Corra Linn.

an elegant and large hall for county-meetings, a council-room, court-hall, and weigh-house; adjoining to which is the prison, which, we regret to say, it was found necessary to enlarge, to keep pace with the increasing population.

The parochial church, which stands directly in the middle of the town, is a large modern building, with a lofty steeple, terminated by a dome.

The grammar-school, the public markets, &c. are all creditable places of their kind.

The magistrates, and freeholders of the county, some years ago, erected, by subscription, an elegant inn, with requisite conveniences, which added to the former accommodations, the traveller may now depend on every comfort being found at Lanark.

In the summer season Lanark is much resorted to by strangers: The beautiful and romantic scenery, the celebrated falls of the Clyde in the neighbourhood, the great cotton manufactures, the facility of travelling, and the goodness of the roads, are amongst the causes of these visits.

Having described the fall of Stonebyres, the lowest on the Clyde, we shall proceed to describe the other two, above Lanark. The first in order is

CORRA LINN,

the most picturesque and sublime of the falls of the Clyde.

Corra Linn is composed of two separate falls, at an inconsiderable distance from each other, over which the vast body of the Clyde rushes, with impetuous fury, into a deep abyss, eighty feet below its former level. every side the course of the river is environed with

On

Corra Linn.

lofty rocks of the most romantic forms, and covered with trees of every diversity of foliage. Upon the summit of one of the highest, and directly above the upper fall, stands the ruinous castle of Corra, formerly the residence of a family of the name of Somerville. More to the right, and environed amongst trees, is the modern mansion of that name, lately the seat of the Miss Edmonstones. We are informed they have parted with it to George Cranstoun, Esq. advocate. Between these, and situated in a most singular situation, immediately on the verge of the fall, is a picturesque mill, which, with the other objects just now mentioned, add still farther to the grandeur of the prospect. To paint, however, in adequate language, the beauties of the scene, is a difficult, if not an impossible task.

The mighty rolling of the waters, dashing from rock to rock, as if they would pierce the earth to the centre -the thundering noise occasioned by these concussions the lofty rocks, the ivy-clad and mouldering castle of Corra, shaking from its base *—and the thick clouds of mist arising from the deep abyss below, and towering towards heaven above the stately woods,→→ form such a scene, and produce such effects upon the mind, as must certainly baffle the utmost powers of description.

From the fall of Corra Linn, the walk continues upwards to the fall of Bonnington, through groves of lofty trees, intermixed with honeysuckle, the woodrose, and other flowering shrubs; and approaching the bank of a tremendous precipice, from which the Clyde

In great floods, the castle of Corra is sometimes so violently shak en, as to spill water in a glass.

Bonnington Fall-New Lanark.

appears deep ingulfed amongst the rocks, thundering and boiling through a broken and narrowed channel. -This scene of terrific grandeur is sometimes relieved by the casual openings of the woods, from which more distant prospects are obtained..

From the summit of a lofty promontory overhanging the Clyde, to which the foot-path leads, you obtain the first view of the

FALL OF BONNINGTON, consisting of one single cascade of about thirty feet high. Like the other falls, it is environed with rocks, and overhung with wood. The scenery is, however, of a softer kind than around those we have already mentioned; and those ideas of grandeur and magnificence which had been raised before, are now supplanted by others of a more tranquil, though perhaps no less pleasing nature.

From the situation at which the first view of the Fall of Bonnington is seen, a similar footpath carries you to its vicinity, where the view is more contracted, from the relative situation of the surrounding objects, than at the station just mentioned. Leaving these sublime scenes, and proceeding westward alongst the banks of the Clyde, by a winding walk cut through the woods, you shortly arrive in view of the

GREAT COTTON MANUFACTORY and village of New LANARK, the property of Messrs. Owen & Co.

This manufactory was erected in 1785, by the late David Dale, and has been conducted ever since with great success. The number of children employed here exceeds 2000, and the utmost attention is paid to their morals and education, so far as is consistent with the

New Lanark,

restraint the occupations they have to attend to will permit.

Mr Owen, the proprietor and manager, a man of much benevolence, has devised sundry plans for the improvement of the young people, and his efforts have been crowned with as much success as many of his friends anticipated.

Mr Owen may be rated among the Howards of the day: His plan for the amelioration of Society does him much honour; although some may deem all the good he anticipated unattainable, yet the new light he threw out on this important subject, will still have a tendency to do much good, and mankind are indebted to him for the efforts he has made to lessen the evils that seem to be inseparable from human nature.

Having described the vale of the Clyde from Glasgow upwards, so as to include the portion usually denominated the Pleasure Tour, we shall return to Glasgow, and continue the description down the Dumbarton side of the river, along the bank of Loch Lomond, &c.