HISTOKT OF THE ATOMIC THEOBT. 59 



week yet; I then set off for Glasgow, where I may be 

 detained for a week or more, so that I see no probability of 

 reaching Manchester before the beginning of May, to which 

 I look forward with some anxiety. Hitherto I have been 

 most highly gratified with my journey ; it is worth coming 

 100 miles merely to see Edinburgh. It is the most romantic 

 place and situation I ever saw ; the houses touch the clouds ; 

 at this moment I am as high above the ground as the cross 

 on St. James's spire ; yet there is a family or two above me ; 

 in this place they do not build houses side by side as with you, 

 they build them one upon another, nay, they do what is more 

 wonderful still, they build one street upon another ; so that 

 we may in many places see a street with the people in it, 

 directly under one's feet, at the same time that one's own 

 street seems perfectly level and to coincide with the surface of 

 the earth. My own lodgings are up four flights of stairs from 

 the front street, and five from the back. I have just 100 steps 

 to descend before I reach the real earth. I have a most 

 extensive view of the sea ; at this moment I see two ships ; 

 and mountains across the Firth of Forth, at the distance of 

 thirty miles ; to look down from my windows into the street 

 at first made me shudder, but I am now got so familiar with 

 the view, that I can throw up the window and rest on the 

 wall, taking care to keep one foot as far back in the room as 

 I can, to guard the centre of gravity. The walks about 

 Edinburgh are most delightfully romantic. The weather is 

 cold; ice every morning, and we had a thick snow a few days 

 ago. Upon walking up on to an eminence I observed all the 

 distant hills white; the nearer ones speckled ; I saw five or six 

 vessels just touching the horizon; they seemed to be about 

 ten or twelve miles off, and their white sails looked like specks 

 of snow on the sea. I saw a dozen or two at anchor in the 

 river, and a most charming view of the Fifeshire hills on the 

 other side of the Firth. Adieu. My best regards to you all." 



J. Dalton. 



