HIGHLANDS OF PERTHSHIRE. 7 



shorn through the centre, and one-half carried away no one 

 knows whither : though 



" The words that cleft the Eildon hills in three. 

 And bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone," 



could have had no more difficulty in carrying away the hills than 

 they had in separating them. It is proposed to erect on the re- 

 maining half of the Abbey Crag a memorial to one of Scotland's 

 greatest patriots and the valiantest and stoutest of her sons. 

 The blood flows rapidly in every true Scotsman's veins whenever 

 he hears the soul-stirring and simple melody of " Scots wha hae 

 wi' Wallace bled." The nobility, gentry, and commons of Scot- 

 land have erected several monuments to him who has as high a 

 place among the poets as the subject of the song quoted above 

 has among her warriors : both occupy the foremost places. 

 The reproach of Scotland's having no monument to commemo- 

 rate her greatest warrior is now to be removed. Better late than 

 never ; but the warrior's and patriot's noblest monument is the 

 memories and feelings, the minds and hearts, of his countrymen, 

 wherein he is, and ever will be, enshrined. 



From the west-side ramparts of the castle there is a good 

 prospect of Ben Lomond, and, a little nearer and to the right 

 appear Benvenue and Ben-an, the two sentinels which guard 

 the Trosachs, the pass to Loch Katrine. Still further on the 

 right is Ben Ledi, the highest portion of the mountain barrier 

 that divides the Highlands from the level plains of Menteith, 

 Stratherne, and the other upper parts of the Perthshire Low- 

 lands. Ben Voirlich and Ben Cruachan, the former near Loch 

 Erne and the latter near Loch Awe in Argyleshire, are also 

 visible from Stirling Castle. 



Stirling is an interesting ancient town. The important events 

 connected with it are neither few nor unimportant. The great 

 battle of Stirling, in which Wallace baffled the most heroic and 

 sagacious of England's kings, was fought in a field which is 

 within half a mile of Stirling bridge ; and the great battle of 

 Bannockburn, the result of which was the independence of Scot- 

 land, was fought a few miles from the town on the south ; Sau- 

 chieburn, a stain upon Scotland's fair fame, was also fought in a 

 valley upon the west, within a mile or two of the town. 



The ecclesiastical and some other buildings of Stirling are in- 



