The Heart of Scotland
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TH E H EART OF S COTLA N D PAINT ED BY SUTTO N PALM ER DESCRIBED BY O PE M CRIEF F A . R H N . O PUBLI SH ED BY 4. SO H O SQUARE ° W A A 59 CH ARLES O O . D M L ND N , BLAC K MCMI " Prefa c e “ BO NNI E SCOTLAND pleased so many readers that it came to be supplemented by another volume dwelling “ ” a the a an d an w m inly on western Highl nds Isl ds, hich was illustrated in a different style to match their Wilder ’ t n the a t a nd mistier features . Such an addi io gave u hor s likeness of Scotland a somewhat lop- sided effect and to balance this list he has prepared a third volume dealing w t a nd e et no t u i h the trimmer rich r, y less pict resque te t t —t at t region of nes visi ed by strangers h is, Per hshire and its e to the Hea rt o bord rs . This is shown be f S cotla nd n as a n t a o , not o ly cont i ing its mos f m us scenery, t e n H d a but as bes bl ndi g ighlan and Lowl nd charms, a nd as having made a focus of the national life and t t t his ory . Pic and Scot, Cel and Sassenach, king and vassal, mailed baron and plaided chief, cateran and farmer, t and n and Jacobi e Hanoveria , gauger smuggler, Kirk a nd e n n o n S cessio , here in tur carried a series of struggles whose incidents should be well known through the ‘ Wa verley Novels . B ut these famous romances seem to o — little known to hasty readers of to day ; and some ’ glimpses of Perthshire s past life may no t prove over a at ea t to t t f miliar, l s s rangers in a coun y where the author is at home . Co nte nts PE I . RTHSHIR E II TA S E . Y ID A O III . TH LL IV . BREADA LBANE V S A EA N . TR TH R TH E S VI. M ACGREGOR VII. ROB ROY AND H IS SONS ME E H V III . NT IT vii List o f Illu stra tio ns Th e Pa K e an e 1 . ss of illi cr ki A a z . Highl nd Moor A Highl and S trath Perth from the Slop es of Kin no ull Autum n in t he Highl ands Du n k eld and Bi rnam A Highlan d Cottage The Trossachs The Fa lls of Tum m el The Moor of Rann och The H ea d of Loch Tay The Do c hart The Lady of the Woods A Highl and River A Highl an d La k e Glen fi nlas ix The H eart of Scotlan d F ACING PAGE Loch Lubn aig In the M acgregor Cou nt ry Loch Ac hray The Head of Loch Lom ond S er Stran K atr n e ilv d, Loch i The River Teith The Crags of Ben V enu e Sti rli ng C a stl e THE HEART O F SCOTLAND PERTHSHIRE M Y text is taken from a writer to whom every discourse on our country goes for authority and illustrations . Am n all the v n es in S o t an if an inte en t st an e o g pro i c c l d, lli g r g r e e as e to es i e the m o st a e an d the m st ea t w r k d d cr b v ri d o b u iful, i t i s a e he o nam e the o u n t o f Pe t A nat ve prob bl w uld c y r h . i , a s o f an o t e st ri t o f Ca e n a t his a tia ities l o, y h r di c l do i , hough p r l m i t ea him to e e his native o nt in the rs t nstan e gh l d pr f r c u y fi i c , o erta n ass tha t Pe t in the se o n and t us ve w uld c i ly cl of r h c d, h gi its in a tants a a ri t to ea t a t— e i e a a t—Pe t h bi f ir gh pl d, h pr jud c p r r h s e o m s the fai est o tio n o f the n rt e n in hir f r r p r o h r k gdo m . t w as a e Sco t an lien in P rthshire, his judgment of “ ” e e t a a which, then, should be n ith r par i l nor imp rtial, as the Provost of Portobello desired ; while it is so much my native h eath that I give it no place but that of first in all the counties of Britain . There can be a the e sm ll doubt of verdict pronounc d by visitors, who ’ take the Scottish Highlands as the crea m of our island s scenery, and in most cases know little of the Highlands t a and beyond his central maze of mount ins valleys, falling a the to the rich plain of Str thmore, spread out between The Heart of Scotlan d rugged Grampians and the green hills of Ochil and Sidlaw . a the Al al Here rose ancient ban, or re m of Alpin, the e t t a a t has cor of his oric Sco l nd, a n me hat been fondly identified with that of the Alps but I am not going to the entangle myself in the sna res of philology. If n Al Perthshire Bens seem insignifica t beside the ps, for e a the former, at l ast, no bo stful pretensions are made by “ a a as their sons, who f mili rly speak of them the hills Hill th t a . e rather h n the mountains , indeed, is used in a a Highl nds in a rougher sense, to denote the wild he thy land as distinct from the cultivated glen . I have heard “ an old- fashioned sportsman spea k of going out on the " l t a l hi l, when he was ac u l y descending to a lower level . it and so R L . Stevenson has m e the a r m e r m the sea Ho is s ilo , ho f o , And th n er m e r m he e hu t ho f o t hill . Al a e a e ban ppears to have xtended bov Perthshire , taki ng in at least the headwaters of the Spey and other a n the a stre ms flowing north . It certai ly included b sin the a he of the Tay and upper w ters of t Forth . And as Lowland and Highland scenery are finely mingled on t the e hese rivers, so here met and blended conflu nt torrents of blood and language swelling i n to a steady t be t stream of national life . Wha may called a Scot ish a the Ta kingdom first took sh pe on banks of y, where a long was fixed its chief seat . Something like pattern spun by the shuttle of w ar comes at last to light on a — - t e torn web of blood dyed, mis dimmed ch cks and stripes, hitherto a puzzli ng blur for the most erudite spectacles . Perthshire The Muse of early history seems like that chameleon, “ whose fate was explained by a Highland soldier I put it on m y bonnet and it went black I put it on my coat I it and it turned red ; but when let oot on my kilt, th e tartan fairly bursted it . It is an old reproach against us that every Scot looks “ on himself as desce nded from great and glorious but ” n forgotten ki gs . If, indeed, we calculate by geometrical progression how ma ny millions of ancestors each of us t a can claim in the last thirty genera ions or so, the ch nces seem to be against any Bri ton not having some strain o f - a . at qu si royal blood in his veins Scotland had, least, m to a any kings be descended from, sever l apocryphal and dozens of them , as named numbered by George a e t a Buchan n, befor he comes down to chronicles h t can a o f be verified . But to our critic l age, the long row a e e rly royal portraits xhibited at Holyrood, painted by a t a Dutchman at so much the squ re foot, seem wor h e still l ss as records than as works of art . The most a rdent Scottish patriot no longer sets store by such fables as historia ns like Hector Boece - wove into their volume s ; nor is it necessary to examine so fond ’ imaginations as that of descent from a Pharaoh s a te a a d ugh r, Scot , or from Ninus king of Nineveh .