In Unfamiliar England: A Record of a Seven Thousand Mile Tour by Motor of the Unfrequented Nooks and Corners, and the Shrines of Especial Interest, in England; With Incursions into Scotland and Ireland.Murphy, Thos. D. (Thomas Dowler)
History
In Unfamiliar England: A Record of a Seven Thousand Mile Tour by Motor of the Unfrequented Nooks and Corners, and the Shrines of Especial Interest, in England; With Incursions into Scotland and Ireland.
Murphy, Thos. D. (Thomas Dowler)
Great Britain -- Description and travel
The castle near at hand is as severely plain and rude as the chapel is
ornate--a bare, gloomy place that tells in itself volumes of the hard,
comfortless life of the "good old days." The apartments of the lord of
the castle would be counted a sorry prison-house now--one that would
bring forth a protest from the Howard Society--and what shall one say
of the quarters for the serving-men and soldiers, or of the dungeon
itself, where the unfortunate captives were confined? Nothing, for our
powers of expression are inadequate; language itself is inadequate.
Thank God, the order of things is changed!
Edinburgh, with its wealth of historic and literary associations, its
famous castle and storied palaces, its classic architecture and its
fine shops, will always appeal to the wayfarer, I care not how often he
may come; but it is too widely known to engage this chronicle of more
unfamiliar Britain.
The excellent North British Hotel, where, wonder of wonders in Britain,
you may, if fortunate enough, secure a heated bathroom en suite,
might well tempt us to a longer stay; but we must be on, and the next
afternoon finds us on the road to Queensferry. Here our motor, with two
or three others, is loaded on a ferryboat which carries us across the
Firth of Forth. We pass directly under the bridge, and in no other way
can one get a really adequate idea of this marvelous structure, which,
despite all the recent achievements of bridge-building, still holds its
place as the most remarkable feat of engineering in its class.
About Loch Leven and the ruin that rears its low, square tower from
the clustered foliage of its tiny islet, there will always hover
an atmosphere of romance. And why should it not be thus, since the
authentic feats that history records have in them more of romance than
many of the wild tales of the imagination? But more than this: the halo
which the genius of Scott has thrown over the spot and the song and
story that have been builded on the captivity and escape of the fair
prisoner of Loch Leven, continue to make the placid lake a shrine for
many pilgrims.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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