As we knew sorrow and wishes to be vain, it was now our business to mind
our way. The roads of Scotland afford little diversion to the traveller,
who seldom sees himself either encountered or overtaken, and who has
nothing to contemplate but grounds that have no visible boundaries, or
are separated by walls of loose stone. From the bank of the Tweed to St.
Andrews I had never seen a single tree, which I did not believe to have
grown up far within the present century. Now and then about a
gentleman's house stands a small plantation, which in Scotch is called a
policy, but of these there are few, and those few all very young. The
variety of sun and shade is here utterly unknown. There is no tree for
either shelter or timber. The oak and the thorn is equally a stranger,
and the whole country is extended in uniform nakedness, except that in
the road between Kirkaldy and Cowpar, I passed for a few yards between
two hedges. A tree might be a show in Scotland as a horse in Venice. At
St. Andrews Mr. Boswell found only one, and recommended it to my notice;
I told him that it was rough and low, or looked as if I thought so. This,
said he, is nothing to another a few miles off. I was still less
delighted to hear that another tree was not to be seen nearer. Nay, said
a gentleman that stood by, I know but of this and that tree in the
county.
The Lowlands of Scotland had once undoubtedly an equal portion of woods
with other countries. Forests are every where gradually diminished, as
architecture and cultivation prevail by the increase of people and the
introduction of arts. But I believe few regions have been denuded like
this, where many centuries must have passed in waste without the least
thought of future supply. Davies observes in his account of Ireland,
that no Irishman had ever planted an orchard. For that negligence some
excuse might be drawn from an unsettled state of life, and the
instability of property; but in Scotland possession has long been secure,
and inheritance regular, yet it may be doubted whether before the Union
any man between Edinburgh and England had ever set a tree.
Of this improvidence no other account can be given than that it probably
began in times of tumult, and continued because it had begun. Established
custom is not easily broken, till some great event shakes the whole
system of things, and life seems to recommence upon new principles. That
before the Union the Scots had little trade and little money, is no valid
apology; for plantation is the least expensive of all methods of
improvement. To drop a seed into the ground can cost nothing, and the
trouble is not great of protecting the young plant, till it is out of
danger; though it must be allowed to have some difficulty in places like
these, where they have neither wood for palisades, nor thorns for hedges.
Our way was over the Firth of Tay, where, though the water was not wide,
we paid four shillings for ferrying the chaise. In Scotland the
necessaries of life are easily procured, but superfluities and elegancies
are of the same price at least as in England, and therefore may be
considered as much dearer.
We stopped a while at Dundee, where I remember nothing remarkable, and
mounting our chaise again, came about the close of the day to
Aberbrothick.
The monastery of Aberbrothick is of great renown in the history of
Scotland. Its ruins afford ample testimony of its ancient magnificence:
Its extent might, I suppose, easily be found by following the walls among
the grass and weeds, and its height is known by some parts yet standing.
The arch of one of the gates is entire, and of another only so far
dilapidated as to diversify the appearance. A square apartment of great
loftiness is yet standing; its use I could not conjecture, as its
elevation was very disproportionate to its area. Two corner towers,
particularly attracted our attention. Mr. Boswell, whose inquisitiveness
is seconded by great activity, scrambled in at a high window, but found
the stairs within broken, and could not reach the top. Of the other
tower we were told that the inhabitants sometimes climbed it, but we did
not immediately discern the entrance, and as the night was gathering upon
us, thought proper to desist. Men skilled in architecture might do what
we did not attempt: They might probably form an exact ground-plot of this
venerable edifice. They may from some parts yet standing conjecture its
general form, and perhaps by comparing it with other buildings of the
same kind and the same age, attain an idea very near to truth. I should
scarcely have regretted my journey, had it afforded nothing more than the
sight of Aberbrothick.