A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain III

A TOUR THROUGH THE WHOLE ISLAND OF GREAT BRITAIN III

The old Chapel Royal, or church of the convent, stands in its disshabile, ruin’d and decay’d, and must fall down. In King James IId’s time, the old council-chamber was consecreated for a chapel, instead of the antient fabrick; and there the Roman priests officiated for some time, promising themselves not only to restore the great antient chapel, but even to seize upon the palace itself in the right of the Church, and make a noble monastery of it which it must be confess’d might have been done with very little change: But their reign was too short for the undertaking.

On the side of the park was a part set out for fine gardens, and they are still call’d St Ann’s Yards, that is gardens; but they have never been planted or form’d.

I must now visit Leith, the sea-port of Edinburgh, as it is properly call’d: It is a large and populous town, or rather two towns, for the river or harbour parts them, and they are join’d by a good stone bridge, about half a mile, or more, from the mouth of the river.

Up to this bridge ships of burthen may come, and, at high water, lay their sides close to the shore; but at low water people pass over on foot, even without the pier; but the water flows in the Firth near three fathom right up and down.

Here is a very fine key well wharf’d up with stone, and fenc’d with piles, able to discharge much more business than the place can supply, tho’ the trade is far from being inconsiderable too. At the mouth of the harbour is a very long and well built pier, or head, which runs out beyond the land a great way, and which defends the entrance into the harbour from filling up with sand, as, upon hard gales of wind at north east,

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would be very likely: There are also ranges of piles, or breakwaters, as the seamen call them, on the other side the harbour, all which are kept in good repair; and by this means the harbour is preserv’d, and kept open in spight of a flat shore, and a large swell of the sea.

On the other side the bridge is the remains of a strong castle, built by Oliver Cromwell to command the port, but demolish’d; yet not so much, but that a little expence and a few hands would soon restore it. Here the late rebel Highlanders made a bold stop, and took possession of it for one night; but not finding their friends in the city in any condition to join them; and the troops preparing to attack them, they quitted it in the night, and march’d off to the Earl of Winton’s house, as has been said. Leith, tho’ it has a particular bayliff, is yet under the jurisdiction of the magistrates of Edinburgh, and is govern’d by them. The town had a great disaster a few years before the Union, by a store-house of gunpowder taking fire, which demolish’d almost a whole street of houses; the loss is not fully repair’d to this day: Many lives also were lost, and many people miserably hurt and bruis’d, which, I think, should serve as a hint to all governments, not to suffer quantities of powder to be kept in populous towns.

This town was once very strong, when the French held it, as they did for many years against the Reformers, and were not at last driven out, but by an army from England, which Queen Elizabeth sent to assist the Protestants.

From Leith, the Firth, which is there, at least, two leagues over, holds that breadth for five or six miles, and then narrows

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a little beyond Cramond; and again at the Queens-Ferry, it is reduc’d to two miles breadth, and an island in the middle also.

There is also a ferry at Leith, the boats going from Leith to Burnt-Island, or, as the Scots call it, Bruntillian; but as ’tis no less than seven miles, and that sometimes they meet with bad weather, the passengers are so often frighted, that I knew several gentlemen that would always choose to go round to the Queens-Ferry, rather than venture over at Leith; this, I suppose, gave beginning to that homely piece of proverb poetry, that

There is never a laird in Fife,

But once a year he would give his estate for his life.

Queens-Ferry is not a passage over the water only, but a very good town also, and a Corporation. And here I must take notice of a thing which was to me surprising, I mean as to the quantity of herrings taken, and that might be taken in those seas. There was, at that time, a fleet of between seven and eight hundred sail of Dutch Busses come into the Firth, loaden with herrings, and their convoy with them, for it was in the time of the late wars; the Scots themselves had taken a vast quantity, for they said they had had a very good fishery all along upon the coast of Fife, and of Aberdeen, and the Dunbar men, and the Firth boats, were every day taking more; and yet the water of the Firth was so full of fish, that passing at the Queens-Ferry in a little Norway yawl, or boat, row’d by two boys, the boys toss’d the fish out of the water into

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the boat with their naked hands only: But I shall have occasion to mention this again.

Between Edinburgh and this town the Marquess of Annandale has a small, but very pleasant house: And here I observ’d his lordship was making bricks, in order to build walls round his garden; a thing hardly to be seen in Scotland, except there. On the other hand, it is for want of brick walls that the wallfruit in Scotland does not thrive so well there as it would otherwise do: And whereas they have no peaches or nectarines, or but very few, it is evident, had they brick walls they might have both; but the stone will not do it. The reflexion of the sun is not equally nourishing, nor does the stone hold the warmth of the sun, after it is gone, as the bricks do.

All the country between Edinburgh and this place, is throng’d with gentlemen’s houses, also as it was observ’d to be on the other side: But the beauty of all this part is Hopton House, built upon a delightful plain, and yet upon the edge, as we may say, of a high precipice; from whence you, as it were, look down upon the ships as they sail by, for you stand above the top-mast heads of them.

The house was originally a square; but the earl is now adding two wings to it, which will greatly add to the beauty of the building; the situation is so good, and gives so fine a prospect, as well to the sea as to the land, that nothing can be finer. It is exquisitely finish’d, both within and without; and besides family-pieces, the earl has some fine pieces of painting that are very curious. The stables and riding-place are by far the finest and most magnificent in Scotland; and his lordship, who delights in good horses, has the best, without comparison, in

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all the country. But it would be endless to dwell upon the description of gentlemen’s seats, in a country where they are so numerous, and where, indeed, they are the chief thing of value that is to be seen.

From hence the Firth widens again, and soon after is three or four miles wide, and makes a safe and deep road, with good anchor ground; and if there was a trade to answer it, here might ride a thousand sail of ships of any burthen.

On the south-shore, upon a narrow slip or point of land, running far into the water, lyes Blackness Castle, in former times infamous for the cruel confining state-prisoners, and especially such as were taken up for religious differences, where many perished, either by the unhealthiness of the place, or want of conveniences, or something worse. It might be of use, if the harbour, as I have said, was frequented; but as it is, there seems to be no occasion at all for it.

Farther west is Boristown Ness, a long town, of one street, and no more, extended along the shore, close to the water. It has been, and still is, a town of the greatest trade to Holland and France, before the Union, of any in Scotland, except Edinburgh; and, for shipping, it has more ships belong to it than to Edinburgh and Leith put together; yet their trade is declin’d of late by the Dutch trade, being carry’d on so much by way of England: But, as they tell us, the Glasgow merchants are resolving to settle a trade to Holland and Hamburgh in the Firth, by bringing their foreign goods, (viz.) their sugars and tobacco by land to Alloway, and from thence export them as they see occasion. I say, in this case, which is very probable, the Boristoun Ness men will come into business again; for as

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LETTER XII

Containing a Description of the South-Western Part of

Scotland; Including the City of Glasgow

South-Western Scotland

Sir, — As I enter’d the east side of Scotland from Berwick upon Tweed, and have carry’d on my accounts through the Louthians, which are deservedly call’d the best and most pleasant, as well as most fruitful part of Scotland; and therein have also given you my observations of the capital city and port of the kingdom, I mean Edinburgh and Leith: So the west part having been travell’d over by me at another particular journey from England; and that I went from England by another road, I shall give you my account of it also by itself.

Passing the River Eden, or (as it is ordinarily call’d) the Solway Firth at Carlisle, we enter’d upon Scotland, on the side of Dumfries-shire, the southmost shire of the west of Scotland. The division of this county into Eskdale, Nithsdale, and Annandale, is but the ordinary marking out the rivers Esk, Annan, and Nid, as I observ’d of the rivers in the north of England, Tweedale, Tyndale, Swale Dale, and others; for the whole

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province makes but one Dumfries-shire, and as such you will understand it as I go on.

The Esk is a tolerable large river, and gives name to the south east part of this county; but we saw little worth notice but Kirsop, a small market town on a river of the same name, which afterwards falls into Esk, and is famous for being the place where, by a treaty, after the battle of Pinkey, the limits or borders of the two kingdoms were settled; though the borderers observ’d it no longer than serv’d for their purpose, robbing and plundering one another upon all occasions, as opportunity offer’d.

This river soon after leaves Scotland, and runs into the English border, leaving nothing behind it worth my trouble of remarking, or yours of reading, only to tell you it empties itself into the Solway Firth, which indeed receives all the rivers on this part of the island, as well from England as from Scotland.

The first place of note we came to in Scotland was Annand, or as some call it, Annandale, as they do the county, though, I think, improperly. It was a town of note, and a sea-port, and having a good river and harbour, was esteem’d a town of good trade; but it was not situated for strength; and the English took it so often, and specially the last time burnt it to the ground, in that war so fatal to the Scots, in the reign of Edward VI. that it never recover’d. Here was a good salmon fishery, and a trade to the Isle of Man, and by that to Ireland: But as the face of trade is alter’d since that time, and by the ruins of the place the merchants, and men of substance, remov’d to Dumfries, the town continues, to all appearance, in a state of irrevocable decay.

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It was but a dull welcome into Scotland to see, not only by this town, that the remains of the old devastations, committed in the time of the hostilities between the two nations, were so visible, so unrepair’d, and, as we might say, so likely to continue unrepair’d; whereas, tho’ there are remains also on the English side, yet, not so plain, and in many places things much restor’d, and in a way to be more so: But the poverty of the common people, and the indolence of the gentry, will fully account for the difference. The bridge over the river at Annand is very firm and good, and there is a tolerable good market.

From hence, keeping the sea as close as we could on our left, we went on due west to Dumfries, a sea-port town at the mouth of the River Nid, or Nith, which gives name to the third division of the county call’d Nithsdale; but the town is justly the capital of the whole shire, and indeed, of all the south west part of Scotland.

Here, indeed, as in some other ports on this side the island, the benefits of commerce, obtain’d to Scotland by the Union, appear visible; and that much more than on the east side, where they seem to be little, if any thing mended, I mean in their trade.

Dumfries was always a good town, and full of merchants. By merchants, here I mean, in the sense that word is taken and understood in England (viz.) not mercers and drapers, shopkeepers, &c. but merchant-adventurers, who trade to foreign parts, and employ a considerable number of ships. But if this was so before, it is much more so now; and as they have (with success) embark’d in trade, as well to England as to the English plantations, they apparently encrease both in shipping and people; for as it almost every where appears, where trade

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increases, people must and will increase; that is, they flock to the place by the necessary consequences of the trade, and, in return, where the people increase, the trade will increase, because the necessary consumption of provisions, cloaths, furniture, &c. necessarily increases, and with them the trade.

This is such a chain of trading consequences, that they are not to be separated; and the town of Dumfries, as well as Liverpool, Manchester, Whitehaven, and other towns in England are demonstrations of it.

This town is situated also for an increase of commerce on the River Nid, for tho’ it stands near two leagues from the sea, yet the tide flows up to the town, and ships of burthen come close up to the key; but at about four miles below the town the largest merchant-ships in Britain might come up, and ride in safety.

There is a very fine stone bridge here over the River Nid; as also a castle, tho’ of old work, yet still good and strong enough; also an exchange for the merchants, and a Tolbooth, or townhall for the use of the magistrates. They had formerly a woollen manufacture here: But as the Union has, in some manner, suppress’d those things in Scotland, the English supplying them fully, both better and cheaper; so they have more than an equivalent by an open trade to all the English plantations, and to England itself.

The castle in this town, as well as that at Carlavrock, near the mouth of the river, and opening to the Firth of Solway, was formerly belonging to the antient family of Nithsdale, the only remaining branch of which being unhappily embark’d in the late rebellion, and taken in arms at Presten, made his escape out of the tower, and is now abroad, but under forfeiture. That

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