Glenelg

“ In the matter of size, the tourist will find at Glenelg (from sealg, to hunt) , in Inverness-shire, opposite Skye, where there are two well-preserved circular forts, the twin designations of Glenmore and Glenbeg; that is, Glenbig and Glenlittle—a [xv] contrast constantly occurring in the Highlands; the word beag, pronounced vulgarly in Argyleshire peek, signifying little, evidently the same as μικ in the Greek μικρός. As to relative situation, the root ard, in Latin arduus, frequently occurs ”

“ Glenelg, an honourable and accomplished man, is thrust out under very humiliating circumstances. Poulett Thomson, we are told, ‘must have been’ Chancellor of the Exchequer, if not Governor of Canada (a post he is by way of taking as a favour to his colleagues) , ‘he could not be passed over.’ Why he could not, and in what his right consisted, it is difficult to say, nor why he is entitled to such amazing deference, while poor Glenelg was so unceremoniously treated. ”

“ This last is the property of Glengarry, and the most mountainous, craggy, and coarse of all the Highlands: the roads [Pg 81] are so eminently bad that there is no thought of riding in it, and in some places so steep and rocky, that they have ropes of withs tied to trees to take hold of, lest passengers should fall and break their bones. The people all Papists and mostly thieves. ’Tis a part of the parish of Glenelg, but they never give the minister any trouble, except in collecting his Stipend. ”

“ Lord Glenelg, formerly Sir Charles Grant, himself has been the author of several pieces of poetry, which were in their time quite popular.
The historian Hallam was also present, whose Constitutional History, you will remember, gave rise to one of Macaulay's finest reviews; a quiet, retiring man, with a benignant, somewhat sad, expression of countenance. The loss of an only son has cast a shadow over his life. ”

“ This failing of Glenelg’s was constantly being referred to in the papers in jest or earnest. Here is a sample: “Is it true, Mel., that railroads rest upon sleepers?” asked Victoria. “Yes, your Majesty,” replied Mel. “Then pray take care that Lord Glenelg travels only by the mail coach, as if he goes by the railway he may be mistaken for a sleeper,” was the Queen’s entreaty. Another joke, even then somewhat time-worn, ran:—
“‘What, twelve!’ Lord Glenelg, waking cries ”

“ Only those who know the people intimately, and the means adopted by factors, clergy, and others to produce an appearance of spontaneity on the part of the helpless tenantry, can understand the extent to which this statement is true. If a judicious system had been applied of cultivating excellent land, capable of producing food in abundance, in Glenelg, there was not another property in the Highlands on which it was less necessary to send the people away than in that beautiful and fertile valley. ”

“ Grey and Lushington on the North coast, and for the discovery, by them, of the beautiful and fertile valley of the Glenelg River. Grey, however, having been severely wounded in a skirmish with the natives, returned with his party to Mauritius, to restore his health and prepare for a fresh descent on the North coast. Meanwhile, Hillman with his party was surveying the country, and laying out a road from Perth to King George's Sound. ”

“ While his friend Hayward conducted the Law Magazine, he wrote in it frequently on such subjects as secondary punishments and the penitentiary system. In 1836, at the request of Lord Glenelg, he accompanied John Austin to Malta, where they spent nearly two years reporting on the condition of the island and framing a new code of laws. ”

“ Even the sergeant and his six soldiers had been removed. "I was entertained," says Knox, "by the commanding officer and his whole garrison. The former was an old corporal, and the latter was the corporal's wife: the entertainment snuff and whisky." [13]
When at length our travellers, "weary and disgusted," reached Glenelg, "our humour," writes Johnson, "was not much mended by our inn, which, though it was built of lime and slate, the Highlander's description of a house which he thinks magnificent, had neither wine, bread, eggs, nor anything that we could eat or drink. ”

“ Moreover, there had been, perhaps, forty or fifty candidates of similar opinions at the recent election who, although not successful, had, at all events, polled many votes. Under such circumstances, although not a delegate, his evidence might have been heard by Lord Glenelg, had it merely been for the purpose of gaining information as to the peculiar opinions of Dr. Duncombe and his colleagues; and of that large minority of electors who, although they had failed to seat their men, ought, nevertheless, to be counted, in estimating the state of opinion in the colony. ”

“ When Reza Kuli Mirza and Nejeff Kuli Mirza, the exiled Persian princes, visited England, he was appointed to look after them during their stay, and on their return he accompanied them as far as Constantinople. He was afterwards sent to Persia on a diplomatic mission by Lord Glenelg, and effected a most remarkable journey on horseback through Asia Minor to Teheran. His health, however, was impaired by the exposure. In 1823 he married a daughter of Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, a sister of the historian Patrick Fraser Tytler. He died at Reelick in January 1856. ”

“ Gilchrist, James, minister at Thurso, 72 and n. Glascoe, major Nicolas, 155 n, 208. Glasgow, fined by the rebels, 191 and n. —— regiment, 345 n, 350 and n, 351, 359 n; at the battle of Falkirk, 372 n, 411, 413. Glasterum. See Gordon. Glenbucket, garrisoned, 161. —— estate, 116. —— laird of. See Gordon, John. [Pg 465] Glencoe, 86. —— laird of. See Macdonald, Alexander. Glenelg, 80. Glengarry people are papists and notorious thieves, 88. —— laird of. See Macdonald. Glenkindy, laird of. See Leith. Glenlivat, 91, 92, 274. Glenmoriston, 89. —— lairds of. See Grant. ”

“ And upon Glenlogie she fixed an eye.
She calld on his best man, unto him did say,
O what is that knight's name? or where does he stay?
'He's of the noble Gordons, of great birth and fame;
He stays at Glenlogie, Sir George is his name.'
Then she wrote a broad letter, and wrote it in haste;
To send it Glenlogie, she thought it was best.
Says, O brave Glenlogie, unto me be kind;
I've laid my love on you, and told you my mind.
Then reading the letter, as he stood on the green,
Says, I leave you to judge, sirs; what does women mean? ”

“ From Glengyle and Glenstrae, from Menteith and Balquhidder, let us muster and march—march down on those sons of little men, the Lowlanders; and they shall shrink before us like dry leaves beneath the lightning! Our forefathers sleep on Inchcailloch; but we, alas! must find our graves on the mountain side, where nothing shall mark them to future times but a grey cairn or a greener spot amid the purple heather. ”

“ In the Gaelic tongue Glencoe signifies the Glen of Weeping; and in truth that pass is the most dreary and melancholy of all the Scottish passes, the very Valley of the Shadow of Death. Mists and storms brood over it through the greater part of the finest summer; and even on those rare days when the sun is bright, and when there is no cloud in the sky, the impression made by the landscape is sad and awful. ”

“ Glenara came first, with the mourners and shroud;
Her kinsmen they follow'd, but mourn'd not aloud:
Their plaids all their bosoms were folded around;
They march'd all in silence, they look'd on the ground.
In silence they reach'd, over mountain and moor,
To a heath where the oak-tree grew lonely and hoar.
"Now here let us place the gray stone of her cairn;
Why speak ye no word?" said Glenara the stern.
"And tell me, I charge you, ye clan of my spouse!
Why fold ye your mantles, why cloud ye your brows?" ”

“ It was the tribe of the Macdonalds, inhabiting, as a munition of rocks, the Valley of Glencoe.
Glencoe is well known to the lovers of the picturesque as one of the very grandest scenes in Scotland. We have seen some of the sublimest scenes in Switzerland and in Norway, but none of them, not Chamouni nor the Romsdale Valley have obliterated the memory or lessened the admiration of that awful glen which we have often thought of as a softened Sinai—a smaller but scarcely gentler similitude of the Mount that might be touched. There are, of course, many diversities. ”

“ EVENING IN GLENAVELIN FROM the heart of a great hill land Glenavelin stretches west and south to the wider Gled valley, where its stream joins with the greater water in its seaward course. Its head is far inland in a place of mountain solitudes, but its mouth is all but on the lip of the sea, and salt breezes fight with the flying winds of the hills. It is a land of green meadows on the brink of heather, of far-stretching fir woods that climb to the edge of the uplands and sink to the fringe of corn. ”

“ Glenarm, because I had a very good opinion of you; because, for one reason, you are the grandson of your grandfather,”—and the friendly light in her gray eyes drove away any lingering doubt I may have had as to her sincerity. “I wished to warn you to have a care for your own safety. I don’t warn you against Arthur Pickering alone, but against the countryside. The idea of a hidden fortune is alluring; a mysterious house and a lost treasure make a very enticing combination. I fancy Mr. Glenarm did not realize that he was creating dangers for the people he wished to help.” ”

“ For real courage and bravery few in the Highlands could excel them. I remember once hearing a story of young 'Glen,' in which, perhaps, is exhibited the finest example of daring ever recorded in the annals of our country. Once upon a time Old Glengarry was very unpopular with all the northern chiefs in consequence of his many raids and spoliations among the surrounding tribes; but although he was now advanced in years and unable to lead his clan in person none of the neighbouring chiefs could muster courage to beard him in his den single-handed. ”

“ Glengelly might appear in the school-room, but he had gone down with Bennet to the lodge to see if he could be of use when the boat came in, so that I was quite alone, and could only watch from the half-open door the doings of the servants as they passed to and fro, all seeming in a flutter, and as if it lay upon them as a duty to move about, and run hither and thither, without any particular object that I could discover. ”

“ About a mile from Fasnacloich, further inland, is the rather gloomy house of Glenure, the property of Campbell of Glenure, the Red Fox who was shot on the road under Letter More. Walking across the peninsula to Appin House, you pass Acharn in Duror, the farm of James Stewart of the Glens, himself an illegitimate kinsman of the Laird of Appin. To the best of my memory the cottage is still standing, and has a new roof of corrugated iron. It is an ordinary Highland cottage, and Allan, when he stayed with James, his kinsman and guardian, slept in the barn. ”

“ Then this young land was slowly but surely absorbing into her own personality all the discordant elements and making of them a great nation; for within the last few years a new race had sprung up in the Oro valley, a race that was neither English, Irish, nor Scotch, Highland nor Lowland, but a strange mixture of all, known as Canadian. The community in the Glen had grown to quite a respectable village, the post office adding a touch of dignity and necessitating the new name, the name of Glenoro. ”

“ Glengyle is best remembered in Scotland by his patronymic of Glun Dhu, or "Black-knee," from the remarkable spot, which his kilt rendered visible, on his left knee.
He was but a youth when the insurrection of 1715 took place, so there can be little doubt that, on most occasions, he would act under the eye and advice of a captain so skilful and bold as his uncle. ”

“ And now it is my turn to ask thee, whether thou hast ever found me in one instance to fail thee?”
“Thou hast never failed me, Glengarry,” said MacLeod, “and I trust our clans shall be ever linked together like one bundle of rods.”
“Aye!” said Glengarry, with a bitter laugh, “a bundle of rods which I trust may one day be well employed in scourging this pitiful tyrant of the north-west. I love thee too much to demand thine open aid at present. But haply thou mayest well enough find some excuse for not going to this meeting thou speakest of. An excuse, mark me, to be sent after the day is past. ”

“ It is ten years now since Rosamond was buried in the churchyard yonder; and it is ten years also since Miss Welwyn returned to be the lonely inhabitant of Glenwith Grange. She now lives but in the remembrances that it calls up before her of her happier existence of former days. There is hardly an object in the old house which does not tenderly and solemnly remind her of the mother, whose last wishes she lived to obey; of the sister, whose happiness was once her dearest earthly care. ”

“ The rocks which seemed to guard the entrance of the Glen, were abrupt and savage, and approached so near each other, that one could suppose them to have been riven asunder, to give a passage to the clear stream which flowed between them. As they advanced, the hills receded on either side, making room for meadows, and corn fields, through which the rapid burn pursued its way, in many a fantastic maze.
If the reader is a traveller, he must know, and if he is a speculator in canals he must regret, that rivers have in general a trick of running out of the straight line. ”

“ But it is time more particularly to acquaint you, my dear father, by what accident I first met with Lord Glenarvon, to whom my fate was linked—whose attachment once made me blessed—whose inconstancy has deprived me of every earthly hope. Do you remember once, when I obtained leave to pass the day with you, that my brother, Garlace, took me with him in his boat, down the river Allan, and Roy and yourself were talking eagerly of the late affray which had taken place in our village. ”