BC_1766_EMONTAGU_EV_6

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<Q A 1766 TC EV EMONTAGU>
<X ELIZABETH MONTAGU>
[}ELIZABETH MONTAGU TO ELIZABETH VESEY. 1766. MO 6391?}]
<P1>
Denton nov: y=e= 4 [1766]
    And so my dear M=rs= Vesey while you are reposing yourself in y=r= drawing room (\sur votre chaise longue\) ; or indolently lolling in Malvinas cave listening to the sighing gales, you think I must travel (\par monts & par vaux\) , fly after y=e= Eagle, or angle for a Whale, on purpose to set your imagination a slaving. And the worst is when I have told you every thing, you wont believe about half of it. I dare say you have not digested the Whole, & you have certainly told miss Hancock that my Eagles were nothing but Sparrow hawks. you must know Madam, that the great traveller D=r= Pocock when he was at Glencrow, took it into his head to go a birds nesting, not for sparrows as boys do, but to seek the callow Eagles. From the Ayerie the good Bishop had as good an opportunity of preaching to the birds as S=t= Simon from the Sea shore to the fishes, but I did not hear that he sermonized to the fowls (^that wing the midway air^), so that I imagine he mounted from the
<P2>
inclination a Bishop naturally has to be [\near a/] [\translation\] however, there was not a fiery chariot ready to carry him off, so he return'd to his [\terrestial\] situation My curiosity will never pry into such a formidable recess as the Eagles nest, for should the Lady of the house come home, & find one there, she might not give one very hospitable entertainment. I am told the Bishop found good provisions, fine quarters of Lamb, many [\more\] fowl &c, but nothing roasted, (^[\nor\] any^) invitation to dinner. I went from the Highlands back to the L=d= Provosts at Glasgow, pass'd a day there, visited the University & the Academy for Painting. To find the sciences & (\beaux arts\) making part of the police of a place of trade & manufactures gave me great pleasure. The Mercantile Towns in England seem dedicated to Mammon a filthy Deity who keeps pernicious fasts or gives at times swinish & gluttonous feasts. Here the Muses will mitigate avarice or sanctify wealth. I went to see Hamilton where there is a fine [\WORD\] of pictures. I pass'd by the ruins of Earl Bothwells
<P3>
Castle, the[\re\] fox (^looks out from the windows^) & the ruins remain a sad Monument of the vengeance of Heaven. From Glasgow I went to Blair Drummond the Seat of L=d= Kames the Author of the elements of Criticism. You cannot imagine any thing more delightfull than [\to\] walk by the side of a rapid River where there are many natural Cascades & beautifull rocks, on the right hand; on the left, a deep wood, in view the ruined Castle of the Regent Murray, whose rigour[\s\] to poor Mary Stewart his Sister & Sovereign, & his virtues as unamiable as the very vices of gentler minds, made me consider his Catastrophe & the ruin of his proud dwelling with an unpitying heart. I was very politely entertain'd at Blair Drummond, & at my departure L=d= Kames attended me to Stirling Castle, which is situated on a high rock, it commands a fine prospect, but the River [\scene\] is a line more crooked than the line of beauty, so that it seems to form various pools, & is less beautifull than y=e= gentle [\serpentine\]
<P4>
In our way from Stirling to the famous Iron works at Carun, I saw the Venerable trunk of the tree where the Patriot Wallace & eight of his followers once lay conceal'd, I assure you I honoured this tree far more than our Royal Oak. Lord Kames carried me to the Caverns of [\Valean\], the very sighing of the bellows was as terrible as the modest blast of Boreas passing over the Ocean On Caron banks I sought for the sad Comala, (^she lies pale by the rock, & the wind lifts her hair^), but I could not find her. We dined at a Brother of S=r= Lawrence Dundasses, were entertained with the easy politeness peculiar to the Scotch. at night I got back to Edinburgh in every respect pleased with my ramble, only that Ossian did not come from his airy hall to give us a song. I stayed three days more at Edinburgh, passing the evenings with D=r= Robertson D=r= Blair & other litterati . My next journey was to S=r= Gilbert Elliots a sweet place for a philosopher or Poet, [\the\] quality of the latter the Master is well deserving of it, for
<P5>
she is really a favourite of the Muses. In my road I visited the ruins of the Abbey of [\Mailross\] [\MELROSE\], a very noble & elegant Gothick building very richly ornamented with carving in stone. On the outsides there is a great deal of grotesque sculpture, monkeys playing on bagpipes & other [\droll/] devices that little suit (^Relentless walls! whose darksome round contains repentant sighs, & voluntary pains. This was the^) richest Abbey in Scotland, & generally the appanage of some of the Royal family, The Douglas who was killed by Percy at Otterborn lies buried here. & the L=d= of Liddesdale once call'd the flower of Chivalry. The situation of this Abbey is solemn & fine, it is rather the retreat of piety than of despair, it solemn but not gloomy. The figures of the Apostles on ye outsides are fine but one does not love to see them in such wanton company as Fidlers monkeys &c. I spent a very agreable day at S=r= Gilbert Elliots, & went from thence to my good friend the
<P6>
Bishop of Carlisles at Rose Castle in Cumberland which is an easy days journey from hence. I dare say you are glad I am got home. I can tell you I mean another visit to the Highlands, & to cross over to Ireland & visit M=rs= Vesey in her sweet Villa. If I am drown'd in the passage, the Caledonian bards [\sh=d INTO shall\] raise the song. Leander shall sink into oblivion, & my name shall float upon the river of Helicon. However, this being poetical may have the air of fiction, but I do certainly intend to come to Lucan. And I hope friendship will be more fortunate than love, & then Leander may live in song, while I live in Clover at Lucan. I beg my comp=ts= to M=r= Vesey & M=rs= Hancock. When shall we meet at a feast of Shells? The Bards will be assembling & your Bard feasting friend I hope will keep a merry christmass in Hillstreet. A Woeful November must pass here I am so immersed in business that I cannot flatter myself to leave this place before Xmass
   I am D=r= Mad=m= Ever Y=rs=
   EM