The Engraving represents Loch Goil Head, a small village in Argyleshire,
as it name imports, at the end of Loch Goil. It is an exquisite vignette,
of Alpine sublimity, and is rendered extremely interesting as the
residence of Thomas Campbell, Esq. author of the "Pleasures of Hope," &c.
and one of the most celebrated of British poets. His _château_, or
retreat, is represented on the left of the Engraving, and its romantic
position has probably inspired many of the soul-stirring compositions of
the illustrious resident.
In this parish are the remains of Carrick Castle, which is said to have
been built by the Danes. It stands on a rock, and was formerly surrounded
by a ditch filled by the sea. The whole county in which Loch Goil is
situate, is indeed a region of romantic beauty and mountain wild; of the
last, Ben Cruchan is a sublime specimen, rising 3,300 feet above the
level of the sea. At Inverary, the splendid castle of the Duke of Argyle
rears in all the pride of art amidst the more lasting sublimities of
nature; and in the same vicinity is Loch Lomond, whose limpid streams
bathe the foot of Ben Lomond, where the tourist is fascinated with one of
the most glorious scenes in nature. The valley of Glencoe, too, is not
far distant, with all its opposite associations of massacre and maurauder,
by its severe and desert aspect, recalling to the traveller's mind the
most elevated defiles of the Alps, and whose massive heaps of rocks
covered with shaggy turf are the only charms to gladden the eye. At
Ardinglass, a few miles from Loch Goil, begins the country of _the
Campbells_, storied and consecrated with some of the most brilliant
epochs of Scottish lore.
The steam-boat on the lake is an attractive object in such a district as
Loch Goil--by associating one of the boasted triumphs of art with the
stupendous grandeur of the sublime.
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