o8 SHORT TOUR OF SCOTLAND 



of hills, wcv *> and plantations. To the gran* 



of this we(tcrn profpeft, a gentle elevation, 

 after leaving Kii; lays open the foft fcenery of" 



the Clyde towards Glafgow, whofe fpirc-s make a 

 confpicuous : :Jfcape. South-cad, at 



the diftance of five miles, is a full view of Pain 

 large, irregular town, remarkable for its g;i 

 nufadturcs, which adorn the heads of the Britifli 



I, and even thofe of Paris, as appears tr 

 commiflions fent from that capital, From this hill to 

 Glafgow, the road is ftraight and level ; the villas arc 

 numerous ;the farm-houfes fmall but neat ; the i 



.yinclofedinthe true flylc of judicious hufbandry. 



afing objects denote the neighbourhood of 



a large commercial city, flriving to correfpond, in 



tafte and elegance, with the beauties of its environs. 



Glafgow owes the regularity of its ftreets to a fire, 

 which, in 1652, burnt one third of the city, includ- 

 ing 80 warehoufes, and the habitations of 1000 

 families. This calamitous event is recorded in a 

 letter from colonels Overton and Blackmore to 

 Oliver Cromwell, and by which it appears that Glaf- 

 gow contained from 15 to 20,000 people, amongft 

 m were fome wealthy merchants. 



Unfortunately for this, and all the towns in Scot- 

 the builders have copied the Gothic, unhealthy, 

 and moft inconvenient practice of France, inftead 

 of the clean, the decent, and commodious dwellings 

 of England, where the whole building is oca; 

 by one tenant only. From this error, in the rebuild- 

 ing of Glafgow, that city is at prefent a medley 

 of beauty and deformity. The houfes have out- 

 wardly, an appearance of elegance \ the ftreets are 

 moftly ftraight and wide; but the town is difgraced 

 by its narrow, unwholcfome lanes or clofles ; by 

 the inconveniencies of an over-crowded population, 

 every houfe being inhabited by various families, and 

 of various ranks in life. The builders had no con- 

 ception of fmall neat houfes, from 10 to 25 feet 



\v< 



