ling up the copsy entanglements of this various loch. One of these social days of happy memory I have described in the verses called Edendarach, from which the reader I hope will take the hint, when he is at Rowardennan by no means to omit the ascent of Ben Lomond, a Ben which possesses the double advantage of commanding a splendid prospect and presenting no difficulty of climbing, even to the most feeble and dainty-footed tourist. And, after having completed this ascent the south country tourist may turn his back on the Highlands, well satisfied if he has accomplished with fair favour of the skies, one half or even one third of the ground over which he has accepted my hurried manuduction. And he will return, no doubt also justly, making wise conclusions in favour of his dear old England.. "Very fine Bens, these, but bare and barren! a man cannot live on barrenness!" Exactly so. When one thinks of your long stretches of rich fragrant turf in England, where we have only brown moors; of your wide seas of luxuriant leafage, county after county, from east to west, a continuity of gardens and orchards; your soft velvety lawns, the free range of your magnificent parks, studded with aristocratic trees, weighty with the peaceful growth of centuries; your trim cottages, hanging on the rim of ivied cliff, or rising terrace above terrace from the bottom of your vivid green dales; your venerable and tasteful mansions, hereditary homes of all that is most sound-hearted and

most lovely in English life; your perpetual air of cleanness, and comfort, and shining prosperity-we willingly concede to you the privilege of boasting that you live in the finest country in the world. Thank God, therefore, in the first place, that you were born in England; but thank Him, also, in the second place, that you will die one day, having seen Scotland. As for us, meagre mountaineers, we shall continue, with God's grace, to make the best of our granite rocks, and our heather braes, turning our physical disadvantages, if we are wise, into the means of strengthening our character; for man is an animal, easily spoiled by much softness, and from whom a little hardness will often help to evolve a more firmly braced manhood. Remember that.

LAYS OF THE HIGHLANDS AND

ISLANDS.

IONA.

THE VOYAGE OF COLUMBA.

66

I.

"SON of Brendan, I have willed it ;

I will leave this land and go

To a land of savage mountains,
Where the Borean breezes blow;

To a land of rainy torrents,

And of barren, treeless isles,
Where the winter frowns are lavish,

And the summer scantly smiles ;
I will leave this land of bloodshed,

Where fierce brawls and battles sway,
And will preach God's peaceful Gospel

In a grey land, far away."

B

Beathan spake, the son of Brendan-
"Son of Phelim, art thou wise?
Wilt thou change the smiling Erin,
For the scowling Pictish skies?

Thou, the lealest son of Erin,
Thou, a prince of royal line,
Sprung by right descent from mighty
Neill, whose hostages were nine?
Wilt thou seek the glens of Albyn,
For repose from loveless strife?

Glens, where feuds, from sire to grandson,
Fan the wasteful flame of life?

Wilt thou leave a land of learning,
Home of ancient holy lore,

To converse with uncouth people,
Fishing on a shelvy shore?

Wilt thou leave the homes of Gartan,

Where thou suck'd the milky food
From the mother-breast of Aithne,
Daughter of Lagenian blood?
Wilt thou leave the oaks of Derry,
Where each leaf is dear to thee,

Wandering, in a storm-tost wherry,