THE LAKES OF SCOTLAND. 53 



have aggravated a hundred-fold the guilt of any criminal action, if 

 committed there. We felt as if we could have lingered for ages 

 amid the beauties which surrounded us, as if, indeed, time itself 

 could not have satiated the eye with the charms of the scene. 



Not far distant are other places whence most interesting and 

 picturesque views of Loch Katrine and its scenery are to be had. 

 It is in one of these, that Sir Walter Scott, in his " Lady of the 

 Lake," supposes Fitzjames to be standing, when he makes him 

 exclaim : 



" What a scene were here 



For princely pomp or churchman's pride ! 



On this bold brow a lordly tower ; 



In that soft vale a lady's bower ; 



On yonder meadow far away, 



The turrets of a cloister grey. 



How blithely might the bugle-horn 



Chide, on the lake, the lingering morn f 



How sweet at eve, the lover's lute 



Chime, when the groves were still and mute ! 



And when the midnight moon should lave 



Her forehead on the silver wave, 



How solemn on the ear would come 



The holy matin's distant hum ! 



While the deep peal's commanding tone 



Should wake, in yonder islet lone, 



A sainted hermit from his cell 



To drop a bead with every bell : 



And bugle, lute, and bell, and all, 



Should the bewildered stranger call 



To friendly feast, and lighted hall." 



Dr. Johnson, after describing the emotions he felt when he first 

 set his foot on Icolmkill, very happily observes, that the man is 

 little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force on the 

 plains of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among 

 the ruins of lona. No poet could visit Loch Katrine without feeling 

 the poetic spirit more active in his breast than before. If, indeed, we 

 did not know that poetic genius is of necessity an innate quality in 

 those who possess it, we could almost suppose the scenery of this 

 lake must have the power of creating it. The effect it had on Sir 

 Walter Scott's mind, as a poet, is well known ; it is the scene of his 

 " Lady of the Lake," undoubtedly the happiest effort of his Muse. 

 Loch Katrine and he have been of mutual advantage to each other. 

 While viewing its magnificent scenery, he poured forth the inspi- 

 rations of his Muse more felicitously than he ever did before or since ; 

 while the effect of his charming description of its beauties has been to 

 make it a hundred-fold better known than it had previously been. 

 Before the publication of Sir Walter's " Lady of the Lake," Loch 

 Katrine was little known and still less frequented : now it is 

 thronged by visitors from all quarters : perhaps it is visited by more 

 persons on excursions of pleasure than all the other Scottish lakes 

 taken together. 



