SCENERY OF THE TROSACHS.-LOCH-CATRINE 11 66 The mountain range, which forms the outskirts of the Highlands, runs for several miles due west from Callender, and then verges to the south towards Benlomond. The small lakes of Vennachar and Achray, into which are discharged the waters from Loch-Catrine, lie on the outside of the Highland boundary; while the latter is encompassed by mountains through which a communication has been formed, between Loch-Catrine and Loch-Achray, by some great convulsion of nature-sweeping away the connecting link between Benan and Benvenue, which, on either side, present lofty and inaccessible precipices. The intermediate defile, known as the pass of the Trosachs, or "bristled territory," is occupied by intricate groups of rocky and wooded eminences. On the south of Vennachar and Achray, the hills are covered with heather, and fringed at their base with oak. Coilantogle ford," where Roderick Dhu was overcome by Fitz-James, is at the lower point of Loch-Vennachar. "Lanrick Mead," the mustering-place of Clan Alpin, lies on the north side of the lake.* Loch-Catrine, serpentine in form, and about ten miles long by two in breadth, is encircled by high mountains. The narrow river which conducts its waters to Loch-Achray, keeps the southern side of the intermediate isthmus, sweeping by the precipitous flank of Benvenue. Between the river and Benan are various abrupt rocky ridges, rising into summits of different character-some more or less spiry; others presenting elongated outlines. This labyrinth is tangled over with a forest of oak, coppice, birch, and underwood, which also climb high up the long and almost vertical side of Benan. Not many years ago Benvenue could also boast a myriad of noble trees, which the extreme irregularity of its shattered rocky sides threw into the most varied and effective groups.—Byron censured the excellent monks of St. Bernard for having hewn down the timber from Clarens; but the present was an act of greater sacrilege, inasmuch as there was no similar apology for the axe. Until the publication of Dr. Robertson's "Statistical Account," in 1790, this romantic district was comparatively unknown. Shut out from the rest of the world by an almost impenetrable barrier of precipitous rocks, dark ravines, and impervious forests, the bright waters of Loch-Catrine, and its romantic shores, had whose stone-representative happened to be displaced by the following morning, was regarded as fey—that is, one whose days were numbered, and might be expected to die within twelve months. These relics of ancient superstition are always interesting, and often serve important ends in facilitating historical and philosophical inquiry.-See Local Statist. For a minute account of this classic scenery, and the points that take a more prominent part in "The Lady of the Lake," see "Chambers," ," "Graham's Sketches," and "Anderson's Guide to the Highlands" -a work of great merit. slept for ages in their native wilderness. But when the report spread, that withín this rugged girdle of rocks and chasms, a fairy-land was embosomed-the charms of which poetry itself could hardly exaggerate-curiosity was excited-taste and genius were attracted to the spot, and the scene was found to justify the enthusiastic encomiums in which the writers had indulged. Native pride was flattered by the arrival of strangers, who came to admire this new "el Dorado;" and the fame of the district was finally immortalized by the publication of the "Lady of the Lake." A commodious road was constructed, and views which, by climbing precipices and crossing ravines, the hunter, or hardy mountaineer, had only ventured to indulge, were now rendered alike accessible to all. The lake and its scenery-as disclosed from the precipice where they first burst upon the eye of Fitz-James, in all the glory of an alpine sunset-are so finely sketched in the poem, that we shall here give the extract in preference to every other. "The western waves of ebbing day And mountains, that like giants stand, To sentinel enchanted land. High on the south bold Benvenue Down to the lake in masses threw Crags, knolls, and mounds, confus'dly hurled, The fragments of an earlier world; A wildering forest feathered o'er His ruined sides and summits hoar, While on the north, through middle air, Benan heaved high his forehead bare."-Lady of the Lake, Canto I. Travellers who wish to see as much as they can of the wonders of Loch-Catrine generally sail westward,* on the south side of the lake, to the rock and "Den of the ghost," whose dark recesses the imagination of the natives conceived to be the habitation of supernatural beings.† • See Dr. Graham's Sketches of Perthshire. A gentleman who possessed a farm immediately above the den, going home one evening at a late hour, beheld, in passing through the haunted spot, a figure glide swiftly past him, and instantly drew his sword |