the southern bank above it. Still, from the point at which it first bursts upon the view, it is very imposing; and the present proprietor, Lady Mary Ross, by means of a bridge thrown across the north branch of the stream immediately above the precipice, and points of observation happily selected, has secured some charming coups d'ail to the admirers of nature. The channel of the river, for about half a mile below this fall, is formed of a range of perpendicular and equidistant rocks on either side, which are from 70 to 100 feet high, and which Mr. Pennant has well characterised as stupendous natural masonry.

"At Corehouse the river encounters another fall, 84 feet in height, denominated Cora linn, generally allowed to be the finest of the whole. Until a few years ago, this splendid cascade could only be seen from above. But fine although it must ever be, whencesoever contemplated, all former views of it were greatly inferior to one which Lady Mary Ross has opened up. A flight of steps has been formed along the face of the opposite rock. By this the traveller descends into a deep and capacious amphitheatre, where he finds himself exactly in front and on a level with the bottom of the fall. The foaming waters, as they are projected in a double leap over the precipice, the black and weltering pool below, the magnificent range of dark perpendicular rocks 120 feet in height, which sweeps round him on the left, the romantic banks on the opposite side, the river calmly pursuing its onward course, and the rich garniture of wood with which the whole is dressed, combine to form a spectacle with which the most celebrated cataracts in Switzerland and Sweden will scarcely stand a comparison. On a rock above Corra linn, on the south side of the river, is perched the ruined castle of Corehouse, formerly the property of an old race named Bannatyne. That any one should have thought it necessary, for the sake of security, to live in such a situation, shaken by the dash of the cascade, and damped by its spray, presents a striking idea of the circumstances of our forefathers. In a later age, the old castle seems to have been deserted for a comparatively large house, situated at a little distance from the edge of the precipice, which also has been of late years allowed to go into ruin. The present mansion-house is a very handsome one, in the old English style, the property of Mr. Cranstoun of Corehouse, [lately] a judge of the Court of Session.

"About a quarter of a mile further down, the river encoun

ters a third but smaller cascade, called Dundaf linn, where the banks assume a less bold character. After a quiet and gentle run of 3 or 4 miles, the river pours over a precipice 80 feet in height, constituting the Stonebyres fall, so named from the adjacent estate of Stonebyres belonging to the ancient family of Vere. This fall bears a general resemblance to that of Corra, but is generally allowed to be of a less striking character. According to the minister of Lanark, in the New Statistical Account of Lanark, 'The breadth and depth of the river vary at different places. At the broadest, a stone may be thrown across; and there is a spot between the Bonnington and Corra falls, where the whole volume of its waters is so confined between two rocks that an adventurous leaper has been known to clear it at a bound. There are fords which children car wade across, and pools which have never been fathomed.' We must here allow ourselves the pleasure of quoting Dr. Bowring's lines on the Falls of Clyde :

"O! I have seen the Falls of Clyde,
And never can forget them;
For Memory, in her hours of pride,
'Midst gems of thought will set them,

With every living thing allied :

I will not now regret them!

And I have stood by Bonniton,

And watch'd the sparkling current
Come, like a smiling wood-nymph, on---
And then a mighty torrent!

With power to rend the cliffs anon;
Had they not been before rent.

And I have been in Balfour's cave;
But why hath chisel wrought it,
Since he, the brutal-but the brave,
In sore constraining sought it?

Dark days! when savage fought with slave,—
Heroically fought it.

And I have hung o'er Burley's leap,

And watched the streams all blending,
As down that chasm so dark and steep,
The torrents were descending;

How awful is that chaos deep

Those rocks so high impending!

And I have worshipped Corra Linn,
Clyde's most majestic daughter;
And those eternal rainbows seen,

That arch the foaming water;
And I have owned that lovely Queen
And cheerful fealty brought her.

And I have wandered in the glen,

Where Stonebyres rolls so proudly;

And watched, and mused, and watched again,
Where cliff, and chasm, and cloud lie,
Listening, while Nature's denizen

Talks to the woods so loudly.

Yes! I have seen the Falls of Clyde,
And never can forget them;
For Memory, in her hours of pride,
'Midst gems of thought will set thein,
With life's most lovely scenes allied :-
I will not now regret them!

Wordsworth, too,-a mightier name in English poesy,-has had his muse fired by the beauties of this portion of the Clyde; and it would almost be doing injustice to the reader to withhold his verses:

(Written in sight of Wallace's Cave, at Corra Linn.)

"LORD of the Vale! astounding flood!
The dullest leaf, in this thick wood,
Quakes-conscious of thy power;
The caves reply with hollow moan;
And vibrates, to its central stone,
Yon time-cemented tower!

And yet how fair the rural scene
For thou, O Clyde, hast ever been
Beneficent as strong;

Pleased in refreshing dews to steep
The little trembling flowers that peep
Thy shelving rocks among.

Hence all who love their country, love
To look on thee-delight to rove
Where they thy voice can hear;
And, to the patriot warrior's shade,
Lord of the Vale! to heroes laid
In dust, that voice is dear!

Along thy banks, at dead of night,
Sweeps visibly the Wallace wight;
Or stands, in warlike vest,
Aloft, beneath the moon's pale beam,
A champion worthy of the stream,
Yon grey tower's living crest!

But clouds and envious darkness hide
A form not doubtfully described:
Their transient mission o'er

O say to what blind regions flee
These shapes of awful phantasy!
To what untrodden shore?

Less than divine command they spurn:
But this we from the mountains learn,-
And this the valleys show,

That never will they deign to hold
Communion where the heart is cold
To human weal and woe.

The man of abject soul in vain
Shall walk the Marathonian plain
Or thrid the shadowy gloom,
That still invests the guardian pass,
Where stood sublime Leonidas,
Devoted to the tomb.

Nor deem that it can aught avail
For such to glide with oar or sail
Beneath the piny wood,

Where Tell once drew, by Uri's lake,

His vengeful shafts-prepared to slake
Their thirst in tyrant's blood!

"During its progress over the falls, and the neighbouring rapids, the Clyde is believed to descend about 230 feet,-its bed, before it approaches the falls, being about 400 feet above the level of the sea."]

ANTIQUITY OF LANARK.

Fordun, Lesley, Buchanan, and Wyntown, have mentioned the regulations established by King Kenneth at Lanark. But D. M'Pherson, the learned editor of Wyntown, has ingeniously conjectured, that the superior reputation of the warlike Kenneth has in this instance appropriated what is more justly due to the peaceful genius of his brother Dovenald, who revived the institutions of that ancient legislator, Hed-Fyn. [The parliament held there in 978, referred to by Buchanan, is the first mentioned in Scotch history.

At a very early date, but when no record exists to tell, it was accorded the importance of a royal town, and Malcolm IV., in granting a toft in Lanark, mentions it as in burgo meo; and his successor, William, speaks of it in the same terms. According to the best authority, however, Lanark was erected into a royal burgh, as early as the reign of Robert I., who, in the fourth year of his reign, granted it a charter, which is con

firmed by the latest charter in favour of the burgh, granted by Charles I. The burgh had obtained charters from monarchs subsequent to Robert, containing special privileges, and these are also confirmed in the charter of Charles I. In the reign of David II., Lanark had attained such importance that it was enacted by a parliament held at Perth in 1348, that while the burghs of Berwick and Roxburgh continued in the possession of the English, the burghs of Lanark and Linlithgow should be admitted in their place as members of the court of four burghs. The charter of Charles I. is not now in existence, but the instrument of sasine is among the records of the town.

Lanark, too, lays claim to having been at one time a royal residence, though it is long since all traces of its site have passed away. Upon a small hill between the town and the river, the royal castle is said to have stood; and that such did exist within the precincts of the town is not to be doubted, from the fact of William the Lion having dated from it, in 1197, the charter to the burgh of Ayr; and farther, history informs us that the castle or castlelany of Lanark was mortgaged as part of the security for the jointure of the niece of Philip of France in the marriage negociated between her and the son and heir of John Baliol. We also learn that, in the 13th century, the stronghold of Lanark was in the possession of the English.]

CRAIGNETHAN CASTLE.

[This castle is the archetype of Sir Walter Scott's castle of Tullietudlem, a magnificent ruin in the parish of Lesmahagow, surmounting a steep promontory, encircled by the Nethan on the east, and on the west by a craggy turbulent torrent. Tradition relates that it was built by one of the early forefathers of the present family of Hamilton, but the strength of the fortifications having awakened the suspicions of the Scottish king, the builder was apprehended, and, according to the summary proceedings of ancient times, immediately executed, upon suspicion of meditated rebellion. The site is naturally very strong, and before the invention of artillery, the bulwarks must have been almost impregnable. A high and solid wail of hewn stone, great part of which is still standing, flanked with massy towers, and perforated with loop-holes pointing in

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