Read Online John Brown by Raymond Lamont-Brown - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Raymond Lamont-Brown
Ads: Link
sic ]. An immense assemblage of the inhabitants and summer residents and neighbouring gentry were dressed in full Highland costume. They attracted the attention of the Queen, and Prince Albert beckoned one of the clansmen to the side of the carriage, and questioned him as to the ‘sept’ he belonged to: several gentlemen had, also, the honour of paying their respects to the Prince.
As soon as the horses were changed, the Royal carriages set off at a rapid pace, crossing the bridge, and taking the south side of the river, and notwithstanding the uneven nature of the ground the journey of nine or ten miles was performed in little more than an hour, bringing Her Majesty to Balmoral about a quarter to three o’clock. At Crathie, about a mile and a half this side of Balmoral, the last public demonstration took place. There was an arch, and in large letters the phrase ‘Welcome to your Highland home, Victoria and Albert.’ 32
John Brown was by this time reckoned a competent and diligent, if ascerbic, member of the Balmoral gillies and he played a role in the preparations for the royal family’s exploration of their Scottish home. Eight days after their arrival at Balmoral members of the royal party assembled to make their first ascent of Lochnagar, the 3,768ft twin-peaked mountain some 9 miles south-west of Ballater. A tourist guide of the time described it as ‘cut by frightful corries; it has on its shoulder a gloomy tarn, overhung by tremendous precipices’. From the north summit, Cac Carn Beag , there are spectacular views over the tarn also called Lochnagar (‘Loch of the Goats’). Before setting out, Queen Victoria read what Lord Byron had said about the mountain:
Away ye gay landscapes, ye gardens of roses,
In you let the minions of luxury rove!
Restore me the rock where the snowflake reposes,
If still they are sacred to freedom and love.
Stern Caledonia, beloved are thy mountains,
Round their wild summits though elements war,
Though cataracts foam ’stead of smooth flowing fountains,
I sigh for the valley of dark Lochnagar!
Oh there my young footsteps in infancy wandered,
My cap was the bonnet, my cloak was the plaid;
On chieftains long perished my memory pondered
As daily I strode through the pine-covered glade.
I sought not my home till the day’s dying glory
Gave place to the rays of the bright polar-star;
And fancy was cheered by traditional story
Disclosed by the natives of dark Lochnagar.
Years have rolled on, Lochnagar, since I left you,
Years must elapse, ere I tread thee again:
Nature of verdure and flowers has bereft you,
Yet still are you dearer than Albion’s plain.
England, thy beauties are tame and domestic
To one who has roamed o’er the mountains afar!
O for the crags that are wild and majestic,
The steep, frowning glories of dark Lochnagar! 33
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert set off for their jaunt in a postchaise. They drove to the bridge in the deer forest of Ballochbuie some 4 miles south-west of Balmoral. Here had gathered the gillies with the ponies which were to take them up the mountain. The guide for the day was Mr Bowman, a keeper sent by laird Farquharson of Invercauld, and he waited with Prince Albert’s appointed gillie Macdonald and Mr Grant, Head Keeper at Balmoral, to supervise the lunch baskets with Batterbury the groom.
Prince Albert went ahead to stalk deer; he was unsuccessful but he shot two ptarmigan before rejoining the main party to ride and climb higher. Four hours after they set out they reached the top of Lochnagar, where they had lunch. The vista, hemmed in by drifting mist, was, said Queen Victoria, ‘cold, wet and cheerless’. They began their descent in wind and rain. About a thousand feet from the top the sunshine broke through to reveal splendid views over Invercauld. Back at the carriage which had waited with the grooms below, the royal party were met by the Queen’s Physician, Sir James Clark, and Prime Minister John Russell,
As soon as the horses were changed, the Royal carriages set off at a rapid pace, crossing the bridge, and taking the south side of the river, and notwithstanding the uneven nature of the ground the journey of nine or ten miles was performed in little more than an hour, bringing Her Majesty to Balmoral about a quarter to three o’clock. At Crathie, about a mile and a half this side of Balmoral, the last public demonstration took place. There was an arch, and in large letters the phrase ‘Welcome to your Highland home, Victoria and Albert.’ 32
John Brown was by this time reckoned a competent and diligent, if ascerbic, member of the Balmoral gillies and he played a role in the preparations for the royal family’s exploration of their Scottish home. Eight days after their arrival at Balmoral members of the royal party assembled to make their first ascent of Lochnagar, the 3,768ft twin-peaked mountain some 9 miles south-west of Ballater. A tourist guide of the time described it as ‘cut by frightful corries; it has on its shoulder a gloomy tarn, overhung by tremendous precipices’. From the north summit, Cac Carn Beag , there are spectacular views over the tarn also called Lochnagar (‘Loch of the Goats’). Before setting out, Queen Victoria read what Lord Byron had said about the mountain:
Away ye gay landscapes, ye gardens of roses,
In you let the minions of luxury rove!
Restore me the rock where the snowflake reposes,
If still they are sacred to freedom and love.
Stern Caledonia, beloved are thy mountains,
Round their wild summits though elements war,
Though cataracts foam ’stead of smooth flowing fountains,
I sigh for the valley of dark Lochnagar!
Oh there my young footsteps in infancy wandered,
My cap was the bonnet, my cloak was the plaid;
On chieftains long perished my memory pondered
As daily I strode through the pine-covered glade.
I sought not my home till the day’s dying glory
Gave place to the rays of the bright polar-star;
And fancy was cheered by traditional story
Disclosed by the natives of dark Lochnagar.
Years have rolled on, Lochnagar, since I left you,
Years must elapse, ere I tread thee again:
Nature of verdure and flowers has bereft you,
Yet still are you dearer than Albion’s plain.
England, thy beauties are tame and domestic
To one who has roamed o’er the mountains afar!
O for the crags that are wild and majestic,
The steep, frowning glories of dark Lochnagar! 33
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert set off for their jaunt in a postchaise. They drove to the bridge in the deer forest of Ballochbuie some 4 miles south-west of Balmoral. Here had gathered the gillies with the ponies which were to take them up the mountain. The guide for the day was Mr Bowman, a keeper sent by laird Farquharson of Invercauld, and he waited with Prince Albert’s appointed gillie Macdonald and Mr Grant, Head Keeper at Balmoral, to supervise the lunch baskets with Batterbury the groom.
Prince Albert went ahead to stalk deer; he was unsuccessful but he shot two ptarmigan before rejoining the main party to ride and climb higher. Four hours after they set out they reached the top of Lochnagar, where they had lunch. The vista, hemmed in by drifting mist, was, said Queen Victoria, ‘cold, wet and cheerless’. They began their descent in wind and rain. About a thousand feet from the top the sunshine broke through to reveal splendid views over Invercauld. Back at the carriage which had waited with the grooms below, the royal party were met by the Queen’s Physician, Sir James Clark, and Prime Minister John Russell,
Similar Books
