THE HIGH

LANDS: 1841.

C. D.

to J. F.

A fright.

CHAPTER XVI.

ADVENTURES IN THE HIGHLANDS.

1841.

FROM Loch-earn-head Dickens wrote on Monday the 5th of July, having reached it, 'wet through,' at four that afternoon. 'Having had a great deal to do in a crowded 'house on Saturday night at the theatre, we left Edin'burgh yesterday morning at half past seven, and travelled, 'with Fletcher for our guide, to a place called Stewart's'hotel, nine miles further than Callender. We had 'neglected to order rooms, and were obliged to make a 'sitting-room of our own bed-chamber; in which my genius for stowing furniture away was of the very greatest 'service. Fletcher slept in a kennel with three panes of glass in it, which formed part and parcel of a windów ; 'the other three panes whereof belonged to a man who slept on the other side of the partition. He told me this 'morning that he had had a nightmare all night, and had 'screamed horribly, he knew. The stranger, as you may suppose, hired a gig and went off at full gallop with the 'first glimpse of daylight.* Being very tired (for we had

* Poor good Mr. Fletcher had, among his other peculiarities, a habit of venting any particular emotion in a wildness of cry that went beyond even the

LANDS:

1841.

The

C. D. to

J. F.

Trossachs.

Island of

the Lady

of the

'not had more than three hours' sleep on the previous THE HIGH. 'night) we lay till ten this morning; and at half past 'eleven went through the Trossachs to Loch-katrine, 'where I walked from the hotel after tea last night. It is 'impossible to say what a glorious scene it was. It rained 'as it never does rain anywhere but here. We conveyed 'Kate up a rocky pass to go and see the island of the 'Lady of the Lake, but she gave in after the first five 'minutes, and we left her, very picturesque and uncomfort'able, with Tom' (the servant they had brought with them from Devonshire-terrace) 'holding an umbrella over 'her head, while we climbed on. When we came back, 'she had gone into the carriage. We were wet through 'to the skin, and came on in that state four and twenty niles. Fletcher is very good natured, and of extraor'dinary use in these outlandish parts. His habit of going The tra'into kitchens and bars, disconcerting at Broadstairs, is guide.

Lake.

vellers'

descriptive power of his friend, who referred to it frequently in his Broadstairs letters. Here is an instance (20th Sept. 1840) Mrs. M. being in the 'next machine the other day heard him howl like a wolf (as he does) when he 'first touched the cold water. I am glad to have my former story in that 'respect confirmed. There is no sound on earth like it. In the infernal 'regions there may be, but elsewhere there is no compound addition of wild 'beasts that could produce its like for their total. The description of the 'wolves in Robinson Crusoe is the nearest thing; but it's feeble-very feeble '-in comparison.' Of the generally amiable side to all his eccentricities I Fletcher's am tempted to give an illustration from the same letter. 'An alarming report eccen'being brought to me the other day that he was preaching, I betook myself to tricities. 'the spot and found he was reading Wordsworth to a family on the terrace, 'outside the house, in the open air and public way. The whole town were 'out. When he had given them a taste of Wordsworth, he sent home for 'Mrs. Norton's book, and entertained them with selections from that. He 'concluded with an imitation of Mrs. Hemans reading her own poetry, which 'he performed with a pocket-handkerchief over his head to imitate her veil -all this in public, before everybody.'

LANDS:

1841.

C. D.

to J. F.

THE HIGH- 'here of great service. Not expecting us till six, they 'hadn't lighted our fires when we arrived here; and if you 'had seen him (with whom the responsibility of the 'omission rested) running in and out of the sitting-room 'and the two bed-rooms with a great pair of bellows, with 'which he distractedly blew each of the fires out in turn, A comical 'you would have died of laughing. He had on his head a 'great highland cap, on his back a white coat, and cut such ‘a figure as even the inimitable can't depicter.

picture.

Highland

accommo

dation.

Weather.

...

'The Inns, inside and out, are the queerest places 'imaginable. From the road, this one,' at Loch-earnhead, 'looks like a white wall, with windows in it by 'mistake. We have a good sitting-room though, on the 'first floor: as large (but not as lofty) as my study. The 'bedrooms are of that size which renders it impossible for 'you to move, after you have taken your boots off, without 'chipping pieces out of your legs. There isn't a basin in 'the Highlands which will hold my face; not a drawer 'which will open after you have put your clothes in it; 'not a water-bottle capacious enough to wet your tooth'brush. The huts are wretched and miserable beyond all description. The food (for those who can pay for it) "not bad," as M would say: oatcake, mutton, hotch 'potch, trout from the loch, small beer bottled, marmalade, and whiskey. Of the last named article I have taken 'about a pint to-day. The weather is what they call "soft" --which means that the sky is a vast water-spout that 'never leaves off emptying itself; and the liquor has no 'more effect than water. I am going to work to'morrow, and hope before leaving here to write you again.

LANDS:

1841.

'The elections have been sad work indeed. That they THE HIGH. 'should return Sibthorp and reject Bulwer, is, by Heaven, 'a national disgrace. . . . I don't wonder the devil flew over 'Lincoln. The people were far too addle-headed, even for

....

J. D.

to

J. F.

elections.

' him. I don't bore you with accounts of Ben this and Peel's 'that, and Lochs of all sorts of names, but this is a 'wonderful region. The way the mists were stalking 'about to-day, and the clouds lying down upon the hills; 'the deep glens, the high rocks, the rushing waterfalls, and 'the roaring rivers down in deep gulfs below; were all 'stupendous. This house is wedged round by great heights Grand 'that are lost in the clouds; and the loch, twelve miles long, 'stretches out its dreary length before the windows. In 'my next, I shall soar to the sublime, perhaps; in this 'here present writing I confine myself to the ridiculous. 'But I am always,' &c. &c.

scenery.

chelish.

His next letter bore the date of 'Ballechelish, Friday From Balle. ‘evening, ninth July, 1841, half past nine, P.M.' and described what we had often longed to see together, the Pass of Glencoe. . . . 'I can't go to bed without writing to 'you from here, though the post will not leave this place ' until we have left it, and arrived at another. On looking 'over the route which Lord Murray made out for me, I Changes in 'found he had put down Thursday next for Abbotsford and Dryburgh-abbey, and a journey of seventy miles 'besides! Therefore, and as I was happily able to steal a march upon myself at Loch-earn-head, and to finish in two days what I thought would take me three, we 'shall leave here to-morrow morning; and, by being a day earlier than we intended at all the places between

VOL. I.

route.

THE HIGH 'this and Melrose (which we propose to reach by

LANDS:

1841.

C. D. to J. F.

A water

fall.

'Wednesday night), we shall have a whole day for Scott's 'house and tomb, and still be at York on Saturday 'evening, and home, God willing, on Sunday. . . . We 'left Loch-earn-head last night, and went to a place called 'Killin, eight miles from it, where we slept. I walked 'some six miles with Fletcher after we got there, to see a 'waterfall and truly it was a magnificent sight, foaming 'and crashing down three great steeps of riven rock; 'leaping over the first as far off as you could carry your 'eye, and rumbling and foaming down into a dizzy pool 'below you, with a deafening roar. To-day we have had a 'journey of between 50 and 60 miles, through the bleakest 'and most desolate part of Scotland, where the hill-tops ' are still covered with great patches of snow, and the road 'winds over steep mountain passes, and on the brink of 'deep brooks and precipices. The cold all day has been 'intense, and the rain sometimes most violent. It has 'been impossible to keep warm, by any means; even 'whiskey failed; the wind was too piercing even for that. 'One stage of ten miles, over a place called the Black-mount, 'took us two hours and a half to do; and when we came 'to a lone public called the King's-house, at the entrance Entrance to 'to Glencoe-this was about three o'clock-we were well 'nigh frozen. We got a fire directly, and in twenty 'minutes they served us up some famous kippered salmon, 'broiled; a broiled fowl; hot mutton ham and poached

Glencoe.

eggs; pancakes; oatcake; wheaten bread; butter; 'bottled porter; hot water, lump sugar, and whiskey; of 'which we made a very hearty meal. All the way, the