About a fortnight is now elapsed, since we left the capital of Scotland,
directing our course towards Stirling, where we lay. The castle of this
place is such another as that of Edinburgh, and affords a surprising
prospect of the windings of the river Forth, which are so extraordinary,
that the distance from hence to Alloa by land, is but forty miles, and
by water it is twenty-four. Alloa is a neat thriving town, that depends
in a great measure on the commerce of Glasgow, the merchants of which
send hither tobacco and other articles, to be deposited in warehouses
for exportation from the Frith of Forth. In our way hither we visited
a flourishing iron-work, where, instead of burning wood, they use coal,
which they have the art of clearing in such a manner as frees it from
the sulphur, that would otherwise render the metal too brittle for
working. Excellent coal is found in almost every part of Scotland.
The soil of this district produces scarce any other grain but oats and
barley; perhaps because it is poorly cultivated, and almost altogether
uninclosed. The few inclosures they have consist of paultry walls of
loose stones gathered from the fields, which indeed they cover, as if
they had been scattered on purpose. When I expressed my surprize that
the peasants did not disencumber their grounds of these stones; a
gentleman, well acquainted with the theory as well as practice of
farming, assured me that the stones, far from being prejudicial, were
serviceable to the crop. This philosopher had ordered a field of his own
to be cleared, manured and sown with barley, and the produce was more
scanty than before. He caused the stones to be replaced, and next year
the crop was as good as ever. The stones were removed a second time,
and the harvest failed; they were again brought back, and the ground
retrieved its fertility. The same experiment has been tried in different
parts of Scotland with the same success--Astonished at this information,
I desired to know in what manner he accounted for this strange
phenomenon; and he said there were three ways in which the stones
might be serviceable. They might possibly restrain an excess in the
perspiration of the earth, analogous to colliquative sweats, by which
the human body is sometimes wasted and consumed. They might act as so
many fences to protect the tender blade from the piercing winds of the
spring; or, by multiplying the reflexion of the sun, they might increase
the warmth, so as to mitigate the natural chilness of the soil
and climate--But, surely this excessive perspiration might be more
effectually checked by different kinds of manure, such as ashes, lime,
chalk, or marl, of which last it seems there are many pits in this
kingdom: as for the warmth, it would be much more equally obtained by
inclosures; the cultivation would require less labour; and the ploughs,
harrows, and horses, would not suffer half the damage which they now
sustain.
These north-western parts are by no means fertile in corn. The ground is
naturally barren and moorish. The peasants are poorly lodged, meagre
in their looks, mean in their apparel, and remarkably dirty. This last
reproach they might easily wash off, by means of those lakes, rivers,
and rivulets of pure water, with which they are so liberally supplied by
nature. Agriculture cannot be expected to flourish where the farms are
small, the leases short, and the husbandman begins upon a rack rent,
without a sufficient stock to answer the purposes of improvement. The
granaries of Scotland are the banks of the Tweed, the counties of East
and Mid-Lothian, the Carse of Gowrie, in Perthshire, equal in fertility
to any part of England, and some tracts in Aberdeenshire and Murray,
where I am told the harvest is more early than in Northumberland,
although they lie above two degrees farther north. I have a strong
curiosity to visit many places beyond the Forth and the Tay, such as
Perth, Dundee, Montrose, and Aberdeen, which are towns equally elegant
and thriving; but the season is too far advanced to admit of this
addition to my original plan.
I am so far happy as to have seen Glasgow, which, to the best of my
recollection and judgment, is one of the prettiest towns in Europe; and,
without all doubt, it is one of the most flourishing in Great Britain.
In short, it is a perfect bee-hive in point of industry. It stands
partly on a gentle declivity; but the greatest part of it is in a plain,
watered by the river Clyde. The streets are straight, open, airy, and
well paved; and the houses lofty and well built of hewn stone. At the
upper end of the town, there is a venerable cathedral, that may be
compared with York-minster or West-minster; and, about the middle of the
descent from this to the Cross, is the college, a respectable pile
of building, with all manner of accommodation for the professors and
students, including an elegant library, and a observatory well provided
with astronomical instruments. The number of inhabitants is said to
amount to thirty thousand; and marks of opulence and independency appear
in every quarter of this commercial city, which, however, is not without
its inconveniences and defects. The water of their public pumps is
generally hard and brackish, an imperfection the less excusable, as
the river Clyde runs by their doors, in the lower part of the town; and
there are rivulets and springs above the cathedral, sufficient to fill a
large reservoir with excellent water, which might be thence distributed
to all the different parts of the city. It is of more consequence to
consult the health of the inhabitants in this article than to employ so
much attention in beautifying their town with new streets, squares, and
churches. Another defect, not so easily remedied, is the shallowness
of the river, which will not float vessels of any burthen within ten or
twelve miles of the city; so that the merchants are obliged to load and
unload their ships at Greenock and Port-Glasgow, situated about fourteen
miles nearer the mouth of the Frith, where it is about two miles broad.
The people of Glasgow have a noble spirit of enterprise--Mr Moore, a
surgeon, to whom I was recommended from Edinburgh, introduced me to all
the principal merchants of the place. Here I became acquainted with
Mr Cochran, who may be stiled one of the sages of this kingdom. He was
first magistrate at the time of the last rebellion. I sat as member
when he was examined in the house of commons, upon which occasion Mr P--
observed he had never heard such a sensible evidence given at that bar.
I was also introduced to Dr John Gordon, a patriot of a truly Roman
spirit, who is the father of the linen manufacture in this place, and
was the great promoter of the city workhouse, infirmary, and other works
of public utility. Had he lived in ancient Rome, he would have been
honoured with a statue at the public expence. I moreover conversed with
one Mr G--ssf--d, whom I take to be one of the greatest merchants in
Europe. In the last war, he is said to have had at one time five and
twenty ships with their cargoes, his own property, and to have traded
for above half a million sterling a-year. The last war was a fortunate
period for the commerce of Glasgow--The merchants, considering that
their ships bound for America, launching out at once into the Atlantic
by the north of Ireland, pursued a track very little frequented
by privateers, resolved to insure one another, and saved a very
considerable sum by this resolution, as few or none of their ships were
taken--You must know I have a sort of national attachment to this part
of Scotland--The great church dedicated to St Mongah, the river Clyde,
and other particulars that smack of our Welch language and customs,
contribute to flatter me with the notion, that these people are the
descendants of the Britons, who once possessed this country. Without
all question, this was a Cumbrian kingdom: its capital was Dumbarton (a
corruption of Dunbritton) which still exists as a royal borough, at
the influx of the Clyde and Leven, ten miles below Glasgow. The same
neighbourhood gave birth to St Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, at a
place where there is still a church and village, which retain his name.
Hard by are some vestiges of the famous Roman wall, built in the reign
of Antonine, from the Clyde to the Forth, and fortified with castles, to
restrain the incursions of the Scots or Caledonians, who inhabited
the West-Highlands. In a line parallel to this wall, the merchants of
Glasgow have determined to make a navigable canal betwixt the two Firths
which will be of incredible advantage to their commerce, in transporting
merchandize from one side of the island to the other.
From Glasgow we travelled along the Clyde, which is a delightful stream,
adorned on both sides with villas, towns, and villages. Here is no want
of groves, and meadows, and corn-fields interspersed; but on this side
of Glasgow, there is little other grain than oats and barley; the first
are much better, the last much worse, than those of the same species in
England. I wonder, there is so little rye, which is a grain that will
thrive in almost any soil; and it is still more surprising, that the
cultivation of potatoes should be so much neglected in the Highlands,
where the poor people have not meal enough to supply them with bread
through the winter. On the other side of the river are the towns of
Paisley and Renfrew. The first, from an inconsiderable village, is
become one of the most flourishing places of the kingdom, enriched
by the linen, cambrick, flowered lawn, and silk manufactures. It was
formerly noted for a rich monastery of the monks of Clugny, who wrote
the famous Scoti-Chronicon, called The Black Book of Paisley. The old
abbey still remains, converted into a dwelling-house, belonging to the
earl of Dundonald. Renfrew is a pretty town, on the banks of Clyde,
capital of the shire, which was heretofore the patrimony of the Stuart
family, and gave the title of baron to the king’s eldest son, which is
still assumed by the prince of Wales.
The Clyde we left a little on our left-hand at Dunbritton, where it
widens into an aestuary or frith, being augmented by the influx of the
Leven. On this spot stands the castle formerly called Alcluyd, washed,
by these two rivers on all sides, except a narrow isthmus, which at
every spring-tide is overflowed. The whole is a great curiosity, from
the quality and form of the rock, as well as from the nature of its
situation--We now crossed the water of Leven, which, though nothing near
so considerable as the Clyde, is much more transparent, pastoral, and
delightful. This charming stream is the outlet of Lough-Lomond, and
through a tract of four miles pursues its winding course, murmuring over
a bed of pebbles, till it joins the Frith at Dunbritton. A very little
above its source, on the lake, stands the house of Cameron, belonging to
Mr Smollett, so embosomed in an oak wood, that we did not see it till
we were within fifty yards of the door. I have seen the Lago di Garda,
Albano, De Vico, Bolsena, and Geneva, and, upon my honour, I prefer
Lough-Lomond to them all, a preference which is certainly owing to the
verdant islands that seem to float upon its surface, affording the most
inchanting objects of repose to the excursive view. Nor are the banks
destitute of beauties, which even partake of the sublime. On this side
they display a sweet variety of woodland, cornfield, and pasture, with
several agreeable villas emerging as it were out of the lake, till, at
some distance, the prospect terminates in huge mountains covered with
heath, which being in the bloom, affords a very rich covering of purple.
Every thing here is romantic beyond imagination. This country is justly
stiled the Arcadia of Scotland; and I don’t doubt but it may vie with
Arcadia in every thing but climate.--I am sure it excels it in verdure,
wood, and water.--What say you to a natural bason of pure water, near
thirty miles long, and in some places seven miles broad, and in many
above a hundred fathom deep, having four and twenty habitable islands,
some of them stocked with deer, and all of them covered with wood;
containing immense quantities of delicious fish, salmon, pike, trout,
perch, flounders, eels, and powans, the last a delicate kind of
fresh-water herring peculiar to this lake; and finally communicating
with the sea, by sending off the Leven, through which all those species
(except the powan) make their exit and entrance occasionally?
Inclosed I send you the copy of a little ode to this river, by Dr
Smollett, who was born on the banks of it, within two miles of the
place where I am now writing.--It is at least picturesque and accurately
descriptive, if it has no other merit.--There is an idea of truth in an
agreeable landscape taken from nature, which pleases me more than the
gayest fiction which the most luxuriant fancy can display.
I have other remarks to make; but as my paper is full, I must reserve
them till the next occasion. I shall only observe at present, that I am
determined to penetrate at least forty miles into the Highlands, which
now appear like a vast fantastic vision in the clouds, inviting the
approach of
Yours always, MATT. BRAMBLE CAMERON, Aug. 28.