LOCH NESS. 389 



' We had fine sailing through the lower part of Loch 

 Ness. The hills, half rock, half wood, had their patches 

 of sunshine that looked all the lovelier and brighter from 

 the groundwork of shadow, and the previous rain had 

 given to every ravine its white thread of foam. We 

 could hear from the deck the dash of a thousand tiny 

 cascades. I marked Aldourie as we passed. Does it 

 not seem strange that in so thoroughly highland a place, 

 in a Tory family, and full eighty years ago, when 

 Jacobitism had still life in such recesses, the author 

 of the Vindicice Gallicce should have been born? 

 After leaving Aldourie behind us we neared Urquhart. 

 The steamboat made what Gait would have termed a 

 circumbendibus into its beautiful little bay, and passed 

 as near the picturesque old castle on its western 

 promontory as safety permitted. Originally it must 

 have been a place of great strength and importance ; and 

 as a ruin it is still very fine. Including the outworks, 

 the space covered very considerably exceeds an acre. It 

 was taken in the wars of Edward I. by the English, and 

 rough marching must they have had ere they reached it ; 

 according to the well-known couplet, they must have 

 seen General Wade's roads " before 'that they were 

 made," but whether they blessed the General or no 

 history declare th not. 



' I saw the Fall of Foyers ; but by a narrow enough 

 chance, and for a very short time. The captain was 

 unwilling to stop, and urged that very few of the 

 passengers were inclined to be at the trouble of visiting 

 it; but we made a muster of nine, all stark fellows, 

 who undertook to clear the ground to and from in 

 three-quarters of an hour, and so he consented to lay 

 to. I find I still rank with the young men, so far as 

 strength and activity are concerned. Only one of the 



