tufted with trees, through which ruins peep out, forms an interesting middle-ground, of which Ben Lomond, once, to appearance, the Ætna of Britain, with some minor mountains, and the house of Gartmore nearer than either, constitute the distance. The western bay of Inschemachame is often calm even amid the raging of the tempest, and affords to the landscape a fore-ground of no ordinary class.

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No. XIV.

'fair Nun-hill's tangled brake."—St. VIII.

A romantic height on the south side of Inschemachame, called the Nun's-hill, for what reason, the writer cannot pretend to say. He has not been able to discover any other symptom of a nunnery in the " isle of rest."

The extent of this isle is about five acres, forming altogether a varied wilderness of forest and fruit-trees, interspersed with underwood, and chequered with moss-grown ruins.

The noble proprietor, with his accustomed liberality, has made an arrangement, by which the public may, at all lawful hours, have free access to this interesting spot. A boat is purposely kept, on the northern shore of the lake, by Alexander Mac-Curtain, a lineal descendant of the hereditary gardeners of the Earls of Monteath. For a moderate

tion of this very splendid specimen of the vegetable creation. The doctor has been pleased, at the request of the writer, to enrich this volume with a catalogue raisonné, contained in that number, of the remarkable animals and plants of the district.

compensation, he makes it his business to transport travellers thither, and also to guide them through

"each lane, and every alley green,
Dingle and bushy dell of this wild wood,

And every bosky bourn from side to side,
His daily walks, and ancient neighbourhood."

very

He

He has "this close dungeon of innumerous boughs" in lease, the fruits of which, gooseberries, cherries, plumbs, pears, apples, Spanish filberts, &c., he sells, in their respective seasons, wholesale and retail. This ferryman is obliging, and a good specimen of the native and untravelled inhabitants of "the varied realms of fair Monteath." can likewise, being a publican, furnish a gill of whisky of acknowledged excellence among the dilettanti, and of incomparable efficacy as a preventive of any stomachic inconvenience which might else result from yielding to the, alas! too powerful fascinations of Pomona.

Be not voraciously carpophagous,
So shalt thou later need sarcophagus;
So paleness yields, and vital brevity,
To rosy health, and fresh longevity.

That this word is not in Johnson's Dictionary, can be no objection, while it can be demonstrated to be founded upon the strictest principle of legitimate etymology, being regularly compounded of two Greek words, signifying "fruiteating," in the same way as that which rhymes with it denotes "flesh-eating."

Or if to plumb can'st not say "Nay,"
E'en quaff a quaich of usquabhae.
Art homely Scot, or come from far?
Dost wear the plaid, or sport a star?
Amid the clans of Whig and Tory
A speaker, dost thou pant for glory?
Soldier, or sailor, yeoman, cit,

Or dame, or damsel, beauty, wit,
From country wide, or pent-up city?
With glass in hand we gently greet ye,
'Twill prove a sovereign AQUA VITAE.

The said public character hath, moreover, accommodation for horses, asses, and mules. Item, he has a thriving nursery of Spanish filbert plants, which he sells at a reasonable price, and with which several persons of condition have stocked their gardens. This filbert is the long red thin-shelled variety, of which the kernel is much admired.

No. XV.

For Marion Bowie and Elspa Hardie

Lead forth the airy dance.-St. IX.

The following is one of our local traditions; and although it seems to have the same origin with what Mr Scott, in his

66

Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," calls "a puerile legend,”* yet it is hoped that its varied incident will apologize for its insertion. Not to mention, that to trace similar mythologies in different places, whether arising from the same,

*Vol. II. p. 177.

10

or analogous circumstances, is an employment not unworthy even of the very respectable members of the Blue-stocking Club. The tradition alluded to is as follows:

One of the Earls of Monteath, when entertaining his friends, ran short of the necessary material. He ordered his butler to set off for Stirling, and to fetch more wine with all convenient speed. Next morning, happening to step into the servants' hall, his lordship found upon a benchhis butler, fast asleep! and his barrel beside him. The earl, impatient, awaked him, and chid him for his negligence. "Pardon me, my lord," replied the butler, rubbing his eyes, "I have been for wine, and, if I mistake not, have brought you the best that can be had. When nigh the shore of the loch, I spied two honest women, mounted each on a bulrush,* and saying the one to the other, Hae wi' you, Marion Bowie, Hae wi' you, Elspa Hardie.' Hae wi' you, too, says I, mounting, like them, on a bulrush. Instantly we found ourselves in the King of France's palace. As for me, I was near a sideboard, where was store of wine; and (being invisible to his majesty's people) I took the opportunity of filling my cask. I brought with me (my hand being in) the cup out of which his majesty was wont to drink. I returned on my trusty nag as quickly as I went ; and here I am, my business done, and at your lordship's service. At dinner, the

* The bulrush grows along the northern shores of the lake in great profusion, accompanied by the common reed. See Appendix, No. XI.

guests were astonished at the superlative quality of their liquor, and amused by the recital from the earl's lips of the way in which it had been procured, which his lordship confirmed by causing the butler produce an elegant silver cup, on which was engraved the fleur de lis of the house of Bourbon. At what precise period this splendid implement ceased to be an heir-loom of the Monteath family, does not appear. Whether it be mentioned among the plate belonging to the last Earl of Monteath, under the article, “Item, ane floured dish," the antiquary will be able to judge, by inspecting the "account of the silver work" in the "inventar" subjoined in No. VI. of the Appendix. For this tradition, the writer acknowledges his being indebted to his friend, the Reverend Doctor Duncan Macfarlan.

No. XVI.

A transit thwart the wave.-St. X.

The Earls of Monteath were possessed of what was called the "red-book," to open which was to be followed by something preternatural. One of them (whether from accident or design is a matter of doubt) unclasped the fatal volume, when, lo! the fairies appeared before him, demanding work. His lordship set them to make a road from the mainland to the islands. They began on the southern shore, and had made what is now called Arnmack, a pleasing peninsula, tufted with a grove of Scotch firs of considerable height; when the earl, fearing, either that they might become mutinous should they run out of work, or that they might, by

L