Читать книгу Our Western Hills: How to reach them; And the Views from their Summits. By a Glasgow Pedestrian онлайн

20 страница из 29

Looking up the valley of the Douglas Water, which takes its rise at the foot of Cairntable, on the north-east side, we see the policies of Douglas Castle, the seat of the Earl of Home, and the “Castle Dangerous” of Sir Walter Scott; and we recall to our minds that we have in it a name intimately connected with the most splendid period of Scottish history. It is an open question still whether the family gave the name to the parish, or vice versa. The favourite tradition, however, is that about 767 Donald Bain the Fair took the field against the King. He was nearly victorious, when a person, with his sons and followers, flew to the help of the King and routed Donald, who was himself slain. The King thus rescued inquired to whom he owed his deliverance, when one of the officers said, “Sholto Douglasse” (there is the dark man). The King, in gratitude, gave him a tract of land and the surname Douglas, which was given to the domain and the river also. This appears to have some confirmation from the fact that Sholto is still a kind of hereditary prænomen among various branches of the Douglas family.