1847 LETTER BY PRINCE. 421 Castle at St. Mary's. Lord Adolphus was very glad we saw the islands, and gave vent to his feelings in the remark, "That is a very good thing over; I should think you will never care to see them again." 'On the 14th we started at 4 A.M., and made land first in Milford Haven. I inspected the Pembroke Dockyard, and drove as far as Pembroke to see the fine old Castle. On the 15th we left South Wales, and about noon arrived opposite the Isle of Anglesea in sight of Snowdon, and the glorious Welsh mountains. Here we left the "Victoria and Albert" to make the unpleasant run to Holyhead, whilst we ourselves made our way through the Menai Straits in the "Fairy," attended by the "Garland," with Smithett on the left, and old Hamilton on the right paddle-box. We passed Caernarvon Castle and Plâs Newydd. I went on shore and examined the famous chain bridge. We anchored before Beaumaris. I landed in Bangor, and made in a comical equipage an expedition to Penrhyn Castle, a magnificent place. We regained the yacht in the Cross Roads, where we passed the night. On the 16th we saw land first in the Isle of Man, where we ran into the Bays of Douglas and Ramsay; our anchorage for the night was Loch Ryan in Wigtonshire, a large bay open to the north-west. The 17th brought us into the wonderfully beautiful region of the Western Islands of Scotland. We halted half an hour before the majestic Ailsa Craig (which rises 1,000 feet out of the sea), and tried to get a shot at the millions of Solan geese which inhabit it, and which we scared from their haunts by several cannon-shot. They enveloped us like a cloud, but at a distance out of range of shot, calculated with almost mathematical precision. 'The grand outline of the island of Arran, of which Ch. A. Murray had often told us, soon compensated us for the failure of our sportsmanship. We sailed through Lamlash Bay, inside of Holy Island, and then through Brodick Bay, where Lord and Lady Douglas's romantic castle lies. Our course then took us towards the island of Bute, and past the little islands of Great Cumbray and Little Cumbray, where the clergyman prays, "Lord Almighty protect the inhabitants. of Great Cumbray and Little Cumbray, and of the neighbouring Isles of Great Britain and Ireland!" then up the Firth of Clyde to Greenock, where we again got on board the "Fairy," and sailed on, pursued, in the literal sense of the word, by upwards of 40 steamers, towards Dumbarton. There we landed, and climbed the ancient Castle, of which our picture in Osborne gives a most faithful representation. On our way back we passed Greenock, and up the quite uniquely beautiful Loch Long, and down again, and again steamed back to the main portion of our fleet in Rothsay Bay, isle of Bute. Here the people were as much rejoiced to see the Duke of Rothsay as the Welsh were to salute the Prince of Wales on their native ground. The good people of the Isle of Man put in their paper, that I led the Prince Regent by the hand! Usually one has a Regent for an infant; but in Man it seems to be precisely the reverse. 'On the 18th we steamed through the Kyles of Bute, and then up Loch Fyne to Inverary, where we enjoyed a Highland welcome and a good luncheon with the Argyles. What a superb situation! On the way back we ran into Loch Gilp, -all this in the "Fairy." The "Victoria and Albert" had in the meanwhile steamed round the Mull of Cantyre to Loch Crinan, where we rejoined her after passing through the Crinan Canal in a boat triumphantly decorated, drawn by handsomely dressed jockeys, and accompanied by the whole Highland population on foot. We halted for the night at Loch Crinan. On the 19th we proceeded through a maze of islands, of which the prettiest are Luing, Kerrera, and Lismore, to the 1847 LETTER BY PRINCE. 423 north, passing Oban, a charming spot, thence across to the Island of Mull, through the Sound of Mull into the open sea, the islands of Rum, Muck, Coll, and Tiree visible in the distance. We made straight for Staffa, and were able, thanks to the splendid weather, which was uninterruptedly kind to us after we left the Scillys, to run into Fingal's Cave, in the Royal barge, with the Royal standard flying. On me the cave produced a most romantic impression, on the ladies a very "eerie" and uncomfortable one. With a view to tracing the basaltic formation more closely, I scrambled on foot for some time up and down the island. We were, however, forced to make haste, having still to visit Iona, and afterwards to return to the Sound of Mull, as the clouds were already beginning to blow up from the south-west. In Iona I visited the ruins of the remarkable early Christian Churches. On the 20th we left Tobermory in the Sound of Mull, and sailed up the Linnhe Loch to our final anchorage at Fort William. The time admitted of my making an expedition with Charles to Loch Leven, and thence, half on foot, half by carriage, we ascended the Pass of Glencoe, famous and infamous for the Massacre of the Macdonalds. Yesterday, the 21st, we landed and came to this remote and desolate, but wildly beautiful Loch Laggan, under a persistent Scotch mist. 'Here I close my chronicle, but let me not conclude my letter without the expression of my heartfelt wish for the improvement of your health. 'Ardverikie, Loch Laggan, 22nd August, 1847. 424 CHAPTER XX. 6 THE 'persistent Scotch mist' which enveloped the country round Loch Laggan on the arrival of the Royal guests, was only exchanged during the greater part of their stay at Ardverikie for the more transparent, though scarcely less disagreeable veil of steady rain. The view from the windows,' says the Queen the next day (Leaves from a Journal), ' as I now write, though obscured by rain, is very beautiful and extremely wild.' A few days later the tone of the same record becomes almost despairing. There is little to say of our stay at Ardverikie; the country is very fine, but the weather most dreadful.' But the worst weather in a mountainous country has its gleams of grandeur or beauty; and sullen skies and stormy showers can never wholly mar the charm of a Highland retreat so finely placed, or of the free and simple life which is possible within it. The storm might howl without, but there were happy hearts and busy brains within to make the hours pass swiftly, and not without some freight of pleasantness. The Prince's birthday (26th August) brought with it the accustomed tokens of regard in gifts from the many (far and near) that loved him, and it was celebrated with the honours of a Highland gathering. The next day he writes to the Duchess of Kent: 'I have to thank you for two dear letters, and for very beautiful presents which reached me yesterday by Victoria's hand, and delighted me greatly. The glass vases are indeed 1847 STAY AT ARDVERIKIE. 425 extremely fine, and so also are the Statuettes of the Consoling and Avenging Angels. "Victoria has written to you with full particulars of our journey, and Charles has also described portions of it, so you will not expect me to do more than express in general terms that we have truly had immense enjoyment of nature, and that the trouble is well repaid of visiting the west coast of Scotland. I must also confess that the reporter was right when he said, "The Prince looked pleased with everything, and everybody, and with himself too." Is not that a happy state? 'Ardverikie,' which you will probably not trust yourself to pronounce, is very lovely and wild, and is a thorough Highland retreat. The reporters call it an "un-come-at-able place," because they are quartered on the other side of Loch Laggan, which is only to be crossed on a flying bridge, that belongs exclusively to ourselves. 'The children are well and happy. Yesterday, my twentyeighth birthday, we had a Highland gathering, at which there were all sorts of ancient games of a warlike kind. Now I conclude, in peaceful wise, calling myself 'Ardverikie, 27th August, 1847.' "Your devoted Son, 'ALBERT.' It will be seen by the following letters, written a few days later to Baron Stockmar, that in migrating to the Highlands the Prince had only changed the scene of those unremitting political studies which were now absorbing his attention, and in which his aspirations for a United Germany played not the least prominent part:— 'Dear Stockmar,-You can have only two words to-day The Sturting Lodge of Ardverikie was destroyed by fire 17th October, 1873. At the time of the Queen's visit it belonged to Lord Henry Bentinck, and was rented by Lord Abercorn. |