Fall of Stonebyres.

the scene of some important transactions between the family of Hamilton and the Covenanters ; it was disposed of to the house of Douglas in the last century.

Proceeding onward to Lanark, you pass the village of Crossford;—the house of Lee, at about the distance of two miles from Lanark, the seat of Lockhart Macdonald, Esq. the representative of a very ancient family; here is kept what is called the Leestone or Penny, far-famed for its medicinal virtues. It is a stone of a dark red colour, set on a shilling of Ed. ward I. and has been in the possession of the family ever since the year 1320, that is, a little after the death of Robert Bruce.

Continuing the route by Nethan Bridge, and passing Carfin, the seat of Nisbet, Esq. the valley begins to contract, the banks of the river become more precipitous, and the rocks jutting out, force the water through contracted channels, indicating the approach of grander scenes. The wood of Stonebyres, a forest of considerable extent, introduces the traveller within hearing of the Clyde. At first a hollow murmuring sound strikes the ear; as he proceeds, the noise increases, and the attention becomes more engaged; and soon after clearing the wood, he comes in full view of The Fall of Stonebyres, a most beautiful cataract of three successive falls, over which the whole stream of the Clyde rushes, with a prodigious fury, into a deep chasm. The ear-stunning noise, the lofty rocks which surround the water-fall, the variegated copse-wood which covers their brow, and the effect produced from the grand combination of the whole, renders the fall of Stonebyres a scene wonderfully grand and sublimę.

Town of Lanark.

At a short distance from the fall of Stonebyres, the road crosses the Clyde to the northern side, by the bridge of Lanark, after passing the village of Kirkfield-bank. This bridge consists of three arches; it was erected towards the end of the 16th century, previous to which the communication over the river was either by a boat or a ford. Ascending a short way, by the side of a wooded hill, you come to the

TOWN OF LANARK,

One of the most ancient in Scotland, supposed to be the Colania of Ptolemy, from the Romans having several camps in the neighbourhood, and lying in the line of the great Roman road, called Watling Street. On the Castle-hill of Lanark, once a Roman station, many monuments of that mighty people have been found.

At Lanark one of the Scots Parliments was held so early as 978. Alexander I. erected it into a royal burgh. Robert the Bruce and James V., as well as Charles I., confirmed its liberties by subsequent grants. At what time Lanark became the county-town, it is impossible to determine. It is situated on the north bank of the Clyde, on a rising ground, at no great distance from the river, and built in the form of the letter K, at least the leading streets resemble the figure of that letter. It is classed with Linlithgow, Selkirk, and Peebles, in sending a member to the House of Com

mons.

Since the introduction of the cotton manufacture, the number of inhabitants have rapidly increased, the appearance of the houses have considerably improved, and are finished in an elegant and shewy manner.

Near the centre of the town stands the town-house,