 curiosity to
visit many places beyond the Forth and the Tay, such as Perth, Dundee, Montrose,
and Aberdeen, which are towns equally elegant and thriving; but the season is
too far advanced, to admit of this addition to my original plan.
    I am so far happy as to have seen Glasgow, which, to the best of my
recollection and judgment, is one of the prettiest towns in Europe; and, without
all doubt, it is one of the most flourishing in Great Britain. In short, it is a
perfect bee-hive in point of industry. It stands partly on a gentle declivity;
but the greatest part of it is in a plain, watered by the river Clyde. The
streets are straight, open, airy, and well paved; and the houses lofty and well
built of hewn stone. At the upper end of the town, there is a venerable
cathedral, that may be compared with York-minster or Westminster; and, about the
middle of the descent from this to the Cross, is the college, a respectable pile
of building, with all manner of accommodation for the professors and students,
including an elegant library, and an observatory well provided with astronomical
instruments. The number of inhabitants is said to amount to thirty thousand; and
marks of opulence and independency appear in every quarter of this commercial
city, which, however, is not without its inconveniences and defects. The water
of their public pumps is generally hard and brackish, an imperfection the less
excusable, as the river Clyde runs by their doors, in the lower part of the
town; and there are rivulets and springs above the cathedral, sufficient to fill
a large reservoir with excellent water, which might be thence distributed to all
the different parts of the city. It is of more consequence to consult the health
of the inhabitants in this article, than to employ so much attention in
beautifying their town with new streets, squares, and churches. Another defect,
not so easily remedied, is the shallowness of the river, which will not float
vessels of any burthen within ten or twelve miles of the city; so that the
merchants are obliged to load and unload their ships at Greenock and
Port-Glasgow, situated about fourteen miles nearer the mouth of the Frith, where
it is about two miles broad.
    The people of Glasgow have a noble spirit of enterprise - Mr. Moore, a
surgeon, to whom I was recommended from Edinburgh, introduced me to all the
principal merchants of the place. Here I became acquainted with Mr. Cochran, who
may be styled one of
