Ben Lomond

“ We have never had a more delightful walk than this evening. Ben Lomond and the three pointed-topped mountains of Loch Lomond, which we had seen from the Garrison, were very majestic under the clear sky, the lake perfectly calm, the air sweet and mild. ”

“ But the clear course of the lovely Leven is rock-crossed and intercepted with gravelly shallows, and guards Loch Lomond from the white-winged roamers that from all seas come crowding into the Firth of Clyde, and carry their streaming flags above the woods of Ardgowan. And there stands Ben. What cares he for all the multitude of other lochs his gaze commands—what cares he even for the salt-sea foam tumbling far away off into the ocean? All-sufficient for his love is his own loch at his feet. How serenely looks down the Giant! ”

“ It is indeed a melancholy thing to see a full-grown woman thus waiting, as it were, body and soul devoted to the poor beast; yet even this is better than working in a manufactory the day through.
We came to a moorish tract; saw before us the hills of Loch Lomond, Ben Lomond and another, distinct each by itself. Not far from the roadside were some benches placed in rows in the middle of a large field, with a sort of covered shed like a sentry-box, but much more like those boxes which the Italian puppet-showmen in London use. ”

“ And glorious as well as welcome was the sight that met these clansmen when once actually189 through the defile. For away to the north, Ben beyond Ben, far as eye could range, rose the fastnesses of their native mountains—silver waters flashing below round islands of fern, and the blue sky laughing above. Every glen had its memory, and every corrie was their inheritance, and even the traveller of the present day can know no more gorgeous spectacle than Ben Lomond after sunset burning in amethystine fire. ”

“ The old castle, "on which the osprey built her annual nest," is so much buried in ivy that it is not easily distinguished from the surrounding woods. We hired a boat at Luss and in our turn roved upon the lake. We landed on one of the islands and lunched on the top of a rock by the ruins of a second castle. Loch Lomond, studded with islands, lay like a mirror beneath us, with the huge Ben Lomond for a noble background. From time to time a boat broke the smoothness of the water, and the cry of a gull, or the bark of a far-away dog, the stillness of the air. ”

“ Meanwhile, the sense of quiet was never lost sight of; the little peaceful lakes among the islands might make you forget that the great water, Loch Lomond, was so near; and yet are more beautiful, because you know that it is so: they have their own bays and creeks sheltered within a shelter. When we had ascended to the top of the island we had a view up to Ben Lomond, over the long, broad water without spot or rock ”

“ The view from the door of the public-house is exceedingly beautiful; the river flows smoothly into the lake, and the fields were at that time as green as possible. Looking backward, Ben Lomond very majestically shuts in the view. The top of the mountain, as seen here, being of a pyramidal form, it is much grander than with the broken outline, and stage above stage, as seen from the neighbourhood of Luss. We found nobody at home at the inn, but the ferryman shouted, wishing to have a glass of whisky, and a young woman came from the hay-field, dressed in a white bed-gown, without hat or cap. ”

“ The rain has stopped us to-day at the end of a dozen Miles, yet we hope to see Loch Lomond the day after to-morrow;—I will piddle out my information, as Rice says, next Winter, at any time when a substitute is wanted for Vingt-un. We bear the fatigue very well—20 Miles a day in general—A Cloud came over us in getting up Skiddaw—I hope to be more lucky in Ben Lomond—and more lucky still in Ben Nevis. What I think you would enjoy is poking about Ruins—sometimes Abbey, sometimes Castle. ”

“ Now no lapse of water is to be heard upon the pebbles, not a whisper moves among the frosted fretwork of the trees. The landscape everywhere is draped and lifeless, the loch itself lies a level sheet of snow, and far up yonder, above the dark narrows where the waters are still unfrozen, Ben Lomond raises his shoulder, ermine-clad, into a darkling heaven. The twin steamers, too, lie prisoned in the ice, crusted white, and motionless as Lot’s wife.
If Nature herself, however, is crystallised into214 silence and stillness, there is both movement and sound of another sort about. ”

“ Farther south is the Strathblane and Kilpatrick hills, while to the west and south you have, notwithstanding that the mighty Ben Lomond is now in front of you, a good view of the hills near the foot of Loch Lomond, and around Loch Eck and Loch Goil. Due west you have the Duke of Argyll’s Bowling Green, made up of such tidy little mountains as the Cobbler and his two neighbours to the right of him—Ben More and Ben Vane—both a little higher in life than himself, he being only a cobbler. ”

“ The mountains all around seem to open up steep passes that lead away to still higher hills in the distance. There is Glencroe going down between Donich and Ben Arthur, and the road which was made by the 98th Regiment about a hundred years ago. Then there is the dark glen between Ben Bheula and Ben Lochain, down which pour the waters of the Lettermay Burn, which come out of the little tarn, Curra Lochain. Beyond Loch{81} Lomond there proudly stands Ben Lomond, lifting its head 3192 feet high, and dominating all the loch of that name. ”

“ It was as smooth as a gravel walk, and of the bluish colour of some of the roads among the lakes of the north of England.
Passed no very remarkable place till we came to Sir James Colquhoun’s house, which stands upon a large, flat, woody peninsula, looking towards Ben Lomond. There must be many beautiful walks among the copses of the peninsula, and delicious views over the water; but the general surface of the country is poor, and looks as if it ought to be rich and well peopled, for it is not mountainous; nor had we passed any hills which a Cumbrian would dignify with the name of mountains. ”

“ To-day all this is changed, and we revel only in the grandeur and beauty of the scene. Those caves hide no caterans to rob us, the cattle and sheep on hill or island are safe from the foray, and the dwellers around pay no black mail to save themselves from the attentions of stout and bare-legged ruffians.
At Rowardennan Inn are guides and ponies, and although the stalwart man may dispense with the latter, it is not safe to attempt the ascent of Ben Lomond without a guide familiar with the road, for sudden mists may envelop the climber, and a mistake in the road may lead to death. ”

“ Ben Lomond on the left, Ben Lidi nearly in front of you, and Ben Chochan between them, not so high, but somewhat resembling them in form. The inn at Callender, Drummond, Perth's Arms, middlingly good, but you may sleep tolerably there for a few nights. From Callender you must go to Loch Catheine, 9 miles. The road to Loch Catheine is bad enough. Take food for your horses, self, and servants, for none can be gotten until you return to Callender. ”

“ Ben Lomond (3192 ft.) , the ascent of which is made with comparative ease from Rowardennan, dominates the landscape; but there are other majestic hills, particularly on the west and north-west banks. The fish are sea-trout, lake-trout, pike and perch. Part of the shore is skirted by the West Highland railway, opened in 1894, which has stations on the loch at Tarbet and Ardlui, and Balloch is the terminus of the lines from Dumbarton and from Stirling via Buchlyvie. Steamers make the tour of the loch, starting from Balloch and calling at Balmaha, Luss, Rowardennan, Tarbet, Inversnaid and Ardlui. ”

“ From the Aroquhar inn to Tarbet inn (better than a mile) , is an opening between mountains, with all sorts of trees; so that it is like a fine grove. This road joins the one on the west side of Loch Lomond, in a right angle at the inn at Tarbet, a single house, exactly opposite to Ben Lomond. The military road, from the junction, continues by the lake's edge to its head, and then goes through Glen Fallach, and joins the Tyndrum road; but it is so out of repair, that it is dangerous, and impassable for a carriage. ”

“ He would not have seen a different system of life, or got an acquisition of ideas, but he might have found patience, and even promptings for descriptions of the beauties of rugged nature. “In an age when every London{31} citizen makes Loch Lomond his wash-pot, and throws his shoe over Ben Nevis,” [161] the old man may easily be mocked, for his indifference to scenery. ”

“ They were for long the dread of the Lowland part of the Lennox district. The upper district of Loch Lomond, which belonged to the Macfarlane clan in the days of old, is seen to great advantage. Far up are seen the huge forms of Ben Voirlich and Ben Achray, and those of numerous kindred giants. There is Inversnaid, and its memories of Wordsworth and his “Sweet Highland Girl.” The hotel at Tarbet, and the village and the road over to Arrochar, appear in Lilliputian proportions. ”

“ Ben-na-cailleach (nun’s hill) ; Ben Lomond, named from Loch Lomond, quod vide; Benmacdhui, i.e. Beinn-na-muc-dubh (the mountain of the black sow) ; Ben Nevis (the cloud-capped or snowy mountain) ; Benvenue (the little mountain) , as compared with Benledi; Benwyvis (stupendous mountain, uabhasach) ; Benvrachie (spotted mountain) ; Benvoirlich (the mountain of the great loch) . In Ireland: Benbo, i.e. Beannabo (the peaks of the cows) ; Dunmanway, in Cork, corrupt. from Dun-na-mbeann (the fortress of the pinnacles) . In Ireland ben is more generally applied to small steep hills than to mountains ”

“ Is seen 'mong our mountains so bonnie and blue.
Then away to the hills where Loch Lomond is flowing,
Where mists and where mountains in solitude lie,
And where the braw red-lipp'd heather is growing,
And cataracts foam, as they came from the sky!
Benlomond is seen in his monarch-like glory,
His foot in the sea and his head in the sky;
His broad lofty brow is majestic and hoary,
And round him, and round him the elements fly.
The winds are his music, the clouds are his clothing,
The sun is his shield, as he wheels blazing by ”

“ Lomond has no objection.’
‘Oh, whatever you like,’ the lady put in with a smile; ‘you must be rather surprised at my appearance here,’ she continued, addressing me, ‘but Reggie asked me down for the picnic to-morrow, and I hadn’t time to reply, so I came in person, which is perhaps better.’
As we settled down at the historical round table to play Bank, I observed that Blithers carefully commandeered the chair next to Mrs. Lomond, and she enquired of him at once, ‘Are you any relation to Billy [144] Jenkins of the 110th? ”

“ When we have our Lowell, our New York, when we are a self-sustaining people instead of lazy land-princes, Ben here will have climbed the second of the great steps of Humanity. Do you laugh at us?" said Lamar, with a quiet self-reliance. "Charley, it needs only work and ambition to cut the brute away from my face, and it will leave traits very like your own. Ben's father was a Guinea fetich-worshipper; when we stand where New England does, Ben's son will be ready for his freedom." ”

“ Indeed, the few boys who passed Loman that afternoon were struck with the cheerfulness of his appearance. Considering he had been miserably beaten in the scholarship examination, this show of satisfaction was all the more remarkable.
“The fellow seems quite proud of himself,” said Callonby to Wren as they passed him.
“He’s the only fellow who is, if that’s so,” said Wren.
Loman stopped and spoke to them as they came up.
“Hullo! you fellows,” said he, in as free and easy a manner as one fellow can assume to others who he knows dislike him, “I wanted to see you. ”

“ Morrison, of Carsphairn, was an annual visitor to Loch Lomond, staying a fortnight each year at the little hotel at Ardlui, a spot which her late husband had loved so well.
Though an extremely wealthy man, the summer attractions of Harrogate, Dinard, Aix, or Ostend, had never appealed to him. Bluff and hearty, he loved Loch Lomond in the days of his prosperity just as when, in his youth, he used to save his coppers to enable him to have a one-day trip from Glasgow each summer—red-letter days in his otherwise grey workaday life. ”

“ I don’t often go. Ask Loman if I do. He’s always there, and could easily tell if I went. Do I go often, Loman? Besides, I’ve given it up now!”
“Quick work,” observed Wren, drily, “if you were down there this morning.”
“Well,” said Simon, shifting his ground slightly, “I didn’t think there could be any harm, as Loman goes. He’s a monitor. And then I don’t owe Cripps money, do I, Loman? Or play cards and bet, like you, do I? Oh, look here, Wren, do let us off this time. Don’t report me, there’s a good fellow. I promise I won’t do it again! Oh, I say, Loman, beg us off. ”

“ To Stephen, however, Loman was all civility. He helped him in his lessons, and gave him the reversion of his feasts, and exercised his monitorial authority against Master Bramble in a way that quite charmed the new boy, and made him consider himself fortunate to have fallen into the hands of so considerate a lord.
When he entered Loman’s study after his first morning’s work in class, he found that youth in a highly amiable frame of mind, and delighted to see him.
“Hullo, Greenfield!” he said; “how are you? and how are you getting on? I hear you are in the Fourth Junior ”

“ Loman could not stand to be defied. His vanity was his weak point, and nothing offended his vanity so much as to find any one as determined as himself.
He took up a ruler, and in his passion flung it at the luckless Stephen’s head. It struck him hard on the cheek. The blood flushed to the boy’s face as he stood a moment half-stunned and smarting with the pain, confronting his adversary. ”