Oliver and Boyd's guide to the west Highlands

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1860 - 80 pages

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Page 35 - We were now treading that illustrious island, which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge, and the blessings of religion. To abstract the mind from all local emotion would be impossible, if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish, if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses ; whatever...
Page 47 - Cameron's gathering' rose! The war-note of Lochiel, which Albyn's hills Have heard, and heard, too, have her Saxon foes: How in the noon of night that pibroch thrills, Savage and shrill! But with the breath which fills...
Page 66 - ... bright, and when there is no cloud in the sky, the impression made by the landscape is sad and awful. The path lies along a stream which issues from the most sullen and gloomy of mountain pools. Huge precipices of naked stone frown on both sides. Even in July the streaks of snow may often be discerned in the rifts near the summits. All down the sides of the crags heaps of ruin mark the headlong paths of the torrents.
Page 52 - Where, thro' a shapeless breach, his stream resounds; As high in air the bursting torrents flow, As deep recoiling surges foam below, Prone down the rock the whitening sheet descends, And viewless Echo's ear, astonished, rends. Dim-seen, thro' rising mists, and ceaseless show'rs, The hoary cavern, wide-surrounding, low'rs. Still, thro...
Page 32 - WE were now treading that illustrious Island which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions — whence savage clans and roaming barbarians derived the benefits of Knowledge and the blessings of Religion. To abstract the mind from all local emotion would be impossible, if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our...
Page 31 - And welter'd in that wondrous dome, Where, as to shame the temples deck'd By skill of earthly architect, Nature herself, it seem'd, would raise A Minster to her Maker's praise ! Not for a meaner use ascend Her columns, or her arches bend ; Nor of a theme less solemn tells That mighty surge that ebbs and swells, And still, between each awful pause, From the high vault an answer draws, In varied tone...
Page 67 - ... picked to the bone by the mountain ravens, can never be known. But it is probable that those who perished by cold, weariness and want were not less numerous than those who were slain by the assassins. When the troops had retired, the Macdonalds crept out of the caverns of Glencoe, ventured back to the spot where the huts had formerly stood, collected the scorched corpses from among the smoking ruins, and performed some rude rites of sepulture. The tradition runs that the hereditary bard of the...
Page 66 - In the Gaelic tongue, Glencoe signifies the Glen of Weeping : and,- in truth, that pass is the most dreary and melancholy of all the Scottish passes, the very Valley of the Shadow of Death.
Page 33 - ... a gem in the ocean,' and is led to contemplate with veneration its silent and ruined structures. Even at a distance, the aspect of the cathedral, insignificant as its dimensions are, produces a strong feeling of delight in him who, long coasting the rugged and barren rocks of Mull, or buffeted by turbulent waves, beholds its tower first rising out of the deep, giving to this desolate region an air of civilization, and recalling the consciousness of that human society, which, presenting elsewhere...
Page 46 - Its northern front consists of two grand distinct ascents, or terraces, the level top of the lowest of which, at an elevation of about 1700 feet, contains a wild tarn or mountain lake. The outer acclivities of this the lower part of the mountain are very steep, although covered with a short grassy sward, intermixed with heath ; but at the lake this general vegetable clothing ceases. Here a strange scene of desolation presents itself.

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