The Henson Journals

[136]

Friday, August 22nd, 1919.

A wet and blustering day with a falling glass fulfilled the bad promise of last night. We left Fairlie soon after 10 a.m., and motored to Sauchieburn a few miles south of Stirling, where we arrived at 4.45 p.m. We lunched with Miss Laurie near Killearn. With her was staying Miss Penelope Ker, a sister of W. P. Ker. She shewed & expounded the family portraits, & other features of interest in the house. Among these was a chair made out of the wood from the house (now demolished) in which George Buchanan, James VI's tutor, was born; and an autograph poem & letter of Robert Burns. I noticed that there were no corrections in either. The weather steadily improved, & could hardly have been more favourable to a motorist, for there was no wind, changing lights, & a complete absence of dust. Loch Lomond with its girdle of mountains looked its very best. The Castle of Stirling showed up magnificently in the afternoon sun, & seemed to proclaim its historic function as Warden of the Highlands. We passed the field of Bannockburn. After tea, we walked in the woods with our hostess, & on the way admired a distant prospect of the Forth Bridge, & Arthur's Seat. Historic Scotland is amazingly small in area.

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