FORT-WILLIAM TO KINGUSSIE. 35 



" bliss " in a good draught of " Allsopp " or " Bass " than is dreamt 

 of in the philosophy of the sentimentalists, and thousands upon 

 thousands of this season's tourists are ready, we'll be bound, to 

 homologate this statement. 



It was Dr. Johnson, too, if we remember well, who spoke loudly 

 and dogmatically, as was his wont, of the delightful feeling that one 

 has in being rapidly whirled along a good road in a post-chaise ; and 

 remembering the unsteadiness of the " Rambler " on his pins, and 

 his unwieldy corporation, one can readily understand that he found 

 the means of locomotion referred to the easiest and most enjoyable 

 possible. Our own experience of post-chaises has, sooth to say, 

 been somewhat of the slightest, but in lieu thereof we would 

 recommend a well-appointed public coach, with sound, well-cared- 

 for horses, a steady and obliging driver and guard, good roads under 

 foot, and a bright sky above all ; and such a conveyance we on a 

 recent occasion found the mail-coach between Fort-William and 

 Kingussie to be ; and such a driver and guard, the two in one, is 

 the renowned " Davie Jack," who knows his work, and does it too, 

 in a style that reminds one of the old " Defiance " in its palmiest 

 days ; while the weather, if anything, was too fine, too bright 

 and cloudless the best fault it could have, however, since it is 

 impossible that the weather on any particular day should be 

 faultless, any more than that any human being should be perfect. 

 Nothing, indeed, can be finer than the drive through Lochaber and 

 Badenoch to Kingussie, except perhaps the drive back again. With 

 mountain scenery on all hands, unsurpassed even in the Highlands 

 for wild, and savage, and solitary grandeur ; with foaming torrents 

 dashing down the steeps, torrents that at a distance and at this 

 season look like so many threads of purest silver constantly being 

 absorbed and inwefted with the river, that, with a voice more 

 hushed, and a quieter, kindlier step, still gladdens and fertilises the 

 valley as it seeks the sea ; with loch and river scenery the most 



