Donean Tourist Author:Alexander Laing Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: final wish when the approach of old age unbraces the sinews, and the world has no more charms for them: " And fallest thou, son of my fame 1 and shall I n... more »ever see thee, Oscar ? When others hear of their sons, I shall not hear of thee. The moss is on the stones of his tomb, and the mournful wind is there. The battle shall be fought without him; he shall not pursue the dark brown hinds. " O lay me, ye that see the light, near some rock of my hills; let the thick hazels be around, let the rustling oak be near. Green be the place of my rest; and let the sound of the distant torrent be heard." (z) As to the origin of the primitive inhabitants, I can advance nothing; many able pens have written on the subject, and what were the consequences ? nothing but criticism on criticism has ensued, that involves the mind in a labyrinthian maze, from whence there is no possibility of finding the real path. Buchanan and Monypennie have traced their origin up to the principal postdiluvian families, and what then ? They echoed the song of the monkish historians who wrote long prior to them, and when the nation was totally enveloped with an umbrian darkness and ignorance, and education was confined within the gloomy walls of the cloister, and whatsoever was there written, was held in as great estimation a$ the volumes of the divine law, so that many fabulous legends were detailed to the infant worW, and too many ambidexter tricks played off admirably, and a number of false miracles said to have been wrought, and all know that wonder is the effect of novelty upon ignorance. Thus let us look back but to the beginning of the twelfth century, and there we will find every annal of history immured within their convents, as every science whatever were only known and used there, and were prohi...« less