A SPRING WEEK IN THE WEST HIGHLANDS. 287 



Eashfield shielings, with their thatched roofs and smoky " kip- 

 pies," where the peat-fuel gives a pleasant notice to the travel- 

 ler that for once he is getting out of the reach of carbonic 

 influence. With most of the inmates of these poor dwellings 

 we were also well acquainted ; and among them we could place 

 on record examples both of worth and happiness. 



At a little distance, but only far enough to keep up his 

 credit as a lone man, was the cell of the Hermit of the Glen. 

 A less interesting specimen of this genus of mortals could 

 scarcely be imagined. He seemed to have courted solitude 

 only for its notoriety ; and, instead of the anchorite's " crystal 

 well," drank freely and constantly of " mountain-dew" 



This jovial recluse laid claim to the attention of all strangers ; 

 and, after repeated invitations, I once had the curiosity with 

 some friends to visit the " wee place," as he calls his hut. His 

 methods of making us understand that guests were expected 

 to leave some donation behind them, as a trifling memento of 

 the pleasure their company had given, were certainly ingenious 

 enough ; and after gaining his point, he in his turn volun- 

 teered to treat us with "The Braes of Balquhidder." And 

 really it was worth a trifle, for he managed what I had sup- 

 posed to be an impossibility viz., to deprive the beautiful 

 air and words of every vestige of harmony. But his grand 

 recipe for drawing the purse-strings is practised upon his 

 female visitors, and consists in enumerating the moneyed 

 dames who were dying to share his eight feet by six cabin 

 but they " never gaed near his heart," placing his hand most 

 pathetically on the spot where that organ should have been ! 

 This stale trick, I was credibly informed, had maintained 

 in full radiance his salamander of a nose for some thirty 

 years. 



Like many anticipated pleasures, the unknown half of our 

 day's journey did not come up to expectation. The rugged 

 grandeur at the lower end of the glen soon blended into low 

 hills and copses ; but the drive along Loch Eyne is certainly 



