CHAP. XXII.

The Pleasures of a Good Landlady.-A Trout Breakfast.-Far off from Home. -What Great Britain would be were she as Broad as she is Long. Start alone. -Scenery of the Kyle of Duirness. - Storm Clouds.-Valley of Grudie.-Ascend to Gualin.-Dreary Wastes.Mysterious Figure. One of the "Men.". Nature of the Religious

Doctrine of the "Men." - Their Dress.

Cap worn by them.Curious Particulars respecting them. Their Fanaticism. - Power exercised by them over the People.-Their Ignorance.-Astonishment excited by Opera-Glasses.-Gualan House.-Glashven.-Refuge for Travellers.-Ptarmigan.-Stony Giants.-Heights of the Sutherland Mountains. Rhiconich.—Poor Inn.—A Highland Hebe.

Ir all country inns were like that at Durin, and all presided over by such a landlady as Mrs. Ross, travelling would be a real pleasure. So I assured my hostess when she had fastened a button on my coat, declaring that she had stitched in her day for the Duchess as well as for the beggar.

Indeed, I should be most ungrateful were I to pass unnoticed Mrs. Ross's kindness to me. Hearing that I was fond of trout, - who is not? - she sent a lad to catch some, and my breakfast was graced by the presence

of two beauties, red as salmon, and as delicious as they were lovely to look upon.

Well fortified, I buckled on my knapsack, shook Mrs. Ross by the hand, and bidding her a hearty farewell, turned my face homewards. For now my course lay south; but London is upwards of six hundred miles from Durin, and we have many a long Scotch mile to walk and ride before we shall be again in the whirl of the great Babylon. Ye Powers (of the Contiuent) what an island would this of ours be if it were but as broad as it is long! Six hundred and ninety-five miles from north to south; square that, shade of Cocker, and out comes the noble area of 483,025 square miles. But should we be a happier people if Great Britain were so vast? Not a whit. The panic party would, perhaps, not spend sleepless nights in terrible apprehension of the red breeches invasion, or, rather, would not have spent so many-for now that all able-bodied men are gallant volunteers, the panic-ghost is laid- let us hope for

ever.

My road lies along the east shore of the Kyle of Duirness. As far as its head waters, the scenery is varied and pleasing. Mountains broken by water winding far amidst their folds, and occasionally cottages with their little patches of greenery and cultivation, relieve the eye, and make you feel not utterly alone.

But beyond the head of the Kyle a total change oc

VALLEY OF GRUDIE.

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curs, and all is barren wildness. The rocks stand out from the earth like staring fleshless bones, and the very heather seems to have a struggle for existence. The influences of the scenery were deepened by dark threatening clouds, drifting in troubled confusion from the west, before a mighty wind that roared through the valley of Grudie. Up this the road winds in a continuous ascent to Gualan, ten miles from Durin. The prospect was not encouraging, and expecting heavy rain, I walked fast, for there is no shelter to be had here; not a house shall we see for ten miles, probably not a living thing. But what is that in the distance, moving up the hill, flapping what look like huge wings? Any object having life, in these wastes, excites curiosity. I hastened on, and was soon near the mysterious figure, not less mysterious when more closely seen.

It was a tall bony man, with a large blue camlet cloak, lined with green baize, disposed in reefs round his shoulders; his head gear a rusty black hat of obsolete shape, beneath which protruded the edges of a dirty white nightcap; and his body clothes, black cloth that had long since seen their best and brightest days. Strange-looking bundles, of various sizes and shapes, were hung about him, and seemed to incommode him as much as the wine jars inconvenienced famous John Gilpin.

To encounter man or woman, boy or girl in Suther

land, and pass on without speaking, would be to proclaim yourself a misanthrope.

A good day on both sides was quickly followed by conversation. We were both going to Rhiconich, where I purposed sleeping; we would go there together, and so we were companions for the day.

But who is your companion? you will perhaps ask. Well, dear reader, I can tell you now, though if you had put this question to me at the close of my walk with the wayfarer I could not have told you, so ill did I succeed in ascertaining the calling, business, or pursuit of the strange figure.

He was a

answer.

"Man."

Why, of course he was, you Put on your spectacles, my friend, and look at that informing substantive again. Observe how it is embraced by two commas; which means in this case, that my companion belonged to the religious sect who call themselves "The Men"-and was therefore "a Man." And as you have probably never heard of these people, whose proper habitat is the north of Scotland, I will tell you something about them.

The peculiar feature of the sect is self-election. They repudiate all ecclesiastical discipline and authority, detest prelacy, liturgies, and Erastianism, and consider that they alone are judges of their spiritual progress, which is poured upon them by God's grace. All theological learning is held in utter contempt, and the language of

the most ignorant "Man," if he asserts that he speaks by divine inspiration, passes for gospel truths among their followers.

The "Men' wear, during summer and winter, a cloak, which they wish to be considered apostolic; black garments, if they can obtain them, and through Caithness and Sutherland, where they abound, a cotton cap or handkerchief. This possesses great significance. The more it approaches pure white, the more blameless and holy does the wearer desire himself to be considered, and, strange to say, is considered by the

sect.

A very interesting pamphlet *, supposed to have been written by a Scotch Established Church minister, gives us some curious particulars respecting these "Men.” "The most remarkable feature," says the author, "in the proceedings of the Men, is the meeting on Sabbath evening after the service in church is done. At those meetings great numbers of people congregate, young and old, male and female. The prayers and addresses are of an extraordinary and highly exciting kind, and are prolonged far into morning. It is too well known that much immorality is the consequence of such stimulants."

The great object of these spiritual mountebanks appears to be to excite the people who are foolish enough

*The Church and her Accuser in the far North; by Investigator.