Ossian Collection > Journal of a tour in Scotland in

INTRODUCTION xlv
phrase, a "Lake Poet," and we expect some
signs of enthusiasm for " Nature " as he drives
through the grandest and wildest scenery of
the Highlands. There is little. He approves
of a landscape or disapproves, but always in
measured terms ; there is no touch of explicit
" poetry " in the Journal from end to end.
His boldest phrase is the declaration, as he
watches a sunset on Loch Linnhe, that it
almost persuades him to believe in Ossian !
But Ossian was " faked " and Nature was not
audible to him when she spoke in those weird
primeval tones. He shrank from the " savage"
and "terrible" grandeur of Glencoe, preferred
cultivated fields to barren heath, and when a
waterfall or a precipice was in question, com-
plained if the owner had not made a path to
a safe point of view, or complimented him if
he had. For the rest, although he puts Loch
Katrine and Ben Venue above every other
scene known to him in the world, he is quite
decided in his preference of the Lake country,
for mountain scenery, to Scotland, and he
takes his friends by a detour, on their return
to Keswick, in order that they may approach
it with the magnificent background of Borrow-
dale in full view. But if we ask, in parting
with Southey and his Journal, where his