when we made a visit to the romantic "Brigg of Allan,"
we passed beyond the suburbs into a clear bright atmosphere; and on our
return in the afternoon, we found the pall hanging over the city as
usual.

We would have been delighted to take the advice of our hostess to see
more of the land immortalized by Scott and Burns. "Ech, Sirs," she said,
"but ye suld gae doon to the Heelands to see Scotland"; from which
remark it may be reasonably inferred that she was a "Heeland" woman. We
were painfully struck by the number of paupers and intoxicated females
in the streets; and some of our party saw, for the first time in their
lives, white women shoeless, and shivering in scanty rags, which
scarcely concealed their nakedness, with the thermometer at the freezing
point. Whitaker's British Almanac publishes, statistically, the
_drinking_ propensities of the population of the three kingdoms, from
which it appears that there were consumed per head in 1869--

Malt 1,989 bushels in England.
Spirits 591 gallons "
Malt 509 bushels in Ireland.
Spirits 873 gallons "
Malt 669 bushels in Scotland.
Spirits 1,576 gallons "

The inventory taken on board the Giraffe, after she was turned over to
the Confederate Government, showed over _two hundred_ pitchers and
ladles for hot punch! We came to the conclusion that Scotch babies were
weaned upon this beverage, for the law forbade the carrying of that
number of grown passengers by the Giraffe.

Having secured the services of a sailing captain, British laws not
allowing the clearance of a vessel under the British flag, except under
the command of one who holds a certificate of competence, we sent our
luggage on board one evening, and sat down to our last meal on British
soil. There were many guests at the table; several of our friends having
come on from London to see us take our departure, and toasts were duly
and enthusiastically drank to the success of "the cause." The privileged
old head-waiter, dressed in professional black, (and ridiculously like
an old magpie as he hopped about the room with his head on one side,)
"whose custom it was of an afternoon" to get drunk, but always with
Scotch decorum, nodded approval of the festivities, until, overcome by
his feelings (or Usquebaugh) he was obliged to withdraw.

We bade adieu to our friends late at night, and went on board