A Descriptive and Historical Gazetteer of the Counties of Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan, with Anecdotes, Narratives and Graphic Sketches, Moral, Political, Commercial and Agricultural

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MacLachlan & Stewart, 1857 - Clackmannanshire (Scotland) - 400 pages
 

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Page 25 - Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam, afar Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car ; Or on wide waving wings expanded bear The flying chariot through the fields of air...
Page 298 - To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given, But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven: As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head.
Page 201 - Tradition, legend, tune, and song Shall many an age that wail prolong ; Still from the sire the son shall hear Of the stern strife and carnage drear Of Flodden's fatal field. Where shivered was fair Scotland's spear And broken was her shield ! xxxv.
Page 59 - God and the doctor we alike adore When on the brink of danger, not before. The danger past, both are alike requited. God is forgotten, and the doctor slighted.
Page 352 - A personage thus spoken of by biographers and historians loses little of his mystical fame in vulgar tradition. Accordingly, the memory of Sir Michael Scott survives in many a legend ; and in the south of Scotland, any work of great labour and antiquity is ascribed, either to the agency of Auld Michael, of Sir William Wallace, or of the devil.
Page 192 - To wake the soul by tender strokes of art, To raise the genius, and to mend the heart ; To make mankind, in conscious virtue bold, Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold : For this the tragic Muse first trod the stage...
Page 121 - Next from the well-air'd ancient town of Crail, Go out her craftsmen with tumultuous din ; Her wind-bleach'd fishers sturdy-limb'd and hale ; Her in-kneed tailors garrulous and thin ; And some are flush'd with horns of pithy ale ; And some are fierce with drams of smuggled gin ; While, to augment his drouth, each to his jaws A good Crail capon holds, at which he rugs and gnaws.
Page 49 - ... and others into the appearance of the lower animals, raise and allay tempests, frequent the company and join the revels of evil spirits, and, by their counsel and assistance, destroy human lives, and waste the fruits of the earth, or perform feats of such magnitude as to alter the face of nature. The Witch of Endor was a mere fortune-teller, to whom, in despair of all aid or answer from the Almighty, the unfortunate King of Israel had recourse in his despair, and by whom, in some way or other,...
Page 73 - Amonia, which they reached with the greatest risk and difficulty. Here they found a poor hermit, who lived a religious life according to the rules of St Columba, and performed service in a small chapel, supporting himself by the milk of one cow, and the shell-fish he could pick up on the shore. Nevertheless, out of these small means he entertained the king and his retinue for three days, the time which they were confined here by the wind. During the storm, and...
Page 44 - Wherever they marched, their route was marked with blood. They ravaged or destroyed all around them. They made no distinction between what was sacred and what was profane. They respected no age, or sex, or rank. What escaped the fury of the first inundation, perished in those which followed it.

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