148 SYLVA SCOTICA. 



and there afforded by a solitary corn-field, with its 

 sheaves still standing, or a lonely cottage perched at 

 some angle of a rock. As he retraced his steps, the 

 grey tower of the ruined cathedral, bosomed in 

 woods, and overhung by lofty hills purpled with 

 heath, the few houses of the town clustering around 

 it, and the broad river, winding along the valley, 

 with his majestic, though modern bridge, formed a 

 picture which nothing could have prevented him 

 from sketching but the torrents of rain, that would 

 have rendered the sketch illegible ; and which no- 

 thing could have consoled him for leaving, without 

 even an attempt to fix it, but the hope that he might 

 at some future period revisit it, under circumstances 

 more favorable to the lengthened contemplation of 

 its beauties, which their variety and richness de- 

 served. 



THE FORTINGAL YEW 



is one of the largest and oldest trees in Scotland : 

 it stands in the Church-yard of Fortingal, or the 

 Fort of the Strangers, so called from its being in 

 the vicinity of a small Roman camp ; a wild ro- 

 mantic district lying in the heart of the Grampian 

 Mountains, comprehending Glenlyon and Rannoch, 

 abounding in lakes, rivers, and woods, and formerly 

 inhabited by that lawless tribe of freebooters, who, 



