An essential part of the Trosachs tour is the coach drive between
Inversnaid on Loch Lomond, and Stronachlacher pier, where the steamer
on Loch Katrine begins (or ends) her journey. There is one little loch
on the way, from which emerges the Arklet, which runs into Loch
Lomond, and forms the fine series of cascades of which the upper fall
is shown in our view. There is almost no need to waste words in any
description of this delightful scene, so well does the picture we
present describe itself. We may say of it, in lines that Wordsworth
has linked indissolubly with the place
'A very shower
Of beauty is thy earthly dower
* * * * *
These trees, a veil just half withdrawn,
This fall of water, that doth make
A murmur near the silent lake.
* * * * *
In truth together do ye seem
Like something fashioned in a dream.'
It may well be doubted whether the Highland girl, with her 'twice
seven consenting years,' and her 'homely ways and dress,' would have
enchained the sympathetic poet, had he seen her in some place less
lovely, or less provocative of a feeling of poetic contentment. Be
that as it may, it will be confessed that the scene, with or without a
'Highland Girl' to stir the strings of the heart, will remain
impressed on the mind of every one who is sensible of the beautiful.
And so we can join with Wordsworth, in the conclusion he arrives at,
always excepting, if necessary, his passion for the girl of fourteen--
'For I, methinks, till I grow old
As fair before me shall behold,
As I do now, the cabin small,
The lake, the bay, the waterfall,
And thee, the spirit of them all!'
There are many remembrances of Rob Roy, truthful some of them,
fanciful the rest, in the vicinity of Inversnaid. Not far off is Rob
Roy's Cave, the entrance scarcely visible, while within there is a
vast cavern, whence in fancy we may descry
'The wild Macgregor's savage clan
Emerging at their chieftain's call
To foray or to festival.'
On the road between Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine is seen Inversnaid
Fort, now in ruins, having in itself a chequered history. Built in
1713 to check the Macgregors, it is said to have been at one time
resided in by General Wolfe. Now, like some doomed city of old, 'the
cormorant and the bittern possess it,' for the Macgregors are at
peace, their name and tartan are no longer proscribed, and now no
black-mail is levied on any one in the district but the strangers, and
for their protection the government has no need to provide. It is at
times a costly thing to travel in the Highlands, when beds are at a
ransom, and all the wealth of Ind will not secure the coveted box seat
of the coach. But a Macgregor who levies black-mail in a Scottish city
has put the thing in a nutshell, for when remonstrated with about his
charges he said, 'What for should I charge less?--my hoose is fu'
every nicht!' There is true political economy shaking hands with the
plunderer of the Saxon!