DUNBARTON CASTLE. THE CLYDE. 123 



But, hark ye if you attempt to break your oath, remember you have a soul 

 to save ; and remember, too, that Macgregor has a dirk which has let daylight 

 into stouter men than Killearn." Thus they parted, and in a very brief space 

 Rob and his gillies were counting the contents of the bag at leisure among the 

 fastnesses.* This anecdote will remind the traveller of " Terracina," and the 

 feats of " Fra Diavolo." 



The Rock and Castle of Dunbarton are among the most interesting objects 

 in the west of Scotland, and by their picturesque appearance offer the most 

 striking point of view on the Clyde. Our space in a work of this kind being 

 extremely limited, admits only of a brief and imperfect sketch of this remarkable 

 fortress. The rock consists of a huge mass of basalt, five hundred and sixty 

 feet in height ; f the sides nearly perpendicular, and, in some places, slightly 

 columnar ; the base washed by the Leven and the Clyde ; and the summit, as 

 seen in the drawing, divided and surmounted by walls of considerable elevation. 

 Its remarkable form and impregnable nature must have pointed it out, from the 

 remotest times, as a place of strength and security, and till the invention of 

 cannon, impregnable. It appears to have been the Roman station called 

 Theodosia the farthest point to which that power had penetrated, and where the 

 famous wall, already mentioned, terminated. Its modern name is evidently 

 derived from Dunbritton, the hill-fort of the Britons ; or from Dun-bar-ton, 

 the town of the hill-fort. Harding,^ who wrote in 1334, says, that it was so 

 surrounded by water that no force could take it ; and that the tide flowed round 

 it twice in twenty-four hours. By this it would appear, that either the rock 

 was insulated by the river, or that it was detached from the surrounding river 

 by a fosse, in which the water ebbed and flowed with the tide. The ground 

 in the vicinity, however, bears evident marks of having been formerly covered 

 by water. The surface of Lochlomond is now only twenty-two feet above the 

 high-tide level of the Clyde, while it is known that the western sea rose several 

 feet higher than at present ; so that it must have covered all the low grounds on 

 the borders of the Clyde, and rendered Lochlomond an arm of the sea. In 1333, 

 the period above mentioned, the rock is described by Froissart as " standing 

 upon the marshes over against the wild Scottes" that is, on the immediate 

 frontier of the Highlands. It must have been an arduous undertaking in rude 

 ages to render the summit accessible, and to give it the necessary means of 

 defence. It is now ascended by different flights of steps ; before the placing 



* For many other traits and anecdotes, all highly characteristic of this renowned freebooter, the reader 

 may consult the notes to the last editions of "Roe ROY," his "Life," and the "LEGEND OF MONTKOSE." 

 t Lumsden. J Vide Oban. Garnett. 



