304 Four-in-Hand in Britain. 



precipices yonder, revealing new beauties and giving us 

 fresh delights at every step. No gentle kiss gives this 

 Scotch fiend to every sedge it overtaketh in its pil- 

 grimage, for in truth, dashing and splashing against the 

 rocks, the surging, boiling water, with its crest of spark- 

 ling foam, seems a live spirit escaping from the glen 

 and bounding to the sea, pursued by angry demons 

 behind. Standing on the bridge across the Bruar, one 

 need not be entirely off his balance to sympathize 

 to some extent with the wild wish of my young lady 

 friend, who thought if she had to be anything dead 

 she would be a plunging, mad stream like this, danc- 

 ing among the rocks, snatching to its breast, as it 

 passed, the bluebell and the forget-me-not, the broom 

 and the fox-glove, leaping over precipices and tossing 

 its gay head in sparkling rainbow sprays forever and 

 ever. 



It was while gazing at this fall that Burns wrote the 

 petition of Bruar Water. The shade asked for has been 

 restored — " Clanalpine's pines, in battle brave," now fill 

 the glen, and the falls of the Bruar sing their grateful 

 thanks to the bard who loved them. 



I have often reminded you, good readers, that the 

 coaching party, with a few exceptions, hailed with de- 

 light every opportunity for a walk. Contrary to ex- 

 pectation, these came much less frequently in Scotland 

 than in England. Far away up among the towering 

 hills, where the roads necessarily follow the streams 



