been reared in the family, as my
servant.

I would have gone to the Continent, and visited the banks of the Rhine,
Switzerland, and Italy; but I bethought me of the delightful and
romantic scenery of our own dear land, with its infinitely varied
beauties; the endless pleasure I would have in viewing them, in all
their bearings, from the dark frowning passes in the Highlands, where
rock rises piled upon rock, and the impetuous cataract makes the
stoutest eye reel in looking on it, to the wimpling stream that glides
through some bosky dell, where wild flowers spangle the banks, driving
some village mill, whose distant clack, mingling with the murmur of the
stream and the song of birds from the woods, forms a concert so sweet to
the lover of nature. Without an object further than amusement, Malcolm
and I jogged on for the Falls of the Clyde. Early in the afternoon, we
arrived in Lanark, where I resolved to stop for a few days; and leaving
Malcolm at the inn, looking after the horses, I walked out by the West
Port, to visit the Falls of Stonebyres. I descended the steep brae to
the old bridge, where I sat for some time, enjoying the sweep of the
river, which was considerably swollen at the time, and the falls were in
great magnificence. I could hear the roar of the waters as they dashed
over from fall to fall, and perceive the grey mist that rose from the
abyss. As I sat absorbed in the scene, a venerable personage, evidently
of the class of farmers in the neighbourhood, came to me, and, after the
salutation of strangers, he seated himself upon the parapet by my side,
and joined in conversation and anecdote of the scenes around. He agreed
with me that Clyde was a lovely stream; but added, it was a bloody one.
I felt shocked at such an epithet being applied to the object of my
present admiration, and requested his reason for it.

"O sir," he said, "my reason is too good for giving it that name; it
has been the grave of thousands, and will yet swallow more in its greedy
bosom. My only son, the hope of my declining years, perished in its
waves; and even here where we sit, before this bridge was built, a scene
of heroic fortitude and resignation was exhibited to sorrowing numbers,
who could render no aid--a scene indeed not surpassed in ancient or
modern history."

Struck by his manner, I requested him to give me the account as he had
heard it.

"You shall hear it," said he, "as I had it when a boy, from my
grandfather, wh