Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, Vol. 2 (of 2)Wordsworth, Dorothy
General
Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Wordsworth, Dorothy
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Diaries; Wordsworth, Dorothy, 1771-1855 -- Diaries; Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850 -- Family
_Friday, September 9th._--According to appointment, the gardener came
with his keys in his hand, and we attended him whithersoever he chose to
lead, in spite of past experience at Blair. We had, however, no reason
to repent, for we were repaid for the trouble of going through the large
gardens by the apples and pears of which he gave us liberally, and the
walks through the woods on that part of the grounds opposite to where we
had been the night before were very delightful. The Duke's house is
neither large nor grand, being just an ordinary gentleman's house, upon
a green lawn, and whitewashed, I believe. The old abbey faces the house
on the east side, and appears to stand upon the same green lawn, which,
though close to the town, is entirely excluded from it by high walls and
trees.
We had been undetermined respecting our future course when we came to
Dunkeld, whether to go on directly to Perth and Edinburgh, or to make a
circuit and revisit the Trossachs. We decided upon the latter plan, and
accordingly after breakfast set forward towards Crieff, where we
intended to sleep, and the next night at Callander. The first part of
our road, after having crossed the ferry, was up the glen of the Bran.
Looking backwards, we saw Dunkeld very pretty under the hills, and
surrounded by rich cultivated ground, but we had not a good distant view
of the abbey.
Left our car, and went about a hundred yards from the road to see the
Rumbling Brig, which, though well worth our going out of the way even
much further, disappointed us, as places in general do which we hear
much spoken of as savage, tremendous, etc.,--and no wonder, for they are
usually described by people to whom rocks are novelties. The gardener
had told us that we should pass through the most populous glen in
Scotland, the glen of Amulree. It is not populous in the usual way, with
scattered dwellings; but many clusters of houses, hamlets such as we had
passed near the Tummel, which had a singular appearance, being like
small encampments, were generally without trees, and in high
situations--every house the same as its neighbour, whether for men or
cattle. There was nothing else remarkable in the glen. We halted at a
lonely inn at the foot of a steep barren moor, which we had to cross;
then, after descending considerably, came to the narrow glen, which we
had approached with no little curiosity, not having been able to procure
any distinct description of it.
At Dunkeld, when we were hesitating what road to take, we wished to know
whether that glen would be worth visiting, and accordingly put several
questions to the waiter, and, among other epithets used in the course of
interrogation, we stumbled upon the word "grand," to which he replied,
"No, I do not think there are any gentlemen's seats in it." However, we
drew enough from this describer and the gardener to determine us finally
to go to Callander, the Narrow Glen being in the way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account