Blair Collection > Celtic magazine > Volume 5

390 THE CELTIC MAGAZINE.
as a future " Edwards," dragging hidden secrets from Nature with the
passionate eagerness of a " Suker?" No ! there are wooers of Nature of
various kinds, and Nether Lochaber is a " Literary Naturalist," His the
great merit of placing before an extended constituency, in the most
pleasing forms, garnei'ed fruits from many gardens, and leaching them
to take an interest in the world around them ; to look beyond the coarse
working apron of Nature, and see tlie elegant texture of her garment, to
dig gems from the common speech of his fellows — dirt begrimed perhaps
— and set them in silver sentences before their astonished owners. How
many too, as they toil at the desk or the workshop, lift the Courier to
peep at his seascapes or his landscapes, and cool their eyes in imagination
on the snows of Ben Nevis, or the sparkling waters of Loch Leven or
Loch Linnhe ! How often does a touch of folk-lore in his pleasant column
prove a thread, leading back through the labour of years, to the days
when fairy tales were a faith, and the tales of wonder of the elders a sted-
fast creed ! In these days of heated imaginings and sensational tales, the
writer who shows what a ivliolesome sensational novel, a strip of sea-shore
or a scrape of moorland may be, not only benefits his readers directly, but
may be sowing the seeds of enthusiasm, and love of nature and know-
ledge — those mighty necromancers — broadcast over the land. As was to
be expected from a lover of nature, Nether-Lochaber is an admirable
horseman, which no one can properly be who loves and understands not
the animals that serve him. Equally does he pride himself on his man-
agement of that marine steed a sailing boat, which Ruskin looks upon as
a necessary part of a gentleman's education. How affectionately he be-
moaned the loss of his " incomparable craft," that had carried him almost
daily for so many long years, have we not aU read in the Courier ? But
the loss of his beloved boat was near being the least of the losses of that
terrible 28th December, in which we were about having the last of
Nether-Lochaber himself, when the fury of the sea struck him down in
his effort to save his animals, exposed to the excessive rise of tlie tide,
and the well-loved loch that knew him not in its blind fury !
Mr Stewart is an enthusiastic admirer of the poetry and music of the
Highlands, upon which he has written largely, and to Avhich he has
devoted much attention. He contributions to fugitive literature have
been very extensive, as he commenced writing to the magazines and
reviews when a very young man. He has been a frequent and valued con-
tributor to our own columns, while the Gael and the Celtic Magazine
have also been under frequent obligations to his versatile pen. It is also
generally understood that, although the composition of editorial stalls are
not public property, Nether-Lochaber has been enrolled on that of Fraser's
Magazine, since it came under the skilful conduct of Principal Tulloch.
In 1776, Mr Stewart edited an annotated edition of Logan's Scottish
Gael, in 2 vols., a work which was very favourably received at the time.
This, so far as we understand, is the only permanent work which has
come from the hand of Nether-Lochaber ; for, although it has been whis-
pered some time that a selection from his letters in the Inverness Courier
were to be brought before the public, we see no signs of their appearance.
It is most unquestionably to these admirable letters, on which Mr Stewart
has apparently lavished his leisure moments, spared from his active life
as a parish minister, with a most extensive charge broken up by arms of