CAR 



556 



CAR 



Carrot*, ated, having an easy access by water to the river 



Cxrstares. Forth on one hand, and to the river Clyde on the 



'"Y ' ot her. A canal is carried from the river Carron 



(below the works) within the area of the buildings, 



where the manufactures are easily put on board small 



craft, and carried down to the Carron wharf, and 



shipped in large vessels. 



From the extensive scale upon which the works 

 are carried on, the circulation of money is great and 

 regular > so that this establishment has contributed 

 greatly to the prosperity of the surrounding district, 

 and it has not only been highly beneficial to the 

 property in its vicinity, but also to the country and 

 nation at large. 



On approaching Carron, every stranger is struck 

 with the very great stock of coals, iron stone, and 

 v lime-stone, and with the various horrid internments 



of war, scattered or piled up in every direction, 

 while, at the same instant, the ear is assailed by 

 various discordant sounds, such as the impetuous 

 rushing of water, the creaking of boring mills, the 

 varied clanking sound of ponderous hammers, with 

 the loud and constant hissing of the blast furnaces, 

 in the midst of which the eye is arrested by large 

 fields of burning coals, producing a smoke which 

 at times almost obscure the light of the sun, and 

 which, in the night, highly illuminate the atmo- 

 sphere to the distance of many miles ; while, in ano- 

 ther direction, the metal ia pouring in streams of li- 

 quid fire, throwing off starry corruscations of light. 

 These various operations, with the numerous work- 

 men going about in busy confusion, produce a " tout 

 ensemble" quite unparalleled and astonishing. (R.B.) 

 CARROTS. See AGRICULTURE. Index. 

 CARSTARES, WILLIAM, an eminent Scotch 

 clergyman and statesman, was born on the llth of 

 February 161-9. ' From his father, who was minister 

 of CathcarL, in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, he 

 received the best education which the country could 

 afford. He was placed under the care of Mr Sinclair, 

 a Presbyterian clergyman at Ormiston, who kept a 

 large and genteel academy. There he acquired that 

 taste for literature by which he was afterwards so 

 much distinguished, and formed those connections, 

 which he continued to maintain, with some of the 

 first men in the kingdom. From this academy he 

 went to the University of Edinburgh, where he made 

 great progress in the scholastic philosophy of the 

 times, and ultimately applied, with a professional 

 view, and with considerable success, to the study of 

 theology. But his attention soon began to turn from 

 divinity to politics. The situation of the country, 

 and the complaints of the people, operating upon a 

 mind naturally generous and ardent, determined him 

 to co operate with those who were seeking a redress 

 of grievances, and to devote his services to the cause 

 of civil and religious freedom. His father, appre- 

 hensive of his engaging too deeply in that opposition 

 to the court measures which was then going on, sent 

 him to the University of Utrecht, under the pre- 

 tence of affording him the best opportunities of com- 

 pleting his studies. But this measure of precaution 

 had an effect the very contrary of what it was intend- 

 ed to produce. Young Carstares got a letter of in- 

 troduction irom his father to a physician in London, 



who happened to be one of those who kept up a Carstare*. 

 correspondence with Holland ; and who, on finding > - /- '' 

 that he was well acquainted with Scottish affairs, 

 and might be of great service to the Prince of Orange, 

 gave him a letter of recommendation to the prince's 

 physician. Through this medium he was soon in- 

 troduced to the Pensionary Fagel, and next to Wil- 

 liam himself, from whom he received every mark of 

 confidence and favour, and with whom he now laid 

 the foundation of that friendship which subsisted be- 

 tween them till death. After residing for some time 

 at Utrecht, and attending no less to political busi- 

 ness than to literary pursuits, he returned to his na- 

 tive country, at once possessed of all the secrets of 

 the Dutch court, and confirmed in those principles 

 of liberty which he had originally embraced. He 

 obtained license to preach the gospel according to 

 the Presbyterian form, to which, both from convic- 

 tion and education, he was strongly attached. But 

 seeing no prospect of being useful as a clergyman in 

 Scotland, he resolved to go back to Holland, where 

 he was sure to enjoy those privileges which were 

 withheld from him at home. As he intended to go 

 by London, he was employed by Argyle, and the 

 other Scotch patriots, to treat with the English ec- 

 clesiastics ; and accordingly he had several confe- 

 rences with them, and engaged in negociations with 

 the malcontents every where, for the purpose of se- 

 curing a union of counsel and of efforts in the com- 

 mon cause. He engaged in the Rye-house plot, 

 deeming it perfectly justifiable to take up arms for 

 the assertion of those constitutional rights which 

 had been violently invaded, and which remonstrances 

 and complaints had failed to recover ; but at the 

 same time expressing the utmost abhorrence of the 

 proposal which had been made to gain that object 

 more effectually, by the assassination of the King 

 and the Duke of York. On the discovery of this 

 plot, he was apprehended and thrown into prison, 

 where he remained for eleven weeks. At length he 

 petitioned the Court of King's Bench for his Ha- 

 beas Corpus^ but, instead of obtaining it, he was, 

 contrary to his own desire, and to the maxims of cri- 

 minal justice, sent down to take his trial in Scot- 

 land. As soon as he arrived in Edinburgh, he was 

 put into irons. For several weeks he continued in 

 that painful situation, urged all the while most ear- 

 nestly by one of the secretaries of state to divulge 

 what he knew, and encouraged to do so by the pro- 

 mise of a pardon. This method not succeeding, he 

 was subjected to the torture, a mode of extracting 

 evidence which still existed in all its vigour ; but, 

 though it was inflicted with great severity in pre- 

 sence of the privy council, he bore it with the ut- 

 most firmness, and persisted in maintaining an un- 

 broken silence. At length, a milder and more insi- 

 dious treatment was resorted to, which had the effect 

 of subduing, in some measure, the stubbornness of 

 his virtue. On condition of his answering certain 

 questions that were put to him, he was not only as- 

 sured of receiving a pardon for himself, but also of 

 never being produced as a witness, or having any of 

 his statements brought forward as evidence, in the 

 trial of any other person. He stipulated, besides, 

 that these engagements should be confirmed by a re- 



