80 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



The associations which spring up in the spectator's mind, as he enters this 

 extraordinary pass, are very opposite in character. To the reader of Ossian it 

 is classic ground the hallowed retreat where the heroes of Morven " drew the 

 sword and bent the bow," and presented a stirring theme for the Celtic muse. 

 On the right, is Malmor, a mountain celebrated by Ossian ; on the left, Con 

 Fion, or the hill of Fingal. From the evidence afforded by several passages 

 in these poems, Glenco, or the vale of the Cona, appears to have been the birth- 

 place of Ossian,* whose poems have been transferred into all the languages 

 of Europe. Much controversy has taken place among the learned as to their 

 authenticity ; but whatever doubts have been advanced, nothing has yet appeared 

 in the way of evidence to diminish their popularity. Napoleon is said to have 

 been a great admirer of the Celtic bard, and to have been familiar with the 

 best of his poems. 



But with the poetical associations of Glenco, one of a truly painful nature 

 is ever present to the imagination. As we enter its dreary labyrinth, and recal 

 the atrocious scenes of which it has been the theatre, a congenial gloom steals 

 over the spirit. We are accustomed to look upon every act of " religious perse- 

 cution" with indignation ; we are struck with horror at the bare recital of those 

 atrocities which one body of professing Christians have inflicted upon another. 

 When we peruse the narrative of Leger, our sympathies are powerfully 

 awakened in behalf of his suffering countrymen, and we decide in our own minds 

 that the wanton cruelties, the unheard-of tortures, inflicted upon them by the 

 mercenaries of the Inquisition, have happily no parallels in our own country. 

 But a little reflection a short retrospect, shows us how much we are mistaken. 

 In this remote glen deeds have been perpetrated which even a Castrocaro,j- or 

 a Pianessa, might blush to own ; perpetrated, too, under political sanction and 

 which have left an imperishable stain upon the government that could recommend, 

 as " a salutary state measure," the crime of assassination. But, without further 

 comment, we shall here introduce such authentic particulars as will place the 

 tragical history in its true light. 



* " Sleeps the sweet voice of Cona in the midst of his rustling hall ? Sleeps Ossian in his hall, and his 

 friends without their fame ?" " The chiefs gathered from all their hills, and heard the lovely sound. 

 They praised the voice of Cona, the first among a thousand bards ; but age is now on my tongue, and my 

 soul has failed." " So shall they search in vain for the voice of Cona, after it has failed in the field. The 

 hunter shall come forth in the morning, and the voice of my harp shall not be heard. ' Where is the harp 

 of Car-borne Fingal ?' The tear will be on his cheek. Then come thou, O Malvina, with all thy music 

 come ! lay Ossian in the plain of Luther ; let his tomb rise in the lovely field." " Why bends the bard 

 of Cona, said Fingal, over his secret stream? Is this a time for sorrow, father of low-laid Oscar?" 

 Poems of Ossian. 



f See " Waldenses Illustrated," uniform with the present work. 



