From Stirling a pleasant episodical tour may be made to Castle Campbell, the Rumbling Brig, and the Devil's Caldron. Leaving Stirling, the tourist has on his left the soft green pastoral yet lofty hills of the Ochil range, with their magnificent wooded glades and warm sunward slopes, consisting of intermingling copse, cornfields, and meadows, while on the right is a rich and level country, bounded by the Forth, now entwining its silver links and spreading into a noble estuary. The most southerly of the Ochil hills is Damyat, famous for the extensive and splendid view obtained from its summit. In its neighbourhood is Bencleuch, which shoots up into a tall rocky point, called Craigleith, remarkable in ancient times for the production of falcons. In a hollow near this the snow often lies far into the summer. The people give it the picturesque name of Lady Alva's Web. Three miles from Stirling the tourist reaches the beautiful village of Blairlogie, and four miles beyond it the village of Alva, which was formerly remarkable for its silver mines. Alva House, the residence of Johnstone of Alva, stands on an eminence projecting from the base of the Woodhill.* Three miles from Alva is Tillicoultry, and at the distance of other three miles is the village of Dollar, about thirteen miles from Stirling, and seven from Alva. At Dollar there is an extensive academy, founded by a person of the name of Macnab, a native of the parish, who had realized a large fortune in London. It is a handsome Grecian building, and is furnished with good masters for the various branches of education. In the neighbourhood is the remarkable ruin of Castle Campbell, occupying a wild and romantic situation on the top of a high and almost insulated rock. The only access to the castle is by an isthmus connecting the mount with the hill behind. The mount on which it is situated is nearly encompassed on all sides by thick bosky woods, and mountain rivulets descending on either side, unite at the base. Immediately behind rises a vast amphitheatre of wooded hills. Castle Campbell is a place of great antiquity. The precise period at which it came into the possession of the Argyle family is not certainly known. In 1493, an act of Parliament was passed for changing the name of "the castle called the Gloume," to Castle Campbell, and "Oh, Alva woods are bonnie, Tillicoultry hills are fair, But when I think o' the bonnie braes o' Menstrie, It mak's my heart aye sair." Fairy Rhyme. The village of Menstrie lies two miles west of Alva. Menstrie House was the seat of the Earl of Stirling. †The ancient name of the castle, it is often said, was the Castle of Gloom. The mountain streams that flow on the different sides are still called, the one the Water of Care, the other the Burn of Sorrow; and, after the junction in it continued to be a possession of the great clan family of Argyle, till about thirty years ago, upon the death of the late Duke, it was sold to the late Mr. Tait of Harvieston. It is said that John Knox resided in Castle Campbell, under the protection of Archibald, the fourth Earl, who was the first of the Scottish nobility that publicly embraced the Protestant religion. Castle Campbell was destroyed in 1645. The feudal hatred of Montrose, and of the clans composing the strength of his army, the vindictive resentment also of the Ogilvies for the destruction of " the bonnie House of Airlie," and that of the Stirlingshire cavaliers for that of Menstrie, doomed this magnificent pile to flames and ruin. The destruction of many a meaner habitation by the same unscrupulous and unsparing spirit of vengeance has been long forgotten, but the majestic remains of Castle Campbell still excite a sigh in those that view them, over the miseries of civil war. About two miles above Dollar is an interesting spot where the Devon forms a series of cascades, one of which is called the Caldron Linn. The river here suddenly enters a deep gulf, where finding itself confined, it has, by continual efforts against the sides, worked out a cavity resembling a large caldron. From this gulf the water works its way through an aperture beneath the surface into a lower cavity, where it is covered with a constant foam. The water then works its way into a third caldron, out of which it is percipitated by a sheer fall of forty-four feet. The best view of this magnificent scene is from the bottom of the fall. About a mile farther up the vale, the rocks on each side rise to the height of eighty-six feet, and the banks of the stream are contracted in such a manner, that a bridge of twenty-five feet span connects them. A handsome new bridge has lately been erected above the old one, and a hundred and twenty feet from the bed of the stream. On account of the rocky nature of the channel, the river here makes a violent noise, hence the name of the Rumbling Bridge. A few hundred yards farther up, front of the castle, they traverse the valley of Dollar, or Dolour. The proper etymologists, however, tell a different tale. The old Gaelic name of the stronghold was Cock Leum, or Mad Leap. The glen of Care, was the glen of Caer or castle, a British word; and Dollar is simply Dalor, the high field.-CHAMBERS' Gazetteer, vol. i., 191. * Tales of a Grandfather, vol. iii. p. 12. + Instead of the usual route, pedestrians, in coming from Dollar, should strike off the high road soon after they get above Vicar's Bridge, and take along a path to the right, leading to Cowden and Muckart Mill, and from thence by the Blair Hill, to the Caldron Linn. This is a short cut, which keeps near the river by a far more romantic line than the turnpike road. A short distance from the Rumbling Bridge is Aldie Castle, the ancient seat of the Mercers of Aldie, now represented by Baroness Keith. At Aldie, a man on being hanged for the slight offence of stealing a caup fu' o' corn, is said to have uttered a malediction upon the family, to the effect that the estate of Aldie should never be inherited by a male heir for nineteen generations. It is a somewhat singular coincidence, that this has already so far taken there is another cascade, called the Devil's Mill, where the water vibrating from one side to another of the pool, and constantly beating against the sides of the rock, produces an intermittent noise like that of a mill in motion. The whole of the scenes around these remarkable cascades are of the most romantic kind, and strikingly different from all other Scottish scenery. "The clear winding Devon," as almost every reader will recollect, has been celebrated by Burns in his beautiful lyric, "The banks of the Devon." Miss Charlotte Hamilton, (afterwards Mrs. Adair,) the lady on whom this song was composed, was at that time residing at Harvieston, near Dollar. The tourist may, if he choose, proceed by the Crook of Devon to Kinross, and thence to Edinburgh,—a route which he will find described in the tour from Edinburgh to Perth; or he may proceed to Dunfermline, and thence to North Queensferry, by a route much more agreeable, and only two miles longer. A short but pleasant excursion may also be made from Stirling to Dunblane, distant six miles, and to the Roman Camp at Ardoch, twelve miles distant. Leaving Stirling, the tourist crosses the Forth by Stirling Bridge. A short way farther up the river is the Old Bridge, a very antique structure, narrow, and high in the centre. General Blakeney, the governor of the Castle, in 1745, caused the south arch to be destroyed, to interrupt the march of the Highlanders. On this bridge Archbishop Hamilton of St. Andrews, the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Scotland, was hanged in 1571, in full pontificals, for his alleged accession to the assassination of Regent Murray. The tourist now passes, on the right, Airthrey Castle, (Lord Abercromby,) and afterwards the pretty little village of the Bridge of Allan, much resorted to in summer on account of a mineral well in the neighbourhood. In the vicinity is Keir, the seat of Archibald Stirling, Esq.2 and a mile and a half beyond it, the road passes Kippenross, the seat of Stirling of Kippendavie. In the lawn there is a remarkable plane-tree, supposed to be the largest in the kingdom. It is twentyseven feet in circumference at the ground, and thirty where the branches shoot out. A little beyond Kippenross is DUNBLANE,* an ancient cathedral city, situated on the banks of the beautiful little river Allan. The cathedral, which was founded in 1142, and richly endowed by David I., is still tolerably entire. The east end is fitted up, in an elegant style, as a parish church. The prebendal effect,-Lady Keith being the daughter of an heiress, who was the granddaughter and successor to another heiress, and being herself the mother of several daughters but of no male child. The slogan or war cry of the Mercers of Aldie, was "The grit pule," * Popularly characterized as "drucken Dumblane." stalls of richly carved dark oak, have fortunately been preserved. Several of the Bishops of Dunblane were distinguished persons, but the most celebrated of them was the good Bishop Leighton, afterwards Archbishop of Glasgow, who founded a library here, which has been greatly increased by subsequent literary donations. The mineral spring at Cromlix, in the vicinity of Dunblane, is greatly frequented. About two miles east by north of Dunblane is Sheriffmuir, the scene of the battle which was fought in 1715 between the Earl of Mar, and the royal forces under the Duke of Argyle. In this engagement the left wing of each army was defeated, and the right of each was victorious; but the fruits of the victory remained with the Duke of Argyle.* Near the western extremity of the muir is Kippendavie, (-Stirling, Esq.,) and four miles beyond is Greenloaning. A mile and a half farther on, the tourist reaches Ardoch House, the seat of Major William Moray Stirling. Within his parks is the celebrated Roman Camp of Ardoch, esteemed the most entire in the kingdom. General Wade's military road passes over one of its sides. The measure of the whole area is 1060 feet by 900, and it is calculated to have contained no fewer than 20,000 men. There appear to have been three or four ditches, and as many rampart walls surrounding the camp. The prætorium, which rises above the level of the camp, but is not precisely in the centre, forms a regular square, each side being exactly twenty yards. The camp is defended on the south-east side by a deep morass, and on the west side by the banks of the water of Knaick, which rises perpendicularly to the height of about fifty feet. In the immediate vicinity there are two other encampments more slightly fortified. The tourist may proceed from Greenloaning to Perth, by Blackford, Auchterader, and Dalraich Bridge, passing on the road Braco Castle, Orchill, Gleneagles, Kincardine Castle, Strathallan Castle, Gask, and Dupplin Castle. * Some person having remarked to the Duke of Argyle, that the rebels would probably claim the victory, his Grace replied, "If it wasna weel bobbit, weel bobbit, weel bobbit, alluding to the well known old song, called "The Bob of Dunblane." A number of noblemen and gentlemen, on both sides, were slain in this engagement; among others, the Earls of Forfar and Strathmore, the chieftain of Clanronald, &c. The body of the gallant young Earl of Strathmore was found on the field, watched by a faithful old domestic, who, being asked the name of the person whose body he waited upon with so much care, made this striking reply, "He was a man yesterday." "There was mair tint (lost) at Sheriffmuir," is a common proverb in Scotland. It is told, that a Highlander lamented that, at the battle of Sheriffmuir, he had "lost his father and his mother, and a gude buff belt, weel worth them baith." Burns has made this battle the subject of a song replete with humour. SIXTH TOUR. STIRLING-DOUNE-CALLANDER-THE TROSACHS-LOCH KATRINE -LOCH LOMOND. THERE are two roads which lead from Stirling to Doune, the first stage on the way to Loch Katrine: one crosses the Forth by Stirling Bridge, and proceeds along the east bank of the Teith, passing, in succession, the beautiful village of Bridge of Allan, and the neat parish church of Lecropt, built in the Gothic style; the other, proceeding up the valley of the Forth, passes the house of Craigforth, (Callander, Esq.,) and two miles from Stirling, crosses the river at the bridge of Drip. At the distance of about four miles from Stirling, the road passes Ochtertyre, (Dundas, Esq.,) once the residence of Mr. J. Ramsay, the friend of Blacklock, of Burns, and of Scott; a mile and a half farther on, the road passes the mansion of Blair-Drummond, (Home Drummond, Esq.,) embosomed in fine woods and plantations. About sixty or seventy years ago, the celebrated Lord Kames became proprietor of this estate, and commenced that series of operations, by which what was once a bleak and marshy moor has been turned into rich corn-fields.* *The removal of Blair-Drummond Moss is probably the most extensive agricultural enterprise ever undertaken in this country. Underneath the moss, at a depth varying from six to sixteen feet, lay a stratum of fine clay of a most productive quality, if a plan could be devised for relieving it from the superincumbent turf. This was accomplished by obtaining a command of water sufficient to wash the whole away into the river Forth. A wheel, twenty-eight feet in diameter and eight feet wide, propelled by a running stream, was employed to raise part of the water by which it was driven, to the level of the This was accomplished by means of a simple mechanical arrangement, the water by driving the wheel being actually employed in raising itself, a duty which it performed at the rate of six and a half tons per minute. The water thus lifted was directed into channels cut in the moss, along the sides of which men were stationed, cutting the moss into pieces and tumbling it into the current of water, by which it was floated into the river. Fifteen hundred acres of fine land have thus been added to the estate of the present proprietor. moss. M |