Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/230

 184 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s.ix. SEPT. 3,1921. of Mathematicks, nephew of ye Heterodox Profr | of Divinity who still continues suspended ab offitio. We had his company till 3 the next j morning : and if Mr Hutchison (Passion and i Idea Hutchison) had not been busy making ready for a trip to Dublin ys vacation we had been j favoured wth his company also, and those two | in ye esteem of ye Town, I found wd have been J instar omnium in ye College in point of conversa- , tion : tho' ye rest of their Professors, by ye accts we had of 'em from other hands as well as fm ye i two gentlemen nam'd are very clever men in their respective ways, but being not so much Universaliists, and having not seen so much of Mankind in various scenes and shapes as ye other two, are stiff and pendantick in Conversation. We had but an hour's Conversation wth Mr Hut- i cbison hi a Bookseller's Shop. Upon ye Death of M r Carmichael, Hutchison was invited over abt ! 2 years agoe from Dublin to Glasgow to be Pro- j fessor of Humanity. He's going to publish a new j correct Edition of Tully's Offices, Paradoxes, &c., i without any maner of notes, for ye Benefit of his I own Class, ye corhon editions without notes being too faulty, and those wth notes or var. Lectns i being too dear. M r Hutchison "was educated at] Glasgow, went over from thence to Dublin where j he had ye benefit of ye Coll. Library, but mar- ! ried and was never a member of ye College, and is not in Orders. A Presbyterian he must be, or j no Professor in Glasgow : but both he and Symson | seem very moderate. 'Tis a pitty in truth there were not proper encouragemt for two such men in ! our Community. And as I am upon ys, let me take notice to you yt I was told wth strong assurance yt if it were not for ye obstinacy of ye Episcopal party Episcopacy and ye English Liturgy might be received and established in Scotland to- morrow. But ye misfortune is ys ; ye Episco- ! palians are all obstinate Conjurors, that dis- j qualifies 'em from being Provosts or Magistrates in Corporations or Towns and in short from having any share in ye Civil administration : whereas wd they bat conform to ye prest Govermt they might be elected into those places of autho- rity, in w c h w they shd come to be back'd by their own party (wh is very numerous all Scot- land over) and join'd by ye more rational part of the Kirk (who I understand are well inclin'd to own it but dare not shew it at prest as matters stand) they wd be able to overbear all ye opposi- tion of ye Kirk's mob, who wd find y m selves diserted by ye most considerable men amgst ym, yt wd be glad to become Patrons to Episcopacy and y e Liturgy wi they were sure of numbers to stand by ym. But now ye Episcopal men having neither Title to bear an office nor to give a vote ye 01 iroot of Scotld being zealous for ye Kirk and ye Covenant, take care to choose none into any office of Trust but such as they are pretty well assur'd hate BPS, and admire long sermons and extempore prayer. 'Tis a pitty a Brotherly Frdly address were not made to those Scotch Nonjurors to perswade 'em to lay aside their prejudices agst ye Govermt. Such an address I dare say wd be more welcome to ytn from Oxford. But I grow tedious to you, and I'm tir'd my- self wth writing, for I have not yet got quit of ye listlessness resulting from an ague yt ye Damn'd Scotch roads gave me in passing over Enterkin and Lead Hills from Drumlenric to Glasgow, where w we came on ye 4th W e found ye men muffi'd up in their great coats or cloaks, and ye women in their Plaids, wh last we found after- wards was no absolute sign of cold weather, it being ye fashion of ye Ldys to wear ym ye Hottest Day in sumer. The Plaid gives ym a mighty stiff reserv'd air, but take 'em out of their Plaids (I have no waggish meaning) wjthn Doors, at a Tea table or so, and they are as easy and as free at ye first interview as if your ac- quaintance were of 7 years standing. At Dum- fries we saw some very pretty women, a few at Glasgow, but whole Constellations of Beauty's at Edenburgh ; and a Grubaean Astronomer wd not scruple to fancy a range of bright eyes and fine faces looking down fm ye Eight story in ye High Street or Parliament Close in an Evening, bore a great resemblance to ye fix'd stars beyond ye ?th sphere. But view these faces and you need view no more, for every female face beside appears exceeding coarse and I thought o' my conscience I never shd have seen such numbers of ill-favoured women as ye generallity of those we saw in Scotld were : for their bare feet and their bare faces are a most unco sight : 'tis weel yt a yt lays between is hid. -But I want to finish my Tour. From Glasgow we travell'd eighteen miles to Sterling, over a deal of coarse Moorish way re- sembling Orton Scar pretty much ; but fateagues of yt stage were well recompens'd by good level roads and an extraordinary sweet Country all ye way down ye Forth from Sterling to Edinburgh. Sterling is a pretty town enough ; I allow y e more to it because it resembles Appleby in its size and Situation : only ye Town is rather larger and ye ascent to ye castle somewt steeper ; but ye Forth quite out does Eden ; ye Serpen- tine windings of it $& Sterling Bridge to Alloway have something so curious in 'em as art cd hardly mend : f m y e top of ye Castle we had a fair view of all ye Circular and Triangular Peninsulas it makes in ye Compass w c h is but 4 miles by land and ( wd you believe it ?) is 4 and twenty by water : from ye same Castle, turning Northward, we saw a black plain abt 4 miles over ye bridge, w ch W e were told was Sheriff moor : Dumblain lay on t'other side ye moor t we cd not see it : and had we gone to ye place we shd have seen nothing but a black heathy moor they told us." So we took horse for Fawkifk after we had taken a view of ye Castle wch is pretty strong, ye rock to ye north, west and South on w^h it stands being very abrupt and abt 50 yards high and ye side next ye Town to ye East being secur'd by three walls.* Ther's but a small garrison of Invalids there now. In our way to Fawkirk we came over ye plain of Banockburn so fatal to y e English An. Dom. 1314 but had our minds re- freshed yt very evening wth ye sight of Fawkirk field, where ye English had made much havock of ye Scots sometime before. There are no Tumuli of ye slain to be seen in either place at y s distance of time, for both y e plains have monumt that's left at Ban. is a round blew i stone abt a yard diameter, wth a hole in ye midst I they tell you, that ye K& of Scotld fix'd h'-s
 * severall times been plow'd up. And y e only
 * as in a millstone, wch you are directed to look
 * at as you ride along ye highway : 'twas in ye stone,