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miles, affords the varied prospects of river-scenery, deriving |
much beauty from the frequent indentations of the coast,
and the occasional profusion of wood, especially on the
coast of Ardnamurchan, which it separates from Morvern.
Mingary Castle, at its entrance, occupies a commanding
position. The neat cottages near Strontian, built of sub-
stantial granite, and sometimes adorned with creepers,
contrasted with the turf huts with which they are inter-
mingled, indicate the neighbourhood of a resident pro-
prietor. This improved taste in building is perceptible
in the cottages of several of the landlords in Appin and its
neighbourhood: it is not more expensive than the old rude
style of construction, and whilst ornamental, animates the
proprietor with the consciousness of that paternal care of
his tenants, which proves its own reward, and the tenants
with self-respect and a regard to cleanliness, incompatible
with the filthy and slovenly habits almost inseparable
from their old and often wretched dwellings. The turf
cottage is by no means necessarily a hovel; its walls, the
growth of the soil, are often proof against the roughest
winds and heaviest rain: and its interior may be the
abode of cleanliness and independence. But the difficulty
of preserving it from dilapidation and dirt, is far greater
than in the case of a building of more durable material,
and requires attention and industry rarely found among
the Scottish peasantry.

At STRONTIAN is the residence of Sir James Riddell, the proprietor of the wild and mountainous district of Ardnamurchan. Its population, scattered over the islands, or gathered in groups along the coasts, was formerly much neglected: but the joint efforts of the proprietor, and of the Gaelic School Society, have been beneficially felt; and two parliamentary churches will soon supply the deficiency of spiritual instruction. Some remains of former ecclesiastical structures may be traced on an island in a small lake embosomed in the mountains, still hallowed by the Catholics. The people of Ardnamurchan are distinguished by their attachment to their native soil: Sir James Riddell has endeavoured, like his neighbour of Coll, to counteract the practice of smuggling to which they are addicted, by banishment from their homes to less hospitable parts of his estate; but with little success: Smuggling, like drinking, being a propensity scarcely curable where there is an opportunity of indulging it. Of the estimate of the moral guilt of smuggling, found in these parts, a proof was afforded to me by the remark made by my guide from Fort William to Arisaig, whilst pointing out a glen near the road-side, notorious for the practice of the illicit distillation of spirits: "Oh, Sir," he exclaimed, in reply to an observation on its baneful tendency, "we do not reckon men bad in this country, who engage in this trade; we consider it only forcing the laws!" But lately the illegal distillers of the wild district, between Lochs Lomond and Long, marched through Dumbarton, preceded by a piper, carrying their kegs in triumph, and bidding defiance to the police. The pernicious distinction between offences against the law of God, and the law of the land, to which the housebreaker and highwayman might appeal in vindication of their crime, as justly as the smuggler, is unfortunately by no means confined to the Highlands of Scotland, but is current on our own coasts; and the rich who sanction the practice by their participation or connivance, are responsible in part, not only for the guilt incurred, but for the miserable sophistry by which so many are tempted to the commission of the crime.

The lead-mine of this district affords employment and support to a considerable population, and is celebrated for the production of the carbonate of strontian first discovered in it.

A parliamentary road proceeds between steep and lofty ridges to Loch Linnhe, and under the mountains of Ardgowar to the Connal Ferry. On setting foot on the opposite shore we enter a region remarkable for its striking, varied, and contrasted interest. Ash and other trees enrich the scenery between the Ferry and Ballyhulish, at which spot the channel of Loch Leven forms a rapid, so narrow and powerful, as to expel the salt from the upper part of the lake. The residence of Mr. Stewart is near to it; a gentleman descended from a younger branch of the Stewarts of Appin. The Stewarts were the original proprietors of a large part of Argyleshire, and displaced by the Campbells, a clan of Irish extraction, who were consequently long regarded as interlopers, and designated 'greedy," in having gradually obtained possession of nearly the whole county. The branch of Appin was regarded as

the head of the Episcopalians in this part of Scotland; the body of Christians to which that family belonged, and which prevails as far as Fort William. The chapel in that place may be considered the outpost of episcopacy on this side of Scotland.

The house of Appin, the residence of this family, was purchased some years ago by a stranger: and the attachment of the people to its ancient proprietor could scarcely be restrained from open displeasure at the sale. At BALLYHULISH the slate-quarries divert the attention awhile to the bustle and industry of a crowded population. But the eye is more forcibly attracted, and the imagination engrossed, by the picturesque beauty and gloomy grandeur of the scenery which now opens on the view, and by the dismal tragedy which it recalls to remembrance. St. Mungo's Island, the cemetery of GLENCO, is the repository of the remains of the victims of the massacre. No memorials of them can be discovered: a ruined chapel contains some monuments, one of which offers an innocent exhibition of vanity, which may be justified by many a splendid precedent, and rescues effectually from oblivion an achievement which history has passed over in silence. It bears the representation, very well sculptured, of a dragoon struck from his charger by a Highlander armed with sword and target: above it is the name of Duncan Davidson, and beneath it the following inscription: "The fate of an English dragoon who attacked Duncan Davidson at the battle of Preston Panns, where he fought under Prince Charles Stuart."

The prospect embraces on one side the shores of Loch Leven, rock, knoll, and wood-land, extending in beautiful perspective to bare and lofty heights: and on the other a rich valley terminated by the sombre aud majestic precipices of Glenco. The entrance to this celebrated pass through a long and stately avenue of forest-trees, corn-fields, rich meadows, copse and wood, contrasts strangely with the utter desolation of the barren and stony region which extends beyond to its further extremity, and which, inseparably associated in the mind of the traveller with the barbarous transaction of which it was the scene, suggests to the imagination "the curse of barrenness" as the penalty of the guilt incurred. Some huts occupy the site of the abodes of the unfortunate inhabitants of this valley, who were treacherously murdered by the soldiers who had partaken of their hospitality. The infamy of this atrocious deed, perpetrated in conformity to the principles of the ancient Highland system of retaliation and warfare, is divided between the immediate actors and the government of King William who sanctioned it. The remembrance of it would have rankled in the breast of the most feeble and apathetic people: but in the fiery and tenacious hosom of the Highlanders it wrought the settled and deadly purpose of revenge; and to the frequent and bloody harvests, reaped by King William's guiltless successors, the seed sown on that fatal day contributed its share. The pass ascends between dark, lofty, and precipitous ridges, of which the prominent and only picturesque feature is a single round rocky peak, towering nobly above the rest. It chanced at the moment of my passing to derive additional sublimity from the circumstance of a solitary ray piercing the clouds which brooded over its summit, and drawing forth at its base the vivid lustre of a plot of green grass into brilliant contrast with the noon-day twilight of the valley. A single farm-house relieves the unvaried barrenness of the upper part of the pass. The road, the military route through Tyndrum, winds its way to the highest point of the ascent, when the dismal moor of Rannock opens on the view: the King's House, a solitary inn, appearing like a caravansera

in the desert.

The descent to LOCH LEVEN from the Moor, which is considerably elevated, significantly called the DEVIL'S STAIRCASE, is tedious and difficult, down the almost precipitous side of a deep ravine, through which the river Leven foams and tumbles, in its rapid progress from a hill-encircled basin to the lake, rolling smoothly during the latter part of its course over a rich and inhabited valley. Two men passed us as we approached the lake, one of whom bore on his shoulder a keg of spirits, whilst the other, who gently whispered, as he hurried by, that he would speedily join us, was pointed out to me by my guide as the boatman who had engaged to await us at the upper extremity of the lake. He had availed himself of the opportunity to convey a smuggler to the public-house in the valley, and so well was he entertained, that he remained carousing during an hour, when, as the evening was cold, and we were tor

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To Cromwell's soldiers the Highlanders are indebted for teaching them the use of kale, and some other benefits resulting from superior civilization. Fort William has derived advantage from its vicinity to the Caledonian Canal, and the greatly-increased intercourse with the Highlands. It contains now places of worship belonging to the Kirk, the Episcopalians, and the Roman Catholics. The neighbouring ancient castle of Inverlochy offers a striking foreground to the huge mass of Ben Nevis. Dr. Macculloch assigns its erection to the time of Edward.

The

mented by the unrelenting persecution of the midges, the musquitoes of the Scottish lakes, I pushed off, and taking one oar, and my guide the other, we completed a laborious day's journey with a pull to Ballyhulish; but it was fortunately one of those nights which Byron happily describes as "not made for slumber." A bright moon now illuminated the wild sequestered recesses of the lake; and, as we passed St. Mungo's Island, about midnight, its beams, reflected from the water, and from the tombstones of the cemetery, heightened by contrast the sombre grandeur of the peaks of Glenco, as they rose The road from Fort William to Arisaig is excellent, once more abruptly on the view, and deepened the gloom offering a rich variety of very beautiful scenery. of the intermediate valley, whilst a solitary light on the church of Kilmalie, the parish which includes Fort William, opposite shore indicated the dwellings of the quarriers is on the opposite side of the Caledonian Canal. This of Ballyhulish, now resting from their labour. A scene of parish is sixty miles in length by thirty in breadth, commore perfect stillness or magic splendour I scarcely recol-prising seventy miles of sea-coast. The cemetery contains lect. Byron has supposed the mountains rejoicing over a monument erected to the memory of Colonel Cameron, the birth of a young earthquake; it required a far less of the 92nd regiment, who fell at Waterloo, bearing a vigorous effort of the imagination to conceive them now spirit-stirring inscription from the pen of Sir Walter Scott. delighting in the transient cessation of that "groaning This is the country of the Camerons, a clan associated with and travailing of creation," which admits of little respite romantic and glorious recollections. A few miles distant, at this season of the year in these stormy regions. The on the western bank of Loch Lochy, is Auchnagary, the rapid of Ballyhulish had well nigh hurried us past our residence of Lochiel, the chief of the clan; and on the landing-place. The smuggler arrived in due time, chafing shore of Loch Eil, the road to Arisaig passes Fassafern, with rage, which he found it convenient to suppress, having the residence of his relation, Sir Ewen Cameron. Pennant paid the penalty of his transgression by a rough walk of has celebrated the heroism of Lochiel's ancestor, the great ten miles, along the pathless shore of the lake. Sir Ewen, who emulating the unconquerable spirit of the "gallant and chivalrous Montrose," whom he proposed to himself as his model, was the last chieftain who capitulated with Monk, the commander of Cromwell's army, and afterwards faithful to the race of Stuarts, though not to the cause of liberty and constitutional monarchy, fought in his old age under their falling banner at Killikrankie. The interview of his descendant, Lochiel, with the Pretender, Charles Stuart, on board of the vessel which brought the young adventurer to the coast of Scotland, which instantly involved him in the calamities of the Rebellion, recalls the sacrifice of sound sense and strong conviction, to the resistless impulse of innate, but mistaken loyalty and chivalrous devotion. It was amongst such spirits that the commanding genius, Chatham, sought, and found, the hardy patriotism, which, like our native oak is the growth of centuries.

FORT WILLIAM; GLEN FINNAN; PRETENDER;
LOCH AYLORT; OAKS; BORRODALE;
ARISAIG; FERRY.

THE road to FORT WILLIAM offers little beauty. This
small town was originally built by James the Sixth, with the
intention of civilizing the Highlands, Campbelltown and
Stornaway having been made boroughs with the same view.
The fort was erected by Cromwell, and was then called the
garrison of Inverlochy, being calculated for the reception of
20,000 men. It was rebuilt on a smaller scale by King
William, from whom it derived its present name. "The
fort," (says Dr. Macculloch,) "is not dismantled nor
absolutely abandoned, as was intended; the Duke of
Wellington, with his usual steadiness of character, and
contempt of idle clamour, having opposed this design, as
to all the Highland garrisons,"

The name of Cameron is now no longer blended only with local and romantic exploits, or dubious renown, but has been

associated, by our proudest records and loftiest minstrelsy, I shared the benefit of the general security, which has with the most splendid triumphs of the nation. The bloody wreath won by the descendant of Lochiel at Waterloo, was bound by the hand of his sovereign, George the Fourth, around the hoary brows of his sire, who was created a baronet at the age of almost a hundred years, on account of his son's services.

GLEN FINNAN at the head of Loch Shiel, a long narrow arm of the sea, surrounded by high mountains, is the spot at which the Pretender raised his standard. A monument, in commemoration of the event, has been erected here by the late Mr. Macdonald, of Glenaladale. The road from hence passes through scenery variegated with broken and rugged rocks, copse, woods, and bare tracts of heather, interspersed with numerous small lochs, some of which are adorned with exquisitely beautiful islets, waving with graceful foliage, and then, winding through a wooded defile, skirts the bays and promontories of Loch Ayloch, under bare and towering heights, amidst a rich profusion of oak, ash, and birch, shrouding the rugged outline of the coast, and dipping their branches into the sea.

On what accidents may depend the impression made on the mind of the traveller! Had the storm which befel Dr. Johnson, off this coast, compelled him to take shelter in one of its delicious natural harbours, he would have imagined himself transported to some enchanted land, and the descriptive powers of the author of Rasselas would have been taxed to portray the reverse of that picture which he has drawn, of the dreariness of this country. The western coasts of Scotland, and the eastern shores of the Southern Hebrides, afford abundant proofs of their having been once much overgrown with oak; whilst the interior of the country was covered with fir. The bog-timber found on the coast is usually that of oak; whilst in the interior it is of fir: alder prevailing naturally along the watercourses. The destruction of the ancient forests is roundly attributed, by tradition, to the Danes, the formidable foes who, during so many centuries, harassed Scotland by perpetual descents; and doubtless, they, like the Romans in England, and other invaders, extirpated, as far as possible, the forests, inasmuch as they were the fastnesses of the natives. The winds accelerated the devastation which had thus commenced, especially the south-west, appropriately called, in Cornwall, the south-west shears; its destructive influence being attested by the direction in which the trunks of the trees in the bogs are generally found lying, from south-west to north-east and the progress of population and of cultivation, has unfortunately consummated the ravages thus produced by hostile or physical aggression. The disturbed state of these regions, precluded the landed proprietors from adorning their estates, or enriching them with timber, which might, ere it reached its proper growth, fall beneath the axe of an invader: hence the almost total deficiency of those magnificent forests of oak, those "tall ancestral trees," which dignify the seats of our country gentlemen, and are protected by them, with hereditary veneration; and unfortunately, unaccustomed to regard trees as essential to the beauty or value of an estate, their descendants have hitherto little cherished those oaks which nature has reared in sheltered parts, where unmolested. The speedily accruing profit yielded by the bark of the oak, the tree being cut down for the purpose of stripping off its bark, at the age of twenty years inland, and of twenty-four years on the coast, the difference of exposure occasioning the variety in the comparative growth, offers immediate temptation to prevent its further progress. In some places in the west, the tenants retain, in virtue of a servitude, as it is technically called, the privilege of cutting down the wood, for the purpose of building their boats. The Iron Furnaces of Bunawe have devastated the wooded pass of Awe, and the neighbouring heights. So many conspiring causes have necessarily almost denuded Scotland of its oak. Of the ancient oak-forests, the remains yet growing are very scanty. Dr. Macculloch discovered two trunks of oak, in Glen Etive, the circumference of one of which was twenty-five feet, and the other, twenty; pollarded, but shooting forth fresh branches: and thers on the bank of Loch Sunart, the age of which he calculated, at the least, at six centuries; one of them was twenty-five feet in girth. These were the only living proofs and remains of the ancient forests of oak, which he met with. To the oaks which have survived the age at which they might be cut down for bark, are maturing into valuable timber, and are already ornamental, the western coast owes much of its scenery. The timber has gradually

encouraged the Highland lairds to protect it, both on account of its intrinsic worth, which some future war may prove, and its beauty: whilst some few, (for instance, Mr. Macneill of Colonsay,) have planted it to a considerable extent. Birch, which mingles its light foliage so gracefully with the loftier trees of the forest, is also sacrificed to its bark, and the more material value of its wood, in furnishing casks for the herring fishery: oak, though preferable for the latter purpose, being too expensive for common use. The fir-forests belong more properly to the internal and eastern parts of Scotland, and will be hereafter noticed.

At BORRODALE, on the beach, resides Mr. Macdonald. By the road-side is a niche enshrining the mutilated figures of the Virgin and Child, indicating the religion of the proprietor. His garden contains the cave in which the Pretender found his first and last asylum. The peculiar interest which belongs to this tale of modern romance, is that it has occurred within the recollection of our fathers. The lady may still be seen at her window in the Prince'sstreet of Edinburgh, in whose cap the Pretender placed a flower, when her nurse ran forth into the street, to intercede for the cessation of his martial music, lest it should disturb her mother who had but just given birth to this child. Most Scotsmen have conversed with veterans who were out in the Forty-five, and fought at Culloden; and the daughter of Flora Macdonald is yet living, and has returned, after several years of absence, to her native land. Many Highland names have been ennobled by the achievements of these rebellious campaigns. Trophies and relics, swords and snuff-boxes, are handed down to posterity, in proof of distinguished valour, and the favour of an exiled prince. The music and poetry of Scotland have been enlisted on the side of a young hero struggling to recover a throne. The designation of "Pretender," applied to Charles Edward, would be still held treason, if not sacrilege, in many a Highland home. I heard the title of Prince Charles bestowed on him by a popular minister in a wealthy town in the eastern part of Scotland, who, preaching on fidelity, animated his hearers by reference to well-known instances of faithfulness to him during his flight. Honour, generosity, heroism, loyalty, fidelity, all the elements of that chivalry, the decline of which aroused the indignant eloquence of Burke, are indissolubly attached to the glory and defeat of this extraordinary adventurer, though the character of the Pretender was unworthy of his cause, supposing it just, and the conduct of his followers exhibited an extravagant mixture of noble and degrading motives. The error of the Highlanders, in joining the Pretender, was chiefly of judgment. The unconstitutional proceedings of James the Second, which produced the Revolution, were unknown, or unintelligible, to this people, whilst the exiled family were associated in their minds with the heroism of Montrose and Dundee, and the new dynasty with the victory of Killikrankie and the massacre of Glenco. The religion of the Stuarts presented additional claims to the conscientious support of the Catholic population, on whose shores Charles Edward descended.

There was at the heart's core of the Highlanders, notwithstanding the base alloy with which purer motives were corrupted, a principle of loyalty, so deeply seated in our breasts, that metaphysicians might find it difficult to determine whether it is derived from a traditionary source, or is implanted by that Hand which, whilst forming our moral constitution, provided also for our social condition. The "Divine right of kings' is an exploded doctrine; but the sentiment, the feeling, the principle of attachment to the monarch, depends not upon abstract axioms of government, or accidental political creeds. It is found most powerful and influential where these are least understood among the Celtic portion of our nation, the Welsh, the Highlanders of Scotland, and the Irish, and among the Scandinavian tribes, instructed in the simple rudiments of historical and religious lore.

Sympathy with suffering has been represented by Adam Smith, in his celebrated treatise, as proportioned to the station of the sufferer; and he illustrates his statement by reference to the extraordinary and apposite instance of the pity manifested to James the Second after his downfall, having almost occasioned a counter-revolution. The overthrow of the last Gustavus of Sweden was almost prevented by the refusal of his guards to oppose him, though the army had suffered the most dreadful privations and misery from his folly. The aim and intent of the French Revolutionary disturbers was to extirpate loyalty

to kings, as intimately blended with that allegiance to the King of kings, against which they waged implacable war: and they succeeded, in prosecution of this purpose, in subverting almost all the ancient dynasties of Europe; and their principles have been partially disseminated, and are still diffusing their poison in these islands. The Scottish Highlanders have been remarkably characterized by their instinctive regard to the Divine maxims, "Fear God and honour the King," though their loyalty has been perverted, and their religion debased by superstition; and the genius of Walter Scott, like that of Chatham, found in the rebellious spirit of the last century, that mainspring of loyalty which he touched with such magical effect, when, whilst the "clans of Culloden mustered in our own day around the descendant of the Stuarts in dutiful and enthusiastic allegiance, he reminded their chiefs, individually, as they sat around his hospitable board, clad in their respective tartans, himself assuming in compliment to them, the garb of the Gael, of the train which the ancestor of each led to the standard of Charles!

At ARISAIG there is a Ferry to Sky: a species of conveyance very different from that which the Southerns understand by such a mode of proceeding, and implying, in this instance, a transit of fifteen miles, the delay in preparing the boat, which lies two miles distant from Arisaig, the catching the boatmen, the clearing the coast, the management of intricate tides and conflicting winds, and the probability of a thorough ducking.

It was in the evening that I embarked; and we strove with breakers two hours before we fairly got to sea. The ominous heights of Rum portended mischief, and a few squalls deepened the gloom of the night, whilst the cries of the divers, like the voices of condemned spirits, mingled with the moanings of the blast. One of the boatmen beguiled the tediousness of the passage by recounting his adventures on those seas, especially off the outer coast of the Long Island, on which the whole weight of the Atlantic rolls with unbroken fury. The sea which sets into the Sound between Sky and the main land is often tremendous: but boats take refuge in the excellent harbours which indent the coast.

SKY; ARMADALE; BROADFORD; SLEAT; SACRAMENT; BAPTISMAL CONTROVERSY; ROADS.

WE reached Armadale at 10 o'clock. The absence of Lord Macdonald, the hospitable laird of this part of SKY, rendered a letter of introduction unavailing, though, doubtless, an application to his steward would have secured a prompt reception. It was necessary, therefore, to seek the Inn: a little girl trotted forward and soon led me to a row of fishing-huts, imbedded in a hollow scooped out of the hill-side, one of which proved to be the Inn, containing two extremely small apartments: one the kitchen, without windows, its wall completely cased in soot, and apparently, as far as the eye could penetrate the dense atmosphere of smoke, crowded with inmates, whilst large quantities of fish and meat occupied the small interval between their heads and the ceiling, from which these stores depended. The other apartment was clean, and furnished with a bed; but as this was occupied by a young leddy it was necessary that a bedding should be spread for me upon the floor. On my demurring to this arrangement, the young leddy disappeared, and the apartment was appropriated to the stranger. But never was a first ray of light more welcome than that which entered the single pane with which the chamber was furnished. Had M. Simond, one of the most creditable of French travellers, slept at the inn of Armadale, he might have been war ranted in indulging the following triumphant remark to which he is prompted by the exultation induced by the recollection of a single night passed in the Highlands, at a comfortable little inn forsooth. He observes, on the strength of this achievement, "The English are spoiled children: they gain nothing by the convenience with which they travel in their own country, but susceptibility of suffering when they quit it, however apathetical and incapable of feeling (blasés) they appear whilst they remain in it." The landlord and landlady of this hovel were respectable, and apparently above their low situation. The bad accommodation which travellers meet with, both in their passage to Sky and their arrival on the island, must be attributed partly to the preference usually given to the shorter transit at the upper part of the Sound, and partly to the hospitality of the laird of Armadale

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The castle, the residence of Lord Macdonald, is yet unfinished: its architecture is Gothic: it is erected on the shore amidst young plantations which even now adorn the island, and contrast beautifully with the boid and rugged coasts on the opposite shore of the Sound. Lord Macdonald is the representative of the ancient Lords of the Isles, and proprietor of two-thirds of the Isle of Sky, and of the whole of the island of North Uist. Whilst the central and more peopled parts of the kingdom are gradually drawing the landlords from their remote and lessfrequented abodes, and the further parts of Scotland suffer materially the ill-effects of absenteeism, it is gratifying to perceive such an exception to the general practice exhibited by the lord of such extensive possessions. The branch of the clan Macdonald, of which Lord Macdonald is chief, boasts of producing one of Buonaparte's most celebrated marshals. And it was no less indicative of the tenacity of the attachment of the islanders to the stock from which they sprung, than creditable to the individual in the instance alluded to, that the marshal Macdonald, whose grandfather had fled to France in consequence of his participation in a rebellion, sought out, after the conclusion of the last war, his relatives in Uist, an island which few Scotchmen have visited, discovered them, and granted to them pensions. Lord Macdonald enjoyed the satisfaction of receiving his distinguished clansman at his castle. The cemetery, which encloses the parish-church of SLEAT, contains some old monuments of the Macdonalds: chiefly flat stones, on which are represented various emblems of mortality: a coffin headed by a skull, a bell, spade, shovel, cross-bones, and an hour-glass. Within the church is a monument bearing a well-merited and panegyrical inscription, erected to the memory of Sir James Macdonald, ancestor of the present lord, who died in his youth at Rome. The minister of the parish was employed in catechising some of his flock, preparatory to the celebration of the Sacrament, and the road was thronged with people hastening to the spot. The eastern coast of Sky is agreeably diversified by wood, other parts of the coasts of the island having been stripped of it, and also by cultivation. The little bay and castle of Knock form a picturesque scene; in all its expanse enclosed by rugged mountains. Beyond whilst opposite to Loronsay, Loch Nevis opens to the view, a dreary moor of some miles, towers a lofty peak, shaped like Vesuvius, called Ben na Cailich, or the Old Woman's Mountain, a name frequently bestowed on mountains in Scotland, and usually, as in this instance, attributed to the circumstance of its elevated summit being the burial-place of a Norwegian Princess, selected by herself, that her dirge might be sung by the breezes which blew from her native land. At its base stretches the bay of Broadford, and on its shore the village, consisting of few houses and the mansion of Mr. Mackinnon of Corryatachan, the ancient hospitality of which has been celebrated by Pennant and Johnson; and its reputation has been well sustained by its present possessor, who was born in the house at the time of Dr. Johnson's visit*.

On Sunday the Sacrament was celebrated at Sleat; the scene was singular, and highly interesting. Four tents were erected by the road-side, on a plot of ground surrounded by steep banks. About fifteen hundred persons were assembled on the occasion to witness, or partake of the ordinance; and as but a small portion of them could be accommodated under the coverings, the rest sat contented during several hours under heavy rain. About three hundred and fifty persons communicated. A service in the Gaelic language preceded, consisting of a prayer, a sermon, and hymns. The tables used on the occasion were formed of long planks, about two feet in breadth, resting on clods of earth, and raised about a foot from the ground, and they were covered by a roller of white cloth. The guests, who lined them on both sides, severally restored a leaden token, which they had previously received, to the elder who applied for it. The ministers, taking their station at the head of the respective tables, then delivered an appropriate exhortation, and the bread and wine were passed from one person to another. The address at one of the tables was in English, and this was attended by the gentry; it was chiefly explanatory of the nature of the rite. The ministers of three out of the seven parishes of Sky assisted. Among the persons present was an old farmer, ninety-six years of age, who was quite blind; and an old veteran soldier, of the 92nd regiment, who had served during the whole of

* The gentleman alluded to, Mr. Mackinnon, is since dead.

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the Peninsular war and at Waterloo, and is now reposing under his well-carned laurels: he had been remarkable for his prowess, and, on one occasion, near the Pyrenees, when a Highland officer, a Macdonald, who was rallying his troops, exclaimed, "Will no man follow me?" "Yes," replied this brave fellow," the son of your father's herd will follow you."

The minister conducted us to the Manse, where refreshments were prepared for a large company, where many guests, including several military officers, were assembled. We then adjourned to the church, where the minister, who had officiated in English at the Sacrament, performed a service in the same language.

The Presbyterian church differs from the Episcopalian in its view of the sacramental rite. By the former it is never privately administered to persons disqualified by sickness, or other cause, from attending the public ordinance. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is considered as a public festival; it usually occupies four days; two previous to the celebration of the ordinance, one of which is observed as a fast, and another subsequent, a daily examination of the candidates and preaching taking place. It is held once or twice a year at the most in the western and more sequestered districts of Scotland, but more frequently in the eastern; and the astendance of persons from other parishes is discouraged by the ministers, as they consider it productive of irregularity. The reasons usually assigned for the infrequency of the Sacrament is, the great expense which the entertainment incidental to it occasions to the minister, and which he is ill able to afford, as well as the difficulty and inconvenience attending the congregation of people during the period prescribed. The exhortations delivered on the occasion differ widely, accord ing to the various views entertained by ministers, in regard to the importance and real nature of the rite itself, and of the requisite qualifications for partaking of it. Whilst one party in the Church are charged with being too indiscriminate and lax, in their admission of persons to the ordinance; the ministers of the other are said to drive their parishioners from the table by their terrifying representations and rigorous requisitions. However opinions may differ on the merits of this controversy, the solemn prepa

ration for the administration of the rite, the pristine simplicity of the mode of celebration, the impressive tone of the exhortations usually delivered by the clergy on the occasion, combined with an entire exemption from those fanatical excesses which too frequently characterize large and protracted assemblages of people for religious purposes, must be regarded as calculated to produce a deep and beneficial impression, both on those who partake of the rite, and of those who witness its celebration.

Sky had been the scene of a controversy, upon the subject of baptism; a minister of one of its parishes having been suspended by the presbytery, on the ground of his having refused the rite to some of the children of his parishioners. According to the practice of the Scottish church, parents are the only sponsors of their children, and the stricter part of the clergy require not only the knowledge of the elements of Christianity, but abstinence from gross vice, as a qualification for the privilege of presenting their children to the minister for baptism. The power of withholding it, is considered as a check upon the conduct of the parents; whilst the children are subsequently admitted to baptism, when capable of comprehending the nature of the rite, if not debarred from receiving it by misconduct. The sentence of the Presbytery, in the present instance, was confirmed by the Synod, and subsequently by the general assembly, but afterwards reversed by that body: the minister was reinstated

The Isle of Sky is traversed by the Parliamentary roads which complete the communication with the chain of islands called the Long Island, and afford to its numerous cattle, as well as to those of Sky, the advantage of access to the markets of the south. The public expenditure being half the whole incurred in the formation of these roads is fully justified by the national as well as local benefits resulting. Individual proprietors would have been incapable of sustaining the cost, as toll-gates produce a surplus on only three of the Highland roads; a toll-bar in Sky would not pay the requisite expense. The projection of these roads does great credit to the late Mr. Charles Grant, long representative for the County of Inverness, and other Members of Parliament, who had visited Scotland and seen the need of them. The old military roads did not reach the Islands. P. S. Q. R.

END OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.

LONDON: Published by JOIN WILLIAM PARKER WEST STRIND; and sold by all Booksellers.

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