from the deep corrie, or hollow, in the mountains of Cuilin, which affords the basin for this wonderful sheet of water. It is as exquisite a savage scene as Loch Katrine is a scene of romantic beauty. After having penetrated so far as distinctly to observe the termination of the lake under an immense precipice, which rises abruptly from the water, we returned, and often stopped to admire the ravages which storms must have made in these recesses, when all human witnesses were driven to places of more shelter and security. Stones, or rather large masses and fragments of rocks of a composite kind, perfectly different from the strata of the lake, were scattered upon the bare rocky beach, in the strangest and most precarious situations, as if abandoned by the torrents which had borne them down from above. Some lay loose and tottering upon the ledges of the natural rock, with so little security, that the slightest push moved them, though their weight might exceed many tons. These detached rocks, or stones, were chiefly what is called plum-pudding stones. The bare rocks, which formed the shore of the lakes, were a species of granite. The opposite side of the lake seemed quite pathless and inaccessible, as a huge mountain, one of the detached ridges of the Cuillen hills, sinks in a profound and perpendicular precipice down to the water. On the left-hand side, which we traversed, rose a higher and equally inaccessible mountain, the top of which strongly resembled the shivered crater of an exhausted volcano. I never saw a spot in which there was less appearance of vegetation of any kind. The eye rested on nothing but barren and naked crags, and the rocks on which we walked by the side of the loch, were as bare as the pavements of Cheapside. There are one or two small islets in the loch, which seem to bear juniper, or some such low bushy shrub. Upon the whole, though I have seen many scenes of more extensive desolation, I never witnessed any in which it pressed more deeply upon the eye and the heart than at Loch Corrisken; at the same time that its grandeur elevated and redeemed it from the wild and dreary character of utter barrenness." NOTE M. Men were they all of evil mien, Down-look'd, unwilling to be seen. – P. 115. The story of Bruce's meeting the banditti is copied, with such alterations as the fictitious narrative rendered necessary, from a striking incident in the monarch's history, told by Barbour, and which I shall give in the words of the hero's biographer. It is the sequel to the adventure of the bloodhound, narrated in Note K. It will be remembered that the narrative broke off, leaving the Bruce escaped from his pursuers, but worn out with fatigue, and having no other attendant but his foster-brother. And the gud king held forth his way, It wes bathe hey, and lang, and braid; Thai saw on syd three men cummand, And ane off thaim, apon his hals,' A mekill boundyn wethir bar. Thai met the king, and halist 2 him thar: Thai said, Robert the Bruyss thai soucht; "Thai persawyt, be his speking, That he wes the selwyn Robert king. And duell with him, quhill that thai saw 1 Neck. 2 Saluted.-3 Returned their salute.-4 Make.- Gesture or manner. Kill him. Thai grantyt till his spek forthi.' Quoth thai, 'Schyr, it is na myster 2 To trow in ws ony ill.' Nane do I,' said he; bot I will, 'We grant,' thai said, 'sen ye will swa:' "Thus yeid thai till the nycht wes ner. On na wyss with thaim till gyddre be. He had to slep sa mekill will, That he moucht set na let thar till. 1 Therefore.-2 There is no need.- Husbandman's house, cottage. Alone. -Bellies.-6 Becomes. And to slepe drawys hewynes, Till Ik a litill sleping tak?' Ya, Schyr,' he said, 'till I may drey.' 2 The king then wynkyt a litill wey; And slepyt nocht full encrely; For he had dreid off thai thre men, The king wp blenkit hastily, And saw his man slepand him by; And saw cummand the tothyr thre. Deliuerly on fute gat he; And drew his suerd owt, and thaim mete. And, as he yude, his fute he set Gaiff hym a strak in his rysing, 1 Fatigued. Endure. - Bird on bough. —4 So dangerously situated. Thet he wes neuir yeyt sa stad. 6 And rycht towart his tryst is gane." The Bruce, Book v., v 405. NOTE N. Such hate was his on Solway's strand, To establish his dominion in Scotland had been a favourite object of Edward's ambition, and nothing could exceed the pertinacity with which he pursued it, unless his inveterate resentment against the insurgents, who so frequently broke the English yoke when he deemed it most firmly riveted. After the battles of Falkirk and Methven, and the dreadful examples which he had made of Wallace and other champions of national independence, he probably concluded every chance of insurrection was completely annihilated. This was in 1306, when Bruce, as we have seen, was utterly expelled from Scotland: yet, in the conclusion of the same year, Bruce was again in arms and formidable; and in 1307, Edward, though exhausted by a long and wasting malady, put himself at the head of the army destined to destroy him utterly. This was, perhaps, partly in consequence of a vow which he had taken upon him, with all the pomp of chivalry, upon the day in which he dubbed his son a knight, for which see a subsequent note. But even his spirit of vengeance was unable to restore his 1 Had it not been for the armour he wore. Nevertheless.- Fray, or dispute.- Much afflicted.- Cursed. The place of rendezvous appointed for his soldiers. |