Arrived now at the source of the Leven, and the border of Lochlomond, we alighted from the Dumbarton coach, and, by traversing a plank, got into a long narrow hulk, which doubtless had performed service, like the dagger of Hudibras. However, it served its purpose, in conveying us to the steam-boat in twenty minutes, or half an hour, impelled against the stream of the Leven, by four sturdy fellows, with long poles reaching to the bed of the river. At length we got on board the Marion steam-boat, which soon commenced sailing on her diurnal voyage. I have read of the immense fresh-water lakes of America, and had formed some conception of Lochlomond; but I could not, without seeing it, have been persuaded that a lake of such extent was to be found in Scotland. We had proceeded no great way when we caught the mountain-breeze, which rushing pretty keenly upon us through one of the intervening vallies, caused such a swell on the surface of this enormous mass of waters, that I could almost have fancied we were putting out into the Ocean from one of its friths, and impelled by its tide. Some one on board, dreading a change of weather to the worse, ere our voyage should be finished, the boat's piper set that fear to rest: "Na, na, ye'll ha'e nae rain the day, for the top o' Benlomond's sae clear;" and, sure enough, we saw distinctly the lofty Benlomond, with clear sunshine settled upon its head, towering above the wild and sublime scenery which surrounds it; and the Highland seer's prophecy held good for this day. Here an accident occurred of rather a serio-comic nature. A party were walking upon deck, near the forecastle of the vessel, when a smart dash of water over the bow bestowed a liberal share upon each. A lady, who had been much drenched, was conducted to a seat close by the funnel of the engine, for the purpose of having her clothes more speedily dried; but her rest here was doomed to a very short duration; for on pulling a seat, in order to sit down beside her, one of her attendants most unluckily and inopportunely kicked the safety-valve of the engine; and out rushed the steam, with a prodigious and alarming fuss! The lady had but a moment to deliberate whether being both scalded and blown to atoms, or mere simple drowning, was to be preferred. Quick as thought, the latter was resolved upon, as the coolest and most poetical of either, and she bounded instantly to the side of the vessel; but fortunately a friendly arm saved her in time to convince her that fate either way was not then inevitable. The panic of the moment soon gave place to a hearty laugh, in which the byestanders participated.

Proceeding eastward, and then northward, we got out of the current of wind, and experienced more agreeable sailing, as the vessel steered her course through the cluster of beautiful islands with which the Loch is here studded. These islands, of various sizes, all exhibit abundance of vegetation; some of cultivation, and the abodes of men. Leaving these, the Loch becomes narrower, and exhibits a more regular and less-varied appearance, surrounded on both sides by lofty eminences, the bases of which relieve the eye by every variety of sterility and cultivation. Here a solitary cottage, and there an inn, or house of refreshment, after its kind; and now the beautifully-situated mansion of some lordly proprietor. The great military road northward to Inverary extends, for many miles, close by the west_margin of the lake, and doubtless it had more customers before the art of steamsailing was discovered than now. Its formation produced the following couplet, which breathes more of gratitude than of poetry :

Had you seen this place before this road was made,

You'd now hold up your hands, and bless General Wade!

On our right appears the small village of Luss, and close by it the residence of Sir James Colquhoun of that ilk; also his slate quarry, in the steep acclivity of the hill, which, I was informed, is wrought to good purpose. Here we had a short interruption to our progress, which, in commemoration of the party who occasioned it, I shall stop to relate. The said party consisted of two young and beautiful females from Glasgow, the very best specimens of the very few of this description which Glasgow can exhibit;

VOL. XV.

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the heroine of the fête, Miss appeared to know it well. They were, for want of better, 'squired by one of those little empty-pated things, in which Glasgow is so prolific, and whose pockets happen to be better lined than the interior of the intellectual bumps,-whose enjoyments are more feelingly alive to the unvaried machinery of a cotton-mill, than to the perceptions of moral or natural beauty (except, perhaps, in women),—and who, when absent from the former, are fit only to dangle at a woman's train. Miss ****** had been walking briskly on deck, during almost the whole of our voyage, even the roughest part of it, with this spark, wheeling alongside at every angle, apparently deriving inore pleasure from his slip-slop than from the surrounding scenery, which appeared to attract but little of their attention. It was the reverse with her no less lovely, but apparently more amiable (if there be any truth in physiognomy) female companion. The former of the two began at length to be very peevish and fretful, and would needs get on shore, because, forsooth, she was sick! The landing became matter of debate, which was not settled when our vessel stood off Luss, and a small boat alongside came in obedience to the signal. The spark was altogether passive; the other lady gently remonstrated. "You have seen," exclaimed Miss ******, "all that is worth seeing, and yonder is the head of the Loch, (it was many miles distant); the boat is waiting; will you go on shore or not?" "Even just as you please," was the mild reply of her lovely companion, but conveyed in a tone that implied disappointment from this curtailment of her voyage, and the conviction, in common with the other passengers, that all this was nothing else than a consequential flirtation.

Thus lightened of part of our cargo, we proceeded, and shortly after sailed close by the base of Benlomond itself-the majestic and lofty Benlomond, whose height is more than 3000 feet above our track; but, pre-eminent above its fellows, as its cloud-capt head appears from a distance, had I not been previously assured of the fact, I could hardly have persuaded myself, upon the spot, that it was much higher than Arthur's Seat; the clear sunbeams which played upon it rendered a track to its very summit so easily traced, not the speck of a white cloud hovering above or around it, that I should have joked at the idea of calling for a guide towards its ascent. This visual deception, (for deception it is,) as to height and distance, is noticed by Captain Hall, in his interesting work on South America, while sailing past the base of the still more lofty Andes, on the western shore of the Pacific. Here, however, it is easily accounted for, because the eye comprehends, at one view, the immense lofty ridge of hills which surround Benlomond, and render its comparative height not so peculiarly striking as when its summit is beheld alone from a distance more remote.

But I am in haste to return to Glasgow, to set out for Ireland, and, consequently, have not leisure to prose at more length in scenic description. If, Mr Editor, any of your readers has not enough of such matter, I recommend him to prosecute, in propria persona, the same track next summer. But if (which the Fates avert) either father Time, or an empty fob, or both, encumber such a wight with their ugly protest, then I can only recommend him to the perusal of that delightful work, called The Traveller's Guide, from the pen of John Thomson, Esq. the very pink and lanthorn_of_the erudite in description, and the sublime in composition. My friend Capt. H. having ascertained that the Oscar steam-boat must, about this time, be in waiting at the end of Lochlong, proposed, that, in order to vary our journey, we should land at Tarbet, now within sight, and proceed on foot to Arroquhar, and there get on board. To this I readily consented, upon being informed that Lochlomond would present little or no further variety, during one hour's sailing northward; that Rob Roy's Cave, the bourne of our excursion, was but a humbug, and that, after this, we had only to retrace our course to Dumbarton. Accordingly, the signal was made, and leaving our fellow-voyagers, we were, in five minutes afterwards, in the beautifully-situated inn of Tarbet. Here a bumper of Scotia's mountain-dew gave a fillip to our spirits, and additional zest to the romance and enjoyment of the day's excursion, as now, still more light of heart, we

took our way from Tarbet towards Arroquhar. A pleasant walk, of rather more than a mile, brought us to the latter place.

There is something indescribably fine in the romantic appearance and comparative solitude of this glen. I have seen few spots where a tempo rary tranquillity, removed from the bustle and business of the world, might be better enjoyed; one end of it laved by the fresh waters of Lochlomond, the other by the ebbing and flowing tide of Lochlong; at each, an inn ready to administer to the wants, and even the luxuries of life ;-the road extending its way through cultivated and varied scenery, encompassed on each side by lofty eininences, from which sparkling rills descend, and meander through the glen ;-the view terminated at one end by the majestic Benlomond, and at the other by the scarce less lofty mountain, the Cooper, with its shattered sterile summit, as if by the stroke of a thunderbolt-all conspire to render this secluded spot one of the most delightful that can be imagined. Had Don Quixotte roamed here in search of adventures, no one might have called in question the sanity of the knight-errant for his mistaking Arroquhar inn for a castle; I could even be tempted to suppose that the scenery around it had also felt the rod of the enchanter.

After partaking of another cordial at the castellated inn of Arroquhar, we descended a gentle slope to the border of Lochlong, where we got into the Oscar steam-boat. This Loch is an arm of the Frith of Clyde, below Greenock, on the opposite shore, extending inland about from twenty to thirty miles, encompassed on each side by lofty acclivities. The scenery. though bold and magnificent per se, is somewhat unvaried, and not peculiarly striking, to those who have so recently gazed upon that of Lochlomond, We sat down to an abundant dinner in the cabin, with appetites little disposed to quarrel either with the cooking or the service, or, a la Messieurs les Anglois, to curse the waiter because the mutton was cold. An excursion like ours dissipates the bile and the spleen of Mr Smellfungus, and renders increase of appetite wonderfully in love with what it feeds on.

Dinner and a single can of grog finished, we now found ourselves entering the large expansion of the Clyde, near Greenock, from which place, after receiving and discharging passengers, we soon retraced our morning track off Dumbarton, and ere" twilight's soft dews" began to steal over the green banks of the Clyde, we were snugly deposited on the Broomielaw, well pleased with the feat performed, of voyaging 100 miles since leaving the same spot in the morning. After bidding my kind friends adieu, I hied me home to the inn.

To-morrow came, of course, to dispel the shadows of night, to awaken the myriads of Glasgow's population to sober, every-day realities, and me for a trip to Ireland. After sauntering about Glasgow until two in the afternoon, the time fixed for starting, I then got on board the Eclipse. "Once more upon the waters" of Clyde, I was again impelled along its winding course, amid scenery which the eye does not soon tire of contemplating; and by the time that night's dark dominion encroached upon the cheerful light of day, and warned us from deck into the cabin,we were, from the Frith of Clyde, passing the Island of Arran, into the Irish Channel. The Eclipse has uniformly maintained the reputation of a safe and fastsailing vessel, and so has its Cominander, Captain Dalyell, that of an excellent seaman, uniting to professional skill the character of a gentleman, invariably exhibited in his deineanour, and polite attention to his passengers. It is no fault of his, therefore, that, when the hour of sailing from Glasgow renders a night upon the Channel inevitable, the cabin of the Eclipse (I presume it is the same with the other packets on the same voyage) becomes a nuisance. But such is the case. It is the consequence of opposition having reduced the fare so low, as to enable many, upon whose fronts Nature had written "goat!" to overleap the steerage barrier, and mingle with the legitimacy of the first cabin. There, although no more than eighteen beds are disposable, the proprietors make all comers welcome, in order that the vessel may pay; and for eighteen beds we numbered upwards of thirty passengers. The voyager here who gets into a bed previously secured, may bless

his stars if he can obtain sleep, for 'tis eighteen to one that he finds sleep "too coy a dame" to win her that night to his pillow. With the rocking of the engine, and the abominable stew occasioned, amidst a scene of dissipation, sickness, or gambling, on the part of those who must either "open their knives, and pick for the softest plank," or become watchers for the morning light, sleep is not attainable by every one. There is indeed a rule on board the vessel, which prohibits the steward dealing out liquor of any kind after ten at night, and this rule is strictly enforced, for at its arrival the Captain takes possession of the barrels' keys; but some passengers have had abundance for noisy mirth a priori, and the knowing ones may secure at half-past nine what will prolong it a posteriori. Even the cabin for the ladies, dear creatures, is not exempt from similar annoyances. We had on board a snuff-merchant, whom I had known in business in the High-Street of Edinburgh in his better days. He had removed to Glasgow, and got into habits of dram-drinking in the forenoon. Its never-failing consequence, the decline of business, prompted him now to cross the Channel in quest of a change to the better-exemplifying the truth contained in the rhyme of mine excellent friend, Dr R⚫ of Glasgow,

The accommodation bill trade!

Joined with the forenoon gill trade !!

Is sure to make an ill trade!!!

It was not at the first glance of his reddened eye and shrivelled physiognomy that I could rocognise the features of the once plump and rosy-cheeked industrious tradesman; there all-potent time, and still more potent whisky, had done their office; the effects of the latter emboldened him to rank among his acquaintance any one on board who would condescend to enlist in the number, and the bounty allotted to every recruit was not the fee-simple of "the King's picture in little," but that of a more sublimated potentate-in plain Scotch-a dram! His excellent and loving spouse, doubtless on the recommendation of Lord Byron, and in defiance of the interest of the steward, had smuggled on board some mutton-pies, in addition to his Lordship's recipe of beef-steaks and brandy, as preventives of sea-sickness; and to the brandy bottle she paid unceasing homage, until its spirit, warring at once with the infidelity of beaf-steaks and his Lordship's opinion, cast forth into the ladies' cabin more unclean spirits than attend upon sea-sickness in common, to the great annoyance of the more patrician dames.

Her liege lord and ardent fellow-worshipper, in virtue of the steam-boat barrier act, had his lodgement for the night in our cabin; and there the potent spirit, having at length done its office, he was early lulled to a repose so sound, that the Babel confusion could not awaken him. I could have wished that more of our companions had been in a similar condition, for as the wished-for hours of rest approached, "the mirth and fun grew loud and louder." Some engaged with whisky or brandy, others at cards-at first resorted to for pastime, the play at length degenerated into sheer gambling, in its quickest process. Then, amid the shouts of the winner, the imprecations of the loser, and the loud laughter of spectators, all, or nearly so, inspired, by liquor, into a frenzied eloquence, there was produced a scene of tumult, which must have now and then disturbed the slumbers of every one in or out of bed in the cabin, excepting only the snuff-merchant. His

Dr R., as is well known in the west of Scotland, has long occupied the throne of Rex Facetiarum in Glasgow, and before that spawn of a pellock, the Glasgow Odon. tist, was puffed into unmeaning notoriety. This sapient Odontist once said in my hear. ing, that your Magazine, Mr Editor, is a dull driveller. Upon cross-questioning him, I found that he had never once opened a Number of it. The Doctor was as fairly put out, as he was one evening in the Tontine of Greenock, when boasting there of his literary attainments, a merciless wag, but a knowing one, offered to bet a dinner and punch that the Odontist could not decline "penna." The bet was no go, and the Doctor declaring himself insulted, walked off in a pet. He a man of literature! The blockhead knows as much of it as the pellock knows of a cork-jacket!

appeared, for that night at least, to be of a nature so secure, that nothing short of an eighteen-pounder at his ears could disturb him. We had on board a Catholic Priest, whose success in so many tricks at cards betokened a practised hand, and whose noisy mirth, not at all chastened and tempered by clerical obligation, hardly even by lay-decorum, betokened also the sad discrepancy which is so often found to exist betwixt professor and profession, among the sect to which he pertains. Nevertheless, he appeared to be what the more liberal spirits called "men of the world," would term a good, honest, jovial fellow."

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I had crept into bed at eleven, but it was not until two o'clock in the morning, when, aided by the blessing of a wholesome constitution, I obtained at length a sound and refreshing sleep, which was not again interrupted by the still protracted clamour at the table.

Getting upon deck at seven next morning, I found we had got out of the swell of the Channel, and were then in the smoother waters of the Bay, or as it is called, Loch of Belfast, and sailing past the ancient town of Carrickfergus. And now the condition of our cabin inmates presented a most woeful contrast to the clamour which had so recently rivalled the engine machinery in its "rocking of the battlements." The countenances of some, in their livid hue, exhibited still a remnant of the transient glow of mirth and revelry; those of others were

"Pale as marble o'er the tomb,

Whose ghastly whiteness aids its gloom."

Here were some stretched at full length, still wooing, with doubtful success, the comforts of slumber; there others, circumscribed by the Fates into the limits of merely a sitting posture, rubbing their eyes, and yawning most piteously; while another was to be seen stalking like a spectre, above or below, as if, during the night, the angel of destruction had hovered over the Channel, and emptied his phials of pestilence upon the devoted heads of his former kindred. One, and only one, effulgent spirit displayed itself, and that too (mirabile dictu!) in the person of a Cockney, from whose brain sleep had not chased away the fumes of intoxication, and made "the extravagant and erring spirit hie to its confine." His tongue, during the time of our after sailing, was as busy as the piston of the engine, and in incessant wild and frenzied talking, sometimes bordering upon humour, but of that illegitimate species which made him to be not laughed with, but laughed at. He would address every one disposed to listen to him, and slap them on the shoulder with the familiarity of a twenty years' acquaintance; and, moreover, he made it no secret that he had arisen from the gaming-table with no more than five shillings in his fob, to carry him to Dublin.

In the foreground of the vessel a scene was presented which, happily, not marked by any positive moral degradation, might otherwise be termed a miniature of Alsatia. It was composed of a grouping of the third rate, or deck passengers, consisting, I believe, chiefly, if not wholly, of Irish peasantry. Upon this rate of passengers a decensus to comfort through the hatch-way is as hermetically sealed as are the gates of the upper regions (if their creed is the right one) against those who have not paid their shots to the priests. Here a tattered group of old, young, and middle-aged, seated higgledy-piggledy, were handing from one to another the joke, the tobacco pipe, the whisky, or, as may be, the thwack; there others extended at full or half length on deck, in all positions,-one resting his pow on a coil of rope, and perchance his brogue heels close upon the mouth of a sick or slumbering damsel; another, with his face downwards, and hands at his temples, reclining on the back of his nearest comrade, no matter who. A heavy rain had fallen during the night; in the morning, these poor shivering creatures were seen crowding and pressing towards the funnel of the engine, like as many drooked poultry at the barn-door; but other stimulants, towards heating the shivering frame, were not wanting, for at the head of the group there was to be seen a chopin bottle raised to the mouth of one, and passed to that of another, until, like Æsop's burden, it became more easily