trees, and either spreading into branches, in the form of a large Y, or forming a deep perpendicular ravine, from the summit to the base. This kind of lacework, with which Nature overspreads her most massy objects, is one of her simple modes, of producing endless variety, where, if in any place, we should most rationally look for sameness. An eye ever ready to catch these minutiæ, and a judgment able to keep them in their due subordination, constitute the artist of taste, who, when he copies nature, will seldom complain of barrenness in his subject. The water of Kinglas, where it issues from the glen, is tolerably well planted, and enriched with a mill and two bridges. The road descending under the Stroan hill, commands a fine view: in front is Ardkinglas, the seat of Sir Alexander Campbell, Bart. a modern building surrounded with plantations to the left, stretches the Loch, with the mountains of Inverary, and to the right the opening of Glen Fyne, about two miles distant, with its stream falling into the Loch, under a stone bridge. The grounds of Ardkinglas afford many pleasing sketches; but the modern house is not in a happy Gaelic srén, a nose. style of architecture: the ancient castle was pulled down, it is said, to make room for the offices. The village of Cairndow, which is on the right of Glenkinglas, thirty-five miles and a half from Dumbarton, possesses a very neat inn, where we slept and the next morning bade adieu, with regret, to our companions, who purposed returning by the Lochs Goyle and Gare. The sweep round the head of Loch Fyne promising nothing extraordinary, we crossed it, by a ferry, to the hamlet of Cooel. The boat, which was rowed by a woman, came from the opposite side, and took us over, a breadth of a mile, for twopence these laborious employments of the female sex, are not uncommon in Scotland, but more particularly characterize the Highlands, and are to be considered, as the most striking remain of barbarism in that country. : The road on this side of the lake is bordered by natural woods, among which I discovered several wild waterfalls; they afforded also a good foreground to the views of Ardkinglas, which is otherwise too unvaried. Near the forty-first milestone is an old castle, belonging to the Ardkinglas family, called Dundurraw*, probably from its situation, on Gaelic dun-du-ramh, the fort of the two oars. the edge of the lake, or from a pair of oars, which may have been erected as a trophy near it. It was a very ancient fortress; the present building is flanked with circular towers, in the style of the sixteenth century, and bears the date 1596. Over the door is the following inscription, which is given inaccurately in the Statistical Account, and thence copied by several subsequent writers: MAN BEHALD THE END BE NOCHT There are also some rude ornaments sculptured in bas relief, particularly a figure playing on a long pipe, resembling no instrument of modern times, unless it be a bass flute. Two miles further, as you are pursuing an unvaried road, a sudden turn opens one of the grandest and most complete pictures, which can be formed by Highland scenery. The lake, already broad and extensive, swells at once into a deep bay, into which two streams, issuing from two glens, pour their waters; the Aray from the north-east, and the Shiray from the north-west. A site more majestic can scarcely be imagined, than the gently rising green, on which stands Inverary castle, the seat of the Duke of Argyle, in the bosom of the bay, and in the very centre of the view. The park round it forms a spacious area, well planted, and screened behind by noble varied mountains, clothed in a vesture of rich wood. On the edge of the lake are two bridges, one in front of the castle, the other on the right. This side of the view is closed by Dun-y-coich, a lofty peaked hill, rising abruptly from the water, over whose fir plantations peers a rocky cliff, crowned by a solitary tower; the opposite extremity of the bay, shooting far out, is covered by the neat town of Inverary; the lake itself, stretching to the south, is shut in by the mountain ranges; and the whole is enlivened by the pictu resque herring-boats, and the larger merchant-vessels. So finished a composition, on so grand a scale, bursting upon the eye at once, excites no less admiration than surprise. We looked on it, almost as an artificial scene, which suddenly appearing, might as suddenly be rolled away. To its grand features was added an effect no less grand. A cloudy sky casting its gloom over the wild mountains, and dark groves of fir, was partially relieved by slanting beams of the bright setting sun; whilst in an opposite direction, a glittering rainbow seemed to illumine the thick showers driving down the glens. |