Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland A.D. 1803

by Dorothy Wordsworth

This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.

RECOLLECTIONS
OF A
TOUR MADE IN SCOTLAND
A.D. 1803

BY DOROTHY WORDSWORTH

Edited by J. C. Shairp

CONTENTS.

day		page
	Preface	[ix]
First Week.
1.	Left Keswick—Grisdale—Mosedale—HesketNewmarket—Caldbeck Falls	[1]
2.	RossCastle—Carlisle—Hatfield—Longtown	[2]
3.	Solway Moss—EnterScotland—Springfield—GretnaGreen—Annan—Dumfries	[3]
4.	Burns’s Grave	[5]
	Ellisland—Vale of Nith	[7]
	Brownhill	[8]
	Poem to Burns’s Sons	[10]
5.	Thornhill—Drumlanrig—River Nith	[11]
	Turnpike House	[12]
	Sportsman	[13]
	Vale of Menock	[14]
	Wanlockhead	[15]
	Leadhills	[18]
	Miners	[19]
	Hopetoun mansion	[20]
	Hostess	[20]
6.	Road to Crawfordjohn	[22]
	Douglas Mill	[28]
	Clyde—Lanerk	[31]
	Boniton Linn	[33]
Second Week.
7.	Falls of the Clyde	[35]
	Cartland Crags	[40]
	Fall of Stonebyres—Trough of the Clyde	[43]
	Hamilton	[44]
8.	Hamilton House	[45]
	Baroncleuch—Bothwell Castle	[48]
	Glasgow	[52]
9.	Bleaching ground (Glasgow Green)	[53]
	Road to Dumbarton	[55]
10.	Rocks and Castle of Dumbarton	[58]
	Vale of Leven	[62]
	Smollett’s Monument	[63]
	Loch Achray	[64]
	Luss	[67]
11.	Islands of Loch Lomond	[71]
	Road to Tarbet	[75]
	The Cobbler	[78]
	Tarbet	[79]
12.	Left Tarbet for the Trossachs	[81]
	Rob Roy’s Caves	[82]
	Inversneyde Ferryhouse and Waterfall	[83]
	Singular building	[84]
	Loch Ketterine	[86]
	Glengyle	[88]
	Mr. Macfarlane’s	[89]
13.	Breakfast at Glengyle	[91]
	Lairds of Glengyle—Rob Roy	[92]
	Burying ground	[94]
	Ferryman’s Hut	[95]
	Trossachs	[96]
	Loch Achray	[101]
	Return to Ferryman’s Hut	[102]
ThirdWeek.
14.	Left Loch Ketterine	[106]
	Garrison House—Highland Girls	[107]
	Ferryhouse at Inversneyde	[108]
	Poem to the Highland Girl	[113]
	Return to Tarbet	[115]
15.	Coleridge resolves to go home	[117]
	Arrochar—Loch Long	[118]
	Parted with Coleridge	[119]
	Glen Croe—The Cobbler	[121]
	Glen Kinglas—Cairndow	[123]
16.	Road to Inverary	[124]
	Inverary	[126]
17.	Vale of Arey	[129]
	Loch Awe	[134]
	Kilchurn Castle	[138]
	Dalmally	[139]
18.	Loch Awe	[141]
	Taynuilt	[143]
	Bunawe—Loch Etive	[144]
	Tinkers	[149]
19.	Road by Loch Etive downwards	[152]
	Dunstaffnage Castle	[153]
	Loch Crerar	[156]
	Strath of Appin—Portnacroish	[158]
	Islands of Loch Linnhe	[159]
	Morven	[160]
	Lord Tweeddale	[161]
	Strath of Duror	[163]
	Ballachulish	[164]
20.	Road to Glen Coe up Loch Leven	[165]
	Blacksmith’s house	[166]
	Glen Coe	[172]
	Whisky hovel	[174]
	King’s House	[175]
Fourth Week.
21.	Road to Inveroran	[180]
	Inveroran—Public-house	[182]
	Road to Tyndrum	[183]
	Tyndrum	[184]
	Loch Dochart	[185]
22.	Killin	[186]
	Loch Tay	[188]
	Kenmore	[189]
23.	Lord Breadalbane’s grounds	[193]
	Vale of Tay—Aberfeldy—Falls of Moness	[194]
	River Tummel—Vale of Tummel	[196]
	Fascally—Blair	[197]
24.	Duke of Athol’s gardens	[198]
	Falls of Bruar—Mountain-road to Loch Tummel	[201]
	Loch Tummel	[203]
	Rivers Tummel and Garry	[204]
	Fascally	[205]
25.	Pass of Killicrankie—Sonnet	[207]
	Fall of Tummel	[208]
	Dunkeld	[209]
	Fall of the Bran	[210]
26.	Duke of Athol’s gardens	[211]
	Glen of the Bran—Rumbling Brig	[212]
	Narrow Glen—Poem	[213]
	Crieff	[215]
27.	Strath Erne	[215]
	Lord Melville’s house—Loch Erne	[216]
	Strath Eyer—Loch Lubnaig	[217]
	Bruce the Traveller—Pass of Leny—Callander	[218]
FifthWeek.
28.	Road to the Trossachs—Loch Vennachar	[219]
	Loch Achray—Trossachs—Road up LochKetterine	[220]
	Poem: ‘Stepping Westward’	[221]
	Boatman’s hut	[222]
29.	Road to Loch Lomond	[223]
	Ferryhouse at Inversneyde	[223]
	Walk up Loch Lomond	[224]
	Glenfalloch	[226]
	Glengyle	[228]
	Rob Roy’s Grave—Poem	[229]
	Boatman’s Hut	[233]
30.	Mountain-Road to Loch Voil	[235]
	Poem, ‘The Solitary Reaper’	[237]
	Strath Eyer	[239]
31.	Loch Lubnaig	[240]
	Callander—Stirling—Falkirk	[241]
32.	Linlithgow—Road to Edinburgh	[242]
33.	Edinburgh	[243]
	Roslin	[245]
34.	Roslin—Hawthornden	[246]
	Road to Peebles	[247]
Sixth Week.
35.	Peebles—Neidpath Castle—Sonnet	[248]
	Tweed	[249]
	Clovenford	[251]
	Poem on Yarrow	[252]
36.	Melrose—Melrose Abbey	[255]
37.	Dryburgh	[257]
	Jedburgh—Old Woman	[260]
	Poem	[262]
38.	Vale of Jed—Ferniehurst	[265]
39.	Jedburgh—The Assizes	[267]
	Vale of Teviot	[268]
	Hawick	[270]
40.	Vale of Teviot—Branxholm	[270]
	Moss Paul	[271]
	Langholm	[272]
41.	Road to Longtown	[272]
	River Esk—Carlisle	[273]
42.	Arrival at home	[274]
	APPENDIX	[277]
	NOTES	[309]
	ITINERARY	[317]

POEMS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE JOURNAL

1803.
	page
To the Sons of Burns, after visiting the Grave of theirFather	[277]
At the Grave of Burns, 1803	[278]
Thoughts suggested the day following, on the Banks ofNith, near the Poet’s Residence	[281]
To a Highland Girl	[113]
Address to Kilchurn Castle, upon Loch Awe	[285]
Sonnet in the Pass of Killicrankie	[207]
Glen Almain; or the Narrow Glen	[213]
The Solitary Reaper	[237]
Stepping Westward	[221]
Rob Roy’s Grave	[229]
Sonnet composed at Neidpath Castle	[248]
Yarrow Unvisited	[252]
The Matron of Jedborough and her Husband	[262]
Fly, some kind Spirit, fly to Grasmere Vale!	[274]
The Blind Highland Boy	[286]
1814.
The Brownie’s Cell	[298]
Cora Linn, in sight of Wallace’s Tower	[283]
Effusion, in the Pleasure-ground on the banks of the Bran,near Dunkeld	[294]
Yarrow Visited	[301]
1831.
Yarrow Re-visited	[304]
On the Departure of Sir Walter Scott from Abbotsford, forNaples	[307]
The Trossachs	[308]

PREFACE.

Those who have long known the poetry of Wordsworth will be no strangers to the existence of this Journal of his sister, which is now for the first time published entire. They will have by heart those few wonderful sentences from it which here and there stand at the head of the Poet’s ‘Memorials of a Tour in Scotland in 1803.’ Especially they will remember that ‘Extract from the Journal of my Companion’ which preludes the ‘Address to Kilchurn Castle upon Loch Awe,’ and they may sometimes have asked themselves whether the prose of the sister is not as truly poetic and as memorable as her brother’s verse. If they have read the Memoirs of the Poet published by his nephew the Bishop of Lincoln, they will have found there fuller extracts from the Journal, which quite maintain the impression made by the first brief sentences. All true Wordsworthians then will welcome, I believe, the present publication. They will find in it not only new and illustrative light on those Scottish poems which they have so long known, but a faithful commentary on the character of the poet, his mode of life, and the manner of his poetry. Those who from close study of Wordsworth’s poetry know both the poet and his sister, and what they were to each other, will need nothing more than the Journal itself. If