informed me that this was the loch up which the Norwegians sailed when they invaded Scotland with a fleet of sixty vessels, ravaging the country on all sides, and on reaching the head of the loch they drew their boats across the isthmus into Loch Lomond, and committed the same depredations on its shores. Near the head of the loch is a fantastic peak called Ben Arthur or the Cobbler, from its resemblance to a shoemaker at work-a place where all strangers are decoyed by the guide in order that they may run their hands a little deeper into your pocket, and excuse themselves when you express your disappointment, by saying that every body goes there, which is very consoling to a man feeling conscious that he has been gouged. However, we shall not complain, as we were fully compensated on our return to the inn, by an invitation from one of the lairds to attend a Scottish fête in the neighborhood, which we accepted, as you might suppose, being unwilling to allow such a favorable opportunity to pass for seeing the Highland character on its native heath. Here we were interested beyond measure in the costumes of the different clans, and their manner of dancing, each one having different ways of adjusting their plaids, and peculiarities of step easily distinguished by the looker on. The Macgregors, Macfarlanes, and all the neighboring Macs, were there with their bonnie lasses, "tripping the light fantastic toe," to the squeak of the bagpipe, until the shades of evening admonished them that it was time for them to repair to their homes. On the following morning we crossed the placid waters of Loch Lomond in a pleasure boat to the cataract of Inversnade, the scene of Wordsworth's beautiful poem to the "Highland Girl." Here we procured a drosky and crossed over a narrow and rugged pathway to Loch Katrine, so elegantly described by Sir Walter Scott, in the Lady of the Lake. Just as we came in sight of the water we saw the little boat that was to convey us to the Trosachs, puffing away about two miles from the starting point-leaving us, as we supposed, to pass the day in a miserable little hovel, licensed to sell ale and cider, to be drunk on the premises. Fortunately, however, we had in our party a tall sixfooter from the far west, who proposed to hail the boat, a suggestion received with a smile, as they all doubted the power of his lungs to make himself heard at so great a distance. But suiting the action to the word, he raised his stentorian voice to its highest key, and actually succeeded in rendering himself audible and bringing the boat back to the shore-an achievement worthy of Rob Roy, or any of the McGregors who once roved the region about Loch Katrine to the terror of all the neighboring clans. To give you a description of this beautiful sheet of water is impossible, as no one can convey to the distant reader an adequate idea of the works of nature. It must be seen, and the many associations connected with it felt, in order to appreciate its varied beauties. The loch is of a serpentine form, encircled by lofty mountains, and is ten miles in length, attaining, in some places, a breadth of two miles. The scenery which fringes its shores is wild and romantic, reminding me very much, from its similarity, of Lake George in New-York. In sailing along towards the Trosachs, I discovered many arms of the lake-here a bold headland, where black rocks dip in unfathomable water-there the white sands in the bottom of a bay, bleached for ages by the waves. On the north side there is a solid ledge of rock, which rises two hundred feet above the lake, down which a hundred little streams rush with incredible noise and velocity into the basin below. On the opposite shore the wild goats climb where they have scarce room for the soles of their feet, and the water eagle sits in undisturbed majesty on his well-known rock, where he gazes with composed indifference on the sight-seekers below. The scene is closed by a view of the Trosachs, (Troschen, bristled territory,) which is "So wondrous wild, the whole might seem The scenery of a fairy dream." Here we found an excellent inn, much resorted to during the summer months by tourists, and persons wishing to avoid the heat and dust of the cities, where we procured refreshments, and proceeded by post coach to Stirling, passing en route the Bridge of Turk, the "Coilantogle Ford," where Fitzjames and Roderic Dhu met face to face, and steel to steel-and the romantic village of Callender, surrounded by wooded crags and pastoral inclosures. The town of Stirling is delightfully situated on an eminence near the river Forth, and bears in the distance a beautiful and imposing appearance, but possesses nothing to interest the stranger, except the old castle, which was built and for a long time used as the residence of royalty. It was frequently taken and retaken after pro tracted sieges, during the wars which were carried on for the independence of Scotland, and is now occupied by soldiers-being one of the four fortresses which, by the articles of the Union, are always to be kept in repair. Among the many interesting things pointed out to the stranger in the old castle is one of the apartments called Douglas's Room, in consequence of the assassination of William, Earl of Douglas, by the hand of James II., after he had granted him a safe conduct;—a deed of great historic interest, which is beautifully expressed in those lines from the Lady of the Lake, “Tetarver, within whose circuit dread, A Douglas by his sovereign bled." The view from the towers of the castle is extremely magnificent. “To the north and east are the Ochil hills, and the windings of the Forth through the carse of Stirling, with its fertile fields, luxuriant woods, and stately mansions. On the west lies the vale of Menteith, bounded by the highland mountains. The Campsie hills close the horizon on the south, and in the foreground, on the east, are the tower, the Abbey Craig, and the ruins of Cambuskenneth Abbey." About one mile from Stirling is the celebrated battle-field of Bannockburn, which has been aptly termed the Marathon of the North. It was on this memorable spot that Edward II., with one hundred thousand men, was so signally defeated by Robert Bruce, with only thirty thousand, sustaining a loss of thirty-six thousand men, and seven hundred barons and knights—one of the most brilliant victories in the annals of military glory. The view from the eminence on which the battle was fought, is very extensive, varied, and beautiful. According to tradition the royal standard was pitched in a stone, having a round hole for its reception, and thence called the Bare Stone. The remaining fragments of this stone, protected from the depredations of persons visiting the spot by a frame-work of wire, are still shown as a precious remembrance of Scottish valor. LETTER TWENTY. EDINBURGH, Scotland. General Appearance of Edinburgh-Old Town and New Town-Population-HospitalsHolyrood Palace-The Castle-Public Buildings-Monuments-Excursion to Melrose Abbey-Abbotsford-Dryburgh, etc. AMONG the numerous cities we have visited in the kingdom of Great Britain, the metropolis of Scotland is unquestionably the most beautiful and attractive. Instead of approaching the "Heart of Midlothian" through mean and squalid suburbs, as in most places, the stranger is gradually introduced into streets of a highly respectable character; the abodes of poverty being for the most part confined to gigantic piles of buildings, in the older parts of the city, where they serve as ornaments rather than otherwise, and contribute essentially to the picturesque grandeur of the place. Of late years Edinburgh has acquired the epithet of modern Athens, a title conferred by writers on account of its literary character, and striking resemblance in situation to that ancient and renowned city. In panoramic beauty, its site is certainly unequalled by any city that I have yet seen on this side of the waters, which, taken in connection with the curious disorder of the buildings in the Old Town, and the symmetrical proportions of the streets in the New, presents to the eye a picture of rare and singular grandeur. From Calton Hill, which rises higher than the tallest spire near the centre of the city, and is ascended by a flight of stone steps, the visitor is furnished with a view of the environs that will fully repay for the trouble and fatigue of climbing. "Traced like a map the landscape lies, There Arthur's Seat; and gleaming through The Southern wing, Dunedin blue; While in the orient Lammer's daughters, A distant giant range, are seen, North Berwick-Law with cone of green, And bass amid the waters." It is not natural or artificial beauties alone that render Edinburgh so attractive, for many of its localities teem with recollections of "the majestic past," and are associated with events of deep historical importance. Many of its localities have been invested with interest no less engrossing by the transcendent genius of Sir Walter Scott, who has done more for Scotland than Scotland ever did for herself. His writings have not only refreshed and embellished the incidents of history, but have conferred on many a spot previously unknown to fame, a reputation as enduring as the rock of ages. In literary eminence, also, Edinburgh claims a distinguished place, and its prosperity depends essentially upon its college and schools, and still more essentially upon the courts of judicature. The former attract many youths from great distances who are desirous of obtaining a liberal education at a moderate expense; the latter afford employment for the gentlemen of the legal profession, who constitute at least one third of the population in the higher and middle ranks of society, a proportion greater than you will find in any other city. Do not understand me that all subsist solely by their professional gains; a considerable number of them are gentlemen wholly independent of their profession, who have joined the body on account of the status which they acquire from the learning and accomplishment of its members. Edinburgh has no extensive manufactures like its sister city Glasgow, and is consequently exempt from those sudden mercantile convulsions productive of so much misery in large manufacturing towns. Printing and publishing are carried on more extensively than any other branch of industry. In this department, Edinburgh far surpasses all the towns of the kingdom, London only excepted; many of the most valuable and popular works of the age emanating from her press. According to the recent census there appears to be a greater numerical disproportion in the sexes than there ever was before; the tables show an excess of the females amounting to upwards of sixteen thousand. Upon inquiry, I was informed by an intelligent gentleman residing here, that this strange fact is mainly to be attributed to the stationary or retrograde state of industrial occupation in the city, the young men being obliged to seek for employment in other fields of enterprise, while the weaker sex, less adventurous, and less able to indulge the spirit of adventure where it exists, are compelled to remain in the place of their nativity and |