parent, paftoral, and delightful. This charming ftream is the outlet of Loch Lomond, and through a tract of four miles pursues its winding courfe, murmuring over a bed of pebbles, till it joins the frith at Dunbritton. A very little above its fource, on the lake, ftands the houfe of Cameron, belonging to Mr Smollet, fo embofomed in an oak wood, that we did not fee it till we were within fifty yards of the door. I have feen the

Lago di Gardi, Albano, De Vico, Bolfena, and Geneva, and, upon my honour, I prefer Loch Lomond to them all; a preference which is certainly owing to the verdant islands that feem to float upon its surface, affording the most inchanting objects of repofe to the excurfive view. Nor are the banks destitute of beauties, which even partake of the fublime. On this fide they difplay a fweet variety of woodland, corn-field, and pasture, with feveral agreeable villas emerging as it were out of the lake, till, at fome diftance, the profpect terminates in huge mountains, covered with heath, which being in the bloom, affords a very rich covering of purple. Every thing here is romantic beyond imagination. This country is juftly tiled the Arcadia of Scotland; and I don't doubt but it may vie with Arcadia in every thing but climate. I am fure it excels it in verdure, wood, and water. What say you to a natural bafon of pure water, near thirty miles long, and in fome places feven miles broad, and in many above an hundred fathoms deep, having four and twenty habitable iflands, fome of them stocked with deer, and all of them covered with wood; containing immense quantities of delicious fifh, falmon, pike, trout, perch, flounders, eels, and powans, the laft a delicate kind of fresh-water herring peculiar to this lake; and, finally, communicating with the fea, by fending off the Leven, through which all thofe fpecies (except the powan), make their exit and entrance occafionally?

INCLOSED I fend you the copy of a little ode to this river, by Dr Smollet, who was born on the banks of it, within two miles of the place where I am now writing. It is at least picturefque and accurately defcriptive, if it has no other merit.-There is an idea of truth, in an agreeable landscape taken from nature, VOL. VI. N n

which pleases me more than the gayeft fiction which the most luxuriant fancy can display.

I HAVE other remarks to make; but as my paper is full, I must reserve them till the next occafion. I fhall only observe at prefent, that I am determined to penetrate at least forty miles into the Highlands, which now appear like a vast fantastic vision in the clouds, inviting the approach of

Cameron, Aug. 28.

Yours always,

MATT. BRAMBLE.

ODE TO LEVEN WATER.

ON Leven's banks, while free to rove,
And tune the rural pipe to love,
I envied not the happiest fwain
That ever trod th’Arcadian plain.

Pure fream! in whofe tranfparent wave
My youthful limbs I wont to lave;
No torrents fain thy limpid fource;
No rocks impede thy dimpling course,
That fweetly warbles o'er its bed,
With white, round, polish'd pebbles spread;
While, lightly pais'd, the fealy brood
In myriads cleave thy chrystal flood;
The fpringing trout in fpeckled pride ;
The falmon, monarch of the tide;
The ruthlefs pike, intent on war;
The filver eel, and motled par

*

Devolving from thy parent lake,
A charming maze thy waters make,
By bow'rs of birch, and groues of pine,

And hedges flower'd with eglantine.

The par is a small fish, not unlike the smelt, which it rivals in delicacy and flavour.

Still on thy banks, so gayly green,
May num'rous herds and flocks be feen,
And laffes chanting o'er the pail,
And Shepherds piping in the dale,
And ancient faith that knows no guile,
And industry imbrown'd with toil,
And hearts refolv'd, and hands prepar'd,
The bleffings they enjoy to guard.

IF

To Dr LEWIS.

DEAR DOCTOR,

F I was disposed to be critical, I should say this house of Cameron is too near the lake, which approaches on one fide to within fix or seven yards of the window. It might have been placed in a higher fite, which would have afforded a more extenfive profpect and a drier atmosphere; but this imperfection is not chargeable on the prefent proprietor, who purchased it ready built, rather than be at the trouble of repairing his own family houfe of Bonhill, which stands two miles from hence on the Leven, fo furrounded with plantation, that it ufed to be known by the name of the Mavis (or thrush) Neft. Above that house is a romantic glen or cleft of a mountain, covered with hanging woods, having at bottom a stream of fine water that forms a number of cascades in its defcent to join the Leven; fo that the fcene is quite enchanting. A captain of a man of war, who had made the circuit of the globe with Mr Anson, being conducted to this glen, exclaimed, " Juan Fernandez, by God!"

INDEED, this country would be a perfect paradise, if it was not, like Wales, curfed with a weeping climate, owing to the fame caufes in both, the neighbourhood of high mountains, and a wefterly fituation, exposed to the vapours of the Atlantic ocean. This air, however, notwithstanding its humidity, is fo healthy, that the natives are scarce ever vifited by any other disease than the fmall-pox, and certain cutaneous evils, which are

the effects of dirty living, the great and general reproach of the commonalty of this kingdom. Here are a great many living monuments of longevity, and, among the reft, a person whom I treat with fingular respect, as a venerable druid, who has lived near ninety years, without pain or fickness, among oaks of his own planting. He was once proprietor of these lands: But, being of a projecting fpirit, fome of his fchemes mifcarried, and he was obliged to part with his poffeffion, which hath shifted hands two or three times fince that period; but every fucceeding proprietor hath done every thing in his power to make his old age eafy and comfortable. He has a fufficiency to procure the neceffaries of life; and he and his old woman refide in a small convenient farm-house, having a little garden which he cultivates with his own. hands. This ancient couple live in great health, peace, and harmony, and, knowing no wants, enjoy the perfection of content. Mr Smollet calls him the Admiral, because he infifts upon fteering his pleasure-boat upon the lake; and he fpends most of his time in ranging through the woods, which he declares he enjoys as much as if they were still-his own property. I asked him the other day, if he was never fick ? and he answered, Yes; he had a flight fever the year before the Union. If he was not deaf, I fhould take much pleasure in his converfation; for he is very intelligent, and his memory is furprisingly retentive.-Thefe are the happy effects of temperance, exercife, and good-nature.-Notwithstanding all his innocence, however, he was the caufe of great perturbation to my man Clinker, whofe natural fuperftition has been much injured by the histories of witches, fairies, ghofts, and goblins, which he has heard in this country. On the evening after our arrival, Humphry ftrolled into the wood in the courfe of his meditation, and all at once the admiral stood before him, under the shadow of a spreading oak. Though the fellow is far from being timorous in cafes that are not fuppofed preternatural, he could not stand the fight of this apparition, but ran into the kitchen, with his hair standing on end, ftaring wildly, and deprived of utterance. Mrs Jenkins, feeing him in this condition, screamed aloud, "Lord have mercy upon us, he has feen fomething!"

Mrs Tabitha was alarmed, and the whole house in confufion. When he was recruited with a dram, I defired him to explain the meaning of all this agitation; and, with some reluctance, he owned he had seen a spirit, in the shape of an old man with a white beard, a black cap, and a plaid night-gown. He was undeceived by the admiral in perfon, who coming in at this juncture, appeared to be a creature of real flesh and blood.

Do you know how we fare in this Scottish paradife? We make free with our landlord's mutton, which is excellent, his poultry-yard, his garden, his dairy, and his cellar, which are all well stored. We have delicious falman, pike, trout, perch, par, &c. at the door, for the taking. The frith of Clyde, on the other fide of the hill, fupplies us with mullet, red and gray, cod, mackerel, whiting, and a variety of fea-fish, including the finest herrings I ever tafted. We have fweet juicy beef, and tolerable veal, with delicate bread, from the little town of Dunbritton; and plenty of partridge, growse, heathcock, and other game in prefents.

WE have been vifited by all the gentlemen in the neighbourhood, and they have entertained us at their houses, not barely with hospitality, but with fuch marks of cordial affection, as one would wish to find among near relations, after an abfence of many years.

I TOLD you, in my last, I had projected an excurfion to the Highlands, which project I have now happily executed, under the aufpices of Sir George Colquhoun, a colonel in the Dutch service, who offered himself as our conductor on this occafion. Leaving our women at Cameron, to the care and inspection of Lady H

C we fet out on horseback for Inverary, the county town of Argyle, and dined on the road with the Laird of Macfarlane, the greatest genealogist I ever knew in any country, and perfectly acquainted with all the antiquities of Scotland.

THE Duke of Argyle has an old caftle at Inverary, where he refides when he is in Scotland; and hard by is the fhell of a noble Gothic palace, built by the last Duke, which, when finifhed, will be a great ornament to this part of the Highlands. As for Inverary, it is a place of very little importance.