Perthshire in bygone days

SIE WALTER SCOTT. 543
nesses. Mary of Tombea was sent, with others, to an
island on Loch Katrine, until the fight was over ; and the
poet leaves his readers to infer that Norman found his way
into the arms of his Mary, and in the end participated in
the royal immunity.
There is so much genuine feeling, so much tenderness in
these reiterations of the winning name, that the reader is
naturally led to enquire if it had no real inspiring first
cause. Every love-song of Burns' had a genuine heroine,
which rendered them real-hearted and fascinating. Love
will not be described by artifice. This master-passion of
the human mind must be felt before it is sung ; and as
Eobert Burns had a corresponding Mary to " Mary in
Heaven," it will be interesting to ascertain if Walter Scott
had a corresponding Mary to "Mary of Tombea."
In one of his early rambles into Perthshire, Scott met at
Pitkellony, William and Mary Ann Erskine, children of the
Eev. William Erskine, Episcopal minister of Muthill.
William went to the bar, and eventually became Lord
Kinnedder. Mary, after her father's death, lived with her
brother at Edinburgh, and the talented young advocate
became deeply attached to her ; but he temporized, and
Mr. Colquhoun, also an advocate, and Sheriff of Perthshire,
carried off the much-envied Mary. This lady subsequently
became well known as the confidential correspondent of
Carolina Oliphant, from whom she received the first draft
of " The Land o' the Leal," as a hymn of consolation on
the death of one of her children. It does not therefore,
appear any very hazardous journey to walk down Glenartney,
and identify Mary of Tombea with Mary of Pitkellony.
An early, but long deceased, friend of mine lived on
intimate terms with the Erskine family so long as they
remained at Muthill. He spoke with enthusiasm of Scott's
visits to them, and asserted that his marriage to Miss
Carpentier was facilitated by his losing Mary Ann Erskine.
But this must have been an error, for although Lockhart
admits his attachment to Mary Erskine, it is to the daughter
of some mysterious northern baronet that he attributes
Scott's early disappointment. Besides, Walter Scott's
courtship and marriage of Miss Carpentier were deliberate
and affectionate, and in its conduct prudent beyond cavil.
It was some years after the publication of " The Lady
of the Lake " ere the public interest concentrated round
the Trossachs. The area of exploration was broader ; but