NORTHERN MEMOIRS. 



ought I know, as were the myrtle groves, so son- 

 neted by poets. 



Arn. As I am of your opinion in that, so I 

 suppose you'r of mine in this, that though sin 

 untune the strings of the soul, yet sin cannot 

 unstring the soul ; the faculties are left still, 

 though in such disorder, that all the wit of man 

 can no more tune them, than the strings of an 

 untun'd lute can dispose themselves for harmo- 

 ny, without a skilful musician's hand. By this 

 we know God governs the world, who also rules 

 in the heart of man, and makes it a temple for 

 the Holy Ghost. So let us pass on with our 

 travelling design (by the house of Cardrus) to 

 the ports of Sterling ; where stands a beautiful 

 and imbellished Castle, elevated on the preci- 

 pice of an impregnable rock, that commands 

 the vallies, (as well as the town) and all those ha- 

 bitable parts about it : those are the turrets that 

 present before us, let us enter her ports, both 

 strong and spacious ; whose incircling arms sur- 

 round a city, (but not a great one) that's built 

 all with stone ; so is her castle ; and situated 

 close by the river Firth, as above explain'd, up- 

 on lofty, craggy, and mountanous rocks, almost 

 inaccessable. More southward yet the city 

 spreads it self into many sweet situations, that 

 invigorate the inhabitants, and accommodate the 

 Low-land merchant rather than the mariner with 



