We reached the castle gate, which is near the shore of the
Clyde, and there found another artillery soldier, who guided us through
the fortress. He said that there were now but about a dozen soldiers
stationed in the castle, and no officer.
The lowest battery looks towards the river, and consists of a few
twelve-pound cannon; but probably the chief danger of attack was from the
land, and the chief pains have been taken to render the castle defensible
in that quarter. There are flights of stone stairs ascending up through
the natural avenue, in the cleft of the double-summited rock; and about
midway there is an arched doorway, beneath which there used to be a
portcullis,--so that if an enemy had won the lower part of the fortress,
the upper portion was still inaccessible. Where the cleft of the rock
widens into a gorge, there are several buildings, old, but not
appertaining to the ancient castle, which has almost entirely
disappeared. We ascended both summits, and, reaching the loftiest point
on the right, stood upon the foundation of a tower that dates back to the
fifth century, whence we had a glorious prospect of Highlands and
Lowlands; the chief object being Ben Lomond, with its great dome, among a
hundred other blue and misty hills, with the sun going down over them;
and, in another direction, the Clyde, winding far downward through the
plain, with the headland of Dumbeck close at hand, and Douglas Castle at
no great distance.
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