Series 6 > Travels in Scotland 1788-1881

Adam Bald: Journal of Travels and Commonplace Book, 1790—99
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their furrow’d cheeks with tears of mutual Joy and affection, and at the
concluding stanza of the song, no longer could the seeming smother’d wailings of
their heart be kept down, for with unfeigned ecstasy.
Bell his wife, dear as his life.
Crept to her sire right fondly
Rise oh gudeman, with thy auld wife
To thank them for their roundelay.
Our animal spirits being rous’d to such a pitch with mirth and happiness that
we had almost forgot where we were and whence we were going, until reminded
of our situation by the setting sun glancing in our cottage window, having an
unknown rode [he] to traverse, we bade the hospitable group adieu, and received
from our two polite angling sons of Strachur recommendatory letters to certain
publicans on the root. To show every requisite attention for our comfort and
amusement, leaving their clay built cottage with wicker bedsteads doors and
partitions, renew’d with frantick spirits our excursion amongst the wooded banks
of the Loch. The road being rather rough which with our indiscrete usage at the
board of Bacchus occasioned many awkward stumbles, and just as the setting sun
was gilding the surrounding mountains with his departing rays, enter'd a small
village or rather town as they are stated in that part of the world and observing a
number of men and women having potatoes we invited them to a small public
house where we expected to find another port to recruit our fading spirits but
after priming them with bumpers of their mountainous spirit, found them
incapable of amusement by their clownish and idiotical-like bashfulness, leaving
them in astonishment at the cause of our invitation, pursued our rout and arriv’d
about ten o’clock at our destined haven for that night, Mr Nelson’s Inn Strathur,
a two storrie slated house, which we did not expect to find amongst these regions
of hovels. Tea being the most ready beverage for supper in an highland inn, we
supped upon its refreshing extract and pass'd a few convivial moments over a
bowl of good rum punch more congenial to our lowland tastes than the heating
nature of their mountain dew. Sleep the balmy restorer of exhausted spirits
showing by its slumbering influence over our blinking eyelids, that it was time to
retire to bed, Hamilton being the eldest we gave him a choice of berth and
Duncan and I slept in a double bedded room, but early in the morning were
rous’d from our slumbers by a loud knocking at our door, on opening of which
were astonish’d as well as affrighted to see Hamilton in a paroxysm of rage, at the
sight of whom we recoil’d a few paces in a posture of defence not knowing the
cause of his convulsed aspect, but seeming to employ no other weapon than his
tongue, we sat down with amazement to listen to his invective levelled against his