Scotland/Scots > Black's picturesque tourist of Scotland

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ARGYLESHIRE, ETC.
romantic connection with those warlike clans who held here
unbounded sway for many centuries, their
" chiefless castles breathing stern farewells
From grey but leafy walls, where Ruin greenly dwells.
“And there they stand, as stands a lofty mind,
Worn, but unstooping to the baser crowd.
All tenantless, save to the crannying wind,
Or holding dark communion with the cloud.
There was a day when they were young and proud.
Banners on high, and battles pass'd below;
But they who fought are in a bloody shroud,
And those which waved are shredless dust ere now,
And the bleak battlements shall bear no future blow.
“ Beneath these battlements, within those walls.
Power dwelt amidst her passions; in proud state
Each robber chief upheld his armed halls.
Doing his evil will, nor less elate
Than mightier heroes of an older date.”
The first of these Hebridean fortresses that we reach is
Duart Castle, the principal residence of the chief of the
Macleans, * and whose formidable walls have long bid defiance
to the stormy blasts of Morven. Every rock here has its
tradition of some sanguinary encounter between contending
septs, “ and many a mossy stone of their fame is raised high,
that the hunter may say, when he leans on the mossy tomb,
here Fingal and Swaran fought, the heroes of other years.”
Sailing westwards, we pass the mouth of Loch Aline, which
runs up into Morven. Here are situated the ruins of Ardtor-
nish Castle, whose
“ Turret’s airy head,
Slender and steep, and battled round,
O’erlook’d, dark Mull! thy mighty Sound,
Where thwarting tides, with mingled roar,
Part thy swarth hills from Morven’s shore.” t
The situation of this castle is wild and romantic, having
on the one hand a high and precipitous chain of rocks over-
* The Macleans were one of the most powerful clans on the west coast of Scot¬
land, and were distinguished for their prowess in battle. In the words of Ossian,
“ they sought battle on every coast. Their souls rejoiced in blood; their ears in the
din of arms. Their strength was like the eagles of heaven ; their renown is in the
song.”
t Ossian’s Poems, voL ii.; also see Memoirs of the Macleans.
t Lord of the Isles. Opening Canto.