Preface

“Bonnie Scotland” pleased so many readers that it came to be supplemented by another volume dwelling mainly on the western “Highlands and Islands,” which was illustrated in a different style to match their wilder and mistier features. Such an addition gave the author’s likeness of Scotland a somewhat lop-sided effect; and to balance this list he has prepared a third volume dealing with the trimmer and richer, yet not less picturesque region oftenest visited by strangers—that is, Perthshire and its borders. This is shown to be the Heart of Scotland, not only as containing its most famous scenery, but as best blending Highland and Lowland charms, and as having made a focus of the national life and history. Pict and Scot, Celt and Sassenach, king and vassal, mailed baron and plaided chief, cateran and farmer, Jacobite and Hanoverian, gauger and smuggler, Kirk and Secession, here in turn carried on a series of struggles whose incidents should be well known through the Waverley Novels. But these famous romances seem too little known to hasty readers of to-day; and some glimpses of Perthshire’s past life may not prove over-familiar, at least to strangers in a county where the author is at home.

Contents

PAGE
[I.][Perthshire][1]
[II.][Tayside][20]
[III.][Atholl][52]
[IV.][Breadalbane][80]
[V.][Strathearn][104]
[VI.][The Macgregors][134]
[VII.][Rob Roy and his Sons][160]
[VIII.][Menteith][182]

List of Illustrations

[1.][The Pass of Killiecrankie ] [Frontispiece]
FACING PAGE
[2.][A Highland Moor][8]
[3.][A Highland Strath][17]
[4.][Perth from the Slopes of Kinnoull Hill][24]
[5.][Autumn in the Highlands][33]
[6.][Dunkeld and Birnam][40]
[7.][A Highland Cottage][49]
[8.][The Trossachs][56]
[9.][The Falls of Tummel][65]
[10.][The Moor of Rannoch][72]
[11.][The Head of Loch Tay][81]
[12.][The Dochart][88]
[13.][“The Lady of the Woods”][97]
[14.][A Highland River][104]
[15.][A Highland Lake][113]
[16.][Glenfinlas][120]
[17.][Loch Lubnaig][129]
[18.][In the Macgregor Country][136]
[19.][Loch Achray][145]
[20.][The Head of Loch Lomond][152]
[21.][Silver Strand, Loch Katrine][161]
[22.][The River Teith][168]
[23.][The Crags of Ben Venue][177]
[24.][Stirling Castle][192]

THE HEART OF SCOTLAND

I
PERTHSHIRE

My text is taken from a writer to whom every discourse on our country goes for authority and illustrations.