NATURE IN ENGLAND. 7 



enormous mechanical, commercial, and architectural 

 interest, alternating with the quiet and simplicity of 

 inland farms and home occupations. You could leap 

 from the deck of a half-finished ocean steamer into a 

 field of waving wheat or Winchester beans. These 

 vast ship-yards appear to be set down here upon the 

 banks of the Clyde without any interference with the 

 natural surroundings of the place. 



Of the factories and foundries that put this iron in 

 shape you get no hint ; here the ships rise as if they 

 sprouted from the soil, without waste or litter, but 

 with an incessant din. They stand as thickly as a 

 row of cattle in stanchions, almost touching each 

 other, and in all stages of development. Now and 

 then a stall will be vacant, the ship having just been 

 launched, and others will be standing with flags flying 

 and timbers greased or soaped, ready to take to the 

 water at the word. Two such, both large ocean 

 steamers, waited for us to pass. We looked back, 

 saw the last block or wedge knocked away from one 

 of them, and the monster ship sauntered down to the 

 water and glided out into the current in the most 

 gentle, nonchalant way imaginable. I wondered at 

 her slow pace, and at the grace and composure with 

 which she took to the water; the problem nicely 

 studied and solved just power enough, and not an 

 ounce to spare. The vessels are launched diagonally 

 up or down stream, on account of the narrowness of 

 the channel. But to see such a brood of ships, the 

 largest in the world, hatched upon the banks of such 



