a Carmelite, and famous poet, to celebrate his victory; but the monarch was defeated, and the poor bard taken and forced by the conqueror, invitâ Minerva, to fing his fuccefs, which he did in fuch lines as thefe : Hic capit, hic rapit, hic terit, hic ferit, ecce dolores; Vox tonat; es fonat; hic ruit; hic luit; arto modo res. Hic latet, hic patet; hic premit, hic gemit; hic fuperatur. At this place that unfortunate monarch James III. was defeated by his rebellious fubjects; in his flight fell down from his horse, and bruised by his fall was drawn into a neighboring mill, and foon after affaffinated by a Prieft called in to receive his confeffion, and afford him fpiritual affiftance. Went through the small town of St. Ninian, a mile South of Sterling. The church had been the powder-magazine of the Rebels, who, on their return, blew it up in fuch hafte, as to destroy fome of their own people, and about fifteen innocent spectators. Sterling and its castle, in refpect of fituation, is a miniature of Edinburgh; is placed on a ridged hill, or rock, rifing out of a plain, having the castle at the upper end on a high precipitous rock. Within its walls was the palace of feveral of the Scotch Kings, a quare building, ornamented on three fides with pillars refting on grotefque figures projecting from the wall, and on the top of each pillar is a statue, seemingly the work of fancy. Near it is the old parlement house, a vast room 120 feet long, very high, with a • Apoftle of the Pias, fon of a prince of the Cumbrian Britains, converting the Pias as far as the Grampian bills. Died 432. ST. NINIAN. STERLING. FALKIRK. timbered roof, and formerly had a gallery running round the infide. Below the castle are the ruins of the palace belonging to the Earls of Mar, whose family had once the keeping of this fortrefs. There are ftill the Erskine arms and inuch ornamental carving on parts of it. The town of Sterling is inclofed with a wall; the ftreets are irregular and narrow, except that which leads to the caftle. Here, and at the village of Bannocbourne, is a confiderable manufacture of coarse carpets. From the top of the castle is by far the finest view in Scotland. To the Eaft is a vaft plain rich in corn, adorned with woods, and watered with the river Forth, whofe meanders are, before it reaches the fea, fo frequent and fo large, as to form a multitude of most beautiful peninfulas; for in many parts the windings approximate fo close as to leave only a little ifthmus of a few yards. In this plain is an old abby, a view of Alloa, Clackmannan, Falkirk, the Firth of Forth, and the country as far as Edinburgh. On the North, the Ochil hills, and the moor where the battle of Dumblain was fought. To the Weft, the ftraith of Menteith, as fertile as the Eaftern plain, and terminated by the Highland mountains, among which the fummit of Ben-Lomond is very confpicuous. The Sylva Caledonia, or Caledonian Foreft, begun a little North of Sterling, and passing through Menteith and Strathern, extended, according to Boethius, as far as Athol on one fide, and Lochabar on the other. It is very flightly mentioned by the antients *; but the fuppofed extent is given by the Scottish hiftorian. Lie at Falkirk, a large ill-built town, fupported by the great By Pliny, lib. iv. c. 16. and Eumenius, in his Panegyric on Conftantius, c. 7. fairs for black cattle from the Highlands, it being computed that 24,000 head are annually fold here. There is also a great deal of money got here by the carriage of goods, landed at Carron wharf, to Glasgow. Such is the increase of trade in this country, that about twenty years ago not three carts could be found in the town, and at present there are above a hundred that are supported by their intercourfe with Glasgow. In the church-yard, on a plain ftone, is the following epitaph on John de Graham, styled the right hand of the gallant Wallace, killed at the battle of Falkirk in 1298*: Here lies Sir John the Grame both wight and wife, Ane of the chief refkewit Scotland thrife. Ane better knight not to the world was lent Nor was gude Grame of trueth, and of hardiment. Mente manuque potens, et VALLÆ fidus Achates Near this is another epitaph, occafioned by a fecond battle of Falkirk, as difgraceful to the English as the other was fatal to the Scots: the first was a well difputed combat; the last, a panic on both fides, for part of each army flew, the one Weft, the other Eaft, each carrying the news of their feveral defeats, while the total destruction of our forces was prevented by the gallant behaviour of a brigadier, who with two regiments faced fuch of the rebels as kept the field, and prevented any further advantages. The epitaph • Fought between Falkirk and Carron works, at a place, called to this day Graham's Moor. I allude |