A Companion and Useful Guide to the Beauties of Scotland/Chapter 15
CHAPTER XV.
I left Glasgow as soon as possible, and proceeded towards Hamilton, stopping at Bothwell Castle, where, by a rich feast of beauty and nature, I forgot the din of Glasgow, its pride, its wealth, and worldly ways; forgot my sleepless night; even hunger too (for I had not breakfasted) gave way to the delight the scenes of Bothwell afforded me. What a lovely walk is that by the river's side! How picturesque the ruin, and the wood! How enchanting the scene from the windows of the house! No drawback, except in a few spots; a little, and but very little of the slime of the Nature dressers, who shave too neatly for dame Nature's lovely honest face. Smooth lawns, the rose, the pink, the jessamine, the twining honeysuckle, and flower border, are sweet and lovely, but in some instances they are out of place.
Hamilton is a tolerable town. The Duke's palace, on the outside (I did not see the inside of it), is an old, and rather a forlorn-looking mass of building, attached by high walls to the worst end of the town. It stands on a flat; the ground rising, I believe, on every side, and trees and woods every where about it; particularly at Chattelherault, where they are very fine. About one mile after I had passed the palace, I crossed the Avon Water, a considerable river, with a bed full of rocks: all around the bridge over it is beautifully romantic, particularly at a house on the edge of the water, about a quarter of a mile above. Soon after crossing the Avon, the road ascends a rough steep hill, by the side of Duke Hamilton's woods and park pales, which is the road to Douglas Mill, from which the new road, by Clyde's side, to Lanerk, strikes off, and becomes a most beautiful drive, by the river's side all the way. Stone Biers Force is a very grand fall of the river Clyde, within three miles of Lanerk. The new bridge at the foot of the hill; the town of Lanerk high on the top of it; with the winding river, and noble woods of Boniton to the right; and those about Cartland Crags, and Lee Place, to the left; form a charming view, as the traveller advances towards the bridge.
Lee Place is ancient and venerable. One of its owners, a Sir William Lockhart, was Embassador to France for the Republic of England, in Oliver Cromwell's time, and also in Charles the Second's. One of the Lockharts married a niece of Oliver's. There is at Lee a very fine picture of Cromwell, by Vandyke. Lee Place abounds with wood, and trees of all sorts, particularly an oak, which is in circumference, at the root, twenty-one feet three inches; and where the branches begin to expand at the top of the trunk, twenty-three feet. There are three large branches which arise from the trunk, one of them measures nine feet nine inches in circumference, another thirteen feet three inches, the third fourteen feet three inches. It is said to be 150 years since it was discovered that one of its branches had begun to decay, and though it has gone on decaying, still it is only the tops of the large branches that are now in a decayed state. By the tradition of the Lockhart family, this oak, in 1796, was 750 years old. A larch tree also, at Lee, which was planted when King George the Third was born, measured, in 1782, ten feet four inches in circumference. There is also an avenue called the Velvet Walk, shaded by the finest ash and lime trees I ever saw; their spreading branches form a canopy over the walk, which entirely excludes the rays of the sun. The house is like the surrounding scene, very ancient (though not gloomy), with a face of calm dignity, repose, and quietness, suitable to the venerable aspect of age.
There is at Lee a curiosity of many virtues, called the Lee Penny. The good lady of Lee suffered me to take a copy of its history, which is as follows:
"That curious piece of antiquity, called the Lee Penny, is a stone of a dark red colour, and triangular shape; and its size about half an inch each side. It is set in a piece of silver coin, which (though much defaced,) by some letters still remaining, is supposed to be a shilling of Edward the First. The cross too is very plain on this shilling. It has been, by tradition, in the Lee family since the year 1320, that is, a little after the death of King Robert Bruce; who ordered his heart to be carried to the Holy Land, there to be buried. It was said, that one of the noble family of Douglas was sent with it, and the crowned heart in his arms, from that circumstance: which is not so; for the person who really did carry the royal heart, was Sir Simond Locard of Lee; who, just about this time, borrowed a large sum of money from Sir William de Lindsey, prior of Ayr, for which he granted a bond of annuity of ten pounds of silver, during the life of the said Sir William de Lindsey, out of his (Sir Simond's) lands of Lee and Cartland. The original bond, dated 1323, and witnessed by the principal nobility of the country, is still remaining amongst the family papers." (And a curious bond it is, for I saw it.) "As ten pounds of silver, to be given annually, was a great sum in those days, the sum granted in lieu of it must have been very large indeed; and it was thought it was borrowed for that expedition to the Holy Land. From Sir Simon being the person who carried the royal heart, he changed his name to Lockheart, as it is sometimes spelt, or Lockhart. Sir Simon having taken a Saracen prince prisoner, his wife came to ransome him; and on counting the money and jewels, a stone fell out of her purse, which she hastily snatched up: this, and her confusion being observed by Sir Simon, he insisted upon having the stone, or else he would not give up his prisoner. Upon this the lady remonstrated, but in vain; and she gave it him, and told him its many virtues; videlicet, that it cured all diseases in cattle, and the bite of a mad dog both in man and beast. It is used by dipping the stone in water, which is given to the diseased cattle to drink; and the animals are to have the wounds, or parts infected, washed with the water. There are no words used in the dipping of the stone, nor any money taken by the servants, without incurring the owner's displeasure. Many are the cures said to be performed by it; and people come from all parts of Scotland, and even as far in England as Yorkshire, to get the water in which the stone has been dipped to give to their cattle, especially when ill of the murrain and black-leg.
"In early times, a complaint was made to the ecclesiastical courts against the then Laird, of Lee, Sir James Lockhart, for using witchcraft." (A copy of the act of the Glasgow synod I saw; but I was not in the least the wiser for it, for I could not read it.) "There is no date to the act of the Glasgow ecclesiastical synod on the subject; but from the spelling of it, and the appellant being called Goodman of Raploch, a title then given to the small lairds, and Sir James being the name of the Laird of Lee, it must be as early as 1660." (The act of the synod was in favour of Sir James, as he was thereby permitted to continue the use of the stone, without the dread of being burnt for a wizard.)
"It is said, when the plague was at Newcastle upon Tyne, the inhabitants sent for the Lee Penny, and gave a bond for a large sum of money in trust for the loan of the stone; and they thought it did so much good, that they offered to pay the value of the bond if they might keep the Penny; but the laird would not part with it. A copy of this bond is very well attested to have been amongst the family papers; but supposed to have been spoilt, along with many more valuable ones, about the year 1730, by rain getting into the charter-room during a long minority, and no family residing at Lee house.
"The most remarkable cure performed upon a human being was on the person of Lady Baird of Sauchtenhall, near Edinburgh; who having been bit by a mad dog, was come to the length of the hydrophobia; upon which having begged that the Lee Penny might be sent to her house, she used it for some weeks, drinking and bathing in the water it was dipped in, and was quite recovered. This happened about the year 1700; and the fact is very well attested by the Lady of the Laird of Lee at that time; relating also that she and her husband were entertained at Sauchtenhall by Sir Baird and his lady for several days in the most sumptuous manner, on account of the lady's recovery by the Lee Penny.
"N.B. The Lee Penny has been examined by a lapidary, and found to be a stone, but of what kind he could not tell."
The Lady of Lee, so entertained at Sauchtenhall, had not been dead more than thirty years when I saw the Lee Penny. At Lee, I was treated with the utmost politeness by Mrs. Lockhart; and the ceremony of the dipping of the Penny three times, and the three times twirl in the glass of wine I drank, was performed with all due solemnity; but as neither disease existed, nor faith accompanied the operation, no effect was produced from it. A gentleman in company, though no enthusiast, and who was in the last stage of a consumption, like a drowning person catching at a reed, looked eagerly at his enchanted glass of water; and although his voice laughed at the fable, his heart silently though feebly hoped; I saw it by the turn of his eye as he swallowed the draught: but, alas! on him it had no effect.
During my visit to the amiable family at Carstairs house, I also saw Boniton and its beauties in perfection, both in fine weather and in a flood. The banks of the Clyde, from the cotton works to the Boniton falls, are beyond description sublime and beautiful. The mill at Corie Lin, the ruin of the old house of Corie on the tip of the rocks hanging over the Lin, Wallace's seat at the top of the Lin, the noble masses of projecting rock, the rich wood on every side, with the grand fall of the Lin in the centre, which rolls from a prodigious height, and dashes to a great breadth, altogether form a wonderful effect. The carriage stopped under fine single trees, at the entrance of a beautiful wood; the noise of the Lin pointed out the way by a winding path to a very thick part of the wood, facing the Lin, which at once astonishes and delights. Lady Ross has made many judicious cuts in the wood to open the fall. But if her ladyship would make a rough and winding way, scarcely to be seen, or even steps in the rocks, from the first station on her side of the river to the bottom of the fall, I am sure the effect of looking up at the Lin would be wonderfully grand.
Nothing can be more beautiful, romantic, and rich, than the terrace hanging over the river, from the seat opposite the Corie Lin to the square stone stand erected to view the Boniton falls. The masses of rock confining the river on each side; the wood branching, feathering, and hanging over and down them in every form, beautified by the greatest variety of tints; and the river in its deep and narrow bed, rushing furiously amongst broken rocks; in short, it is one of the most enchanting walks of half a mile that can be met with on the face of the earth. The traveller must not be satisfied with viewing the Boniton falls from the square erection, he must get close to and under those falls; they are three in one, and very charming. Every part of Boniton is well worth seeing; the prospects are not of the extensive kind, but they are infinitely delightful to a painter's eye. Were I to break the tenth commandment, most undoubtedly it would be in coveting Lady Ross's house and possessions at Boniton.
The town of Lanerk is sweetly situated; but all to the east of it, except just on the banks of the Clyde, is wild and dreary. Within half a mile to the north of Lanerk runs the Mouse, a very wild small river: on its banks are many romantic spots, particularly one called Borronauld, close to the Cartland Crags. A neat small house stands in the hollow of a hill, high above the Mouse; in front, below the dwelling, is a lovely sweep of the river; over which, at a little distance, is a beautiful simple one-arched bridge of grey stone, so mellowed by the green and yellow tints of time and weather, that it was beautiful. I hope I saved it the torture of a white face-washing. A soft meadow is on the near side of the bridge, and rocks and wood wind on the river's southern bank before and behind the arch. To the left of the house is a rising hill, clothed with thick wood, through which, one winding path leads to the top of prodigious crags hanging over the Mouse, and another pointing down to the bottom of them; these are Cartland Crags. The river, when I was there, was fortunately low; and the polite owner of Borronauld took the trouble of accompanying one of my amiable young friends and me, through the bed of the river, for about three quarters of a mile. It is impossible to describe the sublimity, beauty, richness, and variety of that spot. We first crossed the river from Borronauld, by stepping from one great piece of rock to another, and landed on the small meadow not far from the bridge, from whence the opening into the crags over the Mouse is wonderfully grand; but as the view of a small part was only increasing my desire to see the whole, we ventured to follow our good guide through the extent of the craggy passage. The rocks on each side, though covered with wood, are too steep and broken, at the edge of the water, to bear a path to be made, or to be preserved if made, by reason of the violence of the water in hard rains; we were therefore obliged to step from stone to stone, in the middle of the water; and at the sides, to creep along, and round the points of rocks on the margin, where huge flat flakes are continually heaped one upon another, with beautiful trees sprouting naturally from every crevice. Towers of rocks boldly rise to the sky, with chasms and mouths of caves on each side gaping and pouring forth never-ceasing streams. The gay red-berry mountain ash, the alder, maple, thorn, and young oak, creeping up on every side, and brightening the dark recesses that at every ten yards present themselves. In the caves of Cartland Wallace frequently concealed himself from his enemies. There is a great variety of strata in the crags of Cartland; it was autumn when I saw them, and the plants, weeds, and trees, exhibited a rich variety of tints, hanging about the huge masses of ponderous spar, rising to prodigious heights; and as the sun shone on the flakes of them, they resembled the finest blocks of polished red and white marble, ornamented with the most beautiful tints which vegetation in its autumnal pride can bestow. Every turn of the scene (and it is nothing but windings) presents a new and different beauty from the former. I was extremely sorry to quit this charming and enchanting spot, where I knew not what to admire most, the water or its banks. We pursued its course till we were within sight of the bridge over the Mouse, near its junction with the Clyde; we then climbed up its banks, through the wood, and returned to Borronauld, where we again joined the rest of our good friends of Carstairs; who imagined, by our long absence, that one of us at least had been swallowed up by the Mouse, as we were skipping from rock to rock.
On another day from Carstairs, we visited Douglas Castle, which is in a very unfinished state. It stands low, near a sluggish small river; no view at all from it; but it is shaded by an abundance of fine old and very large trees, particularly ash; on some of which, in times of old, offenders were tucked up without the assistance of either judge or jury. These execution-trees were shewn us within a stone's throw of the castle. There is only the ruin of one round tower remaining of the old castle. It is said that one of the Dutchesses of Douglas set it on fire to get her Duke from it. Had he lived, another castle would have been completely raised on the same spot. The plan of the castle begun, if one may judge from what exists, was intended to be a square, only one side of which is built. Had the whole been finished, it must have been a prodigious pile, though, by the specimen of what is erected, it could never have been otherwise than heavy, inconvenient, dark, and gloomy. We went up to the top of the castle first; and I never ascended, at once, so many stairs in my life; at least a hundred and fifty. At such a height, there is from the leads rather an extensive view to the west, over the town of Douglas. The round towers at the corners of the building, carried from the bottom to the top, are the pleasantest rooms by far in the castle. There are few spacious apartments, and those gloomy; the passages, and anti-room to them, from the staircase, are totally dark. There is no furniture in the castle, except two beds, and a few pictures, &c. The exhibiter diverted me by her imperfect lesson of the subjects of the pictures. A large modern piece caught our eyes; and we asked, without examining, "What is this?"—"Lord Douglas's picture, with his nurse!" What should this prove, but an emblem of his Lordship's great cause; his head, and Justice at full length trampling upon Discord, &c.—The figure of Justice, the good woman had transformed into that of his Lordship's nurse.
I left Carstairs House on the 10th of October, 1796, with a very heavy heart. So hospitably, and so kindly had I been treated by the whole of that amiable family, that it was with the utmost regret I quitted them.
It was a bad day; snow covered the top of Tinto Hill; and the rain thickened and continued, with some few intervals of fair, till I arrived at Moffat, in the dusk of the evening. Moffat lies at the head of Annandale; which, though wild, possesses many beauties. The Spa, similar, to the German Spa, is within a mile of the town. It is tolerably frequented, and is on the side of a hill, with a torrent rushing near it; at the head of which is the cataract called the Grey Mare's Tail. There are vast ranges of high mountains around the head of Annandale, from which rise fine rivers, running in every direction; such as the Clyde, the Tweed, the Yarrow, the Ettrick, the Esk, and the Annan.
During the night which I passed at Moffat it had poured with rain, so that in the morning every torrent was roaring as I pursued my journey, and the rivers had swollen beyond their bounds. At about two miles south of the town of Moffat, I crossed a branch of the Annan by Duncrief House, finely shaded by wood, and the water dashing furiously close to it. Cornal Tower is on the other side of the water, and is also surrounded by thick wood, at the base of vast mountains. The drive through Annandale is very pleasant, as the river is a very fine one; and is for the most part ornamented by wood and some rocks on its banks, with a great diversity of mountains bounding the vale; but in twelve miles after I left Moffat, I quitted the beautiful Annan river for the dreary road to Lockerby, Ecclefechan Gretna, and Longtown.
THE END.