BUCK’S-HEAD

NEXT day, I spent almost the whole morning in company with my excellent cicerone, in taking a survey of a few of the most extensive manufactories of this place. As these, however, must be in all respects quite similar to those of other towns which you have often seen, I shall not trouble you with any particular description of what I saw. It appeared to me, upon the whole, that the Glasgow manufacturers conduct matters with more attention to the comforts of those whom they employ, than most of their brethren elsewhere; a fact which, indeed, I remember to have heard mentioned in Parliament a few sessions ago, with a very laudable degree of pride, by the Member for the town, Mr Kirkman Finlay, himself one of the greatest merchants of Scotland, and, I well believe, one of the most intelligent also, in spite of all the jokes against him in the Courier. I was assured, at least, that there prevails in this place nothing of the vile custom of unceasing labour by day and by night, which has been, with so much noble passion, described and branded in the words of the Wanderer.

After being confined for hours to the steam-heated atmosphere of these places, my ears dingling with the eternal rock and buzz of wheels and spindles, and my eyes fretted and inflamed with the flakes of cotton every where flying about; and, in spite of all that I have said, my spirits being not a little depressed by the contemplation of so many thousands of poor creatures shut out in their captivity from

—my spirits being somewhat saddened with all these poisonous sights, and sounds, and reflections, I readily embraced the proposal of my friend—that we should walk forth, namely, into the fields, and refresh ourselves with breathing the unpolluted air of heaven, till the hour of dinner.

He led me into a large piece of meadow-ground, which stretches along the banks of the Clyde to the east of the city, and which, being public property, is left in its free untainted verdure, forming a beautiful contrast to the dust of the city, and a precious breathing-place to its inhabitants.