4 CORRACH-BAH j OR, 



the brown heath or scattered rocks, between long intervals 

 of brilliant sunshine : the lights and shadows upon the 

 opposite mountains seemed formed to call up feelings and 

 recollections long gone by. Our citizen, however, returned 

 vastly delighted at having rather called up so good an 

 appetite for dinner. After having satisfied his craving, he 

 abruptly broke out, u Would it be pothible to fill up Loch 

 Lomond ? " His own genius anticipated the reply " Ah ! 

 by tumbling Ben Lomond into it, I thuppothe ! Now, 

 how many acres of good land would you gain ?" " Well," 

 thought I, " this is improvement with a vengeance ; " and 

 I should, with great pleasure, have pitched in his little fat 

 body, by way of a sleeping partner to the doomed moun- 

 tain ! However, upon thinking over his strange proposal, 

 it struck me that it was a plain, matter-of-fact, pounds- 

 shillings -and -pence view of the subject; and if I was 

 fairly attacked upon that point, I should not stand half a 

 chance in the argument. No doubt the country will be 

 richer the more it is cultivated ; but few Highlanders, with 

 any touch of imagination, would barter, even for this, its 

 former lonely and desolate grandeur, with its accompani- 

 ments of wild birds and animals ; or would, without a 

 pang, change the bold heart and ready hand of the natives 

 into those of passive and obedient serfs. If driven to make 

 a choice, I must shelter myself under the shrewd logic of a 

 fellow-countryman, who, having affirmed that the grapes 

 of Scotland were better than those of England, and being 

 asked to prove it, coolly answered, " I maun premeese, I 

 like them soor ! " Like him, I must also premise, that I 



