Travels in Scotland: translated from the German. With notes by the translator

Chapter I. The Clyde

l'AGE Cotton lords . . Geological structure of Scotland . . Lighting of the coasts . . Lighthouses of Scotland . . First sight of the country . . Dunbarton . . Henry Bell's Monument . . Improvement of the Clyde . . Buoys . . River-marks . . Biggins . . Farches . . Decline of steam navigation , 15

Chapter II. Glasgow

Tennant's Stalk . . Warehouse of Messrs. Campbell . . Tartans . . Signification of clan colours . . Clan tartans . . Fancy tartans . . Moravian point . . How Glasgow has become rich . . The Necropolis of Glasgow . . The Cathedral .. Buildings in the Grecian style .. Growth of Glasgow.. Glasgow and Edinburgh . . Irish in Glasgow . . Glasgow on Saturday and on Sunday . . Presbyterian preachers . . The University . . The Hunterian Museum . . James Watt and his statue iu the Hunterian Museum . . The " Principals". . The Lord Rector . . A " changing body". . Glasguana or Glasguensis . . College discipline . . The Professor of Humanity . . Old and new chairs . . Presbyterian College of Ireland . . The west end " moneyed people". . Port Dundas . . Glen-more-na- Albin. . 19

Chapter III. From Glasgoyv To Edinburgh

The secrets of Glasgow . . The centre of gravity of Scotland . . {'Berlin by night". . Dark journey 33 CHAPTER lv\ EDINBURGH. The Minibus . . Edinburgh . . The Athens of the North . . Situation of Edinburgh. . The Castle Hill. . Old Town and New Town. . High-street and George-street . . Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat . . The Calton hill . . Plan of Edinburgh . . rictorial site of the city . . "Auld Reeky". . Edinburgh by night . . Poverty in Edinburgh . . The Closes . . Impurity of the Closes . . Danger of the Closes . . Attempts to improve the Closes . . The wealthy and the Closes . . The Irish in Edinburgh . . The Regalia and its fate . . English castles . . " Lobsters". . Edinburgh advocates . . Advocates' library . . Reading-room . . Audubon's birds of America . . The " Old Tolbooth". .

Messrs. Chambers' establishment . . A million of facts . . John Knox and his house . . Holyrood-house . . Royal household . . History of Holyrood . . Mary Queen of Scots and Schiller . . Mary's bed-chamber . . Rizzio's murder . . Portraits of Scottish kings . . Stuarts and Bourbons . . Portraits of English ladies . . Chapel of Holyrood . . Royal vault 35 * CONTENTS. IV

Chapter V. The Forth

The Fishwives of Newhaven . . Fishing places . . Mouth of the Firth of Forth . . Crowned heads in jeopardy . . The cloister of Inch-Colm . . The county of Fife . . The Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde . . Italians in England and Scotland . . The highfliers . . The kirk of Scotland . . Scottish Presbyterians . . The might of the keys and the might of the sword . . Law of patronage . . Anti-patronage societies . . The Court of Session and the General Assembly. . The claim of rights. . Laymen and clergy . . Geneva . . The Zion of the Presbyterians . . Farther journey up the Forth . . " Men Uke variety" GO

Chapter VI. Stirling

The hills near Stirling . . Old palaces . . View from Stirling Castle . . The Parliament-house . . Palace of James V. . . Knox's pulpit . . The Douglas roomV . Murder of subjects . . James II. . . National dress of Scotland . . The Scottish kilt and the Roman chlamys . . The Scottish sansculottes . . War bagpipe . . The Royal Gardens . . The links of the Forth . . Destroyed pleasures n

Chapter VII. Drummond Castle

The valley of Strathmore . . Triumphal arch in a Roman camp . . The mother of the Empress of Morocco . . Parish schoolmasters . . Discontent of Scottish schoolmasters . . Popular education in Scotland . . The. Gaelic language at war with the English . . Decline of the Gaelic . . Introduction of sheep-farming and expulsion of the cotters . . The abolition of the clans . . Remains of the clans . . Clan Drummond . . Origin of clans . . The greed of the Campbells, the ire ofthe Drummonds, &c. . . A Scottish breakfast . . " Before the presbytery". . " Intrusionists and Non-Intrusionists". . The Ettrick Shepherd . . " Collies". . Queen Victoria and Drummond Castle . . Deer-stalking . . Arms of the Drummonds . . Dunsinnane hill . . Strath and glen . . Strathmore and Glenmore .. English gardening ..

Park of Drummond Castle .. English fancy for flowers . . Oranges, laurels, and heaths . . The turf and firs of the park . . Scottish gardeners . . Scottish snuff-mull . . . TO

Chapter VIII. Crieff

The poet Mallet . . Various ways of wearing the plaid. . Shepherd's tartm . . The land of the mountain and flood . . The Tay . . Breach of the Tav <13 CONTENTS. V 120

Chapter IX. Perth

"Perth is rather a Highland town"., "The fair city".. Scone .. The Inches of Perth . . " Get up an excitement". . The North Inch . . Scottish boys and the Negro Bob.. Scottish idioms .." Bonny". . The South Inch .. Germans in warfare with the Celts of England .. The Scottish Horatii and Curiatii . . The clannish spirit . . Curling . . Curling ground . . Curling ponds . . Curling clubs . . North American curlers . . Curling songs . . Golfing . . Prohibition of golf. . Golf-balls. . Clubs or kolbes . . Rules and usages of golf . . The leading men . . A difficult case . . Zeal of golf players . . Goldsmiths of Perth . . Cairngorms . . Highland brooches . . Prince Charlie . . Highland dirks and snuff-mulls . . The auld, the fair, and the holy 95

Chapter X. From Perth To Dunkeld

Experiments with the Scottish dialect . . An Irishman on the stage coach . . A tract distributor . . Cheap tracts . . Birnam forest . . " A Uomanis invicti, a Germanis victi". . Islanders and Highlanders . . The boundary of the Highlands . . Highlands and Lowlands . . Population of the Highlands .. The " boundary of the Highland distillery" . . .114

CHAPTER XL DUNKELD.

Enviioument of Dunkeld . . The Duke of Athol . . Prince Albert . . A Prince of " Watnir". . Plantations in Scotland . . Larches . . Dunkeld's participation in the civilisation of the Highlands . . The clans and the bishops of Dunkeld . . The clans in the neighbourhood of Dunkeld and Queen Victoria . . The fashionable tour . . Circumference of the countv of Perth

Chapter XII. From Dunkeld To Taymouth Castle

Gaelic songs . . Potatoes in the Highlands . . " Punch". . Gaelic names for Highland garb . . Scotland as it was, and as it is . . Stability in the life of nations . . The birks of Aberfeldy . . Burns' poems . . Burns, Moore, Byron . . Ingratitude of the Scots to Burns . . Burns and the Scottish dialect .. Assonance of Burns' poetry VI CONTENTS.

Chapter XIII. Taymouth Castle

" Follow me !". . " Welcome to Breadalbane, Queen Victoria I". . The Clan Campbell . . Chief and chieftain . . Assurance . . A real Highlandman . . Angles and Saxons . . To clan . . Gaelic language . . Manuscripts . . " To kilt". . Prohibition of the kilt . . " The Scotch farmers beat the English three times over" .. Scottish draining system .. Progress of agriculture . . The last " snuff of tobacco". . " How grand !". . The fete at Taymouth Castle . . Burns' praise of Taymouth Castle . . Head-piper . . Highland oxen . . Interior of the castle . . John Sobieski Stuart on Scottish tartans . . Lady Mary Rich . . An old-fashioned wedding . . Queen Victoria's mirror and Prince Albert's stirrup cup . . Tree-planting by the Queen and Prince Albert. . A dairy. . Cattle . . Grouse. . Wild oxen . . Basque and Gaelic languages . . " These were fine days" . . 132

Chapter XIV. From Taymouth Castle To Locii Tay

The waterfall of Achern-Den . . " Natural clews". . Burns' verses on the waterfall . . " A thatched house". . Tarring sheep . . Wintering of sheep . . The graziers and Sir Robert Peel . . " A bonny peep". . Glen-Lyon. . Landseer's " Highland Drovers" ....... 145

Chapter XV. Highland Drovers

Raids . . Forming a drove . . The topsman . . The drover and highwayman . . Farewell emotions . . The background . . Blue bonnets . . The housewife . . Aged people in Scotland . . The lovers . . White horses and black cattle . . The foreground . . Landseer's Scottish paintings . . Value of pictorial representations of a country • . . . ... 151

Chapter XVI. From Loch Tay To Killin

District names .. "Never mind, we'll brise yont". . Figure of Scottish lochs . . Their depth . . " Sir Robert, we are full here". . Scottish critique on legs . . The bonny legs . . The Queen and Prince Albert on the lake . . The silver-mounted pipe . . The bens . . The hills . . The burns . . High prices . . Clan Stuart . . The Royal Stuarts . . The Mac Gregors and Mac Intyres . . Little mounts . . Limekilns . . Cultivation and uncultivation . . Peat-carts . . Mosses and muirs ..... 158

Chapter XVII. Killin

Celtic names of places in Scotland . . Sabbath eve . . Tendency to Catholicism . . Catholic congregations . . Germany in 1776, bv William Guthrie . . Hospitality and frankness of the Germans . .' Their love of titles . . Their industry, bravery . . Number of holidays among the Ger- * mans . . Bull-fights and bear-baiting . . Boars . . Stag's of all colours The glutton . . German fens and mineral waters . . Late introduction of agriculture . . Cheap provisions . . Sledges . . German ladies . . Vassals German books and authors.. Tedious progress of new opinions . " CONTESTS. m CIIAI'TET? XVIII. from ui.Lr; to i.oi ii KATRINE, Chii Loeliy mid Gleu Dochart. . Fing.-d's grave .. The fair-haired Fingal . . I'lumvuiitn. . I'.lack cattle . . Scottish red, . . Goni'< through the figure nf eight • ■ Tin' SnettWh hwrp ...

Glen Ogle Fulls nf ruck . . Sahhalh . . Scene* in Sir Walter Scnit':; novels . Many clever men and a stupid . , Roll Roy's grave.. Rude sculpture, . "lis sarJTttgBB de FEcosse" . ; SiiII-Iiom-s . . Wunt nf footimUu . . A Highland wilderness .. Going a»lray . . Iltiw Ihfi people liVS ». A Highland tailor .." Soolell mahogany'.", , A very IiMUAODU place . Lirge graziers . . Genealogical know ledge nf Scnltch peasants .. The Earl of .Moray.. The servants' hall ami .Iran Fisher . . Snuiiriog llie idicep . . Dried tobacco . . Health drinking,. The " (inrainahiach". . " A Russian or a Prussian German". . Erhiiuition nf the Scots . . Education in the north of England and Scot land . . Influence oi climate on education .. The second sight .. Glen HiirMr hv moonlight .. The ". Yclis". . Stuart's Inn . 172

Chapter XIX. Loch Katrine

Various derivations and names of the lake . . The Trosachs . . A rough place, a broken and bristled territory . . Ardkenachrocan . . The black and the white beauties . . Similarity of Irish and Scottish lakes . . Classic spots on Loch Katrine . . Picturesque forms of trees . . Forest curiosities . . Bealachnam-Bo . . View of Ben Lomond . . Rob Roy's wife 192

Chapter XX. Imiom Loch Katrine To Call

VNDER. Tar-flflvonied snmT.."It is strengthening, sir" Scarlet, ami «.earlei clonks . I'iiri'VKill to the raouniaini . ltnnian camp . . Foot-hall . 107 CHAPTER" XXI. FROM CALLANDER TO S1TKLING. The men of peace .. Funshies . . Kelpies and hrowniei . . " Fine weather 10 .in, W. . Aims nn inns , . The bellman . . Dr. John Mac Nah . Election of a chairman ..A medical Incline ..The human tody a machine . . The propel' insight. . Patronage . . FnHunalc piUEs . . (hind food, rlieap bread, high wages . . Temperance ! ventilation I . . " Here is my addre.o'' . Ln iniinorl.il physician Remedies for puitLcular diseases .. \ l,,j\-(.,(l Village libraries . Donne Castle . . Dunne Lixhe .. Blai'l; 'Mill'- ksdj Victoria . . Tinirnphiil arch al Allaniii:.!^- ,', Ttac liusy bee of Allanhridge ......... 20ft CONTENTS. 228 244

Chapter XXII. From Stirling To Edinburgh

Donald of the Hammer, enemy of agriculture . . Seedsmen and nurserymen . . Drummond Agricultural Museum . . Scottish varieties of soil . . Manures . . Plants . . Turnips . . Potatoes . . Rye . . Agricultural implements . . Agriculture and horticulture . . Slow progress of agriculture . . Farm waggons . . Blouses . . The fencing system . . Prospects of agriculture . . The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland . . The useful and the beautiful . . Abbey-Craig . . Sons of the Rock . . English and Scots . . Scotland's warlike remembrances . . The field of Bannock ; burn . . Memorials of battle . . The Bloody Field . . Ingram's Crook . . Gillies' Hill . . The bored stone . . Morass of Bannockburn . . Garden cutting instruments .. Pumpkins .." To rail" 214

Chapter XXIII. Edinburgh

The preaching night . . Sunrise . . Zoological Gardens . . Whale skeleton . . Feeding a sea-calf . . Sun-bear and eagle . . Owls . . The bison and he-goat . . Museums of Natural History . . Birds and seals . . Colour of northern birds . . Wild ox, and wild-cat . . Hints for improving museums . . Opening of the session . . Academical degrees . . Royal Institution for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Scotland. . Ideal of an historical museum . . A Roman camp-kettle . . Queen Mary's gloves . . Instruments of death . . Comb of Charles I. . . Genealogical tree of Scottish kings . . Museum of the Highland and Agricultural Society . . History and objects of this society . . Its operations . . Its premiums . . Models of agricultural machines . . Scottish wheat . . Influence of commerce on agriculture . .

A Mexican palmtree . . An ornamental painter . . Collection of painted woods . . Snap-apple night . . Calvin's death . . The witnesses for the truth in the Church of Scotland

Chapter XXIV. From Edinburgh To Carlisle

A complete standing still of all things . . Roads from Scotland to England . . The lads o' Gala-water . . Galashiels . . Abbotsford . . The present Walter Scott . . The Scotts . . The Great Well-known . . Walter Scott's pronunciation of "R". . Selkirk . . Inland and maritime counties . . The Tweed as a boundary river . . The Cheviot hills . . The ruins of Langholm Castle . . The Debateable Land . . Eskdale . . . . TRANSLATOR'S

Preface

. The object of the translator of the following pages has been, to present the public with a faithful transcript of Mr. Kohl's recent and interesting work on Scotland. Not a single passage has been omitted ; and in this anxiety to render his original faithfully, he may, in some instances, have sacrificed elegance of expression to accuracy of detail. To those, however, who are more fastidious about having a full translation than mere style, this may appear of minor importance. Without entering critically upon the consideration of what a translation ought to be, it will be admitted, that the translator ought, at least, to say what his author has said, as nearly as the nature of two different languages will admit, and give the facts his author has given without alteration or curtailment. To a certain extent the public is at the mercy of a translator and publisher jointly, there being, in the majority of cases, no ready means of detecting either abridgments or omissions.

Reiv ing upon the faith of a publisher, a translation is usually consi dered as complete, unless clear intimation to the contrary be given. The translator thinks it necessary to say this much, because former works of this celebrated traveller have appeared in a very abridged and mutilated form. A translation of the present work has also recently been published, to which this remark more par ticularly applies. It bears no intimation, either on the title-page or in a preface, of the fact, that Mr. Kohl's volumes, containing 467 pages (equivalent to about 240 pages of the present edition) have been condensed into a hundred pages of the Foreign TRANSLATOR'S

PREFACE.

. X Library ; and that, not altogether through the better economy of English typography, but through the omission of entire pages ofthe original. " Complete, indeed, stands boldly on the title-page, but the substantive qualified, is left in ingenious doubt. A complete translation, however, it certainly cannot mean. Thus an injustice is done to Mr. Kohl as a writer, and a fraud a literary fraud at least— committed upon the public, who pur chase the work believing it to be a transcript of what the author has written. The value of the writings of a foreign traveller in our own coun try depends, among other things, on his bringing under our notice facts and circumstances which have escaped us Ly their very proximity. Familiar places and events, even, acquire, from his remarks, a fresh interest; and things which we have been in the habit of heedlessly disregarding, come before us with a startling sitrnificancy.

Mr. Kohl's writings possess this merit. His remarks upon our institutions, our manners, our social condition, and modes of thinking and acting, place all these before us in a light we have not been accustomed to regard them in. We behold our social features in another mirror. Defects and blemishes we were not aware of having, become apparent ; and merits we have hitherto been unconscious of possessing, are made manifest. We perceive how matters on which we pride ourselves strike a stranger, and how social advantages, of which we may think lightly, call forth his admiration. The foreigner who does this for us, ought surely to have a full and fair hearing, neither of which he has in a stunted and crippled translation. For such, no justification can be easily found; as both the author and the reader are unfairly Teated, — the author by the partial statement of his case; the reader by being deprived of the full benefit of his observations.

It may be, that a translator fancies that his author dwells too long on trite and familiar subjects ; but of this the public should be allowed to judge. Or it may be, that a publisher is unwilling to hazard an expensive publication on a subject of doubtful interest, and resolves upon an abridgment ; but this he should at least have TRANSLATOR'S

PREFACE.

. XI the candour to state. To act, however, on the feeling of security derived from an extensive ignorance of a foreign language, on the part of the public, and to pass off a partial as an entire work, or at all events to allow the public to suppose the work is com plete, may by some minds be regarded as a clever business transaction ; but it is one, certainly, that cannot be placed among the amenities of literature. London, July, 1844. %* A few notes will be found scattered throughout the work, in correc tion or elucidation of some of Mr. Kohl's statements. These are distinguished from our author's notes by the addition of Translator, and for their accuracy the latter is, of course, alone responsible. KOHLS IRELAND. Just Published, In Seven Parts, price Sixpence each, or complete, handsomely bound in cloth, price Four Shillings, TRAVELS IN IRELAND.

BY J. G. KOHL. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN. " Through Erin's Isle To sport awhile.'' The entire Work is comprised in Seven Parts, each containing sixty-four pares post octavo, printed on fine paper, and in a clear type. ' nriceVi nnt(a "? haS Previousl>" speared at a much higher Mr Koh 1', v,l w ,abndSe,nent' but a M1 faithful translation of _t__\ \ , i.b'e work, which has excited so great a sensa ta^LMSlTi gl" UhaS thr°Wn UP°n the State of Ireland, and is Harrowing details of the miseries entailed upon and endured by the sufferin*r LeeaSanMv;r0saUvatadUmrtPdPy C°Tl'- °f itS t0° ««!K££H are universally admitted; and it is recognised by the leadinir men of all parties as an authority not to be disregarded. In a recent debated" House merits of" thi8^6 te!,*im0ny W3,S b°me b"V Mr" °'C°«ne11 -»d oU,«.

"o the re £w says-" Mr k'h3'7 "^ '"? V* /*— • in an able and "tabonte weight of expe ien'ce and au 1,1 t"v 5? Tl™°"y " d°uhl> va,uab,e se°* ">e a experience ana authority which his name carries with it." AUTHOR S

PREFACE.

. Among the countries and people of Europe there are several kingdoms and nations, which, though small in themselves, enjoy a great and far-spread fame. Like Switzerland and Holland, Scotland belongs to this class of nations. It is scarcely so great in extent as a Scandinavian or Russian province, and barely contained a million of inhabitants at any period previous to the 18th century.* At every epoch of history we find individual cities enclosing more inhabitants within their walls. Even at the present day, when population so rapidly in creases, the whole number of the people of Scotland — including with lowlanders and highlanders the inhabitants ofthe Orkney and Shetland isles — does not greatly exceed the population of Grosve nor-square, Fleet-street, Smithfield Market, and the remaining streets and squares that one may observe at a glance from the dome of St. Paul's.f Nevertheless, how wide the fame and influence of this nation !

How celebrated its scenery ! How numerous the poets, the metaphysicians, the warriors, the kings, the statesmen, it has pro duced, from the days when the heroes of Ossian set limits to the empire of Rome, down to those of Robert Bruce and our Schiller's fair and illustrious Queen of Scotland, and from then down lo the present time 1 * In 1707, the population was 1,050,000. f London has about 2 millions, and Scotland about 2_ millions of inhabitants. AUTHOR'S

PREFACE.

. XIV Even in these our own days, Scotland has again become the object of admiration, and attracts all eyes towards her. Since her union with England, she has entered with such energy and zeal on the road to wealth and improvement, which that event opened up to her, that, in many branches of the arts of peace, she now vies with that rival with whom for centuries she had contended in sanguinary warfare. Her cities compete, in commerce and activity, with the cities of England : and her influence is powerful in the British colonies. A proportionally greater part of the clear thinking heads and literary talent of Great Britain is derived from Scotland. Popu lar education attains here higher perfection than it does in England. In agriculture and horticulture the farmers of Scotland stand pre eminent as instructors.

And the face of the country improves daily in beauty and adornment under the hands of its inhabitants, who plant the wilds, cultivate the waste places, and fill the valleys with gardens and palaces. A journey through such a country cannot fail to possess great interest. And though it was only a short and hurried visit which was permitted me in the autumn of 1842, 1 venture in the following pages to trace my recollections of it, and to commend them to my read en Dresden, January, 1844. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND.

Chapter I The Clyde

COTTON LORDS — GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF SCOTLAND LIGHTING OF THE COASTS LIGHTHOUSES OF SCOTLAND FIRST SIGHT OF THE COUNTRY DUNBARTON HENRY BELL's MONUMENT IMPROVEMENT OF THE CLYDE BUOYS RIVER-MARKS — BIGGINS — PARCHES — DECLINE OF STEAM NAVIGATION. Some Scottish gentlemen in the linen line, some in the silk line, a few cotton-spinners, cotton-weavers, cotton-bleachers, and one who, upon my asking him, told me he was in the " woollen line," — (" I usually class the whole under the common name of cotton lords," an Irish episcopal clergyman once said to me) — these were my fellow-passengers in the first cabin of a powerful storm-rocked steamer, passing from Belfast, to Glasgow, towards the latter end of October. Poor Irish, passing over to the manufacturing towns of Scotland, there to seek the food and labour they could not find in their own native Paradise, and clad in rags and clouded with sorrow, occupied the second cabin ; while the rest of the vessel was crammed with live and dead stock, poultry, turkeys, pigs, and oxen, which we mortals so happily prize when recovered from the woes and wretchedness of sea-sickness.

We steered NNE. ; for this north-north-east, or north-east, is the direction in which one coming from the west approaches the interior of Scotland, whether it be by the Frith of Clyde to Greenock and Glasgow, or by Loch Fine to Inverary ; or by Loch Linnhe towards Fort- William. In the same manner all the long friths stretch from south-west to north-east, and those on the east coast — such as the Frith of Forth, the Frith of Tay, and the Moray Frith, — penetrate inwards from north-east to north west. The entire face of the country may be regarded as rent and divided in the direction indicated. Its promontories, and even its hills, its dales, and most of its lakes, stretch in the same direction as its gulfs and bays, from north-east to south-west Indeed, should one inquire geologically into the internal structure of the country, he would find, that all the various strata of which it is composed run chiefly in this way, not parallel to its greatest length from south-east to north-west, but right across from south west to north-east.

With this geological and geographical arrangement runs doubtless a moral and political parallel : the political subdivisions of Scotland, its races of people, languages, and manners, all stretch at their greatest length from south-west to north-east. The friendly lighthouses on Copeland Island, on the Maiden Rocks, Corsewell Point, the coast of Scotland, the Mull of Cantire, the island of Pladda, and on the island of Little Cambray, shone out from east, west, north, and south, and guided us unerringly upon our way. We would gladly have approached a little nearer to behold what the light on the island of Pladda illumines, for this light lies near the coasts of the great Isle of Arran, which is a perfect treasure to the artist and geologist, as it presents the most remarkable and manifold formations in the world, and is that point in Scotland within whose limits may be found, from the oldest to the most recent formations, whatever can prove interest ing to the geologist, lying one over the other, as within a book of small compass but great lore.

By the light of the island of Pladda we reach the still waters of the Frith of Clyde, and by aid of the light on Cambray the inner and narrower parts of its channel, which is also illuminated by the lights of Inoland and Greenock. On this one night of our voyage we saw not less than nine lights ; and it may be questioned whether a better and more abundant illumination can anywhere be found upon so short an extent of sea. Scotland has now 27 lighthouses, all of which, without exception, have been built since the year 1810, the greater part from the foundation ; and subsequent times must date their present utility from that year. Several of the highest order have been built since the year 1820. One cannot sufficiently admire the novelty of these establishments while sailing along the lengthy coasts."

The most celebrated and expensive lighthouses are those situated on the Bell Rock, and on the Isle of May, opposite the Frith of Forth and the Frith of Tay. The erection of these two remarkable edifices cost nearly as much as all the others taken together, namely £132,000, whilst the rest cost only £150,000. The whole annual expense of the light houses in Scotland amounts to about £15,000. As the value of the cargo of many vessels by far exceeds this sum, were the 27 lighthouses to be the salvation of only one or two ships annually, the outlay would be well bestowed. But it is probable their utility is to be estimated much higher, and it appears inconceiv- GREENOCK.— THE CLYDE.— DUNBARTON. 17 able why capital so well applied, has not long ago been devoted with greater readiness to the erection of lighthouses.

Next morning, when that magnificent lighting up of the coasts began which mariners prefer to all lighthouses — I mean the sun — we found ourselves directly opposite the town of Greenock, and to the right and left lay the unopened pages of a new country. The very first lines we read therein were so wonderfully beautiful, that we almost began to regret we had studied so long in Ireland, not to have been sooner present to read them. To our right, shone the snowy summits of the Scottish highlands, rising one over tho other ; and to the left stretched away that district, with its ever verdant plains, from which the young Prince of Wales derives one of his lofty titles, namely, the Barony of Renfrew. Behind us, in the frith, arose islands which we had passed in the gale of the preceding night ; and before us the waters were cleaved northwards and southwestwards into several arms, Loch Long, Loch Goil, and the River Clyde.