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howls in thy empty court, and whistles round thy half-worn shield. And let the blast of the desert come! we shall be renowned in our day! The mark of my arm shall be in battle; my name in the song of bards. Raise the song; send round the sheil; let joy be heard in my hall. When thou, sun of heaven, shalt fail! if thou shalt fail, thou mighty light! if thy brightness is for a season, like Fingal; our fame shall survive thy beams!

O thou that rollest above, round as the shield of my fathers! Whence are thy beams, O sun! thy everlasting light? Thou comest forth, in thy awful beauty; the stars hide themselves in the sky; the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave. But thou thyself movest alone; who can be a companion of thy course! The oaks of the mountain fall; the mountains themselves decay with years; the ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon herself is lost in heaven; but thou art forever the same; rejoicing in the brightness of thy course. When the world is dark with tempests; when thunder rolls, and lightning flies; thou lookest in thy beauty, from the clouds, and laughest at the storm. But to Ossian, thou lookest in vain ; for he beholds thy beams no more; whether thy yellow hair flows on the eastern clouds, or thou tremblest at the gates of the west. But thou art perhaps, like me, for a season, thy years will have an end. Thou shalt sleep in thy clouds, careless of the voice of the morning. Exult then, O sun! in the strength of thy youth! Age is dark and unlovely; it is like the glimmering light of the moon, when it shines through broken clouds, and the mist is on the hills; the blast of north is on the plain, the traveler shrinks in the midst of his journey.

FORRES is a place of considerable antiquity, twelve miles west from Elgin and two hundred and twelve north of Edinburgh, and contains about 4,000 inhabitants. At the eastern extremity of this town stands a remarkable stone obelisk, which is supposed to have been erected to commemorate a treaty of peace between Malcolm II of Scotland, and Sweno, a Danish invader. It consists of an immense pillar of grey stone more than twenty feet in height. It is slightly tapered upwards, and the figures on its surface are singularly distinct when we take into account the time that it has been erected. They are supposed to represent the circumstances of a battle, and the subsequent treaty of peace. In the annexed engraving, we give a view of this column with a person beside it, which gives an accurate notion of its height and size.

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Sweno's Stone, Forres.

Shakspeare has immortalized Forres and its environs, by making it the scene of the principal events in his tragedy of Macbeth; and on the extensive heath, called the Hard Moor, which surrounds it, the spot is still shown where he is said to have met the weired sisters who so long deceived him with their delusive promises. This heath is "blasted" in the truest sense of the word; it being one of the most sterile and desolate tracts of land in Scotland.

At the western side of the town stands the castle, or rather the

site on which the castle once stood, an object of much local interest; for here Duffus, one of the early kings of Scotland, was killed by the governor of the castle while on a visit, with circumstances very similar to those which are depicted by Shakspeare in the murder of Duncan by Macbeth.

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The VALLEY OF GLENCOE, in the district of Appen, Argyleshire, in the west of Scotland, is celebrated for the wild grandeur of its scenery and its historical recollections. In the valley is a small lake from which issues the wild stream of Cona, celebrated by Ossian, who is said to have been born on its banks. The well known massacre of Glencoe, which casts a stain on the character of King William III and his ministers, took place at the north-west end of the vale.

In the year 1691, as the Highlanders, who were fondly attached to the Stuart family, had not totally submitted to the authority of William, the Earl of Bredalbane undertook to bring them over, by distributing sums of money among their chiefs; and £15.000 were remitted from England for this purpose. The clans being informed of this remittance, suspected that the Earl's design was to appropriate to himself the best part of the money; and when he began to treat with them, made such extravagant demands, that he found his scheme impracticable. He was, therefore, obliged to refund the sum he received; and he resolved to wreak his vengeance with the first opportunity on those who had frustrated his intention. He who chiefly thwarted his negotiation, was Macdonald of Glencoe, whose opposi tion rose from a private circumstance. which ought to have had no effect upon a treaty that regarded the public weal. Macdonald had plundered the lands of Bredalbane during the course of hostilities; and this nobleman insisted upon being indemnified for his losses, from the others' share of the money which he was employed to distribute. The Highlander not only refused to acquiesce in these terms, but, by his influence among the clans, defeated the whole scheme; and the Earl, in revenge, devoted him to destruction. King William had, by proclamation, offered an indemnity to all those who had been in arms against him, provided they would submit, and take the oaths by a certain day; and this was prolonged to the close of the year 1691, with a denunciation of military execution against those who should hold out after the end of December. Macdonald, intimidated by this declaration, repaired on the very last day of the month to Fort William, and desired that the oath might be tendered to him by Colonel Hill, governor of that fortress. As this officer was not vested with the power of a civil magistrate, he refused to administer them; and Macdonald set out immediately for Inverary, the county town of Argyle. Though the ground was covered with snow, and the weather intensely cold, he travelled with such diligence, that the term prescribed by the proclamation was but one day elapsed when he reached the place, and addressed himself to Sir John Campbell, sheriff of the county, who, in con

sideration of his disappointment at Fort William, was prevailed upon to administer the oaths to him and his adherents. Then they retured to their own habitations, in the valley of Glencoe, in full confifidence of being protected by the Government, to which they had so solemnly submitted. Bredalbane had represented Macdonald at Court as an incorrigible rebel, as a ruffian inured to bloodshed and ra pine, who would never be obedient to the laws or his country, nor live peaceably under any sovereign. He observed, that he had paid no regard to the proclamation, and proposed that the Government should sacrifice him to the quiet of the kingdom, in extirpating him, with his family and dependents, by military execution. His advice was supported by the suggestions of the other Scottish ministers; and the King whose chief virtue was not humanity, signed a warrant for the destruction of those unhappy people though it does not appear that he knew of Macdonald's submission:

An order for this barbarous execution, signed and countersigned by his Majesty's own hand, being transmitted to the Master of Stair, secretary for Scotland, this minister sent particular directions to Livingstone, who commanded the troops in that kingdom, to put the inhabitants of Glencoe to the sword, charging him to take no prisoners, that the scene might be more terrible. In the month of February, Captain Campbell, of Glenlyon, by virtue of an order from Major Duncanson, marched into the valley of Glencoe, with a company of soldiers belonging to Argyle's regiment, on pretense of levy. ing the arrears of the land-tax and hearth-money. When Macdonald demanded whether they came as friends or enemies, he answered, as friends; and promised, upon his honor, that neither he nor his people should sustain the least injury. In consequence of this declaration, he and his men were received with the most cordial hospitality, and lived fifteen days with the men in the valley, in all the appearance of the most unreserved friendship. At length the fatal day approached. Macdonald and Campbell having passed the day together, parted about seven in the evening, with mutual professions of the warmest affection. The younger Macdonald, perceiving the guards doubled, began to suspect some treachery, and communicated his suspicions to his brother: but neither he nor the father would harbor the least doubt of Campbell's sincerity. Nevertheless, the two young men went forth privately, to make further observations. They overheard the common soldiers say, they liked not the work; that though they would have willingly fought the Macdonalds of the glen fairly in the fields, they held it base to murder them in cool blood; but that their officers were answerable for the treachery. When the youths hasted back to apprise their father of the impending danger, they saw the house already surrounded: they heard the discharge of muskets, the shrieks of women and children; and, being destitute of arms, secured their own lives by immediate flight. The savage ministers of vengeance had entered the old man's chamber, and shot him through the head. He fell down dead in the arms of his wife, who died the next day, distracted by the horror of her husband's fate. The Laird of Auchintrincken, Macdonald's guest, who had three months before this period submitted to the Government, and at this very time had a protection in his pocket, was put to death without question. A boy of eight years, who fell at Campbell's feet, imploring mercy, and offering to serve him for life, was stabbed to the heart by one Drummond, a subaltern officer. Thirty-eight persons suffered in this manner, the greater part of whom were surprised in their beds, and hurried into eternity before they had time to implore the Divine Mercy. The design was to butcher all the males under seventy that lived in the valley, the number of whom amounted to two hundred; but some of the detachments did not arrive soon enough to secure the passes, so that one hundred and sixty escaped.

Campbell, having perpetrated this brutal massacre, ordered all the houses to be burnt, made a prey of all the cattle and effects that were found in the valley, and left the helpless women and children, whose fathers and husbands he had murdred, naked and forlorn, without covering, food, or shelter, in the midst of the snow that covered the whole face of the country, at the distance of six long miles from any inhabited place. Distracted with grief and horror, surrounded with the shades of night, shivering with cold, and appalled with the apprehension of immediate death from the swords of those who had sacrificed their friends and kinsmen, they could not endure such a complication of calamities, but generally perished in the waste before they could receive the least comfort or assistance.

GREENOCK.

GREENOCK is situated twenty-two miles west from Glasgow, and has a population of upwards of thirty-six thousand. It is finely situated for commerce on the southern bank of the Firth of Clyde, in a vicinity remarkable for its picturesque beauty. Greenock is indebted for its present commercial importance to the trade which was opened by the inhabitants of the west of Scotland with the United States after the Revolutionary war. In the admirably managed factory of the Shawswater Cotton Spinning Company in this place, is the largest water-wheel in Britain, measuring seventy feet in diameter. Its majestic revolutions are fitted to impress the spectator with feelings of admiration and awe.

JAMES WATT, the great engineer, was born in Greenock, January 19th 1736. His father was a merchant and also one of the magistrates of that town. His health being extremely delicate, as it continued to be to the end of his life, his attention at school was not always very regular. He amply, however, made up all deficiencies by the diligence with which he pursued his studies at home, where he made quite a proficiency in branches of knowledge. His favorite study is said to have been mechanical science. At the age of eighteen he was sent to London, to be apprenticed to a mathematical instrument maker. In 1757, he was appointed mathematical instrument maker to the college in Glasgow. In 1763, at the time of his marriage, he removed from his apartments in the University, and entered upon the profession of a general engineer. He soon became highly distinguished, and was employed in various public works.

While residing in the college, his attention had been directed to the employment of steam, as a moving power for carriages, &c. In the winter of 1763, he had occasion to examine a small model of Newcomen's engine. This gave an impetus to his investigations on the powers of steam. In 1774, he entered into partnership with Mr. Boulton, a hardware manufacturer, in Birmingham, and commenced the business of making steam engines the next year. An engine was constructed at Soho, which they offered to the inspection of all who felt interested in such machines. They proposed to erect similar engines wherever required on the principle of receiving as payment for each, only one-third of the saving in fuel which it would effect, as compared with one of the old construction. The revenue thus accruing to Messrs. Boulton & Watt, soon became very great. Mr. Watt obtained from parliament an extension of his patent for twenty-five years, and during this period his chief occupation was the perfection of his invention. In 1785, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the University of Glasgow, in 1806; and in 1808, he was elected a member of the French Institute. He died at Heathfield, in Staffordshire, August 25th 1819, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He was buried in the parish church of Handsworth where a marble statue to his memory by Chantrey has been erected. Other statues have also been erected, one at Greenock, another in the college of Glasgow, and one of a collossal size in Westminster Abbey, having an inscription furnished by Lord Brougham.

DUMBARTON ROCK; ITS CASTLES, &c.

DUMBARTON, fifty-seven miles west of Edinburgh, and fifteen west of Glasgow, has a population of upwards of five thousand inhabitants. Dumbarton Rock rises from the point of junction of the Leven and Clyde, to the height of five hundred and sixty feet, measuring a mile in circumference, terminating in two sharp points, one higher than the other, and studded over with houses and batteries. Previous to his being sent to England, Wallace, the Scottish hero, was confined some time in this castle, the governor of which was the infamous Sir John Monteith, who betrayed him. The highest peak of the rock is still called "Wallace's Seat," and in one of the apartments a huge two-handed sword, said to have belonged to that hero, is still to be seen.

The ancient castle of Dumbarton stands on the summit of a high and precipitous rock, and is a place of great strength and antiquity. It was

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taken by escalade in 1571; this bold and singular enterprise was sug gested by a common soldier, at the time that Lord Fleming was governor of the fort by commission of Queen Mary. It was the only place of strength held by the unfortunate Mary, and its retention was looked upon as an object of importance by her friends, as it was the most convenient place in the kingdom, to land any foreign force that might be sent to her assistance. The strength of the place rendered Lord Fleming more secure than he ought to have been, considering its importance. The plan of surprising the garrison was first suggested to the regent, then at Glasgow, by a common soldier, who had served in the fortress, but had been disgusted by what he supposed to be ill usage. While he lived in the garrison, his wife used often to visit him; and being accused (perhaps not unjustly) of theft, was punished by order of the governor. Her husband, as Buchanan observes, being an uxorious man, and persuaded of her innocence, burned with revenge; he deserted to the regent, and promised, that if he would assign a small party to follow him, he would make him master of the fortress. The man appeared confident and resolute in short, the attempt was deemed worth hazarding; it being thought proper to risk almost any danger for such a prize. The expedition was committed to Captain Crauford, a bold and excellent soldier. The first of April was the day fixed on for the execution of this daring attempt; as the truce granted to the rebels through the mediation of the queen of England would then have expired. In the mean time ladders and other necessaries were prepared, and the whole was kept profoundly secret. On the evening of the 31st of March, an officer of the name of Cunningham was sent with a party of horse to guard all the avenues to the castle, that no intelligence of the design might reach the governor. Crauford followed him with a small but determined band; the place of rendezvous was the foot of the hill of Dunbuc, situated about a mile and a half from the castle. Here Crauford informed the soldiers of the object of their expedition; he showed them the person who was to lead

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