he season, several new-come-home
Clyde skippers, roaring from Greenock and Port-Glasgow, were served
up--but nothing contributed more to the entertainment of the evening than
a proposal, on the part of Miss Mally, that those present who had
received letters from the Pringles should read them for the benefit of
the company. This was, no doubt, a preconcerted scheme between her and
Miss Isabella Tod, to hear what Mr. Andrew Pringle had said to his friend
Mr. Snodgrass, and likewise what the Doctor himself had indited to Mr.
Micklewham; some rumour having spread of the wonderful escapes and
adventures of the family in their journey and voyage to London. Had
there not been some prethought of this kind, it was not indeed probable,
that both the helper and session-clerk of Garnock could have been there
together, in a party, where it was an understood thing, that not only
Whist and Catch Honours were to be played, but even obstreperous Birky
itself, for the diversion of such of the company as were not used to
gambling games. It was in consequence of what took place at this Irvine
route, that we were originally led to think of collecting the letters.

LETTER VIII

_Miss Rachel Pringle to Miss Isabella Tod_
LONDON.

MY DEAR BELL--It was my heartfelt intention to keep a regular journal of
all our proceedings, from the sad day on which I bade a long adieu to my
native shades--and I persevered with a constancy becoming our dear and
youthful friendship, in writing down everything that I saw, either rare
or beautiful, till the hour of our departure from Leith. In that
faithful register of my feelings and reflections as a traveller, I
described our embarkation at Greenock, on board the steam-boat,--our
sailing past Port-Glasgow, an insignificant town, with a steeple;--the
stupendous rock of Dumbarton Castle, that Gibraltar of antiquity;--our
landing at Glasgow;--my astonishment at the magnificence of that opulent
metropolis of the muslin manufacturers; my brother's remark, that the
punch-bowls on the roofs of the Infirmary, the Museum, and the Trades
Hall, were emblematic of the universal estimation in which that
celebrated mixture is held by all ranks and degrees--learned, commercial,
and even medical, of the inhabitants;--our arrival at Edinburgh--my
emotion on beholding the Castle, and the visionary lake which may be
night