Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/119

 GLASGOW.

AN episode from the Athens of Scotland, to its com mercial capital, furnished an agreeable variety for observation and remembrance. The intervening space of forty miles, traversed in the stage-coach, was not particularly interesting. It was sprinkled, here and there with villages ; among which, the Kirk of Shorts, on the borders of a bleak moor, had a dreary aspect, and Airdrie, with its throng of iron furnaces, exhibited indubitable marks of active industry.

Glasgow, though not peculiarly picturesque, spreads out on the banks of the Clyde some finely variegated landscapes. It is the first city in Scotland, as it regards population, manufacturing energy, and the spirit of enterprize. The wealth of its merchants allows them to live in a style of princely liberality, but among the lower classes are indications of extreme poverty.

Its massy and venerable Cathedral is admired by all strangers, and boasts an antiquity of between seven and eight hundred years. The far-famed Hunterian Museum, and beautiful Botanic Garden, ought never to escape the notice of visitants. The public grounds

�� �