Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed
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[Illustration:
IN THIS SERIES
ABBOTSFORD
CAMBRIDGE
CANTERBURY
CHANNEL ISLANDS
ENGLISH LAKES
FIRTH OF CLYDE
ISLE OF ARRAN
ISLE OF MAN
ISLE OF WIGHT
KILLARNEY
LONDON
OXFORD
PEAK COUNTRY
STRATFORD-ON-AVON
Leamington and Warwick
THAMES
TROSSACHS
NORTH WALES
WESSEX
WESTMINSTER ABBEY
WINDSOR AND ETON]
PUBLISHED BY
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK
SOHO SQ., LONDON
[Illustration:
Beautiful Britain
The Trossachs
By
G. E. Mitton
London Adam & Charles Black
Soho Square W
1911]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. “THE LADY OF THE LAKE” 5
II. THE ROYAL CITY OF STIRLING 16
III. BY THE ROUTE OF THE FIERY CROSS TO BALQUHIDDER 23
IV. APPROACHES TO THE TROSSACHS 29
V. THE HEART OF THE TROSSACHS 41
VI. LOMOND AND THE MACGREGORS 52
INDEX 63
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. BIRCHES BY LOCH ACHRAY _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
2. BENEATH THE CRAGS OF BEN VENUE 9
3. STIRLING CASTLE FROM THE KING’S KNOT 16
4. LOCH VENNACHAR 25
5. LOCH LUBNAIG 27
6. BRIG O’ TURK AND BEN VENUE 30
7. IN THE HEART OF THE TROSSACHS 32
8. THE SILVER STRAND 43
9. LOCH KATRINE AND ELLEN’S ISLE 46
10. BEN A’AN, SEEN FROM LOCH KATRINE 49
11. HEAD OF LOCH LOMOND 56
12. SILVER BIRCHES IN THE TROSSACHS _On the cover_
CHAPTER I
“THE LADY OF THE LAKE”
The charm that lies in a mysterious name has been amply exemplified
in that of the Trossachs, which is said to mean “bristled territory.”
Something in the shaggy uncouthness of the word fits so well with
the land of romance and mountain scenery that it has drawn tens of
thousands to make the round between Glasgow and Edinburgh, by rail
and coach and steamer, who, if the name had not been so mysteriously
attractive, might never have bestirred themselves at all. Since the
publication of _Rob Roy_ and _The Lady of the Lake_ the principal
actors in these dramas have been just as real and important to the
imaginative tourist as the familiar names of history. It is nothing
to them that Rob Roy, of the clan of Macgregor, was merely a Highland
thief: his character, invested by Scott with the charm of a magician’s
pen, has made him as heroic as the great Wallace himself; while Ellen,
the Lady of the Lake, wholly born of the poet’s imagination, has become
only second to Mary Queen of Scots.
Scott has certainly done much for the land of his birth: not only
has he enriched its literature for all time, and raised its literary
standing in the eyes of nations, but he has done more for it
commercially than almost any other writer has ever done for any country
in bringing to it streams of visitors, especially from across the
Atlantic. The gold flowing from the coffers of the Sassenach into the
pouches of the Gael is a perennial blessing which could hardly have
been secured in any other way.
[Sidenote: “The Lady of the Lake”]
We are told that on the appearance of _The Lady of the Lake_, “the
whole country rang with the praises of the poet; crowds set off to view
the scenery of Loch Katrine, till then comparatively unknown; and as
the book came out just before the season for excursions, every house
and inn in that neighbourhood was crammed with a constant succession of
visitors. From the date of the publication of _The Lady of the Lake_,
the post-horse duty in Scotland rose in an extraordinary degree, and
it continued to do so for a number of years, the author’s succeeding
works keeping up the enthusiasm for our scenery which he had originally
created.”
There are fairer spots in Scotland than the Trossachs, beautiful as
they are; yet, notwithstanding this, their popularity remains unabated.
The trip certainly has the advantage of being accessible; it can be
“done” in a day from either Edinburgh or Glasgow, and this is a great
recommendation to those who are going on to “do” Europe in record time.
Then, again, anyone who has seen Edinburgh and the Trossachs is fairly
safe in saying he has seen Scotland, whereas one of wider range, who
had, say, gone up the Highland Railway to Inverness and returned via
the Caledonian Canal, if unmindful of the Trossachs, would be taunted
with his omission every time the subject was mentioned.
However, the greatly increased facilities of steamer and rail do
doubtless tend to send people farther afield, and the much longer round
via the Caledonian Canal can count its hundreds where it previously
counted units.
Until Scott’s time the Trossachs were little known, but then the cult
of scenery-worship as we know it had not been evolved. That they were
somewhat known is shown in Dorothy Wordsworth’s _Journal_.
When William Wordsworth, with his sister and the poet Coleridge, made a
tour in 1803, they were met at Loch Katrine (coming from Loch Lomond)
with stares of amusement from the peasants. “There were no boats,”
says Dorothy in her _Journal_, “and no lodging nearer than Callander,
ten miles beyond the foot of the lake. A laugh was on every face when
William said we were come to see the Trossachs; no doubt they thought
we had better have stayed at our own homes. William endeavoured to make
it appear not so very foolish by informing them that it was a place
much celebrated in England, though perhaps little thought of by them.”
This was six years before the publication of the great poem.
The Trossachs proper are the irregularly-shaped hills and rocks,
covered with a thick growth of bristling firs, that lie between Loch
Katrine and Loch Vennachar, and along the shores of little Loch Achray.
But the name is generally taken to mean the whole round, including
the traversing of Loch Lomond, as well as Loch Katrine, and the road
journey.
[Illustration: “BENEATH THE CRAGS OF BEN VENUE.”
The precipitous ascents from the south-east corner of Loch Katrine.]
Much the most usual route is from either Glasgow or Edinburgh, via
Callander; but a secondary one, which has great attraction for some
people, is that by Aberfoyle, which cuts into the heart of the
Trossachs from the south. This has the disadvantage of missing Loch
Vennachar; but, truth to tell, the coach drive along by Loch Vennachar
is not beautiful, and were it not illumined by romantic imagination,
and regarded as a prelude or epilogue to something better, it could
easily be dispensed with.
The outline of the story of _The Lady of the Lake_ is supposed to be
known to everyone, but there are few who could give it off-hand. The
principal character, and the only one not fictitious, is that of James
V. of Scotland, and his habit of wandering incognito among his people
is used to further the plot. The poem opens with a stag-hunt, when the
fine animal, after leading his pursuers a tremendous dance, plunges
into the Trossachs and disappears from view. Only one horseman has been
able to follow up the chase, and his steed at this juncture drops down
dead, leaving his master to scramble onward to Loch Katrine as best he
can. This he does, and as he stands on the shore he sees a boat rowed
by a young girl rapidly approaching, coming out from a little island.
She tells him he is expected—in fact, his visit has been foretold by a
soothsayer, Allan Bane—and asks him to come to the island and receive
the hospitality of her father’s house. She is Ellen, daughter to one of
the outlawed Douglases, who have been in arms against their King.
The girl’s mother receives the stranger courteously on his arrival,
and he announces himself as James Fitz-James. He remains with them
that night, and leaves next morning before the return of Douglas with
Ellen’s young lover, Malcolm Graeme, and a powerful rebel, Roderick
Dhu, the head of Clan MacAlpine, the Macgregors.
An outlawed desperate man,
The chief of a rebellious clan.
This man tries to gain Ellen’s hand as the price of his support of her
father, but his suit is unsuccessful.
[Sidenote: The Fiery Cross]
The next day, determined on a wild rising against the King, who is
known to be at Stirling with his Court, Roderick sends the fiery cross
round to summon his followers to Lanrick Mead. The cross is made by the
priest—
A cubit’s length in measure due,
The shaft and limbs were rods of yew.
This was dipped in the blood of a slaughtered goat and scathed with
flame. Then the priest shook it on high, shouting:
“Woe to the wretch who fails to rear
At this dread sign the ready spear!
For, as the flames this symbol sear,
His home, the refuge of his fear,
A kindred fate shall know.
* * * * *
Sunk be his home in embers red!
And cursed be the meanest shed
That e’er shall hide the houseless head.
* * * * *
Burst be the ear that fails to heed!
Palsied the foot that shuns to speed!
May ravens tear the careless eyes,
Wolves make the coward heart their prize.”
Roderick’s servant, Malise, seizing the cross, starts off through the
Trossachs, and along Loch Achray to Duncraggan, where he hands the
symbol on to “Angus, heir of Duncan’s line,” who carries it along
Vennachar and up to the pass of Leny, passing it on to a bridegroom on
Loch Lubnaig, and so it follows round all the haunts of the clan.
Ellen and her father meantime retreat to a cave on Ben Venue. Here
she accidentally meets again the fascinating stranger, who tries to
persuade her to elope with him; but she tells him of her love for young
Malcolm, and he honourably refrains from pressing his suit; instead
he gives her a ring which, he says, was given him by the King, with a
promise that on its production the King would fulfil any request of
the wearer. Meantime he is being watched by Roderick Dhu as a spy, and
Roderick sends a so-called guide to conduct him out of the labyrinth;
but the guide is one of the clan Murdoch, who has secret orders to kill
the stranger so soon as he gets him alone. The seer has proclaimed that
whichever side first kills one of the other will win in the trial of
strength now about to begin, and when Roderick hears this he rejoices
to think that by treachery the lot will fall to him.
Fitz-James, however, is warned by a half-witted woman wandering in the
wood, and when he discloses his suspicions he is shot at by Murdoch,
who, however, misses him and kills the woman instead. Fitz-James,
furious at this barbarity, promptly kills him, and, cutting off a tress
of the dying woman’s hair, swears to kill the chief, Roderick Dhu, the
author of this foul deed, whenever he shall meet him. He wanders on in
the wilderness of trees and rocks, and, as night is coming on, he loses
himself.
Famished and chilled, through ways unknown,
Tangled and steep, he journeyed on;
Till, as a rock’s huge point he turned,
A watch-fire close before him burned.
[Sidenote: The Fight]
Beside it is a huge Highlander, who is at first churlish and inclined
to resent the intrusion; but the inbred virtue of hospitality conquers,
and he allows the stranger to share his camp, promising to see him
safe as far as Coilantogle Ford next morning. However, in the morning
the two quarrel, and the great Highlander is revealed as Roderick
Dhu himself. Roderick is furious at hearing of the death of Murdoch,
but would have kept his word and given his guest safe-conduct had
not Fitz-James, burning to be at him, absolved him from it, and they
fight close by the ford. Just as Roderick is about to stab his foe
mortally he himself sinks down, overcome with loss of blood, and some
men-at-arms from Stirling ride up, greeting Fitz-James as the King.
They carry the senseless body of Roderick back with them to Stirling.
When the King is once again in his own fortress games and sports take
place, and Ellen’s father, who has dared to attend them incognito,
reveals himself in a burst of temper and is captured.
Ellen now makes her way to Stirling, carrying the ring, which proves
an Open Sesame, and discovers to her astonishment the “knight in
Lincoln green” who wooed her in the forest is no other than the monarch
himself. James keeps his word, forgives her father, and pledges her to
young Malcolm. Roderick, whose crimes would have made him difficult to
pardon, conveniently dies, and the story finishes happily.
[Sidenote: Scott in the Trossachs]
Scott was very particular that the scenery of his plot should be
correct, and visited the Trossachs carefully, and even rode from Loch
Vennachar to Stirling, to make sure of the possibility of the feat he
attributed to Fitz-James. In view of the warlike nature of the poem,
Lockhart remarks it was rather an odd coincidence that the first time
Scott entered the Trossachs he did so “riding in all the dignity of
danger, with a front and rear guard and loaded arms, to enforce the
execution of a legal instrument against some Maclarens, refractory
tenants of Stewart of Appin.”