Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

which I resolve this summer to continue after the same scheme, in the same language, to which I think principal Arbuthnot's excellent preface should be prefixed. I shall take care also of inserting any thing new which Mr Macfarlan has, the most part whereof you know I had collected myself, and to which some additions, even in the genealogical part, may be yet made, and some omissions supplied. As for those omissions of representatives, viz. of the Hughs and

(From the original, in the possession of the of David the First, mentioned in your

MY LORD,

Publishers.)

SOMETIME ago I had the honour your Lordship's letter, with Mr Macfarlan's genealogical account of your Lordship's noble family. Since your Lordship is pleased to ask my thoughts of it, I cannot but do justice to the worthy author, in assuring your Lordship, that, in my opinion, "tis handsome and well done, in a manner proper enough to answer the chief design of such performances; yet perhaps it may not be amiss for your Lordship to have a more full account, containing the characters of your Lord. ship's worthy predecessors: some succinct historical narratives of this nature interspersed tend to make the mere genealogical part, (which to strangers is generally dry and jejune,) a great deal more entertaining, and may be of great use also for animating others to the imitation of virtuous and laudable actions. I am the more confirmed in the expediency of this, that your Lordship has already such an excellent piece in elegant Latin done after this plan, I mean Principal Arbuthnot's Origo et Incrementum Fam. Arbuthnotiae. The only fault I perceive in that work, was his neglect of the chronology, and the translation from one representative to another is frequently not so clear; which defects, together with some omissions, I have endeavoured to help in the abstract I made of it, and

Lordship's letter, which your Lordship has observed from Findaurie's tree, and

which you charge the Principal with, would be well weighed, and the vouchers examined, it being strange that the print should have been guilty of so manifest omissions. I rather incline to think those have been collateral branches, than representatives in a direct line, considering the print has not entirely omitted them, but brought them in as such, particularly David, who married Rind of Carse his daughter, he makes second son to Hugh second son to Robert the First. But, as I said, this is to be well examined: and indeed the tree may be of great use, but will not barely be sustained as a good voucher; however, I'm glad your Lordship has it. I design to wait on your Lordship, sometime this summer, and consider these matters with some deliberation.

My bookbinder has not as yet got ready some copies of my Canticum Solomonis on fine paper, which I design te trouble your Lordship with, but I shall send them very soon.

I am, with great esteem and sincerity, my Lord,

Your Lordship's most obliged, and most obedient humble ser

[blocks in formation]

A Journey through the HIGHLANDS, and WESTERN ISLES, in the Summer of 1804.-In a Series of Letters to a Friend.

(Continued from p. 17.) BY THE ETTRICK SHEPHerd. Letter VIII.

DEAR SIR,

AFTER having detained you so long reading a voyage, which, though rendered somewhat interesting by the many cross dispensations attending it, is, nevertheless, trifling, and fraught with very little information, I shall hasten to a conclusion, or at least to places which I have not heretofore visited.

We at length left Loch-Madi with a fair wind, and, in two hours, found ourselves in the great bason at Rowdil in Harries, which is one of the greatest curiosities in these countries. There are three narrow entrances into it, but the middle one is impassible, and very dangerous to strangers, as it is the only one which is seen; and had not the inhabitants of Rowdil observed us in a critical minute, we had infallibly been dashed to pieces, as we were entering it in full sail : but they, joining in a general shout, tossed their bonnets up into the air, and thus opened our eyes to our imminent danger; nor was it with small difficulty that we then got the vessel put safely about, on the very brink of the sunk rocks. A pilot soon after arriving, we got safely in by the south entrance, and lodged that night at the inn in the village of Rowdil, where we got plenty of every thing, and were well refreshed. Here we all manifested considerable satisfaction at having gained in safety the place to which we were bound, after having struggled so long with conflicting elements. As I made considerable stay here the preceding summer, it is pro

bable I would describe this place in a former letter, therefore I shall only tell you in this, that we travelled from Rowdil to Luskintyre on foot, a dis◄ tance of twelve miles; there we tarried three days, which we spent in traversing the country, viewing it minutely as far as the isthmus of Tarbet. We visited several of the cottages and shealings, contemplating their manners, and modes of tillage. We were treated in an original stile by some of the inhabitants; and, in one cottage, surprised half a score of females plying at the fulling of cloth, and braying a song with a vehemence which seemed the effect only of madness or inspiration; and though there were four of us, exclusive of a servant, all more genteelly dressed than those they were wont to see, and all strangers, yet they were nothing abashed; on the contrary, the mania seemed rather to gather new vigour, and I am not certain if any of them even deigned to look at us. As I have nothing new to offer on the present state or farming of this country, I shall cease to entertain you with adventures and anecdotes where I have a mixture of nothing else. Suffice it then to say, that after a stay of three days at Luskintyre, we travelled again to Rowdil by another way, keeping the eastern side of the island, than which a more barren and inhospitable scene is not to be met with in the highlands, being wholly covered with rocks, moss, and stagnant lakes. Arriving at Rowdil, we tarried there another night, and the next morning hoisted sail and departed again for Arisaig. Having been detained such a weary time on our journey to Harries, my two friends were grown quite impatient to return home; and I was obliged, reluctantly, to come away with them, without seeing either Ensay or Mr Hume; alshough a messenger arrived at Luskintyre with a pressing invitation for

[merged small][ocr errors]

us to join them, with which, if I had been suffered to comply, a great part of my ensuing misfortunes had been prevented so unqualified is human prudence to judge what may be the consequences of the smallest or most favourable incidents, for what I here viewed as my greatest happiness in this journey, namely their company, turned out my greatest bane. We left the coast of Harries with a fair wind, which bye and bye grew considerably rough; and the Hawk being so buoyant, by the time we were off Dunvegan-head in Sky, my two friends were again seized with severe qualms, which continued during the rest of our course. Mr J., who had hitherto been quite calm and resigned, now became somewhat frenzical, and though he slept for the most part, he would sometimes come on deck, and maintain a point with great warmth which no body was contesting with him. As for Mr W. he always continued in a state of utter despair, from the time that the vessel began to rock, viewing our fate as certain, and our escape rather a miracle, if it should happen; and whatever he saw or talked of, his thoughts were wholly engrossed by them cursed winds and waves, in whose power we had put ourselves so entirely. "There is a body of our friends again," said he once, meaning the marrots; "I see they are still persisting in their old plan of drinking" his looks shewed that his heart had no share in the observation. Off the mouth of Loch-Slapan we were overtaken by a dead calm in the very place where the meeting of tides carried the most dreadful swell that ever I witnessed. I never felt more disagreeable all the way than I did here, for the space of ten minutes; but it originated wholly in idea, for the scasickness never infected me in the least. Mr J. was lying in his hammock when it commenced, and being unwilling to move, his feet be placed

against one place, and his shoulders to another, resolved to keep his birth per force; but all his endeavours proved fruitless, he was tossed out. He then set up his bare head, which was all in an uproar, out at the hatch.What now, Sirs? What now, said he, "L-d preserve us, what's the matter now?" The mast was at this time alternately striking on the waves on each side, and the men were apprehensive that it would be torn from the beam, In a short time, however, the breeze again set in, and bore us safely into Arisaig, where we dined, and that evening travelled to Kinloch-Enort, a stage on the road to Fort William.When we arrived there the people were all in bed, but on rapping loudly at the door, the landlord, a big, black, terrible-looking fellow, came stark naked, and let us in: he then lighted a candle, tied on his kilt, and asked how far we had come today? we told him from Harries. He stared us full in the faces, and perceiving that we were in our sober senses, answered only with a hem! as much as to say, I know how you should be believed. He then shewed us into a little damp room with an earthen floor, and set before us what cheer he had in the house for supper, which consisted of cakes, milk, and rum, for, what is very strange, he had no whisky. In this same apartment there were two heather beds without hangings, on one of which a woman and some children were lying. Mr W. was now in a terrible passion, and swore he would abandon that horrid place, and take shelter in the woods. The woman and children, however, slid away; the beds were made up with clean cloathes, and we were obliged to pass the night on them the best way we could. Mr L. complained much in the morning of several rude engravings made on his body by the stubborn roots of the heather; and Mr G.'s back was all tamboured

work;

work; but I, by being forced to take to the bed which the family had left, got the advantage of a feather bed above the heath. Proceeding on, we passed Loch-Shell, and rested and refreshed ourselves at Lochiel-Head; and so on by the shore of that extensive inlet of the sea, until we came to the embryo of the Caledonian canal, at which a great number of people were employed; but, at that early season, the advance they had made was not great and I acknowledge, that while observing how carelessly the labourers were dabbing with their picks and spades, and how apt they were to look around them at every thing which was to be seen; while others were winding slowly out with each a little gravel in a wheelbarrow,-I say, while contemplating the exertions of these men, and wishing to anticipate in my mind the important aera when they should join Lochiel to the Moray Firth, at above fifty miles distance, I could not help viewing it as a hopeless job: my head grew somewhat dizzy, and I felt the same sort of quandary as I used to do formerly when thinking of eternity. It was, on the other hand, creative of a joyous sensation, as it pourtrayed in lively colours the beneficence of our government, and its kind concern about every thing that can contribute to the happiness of a brave people, and the prosperity of this too long neglected country. This road by which we had come from Arisaig is all tolerably good, saving about three miles in the middle, which is nearly impassible; and as it is much the nearest communication betwixt the south country and the extensive and populous isles in the shires of Inverness and Ross, the rendering of it a safe and easy passage for horses and carriages, is certainly a matter of much national utility, On all this track the country is finely calculated for producing the finer breeds of sheep, the grounds being so remarkably well sheltered. I am no

:

mineralogist, but there appears to be something peculiar in the stones of this glen. There are numberless stratas in the rocks, of a hard crystaline nature, which, when exposed to the weather, degenerate into a horny and flexible substance, capable of being parted into the most thin transparent slices imaginable. These, one would imagine on viewing, the fire would consume in a moment; but, on the contrary, it makes no impression on them. After this, we crossed the river at Inverlochy; and, about five o'clock, P. M. arrived at Fort, William, intending to tarry there all night; but, unfortunately for us, as well as many others, no doubt, the lady of Glencoe, an amiable young woman, of the most respectable connections, had been lately carried off by an unfortunate accident, and that was her burial day and as the northern gentry were all expected to tarry in the village on their return from the burial place in Loch-Leven, there was not one of the houses would admit us as lodgers: and Mr W. got into such a passion at the people's impertinence, that he would not suffer us to take any dinner, for fear lest the abominable town should be benefited by our money; nor would he listen to the arguments, that we were only taking amends of ourselves; which, considering the state of our stomachs at that time, was ample enough. Mr J. however, wisely tarried behind, and bought some sweet-meats, which he distributed amongst us, else I know not how we should have endured the other stage of fourteen miles. We passed some scenes of incomparable beauty; cottages embosomed in wild woods, and hallows of the hills; and at a late hour arrived, weary and fatigued, at Balnachulish, where I shall bid you good-night, after subscribing myself,

Your affectionate Shepherd,

J. I

[ocr errors]

102

Description of BAGDAD.

From Parsons' Travels in Asia and Africa, (Lond. 1808.)

IT

(Concluded from p. 37.)

T now remains to describe Bagdad on the Persian side.

This part of the city has a very large citadel at the west end of the town, which reaches to the banks of the river, capable of containing upwards of five thousand men in garrison; at present it has in it upwards of three thousand. There are forty brass guns mounted, eighteen and twenty-four pounders.

From the citadel the wall commences, which extends quite round, and terminates at a large castle that stands on the banks of the river at the east end of the town. The walls are upwards of thirty feet high from the bottom of the ditch, which is dry, and is thirty-five paces broad, and thirteen feet deep from the top of the glacis: it can be filled with water at pleasure. The walls form an irregular pentagon, with ten bastions and four gates. Six of the bastions have sixteen guns mounted on each; on each of the other four are mounted ten; over each of the two gates are mounted six, and over each of the other two are mounted eight guns; the former on two demi-hexagons, and the two latter on two demi-octagons; besides these, there are upwards of thirty guns, from twelve to twenty-four pounders, round the ramparts, and thirty-six mounted in the castle, at the east end of the town: all the guns are brass. There are ten brass mortars, which, at present, are in the meydan, or great square, where the horses are trained and exercised. The ramparts are supported by strong arches, built regularly within the walls, so as to have a very pretty effect. In the walls, within these arches, are apertures, about three feet in ight, and nine inches in breadth; same kind are on the upper part,

or the parapet round the ramparts, but these are intended for musquetry, as well as arrows. The carriages of the guns are many of them broken; and the parapet walls, are in many places in a shattered condition.

The esplanade is as even as a bowling green, and very spacious, extending from the citade to the west, lo the castle at the east end of the town. I paced round the walls, close to the glacis, from the citadel to the castle, and found the result six thousand three hundred and forty-six of my paces.

Near the west end of the town is the pasha's seraglio, which is a very large building, and close to it is another spacious structure, without window or door on the land side, which is the haram, or ladies' apartment, having a communication with the palace, or seraglio, through a long and lofty covered gallery, supported by a range of arches. Between the banks of the river and the seraglio is a spacious garden, the walls of which are so close to the river, that they may be said to make part of its banks, as there is not room for a man to pass, the water washing them when at the lowest. In the centre is a gate with steps, to which the pasha's barge comes occasionally. On the land side of the seraglio, is a large area, sufficient to draw up three or four thousand janisaries; besides which there are a military school, offices and apartments for domestic officers, the mint, stables for many hundred horses, with lodgings for the grooms and their dependants, several large granaries, an arsenal with barracks for the foot and horse guards, all inclosed with a high wall, with only one gate for an entrance. There are not any houses or buildings near to the walls of the seraglio. I believe the circumference of the whole is more than an English mile.

About half a mile from the seraglio is the great mosque, to which the pasha goes in great state every Friday morning, attended by the great officers, both military and civil, all mounted

on'

« ZurückWeiter »