 the sages of this kingdom. He was first magistrate at the
time of the last rebellion. I sat as member when he was examined in the house of
commons; upon which occasion Mr. P-- observed he had never heard such a sensible
evidence given at that bar - I was also introduced to Dr. John Gordon, a patriot
of a truly Roman spirit, who is the father of the linen manufacture in this
place, and was the great promoter of the city workhouse, infirmary, and other
works of public utility. Had he lived in ancient Rome, he would have been
honoured with a statue at the public expence. I moreover conversed with one Mr.
G-ssf-d, whom I take to be one of the greatest merchants in Europe. In the last
war, he is said to have had at one time five and twenty ships, with their
cargoes, his own property, and to have traded for above half a million sterling
a year. The last war was a fortunate period for the commerce of Glasgow - The
merchants, considering that their ships bound for America, launching out at once
into the Atlantic by the north of Ireland, pursued a track very little
frequented by privateers, resolved to insure one another, and saved a very
considerable sum by this resolution, as few or none of their ships were taken -
You must know I have a sort of national attachment to this part of Scotland -
The great church dedicated to St. Mongah, the river Clyde, and other particulars
that smack of our Welch language and customs, contribute to flatter me with the
notion, that these people are the descendants of the Britons, who once possessed
this country. Without all question, this was a Cumbrian kingdom: its capital was
Dumbarton (a corruption of Dumbritton) which still exists as a royal borough, at
the influx of the Clyde and Leven, ten miles below Glasgow. The same
neighbourhood gave birth to St. Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, at a place
where there is still a church and village, which retain his name. Hard by are
some vestiges of the famous Roman wall, built in the reign of Antonine, from the
Clyde to the Forth, and fortified with castles, to restrain the incursions of
the Scots or Caledonians, who inhabited the West-Highlands. In a line parallel
to this wall, the merchants of Glasgow have determined to make a navigable canal
betwixt the two Friths, which will be of incredible advantage to their commerce,
in transporting merchandize from one side of the island to the other.
    From Glasgow we travelled along the
