and fine strawberries in summer, and butter brought in by rosy lassies from the country. The quays and docks are the busiest parts of Aberdeen.

9. Old Aberdeen lies a good mile to the north of the Castle Hill, near the river Don, from which its name is taken-Aber-deen, the mouth of the Deen or Don. The three attractions of this sleepy-looking and rather dingy town are a cathedral, a college, and a bridge.

10. Aberdeen claims a more ancient origin than the other great cities of Scotland. It is the place where commerce first took its rise in Scotland. Long before Edinburgh was anything but a small hamlet attached to a fortress, and while trade was still unknown in Glasgow, Aberdeen was a flourishing port and the seat of active and prosperous merchants.

LESSON 21.-COUNTIES AND TOWNS.-II.

1. The Lowland plain contains ten counties-Fife Kinross, Clackmannan, Stirling, Linlithgow (Lin-lith'gow), Edinburgh (Ed'-in-boro), and Haddington in the basin of the Forth, and Lanark, Renfrew, and Dumbarton in the basin of the Clyde. Clackmannan is the smallest county in Scotland, Kinross the next.

2. Dunfermline in Fifeshire has the largest manufacture of table-linen in the kingdom; it has also woollen and cotton mills, iron-foundries and collieries. St. Andrews, on the Fifeshire coast, an ancient university and cathedral city, is a well-built little town with some venerable and interesting ruins.

3. The town of Stirling is built in a convenient position for commanding what was anciently the main road to the Highlands. Hence Stirling Castle often figures in

history, and several battles have been fought within the county. The old castle remains, with its memories of war and bloodshed, and the town has other interesting old buildings. Textile manufactures are carried on in Stirling; and the county contains extensive ironworks-those of Carron date from 1760.

4. Bannockburn, famous for the decisive victory of King Robert Bruce over Edward II., gained in its neighbourhood, is a village engaged in woollen manufactures and weaving tartans for the Highland regiments.

5. Edinburgh, accounted the most picturesque city in Europe, is built on a cluster of ridges which form the northern termination of a spur of the Pentland Hills. The summit of the highest elevation embraced in its site, Castle Rock, is crowned by an ancient castle, accessible only from one side. Edinburgh is divided into the New Town and the Old Town. The line of streets leading down from the castle to Holyrood Palace, forming the principal thoroughfare in the old town, contains many ancient houses of great height, and presents a striking appearance. The New Town is beautifully laid out, with fine streets and pleasure grounds.

6. Situated in the midst of an agricultural district, Edinburgh has few manufactures, and though the capital of Scotland its population is not half so numerous as that of Glasgow, being about 250,000. It is especially an educational town, and has a university attended by 3000 students, richly endowed public schools, extensive and valuable libraries and museums, and it ranks next to London as a centre of the book trade. Its port, Leith, is so close as to be connected with it.

7. Lanark is in an agricultural district; there are cotton mills in the neighbourhood. It is of small size, and is entirely overshadowed by the city of Glasgow, which is

the commercial capital of the country, surpassing all other Scotch towns in size, population, manufactures, and com

merce. Glasgow is a well-built city composed of wide, well-paved streets, adorned with handsome and substantial edifices of freestone. Including the suburbs its population is three quarters of a million. A part of the city is in Renfrewshire, but most of it is in Lanarkshire. s. The commerce and manufactures of Glasgow have

already been referred to. It carries on nearly all the trades for which Britain is noted-cotton, woollen, silk, and linen goods; chemicals, pottery, and glass; iron and steel works, ship-building, machinery, and metal goods; distilling and brewing. Glasgow has a fine cathedral, is the seat of a university attended by 2000 students, and contains several important educational institutions.

9. Greenock, the largest town in the west next to Glasgow, has an extensive trade and many sugar refineries. Port-Glasgow, adjoining Greenock, is another seaport, of less importance than formerly, owing to improvements in the Clyde navigation which enable the largest trading vessels to reach Glasgow. Paisley has a variety of textile manufactures, and very large thread mills.

10. The town of Dumbarton, one of the Clyde ports, is on the Leven, near its outfall to the Clyde. Its chief industry is ship-building.

11. The counties of the Southern Lowlands consist of Berwick, Roxburgh (Rox'-boro), Selkirk, and Peebles, lying east of the watershed, and the south-western counties of Ayr, Wigton, Kirkcudbright (Ker-koo'-bre), and Dumfries. These counties are almost entirely agricultural and pastoral, and the towns which they contain are few and small.

12. Hawick (Ha'-ik) and Galashiels (Ga-la-shēlz'), in Roxburgh, have manufactures of tweeds, woollen hosiery, blankets, and flannels. Jedburgh (Jed'-boro), the county town of Roxburgh, has a beautiful abbey ruin. The magnificent ruin of Melrose Abbey stands near the Tweed in the same county.

18 Kilmarnock (Kil-mar'-nok), the largest town in these counties, having 26,000 inhabitants, has woollen and iron manufactures. The town of Ayr is a well-built,

thriving port, with 21,000 inhabitants. It is noted from its association with the poet Burns, to whom a monument has been raised on the banks of the Doon, at no great distance from the town.

14. The town of Dumfries (Dum-freece'), with its 17,000 inhabitants, may be considered as the capital of southwest Scotland. Situated some miles inland upon a tidal portion of the river Nith, it is an important agricultural centre and trading port. The markets for cattle and pigs. are large. There are a few manufactures, chiefly woollen goods, clogs and shoes. Dumfries is well built, and is considered one of the handsomest towns in Scotland. A tomb in the old church burying-ground contains the remains of the poet Robert Burns, who died here.

LESSON 22.-THE APPROACH TO BRITAIN FROM AMERICA.

1. The first whiff we got of nature on the east side of the Atlantic was the peaty breath of the peasant chimneys of Ireland while we were yet many miles at sea.

2. What a home-like fireside smell it was; it seemed to remind me of a home long forgotten. This odour of the Old World, wafted to us on our approach from the New, savours of the soil. I know no other fuel that yields so agreeable a perfume.

3. With the breath of the chimney there came presently the chimney-swallow, and dropped much fatigued upon the deck of the steamer. It was still more welcome, for it reminded us of the American barn-swallow. Its little black cap appeared pulled down over its eyes in the same manner, and its glossy steel-blue coat, its forked tail, its tiny feet, and its cheerful twitter were the same.