The Heart of ScotlandMoncrieff, A. R. Hope (Ascott Robert Hope)
History
The Heart of Scotland
Moncrieff, A. R. Hope (Ascott Robert Hope)
Perthshire (Scotland) -- Description and travel
James Mhor, who at least fought like a man at Prestonpans, died thus far
from his kin. Rob Roy is understood to be buried at the Kirkton of
Balquhidder, his grave marked by a timeworn stone, sculptured in some
more hoary age. There are tombs in better case ascribed to his wife and
to one of his sons. Another ancient slab is said to commemorate the
first Christian missionary of these glens that were so slowly lit by the
spirit of the new faith, where the most binding oath was on the dirk,
yet a man feared to break vows made on the tomb of this shadowy St
Angus. A more pretentious monument recalls the Maclarens, those older
lords of Roderick Dhu’s country, where yet a Gaelic rhyme boasted that
“the hills, the waters and the sons of Alpin were the three oldest
things in Alban.”
The stage of such stirring lives has become a favourite tourist scene of
Scotland, visited not only by bailies from the Saltmarket, but by
stockbrokers from Capel Court, and by bosses from the United States, who
have nothing to be afraid of but the chance of not finding room in the
trains, coaches, and places of entertainment that now open up this land
of lovely lakes and streams. If any of Rob Roy’s descendants be alive
to-day, they are like to present hotel bills instead of sword points to
the Osbaldistones and Captain Thorntons of our generation. Some of them
may be thanking Sassenach sportsmen for tips; and some, with more
fidelity than the Dougal cratur, may be tramping the streets of Glasgow
as policemen. Times are indeed changed. We no longer carry off our
neighbour’s cattle, nor his wife, nor his widow, nor anything that can
be protected by the police. We harry him only under forms of law; we get
the best of him in the market; we cheat him by tricks of trade; we
peacefully poison him with quack drugs and adulterated drink; then we
can complacently give thanks that we are not as those bare-shanked
publicans who made blood flow into Highland waters almost as freely as
lying advertisements stain the columns of our newspapers.
As yet “glad innocence” has never reigned among sons of Eve nursed upon
the “Braes of Balquhidder,” any more than about the banks of Cheapside.
But a time may come when our customary misdoings as well as Rob Roy’s
will seem--
Monstrous, uncouth horrors of the past,
That blot the blue of heaven and shame the earth
As would the saurians of the age of slime.
VIII
MENTEITH
There might now be looked for a chapter on the Trossachs district that
makes the most famous corner of Perthshire; but indeed we have been in
it for some time back. This was the chief arena of Rob Roy’s exploits.
At Inversnaid, where the stones of the English fort, finished in spite
of him, have gone to build farmhouses and bothies, he had his early
home. Many a time he must have driven a herd, honestly or otherwise come
by, over Ben Venue by the pass of Beal-nam-bo.
The dell upon the mountain’s crest
Yawned like a gash on warrior’s breast.
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