The monument, as we have indicated, is a mural one, having for its principal feature a beautiful piece of sculpture in alto relievo. As originally designed by the artist, this composition was on a comparatively small scale. When, however, the sketch came to be submitted to the officers of the regiment, they were so much pleased with the idea embodied in it that they resolved to have the figures executed of life size, and increased their contributions accordingly. Standing out against a large pointed panel of white marble, the sculptured group, which is worked out in the same material as the background, represents an officer of the 42d visiting a battle-field at the close of an engagement to look for some missing comrade. The point of time selected is the moment in which the searcher, having just discovered the body of his friend, stands with uncovered head, paying mute homage to departed valour. The central figure of the composition is admirably modelled, the expression of the soldier’s countenance being in fine keeping with the calm and subdued tone which pervades the whole work. On the left, beneath the remains of a shattered gun-carriage, lies the body of a young ensign, his hand still grasping the flag he had stoutly defended, and his face wearing a peaceful expression, as befitted a man who had died at his post. Other accessories combine with those just mentioned to suggest the grim realities of war; but the artist has so toned his composition that the mind is insensibly led to dwell on that other aspect of the battlefield in which it speaks of danger braved and duty nobly done. A slab underneath the sculpture bears the following inscription:—
In Memory of
THE OFFICERS, NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS,
AND
PRIVATE SOLDIERS
OF THE
42d ROYAL HIGHLANDERS—THE BLACK WATCH—
WHO FELL IN WAR
FROM
THE CREATION OF THE REGIMENT
TO
THE CLOSE OF THE INDIAN MUTINY,
1859.
THE TEN INDEPENDENT COMPANIES OF THE FREACADAN
DUBH, OR BLACK WATCH, WERE FORMED INTO A
REGIMENT ON THE 25TH OCTOBER 1739, AND THE
FIRST MUSTER TOOK PLACE IN MAY 1740,
IN A FIELD BETWEEN TAYBRIDGE
AND ABERFELDY.
MONUMENT IN DUNKELD CATHEDRAL.
On either side of the above inscription are recorded the names of the hard-fought fields in which the regiment gained its enviable reputation. How many memories are recalled as one reads the long roll of historic battle-grounds—“Fontenoy, Flanders, Ticonderoga, Martinique, Guadaloupe, Havannah, Egypt, Corunna, Fuentes D’Onor, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse, Peninsula, Waterloo, Alma, Sebastopol, Lucknow!” The selection of a site for the monument was determined by considerations connected with the history of the regiment. The gallant 42d having been originally drawn chiefly from Perthshire, it was felt to be appropriate that the memorial intended to commemorate its fallen heroes should be erected in that county; and all will concur in the propriety of the arrangement by which a shrine has been found for it within the venerable Cathedral of Dunkeld.
For the following account of the ceremony we are indebted to the Scotsman of 3d April 1872:—