THE HIGHLANDS. 139 



Again and again he roams over country he had so often trod be- 

 fore, and in the year following that in which he introduced Mrs. 

 Wilson to the beauties of his native land, he returned to the neigh- 

 borhood of Loch Awe, extending his tour into Inverness-shire, as 

 we find from the following letters written in the sirring and autumn 



of 1816:— 



"Achlian, 29th April, 1816. 



" Dear Jane : — I have risen at six o'clock to write to you. Your 

 letter, I find, will not be here till Tuesday morning, I know not 

 why. Curse all country posts ! 



" To be brief, James Fergusson* and I reached Glasgow on Mon- 

 day ; he went to the play ; I did not. On Tuesday, I was tempted 

 to stay in Glasgow, and saw Kean as Zanga in ' The Revenge.' It 

 is heavy work, and he acted poorly, and is in every respect inferior 

 to Kemble. On Wednesday, I went to Greenock by steamboat, 

 of which the machinery went wrong, and blew up part of the deck, 

 on which myself and two fattish gentlemen were sitting. This 

 stopped us, and after a long delay we got into another steamboat, 

 and arrived at Greenock. It was four o'clock. I found that I 

 could only cross the water that night, so I thought it was needless ; 

 dined with Bissland, and went to the play, when I again saw Kean. 

 I was too near him ; he acted with occasional vigor, and his action 

 is often good, but he rants abominably, and on the whole is no actor 

 at all. On Thursday, I hired a boat and got to Ardentinny — dis- 

 tance eight miles ; there fished a few miles, and got six dozen ; 

 then walked to Strachur, but on the way cut my foot severely, and 

 awoke on Friday morning dog-lame. With great difficulty I 

 reached, on Friday, the waterfall above Inverary, and was obliged 

 to stop in a small cottage there. On Saturday, I fished up the 

 stream (as when with you), and killed eighteen dozen. When 

 evening came I was eight miles from Achlian, and so lame that I 

 could not walk a step. I procured, therefore, a cart to drag me 

 there, where I arrived at eleven o'clock, and found a warm wel- 

 come. Yesterday I rested, and to-day intend going out in the boat 

 for a little fishing. This wound in my heel will render my visit to 

 Megerney impossible, for there is no horse-road, so I will write to- 

 day informing Menzies of my mishap. Is not this a severe trial to 

 one's temper ? 



* A member of the Scottish bar, who married a sister of my father's friend, William Dunlop. 



