770 THE WEST SHOKE.
And thus an airy point he won, And soon after gained a fine sight of
Where, gleaming with the Betting sun, gen Venue, which rises to the height of
One bunched riieet of living gold, thousand three hundred feet At
Wh Katnne lay beneath him rolled. rf at
To attempt any description of this a mo8t picturesque site, we disem
combination of Swiss, Welch and Col- barked and proceeded again by coach,
umbia river scenery, " were but waste- through Glen Arklet, to Inversnaid, on
ful and ridiculous excess," when Scott, Lom0nd, a distance of about five
himself, has, in the opening canto of the mijes
Lady of the Lake, given us so complete Lomond is, without doubt, the
a picture of the whole, one so beautiful fat 0f Scottish lakes, being about
and true, that even at the risk of pro- twenty-three miles long, with its great
lixity, I venture to insert the words of est breadth five miles. The hotel, at
the great magician- wnjcn we concluded to stay the remain-
Kach purple ieak, each flinty spire, der of the day and night, is charmingly
Wa bathed in floods of living fire. situated on the border of the lake, which
I'.ut not a Betting beam could glow i i nwt ,i ,
r .1 i u t i my bed room windows on one side over-
W ithm the dark ravines below, i ijrkii.ii.
Where twined the path, in shadow hid, Iooked 0n tne other and 3 f&OVQ
Ilound many a rocky pyramid, the house, the Falls of Arklet, with its
shooting abruptly from the dell narrow foot bridge, on which Words-
III thunder-Hplintered pinnacle. worth met nj8 Highland Girl, and whom
Til rocky summit!, split and rent he thn8 M to
Form'd turret, dome or battlement, Sweet Highland Girl I A very shower
Of beauty is thy earthly dower I
I or from their shiver'd brows display'd, Twice seven consenting years have shed
Far o'er the unfathomable glade, Their utmost beauty on thy head ;
All twinkling with the dewdrop'a sheen, And these gray rocks, that household lawn,
The briar-rows fell in streamers green, Those trees, a veil just half withdrawn,
And creeping shrub, of thousand dyes, This fall of water that doth make
Waved in the west wind's summer sighs ; A murmur near the silent lake ;
This little bay, a quiet road
And, higher yet, the pine tree hung That holds in shelter thy abode.
Mm Miattor'd trunk, and frequent flung,
Where wm'd tho cliffo to meet on high, All this, except the maiden, yet holds
llin bough athwart the narrow'd sky ; one's delighted vision, but with an effect
hcrt of .11, .here white glanced, more charming than the poet's prosaic
here gliHt'ning streamers waved and danced j , V JJru,uu
Tho w anderer's rye could barely Tw ' ProduC6- The Concluding lines
Tlic summer heaven's delicious blue; e Pem n8Q to the "Fair Crea-
So wondrous wild, the wholo might Lm ture " herself, have a truer poetic merit
Tho sa-ncry of . f.iry dream. A beguiling path continues on and up
At Loch Katrine, we dismounted from beyn(1 tte alls' a Pint overhanging
our lofty seats on the coach, the only ?d overloking a magnificent sweep of
desirable ones for viewing mountain and , late an(J 8urroanding shores. A
lake scenery, introducing us often, also, p.ant and favorite row from the ho
to genial and informal companionship' W is 10 Rob 'a cave, an arch shaped
and embarked upon tho steamer run! cavern at the base of Ben Lomond,
ning closo by Ellen's Isle v.t i ..
6 3 "i818ie Hender aid from fancy's glass
Where lur retreat in dangerous hour ! xr"' U roanJ the8e Bhore8 we Pas8
Some chief had framed a rustic bower f :len and UM da to scan
The wild Mac Gregor's savage clan.