CHAP. III. 



BANKS OF THE DON. 



49 



the place before, though only at a distance. But who 

 that has seen the banks arid braes of the Don, from 

 the Auld Brig* to the Haughs of Grandholm, can 



THE SPIRES OF ST. MACHAR. 



ever forget it ? Looking down from the heights above 

 the Brig of Balgownie, you see the high broad arch 



* The Auld Brig is also called the Brig o' Balgownie. Byron, 

 who lived for some years at Aberdeen in his boyhood, says "The 

 Brig of Don, near the ' auld toim ' of Aberdeen, with its one arch 

 and its black deep salmon stream, is in my memory as yesterday. 

 I still remember the awful proverb which made me pause to cross 

 it, and yet lean over it with a childish delight being an only son, 

 at least by the mother's side 



' Brig o' Balgownie, wight (strong) is thy wa' ', 



Wi' a wife's ae son on a mear's ae foal 



Downthou shaltfaV" 



