contains, besides the chapel of ease, achurch and an Anti-burghers' place of worship.-Let me here incident ally mention, that, among the thousand collateral blessings attendant on the progress of the Bible Society, may be reckoned, in part, the approaching union between the Burgher and Anti-burgher communions of Scotland. By coalescing in the furtherance of an object, equally sought by both parties, they found themselves unconsciously tending to perfect unity in other points. In reference to the same Society, I will avail myself of this opportunity of stating, that at a meeting of the radicals in Glasgow, it was proscribed, together with the Savings Banks, by some of their party, as among the slavish institutions of the times. June 14.-This morning, the Wallace steam-packet calling at Rothsay, in her voyage to Inverary, I left the place. Our course lay through the kyles of Bute, which form a sinuous strait between the island and Argyleshire for several miles. Each shore is irregularly swelled into rocky elevations, diversified by copse-wood, heather, short grass, and shiver. The only habitations shewed themselves in the form of the genuine Highland cottage, just heaved above the turf; contiguous to a patch of verdure scooped out and cleared of shiver, at the base of the impending hill. Narrow as these seas are, they invariably present the usual lake appearance. In no part of my adventures did I survey such seeming "regions of calm delight," and of retirement incapable of being molested by the intrusion of human passion-such sheltered and secure recesses from the duplicity and strifes of the world as disclosed themselves while we glided along these tranquil coasts. "The leading impressions here, are those of romantic seclusion and primeval simplicity; of blissful solitudes from towns and toils remote;' and rustic poets and philosophers communing with nature; at a distance from the low pursuits and selfish malignity of ordinary mortals." Such is the philosophy of the imagination, with those who suppose that man is liberated from the slavery of passion and appetite, by the felicities of his geographical situation! Let those fly hither from the world, who are quite certain of leaving behind them the world's principles; and farther, of never wishing to return. Is not our duty, in relation to the world, connected less with images of retirement than of conquest? As we approached the broad extent of sea, bounded by the opposite peninsula of Cantire, the ridges of Arran displayed their magnificence under a new aspect. Their summits were seen more obliquely; and such points of them as were not shrowded by dense, light-coloured clouds, assumed a serrated appearance; and the swell on the sea being considerable, the whole scene was altogether more than a repetition of what I had witnessed from the estuary of the Clyde. The vision gradually vanished as we steered up Loch Tyne, the beauties of which were almost totally concealed by hazy and wet weather, during the remainder of the voyage to Inverary. Conscious of your strong partiality to this place, I must draw upon your generosity to a very serious amount, while I presume to disallow Inverary's high pretensions. Gilpin, indeed, is quite of your sentiments. He visited it in 1776; and surely "time must have written strange defeatures" on the face of things here, in the long interval. The plantations, for example, may have grown be This is a corruscation from one of the northern lights, in his Review of Aliintend to quarrel with the general prinson on Taste. My friend never could ciples developed in that eloquent and admired critique; but he is jealous of the idle opinion, that men cease to be men by the mere influence of locality. -Q. yond their picturesque maturity. Mrs. Grant surveyed and described it in the vernal bloom of her life *; and, as it happened, in the same year (1773) in which it was seen by Dr. Johnson. Her report may be adduced in illustration of a maxim in her own lively and correct philosophy; that, in this frail and feverish state of being, to be easily pleased is one of the most secure arts of happiness. As an assemblage of the features of Highland scenery, Inverary is, in my judgment, a star of only the second or third magnitude. What principally arrest the attention are the purely English characteristics of the Duke of Argyle's demesne,limes and sycamores of extraordinary luxuriance; and beeches at least equal to the finest in Oxfordshire and Berkshire. One of the last mentioned trees, growing in a line with the wall of the cemetery attached to the park, may be particularized for its unusual dimensions. Against the case tle itself, compared by one of its many eulogists to some oriental vision rising in the wilderness," I have to lodge the most heavy complaints. It is an immense square box, with circular compartments, adjusted to its four corners; furnished at the top of the walls with battlements, and, in their sides, with doors and sash windows with pointed arches. The colour of the whole is what painters usually call a pale lead. And this is the feudal castle of the Highland chieftain; of the potent Prince of the Camp bells! But, in sooth, it has nothing of the chivalrous character about it; none of the architecture of the imagination; no imposing irregularity of form. And then its colour; not even that of incipient or imitated antiquity; no lichens, no weather-stains; and finally, not even a spray of Irish ivy! It was built by Mylne, the architect of Blackfriar's Bridge, who certainly could not, in the days of Duke Ar* Letters from the Mountains, Vol. I. i. and iii. chibald, have constructed an old castle; but might he not have copied one, or, at any rate, have saved his credit by contriving something like one *? Duniquaich, so warmly patronized by Gilpin, wears now somewhat of an artificial aspect; partly, I suppose, from the present state of the plantations. The sides are no longer shaggy and broken; and the watch-tower on its summit is compelled to partake of the fallen character of the subjacent scenery. You will, I fear, resent my attack on one of your favourite situations. Perhaps I viewed the place in connection with musings on the altered condition of the noble family who still possess it. The castle is already almost a deserted mansion! By the kindness of a gentleman whom I met at Inverary, I was conveyed to his residence among the far more impressive scenes of Linnhe Loch. The first ten miles of our route were up a glen, enlivened by the busy waters of the burn or river Aray, and on either side closed in by mountains of considerable altitude; but their surface was generally uniform and dreary. Near a groupe of huts called Cladich, opened upon us the beauty of Loch Awe; esteemed by many to be one of the finest lakes in Scotland. It extends thirty miles, with a medial breadth of two; containing several islands, one of them ornamented with the ruins of Kilchurn Castle. From Cladich we took the road to Port Sonachan, skirting the lake all the way. The retrospective appearances were the most striking. Here, for the first time, I observed an immense deposit of snow on the side of a distant mountain; while in the fore ground were seen the precipitous extremities of the range connected with Ben Cruachan, washed by the boundary waters of the lake. Near the ferry at Port Sonachan, where we re Gilpin himself calls the appendages to the middle tower "disgusting;" an epithet of sufficient strength to support the complaints of a traveller in 1819. mained for some time, I examined a Highland cottage. Nothing needs be added to the accuracy of Dr. Johnson's description of such a habitation and it may be well, in this place, to observe, once for all, that, as far as I could judge, and with some necessary allowance for the influence of the six-and-forty years elapsed since his Journey to the Hebrides, his remarks are characterised by the purest veracity.Loch Awe, from its narrowness and rather straight figure, has more of the look of a river than any other loch within the limits of my ramble. On its banks I observed a profusion of the globe flower; and though I am no botanist, I perceived that the country now presented several plants not to be found in the South. We crossed the ferry in the afternoon, and from the landing-place on the opposite side to the inn at Taynuilt, every mile of the road was afluent in Nature's boundless stores-the stores, at least, of Caledonian nature; and I became so far a native of these romantic wilds, as to adopt, for the passing hour, a native's sentiments. "Their groves of sweet myrtle let fo reign lands reckon, Where bright beaming summers exalt the perfume; Far dearer to me is you glen of green brechan, With the barn stealing under the long yellow broom. ash, and birch, are leased out to an English company, for the purpose of supplying charcoal to an iron foundery at Bunawe? But be comforted. I saw no marks of devastation; for although these are periodically inflicted, Nature recovers her insulted rights, and this happy valley wants only its Rasselas and Imlac. I visited the smelting houses at Bunawe, which is not far from the inn where we slept. It is situated on the south side of Lock Etive, near the stream which discharges into it the superAluous waters of Loch Awe. Here is a salmon fishery; and at this point appear the majestic heights of Ben Cruachan. They were coloured this evening by a transpa-' rent purpling mist, just as the sun declined; but I lingered in vain, to witness some resemblance to a sun-set on the Apennines, as painted by what has been termed, by competent judges, the faithful pencil of Ann Radcliffe. Thursday, June 17.-The first object of interest, in this morning's drive, was Connel Ferry. It may be termed the entrance to the scenery of the Lord of the Isles. The luxuriance of the sea-weed streamers attached to its rocks, and waving with the current of the ebbing tide, exceeded any thing of the kind I ever observed. At a certain time, between high and low water, a formidable cataract is formed immediately above the ferry, which inn on the opposite side, where we is then impassable. From the small breakfasted, is an extensive prôspect, embracing, among a thousand objects, the ruins of Dunstaffnage Castle, and the mountainous ridges of the Isle of Mull; the whole being terminated by the waves of the Atlantic. From thence along the shores, or rather with occasional glimpses of the bay of Ardmurkenish, we passed by what must be infinitely grateful to the palates of geological gourmands; I mean the masses of plumb-pudding rock at Cragenook. The name is delight E fully appropriate. They were evidently prepared in Nature's mighty kitchen; but whether afterwards steeped, boiled, or baked, the Nep. tunists and Vulcanists must still continue to debate. We passed also the ruins of Beregouium, one of the loadstars of antiquațianism. A good road, constructed in many places over mosses, brought us to Loch Creran; there the ferry is so wide and circuitous, that our passage had the character of a plea sureable excursion on the lake.. On approaching Appin Kirk, every thing unexpectedly wore the cos tume of a Scotch Sabbath. It was the fast-day previous to the aunual sacrament on the approaching Sunday. On the mode of celebrating the eucharist in this country, I shall offer some observations in the sequel. ***** &c. Appin House is situated among scenes of diffusive maguificence. Its site is close upon the shore of Linnhe Loch; an arm of the sea, extending from Fort William to the Sound of Mull, and washing, on either coast, continuous ranges of Jofty mountains, consisting generally of naked rock, but diversified by sylvan and pastoral varieties of surface. It contains numerous islands of these Lismore is the principal. The name signifies a large garden. It is rich and fertile, and about ten miles long: it was once the seat of the Bishop of Argyle, and, at present, is the residence of a Roman Catholic prelate. Within a short distance of the house is the Isle of Shuna; comprising about three hundred acres of excellent pasture. From the higher grounds of this spot the eye commands, in one direction, a lengthened view up the loch, terminated by the summit of Ben Nevis, (the highest mountain in the British islands); and from the contrary point, a far stretching prospect, bounded by the Western *Does this mean the lake of the fall, in reference to the cataract at Connel Ferry? Ocean, and embracing the distant islands of Jura, Hla, and Colonsay. Ben Nevis appeared streaked and dappled with snow. The demesne of Appin House was seen to high advantage; bordered on one side by an immense ampitheatre of natural woods. The building itself, like many other gentlemen's residences in the Highlands, is coated over with white plaster'; a circumstance exceedingly hostile to what ought to be the feudal characteristics of a chieftain's mansion. The hostility is, however, necessary, as the unconquerable hardness of the stone underneath this veil, forbids the workmen to chip its fragments into a shape sufficiently regular for the construction of an even wall, and, in consequence, the inequalities are concealed by an unseemly cement. A worse consequence is, that the houses do not look like the produce of the soil: they might quite as well be bought in one of the insipid districts of England, and transported, like our Lady's shrine of Loretto, to these romantic regions. How different are the buildings, particularly the cottages, and farm-houses, in some parts of North Wales! where they appear to be, what they actually are, portions of some neighbouring rock, exhibiting themselves as the natural growth of the country; and in their rich and warm colouring, perfectly harmonizing with the surrounding objects.-Linnhe Loch was last season resorted to by such astonishing shoals of herrings that, in one instance, where a rude stonewall, or breakwater, at the mouth of a small harbour, impeded their retreat with the retiring tide, they were left in heaps among the sand and shingles, and were then shovelled up and carted away like loads of gravel. This redundant popu *Similar stories may probably be told on all coasts visited by herrings. They, in fact, form a living tide, of which, for instance, the Scottish lochs receive only some superfluous billows. In his Scandinavian Travels, Dr. Clarke, the name of a Missionary. In Lismore there is a Catholic establishment in the form of an academy, or college, lately superintended by the bishop (Chisholm), who died not long since, aud his obsequies were celebrated by crowds, Latin prayers, and whiskey: the latter, it was said, being administered so liberally, as to produce much sensuality and disorder. (To be continued.) To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I HAVE been much grieved to observe the perversity of intellect with which several of the periodical works of the day have misrepresented the grounds of Carlile's trials, and have laboured to beat down a principal barrier which we possess to keep off the inundation of blasphemy which threatened to overwhelm us. That the Monthly Magazine and Monthly Repository would be sincere advocates in this cause, was of course to be expected: it was only labouring in their vocation; but that the Eclectic lation of the lake allured into its waters a party of whales; seven of which were observed from the windows or walks of Appin House, sporting in the waves below. "I would I had been there to see;" but the fishermen who did see them, by no means admire the treatment which their nets are likely to receive, whenever these giants of the deep pursue their resistless course towards them with all their magni. tude and force: they are, nevertheless, easily alarmed, and the fishermen only employ the defensive, and generally efficient warfare of shouting and uproar. The present enterprizing owner of this estate has executed various improvements. Among these ought to be mentioned the erection of many comfortable cottages and houses, distinguished by chimnies. Such is the rapid march of luxury, even among his cotters, that hints have been already thrown out about grates, as the inevitable consequence of chimnies. There are many families in the neighbourhood so tenacious of ancient usages, as to have resisted any innovation upon the central fire-places and smoke apertures of their ancestors. A conquest over the anti-forward almost numberless passages. chimney faction will certainly be slow and uncertain. Second stories to cottages cannot be attempted, till the domestic habits of the inhabitants are considerably improved; and the period of such improvements, as yet, has scarcely dawned. The united parishes of Appin and Lismore cover a district measuring sixty-three miles in length, by ten to sixteen in breadth. The population is only 3407. There is one church on the main land, with two episcopal chapels. A supernumerary minister resides in one division of the parish, under referring to the natural history of the herring, states, that in one fishery their numbers, when inclosed by the nets, are laded out of them with large scoops, the nets being contracted for that purpose. As a proof that I do not speak too harshly of these works, I might bring The Monthly Magazine, for instance, at the time in which subscriptions were making for the Society for propagating the Gospel, in compliance with the King's Letter, suffered its pages to be disgraced with such passages as the following. "How melancholy it is to turn from such a spectacle of philosophic illumination to the ridiculous state of religiosity at home! Our British missionaries are carrying ont every where the cast-off rags of Romanism, and teaching doctrines which learning has overthrown and reason has condemned. Some efforts ought to be made to circulate in this country a sounder and more liberal sort of instruction. Juries must exert themselves to terminate the intolerance of our prosecutors of opinions; and parliament ought to declare that those silly doctrines which the law understands by Christianity, are not part and parcel of the law of the land.”—Monthly Maga zine, for April 1819. |