Zigzag Journeys in Europe Part 12

The Scotchman quoted a line or two of the poem, changing from the English to the Scottish accent. The boys were charmed with the words, and sat down on the gra.s.s to listen to

HIGHLAND MARY.

Ye banks and braes and streams around The castle o' Montgomery, Green be your woods, and fair your flowers, Your waters never drumlie!

There simmer first unfauld her robes, And there the langest tarry; For there I took the last fareweel O' my sweet Highland Mary.

How sweetly bloomed the gay green birk, How rich the hawthorn's blossom, As underneath their fragrant shade I clasped her to my bosom!

The golden hours, on angel wings, Flew o'er me and my dearie; For dear to me as light and life Was my sweet Highland Mary.

Wi' monie a vow, and locked embrace, Our parting was fu' tender; And, pledging aft to meet again, We tore oursels asunder: But, oh! fell death's untimely frost That nipt my flower sae early!

Now green 's the sod, and cauld 's the clay, That wraps my Highland Mary!

Oh, pale, pale now, those rosy lips, I aft hae kissed sae fondly!

And closed for aye the sparkling glance That dwelt on me sae kindly!

And mould'ring now in silent dust That heart that lo'ed me dearly!

But still within my bosom's core Shall live my Highland Mary.

The "banks and braes and streams around" gleamed like a vision of enchantment in the full noon sunlight. Never had the boys listened to a song amid such highly romantic a.s.sociations.

Bidding the entertaining Scotchman farewell, the party returned to Ayr, and thence to Glasgow, where it arrived in the lingering sunlight of the long afternoon.

The next morning it left by rail for Edinburgh, that city of high houses and terraced hills; of grandly picturesque beauty; of the times of Bruce, and the bright and dark days of the Stuarts; where one is surrounded by the relics of a thousand years, and stands under the protecting shadow of a castle that seems lifted into the regions of air.

The party took rooms on Prince's Street, a thoroughfare one hundred feet wide and a mile in length, graced with n.o.ble monuments of art and bowery pleasure-grounds. It is considered one of the most picturesque streets in the world.

Around you are shops with splendid windows, statues, public gardens, birds, and flowers; above you are houses six or eight stories high; above these, on the rocky hillsides, are queer old buildings of other times; and high over all is the Castle, cold and grand on its rocky throne.

"I shall rest to-morrow, boys," said Master Lewis, "and shall let you roam at will. Let us spend the evening in one of the public gardens."

After supper, the party went to one of these fragrant street-gardens.

The band of the d.u.c.h.ess of Sutherland's Own, as a certain Highland regiment is called, filled the quiet air with delicious music.

The sun withdrew his light from the street, the gardens, and the tall houses on the hills, but the Castle stood long in the mellowed glory of the sunset.

But the sun left even the Castle at last, and then began a spectacle that seemed like an illusion or fairy-land.

[Ill.u.s.tration: EDINBURGH CASTLE.]

Lights began to twinkle in the streets; then in the tall windows above them. Now and then a whole face of an antique pile was illuminated; now some little eyrie that seemed hanging in air burst into flame; now a line of terraces began to twinkle. The lights crept up the hillsides everywhere.

"I never saw any thing so beautiful!" said Ernest Wynn.

Every one talks of the Castle in Edinburgh, and the boys paid their first visit to it, and saw it in its morning glory. On the highest platform of the Castle, three hundred and eighty-three feet above the sea, stands the celebrated old cannon Mons Meg, made in Mons, in Brittany, in 1486. It had figured in so many wars and historic scenes, that the Scottish people came to regard it as a national relic. The site of the Castle is about seven hundred feet in circ.u.mference, and on three sides it seems just a bare rock, rising almost perpendicularly in air.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HOLYROOD PALACE.]

The boys next visited Arthur's Seat, a high rock on the top of a hill, in which there is a fancied resemblance to a chair. Queen Victoria climbed up to it on a recent visit. It commands a sweeping view of the sea, and the hills that encircle the city.

They next went to the old Palace of Holyrood, and were shown the apartments of the unfortunate Queen of Scots.

"There," said the tall Scotchman who attended them about the place, "is the room where Rizzio was murdered, in the presence of Mary."

They were told that a certain stain in the floor was the blood of the hapless man.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARY STUART.]

"We must ask Master Lewis to tell us the whole story," said Wyllys.

They next visited St. Giles, the scene of the preaching of Knox, the Martyrs' Monument, and Knox's grave.

"We must have an evening meeting of the Club in Edinburgh," said Wyllys Wynn, when the party with Master Lewis were at tea.

"To-night?" asked Frank.

"I would wait until after we have been to Abbotsford," said Master Lewis. "Then I would have a meeting in the parlor, and let each one tell some story a.s.sociated with the most interesting object he has seen."

[Ill.u.s.tration: MURDER OF RIZZIO.]

The next day Master Lewis and the tourists, except George and Leander, who preferred remaining in the city, took the train for Melrose, stopped at Melrose Station, and rode to Abbotsford, the reputed haunt of Thomas the Rhymer, and the residence of Walter Scott.

They were met at the entrance of the gray mansion by a tall Scotchman, and were taken from the magnificent entrance hall, about forty feet in length, to the dining-room, which has a wonderful black-oak roof, and is the place where Sir Walter died. Gazing from the window on the beautiful landscape for the last time, he said to Lockhart, "Bring me a book." "What book?" "There is but one book."

They were next shown the library, a repository of some twenty thousand books and of presents from most eminent persons, among them a silver urn from Lord Byron and two arm-chairs from the Pope.

Our tourists next visited the ruin of Melrose Abbey, and found it less interesting than its historic a.s.sociations. Late evening found them again in Edinburgh.

"What time of the evening do you think it is?" asked Master Lewis of the boys as they entered the hotel.

"Seven o'clock," said Tommy Toby.

"After nine o'clock," said Master Lewis.

The Castle still stood in the damask light of the twilight, like a dark picture on an illuminated curtain.

"The summer days in these Northern regions are as long as they are beautiful," said Master Lewis.

CHAPTER VI.

STORY TELLING IN EDINBURGH.

Story of Queen Mary and Rizzio.--Story of the Black Douglas.--Story of a Glasgow Factory Boy.--The Castle by Moonlight.

The following day was to be the last the party were to spend in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. In the evening the Cla.s.s met as by appointment, and, at the suggestion of Wyllys Wynn, Master Lewis was asked to conduct the exercises of the section of the Club.