my German friend, myself, and several others procured a skiff, and shot from the dark shadows of Benvenue on to the moon-lit water. There we were in all our glory, and a young Highlander, who was of our company, could restrain his enthusiasm no longer, and under the influence of the time, place, and scene, sang in glorious tones the "MacGregor's Gathering." It was the very hour and spot for it, and, as the musical strains of his voice gave sound to the words The moon 's on the lake, and the mist's on the brae, Then gather, gather, gather, Gregalich! we set up a shout in chorus to his song, which echoed again and again, until Benean answered to Benvenue, and the very mists on the brae quivered in the sound, as though they once more were disturbed by the cry of Clan Alpine. Ay! it was inspiring, and my German friend took as much delight in it as if he had been a Scot bred and born. The young Highlander stood in the stern of the boat, with his plaid over his shoulders, and with patriotic enthusiasm, heightened by our applause, finished the song. As each verse was completed, we made the air tremble with our shouts, and at the following stanza the whole of us arose, and sent up such a cry as almost split the rocky sides of Benvenue: — If they rob us of name, and pursue us with beagles, The Highlander sang the last line as if he meant every word of it, and the shrill sound of his voice came back from the land through our wild cheers, like the sharp cutting of a two-edged sword. The mists began to gather along the shores, and, after proceeding up the lake about two miles, our boatmen turned the skiff homeward, and the young Scot sang, with spirit and enthusiasm, the wild lyric which Sir Walter puts in the mouths of Roderich Dhu's retainers while sailing down the very lake on which we were gayly moving. It was appropriate and splendid : "Row, vassals, row, for the pride of the highlands, O! that some seedling gem Worthy such noble stem Honored and blest in their shadow might grow! Roderigh Vich Alpine, dhu, ho! iero." The oarsmen stretched cheerfully to their work, and we reached the landing at a seasonable hour, and returned to the hotel highly pleased with our moonlight excursion on Loch Keturin, and almost unwilling to seek the embraces of the drowsy god. The following morning was beautifully clear, and our time was spent in rowing about the lake or in walks along its shores, on the land made poetic ground by Scott. The mountains are clothed almost to their summits with wood, and the valleys are beautiful retreats. The lover of poetry is familiar with the poem in which the landscape is described; and it would be folly in me to transcribe what is in nearly every man's recollection, and what has become trite from constant repetition. We took stage in the afternoon for Callendar, and rode over every inch of ground traversed by Fitz James in the chase. The smaller lakes were soon passed, and then we came to the scene of encounter between the Gael and the Saxon! The whip pointed out the place where Roderich astonished Fitz James, by summoning his clan, and dosed us to the full with line after line of the poem. Our company grew merry, and a flask of "mountain dew" circulated freely among us as we approached the spot, of yore the gathering ground of Clan Alpine. Near the place is a thick wood, said by the Highlanders to be the resort of the river demon, who delights to forebode and witness evil on the spot. Our company did not, however, meet with the seer of destiny, and a more cheerful set of fellows never passed through the "wood of lamentation" than on that occasion. The driver looked solemn, and called in vain to us to respect the place. His warning was useless; the Scotch fluid was exhilarating; and we had the consolation of knowing that it was by no means bad. The opposition stage was ahead, and on dashed our horses to overtake it, which was done in gallant style at the point where the remains of a Roman fortification stand as a monument of the power of that great people, and near the scene of combat between Fitz James and Roderich Dhu. We stopped at the village of Callendar, where my German friend parted company with us, and pursued his way to the Highlands, while we shortly after proceeded on to Stirling. The country, as we receded from the mountains, became highly cultivated, and by the time we reached the banks of the rapid Teith, fields of waving grain and fine parks encircled us. We passed the town of Doune, on the banks of the stream named, and had a view of its ruined castle as we crossed a splendid bridge which spans the river a few yards above the old stronghold. It is square in form, and its walls are eighty feet high and ten thick. The stream is a rapid, roaring body of water, and flows along-side the fortress, which was once the residence of Mary Queen of Scots, when she was in the heyday of her love for Darnley, at which period she and her husband occupied it as a hunting-seat. It was built by Murdoch, Duke of Albany, who was afterwards executed within sight of it on a hill at Stirling. We entered that old city at an early hour, and I wended my way through narrow, crooked, and steep streets to the castle, which stands on a hill of great height, the western side of which rises almost perpendicularly from the valley of Stirling. The castle is a barracks for soldiers, and heavy guns bristle on the walls as formidably as of old, when border warfare and intestine commotions made it necessary to keep it in repair and well defended. A soldier guided me through the fortress, and pointed out the various fields of battle in the neighborhood, twelve of which are to be seen from the eminence. The winding Forth runs through the valley to the north of the town, and countless well-cultivated fields lie in the splendid plain below. The scene, with one exception, surpasses all I ever beheld, and repays a man doubly over for the trouble of ascending the hill. To the north, the Grampian and Ochil Hills bound the view; while to the west the frowning summits of Ben Lomond, Ben Nevis, and Benvenue rise to the skies and form a barrier to the sight. Toward the east, the eye can trace the horizon resting on the German Ocean, and the turrets and walls of the distant Castle of Edinburgh; while in the foreground are the field of Bannockburn and the mountain-town of Stirling. I remained for some time enjoying the prospect, and descended in time to visit the Marathon of Scotland, and tread its hallowed sod. The grain grows luxuriantly from its soil, and the sickle of the husbandman, instead of the sword of the warrior, gathers from its surface at present the harvest of peace and plenty, instead of that of tears and death. It The old church of Stirling is divided into two places of worship, in one of which James the Sixth was crowned, when but an infant, on which occasion John Knox preached the sermon. was once a Grayfriars or Franciscan fane, and its splendid Gothic ornaments look too rich for a Presbyterian house of prayer. Many curious scenes have been witnessed in its walls, among which was that of the Regent Earl of Arran abjuring the Catholic faith, and avowing the Protestant doctrine, which he subsequently renounced. The Castle is one of the four military fortresses which, by the articles of union between England and Scotland, are to be fortified forever. It is a celebrated place, and the scene of the murder of Earl Douglas by James the Second of Scotland. Queen Mary was crowned within its walls, and there her son and grandson were baptized. It has been the place of execution of men of distinction, and near it Murdoch, Duke of Albany, Duncan, Earl of Lennox, his father-in-law, and his sons were beheaded in 1424, within sight of their extensive possessions, and their Castle of Doune. The town is irregularly built, but the situation is beautiful and commanding, and no one will be likely to visit it with regret, if he goes for pleasure. There is a noted bridge over the Forth, in the valley at the north-west part of the town, which is quite old and celebrated in history. Wallace defeated the English near it, and Archbishop Hamilton was hung in his canonical robes, on a scaffold erected on it, in 1571-a strange way the people of those days had of exhibiting their admiration for the clergy in general, and bishops in particular. CHAPTER XVII. SCOTLAND'S CAPITAL. It is not an agreeable thing to be set down at midnight in a city where one has no acquaintance, and where everything is strange, particularly if the night be moonless and the stars dull. My entrance into the Scottish capital was at such a time and under such a sky, and it was with some difficulty that I succeeded in obtaining comfortable lodgings for the balance of the night in the modern Athens. The railway stations are in a hollow between the old and new towns, and the finest street in the hilly city faces the valley on one side, while the worst-looking and tallest buildings face it on the other. I went up on to the level ground of the new street, and before me arose the superb Gothic monument erected by the inhabitants of Edinburgh to Sir Walter Scott. Its elaborate ornaments and groined arches were lost in shadow, but the tall and delicate structure pointed heavenward, and its graceful outline and exquisite form won my admiration. It was too late, however, to pay much attention to it, and I was too weary to devote my time to that purpose, so I sought out a place of shelter, and after a good night's rest and pleasant dreams awoke to garish day in the seven-hilled city of the north. Princes Street was early thronged with pedestrians, and the busy tradesman and gaping tourist formed a part of its motley crowd. Here passed a soldier dressed in the scarlet uniform of the English army, there a tall Highlander in the ancient costume of his clan, while amidst the moving mass flashed, from the most tauntingly cut bonnets in the world, the bright eyes of the Scottish lassies. I fell into the human current, and floated unconsciously along in its tide until under the cliffs of Calton Hill, on the summit of which stand monuments to Playfair, Dugald Stewart, and other distinguished Scotsmen, and a tall, ungainly, tower |