"The duces an intermittent noise like that of a mill in motion. clear winding Devon," 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 Devon Railway, for which an Act has been obtained, is to extend from Tillicoultry to Perth, and by this line the tourist will be enabled to continue this tour eastwards to KINROSS [Inns: Rennie's; Stock's. Population, 2590]. But as yet the shortest way of reaching it is from the Cowdenbeath Station of the Edinburgh Perth and Dundee Railway. A more round-about way is by the Fife extensionbranch line from Ladybank Junction, which has its termination at Kinross. The most interesting object at Kinross is LOCH LEVEN, with the remains of its well-known castle. The lake in form is an irregular oval, extending from ten to eleven miles in circumference. It contains four islands, of which one, St. Serf's Isle, near the east end, was so named from its having been the site of a priory dedicated to St. Serf. Wyntoun, the author of the rhymed “Orygynale Cronykil" of Scotland, was prior of this religious establishment. "a The ruins of Lochleven Castle, celebrated from its having been the prison house of the unfortunate Queen Mary, occupy an island near the shore. In 1542, Lochleven Castle was granted by James V. to Sir Robert Douglas, stepfather of the famous Earl of Moray; and in 1567, Queen Mary was imprisoned there after her surrender at Carberry Hill. The engraving which illustrates our text represents Lord Lindsay and his party on the occasion of that memorable visit to Queen Mary, which terminated in her abdication of the Crown. The pennon of the ruthless baron is displayed by one of his attendants as a signal for the boat, while he himself blows " clamorous blast on his bugle." Queen Mary escaped from the castle, May 2, 1568, through the aid of young Douglas, and is said by general tradition to have gone ashore on the lands of Coldon at the south side of the lake, whence she was conducted by Lord Seton to Niddry Castle near Linlithgow. The keys of the castle, which were thrown into the lake at the time of her escape, were recently found by a young man belonging to Kinross, who presented them to the Earl of Morton. Loch Leven is celebrated for the excellence of * Cowdenbeath Station is 5 miles from Kinross, and there is a 'bus in connection with some of the trains. its trout. The rich taste and bright red colour are derived chiefly from small crustacea and shell-fish upon which they feed. The silver grey trout is apparently the original native of the loch, and in many respects the finest fish of the whole. The char or gelly trough, rivalling in richness and flavour the best specimens of this kind, have of late years disappeared. The right of fishing, with the use of a boat and rowers, may be obtained from the tacksman. The charge is half-a-crown per hour. Kinross House (Sir Graham Montgomery), erected in 1685 for the Duke of York, stands on a promontory once occupied by a stronghold of the Earls of Morton. In the neighbouring village of Kinneswood, Michael Bruce the poet was born. The river Leven flows from the lake on the east side, and pursues an easterly course through the woods of Leslie House, the seat of the Earl of Rothes. The roads from Kinross to Perth (which is 17 miles distant) passes the village of Milnathort, and the ruins of Burleigh Castle, formerly the property of Lord Burleigh, attainted in 1715. It is then carried through Glenfarg, a romantic valley enclosed by the Ochils, to the Bridge of Earn, famed for its mineral wells, and over Moncrieffe Hill, affording one of the finest views of the Carse of Gowrie. * See the interesting life of this poet, by the Rev. D. M'Kelvie, who has proved that a number of the paraphrases and other poems ascribed to Logan were really written by Bruce. |