Page:A Companion and Useful Guide to the Beauties of Scotland.djvu/242

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224
A DESCRIPTION OF

field; and also on Saturday and Monday. On the preaching days all the shops are shut, and nothing can be bought during divine service. There is a decency in the appearance, manners, and deportment of the people of Inverness, and around it, that is extremely engaging; and the accent of their language is so soft, it charms the ear: it is not in the least like the accent of the Lowland, or any other part of the Highland English language that I heard; it being extremely insinuating, I could almost say bewitching: neither has it any resemblance to the Lowland Scotch in idiom, being very pure English, accompanied with a sort of foreign tone, which is very pleasing; in short, it is like broken English, proceeding from the soft voice of a beautiful female foreigner, taught English purely and grammatically. I did not remain long in the town of Inverness, as I was on my way to Dochfour; but all I saw of it pleased me excessively. The inn I stopped at was very neat, and tolerably large; and I was told the other inn was equally good, if not superior.

As soon as I crossed the bridge over the Ness, and quitted the suburbs of the town, I turned my face towards Dochfour, and with delight enjoyed