The Ayrshire Legatees | Page 5

snow-shower had given
to the landscape a sort of copperplate effect, but still the forms of things,
though but sketched, as it were, with China ink, were calculated to
produce interesting impressions. After ascending, by a gentle acclivity,
into a picturesque and romantic pass, we entered a spacious valley, and,
in the course of little more than half an hour, reached this town; the
largest, the most populous, and the most superb that I have yet seen.
But what are all its warehouses, ships, and smell of tar, and other
odoriferous circumstances of fishery and the sea, compared with the
green swelling hills, the fragrant bean-fields, and the peaceful groves of
my native Garnock!
The people of this town are a very busy and clever race, but much
given to litigation. My brother says, that they are the greatest
benefactors to the Outer House, and that their lawsuits are the most
amusing and profitable before the courts, being less for the purpose of

determining what is right than what is lawful. The chambermaid of the
inn where we lodge pointed out to me, on the opposite side of the street,
a magnificent edifice erected for balls; but the subscribers have
resolved not to allow any dancing till it is determined by the Court of
Session to whom the seats and chairs belong, as they were brought
from another house where the assemblies were formerly held. I have
heard a lawsuit compared to a country- dance, in which, after a great
bustle and regular confusion, the parties stand still, all tired, just on the
spot where they began; but this is the first time that the judges of the
land have been called on to decide when a dance may begin.
We arrived too late for the steam-boat, and are obliged to wait till
Monday morning; but to-morrow we shall go to church, where I expect
to see what sort of creatures the beaux are. The Greenock ladies have a
great name for beauty, but those that I have seen are perfect frights.
Such of the gentlemen as I have observed passing the windows of the
inn may do, but I declare the ladies have nothing of which any woman
ought to be proud. Had we known that we ran a risk of not getting a
steam-boat, my mother would have provided an introductory letter or
two from some of her Irvine friends; but here we are almost entire
strangers: my father, however, is acquainted with one of the magistrates,
and has gone to see him. I hope he will be civil enough to ask us to his
house, for an inn is a shocking place to live in, and my mother is
terrified at the expense. My brother, however, has great confidence in
our prospects, and orders and directs with a high hand. But my paper is
full, and I am compelled to conclude with scarcely room to say how
affectionately I am yours,
RACHEL PRINGLE.
LETTER III
The Rev. Dr Pringle to Mr. Micklewham, Schoolmaster and Session-
Clerk, Garnock--EDINBURGH.
Dear Sir--We have got this length through many difficulties, both in the
travel by land to, and by sea and land from Greenock, where we were
obligated, by reason of no conveyance, to stop the Sabbath, but not

without edification; for we went to hear Dr. Drystour in the forenoon,
who had a most weighty sermon on the tenth chapter of Nehemiah. He
is surely a great orthodox divine, but rather costive in his delivery. In
the afternoon we heard a correct moral lecture on good works, in
another church, from Dr. Eastlight--a plain man, with a genteel
congregation. The same night we took supper with a wealthy family,
where we had much pleasant communion together, although the
bringing in of the toddy-bowl after supper is a fashion that has a
tendency to lengthen the sederunt to unseasonable hours.
On the following morning, by the break of day, we took shipping in the
steam-boat for Glasgow. I had misgivings about the engine, which is
really a thing of great docility; but saving my concern for the boiler, we
all found the place surprising comfortable. The day was bleak and cold;
but we had a good fire in a carron grate in the middle of the floor, and
books to read, so that both body and mind are therein provided for.
Among the books, I fell in with a History of the Rebellion, anent the
hand that an English gentleman of the name of Waverley had in it. I
was grieved that I had not time to read it through, for it was wonderful
interesting, and far more particular, in many points, than any other
account of that affair I have yet met with; but it's no so friendly to
Protestant principles as