Trials of James, Duncan, and Robert M'Gregor, three sons of the celebrated Rob Roy

VIII
aspect of the Highlands is that of sullen and
rugged grandeur, interrupted often by scenes
of the most romantic beauty, to which there
wants nothing but a mHder climate to give
all the charms of the most fascinating and
poetic landscape. Here there is nothing
tame or stagnant ; the mountains tower
above each other in frowning majesty, and
the torrents rush with impetuosity along ;
and at every turn, the eye is arreted by
some material emblem of resistless ibr.ce and
sublimity. Even the sterility wlw'ch is stamp-
ed on the more prominent parts of the
scene, and which to the ti'Pid and luxurious
traveller appears its piling and repulsive
characteristic, is not without its influence in.
heightening the general effect — in stirring
our sympathy for the hapless beings to whose
enterprise and toil it seems for ever to deny
their appropriate reward, — and who, disdainful
of the temptations which luxury presents, and
the dependance which it inevitably creates,
cling with ardour to the untamed freedom
and high and daring spirit which are writ-
ten on the frowning aspect of their native
land.
In many parts of the Highlands the moun-
tains are so bleak and utterly barren, that
they derive their names from the colour of