XOHTHEllX MEMOIKS. 251 



Am. That's Edinburgh-Castle, elevated in the 

 air, on an impregnable precipice of rocky earth, 

 perpendicular in some parts, rampir'd and bar- 

 rocadoed with thick walls of stone, and grafts pro- 

 portionable, to contribute an additional strength. 

 So that you are to consider this inaccessible cas- 

 tle shines from a natural as well as an artificial 

 product, because part of it you see contiguous 

 with the rock ; but the other part, because af- 

 fixed by cemented stone, which inoculates and 

 incorporates them so firmly together, that the 

 whole mass of building is of such incredible 

 strength, that it's almost fabulous for any man 

 to report it, or sum up the impregnable lustre 

 and beauty of this fair fortress, that defies all at- 

 tempts, except famine, disease, or treachery be 

 conduct ; so that culverins and cannons signify 

 but little, without bombs and carcasses. On the 

 other hand, the defendants must not be too li- 

 beral, lest their water forsake them sooner than 

 their ammunition ; so inevitably draw upon 

 them the foregoing consequence, and incom- 

 mode them with a thousand inconveniences. 

 True it is, many arguments of art and artillery 

 have been sent to examine this impregnable 

 castle, but none were ever found more success- 

 ful than hunger and disease, or the golden ap- 

 ples of the Hesperides. Such kind of magnets 



