SCOTLAND.
The closing week of the Queen's residence at Blair Atholl presented DO very striking varieties from the two that preceded it. Mountain- rides, drives to Glen Tilt, and displays of deer in vast droves, were the common amusements of the Queen Prince Albert keeping up his cieerstalking and other sports. On the Thursday, the Royal party ex- tended their excursion to view all the intricacies of the Pass of Katie- craukie ; and visited Faskally, the seat of Mr. Butter, noted for its exquisite cultivation : the owner's loyal gallantry had led him to make new paths and roads by which the Queen could easily attain the best positions for viewing the Pass. On the way from Blair to the Pass, the party met a funeral-procession ; and it was observed that Prince Albert, who was driving the Queen's pony-phaeton, pulled up at the side of the road, and took off his hat while the mourners went by ; the other gentlemen of the party also uncovering. " This incident," says a Scotch paper, "has been much talked of here, as evincing the kind- ness of heart and consideration for the feelings of others that have been so often manifested by her Majesty and her Royal consort." [In many places on the Continent, this mark of respect to the passing dead is never omitted, by high or low.] On Friday evening, some in.door amusement was provided for the Queen. A chair of state was set in the Horn Hall of the Castle, (so called from the numberless antlers that deck the walls, mingled with Highland weapons); and the Queen, surrounded by her suite, sat to see some dances by a party of forty Highlaoders, with Lord Glenlyon and other chiefs at their head. The Houlaghan, other reels, and strath- speys, were performed ; and Captain James Murray went through a sword-dance. The Queen laughed heartily at the extravagant graces of the mountain-dances, and was observed to beat time both with hand and foot.
On Saturday, an otter-hunt was got up. Lord John Scott brought a live otter, in a box, from a shooting-place of his in Roxburghshire ; and on Saturday it was carried to the edge of the Garry, just above the Castle; men being stationed to keep the creature within a certain space, that the Queen might see all the sport. Lord Aberdeen's otter-hounds were already at the Castle ; and the Foreign Secretary is said to have exhibited an uncommon share of the " excitement " that seized on all concerned. The day, however, was unpropitious, the rain falling fast : the Queen sat on a pony, Mr. James Murray holding an umbrella over her head ; while Prince Albert walked about, holding an umbrella over his own head. The otter, too, was tame and frightened, and did not snake good sport. After it was first seized by the hounds, it was rescued by a huntsman, and thrown into the water again. It took to the land Just by where Queen Victoria sat on horseback, and crawled painfully over the shingle. The dogs were suffered to run ; and the Royal lady turned away her head while they worried their prey. The Otter was then speared in due style, and the sport was over. Another kind of incident happened very early on Friday morning—a fire in some cottages close to the lodge in which Lord and Lady Glen- lyon had taken up their abode. It was extinguished, not without doing some serious damage ; but the Queen did not know of it till breakfast. As it caused some inconvenience to her host and hostess, her Majesty invited them thenceforth to take their meals at the Castle.
A number of people gathered in Blair and its little church on Sun. day, expecting again to see the.Queen ; but her Majesty bad " canght cold," and so the scene of the second Sunday was not repeated. Prayers were read before the Queen and Prince Albert at the Castle, by a chaplain.
The Queen, with Prince Albert and the Princess Royal, attended by Lord Aberdeen and the suite, and Lord Glenlyon and Captain Murray, left Blair Atholl at half-past nine o'clock on Tuesday morning ; under an escort of Scots Greys. The route was the same as that travelled before, through Dunkeld and Conpar-Angus, to Dundee. The arrange- ments of the seaport, too, were much the same ; only there were not quite so many people in the streets, and many more on the quay. The painted triumphal arch (to be replaced hereafter by a permanent one of stone) still decorated the quay ; which was carpeted as before. The authorities met the cortege at Logie, to conduct it into Dundee : but the horses of the coach bearing the "Lord Provost" of the borough proved restive, and that gentleman was obliged to stay behind. The party alighted at the quay ; and here the crowd, unchecked by the policemen and special constables, who were absorbed in gaping at the show, pressed so rudely and violently on the Queen, that there appears to have been some danger of her being pushed into the water! She took it all in good part ; but the soldiers of the Sixtieth Rifles, who formed a guard of honour, seeing the emergency, opposed their bayonets to the ill-mannered crowd. At the head of the steps, the Queen and her husband took a cordial leave of Lord Glenlyon and Captain Murray ; entered their barge; embarked in the Victoria and Albert yacht ; and in about half an hour were speeding down the Frith of Tay, attended by a squadron of war-steamers and volunteer vessels bearing sightseers.
There has nearly been another disaster like that of the Pegasus. The Windsor Castle, a small iron-steamer plying between Granton and Dundee, left the latter place at the same time as the Royal squadron, on Tuesday, with two hundred and fifty passengers, for the Frith of Forth. At half-past seven o'clock, it ran on the ledge called the North Carr ; and on gliding off, it was found to be sinking. All on board gave them- selves up for lost—some with firmness, others with piteous lameutations. But the weather was calm, and the steamer was run ashore ; and luckily, twenty minutes after the accident, its keel went between two shelving rocks of the iron coast near Crail. It now appeared that there was only a fogy- boat on board; it would hold but six people, and it had but one oar ! The crew at once began to land the ladies, and a man was sent for fishing-boats from Crail ; the passengers, after an agony of terror, ultimately reaching that village in safety. A gale sprung up soon after ; and next day the steamer had nearly gone to pieces. It is observed, as most censurable, that no look-out could have been kept to prevent the running foul; and that there were no boats or other means on board to save life in case of emergency—nothing but the boat big enough to hold six persons out of two hundred and fifty!
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