SCOTTISH RHAPSODY

Edinburgh the capital of Scotland by a regal right and by beauty also is for the long people there big tough old Ricky they call it affectionately and many of them don't realize that their city is famous throughout the world as a juror among European capitals Edinburgh was my non-romantic towns a sir walter scott and it is so steeped in history and legend that romantic is the only word to describe it the modern 2 applies equally as well a sites here will surely want to see Mons make a powerful cannon overlooking the third fourth that was forged from Ireland before Christopher Columbus began his famous traveled a guide would point out to him the Royal Mile better known to the Scotch as a mile of memories for 700 years of their country's history as marched overnight way and he make note of Sir Giles Cathedral the high Kirk of Edinburgh where John Knox once preached his fiery sermons one of the world's greatest bridges this one spanning the first the fourth though only railroad trains travel across it for sheer glamour the bridge is in a class with San Francisco's Golden Gate and New York's George Washington for good luck it is traditional to toss a penny in the water from the bridge to distinguish sons of scotland made famous this bore the section of the country they both loved so well their names Robert Burns sir walter scott two great popular figures who enriched the lands where they lived and toiled with characters as immortal as themselves Robert Burns was born in air here in a humble fetch wolf cottage that has become more famous than any other building in Scotland including her castles tourists to air include in area itinerary a pilgrimage to Brigadoon the bridge that figures in bones greatest poem tam o Shanter to burns his beautiful countryside was something to sing about but to farmers it economically important to with his rich green lands and it's hairs of a shark at all in the heart of the Scottish lowlands the town of Dumfries is known as the queen of the south and to the Scottish people it is sacred for here their beloved rabby burns died at the age of 37 in this house the ploughman died in 1796 his poverty-stricken youth no doubt shortened burns life but it also molded the genius of Scotland's Romantic poet of nature here he lies Barry but in the hearts of his countrymen burns lives on Sir Walter Scott's country lies to the east along the border of all the views in Europe he loved this one best three hilly peaks and the river tweed at his feet the river tweed incidentally is known as an anglers paradise fishermen were casting for trout here long before Scott was born and they're still hard at it today it looks peaceful and purposeful today this quietly beautiful borderland but British historians can tell a different story of raids and gunfire and bitter fighting in the turbulent years of Scotland's fight for freedom little by little as money trickled in from the sale of his books Scott built up his country home abbotsford on the banks of the tweet nearby are the ruins of driver Abbey where beneath an arch sir walter scott was laid to rest of all Scotland's Abby's Melrose is the most famous somewhere there among the ruins in a secret hiding place lies the brave heart of Scotland's warrior king robert the bruce for centuries the abbey bells rang out over the world Borderlands while the abbot's preached the gospel of love in a land of strength st. Andrews in central scotland is a golfer's parody here the committee of the Royal and Ancient grooves the golfing world with a club of I'll any golfer who has ever lost the ball and who hasn't would surely be tempted to kidnap one of st. Andrews retrievers which actually searched lost balls by scent and bring them back to their master now that's pure luxury to any golfer a ditty celebrating the Santana's golfers proclaims that rich and poor alike are smitten with the fever their business and religion is to play and the man is scarcely deemed the true believer unless he does at least around the day you st. Andrews is also famous for its University where the students where gays scarlet guns somehow the scholars manage to concentrate on their studies even really choose to work amid the romantic ruins of a castle John Knox was once captured here by the French and sent to see as a galley slave from st. Andrews it's an easy run up into the land the famous castles as you travel along you will often spy on the great walls above you the coats of arms of many a noble family looks like a picture straight through a book of fairy tales but it's real alright glams castle the girl hood home of Britain's Queen Elizabeth there is more magic and mystery in the heart of Scotland than anywhere else on earth picturesque lochleven was once the stormy center of some of the most tragic pages in Scotland's history for here on an island Mary Queen of Scots was once in prison where the main road to the highlands trusses the fourth you'll find stirling castle commanding a view of the valley from its rocky eminence for the northbound traveler the wide-spreading county of pasture marks the beginning of the Highlands for the erudite the trossachs mountains have many a famous literary Association and for the weary tourists the trossachs hotel is a special treat you know you are truly in the highlands when you run into a scotch mist or when you come across the black-faced highland sheep did by the industrious shepherds with their ducks these are the bonnie bonnie banks of loch lomond this territory was long ago the home grounds of the fierce MacGregor clan was most famous member was that Robin Hood of Scotland Rob Roy the waters of the law are icy cold legend has it that when one of Rob Roy's prisoners refused to talk he would dangle the prisoner in these waters a chilly and effective sort of third-degree poets novelists and songwriters of woven a romantic web around these locks and mountains and the peoples who inhabit all the charm and fascination of the fabled highlands is reflected in the face of a we sketch lessee attending a traditional highland gathering the Scottish national dress evolved naturally as a costume suited to the needs of a mountain people both costumes and dances have become colorful symbols of the intense racial pride and brotherhood that the clan system bred in the Scottish people the real atella is only one of many thrilling and romantic island folk dances all of them of course performed to the looting music of the bagpipes out at sea beyond the span of that bridge of the 500 or so islands of the Hebrides which of the tops of submerged mountain ranges and there once came a day when a French frigate dropped anchor among these islands and landed Bonnie Prince Charlie on the Isle of a risky the year of that Landon you ask no you're sure you wouldn't be known that for yourself why it was the year 1745 of course the glorious 45 Charles Edward Stuart had come to Scotland to oust George the second from the throne of Scotland and this is where he hoped his ship would come home at glenfinnan on the banks of lost shield where there was to be a great gathering of the clansmen furtively he came in a rowing boat to spend the night in the Shepherd's cottage anxiously awaiting the clansmen to join him on the model here stands today a column a top which Bonnie Prince Charlie looks to the north for the coming of his Highlanders in 1746 an historic battle at Culloden decided the fate of Prince Charles final defeat another dream at an end the gravestones of Prince Charles faithful Klansmen can still be found in the heathered cover fuels outside color very near this spot is Macbeth's castle famous in Shakespeare's tragedy in such a setting Duncan King of Scotland was murdered listen was that a scream of Terror Luke was that a white face at the window the castle is bleak and hearing anything might have happened there and perhaps could still happen to the Scotsman his country is the most romantic on earth lucky is the traveler discovers this land of great and moving beauty Scotland