At his father's death in the summer of 1751, David balfour left the village of Essendean, Scotland and went to live with a miserly old uncle Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws. Ebenezer, fearing David's rightful claim on the Shaw estate, tried to kill the boy. Failing in that, he had the boy kidnapped and put on board a ship bound for America. On this trip David met Alan Breck, a member of the outlawed Stewart clan, bitter enemies of Scotland's rulers, the Campbells. The ship they were on was wrecked on reefs off the Scottish shores. David separated from Alan, made his way to a pre-arranged meeting place.
In 1293, Scotland was without a leader to unite her in a struggle to free herself from the claims of her powerful neighbour, England. But in the little village of Glen Cairn, a youth thought night and day of Scotland's lost liberty and vowed to help win it back.
Scotland is deliciously wild and woolly, full of raucous festivals, remote islands, tempestuous weather, bucolic golf courses and cities bursting their seams with galleries, cafes and rich Scottish spirit.
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland AND The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
In 1773, 63-year-old literary giant Samuel Johnson joined James Boswell, a 32-year-old Scottish lawyer, on an historic horseback expedition across the Scottish Highlands to the Western Islands. The unlikely duo's travelogue records their fascinating conversations and encounters with great wit and incredible detail. Johnson, one of the 18th century's most celebrated writers, provided an elegant and stately account of everything from Loch Ness's medicinal waters to Scotland's puzzling lack of trees. The younger Boswell focused instead on his famed companion, offering a perceptive, highly entertaining, deeply intimate glimpse into Johnson's personality.
England and Scotland in the 1500s. Two famous queens - Mary, the Catholic Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth I, the Protestant Queen of England. It was an exciting and a dangerous time to be alive, and to be a queen. Mary was Queen of Scotland when she was one week old. At sixteen, she was also Queen of France. She was tall and beautiful, with red-gold hair. Many men loved her and died for her. But she also had many enemies - men who said: 'The death of Mary is the life of Elizabeth.'
