The Trossachs

The charm that lies in a mysterious name has been amply exemplified in that of the Trossachs, which is said to mean “bristled territory.” Something in the shaggy uncouthness of the word fits so well with the land of romance and mountain scenery that it has drawn tens of thousands to make the round between Glasgow and Edinburgh, by rail and coach and steamer, who, if the name had not been so mysteriously attractive, might never have bestirred themselves at all. Since the publication of Rob Roy and The Lady of the Lake the principal actors in these dramas have been just as real and important to the imaginative tourist as the familiar names of history. It is nothing to them that Rob Roy, of the clan of Macgregor, was merely a Highland thief: his character, invested by Scott with the charm of a magician’s pen, has made him as heroic as the great Wallace himself; while Ellen, the Lady of the Lake, wholly born of the poet’s imagination, has become only second to Mary Queen of Scots.

Scott has certainly done much for the land of his birth: not only has he enriched its literature for all time, and raised its literary standing in the eyes of nations, but he has done more for it commercially than almost any other writer has ever done for any country in bringing to it streams of visitors, especially from across the Atlantic. The gold flowing from the coffers of the Sassenach into the pouches of the Gael is a perennial blessing which could hardly have been secured in any other way. We are told that on the appearance of The Lady of the Lake, “the whole country rang with the praises of the poet; crowds set off to view the scenery of Loch Katrine, till then comparatively unknown; and as the book came out just before the season for excursions, every house and inn in that neighbourhood was crammed with a constant succession of visitors. From the date of the publication of The Lady of the Lake, the post-horse duty in Scotland rose in an extraordinary degree, and it continued to do so for a number of years, the author’s succeeding works keeping up the enthusiasm for our scenery which he had originally created.”

There are fairer spots in Scotland than the Trossachs, beautiful as they are; yet, notwithstanding this, their popularity remains unabated. The trip certainly has the advantage of being accessible; it can be “done” in a day from either Edinburgh or Glasgow, and this is a great recommendation to those who are going on to “do” Europe in record time. Then, again, anyone who has seen Edinburgh and the Trossachs is fairly safe in saying he has seen Scotland, whereas one of wider range, who had, say, gone up the Highland Railway to Inverness and returned via the Caledonian Canal, if unmindful of the Trossachs, would be taunted with his omission every time the subject was mentioned.