which we saw early in the morning was the most amusing. Peasants, male +and female, sheep, and calves; the women hurrying away, with their +cargoes of fruit and vegetables, as if eager to be beforehand with the +market. But I will transcribe verbatim from my journal, "written at +mid-day," the glittering Rhine spread out before me, in width that +helped me to image forth an American lake. + + * * * * * + +"It has gone out with a fresh load, and returned every hour; the comers +have again disappeared as soon as landed; and now, the goers are +gathering together. Two young ladies trip forward, their dark hair +_basketed_ round the crown of the head, green bags on their arms, two +gentlemen of their party; next a lady with smooth black hair stretched +upward from the forehead, and a skull-cap at the top, like a small dish. +The gentry passengers seem to arrange themselves on one side, the +peasants on the other;--how much more picturesque the peasants! _There_ +is a woman in a sober dark-coloured dress; she wears no cap. Next, one +with red petticoat, blue jacket, and cap as white as snow. Next, one +with a red handkerchief over her head, and a long brown cloak. There a +smart female of the bourgeoise--dark shawl, white cap, blue dress. Two +women (now seated side by side) make a pretty picture: their attire is +scarlet, a pure white handkerchief falling from the head of each over +the shoulders. They keep watch beside a curiously constructed basket, +large enough to contain the marketing of a whole village. A girl crosses +the platform with a handsome brazen ewer hanging on her arm. Soldiers--a +dozen at least--are coming in. They take the centre. Again two women in +scarlet garb, with a great fruit basket. A white cap next; the same with +a green shawl. _There_ is a sunburnt daughter of toil! her olive skin +whitens her white head-dress, and she is decked in lively colours. One +beside her, who, I see, counts herself of higher station, is +distinguished by a smart French mob. I am brought round to the gentry +side, which is filled up, as you may easily fancy, with much less +variety than the other. A cart is in the centre, its peasant driver, not +to be unnoticed, with a polished tobacco-pipe hung over his cleanly blue +frock. Now they float away!" + + +_Cologne, Friday, July 21st._--Before I left the interior of the +Cathedral, I ought to have mentioned that the side-chapels contain some +superb monuments. There is also a curious picture (marvellously rich in +enamel and colouring) of the Three Kings of Cologne, and of a small +number of the eleven thousand virgins, who were said, after shipwreck, +to have landed at this city in the train of St. Ursula. The Huns, who +had possession of the city, became enamoured of their beauty; and the +fair bevy, to save themselves from persecution, took the veil; in +commemoration of which event the convent of St. Ursula was founded, and +within the walls of that church an immense number of their skulls +(easily turned into eleven thousand), are ranged side by side dressed in +green satin caps. We left these famous virgins (though our own +countrywomen), unvisited, and many other strange sights; and what +wonder? we had but one day; and _I_ saw nothing within gate or door +except the Cathedral--not even Rubens's famous picture of the +Crucifixion of St. Peter, a grateful offering presented by him as an +altar-piece for the church in which he was baptized, and had served as a +chorister. Among the outrages committed at Cologne during the +Revolution, be it noted that the Cathedral, in 1800, was used as a +granary, and that Buonaparte seized on the picture bestowed on his +parish church by Rubens, and sent it to Paris. The Three Kings shared +the same fate. + +The houses of Cologne are very old, overhanging, and uncouth; the +streets narrow and gloomy in the cheerfulest of their corners or +openings; yet oftentimes pleasing. Windows and balconies make a pretty +show of flowers; and birds hang on the outside of houses in cages. These +sound like cheerful images of active leisure; but with such feeling it +is impossible to walk through these streets. Yet it is pleasing to note +how quietly a dull life may be varied, and how innocently; though, in +looking at the plants which yearly put out their summer blossoms to +adorn these decaying walls and windows, I had something of the +melancholy which I have felt on seeing a human being gaily dressed--a +female tricked out with ornaments, while disease and death were on her +countenance. + + +_Cologne, Saturday, July 22nd._--Upon a bright sunny morning, driven by +a civil old postilion, we turned our backs upon the cathedral tower of +Cologne, an everlasting monument of riches and grandeur, and I fear of +devotion passed away; of sublime designs unaccomplished--remaining, +though not wholly developed, sufficient to incite and guide the dullest +imagination,-- + + Call up him who left half-told + The story of Cambuscan bold![40] + + [Footnote 40: See _Il Penseroso_, ll. 109, 110.--ED.] + +Feelingly has Milton selected this story, not from a preference to the +subject of it (as has been suggested), but from its paramount accordance +with the musings of a melancholy man--in being left _half_-told-- + + Foundations must be laid + In Heaven; for, 'mid the wreck of _is_ and _was_, + Things incomplete and purposes betrayed + Make sadder transits o'er truth's mystic glass + Than noblest objects utterly decayed.[41] + + [Footnote 41: Compare the sonnet _Malham Cove_, in "Poetical Works," + vol. vi. p. 185.--ED.] + + +_Bonn._--The great area of the vale here is a plain, covered with corn, +vines, and fruit-trees: the impression is of richness, profusion, +amplitude of space. The hills are probably higher than some of our own +which we call mountains; but on the spot we named them hills. Such they +appeared to our eyes; but when objects are all upon a large scale there +is no means of comparing them accurately with others of their kind, +which do not bear the same proportions to the objects with which they +are surrounded. Those in the neighbourhood of Bonn are of themselves +sufficiently interesting in shape and variety of surface: but what a +dignity does the form of an ancient castle or tower confer upon a +precipitous woody or craggy eminence! Well might this lordly river spare +one or two of his castles,--which are too numerous for the most romantic +fancy to hang its legends round each and all of them,--well might he +spare, to our purer and more humble streams and lakes, one solitary ruin +for the delight of our poets of the English mountains! To the right +(but let him keep this to himself, it is too grand to be coveted by us) +is the large ruined castle of Gottesberg, far-spreading on the summit of +the hill--very light and elegant, with one massy tower.... + +For some miles, the traveller goes through the magnificent plain which +from its great width, appears almost circular. Though _unseen_, the +River Rhine, we never can forget that it is there! When the vale becomes +narrower, one of the most interesting and beautiful of prospects opens +on the view from a gentle rising in the road. On an island stands a +large grey Convent--sadly pensive among its garden walls and embowering +wood. The musket and cannon have spared that sanctuary; and we were told +that, though the establishment is dissolved, a few of the Nuns still +remain there, attached to the spot;--or probably having neither friends +or other home to repair to. On the right bank of the river, opposite to +us, is a bold precipice, bearing on its summit a ruined fortress which +looks down upon the Convent; and the warlike and religious edifices are +connected together by a chivalrous story of slighted, or luckless love, +which caused the withdrawing of a fair damsel to the island, where she +founded the monastery. Another bold ruin stands upon another eminence +adjoining; and all these monuments of former times combine with villages +and churches, and dells (between the steeps) green or corn-clad, and +with the majestic river (here spread out like a lake) to compose a most +affectingly beautiful scene, whether viewed in prospect or in +retrospect. Still we rolled along (ah! far too swiftly! and often did I +wish that I were a youthful traveller on foot)--still we rolled +along--meeting the flowing river, smooth as glass, yet so rapid that the +stream of motion is always perceptible, even from a great distance. The +riches of this region are not easily to be fancied--the pretty +paths--the gardens among plots of vineyard and corn--cottages peeping +from the shade--villages and spires--in never-ending variety. The +trees, however, in the whole of the country through which we have +hitherto passed, are not to be compared with the trees of England, +except on the banks of the Meuse. On the Rhine they are generally small +in size; much of the wood appears to be cut when young, to spring again. +In the little town of Remagan where we changed horses, crowds of people +of all ages gathered round us; the beggars, who were indefatigable in +clamour, might have been the only inhabitants of the place who had any +work to do.... + + +_Andernach._--Departed at about five o'clock. Andernach is an +interesting place, both at its entrance from Cologne, and its outlet +towards Coblentz. There is a commanding desolation in the first +approach; the massy square tower of defence, though bearded by green +shrubs, stands, as it were, untameable in its strength, overlooking the +half-ruined gateway of the ramparts. Close to the other gate, leading to +Coblentz, are seen many picturesque fragments and masses; and the +ancient walls shelter and adorn fruitful gardens, cradled in the +otherwise now useless trenches. The town itself appears so dull--the +inhabitants so poor, that it was almost surprising to observe walks for +public use and pleasure, with avenues and arbours on the level adjoining +the ramparts. The struggle between melancholy and cheerfulness, fanciful +improvements, and rapid decay, leisure and poverty, was very +interesting. We had a fine evening; and the ride, though, in comparison +with the last, of little interest--the vale of the Rhine being here wide +and level, the hills lowered by distance--was far from being a dull one, +as long as I kept myself awake. I was roused from sleep in crossing the +bridge of the Moselle near Coblentz. + + +_Coblentz, Sunday, July 23rd._--_Cathedral._--The music at our entrance +fixed us to our places. The swell was solemn, even _aweful_, sinking +into strains of delicious sweetness; and though the worship was to us +wholly unintelligible, it was not possible to listen to it without +visitings of devotional feeling. Mary's attention was entirely absorbed +till the service ceased, and I think she never stirred from her seat. +After a little while I left her, and drew towards the railing of the +gallery, to look round on the congregation, among whom there appeared +more of the old-fashioned gravity, and of antique gentility, than I have +seen anywhere else; and the varieties of costume were infinite.... The +area of the Cathedral, upon which we looked down from the crowded +gallery, was filled with old, middle-aged, and young persons of both +sexes; and at Coblentz, even the male dress, especially that of boys and +youths, has a pleasing cast of antiquity, reminding one of old +pictures--of assemblies in halls,--or of banquets as represented by the +Flemish masters. The figure of a young girl tightly laced up in bodice +and petticoat, with adornings of gold clasps and neck-chain, beside a +youth with open throat and ornamented shirt-collar falling upon the +shoulders of a coat of antique cut, especially when there chanced to be +near them some matron in her costly robe of seventy years;--these, +together, made an exhibition that even had I been a good Catholic, yet +fresh from England, might have interfered with my devotions; but where +all except the music was an unmeaning ceremony, what wonder that I +should be amused in looking round as at a show!... All that we witnessed +of bustle or gaiety was near the river, facing the fortress of +Ehrenbreitstein; and upon the wide wooden bridge which we crossed in our +way to the fortress. Fruit-women were seated on the bridge, and +peasants, gentry, soldiers, continually passing to and fro. All but the +soldiers paid toll. The citadel stands upon a very lofty bare hill, and +the walk was fatiguing; but I beguiled my weariness with the company of +a peasant lass, who took pains to understand my broken German, and +contrived to make me acquainted with no small part of her family +history.... This bonny maiden's complexion was as fresh as a rose, +though no kerchief screened it from the sunshine. Many a fierce breeze, +and many a burning sun must she have struggled with in her way from the +citadel to the town; and, on looking at her, I fancied there must be a +stirring and invigorating power in the wind to counteract the cankering +effect of the sun, which is so noticeable in the French peasantry on +their hot dry plains. No sooner do you set foot in the neighbourhood of +Calais than you are struck with it; and, at the same time, with the +insensibility of young and old to discomfort from glaring light and +heat. Whatever slender shade of willows may be at the door of a hut on +the flats between Calais and Gravelines, the female peasants, at their +sewing or other work, choose it not, but seat themselves full in the +sunshine. Thence comes a habit of wrinkling the cheeks and forehead, so +that their faces are mostly ploughed with wrinkles before they are fifty +years old. In this country, and all through the Netherlands, the +complexions of the people are much fresher and fairer than in France, +though _they_ also are much out of doors. This may perhaps be, in part, +attributed to the greater quantity of wood scattered over the country, +and to the shade of garden and orchard trees.... The view from the +summit of the hill of Ehrenbreitstein is magnificent. Beneath, on a +large, flat angle, formed by the junction of the Rhine and the Moselle, +stands the city, its purple-slated roofs surrounded by many tall +buildings--towers and spires, and big palaces among trees. The vale of +the Moselle is deep and green, formed by vine-clad steeps, among which +the eye, from the heights where we stood, espies many a pleasant +village. That of the Rhine is more varied and splendid--with towns that, +from their size, the irregularity of their buildings, and the numerous +towers and spires, give dignity to the proud river itself, and to the +prodigally scattered hills. Downwards we looked through the plain, along +which we had travelled the evening before from the town of Andernach, +which stands, as Coblentz does, upon a low bank of the Rhine: and there +is no eminence between the two towns to obstruct the view. The course +of the road, which is widely parted from that of the river, may be seen +in a straight line for many miles. We behold below us the junction of +the two great rivers; how steady and quiet is their meeting! A little +while each goes in his own distinct path, side by side, yet one stream; +and they slowly and by degrees unite, each lost in the other--happy type +of a tranquil meeting, and joining together in the journey of life! + + * * * * * + +Coblentz, as every one knows, was for a long time the headquarters of +the French _noblesse_, and other emigrants, during the Revolution; and +it is surprising that in the exterior of manners and habits there should +be so little to remind the passing traveller of the French. In Ghent and +Brussels, it is impossible to forget that you are in towns _not_ making +a part of France; yet, in both those places, the French have sown seeds +which will never die--their manners, customs, and decorations are +everywhere struggling with the native stiffness of the Flemish: but in +_Coblentz_ it is merely incidentally that the French courtier or +gentleman is brought to mind; and shops, houses, public buildings, are +all of the soil where they have been reared--so at least they appeared +to us, in our transient view. + + +_St. Goar, Monday, July 24th._-- ... The town, seen from the heights, is +very beautiful, with purple roofs, two tall spires, and one tower. On +the opposite side of the river we peep into narrow valleys, formed by +the lofty hills, on which stand two ruins called, as we were told by our +lively attendant, the Katzen and Mausen Towers (_i.e._ the Towers of the +Cat and the Mouse). They stare upon each other at safe distance, though +near neighbours; and, across the river, the greater fortress of +Rheinfels defies them both. A lovely dell runs behind one of the hills; +at its opening where it pours out its stream into the Rhine we espied a +one-arched Borrowdale bridge, and behind the bridge a village almost +buried between the abruptly-rising steeps.... I will transcribe the few +words I wrote in my memorandum-book, dated "Beside the Rhine, St. +Goar":--"How shall I describe this soothing, this elegant place! The +river flows on. I see it flow, yet it is like a lake--the bendings of +the hills enclosing it at each end. Here I sit, half-way from the centre +of the curve. At the turning of that semi-circular curve stands our Inn; +near it is the Post-House, both rather handsome buildings. The town, +softened white and purple, the green hills rising abruptly above it. +Behind me (but I cannot see it) is the Castle of Rheinfels. On the +opposite banks of the river, the vine-clad steeps appear as if covered +with fern. It is a sweep of hills that from this point appear +_even_-topped. At the foot of one of the dells which we noticed from the +Castle eminence, there is a purple roofed town with one spire, and one +church or convent tower; and I see the Borrowdale bridge beside the +lowly hamlet in the cleft of the other dell. A ferry-boat has been +approaching its landing-place with a crew of peasants. They come now +slowly up from the shore, a picturesque train in grey attire--no showy +colours; and at this moment I can fancy that even that circumstance +gives a sweeter effect to the scene, though I have never wished to expel +the crimson garments, or the blue, from any landscape." Here let me +observe that grey clothing--the pastoral garb of _our_ mountains--does, +when it is found on the banks of the Rhine, only look well at a certain +distance. It seems not to be worn from choice, but poverty; and in this +day's journey we have met with crowds of people whose dress was +accordant with the appearance close at hand of their crumbling houses +and fortifications. + + +_Bingen, Tuesday, July 25th._--Most delightful to the imagination was +our journey of yesterday, still tempting to hope and expectation! Yet +wherever we passed through a village or small town the veil of romance +was withdrawn, and we were compelled to think of human distress and +poverty--their causes how various in a country where Nature has been so +bountiful--and, even when removed from the immediate presence of painful +objects, there is one melancholy thought which will attend the traveller +along the ever-winding course of the Rhine--the thought that of those +buildings, so lavishly scattered on the ridges of the heights or lurking +in sheltering corners, many _have_ perished, all _are_ perishing, and +_will entirely_ perish! Buildings that link together the Past and the +Present--times of war and depredation, of piracy, of voyages by stealth +and in fear, of superstitious ceremonies, of monastic life, of quiet, +and of retreat from persecution! Yet some of the strongest of the +fortresses may, for aught I know, endure as long as the rocks on which +they have been reared, deserted as they are, and never more be tenanted +by pirate, lord, or vassal. The parish churches are in bad repair, and +many ruinous.... + + +_Mayence._--I thought of some thriving friar of old times; but last +night,[42] in reading Chaucer's Prologue to the _Canterbury Tales_, mine +host of the _Tabard_ recalled to my memory our merry master in the +dining-room at Mayence. + + [Footnote 42: This was when writing out her Journal, begun two months + after her return to Rydal Mount.--ED.] + + A seemly man our Hoste was with alle + To han bene a Marshal in an Halle; + A large man he was--bold of his speech. + + +_Frankfort, Wednesday, July 26th._--The town is large, though you do not +feel as if you were walking in a large town. Standing on a perfect level +you see no further than the street in which you are, or the one that +leads to it; and there is little stirring of people. Two huge palaces +are going to ruin. One of these (the Episcopal Palace) of red stone is +very handsome in its style of heavy architecture, and there are many +public buildings by the river-side. The quay is a cheerful and busy +place. After driving a short way on the shore below those lofty +buildings, we crossed a bridge of boats; and now (had we proceeded in +the same direction as before) we should have had the Rhine on our right +hand; but we turned back again, _i.e._ downwards, and still had it on +our left for two miles (more or less), not close to us; but always in +view broad and majestic, scattered over with vessels of various kinds. +Large rafters piled with wood were by the shore, or floating with the +stream; and a long row of mills (for grinding corn I suppose) made a +curious appearance on the water. We had a magnificent prospect downwards +in the _Rheingaw_ (stretching towards Bingen), a district famed for +producing finer vines than any other country of the Rhine.[43] The broad +hills are enlivened by hamlets, villas, villages, and churches. After +about two miles, the road to Wisbaden turns from the river (to the +right), and with regret did we part from our majestic companion to meet +no more till we should rejoin him for one short day among the rocks of +Schaffhausen.... We went to the Cathedral, a very large, but not +otherwise remarkable building, in the interior. The people assembled at +prayers, sate on benches as in our country churches, and accompanied by +the organ were chaunting, and making the responses. We ascend the Tower. +It is enormously high; and after an ascent of above five hundred steps, +we found a family living in as neatly-furnished a set of apartments as +need be seen in any street in Frankfort. A baby in the cradle smiled +upon us, and played with the Kreutzers which we gave her. The mother was +alert and cheerful--nay, she seemed to glory in her contentment, and in +the snugness of her abode. I said to her, "but when the wind blows +fiercely how terrible!" and she replied, "Oh nein! es thut nichts." "Oh +no! it does no harm." The view from the Cathedral is very extensive. The +windings of the river Maine; vessels in their harbours, or smoothly +gliding, plains of corn, of forest, of fruit-trees, chateaus, villages, +towns, towers and spires; the expanse irregularly bounded by distinct +mountains.... + + [Footnote 43: Hockheim on the right bank of the Rhine, nearly opposite + Mayence.--ED.] + +In the winding staircase, while descending from the Tower, met different +people, who seemed to be going to make neighbourly visits to the family +above. Passed through the market-place, very entertaining, and nowhere a +greater variety of people and of head-dresses than there. The women's +caps were high. My eye was caught by a tightly-clad, stiff-waisted lady +who wore a gold cap (almost as lofty as a grenadier's) with long lappets +of riband behind. I saw no reason why that cap (saving its silken +ornaments) might not have belonged to her great grandmother's +grandmother. The _Maison de Ville_ stands on one side of a handsome +square, in the centre of which is a noble fountain, that used to flow +with wine at the crowning of the Emperors. Oxen were roasted in the +square, and, in memory of the same, two heads, with their horns, are +preserved under the outside of a window of an old church adjoining the +_Maison de Ville_. + + +_Heidelberg, Thursday, July 27th._--After dinner, Mary, Miss H., and I +set off towards the castle.... The ascent is long and steep, the way +plain, and no guide needed, for the castle walks are free; and +there--among treasures of art, decaying and decayed, and the magnificent +bounties of nature--the stranger may wander the day through. The +building is of various dates: it is not good in architecture _as a +whole_, though very fine in parts. There is a noble round tower, and the +remains of the chapel, and long ranges of lofty and massy wall, often +adorned with ivy, the figure of a saint, a lady, or a warrior looking +safely from their niches under the ivy bower. The moats, which must long +ago have been drained, retain their shape, yet have now the wild +luxuriance of sequestered dells. Fruit and forest trees, flowers and +grass, are intermingled. I now speak of the more ruinous and the most +ancient part of the castle.... We walked upon a platform before the +windows, where a band of music used to be stationed, as on the terrace +at Windsor--a fine place for festivals in time of peace, and to keep +watch in time of war.... From the platform where we stood, the eye +(overlooking the city, bridge, and the deep vale, to the point where the +Neckar is concealed from view by its winding to the left) is carried +across the plain to the dim stream of the Rhine, perceived under the +distant hills. The pleasure-grounds are the most delightful I ever +beheld; the happiest mixture of wildness, which no art could overcome, +and formality, often necessary to conduct you along the ledge of a +precipice--whence you may look down upon the river, enlivened by boats, +and on the rich vale, or to the more distant scenes before mentioned. +One long terrace is supported on the side of the precipice by arches +resembling those of a Roman aqueduct; and from that walk the view of the +Castle and the Town beneath it is particularly striking. I cannot +imagine a more delightful situation than Heidelberg for a +University--the pleasures, ceremonies, and distractions of a Court being +removed. Parties of students were to be seen in all quarters of the +groves and gardens. I am sorry, however, to say that their appearance +was not very scholarlike. They wear whatever wild and coarse apparel +pleases them--their hair long and disorderly, or rough as a water-dog, +throat bare or with a black collar, and often no appearance of a shirt. +Every one has his pipe, and they all talk loud and boisterously.... + +Never surely was any stream more inviting! It flows in its deep +bed--stately, yet often turbulent; and what dells, cleaving the green +hills, even close to the city! Looking down upon the purple roofs of +Heidelberg variously tinted, the spectacle is curious--narrow streets, +small squares, and gardens many and flowery. The main street, long and +also narrow, is (though the houses are built after no good style) very +pretty as seen from the heights, with its two gateways and two towers. +The Cathedral (it has an irregular spire) overtops all other edifices, +which, indeed, have no grace of architecture, and the University is even +mean in its exterior; but, from a small distance, _any_ city looks well +that is not modern, and where there is bulk and irregularity, with +harmony of colouring. But we did not enter the cathedral, having so much +to see out of doors. + + +_Heidelberg, Friday, July 28th._-- ... The first reach of the river for +a moment transported our imagination to the Vale of the Wye above +Tintern Abbey. A single cottage, with a poplar spire, was the central +object.... As we went further, villages appeared. But Mr. P. soon +conducted us from the river up a steep hill, and, after a long ascent, +he took us aside to a cone-shaped valley, a pleasure-dell--I call it +so--for it was terminated by a rural tavern and gardens, seats and +alcoves, placed close beside beautiful springs of pure water, spread out +into pools and distributed by fountains. A grey stone statue, in its +stillness, is a graceful object amid the rushing of water!... Our road +along the side of the hill, that still rose high above our heads, led us +through shady covert and open glade, over hillock or through hollow; at +almost every turning convenient seats inviting us to rest, or to linger +in admiration of the changeful prospects, where wild and cultivated +grounds seemed equally the darlings of the fostering sun. Many of the +hills are covered with forests, which are cut down after little more +than thirty years' growth; the ground is then ploughed, and sown with +buck-wheat, and afterwards with beech-nuts. The forests of _firs_ +(numerous higher up, but not so here) are sown in like manner. Immense +quantities of timber are floated down the river. Sometimes in our +delightful walk we were led through tracts of vines, all belonging to +the Grand Duke. They are as free as the forest thickets and flowery +glades, and separated from them by no distinguishable boundary. +Whichever way the eye turned, it settled upon some pleasant sight.... +Passed through the walled town of Durlach (about two miles from +Carlesrhue), the palace deserted by the Duke. Coffee-houses all full, +windows open, billiards, wine and smoking, finery, shabbiness and +idleness. Large pleasure gardens beyond the barrier-walls, and we enter +an avenue of tall poplars, continued all the way to Carlesrhue. After a +little while nothing was to be seen but the poplar stems in shape of +columns on each side, the leafy part of the trees forming a long black +wall above them, so lofty that it appeared to reach the sky, that pale +blue roof of the Gothic aisle still contracting in the distance, and +seemingly of interminable length. Such an avenue is truly a noble +approach to the favoured residence of a _grand_ Duke. + + +_Baden-Baden, July 29th (Saturday)._-- ... Met with old-fashioned +civility in all quarters. This little town is a curious compound of +rural life, German country-townishness, watering-place excitements, +court stateliness, ancient mouldering towers, old houses and new, and a +life and cheerfulness over all.... A bright reflection from the evening +sky powdered with golden dust that distant vapoury plain, bounded by the +chain of purple mountains. We quitted this spectacle with regret when it +faded in the late twilight, struggling with the light of the moon. + + +_Road to Homburg._--_Sunday, July 30th._--We were continually reminded +of the vales of our own country in this lovely winding valley, where +seven times we crossed the clear stream over strong wooden bridges; but +whenever in our travels the streams and vales of England have been most +called to mind there has been something that marks a difference. Here it +is chiefly observable in the large brown wood houses, and in the +people--the shepherd and shepherdess gaiety of their dress, with a sort +of antiquated stiffness. Groups of children in rustic flower-crowned +hats were in several places collected round the otherwise solitary +swine-herd.... The sound of the stream (if there be any sound) is a +sweet, unwearied, and unwearying under-song, to detain the pious +passenger, which he cannot but at times connect with the silent object +of his worship. + + +_Road to Schaffhausen._--A part of the way through the uncleared forest +was pleasingly wild; juniper bushes, broom, and other woodland plants, +among the moss and flowery turf. Before we had finished our last ascent, +the postilion told us what a glorious sight we _might_ have seen, in a +few moments, had we been here early in the morning or on a fine evening; +but, as it was mid-day, nothing was to be expected. That glorious sight +which _should_ have been was no less than the glittering prospect of the +mountains of Switzerland. We did burst upon an extensive view; but the +mountains were hidden; and of the Lake of Constance we saw no more than +a vapoury substance where it lay among apparently low hills. This first +sight of that country, so dear to the imagination, though then of no +peculiar grandeur, affected me with various emotions. I remembered the +shapeless wishes of my youth--wishes without hope--my brother's +wanderings thirty years ago,[44] and the tales brought to me the +following Christmas holidays at Forncett, and often repeated while we +paced together on the gravel walk in the parsonage garden, by moon or +star light.[45] ... The towers of Schaffhausen appear under the shelter +of woody and vine-clad hills, but no greetings from the river Rhine, +which is not visible from this approach, yet flowing close to the +town.... But at the entrance of the old city gates you cannot but be +roused, and say to yourself, "Here is something which I have not seen +before, yet I hardly know what." The houses are grey, irregular, dull, +overhanging, and clumsy; streets narrow and crooked--the walls of houses +often half-covered with rudely-painted representations of the famous +deeds of the defenders of this land of liberty.... In place of the +splendour of faded aristocracy, so often traceable in the German towns, +there is a character of ruggedness over all that we see.... Never shall +I forget the first view of the stream of the Rhine from the bank, and +between the side openings of the bridge--rapid in motion, bright, and +green as liquid emeralds! and wherever the water dashed against tree, +stone, or pillar of the bridge, the sparkling and the whiteness of the +foam, melting into and blended with the green, can hardly be imagined by +any one who has not seen the Rhine, or some other of the great rivers of +the Continent, before they are sullied in their course.... The first +visible indication of our approach to the cataracts was the sublime +tossing of vapour above them, at the termination of a curved reach of +the river. Upon the woody hill, above that tossing vapour and foam, we +saw the old chateau, familiar to us in prints, though there represented +in connection with the falls themselves; and now seen by us at the end +of the rapid, yet majestic, sweep of the river; where the ever-springing +tossing clouds are all that the eye beholds of the wonderful commotion. +But an awful sound ascends from the concealed abyss; and it would almost +seem like irreverent intrusion if a stranger, at his first approach to +this spot, should not pause and listen before he pushes forward to seek +the revelation of the mystery.... We were gloriously wetted and stunned +and deafened by the waters of the Rhine. It is impossible even to +remember (therefore, how should I enable any one to imagine?) the power +of the dashing, and of the sounds, the breezes, the dancing dizzy +sensations, and the exquisite beauty of the colours! The whole stream +falls like liquid emeralds--a solid mass of translucent green hue; or, +in some parts, the green appears through a thin covering of snow-like +foam. Below, in the ferment and hurly-burly, drifting snow and masses +resembling collected snow mixed with sparkling green billows. We walked +upon the platform, as dizzy as if we had been on the deck of a ship in a +storm. Mary returned with Mrs. Monkhouse to Schaffhausen, and William +recrossed in a boat with Mr. Monkhouse and me, near the extremity of the +river's first sweep, after its fall, where its bed (as is usual at the +foot of all cataracts) is exceedingly widened, and larger in proportion +to the weight of waters. The boat is trusted to the current, and the +passage, though long, is rapid. At first, when seated in that small +unresisting vessel, a sensation of helplessness and awe (it was not +fear) overcame me, but that was soon over. From the centre of the stream +the view of the cataract in its majesty of breadth is wonderfully +sublime. Being landed, we found commodious seats, from which we could +look round at leisure, and we remained till the evening darkness +revealed two intermitting columns of fire, which ascended from a forge +close to the cataract. + + [Footnote 44: His first visit to the Alps, with Robert Jones, in + 1790.--ED.] + + [Footnote 45: Compare Dorothy Wordsworth's letters written at Forncett + rectory in 1790-91.--ED.] + + +_Monday, July 31st._--_Hornberg._--After this, over the wide country to +_Villengen_, a walled town upon the treeless waste, the way unvaried +except by distant views of remnants of the forest, and towns or +villages, shelterless, and at long distances from each other. They are +very striking objects: they stand upon the waste in disconnection with +everything else, and one is at a loss to conceive how any particular +town came to be placed in _this_ spot or _that_, nature having framed no +allurement of valley shelter among the undulations of the wide expanse. +Each town stands upon its site, as if it might have been wheeled +thither. There is no sympathy, no bond of connection with surrounding +fields, not a fence to be seen, no woods for _shelter_, only the dreary +black patches and lines of forest, used probably for fuel, and often far +fetched. In short, it is an unnatural-looking region. In comparison with +the social intermixture of towns, villages, cottages, fruit-trees, corn +and meadow land, which we had so often travelled through, the feeling +was something like what one has in looking at a dead yet gaudy picture +painted by an untutored artist, who first _makes_ his country, then +claps upon it, according to his fancy, such buildings as he thinks will +adorn it. + + +_Thursday, August 3rd._--_Zurich._--At a little distance from Zurich we +remarked a very fine oak tree. Under its shade stood a little building +like an oratory, but as we were not among the Roman Catholics it puzzled +us. In front of the tree was an elevated platform, resembling the +_Mount_ at Rydal, to be ascended by steps. The postilion told us the +building was a Chapel whither condemned criminals retired to pray, and +there had their hair cut off; and that the platform was the place of +execution. + + +_August 4th._--_Lenzburg_.... At six o'clock we caught a glimpse of the +castle walls glittering in sunshine, a hopeful sign, and we set forward +through the fog. The ruin stands at the brink of a more than +perpendicular, an overhanging rock, on the top of a green hill, which +rises abruptly from the town. The steepest parts are ascended by +hundreds of stone steps, worn by age, often broken, and half-buried in +turf and flowers. These steps brought us to a terrace bordered by +neatly-trimmed vines; and we found ourselves suddenly in broad sunshine +under the castle walls, elevated above an ocean of vapour, which was +bounded on one side by the clear line of the Jura Mountains, and out of +which rose at a distance what seemed an island, crested by another +castle. We then ascended the loftiest of the towers, and the spectacle +all around was magnificent, visionary--I was going to say endless, but +on one side was the substantial barrier of the Jura. By degrees (the +vapours settling or shifting) other castles were seen on island +eminences; and the tops of bare or woody hills taking the same island +form; while trees, resembling ships, appeared and disappeared, and +rainbow lights (scarcely more visionary than the mimic islands) passed +over, or for a moment rested on the breaking mists. On the other side +the objects were more slowly developed. We looked long before we could +distinguish the far-distant Alps, but by degrees discovered them, +shining like silver among masses of clouds. The intervening wide space +was a sea of vapour, but we stayed on the eminence till the sun had +mastery of all beneath us, after a silent process of change and +interchange--of concealing and revealing. I hope we were not ungrateful +to the memory of past times when (standing on the summit of Helvellyn, +Scaw Fell, Fairfield, or Skiddaw) we have felt as if the world itself +could not present a more sublime spectacle.... + + +_Herzogenboschee._--At length we dropped asleep, but were soon roused by +a fitful sound of gathering winds, heavy rain followed, and vivid +flashes of lightning, with tremendous thunder. It was very awful. Mary +and I were sitting together, alone, in the open street; a strange +situation! yet we had no personal fear. Before the storm began, all the +lights had been extinguished except one opposite to us, and another at +an inn behind, where were turbulent noises of merriment, with singing +and haranguing, in the style of our village politicians. These ceased; +and, after the storm, lights appeared in different quarters; pell-mell +rushed the fountain; then came a watchman with his dismal recitative +song, or lay; the church clock telling the hours and the quarters, and +house clocks with their silvery tone; one scream we heard from a human +voice; but no person seemed to notice _us_, except a man who came out +upon the wooden gallery of his house right above our heads, looked down +this way and that, and especially towards the _voitures_.... The beating +of the rain, and the rushing of that fountain were continuous, and with +the periodical and the irregular sounds (among which the howling of a +dog was not the least dismal), completed the wildness of the awful +scene, and of our strange situation; sheltered from wet, yet in the +midst of it--and exposed to intermitting blasts, though struggling with +excessive heat--while flashes of lightning at intervals displayed the +distant mountains, and the wide space between; at other times a blank +gloom. + + +_Berne._--The fountains of Berne are ornamented with statues of William +Tell and other heroes. There is a beautiful order, a solidity, a gravity +in this city which strikes at first sight, and never loses its effect. +The houses are of one grey hue, and built of stone. They are large and +sober, but not heavy or barbarously elbowing each other. On each side is +a covered passage under the upper stories, as at Chester, only wider, +much longer, and with more massy supporters.... In all quarters we +noticed the orderly decency of the passengers, the handsome public +buildings, with appropriate decorations symbolical of a love of liberty, +of order, and good government, with an aristocratic stateliness, yet +free from show or parade.... The green-tinted river flows below--wide, +full, and impetuous. I saw the snows of the Alps burnished by the sun +about half an hour before his setting. After that they were left to +their wintry marble coldness, without a farewell gleam; yet suddenly the +city and the cathedral tower and trees were singled out for favour by +the sun among his glittering clouds, and gilded with the richest light. +A few minutes, and that glory vanished. I stayed till evening gloom was +gathering over the city, and over hill and dale, while the snowy tops of +the Alps were still visible. + + +_Sunday, August 6th._--Upon a spacious level adjoining the cathedral are +walks planted with trees, among which we sauntered, and were much +pleased with the great variety of persons amusing themselves in the same +way; and how we wished that one, at least, of our party had the skill to +sketch rapidly with the pencil, and appropriate colours, some of the +groups or single figures passing before us, or seated in sun or shade. +Old ladies appeared on this summer parade dressed in flycaps, such as +were worn in England fifty years ago, and broad-flowered chintz or +cotton gowns; the bourgeoises, in grave attire of black, with tight +white sleeves, yet seldom without ornament of gold lacing, or chain and +ear-rings, and on the head a pair of stiff transparent butterfly wings, +spread out from behind a quarter of a yard on each side, which wings are +to appearance as thin as gauze, but being made of horse-hair, are very +durable, and the larger are even made of wire. Among these were seen +peasants in shepherdess hats of straw, decorated with flowers and +coloured ribands, pretty little girls in grandmother's attire, and +ladies _à la française_. We noticed several parties composed of persons +dressed after these various modes, that seemed to indicate very +different habits and stations in society--the peasant and the lady, the +petty shopkeeper and the wealthy tradesman's wife, side by side in +friendly discourse. But it is impossible by words to give a notion of +the enlivening effect of these little combinations, which are also +interesting as evidences of a state of society worn out in England. Here +you see formality and simplicity, antiquated stateliness and decent +finery brought together, with a pervading spirit of comfortable equality +in social pleasures. + + * * * * * + +_Monday, August 7th._--I sate under an elm tree, looking down the woody +steep to the lake, and across it, to a rugged mountain; no villages to +be seen, no houses; the higher Alps shut out. I could have forgotten +Switzerland, and fancied myself transported to one of the lonesome +lakes of Scotland. I returned to my open station to watch the setting +sun, and remained long after the glowing hues had faded from those +chosen summits that were touched by his beams, while others were +obscurely descried among clouds in their own dark or snowy mantle.... +Met with an inscription on a grey stone in a little opening of the wood, +and would have copied it, for it was brief, but could not see to read +the letters, and hurried on, still choosing the track that seemed to +lead most directly downwards, and was indeed glad when I found myself +again in the public road to the town.... Late as it was, and although +twilight had almost given place to the darkness of a fine August night, +I was tempted aside into a broad flat meadow, where I walked under a row +of tall poplars by the river-side. The castle, church, and town appeared +before us in stately harmony, all hues of red roofs and painting having +faded away. Two groups of giant poplars rose up, like Grecian temples, +from the level between me and the mass of towers and houses. In the +smooth water the lingering brightness of evening was reflected from the +sky; and lights from the town were seen at different heights on the +hill. + + +_Thun, Tuesday, August 8th._--The Lake of Thun is essentially a lake of +the Alps. Its immediate visible boundary, third or fourth-rate +mountains; but overtopping these are seen the snowy or dark summits of +the Jungfrau, the Eiger, the Stockhorn, the Blumlis Alp, and many more +which I cannot name; while the Kander, and other raging streams, send +their voices across the wide waters. The remains of a ruined castle are +sometimes seen upon a woody or grassy steep--pleasing remembrances of +distant times, but taking no primary place in the extensive landscape, +where the power of nature is magisterial, and where the humble villages +composed of numerous houses clustering together near the lake, do not +interfere with the impressions of solitude and grandeur. Many of those +villages must be more than half-deserted when the herdsmen follow their +cattle to the mountains. Others of their numerous inhabitants find +subsistence by fishing in the lake. We floated cheerfully along, the +scene for ever changing. On the eastern side, to our left, the shores +are more populous than on the western; one pretty village succeeded +another, each with its spire, till we came to a hamlet, all of brown +wood houses, except one large white dwelling, and no church. The +villages are not, as one may say, in close neighbourhood; but a +substantial solitary house is sometimes seen between them. The eminences +on this side, as we advance, become very precipitous, and along the +ridge of one of them appears a wall of rocks with turrets, resembling a +mighty fortification. The boatmen directed our ears to the sound of +waterfalls in a cleft of the mountain; but the _sight_ of them we must +leave to other voyagers.... + +The broad pyramidal mountain, Niesen, rising directly from the lake on +the western side towards the head, is always a commanding object. Its +_form_ recalled to my remembrance some of the stony pyramids of Glencoe, +but _only_ its form, the surface being covered with green pasturage. +Sometimes, in the course of the morning, we had been reminded of our own +country; but transiently, and never without a sense of characteristic +difference. Many of the distinctions favourable to Switzerland I have +noticed; and it seems as if I were ungrateful to our own pellucid lakes, +those darlings of the summer breezes! But when floating on the Lake of +Thun we did not forget them. The greenish hue of its waters is much less +pleasing than the cerulean or purple of the lakes of Cumberland and +Westmoreland; the reflections are less vivid; shore and water do not so +delicately blend together; hence a coasting voyage cannot be accompanied +with an equal variety of minute objects. And I might add many other +little circumstances or incidents that enliven the banks of our lakes. +For instance, in a summer forenoon, the troops of cattle that are seen +solacing themselves in the cool waters within the belt of a pebbly +shore; or, if the season do not drive them thither, how they beautify +the pastures, and rocky unenclosed grounds! While on the Lake of Thun we +did not see a single group of cattle of any kind. I have not spoken of +that _other_ sky, "received into the bosom" of our lakes, on tranquil +summer evenings; for the time of day prevented our being reminded in +the same degree of what we have so often beheld at such times; but it +is obvious that, though the reflections from _masses_ of brilliant +clouds must often be very grand, the clouds in their delicate hues and +forms cannot be seen, in the same soft distinctness, "bedded in another +sky."... + +In this pleasing valley we whirled away, again (as to the first sound of +a Frenchman's whip in the streets of Calais) as blithe as children; when +all at once, looking through a narrow opening of green and craggy +mountains, the Jungfrau (the Virgin) burst upon our view, dazzling in +brightness, which seemed rather heightened than diminished by a mantle +of white clouds floating over the bosom of the mountain. The effect was +indescribable. We had before seen the snows of the Alps at a distance, +propped, as I may say, against the sky, or blending with, and often +indistinguishable from it; and now, with the suddenness of a pantomimic +change, we beheld a great mountain of snow, very near to us as it +appeared, and in combination with hills covered with flourishing trees, +in the pride of summer foliage. Our mirth was checked; and, awe-struck +yet delighted, we stopped the car for some minutes. + +Soon after we discovered the town of Unterseen, which stands right under +the hill, and close to the river Aar, a most romantic spot, the large, +ancient wooden houses of the market-place joining each other, yet placed +in wondrous disregard of order, and built with uncouth and grotesque +variety of gallery and pent-house. The roofs are mostly secured from +the wind by large rough stones laid upon them. At the end of the town we +came to a bridge which we were to pass over; and here, almost as +suddenly, was the river Aar presented to our view as the maiden-mountain +in her resplendent garb had been before. Hitherto the river had been +concealed by, or only partially seen through, the trees; but at +Unterseen it is imperious, and will be heard, seen, and felt. In a fit +of rage it tumbles over a craggy channel, spreading out and dividing +into different streams, crossed by the long, ponderous wooden bridge, +that, steady and rugged, adds to the wild grandeur of the spectacle.... +I recollect one woody eminence far below us, about which we doubted +whether the object on its summit was rock or castle, and the point +remained undecided until, on our way to Lauterbrunnen, we saw the same +above our heads, on its perpendicular steep, a craggy barrier fitted to +war with the tempests of ten thousand years. If summer days had been at +our command we should have remained till sunset upon our chosen +eminence; but another, on the opposite side of the vale, named the +Hohlbuhl, invited us, and we determined to go thither. Yet what could be +looked for more delightful than the sights which, by stirring but a few +yards from our elastic couch on the crags, we might see all round us? On +one side, the river Aar streaming through the verdant vale; on the +other, the pastoral, walnut-tree plain, with its one chapel and +innumerable huts, bounded by varied steeps, and leading the eye, and +still more the fancy, into its recesses and to the snowy barrier of the +Jungfrau. We descended on the side opposite to that by which we climbed +the hill, along an easy and delightful track, cut in the forest among +noble trees, chiefly beeches. Winding round the hill, we saw the bridge +above the inn, which we must cross to reach the foot of the other +eminence. We hurried along, through fields, woody lanes, and beside +cottages where children offered us nosegays gathered from their shady +gardens. Every image, every object in the vale was soothing or +cheerful: it seemed a paradise cradled in rugged mountains. At many a +cottage door we could have loitered till daylight was gone. The way had +appeared short at a distance, but we soon found out our want of skill in +measuring the vales of Switzerland, and long before we had reached the +foot of the hill, perceived that the sun was sinking, and would be gone +before our labour was ended. The strong pushed forward; and by patience +_I_ too, at last gained the desired point a little too late; for the +brilliance had deserted all but the highest mountains. They presented a +spectacle of heavenly glory; and long did we linger after the rosy +lights had passed away from their summits, and taken a station in the +calm sky above them.[46] It was ten o'clock when we reached the inn. + + [Footnote 46: After the sunshine has left the mountain-tops the sky + frequently becomes brighter, and of the same hue as if the light from + the hills had retreated thither.--D. W.] + + +_Brienz, Wednesday, August 9th._-- ... There was something in the +exterior of the people belonging to the inn at Brienz that reminded one +of the ferry-houses in the Highlands--a sort of untamed familiarity with +strangers, and an expression of savage fearlessness in danger. While we +were waiting at the door, a company of females came up, returning from +harvest labours in the Vale of Berne to their homes at the head of the +lake. They gathered round, eyeing us steadily, and presently a girl +began to sing, another joined, a third, a fourth, and then a fifth, +their arms gracefully laid over each other's shoulders. Large black or +straw hats shaded their heads, undecked with ribands, and their attire +was grey; the air they sang was plaintive and wild, without sweetness, +yet not harsh. The group collected round that lonely house on the +river's edge would have made a pretty picture.... The shore of Brienz, +as far as we saw it, is much richer in intricate graces than the shores +of the Lake of Thun. Its little retiring bays and shaggy rocks reminded +me sometimes of Loch Ketterine. + +Our minstrel peasants passed us on the water, no longer singing +_plaintive_ ditties, such as inspired the little poem which I shall +transcribe in the following page; but with bursts of merriment they +rowed lustily away. The poet has, however, transported the minstrels in +their gentle mood from the cottage door to the calm lake. + + "What know we of the Blest above + But that they sing and that they love?" + Yet if they ever did inspire + A mortal hymn, or shaped the choir, + Now, where those harvest Damsels float + Homeward in their rugged Boat + (While all the ruffling winds are fled, + Each slumbering on some mountain's head) + Now, surely, hath that gracious aid + Been felt, that influence display'd. + Pupils of Heaven, in order stand + The rustic Maidens, every hand + Upon a Sister's shoulders laid,-- + To chant, as Angels do above, + The melodies of Peace, in love![47] + + [Footnote 47: See the "Poetical Works," vol. vi. p. 315, in + "Memorials of a Tour on the Continent, 1820," _Scene on the + Lake of Brientz_.--ED.] + + +_Interlachen, Thursday, August 10th._--Many a streamlet crossed our way, +after tumbling down the hills--sometimes as clear as the springs of our +Westmoreland mountains, but the instant they touched the glacier river +of the valley their pure spirit was lost--annihilated by its angry +waters. I have seen a muddy and a transparent streamlet at a few yards' +distance hurrying down the same steep; in one instance the two joined at +the bottom, travelled side by side in the same track, remaining distinct +though joined together, as if each were jealous of its own character. +Yielding to mild necessity, they slowly blended, ere both, in turbulent +disrespect, were swallowed up by the master torrent. + +The Jungfrau (till then hidden except a small portion of its summit) +burst upon our view, covered with snow from its _apparent_ base to its +highest pike. We had been ascending nearly four hours; and all at once +the wintery mountain appeared before us; of majestic bulk, though but a +small part of that mass springing from the same foundation, some of the +pikes of which are seen far and wide from every quarter of the compass; +and we, after all this climbing, seemed not nearer to the top than when +we had viewed what _appeared_ to be the highest summits from below. We +were all on foot, and (at the moment when, about to turn to our left and +coast along the side of the hill which, sloping down to the base of the +snowy mountain, forms a hollow between) suddenly we heard a tremendous +noise--loud like thunder; and all stood still. It was the most awful +sound which had ever struck upon our ears. For some minutes, we did not +utter a single word:--and when the sound was dying away exclaimed, "It +is an avalanche!" eagerly asking "where?" and whence it had come. The +guide pointed to a very small and almost perpendicular _rivulet_ (as it +appeared to us) perfectly white--and dashing down the mountains--"That," +said he, "is the Avalanche!" We could not _believe_ that such mighty +tumult had proceeded from a little rill (to _our eyes_ it was nothing +else, though composed of falling masses of snow, and probably ice), and +I suspect we were loth to leave the mystery explained: however, we were +compelled to yield to our guide's experience, seeing a few minutes +after, the motion of the little white rill or torrent gradually settle +till all was gone, and perfect silence succeeded, silence more awful +even than the noise which had preceded it. The hollow alongside of which +our course lay might be in length half a league. On our right was the +Jungfrau in stillness of deepest winter; and the opposite hill, the +Wengern, was carpeted with green grass and flowers. _These_ heights +were pastured by cattle, and we began to hear the tinkling of their +bells, and shouts from boys at a distance; but no other stirring till we +reached a single hut near the end of the sloping hollow, the only one +visible hereabouts. At the door of the hut, our steeds were let loose to +pasture, and we entered. Two or three young men and boys displayed the +stores of their cupboard--one little piece of wheaten bread to help out +the small supply which we had brought, plenty of cheese, and milk in +abundance. It was not better than a savage shelter; and the youths +looked as if they had had no valley culture; simple goodwill, however, +cheerful smiles and stores proffered without reserve made all +delightful, and had a shower and a wintry blast visited us from the +Jungfrau we should have rejoiced in the comfort of that shelter; but the +sun shone with _peculiar_ brightness, enriching the soft green ground, +and giving dazzling brilliancy to the snow. We desired our attendants to +bring their stores into the open air, and seated ourselves on the turf +beside the _household_ spring (so let me call it, though but a child of +summer at the foot of the icy mountain), the warm sun shone upon us; the +air invigorated our spirits and we were as gay as larks, that soar in a +region far below _ours_ on that happy afternoon. Again we heard the +thunder of avalanches, and saw them bursting out, fresh foaming springs. +The sound is loud as thunder, but more metallic and musical. It also may +be likened to the rattling of innumerable chariots passing over rocky +places.... Soon the vale lay before us, with its two glaciers, and--as +it might seem--its thousand cabins sown upon the steeps. The descent[48] +became so precipitous that all were obliged to walk. Deep we go into the +broad cradle-valley, every cottage we passed had its small garden, and +cherry-trees sprinkled with leaves, bearing half-grown, half-ripe +fruit. In plunging into this vale I was overcome with a sense of +melancholy pervading the whole scene--not desolation, or dreariness. It +is not the melancholy of the Scotch Highlands, but connected with social +life in loneliness, not less than with the strife of all the seasons.... +The sunshine had long deserted the valley, and was quitting the summits +of the mountains behind the village; but red hues, dark as the red of +rubies, settled in the clouds, and lingered there after the mountains +had lost all but their cold whiteness, and the black hue of the crags. +The gloomy grandeur of this spectacle harmonised with the melancholy of +the vale; yet it was _heavenly glory_ that hung over those cold +mountains. + + [Footnote 48: From the Wengern Alp.--D. W.] + + +_Grindelwald, Friday, August 11th._--_Scheideck to Meiringen._--To our +right, looking over the green cradle of the vale, we saw the glacier, +with the stream issuing from beneath an arch of solid ice--the small +pyramids around it of a greyish colour, mingled with vitriol green. The +bed of icy snow above looked sullied, so that the glacier itself was not +beautiful, like what we had read of; but the mass of mountains behind, +their black crags and shadows, and the awful aspect of winter +encroaching on the valley-domain (combinations so new to us) made ample +amends for any disappointment we might feel.... The rain came on in +heavy drops, but did not drive us to the closer shelter of the house. We +heeded not the sprinkling which a gust of wind sometimes sent in upon +us. Good fortune had hitherto favoured us; and, even if we had been +detained at that house all night, the inconvenience would have been +trifling. Our spirits were uplifted, and we felt as if it would be a +privilege to be admitted to a near acquaintance with Alpine storms. This +at least was my feeling, till the threatenings were over; and then, by +happy transition, I gladly hailed the bursting light of the sun that +flashed upon the crags, seen by glimpses between the dispersing clouds. +The interior of the house was roomy and warm; and, though the floors +were of the bare soil, everything looked cleanly; the wooden vessels +were pretty, ladles and spoons curiously carved, and all neatly arranged +on shelves. Three generations, making a numerous family, were there +living together in the summer season, with their cattle on the rough +pastures round them:[49] no doubt the main support of the household, but +the gains from travellers must be considerable. We were surprised at +being asked if we chose coffee. Hardly should we have deserved our +welcome shelter had we not preferred the peasant's fare--cheese, milk, +and cream, with the addition of bread fetched from the vale; and I must +not omit a dish of fruit--bilberries--here very fine. Indeed most of our +mountain plants, except the branchy fern and the common daisy (which we +rarely saw), grow in lavish beauty, and many others unknown to us, that +enamel the turf like gems. The monkshood of our gardens, growing at a +great height on the Alps, has a brighter hue than elsewhere. It is seen +in tufts, that to my fancy presented fairy groves upon the green grass, +and in rocky places, or under trees. + + [Footnote 49: All these Alps are occupied by owners of land in the + valleys, who have a right in common according to the quantity of + their land. The cheeses, like the rest of the produce, are the + property of all, and the distribution takes place at the end of the + season.--D. W.] + +The storm over, we proceeded, still in the forest, which led us through +different compartments of the vale, each of itself a little valley of +the loveliest greenness, on all sides skirted with pine-trees, and often +sprinkled with huts, the summer dwellings of the herdsmen. Sometimes +(seen through a lateral opening) a meadow glade, not much larger than a +calf-garth, would have its single dwelling; but the memory of one +particular spot--the perfect image of peace and pastoral +seclusion--remains with me as vividly as when, apart from my companions, +I travelled over its soft carpet of turf. That valley-reach might be in +length a quarter of a mile or more, and of proportionate width, +surrounded by hills covered with pines, overtopped by craggy mountains. +It was an apparently level plain, as smooth as velvet, and our course +through the centre. On our right flowed the grey stream from the +glaciers, with chastened voice and motion; and, on the other, were many +cabins in an almost formal line, separated from each other, and elevated +upon wooden pillars, the grass growing round and under them. There was +not a sound except of the gushing stream; no cattle to be seen, nor any +living creature. + + * * * * * + +Our way continued through interchange of pastoral and forest ground. +Crossed a bridge, and then had the stream to our left in a rocky gulf +overhung with trees, chiefly beeches and elms; sawing-mills on the river +very picturesque. It is impossible to imagine a more beautiful descent +than was before us to the vale of Hasli. The roaring stream was our +companion; sometimes we looked down upon it from the edge of a lofty +precipice; sometimes descended towards it, and could trace its furious +course for a considerable way. The torrent bounded over rocks, and still +went foaming on, no pausing-places, no gentle windings, no pools under +the innumerable smaller cataracts; the substance and the grey hue still +the same, whether the stream rushed in one impetuous current down a +regularly rough part of its steep channel, or laboured among rocks in +cloud-shaped heavings, or in boisterous fermentation.... We saw the +cataract[50] through an open window. It is a tremendous one, but, +wanting the accompaniments of overhanging trees, and all the minor +graces which surround our waterfalls--overgrowings of lichen, moss, +fern, and flowers--it gives little of what may be called pleasure. It +was astonishment and awe--an overwhelming sense of the powers of nature +for the destruction of all things, and of the helplessness of man--of +the weakness of his will if prompted to make a momentary effort against +such a force. What weight and speed of waters! and what a tossing of +grey mist! Though at a considerable distance from the fall, when +standing at the window, a shower of misty rain blew upon us. + + [Footnote 50: The Fall of the Reichenbach.--ED.] + + +_Meiringen, Saturday, August 12th._--Again crossed the river; then up a +bare precipice, and along a gallery hewn out of the rock. Downwards to +the valley more bare and open; a sprinkling of pines, among which the +peasants were making hay. Hamlets and single huts not far asunder: no +thought of dreariness crossed my mind; yet a pensiveness was spread over +the long valley, where, year by year, the same simple employments go on +in succession, and where the tempests of winter are patiently endured, +and thoughtfully guarded against.... The _châlet_ at Handek is large; +four long apartments, in one of which our mules rested. Several men were +living there for the summer season, but no women. They served us with +the same kindliness we had experienced on the Wengern and Scheidegg +Alps, but with slowness and gravity. These men were very tall, and had a +sedate deportment, generally noticed I find by travellers in Ober Hasli, +where the race has for centuries been distinguished by peculiar customs, +manners, and habits.... From the brink of a rock we looked down the +falls, and along the course of the torrent. The spectacle was +tremendous, and, from that point, not less beautiful. The position of +the sun here favoured us; and we beheld the arch of a bright rainbow, +steadily poised on the cloud of vapour below us that burst out of the +terrific waters. We looked down with awe upon + + the river, throwing + His giant body o'er the steep rock's brink, + +yet at first hardly without personal fear. The noise was so great we +could not help fancying it shook the very rock on which we stood. That +feeling passed away.... While I lay on my bed, the terrible solitudes of +the Wetterhorn were revealed to me by fits--its black chasms, and snowy, +dark, grey summits. All night, and all day, and for ever, the vale of +Meiringen is sounding with torrents. + +_Meiringen, Sunday, August 13th._--Rain over, and the storm past away, +long before the sunshine had touched the top of any other mountain, the +snow upon the Wetterhorn shone like silver, and its grey adamantine +towers appeared in a soft splendour all their own. I looked in vain for +the rosy tints of morning, of which I had so often heard; but they could +not have been more beautiful than the silvery brightness.... + + +_Lake of Lungern._--At an upper window of one of a cluster of houses at +the foot of the valley, a middle-aged man, with a long beard, was +kneeling with a book in his hand. He fixed his eyes upon us, and, while +his devotions were still going on, made me a bow. I passed slowly, and +looked into that house with prying eyes, it was so different from any +other, and so much handsomer. The wooden ceiling of the room, where the +friar or monk (such I suppose him to be) knelt at his prayers, was +curiously inlaid and carved, and the walls hung with pictures. The +picturesque accompaniments of the Roman Catholic religion, the elegant +white chapels on the hills, the steady grave people going to church, and +the cheerfulness of the valley, had put me into good humour with the +religion itself; but, while we were passing through this very hamlet, +and close to the mansion of the godly man, Mr. M. having lost the cork +of a little flask, I asked the guide to buy or beg for us another at one +of the cottages, and he shook his head, assuring me they would neither +give nor sell anything to us Protestants, except in the regular way of +trade. They would do nothing for us out of goodwill. I had been too +happy in passing through the tranquil valley to be ready to trust my +informer, and, having first obliged him to make the request, I asked +myself at two respectable houses, and met with a refusal, and no very +gracious looks.... + + +_Sarnen, Monday, August 14th._--The road to the monastery is marked by +small pillars of grey stone, not more than a quarter of a mile asunder. +At the top of each pillar is a square cupboard, as I may call it, or it +more resembles the head of a clock, where, secure from the rain, are +placed paintings of the history of our Saviour from His birth to His +ascension. Some of the designs are very pretty (taken, no doubt, from +better pictures) and they generally tell their tale intelligibly. The +pillars are in themselves pleasing objects in connection with the +background of a crag or overhanging tree--a streamlet, or a bridge--and +how touchingly must their pictured language have spoken to the heart of +many a weary devotee! The ascent through the forest was interesting on +every account. It led us sometimes along the brink of precipices, and +always far above the boisterous river. We frequently met, or were +overtaken, by peasants (mostly bearing heavy burthens). We spoke to each +other; but here I could not understand three words of their language, +nor they of mine. + + +_Engelberg, Mount Titlis, Tuesday, August 15th._--We breakfasted in view +of the flashing, silver-topped Mount Titlis, and its grey crags, a sight +that roused William's youthful desires; and in spite of weak eyes, and +the weight of fifty winters, he could not repress a longing to ascend +that mountain.... But my brother had had his own visions of glory, and, +had he been twenty years younger, sure I am that he would have trod the +summit of the Titlis. Soon after breakfast we were warned to expect the +procession, and saw it issuing from the church. Priests in their white +robes, choristers, monks chanting the service, banners uplifted, and a +full-dressed image of the Virgin carried aloft. The people were divided +into several classes; the men, bareheaded; and maidens, taking +precedency of the married women, I suppose, because it was the festival +of the Virgin. + +The procession formed a beautiful stream upon the green level, winding +round the church and convent. Thirteen hundred people were assembled at +Engelberg, and joined in this service. The unmarried women wore straw +hats, ornamented with flowers, white bodices, and crimson petticoats. +The dresses of the elder people were curious. What a display of +neck-chains and ear-rings! of silver and brocaded stomachers! Some old +men had coats after the mode of the time of _The Spectator_, with worked +seams. Boys, and even young men, wore flowers in their straw hats. We +entered the convent; but were only suffered to go up a number of +staircases, and through long whitewashed galleries, hung with portraits +of saints, and prints of remarkable places in Switzerland, and +particularly of the vale and convent of Engelberg, with plans and charts +of the mountains, etc. There are now only eighteen monks; and the abbot +no longer exists: his office, I suppose, became extinct with his +temporal princedom.... I strolled to the chapel, near the inn, a pretty +white edifice, entered by a long flight of steps. No priest, but several +young peasants, in shepherdess attire of jackets, and showy petticoats, +and flowery hats, were paying their vows to the Virgin. A colony of +swallows had built their nests within the cupola, in the centre of the +circular roof. They were flying overhead; and their voices seemed to me +an harmonious accompaniment to the silent devotions of those rustics. + + +_Lucerne, Wednesday, August 16th._--Lucerne stands close to the shore at +the foot of the lake of the four cantons. The river Reuss, after its +passage from the mountain of St. Gothard, falls into that branch called +the Lake of Uri, and issues out of another branch at Lucerne, passing +through the town. The river has three long wooden bridges; and another +bridge, 1080 feet in length, called the Cathedral Bridge, crosses a +part of the lake, and leads to the Cathedral. Thither we repaired, +having first walked the streets, and purchased a straw hat for 12 +francs, at the shop of a pleasant talkative milliner, on whose counter, +taking up a small pamphlet (a German magazine), we were surprised at +opening upon our own name, and, still more, surprised to find it in +connection with my brother's poem on the Duddon, so recently published. + +But I was going to lead you to the end of the long bridge under a dark +roof of wood, crossed and sustained by heavy beams, on each of which, on +both sides--so that they face you both in going and returning--some +portion of Scripture history is represented; beginning with Adam and +Eve, and ending with the resurrection and ascension of Christ. These +pictures, to the number of 230--though, to be sure, woful things as +works of art--are by no means despicable daubs; and, while I looked at +them myself, it pleased me much more to see the peasants, bringing their +burthens to the city, often stay their steps, with eyes cast upwards. +The lake is seen through the openings of the bridge; pleasant houses, +not crowded, on its green banks.... It was dark when we reached the inn. +We took tea at one end of the unoccupied side of the table in the +_salle-à-manger_; while, on the other side, a large party were at +supper. Before we had finished, a bustle at the door drew our attention +to a traveller; rather an odd figure appeared in a greatcoat. Mary said, +"He is like Mr. Robinson." He turned round while talking German, with +loud voice, to the landlord; and, all at once, we saw that it was Mr. +Robinson himself. Our joy cannot be expressed. If he had brought the +half of old England along with him, we could not have been more glad. We +started up with one consent; and, no doubt, all operations at the +supper-table were suspended; but we had no eyes for that. Mr. Robinson +introduced two young men, his companions, an American and a +Scotchman--genteel, modest youths, who (the ceremony of introduction +over) slipped away to the supper-table, wishing to leave us to +ourselves. We were indeed happy--and Mr. Robinson was not less so. He +seemed as if he had in one moment found two homes, his English home, and +his home in Germany, though it were in the heart of Switzerland. + + +_Lucerne, Friday, August 18th._--Merrily we floated between the soft +banks of the first reach of the lake, keeping near the left shore.[51] +Plots of corn interspersed among trees and green slopes, with pleasant +houses, not neighbouring one another, as at Zurich, nor yet having a +character of loneliness. Then we come to low shaggy rocks, forming +pretty little bays, and a singular rock appears before us in the water, +the terminating point of the promontory. That point passed, the Kusnach +branch opening out on our left hand, we are soon on the body of the +lake, from which the four smaller branches of Lucerne, Winkel, Alpnach, +and Kusnach may be said to proceed. The lake is full and stately; the +mountains are magnificent. The town of Lucerne, its red roofs softened +(even in the sunshine of this bright day) by distance, is an elegant +termination of its own compartment, backed by low hills. Rowing round +the rocky point, we lose sight of that quarter: the long Reach of +Kusnach is before us, bordered by soft shores with thinly-scattered +villages, and but few detached cottages. Behind us, the lake stretches +out to Mount Pilatus, dark, rugged, and lofty--the Sarnen and Meiringen +mountains beyond; and the summits surrounding the hidden valley of +Engelberg in the opposite quarter. + + [Footnote 51: Which is in fact the _right_ bank as we were going _up_ + the Lake.--D. W.] + + +_Top of Rigi, Saturday, August 19th._--At Goldau the valley desolation +begins. It bears the name of the former village buried in ruins; and is +now no more than three or four houses and a church built on the same +site. Masses of barren rubbish lie close to the houses, where but a few +years past, nothing was seen but fruitful fields. We dined at the inn, +and were waited on by the landlady, whose head-dress was truly +surprising. She wore from the back of the neck to the forehead a cap +shaped like a one-arched bridge with high parapets of stiff muslin; the +path of the bridge covered with artificial flowers--wonderously +unbecoming; for she was a plain woman--not young--and her hair (I think +powdered) was drawn tight up from the forehead. She served us with very +small fish, from the lake, excellently cooked, boiled milk, eggs, an +omelet, and dessert. From the room where we dined we had a view of the +Lake of Zong, formerly separated from the small Lake of Lowertz only by +_fertile_ grounds, such as we now beheld stretching down to its shores. +Yes! from a window in that house on its desolate site we beheld this +lovely prospect; and nothing of the desolation. + + +_Seewen, August 20th, Sunday._--A small white Church, with a graceful +Tower, mitre-topped and surmounted by a slender spire, was in prospect, +upon an eminence in the Vale, and thitherward the people led us. Passing +through the small village of Engelbole, at the foot of that green +eminence, we ascended to the churchyard, where was a numerous assemblage +(you must not forget it was Sunday) keeping festival. It was like a +_Fair_ to the eye; but no squalls of trumpets or whistles--no battering +of children's drums--all the people quiet, yet cheerful--cakes and fruit +spread abundantly on the churchyard wall. + +A beautiful prospect from that spot--new scenes to tempt us forward! We +descended, by a long flight of steps, into the Vale, and, after about +half a mile's walking, we arrived at _Brunnen_. Espied Wm. and M. upon a +crag above the village, and they directed us to the Eagle Inn, where I +instantly seated myself before a window, with a long Reach of the Lake +of Uri[52] before me, the magnificent commencement to our _regular_ +approach to the St. Gothard Pass of the Alps. My first feeling was of +extreme delight in the excessive _beauty_ of the scene;--I had expected +something of a more awful impression from the Lake of Uri; but nothing +so _beautiful_. + + [Footnote 52: The head Branch of the Lake of the Four Cantons.--D. W.] + +It was a moonlight night;--rather a night of fitful moonshine; for large +clouds were driving rapidly over the narrow arch of sky above the town +[Altorf]. A golden cross, upon one of the steeples, shone forth at times +as bright as a star in heaven, against the black mountain-wall, while +the transient touchings of the moonlight produced a most romantic effect +upon the many-coloured paintings on the wall of the old Tower. I sate a +long time at my window keeping watch, and wishing for a companion, that +I might walk. At length, however, when I was preparing to go to bed +(after ten o'clock) Mr. R. tapped at my door to tell me that Mr. M. was +going out. I hastily re-dressed myself, and we two then sallied forth +together. A fierce hot wind drove through the streets, whirling aloft +the dust of the ruins, which almost blinded our eyes. We got a hasty +glimpse of the moon perched on the head of a mountain pike--a moment and +it was gone--then passed through the long street. Houses and ruins +picturesque in the uncertain light--with a stateliness that does not +belong to them by day--hurried on to the churchyard, which, being on an +eminence, gave us another view of the moon wandering among clouds, above +the jagged ridges of the steeps:--thence homewards struggling with the +hot wind. _Some_ matters are curiously managed on the Continent, a +folding door, the sole entrance to my chamber, only separated it from +the salon where, at my return, guests were at supper. I heard every word +they spoke as distinctly as if I had been of the party, though without +understanding more than that a careful father was travelling with his +two boys, to whom he talked incessantly; but so kindly and pleasantly +that I hardly wished to get rid of his voice. We had broad flashes of +lightning after I was in bed, but no thunder. This reminds me that we +could have no fresh bread for breakfast in the morning, the bakers +having, as we were told, been prohibited (since the destructive fire) +under a heavy penalty, from heating their ovens except when the air is +calm. I think it must often be the lot of the good people of Altorf to +gnaw a hard crust; for these mountains are fine brewing-places for the +winds; and the vale a very trough to receive and hold them fast. + +A smart young maiden was to introduce us to the interior of the ivied +Tower, so romantic in its situation above the roaring stream, at the +mouth of the glen, which, behind, is buried beneath overhanging woods. +We ascended to the upper rooms by a blind staircase that might have +belonged to a turret of one of our ancient castles, which conducted us +into a Gothic room, where we found neither the ghost nor the armour of +William Tell; but an artist at work with the pencil; with two or three +young men, his pupils, from Altorf. No better introduction to the favour +of one of those young men was required than that of our sprightly female +attendant. From this little academy of the arts, drawings are dispersed, +probably, to every country of the continent of Europe. Mr. M. selected +two from a very large collection. + + +_Monday, August 20th._[53]--_Altorf._--We found our own comfortable Inn, +THE OX, near the fountain of William Tell. The buildings here are +fortunately disposed--with a pleasing irregularity. Opposite to our Inn +stands the Tower of the Arsenal, built upon the spot where grew the +Linden-tree to which Tell's son is reported to have been bound when the +arrow was shot. This tower was spared by the fire which consumed an +adjoining building, _happily_ spared, if only for the sake of the rude +paintings on its walls. I studied them with infinite satisfaction, +especially the face of the innocent little boy with the apple on his +head. After dinner we walked up the valley to the reputed birthplace of +Tell: it is a small village at the foot of a glen, rich yet very wild. A +rude unroofed modern bridge crosses the boisterous river, and, beside +the bridge, is a fantastic mill-race constructed in the same rustic +style--uncramped by apprehensions of committing waste upon the woods. At +the top of a steep rising directly from the river, stands a square tower +of grey stone, partly covered with ivy, in itself rather a striking +object from the bridge; even if not pointed out for notice as being +built on the site of the dwelling where William Tell was born. Near it, +upon the same eminence, stands the white church, and a small chapel +called by Tell's name, where we again found rough paintings of his +exploits, mixed with symbols of the Roman Catholic faith. Our walk from +Altorf to this romantic spot had been stifling; along a narrow road +between old stone walls--nothing to be seen above them but the tops of +fruit trees, and the imprisoning hills. No doubt when those walls were +built, the lands belonged to the churches and monasteries. Happy were we +when we came to the glen and rushing river, and still happier when, +having clomb the eminence, we sate beside the churchyard, where kindly +breezes visited us--the warm breezes of Italy! We had here a volunteer +guide, a ragged child, voluble with his story trimmed up for the +stranger. He could tell the history of the Hero of Uri and declare the +import of each memorial;--while (not neglecting the saints) he proudly +pointed out to our notice (what indeed could not have escaped it) a +gigantic daubing of the figure of St. Christopher on the wall of the +church steeple. But our smart young maiden was to introduce us to the +interior of the ivied Tower, so romantic in its situation above the +roaring stream, at the mouth of the glen, which, behind, is buried +beneath overhanging woods. We ascended to the upper rooms by a blind +staircase that might have belonged to a turret of one of our ancient +castles, which conducted us into a gothic room, where we found neither +the ghost nor the armour of William Tell; but an artist at work with the +pencil; with two or three young men, his pupils, from Altorf--no better +introduction to the favour of one of those young men was required than +that of our sprightly female attendant. From this little academy of the +arts, drawings are dispersed, probably, to every country of the +continent of Europe. + + [Footnote 53: There is a mistake here as to the date, which renders + all subsequent ones inaccurate.--ED.] + + +_Wednesday, August 22nd._--_Amsteg._--After Wasen our road at times very +steep;--rocky on both sides of the glen; and fewer houses than before. +We had left the forest, but smaller fir-trees were thinly sprinkled on +the hills. Looking northward, the church tower on its eminence most +elegant in the centre of the glen backed by the bare pyramid of Meisen. +Images by the wayside though not frequent, I recollect a poor idiot +hereabouts, who with smiles and uncouth gestures placed himself under +the Virgin and Child, pleading so earnestly that there was no resisting +him. Soon after, when I was lingering behind upon a stone, beside a +little streamlet of clear water, a procession of mules approached, laden +with wine-casks--forty at least--which I had long seen winding like a +creeping serpent along the side of the bare hill before me, and heard +the stream of sound from their bells. Two neatly-dressed Italian women, +who headed the cavalcade, spoke to me in their own sweet language; and +one of them had the kindness to turn back to bring me a glove, which I +had left on the stone where I had been sitting. I cannot forget her +pretty romantic appearance--a perfect contrast to that of the poor +inhabitants of her own sex in this district, no less than her soft +speech! She was rather tall, and slender, and wore a small straw hat +tied with coloured riband, different in shape from those worn in +Switzerland. It was the first company of muleteers we had seen, though +afterwards we met many. Recrossed the Reuss, and, ascending a very long +and abrupt hill covered with impending and shattered crags, had again +that river on our left, but the hill carried us out of sight of it. I +was alone--the first in the ascent. A cluster of mountain masses, till +then unseen, appeared suddenly before me, black--rugged--or covered with +snow. I was indeed awe-struck; and, while I sate for some minutes, +thought within myself, now indeed we are going among the terrors of the +Alps; for the course of the Reuss being hidden, I imagined we should be +led towards those mountains. Little expecting to discover traces of +human habitations, I had gone but a little way before I beheld, +stretching from the foot of the savage mountains, an oblong valley +thickly strewn over with rocks, or, more accurately speaking, huge +stones; and among them huts of the same hue, hardly to be distinguished, +except by their shape. At the foot of the valley appeared a village +beside a tall slender church tower;--every object of the same hue except +the foaming glacier stream and the grassy ground, exquisitely green +among the crags. The hills that flanked the dismal valley told its +history:--their precipitous sides were covered with crags, mostly in +detached masses, that seemed ready to be hurled down by avalanches. +Descending about half a mile we were at the village,[54] and turning +into the churchyard to the left, sate there, overlooking the pass of the +torrent. Beside it lay many huge fragments of rock fallen from above, +resembling one of still more enormous size, called the Devil's stone, +which we had passed by on the right-hand side of the road near the +entrance of the village. How lavishly does nature in these desolate +places dispense _beautiful_ gifts! The craggy pass of the stream coming +out of that valley of stones was decorated with a profusion of gorgeous +bushes of the mountain ash, with delicate flowers, and with the richest +mosses. And, even while looking upon the valley itself, it was +impossible, amid all its images of desolation, not to have a mild +pleasure in noticing the harmonious beauty of its form and proportions. +Two or three women came to us to beg; and all the inhabitants seemed to +be miserably poor. No wonder! for they are not merely _summer_ tenants +of the village:--and who, that could find another hold in the land, +would dwell there the year through? Near the church is a picturesque +stone bridge, at the further end spanned by the arch of a ruined gateway +(no gate is _there_ now), and its stone pillars are crested with flowers +and grass. We cross the bridge; and, winding back again, come in sight +of the Reuss far below, to our left, and were in that part of the pass +especially called by Ebel the valley of Schöllenen,[55] so well known +for its dangers at the time of the dissolving of the snow, when the +muleteers muffle their bells and do not venture to speak a word, lest +they should stir some loose masses overhead by agitating the air. Here +we passed two muleteers stretched at ease upon a plot of verdant turf, +under a gigantic crag, their mules feeding beside them. The road is now, +almost continuously very steep--the hills rugged--often ruinous--yet +straggling pine-trees are seen even to their summits; and goats +fearlessly browsing upon the overhanging rocks. The distance from +Ghestinen to the vale of Urseren is nearly two leagues. After we had +been long ascending, I perceived on the crags on the opposite side of +the glen two human figures. They were at about the same elevation as +ourselves; yet looked no bigger than a boy and girl of five years' +growth, a proof that, narrow as the glen appears to be, its width is +considerable:--and this shows how high and steep must be the mountains. +Those people carried each a large burthen, which we supposed to be of +hay; but where was hay to be procured on these precipices? A little +further--and the mystery was solved, when we discovered a solitary mower +among slips of grass on the almost perpendicular side of the mountain. +The man and woman must have been bearing their load to the desolate +valley. Such are the summer labours of its poor inhabitants. In winter, +their sole employment out of their houses and cattle-sheds must be the +clearing away of snow, which would otherwise keep the doors barred up. +But even at that season, I believe, seldom a week passes over their +heads without tidings from the top of St. Gothard or the valley of +Altorf, winter being the season when merchandise is constantly passing +upon sledges between Italy and Switzerland:--and Ghestinen is one of the +halting-places. The most dangerous time of travelling is the spring. For +_us_ there were no dangers. The excellent paved road of granite masters +all difficulties even up the steepest ascents; and from safe bridges +crossing the torrents we looked without trepidation into their gulfs, or +pondered over their hasty course to the Reuss. Yet in the Gorge of +Schoellenen it is not easy to forget the terrors which visit that +houseless valley. Frequent memorials of deaths on the spot are +discovered by the way-side,--small wooden crosses placed generally under +the shelter of an overhanging stone. They might easily be passed +unnoticed; and are so slightly put together that a child might break +them to pieces:--yet they lie from year to year, as safe as in a +sanctuary. + + [Footnote 54: Named Göschenen. It is 2100 feet above the lake of + Waldstelles and 3282 above the level of the Vierwaldstädtersee. + --D. W.] + + [Footnote 55: Ramond gives this name to the whole valley from Amsteg + to the entrance of Ursern. Ebel gives to it, altogether, the name of + the Haute-Reuss; and says that it is called by the inhabitants the + Graccenthal--Göschenen.--D. W.] + + +_Thursday, August 23rd._--_Hopital._[56]--Mary and I were again the +first to depart. Our little Trager had left us and we proceeded with +another (engaged also for 9 francs the distance to Airola, one league +less). Turned aside into one of the little chapels at the outskirts of +the town. Two Italians were refreshing and repainting the Saints and +Angels; we traced something of the style of their country (very +different from what is seen in Switzerland) in the ornaments of the +Chapel. Next we were invited to view a collection of minerals: and, +avowing ignorance in these matters, passed on. The ascent is at once +very steep. The sun shone full upon us, but the air was clear and cool, +though perfectly calm. Straying from the paved road we walked on soft +grass sprinkled with lowly flowers, and interwoven with the +ground-loving thyme which (hardly to be discovered by the eye in +passing) sent out gushes of aromatic odour. The Reuss rapidly descending +in a rocky channel between green hills, hillocks, or knolls was on our +left hand--not close to the road. Our first resting-place was beside a +little company of its small cataracts--foaming and sparkling--such as we +might have met with in the _ghyll_ of a Westmoreland mountain--scantily +adorned with bushes, and liberally with bright flowers--cattle wandering +on the hills; their bells made a soft jingling. The ascent becomes less +steep. After ascending half a league, or more, having passed several +painted oratories, but neither cottage nor cattle-shed--we came to a +wide long hollow, so exactly resembling the upper reaches of our vales, +especially Easedale, that we could have half believed ourselves there +before the April sun had melted the snow on the mountain-tops, the clear +river Reuss, flowing over a flat, though stony bed in the centre. M. and +I were still alone with our guide; and here we met a French traveller, +of whom Mr. R. told us he had afterwards inquired if he had seen two +ladies, to which he rudely answered that he _had met two women_ a little +above. This reminded me of an unwilling inclination of the head when I +had spoken to this Frenchman in passing, as I do to all whom I meet in +lonely places. He did not touch his hat: no doubt an intentional +incivility, for, on the Continent, that mark of respect towards +strangers is so general as to be often troublesome. Our +fellow-travellers overtook us before we had ascended from the +Westmoreland hollow, which had appeared to them, as to us, with the face +of an old friend. No more bushes now to be seen--and not a single house +or hut since we left Hopital. The ascent at times very rapid--hill +bare--and very rocky. The Reuss (when seen at our right hand) was taking +an open course, like a common mountain torrent, having no continuous +glen of its own. Savage pikes in all directions:--but, altogether, the +mountain ascent from Urseren not to be compared in awfulness and +grandeur with the valley pass from Amsteg. I recollect no particular +incidents by the way, except that, when far behind in discourse with a +lame, and therefore slow-paced, foot-traveller (who intended to halt for +the night at the Hospital of St. Gothard), he pointed out to me a patch +of snow on the left side of the road at a distance, and a great stone on +the right, which he told me was the spot where six travellers had been +overwhelmed by an avalanche last February--they and the huge stone +buried beneath the snow, I cannot say how many feet deep. I found our +party examining the spot. The hill, from which the avalanche had fallen, +was neither precipitous nor, to appearance, very lofty, nor was anything +to be seen which could give the notion of peculiar hazard in that place; +and this gave us, perhaps, a more vivid impression of what must be the +dangers of the Alps, at one season of the year, than the most fearful +crags and precipices. A wooden cross placed under the great stone by the +brother of one of the deceased (an Italian gentleman) recorded the time +and manner of his death. We tasted the cold snow near this spot, the +first we had met with by the way-side, no doubt a remnant of the +avalanche that had buried those unfortunate travellers. At the top of +the ascent of St. Gothard a wide basin--a dreary valley of rocky +ground--lies before us. + + [Footnote 56: Hospenthal.--ED.] + +An oratory, where no doubt thanksgivings have been often poured out for +preservation from dangers encountered on a road which we had travelled, +so gaily, stands beside a large pool of clear water, that lies just +below us; and another pool, or little lake, the source of the Reuss, is +discovered between an opening in the mountains to the right. The +prospect is savage and grand; yet the grandeur chiefly arises from the +consciousness of being on ground so elevated and so near to the sources +of two great rivers, taking their opposite courses to the German Ocean, +and the Mediterranean Sea: for the mountain summits which rise all +round--some covered with snow--others of bare granite, being viewed from +a base so lofty are not so commanding as when seen from below; and the +_valley country_ is wholly hidden from view.--Unwilling to turn the +mountain, I sate down upon a rock above the little lake; and thence saw +(a quarter of a mile distant) the Hospital, or Inn, and, beside it, the +ruins of a convent, destroyed by the French. A tinkling of bells +suddenly warned me to look about, and there was a troop of goats; some +of them close at hand among the crags and slips of turf; nor were there +wanting, even here, a few bright lowly flowers. Entering into my +brother's youthful feelings of sadness and disappointment when he was +told unexpectedly that the Alps were crossed--the effort accomplished--I +tardily descended towards the Hospital. + +I found Mary sitting on the lowest of a long flight of steps. She had +lost her companions (my brother and a young Swiss who had joined us on +the road). We mounted the steps; and, from within, their voices answered +our call. Went along a dark, stone, _banditti_ passage, into a small +chamber little less gloomy, where we found them seated with food before +them, bread and cheese, with sour red wine--no milk. Hunger satisfied, +Mary and I hastened to warm ourselves in the sunshine; for the house +was as cold as a dungeon. We straightway greeted with joy the infant +TESSINO which has its sources in the pools above. The gentlemen joined +us, and we placed ourselves on a sunny bank, looking towards Italy; and +the Swiss took out his flute, and played, and afterwards sang, the _Ranz +des Vaches_, and other airs of his country. We, and especially our +sociable friend R. (with his inexhaustible stock of kindness, and his +German tongue) found him a pleasant companion. He was from the +University of Heidelberg, and bound for Rome, on a visit to a brother, +in the holidays; and, our mode of travelling, for a short way, being the +same, it was agreed we should go on together: but before we reached +Airola he left us, and we saw no more of him. + + +_Friday, August 24th._--_Airola_ (3800 feet above the sea).--I walked +out; but neglected to enter the church, and missed a pleasure which W. +has often spoken of. He found a congregation of Rustics chanting the +service--the men and women alternately--unaccompanied by a priest.... +Cascades of pure unsullied water, tumble down the hills in every +conceivable variety of form and motion--and never, I think, distant from +each other a quarter of a mile in the whole of our course from Airola. +Sometimes, those cascades are seen to fall in one snow-white line from +the highest ridge of the steep; or, sometimes, gleaming through the +woods (no traceable bed above them) they seem to start out at once from +beneath the trees, as from their source, leaping over the rocks. One +full cataract rose up like a geyser of Iceland, a silvery pillar that +glittered, as it seemed, among lightly-tossing snow. Without remembering +that the Tessino (of monotonous and muddy line) was seldom out of sight, +it is not possible to have even a faint notion of the pleasure with +which we looked at those bright rejoicing rivulets. The morning was +sunny; but we felt no oppression from heat, walking leisurely, and +resting long, especially at first, when expecting W. and R., who at +length overtook us, bringing a comfort that would have cheered a +_dreary_ road--letters from England. + + +_Sunday, August 26th._--_Locarno._--We had resolved to ascend St. +Salvador before sunrise; and, a contrary wind having sprung up, the +boatmen wished to persuade us to stay all night at a town upon a low +point of land pushed far into the Lake, which conceals from our view +that portion of it, where, at the head of a large basin or bay, stands +the town of Lugano. They told us we might thence ascend the mountain +with more ease than from Lugano, a wile to induce us to stay; but we +called upon them to push on. Having weathered this point, and left it +some way behind, the place of our destination appears in view--(like +Locarno and Luvino) within the semicircle of a bay--a wide basin of +waters spread before it; and the reach of the lake towards Porlezza +winding away to our right. That reach appeared to be of more grave and +solemn character than any we had passed through--grey steeps enclosing +it on each side. We now coasted beneath bare precipices at the foot of +St. Salvador--shouted to the echoes--and were answered by travellers +from the road far above our heads. Thence tended towards the middle of +the basin; and the town of Lugano appeared in front of us, low green +woody hills rising above it. Mild lightning fluttered like the northern +lights over the steeps of St. Salvador, yet without threatening clouds; +the wind had fallen; and no apprehensions of a storm disturbed our +pleasures. It was 8 o'clock when we reached the Inn, where all things +were on a large scale--splendid yet shabby. The landlord quite a fine +gentleman. His brother gone to England as a witness on the Queen's +trial. We had soon an excellent supper in a small salon where her +present Majesty of England and Count Bergami had often feasted together. +Mary had the honour of sleeping in the bed allotted to her Majesty, and +I in that of which she herself had made choice, not being satisfied +with her first accommodations. The boatman told us she was _una +bravissima Principessa_ and spent much money. The lightning continued; +but without thunder. We strayed again to the water-side while supper was +in preparation. Everybody seems to be living out of doors; and long +after I was in bed, I heard people in the streets singing, laughing, +talking, and playing on the flute. + + +_Monday, August 27th._--_Lugano._--Roused from sleep at a quarter before +4 o'clock, the moon brightly shining. At a quarter _past_ four set off +on foot to ascend Mount St. Salvador. Though so early, people were +stirring in the streets; our walk was by the shore, round the fine +bay--solemn yet cheerful in the morning twilight. At the beginning of +the ascent, passed through gateways and sheds among picturesque old +buildings with overhanging flat roofs--vines hanging from the walls with +the wildness of brambles or the untrained woodbine. The ascent from the +beginning is exceedingly steep and without intermission to the very +summit. Vines spreading from tree to tree, resting upon walls, or +clinging to wooden poles, they creep up the steep sides of the hill, no +boundary line between _them_ and the wild growth of the mountain, with +which, at last, they are blended till no trace of cultivation appears. +The road is narrow; but a path to the shrine of St. Salvador has been +made with great pains, still trodden once in the year by crowds +(probably, at this day, chiefly of peasantry) to keep the Festival of +that Saint, on the summit of the mount. It winds along the declivities +of the rocks--and, all the way, the views are beautiful. To begin with, +looking backward to the town of Lugano, surrounded by villas among +trees--a rich vale beyond the town, an ample tract bright with +cultivation and fertility, scattered over with villages and spires--who +could help pausing to look back on these enchanting scenes? Yet a still +more interesting spectacle travels _with us_, at our side (but how far +beneath us!) the Lake, winding at the base of the mountain, into which +we looked from craggy forest precipices, apparently almost as steep as +the walls of a castle, and a thousand times higher. We were bent on +getting start of the rising sun, therefore none of the party rested +longer than was sufficient to recover breath. I did so frequently, for a +few minutes; it being my plan at all times to climb up with my best +speed for the sake of those rests, whereas Mary, I believe, never once +sate down this morning, perseveringly mounting upward. Meanwhile, many a +beautiful flower was plucked among the mossy stones. One,[57] in +particular, there was (since found wherever we have been in Italy). I +helped Miss Barker to plant that same flower in her garden brought from +Mr. Clarke's hot-house. In spite of all our efforts the sun was +beforehand with us. _We_ were two hours in ascending. W. and Mr. R. who +had pushed on before, were one hour and forty minutes. When we stood on +the crown of that glorious Mount, we seemed to have attained a spot +which commanded pleasures equal to all that sight could give on this +terrestrial world. We beheld the mountains of Simplon--two brilliant +shapes on a throne of clouds--_Mont Blanc_ (as the guide told us[58]) +lifting his resplendent forehead above a vapoury sea--and the Monte Rosa +a bright pyramid, how high up in the sky! The vision did not _burst_ +upon us suddenly; but was revealed by slow degrees, while we felt so +satisfied and delighted with what lay distinctly outspread around us, +that we had hardly begun to look for objects less defined, in the +far-distant horizon. I cannot describe the green hollows, hills, slopes, +and woody plains--the towns, villages, and towers--the crowds of +secondary mountains, substantial in form and outline, bounding the +prospect in other quarters--nor the bewitching loveliness of the lake of +Lugano lying at the base of Mount Salvador, and thence stretching out +its arms between the bold steeps. My brother said he had never in his +life seen so extensive a prospect at the expense only of two hours' +climbing: but it must be remembered that the whole of the ascent is +almost a precipice. Beyond the town of Lugano, the hills and wide vale +are thickly sprinkled with towns and houses. Small lakes (to us their +names unknown) were glittering among the woody steeps, and beneath lay +the broad neck of the Peninsula of St. Salvador--a tract of hill and +valley, woods and waters. Far in the distance on the other side, the +towers of Milan might be descried. The river Po, a ghostly serpent-line, +rested on the brown plains of Lombardy; and there again we traced the +Tessino, departed from his mountain solitudes, where we had been his +happy companions. + + [Footnote 57: Cyclamen.--D. W.] + + [Footnote 58: It was _not_ Mont Blanc. He was mistaken, or wanted to + deceive us to give pleasure; but however we might have wished to + believe that what he asserted was true, we could not think it + possible.--D. W.] + +But I have yet only looked _beyond_ the mount. There is a house beside +the Chapel, probably in former times inhabited by persons devoted to +religious services--or it might be only destined for the same use for +which it serves at present, a shelter for them who flock from the +vallies to the yearly Festival. Repairs are going on in the Chapel, +which was struck with lightning a few years ago, and all but the altar +and its holy things, with the image of the Patron Saint, destroyed. +Their preservation is an established miracle, and the surrounding +peasantry consider the memorials as sanctified anew by that visitation +from heaven. + + +_Tuesday, August 28th._--_Menaggio._--We took the opposite (the eastern) +side of the lake, intending to land, and ascend to the celebrated source +of the _Fiume Latte_ (River of Milk). Following the curves of the shore +came to a grey-white village, and landed upon the rocky bank (there is +no road or pathway along this margin of the lake; and every village has +its own boats). Mounting by a flight of rugged steps, we were at once +under a line of houses fronting the water; and after climbing up the +steep, walked below those houses, the lake beneath us on our left. All +at once, from that sunny spot we came upon a rugged bridge; shady all +round--cool breezes rising up from the rocky cleft where in twilight +gloom (so it appears to eyes saturated with light) a copious stream--the +_Fiume Latte_--is hurrying with leap and bound to the great lake. Our +object, as I have said, was the fountain of that torrent. We mounted up +the hill by rocky steeps, and pathways, in some places almost +perpendicular, the precipice all the way being built up by low walls +hung with vines. The earth thus supported is covered with melons, +pumpkins, Indian corn, chestnut-trees, fig-trees, and trees now +scattering ripe plums. The ascent was truly laborious. On the lake we +had never been oppressed by the heat; _here_ it was almost too much even +for _me_: but when we reached the desired spot, where the torrent drops +from its marble cavern, as clear as crystal, how delicious the coolness +of the breeze! The water issues silently from the cold cavern, slides +but a very little way over the rock, then bounds in a short cataract, +and rushes rapidly to the lake. The evergreen Arbutus and the +prickly-leaved Alaturnus grow in profusion on the rocks bordering the +Fiume Latte; and there, in remembrance of Rydal Mount, where we had been +accustomed to see one or two bushes of those plants growing in the +garden, we decked our bonnets, mingling the glossy leaves of those +evergreen shrubs with that beautiful lilac flower first seen in the +ascent of St. Salvador. An active youth was our guide, and a useful one +in helping us over the rocks. A woman, too, had joined the train; but +Mary and I showing her that she was neither useful nor welcome, she +began to employ her time in plucking the bunches of Indian corn, laying +them in a heap. We could have lingered a whole summer's day over the +cascades and limpid pools of the Fiume Latte. + + +_Saturday, September 1st._--_Milan._--Our object this morning was to +ascend to the roof, where I remained alone, not venturing to follow the +rest of the party to the top of the giddy, central spire, which is +ascended by a narrow staircase twisted round the outside. Even W. was +obliged to trust to a hand governed by a steadier head than his own. I +wandered about with space spread around me, on the roof on which I trod, +for streets and even squares of no very diminutive town. The floor on +which I trod was all of polished marble, intensely hot, and as dazzling +as snow; and instead of moving figures I was surrounded by groups and +stationary processions of silent statues--saints, sages, and angels. It +is impossible for me to describe the beautiful spectacle, or to give a +notion of the delight I felt; therefore I will copy a sketch in verse +composed from my brother's recollections of the view from the central +spire. + + +_Sunday, September 2nd._--_Milan._--A grand military Mass was to be +administered at eight o'clock in the _Place d'Armes_, Buonaparte's field +for reviewing his troops. Hitherward we set out at seven; but arrived a +little too late. The ceremony was begun; and it was some time before we +could obtain a better situation than among the crowds pressed together +in the glaring sunshine, as close as they could come to the building +where the temporary altar was placed. The ground being level nothing was +to be seen but heads of people, and a few of the lines of soldiers, and +their glittering fire-arms; but we could perceive that at one time they +dropped down on their knees. At length, having got admittance into the +building (le Palais des Rois), near which we stood, almost stifled with +heat, we had a complete view from a balcony of all that remained to be +performed of the ceremonies, military and religious; but of the latter, +that part was over in which the soldiers took any visible share, though +the service was still going on, at the altar below us, as was proclaimed +by the sound of sacred music, which upon minds unfamiliarised to such +scenes had an irresistible power to solemnise a spectacle more +distinguished by parade, glitter, and flashy colours, than anything +else. The richly caparisoned prancing steeds of the officers, their +splendid dresses, the numerous lines of soldiers standing upon the green +grass (though not of mountain hue it looked _green_ in contrast with +their habiliments), and the immense numbers of men, women, and children +gathered together upon a level space--where space was _left_ for +thousands and tens of thousands more--all these may easily be +imagined:--with the full concert of the military band, when the _sacred_ +music ceased--the marching of the troops off the field--Austrians, +Hungarians, and Italians--and, last of all, the cavalry with the +heart-stirring blast of their trumpets. Before we left the field, the +crowd was gone, the tinselled altar and other fineries taken down--and +we saw people busied in packing them up, very much like a company of +players with their paraphernalia. + +Went also to the Convent of Maria della Grazia to view that most famous +picture of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, painted on the wall at +one end of the Refectory, a very large hall, hung along the sides with +smaller pictures and, at the other end, that painting of the crucifixion +of which we had seen a copy at Lugano. This Refectory was used in the +days of Buonaparte as a military storehouse, and the mark of a +musket-ball, fired in wantonness by a French soldier, is to be seen in +one part of the painting of Leonardo da Vinci. Fortunately the ball hit +where the injury was as small as it could have been; and it is only +marvellous that this fine work was not wholly defaced during those times +of military misrule and utter disregard of all sacred things.[59] +Little conversant in pictures, I cannot take upon me to describe this, +which impressed my feelings and imagination more than any picture I ever +saw, though some of the figures are so injured by damp that they are +only just traceable. The most important are, however, happily the least +injured; and that of Our Saviour has only suffered from a general fading +in the colours, yet, alas! the fading and vanishing must go on year +after year till, at length, the whole group must pass away. Through the +cloisters of the monastery, which are shattered and defaced, pictures +are found in all parts, and there are some curious monuments. + + [Footnote 59: It is perfectly notorious that this picture suffered + more from the negligence of the monks than from the scorn of the + French. A hole was broken thro' the lower part of the centre of + the picture to admit hot dishes from the Kitchen into the Refectory. + --H. C. R.] + + +_Wednesday, September 5th._--_Cadenabbia._--Bent our course toward +Fuentes--and after a wearisome walk through damp and breathless heat (a +full league or more) over a perfect level, we reached the foot of the +eminence, which from the lake had appeared to be at a small distance, +but it seemed to have retreated as we advanced. We had left the high +road, and trudged over the swampy plain, through which the road must +have been made with great expense and labour, as it is raised +considerably all the way. The picturesque ruins of the Castle of Fuentes +are at the top of the eminence--wild vines, the bramble and the clematis +cling to the bushes; and beautiful flowers grow in the chinks of the +rocks, and on every bed of grass. A _tempting_ though rugged ascent--yet +(with the towers in sight above our heads, and two-thirds of the labour +accomplished) Mary and I (Wm. having gone before to discover the nearest +and least difficult way for us) sate down determined not to go a step +further. We had a grand prospect; and, being exhausted by the damp heat, +were willing for once to leave our final object unattained. However, +while seated on the ground, two stout hard-laboured peasants chancing +to come close to us on the path, invited us forward, and we could not +resist--they led the way--two rough creatures. I said to Mary when we +were climbing up among the rocks and bushes in that wild and lonely +place, "What, you have no fear of trusting yourself to a pair of Italian +Banditti?" I knew not their occupation, but an accurate description of +their persons, would have fitted a novel-writer with ready-made +attendants for a tribe of robbers--good-natured and kind, however, they +were, nay, even polite in their rustic way as others tutored to city +civility. _Cultivated_ vines grew upon the top of the hill; and they +took pains to pluck for us the ripest grapes. We now had a complete view +up the great vale of the Adda, to which the road that we had left +conducts the traveller. Below us, on the other side, lay a wide green +marshy plain, between the hill of Fuentes and the shores of the lake; +which plain, spreading upwards, divides the lake; the upper small reach +being called Chiavenna. The path which my brother had travelled, when +bewildered in the night thirty years ago, was traceable through some +parts of the forest on the opposite side:--and the very passage through +which he had gone down to the shore of the lake--then most dismal with +thunder, lightning, and rain. I hardly can conceive a place of more +solitary aspect than the lake of Chiavenna: and the whole of the +prospect on that direction is characterised by melancholy sublimity. We +rejoiced, after our toil, at being favoured with a distinct view of +those sublime heights, not, it is true, steeped in celestial hues of +_sunny glory_, yet in communion with clouds, floating or +stationary:--scatterings from heaven. The ruin itself is very +interesting, both in the mass and in detail--an inscription is lying on +the ground which records that the Castle was built by the Count of +Fuentes in the year 1600, and the Chapel about twenty years after by one +of his descendants. Some of the gateways are yet standing with their +marble pillars, and a considerable part of the walls of the Chapel. A +smooth green turf has taken the place of the pavement; and we could see +no trace of altar or sacred image, but everywhere something to remind +one of former grandeur and of destruction and tumult, while there was, +in contrast with the imaginations so excited, a melancholy pleasure in +contemplating the wild quietness of the present day. The vines, near the +ruin, though ill tended, grow willingly, and rock, turf, and fragments +of the stately pile are alike covered or adorned with a variety of +flowers, among which the rose-coloured pink was in great beauty. In our +descent we found a fair white cherub, uninjured by the explosion which +had driven it a great way down the hill. It lay bedded like an infant in +its cradle among low green bushes--W. said to us, "Could we but carry +this pretty Image to our moss summer-house at Rydal Mount!" yet it +seemed as if it would have been a pity that any one should remove it +from its couch in the wilderness, which may be its own for hundreds of +years. + + +_Thursday, September 6th._--_Cadenabbia._--After a night of heavy rain, +a bright morning. W., M., and I set off toward Menaggio along the +terrace bordering the water, which led us to the bay at the foot of the +rocky green hill of the Church of our Lady; and there we came upon the +track of the old road, the very _same_ which my brother had paced! for +there was no other, nor the possibility of one. That track, continued +from the foot of the mountain, leads behind the town of Cadenabbia, +cutting off the bending of the shore by which we had come to this point. +From the bare precipice, we pass through shade and sunshine, among +spreading vines, slips of green turf, or gardens of melons, gourds, +maize, and fig-trees among the rocks; it was but for a little space, yet +enough to make our regret even more lively than before that it had not +been in our power to coast one reach at least of the lake on foot. We +had been overtaken by a fine tall man, who somewhat proudly addressed us +in English. After twenty years' traffic in our country he had been +settled near his native place on the Banks of Como, having purchased an +estate near Cadenabbia with the large sum of two thousand pounds, +acquired by selling barometers, looking-glasses, etc. He had been used +to return to his wife every third year in the month of October. He made +preparations during the winter for fresh travels in the spring; at the +same time working with her on the small portion of land which they then +possessed. Portsmouth and Plymouth were the grand marts for his wares. +He amused us with recitals of adventures among the sailors, who used to +bully him with, "Come, you rogue, you get your money easily enough; +spend it freely!" and he did not care if he got rid of a guinea or two; +for he was sure to have it back again after one of the frolics--and much +more. They would often clear away his whole stock of nick-nacks. This +industrious trader used to travel on foot at the rate of from thirty to +forty miles a day, and his expenses from London to Como were but three +guineas, though it cost him one-third of that sum to get to Calais. He +said he liked England because the people were _honest_, and told us some +stories illustrative of English honesty and Italian over-reaching in +bargains. This amusing and, I must say, interesting companion, turned +from us by a side-path before we reached Menaggio, saying he would meet +us again, as our road would lead us near his cottage on the heights, and +he should see us from the fields. He had another dwelling on his estate +beside Cadenabbia, where the land produced excellent wine. The produce +of his farm on the _hills_ was chiefly hay, which they were then +gathering in. + + +_Sunday, September 9th._--_Domo d'Ossola._--We rose at 5 o'clock. The +morning clear and very cold. Mr. M., R. and G. intended to take the +diligence; W., Mary, and I to walk; for, having been so much gratified +with our journey over St. Gothard, we had determined to cross the +Simplon also on foot. M. set forward first; I followed a few minutes +after defended from cold by my woollen cloak. W. was left to dispose of +the luggage, which (except a small bundle carried by each) we intended +to send by the diligence. Shops already open. Bought some bread, and +made my way directly through the town. At the end of it, looked back +upon its towers and large houses, prettily situated, as on a plain, +under steep hills--some of them separate mounts, distinct in form. I +could not but regret that we might not linger half a day, and ascend to +the Chapel of Mount Calvary, still much resorted to for its peculiar +sanctity. The view from that commanding eminence would have enabled us +to bear away more distinct remembrances than _I_, at least, have done, +of a town well deserving to be remembered, for it must for ages back +have been of importance, as lying at the foot of this pass of the Alps. +After a mile's quick walking I grew a little uneasy at not having +overtaken Mary. Behind and before, Buonaparte's broad, unshaded road was +stretched out in a right line. However convenient such roads for +conquest or traffic, they are, of all others, the least pleasant to the +foot-traveller, whose labours seem no nearer to their end till some +natural impediment must be submitted to, and the road pursues another +course. Looking forward I could see nothing of Mary, and the way being +sprinkled with passengers, I was more perplexed, thinking it probable +that her figure before me, or behind, might be undiscoverable among +them, but my pace (to warm myself in the nipping air) had been so quick, +it seemed more likely that she had not advanced so far; therefore I sate +down: and glad I was, after some time, to espy her blue gown among the +scatterings of women in scarlet garments. She had missed her way in the +town and gone back in quest of me. The fresh morning air helped us +cheerfully over the long line of road; and passengers whom we +continually met amused us. Some were travellers from the Alps; but they +were much more frequently peasants bent on Sunday's devotion and +pleasure, chiefly women, awkward in appearance, short of stature, and +deformed by their manner of fastening the full round petticoat lifted up +almost to the shoulders. + +It pleased me now to review our course from Bavena, where this our +second ascent of the Alps may be said to begin; the princely reach of +the Lake then before us, with its palaces and towns, thence towards the +mountains and the vale of Tusa, solitary churches on the +steeps--ruins--embowered low stone cottages--vineyards and extensive +lawns--cattle with their bells, and peasants tending them. The romantic +village of Vergogne, its ruined fortress overlooking the narrow dell and +torrent's bed--inhabited houses as grey with age as the ruin +itself--and, upon the level below, how delightful was it, in our hour of +rest and sauntering, to quit the sunshine, and walk under roofs of +vines! Further on, the vale more wide and open--large meadows without +trees. Hay-makers--straggling travellers on the outstretched road. +Villages under green mountains--snowy mountains gilded by the light of +the setting sun! + +_Now_, from Domo d'Ossola we were proceeding on the same unbending road, +up the same vale, a scene of desolation and fertility, vines by the +wayside, the grapes hardly ripening. Having ascended a long hill to +_Crevola_, where there is a small public-house, at which we had thought +of stopping to breakfast, the road crosses a remarkably high and massy +bridge, over the chasm of Val di Vedro, whence the river Vedro takes its +course down to the vale of Tusa, now below us on our right hand, where, +towards the centre of the vale, the village of Crevola stands on an +eminence, whence the morning sound of bells was calling the people +together. We turned to the left, up the shady side of Val di Vedro; at +first, the road led us high above the bed of the torrent. Being now +enclosed between the barriers of that deep dell, we had left all traces +of vineyards, fruit-trees, and fields. Beeches climb up among the crags +to the summit of the steeps. The road descends; traces of the ancient +track visible near a bridge of one lofty arch, no longer used by the +traveller crossing the Alps, yet I went to the centre to look down on +the torrent. Traces of the foundation of a former bridge remain in the +chasm. Met a few peasants going to the vale below, and sometimes a +traveller. Again we climb the hill, all craggy forest. At a considerable +height from the river's bed an immense column of granite lies by the +wayside, as if its course had been stopped there by tidings of +Napoleon's overthrow. It was intended by him for his unfinished +triumphal arch at Milan; and I wish it may remain prostrate on the +mountain for ages to come. His bitterest foe could scarcely contrive a +more impressive record of disappointed vanity and ambition. The sledge +upon which it has been dragged from the quarry is rotted beneath it, +while the pillar remains as fresh and sparkling as if hewn but +yesterday. W., who came after us, said he had named it the "weary stone" +in memory of that immense stone in the wilds of Peru, so called by the +Indians because after 20,000 of them had dragged it over heights and +hollows it tumbled down a precipice, and rested immovable at the bottom, +where it must for ever remain. Ere long we come to the first passage +_through_ the rocks, near the river's bed, and "Road and River" for some +time fill the bottom of the valley. We miss the bright torrents that +stream down the hills bordering the Tessino; but here is no want of +variety. We are in closer neighbourhood with the crags; hence their +shapes are continually changing, and their appearance is the more +commanding; and, wherever an old building is seen, it is overspread with +the hues of the natural crags, and is in form of accordant irregularity. +The very road itself, however boldly it may bestride the hills or pierce +the rocks, is yet the slave of nature, its windings often being governed +as imperiously as those of the Vedra within the chasm of the glen. +Suddenly the valley widens, opening out to the right in a semicircle. A +sunny village with a white church appears before us, rather I should say +numerous hamlets and scattered houses. Here again were vines, and grapes +almost full grown, though none ripening. Leaving the sunshine, we again +are enclosed between the steeps, a small ruined Convent on the right, +the painting on the outside nearly effaced by damp. We come to the +second passage, or gallery, through the rocks. It is not long, but very +grand, especially viewed in combination with the crags, woods, and +river, here tumbling in short cascades, its channel strewn with enormous +ruins. W. had joined us about a league before we reached this point; and +we sate long in admiration of the prospect up the valley, seen beyond +the arch of the gallery which is supported by a pillar left in the rock +out of which the passage has been hewn. A brown hamlet at the foot of +the mountains terminates this reach of the valley, which has again +widened a little. A steep glen to the left sends down a boisterous +stream to the Vedra. We had walked three leagues; and were told we were +near the Inn, where we were to breakfast, and, having left the gallery +200 yards behind, saw more of the village (called Isella) and a large, +square, white building appeared, which proved to be a military station +and the post-house, near which was our Inn.... Leaving now the +Piedmontese dominions, we make our last entrance into the country of the +Swiss. Deciduous trees gradually yield to pine-trees and larches, and +through these forests, interspersed with awful crags, we pass on, still +in cool shade, accompanied by the turbulent river. Here is hardly a slip +of pasturage to be seen, still less a plot of tillage (how different +from the Pass of the Ticino!) all is rocks, precipices, and forests. We +pass several places of _Refuge_, as they are named, the word _refuge_ +being inscribed upon their walls in large characters. They are small, +square, white, unpicturesque buildings (erected by Buonaparte). The old +road is not unfrequently traceable for a short way--Mary once detected +it by noticing an Oratory above our heads that turned its back towards +us, now neglected and facing the deserted track. + + +_Sunday, September 9th._--_Domo d'Ossola._--Soon after, we perceive a +large and very striking building terminating a narrow reach of the +valley. A square tower at the further end of the roof; and, towards us, +a lofty gable front, step-like on each steeply-sloping side, in the +style of some of our old roofs in the north of England.[60] The building +is eight stories high, and long and broad in proportion. We perceived at +once that it must be a Spittal of the old times; and W., who had been +lingering behind, when he came up to us, pronounced it to be the very +same where he and his companion had passed an awful night. Unable to +sleep from other causes, their ears were stunned by a tremendous torrent +(then swollen by rainy weather) that came thundering down a chasm of the +mountain on the opposite side of the glen. That torrent, still keeping +the same channel, was now, upon this sunny clear day, a brisk rivulet, +that cheerfully bounded down to the Vedro. A lowly Church stands within +the shade of the huge Spittal, beside a single dwelling-house; small, +yet larger than the Church. We entered that modest place of worship; and +were charmed with its rustic splendours and humble neatness. Here were +two very pretty well-executed pictures in the _Italian_ style, so much +superior to anything of the kind in the country churches of Switzerland. +Rested some while beside the Church and cottage, looking towards the +Spittal on the opposite side of the road, the wildest of all harbours, +yet even stately in its form, and seemingly fitted to war with the +fiercest tempests. I now regret not having the courage to pass the +threshold alone. I had a strong desire to see what was going on within +doors for the sake of tales of thirty years gone by: but could not +persuade W. to accompany me. Several foot or mule travellers were +collected near the door, I bought some _poor_ peaches (very refreshing +at that time) from a man who was carrying them and other things, to the +village of Simplon--three sous the pound. Soon after leaving the +Spittal, our path was between precipices still more gloomy and awful +than before (what must they have been in the time of rain and vapour +when my brother was here before--on the narrow track instead of our +broad road that smooths every difficulty!) Skeletons of tall pine-trees +beneath us in the dell, and above our heads,--their stems and shattered +branches as grey as the stream of the Vedra or the crags strewn at their +feet. The scene was truly sublime when we came in view of the finest of +the galleries. We sate upon the summit of a huge precipice of stone to +the left of the road--the river raging below after having tumbled in a +tremendous cataract down the crags in front of our station. On entering +the Gallery we cross a clear torrent pent up by crags. While pausing +here, a step or two before we entered, a carriage full of gentlemen +drove through: they just looked aside at the torrent; but stopped not; I +could not but congratulate myself on our being on foot; for a hundred +reasons the pleasantest mode of travelling in a mountainous country. +After we had gone through the last, and least interesting, though the +longest but one of the galleries, the vale (now grassy among scattered +rocks, and wider--more of a hollow) bends to the left; and we see on the +hill, in front of us, a long doubling of the road, necessary, from the +steepness of the hill, to accomplish an easy ascent. At the angle, +where, at the foot of the hill, this doubling begins, M. and I, being +before W., sate and pondered. A foot-path leads directly upwards, +cutting off at least a mile, and we perceived one of our young +fellow-travellers climbing up it, but could not summon the courage to +follow him, and took the circuit of Buonaparte's road. The bed of the +river, far below to our left (wide and broken up by torrents), is +crossed by a long wooden bridge from which a foot-path, almost +perpendicular, ascends to a hamlet at a great height upon the side of +the steep. A female crossing the bridge gave life and spirit to a scene +characterised, in comparison with _other_ scenes, more by wildness than +grandeur; and though presided over by a glacier mountain and craggy and +snowy pikes (seemingly at the head of the hollow vale) less impressive, +and less interesting to the imagination than the narrow passes through +which we had been travelling. After some time the curve of the road +carries us again backward on the mountain-side, _from_ the valley of the +Tusa. Our eyes often turned towards the bridge and the upright path, +little thinking that it was the same we had so often heard of, which +misled my brother and Robert Jones in their way from Switzerland to +Italy. They were pushing right upwards, when a peasant, having +questioned them as to their object, told them they had no further ascent +to make;--"The Alps were crossed!" The ambition of youth was +disappointed at these tidings; and they remeasured their steps with +sadness. At the point where our fellow-travellers had rejoined the road, +W. was waiting to show us the track, on the green precipice. It was +impossible for me to say how much it had moved him, when he discovered +it was the very same which had tempted him in his youth. The feelings of +that time came back with the freshness of yesterday, accompanied with a +dim vision of thirty years of life between. We traced the path together, +with our eyes, till hidden among the cottages, where they had first been +warned of their mistake. + + [Footnote 60: In Troutbeck Valley especially.--D. W.] + +Hereabouts, a few peasants were on the hills with cattle and goats. In +the narrow passage of the glen we had, for several miles together, seen +no moving objects, except chance travellers, the streams, the clouds, +and trees stirred sometimes by gentle breezes. At this spot we watched a +boy and girl with bare feet running as if for sport, among the sharp +stones, fearless as young kids. The round hat of the Valais tied with a +coloured riband, looked shepherdess-like on the head of another, a +peasant girl roaming on craggy pasture-ground, to whom I spoke, and was +agreeably surprised at being answered in German (probably a barbarous +dialect), but we contrived to understand one another. The valley of the +Vedro now left behind, we ascend gradually (indeed the whole ascent is +gradual) along the side of steeps covered with poor grass--an undulating +hollow to the right--no trees--the prospect, in front, terminated by +snow mountains and dark pikes. The air very cold when we reached the +village of Simplon. There is no particular grandeur in the situation, +except through the accompanying feeling of removal from the world and +the near neighbourhood of summits so lofty, and of form and appearance +only seen among the Alps. We were surprised to find a considerable +village. The houses, which are of stone, are large, and strong built, +and gathered together as if for shelter. The air, nipping even at this +season, must be dreadfully cold in winter; yet the inhabitants weather +all seasons. The Inn was filled with guests of different nations and of +various degrees, from the muleteer and foot-traveller to those who loll +at ease, whirling away as rapidly as their companion, the torrent of the +Vedro. Our party of eleven made merry over as good a supper in this +naked region (five or six thousand feet above the level of the sea) as +we could have desired in the most fertile of the valleys, with a dessert +of fruit and cakes. We were summoned out of doors to look at a living +chamois, kept in the stable, more of a treat than the roasted flesh of +one of its kind which we had tasted at Lucerne. Walked with some of the +gentlemen about half a mile, after W. and M. were retired to rest. The +stars were appearing above the black pikes, while the snow on others +looked as bright as if a full moon were shining upon it. Our beds were +comfortable. I was not at all fatigued, and had nothing to complain of +but the cold, which did not hinder me from falling asleep, and sleeping +soundly. The distance from Domo d'Ossola six leagues. + + +_Monday, September 10th._--_Simplon._--Rose at five o'clock, as cold as +a frosty morning in December. The eleven breakfasted together, and were +ready--all but the lame one,--to depart on foot to Brieg in the Haut +Valais (seven leagues). The distance from the village of Simplon to the +highest point of the Pass is nearly two leagues. We set forward +together, forming different companies--or sometimes solitary--the +peculiar charm of pedestrian travelling, especially when the party is +large--fresh society always ready--and solitude to be taken at will. In +the latter part of the Pass of St. Gothard, on the Swiss side, the +grandeur diminishes--and it is the same on the Italian side of the Pass +of Simplon; yet when (after the gradual ascent from the village, the +last inhabited spot) a turning of the road first presents to view in a +clear atmosphere, beneath a bright blue sky (so we were favoured), the +ancient _Spittal_ with its ornamented Tower standing at the further end +of a wide oblong hollow, surrounded by granite pikes, snow pikes--masses +of granite--cool, black, motionless shadows, and sparkling sunshine, it +is not possible for the dullest imagination to be unmoved. When we found +ourselves within that elevated enclosure, the eye and the ear were +satisfied with perfect stillness. We might have supposed ourselves to be +the only visible moving creatures; but ere long espied some cows and +troops of goats which at first we could not distinguish from the +scattered rocks! but by degrees tracked their motions, and perceived +them in great numbers creeping over the yellow grass that grows among +crags on the declivities above the Spittal and in the hollow below it; +and we then began to discover a few brown _châlets_ or cattle-sheds in +that quarter. The Spittal, that dismal, yet secure sheltering-place +(inhabited the winter through), is approached by a side track from the +present road; being built as much out of the way of storms as it could +have been. Carts and carriages of different kinds (standing within and +near the door of a shed, close to the road) called to mind the stir and +traffic of the world in a place which might have been destined for +perpetual solitude--where the thunder of heaven, the rattling of +avalanches, and the roaring of winds and torrents seemed to be the only +_turbulent_ sounds that had a right to take place of the calm and +silence which surrounded us. + + +_Wednesday, September 12th._--_Baths of Leuk._--Rose at 5 o'clock. From +my window looked towards the crags of the Gemmi, then covered with +clouds. Twilight seemed scarcely to have left the valley; the air was +sharp, and the smoking channel of hot water a comfortable sight in the +cold gloom of the village. But soon, with promise of a fine day, the +vapours on the crescent of crags began to break, and its yellow towers, +touched by the sunshine, gleamed through the edges of the floating +masses; or appeared in full splendour for a moment, and were again +hidden. + +After six o'clock, accompanied by a guide (who was by trade a shoemaker, +and possessed a small stock of mountain cattle), we set forward on our +walk of eight leagues, the turreted barrier facing us. Passed along a +lane fenced by curiously crossed rails,--thence (still gently ascending) +through rough ground scattered over with small pine-trees, and stones +fallen from the mountains. No wilder object can be imagined than a +shattered guidepost at the junction of one road with another, which had +been placed there because travellers, intending to cross the Gemmi, had +often been misled, and some had perished, taking the right-hand road +toward the snow mountain, instead of that to the left. Even till we +reached the base of that rocky rampart which we were to climb, the track +of ascent, in front of us, had been wholly invisible. Sometimes it led +us slanting along the bare side of the crags:--sometimes it was scooped +out of them, and over-roofed, like an outside staircase of a castle or +fortification: sometimes we came to a level gallery--then to a twisting +ascent--or the path would take a double course--backwards and +forwards,--the dizzy height of the precipices above our heads more awful +even than the gulfs beneath us! Sometimes we might have imagined +ourselves looking from a parapet into the inner space of a gigantic +castle--a castle a thousand times larger than was ever built by human +hands; while above our heads the turrets appeared as majestic as if we +had not climbed a step nearer to their summits. A small plot or two of +turf, never to be cropped by goat or heifer, on the ledge of a +precipice; a bunch of slender flowers hanging from a chink--and one +luxuriant plot of the bright blue monkshood, lodged like a little garden +amid the stone-work of an Italian villa--were the sole marks of +vegetation that met our eyes in the ascent, except a few distorted +pine-trees on one of the summits, which reminded us of watchmen, on the +look-out. A weather-beaten, complex, wooden frame, something like a +large sentry-box, hanging on the side of one of the crags, helped out +this idea, especially as we were told it had been placed there in +troublesome times to give warning of approaching danger. It was a very +wild object, that could not but be noticed; and _when_ noticed the +question must follow--how came it there? and for what purpose? We were +preceded by some travellers on mules, who often shouted as if for their +own pleasure; and the shouts were echoed through the circuit of the +rocks. Their guide afterwards sang a hymn, or pensive song: there was an +aërial sweetness in the wild notes which descended to our ears. When +_we_ had attained the same height, _our_ guide sang the same air, which +made me think it might be a customary rite, or practice, in that part of +the ascent. The Gemmi Pass is in the direct road from Berne to the Baths +of Leuk. Invalids, unable to walk, are borne on litters by men, and +frequently have their eyes blinded that they may not look down; and the +most hardy travellers never venture to descend on their horses or mules. +Those careful creatures make their way safely, though it is often like +descending a steep and rugged staircase: and there is nothing to fear +for foot-travellers if their heads be not apt to turn giddy. The path is +seldom traceable, either up or down, further than along one of its +zig-zags; and it will happen, when you are within a yard or two of the +line which is before you, that you cannot guess what turning it shall +make. The labour and ingenuity with which this road has been constructed +are truly astonishing. The canton of Berne, eighty years ago, furnished +gunpowder for blasting the rocks, and labourers were supplied by the +district of the Valais. The former track (right up an apparently almost +perpendicular precipice between overhanging crags) must have been +utterly impassable for travellers such as we, if any such had travelled +in those days, yet it was, even now, used in winter. The peasants ascend +by it with pikes and snowshoes, and on their return to the valley slide +down, an appalling thought when the precipice was before our eyes; and I +almost shudder at the remembrance of it!... + +A glacier mountain appears on our left, the haunt of chamois, as our +guide told us; he said they might often be seen on the brow of the Gemmi +barrier in the early morning. We felt some pride in treading on the +outskirts of the chamois' play-ground--and what a boast for us, could we +have espied one of those light-footed creatures bounding over the crags! +But it is not for them who have been laggards in the vale till 6 o'clock +to see such a sight. + +The total absence of all _sound_ of living _creature_ was very striking: +silent moths in abundance flew about in the sunshine, and the muddy Lake +weltered below us; the only sound when we checked our voices to listen. +Hence we continued to journey over rocky and barren ground till we +suddenly looked down into a warm, green nook, into which we must +descend. Twelve cattle were there enclosed by the crags, as in a field +of their own choosing. We passed among them, giving no disturbance, and +again came upon a tract as barren as before. After about two leagues +from the top of the Gemmi crags, the summer chalet, our promised +resting-place, was seen facing us, reared against the stony mountain, +and overlooking a desolate round hollow. Winding along the side of the +hill (that deep hollow beneath us to the right) a long half-mile brought +us to the platform before the door of the hut. It was a scene of wild +gaiety. Half-a-score of youthful travellers (military students from the +College of Thun) were there regaling themselves. Mr. Robinson became +sociable; and we, while the party stood round us talking with him, had +our repast spread upon the same table where they had finished theirs. +They departed; and we saw them winding away towards the Gemmi on the +side of the precipice above the dreary hollow--a long procession, not +less interesting than the group at our approach. But every object +connected with animated nature (and human life especially) is +interesting on such a road as this; we meet no one with a stranger's +heart! I cannot forget with what pleasure, soon after leaving the hut, +we greeted two young matrons, one with a child in her arms, the other +with hers, a lusty babe, ruddy with mountain air, asleep in its wicker +cradle on her back. Thus laden they were to descend the Gemmi Rocks, and +seemed to think it no hardship, returning us cheerful looks while we +noticed the happy burthens which they carried. Those peasant travellers +out of sight, we go on over the same rocky ground, snowy pikes and +craggy eminences still bounding the prospect. But ere long we approach +the neighbourhood of trees, and overlooking a long smooth level covered +with poor yellowish grass, saw at a distance, in the centre of the +level, a group of travellers of a different kind--a party of gentry, +male and female, on mules. On meeting I spoke to the two ladies in +English, by way of trying their nation, and was pleased at being +answered in the same tongue. The lawn here was prettily embayed, like a +lake, among little eminences covered with dwarf trees, aged or blighted; +thence, onward to another open space, where was an encampment of cattle +sheds, the large plain spotted with heaps of stones at irregular +distances, as we see lime, or manure, or hay-cocks in our cultivated +fields. Those heaps had been gathered together by the industrious +peasants to make room for a scanty herbage for their cattle. The turf +was very poor, yet so lavishly overspread with close-growing flowers it +reminded us of a Persian carpet. The _silver_ thistle, as we then named +it, had a singularly beautiful effect; a glistering star lying on the +ground, as if enwrought upon it. An avalanche had covered the surface +with stones many years ago, and many more will it require for nature, +aided by the mountaineers' industry, to restore the soil to its former +fertility. On approaching the destined termination of our descent, we +were led among thickets of Alpine Shrubs, a rich covering of +berry-bearing plants overspreading the ground. We followed the ridge of +this wildly beautiful tract, and it brought us to the brink of a +precipice. On our right, when we looked into the savage valley of +Gastron--upwards toward its head, and downwards to the point where the +Gastron joins the Kandor, their united streams thence continuing a +tumultuous course to the Lake of Thun. The head of the _Kandor Thal_ was +concealed from us, to our left, by the ridge of the hill on which we +stood. By going about a mile further along the ridge to the brow of its +northern extremity, we might have seen the junction of the two rivers, +but were fearful of being overtaken by darkness in descending the Gemmi, +and were, indeed, satisfied with the prospect already gained. The river +Gastron winds in tumult over a stony channel, through the apparently +level area of a grassless vale, buried beneath stupendous mountains--not +a house or hut to be seen. A roaring sound ascended to us on the +eminence so high above the vale. How _awful_ the tumult when the river +carries along with it the spring tide of melted snow! We had long viewed +in our journey a snow-covered pike, in stateliness and height surpassing +all the other eminences. The whole mass of the mountain now appeared +before us, on the same side of the Gastron vale on which we were. It +seemed very near to us, and as if a part of its base rose from that +vale. We could hardly believe our guide when he told us that pike was +one of the summits of the Jungfrau, took out maps and books, and found +it could be no other mountain. I never before had a conception of the +space covered by the bases of these enormous piles. After lingering as +long as time would allow, we began to remeasure our steps, thankful for +the privilege of again feeling ourselves in the neighbourhood of the +Jungfrau, and of looking upon those heights that border the Lake of +Thun, at the feet of which we had first entered among the inner windings +of Switzerland. Our journey back to the chalet was not less pleasant +than in the earlier part of the day. The guide, hurrying on before us, +roused the large house-dog to give us a welcoming bark, which echoed +round the mountains like the tunable voices of a full pack of hounds--a +heart-stirring concert in that silent place where no waters were heard +at that time--no tinkling of cattle-bells; indeed the barren soil offers +small temptation for wandering cattle to linger there. In a few weeks +our rugged path would be closed up with snow, the hut untenanted for the +winter, and not a living creature left to rouse the echoes--echoes which +our Bard would not suffer to die with us. + + +_Friday, September 14th.--Martigny._--Oh! that I could describe,--nay, +that I could _remember_ the sublime spectacle of the pinnacles and +towers of Mont Blanc while we were travelling through the vale, long +deserted of the sunshine that still lingered on those summits! A large +body of moving clouds covered a portion of the side of the mountain. +The pinnacles and towers above them seemed as if they stood in the +sky;--of no soft aërial substance, but appearing, even at that great +distance, as they really are, huge masses of solid stone, raised by +Almighty Power, and never, but by the same Power, to be destroyed. The +village of Chamouny is on the opposite (the north-western) side of the +vale; in this part considerably widened. Having left the lanes and +thickets, we slanted across a broad unfenced level, narrowing into a +sort of village green, with its maypole, as in England, but of giant +stature, a pine of the Alps. The collected village of Chamouny and large +white Church appeared before us, above the river, on a gentle elevation +of pasture ground, sloping from woody steeps behind. Our walk beside the +suburban cottages was altogether new, and very interesting:--a busy +scene of preparation for the night! Women driving home their goats and +cows,--labourers returning with their tools,--sledges (an unusual sight +in Alpine valleys) dragged by lusty men, the old looking on,--young +women knitting; and ruddy children at play,--(a race how different from +the languishing youth of the hot plains of the Valais!)--Cattle bells +continually tinkling--no silence, no stillness here,--yet the bustle and +the various sounds leading to thoughts of quiet, rest, and silence. All +the while the call to the cattle is heard from different quarters; and +the rapid Arve roars through the vale, among rocks and stones (its +mountain spoils)--at one time split into divers branches--at another +collected into one rough channel. + +Passing the turn of the ascent, we come to another cross (placed there +to face the traveller ascending from the other side) and, from the brow +of the eminence, behold! to our left, the huge Form of Mont +Blanc--pikes, towers, needles, and wide wastes of everlasting snow in +dazzling brightness. Below, is the river Arve, a grey-white line, +winding to the village of Chamouny, dimly seen in the distance. Our +station, though on a height so commanding, was on the lowest point of +the eminence; and such as I have sketched (but how imperfectly!) was the +scene uplifted and outspread before us. The higher parts of the mountain +in our neighbourhood are sprinkled with brown chalets. So they were +thirty years ago, as my brother well remembered; and he pointed out to +us the very quarter from which a boy greeted him and his companion with +an Alpine cry-- + + The Stranger seen below, the Boy + Shouts from the echoing hills with savage joy.[61] + + [Footnote 61: _Descriptive Sketches._--W. W.] + + +_Sunday, September 16th._--_Chamouny._--There is no carriage road +further than to Argentière.--When, having parted with our car and guide, +we were slowly pursuing our way to the foot-path, between the mountains, +which was to lead us to the Valorsine, and thence, by the Tète-noire, to +Trient, we heard from the churchyard of Argentière, on the opposite side +of the river, a sound of voices chanting a hymn, or prayer, and, turning +round, saw in the green enclosure a lengthening procession--the priest +in his robes, the host, and banners uplifted, and men following, two and +two;--and, last of all, a great number of females, in like order; the +head and body of each covered with a white garment. The stream continued +to flow on for a long time, till all had paced slowly round the church, +the men gathering close together, to leave unencumbered space for the +women, the chanting continuing, while the voice of the Arve joined in +accordant solemnity. The procession was grave and simple, agreeing with +the simple decorations of a village church:--the banners made no +glittering show:--the females composed a moving girdle round the church; +their figures, from head to foot, covered with one piece of white cloth, +resembled the small pyramids of the Glacier, which were before our +eyes; and it was impossible to look at one and the other without +fancifully connecting them together. Imagine the _moving_ figures, like +a stream of pyramids--the white Church, the half-concealed Village, and +the Glacier close behind among pine-trees,--a pure sun shining over all! +and remember that these objects were seen at the base of those enormous +mountains, and you may have some faint notion of the effect produced on +us by that beautiful spectacle. It was a farewell to the Vale of +Chamouny that can scarcely be less vividly remembered twenty years hence +than when (that wondrous vale being just out of sight) after ascending a +little way between the mountains, through a grassy hollow, we came to a +small hamlet under shade of trees in summer foliage. A very narrow clear +rivulet, beside the cottages, was hastening with its tribute to the +Arve. This simple scene transported us instantly to our vallies of +Westmoreland. A few quiet children were near the doors, and we +discovered a young woman in the darkest, coolest nook of shade between +two of the houses, seated on the ground, intent upon her prayer-book. +The rest of the inhabitants were gone to join in the devotions at +Argentière. The top of the ascent (not a long one) being gained, we had +a second cheering companion in our downward way, another Westmoreland +brook of larger size, as clear as crystal; open to the sun, and +(bustling but not angry) it coursed by our side through a tract of +craggy pastoral ground. I do not speak of the needles of Montanvert, +behind; nor of other pikes up-rising before us. Such sights belong not +to Westmoreland; and I could fancy that I then paid them little regard, +it being for the sake of Westmoreland alone that I like to dwell on this +short passage of our journey, which brought us in view of one of the +most interesting of the vallies of the Alps. We descended with our +little stream, and saw its brief life in a moment cut off, when it +reached the _Berard_, the River of Black Water, which is seen falling, +not in _black_ but _grey_ cataracts within the cove of a mountain that +well deserves the former epithet, though a bed of _snow_ and glacier ice +is seen among its piky and jagged ridges. Below those bare summits, pine +forests and crags are piled together, with lawns and cottages between. + +We enter at the side of the valley, crossing a wooden bridge--then, +turning our backs on the scene just described, we bend our course +downward with the river, that is hurrying away, fresh from its glacier +fountains; how different a fellow-traveller from that little rivulet we +had just parted from, which we had seen--still bright as silver--drop +into the grey stream! The descending vale before us beautiful--the high +enclosing hills interspersed with woods, green pasturage, and cottages. +The delight we had in journeying through the Valorsine is not to be +imagined--sunshine and shade were alike cheering; while the very +numerousness of the brown wood cottages (descried among trees, or +outspread on the steep lawns), and the people enjoying their Sabbath +leisure out of doors, seemed to make a quiet spot more quiet. + + +_Wednesday, September 19th._--_Lausanne._--We met with some pleasant +Englishmen, from whom we heard particulars concerning the melancholy +fate of our young friend, the American, seen by us for the last time on +the top of the Righi. The tidings of his death had been first +communicated, but a few hours before, by Mr. Mulloch. We had the comfort +of hearing that his friend had saved himself by swimming, and had paid +the last duties to the stranger, so far from home and kindred, who lies +quietly in the churchyard of Küsnacht on the shores of Zurich. + + +_Saturday, September 29th._--_Fontainbleau._--In the very heart of the +Alps, I never saw a more wild and lonely spot--yet _curious_ in the +extreme, and even _beautiful_. Thousands of white bleached rocks, mostly +in appearance not much larger than sheep, lay on the steep declivities +of the dell among bushes and low trees, heather, bilberries, and other +forest plants. The effect of loneliness and desert wildness was +indescribably increased by the remembrance of the Palace we had left not +an hour before. The spot on which we stood is said to have been +frequented by Henry the IVth when he wished to retire from his court and +attendants. A few steps more brought us in view of fresh ranges of the +forest, hills, plains, and distant lonely dells. The sunset was +brilliant--light clouds in the west, and overhead a spotless blue dome. +As we wind along the top of the steep, the views are still changing--the +plain expands eastward, and again appear the white buildings of +Fontainbleau, with something of romantic brightness in the _fading_ +light; for we had tarried till a star or two reminded us it was time to +move away. In descending, we followed one of the long straight tracks +that intersect the forest in all directions. Bewildered among those +tracks, we were set right by a party of wood-cutters, going home from +their labour. + + +_Monday, October 29th._--_Boulogne._--We walked to Buonaparte's Pillar, +which, on the day when he harangued his soldiers (pointing to the shores +of England whither he should lead them to conquest), he decreed should +be erected in commemoration of the Legion of Honour.[62] The pillar is +seen far and wide, _unfinished_, as the intricate casing of a +_scaffolding, loftier than itself, shows at whatever distance_ it is +seen. It is said the Bourbons intend to complete the work, and give it a +new name; but I think it more probable that the scaffolding may be left +to fall away, and the pile of marble remain strewn round, as it is, with +unfinished blocks, an undisputed monument of the Founder's vanity and +arrogance; and _so_ it may stand as long as the brick towers of +Caligula have done, a remnant of which yet appears on the cliffs. We +walked on the ground which had been covered by the army that dreamt of +conquering England, and were shown the very spot where their Leader made +his boastful speech. + + [Footnote 62: Then established.--D. W.] + +On the day fixed for our departure from Boulogne, the weather being +boisterous and wind contrary, the _Packet_ could not sail, and we +trusted ourselves to a small vessel, with only one effective sailor on +board. Even _Mary_ was daunted by the breakers outside the Harbour, and +_I_ descended into the vessel as unwillingly as a criminal might go to +execution, and hid myself in bed. Presently our little ship moved; and +before ten minutes were gone she struck upon the sands. I felt that +something disastrous had happened; but knew not what till poor Mary +appeared in the cabin, having been thrown down from the top of the +steps. There was again a frightful beating and grating of the bottom of +the vessel--water rushing in very fast. A young man, an Italian, who had +risen from a bed beside mine, as pale as ashes, groaned in agony, +kneeling at his prayers. My condition was not much better than his; but +I was more quiet. Never shall I forget the kindness of a little Irish +woman who, though she herself, as she afterwards said, was much +frightened, assured me even cheerfully that there was no danger. I +cannot say that her words, as assurances of safety, had much effect upon +me; but the example of her courage made me become more collected; and I +felt her human kindness even at the moment when I believed that we might +be all going to the bottom of the sea together; and the agonising +thoughts of the distress at home were rushing on my mind. + + + + + X + + EXTRACTS FROM DOROTHY WORDSWORTH'S + TOUR IN SCOTLAND + 1822 + +EXTRACTS FROM DOROTHY WORDSWORTH'S TOUR IN SCOTLAND, 1822 + + +_Friday, 14th September 1822._--Cart at the door at nine o'clock with +our pretty black-eyed boy, Leonard Backhouse, to drive the old grey +horse.... Scene at Castlecary very pretty.... Nothing which we English +call comfort within doors, but much better, civility and kindness. Old +woman bringing home her son to die; left his wife, she will never see +him again. [They seem to have gone by the Forth and Clyde Canal.] Scene +at the day's end very pretty. The fiddler below,--his music much better +there. A soldier at the boat's head; scarlet shawls, blue ribbons, +something reminding me of Bruges; but we want the hum, and the fruit, +and the Flemish girl with her flowers. The people talk cheerfully, and +all is quiet; groups of cottages. Evening, with a town lying in view. +Lassies in pink at the top of the bank; handsome boatman throws an apple +to each; graceful waving of thanks. + + +_Thursday morning [on the Clyde]._--Now we come to Lord Blantyre's +house, as I remember it eighteen years ago.... Gradually appears the +Rock of Dumbarton, very wild, low water, screaming birds, to me very +interesting from recollections. Entrance to Loch Lomond grand and +stately. Large hills before us, covered with heather, and sprinkled all +over with wood. Deer on island, in shape resembling the isle at +Windermere. Further on an island, of large size, curiously scattered +over with yew-trees--more yews than are to be found together in Great +Britain--wind blowing cold, waves like the sea. I could not find out our +cottage isle. The bay at Luss even more beautiful than in imagination, +thatched cottages, two or three slated houses. The little chapel, the +sweet brook, and the pebbly shore, so well remembered. + +Ferry-house at Inversnaid just the same as before, excepting now a glass +window. A girl now standing at the door, but her I cannot fancy our +"Highland girl"; and the babe, while its granddame worked, now twenty, +grown up to toil, and perhaps hardship; or, is it in a quiet grave? The +whole waterfall drops into the lake as before. The tiny bay is calm, +while the middle of the lake is stirred by breezes; but we have long +left the sea-like region of Balloch. Our Highland musician tunes his +pipes as we approach Rob Roy's cave. Grandeur of Nature, mixed with +stage effect. Old Highlanders, with long grey locks, cap, and plaid; +boys at different heights on the rocks. All crowd to Rob Roy's cave, as +it is called, and pass under in interrupted succession, for the cave is +too small to contain many at once. They stoop, yet come out all covered +with dirt. We were wiser than this; for they seem to have no motive but +to say they have been in Roy's cave, because Sir Walter has written +about it. + + +_Evening._--Now sitting at Cairndhu Inn after a delightful day. The +house on the outside just the same as eighteen years ago--I suppose they +new-whitewash every year--but within much smarter; carpets on every +floor (that is the case everywhere in Scotland), even at that villainous +inn at Tarbet, which we have just escaped from, which for scolding, and +dirt, and litter, and damp, surely cannot be surpassed through all +Scotland. Yet we had a civil repast; a man waited. People going to +decay, children ill-managed, daughter too young for her work, father +lamed, mother a whisky-drinker, two or three black big-faced +servant-maids without caps, one barefoot, the other too lazy or too +careless to fasten up her stockings, ceilings falling down, windows that +endangered the fingers, and could only be kept open by props; and what a +number of people in the kitchen, all in one another's way! We peeped +into the empty rooms, unmade beds, carpeted floors, damp and dirty. They +sweep stairs, floors, passages, with a little parlour hearth-brush; +waiter blew the dust off the table before breakfast. I walked down to +the lake; sunny morning; in the shady wood was overtaken by a woman. Her +sudden coughing startled me. She was going to her day's work, with a +bottle of milk or whey. "It's varra pleesant walkin' here." It was our +first greeting. The church, she said, was at Arrochar.... After +breakfast, we set off on our walk to Arrochar. The air fresh, sunshine +cheerful, and Joanna seemed to gain strength, as she walked along +between the steep hilly trough. The cradle-valley not so deep to the eye +as last night, and not so quiet to the ear through the barking of dogs. +These echoed through the vale, when I passed by some reapers, making +haste to end their day's work. Gladly did I bend my course from this +passage between the hills to Arrochar, remembering our descent in the +Irish car. My approach now slower, and I was glad, both for the sake of +past and present times. Wood thicker than then, and some of the gleaming +of the lake shut out by young larch-trees. Sun declining upon the +mountains of Glencroe, shining full on Cobbler. No touch of melancholy +on the scene, all majesty and solemn grandeur, with loveliness in +colouring, golden and green and grey crags. On my return to Loch Lomond, +the sunlight streaming a veil of brightness, with slanting rays towards +Arrochar, where I sate on the steeps opposite to Ben Lomond; and on Ben +Lomond's top a pink light rested for a long time, till a cloud hid the +pyramid from me. I stayed till moonlight was beginning.... + + +_Friday morning._--The gently descending smooth road, the sea-breezes, +the elegant house, with a foreign air, all put Joanna[63] into +spirits and strength. "Cobbler," like a waggoner, his horse's head +turned round from us, the waggon behind with a covered top.... Chapel +like a neglected Italian chapel, a few melancholy graves and +burial-places--pine-trees round. Fishermen's nets waving in the breeze; +sombrous, yellow belt of shore, yellowish even in the mid-day light.... +At the inn, went into the same parlour where William and I dined, after +parting with Coleridge.... + + [Footnote 63: Joanna Hutchinson.--ED.] + +In Glencroe[64] huge stones scattered over the glen; one hut in first +reach, none in second, white house in third; last reach rocky, green, +deep.... When we came to the turning of the glen, where several waters +join, formerly not seen distinctly, but heard very loud, the stream in +the middle of the glen, a long winding line, was rosy red, the former +line of Loch Restal. A glorious sky before us, with dark clouds, like +islands in a sea of fire, purple hills below. Behind two _smooth_ +pyramids. Soon they were cowled in white, long before the redness left +the sky. After Glenfinlas, the road not so long, nor dreary, nor +prospect so wild as at our first approach; uncertain whither tending. +Church to right with steeple (surely more steeples in Scotland than +formerly). Reached Cairndhu, excellent fire in kitchen, great kindness, +still an unintelligible number of women, but all quiet.... + + [Footnote 64: They drove over from Arrochar to Cairndhu.--ED.] + + +_Saturday morning._--Men, women, and children amongst the corn by the +wayside, children's business chiefly play. Passed the church; the bridge +like a Roman ruin--how grand in its desolation, the parapet on one side +broken, the way across it grown over, like a common, with close grass +and grunsel, only a faint foot-track on one side. Met a well-looking +mother with bonny bairns. Spoke to her of them. "They would be weel +eneuch," said she, "if they were weel skelpit!" The father seemed +pleased, and left his work (running) to help us over the bridge. A +shower; shelter under a bridge; sun and shadows on a smooth hill at head +of loch; at a distance a single round-headed tree. Tree gorgeous yellow, +and soft green, and many shadows. Now comes a slight rainbow. Towards +Inveraray strong sunbeams, white misty rain, hills gleaming through it. +Now I enter by the ferry-house, Glenfinlas opposite.... + +How quiet and still the road, now and then a solitary passenger. No +sound but of the robins continually singing; sometimes a distant oar on +the waters, and now and then reapers at work above on the hills. Barking +dog, at empty cottage, chid us from above. The lake so still I cannot +hear it, nor any sound of water, but at intervals rills trickling. I +hasten on for boat for Inveraray; view splendid as Italy, only wanting +more boats. There is a pleasure in the utter stillness of calm water. +Sitting together on the rock, we hear the breeze rising; water now +gently weltering.... How continually Highlanders say, "Ye're varra +welcome." + +"This is more like an enchanted castle than anything we've seen," so +says Joanna, now that we are seated, with one candle, in a large room, +with black door, black chimney-piece, black moulding.... We enter, as +abroad, into a useless space, turn to left, and a black-headed lass, +with long hair and dirty face, meets us. We ask for lodgings, and she +carries us from one narrow passage to another, and up a narrow +staircase, and round another as narrow, only not so high as the broad +ones at T----, just to the top of the house. We enter a large room with +two beds, walls damp, no bell.... Reminded of foreign countries, as I +walked along the shore; beside dirty houses. Long scarlet cloaks, women +without caps; a mother on a log of wood in the sunshine, her face as +yellow as gold, dress ragged; she holds her baby standing on the +ground, while it laughs and plays with the bristles of a pig eating its +breakfast.... Came along an avenue, one and a half miles at least, all +beeches, some very fine, cathedral-fluted pillars. + + + + + XI + + EXTRACTS FROM MARY WORDSWORTH'S + JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN BELGIUM IN 1823[65] + + [Footnote 65: The MS. is headed "Minutes collected from Mem. Book, + etc., taken during a Tour in Holland, commenced May 16th, 1823."--ED.] + +EXTRACTS FROM MARY WORDSWORTH'S JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN BELGIUM + + +Left Lee. (I now transcribe what was dictated by William.) ... Dover, as +interesting as ever, and the French coast very striking as we descended. +Walked under Shakespear's Cliff by moonlight. Met several sailors, none +of whom had ever asked himself the height of the cliff. I cannot think +it can be more than 400 feet at the utmost; how odd that the description +in Lear should ever have been supposed to have been meant for a reality. +I know nothing that more forcibly shows the little reflection with which +even men of sense read poetry. "How truly," exclaims the historian of +Dover, "has Shakespear described the precipice." How much better would +he (the historian) have done had he given us its actual elevation! The +sky looked threatening, a wheel at a great distance round the moon, +ominous according to our westland shepherds. The furze in full +blossom.... + + +_Ostend, half-past 8 o'clock, Sunday morning._-- ... We were driven at a +fierce rate before the wind.... We proceeded till about four o'clock, +when we were--had the same wind continued--within two hours of Ostend. +But now, overhead was a bustle of quick steps, trailing and heaving of +ropes, with voices in harmony. Below me, the vessel _slashed_ among the +waters, quite different from the sound and driving motion I had become +accustomed to.... The phosphorous lights from the oars were beautiful; +and when we approached the harbour, these, in connection with the steady +pillar streaming across the water from the lighthouse, upon the pier; +and afterwards, still more beautiful, when these faded before a +brilliant spectacle (caused by a parcel of carpenters and sailors +burning the tar from the hulk of a large vessel under repair), upon the +beach. I thought if we were to see nothing more this exhibition repaid +us for our day of suffering. But we wished for the painter's skill to +delineate the scene, the various objects illuminated by the burning +ship, the glowing faces of the different figures--among which was a +dog--the ropes, ladders, sands, and sea, with the body of intense bright +fire spreading out and fading among the dim stars in the grey mottled +sky.... Ostend looks well as to houses compared with one of our English +towns of like importance. The tall windows, and the stature of the +buildings, give them a dignity nowhere found with us; but it has no +public buildings of interest. Climbing an oblique path which led up to +the ramparts, a little boy called out in broken English, "Stop, or the +soldiers will put you in prison." Not a living creature to be seen on +that airy extensive walk, everybody cooped in the sultry flat. +Melancholy enough at all times, but particularly so on this great day of +annual celebration. But the joy, if any there is, is strictly confined +to the doing of nothing. A few idle people were playing at a game of +chance, under the green daisy-clad ramparts. I got a glimpse of the +country by climbing the steps to a wind-mill, "snatching a fearful +_joy_" I cannot call it, for the view was tame; the sun however shone +bright on the fields, some of which were yellow as furze in blossom, +with what produce I know not.... + + +_Bruges, Hôtel de la Fleur de Blé; Monday, May 19th._-- ... Bruges loses +nothing of its attractions upon a second visit as far as regards +buildings, etc., but a bustling Fair is not the time to feel the +natural sentiment of such a place. We crept about the shady parts, and +among the booths, and traversed the cool extensive vault under the Hôtel +de Ville, where the butcher's market is held (a thousand times the most +commodious shambles I ever saw), and the bazaars above, and made some +purchases. + + +_Tuesday 20th._-- ... The thought of Bruges upon the Fair-day never can +disturb the image of that spiritualised city, seen in 1820, under the +subdued light and quiet of a July evening and early morning.... Nothing +can be more refreshing than to flout thus at ease, the awning screening +us from the sun, and the pleasant breezes fanning our temples; ... +cottages constantly varying the shores, which are particularly gay at +this season, interspersed with fruit-tree blossom and the broom flower; +goats tethered on the grassy banks, under the thin line of elms; a +village with a pretty church, midway on the journey; ... the air +delightfully refreshed by the rain; the banks, again low, allow the eye +to stretch beyond the avenue; corn looking well, rich daisy-clad +pastures, and here alive with grasshoppers; large village on both sides +of the canal, bridge between, from which letters are dropped into the +barge, as we pass, by means of a shoe. A sale at a Thames-like chateau; +we take on purchasers with their bargains--chests of drawers, bed and +chamber furniture of all sorts--barge crowded; Catholic priests do not +scruple to interlard their conversation with oaths; the three Towers of +Ghent, seen through the misty air in the distance under the arch of the +canal bridge, give a fine effect to this view; drawing nearer and +gliding between villages and chateaux, the architecture looks very +rich.... + + +_Ghent, Thursday 22nd._--Left Ghent at 7 o'clock by diligence.... Paved +road between trees; elms with scattered oaks; square fields divided by +sluices, some dry, others with water bordered by willows, etc., thin +and low; neat houses and villages, English-looking, only the windows and +window-shutters gaily painted; labourers upon their knees weeding flax; +some corn, very short, but shot into ear; broom here and there in +flower, else a perfect uniformity of surface.... + + +_Antwerp._-- ... Disappointed by the first view of Antwerp standing in +nakedness.... Few travellers have been more gratified than we were +during our two days' residence in this fine city, which we left, after +having visited the Cathedral, and feasted our eyes on those magnificent +pictures of Rubens, over and over again; and often was this great +pleasure heightened almost to rapture, when, during mass, the full organ +swelled and penetrated the remotest corners of that stately +edifice--here we were never weary of lingering; but none of the churches +did we leave unvisited; that of St. James was the next in interest to +us, which contained Rubens' family monument; a chapel or _recess_ railed +off, as others are, in which hung a beautiful painting by the great +master himself bearing date 23rd May, --64; a mother presenting a child +to an old man, said to be Rubens' father; three females behind the old +man, and R. himself, in the character of St. George, holding a red flag +among a group of angels hovering over the living child. The drapery of +the principal female figure is a rich blue. R.'s three wives are +represented in this exquisite picture. Besides the several churches, so +rich in fine paintings, we spent much time in the museum--formerly the +Convent des Recollects--an extremely interesting place, independent of +the treasure now contained in it.... The picture by which _I_ was most +impressed was a Christ on the Cross, by Van Dyck; there was a chaste +simplicity about this piece which quite riveted me; the principal figure +in the centre, St. Dominique in an attitude of contemplation; the St. +Catherine embracing the foot of the Cross, and lifting a countenance of +deep searching agony, which, compared with the expression of patient +suffering in that of the Saviour, was almost too much to look upon, yet +once seen it held me there.... + + +_Saturday 24th._--At 9 o'clock we left Antwerp by the diligence.... +Breda looked well by moonlight, crossed by steamboat the _Bies +Bosch_ near Dort, which town we reached by half-past six on Sunday +morning, May 26th. We are now in the country of many waters.... Mounted +the tower, which bore the date 1626; an interesting command of +prospect--Stad-house, Bourse, winding streets, trees and rivers (the +Meuse) intermingled; walks, screened by trees, look cool. The eye +follows five streams from different parts of the handsome town into the +country; vessels moving upon them in all directions.... + + +_Rotterdam._--Walked to the "Plantation," a sort of humble Vauxhall. +About sunset, seated upon the banks of the Meuse; sails gliding down, +white and red; the dark tower of the Cathedral; a glowing line of +western sky, with twelve windmills as grand as castles, most of them at +rest, but the arms of some languidly in motion, crimsoned by the setting +sun. A file of grey clouds run southward from the Cathedral tower. The +birds, which were faintly warbling in the pleasure-ground behind us when +we sate down, have now ceased. Three very slender spires, one of which +we know to be the Hôtel de Ville, denote, together with the Cathedral +tower, the neighbourhood of a large town. + + +_Tuesday 27th._-- ... Left Rotterdam at ten o'clock. As we crossed the +bridge, the fine statue of Erasmus, rising silently, with eyes fixed +upon his book, above the noisy crowd gathered round the booths and +vehicles, which upon the market-day beset him, and backed by buildings +and trees, intermingled with the fluttering pennons from vessels +unloading their several cargoes into the warehouses, produced a curious +and very striking contrast.... The stately stream down which we floated +took us to the royal town of the Hague. Arriving there at five o'clock, +we immediately walked to the wood, in which stands the Palace; charming +promenades, pools of water, swans, stately trees, birds warbling, +military music--the _Brae Bells_; the streets similar to those at Delf; +screens of trees, sometimes on one side, but generally on both sides of +the canal; bridges at convenient distances across.... Looked with +interest upon the ground where the De Wits were massacred, to which we +were conducted by a funny old man, of whom we purchased a box. The spot +is a narrow space, passing from one square to another, if I recollect +right, near to the public building, whence the brothers had been dragged +by the infuriated rabble. Horse-chestnut trees in flower everywhere. + + +_Wednesday 28th._-- ... Looked into the fine room where the lottery is +kept, which interested us, as well as the countenances of those who were +working at fortune's wheel, and those who were eagerly gaping for her +favours. Above all, the King's Gallery most attracted us with its +magnificent collection of pictures.... + + +_Leyden, Thursday 29th._--Arose, and found that our commodious chamber +looked upon pleasure-walks, which we at once determined must be the +University garden, naturally giving to this place the sort of +accommodations found in our own seats of learning, but no such luxury +belongs to the students of Leyden. The ground with its plantations +through which these walks are carried, and upon which the sun now so +cheerfully shone, was formerly covered with buildings that were +destroyed, together with the inhabitants, by an explosion which took +place in a barge of gunpowder in 1806, then lying in the neighbouring +canal.... + +There are no colleges, or separate dwellings, in Leyden, for the +students; they are lodged with different families in the town. Our +guide had three at his house from England, as he told us. A wandering +sheep lying at the threshold, as we passed a good-looking house in the +street; were told that this was a pensioner upon the public, that it +would lie there till it was fed, and then would pass on to some other +door. This animal had been brought up the pet of a soldier once +quartered at Leyden, and when he changed his situation his favourite was +sent into the fields, but preferring human society, it could not be +confined amongst its fellows, but ever returned to the town, and, +begging its daily food, it passed from door to door of those houses +which its old master had frequented, obstinately keeping its station +until an alms was bestowed--bread, vegetables, soup, nothing came wrong, +and as soon as this was received, the patient mendicant walked quietly +away. + + +_Haarlem._-- ... Reached Haarlem at five o'clock; went directly to the +Cathedral, mounted the tower, an hour too early for the sunset; a +splendid and interesting view beyond any we have seen. Looking eastward, +the canal seen stretching through houses and among the trees, to the +spires of Amsterdam in the distance. A little to the right, the Mere of +Haarlem spotted with vessels, the river Spaaren winding among trees +through the town; steeple towers of Utrecht beyond the Mere. The Boss, a +fine wood and elegant mansion built by ---- Hope, now a royal residence; +new kirk, fine tower; the sea, and sand-hills beyond the flats glowing +under a dazzling western sky. The winding Spaaren again among green +fields brings the eye round to the Amsterdam canal, up which we shall +glide.... + + +_Friday 30th._-- ... We were floating between stunted willows towards +Amsterdam, the birds sweetly warbling, but the same unvaried course +before us. I have, however, a basket at my feet containing pots of +fragrant geranium, and a beautiful flowering fern, brought, I suppose, +from the market where we saw the commodities offered for sale. The +groups of figures, with their baskets and stalls of vegetables, ranged +along the shady avenues, have often a striking effect; the fanciful +architecture towering above, as seen from the end of one of the market +streets, especially if the view be terminated by a spire or a lofty +tower.... The spires of Amsterdam, and different spires and shipping, +rise beyond the flat line of the water. The same cold north wind is +breathing in the sunshine, now that we are not within the screen of the +trees. The plains are scattered with cattle, and a broken line of Dutch +farm-houses, which we have hitherto in vain looked for, stretch at a +field's distance from the canal. Having now resumed our seats, reeds and +pools diversify our course; and drawing nearer Amsterdam, I must put +away my book, to look after the pleasure-houses and gardens; the first +presents a bed of full-blown China roses. + + +_Amsterdam, Saturday 31st_.... _Brock._--After walking one hour and five +minutes by the side of the canal, upon a good road, through a tract of +peat-mossy rich pasturage, besprinkled with cattle, and bounded by a +horizon broken by spires, steeple-towers, villages, scattered farms, and +the unfailing windmill--seen single or in pairs, or clustered, at short +distances everywhere--we are now seated beneath the shelter of a +friendly windmill; the north wind bracing us, and the swallows +twittering under a cloudless grey sky above our heads.... After +twenty-six minutes' further walk, the canal spreads into a circular +basin, upon the opposite margin of which stands the quaintly dressed +little town of Brock. The church spire rises from amid elegantly neat +houses, chiefly of wood, much carved and ornamented, and covered with +glazed tiles.... In each of these houses is a certain elaborately +ornamented door by which at their wedding the newly-married pair, and +perhaps their friends, enter. It is then closed, and never opened again +until the man or his wife is carried out a corpse.... The streets are +paved with what are called Dutch tiles, but certainly not the polished +slabs we have been accustomed to give this name to--more like our +bricks, of various colours arranged in patterns, as Mr. B. would like +the floors of his sheds, etc., to be. A piece of white marble often +forms the centre to some device; where the flooring in a garden happens +to be uniform in colour, a pattern is formed by a sprinkling of sand, +which seems to lie as a part of the flooring unmoved under a fresh +blowing wind.... + + +_Saardam, Sunday evening, June 1st._--We have had a delightful trip +to-day to Saardam, another North Holland town. Visited the hut, and +workshop, in which Peter the Great wrought as a carpenter.... + + +_Monday, June 2nd._--Am thankful to rest before we depart from +Amsterdam, in which I would not live to be Queen of Holland; yet she is +mistress of the most magnificent palace I ever saw, furnished +substantially, and in excellent taste, by Louis Buonaparte. The edifice +formerly belonged to the city, the Stad-house, and was presented to him +as a compliment upon his elevation to the throne.... At five this day we +are to depart for Utrecht, most happy to turn our faces homeward, and to +leave this watery country, where there is not a drop fit to drink.... + + +_Antwerp, June 5th._--Arose at seven, and have revisited most, indeed +all, that best pleased us before--and accomplished our wish to mount the +Cathedral tower, and under favourable skies; a glorious sunset upon the +Scheldt; the clouds, the shadow of the spire, the spire itself, the town +below, the country around, our own enjoyments--these we shall ever +remember, but we are to be off to Malines, at seven o'clock in the +morning.... + + +_Wednesday 11th._-- ... Adventures we have had few; William's eyes +being so much disordered, and so easily aggravated, naturally made him +shun society, and crippled us in many respects; but I trust we have +stored up thoughts, and images, that will not die. + + + + + XII + + EXTRACTS FROM DOROTHY WORDSWORTH'S + TOUR IN THE ISLE OF MAN + 1828 + +EXTRACTS FROM DOROTHY WORDSWORTH'S TOUR IN THE ISLE OF MAN, 1828 + + +_Thursday, June 26th, 1828._--Called at half-past two, and breakfasted +by kitchen fire. Walked to the end of gravel terrace;[66] grey calm, and +warbling birds; sad at the thought of my voyage, cheered only by the end +of it. Sat long at Morris's door; grey and still; coach full, and sour +looks within, for I made a fifth; won my way by civility, and +communicating information to a sort of gentleman fisher going to +Wytheburn. English manners ungracious: he left us at Nag's Head without +a bow or good wish. Morning still foggy. Wytheburn, cliffs and trees. +Stayed inside till reached an inn beside Bassenthwaite; only another +lady in coach, so had a good view of the many cloudy summits and +swelling breastworks of Skiddaw, and was particularly struck with the +amplitude of style and objects, flat Italian foreground, large fields, +and luxuriant hedges,--a perfect garden of Eden, rich as ivory and +pearls. Dull and barish near Cockermouth. Town surprised me with its +poor aspect. Old market-house to be pulled down. Sorry I could not study +the old place. Life has gone from my Father's Court.[67] View from +bridge beautiful. Ruin, castle, meadows with hay-cocks.... Again cold +and dreary after river goes. Dorrington very dreary, yet fine trees. +Dropped Mr. Lowther's sons from school. Busy-looking fresh-coloured +aunt, looks managing and well satisfied with herself, but kind to the +boys; little sister very glad, and brothers in a bustle of pleasure.... +Workington very dismal; beautiful approach to Whitehaven; comfortless +inn, but served by a German waiter; Buckhouse's daughter; a hall, a +church; the sea, the castle; dirty women, ragged children; no shoes, no +stockings; fine view of cliffs and stone quarry; pretty, smokeless, +blue-roofed town; castle and inn a foreign aspect. Embarked at ten. Full +moon; lighthouse; summer sky; moved away; and saw nothing till a distant +view of Isle of Man. Hills cut off by clouds. Beautiful approach to +Douglas harbour; wind fallen. Harry met me at inn; surprised with gay +shops and store-houses; walk on the gardens of the hills; decayed +houses, divided gardens; luxuriant flowers and shrubs, very like a +French place; an Italian lady, the owner; air very clear, though hazy in +Cumberland. Very fine walk after tea on the cliff; sea calm, and as if +enclosed by haze; fishes sporting near the rocks; a few sea-birds to +chatter and wail, but mostly silent rocks; two very grand masses in a +little bay, a pellucid rivulet of sea-water between them; the hills +mostly covered with cropped gorse, a very rich dark green. This gorse +cropped in winter, and preserved for cattle fodder. The moon rose large +and dull, like an ill-cleaned brass plate, slowly surmounts the haze, +and sends over the calm sea a faint bright pillar. In the opposite +quarter Douglas harbour; illuminated boats in motion, dark masts and +eloquent ropes; noises from the town ascend to the commanding airy +steeps where we rested. + + [Footnote 66: At Rydal Mount.--ED.] + + [Footnote 67: The house at Cockermouth where William and Dorothy + Wordsworth were born. Compare _The Prelude_, book i.--ED.] + + +_Saturday, 28th June._--Lovely morning; walked with Henry[68] to the +nunnery; cool groves of young trees and very fine old ones. General +Goulding has built a handsome house near the site of the old nunnery, on +which stands a modern house (to be pulled down). The old convent bell, +hung outside, is used as a house-bell; the valley very pretty, with a +mill stream, and might be beautiful, if properly drained. The view of +the nunnery charming from some points. + + [Footnote 68: Henry Hutchinson, Mrs. Wordsworth's brother, the + "retired mariner" of the 9th Sonnet, composed during Wordsworth's + subsequent tour in 1833.--ED.] + +Walked on to the old church, Kirk Bradden; handsome steeple. +Burial-ground beautifully shaded, and full of tombstones. Tombstone or +obelisk to the memory of a son of the Duke of Athole, commander of the +Manx Fencibles. + +Douglas market very busy. Women often with round hats, like the Welsh; +and girls without shoes and stockings, though otherwise not ill dressed. +Panniers made of matted straw; country people speak more Manx than +English; the sound is not hoarse nor harsh. Cliffs picturesque above +Mona Castle; a waterfall (without water); the castle of very white stone +from Scotland, after the style of Inveraray. How much handsomer and +better suited to its site would be the native dark grey rock. The +nunnery house is as it should be; and the castle, with stronger towers +in the same style, would have been a noble object in the bay.... Road +and flat sandy space to the sea; a beautiful sea residence for the +solitary; pleasant breezes, and sky clear of haziness. + + +_Sunday, 29th June._--A lovely bright morning; walk with H.; a fine view +over the sky-blue sea; breezy on the heights. At Mr. Browne's church. +Text from Isaiah, the "Shadow of a great Rock," etc., applied to our +Saviour and the Christian dispensation. Marketplace and harbour +cheerful, and, compared with yesterday, quiet. Gay pleasure-boats in +harbour, from Liverpool and Scotland, with splendid flags. During +service the noises of children and sometimes of carriages distressing. +Mr. Browne a sensible and feeling, yet monotonous and weak-voiced, +reader. His iron shoes clank along the aisle--the effect of this very +odd. Called in the Post Office lane at the postmaster's, narrow as an +Italian street, and the house low, cool, old-fashioned and cleanly. +Stairs worn down with much treading, and everything reminding one of +life at Penrith forty years back. A cheerful family of useful-looking, +well-informed daughters; English father and Scotch mother. Crowds +inquiring for letters. To Kirk Bradden, one and a half miles; arrived at +second lesson. Funeral service for two children; the coffins in the +church. Mr. Howard a fine-looking man and agreeable preacher. The +condition of the righteous and of the ungodly after death was the +subject. Groups sitting on the tombstones reminded me of the Continent. +The churchyard shady and cool, a sweet resting-place. We lingered long, +and walked home through the nunnery grounds. The congregation rustic, +but very gay. There seems to be no room for the very poor people in +either church, and in Douglas great numbers were about in the streets +during service. Mr. Putman called, a gentlemanly man, faded, and +delicate-looking; brought up at Dublin College for the bar, took to the +stage, married a hotel lady, disapproved by her friends, gave lectures +on elocution, had profits, but obliged to desist, having broken a +blood-vessel; now living on a very small income at Douglas in lodgings; +sighing for house-keeping, and they have bought the house we visited +last night on the sands. After tea walked with Joanna on pier--a very +gay and crowded scene. Saw the steam-packet depart for Liverpool. Ladies +in immense hats, and as fine as millinery and their own various tastes +can make them. Beauish tars; their pleasure-boats in harbour, with +splendid flags; two or three worthy suitors in bright blue jackets, +their badges on their breast, their hats trimmed with blue ribands. For +the first time I saw the Cumberland hills; but dimly. Sea very bright; +talked with old sailor and tried his spectacles. Went to the Douglas +Head, very fine walk on the turf tracks among the horns gorse, bright +green, studded with yellow flowers in bunches, the ladies'-bed-straw; +the green sea-weed with the brown bed of the river produces a beautiful +effect of colouring, and the numbers of well-dressed, or rather +_showily_-dressed, people is astonishing, gathered together in the +harbour, and sprinkled over the heights. Fine view of rocks below us on +the lower road; lingered till near ten. Lovely moonlight when I went to +bed; amused with Miss Fanny Buston, her conceit, her long, nose, her +painted cheeks, _not_ painted but by nature. + + +_Tuesday, July 1st._--With Joanna[69] to the shore, and alone on the +pier. Very little air even there, but refreshing; and the water of the +bay clear, and green as the Rhine; close and hot in the streets; but the +sun gets out when the tide comes in; a breeze, and all is refreshed. + + [Footnote 69: Joanna Hutchinson.--ED.] + + +_Wednesday morning, July 2nd._--In evening walked to Port-a-shee (the +harbour of peace); foggy, and hills invisible, but stream very pretty. +Shaggy banks; varied trees; splendid rosebushes and honeysuckles. +Returned by sands; a beautiful playfield for children. The rocks of +gorgeous colours--orange, brown, vivid green, in form resembling models +of the Alps. The foggy air not oppressive. + + +_Thursday, July 3rd._--A fine morning, but still misty on hills. On +Douglas heights, the sea-rocks tremendous; wind high; a waterfowl +sporting on the roughest part of the sea; flocks of jackdaws, very +small; a few gulls; two men reclined at the top of a precipice with +their dogs; small boats tossing in the eddy, and a pleasure-boat out +with ladies; misery it would have been for me; guns fired from the ship, +a fine echo in the harbour; saw the flash long before the report. Sir +Wm. Hilary saved a boy's life to-day in the harbour. He raised a +regiment for Government, and chose his own reward--a Baronetcy! + + +_Friday, 4th July._--Walked with Henry to the Harbour of Peace, and up +the valley; very pretty overarched bridge; neat houses, and hanging +gardens, and blooming fences--the same that are so ugly seen from a +distance: the wind sweeping those fences, they glance and intermingle +colours as bright as gems. + + +_Saturday._--Very bright morning. Went to the Duke's gardens, which are +beautiful. I thought of Italian villas, and Italian bays, looking down +on a long green lawn adorned with flower-beds, such as ours, at one end; +a perfect level, with grand walks at the ends, woods rising from it up +the steeps; and the dashing sea, boats, and ships, and ladies struggling +with the wind; veils and gay shawls and waving flounces. The gardens +beautifully managed,--wild, yet neat enough for plentiful produce; +shrubbery, forest trees, vegetables, flowers, and hot-houses, all +connected, yet divided by the form of the ground. Nature and art hand in +hand, tall shrubs, and Spanish chestnut in great luxuriance. Lord +Fitzallan's children keeping their mother's birthday in the strawberry +beds. Loveliest of evenings. Isle perfectly clear, but no Cumberland; +the sea alive with all colours, the eastern sky as bright as the west +after sunset. + + +_Monday, 7th July._--Departed for Castletown. Nothing very interesting +except peeps of the sea. Well peopled and cultivated, yet generally +naked. Earth hedges, yet thriving trees in white rows; descent of a +little glen or large cliff very pleasing, with its small tribute to the +ocean. One cottage, and a corn enclosure, wild-thyme, _sedum_, etc.; +brilliant and dark-green gorse; the bay lovely on this sweet morning; +narrow flowery lanes, wild sea-view, low peninsula of Long Ness, large +round fort and ruined church: bay and port, cold, mean, comfortless; low +walk at Castletown, drawbridge, river and castle, handsome strong +fortress, soldiers pacing sentinel, officers and music, groups of women +in white caps listening, very like a town in French Flanders, etc. etc. +Civility, large rooms, no neatness. + + +_Tuesday, 8th July._--Rose before six. Pleasant walk to Port Mary Kirk, +along the bay before breakfast; well cultivated, very populous, but +wanting trees; outlines of hills pleasing. Port Mary, harbour for Manx +fleet; pretty green banks near the port, neat huts under those rocks, +with flower-garden, fishing-nets, and sheep, really beautiful; a wild +walk and beautiful descent to Port Erin; a fleet of nearly forty sails +and nets in the circular rocky harbour, white houses at different +heights on the bank. Then across the country past Castle Rushen--a white +church, and standing low; cheerful country, a few good houses, but +seldom pretty in architecture; children coming from school, schools very +frequent: now we drag up the hill, an equal ascent; turf, and not bad +road, but a weary way. + +But I ought to have before described our passage from Port Mary to Port +Erin, over Spanish Head, to view the Calf, a high island, forty acres, +partly cultivated, and peopled with rabbits--rent paid therewith; a +stormy passage to the Calf, a boat hurrying through with tide, another +small isle adjoining, very wild; I thought of the passage between Loch +Awe and Loch Etive. To return to the mountain ascent from Castle Rushen: +peat stacks all over, and a few warm snow huts; thatches secured by +straw ropes, and the walls (in which was generally buried one window) +cushioned all over with thyme in full blow, low _sedum_, and various +other flowers. Called on Henry's friend beside the mountain gate; her +house blinding with smoke. I sate in the doorway. She was affectionately +glad to see Henry, shook hands and blessed us at parting--"God be with +you, and prosper you on your journey!" Descend: more cottages, like +waggon roofs of straw, chance-directed pipes of chimneys and flowery +walls, not a shoe or a stocking to be seen. Dolby Glen, beautiful +stream, and stone cottages, and gardens hedged with flowery elder, and +mallows as beautiful as geraniums in a greenhouse. + + +_Wednesday, 9th, Peele._--Morning bright, and all the town busy. +Yesterday the first of the herring fishing, and black baskets laden with +silvery herrings were hauled through the town, herrings in the hand on +sticks, and huge black fish dragged through the dust. Sick at the sight, +ferried across the harbour to the Island Castle, very grand and very +wild, with cathedral, tower, and extensive ruins, and tombstones of +recent date: several of shipwrecked men. Our guide showed us the place +where, as Sir Walter Scott tells us, Captain Edward Christian was +confined, and another dungeon where the Duchess of Gloucester was shut +up fifteen years, and there died, and used to appear in the shape of a +black dog; and a soldier who used to laugh at the story vowed he would +speak to it and died raving mad. The Castle was built before artillery +was used, and the walls are so thin that it is surprising that it has +stood so long. The grassy floor of the hill delightful to rest on +through a summer's day, to view the ships and sea, and hear the dashing +waves, here seldom gentle, for the entrance to this narrow harbour is +very rocky. Fine caves towards the north, but it being high water, we +could not go to them. Our way to Kirk Michael, a delightful terrace; sea +to our left, cultivated hills to the right, and views backwards to Peele +charming. The town stands under a very steep green hill, with a +watch-tower at the top, and the castle on its own rock in the sea--a sea +as clear as any mountain stream. Fishing-vessels still sallying forth. +Visited the good Bishop Wilson's grave, and rambled under the shade of +his trees at Bishop's Court, a mile further. The whole country pleasant +to Ramsey; steep red banks of river. The town close to the sea, within +a large bay, formed to the north by a bare red steep, to the south by +green mountain and glen and fine trees, with houses on the steep. Ships +in harbour, a steam-vessel at a distance, and sea and hills bright in +the evening-time. Pleasant houses overlooking the sea, but the +cottage[70] all unsuspected till we reach a little spring, where it +lurks at the foot of a glen, under green steeps. A low thatched white +house dividing the grassy pleasure plot, adorned with flowers, and above +it on one side a hanging garden--flowers, fruit, vegetables +intermingled, and above all the orchard and forest trees; peeps of the +sea and up the glen, and a full view of the green steep; a little stream +murmuring below. We sauntered in the garden, and I paced from path to +path, picked ripe fruit, ran down to the sands, there paced, watched the +ships and steamboats--in short, was charmed with the beauty and novelty +of the scene: the quiet rural glen, the cheerful shore, the solemn sea. +To bed before day was gone. + + [Footnote 70: The house in which they were to stay at Ramsey.--ED.] + + +_Thursday._--Rose early. Could not resist the sunny grass plot, the +shady woody steeps, the bright flowers, the gentle breezes, the soft +flowing sea. Walked to Manghold Head, and Manghold Kirk: the first where +the cross was planted. The views of Ramsey Bay delightful from the Head: +a fine green steep, on the edge of which stands the pretty chapel, with +one bell outside, an ancient pedestal curiously carved, Christ on the +cross, the mother and infant Jesus, the Manx arms, and other devices; +near it the square foundation surrounded with steps of another cross, on +which is now placed a small sundial, the whole lately barbarously +whitewashed, with church and roof--a glaring contrast to the grey +thatched cottages, and green trees, which partly embower the church. +Numerous are the grave-stones surrounding that neat and humble +building: a sanctuary taken from the waste, where fern and heath grow +round, and _over_-grow the graves. I sate on the hill, while Henry +sought the Holy Well, visited once a year by the Manx men and women, +where they leave their offering--a pin, or any other trifle. Walked +leisurely back to Ramsey; fine views of the bay, the orange-coloured +buoy, the lovely town, the green steeps. The town very pretty seen from +the quay as at the mountain's foot; rich wood climbing up the mountain +glen, and spread along the hillsides. + + +THE END + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + + +Footnotes have been moved below the paragraph to which they relate. + +There is a paragraph on Page 218 that is partially repeated on Page 219. +Since there are minor differences to the text, I have left the two +unchanged. + +"=" is used in the text to indicate that a fancy font was used. + +Inconsistencies have been retained in spelling, hyphenation, formatting, +punctuation, and grammar, except where indicated in the list below: + + - Period removed after "Church" on main title page + - "Ferry house" changed to "Ferry-House" on Page 3 + - "Crerar" changed to "Creran" on Page 3 + - "Ferryhouse" changed to "Ferry-House" on Page 4 + - Period added after "38" on Page 4 + - "t" changed to "it" on Page 49 + - Period added after "shade" on Page 127 + - Hyphen changed to a dash after "pain" on Page 141 + - Period added after "ED" on Footnote 36 + - "Ullswater" changed to "Ulswater" on Page 157 + - Quote removed after "Switzerland." on Page 215 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, Vol. +II (of 2), by Dorothy Wordsworth + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42857 *** |