106 



EXCURSION V. 



BY THE CORRIE SHORE. 



54. THE hotel at Invercloy occupies a charming situation 

 on a terrace of the old sea-beach. The site was chosen by the 

 late Duke of Hamilton, who had a true and exquisite taste in 

 art and nature, and the keenest relish for their beauties. Per- 

 haps the finest view is had on turning the north-east angle of 

 the building, where the granite peaks and ridges, the wooded 

 hill-sides, the castle, the sweep of the bay, and the opening of 

 Glen Eosa are all in sight. When the mountains are clear of 

 mist, the effects are always wonderful. They are perfectly 

 magical sometimes in the early summer morning, when a 

 gentle air comes into the bay from the cooler water outside, 

 and masses of white vapour cover the middle region of the 

 hills, the peaks projecting, 



" Where many a pinnacle with shifting glance, 

 Through the gray mist thrusts up its shattered lance," 



and the lower edge of the vaporous mantle is like a veil of 

 gauze, half concealing the castle and its woods. Slowly the 

 veil rises, the vapour rolls upwards, now covering and now 

 revealing the highest peaks, till, as the bare rocks get heated, 

 the mist gradually melts away from the lesser heights, and all 

 that now remains is gathered on the sheltered side of Goat- 

 fell, and raised by the eddies from the glens and corries into 

 a cloudy pillar resting on the summit. Presently dissolved 

 below, the pillar in its upper part mingles with the fleecy 

 clouds aloft, and the peaks stand out all day long in un- 

 clouded grandeur. 



From the hotel at Invercloy to the village of Corrie is a 

 distance of six miles ; but the sweep of the road round the 



