But the age of chivalry is
past, and the glory of Europe departed for ever!
When we crossed the stream that divides the counties of Ayr and
Renfrew, we beheld, in all the apart and consequentiality of pride,
the house of Kelly overlooking the social villas of Wemyss Bay. My
brother compared it to a sugar hogshead, and them to cotton-bags;
for the lofty thane of Kelly is but a West India planter, and the
inhabitants of the villas on the shore are Glasgow manufacturers.
To this succeeded a dull drive of about two miles, and then at once
we entered the pretty village of Inverkip. A slight 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.
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