DUMARSAIS DUMBARTONSHIRE. 



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the gallery, where the pieces of Cuyp and other 

 masters seem to reflect the beautiful scenery on 

 which you have just been ijazing. In that collec- 

 tion you find paintings of all characters and schools, 

 from the comic, and, sometimes, almost too natural 

 Teniers, and Wouvermann, up to Cuyp, Claude, 

 Paul Potter, and the grave Ruysdael. The gallery 

 contains, likewise, many works of Murillo, Vandyke, 

 Rubens, Rembrandt, Poussin, Salvator Rosa, Cara- 

 vaggio, Guercino, Paul Veronese, Guido, Andrea 

 del Sarto, and Titian. Of the last there is a nymph, 

 a picture in which this glorious artist expressed, per- 

 haps more than in any of his other productions, that 

 luxuriant beauty and glowing voluptuousness, which 

 so often inspired him. The gallery at Dulwich is 

 also advantageously distinguished from many others 

 in England, by the facility of admittance. Not a few 

 of the greatest works of art are immured in the 

 retired seats of the nobility, and only seen, if at all, 

 after tedious applications, which contrast very dis- 

 agreeably with the facility of reception in Italy. 



DUMARSAIS, CESAR CHESNEAU, a philologist, 

 was born hi 1676, at Marseilles. He early lost his 

 tather, his fortune was dissipated by the extravagance 

 of his mother, and a library, which he inherited, was 

 sold. The idea of losing the latter so disturbed the 

 boy, then but seven years old, that he concealed all 

 the books of 'which he could possess himself. He 

 became an advocate, married unhappily, kept a 

 school, and died in misery, 1756. His merits were 

 overlooked by his own age, and his best works re- 

 mained for a long- time unknown. D'Alembert aptly 

 calls him the La Fontaine of philosophers. De Ge- 

 rando, in a prize dissertation, presented to the French 

 institute hi 1805, has justly appreciated the merit of 

 this profound inquirer. His works were published at 

 Paris, 1797, in seven vols. The principal are, A New 

 Method of teaching the Latin Language ; a Treatise 

 on Tropes ; the Principles of (general) Grammar ; 

 and his contributions to the Encyclopaedia. 



DUMBARTON ; the chief town of Dumbarton- 

 shire, is a royal burgh, situated about fifteen miles 

 west of Glasgow, near the southern confines of the 

 county, where the Leven joins the Clyde, and is 

 nearly insulated at the time of high water. The 

 spring tide arises about eleven feet in the harbour, 

 to which about 2000 tons of Shipping belong. It is 

 an ancient place, and has a strong castle situated on 

 a precipitous rock, divided about the middle, and 

 forming two summits, at the junction of the Leven 

 and the Clyde, by which its base is washed on two 

 sides. Bede says, the ancient Britons named this 

 castle Alunth or Alcluid (the place on the Clyde ;) 

 the Caledonians, Dun Briton, because it was within 

 the British territory. It was formerly considered 

 impregnable, and regarded as the key to the western 

 Highlands ; nevertheless it was taken, by escalade, 

 from the adherents of the unhappy Mary, under cover 

 of a thick fog, in 1571. The enterprise, conducted 

 by captain Crawfurd, was singularly hazardous, and 

 an interesting account of it is given by Buchanan, 

 and from him by Robertson (Hist, of Scot, book vi.). 

 The principal manufacture is that of crown glass, 

 which employs a great number of persons. Tanning 

 and weaving are also carried on here, but to a less 

 extent ; and the fair in June is the principal mart in 

 the west of Scotland for Highland cattle. Dumbar- 

 ton was made a royal burgh by Alexander II. in 

 1221. Population in 1831, 3623. 



DUMBARTONSHIRE, or DUNBARTON- 

 SHIRE, anciently called the Shire of Lennox, a 

 small county of Scotland, consisting oftwo districts, 

 separated from each other by an intervening space 

 of about six miles in breadth, and containing jointly 

 twelve parishes. The western division, whichisthe 



larger of the two, is nearly 40 miles long and from 

 5 to 13 broad. It is bounded by Perthshire on the 

 north, Loch Long on the west, by the Clyde and 

 Lanarkshire on the south, and by Stirlingshire on the 

 east. The smaller portion is completely enclosed by 

 Stirlingshire and Lanarkshire. The area of the 

 larger part is about 205 square miles, and that of the 

 smaller only 25, making together a surface of 230 

 square miles. By another measurement, it is said to 

 comprise 261 square miles. The smaller tract for- 

 merly was included in Stirlingshire, till the earl of 

 Wigton, to whom it belonged, became heritable 

 sheriff of Dumbartonshire, and got it annexed to the 

 latter county. 



A great part of the surface of this county consists 

 of a series of mountains, forming part of the ridge 

 that crosses the country from Forfarshire to the Frith 

 of Clyde. The highest of these summits is Benvor- 

 lich, in the parish of Arrochar, on the west side of 

 Loch Lomond, which is nearly equal in elevation to 

 Benlomond, (3262 feet above the level of the sea,) 

 one of the topmost of the Grampians, on the opposite 

 side of the lake. The only river of any note, which 

 can properly be said to belong to this county, is the 

 Leven, which forms the outlet of Loch Lomond, and 

 flows through a fine valley of five or six miles in 

 length, and joins the Clyde near Dumbarton castle. 

 The waters of this stream are singularly pure and 

 soft, and so well adapted to bleaching and printing 

 cottons, that several extensive works of both kinds 

 are established in this short distance. The other 

 streams by which it is intersected, are the Luss, 

 Froon, Finlas, Doulas, Falloch, and Luggie ; while 

 the Clyde, the Endrick, and the Kelvin wash its con- 

 fines. Lochs Long and Garloch, are arms of the sea, 

 which either penetrate or stretch along the borders 

 of this county. The former separates it from Argyle- 

 shire, bending to the north-east till it approaches the 

 northern part of Loch Lomond ; the latter enters the 

 county for about seven miles, and almost detaches 

 the peninsula of Roseneath from the main land. These 

 lochs, therefore, afford the means of an extensive in- 

 land navigation to all the western districts ; while 

 the Forth and Clyde Canal, which runs for about 

 sixteen miles through the county, confers a similar 

 advantage on the adjacent tracts. Loch Lomond, 

 separated from Loch Long by a narrow neck of land, 

 called the Tarbat, (the drawing up of ships,) is situ- 

 ated between the counties of Dumbarton and Stirling. 

 This lake is about twenty-four miles long, and about 

 six broad towards the south, where it is widest. It 

 contains about thirty islands, most of which, with 

 about two-thirds of the shore, belong to Dumbarton- 

 shire. The kippered salmon of Loch Lomond and 

 the Leven is a great national luxury, and the fisheries 

 are of considerable value. Its wooded banks and 

 islands afford a striking contrast with the rugged 

 and towering scenery by which it is surrounded ; 

 which for variety and magnificence is, perhaps, not 

 surpassed by any other lake in Great Britain. The 

 whole surface of the lake is estimated at 28,000 acres, 

 and the best view of it is from a promontory near 

 Luss, a village on its western shore. 



The climate in the lower parts of Dumbartonshire 

 is moist, and more favourable to pasturage and the 

 growth of wood than to tillage, though by no means 

 insalubrious. Stone and peat occupy much of the 

 elevated tracts. Most of the estates, as well as the 

 farms in this county, are small, particularly hi the 

 arable part. The hilly pastures are let in farms of 

 several hundred acres. Besides the regular produce 

 of agriculture, this county affords to the landed pro- 

 prietors a considerable source of income from its 

 woods and plantations. These are extensive and 

 valuable, and many of them, in sit\iations where the 



