Page images
PDF
EPUB

CHAP. XIV.

ALLOA-RUMBLING BRIG-DEVIL'S PULPIT-LOCHLEVEN-SINGULAR SIEGE-ANECDOTES OF QUEEN MARY-LOVE TRIUMPHANT KINROSS-ANECDOTES OF MICHAEL BRUCE-ECCE TIBUR-PERTH-HISTORICAL ANECDOTES-GOWRIE'S HOUSESINGULAR MISTAKE THE BRIDGE OF PERTH-BESSY BELL AND MARY GRAY-MANUFACTURES OF PERTH-THE PRISONANECDOTE OF A FEMALE CONVERT-A REMARK UPON TRANSPORTATION.

FROM Stirling I set off for Kinross. After a very delightful drive, I dined at Alloa, at an admirable new inn, just opened, which merits every encouragement from travellers. Alloa is a sea-port, and much known for its many whisky-distilleries, ale-breweries, collieries, and glasshouses. Mr. Erskine, a descendant of the Earls of Marr, has a fine park and large estate here, upon which there was a noble mansion, called Marr-house, lately burnt down. Upon this estate there is timber equal to any in age and size in England. This gentleman has greatly improved the value of the surrounding country by his liberal and successful experiments in agriculture. I

was

disappointed in the Tower of Alloa, which ranks

[blocks in formation]

appears to

amongst the antiquities of the country, but which be interesting only on account of its great age. It is a square building, with four round towers, and was erected at the end of the year 1300: the walls are eleven feet thick, and the highest turret is eighty-nine feet from the ground. This building was formerly the residence of the Erskines, Earls of Marr; it is now uninhabited. The noble family of Erskine, for more than two centuries, had the honour of having many of the Scottish Princes for their wards, and of directing their education. They generally held the Castle of Stirling, and frequently the three principal fortresses of the kingdom, viz. Edinburgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton. The family are in possession of several tokens of antiquity, which prove the great affection and confidence which existed between the Stuarts and the Erskines.

In my way to Kinross I visited the Rumbling Brig, which lies on the left, a little way out of the road. It consists of a slender one-arch bridge, which strides over a narrow rocky abyss, both sides of which are covered with wood, about ninety feet deep, through which the river Devon rolls impetuously over the rocks below. About a mile further is the Caudron Linn, which has two large falls. The water rolls into two large cavities, hollowed out of the rock, and which, owing to the exasperated foam of the

[blocks in formation]

waters, resemble two boiling caldrons. One of the caldrons is called the Devil's Pulpit. I have always observed, in my rambles, that whatever is vast, horrible, and unprofitable, is given to the devil for its author. His satanic majesty would find a good purchaser for his property in a man of taste, and a bad one in a man of business.

In my way to Kinross, I asked a peasant what the hour was; his answer was, "Half to six;" by which he meant half past five. A German would have expresssd himself in the same manner.

The road is worse than any turnpike-road in Scotland, and the tolls are higher. The approach to the town is extremely agreeable; and, as the evening of my arrival was singularly beautiful, I, without loss of time, proceeded to the lake, for the purpose of visiting the insulated Castle of Lochleven, interesting to every feeling mind on account of its having been the prison of Mary. The boy I brought with me to return with the gig, which I had hired at Stirling, seemed very desirous of being permitted to accompany me, and appeared to be tolerably well acquainted with the melancholy history of the royal sufferer. The lake is about twelve miles in circumference, and is bounded by a number of hills. There is an air of gloom about the whole of the scene which accords with its interesting story. We

LOCHLEVEN-CASTLE.

249

rowed by the isle of St. Serf, or Servanus, containing about thirty-six acres, upon which are the remains of an ancient priory.

I soon afterwards landed on the isle, upon which the ruins of the Castle stand. This gloomy solitude is not more than two acres in extent; close to the water were some ancient trees: we entered within its walls, which nearly form a square. The principal tower is a square building, standing upon the north wall, near its north-west corner, and there is a smaller tower at the south-east. We passed through a very small door into the square tower, in which there is a deep dungeon, and above a vaulted room. This gloomy and venerable pile is of great antiquity, and is mentioned as early as 1334, when it was besieged by Sir John De Sterling, with a number of English and Scottish troops, who, to accelerate the fall of the garrison, built a strong and high dam, so as to stop the stream of the river Leven, which ran eastward out of the lake, which being thus shut up, its waters increased upon the isles, and the garrison was threatened with a watery grave. Whilst this shocking system of attack was advancing, the day for the celebration of the blessed Margaret, Queen of Scotland, at Dunfermline, approached; and the Commander, with many of his soldiers, attended, and assisted at the solemnity. During their absence, four resolute men put off in the night

[ocr errors]

250

LOVE TRIUMPHANT.

in a small boat; and, without being observed by the troops that remained to prosecute the siege, after great labour, and many an ardent invocation of St. Servanus, the protector of the lake, they at last effected a breach in the dam, and turned upon the enemy their own weapon: the water, thus liberated, rushed out like a torrent, and swept away their tents and baggage; and, during the confusion, the Governor of the Castle, Alan de Vipont, and his garrison, embarked, attacked and put the besiegers to flight, and delivered themselves from the English yoke.

This tale alone would have imparted to the hoary walls an interest; but, as the prison boundaries of the hapless Mary, curiosity about them became allied to sensibility. After she had separated from Bothwell at Carberry, and surrendered herself up to the confederate Lords, she was conveyed to this secluded fortress, and placed under the custody of the wife of Douglas, of Lochleven, the mother of Murray, the natural son of James V., who afterwards became Regent. This woman, who had asserted that she had been lawfully married to James, that her son was the heir to the Scottish crown, and Mary illegitimate, cherished an unrelenting hatred against her lovely and unfortunate prisoner, who endured from her and her son every rigour and insult which could increase the wretchedness of a captivity in which she languished for many months, and was forced to sign an

« PreviousContinue »