It
has been helped to immortality by Sir Walter Scott, who in "Marmion" has
invested Pitscottie's antique prose with the charm of imperishable
poetry.
[Illustration: THE OLD CROSS WELL.]
One characteristic of the towns or villages in Scotland through which we
passed was their fine drinking-fountains, and we had admired a very fine
one at Falkirk that morning; but Linlithgow's fountain surpassed it--it
was indeed the finest we had seen, and a common saying occurred to us:
Glasgow for bells,
Linlithgow for wells.
Linlithgow has long been celebrated for its wells, some of them of
ancient date and closely associated with the history of the town. We
came to an old pump-well with the date 1720, and the words "Saint
Michael is kinde to straingers." As we considered ourselves to be
included in that category, we had a drink of the water.
[Illustration: THE TOWN HERALD, LINLITHGOW (A survival of the past)]
At the end of the village or town we passed the union workhouse, where
the paupers were busy digging up potatoes in the garden, and a short
distance farther on we passed a number of boys with an elderly man in
charge of them, who informed us they came from the "institute," meaning
the workhouse we had just seen, and that he took them out for a walk
once every week.
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