Had he lived in ancient Rome, he would
have been honoured with a statue at the public expence. I
moreover conversed with one Mr G--ssf--d, whom I take to be one
of the greatest merchants in Europe. In the last war, he is said
to have had at one time five and twenty ships with their cargoes,
his own property, and to have traded for above half a million
sterling a-year. The last war was a fortunate period for the
commerce of Glasgow -- The merchants, considering that their ships
bound for America, launching out at once into the Atlantic by the
north of Ireland, pursued a track very little frequented by
privateers, resolved to insure one another, and saved a very
considerable sum by this resolution, as few or none of their
ships were taken -- You must know I have a sort of national
attachment to this part of Scotland -- The great church dedicated
to St Mongah, the river Clyde, and other particulars that smack
of our Welch language and customs, contribute to flatter me with
the notion, that these people are the descendants of the Britons,
who once possessed this country. Without all question, this was a
Cumbrian kingdom: its capital was Dumbarton (a corruption of
Dunbritton) which still exists as a royal borough, at the influx
of the Clyde and Leven, ten miles below Glasgow.
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