Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1835-12-10


,hniy or forty thousand men had here
been killed. The grass grows, but not
lnxuriously. All ls as if il had never
been thus frightiuIly disturbed. The
hum ofindustry is heard hereabout. The
Scottish lassie treads heavily over the
ground seldom thinking "f "the glory
bed" OF her fathers. J he village Of Ban
nockburn, the traveller will hurry out Of
rs soon as he can. st. Niorians near by
is also d dirty place. The fancy, now
all disappointed, such IA reality, seeks
something to keep its spirit up,-and it
has something in the tower Of Sterling
Castle-the huge rock starting as il il
were from the vale and commanding q
view for miles and miles.
Anon, we were upon the summit of the
rock on which the castle stands, within
the purlicus of the Palace Of the Scot
fish Kings. The Highland troops were
walking over the rocks to and fro,-and
in the ditch of the castle the officers were
playing ball. For miles and miles we
had prospect of the plains, and then
OF the Highlands yet quite distant from
us-and such prospect too, as II is sell
dom the good fortune Of the traveller TO
have, so clear was it, and 80 calm. We
took out the Lady Of the Lake, and
began to read the descriptions of the
scenery, and Scott was just as true to
fact here as have credited him with
being before in the Lay of the Last Min
strel. The Kings Park, where deer
were formerly kept and hunted, was
pointed on, ,-and sd was the mound Of
earth-the round table where the Courts
are said to have held their fetes champs-
tres. The place for the tits and tourDa-
ments is also shown, and not far from It.,
is n craegy mount called the Laddie's
Hill, where they observed and applauded
the combatants. On the other side Of
the castle is another hill or mound, where
the great criminals Of state were execu-
ted, and much has been the noble blood
shed there. All now is calm and so very
calm too, that it seems like solitude
The places for amusements are gone TO
ruin, and the grass is growing on the fa-
tai mound where the headsman once
struck his death-axe upon the necks Of
Douglas, Stewart, and a Graham.--
The Palace is made a barrack for the
Highland soldiers The Parliament Hall
is but store house. War has ceased
its sad havoc all around. Peace has
come with all lis blessings-and the beau
tiiul vale has rejoiced and fourished in
it, making this one Of the most captiva-
ting spots Of the kind-taken all in all.
that the traveller will be likely to find
upon the globe.
After some further views from tho
parapets of the castle, where one can
never be weary, so thickly crowd upon
his memory the things Of other days and
other men-of Wallace, Of Bruce-of
the Scottish Kings, the rebel army and
the great delencc-and contrasting the
quiet flow Of the river now, and the
soothing beauty of the far-spread district
of Montieth with what was after the by
gone scene,-I bade adieu to the castle
Of Sterling, and winding around its terri
bile cliff, was soon upon the road to the
IIighlands-wi,h 'the Lady Of the Lake"
for a gude--sowly ascending on the
shores of the River Teith, and ever and
anon looking back upon the high towers
that loomed proudly upward towards the
Heavens. fell into troop Of High
land waggoners, and held long talk
with them upon various matters,--and L
found them highly intelligent too for men
IN their vocation. | remarked that one
of them spoke English with great cor
rectness, without the accent Of the Low
land Scotch, and my surprise was increas-
ed the more when he told me hardly
knew an English word till he was Ia
years fage Then, he said, he studied
It at school from books-and thus ! ac-
counted Tor the correctness with which
he spoke, for the difference between him
and the mass of the British, is, that he
was taught by letters, and they are taught
by sounds-he was taught TO read, and
they were taught to talk and gabble--
and the same difference from the same
cause is manifest between the mass OF
the Americans and the mass Of the Eng
lsh, for we study our English by letters,
and they get theirs from others who talk
the dialects have spoken Beforehand
tue consequence is (pardon me, gen,le-
men Eng llshmen) that we as people,
speak your own tongue much better than
you do yourselves. The Highland
schools, my Scotchman told me, were
very good for so poor people. A TIA
ther there would sacrifice almost any
thing to educate his children. The price
Of instruction, he said, was little moro
than dollar per quarter, varying, how
ever, by the branches taught-and a
dollar is no small sum in Scotland-it
being much more important mstter
here than in England ~ America. L
love TO tell such Scotcbmen ~ these that
1 nm nm American. for Il opens thair