The writer, inhospitably as she had been treated, was more fortunate than
a distinguished French traveller, who arrived at Luss at night, a few
years earlier. The hostess made signs to him that he should not speak,
hustled him into a stable, and said solemnly, ‘The Justiciary Lords do me
the honour to lodge here when they are on this circuit. There is one of
them here at present. He is asleep, and nobody must disturb him.’ And
forthwith she drove him out into the rain and darkness, saying, ‘How can
I help it? Make no noise, his Lordship must not be disturbed. Every one
should pay respect to the law. God bless you. Farewell.’ And on they
had to go fifteen miles to Tarbet.—St. Fond’s _Travels_, vol. i. p. 233.
{80b} NOTE 9.—‘_I could not help smiling when I saw him lying by the
roadside_.’—PAGE 80.
‘The ferryman happened to mention that a fellow-countryman of his had
lately come from America—a wild sort of genius. This reminded us of our
friend whom we had met at Loch Lomond, and we found that it was the same
person. He was the brother of the Lady of Glengyle, who had made a
gentleman of him by new-clothing him from head to foot. “But,” said the
ferryman, “when the clothes are worn out, and his sister is tired of
supplying him with pocket-money (which will probably be very soon), he
will be obliged to betake himself again to America.” The Lady of
Glengyle has a house not far from the ferry-house, but she now lives
mostly at Callander for the sake of educating her son.’—_Author’s MS._,
1806.
{100} NOTE 10.—‘_In a word_, _the Trossachs beggar all description_.’
PAGE 100.
The world believes, and will continue to believe, that Scott was the
first ‘Sassenach’ who discovered the Trossachs, as it was his Poem which
gave them world-wide celebrity. It would probably be as impossible to
alter this impression, as it would be to substitute for Shakespeare’s
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth the very different versions of the facts and
characters which historical research has brought to light. And yet it
would be interesting, to those who care for truth and fact, to inquire,
did time allow, what first brought the Trossachs into notice, and who
first did so. That they had, as I have said in the Preface, some fame
before Scott’s Poem appeared, is clear, else a stranger like Wordsworth
would never have gone so far out of his way to search for them. Pending
a thorough examination of the question, it may be worth while here to
note the following facts. Miss Wordsworth refers in the text to some
work on the Trossachs, from which the words at the head of this note are
taken.
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