rable size, upon a woody bank. We
wished to have had time to go up to the ruin. Long before we reached the
town of Stirling, saw the Castle, single, on its stately and commanding
eminence. The rock or hill rises from a level plain; the print in
Stoddart's book does indeed give a good notion of its form. The
surrounding plain appears to be of a rich soil, well cultivated. The
crops of ripe corn were abundant. We found the town quite full; not a
vacant room in the inn, it being the time of the assizes: there was no
lodging for us, and hardly even the possibility of getting anything to
eat in a bye-nook of the house. Walked up to the Castle. The prospect
from it is very extensive, and must be exceedingly grand on a fine
evening or morning, with the light of the setting or rising sun on the
distant mountains, but we saw it at an unfavourable time of day, the
mid-afternoon, and were not favoured by light and shade. The Forth makes
most intricate and curious turnings, so that it is difficult to trace
them, even when you are overlooking the whole. It flows through a
perfect level, and in one place cuts its way in the form of a large
figure of eight. Stirling is the largest town we had seen in Scotland,
except Glasgow. It is an old irregular place; the streets towards the
Castle on one side very steep. On the other, the hill or rock rises from
the fields. The architecture of a part of the Castle is very fine, and
the whole building in good repair: some parts indeed, are modern. At
Stirling we bought Burns's Poems in one volume, for two shillings. Went
on to Falkirk, ten or eleven miles. I do not recollect anything
remarkable after we were out of sight of Stirling Castle, except the
Carron Ironworks, seen at a distance;--the sky above them was red with a
fiery light. In passing through a turnpike gate we were greeted by a
Highland drover, who, with many others, was coming from a fair at
Falkirk, the road being covered all along with horsemen and cattle. He
spoke as if we had been well known to him, asking us how we had fared on
our journey. We were at a loss to conceive why he should interest
himself about us, till he said he had passed us on the Black Mountain,
near King's House. It was pleasant to observe the effect of solitary
places in making men friends, and to see so much kindness, which had been
produced in such a chance encounter, retained in a crowd. No beds in the
inns at Falkirk--every room taken u