CLASSIC GROUND. 33 



the pulpit of John Knox ; the Tor-wood in which Wal- 

 lace so often sheltered from the English, and in which 

 Cargill excommunicated Charles II. ; the links of Forth, 

 rendered classic by Macneil ; and the distant peaks of 

 Ben Lomond and Ben Ledi. Had I time for geological 

 disquisition, I could tell you something curious of the 

 valley of the Forth, and of some singular etymologies 

 given me by my cousin, which, like the name of the 

 holm mentioned by Sir Thomas, throw light on a very 

 remote period. In founding the piers of the new bridge, 

 the workmen dug through a layer, composed mostly of 

 marine exuviae, in which they found the skull of a wolf, 

 with several other remains of a very early age, the pro- 

 ductions of art. There is an eminence that rises out of 

 the bottom of the valley, quite in the manner that Inch- 

 keith does out of the Frith, which still bears in Gaelic 

 the name of the Island, though now fully five miles from 

 the sea ; and a hollow that lies still farther up continues 

 to be known as the Bay of the Anchors. But all these 

 topics we shall discuss when we meet. Heigh-ho, my 

 Lydia, we have missed many a happy meeting this 

 winter ! 



' I saw the armoury in Stirling Castle ; it contains 

 11,000 stand of arms, with immense sheaves of pikes, 

 which we made, in 1803, under the dread of a French 

 invasion, for arming the people. I saw in it, too, pikes 

 of a much ruder fashion, which some of the people made, 

 in 1819, for arming themselves. You are too young to 

 remember how fierce an attitude the Radicals assumed 

 in that year, and what fears were entertained of a general 

 uprising, you thought only of your doll at the time ; 

 I, on the contrary, was old enough to determine on 

 taking a part in the convulsion, though not quite decided 

 on which side. In Stirlingshire the Radicals broke into 



VOL. II, 



