Page:A Companion and Useful Guide to the Beauties of Scotland.djvu/160

142 care, and lodged in the castle of gloom;"—alluding to the town of Dollar, where she was born; and the burn of Care, with the water of which she was baptized; and the hill of Gloom, that hangs over the approach to the Castle. Indeed it may well be called the Castle of Gloom to this day.

The drive from Dollar to Stirling is very pleasant, and the road tolerably good. The hills are chiefly verdant to the summits; and skirted with wood; birch, oak, and all sorts of natural growing forest trees; and there are large fine plantations besides, at Alva, and many other charming places nearer Stirling. Within four or five miles of Stirling, I perceived, on the side of a steep craggy mountain, a herd of moving creatures; and when I came near enough to see them distinctly, I discovered they were human beings, gathering in corn: they appeared like a flock of sheep hanging on the crag's side. It is wonderful that corn should grow there, and still more wonderful how a plough should ever get at such steep and broken precipices. I dare say, there were not fewer than sixty people, as busy as bees. It was a fine day, at the latter end of September.

The view of Stirling, enter it which way you will, is fine; but those coming from Dollar, from