seems to have been respected. The monastery was erected for monks of the Augustine order. It was dependent on the great house of Cambuskenneth, passing with it, after the Reformation, as a temporal lordship, to the Earl of Mar. The island of Inchmachome is now the property of the Duke of Montrose. The smaller island contains the remains of the castle of the Grahams, Earls of Menteith, a race long extinct.* The possessors of this feudal fortalice had their garden on the isle of the Priory, and their pleasure-grounds on the neighbouring shore, which is still beautifully adorned with oak, Spanish chestnut, and plane trees of ancient growth. Some of the chestnuts are seventeen feet in circumference, at six feet above the ground, and must be above three centuries old. Rednock House (Graham Stirling, Esq., of Duchray and Auchyle) is beautifully situated at the east end of the lake; "The Earls of Menteith, you must know, had a castle, situated upon an island in the lake, or loch, as it is called, of the same name. But though this residence, which occupied almost the whole of the islet, upon which its ruins still exist, was a strong and safe place of abode, and adapted accordingly to such perilous times, it had this inconvenience, that the stables and other domestic offices were constructed on the banks of the lake, and were, therefore, in some sort defenceless. "It happened upon a time that there was to be a great entertainment in the castle, and a number of the Grahams were assembled. The occasion, it is said, was a marriage in the family. To prepare for this feast, much provision was got ready, and in particular, a great deal of poultry had been collected. While the feast was preparing, an unhappy chance brought Donald of the Hammer to the side of the lake, returning at the head of a band of hungry followers, whom he was conducting homewards to the West Highlands, after some of his usual excursions into Stirlingshire. Seeing so much good victuals ready, and being possessed of an excellent appetite, the Western Highlanders neither asked questions, nor waited for an invitation, but devoured all the provisions that had been prepared for the Grahams, and then went on their way rejoicing through the difficult and dangerous path which leads from the banks of the lake Menteith, through the mountains, to the side of Loch Katrine. "The Grahams were filled with the highest indignation. The company who were assembled at the castle of Menteith, headed by the Earl himself, hastily took to their boats, and, disembarking on the northern side of the lake, pursued with all speed the marauders and their leader. They came up with Donald's party in the gorge of a pass, near a rock, called Craig-Vad, or the Wolf's Cliff. The battle then began, and was continued with much fury till night. The Earl of Menteith, and many of his noble kinsmen, fell, while Donald, favoured by darkness, escaped with a single attendant. The Grahams obtained, from the cause of the quarrel, the nick-name of Gramoch-an-Garrigh, or Grahams of the Hens."-Tales of a Grandfather. adjoining it is Cardross (Erskine, Esq.), and farther to the west Gartmore (John Graham, Esq.) About four miles westwards from this is the scene of so many of the incidents in the novel of Rob Roy, beautifully situated at the junction of the Duchray and Forth (here called Avondhu, or the Black River)+ Two miles * Seven miles from the Bucklyvie Station of the Stirling and Lochlomond Railway, 12 miles from Callander, 5 from the Trosachs, and 15 from Inversnaid. The road to the Trosachs is a hill road passable for droskies, and is remarkable for its picturesque beauty. If the tourist should not be able to go all the way, he should endeavour to gain the highest point of the road, half way, 23 miles, from which there is one of the finest views of the Trosachs. "To the left lay the valley, down which the Forth wandered on its easterly course, surrounding the beautifully detached hill, with all its garland of woods. The miserable little bourocks, as the Bailie termed them, of which about a dozen formed the Clachan of Aberfoyle, were composed of loose stones, cemented by clay instead of mortar, and thatched by turfs. The roofs approached the ground so nearly, that Andrew Fairservice observed, we might have ridden over the village the night before, and never found out we were near it, unless our horses' feet had 'gane through the riggin.""-Rob Roy. westward is LOCH ARD,* a small lake 3 miles in length, and 1 in breadth, situated in the middle of a fertile valley. Its shores are broken up into rocky and wooded eminences not remarkable for height, but forming very agreeable landscape combinations. A delightful view of the loch is obtained from a rising ground near its lower extremity, and looking westward, Ben Lomond is seen in the background, and on the right the lofty Benoghrie. The road skirts the northern margin of the loch, and conducts the tourist with ease and comfort through the Pass of Aberfoyle, the scene of the famous encounter with Helen MacGregor. A gnarled trunk of an overhanging oak is shewn as the veritable tree from which Bailie Nichol Jarvie was suspended by the skirts. Near the head of the lake is a rocky islet on which are * "The road now suddenly emerged from the forest ground, and winding close by the margin of the loch, afforded us a full view of its spacious mirror, which reflected in still magnificence the high, dark, heathy mountains, huge grey rocks, and shaggy banks, by which it is encircled. The hills now sunk on its margin so closely, and were so broken and precipitous, as to afford no passage except just upon the narrow line of the track which we occupied, and which was overhung with rocks, from which we might have been destroyed merely by rolling down stones, without much possibility of offering resistance." -Rob Roy. the ruins of a stronghold of Murdoch, Duke of Albany, and on the right of the road* is the House of Ledeard, noted for its romantic waterfall.t The road is continued along the margin of LOCH CHON, a sheet of water three miles in length, hemmed in by sloping hills feathered with natural coppice wood. In the midst of the seclusion of this place we are brought into contact with one of the greatest works of engineering skill of the present day, the Glasgow water-works, the magnitude of which reminds one of the great aqueducts of the Romans. The water is brought from Loch Katrine in pipes (the distance being 36 miles); and from the mountainous nature of the country, an immense amount of tunnelling, blasting and cutting, was required to preserve the level. The engineer of this great and successful undertaking was John Frederic Bateman, Esq.; and the inaugurating ceremony of "tapping the loch" was performed by the Queen in person, 14th October 1859. By pursuing this road, which has been broadened and renewed to facilitate the traffic, the tourist will reach Stronachlachar Hotel, near the head of Loch Katrine, or Inversnaid on Loch Lomond (see page 231). * A footpath strikes off, from near this, towards Ben Lomond, by which the tourist may cross the hill and reach Rowardennan, on Loch Lomond. "It was not so remarkable either for great height or quantity of water, as for the beautiful accompaniments which made the spot interesting. After a broken cataract of about twenty feet, the stream was received in a large natural basin filled to the brim with water, which, where the bubbles of the fall subsided, was so exquisitely clear, that although it was of great depth, the eye could discern each pebble at the bottom. Eddying round this reservoir, the brook found its way over a broken part of the ledge, and formed a second fall, which seemed to seek the very abyss; then wheeling out beneath from among the smooth dark rocks, which it had polished for ages, it wandered murmuring down the glen, forming the stream up which Waverley had just ascended."Waverley. |