ss to 'keep
the gate' for Mr. ---, who lived at --- just below,--that is, to receive
messages, take in letters, etc. Her cottage stood by the side of the
road leading to his house, within the gate, having, as we saw in the
morning, a dressed-up porter's lodge outside; but within was nothing but
the naked walls, unplastered, and floors of mud, as in the common huts.
She said that they lived rent-free in return for their services; but
spoke of her place and Mr. --- with little respect, hinting that he was
very proud; and indeed her appearance, and subdued manners, and that soft
voice which had prepossessed us so much in her favour, seemed to belong
to an injured and oppressed being. We talked a great deal with her, and
gathered some interesting facts from her conversation, which I wish I had
written down while they were fresh in my memory. They had only one
child, yet seemed to be very poor, not discontented but languid, and
willing to suffer rather than rouse to any effort. Though it was plain
she despised and hated her master, and had no wish to conceal it, she
hardly appeared to think it worth while to speak ill of him. We were
obliged to sit up very late while our kind hostess was preparing our
beds. William lay upon the floor on some hay, without sheets; my bed was
of chaff; I had plenty of covering, and a pair of very nice strong clean
sheets,--she said with some pride that she had good linen. I believe the
sheets had been of her own spinning, perhaps when she was first married,
or before, and she probably will keep them to the end of her life of
poverty.

* * * * *

_Thursday_, _September_ 8_th_.--Before breakfast we walked to the Pass of
Killicrankie. A very fine scene; the river Garry forcing its way down a
deep chasm between rocks, at the foot of high rugged hills covered with
wood, to a great height. The Pass did not, however, impress us with awe,
or a sensation of difficulty or danger, according to our expectations;
but, the road being at a considerable height on the side of the hill, we
at first only looked into the dell or chasm. It is much grander seen
from below, near the river's bed. Everybody knows that this Pass is
famous in military history. When we were travelling in Scotland an
invasion was hourly looked for, and one could not but think with some
regret of the times when from the now depopulated Highlands forty or
fifty thousand men might have been poured