orge, called _Abernethy
Glen_, stretches southward amongst the Ochils for more than a mile. On
leaving the open fertile country below, and getting into this pass,
the contrast is striking. In some places the footpath winds along the
face of a bank so steep, that, but for the circumstance of its being
composed of earth, it might have almost been termed a precipice; and
here, if the passenger should miss his footing, it would be nearly
impossible for him to stop himself till he reached the bottom, in
which a turbulent stream brawls and foams over rocks and stones,
disturbing the silence and the solitude of the place with sounds which
have a tendency to inspire feelings of superstitious fears. The scene,
from its nature and situation, appears to be well suited for those
transactions which, according to popular brief, "surpass Nature's
law;" and it has been regarded as the favourite haunt of _witches_,
_fairies_, _ghosts_, and other mysterious beings, from time
immemorial. Numbers of the inhabitants of the village below had been
scared, in their nocturnal rambles, by the orgies of these uncouth
neighbours; many a belated traveller had seen strange sights, and
heard stranger sounds, in this haunted dell; many a luckless lad, in
journeying through it, to see the mistress of his heart, had met such
adventures as to drive love nearly out of his head for whole weeks to
come; and even maids, upon whom the sun went down in the dangerous
pass, had seen things at the mention of which they shook their heads,
and seemed unable to speak. Nor were there awanting instances of
individuals who, in returning at the "witching time of night" from a
delightful interview, in the course of which the marriage-day was
settled, had been so terrified that they forgot every word of what had
been said; and, when the minister and the marriage-guests arrived,
behold they were found in the barn or in the field, or, what was
worse, they had gone upon a journey, and were not to be found at all.
Those of the villagers who had not seen and heard of these unearthly
doings for themselves, had been told of them by their mothers and
grandmothers; and thus one generation after another went forth into
the world completely armed against sceptics and unbelievers of all
sorts. If any one ventured to doubt the veracity of these statements,
or to call in question the cogency of the arguments by which they
supported them, they had only to appeal to the testimony of their