I say happily, sir,
because we are all properly well aware that this world is a vale of
tears, in which it is our duty to mortify ourselves and make
everybody else as uncomfortable as possible. If there were many
places like Drumnadrochit, persons would be in fearful danger of
forgetting that they ought to be miserable.
But who would have thought that a quiet and sedate-looking Quaker like
John Bright, the famous M.P. for Birmingham, could have been moved by
the spirit to write a verse of poetry--such an unusual thing for a
member of the Society of Friends! Here it is:
In the Highland glens 'tis far too oft observed,
That man is chased away and game preserved;
Glen Urquhart is to me a lovelier glen--
Here deer and grouse have not supplanted men.
But was the position reversed when Mr. Bright visited it? and did the
men supplant the deer and grouse then?
[Illustration: DRUMNADROCHIT.]
Glen Urquhart was one of the places we had to pass on the following day,
but as we had no designs on the deer and grouse, since our sporting
proclivities did not lie in that direction, we thought that we might be
safely trusted to leave the game undisturbed.
Pages:
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193