The Merchants
Are Getting Finer Seats Than The Nobility." I Am Sorry To Say That I Have
Forgotten Both The Name Of The Merchant And That Of His Castle.
He was, as
I was told, a liberal, as well as an opulent man; had built a school-house
in the neighborhood, and being of the Free Church party, was then engaged
in building a church.
Near Renton, on the banks of the Leven, I saw a little neighborhood,
embosomed in old trees. "There," said our captain, "Smollet was born." A
column has been erected to his memory in the town of Renton, which we saw
as we passed. The forked rock, on which stands Dumbarton Castle, was now
in sight overlooking the Clyde; we were whirled into the town, and in a
few minutes were on board a steamer which, as evening set in, landed us at
Glasgow.
I must reserve what I have to tell of Glasgow and Ayrshire for yet another
letter.
Letter XXIV.
Glasgow. - Ayr. - Alloway.
Dublin, _July_ 24, 1845.
I promised another letter concerning Scotland, but I had not time to write
it until the Irish Channel lay between me and the Scottish coast.
When we reached Glasgow on the 18th of July, the streets were swarming
with people. I inquired the occasion, and was told that this was the
annual fair. The artizans were all out with their families, and great
numbers of country people were sauntering about. This fair was once, what
its name imports, an annual market for the sale of merchandise; but it is
now a mere holiday in which the principal sales, as it appeared to me,
were of gingerbread and whisky.
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