• According to the anticipation, Queen VICTORIA'S tour in the
Highlands was not only unattended by the petty disagreeables of her contact with Edinburgh, but the picturesque and novel scenes were displayed to the best advantage, in the magnificent hospitality of the chiefs and the hearty unaffected welcome of the lowlier in- habitants; whose surviving spirit of clanship almost enables them to share in the offer of the hospitality administered by their wealthier kinsfolk. The Royal tourist could not escape from a greater publicity than was perhaps at first desired ; but the approach of the Highlanders was free from the obtrusive importunity of the Edinburgh citizens : they made no stipulations to incommode the Queen and lady for their own gratification and to make a show ; and when the lateness and bad weather obliged the Queen to enter Drummond Castle more shut up in her carriage than was ex- pected, it is remarked that there was much regret but no blame.
The Queen and her consort will remember the Highland part of their trip with most satisfaction,—no disparagement to the flowing hospitality of Dalkeith. The vulgar importunity of the Edinburgh -Corporation—fussy, selfish, baffled, and ending in utter mortifica- tion—if thought of at all, will be remembered with a smile more of amusement than pleasure. From the troublesome publicity which awaited every stage of the tour, those who are intrusted with the task of arranging for their Sovereign a temporary release from the tiresome observances of state will learn, that public travelling- preparations on a state-scale, public announcements of the removal of plate-services and court-equipages, naturally betray the public into the belief that they have some concern in the affair.
Any little annoyance, however, felt at the impossibility of seek- alon, will be relieved by the reflection that the passing of the fair Sovereign through the wilds of the North will people the hills with new ideas, and give their denizens matter for thought and pleasant talk for generations. If the Queen has forgone a little of her own passing enjoyment, much has been bestowed, for a lasting gift, on thousands : "the thing of beauty is joy for ever."
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