BC_1766_EMONTAGU_EV_5

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<Q A 1766 TC EV EMONTAGU>
<X ELIZABETH MONTAGU>
[}ELIZABETH MONTAGU TO ELIZABETH VESEY. 1766 OCT 20. MO 6390}]
<P1>
    Denton y=e= 20=th= of Oct 1766
    A journey I made to an estate of M=r= Montagu's & a multiplicity of affairs here delay_d my intended letter to my dear M=rs= Vesey. As the Season approaches, in which the City of London should, under her sable wing of sea coal smoak, gather together those who have been wandering & fluttering through various Regions during summer days, let me begin by enquiring when you will come to your nest in Bolton row. This is a question of such importance to me, that  did the Delphian Oracle, as of old, give answers to mighty queries, I would instantly sail to Greece for satisfaction; but as Priests & Priestesses are silent, tell me, & tell me quickly, & without Oracular ambiguity. I think I promised to send you an account of my tour into Scotland. I am not sure whether I did not describe in my last the Palace of Holyrood & Castle of Edinburgh, so I shall not say any thing [\of them/] (^for what's so tedious as a twice told tale^). We will therefore leave Edinburgh & go to Glasgow,
<P2>
a great trading Town, built with fine stone, the houses large, the streets wide, & all built at right angles: the polices such that the Shambles & all daily business is carried on in distant quarters of the Town. Never did I see a place of Commerce & manufactures that had so little of the mechanical air. The Sciences have a University, & the arts an Academy here. I was kindly entertaind at the house of Lord Provost Cochran, a little way out of the Town. I went to see Hamilton where there is a fine collection of pictures. I pass'd by the Castle of the aspiring Earl Bothwell, it remains a sad monument of wicked ambition. Here he sigh'd for Mary, & here his unfortunate wife wept his inconstancy. I was now got on Classick ground on the banks of the Clyde, and I thought of the days of other times. I stay'd a day at Lord Provosts, & then set out for Inverary. Now Madam, your imagination must put on (^ (\ses bottes de sept [\lieues\] \) ^) & follow me, over the hills & far away [\In/] My first stage I pass'd by the Castle of
<P3>
Dumbarton which stands on a high rock. I dined at a village & forayd over a little river, & soon got to the banks of lough loman, a vast Lake of liquid crystal, which is bound in by a bed of alabaster pebbles. This lake is in some places eight miles broad, has in it many beautifull Islands, in some there are deer feeding, others rising in a pyramidical form have firr trees growing to the very top, rocks & hills form a bold shore in the opposite side, & the vast Ben loman lifts his proud head to the clouds. the Military road carried us many miles by the side of this delightfull Lake to the pretty Village of Luss. As the Sun was only setting I took a walk there, & picked up for my guide, a pretty Nymph, no Cicerone she, nor had she the decay_d monuments of pride to display [\to/] [\us\], but with much rural innocence & gentleness of manners, she shew'd us the humble beauties of her native Village. The softness of the evening air, the murmur of the stream, the (^dying gales panting on the trees^),
<P4>
and the parting beams of the sun, which seem_d both, like other bright beauties, to quit the lookinglass, and still play'd upon the stream, much reconciled me to pastoral life. You know nothing is so pretty in imagination. I had put on my russet robes, adorn'd my crook with flowers, & was looking for a Swain, but alas after 40 Dames there one seeks in vain! however before I had time to vex at that [\circumstance/] I was awaken_d from my reverie by the noise of wheels. I ask'd what manufactory was carried on in the place; my guide smiled, & said the Ministers three [\WORD DELETED\] [\daughters/] were spinning: in the state my mind was in, less did I envy the immortal nymphs, who (^turn the adamantine spindle round^), & spin the fates of men & empires, than these village spinsters. May never mildew spoil their web! Why sleeps the sweet voice of Cona who should celebrate their charms & praise their labours? When it grew dark I retired to my Inn, & we concluded the evening with reading Ossians poems in his own favorite land. Early in the morning we began to ascend the
<P5>
the Mountains; the lake lay glittering below, in one spot we saw the Lake winding for five & twenty miles. & just in this spot we parted with it, & enterd upon another scene. The road now lay through vast mountains which rose one above an other in astonishing and tremendous greatness, on their sides hung shaggy goats, browzing as high as the eye could reach, below them sheep were feeding; here & there, the hand of industry had reach'd to a considerable height to plant corn where the broad footed ox could not plow. but most parts of the mountains are coverd with a dark moss, which adds much to the solemnity of their appearance, down their wrinkled cheeks, which are furrow'd by the torrents of some thousand winters collected rain & snow, in summer softly trickles many streams which unite to form a river at the bottom. Some of the steeper mountains are by the floods left bare of soil, & exhibit there rocky skeletons, & look hideously great. In the vale of Clencrow, once the delight of Ossian I
<P6>
stopp'd to dine. by the side of the roaring stream of [\Cona/] in a deep vale with mountains almost meeting above me, no [\ossian\] appeard from thence, but a road still winding along y=e= feet of the mountains. I did not [\chuse OR desire\] to leave this magnificent scene of nature to enter the smoaky cottage from whence I had the trout just caught from the stream broild on the coals, & excellent herrings. I was now living in epick, & I rememberd Homer's Heroes always eat their meal broild on the coals. Perhaps even Helens cook had not a gridiron any more than my hostess at Glencrow. While I dined, the Eagles soared above our heads, for all was great in this astonishing scene. the murmur of the stream of Cona brought to imaginations ear the notes of ossians harp. & I saw Malvina [\weeping/] in the mist of the cloudcapt mountain. At my departure I bade my Landlady wish me a good journey [\in erse/] which she did with great politeness. The rest of the day we still ascended from mountain to
<P7>
Mountain, about five in the afternoon we arrived at Inverary: here the lake of Lough fine opend at once upon us. To give you some idea of it, I must tell you, the great Leviathan had taken his pastime there in the night before. This Lough is 70 miles from the Ocean, but the whales often visit it during the herring season. I stay'd part of the next day at Inverary & visited the Duke of Argylles Castle & his grounds, which are laid out for pleasure, such are call'd (^policies^) in Scotland. The building have cost a great deal, but the architect did not avail himself of the Gothick licence in Architecture, but has made a Castle as compact as a chest of drawers. Indeed, the lake before it, & a Mountain coverd with Old firr & bech trees to its sharp summit, w=d= have made any work of art appear little, but this alas is perfectly diminutive compared to the adjacent objects. There was an Erse sermon preach_d at Inverary the day I spent there, I sh=d= have gone to Church
<P8>
if Ossian w=d= have sang the Anthem but my time being short & not expecting to be much edified by the sermon I contented my self with hearing Erse talk_d round me in the Town. I return_d to Glasgow the same way I came, not having time to take a larger tour in going back the objects diminishd as they had increased before. but this was in some measure compensated by another beauty which the scene acquired from the days being foggy. Every mountain was crown'd with mist on which the Sun beams [\in/] some form'd a bright diadem, in others there was an appearance of blue smoak as if some of the thinner & more craggy mountains were dissolving into air, into thin air, & would shortly like the baseless fabric of a vision w=d= dissolve and leave not a rock behind. I have now Madam brought you on the road back to Glasgow you may there visit with me the University the Academy & the Printing Office, & talk with all the professors & artists but I am sure you are too much tired to go with me to Stirling Blair Drummond & c. If you are not quite overcome with this rough Campaign I may carry you into softer scenes, but at present I will leave you to repose y=r=self