A Summer in Skye
#.»•> X 0>vi. i.d>o. (Alkidi h A SUMMER IN SKYE IN TWO VOLUMES / (^ A SUMMER IN SKYE By ALEXANDER SMITH AUTHOR np "a life DRAMA, ETC. VOLUME I. AT,EXANDER STRAHAN, PUBLISHER 148 STRAND, LONDON 1865 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. EDINBURGH, I STIRLING AND THE NORTH, .... 49 OBAN, 77 SKYE AT LAST, ....... 83 AT MR M'IAN'S, .118 A BASKET OF FRAGMENTS, . 191 THE SECOND SIGHT, . .... 260 IN A SKYE BOTHY, 283 A SUMMER IN SKYE. EDINBURGH. QUMMER has leaped suddenly on Edinburgh like a tiger. The air is still and hot above the houses ; but every now and then a breath of east wind startles you through the warm sun- shine— like a sudden sarcasm felt through a strain of flattery—and passes on detested of every organ- ism. But, with this exception, the atmosphere is so close, so laden with a body of heat, that a thunderstorm would be almost welcomed as a re- lief. Edinburgh, on her crags, held high towards the sun —too distant the sea to send cool breezes to street and square— is at this moment an un- comfortable dwelling-place. Beautiful as ever, of course—for nothing can be finer than the ridge /^OL. I. A —; A SUMMER IN SKYE. of the Old Town etched on hot summer azure but close, breathless, suffocating. Great volumes of white smoke surge out of the railway station ; great choking puffs of dust issue from the houses and shops that are being gutted in Princes Street. The Castle rock is gray ; the trees are of a dingy " olive ; languid swells," arm-in-arm, promenade uneasily the heated pavement ; water-carts every- where dispense their treasures ; and the only human being really to be envied in the city is the small boy who, with trousers tucked up, and un- heeding of maternal vengeance, marches coolly in the fringe of the ambulating shower-bath.
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