282 CHATELHERAULT BOTHWELL CASTLE, which appeared to me very good; a groupe of women and disciples round the body of Christ. The expression of the heads and attitudes very fine; and the colouring less of the dull brick and lead than usual. Several excellent portraits by Vandyke. Chatelherault, from the name of some possessions of the family in France, is a dependence of Hamilton-House. The ride to it is along a ravine, something like the deep bed of the Mouse we saw the day before yesterday, but much inferior. The little river here is called the Avon. A grove of oaks is shewn at this place of a prodigious size:— we saw them at a distance only. It is clear that Scotland is capable of bearing fine timber, and that its want of wood is chargeable to the inattention of the inhabitants, and not to any defect of soil or climate. We finished the day at our obliging conductor's. The roses of his garden are still in flower; cherries are not over; green peas and cauliflowers are in season; and hay-making has travelled with us from London here,-nearly two months difference! The summer of Scotland is uncertain, late, and cool. The seasons are blended together, and it is scarcely ever hot or cold. و August 24-Glasgow. Yesterday morning we visited the ruins of Bothwell Castle, in the grounds of Lord Douglas,-a good ruin, but dressed rather too youthfully. It looks as if it had been taken up from its old bed of rubbish, carefully dusted, scour ed with soap suds and a brush, then placed on the top of a knoll of neat turf, with a gravel walk all round. There used to be a bed of flowers too,-but that is removed; and, upon the whole, if the gravel walk was made to resemble an easy worn path, GLASGOWMANUFACTURES. 283 I would not quarrel with the green turf, nor the absence of thorns and briars. The grounds, though not extensive, are very beautiful, and the walks well laid out. We saw no servants to fee, and watch our steps, which is certainly unusually liberal. At night we were received with Scotch hospi tality at Mill-heugh by the family of the late celebrated Professor Millar. A little sequestered and shady vale, watered by a small lively stream, is called here a holme, (but pronounced, though not meaning, home;) and the rivulet is called a burn. On our arrival at Glasgow this morning, we found at the inn several notes of invitation, and offers of service, as obliging as unexpected. These were not simple forms of politeness, for in less than an hour, Professor M. Mr G. and Mr H. having learned that we had so little time to stay, undertook to carry us immediately to the principal manufactories. We have seen carding and spinningmills, weaving-mills, mills for everything. The human hand and human intelligence are not separated; and mere physical force is drawn from air and water alone, by means of the steam-engine. * *A steam-engine, of the power of forty horses, consumes about five chaldrons, or 11,000 lbs. weight of coals in twenty-four hours; and, notwithstanding the great cheapness of coals, the keeping of 120 horses (three sets of 40, to relieve each other), would not cost more than double the price of the fuel; therefore, in a country where fuel costs more than double the price here, the steam-engine could not be used to advantage. This great consumption of fuel, by confining the steam-engine to a coal country, secures, in a great degree, to England, the exclusive privilege of a prodigious power, alone sufficient to give her a decided superiority in the practice of most of the useful arts. It is more than a century since the principles of the steam-engine were 284 ture. GLASGOW-MANUFACTURES. Manufactories, thus associated with science, seem to produce with the facility and fecundity of naIt is impossible to see without astonishment these endless flakes of cotton, as light as snow, and as white, ever pouring from the carding-machine, then seized by the teeth of innumerable wheels and cylinders, and stretched into threads, flowing like a rapid stream, and lost in the tourbillon of spindles. The eye of a child or of a woman, watches over the blind mechanism, directing the motions of her whirling battalion, rallying disordered and broken threads, and repairing unforeseen accidents. The shuttle likewise, untouched, shoots to and fro by an invisible force; and the weaver, no longer cramped upon his uneasy seat, but merely overlooking his self moving looms, produ ces forty-eight yards of cloth in a day, instead of four or five yards. Passing rapidly from one thing to another, you have only time to wonder, without understanding enough to explain satisfactorily what you have seen, or scarcely to retain any connected remem discovered, and applied to mechanical uses, but it is not more than twenty-five or thirty years since this machine, I might almost say this living body, was brought to its present state of perfection, by the celebrated Mr Watt. The expression of its power in horses is more practical than scientific. The power of a horse is under stood to be that which will elevate a weight of 33,000 lbs, the height of one foot in a minute of time, equal to about 90lbs. four miles in an hour; a force greater than that exerted by an ordinary cart-horse, which is not estimated at more than 70lbs.; that is to say, that a horse harnessed to a cart, weighing, with its load, 40 cwt. or two tons, and drawing on a level road at the rate of four miles an hour, makes use of the same force as if his traces, instead of being fastened to a cart, passed over a pulley, and Jifted perpendicularly a weight of 70lbs. GLASGOWMANUFACTURES. 285 brance of it. One thing, however, made an impression, from its ingenious futility,-the tambouring or embroidering mill. Multitudes of needles, self-moving, execute, as by enchantment, a regular pattern of sprigs or flowers. This machine has the appearance of the stocking-loom. I do not know whether there is not a dying mill; the force of water is used at least in the process, to press the yarn after it has been dipped, and to squeeze out the dye. This was done formerly by twisting with a stick; a slow and laborious process, injurious to the yarn. It is now done by the water-press, as powerful as it is simple and ingenious. A strong case, (of iron I believe), of about three feet every way, receives a lid, or rather piston, exactly fitted to its interior, in which it plays up and down. Water is introduced under this piston by means of a forcing pump, the lever of which is worked by one or two men; every stroke of the lever injects a small portion of water under the piston, which, acting like a wedge, lifts it insensibly, compressing the yarn placed over. The labour of two men applied for five minutes, elevates a weight of 50 tons from the bottom of the case, that is to say, three feet. The mechanism of this press appears to me the inverse of the pneumatic machine, and to resemble, in principle, the belier hydraulique of Mr Montgolfier, only the lever being substituted to a fall of water. This press might be so constructed as to be easily transported, and applied where wanted to remove heavy bodies; its power has scarcely any other limits than the strength of the case, which should be cylindrical instead of square. The quantity of water required, is, of course, no more than the case can hold. Many of these manufactories requiring an even 286 GLASGOWHUNTERIAN MUSEUM. temperature of about 70°, which exceeds that of the external air, the windows are kept constantly shut; indeed they are often constructed so as not to open at all, or at most only one pane in a window, and the atmosphere is, as may be supposed, not very pure. Some of the processes require even 90° or 100°, obtained by means of large fires in stovės, winter and summer. We just looked in, and the heat appeared quite insupportable to us, although we have often experienced it for days together in America. The men did not seem to suffer from it; the external air was to day 55° to 60°. There are here convenient warm-baths in marble (supplied, I believe, by the steam-engine) for 3s. August 25.-Continuing our round of sights, we have seen this morning, but much too hastily, the Museum called Hunterian, from the name of its founder, Mr John Hunter, a celebrated surgeon. There is a curious collection of anatomical monstruosities, principally of the human foetus. The collection of minerals appears very considerable, as well as that of medals; the whole well arranged in a very fine building. We perceived, with an interest mixed with some shame, an original letter of Washington, exposed to the eyes of the public' under a glass. The object of this letter was to give directions for a handsome uniform for himself, with an appearance of care and importance rather derogatory from heroical dignity. Everybody knows heroes unbend sometimes; but I own I wish I could get any other letter to substitute for this one. There are so few letters of Washington not fit to be seen and admired, that this unhappy selection is the more to be regretted. A merchant of this town, Mr Gordon, has a small collection of very good pictures. Two of the best |