A TOUR IN SCOTLAND. MDCCLXIX.
TROS TYRIUSQUE
mihi nullo discrimine agetur.
CHESTER: PRINTED BY JOHN MONK. MDCCLXXI.
TO Sir ROGER MOSTYN, Bart. OF MOSTYN, FLINTSHIRE.
DEAR SIR,
A Gentleman well known to the political world in the beginning of the present century made the tour of
Europe,
and before he reached
Abbeville
discovered that in order to see a country to best advantage it was infinitely preferable to travel by day than by night.
I cannot help making this applicable to myself, who, after publishing three volumes of the
Zoology
of GREAT BRITAIN, found out that to be able to speak with more precision of the subjects I treated of, it was far more prudent to visit the whole than part of my country: struck therefore with the reflection of having never seen SCOTLAND, I instantly ordered my baggage to be got ready, and in a reasonable time found myself on the banks of the
Tweed.
As soon as I communicated to you my resolution, with your accustomed friendship you wished to hear from me: I could give but a partial performance of my promise, the attention of a traveller being so much taken up as to leave very little room for the discharge of epistolary duties; and I flatter myself you will find this tardy execution of my engagement more satisfactory than the hasty accounts I could send you on my road: but this is far from being the sole motive of this address.
I have irresistable inducements of public and of a private nature: to you I owe a most free enjoyment of the little territories Providence had bestowed on me; for by a liberal and equal cession of fields, and meads and woods, you connected all the divided parts, and gave a full scope to all my improvements. Every view I take from my window reminds me of my debt, and forbids my silence, causing the pleasing glow of gratitude to diffuse itself over the whole frame, instead of forcing up the imbittering sigh of
Oh! si angulus ille!
Now every scene I enjoy receives new charms, for I mingle with the visible beauties, the more pleasing idea of owing them to you, the worthy neighbor and firm friend, who are happy in the calm and domestic paths of life with abilities superior to oftentation, and goodness content with its own reward: with a sound judgement and honest heart you worthily discharge the senatorial trust reposed in you, whose unprejudiced vote aids to still the madness of the People, or aims to check the presumption of the Minister. My happiness in being from your earliest life your neighbor, makes me confident in my observation; your increasing and discerning band of friends discovers and confirms the justice of it: may the reasons that attract and bind us to you ever remain, is the most gratefull wish that can be thought of, by
DEAR SIR,
Your obliged and affectionate Friend,
Thomas Pennant.
DOWNING,
Octobe
PLATES.
I. EIDER Drake and Duck, page 35
II.
Dunkeld
Cathedral, 75
III. Cascade near
Taymouth,
80
IV. View from the King's Seat near
Blair,
98
V.
Brae-mar
Castle, with a distant View of
Invercauld,
106
VI.
Inverness,
137
VII.
Freswick
Castle, 152
VIII. The Gannet darting on its Prey, 155
IX. Castle
Urqhuart,
169
X. Upper Fall of
Fyers,
170
XI.
Sterling
Castle, 208
XII.
Arthur
's Oven, and two
Lochaber
Axes, 212
XIII. Pillars in
Penrith
Church-Yard, 272
XIV. Roebuck. White Hare, 274
XV. Cock of the Wood, 278
XVI. Hen of the Wood. Ptarmigan, 279
XVII. Saury. Greater Weever, 284
XVIII. Thorney Crab. Cordated Crab. The last from the Isle of
Wight.
286
Opposite Page 1. A View of the gigantic Yew-Tree in
Fortingal
Church-Yard. The middle part is now decayed to the ground; but within memory was united to the height of three feet: Captain
Campbell
of
Glen-Lion
having assured me that when a boy he has often climbed over, or rode on the then connecting part.
ERRATA.
Page
Line
 
2
30
thick,
read
deep.
21
5
round, road.
31
28
appartments, apartments.
48
17
Dele
In a small square.
53
27
aedifice, edifice.
55
50
Pelecon, Pelecon.
51
12
instratum, instratam.
83
30
favourite, favorite.
 
 
prevail, prevale.
93
15
famines, famines.
94
9
mojore, majare.
95
5
Glein Raidr, Glain Naidr.
109
8
clifts, cliffs.
129
last
Ptolemy, Ptolemy.
146
3
heroe, hero.
153
20
Cornuna, Cornana.
159
28
Bel-tein,
rural sacrifice: for
Bel-tein,
according to the ingenious Mr.
James Mac Pherson,
signifies the
fire of the rack;
and of course is applicable only to the species described, p. 90.
174
9
After other,
add
the descent.
A TOUR IN SCOTLAND. MDCCLXIX.
ON
Monday
the 26th of JUNE take my departure from CHESTER,
CHESTER.
a city without parallel for the singular structure of the four principal, streets, which are as if excavated out of the earth, and sunk many feet beneath the surface; the carriages drive far beneath the level of the kitchens, on a line with ranges of shops, over which on each side of the streets passengers walk from end to end, in covered galleries, secure from wet or heat. The back courts of all these houses are level with the ground, but to go into any of these four streets it is necessary to descend a flight of several steps.
The
Cathedral
is an antient structure, very ragged on the outside, from the nature of the red friable stone
Saxum arenarium friabile rubrum
Da Costa fossils.
I. 139.
with which it is built: the tabernacle work in the choir is very neat; but the beauty, and elegant simplicity of a very antique gothic chapter-house, is what merits a visit from every traveller.
The
Hypocaust
near the
Feathers
Inn, is one of the remains of the
Romans
This city was the
Deva
and
Devana
of
Antonine,
and the station of the
Legia vicessima victrix.
, it being well known that this place was a principal station. Among many antiquities found here, none is more singular than the rude sculpture of the
Dea Armigera Minerva,
with her bird and her altar on the face of a rock in a small field near the
Welch
end of the bridge.
The castle is a decaying pile. The walk of the city, the only complete specimens of antient fortifications, are kept in excellent order, being the principal walk of the inhabitants; the views from the several parts are very fine; the mountains of
Flintshire,
the hills of
Broxton,
and the insulated rock of
Beeston,
form the ruder part of the scenery; a rich flat forms the softer view, and the prospect up the river towards
Boughton,
recalls in some degree the idea of the
Thames
and
Richmond
hill.
Passed thro'
Tarvin,
a small village; in the church-yard is an epitaph in memory of Mr.
John Thomasen,
an excellent penman, but particularly famous for his exact and elegant imitation of the
Greek
character.
Delamere,
which
Leland
calls a faire and large forest, with plenty of redde deer and falow, is now a black and dreary waste; it feeds a few rabbets, and a few black
Terns
Br. Zool.
II. 430.
skim over the splashes that water some part of it.
A few miles from this heath lies
Northwich,
Salt Pi
s.
a small town, long famous for its rock salt, and brine pits; some years ago I visited one of the mines; the stratum of salt lies about forty yards thick; that which I saw was hollowed into the form of a temple; I descended thro' a dome, and found the roof supported by rows of pillars, about two yards thick, and several in height; the whole was illuminated with numbers of candles, and made a most magnificent and glittering appearance. Above the salt is a bed of whitish clay
Argilla caerula-cinerea
Da Costa fossils.
I. 48.
, used in making the
Liverpool
earthen-ware; and in the same place is also dug a good deal of the
Gypsum,
or plaister stone. The fossil salt is generally yellow, and semipellucid, sometimes debased with a dull greenish earth, and is often found, but in small quantities, quite clear and color-less.
The road from this place to
Macclesfield
is thro' a flat, rich, but unpleasant country. That town is in a very flourishing state, is possessed of a great manufacture of mohair and twist buttons; has between twenty and thirty silk mills, and a very considerable copper smelting house, and brass work.
After leaving this place the country almost instantly changes and becomes very mountanous and barren, at left on the surface; but the bowels compensate for the external sterility, by yielding sufficient quantity of coal for the use of the neighboring parts of
Cheshire,
and for the burning of lime; vast quantity is made near
Buxton,
and being carried to all parts for the purposes of agriculture, is become a considerable article of commerce.
The celebrated warm bath of BUXTON
The
Romans,
who were remarkably fond of warm baths, did not over-look these agreeable waters; they had a bath, inclosed with a brick wall, adjacent to the present St.
Anne
's well, which Dr.
Short
in his essay on mineral waters, says was razed in 1709.
is seated in a bottom,
BUXTON.
amidst these hills, in a most chearless spot, and would be little frequented, did not
Hygeia
often reside here, and dispense to her votaries the chief blessings of life, ease and health with joy and gratitude I this moment reflect on the efficacious qualities of the waters; I recollect with rapture the return of spirits, the flight of pain, and re-animation of my long, long crippled rheumatic limbs. But how unfortunate is it, that what Providence designed for the general good, should be rendered only a partial one, and denied to all, except the opulent or I may say to the (comparatively) few that can get admittance into the house where these waters are imprisoned. There are other springs (
Cambden
says nine) very near that in the
Hall,
and in all probability of equal virtue. I was informed that the late Duke of
Devonshire,
not long before his death, had ordered some of these to be inclosed and formed into baths. It is to be hoped that his successor will not fail adopting so usefull and humane a plan; that he will form it on the most enlarged system, that they may open not solely to these whom misused wealth hath rendered invalids, but to the poor cripple, whom honest labor hath made a burden to himself and his country; and to the soldier and sailor, who by hard service have lost the use ot those very limbs which once were active in our defence. The honor resulting from such a foundation would be as great, as the satisfaction arising from a consciousness of so benevolent a work would be unspeakable; the charms of dissipation would then lose their force, and dull and tasteless would every human luxury appear to him who had it in his power thus to lay open these fountains of health, and to be able to exult in such pathetic and comfortable strains as these:
When the ear heard me,
then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me it gave witness to me;
Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
After leaving
Buxton,
passed thro'
Middleton
dale, a deep narrow chasm between two vast cliffs, which extend on each side near a mile in length: this road is very singular, but the rocks in general are too naked to be beautifull. At the end is the small village of
Stoney Middleton;
here the prospect opens, and at
Barsly Bridge
exhibits a pretty view of a small but fertile vale, watered by the
Derwent,
and terminated by
Chatsworth,
and its plantations. Arrived and lay at
Chesterfield;
an ugly town. There is here a great manufacture of worsted stockings, and another of a brown earthen-ware, much of which is sent into
Holland;
the clay is found near the town, over the bass or cherry
Or flinty.
stratum, above, the coal. The steeple of
Chesterfield
church is a spire, covered with lead, but by a violent wind strangely bent, in which state it remains.
In the road side, about three miles from the town,
JUNE 27.
are several pits of iron stone, about nine or ten feet deep. The stratum lies above the coal, and is two feet thick. I was informed that the adventurers pay ten pounds per annum to the Lord of the Soil, for liberty of raising it; that the laborers borers have six shillings per load for getting it; each load is about twenty strikes or bushels, which yields a tun of metal. Coal, in these parts, is very cheap, a tun and a half being sold for five shillings.
Changed horses at
Worksop
and
Tuxford;
crossed the
Trent
at
Dunham-Ferry,
where it is broad but shallow; the spring tides flow here, and rise about two feet, but the common tides never reach this place. Pass along the
Foss-Dyke,
or the canal opened by
Henry
I.
Dugdale
on embanking, 167.
to form a communication between the
Trent
and the
Witham;
it was opened
I make use of this word, as Doctor
Stukely
conjectures this canal to have been originally a
Roman
work; and that another of the same kind (called the
Cardike
) communicated with it, by means of the
Withan,
which began a little below
Washenbro',
three miles from
Lincoln,
and was continued thro' the fens as far as
Peterborough.
The gentlemen who favored me with the account of the
Cardike,
referred me to
Stukely
's
Cerausius,
and his life of
Richard
of
Cirencester,
books I have not at present before me.
the year 1121, and extends from
Lincoln
to
Torkesey;
its length is eleven miles three quarters, the breadth between dike and dike at the top is about sixty feet, at bottom twenty-two; vessels from fifteen to thirty-five tuns navigate this canal, and by its means a considerable trade in coals, timber, corn and wool is carried on. In former times, the persons who had landed property on either side were obliged to scower it whenever it was choaked up, and accordingly we find presentments were made by juries in several succeeding reigns for that purpose. Reach
LINCON, an antient but ill-built city, much fallen away from its former extent. It lies partly on a plain, partly on a very steep hill, on whose summit are the cathedral and the ruins of the castle. The first is a vast pile of gothic architecture; has nothing remarkable on the outside, but within is of matchless beauty and magnificence: the ornaments are excessively rich, and in the finest gothic taste; the pillars light, the centre losty, and of a surprising grandeur. The windows at the N. and S. ends very antient, but very elegant; one represents a leaf with its fibres, the other consists of a number of small circles. There are two other antient windows on each side the great isle: the others, as I recollect, are modern. This church was, till of late years, much out of repair, but has just been restored in a manner that does credit to the Chapter. There is indeed a sort of arch near the W. end, that seems placed there (for the same end as
Bayes
tells us he wrote one of his scenes) meerly to set off the rest.
The prospect from this eminence is very extensive, but very barren of objects, a vast flat as far as the eye can reach, consisting of plains not the most fertile, or of fens
The fens, naked as they now appear, were once well wooded; oaks have been found buried in them, which were sixteen yards long, and five in circumference; fir trees from thirty to thirty-five yards long, and a foot or eighteen inches square. These trees had not the mark of the ax, but appeared as if burnt down by fire applied to their lower parts. Acorns and small nuts have also been found in great quantities in the same places.
Dugdale
on embanking, 141.
and moors: the last are far less extensive than they were, many being drained, and will soon become the best land in the country. But still much remains to be done; the fens near
Revesby-Abby,
eight miles beyond
Horncastle,
are of vast extent; but serve for little other purpose than the rearing great numbers of geese, which are the wealth of the fenmen.
During the breeding season,
Geese.
these birds are lodged in the same houses with the inhabitants, and even in their very bed-chambers: in every appartment are three rows of coarse wicker pens placed one above another; each bird has its separate lodge divided from the other, which it keeps possession of during the time of sitting. A person, called a
Gozzard
i. e. Goose-herd.
, attends the flock, and twice a day drives the whole to water; then brings them back to their habitations, helping those that live in the upper stories to their nests, without ever misplacing a single bird.
The geese are plucked five times in the year; the first plucking is at
Lady-Day,
for feathers and quils, and the same is renewed, for feathers only, four times more between that and
Michaelmas.
The old geese submit quietly to the operation, but the young ones are very noisy and unruly. I once saw this performed, and observed that goslins of six weeks old were not spared; for their tails were plucked, as I was told, to habituate them early to what they were to come to. If the season proves cold, numbers of geese die by this barbarous custom
It was also practised by the antients.
Candidorum alterum vec
gal: Velluntar quibusdam loc
his anno.
Plinii lib. x. c. 22.
.
Vast numbers are drove annually to
London,
to supply the markets; among them, all the superannuated geese and ganders (called here
Cagmags
) which serve to fatigue the jaws of the good Citizens, who are so unfortunate as to meet with them.
The fen called the
West Fen,
Fen birds.
is the place where the Ruffs and Reeves resort to in the greatest numbers
Br. Zool.
II. 363.
Suppl. tab.
xv.
p.
22.
; and many other sorts of water fowl, which do not require the shelter of reeds or rushes, migrate here to breed; for this fen is very bare, having been imperfectly drained by narrow canals, which intersect it for great numbers of miles. These the inhabitants navigate in most diminutive shallow boats; they are, in fact, the roads of the country.
The
East Fen
is quite in a state of nature, and gives a specimen of the country before the introduction of drainage: it is a vast tract of morass, intermixed with numbers of lakes, from half a mile to two or three miles in circuit, communicating with each other by narrow reedy straits: they are very shallow, none are above four or five feet in depth; but abound with fish, such as Pike, Pearch, Ruff, Bream, Tench, Rud, Dace, Roach, Burbolt, Sticklebacks and Eels. The fen is covered with reeds, the harvest of the neighboring inhabitants, who mow them annually; for they prove a much better thatch than straw, and not only cottages but many very good houses are covered with them. Stares, which during winter resort in myriads to roost in the reeds, are very destructive, by breaking them down by the vast numbers that perch on them. The people are therefore very diligent in their attempts to drive them away, and are at great expence in powder to free themselves from these troublesome guests. I have seen a stock of reeds harvested and stacked worth two or three hundred pounds, which was the property of a single farmer.
The birds which inhabit the different fens are verv numerous: I never met with a finer field for the Zoologist to range in. Besides the common Wild-duck, of which an account is given in another place
Br. Zool.
II. 462. In general, to avoid repetition, the reader is
err'd to the four
Octavo
volumes of
British
Zoology, for a more particular account of
mentioned in this Tour.
, wild Geese, Garganies, Pochards, Shovelers and Teals, breed here. I have seen on the
East Fen
a small flock of the tusted Ducks; but they seemed to make it only a baiting place. The Pewit Gulls and black Terns abound; the last in vast flocks almost deafen one with their clamors: a few of the great Terns, or Tickets, are seen among them. I saw several of the great crested Grebes on the
East Fen,
called there
Gaunts,
and met with one of their floating nests with eggs in it. The lesser crested Grobe, the black and dusky Grebe, and the little Grebe, are also inhabitants of the fens; together with Coots, Water-hens, spotted Water-hens, Water-rails, Ruffs, Redshanks, Lapwings or Wipes, Red-breasted Godwits and Whimbrels. The Godwits breed near
Weshenbrough;
the Whimbrels only appear for about a fortnight in
May
near
Spalding,
and then quit the country. Opposite to
Fossdyke Wash,
during summer, are great numbers of
Avosettas,
called there
Yelpers,
from their cry: they hover over the sportsman's head like the Lapwing, and fly with their necks and legs extended.
Knots are taken in nets along the shores near
Foss
yke
in great numbers during winter; but they disappear in the spring.
The short-eared owl,
Br. Zool.
I. 156. visits the neighborhood of
Washenbrough,
along with the Woodcocks, and probably performs its migrations with those birds, for it is observed to quit the country at the same time: I have also received specimens of them from the
Danish
dominions, one of the retreats of the Woodcock. This owl is not observed in this county to perch on trees, but conceals itself in long old grass; if disturbed, takes a short flight, lights again and keeps staring about, during which time its horns are very visible. The farmers are fond of the arrival of these birds, as they clear the fields of mice, and will even fly in search of prey during day, provided the weather is cloudy and misty.
But the greatest curiosity in these parts is the vast Herony at
Cressi-Hall,
Heronry.
six miles from
Spalding.
The Herons resort there in
February
to repair their nests, settle there in the spring to breed, and quit the place during winter. They are numerous as Rooks, and their nests so crouded together, that myself and the company that was with me counted not fewer than eighty in one tree. I here had opportunity of detecting my own mistake, and that of other Ornithologists, in making two species of Herons; for I found that the crested Heron was only the male of the other: it made a most beautifull appearance with its snowy neck and long crest streaming with the wind. The family who owned this place was of the same name with these birds, which seems to be the principal inducement for preserving them.
In the time of
Michael Drayton, Here stalk'd the stately crane, at though he march'd in war.
But at present this bird is quite unknown in our island; but every other species enumerated by that observant Poet still are found in this fenny tract, or its neighborhood.
Visited
Spalding,
JUNE 28,
Spalding.
a place very much resembling, in form, neatness, and situation, a
Dutch
town: the river
Welland
passes through one of the streets, a canal is cut through another, and trees are planted on each side. The church is a handsome structure, the steeple a spire. The churches in general, throughout this low tract, are very handsome; all are built of stone, which must have been brought from places very remote along temporary canals; for, in many instances, the quarries lie at lest twenty miles distant. But these aedifices were built in zealous ages, when the benedictions or maledictions of the church made the people conquer every difficulty that might obstruct these pious foundations. The abby of
Crowland,
seated in the midst of a snaking fen, is a curious monument of the insuperable zeal of the times it was erected in; as the beautifull tower of
Boston
church, visible from all parts, is a magnificent specimen of a fine gothic taste.
Passed near the site of
Swineshead-Abby,
JUNE 29,
Swineshead-Abby.
of which there are not the lest remains. In the walls of a farm house, built out of the ruins, you are shewen the figure of a Knight Templar, and told it was the monk who poisoned King
John,
a fact denied by our best historians.
Returned thro'
Lincoln,
went out of town under the
Newport-Gate,
a curious
Roman
work; passed over part of the heath, changed horses at
Spittle,
and at
Glanford-Bridge,
dined at the ferry-house on the banks of the
Humber,
and after a passage of about five miles, with a brisk gale, landed at
Hull,
and reached that night
Burton-Constable,
the seat of Mr.
Constable,
in that part of
Yorkshire
called
Holderness;
a dull, flat country, but excellent for producing large cattle, and a good breed of horses, whose prices are near doubled since the
French
have grown so fond of the
English
kind.
Made an excursion to
Hornsea,
a small town on the coast, remarkable only for its mere, a piece of water about two miles long, and one broad, famous for its pike and eels; it is divided from the sea by a very narrow bank, so is in much danger of being sometime or other lost.
The cliffs on the coast of
Holderness
are high, and composed of clay, which falls down in vast fragments. Quantity of amber is washed out of it by the tides,
Amber.
which the country people pick up and fell; it is found sometimes in large masses, but I never saw any so pure and clear as that from the
Baltic.
It is usually of a pale yellow color within, and prettily clouded; the outside covered with a thin coarse coat.
After riding about twenty-two miles thro' a flat grazing country,
JULY 2.
reached
Burlington-Quay,
a small town close to the sea. There is a design of building a pier, for the protection of shipping; at present there is only a large wooden quay, which projects into the water, from which the place takes its name. From hence is a fine view of the white cliffs of
Flamborough
-Head, which extends far to the East, and forms one side of the
Gabrantuicorum sinus portuosus
of
Ptolomy,
a name derived from the
British Gysr,
on account of the number of goats found there, according to the conjecture of
Cambden.
A mile from hence is the town of
Burlington.
The body of the church is large, but the steeple, by some accident, has been destroyed; near it is a large gateway, with a noble gothic arch, possibly the remains of a priory of black canons, founded by
Walter de Gant,
in the beginning of the reign of
Henry
I.
This coast of the kingdom is very unfavourable to trees, for, except some woods in the neighborhood of
Burton-Constable
there is a vast nakedness from the
Humber,
as far as the extremity of
Caithness,
with a very few exceptions, which shall be noted in their proper places.
Went to
Flamborough
-Head.
JULY 3,
Flamborough-Head.
The town is on the North side, consists of about one hundred and fifty small houses, entirely inhabited by fishermen, few of whom, as is said, die in their beds, but meet their fate in the element they are so conversant in. Put myself under the direction of
William Camidge,
Ciceroni of the place, who conducted me to a little creek at that time covered with fish, a fleet of cobles having just put in. Went in one of those little boats to view the
Head,
coasting it for upwards of two miles. The cliffs are of a tremendous height, and amazing grandeur; beneath are several vast caverns, some closed at the end, others are pervious, formed with a natural arch, giving a romantic passage to the boat, different from that we entered. In some places the rocks are insulated, are, of a pyramidal figure, and soar up to a vast height; the bases of most are solid, but in some pierced thro', and arched; the color of all these rocks is white, from the dung of the innumerable flocks of migratory birds,
Its birds.
which quite cover the face of them, filling every little projection, every little hole that will give them leave to rest; multitudes were swimming about, others swarmed in the air, and almost stunned us with the variety of their croaks and screams; I observed among them corvorants, shags in small flocks, guillemots, a few black guillemots very shy and wild, auks, pussins, kittiwakes
Called here
Petrels. Br. Zool. Suppl. tab.
xxiii.
p.
26.
, and herring gulls. Landed at the same place, but before our return to
Flamborough,
visited
Robin Leith
's hole, a vast cavern, to which there is a narrow passage from the land side; it suddenly rises to a great height, the roof is finely arched, and the bottom is for a considerable way formed in broad steps, resembling a great but easy ftair-case; the mouth opens to the sea, and gives light to the whole.
Lay at
Hunmandby,
a small village above
Filey Bay,
round which are some plantations that thrive tolerably well, and ought to be an encouragement to gentlemen to attempt covering these naked hills.
Filey Brig
is a ledge of rocks running far into the sea, and often fatal to shipping. The bay is sandy, and affords vast quantities of fine fish, such as Turbot, Soles, &c. which during summer approach the shore, and are easily taken in a common sesne or dragging-net.
Set out for
Scarborough,
JULY 4.
passed near the site of
Flixton,
a hospital founded in the time of
Athelstan,
to give shelter to travellers from the
wolves, that they should not be devoured by them
Cambden Brit.
II. 902.
; so that in those days this bare tract must have been covered with wood, for those ravenous animals ever inhabit large forests. These
hospitia
are not unfrequent among the
Alps;
are either appendages to religious houses, or supported by voluntary subscriptions. On the spot where
Flixton
stood is a farm-house, to this day called the
Spital
House. Reach
SCARBOROUGH, a large town, built in form of a crescent on the sides of a deep hill; at one extremity are the ruins of the castle seated on a cliff of a stupendous height, from whence is a very good view of the town. In the castle-yard is a handsome barrack for one hundred and fifty men, but at present untenanted by soldiery. Beneath, on the south side, is a large stone pier, (another is now building) which shelters the shipping belonging to the town. It is a place absolutely without trade, yet owns above 300 sail of ships, which are hired out for freight: in the late war the Government had never less than 100 of them in pay.
The number of inhabitants belonging to this place are above 10,000, but as great part are sailors, nothing like that number are resident, which makes one church sufficient for those who live on shore. It is large, and seated almost on the top of the hill. The range of buildings on the
Cliff
commands a fine view of the castle, town, and shore, and of innumerable shipping that are perpetually passing backward and forward on their voyages. The spaw
The waters are impregnated with a purgative salt, (
Glauber
's) a small quantity of common salt, and of steel. There are two wells, the ferthest from the town is more purgative, and its taste more bitter; the other is more chalybeate, and ita taste more brisk and pungent. D. H.
lies at the foot of one of the hills, S. of the town; this and the great conveniency of sea-bathing, occasion a vast resort of company during summer; it is at that time a place of great gayety, for with numbers health is the pretence, but dissipation the end.
The shore is a fine hard sand, and during low water is the place where the company amuse themselves with riding. This is also the fish market; for every day the cobles, or little fishing boats, are drawn on shore here, and lie in rows, often quite loaden with variety of the best fish. There was a fisherman, on the 9th of
May,
1767, brought in at one time, 20 Cods, 14 Lings, 17 Skates, 8 Holibuts, besides a vast quantity of lesser fish; and sold the whole for 3l. 15s. It is superfluous to repeat what has been before mentioned, of the methods of fishing, being amply described
Vol.
III. p. 193, of the
British Zoology;
yet it will be far from impertinent to point out the peculiar advantages of these seas, and the additional benefit this town might experience, by the augmentation of its fisheries. For this account, and for numberless civilities, I think myself much indebted to Mr.
Travis,
furgeon, who communicated to me the following Remarks:
Scarborough
is situated at the bottom of a bay, formed by
Whitby
rock on the North, and
Flamborough
-head on the South; the town is seated directly opposite to the centre of the W. end of the
Dogger
bank; which end, (according to
Hammond
's chart of the North Sea) lies S. and by W. and N. and by E. but by a line drawn from
Tinmouth
castle, would lead about N. W. and S. E. Tho' the
Dogger
bank is therefore but 12 leagues from
Flamborough
-head, yet it is 16 and a half from
Scarborough,
23 from
Whitby,
and 36 from
Tinmouth
castle. The N. side of the bank stretches off E. N. E. between 30 and 40 leagues, untill it almost joins to the
Long-Bank,
and
Jutt
's Riff.
It is to be remarked, that the fishermen seldom find any Cod, Ling, or other round fish upon the
Dogger
bank itself, but on the sloping edges and hollows contiguous to it. The top of the bank is covered with a barren shifting sand, which affords them no subsistence; and the water on it, from its shallowness, is continually so agitated and broken, as to allow them no time to rest. The flat fish do not suffer the same inconvenience there; for when disturbed by the motion of the sea, they shelter themselves in the sand, and find variety of suitable food. It is true, the
Dutch
fish upon the
Dogger
bank, but it is also true they take little except Soles, Skates, Thornbacks, Plaise, &c. It is in the hollows between the
Dogger
and the
Well-Bank,
that the Cod are taken, which supply
London
market.
The shore, except at the entrance of
Scarborough
pier, and some few other places, is composed of covered rocks, which abound with Lobsters and Crabs, and many other shell fish, (no Oysters) thence, after a space covered with clean sand, extending in different places from one to five or six miles. The bottom, all the way to the edge of the
Dogger
banks, is a scar; in some places very rugged, rocky, and cavernous; in others smooth, and overgrown with variety of submarine plants, Mosses, Corallines, &c.
I met with on the shores near
Scarborough,
small fragments of the true red coral.
some parts again are spread with sand and shells; others, for many leagues in length, with soft mud and ooze, furnished by the discharge of the
Tees
and
Humber.
Upon an attentive review of the whole, it may be clearly inferred, that the shore along the coast on the one hand, with the edges of the
Dogger
bank on the other, like the sides of a decoy, give a direction towards our fishing grounds to the mighty shoals of Cod, and other fish, which are well known to come annually from the Northern ocean into our seas; and secondly, that the great variety of fishing grounds near
Scarborough,
extending upwards of 16 leagues from the shore, afford secure retreats and plenty of proper food for all the various kinds of fish, and also suitable places for each kind to deposit their spawn in.
The fishery at
Scarbarough
only employs 105 men, and brings in about 5250l. per annum, a trifle to what it would produce, was there a canal from thence to
Leeds
and
Manchester;
it is probable it would then produce above ten times that sum, employ some thousands of men, give a comfortable and cheap subsistence to our manufacturers, keep the markers moderately reasonable, enable our manufacturing towns to underfell our rivals, and prevent the hands, as is too often the case, raising insurrections, in every year of scarcity, natural or artificial.
On discoursing with some very intelligent fishermen, I was informed of a very singular phoenomenon they annually observe about the spawning of fish
Mr.
Os
k
observed the same in
S. Lat.
35, 36, in his return from
China.
The seamen call it the flowering of the water.
Vol.
1l. 72.
. At the distance of 4 or 5 leagues from shore, during the months of
July
and
August,
it is remarked, that at the depth of 6 or 7 fathom from the surface, the water appears to be saturated with a thick jelly, filled with the
Ova
of fish, which reaches 10 or 12 fathoms deeper; this is known by its adhering to the ropes the cobles anchor with when they are fishing, for they find the first 6 or 7 fathom of rope free from spawn, the next 10 or 12 covered with slimy matter, the remainder again free to the bottom. They suppose this gelatinous stuff to supply the new-born fry with food, and that it is also a protection to the spawn, as being disagreeable to the larger fish to swim in.
There is great variety of fish brought on shore; besides those described as
British
fish, were two species of Rays: the Whip-Ray has also been taken here, and another species of Weever; but these are subjects more proper to be referred to a
Fauna,
than an Itinerary, for a minute description.
Left
Scarborough,
passed over large moors to
Robin Hood's Bay.
JULY 10.
On my round, observed the vast mountains of alum stone,
Alum Works.
from which that salt is thus extracted: It is first calcined in great heaps, which continue burning by its own phlogiston, after being well set on fire by coals, for six, ten, or fourteen months, according to the size of the heap, some being equal to a small hill. It is then thrown into pits and steeped in water, to extract all the saline particles. The liquor is then run into other pits, where the vitriolic salts are precipitated, by the addition of a solution of the
sal sode,
prepared from kelp; or by the volatile
alkali
of stale urine. The superfluous water being then evaporated duely by boiling in large furnaces, the liquor is set to cool; and lastly, is poured into large casks, to crystallize.
The alum works of this county are of some antiquity; they were first discovered by Sir
Thomas Chaloner,
in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth,
who observing the trees tinged, with an unusual color, made him suspicious of its being owing to some mineral in the neighborhood. He found out that the strata abounded with an aluminous salt.
At that time, the
English
being strangers to the method of managing it, there is a tradition that Sir
Thomas
was obliged to seduce some workmen from the
Pope
's alum-works near
Rome,
then the greatest in
Europe.
If one may judge from the curse which his Holiness thundered out against Sir
Thomas
and the sugitives, he certainly was not a little enraged; for he cursed by the very form that
Ernulphus
Vide
Tristram Shandy.
has left us, and not varied a tittle from that most comprehensive of imprecations.
The first pits were near
Gisborough,
the seat of the
Chaloners,
who still flourish there, notwithstanding his Holiness's
anathema.
The works were so valuable as to be deemed a royal mine. Sir
Paul Pindar,
who rented them, payed annually to the King 12,500l. to the Earl of
Mulgrave
1,640l. to Sir
William Pennyman
600l. kept 800 workmen in pay, and sold his alum at 26l. per tun. But this monopoly was destroyed on the death of
Charles
I. and the right restored to the proprietors.
In these alum rocks are frequently found
cornua ammonis,
and other fossils,
Jet.
lodged in a stony nodule. Jet is sometimes met with in thin flat pieces, externally of the appearance of wood. According to
Solinus, Britain
was famous for this fossil
GAGATES
hic plurimus optimusque est lapis: si decorem requiras, nigro gemmeus: si naturam aquâ ardet, oleo restinguitur: si potestatem attritu calefactus applicita detinet, atque succinum.
C. xxiv.
.
The sands near
Robin Hood
's village were covered with fish of several kinds, and with people who met the cobles in order to purchase their cargo: the place seemed as if a great fish fair had been held there; some were carrying off their bargains, others busied in curing the fish; and a little out at sea was a fleet of cobles and five men boats, and others arriving to discharge the capture of the preceding tides
From hence the fish are carried in machines to
Derby, Lichfield, Birmingham,
and
Worcester:
the towns whick lie beyond the last are supplied from the West of
England.
. There are 36 of the first belonging to this little place. The houses here make a grotesque appearance, are scattered over the face of a steep cliff in a very strange manner, and fill every projecting ledge, one above another, in the same manner as the peasants do in the rocky parts of
China. Sand's End, Runwick,
and
Staitbes,
three other fishing-towns on this coast, are (as I am told) built in the same manner.
The country through this day's journey was hilly, the coast high. Reach
WHITBY, called by the
Saxons, Streaneshalch,
or bay of the light-house, a large town, oddly situated between two hills, with a narrow channel running through the middle, extending about a mile farther up the vale, where it widens, and forms a bay. The two parts of the town are joined by a good draw-bridge, for the conveniency of letting the shipping pass. From this bridge are often taken the viviparous Blenny, whose back-bone is as green as that of the Sea Needle. The river that forms this harbor is the
Esk,
but its waters are very inconsiderable when the tide is out. Here is a pretty brisk trade in ship-building; but except that, a small manufacture of sail-cloth, and the hiring out of ships as at
Scarborough,
like that town it has scarce any commerce. It is computed there are about 270 ships belonging to this place. Of late, an attempt has been made to have a share in the
Greenland
fishery; four ships were sent out, and had very good success. There are very good dry docks towards the end of the harbor; and at the mouth a most beautifull pier. At this place is the first salmon-fishery on the coast.
On the hill above the S. side of the town is a fine ruin of St.
Hilda
's church.
St.
Hilda
's church.
The site was given to that saint by
Oswy,
king of
Northumberland,
about A. D. 657; possibly in consequence of a vow he made to found half a dozen monasteries, and make his daughter a nun, should heaven favor his arms. St.
Hilda
founded a convent here for men and women, dedicated it to St.
Peter,
and put it under the direction of an abbess. This establishment was ruined by the excursions of the
Danes;
but after the conquest it was rebuilt, and filled with
Benedictines,
by
Walter de Percy.
In less enlightened times it was believed that not a wild goose dared to fly over this holy ground, and if it ventured was sure to fall precipitate and perish in the attempt.
Went about two miles along the shore, then turned up into the country, a black and barren moor; observed on the right a vast artificial mount, or
Tumulus,
called
Freeburgh
Hill, a monument, in all probability, the work of the
Danes,
whose custom it was to fling up such
Tumuli
over the graves of their kings or leaders; or, in memory of the flain in general, upon the spot where they had obtained any great victory. It is possible that this mount owed its rise to the victory gained by
Ivar,
a
Danish
prince, over
Ella,
king of
Bernicia,
who was on his way from the North to succour
Osbert;
for we are told that
Ivar,
after defeating the last, went from
York
to meet
Ella,
and fought and flew him on his march.
At the end of this moor, about three miles from
Gisborough,
is a beautifull view over the remaining part of
Yorkshire,
towards
Durham, Hartlepool,
and the mouth of the
Tees,
which maeanders through a very rich tract. The country instantly assumes a new face; the road lies between most delightfull hills finely wooded, and the little vales between them very fertile: on some of the hills are the marks of the first alum works, which were discovered by Sir
Thomas Chaloner.
GISBOROUGH, a small town, pleasantly situated in a vale,
GISBOROUGH.
surrounded at some distance by hills, and open on the east to the sea, which is about five miles distant. It is certainly a delightfull spot, but I cannot see the reason why
Cambden
compares it to
Puteoli.
Here was once a priory of the canons of the order of St.
Austin,
founded by
Robert de Brus,
1129, after the dissolution granted by
Edward
VI. to the
Chaloners:
a very beautifull east window of the church is still remaining. The town has at present a good manufacture of sail cloth.
The country continues very fine quite to the banks of the
Tees,
a considerable river, which divides
Yorkshire
from the bishoprick of
Durham.
After travelling 109 miles in a strait line through the first, enter
Durham,
crossing the river on a very handsome bridge of arches, the battlements neatly panneled with stone; and reach
STOCKTON, lying on the
Tees
in form of a crescent. A handsome town; the principal street is remarkably fine, being 165 feet broad; and several lesser streets run into it at right angles. In the middle of the great street are neat shambles, a townhouse, and large assembly-room. There is besides a large square. About a century ago, according to
Anderson,
it had scarce a house that was not made of clay and thatch; but is now a flourishing place. Its manufacture is sail cloth; and great quantities of corn, and lead, (from the mineral parts of the county) are sent off from hence by commission. As the river does not admit of large vessels so high as the town, those commodities are sent down to be shipped.
The salmon fishery here is neglected, for none are taken beyond what is necessary to supply the country. Smelts come up the river in the winter time. On the west side of the town stood the castle; what remained of it is at present converted into a barn. The country from hence to
Durham
is flat, very fertile, and much inclosed. Towards the west is a fine view of the highlands of the country: those hills are part of that vast ridge which commence in the north and deeply divide this portion of the kingdom; and on that account are called by
Cambden
the
Appennines
of
England.
The approach to DURHAM is romantic,
DURHAM.
through a deep hollow, cloathed on each side with wood. The city is pretty large, but the buildings old. Part are on a plain, part on the side of a hill. The abby, or cathedral, and the castle, where the Bishop lives when he resides here, are on the summit of a cliff, whose foot is washed on two sides by the river
Were.
The walks on rhe opposite banks are very beautifull, flagged in the middle and paved on the sides, and are well kept. They are cut through the wood, impend over the river, and receive a venerable improvement from the castle and antient cathedral which soar above.
The last is very old
Begun in 1093, by Bishop
William de Carilepho.
; plain without, and supported within by massy pillars, deeply engraved with lozenge-like figures, and zigzag furrows: others are plain; and each forms a cluster of pillars. The skreen to the choir is wood covered with a coarse carving. The choir neat, but without ornament.
The chapter-house seems very antient, and is in the form of a theatre. The cloisters large and handsome. All the monuments are defaced, except that of Bishop
Hatfield.
The Prebendal houses are very pleasantly situated, and have a fine view backwards.
There are two handsome bridges over the
Were
to the walks; and a third covered with houses, which join the two parts of the town. This river produces Salmon, Trout, Roach, Dace, Minow, Loche, Bullhead, Sticklebacks, Lamprey, the lesser Lamprey, Eels, Smelts and Samlet, which are called here
Rack-riders,
because they appear in winter, or bad weather;
Rack,
in the northern dialect, signifying the driving of the clouds by tempests. It is observed here, that before they go off to spawn, those fish are covered with a white slime.
There is no inconsiderable manufacture, at
Durham,
of shalloons, tammies, stripes and callamancoes. I had heard on my road many complaints of the ecclesiastical government this county is subject to; but, from the general face of the country, it seems to thrive wonderfully under them.
Saw
Coker,
JULY 12.
the seat of Mr.
Car;
a most romantic situation, layed out with great judgment; the walks are very extensive, principally along the sides or at the bottom of deep dells, bounded with vast precipices, finely wooded; and many parts of the rocks are planted with vines, which I was told bore well, but late. The river
Were
winds along the hollows, and forms two very fine reaches at the place where you enter these walks. Its waters are very clear, and its bottom a solid rock. The view towards the ruins of
Finchal
-Abby is remarkably great; and the walk beneath the cliffs has a magnificent solemnity, a fit retreat for its monastic inhabitants. This was once called the Desert, and was the rude scene of the austerities of St.
Godric,
who carried them to the most senseless extravagance
St.
Godric
was born at
Walpole
in
Norfolk,
and being an itinerant merchant got acquainted with St.
Cuthbtert
at
Farn Island.
He made three pilgrimages to
Jerusalem;
at length, was warned by a vision to settle in the desert of
Finchal.
He lived a hermetical life there during 63 years, and practised unheard of austerities: he wore an iron shirt next his skin, day and night, and wore out three: he mingled ashes with the flower he made his bread of; and, least it should then be too good, kept it three or four months before he ventured to eat it. In winter, as well as summer, he passed whole nights, up to his chin in water, at his devotions. Like St.
Antony,
he was often haunted by fiends in various shapes; sometimes in form of beautifull damsels, so was visited with evil concupiscence, which he cured by rolling naked among thorns and briars: his body grew ulcerated; but, to encrease his pain, he poured salt into the wounds. Wrought many miracles, and died 1170.
Britannia sacra,
304. About ten years after his decease, a
Benedictine
priory of thirteen monks was founded there in his honor, by
Hugh Pudsey,
Bishop of
Durham.
. A sober mind may even at present be affected with horror at the prospect from the summits of the cliffs into a darksome and stupendous chasm, rendered still more tremendous by the roaring of the waters over its distant bottom.
Passed through
Chester-le-Street,
a small town, near which is
Lumly-Castle,
the seat of the Earl of
Scarborough;
a place, as I was told, very well worth seeing; but unfortunately it proved a public day, and I lost sight of it. The country, from
Durham
to
Newcastle,
was very beautifull; the risings gentle, and prettily wooded, and the views agreeable; that on the borders remarkably fine, there being, from an eminence not far from the capital of
Northumberland,
an extensive view of a rich country, watered by the coaly
Tyne.
Reach
NEWCASTLE, a large, disagreeable, and dirty town,
NEWCASTLE.
divided in two unequal parts by the river, and both sides very steep. The lower parts are inhabited by Keelmen and their families, a mutinous race; for which reason this town is always garrisoned.
The great business of the place is the coal trade. The collieries lie at different distances, from five to eighteen miles from the river; and the coal is brought down in waggons along rail roads, and discharged from covered buildings at the edge of the water into the keels or boats that are to convey it on shipboard. These boats are strong, clumsy and round, will carry about 25 tuns each; sometimes are navigated with a square sail, but generally are pushed along with large poles. No ships of large burthen can come up as high as
Newcastle,
but are obliged to lie at
Shields,
a few miles down the river, where stage coaches go thrice every day for the conveniency of passengers. This country is most remarkably populous;
Newcastle
alone contains near 40,000 inhabitants; and there are at lest 400 sail of ships belonging to that town and its port. The effect of the vast commerce of this place is very apparent for many miles round; the country is finely cultivated, and bears a most thriving and opulent aspect.
JULY 13.
Left
Newcastle;
the country in general flat; passed by a large stone column with three dials on the capital, with several scripture texts on the sides, called here
Pigg
's Folly, from the founder.
A few miles further is
Stannington
Bridge, a pleasant village.
Morpeth,
a small town with a neat town-house, and a tower for the bell near it. The castle was on a small eminence, but the remains are now very inconsiderable. Some attempt was made a few years ago to introduce the
Manchester
manufacture, but without success. There is a remarkable story of this place, that the inhabitants reduced their own town to ashes, on the approach of King
John,
A. D. 1215, out of pure hatred to their monarch, in order that he might not find any shelter there.
This place gave birth to
William Turner,
as Dr.
Fuller
expresses it, an excellent
Latinist, Graecian, Oratour,
and
Poet;
he might have added polemic divine, champion and sufferer in the protestant cause, physician and naturalist. His botanic writings are among the first we had, and certainly the best of them; and his criticisms on the birds of
Aristotle
and
Pliny,
are very judicious. He was the first who flung any light on those subjects in our island; therefore clames from a naturalist this tribute to his memory
He was born in the reign of
Henry
VIII. died in 1568.
.
Felton,
a pleasant village on the
Coquet,
which, some few miles lower, discharges itself into the sea, opposite to a small isle of the same name, remarkable for the multitudes of water-fowl which resort there to breed.
At
Alnwick,
Alnwick
Castle.
a small town, the traveller is disappointed with the situation and environs of the castle, the residence of the
Percies,
the antient Earls of
Northumberland.
You look in vain for any marks of the grandeur of the feudal age; for trophies won by a family eminent in our annals for military prowess and deeds of chivalry; for halls hung with helms and haberks, or with the spoils of the chace; for extensive forests, and venerable oaks. You look in vain for the
helmet
on the tower, the antient signal of hospitality to the traveller, or for the grey-headed porter to conduct him to the hall of entertainment. The numerous train, whose countenances gave welcome to him on his way, are now no more; and instead of the disinterested usher of the old times, he is attended by a
valet
eager to receive the fees of admittance.
There is vast grandeur in the appearance of the outside of the castle; the towers magnificent, but injured by the numbers of rude statues crouded on the battlements. The appartments are large, and lately finished in the gothic style with a most incompatible elegance. The gardens are equally inconsistent, trim to the highest degree, and more adapted to a
villa
near
London,
than the antient seat of a great Baron. In a word, nothing, except the numbers of unindustrious poor that swarm at the gate, excites any one idea of its former circumstances.
A stage further is
Belford,
the seat of
Abraham Dixon,
Esq
a modern house; the front has a most beautifull simplicity in it. The grounds improved as far as the art of husbandry can reach; the plantations large and flourishing: a new and neat town, instead of the former wretched cottages; and an industrious race, instead of an idle poor, at present fill the estate.
On an eminence on the sea coast,
Bamborough
Castle.
about four miles from
Belford,
is the very antient castle of
Bamborough,
built by
Ida,
first king of the
Northumbrians,
A. D. 548. But, according to the conjecture of an antiquarian I met with there, on the site of a
Roman
fortress. It was also his opinion, that the square tower was actually the work of the
Romans.
It had been of great strength; the hill it is founded on excessively steep on all sides, and accessible only by flights of steps on the south east. The ruins are still considerable; the remains of a great hall are very singular; it had been warmed by two fire-places of a vast size, and from the top of every window ran a flue, like that of a chimney, which reached the summits of the battlements. Many of the ruins are now filled with sand, caught up by the winds that rage here with great impetuosity, and carried to very distant places.
This castle, and the manour belonging to it, was once the property of the
Forsters;
but purchased by Lord
Crew,
Bishop of
Durham,
Bishop
Crew
's Charity.
and with other considerable estates, left vested in Trustees, to be applied to unconfined charitable uses. Three of these Trustees are a majority: one of them makes this place his residence, and blesses the coast by his judicious and humane application of the Prelate's generous bequest. He has repaired and rendered habitable the great square tower: the part reserved for himself and family is a large hall and a few smaller apartments; but the rest of the spacious edifice is allotted for purposes which make the heart to glow with joy when thought of. The upper part is an ample grainary; from whence corn is dispenced to the poor without distinction, even in the dearest time, at the rate of four shillings a bushel; and the distressed, for many miles round, often experience the conveniency of this benefaction.
Other apartments are fitted up for the reception of shipwrecked sailors; and bedding is provided for about thirty, should such a number happen to be cast on shore at the same time. A constant patrole is kept every stormy night along this tempestuous coast, for above eight miles, the length of the manour, by which means numbers of lives have been preserved. Many poor wretches are often found on the shore in a state of insensibility; but by timely relief, are soon brought to themselves.
It often happens, that ships strike in such a manner on the rocks as to be capable of relief, in case numbers of people could be suddenly assembled: for that purpose a cannon
Once belonging to a
Dutch
frigate of 40 guns; which, with all the crew, was lost opposite to the castle, about sixty years ago.
is fixed on the top of the tower, which is fired once, if the accident happens in such a quarter; twice, if in another, and thrice, if in such a place. By these signals the country people are directed to the spot they are to fly to; and by this means, frequently preserve not only the crew, but even the vessel; for machines of different kinds are always in readiness to heave ships out of their perillous situation.
In a word, all the schemes of this worthy Trustee have a humane and useful tendency: he seemed as if selected from his brethren for the same purposes as
Spenser
tells us the first of his seven
Beadsmen
in the house of
holinesse
was.
The first of them, that eldest was and best,
Of all the house had charge and governement,
As guardian and steward of the rest:
His office was to give entertainement
And lodging unto all that came and went:
Not unto such as could him feast againe,
And doubly quite for that he on them spent;
But such as want of harbour did constraine;
Those, for GOD's sake, his dewty was to entertaine.
Eider Drake and Duck
Visited these islands in a coble, a safe but seemingly hazardous species of boat,
JULY 15.
long, narrow and flat-bottomed, which is capable of going thro' a high sea, dancing like a cork on the summits of the waves.
Touched at the rock called the
Meg,
whitened with the dung of corvorants which almost covered it; their nests were large, made of tang, and most excessively faetid.
Rowed next to the
Pinnacles,
an island in the farthest groupe; so called from some vast columnar rocks at the south end, even at their sides, and flat at their tops, and entirely covered with guillemots and shags: the fowlers pass from one to the other of these columns by means of a narrow board, which they place from top to top, forming a narrow bridge, over such a horrid gap, that the very fight of it strikes one with horror.
Landed at a small island, where we found the female
Eider
ducks
Vide
Br. Zool.
II. 454. I have been informed that they also breed on
Inch-Colm,
in the
Firth
of
Forth.
at that time sitting:
Eider Ducks.
the lower part of their nests was made of sea plants; the upper part was formed of the down which they pull off their own breasts, in which the eggs were surrounded and warmly bedded: in some were three, in others five eggs, of a large size and pale olive color, as smooth and glossy as if varnished over. The nests are built on the beach, among the loose pebbles, not far from the water. The Ducks sit very close, nor will they rise till you almost tread on them. The Drakes separate themselves from the females during the breeding season. We robbed a few of their nests of the down, and after carefully separating it from the tang, found that the down of one nest weighed only three quarters of an ounce, but was so elastic as to fill the crown of the largest hat. The people of this country call these St.
Cuthbert
's ducks, from the saint of the islands.
Besides these birds, I observed the following:
Puffins, called here
Tom Noddies,
Auks, here
Skouts,
Guillemots,
Black Guillemot,
Little Auks,
Shiel-ducks,
Shags,
Corvorants,
Black and white Gulls,
Brown and white Gulls,
Herring Gulls, which I was told fed sometimes on eggs of other birds,
Common Gull, here
Annets,
Kittiwakes, or Tarrocks,
Pewit Gulls,
Great Terns,
Sea Pies,
Sea Larks, here
Brokets,
Jackdaws, which breed in rabbet-holes,
Rock Pigeons,
Rock Larks.
The Terns were so numerous, that in some places it was difficult to tread without crushing some of the eggs.
The last isle I visited was the
House island,
the sequestered spot where St.
Cuthbert
passed the two last years of his life. Here was afterwards established a priory of
Benedictines
for six or eight Monks subordinate to
Durham.
A square tower, the remains of a church, and some other buildings, are to be seen there still; and a stone coffin, which, it is pretended, was that of St.
Cuthbert.
At the north end of the isle is a deep chasm, from the top to the bottom of the rock, communicating to the sea; through which, in tempestuous weather, the water is forced with vast violence and noise, and forms a fine
jet d'eau
of sixty-six feet high: it is called by the inhabitants of the opposite coast the
Churn.
Reached shore through a most turbulent rippling, occasioned by the fierce current of the tides between the islands and the coast.
Pursued my journey northward. Saw at a distance the
Cheviot
hills;
JULY 17.
on which, I was informed, the green Plovers breed; and that, during winter, flocks innumerable of the great Bramblings, or Snow-flakes, appear; the most southern place of their migration, in large companies.
The country almost woodless, there being but one wood of any consequence between
Belford
and
Berwick.
Saw on the left an antient tower, which shewed the character of the times when it was unhappily necessary, on these borders, for every house to be a fortress.
On the right, had a view of the sea, and, not remote from the land, of
Lindesfarn,
or
Holy
Island, once an episcopal seat, afterwards translated to
Durham.
On it are the ruins of a castle and a church. In some parts are abundance of
Entrochi,
which are called by the country people St.
Cuthbert
's beads.
After a few miles riding, have a full view of
Berwick,
and the river
Tweed
winding westward for a considerable way up the country; but its banks were without any particular charms
I was informed that the beautifull banks of the
Tweed
verify the old fong at the passage at
Colstream.
, being almost woodless. The river is broad; and has over it a bridge of sixteen very handsome arches, eipecially two next the town.
BERWICK is fortified in the modern way; but is much contracted in its extent to what it was formerly, the old castle and works now lying at some distance beyond the present ramparts. The barracks are large, consist of a center and two wings. The church was built by
Cromwel,
and, according to the spirit of the builder, without a steeple. Even in
Northumberland,
(towards the borders) the steeples grew less and less, and as if it were forewarned the traveller that he was speedily to take leave of episcopacy. The town-house has a large and handsome modern tower to it: the streets in general are narrow and bad, except that in which the townhouse stands.
Abundance of wool is exported from this town: eggs in vast abundance collected through all the country, almost as far as
Carlisle:
they are packed in boxes, with the thick end downwards, and are sent to
London
for the use of sugar refiners. I was told that as many are exported as bring in annually the sum of fourteen thousand pounds.
The salmon fisheries here are very considerable,
Salmon fishery.
and likewise bring in vast sums: they lie on each side the river; and are all private property, except what belongs to the Dean and Chapter of
Durham,
which, in rent and tythe of fish, brings in 450l.
per ann.
for all the other fisheries are liable to tythe. The common rents of those are 50l. a year, for which the tenants have as much shore as serves to launch out and draw their nets on shore: the limits of each are staked; and I observed that the fishers never failed going as near as possible to their neighbor's limits. One man goes off in a small flatbottomed boat, square at one end, and taking as large a circuit as his net admits, brings it on shore at the extremity of his boundary, where others assist in landing it. The best fishery is on the south side
For a fuller account of this fishery, vide
British Zoology,
III. 24l. to it may be also added, that in the middle of the river, not a mile west of the town, is a large stone, on which a man is placed, to observe what is called the
reck
of the salmon coming up.
: very fine salmon trout are often taken here, which come up to spawn from the sea, and return in the same manner as the salmon do. The chief import is timber from
Norway
and the
Baltic.
Almost immediately on leaving
Berwick,
enter in the shire of
Merch,
or
Mers
Boethius
says, that in his time bustards were found in this county; but they are now extirpated: the historian calls them
Gustardes. Dess. Scot.
xiii.
. A little way from
Berwick,
on the west, is
Halydon
hill, famous for the overthrow of the
Scots
under the regent
Douglas,
by
Edward
III. on the attempt of the former to raise the siege of that town. A cruel action blasted the laurels of the conqueror:
Seton,
the governor, stipulated to surrender in fifteen days, if not relieved in that time, and gave his son as hostage for performance. The time elapsed;
Seton
refused to execute the agreement, and with a
Roman
unfeelingness beheld the unhappy youth hung before the walls.
The entrance into
Scotland
has a very unpromising look; for it wanted, for some miles, the cultivation of the parts more distant from
England:
but the borders were necessarily neglected; for, till the accession of
James
VI. and even long after, the national enmity was kept up, and the borderers of both countries discouraged from improvement, by the barbarous inroads of each nation. This inattention to agriculture continued till lately; but on reaching the small village of
Eytown,
the scene was greatly altered; the wretched cottages, or rather hovels of the country, were vanishing; good comfortable houses arise in their stead; the lands are inclosing, and yield very good barley, oats, and clover; the banks are planting: I speak in the present tense; for there is still a mixture of the old negligence left amidst the recent improvements, which look like the works of a new colony in a wretched impoverished country.
Soon after the country relapses; no arable land is seen; but for four or five miles succeeds the black joyless heathy moor of
Coldingham:
happily,
Coldingham.
this is the whole specimen that remains of the many miles, which, not many years ago, were in the same dreary unprofitable state. Near this was the convent of that name immortalized by the heroism of its Nuns; who, to preserve themselves inviolate from the
Danes,
cut off their lips and noses; and thus rendering themselves objects of horror, were, with their abbess
Ebba
A. D. 870.
, burnt in the monastery by the disappointed savages.
At the end of the moor came at once in sight of the
Firth
Bodotria
of
Tacitus,
who describes the two Firths of
Clyde
and
Forth,
and the intervening Isthmus, with much propriety, speaking of the fourth summer
Agricola
had passed in
Britain,
and how conconvenient he found this narrow tract for shutting out the enemy by his fortresses, says,
Nam
Glota (Firth of
Clyde
)
et
Bodotria,
diversi maris astu per immensum revecti, anguslo terrarum spatio dirimuntur:
Vit. Agr.
of
Forth;
a most extensive prospect of that great arm of the sea, of the rich country of
East Lothian,
the
Bass Isle;
and at a distance, the isle of
May,
the coast of the county of Fife, and the country as far as
Montrose.
After going down a long descent dine at
Old Cambus,
at a mean house, in a poor village; where I believe the Lord of the soil is often execrated by the weary traveller, for not enabling the tenant to furnish more comfortable accommodations, in so considerable a thoroughfare.
The country becomes now extremely fine; bounded at a distance, on one side, by hills; on the other, by the sea: the intervening space is as rich a tract of corn land as I ever saw; for
East Lothian
is the
Northamptonshire
of
North Britain:
the land is in many places manured with sea tang; but I was informed, that the barley produced from, it is much lighter than barley from other manure.
On the side of the hills on the left is Sir
John Hall
's, of
Dunglas;
a fine situation, with beautifull plantations. Pass by
Broxmouth,
a large house of the
Duke
of
Roxborough,
in a low spot, with great woods surrounding it. Reach
DUNBAR:
DUNBAR.
the chief street broad and handsome; the houses built of stone; as is the case with most of the towns in
Scotland.
There are some ships sent annually from this place to
Greenland,
and the exports of corn are pretty considerable. The harbour is safe, but small; its entrance narrow, and bounded by two rocks. Between the harbour and the castle is a very surprising stratum of stone,
Columnar rocks.
in some respects resembling that of
Giant's Causeway
in
Ireland:
it consists of great columns of a red grit stone, either triangular, quadrangular, pentangular, or hexangular; their diameter from one to two feet, their length at low water thirty, dipping or inclining a little to the south.
They are jointed, but not so regularly, or so plainly, as those that form the
Giant's Causeway.
The surface of several that had been torn off appear as a pavement of numbers of convex ends, probably answering to the concave bottoms of other joints once incumbent on them. The space between the columns was filled with thin septa of red and white fparry matter; and veins of the same pervaded the columns transversely. This range of columns faces the north, with a point to the east, and extends in front about two hundred yards. The breadth is inconsiderable: the rest of the rock degenerates into shapeless masses of the same fort of stone, irregularly divided by thick septa. This rock is called by the people of
Dunbar,
the
Isle.
Opposite are the ruins of the castle, seated on a rock above the sea; underneath one part is a vast cavern, composed of a black and red stone, which gives it a most infernal appearance; a fit representation of the pit of
Acheron,
and wanted only to be peopled with witches to make the scene complete: it appears to have been the dungeon, there being a formed passage from above, where the poor prisoners might have been let down, according to the barbarous custom of war in early days. There are in some parts, where the rock did not close, the remains of walls; for the openings are only natural fissures; but the founders of the castle taking advantage of this cavity, adding a little art to it, rendered it a most complete and secure prison.
On the other side are two natural arches, through which the tide flowed; under one was a fragment of wall, where there seems to have been a portal for the admission of men or provisions from sea: thro' which, it is probable that
Alexander Ramsay,
in a stormy night, reinforced the garrison, in spite of the fleet which lay before the place, when closely besieged by the
English,
in 1337, and galantly defended for nineteen weeks by that heroine
black Agnes,
Countess of
March
Buchanan, lib.
ix.
c.
25. The
English
were obliged to desist from their enterprize.
.
Through one of thefe arches was a most picturesque view of the
Bass Isle,
with the fun setting in full splendor; through the other of the
May
island, gilt by its beams.
Over the ruins of a window were the three legs, or arms of the Isle of
Man,
a lion rampant, and a St.
Andrew
's cross.
Rode within sight of
Tantallon
castle,
July 18.
now a wretched ruin; once the seat of the powerfull
Archibald Douglas,
Earl of
Angus,
which for some time resisted all the efforts of
James
V. to subdue it.
A little further, about a mile from the shore,
Bass
Isle.
lies the
Bass
Island, or rather rock, of a most stupendous height, on the south side the top appears of a conic shape, but the other over-hangs the sea in a most tremendous manner. The castle, which was once the state prison of
Scotland,
is now neglected: it lies close to the edge of the precipice, facing the little village of
Castleton;
where I toke boat, in order to visit this singular spot; but the weather proved unfavorable, the wind blew so fresh, and the waves ran so high, that it was impossible to attempt landing; for even in calmer weather it cannot be done without hazard, there being a steep rock to ascend, and commonly a great swell, which often removes the boat while you are scaling the precipice; so, in case of a false step, there is the chance of falling into a water almost unfathomable.
Various sorts of water fowl repair annually to this rock to breed; but none in greater numbers than the
Gannets,
or
Soland
geese,
Gannets.
multitudes of which were then sitting on their nests near the sloping part of the isle, and others flying over our boat: it is not permitted to shoot at them, the place being farmed principally on account of the profit arising from the sale of the young of these birds, and of the
Kittiwake,
a species of gull, so called from its cry. The first are fold at
Edinburgh
SOLAN GOOSE. There is to be sold, by John Watson, Jun. at his Stand at the Poulty,
Edinburgh,
all lawfull days in the week, wind and weather serving, good and fresh
Solan
Geese. Any who have occasion for the same may have them at reasonable rates.
Aug.
5, 1768. EDINBURGH ADVERTISER.
for twenty-pence apiece, and served up roasted a little before dinner. This is the only kind of provision whose price has not been advanced; for we learn from Mr.
Ray,
that it was equally dear above a century ago
Ray's Itineraries,
192.
. It is unnecessary to say more of this singular bird, as it has been very fully treated of in the second volume of the
British Zoology.
With much difficulty landed at
North Berwick,
three miles distant from
Castleton,
the place we intended to return to. The first is a small town, pleafantly seated near a high conic hill, partly, planted with trees: it is seen at a great distance, and is called the
Law
of
Berwick;
a name given to several other high hills in this part of the island.
Pass through
Abberladie
and
Preston Pans:
Preston Pans.
the last takes its name from its salt-pans, there being a considerable work of that article; also another of vitriol. Saw at a small distance the field of battle, or rather of carnage, known by the name of the battle of
Preston Pans,
where the Rebels gave a lesson of severity, which was more than retaliated, the following spring, at
Culloden.
Observed, in this day's ride, (I forget the spot) the once princely seat of the Earl of
Wintoun,
now a ruin; judiciously left in that state, as a proper remembrance of the sad fate of those who engage in rebellious politicks. There are great marks of improvement on approaching the capital; the roads good, the country very populous, numbers of manufactures carried on, and the prospect embellished with gentlemen's seats. Reach
EDINBURGH,
EDINBURGH.
A city that possesses a boldness and grandeur of situation beyond any that I had ever seen: it is built on the edges and sides of a vast sloping rock, of a great and precipitous height at the upper extremity, and the sides declining very quick and steep into the plain. The view of the houses at a distance strikes the traveller with wonder; then own loftiness, improved by their almost aerial situation, gives them a look of magnificence not to be found in any other part of
Great Britain.
All thefe conspicuous buildings form the upper part of the great street, are of stone, and make a handsome appearance: they are generally six or seven stories high in front; but, by reafon of the declivity of the hill, much higher backward;, one in particular, called
Babel,
has about twelve or thirteen stories. Every house has a common staircase, and every story is the habitation of a separate family. The inconvenience of this particular structure need not be mentioned; notwithstanding the utmost attention, in the article of cleanliness, is in general observed. The common complaint of the streets of
Edinburgh
is now taken away, by the great vigilance of the magistrates
The streets are cleaned early every morning. Once the City payed for the cleaning; at present, it is rented for 4 or 500l. per annum.
, and their severity against any that offend in any gross degree
In the closes, or allies, the inhabitants are very apt to fling out their filth, &c. without regarding who passes; but the sufferer may call every-inhabitant of the house it came from to account, and make them prove the delinquent, who is always punished with a heavy fine.
. It must be observed, that this unfortunate species of architecture arose from the turbulence of the times in which it was in vogue; every body was desirous of getting as near as possible to the protection of the castle, the houses were crouded together, and I may say, piled one upon another, meerly on the principle of security.
The castle is antient, but strong,
Castle.
placed on the summit of the hill, at the edge of a very deep precipice. Strangers are shewn a very small room, in which
Mary
Queen of
Scots
was delivered of
James
VI.
From this fortress is a full view of the city and its environs; a strange prospect of rich country, with vast rocks and mountains intermixed: on the south and east are the meadows, or the publick walks,
Harriot
's hospital, part of the town overshadowed by the stupendous rocks of
Arthur
's seat and
Salusbury'
Craigs,
the
Pentland
hills at a few miles distance, and at a still greater, those of
Muirfoot,
whose sides are covered with verdant turf.
To the north is a full view of the
Firth
of
Forth,
from
Queen's-Ferry
to its mouth, with its southern banks covered with towns and villages. On the whole, the prospect is singular, various and fine.
Reservoir.
The reservoir of water
It is conveyed in pipes from the
Pentland
hills five miles distant.
for supplying the city lies in the Castle-street, and is well worth seeing: the great cistern contains near two hundred and thirty tuns of water, which is conveyed to the several conduits, that are disposed at proper distances in the principal streets; these are conveniences that few towns in
North Britain
are without.
In a small square, on the south side of
High-street,
is the Parlement Close, a small square, in which is the Parlement-House,
Advocate's Library.
where the courts of justice are held. Below stairs is the Advocate's library, founded by Sir
George Mackenzie,
and now contains above thirty thousand volumes, and several manuscripts: among the more curious are the four Evangelists, very legible, notwithstanding it is said to be several hundred years old.
St.
Jerome
's Bible, wrote about the year 1100.
A
Malabar
book, wrote on leaves of plants.
A
Turkish
manuscript, illuminated in some parts like a missal.
Elogium in sultan morad filium filii Soliman Turcici. Script. Constantinopoli. Anno Hegirae,
992.
A Cartulary, or records of the monasteries, some very antient.
A very large Bible, bound in four volumes; illustrated with scripture prints, by the first engravers, pasted in, and collected at a vast expence. There are besides great numbers of antiquities, not commonly shewn, except enquired after.
The
Luckenbooth
row, which contains the
Tolbooth,
or city prison, and the weighing-house, which brings in a revenue of 500l.
per annum,
stands in the middle of the High-street, and, with the guardhouse, contributes to spoil as fine a street as most in
Europe,
being in some parts eighty feet wide, and finely built.
The exchange is a handsome modern building, in which is the custom-house: the first is of no use, in its proper character; for the merchants always chuse standing in the open street, exposed to all kinds of weather.
The old cathedral is now called the New Church, and is divided into four places of worship; in one the Lords of the Sessions attend: there is also a throne and a canopy for his Majesty, should he visit this capital, and another for the Lord Commissioner. There is no music either in this or any other of the
Scotch
churches, for
Peg
still faints at the found of an organ.
The same church has a large tower, oddly terminated with a sort of crown.
On the front of a house in the
Nether Bow,
are two fine profile heads of a man and woman,
Roman
heads.
of
Roman
sculpture, supposed to be those of
Severus
and
Julia:
but, as appears from an inscription
In sudore vultus tui versceris pane.
Anno 1621. These heads are well engraven in
Gordon
's Itinerary,
tab.
iii.
made by the person who put them into the wall, were mistaken for
Adam
and
Eve.
Near the
Trone
church are the remains of the house once inhabited by
Mary Steuart;
now a tavern.
At the end of the
Cannongate-Street
stands
Holy-Rood
palace,
Holy-Road
House
originally an abby founded by
David
I, in 1128. The towers on the N. W. side were erected by
James
V. together with other buildings, for a royal residence: according to the editor of
Cambden,
great part, except the towers abovementioned, were burnt by
Cromwell;
but the other towers, with the rest of this magnificent palace, as it now stands, were executed by Sir
William Bruce,
by the directions of
Charles
II. within is a beautifull square, with piazzas on every side. It contains great numbers of fine apartments; some, that are called the King's, are in great disorder; the rest are granted to several of the nobility.
In the Earl of
Breadalbane
's, are some excellent portraits, particularly three full lengths, remarkably fine, by
Vandyck,
of
Henry
Earl of
Holland,
William
Duke of
Newcastle,
Charles
Earl of
Warwick
I am informed that the portraits of the Earls of
Holland
and
Warwick
are now removed to
Taymouth.
,
And by Sir
Peter Lely,
the Duke and Dutchess of
Lauderdale,
and
Edward
Earl of
Jersey.
There is besides a very good head of a boy, by
Morrillio,
and some views of the fine scenes near his Lordship's seat at
Taymouth.
At Lord
Dunmore
's lodgings is a very large piece of
Charles
I. and his Queen going to ride, with the sky showering roses on them; a Black holds a grey horse, a boy a spaniel, with several other dogs sporting round: the Queen is painted with a lovelock, and with browner hair and complection, and younger, than I ever saw her drawn. It is a good piece, and said to be done by
Vandyck?
in the same place are two other good portraits of
Charles
II. and
James
VII.
The gallery of this palace takes up one side, and is filled with colossal portraits of the Kings of
Scotland.
In the old towers are showen the appartments where the murther of
David Rizzo
was committed.
That beautifull piece of
gothic
architecture the church,
Chapel.
or chapel, of
Holy-Rood-Abby,
is now a ruin, the roof having fell in, by a most scandalous neglect, notwithstanding money had been granted by Government to preserve it entire. Beneath the ruins lie the bodies of
James
II. and
James
V.
Henry Darnly,
and several persons of rank: and the inscriptions on several of their tombs are preserved by
Maitland.
A gentleman informed me, that some years ago he had seen the remains of the bodies, but in a very decayed state; the beards remained on some; and that the bones of
Henry Darnly
proved their owner, by their great size, for he was said to be seven feet high.
Parks.
Near this palace are the
Parks
first inclosed by
James
V. within are the vast rocks
According to
Maitland,
their perpendicular height is 656 feet.
known by the names of
Arthur
's Seat and
Salusbury's Craigs;
their fronts exhibit a romantic and wild scene of broken rocks and vast precipices, which from some points seem to over-hang the lower parts of the city. Great columns of stone, from forty to fifty feet in length, and about two feet in diameter, regularly pentagonal, or hexagonal, hang down the face of some of these rocks almost perpendicularly, or with a very slight dip, and form a strange appearance. Considerable quantities of stone from the quarries have been cut and sent to
London
for paving the streets, its great hardness rendering it excellent for that purpose. Beneath these hills are some of the most beautifull walks about
Edinburgh,
commanding a fine prospect over several parts of the country.
On one side of the
Park
are the ruins of St.
Anthony
's chapel, once the resort of numberless votaries.
The south part of the city has several things worth visiting.
Herriot
's Hospital.
Herriot
's hospital is a fine old building, much too magnificent for the end proposed, that of educating poor children: it was founded by
George Herriot,
jeweller to
James
II. who followed that monarch to
London,
and made a large fortune. There is a fine view of the castle and the sloping part of the city from the front: the gardens were formerly the resort of the gay; and there the
Scotch
Poets often laid, in their comedies, the scenes of intrigue.
In the church-yard of the Grey Friers is the monument of Sir
George Mackensie,
a rotunda; with a multitude of other tombs; this, and another near the
Cannon-gate
being the only caemeteries to this populous city.
The college is a mean building; but no one resides in it except the Principal,
College.
whose house is supposed to be on the site of that in which
George Darnly
was murdered, then belonging to the Provost of the
Kirk
of
Field.
The students of the university are dispersed over the town, and are about six hundred in number: they wear no habit, nor are they subject to any regulations; but, as they are for the most part volunteers for knowledge, few of them desert her standards. There are twenty-two professors of different sciences, most of whom read lectures: all the chairs are very ably filled; those in particular which relate to the study of medicine, as is evident from the number of ingenious physicians,
eleves
of this university, who prove the abilities of their masters. The
Musaeum
had, for many years, been neglected; but, by the assiduity of the present Professor of natural history, bids fair to become a most instructive repository of the
naturalia
of these kingdoms.
The royal infirmary is a spatious and handsome aedifice,
Infirmary.
capable of containing two hundred patients. The operation-room is particularly convenient, the council-room elegant, with a good picture in it of Provost
Drummond.
From the cupolo of this building is a fine prospect, and a full view of the city.
Not far from hence are twenty-seven acres of ground, designed for a square, called
George Square:
a small portion is at present built, consisting of small but commodious houses, in the
English
fashion. Such is the spirit of emprovement, that within these three years sixty thousand pounds have been expended in houses in the modern taste, and twenty thousand in the old.
Watson
's hospital should not be forgot: a large good building, behind the Grey Friers church; an excellent institution for the educating and apprenticing the children of decayed merchants; who, after having served their time with credit, receive fifty pounds to set up with.
The
meadows,
or public walks, are well planted, and are very extensive: these are the mall of
Edinburgh,
as
Comely Gardens
are its
Vauxhall.
The
Cowgate
is a long street, running parallel with the
High Street,
beneath the steep southern declivity of the city, and terminates in the
Grass-Market,
a wide street, where cattle are sold, and criminals executed. On several of the houses are small iron crosses, which, I was informed, denoted that they once belonged to the Knights of St.
John.
On the north side of the city lies the new town, which is planned with great judgement, and will prove a magnificent addition to
Edinburgh:
the houses in St.
Andrew
's square cost from 1800l. to 2000l. each, and one or two 4000 or 5000l. They are all built in the modern style, and are free from the inconveniences attending the old city.
These improvements are connected to the city by a very beautifull bridge, whose highest arch is ninety-five feet high.
In the walk of this evening, I passed by a deep and wide hollow beneath
Calton
Hill, the place where those imaginary criminals, witches and forcerers, in less enlightened times, were burnt; and where, at festive seasons, the gay and galant held their tilts and tournaments: at one of these, it is said, that the Earl of
Bothwell
made the first impression on the susceptible heart of
Mary Stuart,
having galopped into the ring down the dangerous steeps of the adjacent hill; he seemed to think that
Women, born to be control'd.
Stoop to the forward and the bold.
These desperate feats were the humour of the times of chivalry:
Brantome
relates, that the
Ducde Nemours
galopped down the steps of the
Sainte Chappel
at
Paris,
to the astonishment of the beholders. The men cultivated every exercise that could preserve or improve their bodily strength; the ladies, every art that tended to improve their charms:
Mary
is reported to have used a bath of white wine; a custom strange, but not without precedent.
Jaques du Fouilloux,
enraptured with a country girl enumerating the arts which she scorned to use to improve her person, mentions this:
Point ne portoit de ce linge semelle
Pour amoindrir son seing et sa mammelle.
Vasquine nulle, ou aucun pelicon
Elle ne portoit, ce n'estoit sa façcon
Point ne
prenoit vin blanc pour se 'baigner,
Ne drogue encore pour son corps alleger
L' Adolescence de Jaques du Fouilloux,
88.
.
At a small walk's distance from
Colton
Hill lies the new botanic garden
The old botanic garden lies to the east of the new bridge: an account of it is to be seen in the
Museum Balfourianum.
, consisting of five acres of ground, a green-house fifty feet long, two temperate rooms, each twelve feet, and two stoves, each twenty-eight: the ground rises to the north, and defends the plants from the cold winds: the soil a light sand, with a black earth on the surface. It is finely stocked with plants, whose arrangement and cultivation do much credit to my worthy friend Dr.
Hope,
Professor of Botany, who planned and executed the whole. It was begun in 1764, being founded by the munificence of his present Majesty, who granted fifteen hundred pounds for that purpose.
During this week's stay at
Edinburgh,
the prices of provisions were as follow:
Beef, from 5d. to 3d. 1/2.
Mutton, from 4d. to 3d. 1/2.
Veal, from 5d. to 3d.
Lamb, 2d. 1/2.
Bacon, 7d.
Butter, in summer, 8d. in winter, 1s.
Pigeons,
per
dozen, from 8d. to 5s.
Chickens,
per
pair, 8d. to 1s.
A fowl, 1s. 2d.
Green goose, 3s.
Fat goose, 2s. 6d.
Large turky, 4s. or 5s.
Pig, 2s.
Coals, 5d. or 6d.
per
hundred, delivered.
Many fine excursions may be made at a small distance from this city.
Leith,
a large town,
LEITH.
about two miles north, lies on the
Firth,
is a flourishing place, and the port of
Edinburgh.
The town is dirty and ill built, and chiefly inhabited by sailors; but the pier is very fine, and is a much-frequented walk. The races were at this time on the sands, near low-water mark: considering their vicinity to a great city and populous country, the meeting was far from numerous; a proof that dissipation has not generally infected the manners of the
North Britons.
Craigmellar
castle is seated on a rocky eminence, about two miles south of
Edinburgh,
is square, and has towers at each corner. Some few apartments are yet inhabited; but the rest of this great pile is in ruins.
Newbottle,
the seat of the Marquiss of
Lothian,
is a pleasant ride of a few miles from the capital. It was once a
Cistercian
abby, founded by
David
I. in 1140; but, in 1591, was erected into a lordship, in favor of Sir
Mark Ker,
son of Sir
Walter Ker,
of
Cessford.
The house lies in a warm bottom, and, like most other of the houses of the
Scotch
nobility, resembles a
French Chateau,
by having a village or little paltry town adjacent. The situation is very favorable to trees, as appears by the vast size of those near the house; and I was informed, that fruit ripens here within ten days as early as at
Chelsea.
The
Marquiss
possesses a most valuable collection of portraits, many of them very fine, and almost all very instructive: a large half-length of
Henry Darnly
represents him tall, aukward and gauky, with a stupid, insipid countenance; most likely drawn after he had lost, by intemperance and debauchery, those charms which captivated the heart of the amorous
Mary.
A head of her mother,
Marie de Guise;
not less beautifull than her daughter.
A head of
Madame Monpensier,
and of several other illustrious persons, who graced the court of
Louis
XIII.
Prince
Rupert
and Prince
Maurice,
in one piece. Some small portraits, studies of
Vandyk;
among which is one of
William
Earl of
Pembroke,
of whom Lord
Clarendon
gives so advantageous a character.
A beautifull half-length of
Henrietta,
Queen of
Charles
I. her charms almost apologize for the compliances of the uxorious monarch.
His daughter, the Dutchess of
Orleans.
The wife of
Philip
the bold, inscribed
Marga Mala, Lodo Mala.
Head of
Robert Car,
Earl of
Somerset;
the countenance esseminate, small features, light flaxen or yellowish hair, and a very small beard: is an original of that worthless favorite, and proves that the figure given as his among the illustrious heads is erroneous, the last being represented as a robust black man.
His father, Sir
Robert Car.
An Earl of
Somerset,
of whom I could get no account; handsome, with long light hair inclining to yellow: a head.
A full length of
James
I. by
Jameson.
Another of
Charles
I. when young, in rich armour, black and gold: a capital piece.
Lady
Tuston;
a fine half length.
Earl
Morton,
regent: half-length; a yellow beard.
Two very curious half-lengths on wood: one of a man with a long forked black beard; his jacket slashed down in narrow stripes from top to bottom, and the stripes loose: the other with a black full beard, the same sort of stripes, but drawn tight by a girdle.
The Doge of
Venice,
by
Titian.
Three by
Morillio;
boys and girls in low life.
A remarkable fine piece of our three first circumnavigators,
Drake, Hawkins
and
Candish,
half length.
The heads of
Mark
Earl of
Lothian,
and his lady, by Sir
Antonio More.
Mark Ker,
prior of
Newbottle,
who, at the reformation, complied with the times, and got the estate of the abby.
Subterraneous rooms.
In the woods adjacent to this seat are some subterraneous apartments and passages cut out of the live rock. A few miles distant from there, near
Hawthorn-Den,
the residence of the celebrated poet
Drummond,
Who is said to have composed his poems in one of these caves: he flourished in the time of
James
VI.
are, as I was informed, others of the same nature, but of greater extent, which Doctor
Stukeley
Vide
Itin. Curiosum.
50.
tab.
38.
calls a
Pictish
castle. These places, in fact, were excavated by the antient inhabitants of the country, either as receptacles for their provisions, or for retreats for themselves or families, in time of war, in the same manner as
Tacitus
relates was the custom of the
Germans
Solent et subterraneos specus aperire, eosque multo insuper simo onerant, suffugium biemi, et receptaculum frugibus, quia rigorem frigorum ejusmodi locis molliunt: et si quando bostis advenit aperta populatur: Abdita autem et dessossa aut ignorautur, aut eo ipso fallunt, quod quaerenda
nt.
De Moribus Germanor, c. 16.
.
Two or three miles distant from
Newbottle
is
Dalkeith,
DALKEITH.
a small town, adjoining to
Dalkeith
-house, the seat of the Duke of
Buccleugh:
originally the property of the
Douglases,
and was, when in form of a castle, of great strength; and, during the time of the Regent
Morton
's retreat, styled the
Lion's Den.
The portraits at
Dalkeith
are numerous, and some good: among others, the First Duke of
Richmond
and his Dutchess.
The Dutchess of
Cleveland.
Countess of
Buccleugh,
mother to the Dutchess of
Monmouth,
and Lady
Egglinton,
her sister.
The Dutchess and her two sons: the Dutchess of
York;
her hand remarkably fine: the Dutchess of
Lenox.
Mrs.
Susanna Waters,
mother of the Duke of
Monmouth,
with his picture in her hand.
Dutchess of
Cleveland
and her son, an infant; she in character of a
Madonna:
fine.
The Duke of
Monmouth,
in character of a young St.
John.
Lord
Strafford
and his Secretary; a small study of
Vandyk.
Henry
VIII. and Queen
Catherine,
with the divorce in her hand; two small pieces, by
Holbein. Anna Bullein,
by the same, dressed in a black gown, large yellow netted sleeves, in a black cap, peaked behind.
Lady
Jane Gray,
with long hair, black and very thick: not handsome; but the virtues and the intellectual perfections of that suffering innocent, more than supplied the absence of personal charms.
A large spirited picture of the Duke of
Monmouth
on horseback. The same in armour. All his pictures have a handsome likeness of his father.
Dutchess of
Richmond,
with a bow in her hand, by Sir
Peter Lely.
A fine head of the late Duke of
Ormond.
A beautiful head of
Mary Stewart;
the face a sharp face, thin and young; yet has a likeness to some others of her pictures done before misfortunes had altered her; her dress a strait gown, open at the top and reaching to her ears, a small cap, and small ruff, with a red rose in her hand.
In this palace is a room entirely furnished by
Charles
II. on occasion of the marriage of
Monmouth
with the heiress of the house
Since this, I have been informed that not far from
Dalkeith,
at
Rosstyn,
is a most beautifull and entire chapel of gothic architecture, well worth a visit from a curious Traveller.
.
At
Smeton,
another seat of the Duke of
Buccleugh,
a mile distant from the first, is a fine half-length of General
Monk
looking over his shoulder, with his back towards you: he resided long at
Dalkeith,
when he commanded in
Scotland.
Nell Gwinne,
loosely attired.
A fine marriage of St.
Catherine,
by
Vandyk.
Left
Edinburgh,
and pass'd beneath the castle,
JULY 24.
whose height and strength, in my then situation, appeared to great advantage. The country I past through was well cultivated, the fields large, but mostly inclosed with stone walls; for hedges are not yet become universal in this part of the kingdom: it is not a century since they were known here. Reach the
South-Ferry,
a small village on the banks of the
Firth,
which suddenly is contracted to the breadth of two miles by the jutting out of the land on both shores; but almost instantly widens, towards the west, into a fine and extensive bay. The prospect on each side is very beautifull; a rich country, frequently diversified with towns, villages, castles, and gentlemen's seats
Such as
Seith
castle,
Dumferline
town, Lord
Morris
's, Lord
Hopetoun
's, Captain
Dundass
's.
. There is beside a vast view up and down the
Firth,
from its extremity, not remote from
Sterling,
to its mouth near
Mey
isle; in all, about sixty miles.
This Ferry is also called
Queen's-Ferry,
being the passage much used
Or, as others say, because she, her brother and sister, first landed there, after their escape from
William
the Conqueror.
by
Margaret,
queen to
Malcom
III. and sister to
Edgar Etheling,
her residence being at
Dumferline.
Cross over in an excellent passage-boat; observe midway the little isle called
Inch-Garvey,
with the ruin of a small castle. An
arctic
gull flew near the boat, pursued by other gulls, as birds of prey are: this is the species that persecutes and pursues the lesser kinds, till they mute through fear, when it catches up their excrements e'er they reach the water: the boatmen, on that account, styled it the dirty
Aulin.
Landed in the shire of
Fife
Part of the antient
Caledonia.
, at
North Ferry,
Granite quarry.
near which are the great granite quarries, which help to supply the streets of
London
with paving stones; many ships then waiting near, in order to take in their lading. The granite lies in great perpendicular stacks; above which, a reddish earth filled with friable micaceous nodules. The granite itself is very hard, and is all blasted with gunpowder: the cutting into shape for paving costs two shillings and eight-pence per tun, and the freight to
London
seven shillings.
The country, as far as
Kinross,
is very fine, consisting of gentle risings; much corn, especially
Bear;
but few trees, except about a gentleman's seat, called
Blair,
where there are great and flourishing plantations. Near the road are the last collieries in
Scotland,
except the inconsiderable works in the county of
Sutherland.
Kinross
is a small town, seated in a large plain, bounded by mountains; the houses and trees are so intermixed as to give it an agreeable appearance. It has some manufactures of linnen and cutlery ware. At this time was a meeting of justices, on a singular occasion: a vagrant had been, not long before, ordered to be whipped; but such was the point of honor among the common people, that no one could be persuaded to go to
Perth
for the executioner, who lived there: to press, I may say, two men for that service was the cause of the meeting; so Mr.
Boswell
Hist. Corsica.
may rejoice to find the notion of honor prevale in as exalted a degree among his own countrymen as among the virtuous
Corsicans.
Not far from the town is the house of
Kinross,
built by the famous architect Sir
William Bruce,
for his own residence, and was the first good house in
North Britain:
it is a large, elegant, but plain building; the hall is fifty-two feet long, the grounds about it well planted, the fine lake adjacent; so that it is capable of being made as delightfull a place as any in
North Britain.
Lough-Leven,
a magnificent piece of water, very broad, but irregularly indented, is about twelve miles in circumference, and its greatest depth about twenty-four fathoms: is finely bounded by mountains on one side; on the other, by the plain of
Kinross,
and prettily embellished with several groves, most fortunately disposed. Some islands are dispersed in this great expanse of water; one of which is large enough to feed several head of cattle; but the most remarkable is that distinguished by the captivity of
Mary Stuart,
Loch-leven
castle.
which stands almost in the middle of the lake. The castle still remains; consists of a square tower, a small yard with two round towers, a chapel, and the ruins of a building, where, it is said, the unfortunate Princess was lodged. In the square tower is a dungeon with a vaulted room above, over which had been three other stories. Some trees are yet remaining on this little spot; probably coeval with
Mary,
under whose shade she may have sat, expecting her escape at length effected by the enamoured
Douglas
Historians differ in respect to the cause that influenced him to assist in his sovereign's escape; some attribute it to his avarice, and think he was bribed with jewels, reserved by
Mary;
others, that he was touched by a more generous passion: the last opinion is the most natural considering the charms of the Queen and the youth of her deliverer.
. This castle had before been a royal residence, but not for captive monarchs; having been granted from the crown by
Robert
III. to
Douglas,
Laird of
Loch-Leven;
but had been originally a seat of the
Culdees.
The fish of this lake are Pike, small Perch, fine Eels,
Fish & birds.
and most excellent Trouts; the best and the reddest I ever saw; the largest about six pounds in weight. The fishermen gave me an account of a species they called the
Gally
Trout, which are only caught from
October
to
January;
are split, salted and dried, for winter provision: by the description, they certainly were our Char, only of a larger size than any we have in
England,
or
Wales,
some being two feet and a half long. The birds that breed on the isles are Herring Gulls, Pewit Gulls, and great Terns, called here
Pictarnes.
Lay at a good inn, a single house, about half a mile North of
Kinross.
Made an excursion about seven miles west,
JULY 25. Rumbling Brig.
to see the
rumbling brig
at
Glen-devon,
a bridge of one arch, slung over a chasm worn by the river
Devon,
about eighty feet deep, very narrow, and horrible to look down; the bottom, in many parts, is covered with fragments of rocks; in others, the waters are visible, gushing between the stones with great violence: the sides, in many places, project, and almost lock in each other; trees shoot out in various spots, and contribute to encrease the gloom of the glen, while the ear is filled with the cawing of daws, the cooing of wood-pigeons, and the impetuous noise of the waters.
A mile lower down is the
Cawdron Glen:
here the river,
Cawdron Glen.
after a short fall, drops on rocks hollowed in a strange manner into large and deep cylindric cavities, open on one side, or formed into great circular cavities, like cauldrons
In
Sweden,
and the North of
Germany,
such holes as these are called
Giant
's Pots.
Kalm's Voy.
I. 121. and
Ph. Trans. abridg.
V. 165.
; from whence the name of the place: one in particular has the appearance of a vast brewing vessel; and the water, by its great agitation, has acquired a yellow scum, exactly resembling the yesty working of malt liquor. Just beneath this the water darts down about thirty feet in form of a great white sheet: the rocks below widen considerably, and their clifty sides are fringed with wood. Beyond is a view of a fine meadowy vale, and the distant mountains near
Sterling.
Two miles north is
Castle Campbell,
Castle
Campbell.
seated on a steep peninsulated rock between vast mountains, having to the south a boundless view through a deep glen shagged with brush wood; for the forests that once covered the country are now entirely destroyed. Formerly, from its darksome situation, this pile was called the castle of
Gloom;
and all the names of the adjacent places were suitable: it was seated in the parish of
Dolor,
was bounded by the glens of care, and washed by the birns of
sorrow.
This castle, with the whole territory, belonging to the family of
Argyle,
underwent all the calamities of civil war in 1645; for its rival, the Marquis of
Montrose,
carried fire and sword through the whole estate. The castle was ruined; and its magnificent reliques exist, as a monument of the horror of the times. No wonder then that the
Marquis
experienced so woeful and ignominious a fate, when he fell into the power of so exasperated a chieftain.
Returned to my inn along the foot of the
Ochil
hills, whose sides were covered with a fine verdure, and fed great numbers of cattle and sheep. The country below full of oats, and in a very improving state: the houses of the common people decent, but mostly covered with sods; some were covered both with straw and sod. The inhabitants extremely civil, and never failed offering brandy, or whey, when I stopt to make enquiries at any of their houses.
In the afternoon crossed a branch of the same hills, which yielded plenty of oats; descended into
Straith-earn,
a beautifull vale, about thirty miles in length,
Straith-earn.
full of rich meadows and corn fields, divided by the river
Earn,
which serpentines finely through the middle, falling into the
Tay,
of which there is a fight at the east end of the vale. It is prettily diversified with groves of trees and gentlemen's houses; among which, towards the west end, is
Castle Drummond,
the forfeited seat of the Earl of
Perth.
Castle Duplin
Near this place was the battle of
Duplin,
1332, between the
English,
under the command of
Baliol,
and the
Scots.
The last were defeated, and such a number of the name of
Hay
slain, that the family would have been extinct, had not several of their wives been left at home pregnant.
; the residence of the Earl of
Kinnouly
seated on the north side of the vale, on the edge of a steep glen. Only a single tower remains of the old castle, the rest being modernized. The front commands a pleasing view of the vale; behind are plantations, extending several miles in length; all flourish greatly, except those of ash. I remarked in the woods, some very large chesnuts, horse-chesnuts, spruce and silver firs, cedar and arbor vitae. Broad-leaved
laburnum
thrives in this country greatly, grows to a great size, and the wood is used in sineering.
Fruits succeed here very indifferently;
Fruit
even nonpareils require a wall to ripen: grapes, figs, and late peaches, will not ripen: the winters begin early and end late, and are attended with very high winds. I was informed that labor is dear here,
Labor.
notwithstanding it is only eight-pence a day; the common people not being yet got into a method of working, so do very little for their wages. Notwithstanding this, improvements are carried on in these parts with great spirit, both in planting and in agriculture. Lord
Kinnoul
planted last year not sewer than eighty thousand trees, besides
Scotch
firs; so provides future forests for the benefit of his successors, and the embellishment of his country. In respect to agriculture, there are difficulties to struggle with, for the country is without either coal or lime-stone; so that the lime is brought from the estate of the Earl of
Elgin,
near
Dumferline,
who, I was told, drew a considerable revenue from the kilns.
In
Castle Duplin
are some very good pictures; a remarkable one of
Luther, Bucer,
and
Catherine
the nun, by
Georgiani di Castel franco.
A fine head of a secular priest, by
Titian.
St.
Nicholas
blessing three children. Two of cattle, by
Rosa di Tivoli.
A head of
Spencer. Ruben
's head, by himself. A fine head of
Butler,
by Sir
Peter Lely.
Of the old Countess of Desmond, by
Rembrandt.
Mrs.
Tosts,
in the character of St.
Catherine,
by Sir
Godfrey Kneller.
Sir
George Haye,
of
Maginnis,
in armour, 1640; done at
Rome
by
L. Ferdinand. Haye,
Earl of
Carlifle,
in
Charles
the First's time, young and very handsome, by
Cornelius Jansen.
The second Earl of
Kinnoul,
by
Vandyk.
Chancellor
Haye,
by
Mytens.
A good portrait of Lord Treasurer
Oxford,
by
Richardson.
And a beautifull miniature of Sir
John Earnly.
Ascended the hill of
Moncrief;
JULY 27. Hill of
Moncrief.
the prospect from thence is the glory of
Scotland,
and well merits the eulogia given it for the variety and richness of its views. On the south and west appear
Straithern,
embellished with the seats of Lord
Kinnoul,
Lord Rollo, and of several other gentlemen, the
Carse,
or rich plain of
Gowrie, Stormont
hills, and the hill of
Kinnoul,
whose vast cliff is remarkable for its beautifull pebbles. The maeanders of the
Ern,
which winds more than any river I at this time had seen, are most enlivening additions to the scene. The last turn it takes forms a fine peninsula prettily planted, and just beyond it joins the
Tay,
whose aestuary lies full in view, the sea closing the prospect on this side.
To the north lies the town of
Perth,
with a view of part of its magnificent bridge; which, with the fine woods called
Perth
Parks, the vast plain of
Straith-Tay,
the winding of that noble river, its islands, and the grand boundary, formed by the distant highlands, finish this matchless scene. The inhabitants of
Perth
are far from being blind to the beauties of their river; for with singular pleasure they relate the tradition of the
Roman
army, when it came in fight of the
Tay
Taus,
Taciti vit. Agr.
, bursting into the exclamation of,
Ecce Tiberim.
On approaching the town are some pretty walks handsomely planted, and at a small distance, the remains of some works of
Cromwel,
called
Oliver
's Mount.
PERTH is large, and in general well built;
PERTH
two of the streets are remarkably fine; in some of the lesser are yet a few wooden houses in the old style; but as they decay, the magistrates prohibit the rebuilding them in the old way. There is but one parish, which has two churches, besides meetings for separatists, who are very numerous. One church, which belonged to a monastery, is very antient: not a vestige of the last is now to be seen; for the disciples of that rough apostle
Knox
made a general desolation of every aedifice that had given shelter to the worshippers of the church of
Rome:
it being one of his maxims, to pull down the nests, and the rooks would fly away.
The flourishing state of
Perth
is owing to two accidents: the first, that of numbers of
Cromwel
's wounded officers and soldiers chusing to reside here, after he left the kingdom, who introduced a spirit of industry among the people: the other cause was the long continuance of the Earl of
Mar
's army here in 1715, which occasioned vast sums of money being spent in the place: but this town, as well as all
Scotland,
dates its prosperity from the year 1745, the government of this part of
Great Britain
having never been settled till a little after that time. The rebellion was a disorder violent in its operation, but salutary in its effects.
The trade of
Perth
is considerable:
Trade.
it exports annually one hundred and fifty thousand pounds worth of linnen, ten thousand of wheat and barley, and about the same in cured salmon. That fish is taken there in vast abundance; three thousand have been caught in one morning, weighing, one with another, sixteen pounds; the whole capture, fortyeight thousand pounds. The fishery begins at St.
Andrew
's Day, and ends
August
26th, old style. The rents of the fisheries amount to three thousand pounds
per annum.
I was informed that smelts come up this river in
May
and
June.
There has been in these parts a very great fishery of pearl, got out of the fresh-water muscles. From the year 1761 to 1764,
Pearl.
10,000l. worth were sent to
London,
and sold from 10s. to 1l. 16s.
per
ounce. I was told that a pearl has been taken there that weighed 33 grains; but this fishery is at present exhausted, from the avarice of the undertakers: it once extended as far as
Lough-Tay.
Gowrie
House is shewn to all strangers; formerly the property and residence of the Earl of
Gowrie,
whose tragical end and mysterious conspiracy (if conspiracy there was) are still fresh in the minds of the people of
Perth.
At present the house is occupied by some companies of artillery. I was shewn the staircase where the unhappy nobleman was killed,
Gowrie
conspiracy.
the window the frighted monarch
James
roared out of, and that he escaped through, when he was saved from the fury of the populace, by Baily Roy, a friend of
Gowrie
's, who was extremely beloved in the town.
From the little traditions, preserved in the palace, it seems as if
Gowrie
had not the left intent of murthering the King: on the day his Majesty came to
Perth,
the Earl was engaged to a wedding-dinner with the Dean of Guild: when the account of the king's design reached him he changed color, on being taken so unprovided; but the Dean forced him to accept the nuptial feast, which was sent over to the Earl's house.
When the king fled he passed by the seat of Sir
William Moncrief,
near
Ern-bridge,
who happening to be walking out at that time, heard from the mouth of his intrepid Majesty the whole relation; but the Knight found it so marvellous and so disjointed, as plainly to tell the King,
that if it was a true story, it was a very strange one.
Gowrie
was a most accomplished gentleman: after he had finished his studies he held the Professor of Philosophy's chair for two years, in one of the
Italian
universities.
Cross the
Tay
on a temporary bridge; the stone bridge, which is to consist of nine arches, being at this time unfinished; the largest arch is seventy-six feet wide; when complete, it promises to be a most magnificent structure. The river here is very violent, and admits of scarce any navigation above; but ships of eighty or ninety tuns come as far as the town.
Scone
lies about a mile and half higher up,
Scone.
on the east bank of the river. There was once here an abby of great antiquity
Founded by
Alexander
I. 1114, for canons regular of St.
Augustine.
, which was burnt by the reforming zealots of
Dundee.
The present palace was begun by Earl
Gowrie;
but, on his death, being granted by
James
VI. to his favorite, Sir
David Murray,
of
Gospatrie,
was completed by him; who, in gratitude to the king, has, in several parts of the house, put up the royal arms. The house is built round two courts; the dining-room is large and handsome, has an antient but magnificent chimney-piece, the king's arms, with this motto,
Nobis haec invicta miserunt centum sex Proavi.
Beneath are the
Murray
arms. In the drawingroom is some good old tapestry, with an excellent figure of
Mercury.
In a small bed-chamber is a medly scripture-piece in needle-work, with a border of animals, pretty well done; the work of
Mary Stuart,
during her confinement in
Loch-leven
castle: but the house in general is in a manner unfurnished.
The gallery is about a hundred and fifty-five feet long; the top arched, divided into compartments, filled with paintings, in water colors, of different sorts of huntings; and that
Nimrod, James
VI. and his train, appear in every piece.
Till the destruction of the abby, the kings of
Scotland
were crowned here, sitting in the famous wooden chair, which
Edward
I. transported to
Westminster-Abby,
much to the mortification of the
Scots,
who esteemed it as their palladium.
Charles
II. before the battle of
Worcester,
was crowned in the present chapel. The old Pretender resided at
Scone
for a considerable time in 1715, and his son made it a visit in 1745.
Re-passed the
Tay
at
Bullion
's Boat; visited the field of
Loncarty,
celebrated for the great victory
In the time of
Kenneth,
who began his reign in 976.
obtained by the
Scots
over the
Danes,
Loncarty.
by means of the gallant peasant
Hay
and his two sons, who, with no other-weapons than the yokes which they snatched from their oxen then at plough, first put a stop to the flight of their countrymen, and afterwards led them on to conquest. The noble family of
Hay
are descended from this rustic hero, and in memory of their action, bear for their arms the instrument of their victory, with the allusive motto of
Sub jugo.
There are on the spot several
tumuli,
in which are frequently found bones deposited in loose stones, disposed in form of a coffin. Not remote is a spot which supplied me with far more agreeable ideas; a tract of ground, which in 1732 was a meer bog, but now converted into good meadows, and about fifty acres covered with linnen; several other parts with buildings, and all the apparatus of the linnen manufacture, extremely curious and worth seeing, carried on by the industrious family of the
Sandimans,
who annually make four hundred thousand yards of linnen.
The country is good, full of barley, oats, and flax in abundance; but after a few miles travelling, is succeeded by a black heath: ride through a beautifull plantation of pines, and after descending an easy slope the plain beneath suddenly contracts itself into a narrow glen: the prospect before me strongly marked the entrance into the
Highlands,
the hills that bounded it on each side being lofty and rude.
Birnam
Wood.
On the left was
Birnam
Wood,
Dunsinane
which seems never to have recovered the march its ancestors made to
Dunsinane:
I was shewn at a great distance a high ridge of hills, where some remains of that famous fortress * (
Macbeth
's castle) are said yet to exist.
Dunkeld Cathedral.
Crossed it in a boat, attended by a tame swan,
JULY 28.
which was perpetually solliciting our favours by putting its neck over the sides of the ferry-boat. Land in the Duke of
Athol
's gardens, which are extremely pleasing, washed by the river, and commanding from different parts of the walks the most beautifull and picturesque views of wild and gloomy nature that can be conceived. Trees of all kinds grow here extremely well; and even so southern a shrub as
Portugal
laurel flourishes greatly. In the gardens are the ruins of the cathedral, once a magnificent aedifice, as appears by the beautifull round pillars still standing; but the choir is preserved, and at present used as a church. In the burial-place of the family is a large monument of the Marquis of
Athol,
hung with the arms of the numerous connections of the family. In another part is a tomb of an old bishop.
On the other side the river is a pleasing walk along the banks of the water of
Bran
Rivers in
Scotland
are very frequently called
waters.
, a great and rapid torrent, full of immense stones. On a rock at the end of the walk is a neat building, impending over a most horrible chasm, into which the river precipitates itself with great noise and fury from a considerable height. The windows of the pavillion are formed of painted glass; some of the panes are red, which makes the water resemble a fiery cataract. About a mile further is another,
rumbling brig,
like, but inferior in grandeur, to that near
Kinross.
The town of
Dunkeld
is small, and has a small linnen manufacture. Much company resorts here, in the summer months, for the benefit of drinking goats milk and whey: I was informed here, that those animals will eat serpents; as it is well known that stags do.
After a ride of two miles along a narrow strait, amidst trees, and often in fight of the
Tay,
was driven by rain into a fisherman's hut, who entertained me with an account of his business: said, he paid ten pounds
per ann.
for the liberty of two or three miles of the river; sold, the first fish of the season at three-pence a pound; after that, got three shillings
per
fish. The houses in these parts began to be covered with broom, which lasts three or four years: their insides mean, and very scantily furnished; but the owners civil, sensible, and of the quickest apprehensions.
The strait now widens into a vale plentifull in oats, barley and flax, and well peopled: on the right is the junction of the
Tay
and the
Tumel:
the channels of these rivers are wide, full of gravel, the mark of their devastation during floods. Due north is the road to
Blair
and
Fort Augustus,
through the noted pass of
Killicrankie;
turn to the left; ride opposite to
Castle Menzies:
reach
Tay-mouth,
the seat of the Earl of
Breadalbane.
Taymouth
Its name, in old maps, is
Balloch;
i. e. the mouth of the loch.
lies in a vale scarce a mile broad,
JULY 29, &c.
Taymouth
very fertile, bounded on each side by high mountains finely planted. Those on the south are covered with trees, or with corn fields, far up their sides. The hills on the north are planted with pines and other trees, and vastly steep, and have a very
alpine
look; but particularly resemble the great slope opposite the
grande Chartreuse
in
Dauphinè.
His Lordship's policy
This word here signifies improvements, or demesne: when used by a merchant, or tradesman, signifies their warehouses, shops, and the like.
surrounds the house, which stands in the park, and is one of the few in which sallow deer are seen.
The ground is in remarkable fine order, owing to his Lordship's assiduity in clearing it from stones, with which it was once covered. A
Blaster
was in constant employ to blast the great stones with gunpowder; for, by reason of their size, there was no other method of removing them.
The
Berceau
walk is very magnificent,
Walks.
composed of great trees, forming a fine
gothic
arch; and probably that species of architecture owed its origin to such vaulted shades. The walk on the bank of the
Tay
is fifty feet wide, and two and twenty hundred yards long; but is to be continued as far as the junction of the
Tay
and the
Lion,
which is about as far more. The first runs on the sides of the walk with great rapidity, is clear, but not colorless, for its pellucidness is like that of brown crystal; as is the case with most of the rivers of
Scotland,
which receive their tinge from the bogs.
The
Tay
has here a wooden bridge two hundred feet long, leading to a white feat on the side of the opposite hill, commanding a fine view up and down
Straith-Tay.
The rich meadows beneath, the winding of the river, the beginning of
Lough-Tay,
the discharge of the river out of it, the neat village and church of
Kenmor,
form a most pleasing and magnificent prospect.
The view from the temple of
Venus
is that of the lake,
Lough-Tay.
with a nearer sight of the church and village, and the discharge of the river. The lake is about a mile broad, and about fifteen long, bounded on each side by lofty mountains; makes three great bends, which adds to its beauty. Those on the south are well planted, and finely cultivated high up; interspersed with the habitations of the
Highlanders,
not singly, but in small groupes, as if they loved society or clanship: they are very small, mean, and without windows or chimnies, and are the disgrace of
North Britain,
as its lakes and rivers are its glory.
Lough-Tay
is, in many places, a hundred fathoms deep, and within as many yards of the shore, fifty-four.
Till the present year, this lake was supposed to be as incapable of freezing as
Lough-Ness, Lough-Earn,
and
Lough-Each;
tho'
Lough-Raynac,
and even
Lough-Fine,
an arm of the sea, often does. But in
March
last, so rigorous and uncommon was the cold, that about the 20th of that month this vast body of water was frozen over, in one part, from side to side, in the space of one night; and so strong was the ice, as greatly to damage a boat which was caught in it.
Lough-Tay
abounds with Pike, Perch, Eels, Salmon and Trout; of the last, some have been taken that weighed above thirty pounds. Of these species, the
Highlanders
abhor Eels, and also Lampries, fancying, from the form, that they are too nearly related to Serpents
I was informed, that at the head of the lake are the remains of an old castle, called
Finlarig,
belonging to Lord
Breadalbane,
and of a park finely wooded with old oaks, chesnuts, and other timber.
.
The north side is less wooded, but more cultivated. The vast hill of
Laurs,
with beds of snow on it, through great part of the year, rises above the rest, and the still loftier mountain of
Benmor
closes the view far beyond the end of the lake. All this country abounds with game, such as Grous, Ptarmigans
Br. Zool. illustr.
21.
tab.
xiii.
, Stags, and a peculiar species of Hare, which is found only on the summits of the highest hills,
White Hare
and never mixes with the common kind, which is frequent enough in the vales
The same,
p.
40.
tab.
xlvii.
. This species is grey in summer, white in winter; is smaller than the brown Hare, and more delicate meat.
The
Ptarmigans
inhabit the very summits of the highest mountains,
Ptarmigan.
amidst the rocks, perching among the grey stones, and during summer are scarce to be distinguished from them, by reason of their color. They seldom take long flights, but fly about like pigeons; are silly birds, and so tame as to suffer a stone to be slung at them without rising. It is not necessary to have a dog to find them. They taste so like a Grous, as to be scarce distinguishable. During winter, their plumage, except a few feathers in the tail, are of a pure white, the color of the snow, in which they bury themselves in heaps, as a protection from the rigorous air.
Royston
Crows,
Birds.
called here Hooded Crows, and in the
Erse, Feanagh,
are very common, and reside here the whole year. They breed in the hills, in all sorts of trees; lay six eggs; have a thriller note than the common sort; are much more mischievous; pick out the eyes of lambs, and even of horses, when engaged in bogs; but, for want of other food, will eat cranberries, and other mountain berries.
Ring Ouzels breed among the hills, and in autumn descend in flocks to seed on the berries of the wicken trees.
Sea Eagles breed in ruined towers, but quit the country in winter; the black Eagles continue there the whole year.
Cascade near Taymouth.
Mirare viam hanc militarem Ultra
Romanos
terminos M. Passuum ccl. hac illac extensam; Tesquis et paludibus insultantem per Montes rupesque patefactam et indignanti TAVO ut cernis instratum, Opus hoc arduum suâ solertiâ Et decennali militum operâ, A. AEr. Xnae 1733. Posuit G. WADE Copiarum in SCOTIA Praefectus. Ecce quantum valeant Regis GEORGII II. Auspicia.
Taymouth
is a large house, a castle modernized. The most remarkable part of its furniture is the works of the famous
Jameson
Son of an architect at
Aberdeen;
studied under
Rubens,
at
Antwerp. Charles
I. sat to him, and presented him with a diamond ring. He always drew himself with his hat on. His prices were zol.
Scots,
or 1l. 13s. 4d.
English,
per head: was born in 1586; died at
Edinburgh,
1644. For a further account, consult Mr.
Walpole
's Anecdotes of Painting.
, the
Scotch Vandyke,
Jameson.
an eleve of this family. That singular performance of his, the genealogical picture, is in good preservation. Sir
Duncan Campbell,
Laird of
Locbon,
is placed recumbent at the foot of a tree, with a branch; on the right is a single head of his eldest son, the chief of the
Argyle
family; but on the various ramifications, are the names of his descendents, and along the body of the tree are nine small heads, in oval frames, with the names on the margins, all done with great neatness: the second son was first of the house of
Breadalbane,
which branched from the other about four hundred years ago. In a corner is inscribed,
The Geneologie of the house of
Glenorquhie
Quhairof is descendit sundrie nobil & worthie houses.
Jameson
faciebat.
1635. Its size is eight feet by five. In the same room are about twenty heads of persons of the family; among others, that of a lady, so very ugly, that a wag, on seeing it, with lifted hands pronounced, that she was
fearfully and wonderfully made.
There are in the same house several heads by
Jameson;
but many of them unfortunately spoiled in the mending.
In the library is a small book, called, from the binding, the
black book,
with some beautifull drawings in it, on vellum, of the
Breadalbane
family, in water-colors. In the first page is old Sir
Duncan,
between two other figures; then follow several chiefs of the family, among whom is Sir
Colin,
Knight of
Rhodes,
who died 1480, aged 80. At the end is a manuscript history of the family, ending, I think, in 1633.
JULY 30.
Went to divine service at
Kinmore
Or the Great Head.
church, which, with the village, was re-built, in the neatest manner, by the present Lord
Breadalbane:
they stand beautifully on a small headland, projecting into the lake. His Lordship permits the inhabitants to live rent-free, on condition they exercise some trade, and keep their houses clean: so that, by these terms, he not only saves the expence of sending, on every trifling occasion, to
Perth
or
Crief,
but has got some as good workmen, in common trades, as any in his Majesty's dominions. The congregation was numerous, decent, attentive, still, well and neatly clad, and not a ragged or slovenly person among them. There were two services, one in
English,
the other in
Erse.
After the first, numbers of people, of both sexes, went out of church, and fearing themselves in the churchyard, made, in their motly habits, a gay and picturesque appearance. The devotion of the common people,
Highland
congregation.
on the usual days of worship, is as much to be admired, as their conduct at the sacrament is to be censured. It is celebrated but once in a year; when there are, in some places, three thousand communicants, and as many idle spectators, as can crowd each side of a long table, and the elements are rudely shoven from one to another; and in some places, fighting and other indecencies ensue; it is often made a season for debauchery; so, to this day,
Jack
cannot be persuaded to eat his meat like a christian
Tale of a Tub;
formerly, the sacrament was administered but once in two years.
.
Every Sunday a collection is made for the sick or necessitous; for poor's rates are unknown in every country parish in
Scotland.
Notwithstanding the common people are but just rouzed from their native indolence, very few beggars are seen in
North Britain:
either they are full masters of the lesson of being content with a very little; or, what is more probable, they are possessed of a spirit that will struggle hard with necessity before it will bend to the asking of alms.
Visited a pretty little island, tusted with trees, in
Loch-Tay,
not far from the shore: on it are the ruins of a priory, or dependent on that at
Scoone;
founded in 1122, by
Alexander
the First, in which were deposited the remains of his Queen
Sybilla,
natural daughter to
Henry
I. it was founded by
Alexander
to have the prayers of the Monks for the repose of his soul, and that of his royal confort
As appears from a grant made by that Monarch of the isle in
Loch-Tay, Ut Ecclesia
DEI
ibi pro me et pro Anima
SYRILLAE
Reginae ibi desuncta fabricetur,
&c.
. To this island the
Campbells
retreated, during the successes of the Marquiss of
Montrose,
where they defended themselves against that hero, which was one cause of his violent resentment against the whole name.
Rode to
Glen-lion;
JULY 31.
went by the side of the river
This river freezes; but the
Tay,
which receives it, never does.
that gives name to it. It has now lost its antient title of
Duie,
or
Black,
given it on account of a great battle between the
Mackays
and the
Macgregors;
after which, the conquerors are said to have stained the water with red, by washing in it their bloody swords and spears. On the right is a rocky hill, called
Shi-ballen,
or the Paps. Enter
Glen-lion
through a strait pass: the vale is narrow, but fertile; the banks of the river steep, rocky, and wooded; through which appear the rapid water of the
Lion.
On the north is a round fortress, on the top of the hill; to which, in old times, the natives retreated, on any invasion. A little further, on a plain, is a small
Roman
camp
It possibly might have been made during the expedition of Severus. who penetrated to the extremity of this island: it was the most northern work of the
Romans
I had my intelligence of.
, called by the Highlanders
Fortingal,
or the Fort of the Strangers: themselves they style
Na-fian,
or descendents of
Fingal.
In
Fortingal
church are the remains of a prodigious yew-tree,
Great yew.
whose ruins measured fifty-six feet and a half in circumference.
Saw at a gentleman's house in
Glen-lion,
a curious walking-staff, belonging to one of his ancestors: it was iron cased in leather, five feet long; at the top a neat pair of extended wings, like a
caduceus;
but, on being shook, a poniard, two feet nine inches long, darted out.
He also favoured me with the fight of a very antient brotche, which the Highlanders use, like the
fibula
of the
Romans,
to fasten their vest: it is made of silver, is round, with a bar cross the middle, from whence are two tongues to fasten the solds of the garments: one side is studded with pearl, or coarse gems, in a very rude manner; on the other, are certain letters I could not make out.
Return south, and come at once in fight of
Loch-Tay.
The day being very fine and calm, the whole scene was most beautifully repeated in the water. I must not omit that on the north side of this lake is a most excellent road, which runs the whole length of it, leading to
Teindrum
and
Inveraray,
in
Argyleshire,
and is the route which travellers must take, who make what I call the
petit tour
Which comprehends the route I have described; adding to it, from
Taymouth,
along the road, on the side of the lake, to
Killin,
16 miles; from thence to
Teindrum,
20;
Glenorchie,
12;
Inveraray,
16;
Luss,
on the banks of
Loch-lomond,
30;
Dunbarton,
12;
Glasgow,
15;
Sterling,
31;
Edinburgh,
by
Hopetoun
-House, 35; a tract unparalleled, for the variety, and frequency of fine and magnificent scenery.
of
Scotland.
This whole road was made at the sole expence of the present Lord
Breadalbane;
who, to facilitate the travelling, also erected thirty-two stone-bridges over the torrents that rush from the mountains into the lake. They will find the whole country excell in roads,
Roads.
partly military, partly done by statute labor, and much by the munisicence of the great men.
I was informed, that Lord
Breadalbane
's estate was so extensive that he could ride a hundred miles an end on it, even as far as the West Sea, where he has also some islands. These great properties are divided into districts, called
Officiaries:
a ground officer presides over each, and has three, four, or five hundred men under his care: he superintends the duties due from each to their Lord, such as fetching peat, bringing coal from
Perth,
&c. which they do, at their own expence, on horses backs, travelling in strings, the tail of one horse being fastened by a cord, which reaches to the head of the next: the horses are little, and generally white or grey; and as the farms are very small, it is common for four people to keep a plough between them, each furnishing a horse, and this is called a horse gang.
The north side of
Loch-Tay
is very populous; for in sixteen square miles are seventeen hundred and eighty-six souls: on the other side, about twelve hundred. The country, within these thirty years, is grown very industrious, and manufactures a great deal of thread. They spin with rocks
Their Lord gives among them annually a great number of spinning-wheels.
, which they do while they attend their cattle on the hills; and, at the three or four fairs in the year, held at
Taymouth,
about sixteen hundred pounds worth of yarn is sold out of
Breadalbane
only.
Much of this may be owing to the good sense and humanity of the chieftain; but much again is owing to the abolition of the seudal tenures, or vassalage; for before that was effected (which was done by the influence of a Chancellor
Earl of
Hardwick.
, whose memory
Scotland
gratefully adores for that service) the Strong oppressed the Weak, the Rich the Poor. Courts indeed were held, and juries called; but juries of vassals, too dependent and too timid to be relied on for the execution of true justice.
Leave
Taymouth;
ford the
Lion,
AUG. 1.
and ride above it thro' some woods: on the left bursts out a fine cascade, in a deep hollow, covered with trees: at a small distance to the west is
Castle-Garth,
a small castle seated like castle
Campbell,
between two deep glens: keep ascending a steep hill, but the corn country continues for a while: the scene then changes for a wild, black, and mountainous heath: descend into
Raynach,
a meadowy plain,
Raynach,
tolerably fertile: the lake of the same name extends from East to West; is about eleven miles long, and one broad: the Northern banks appeared very barren; part of the Southern finely covered with a forest of pine and birch, the first natural woods I had seen of pines:
Pine Forest.
rode a good way into it, but observed no trees of any size, except a birch sixteen feet in circumference: the ground beneath the trees is covered with heath, bilberies, and dwarf arbutus, whose glossy leaves make a pretty appearance: this place gives shelter to black game, and is at present the farthest Southern resort of roes, for very few ever straggle lower down: near these woods is a sawmill, which brings in about 180l.
per ann.
the deal, which is the red sort, is fold in plank to different parts of the country, carried on horses backs, for the trees are now grown so scarce as not to admit of exportation
Some Pot-Ash is also made of the Birch Wood:
.
The lake affords no other fish than trouts, and bull trouts; the last, as I was informed, are sometimes taken of the length of four feet and a half: many water fowl breed in the birns or little streams that trickle into the lake; among others different sort of grebes, and divers: I was told of one which the inhabitants call
Turuvachal,
that makes a great noise before storms, and by their description seems to be the
Fluder
of
Gesner.
This country was once the property of
Robertson,
The Poet
Struan.
of
Struan,
who had been in the rebellion of 1715; had his estate restored, but in 1745 rebelling a second time, the country was burnt, and the estate annexed to the crown: he returned a few years after, and died as he lived, a most abandoned sot; notwithstanding which he had a genius for poetry, and left behind him a volume of elegies, and other pieces, in some of which he elegantly laments the ravages of war among his vassals, and the loss of his favourite scenes, and in particular his fountain
Argentine.
The country is perfectly highland; and in spite of the intercourse this and the neighboring parts have of late years had with the rest of the world, it still retains some of its antient customs and superstitions;
Superstitions.
they decline daily, but least their memory should be lost, I shall mention several that are still practised, or but very lately difused in the tract I had passed over. Such a record will have this advantage when the follies are quite extinct, in teaching the unshackled and enlightened mind the difference between the pure ceremonies of religion, and the wild and anile flights of superstition.
The belief in spectres still exists;
Spectres.
of which I had a remarkable proof while I was in the county of
Breadalbane:
a poor visionary, who had been working in his cabbage-garden, imagined that he was raised suddenly into the air, and conveyed over a wall into an adjacent corn-field; that he found himself surrounded by a crowd of men and women, many of whom he knew to have been dead some years, and who appeared to him skimming over the tops of the unbended corn, and mingling together like bees going to hive: that they spoke an unknown language, and with a hollow found: that they very roughly pushed him to and fro; but on his uttering the name of GOD, all vanished but a female sprite, who seizing him by the shoulder, obliged him to promise an assignation, at that very hour, that day sevenight: that he then found that his hair was all tied in double knots, and that he had almost lost the use of his speech: that he kept his word with the spectre, whom he soon saw come floating thro' the air towards him: that he spoke to her, but she told him at that time she was in too much haste to attend to him, but bid him go away, and no harm should befall him; and so the affair rested when I left the country. But it is incredible the mischief these
AEgri Somnia
did in the neighborhood: the friends and relation of the deceased, whom the old Dreamer had named, were in the utmost anxiety at finding them in such bad company in the other world: the almost extinct belief of the old idle tales began again to gain ground, and the good minister will have many a weary discourse and exhortation before he can eradicate the absurd ideas this idle story has revived.
In this part of the country the notion of witchcraft is quite lost: it was observed to cease almost immediately on the repeal of the witch act; a proof what a dangerous instrument it was in the hands of the vindictive, or of the credulous.
Among the superstitious customs these are the most singular.
Unlucky day.
A Highlander never begins any thing of consequence on the day of the week on which the 3d of
May
falls, which he styles
Lagh Sbeacbanna na bleanagh,
or the dismal day.
On the 1st of
May,
Bel-tein.
the herdsmen of every village hold their
Bel-tein
My account of this, and every other ceremony mentioned in this Journal, was communicated to me by gentlemen resident on the spot where they were performed.
, a rural sacrifice: they cut a square trench on the ground, leaving the turf in the middle; on that they make a fire of wood, on which they dress a large caudle of eggs, butter, oatmeal and milk; and bring, besides the ingredients of the caudle, plenty of beer and whisky; for each of the company must contribute something. The rites begin with spilling some or the caudle on the ground, by way of libation: on that, every one takes a cake of oatmeal, upon which are raised nine square knobs, each dedicated to some particular being, the supposed preserver of their flocks and herds, or to some particular animal, the real destroyer of them: each person then turns his face to the fire, breaks off a knob, and flinging it over his shoulders, says,
This I give to thee, preserve thou my horses; this to thee, preserve thou my sheep;
and so on. After that, they life the same ceremony to the noxious animals:
This I give to thee, 0 Fox! spare thou my lambs; this to thee, O hooded Crow! this to thee, O Eagle!
When the ceremony is over they dine on the caudle; and after the feast is finished, what is left is hid by two persons deputed for that purpose; but on the next
Sunday
they re-assemble, and finish the reliques of the first entertainment
A custom, favoring of the
Scotch Bel-tein,
prevails in
Gloucestershire,
particularly about
Newent
and the neighboring parishes, on the twelfth day, or on the
Epiphany,
in the evening: all the servants of every particular farmer assemble together in one or the fields that has been sown with wheat; on the border of which, in the most conspicuous or most elevated place, they make twelve fires of straw, in a row; around one of which, made larger than the rest, they drink a chearful glass of cyder to their master's health, success to the future harvest, and then returning home they feast on cakes, made of carraways, &c. soak'd in cyder, which they clame as a reward for their past labors in, sowing the grain. This seems to resemble a custom of the antient Danes, who, in their addresses to their rural deities, emptied, on every invocation, a cup in honor of them. NIORDI et FREJAE
memoria poculis recolebatur, annua ut ipsis contingeret selicitas, frugumque et reliqua annona uberrimus proventus.
Worm. Monum. Dan. lib. i.
p.
28.
.
On the death of a Highlander,
Funeral customs
the corps being stretched on a board, and covered with a coarse linnen wrapper, the friends lay on the breast of the deceased a wooden platter, containing a small quantity of salt and earth, separate and unmixed; the earth, an emblem of the corruptible body; the salt, an emblem of the immortal spirit. All fire is extinguished where a corps is kept; and it is reckoned so ominous, for a dog or cat to pass over it, that the poor animal is killed without mercy.
The
Late-wake
is a ceremony used at funerals:
The
Late-wake.
the evening after the death of any person, the relations and friends of the deceased meet at the house, attended by bagpipe or fiddle; the nearest of kin, be it wife, son, or daughter, opens a melancholy ball, dancing and greeting;
i. e.
crying violently at the same time; and this continues till day-light; but with such gambols and frolicks, among the younger part of the company, that the loss which occasioned them is often more than supplied by the consequences of that night. If the corps remains unburied for two nights the same rites are renewed. Thus,
Scythian
-like, they rejoice at the deliverance of their friends out of this life of misery.
The
Coranich,
Coranich.
or singing at funerals, is still in use in some places: the songs are generally in praise of the deceased; or a recital of the valiant deeds of him, or ancestors. I had not the fortune to be present at any in
North Britain,
but formerly assisted at one in the south of
Ireland,
where it was performed in the fullness of horror. The cries are called by the
Irish
the
'Ulogobne
and
Hûllulu,
two words extremely expressive of the found uttered on these occasions, and being of
Celtic
stock, Etymologists would swear to be the origin of the
of the
Greeks,
and
Ululatus
of the
Latins. Virgil
is very fond of using the last, whenever any of his females are distressed; as are others of the
Roman
Poets, and generally on occasions similar to this.
It was my fortune to arrive at a certain town in
Kerry,
at the time that a person of some distinction departed this life: my curiosity led me to the house, where the funeral seemed conducted in the purest classical form.
Quodcunque aspicerem luctus gemitusque sonabant, Formaque non taciti funeris intùs erat.
In short, the
conclamatio
was set up by the friends in the fame manner as
Virgil
describes that consequential of
Dido
's death.
Lamentis gemituque et faemines ululatu Tecta fremunt.
Immediately after this followed another ceremony, fully described by
Cambden,
in his account of the manners of the antient
Irish;
the earnest expostulations and reproaches given to the deceased, for quitting this world, where she enjoyed so many blessings, so good a husband, such fine children. This custom is of great antiquity, for
Euryalus
's mother makes the same pathetic address to her dead son.
Tune ilia senectae Sera meae requies? potuisti relinquere solam Crudelis?
But when the time approached for carrying out the corps the cry was redoubled.
Tremulis ululatibus aethera complent.
A numerous band of females waiting in the outer court, to attend the herse, and to pay (in chorus) the last tribute of their voices. The habit of this sorrowing train, and the neglect of their persons, were admirably suited to the occasion: their robes were black, and flowing, resembling the antient
Palla;
their hair long, and disheveled: I might say,
Vidi egomet nigra succinctam vadere palla
Canidiam;
pedibus nudis, passoque capillo Cum Sagana mojore ululantem.
Among these mourners were dispersed the females, who sung the praises of the deceased, and were in the place of the
Mulieres Praeficae
of the
Romans,
and, like them, were a mercenary tribe. I could not but observe that they over-did their parts, as
Horace
acquaints us the mourners of his days did.
Ut qui conducti plorant in funera, dicunt Et saciunt prope plura dolentibus ex animo.
The corps was carried slowly along the verge of a most beautifull lake, the
ululatus
was continued, and the whole procession ended among the venerable ruins of an old abby. But to return to
North Britain.
Midwives give new-born babes a small spoonfull of earth and whisky, as the first food they taste.
Before women bake their bannocks, or oatmeal cakes, they make a cross on the last.
The notion of second-sight still prevales in a few places:
Fairies.
as does the belief of Fairies; and children are watched till the christening is over, least they should be stole, or changed.
Elf-shots., i. e.
the stone arrow heads of the old inhabitants of this island, are supposed to be weapon shot by Fairies at cattle, to which are attributed any disorders they have: in order to effect a cure, the cow is to be touched by an els-shot, or made to drink the water in which one has been dipped. The same virtue is said to be found in the crystal gems
Woodward
's Method of Fossils.
, and in the adder-stone, our
Glein Raidr;
and it is also believed that good fortune must attend the owner; so, for that reason, the first is called
Clacb Bhouaigh,
or the happy stone. Captain
Archibald Campbell
shewed me one, a spheroid set in silver, which people came for the use of above a hundred miles, and brought the water it was to be dipt in with them; for without that, in human cases, it was believed to have no effect.
Left
Carrie,
the house of Mr.
Campbell,
AUG. 2.
factor for the
Struan
estate, where I had a very hospitable reception the preceding night. Went due east; passed over a bridge cross the
Tumel,
which discharges itself out of
Lough Raynach.
Not far off were some neat small houses, inhabited by veteran soldiers, who were settled here after the peace of 1748; had land, and three pounds in money given, and nine pounds lent, to begin the world with. In some few places this plan succeeded; but in general, was frustrated by the dissipation of these new colonists, who could by no means relish an industrious life; but as soon as the money was spent, which seldom lasted long, left their tenements to be possessed by the next comer.
Saw a stamping-mill, calculated to reduce limestone to a fine power, in order to lave the expence of burning, for manure. The stampers beat it into small pieces in a trough, which a stream of water passed through, carrying off the fine parts into a proper receptacle, the gross ones being stopped by a grate. I did not find that this project: answered, but was told, that the benefit the land was to receive from it would not appear till the third year.
On going up a steep hill have a fine view of the lake. Where the mountains almost close, is
Mount Alexander,
where
Struan
once resided, and which he called his hermitage: it is a most romantic situation, prettily wooded, impending over a fine bason, formed by the
Tumel,
in a deep hollow beneath. At the bottom of this hill is
Argentine,
Argentine.
a little fountain; to which he gave that name from the silvery
micae
it flings up: near this are several rude but beautifull walks amidst the rocks and trees, among which, in clifts and chasms, I was shewn the hard bed of the poor poet, when his disloyalty had made it penal for him to shew his head. Near this the rocks almost meet, and the river rushes with vast violence between. Some outlawed
Mc Gregors
were once surprized on the opposite precipice, and all killed; one, who made a desperate leap upon a stone in the middle of the water, and another to the opposite side, had the hard fate to be shot in climbing the opposite rocks.
A mile lower are the falls of the
Tumel:
I have seen higher; but, except that of the
Rhine,
never law one with more water.
Ascend a very steep and high hill through a great birch wood; a most picturesque scene, from the pendent form of the boughs waving with the wind from the bottom to the utmost summits of the mountain. On attaining the top, had a view of a beautifull little
Straith,
fertile, and prettily wooded, with the river in the middle, forming numbers of quick meanders; then suddenly swelling into a lake, that fills the vale from side to side; is about three miles long, and retains the name of the river. After riding along a black moor, in fight of vast mountains, arrive at
Blair
Or the plain where a battle had been fought.
, or
Athol
-House, seated on an eminence above a plain, watered by the
Carrie,
an outrageous stream, whose ravages have greatly deformed the vally, by the vast beds of gravel which it has left behind. The house was once fortified, and held a siege against the Rebels in 1746; but at present it is much reduced in height, and the inside highly finished by the noble owner. The most singular piece of furniture is a chest of drawers made of broom, most elegantly striped in veins of white and brown. This plant grows to a great size in
Scotland,
Great broom trees.
and furnishes pieces of the breadth of six inches.
Near the house is a fine walk surrounding a very deep glen finely wooded, but deficient in water at the bottom; but on the side of the walk on the rock is a small crystalline fountain, inhabited at that time by a pair of
Naiads,
in form of golden fish. In a spruce sir was a hang-nest of some unknown bird,
Hang-nest.
suspended at the four corners to the boughs; it was open at top, an inch and a half in diameter, and two deep; the sides and bottom thick, the materials moss, worsted, and birch bark, lined with hair and feathers. The streams afford the
Parr,
Parr.
a small species of Trout, seldom exceeding eight inches in length, marked on the sides with nine large bluish spots, and on the lateral line with small red ones
Dr. Zool. illustr.
.
This country is very mountainous, has no natural woods except of birch; but the vast plantations that begin to cloath the hills will amply supply these defects. There is a great quantity of oats raised in this neighborhood, and numbers of black cattle reared, the resources of the exhausted parts of
South Britain.
Visit the pass of
Killicrankie,
Killierankie.
about five miles south of
Blair:
near the northern entrance was sought the battle between the Viscount
Dundee
and General
Mackay,
in which the first was killed in the moment of victory. The pass is extremely narrow, between high mountains, with the
Carrie
running beneath in a deep, darksome, and rocky channel, over-hung with trees, forming a scene of horrible grandeur. The road through this strait is very fine, formed by the soldiery lent by the Government, who have sixpence
per
day from the country besides their pay. About a mile beyond the pass, Mr.
Robertson
's of
Faskally,
appears like fairy ground amidst these wild rocks, seated in a most beautifull meadow, watered by the river
Tumel,
surrounded with pretty hills finely wooded.
View near Blair.
The Earl of
Athole,
hearing of the King's coming, made great provision for him in all things pertaining to a prince, that he was as well served and eased, with all things necessary to his estate, as he had been in his own palace of
Edinburgh.
For I heard say, this noble Earl gart make a curious palace to the King, to his Mother, and to the Embassador, where they were s;o honourably eased and lodged as they had been in
England, France, Italy,
or
Spain,
concerning the time and equivalent, for their hunting and pastime; which was builded in the midst of a fair meadow, a fair palace of green timber, wind with green birks, that were green both under and above, which was fashioned in four quarters, and in every quarter and nuik thereof a great round, as it had been a block-house, which was lofted and gested the space of three house height; the floors laid with green scarets spreats, medwarts and flowers, that no man knew whereon he zeid, but as he had been in a garden. Further, there were two great rounds in ilk side of the gate, and a great portculleis of tree, falling down with the manner of a barrace, with a draw-bridge, and a great stank of water of sixteen foot deep, and thirty foot of breadth. And also this palace within was hung with fine tapestry and arrasses of silk, and lighted with fine glass windows in all airths; that this palace was as pleasantly decored, with all necessaries pertaining to a prince, as it had been his own palace-royal at home. Further, this Earl gart make such provision for the King, and his Mother, and the Embassador, that they had all manner of meats, drinks, and delicates that were to be gotten, at that time, in all
Scotland,
either in burgh or land; that is to say, all kind of drink, as ale, beer, wine, both white and claret,
malvery, muskadel, Hippocras, aquavitae.
Further, there was of meats, wheat-bread, main-bread and ginge-bread; with fleshes, beef, mutton, lamb, veal, venison, goose, grice, capon, coney, cran, swan, partridge, plover, duck, drake, brissel-cock and pawnies, black-cock and muirfowl, cappercaillies: and also the stanks, that were round about the palace, were full of all delicate fishes, as salmonds, trouts, pearches, pikes, eels, and all other kind of delicate fishes that could be gotten in fresh waters; and all ready for the banket. Syne were there proper stewards, cunning baxters, excellent cooks and potingars, with confections and drugs for their deserts; and the halls and chambers were prepared with costly bedding, vessel and napery, according for a king, so that he wanted none of his orders more than he had been at home in his own palace. The King remained in this wilderness, at the hunting, the space of three days and three nights, and his company, as I have shewn. I heard men say, it cost the Earl of
Athole,
every day, in expences, a thousand pounds.
But hunting meetings, among the great men, were often the preludes to rebellion; for under that pretence they collected great bodies of men without suspicion, which at length occasioned an act of parlement prohibiting such dangerous assemblies.
Set out for the county of
Aberdeen;
ride eastward over a hill into
Glen-Tilt,
AUG. 3.
Glen-Tilt.
famous in old times for producing the most hardy warriors; is a narrow glen, several miles in length, bounded on each side by mountains of an amazing height; on the south is the great hill of
Ben y glo,
whose base is thirty-five miles in circumference, and whose summit towers far above the others. The sides of many of these mountains are covered with fine verdure, and are excellent sheep-walks; but entirely woodless. The road is the most dangerous and the most horrible I ever travelled; a narrow path, so rugged that our horses often were obliged to cross their legs, in order to pick a secure place for their feet; while, at a considerable and precipitous depth beneath, roared a black torrent, rolling through a bed of rock, solid in every part but where the
Tilt
had worn its antient way. Salmon force their passage even as high as this dreary stream, in spite of the distance from the sea, and the difficulties they have to encounter.
Ascend a steep hill, on the top of which we refreshed ourselves with some goats whey,
Sheelins.
at a
Sheelin,
or, as it is sometimes called,
Arrie,
i. e.
a house made of turf.
and
Bothay,
a dairy-house, where the Highland shepherds, or graziers, live during summer with their herds and flocks, and during that season make butter and cheese. Their whole furniture consists of a few horn spoons, their milking utensils, a couch formed of sods to lie on, and a rug to cover them. Their food oat-cakes, butter or cheese, and often the coagulated blood of their cattle spread on their bannocks. Their drink milk, whey, and sometimes, by way of indulgence, whisky. Such dairy-houses are common to most mountainous countries: those in
Wales
are called
Vottys,
or Summer-houses; those on the
Swiss Alps, Sennes.
Dined on the side of
Loch-Tilt,
a small piece of water, swarming with Trouts. Continued our journey over a wild, black, moory, melancholy tract. Reached
Brae-mar
Brae,
signifies the steep face of any hill.
; the country almost instantly changed, and in lieu of dreary wastes, a rich vale, plenteous in corn and grass, succeeded. Cross the
Dee
near its head, which, from an insignificant stream, in the course of a very few miles, increases to the size of a great river, from the influx of numbers of other waters. The rocks of
Brae-mar,
on the east,
Brae-mar.
are exceedingly romantic, finely wooded with pine. The clifts are very lofty, and their front most rugged and broken, with vast pines growing out of their fissures.
This tract abounding with game, was, in old times, the annual resort of numbers of nobility, who assembled here to pass a month or two in the amusements of the chace. Their huntings resembled campaigns; they lived in temporary cottages, called
Lonquhards,
were all dressed in an uniform habit conformable to that of the country, and passed their time with jollity and good chear, most admirably described by
John Taylor,
the water poet, who, in 1618, made there his
Pennilesse Pilgrimage,
p. 135, and describes the rural luxury with all the glee of a
Sancho Panca.
I thank my good Lord
Erskin,
(says the Poet) hee commanded that I should alwayes bee lodged in his lodging, the kitchen being alwayes on the side of a banke, many kettles and pots boyling, and many spits turning and winding, with great variety of cheere: as venison bak'd, sodden, rost and stu'de beefe, mutton, goates, kid, hares, fresh salmon, pidgeons, hens, capons, chickens, partridge, moore-coots, heath-cocks, caperkellies, and termagants; good ale, sacke, white and claret, tent (or Allegant) and most potent
aquavitae
The
French,
during the reign of
Charles
IX. seemed not only to have made full as large sacrifices to
Diana
and
Bacchus,
but even thought their entertainment incomplete without the presence of
Venus. Jacques du Fouilloux,
a celebrated writer on hunting of that age, with much seriousness describes all the requisites for the chace, and thus places and equips the jovial crew:—
L'Assemblee se doit faire en quelque beau lieu soubs des arbres aupres d'une fontaine ou Ruisseau, la ou les veneurs se doiuent tous rendre pour faire leur rapport. Ce pendant le Sommelier doit venir avec trois bons chevaux chargez d'instrumens pour
arrouser le gosier,
comme coutrets, barraux, barils, flacons et bouteilles: lesquelles doiuent estre pleines de bon vin
d' Arbois, de Beaume, de Chalece et de Graue:
luy estant descendu du cheval, las metra refraischir en l'eau, ou bien les pourra faire refroidir avec du Canfre: apres il estendra la nappe sur la verdure. Ce fait, le cuisinier s en viendra chargè de plusieurs
bons harnais de gueule,
comme jambons, langues de boeuf fumès, groins, et oreilles de pourceau, cervelats, eschinèes, pieces de boeuf de Saison, carbonnades, jambons de
Mayence,
paftez, longes de veau
roides couuertes de poudre blanche, et autres menus suffrages pour remplir le boudin lequel il metra sur la nappe.
Lors le Roy ou le Seigneur avec ceux de fa table estrendront leurs manteaux sur l'herbe, et fe coucheront de costè deffus; beuuans, mangeons, rians et faisans grand chere;
and that nothing might be wanting to render the entertainment of such a set of merry men quite complete, honest
Jacques
adds,
et s'il y a quelque femme de reputation en ce pays qui false plaisir aux compagnons, elle doit etre allegúee, et ses passages et remuemens de fesses, attendant le rapport a venir.
But when the great man sallies out to the chace of foxes and badgers, he seems not to leave so important an affair to chance; so sets off thus amply provided in his triumphal car,
Le Seigneur, (says
Fouilloux)
doit avoir fa petite charrette, la ou il sera dedans, avec la Fillette aagèe de seize a dix sept ans, laquelle lay frotera la teste par les chemins. Toutes les chevilles et paux de la charrette doment estre garnis de flaccons et bouteilles, et doit avoir au bout de la charrette un coffre de bois, plein de coqs-d'inde froids, jambons, langues de Boeufs et autre bons harnois de geule. Et si e'ent en temps d'hiver, il pourra faire porter son petit pavillon, et faire du feu dedans pour fe chauffer, on bien donner un coup e
robbe a la nymphe.
p.
55. 75.
.
All these, and more than these, we had continually, in superfluous abundance, caught by faulconers, fowlers, fishers, and brought by my Lord's (
Mar
) tenants and purveyors, to victual our campe, which consisted of fourteen or fifteen hundred men, and horses. The manner of the hunting is this: five or six hundred men doe rise early in the morning, and they doe disperse themselves divers wayes, and seven, eight, or ten miles compasse, they doe bring or chase in the deer in many heards (two, three, or four hundred in a heard) to such or such a place, as the noblemen shall appoint them; then when day is come, the lords and gentlemen of their companies doe ride or go to the said places, sometimes wading up to the middles through bournes and rivers; and then they being come to the place, doe lye down on the ground till those foresaid scouts, which are called the
Tinekhell,
do bring down the deer; but, as the proverb says of a bad cooke, so these
Tinckhell
men doe lick their own singers; for, besides their bowes and arrows which they carry with them, wee can heare now and then a harguebuse, or a musquet, goe off, which doe seldom discharge in vaine: then after we had stayed three houres, or there abouts, we might perceive the deer appeare on the hills round about us, (their heads making a shew like a wood) which being followed close by the
Tinckhell,
are chased down into the valley where wee lay; then all the valley on each side being way-laid with a hundred couple of strong Irish grey-hounds, they are let loose, as occasion serves, upon the heard of deere, that with dogs, gunnes, arrowes, durks and daggers, in the space of two houres fourscore fat deere were slaine, which after are disposed of some one way and some another, twenty or thirty miles, and more than enough left for us to make merry withall at our rendevouze. Being come to our lodgings, there was such baking, boyling, rosting and stewing, as if Cook Russian had been there to have scalded the Devill in his feathers.
But to proceed.
Pass by the castle of
Brae-mar,
a square tower, built about a hundred and fifty years ago, to curb the discontented chieftains; but at present unnecessarily garrisoned by a company of foot, being rented by the Government from Mr.
Farquharson
of
Invercauld,
whose house I reached in less than half an hour.
Invercauld
is seated in the centre of the
Grampian
hills, in a fertile vale, washed by the
Dee,
a large and rapid river: nothing can be more beautifull than the different views from the several parts of it. On the northern entrance, immense ragged and broken crags bound one side of the prospect; over whose grey sides and summits is scattered the melancholy green of the picturesque pine, which grows out of the naked rock, where one would think nature would have denied vegetation.
A little lower down is the castle above-mentioned; formerly a necessary curb on the little kings of the country; but at present serves scarce any real purpose, but to adorn the landscape.
The views from the skirts of the plain, near
Invercauld,
are very great; the hills that immediately bound it are cloathed with trees, particularly with birch, whose long and pendent boughs, waving a vast height above the head, surpass the beauties of the weeping willow.
Brae-mar Castle.
Some of these hills are supposed to be the highest part of
Great Britain:
their height has not yet been taken, but the conjecture is made from the great descent of the
Dee,
which runs from
Brae-mar
The most distant from the sea of any place in
North Britain.
to the sea, above seventy miles, with a most rapid course.
Rode to take a nearer view of the environs; crossed the
Dee
on a good stone-bridge, built by the Government, and entered on excellent roads into a magnificent forest of pines of many miles extent.
Pine Forest.
Some of the trees are of a vast size; I measured several that were ten, eleven, and even twelve feet in circumference, and near sixty feet high, forming a most beautifull column, with a fine verdant capital. These trees are of a great age, having, as is supposed, seen two centuries. The value of these trees is considerable; Mr.
Farqubarson
informed me, that by sawing and retailing them, he has got for eight hundred trees five-and-twenty shillings each: they are sawed in an adjacent sawmill, into plank ten feet long, eleven inches broad, and three thick, and sold for two shillings apiece.
Near this antient forest is another, consisting of smaller trees, almost as high, but very slender; one grows in a singular manner out of the top of a great stone, and notwithstanding it seems to have no other nourishment than what it gets from the dews, is above thirty feet high.
The prospect above these forests is very extraordinary, a distant view of hills over a surface of verdant pyramids of pines.
This whole tract abounds with game:
Stags.
the Stags at this time were ranging in the mountains;
Roes.
but the little Roebucks
These animals are reared with great difficulty; even when taken young, eight out often generally die.
were perpetually bounding before us; and the black game often sprung under our feet.
Birds.
The tops of the hills swarmed with
Grous
and
Ptarmigans.
Green Plovers, Whimbrels, and Snow-flecks
Br. Zeal. illustr.
17.
tab.
xi.
, breed here: the last assemble in great flocks during winter, and collect so closely in their eddying flight as to give the sportsman opportunity of killing numbers at a shot. Eagles
The Ring-tail Eagle, called here the Black Eagle. I suspect, from the description, that the Dotrel breeds here. I heard also of a bird, called here
Snatach na cuirn,
but could not procure it.
, Peregrine Falcons, and Goshawks, breed here: the Falcons in rocks, the Goshawks in trees: the last pursues its prey an end, and dashes through every thing in pursuit; but if it misses its quarry ceases after two or three hundred yards flight. These birds are proscribed; half a crown is given for an eagle, a shilling for a hawk, or hooded crow.
Foxes are in these parts very ravenous, feeding on roes, sheep, and even she goats.
Rooks visit these vales in autumn, to feed on the different sort of berries; but neither winter nor breed here.
I saw flying in the forests the greater Bulfinch of Mr.
Edwards, tab.
123, 124. the
Loxia enucleator
of
Linnaeus,
whose food is the seed of pine cones; a bird common to the north of
Europe
and
America.
On our return passed under some high clifts, with large woods of birch intermixed. This tree is used for all sorts of implements of husbandry,
Birch Woods.
roofing of small houses, wheels, fuel; the Highlanders also tan their own leather with the bark; and a great deal of excellent wine is extracted from the live tree. Observed among these rocks a sort of projecting shelf, on which had been a hut, accessible only by the help of some thongs fastened by some very expert climbers, to which the family got, in time of danger, in former days, with their most valuable moveables.
The houses of the common people in these parts are shocking to humanity,
Cottages.
formed of loose stones, and covered with clods, which they call
devish,
or with heath, broom, or branches of fir: they look, at a distance, like so many black mole-hills. The inhabitants live very poorly, on oatmeal, barley-cakes, and potatoes; their drink whisky sweetened with honey. The men are thin, but strong; idle and lazy, except employed in the chace, or any thing that looks like amusement; are content with their hard fare, and will not exert themselves farther than to get what they deem necessaries. The women are more industrious, spin their own husbands cloaths, and get money by knitting stockings, the great trade of the county. The common women are in general most remarkably plain, and soon acquire an old look, and by being much exposed to the weather without hats, such a grin, and contraction of the muscles, as heightens greatly their natural hardness of features: I never saw so much plainness among the lower rank of females: but the
ne plus ultra
of hard features is not found till you arrive among the fish-women of
Aberdeen.
Tenants pay their rent generally in this country in money, except what they pay in poultry, which is done to promote the breed, as the gentry are so remote from any market. Those that rent a mill pay a hog or two; an animal so detested by the Highlanders, that very few can be prevaled on to taste it, in any shape. Labor is here very cheap, the usual pay being fifty shillings a year, and two pecks of oatmeal a week.
Pursued my journey east,
AUG. 6.
along a beautifull road by the river side, in sight of the pine forests. The vale now grows narrow, and is filled with woods of birch and alder. Saw on the road-side the seats of gentlemen high built, and once defensible. The peasants cultivate their little land with great care to the very edge of the stony hills. All the way are vast masses of granite, the same which is called in
Cornwall,
Moor-stone.
The Glen contracts, and the mountains approach each other. Quit the
Highlands,
passing between two great rocks,
Pass of
Bellitir.
called the Pass of
Bollitir,
a very narrow strait, whose bottom is covered with the tremendous ruins of the precipices that bound the road. I was informed, that here the wind rages with great fury during winter, and catching up the snow in eddies, whirls it about with such impetuosity, as makes it dangerous for man or beast to be out at that time. Rain also pours down sometimes in deluges, and carries with it stone and gravel from the hills in such quantity, that I have seen these
spates,
as they are called, lie cross the roads, as the
avelenches,
or snow-falls, do those of the
Alps.
In many parts of the
Highlands
were
bospitia
for the reception of travellers, called by the
Scotch, Spittles,
or hospitals: the same were usual in
Wales,
where they are styled
Yspitty;
and, in both places, were maintained by the religious houses: as similar
Asylums
are to this day supported, in many parts of the
Alps.
This pass is the eastern entrance into the Highlands. The country now assumes a new face: the hills grow less; but the land more barren, and is chiefly covered with heath and rock. The edges of the
Dee
are cultivated, but the rest only in patches, among which is generally a groupe of small houses. There is also a change of trees, oak being the principal wood, but not much of that Refreshed my horses at a hamlet called
Tulloch,
and looking west, saw the great mountain
Lagbin y gair,
which is always covered with snow.
Observed several vast plantations of pines, planted by gentlemen near their seats: such a laudable spirit prevails, in this respect, that in another half-century it never shall be said, that to spy the nakedness of the land are you come.
Dine at the little village of
Kincaird.
Hereabouts the common people cultivate a great deal of cabbage. The oat-fields are inclosed with rude low mounds of stone.
Lay at a mean house at
Banchorie,
The country, from
Bollitir
to this place, dull, unless where varied with the windings of the river, or with the plantations.
The nearer to
Aberdeen,
AUG. 7.
the lower the country grows, and the greater quantity of corn: in general, oats and barley; for there is very little wheat sown in these parts. Reach
ABERDEEN,
ABERDEEN.
a fine city, lying on a small bay formed by the
Dee,
The bridge lies about two miles south of the town, and consiste seven neat arches.
deep enough for ships of two hundred tuns. The town is about two miles in circumference, and contains thirteen thousand souls, and about three thousand in the suburbs. It once enjoyed a good share of the tobacco trade, but was at length forced to resign it to
Glasgow,
which was so much more conveniently situated for it. At present, its imports are from the
Baltic,
and a few merchants trade to the
West-Indies
and
North America.
Stocking trade.
Its exports are stockings, thread, salmon, and oat-meal: the first is a most important article, as appears by the following state of it. For this manufacture, 20,800 pounds worth of wool is annually imported, and 1600 pounds worth of oil. Of this wool is annually made 69,333 dozen pairs of stockings, worth, at an average, 1l. 10s.
per
dozen. These are made by the country people, in almost all parts of this great county, who get 4s.
per
dozen for spinning, and 14s.
per
dozen for knitting; so that there is annually paid them 62,329l. 14s. And besides, there is about 2000l. value of stockings manufactured from the wool of the county, which encourages the breed of sheep much; for even as high as
Invercauld,
the farmer sells his sheep at twelve shillings apiece, and keeps them till they are four or five years old, for the sake of the wool. About 200 combers are also employed constantly. The thread manufacture is another considerable article, tho' trifling in comparison of the woollen.
The salmon fisheries on the
Dee
and the
Don,
Salmon.
are a good branch of trade: about 46 boats, and 130 men, are employed on the first; and in some years, 167,000lb. of fish have been sent pickled to
London,
and about 930 barrels of salted fish exported to
France, Italy,
&c. The fishery on the
Don
is far less considerable.
The town of
Aberdeen
is in general well built, with granite from the neighboring quarries. The best street, or rather
place,
is the Castle-street: in the middle is an octogon building, with neat bas relievos of the Kings of
Scotland,
from
James
I. to
James
VII. The Town-house makes a good figure, and has a handsome spire in the centre.
The east and west churches are under the same roof; for the
North Britons
observe oeconomy even in their religion: in one I observed a small ship hung up; a common thing in
Scotland,
a sort of votive offering frequent enough in
Popish
churches, but appeared very unexpectedly here.
In the church-yard lies
Andrew Cant,
minister of
Aberdeen,
Andrew Cant.
from whom the spectator derives the word to
cant;
but, in all probability,
Andrew
canted no more than the rest of his brethren, for he lived in a whining age
In
Charles
the First's time.
; the word therefore seems to be derived from
canto,
from their singing out their discourses.
In the same place are multitudes of long-winded epitaphs; but the following, though short, has a most elegant turn:
Si sides, si bumanitas, multoque gratus lepore candor; Si suorum amor, amicorum charitas, omniumque Benevolentia spritum reducere possent, Haud beic situs esset
Johannes Burnet
a
Elrick. 1747.
The college is a large old building,
College.
founded by
George
Earl of
Marechal,
1593. On one side is this strange inscription; probably alluding to some scoffers at that time:
They have seid,
Quhat say thay?
Let Yame say.
In the great room are several good pictures. A head of the Founder. The present Lord
Marechal
when young, and General
Keith,
his brother. Bishop
Burnet
in his robes, as Chancellor of the Garter. A head of
Mary Stuart,
in black, with a crown in one hand, a crucifix in the other.
Arthur Jonston,
a fine head, by
Jameson. Andrew Cant,
by the same.
Gordon,
of
Strakloch,
publisher of the maps, and several others, by
Jameson.
In the library is the alcoran on vellum, finely illuminated.
A
Hebrew
Bible, Manuscript, with Rabinical notes, on vellum.
Isidori excerpta ex libro:
a great curiosity, being a complete natural history, with figures, richly illuminated on squares of plated gold, on vellum.
A Paraphrase on the Revelation, by
James
VI. with notes, in the King's own hand.
A fine missal
There is also a very curious silver chain six feet long, found in the ruins of the White Fryers; at one end is a round flat plate, on the other a pear-shaped appendage.
.
There are about a hundred and forty students belonging to this college.
The grammar-school is a low but neat building.
School. Hospital.
Gordon
's hospital is handsome; in front is a good statue of the founder: it maintains forty boys, children of the inhabitants of
Aberdeen,
who are apprenticed at proper ages.
The infirmary is a large plain building, and sends out between eight and nine hundred cured patients annually.
On the side of the Great Bleachery, which is common to the town, are the publick walks. Over a road, between the Castle-street and the river, is a very handsome arch, which must attract the attention of the traveller.
On the east of the town is a work begun by
Cromwel,
from whence is a fine view of the sea: beneath is a small patch of ground, noted for producing very early barley, which was then reaping.
Prices of provisions in this town were these:
Provisions.
Beef, (16 ounces to the pound) 2d. 1/2. to 5d. mutton the same; butter, (28 ounces to the pound) 6d. to 8d. cheese, ditto, 4d. to 4d. 1/2. a large pullet, 6d. or 10d. duck, the same; goose, 2s. 3d.
Granite quarry.
Cross the harbor to the granite quarries that contribute to supply
London
with paving-stones: the stone lies either in large nodules or in shattery beds, are cut into shape; and the small pieces for the middle of the streets are put on board for seven shillings
per
tun, the long stones at ten-pence
per
foot.
Visited old
Aberdeen,
AUG. 8. Old
Aberdeen.
about a mile north of the new; a poor town, seated not far from the
Don.
The college is built round a square with cloisters. The chapel is very ruinous within; but there still remains some wood-work of exquisite workmanship. This was preserved by the spirit of the Provost, at the time of the reformation, who armed his people and checked the blind zeal of the populace.
The library is large. The most remarkable things are,
John Trevisa
's translation of
Higden's Polychronicon,
in 1387; the manuscript excellently wrote, and the language very good, for that time. A very neat
Dutch
missal, with elegant paintings on the margin. Another of the angels appearing to the shepherds, wish one of the men playing on the bagpipes. A manuscript catalogue of the old treasury of the college.
Hector Boethius
was the first principal of the college, and sent for from
Paris
for that purpose, on an annual salary of forty marks,
Scots,
at thirteen-pence each. The square tower on the side of the college was built by
Cromwel,
for the reception of students; of which there are about a hundred belonging to the college, who lie in it.
In Bishop
Elphinston
's hall, who was the founder, is a picture of Bishop
Dunbar,
who finished. what the other left incomplete.
Forbes,
Bishop of
Aberdeen,
and Professors
Sandiland
and
Gordon,
by
Jameson.
The
Sybils:
said to be done by the same hand, but seemed to me in too different a style to be his; but the
Sybilla AEgyptiaca
and
Erythroea
are in good attitudes.
The cathedral is very antient; no more than the two very antique spires and one isle, which is used as a church, are now remaining.
From a
tumulus,
called
Tittie dron,
now covered with trees, is a fine view of an extensive and rich corn country; once a most barren spot, but by the industry of the inhabitants brought to its present state. A pretty vale bordered with wood, the cathedral soaring above the trees, and the river
Don,
form all together a most agreeable prospect.
Beneath are some cruives, or wears, to take salmon in. The owners are obliged by law to make the rails of the cruives
Cruives, &c. shall have their hecke two inches wide, that the fry may pass.
Rob.
I.
of a certain width, to permit fish of a certain size to pass up the river; but as that is neglected, they pay an annual sum to the owners of the fisheries which lie above, to compensate the loss.
In the
Regiam Majestatem
are preserved several antient laws relating to the salmon fisheries, couched in terms expressive of the simplicity of the times.
From
Saturday
night till
Monday
morning, they were obliged to leave a free passage for the fish, which is styled the
Saterdayes Sloppe
Alex.
I.
.
Alexander
I. enacted,
That the streame of the water sal be in all parts swa free, that ane swine of the age of three zeares, well feed, may turne himself within the streame round about, swa that his snowt nor taill fall not touch the bank of the water.
Slayers of reide fishe or smoltes of salmond, the thirde time are punished with death. And sic like he quha commands the famine to be done.
Jac.
IV.
parl.
6.
stat. Rob.
III.
Continue my journey:
AUG. 9.
pass over the bridge of
Don;
a fine gothic arch flung over that fine river, from one rock to the other: ride for some miles on the sea sands; pass through
Newburgh,
a small village, and at low water ford the
Ytben,
a river productive of the pearl muscle: go through the parish of
Furvie,
now entirely overwhelmed with sand, (except two farms) and about 500l.
per ann.
lost to the
Errol
family, as appears by the oath of the factor, made before the court of sessions in 1600, to ascertain the ministers salary. It was at that time all arable land,
Inundation of sand.
now covered with shifting sands, like the deserts of
Arabia,
and no vestiges remain of any buildings, except a small fragment of the church.
The country now grows very flat; produces oats; but the crops are considerably worse than in the preceding country. Reach
Bowness,
or
Buchaness,
the seat of the Earl of
Errol,
perched like a falcon's nest, on the edge of a vast clift above the sea. The drawing-room, a large and very elegant apartment, hangs over it; the waves run in wild eddies round the rocks beneath, and the sea fowl clamor above and below, forming a strange prospect and singular chorus. The place was once desensible, there having been a ditch and draw-bridge on the accessible side; but now both are destroyed.
Above five miles south is
Slains,
the remains of the old family castle, seated strongly on a peninsulated rock; but demolished in 1594, by
James
VI. on the rebellion of the Earl of
Huntly.
Near this place are some vast caverns, once filled with curious stalactical incrustations, but now destroyed, in order to be burnt into lime; for there is none in this country, that usefull commodity being imported from the Earl of
Elgin
's works on the
Firth
of
Forth.
Here the shore begins to grow bold and rocky, and indented in a strange manner with small and deep creeks, or rather immense and horrible chasms. The famous
Bullers
of
Buchan
lie about a mile north of
Bowness:
Bullers
of
Buchan.
are a vast hollow in a rock, projecting into the sea, open at top, with a communication to the sea through a noble natural arch, thro' which boats can pass, and lie secure in this natural harbor. There is a path round the top, but in some parts too narrow to walk on with satisfaction, as the depth is about thirty fathom, with water on both sides, being bounded on the north and south by small creeks.
Near this is a great insulated rock, divided by a narrow and very deep chasm from the land. This rock is pierced through midway between the water and the top, and in great storms the waves rush through it with vast noise and impetuosity. On the sides, as well as those of the adjacent cliffs,
Kittiwakes.
breed multitudes of
Kittiwakes
Br. Zool. illustr.
26.
tab.
xxiii.
. The young are a favorite dish in
North Britain,
being served up a little before dinner, as a whet for the appetite; but, from the rank smell and taste, seem as if they were more likely to have a contrary effect. I was told of an honest gentleman who was set down for the first time to this kind of whet, as he supposed; and after demolishing half a dozen, with much impatience declared, that he had eaten
fax,
and did not find himself a bit
more
hungry than before he began.
Fishery of sea dogs.
On this coast is a great fishery of Sea Dogs
The Picked Dog,
Br. Zool.
III. 77.
, which begins the last week of
July,
and ends the first in
September.
The livers are boiled for oil; the bodies split, dried, and sold to the common people, who come from great distances for them. There are very fine Turbot taken on this coast; and towards
Peterbead,
good fisheries of Cod and Ling. The Lord of the Manour has 3l. 6s. 8d.
per annum
from every boat, (a six-man boat) but if a new crew sets up, the Lord, by way of encouragement, finds them a boat. Besides these, they have little yawls for catching bait at the foot of the rocks. Muscles are also much used for bait, and many boats loads are brought for that purpose from the mouth of the
Ythen.
Of late years, a very successfull salmon fishery has been set up in the sandy bays below
Slains.
This is performed by long nets, carried out to sea by boats, a great compass taken, and then hawled on shore. It is remarked, marked, these fish swim against the wind, and are much better tasted than those taken in fresh waters.
Most of the labor on shore is performed here by the women: they will carry as much fish as two men can lift on their shoulders, and when they have sold their cargo and emptied their basket, will replace part of it with stones: they go sixteen miles to sell or barter their fish; are very fond of finery, and will load their fingers with trumpery rings, when they want both shoes and stockings. The fleet was the last war supplied with great numbers of men from this and other parts of
Scotland,
as well as the army: I think near 70,000 engaged in the general cause, and assisted in carrying our glory through all parts of the globe: of the former, numbers returned; of the latter, very few.
The houses in this country are built with clay,
Houses.
tempered in the same manner as the
Israelites
made their bricks in the land of
AEgypt:
after dressing the clay, and working it up with water, the laborers place on it a large stratum of straw, which is trampled into it and made small by horses: then more is added, till it arrives at a proper consistency, when it is used as a plaister, and makes the houses very warm. The roofs are
sarked, i. e.
covered with inch-and-half deal, sawed into three planks, and then nailed to the joists, on which the states are pinned.
The land prospect is extremely unpleasant; for no trees will grow here, in spite of all the pains that have been taken: not but in former times it must have been well wooded, as is evident from the numbers of trees dug up in all the bogs. The fame nakedness prevales over great part of this coast, even far beyond
Bamiss,
except in a few warm bottoms.
The corn of this tract is oats and barley; of the last I have seen very good close to the edges of the cliffs. Rents are paid here partly in cash, partly in kind; the last is commonly sold to a contractor. The land here being poor, is set cheap. The people live hardly: a Common food with them is
sowens,
the husks of oats, first put into a barrel with water, in order to grow four, and then boiled.
Crossed the country towards
Bamss,
AUG. 11.
over oatlands, a coarse sort of downs, and several black heathy moors, without a single tree for numbers of miles.
Craigston
Castle.
See
Craigston
castle, a good house, once desensible, seated in a snug bottom, where the plantations thrive greatly. Saw here a head of
David Lesly,
by
Jameson,
and another of Sir
Alexander Frazier,
by the same. Passed by a small ruined castle, at a place called
Castleton,
seated on a round hill in a deep glen, and scarce accessible. Ford the
Devron,
a fine river, over which had been a beautifull bridge, now warned away by the floods. Reach
Bamss,
Bamss.
pleasantly seated on the side of a hill; has several streets; but that with the town-house in it, adorned with a new spire, is very handsome: the harbor is very bad, as the entrance at the mouth of the
Devron
is very uncertain, being often stopped by the shifting of the sands, which are continually changing, in great storms; the pier is therefore placed on the outside. Much salmon is exported exported from hence. About
Troop
head, some kelp is made; and the adventurers pay the Lord of the Manour 50l.
per ann.
for the liberty of collecting the materials.
The Earl of
Finlater
has a house, prettily seated on an eminence, near the town, with some plantations of shrubs and small trees, which have a good effect in so bare a country. The prospect is very fine, commanding the fine meadows near the town, Down a small but well-built fishing-town, the great promontory of
Troop-head,
and to the north the hills of
Rossshire, Sutherland,
and
Cathness.
The house once belonged to the
Sharps;
and the violent archbishop of that name was born here. In one of the apartments is a picture of
Jameson,
by himself, sitting in his painting-room, dressed like
Rubens,
and with his hat on, and his pallet in his hand. On the walls are represented hung up, the pictures of
Charles
I. and his Queen; a head of his owh wife; another head; two sea views, and
Perseus
and
Andromeda,
the productions of his various pencil.
Duff
House a vast pile of building, a little from the town,
Duff
Houseway
is a square, with a square tower at each end; the front richly ornamented with carving, but, for want of wings, has a naked look: the rooms within are very small, and by no means answer the magnificence of the case.
In the apartments are these pictures:
Frances,
Dutchess of
Richmond,
full length, in black, with a little picture at her breast. AEt. 57, 1633, by
Vandyk.
Fine heads of
Charles
I. and his Queen. A head of a
Duff,
with short grey hair, by
Alexander
of
Corsenday.
Near the house is a shrubery, with, a walk two miles long leading to the river.
About two miles west of
Bamss,
AUG. 12.
not far from the sea, is a great stratum of sand and shells, used with success as a manure. Sea tang is also much used for corn-lands, sometimes by itself, sometimes mixed with earth, and left to rot: it is besides often laid fresh on grass, and answers very well. Passed by the house of
Boyne,
a ruined castle, on the edge of a steep glen, filled with some good ash and maples.
Near
Portsoy,
a small town, is a large stratum of marble, a coarse sort of
Verd di Corsica,
used in some houses for chimney-pieces. Reach
Cullen
House,
Cullen
House.
seated at the edge of a deep glen full of very large trees, which being out of the reach of the sea winds prosper greatly. This spot is very prettily laid out in walks, and over the entrance is a magnificent arch sixty feet high, and eighty-two in width. The house is large, but irregular. The most remarkable pictures are, a full length of
James
VI. by
Mytens:
at the time of the revolution, the mob had taken it out of
Holyrood
House, and were kicking it about the streets, when the Chancellor, the Earl of
Finlater,
happening to pass by, redeemed it out of their hands. A portrait of
James
Duke of
Hamilton,
beheaded 1649, in a large black cloak, with a star, by
Vandyk.
A half-length of his brother, by the same, killed at the battle of
Worcester. William
Duke of
Hamilton,
president of the revolution parlement, by
Kneller.
Old Lord
Bamss,
aged 90, with a long white square beard, who is said to have incurred the censure of the church, at that age, for his galantries
Among other pictures of persons of merit, that of the admirable
Crichton
must not be overlooked. I was informed, that there is one of that extraordinary person in the possession of
Alexander Morrison,
Esq
of
Bagnie,
in the county of
Bamss;
it is in the same apartment with some of
Jameson
's, but seems done by a superior hand: came into Mr.
Morrison
's possession from the family of
Crichton,
Viscount
Frendraught,
chief of the name to whom
Crichton
probably sent it from
Italy,
where he spent the last years of his short life.
.
The country round
Cullen
has all the marks of improvement, owing to the
His Lordship collected together near 2000 souls, to his new town at
Keith,
by
seuing;
i. e. giving in perpetuity, on payment of a slight acknowledgement, land sufficient to build a house on, with, gardens and back-yard.
indefatigable pains of the late noble owner, in advancing the art of agriculture and planting, and every other usefull business, as far as the nature of the soil would admit. His success in the first was very great; the crops of beans, peas, oats, and barley, were excellent; the wheat very good, but, through the fault of the climate, will not ripen till it is late, the harvest in these parts being in
October.
The plantations are very extensive, and reach to the top of the hill of
Knock;
but the farther they extend from the bottoms the worse they succeed.
The town of
Cullen
is mean; yet has about a hundred looms in it, there being a flourishing manufacture of linnen and thread, of which near fifty thousand pounds worth is annually made.
Near this town the Duke of
Cumberland,
after his march from
Bamss,
joined the rest of his forces from
Straithbogie,
and encamped at
Cullen.
In a small sandy bay are three lofty spiring rocks, formed of slinty masses, cemented together very differently from any stratum in the country. These are called the three Kings of
Cullen.
A little farther is another vast rock, pierced quite through, formed of pebbly concretions lodged in clay, which had subsided in thick but regular layers.
Passed through a fine open country,
AUG 13.
full of gentle risings, and rich in corn, with a few clumps of trees sparingly scatered over it. Great use is made here of stone marle,
Stone marle.
a gritty indurated marle, found in vast strata, dipping pretty much: it is of different colors, blue, pale brown, and reddish; is cut out of the quarry, and laid very thick on the ground in lumps, but will not wholly dissolve under three or four years. In the quarry is a great deal of sparry matter, which is laid apart, and burnt for lime. Arrive at
Castle-Gordou,
Castle Gordou.
a large old house, the seat of the Duke of
Gordon,
lying in a low wet country, near some large well-grown woods, and a considerable one of great hollies. The principal pictures in
Castle-Gordon
are, the first Marquiss of
Huntly.
Fourth Marquiss of
Huntly,
beheaded by the Covenanters. His son, the gallant Lord
Gordon, Montrose
's friend, killed at the battle of
Auldsort.
Lord
Lewis Gordon,
a less generous warrior; the plague
Whence this proverb, 'The Guil, the
Gordon,
and the Hooded Craw, 'Were the three worst things
Murray
ever saw.' Guil is a weed that infests corn. It was from the castle of
Rothes,
on the Stey, that Lord
Lewis
made his plundering excursions into
Murray
of the people of
Murray,
(then the seat of the Covenanters) whose character, with that of the brave
Montrose,
is well contrasted in these old lines:
If ye with
Montrose
gae, ye'l get sic and wac enough;
If ye with Lord
Lewis
gae, ye'l get rob and rave enough.
The head of the second Countess of
Huntly,
daughter of
James
I. A fine small portrait of the
Abbé d' Aubigné,
sitting in his study. A very fine head of St.
John
receiving the revelation; a beautifull expression of attention and devotion.
The Duke of
Gordon
still keeps up the diversion of falconry,
Falconry.
and had several fine Hawks, of the Peregrine and gentle Falcon species, which breed in the rocks of
Glenmore.
I saw also here a true Highland gre-hound, which is now become very scarce: it was of a very large size, strong, deep chested, and covered with very long and rough hair. This kind was in great vogue in former days, and used in vast numbers, at the magnificent stag-chases, by the powerfull Chieftains.
The
Spey
is a dangerous neighbor to
Castle-Gordon;
The
Spey.
a large and furious river, overflowing very frequently in a dreadfull manner, as appears by its ravages far beyond its banks. The bed of the river is wide and full of gravel, and the channel very shifting.
The Duke of
Cumberland
passed this water at
Beily
church, near this place, when the channel was so deep as to take an officer, from whom I had the relation, and who was six feet four inches high, up to the breast. The opposite banks are very high and steep; so that, had not the Rebels been providentially so insatuated as to neglect opposition, the passage must have been attended with considerable loss.
The salmon fishery on this river is very great: about seventeen hundred barrels full are caught in the season, and the shore is rented for about 1200l.
per annum.
Passed through
Forcbabus,
AUG. 14.
Forcbabus.
a wretched town, close to the castle. Crossed the
Spey
in a boat, and landed in the county of
Murray.
The peasants houses, which, throughout the shire of
Bamss,
were very decent, were now become very miserable, being entirely made of turf: the country partly moor, partly cultivated, but in a very slovenly manner.
Elgin.
Dine at
Elgin
Celticé
Belle ville.
, a good town, with many of the houses built over piazzas; has little trade; but is remarkable for its ecclesiastical antiquities. The cathedral
Founded by
John,
second son of the house of
Innes,
and Bishop of
Murray,
1406; of whose epitaph is this fragment:
Hac jacet in Xto pater et Dominus, Dominus
Johannes de Innes
bnjus Ecclesiae episcopus—Qui hoc notabise pous incepit et per septennium edificavit.
had been a magnificent pile, but is now in ruins.
Jonston,
in his
encomia urbium,
celebrates the beauty of
Elgin,
and laments the fate of this noble building:
Arcibus beroum nitidis urbs cingitur, intus
Plebeii radiant, nobiliumque Lares:
Omnia delectant, veteris fed rudera templi
Dum spectas, lacbrymis,
Scotia
tinge genas.
The west door is very elegant, and richly ornamented. The choir very beautifull, and has a fine and light gallery running round it; and at the east end are two rows of narrow windows in an excellent gothic taste. The chapter-house is an octagon, the roof supported by a fine single column, with neat carvings of coats of arms round the capital. There is still a great tower on each side of this cathedral; but that in the centre, with the spire and whole roof, are fallen in, and form most awefull fragments, mixed with the battered monuments of Knights and Prelates.
Boethius
says that
Duncan,
who was killed by
Macbeth
at
Inverness,
lies buried here. Numbers of modern tomb-stones also crowd the place; a proof how difficult it is to eradicate the opinion of local fanctity, even in a religion that affects to despise it.
About, a mile from hence is the castle of
Spinie;
Spinie.
a large square tower, and a vast quantity of other ruined buildings, still remain, which shews its antient magnificence whilst the residence of the Bishops of
Murray:
the lake of
Spinie
almost washes the walls; is about five miles long, and half a mile broad, seated in a flat country. During winter, great numbers of wild swans migrate hither; and I have been told, that some have bred here.
Boethius
Scotorum
Regni defer, ix.
says they resort here for the sake of a certain herb called after their name.
Between, this and
Elgin
is a ruined chapel, called
Maison dieu.
Near it is a large gravelly cliff, from whence is a beautifull view of the town, cathedral, a round hill with the remains of a castle, and beneath, is the gentle stream of the
Lossie,
the
Loxia
of
Prolomy.
Pluscairdin
Abby.
Three miles south is the Abby of
Pluscairdin,
in a most sequestred place; a beautifull ruin, the arches elegant, the pillars well turned, and the capitals rich
As I was informed, for I did not see this celebrated abby.
.
Cross the
Lossie,
ride along the edge of a vale, which has a strange mixture of good corn and black turberies: on the road-side is a mill-stone quarry.
Arrive in the rich plain of
Murray,
fertile in corn. The view of the
Firth
of
Murray,
with a full prospect of the high mountains of
Rossshire
and
Sutherland,
and the magnificent entrance into the bay of
Cromartie
between two lofty hills, form a fine piece of scenery.
Kinloss
Abby.
Turn about half a mile out of the road to the north, to see
Kinloss
Abby
Founded about 1124, by
David
I.
, the burying-place of many a
Scottish
monarch. The Prior's chamber, two semicircular arches, the pillars, the couples of several of the roofs, afford specimens of the most beautifull gothic architecture in all the elegance of simplicity, without any of its fantastic ornaments. Near the abby is an orchard of apple and pear trees, at left coeval with the last Monks; numbers lie prostrate; their venerable branches seem to have taken fresh roots, and were loaden with fruit, beyond what could be expected from their antique look.
Near
Forres,
Great column.
on the road-side, is a vast column, three feet ten inches broad, and one foot three inches thick: the height above ground is twenty-three feet; below, as is said, twelve or fifteen. On one side are numbers of rude figures of animals and armed men, with colors flying: some of the men seemed bound like captives. On the opposite side was a cross, included in a circle, and raised a little above the surface of the stone. At the foot of the cross are two gigantic figures, and on one of the sides is some elegant fret-work.
This is called King
Sueno
's stone; and seems to be, as Mr.
Gordon
Itin. Septentr.
158.
conjectures, erected by the
Scots,
in memory of the final retreat of the
Danes:
it is evidently not
Danish,
as some have asserted; the cross disproves the opinion, for this nation had not at that time received the light of christianity.
On a moor not far from
Forres, Boethius,
and
Shakespear
from him, places the rencountre of
Macbeth
and the three wayward sisters, or witches. It was my fortune to meet with but one, which was somewhere in the last county: she was of a species far more dangerous than these, but neither
withered nor wild in her attire,
but so fair,
She look'd not like an inhabitant o' th' Earth!
Lay at
Forres,
a very neat town, seated under some little hills,
Forres.
which are prettily divided. In the great street is the town-house with a handsome cupolo, and at the end is an arched gateway, which has a good effect. On a hill west of the town are the poor remains of the castle, from whence is a fine view of a rich country, interspersed with groves, the bay of
Findorn,
a fine bason, almost round, with a narrow strait into it from the sea, and a melancholy prospect of the parish of the same name,
Inundation of sand
now nearly overwhelmed with sand. This strange inundation is still in motion, but mostly in the time of a west wind: it moves along the surface with an even progression, but is stopped by water, after which it forms little hills: its motion is so quick, that a gentleman assured me he had seen an appletree so covered with it, in one season, as to leave only a few of the green leaves of the upper branches appear above the surface. An estate of about 300l.
per ann.
has been thus overwhelmed; and it is not long since the chimnies of the principal houses were to be seen: it began about eighty years ago, occasioned by the cutting down the trees and pulling up the bent, or starwort, which gave occasion at last to the act 15th
G.
II. to prevent its farther ravages.
Cross the
Findorn;
AUG. 15.
land near a friable rock of whitish stone, much tinged with green, an indication of copper. The stone is barren for lime. From an adjacent eminence is a picturesque view of
Forres.
Tarnaway
Castle.
About three miles farther, is
Tarnaway
Castle, the antient seat of the Earls of
Murray.
The hall, called
Randolph
's Hall, from its founder Earl
Randolph,
one of the great supporters of
Robert Bruce,
is timbered at top like
Westminster-Hall:
its dimensions are 79 feet by 35, 10 inches, and seems a fit resort for Barons and their vassals. In the rooms are some good heads: one of a youth, with a ribband of some order hanging from his neck. One unknown, with a black body to his vest, and, brown sleeves. The Fair, or
Bonny
Earl of
Murray,
as he: is commonly called, who was murdered, as supposed, on account of a jealousy
James
VI. entertained of a passion the Queen had for him: at left such was the popular opinion, as appears from the old ballad on the occasion:
He was a braw Gallant,
And he played at the Gluve;
And the bonny Earl of
Murray,
Oh! he was the Queene's Love.
There are besides, the heads of his lady and daughter; all are on wood except that of the Earl. To the south-east of the castle are large birch woods, abounding with Stags and Roes.
Continued my journey west to
Auldearne.
Auldearne.
Am now arrived again in the country where the
Erse
service is performed. Just beneath the church is the place where
Montrose
obtained a signal victory over the Covenanters, many of whose bodies lie in the church, with an inscription, importing, according to the cant of the time, that they died fighting for their religion and their king. I was told this anecdote of that hero: That he always carried with him a
Caefar
's Commentaries, on whole margins were written, in
Montrose
's own hand, the generous sentiments of his heart, verses out of the
Italian
Poets, expressing contempt of every thing but glory.
Have a distant view of
Nairn,
a small town near the sea. Ride through a rich corn country, mixed with deep and black turberies, which shew the original state of the land. Reach
Calder
Castle, or
Cawdor,
as
Shakespear
calls it,
Cawdor.
once the property of its
Thanes.
The antient part is a great square tower; but there is a large and more modern building annexed, with a draw-bridge.
All the houses in these parts are castles, or at left desensible; for, till the year 1745, die Highlanders made their inroads, and drove away the cattle of their desenceless neighbors. There are said to exist some very old marriage articles of the daughter of a chieftain, in which the father promises for her portion, 200
Scots
marks, and the half of a
Michaelmas moon,
i. e. half the plunder, when the nights grew dark enough to make their excursions.
Rode into the woods of
Calder,
in which were very fine birch trees and alders, some oak, great broom, and juniper, which gave shelter to the Roes. Deep rocky glens, darkened with trees, bound each side of the wood: one has a great torrent roaring at its distant bottom, called the Brook of
Achneem:
it well merits the name of that of
Acheron,
being a most fit scene for witches to celebrate their nocturnal rites in.
Observed on a pillar of the door of
Calder
church,
A joug.
a
joug,
i.e. an iron yoke, or ring, fastened to a chain; which was, in former times, put round the necks of delinquents against the rules of the church, who were left there exposed to shame during the time of divine service:
Scotch
clergy.
but these penalties are now happily abolished. The clergy of
Scotland,
the most decent and consistent in their conduct of any set of men I ever met with of their order, are at present much changed from the furious, illiterate, and enthusiastic teachers of the old times, and have taken up the mild method of persuasion, instead of the cruel discipline of corporal punishments. Science almost universally flourishes among them; and their discourse is not less improving than the table they entertain the stranger at is decent and hospitable. Few, very few of them, permit the bewitchery of dissipation to lay hold of them, notwithstanding they allow all the innocent pleasures of others, which, though not criminal in the layman, they know, must bring the taint of levity on the churchman. They never sink their characters by midnight brawls, by mixing with the gaming world, either in cards, cocking, or horse
aces, but preserve, with a narrow income, a dignity too often loft among their brethren south of the
Tweed.
The
Scotch
livings are from 40l.
per ann.
to 150l.
Scotch
livings.
per ann.
a decent house is built for the minister on the glebe, and about six acres of land annexed. The church allows no curate, except in case of sickness or age, when one, under the title of helper, is appointed; or, where the livings are very extensive, a missionary or assistant is allotted; but fine-cures, or fine-cured preserments, never disgrace the church of our sister kingdom. The widows and children of those who die in poor circumstances are of late provided for out of a fund established by two acts, 17th and 22d,
G.
II.
An account of the government of the church of
Scotland,
as collected from a worthy and sensible minister, will be given in the Appendix,
No.
I.
Cross the
Nairn;
the bridge large, but the stream inconsiderable, except in floods. On the west, is
Kilravoch
Castle, and that of
Dalcross.
Keep due north, along the military road from
Perth;
pass along a narrow low piece of land, projecting, far into the
Firth,
called
Ardersier,
forming, a strait scarce a mile over,
Fort George.
between this county and that of
Cromartie
Between which plies a ferry-boat.
. At the end of this point is
Fort George,
a small but strong and regular fortress, built since 1745, as a
place d'armes:
it is kept in excellent order; but, by reason of the happy change of the times, seemed almost deserted: the barracks are very handsome, and form several regular and good streets.
Lay at
Cambeltown,
a place consisting of numbers of very mean houses, owing its rise and support to the neighboring fort.
Passed over
Culloden Moor,
AUG. 16.
Culloden.
the place that
North Britain
owes its present prosperity to, by the victory of
April
16, 1746. On the side of the Moor are the great plantations of
Culloden
House, the seat of
Duncan Forbes,
a warm and active friend to the house of
Hanover,
who spent great sums in its service, and by his influence, and by his persuasions, diverted numbers from joining in rebellion; at length he met with a cool return, for his humane but unpolitical attempt to sheath, after victory, the unsatiated sword. But let a veil be slung over a few excesses consequential of a day productive of so much benefit to the united kingdoms.
Inverness.
The Duke of
Cumberland,
when he found that the barges of the fleet attended near the shore for the safety of his person, in case of a defeat, immediately ordered them away, to convince his men of the resolution he had taken of either conquering or perishing with them.
After descending from the Moor, got into a well cultivated country; and after riding some time under low but pleasant hills, not far from the sea, reach
INVERNESS, finely seated on a plain,
INVERNESS.
between the Firth of the same name and the river
Ness:
the first, from the narrow strait of
Ardersier,
instantly widens into a fine bay, and again as suddenly contracts opposite
Inverness,
at the ferry of
Kessock,
the pass into
Rossshire.
The town is large and well built, and very populous, being the last of any note in
North Britain.
On the north is
Oliver
's Fort, a pentagon; but only the form remains to be traced by the ditches and banks. Near it is a very considerable rope manufacture. On an eminence south of the town is old
Fort George,
which was taken and blown up by the Rebels: it had been no more than a very antient castle, the place where
Boethius
says that
Duncan
was murdered: from thence is a most charming view of the
Firth,
the passage of
Kessock,
the river
Ness,
the strange shaped hill of
Tommin heurich,
and various groupes of distant mountains.
That singular
Tommin
is of an oblong form, broad at the base, and sloping on all sides towards the top; so that it looks like a great ship with its keel upwards. Its sides and part of the neighboring plains are planted, so it is both an agreeable walk and a fine object. It is perfectly detached from any other hill; and if it was not for its great size, might pass
Its length at top about 300 yards; I neglected measuring the base or the height, which are both considerable; the breadth of the top only 20 yards.
for a work of art. The view from it is such, that no traveller will think his labor lost, after gaining the summit.
At
Inverness,
and I believe at other towns in
Scotland,
is an officer, called
Dean
of the
Guild,
who, assisted by a council, superintends the markets, regulates the price
Beef, (22 ounces to the pound) 2d. to 4d. Mutton, 2d. to 3d. Veal, 3d. to 5d. Pork, 2d. to 3d. Chickens, 3d. to 4d. a couple. Fowl, 4d. to 6d. apiece. Goose, 12d. to 14d. Ducks, 1s. a couple. Eggs, seven a penny. Salmon, of which there are several great fisheries, 1d. and 1d. halfpenny per pound.
of provisions; and if any house falls down, and the owner lets it lie in ruins for three years, the
Dean
can absolutely dispose of the ground to the best bidder.
Cross the
Ness
on a bridge of seven arches, above which the tide flows for about a mile.
Proceed north; have a fine view of the Firth, which now widens again from
Kessock
into a large bay some miles in length. The hills slope down to the water-side, and are finely cultivated; but the distant prospect is of rugged mountains of a stupendous height, as if created as guards to the rest of the island from the fury of the boisterous north. Ride close to the water-edge thro' woods of alder, pass near several houses of the
Fraziers,
and reach
Castle Dunie,
Castle Dunie.
the site of the house of their chieftain Lord
Lovat.
The old house, which was very mean, was burnt down in 1746; but a neat box, the residence of the hospitable factor, is built in its stead on a high bank well wooded, over the pretty river
Bewley,
or
Beaulieu.
The country, for a certain circuit, is fertile, well cultivated, and smiling. The bulk of Lord
Lovat
's estate was in these parts; the rest, to the amount of 500l.
per ann.
in
Straitherick.
He was a potent chieftain, and could raise about 1000 men: but I found his neighbors spoke as unfavorably of him, as his enemies did in the most distant parts of the kingdom. His property is one of the annexed estates,
i. e.
settled unalienably on the crown, as all the forfeited fortunes in the Highlands are:
Forfeited estates.
the whole value of which brought in at that time about 6000l.
per ann.
and those in the Lowlands about the same sum; so that the power and interest of a poor twelve thousand
per ann.
terrified and nearly subverted the constitution of these powerfull kingdoms.
The profits or these estates are lodged in the hands of Trustees, who apply their revenue for the founding of schools for the instruction of children in spinning; wheels are given away to poor families, and flax-seed to farmers. Some money is given in aid of the roads, and towards building bridges over the torrents; by which means a ready intercourse is made to parts before inaccessible to strangers
The factors, or agents of these estates, are also allowed all the money they expend in planting.
. And in 1753, a large sum was spent on an
Utopian
project of establishing colonies (on the forfeited estates) of disbanded soldiers and sailors: comfortable houses were built for them, land and money given, and some lent; but the success by no means answered the intentions of the projectors.
Ford the
Bewley,
AUG. 17.
where a salmon fishery, belonging to the
Lovat
estate, rents at 120l.
per annum.
Leornamonach.
The country on this side the river is called
Leornamonach,
or the Monk's Land, having formerly been the property of the Abby of
Bewly;
and the opposite side bears the name of
Airds,
Airds.
or the Heights. Pass by some excellent farms, well enclosed, improved, and planted; the land produces wheat and other corn. Much cattle are bred in these parts, and there are several linnen manufactures.
Ford the
Conan
to Castle
Braan,
Castle
Braan.
the seat of Lord
Fortrose;
a good house, pleasantly situated on the side of a hill, commands a view of a large plain, and to the west a wild prospect of broken and lofty mountains.
There is here a fine full length of
Mary Stuart,
with this inscription,
Maria
D. G.
Scotiae piissima regina.
Franciae
Dotaria. Anno Aetatis Regni
38. 1580. Her dress is black, with a ruff, cap, handkerchief, and a white veil down to the ground, beads and prayer-book, and a cross hanging from her neck; her hair dark brown, her face handsome, and considering the difference of years, so much resembling her portrait by
Zucchero,
in
Chiswick
House, as to leave little doubt as to the originality of the last.
A small half-length on wood of
Henry Darnly,
inscribed
Henricus Stuardus
Dominus
Darnly,
Aet. IX. M.D.LV. dressed in black, with a sword; it is the figure of a pretty boy.
A fine portrait of Cardinal
Richlieu.
General
Monk,
in a buff coat. Head of Sir
George Mackensie.
The Earl of
Seaforth,
called, from his size,
Kenneth More.
Dutchess of
Beaufort,
daughter of the Marquiss of
Powis.
Earl of
Castlemaine,
admiral in the time of
Charles
II.
Near the house are some very fine oaks and horse-chesnuts: in the garden, Turky apricots, orange nectarines, and a small soft peach, ripe; other peaches, nectarines, and green gages, far from ripe.
Pass through
Dingwall,
a small town,
Dingwall.
the capital of
Rossshire,
situated near the head of the Firth of
Cromartie:
an antient cross, and an obelisk over the burying-place of the Earls of
Cromartie
's family, were all I saw remarkable in it.
Ride along a very good road cut on the side of a hill with the country very well cultivated above and below, with several small woods interspersed near the water's edge. There is a fine view of almost the whole bay, the most capacious and secure of any in
Great Britain;
Firth of
Cromartie.
its whole navy might lie there with ease, and ships of two hundred tuns may sail up above two-thirds of its length, which extends thirty miles, from the
Sutters
Setters,
or Shooters, two hills that form its entrance, projecting considerably into the water.
of
Cromartie
to a small distance beyond
Dingwall:
the entrance is narrow; the projecting hills defend this fine bay from all winds; so it justly merits the name given it of
Portus salutis.
FOULES,
FOULES.
the seat of Sir
Henry Monro,
lies about a mile from the
Firth,
near vast plantations on the flats, as well as on the hills. Those on the hills are six miles in length, and in a very flourishing state. On the back of these are extensive vallies full of oats, bounded by mountains, which here, as well as in the Highlands, in general run from east to west. Sir
Henry
holds a forest from the crown by a very whimsical tenure,
Singular tenure.
that of delivering a snowball on any day of the year that it is demanded; and he seems to be in no danger of forfeiting his right by failure of the quit-rent, for snow lies in form of a
glaciere
in the chasms of
Benwewish,
a neighboring mountain, throughout the year.
Continue my journey along the low country,
AUG. 18.
which is rich and well cultivated.
Pass near
Invergordon,
At
Culraen,
three miles from this place, is found, two feet beneath the surface, a stratum of white soapy marle filled with shells, and is much used as a manure.
, a handsome house, amidst fine plantations. Near it is the narrowest part of the Firth, and a ferry into the shire of
Cromarty,
now a country almost destitute of trees; yet, in the time of
James
V. was covered with timber, and over-run with wolves
These animals have been long extinct in
North Britain,
notwithstanding M.
de Busson
asserts the contrary. There are many antient laws for their extirpation: that of
James
I.
par
.
7. is the most remarkable: "The Schireffs & Barons suld hunt the wolf four or thrie times in the Zear, betwixt St.
Marks
day &
Lambes,
quhich is the time of their quhelpes, & all tenents fall rise with them under paine of ane wadder."
.
Near the summit of the hill,
Ballinagouan.
between the Firths of
Cromartie
and
Dornoch,
is
Ballinagouan,
the seat of a gentleman, who has most successfully converted his sword into a plough-share; who, after a series of disinterested services to his country, by clearing the seas of privateers, the most unprofitable of captures, has applied himself to arts not less deserving of its thanks. He is the best farmer and the greatest planter in the country: his wheat and his turneps shew the one, his plantations of a million of pines each year the other
Pine, or
Scotch
fir-seed, as it is called, sells from four to six shillings per pound. Rents are payed here in kind: the landlord either contracts to supply the forts with the produce of the land, or sells it to the merchant, who comes for it. The price of labor is 6d. per day to the men, 3d. to the women.
. It was with great satisfaction that I observed characters of this kind very frequent in
North Britain;
for during the interval of peace, every officer possessed of any patrimony was fond of retiring to it, assumed the farmer without flinging off the gentleman, enjoyed rural quiet; yet ready to undergo the fatigues of war the moment his country clamed his services.
About two miles below
Ballinagouan
is a melancholy instance of a reverse of conduct: the ruins of
New Tarbat,
once the magnificent seat of an unhappy nobleman,
New Tarbat
who plunged into a most ungratefull rebellion, destructive to himself and family. The tenants, who seem to inhabit it
gratis,
are forced to shelter themselves from the weather in the very lowest apartments, while swallows make their nests in the bold stucco of some of the upper.
While I was in this county, I heard a singular but well-attested relation of a woman disordered in her health, who fasted for a supernatural space of time; but the length of the narrative obliges me to fling it into the Appendix
No.
II.
.
Ride along a tedious black moor to
Tain,
a small town on the Firth of
Dornoch;
distinguished for nothing but its large square tower, decorated with five small spires. The place appeared very gay at this time; for all the gaudy finery of a little fair was displayed in the shew of hard ware, painted linnens, and ribbands. Kept along the shore, for about two miles, through an open corn country, and crossing the great ferry, in breadth near two miles, thro' a rapid tide, and in a bad boat, land in the county of
Sutherland,
and in less than an hour reach its capital,
DORNOCH,
DORNOCH.
a small town, half in ruins; once the residence of the Bishops of
Cathness,
and, like
Durham,
the seat of Ecclesiastics: many of the houses still are called after the titles of those that inhabited them: the Bishop lodged in the castle: the Dean's house is at present the inn: the cathedral was in form of a cross, is now a ruin, except part, which is the present church. On the doors and window-shutters were painted (as is common in many parts of
North Britain)
white tadpole-like figures on a black ground, designed to express the tears of the country for the loss of any person of distinction. These were occasioned by the affecting end of that amiable pair the young Earl and Countess of
Sutherland,
who were lovely in their lives, and in their deaths they were not divided, for their happiness was interrupted by a very short separation;
sanè ubi
idem et maximus et bonestissimus amor est, aliquando proestat morte jungi, quam vita distrabi.
Ride on a plain not far from the sea; pass by a small cross, called the
Thane
's Cross; and not far from thence the spot where an unhappy creature had been burnt, if I mistake not, in
June
1727, for the imaginary crime of
witchcraft
This is the last instance of these frantic executions in the north of
Scotland,
as that in the south was at
Paisly
in 1696, where, among others, a woman, young and handsome, suffered, and with a reply to her enquiring friends, worthy a
Roman
matron, being asked why she did not make a better defence on her tryal, answered,
My persecutors have destroyed my honor, and my life is not now worth the pains of defending.
The last instance of national credulity on this head was the story of the witches of
Thurso,
who tormenting for a long time an honest fellow under the usual form of cats, at last provoked him so, that one night he put them to flight with his broad sword, and cut off the leg of one less nimble than the rest; on his taking it up, to his amazement he found it belonged to a female of his own species, and next morning discovered the owner, an old hag, with only the companion leg to this. The horrors of this tale were considerably abated in the place I heard it, by an unlucky enquiry made by one in company,
viz.
In what part would the old woman have suffered, had the man cut off the cat's tail? But these relations of almost obsolete superstitions must never be thought a reflection on this country, as long as any memory remains of the tragical end of the poor people at
Tring,
who, within a few miles of our capital, in 1751, fell a sacrifice to the belief of the common people in witches, or of that ridiculous imposture in the capital itself, in 1762, of the
Cock-Lane
ghost, which found credit with all ranks af people.
.
Cross a very narrow inlet to a small bay at
Porthbeg,
or the little ferry, in a boat as dangerous as the last; for horses can neither get in or out without great risque, from the vast height of the sides and their want of slips. Keep along the shore, pass by the small village of
Golspie,
and reach
Dunrobin
castle, the antient seat of the Earls of
Sutherland,
Dunrobin.
founded about the year 1100, situated on a round hill at a small distance from the sea. The few paintings here are, an Earl of
Murray,
an old man, on wood. His son and two daughters, by
Co. G.
1628. A fine full length of
Charles
I.
Angus Williamson,
a heroe of the
clan Chattan,
who rescued the
Sutherlands
in the time of distress. A very singular picture of the Duke of
Alva
in council, with a cardinal by his side, who puts a pair of bellows blown by the Devil into his ear: the Duke has a chain in one hand, fixed to the necks of the kneeling
Flemings;
in the other he shews them a paper of recantation for them to sign, behind whom are the reformed Clergy.
The demesn is kept in excellent order, and I saw here (
lat.
58.) a very fine field of wheat, which would be ripe about the middle of next month. This was the last wheat which had been sown this year in
North Britain.
Sutherland
is a country abounding in cattle, and sends out annually 2500 head, which sold about this time from 2l. 10s. to 3l.
Lean.
per
head. These are very frequently without horns, and both they and the horses are very small. Stags abound in the hills, there being reckoned not less than 1600 on the
Sutherland
estate, which, in fact, is the greatest part of the county. Besides these are Roes, Grous, black game and Ptarmigans in plenty, and during winter multitudes of water-fowl on the coast.
Not far from
Dunrobin
is a very entire antiquity of the kind known in
Scotland
by the name of the
Pictish
Castles,
Pictish
Castle.
and called here
Cairn Lean,
or a grey tower: that I saw was about 130 yards in circumference, round, and raised so high above the ground as to form a considerable mount: on the top was an extensive but shallow hollow; within were three low concentric galleries, at small distances from each other, covered above with large stones; and the side-walls were about four or five feet thick, rudely made. There are generally three of these places near each other, so that each may be seen from any one. Whether these were the
suffugia hiemi
aut
receptacula frugibus
of the
Picts,
as they were of the
Germans,
or whether they might not have been used for religious purposes, as such hollows have been in
Norway,
Worm. Monum. lib.
V.
p.
24.
I will not pretend to decide: if the last, I would suppose some of the galleries to be for the priests, the others for the victims, who were chosen by lot, and who might be brought to be sacrificed in the concave area above, which was well adapted to retain their blood, that was to be sprinkled on the spectators, on the posts of their houses, and on the sails of their ships†.
Kept along the shore northward. About a mile from the castle are some small cliffs of free-stone;
AUG. 19.
in one is
Straith-leven
Cove, an artificial cave, with seats and several shallow circular hollows cut withinside. At some distance, and near the sea, are small strata of coal three feet thick dipping to the east,
Coal.
and found at the depth of about 14 to 24 yards. Sometimes it takes fire on the bank, which has given it so ill a name, that people are very fearfull of taking it aboard their ships. I am surprized
Wormii
Monumenta Danicorum,
lib.
I.
p.
6.
that they will not run the risque, considering the miraculous quality it possesses of driving away rats wherever it is used. This is believed by the good people of
Sutherland,
who assured me seriously of its virtues; and they farther attributed the same to the earth and very heath of their county. They add too, that not a rat will live with them, notwithstanding they swarm in the adjacent shires of
Ross
and
Cathness
Some years ago I bought of the Monks, at the great
Benedictine
convent at
Augsturg,
some papers of St.
Ulric
's earth, which I was assured, by
Lutteran
and
Papist,
had the same rat-expelling quality with that above-mentioned; but whether for want of due faith, or neglect of attending to the forms of the printed prescription given with them, (here copied at full length) I know not, but the audacious animals haunt my house in spite of it:—
Venerabiles Reliquiae de Terra Sepulchrali, five de resoluta deintùs carne
S. Udalrici
Conf. & Episcopi
Augustani;
quae si bonorificè ad instar aliarum Reliquiarum tabeantur, & ad Dei laudem, Divìque Praesulis honorem, pium quoddam opus, v. g. Oratio, Jejunium, Eleemosyna &c. praesletur, mirum est, qua polieant efficacia, ad prescribendos proesertim è domibus, & vicinia Glires, qui subsistere minimè valent, ubicunque similes Reliquiae cum filuciâ suerint appensae, vel asservalae. Idque ex speciali praerogativâ, qua omnipotens Deux insignia tanti Patroni meritae perpertuo miraculo statuit condecorare.
.
In
Assynt,
a part of this county, far west of
Dunrobin,
are large strata of a beautifull white marble, equal, as I was told, to the
Parian.
I afterwards saw some of the same kind found at
Glenavon
in
Badenoch.
Cross the water of
Brora,
which runs along a deep chasm, over which is a handsome bridge of a single arch. Near is a cave, where the Salmonfishers lie during the season: the roof is pierced through to the surface, which serves for a natural chimney. They take annually about 10 or 12 lasts of fish. In a bank not far from the bridge are found abundance of
Belemnitae.
The country is very sandy, and the arable, or cultivated part, very narrow, confined on the east by the sea, on the west by lofty black mountains, which approach nearer and nearer to the water, till at length they project into it at the great promontory the
Ord
of
Cathness,
the boundary between that county and
Sutherland,
after which the coast is bold and rocky, except a small bay or two.
Ford the very dangerous water of
Hemsdale,
Hemsdale.
rapid and full of great stones. Very large Lampries are found here, fish detested by the Highlanders. Beneath the stones on the sea-shore are abundance of spotted and viviparous Blennies, Father Lashers, and Whistle Fish. Mackrel appear here this month, but without their roes. I thought them far inferior in goodness to those of our country. Much salmon is taken here.
The grey Water-wagtail quits this country in the winter; with us it resides.
Dined at the little village of
Hemsdale,
near which are the ruins of a square tower.
Passed through a rich vale full of good barley and oats between the hill of
Hemsdale
and the
Ord.
Ord
of
Cathness.
Ascend that vast promontory on a good road winding up its steep sides, and impending in many parts over the sea, infinitely more high and horrible than our
Penmaen Mawr.
Beneath were numbers of Seals floating on the waves, with sea-fowl swimming among them with great security. Observed projecting from one part of the
Ord,
far below, a small and verdant hill, on which, tradition says, was fought a single combat between an Earl of
Cathness
and a son of the Earl of
Sutherland,
while their two armies looked on from above: the first was killed on the spot, the last died of his wounds.
Beneath this cape are immense caves, the resort of Seals
During spring great quantities of Lump fish resort here, and are the prey of the Seals, as appears from the numbers of their skins, which at that season float ashore. The Seals, at certain times, seem visited with a great mortality; for at those times multitudes of them are seen dead in the water.
and Sea-fowls: the sides and top are chiefly covered with heath and morassy earth, which gives it a black and melancholy look. Ride over some boggy and dreary moors. Pass thro'
Ausdale,
a little highland village. Descend into a deep bottom covered with alders, willows, birch and wicken trees, to
Langwall,
the seat of Mr.
Sutherland,
who gave me a very hospitable reception. The country abounds with Stags and Roes, and all sorts of feathered game, while the adjacent river brings Salmon almost up to his door.
Lavellan.
I enquired here after the
Lavellan,
Sibbald bist. Scotland. Br. Zool. illust.
cii.
, which, from description, I suspect to be the Water Shrew-mouse. The country people have a notion that it is noxious to cattle: they preserve the skin, and, as a cure for their sick beasts, give them the water in which it has been dipt. I believe it to be the same animal which in
Sutherland
is called the Water Mole.
Proceed on my journey.
AUG. 20.
Pass near
Berridale.
On a peninsula jutting into the sea is the ruin of the castle; between it and the land is a deep chasm, where there had been a draw-bridge. On this castle are stationed, in the salmon season, persons who are to observe the approach of the fish to the fresh waters.
Near
Clathron
is a druidical stone set an end, and of a most stupendous size.
Saw
Dunbeth,
the seat of Mr.
Sinclair,
Dunbeth.
situated on a narrow neck of land; on one side impending over the sea, on the other over a deep chasm, into which the tide flows: a small narrow garden, with billows beating on three sides, fills the rest of the land between the house and the sea. Numbers of old castles in this county have the same tremendous situation. On the west side of this house are a few rows of tolerable trees; the only trees that I saw from
Berridale
to the extremity of
Cathness
But vast quantity of subterraneous timber in all the moors. Near
Dunbeth
is an entire
Picts
castle, with the hollow in the top, and is called the
Bourg
of
Dunbeth.
. On the right inland are the small remains of
Knackennan
castle, built by an Earl of
Cathness.
From these parts is a full view of the lofty naked mountain of
Scaraben
and
Morven.
The last Ptarmigans in
Scotland
are on the first;
Scaraben
the last Roes about
Langwall,
there being neither high hills nor woods beyond. All the county on this side, from
Dunbeth
to the extremity, is flat, or at lest very seldom interrupted with hills, and those low; but the coasts rocky, and composed of stupendous cliffs.
Refreshed our horses at a little inn at the hamlet of
Clythe,
not far from the headland, called
Clytheness.
Reach
Thrumster,
a seat of Mr.
Sinclair
's. It is observable, that the names of places in this county often terminate in
ter
and
dale,
which savors of
Danish
origin.
The
Sinclairs
are very numerous, and possess considerable fortunes in these parts; but
Boethius
says, that they, the
Fraziers, Campbells, Boswels,
and many others, came originally from
France.
Pass through
Wick,
AUG. 21.
Wick.
a small burrough town with some good houses, seated on a river within reach of the tide, and at a distance lies the old castle. Somewhat farther, close to the sea, is
Archringal
tower, the seat of Sir
William Dunbar.
Ride over the Links of
Keith,
on the side of
Sinclair
bay. These were once a morass, now covered with sand, finely turfed over; so in this instance the land has been obliged by the instability of the sand. The old castle of
Keiss
is seated on a rock, with a good house of the same name near it.
Near
Freswick
castle the cliffs are very lofty; the strata that compose them lie quite horizontally in such thin and regular layers, and so often intersected by fissures, as to appear like masonry. Beneath are great insulated columns, called here
Stacks,
composed of the same sort of natural masonry as the cliffs; many of them are hollowed quite thro', so as to form most magnificent arches, which the sea rushes thro' with vast noise and impetuosity, affording a most august piece of scenery to such who are steady enough to survey it from the narrow and almost impending paths.
Freswick
castle is seated on a narrow rock projecting into the sea,
Freswick
castle.
with just room enough for it to stand on: the access to it while the draw-bridge was in being, was over a deep chasm cut thro' the little isthmus that connected it to the main land. These dreadful situations are strongly expressive of the jealous and wretched condition of the tyrant owners.
Freswick Castle.
After riding near
Freswick
bay, the second sandy bay in the county, pass over a very bad morass, and after a few miles travel arrive at
Dungsby
bay
John a Grout
's house is now known only by name. The proper name of the bay is
Duncan
's.
, a low tract,
Dungsby
bay.
consisting of oat-lands and grazing land: the
ultima Thule
of Mr.
Wallace,
whose description it answers in this particular.
Quam juxta infames scep
li, et petrosa vorago
Asperat undisonis saxa pudenda vadis
Vide WALLACE'S
Orkney isles,
33.
.
The beach is a collection of fragments of shells; beneath which are vast broken rocks, some sunk, others apparent, running into a sea never pacific. The contrary tides and currents form here a most tremendous contest; yet, by the skilfulness of the people, are passed with great safety in the narrow little boats I saw lying on the shore.
The points of this bay are
Dungsby
-head and St.
John
's head, stretching out into the sea to the east and west, forming a pair of horns; from the resemblance to which it should seem that this country was antiently styled
Cornuna.
From hence is a full view of several of the
Orkney
islands,
Orkneys.
such as
Flota, Waes, Ronaldsa, Swanna,
to the west the
Skerries,
and within two miles of land
Stroma,
famous for its natural mummies,
Mummies.
or the entire and uncorrupted bodies of persons who had been dead sixty years. I was informed that they were very light, had a flexibility in their limbs, and were of a dusky color
In the
Philosophical Transactions abridged,
viii. 705. is an almost parallel instance of two corpses, found in a moor in
Derbyshire,
that had for 49 years resisted putrefaction, and were in much the same state as those in
Stroma.
. This isle is fertile in corn, is inhabited by about thirty families, who know not the use of a plough, but dig every part of their corn land.
Dine at the good minister's of
Cannesby.
On my return saw at a distance the
Stacks
of
Dungsby,
a vast insulated rock, over-topping the land, and appearing like a great tower.
Passed near the seat of a gentleman not long deceased; the last who was believed to be possessed of the
second sight.
Second sight.
Originally he made use of the pretence, in order to render himself more respectable with his clan; but at length, in spite of fine abilities, was made a dupe to his own artifices, became possessed with a serious belief of the faculty, and for a considerable number of years before his death was made truely unhappy by this strange opinion, which originally arose from the following accident. A boat of his was on a very tempestuous night at sea; his mind, filled with anxiety at the danger his people were in, furnished him with every idea of the misfortune that really befell them: he suddenly starting up pronounced that his men would be drowned, for that he had seen them pass before him with wet garments and dropping locks. The event was correspondent, and be from that time grew confirmed in the reality of spectral predictions.
GANNET
I heard of one instance of second sight; or rather of foresight, which was well attested, and made much noise about the time the prediction was fulfilled. A little after the battle of
Preston Pans,
the president,
Duncan Forbes,
being at his house of
Culloden
with a nobleman, from whom I had the relation, fell into discourse on the probable consequences of the action: after a long conversation, and after revolving all that might happen, Mr.
Forbes
suddenly turning to a window, said,
All these things may fall out; but depend on it, all these disturbances will be terminated on this spot.
Returned the same road. Saw multitudes of
Gannets,
Gannets.
or
Soland
Geese, on their passage northward: they went in small flocks from five to fifteen in each, and continued passing for hours: it was a stormy day; they kept low and near the shore; but never passed over the land, even when a bay with promontories intervened, but followed (preserving an equal distance from shore) the form of the bay, and then regularly doubled the Capes. I saw many parties make a sort of halt for the sake of fishing; they soared to a great height, then darting down headlong into the sea made the water foam and spring up with the violence of their descent; after which they pursued their route.
Swans resort in
October
to the Loughs of
Hemprigs
and
Waster,
and continue there till
March.
Abundance of Land-rails are found throughout the county. Multitudes of Sea-fowl breed in the cliffs: among others, the
Lyre;
but the season being past, I neither saw it, nor could understand what species it was.
Sinclair
bay and castle.
Went along a fine hard sand on the edge of
Sinclair
bay. On the south point, near Ross-bead, on the same rock, are
Sinclair
and
Carnego
castles; but, as if the joint tenants, like beasts of prey, had been in fear of each other, there was between them a draw-bridge; the first too had an iron door, which dropped from above through grooves still visible.
Produce of
Cathness.
Cathness
may be called an immense morass, mixed with some fruitfull spots of oats and barley, much coarse grass, and here and there some fine, almost all natural, there being as yet very little artificial. At this time was the hay harvest both here and about
Dunrobin:
the hay on this rough land is cut with very short scythes, and with a brisk and strong stroke. The country produces and exports great quantities of
oatmeal,
and much whisky is distilled from the barley: the great thinness of inhabitants throughout
Cathness
enables them to send abroad much of its productions. No wheat had been raised this year in the county; and I was informed that this grain is sown here in the spring, by reason of the wet and fury of the winters.
The county is supposed to send out,
Cattle.
in some years, 2200 head of cattle; but in bad seasons, the farmer kills and salts numbers for sale. Great numbers of swine are reared here: they are short, high-backed, long-bristled, sharp, slender and longnosed; have long erect ears, and most savage looks, and are seen tethered in almost every field. The rest of the commodities of
Cathness
are butter, cheese, tallow, hides, the oil and skins of seals, and the feathers of geese.
Here are neither barns or graineries; the corn is thrashed out and preserved in the chaff in
bykes,
which are stacks in shape of bee-hives, thatched quite round, where it will keep good for two years.
Much Salmon is taken at
Castle-hill, Dunet, Wick,
Salmon.
and
Thurso.
The miraculous draught at the last place is still talked of; not less than 2500 being taken at one tide, within the memory of man. At a small distance from
Sinclair
castle, near
Staxigo
creek, is a small herring-fishery, the only one on the coast: Cod and other white fish abound here; but the want of ports on this stormy coast is an obstacle to the establishment of fisheries on this side the country.
In the month of
November
numbers of Seals
Sometimes a large species near twelve feet long has been killed on the coast; and I have been informed that the same kind are found on the rock
Hiskir,
one of the western isles.
are taken in the vast caverns that open into the sea and run some hundreds of yards under ground. Their entrance is narrow,
Seals.
their inside lofty and spacious. The Seal-hunters enter these in small boats with torches, which they light as soon as they land, and then with loud shouts alarm the animals, which they kill with clubs as they attempt to pass. This is a hazardous employ; for should the wind blow hard from sea, these adventurers are inevitably lost
For a fuller account,
vide Br. Zool., illustr.
38.
.
Much lime-stone is found in this country, which when burnt is made into a compost with turf and tang.
Servitude.
The tender sex (I blush for the
Cathnesians
) are the only animals of burden: they turn their patient backs to the dunghills, and receive in their
keizes,
or baskets, as much as their lords and masters think sit to sling in with their pitchforks, and then trudge to the field in droves of sixty or seventy. The common people are kept here in great servitude, and most of their time is given to their Lairds, an invincible impediment to the prosperity of this county.
Of the ten parishes in
Cathness,
only the four that lie S. E. speak
Erse;
all the others speak
English,
and that in greater purity than most part of
North Britain.
Inoculation is much practised by an ingenious physician (Dr,
Mackenzie,
of
Wick
) in this county, and also the
Orkneys
At this time a person was employed in the same business in the
Shetlaud
islands.
, with great success, without any previous preparation The success was equally great at
Sanda,
a poor isle, where there was no sort of fuel but what was got from dried cow-dung: but in all these places, the small-pox is very fatal in the natural way. Other diseases in
Cathness
are colds, coughs, and very frequently palsies.
Long days.
I came here too late
Besides the missing so singular a phaenomenon, I found that the bad weather, which begins earlier in the north, was setting in: I would therefore recommend to any traveller, who means to take this distant tour, to set out from
Edinburgh
a month sooner than myself.
to have any benefit from the great length of days; but from
June
to the middle of
July,
there is scarce any night; for even at what is called midnight the smallest print may be read, so truely did
Juvenal
style these people.
Minima contentos nocte
BRITANNOS.
On my way between
Thrumster
and
Dunbeth,
AUG. 23. Gannett.
again saw numbers of flocks of
Gannets
keeping due north, and the weather being very calm they flew high. It has not been observed that they ever return this way in the spring; but seem to make a circuit of the island, till they again arrive at the
Bass,
their only breeding-place on the eastern coast.
On descending a steep hill is a romantic view of the two bridges over the waters of
Berridale
and
Langwall,
Berridale.
and their wooded glens, and of the castle of
Berridale
A little up the land is the ruin of
Ach-castle.
, over the sea, where the Salmonfishers station themselves to observe the approach of those fish out of the ocean. After a tedious ascent up the King's road of four miles gain the top of the
Ord,
and lie at
Hemsdale.
Re-visit the same places, till I pass
Dingwall.
AUG. 24, to 29.
Cross the
Conan
in a boat, a very beautifull river, not remote from
Castle Braan.
Was in this neighborhood informed of other singular customs of the Highlanders.
Singular customs.
On New-year's day they burn juniper before their cattle, and on the first
Monday
in every quarter sprinkle them with urine.
In some parts of the country is a
Bel-tein,
A
Bel-tein.
different from that before-mentioned. A cross is cut on some sticks, which is dipped in pottage, and the
Thursday
before
Easter
one of each placed over the sheep-cot, the stable, or the cow-house. On the 1st of
May
they are carried to the hill where the
Bel-tein
is celebrated, all decked with wild flowers, and after the feast is over, re-placed over the spots they were taken from. These follies are now seldom practised, and that with the utmost secrecy; for the Clergy are indefatigable in discouraging every species of superstition.
In certain places, the death of people is supposed to be foretold by the cries and shrieks of
Benshi,
or the Fairies wife, uttered along the very path where the funeral is to pass; and what in
Wales
are called
corps candles,
are often imagined to appear, and foretell mortality.
Marriage customs.
The courtship of the Highlander has these remarkable circumstances attending it: after privately obtaining the consent of the Fair, he formally demands her of the father. The Lover and his friends assemble on a hill allotted for that purpose in every parish, and one of them is dispatched to obtain permission to wait on the daughter: if he is successfull, he is again sent to invite the father and his friends to ascend the hill and partake of a whisky cask, which is never forgot: the Lover advances, takes his future Father-in-law by the hand, and then plights his troth, and the Fair-one is surrendered up to him. During the marriage ceremony, great care is taken that dogs do not pass between them, and particular attention is payed to the leaving the Bridegroom's left-shoe without buckle or latchet, to prevent witches
An old opinion.
Gesner
says that the witches made use of toads as a charm,
Ut vim coeundi, ni sallor, in viris tollerent.
Gesner de quad. ori. p. 72.
from depriving priving him, on the nuptial nighty of the power of loosening the virgin zone. As a test, not many years ago a singular custom prevaled in the
western
Highlands the morning after a wedding: a basket was fastened with a cord round the neck of the bridegroom by the female part of the company, who immediately filled it with stones, till the poor man was in great danger of being strangled: if his bride did not take compassion on him, and cut the cord with a knife given her to use at discretion. But such was the tenderness of the
Caledonian
spouses, that never was an instance of their neglecting an immediate relief of their good man.
Pass near the abby
Founded about 1219, by Lord
Patrick Bisset,
for the monks of
Vall' ombrosa.
of
Beaulieu,
a large ruin: cross the ferry, and again reach
Inverness.
Make an excursion ten miles south of
Inverness
to
Moy-hall,
AUG. 30.
Moy-hall.
pleasantly seated at the head of a small but beautifull lake of the same name, full of Trout, and
Char,
called in the
Erse, Tartar-kinich,
and in the
Scotch,
Red Weems. This water is about two miles and a half long, and half a mile broad, adorned with two or three isles prettily wooded. Each side is bounded by hills cloathed at the bottom with trees; and in front, at the distance of thirty miles, is the great mountain of
Karn Goran,
patched with snow.
This place is called
Stasach na gail,
or the threshold of the Highlands, being a very natural and strongly marked entrance from the north. This is the seat of the
Clan Chattan,
or the
Mc Intoshes,
Clan Chaltan.
once a powerfull people: in the year 1715, fifteen hundred toke the field; but in 1745, scarcc half that number: like another
Absalom,
their fair mistress was in that year supposed to have stolen their hearts from her
Laird
their chieftain: but the severest loyalist must admit some extenuation of their error, in yielding to the insinuations of so charming a seducer.
Boethius
relates, that in his time
Inverness
was greatly frequented by merchants from
Germany,
who purchased here the furs of several sorts of wild beasts
Ad
Nessae
lacús longi qvatuor it viginti passum millia, lati duodecim latera, propter wgenua nemora je
arum ingens copi
est c
rv
r
m, equorum indomitorum, capreolorum et
usmodi ammanlium magna vis: ad haec martirillae, Fou
ae, ut vulgo vocantur, vulpes, mussells, Fibri, Lutraeque incomparabili numero quorum tergora exterae gentes ad luxum immenso pr
ti
c
munt.
Scot. Regni De
er. ix. Hill. Scot. xxx.
; and that wild horses were found in great abundance in its neighborhood: that the country yielded a great deal of wheat and other corn, and quantities of nuts and apples. At present there is a trade in the skins of Deer, Roes, and other beasts, which the Highlanders bring down to the fairs. There happened to be one at this time: the commodities were skins, various necessaries brought in by the Pedlars, coarse country cloths, cheese, butter and meal; the last in goat-skin bags; the butter lapped in cawls, or leaves of the broad
alga
or tang; and great quantities of birch wood and hazel cut into lengths for carts, &c. which had been floated down the river from
Lough-Ness.
Highland
dress.
The fair was a very agreeable circumstance, and afforded a most singular groupe of Highlanders in all their motly dresses. Their
brecban,
or plaid, consists of twelve or thirteen yards of a narrow stuff, wrapt round the middle, and reaches to the knees: is often fastened round the middle with a belt, and is then called
brechan-seal;
but in cold weather, is large enough to wrap round the whole body from head to feet; and this often is their only cover, not only within doors, but on the open hills during the whole night. It is frequently fastened on the shoulders with a pin often of silver, and before with a brotche (like the
fibula
of the
Romans
), which is sometimes of silver, and both large and expensive; the old ones have very frequently mottos.
The stockings are short, and are tied below the knee. The
cuoranen
is a sort of laced shoe made of a skin with the hairy side out, but now seldom worn. The
truish
were worn by the gentry, and were breeches and stockings made of one piece.
The
fillebeg,
i. e. little plaid, also called
kelt,
is a sort of short petticoat reaching only to the knees, and is a modern substitute for the lower part of the plaid, being found to be less cumbersome, especially in time of action, when the Highlanders used to tuck their
brechan
into their girdle. Almost all have a great pouch of badger and other skins, with tassels dangling before. In this they keep their tobacco and money.
Their antient arms were the
Lochaber
ax,
Arms.
now used by none but the town-guard of
Edinburgh;
a tremendous weapon, better to be expressed by a figure than words.
The broad-sword and target; with the last they covered themselves, with the first reached their enemy at a great distance. These were their antient weapons, as appears by
Simul constantia, simul arte
Britanni
ingentibus gladiis et brevibus
, missilia nostrorum vitare vel extutere.
Vita Agricolae. c. 36.
Tacitus;
but since the difarming act, are scarcely to be met with; partly owing to that, partly to the spirit of industry now rising among them, the Highlanders in a few years will scarce know the use of any weapon.
Bows and arrows were used in war as late as the middle of the last century, as I find in a manuscript life of Sir
Ewin Cameron.
The
dirk
was a sort of dagger stuck in the belt. I frequently saw this weapon in the shambles of
Inverness,
converted into a batcher's knife, being, like
Hudibras
's dagger,
A serviceable dudgeon, Either for fighting or for drudging.
The dirk was a weapon used by the antient
Caledonians,
for
Dio Cassius,
in his account of the expedition of
Severus,
mentions it under the name of
Pugio.
The
Mattucashlash,
or arm-pit dagger, was worn there ready to be used on coming to close quarters. These, with a pistol stuck in the girdle, completely armed the Highlander
Major,
who wrote about the year 1518, thus describes their arms:
Arcum et sagittas, latissimum ensim cum parvo balberto, pugionem grossum ex solo uno latere scm.lentem, sed acutjssimum sub zonani semper ferunt. Tempore belli loricam
x loris ferreis per totum corpus induunt.
Lib. I. c. viii.
.
Piery cross.
It will be fit to mention here the method the Chieftains toke formerly to assemble the clans for any military expedition. In every clan there is a known place of rendezvous, styled
Carn a whin,
to which they must resort on this signal. A person is sent out full speed with a pole burnt at one end and bloody at the other, and with a cross at the top, which is called
Crosh-tairie,
the cross of shame, or the fiery cross; the first from the disgrace they would undergo if they declined appearing; the second from the penalty of having fire and sword carried thro' their country, in case of refusal. The first bearer delivers it to the next person he meets, he running full speed to the third, and so on. In the late rebellion, it was sent by some unknown disaffectd hand thro' the county of
Breadalbane,
and passed through a tract of thirty-two miles in three hours, but without effect.
The women's dress is the
kirch,
or a white piece of linnen,
Women's dress.
pinned over the foreheads of those that are married, and round the hind part of the head, falling behind over their necks. The single women wear only a ribband round their head, which they call a snood. The
tanac,
or plaid, hangs over their shoulders, and is fattened before with a brotche; but in bad weather is drawn over their heads. In the county of
Breadalbane,
many wear, when in high dress, a great pleated stocking of an enormous length, called
ossan.
In other respects, their dress resembles that of women of the same rank in
England:
but their condition is very different, being little better than slaves to our sex.
The manners of the native Highlanders may justly be expressed in these words:
Character of the Highlanders.
indolent to a high degree, unless rouzed to war, or to any animating amusement; or I
May
say, from experience, to lend any disinterested assistance to the distressed traveller, either in directing him on his way, or affording their aid in passing the dangerous torrents of the Highlands: hospitable to the highest degree, and full of generosity: are much affected with the civility of strangers, and have in themselves a natural politeness and addrese, which often flows from the meanest when left expected. Thro' my whole tour I never met with a single instance of national reflection! their forbearance proves them to be superior to the meanness of retaliation. I fear they pity us; but I hope not indiscriminately. Are excessively inquisitive after your business, your name, and other particulars of little consequence to them: most curious after the politicks of the world, and when they can procure an old news-paper, will listen to it with all the avidity of
Shakespear
's blacksmith. Have much pride, and consequently are impatient of affronts, and revengefull of injuries. Are decent in their general behaviour; inclined to superstition, yet attentive to the duties of religion, and are capable of giving a most distinct account of the principles of their faith. But in many parts of the Highlands, their character begins to be more faintly marked; they mix more with the world, and become daily less attached to their chiefs: the clans begin to disperse themselves through different parts of the country, finding that their industry and good conduct afford them better protection (since the due execution of the laws) than any their chieftain can afford; and the chieftain tafting the sweets of advanced rents, and the benefits of industry, damnisses from his table the crowds of retainers, the former instruments of his oppression and freakish tyranny.
Most of the antient sports of the Highlanders,
Highland
sports.
such as archery, hunting, fowling and Billing, are now difused: those retained are, throwing the
putting
-stone, or stone of
strength
Cloch neart.
, as they call it, which occasions an emulation who can throw a weighty one the farthest. Throwing the
penny
-stone, which answers to our coits. The
shinty,
or the striking a ball of wood or of hair: this game is played between two parties in a large plain, and furnished with clubs; which-ever side strikes it first to their own goal wins the match.
The amusements by their fire-sides were, the telling of tales, the wildest and most extravagant imaginable: musick was another: in former times, the harp was the favorite instrument, covered with leather and strung with wire
Major
says,
Pro musicis instrumentis et musico concentu, Lyra sylvestres utuntur, cujus chordas ex aere, et non ex animaltum intestinis faciunt, in qua dulcissine madulantur.
, but at present is quite lost. Bagpipes are supposed to have been introduced by the
Danes;
Bagpipes.
the oldest are played with the mouth, the loudest and most ear-piercing of any wind musick; the other, played with the singers only, are of
Irish
origin: the first suited the genius of this warlike people, rouzed their courage to battle, alarmed them when secure, and collected them when scattered. This instrument is become scarce since the abolition of the power of the chieftains, and the more industrious turn of the common people.
Vocal musick was much in vogue amongst them, and their songs were chiefly in praise of their antient heroes. I was told that they still have fragments of the story of
Fingal
and others, which they carrol as they go along; these vocal traditions are the foundation of the works of
Ossian.
Castle Urqhuart.
The north side of
Lough-Ness
is far less beautifull than the south. In general, the hills are less high, but very steep; in a very few places covered with brush-wood, but in general very naked, from the Hiding of the strata down their sloping sides. About the middle is Castle
Urqhuart,
Castle
Urqhuart.
a fortress founded on a rock projecting into the lake, and was said to have been the seat of the once powerfull
Cummins.
Near it is the broadest part of the Lough, occasioned by a bay near the castle.
Above is
Glen-Moriston,
and east of that
StraithGlas,
or the
Chisolm
's country; in both of which are forests of pines, where that rare bird the Cock of the Wood is still to be met with. At
GlenMoriston
is a manufacture of linnen, where forty girls at a time are taught for three months to spin, and then another forty taken in: there are besides six looms, and all supported out of the forseited lands.
Above is the great mountain
Meal Fourvounich,
the first land sailors make from the east sea; on the top is a lake said to be 100 fathoms deep.
I was informed that in that neighborhood are glens and cascades of surprising beauty, but my time did not permit me to visit them.
Dined at a poor inn near the
General's Hut,
or the place where General
Wade
resided when he inspected the great work of the roads, and gave one rare example of making the soldiery usefull in time of peace. Near is a fine glen covered at the bottom with wood, through which runs a torrent rising southward. The country also is prettily varied with woods and corn-fields.
Fall of
Fyers.
About a mile farther is the fall of
Fyers,
a vast cataract, in a darksome glen of a stupendous depth; the water darts far beneath the top thro' a narrow gap between two rocks, then precipitates above forty feet lower into the bottom of the chasm, and the foam, like a great cloud of smoke, rises and fills the air. The sides of this glen are vast precipices mixed with trees over-hanging the water, through which, after a short space, the waters discharge themselves into the lake.
Upper Fall of Tyers.
At the fall of
Fyers
the road quits the side of the lake, and is carried for some space through a small vale on the side of the river
Fyers,
where is a mixture of small plains of corn and rocky hills. Then succeeds a long and dreary moor, a tedious ascent up the mountain
See-whinnin,
or
Cummin
's Seat, whose summit is of a great height and very craggy. Descend a steep road, leave on the right
Lough-Taarf,
a small irregular piece of water, decked with little wooded isles, and abounding with
Char.
After a second steep descent, reach
Fort Augustus
Its
Erse
name is
Kil-whinnin,
or the burial-place of the
Cummins.
It lies on the road to the Isle of
Skie,
which is about 52 miles off; but on the whole way there is not a place sit for the reception of man or horse.
, a small fortress,
Fort Augusius.
seated on a plain at the head of
Lough-Ness,
between the rivers
Taarf
and
Oich;
the last is considerable, and has over it a bridge of three arches. The fort consists of four bastions; within is the Governor's house, and barracks for 400 men: it was taken by the Rebels in 1746, who immediately deserted it, after demolishing as much as they could.
Lough-Ness
is twenty-two miles in length;
Lough-Ness.
the breadth from one to two miles, except near Castle
Urqbuart,
where it swells out to three. The depth is very great; opposite the rock called the
Horseshoe,
near the west end, it has been found to be 140 fathoms. From an eminence near the fort is a full view of its whole extent, for it is perfectly strait, running from east to west, with a point to the south. The boundary from the fall of
Fyers
is very steep and rocky, which obliged General
Wade
to make that
detour
from its banks, partly on account of the expence in cutting through so much solid rock, partly through an apprehension that in case of a rebellion the troops might be destroyed in their march, by the tumbling down of stones by the enemy from above: besides this, a prodigious arch must have been slung over the Glen of
Fyers.
This lake,
Never freezes.
by reason of its great depth, never freezes, and during cold weather a violent steam rises from it as from a furnace. Ice brought from other parts, and put into
Lough-Ness,
instantly thaws; but no water freezes sooner than that of the lake when brought into a house. Its water is esteemed very falubrious; so that people come or send thirty miles for it: old Lord
Lovat
in particular made constant use of it. But it is certain, whether it be owing to the water, or to the air of that neighborhood, that for seven years the garrison of Fort
Augustus
had not lost a single man.
The fish of this lake are Salmon, which are in season from
Christmas
to
Midsummer,
Trouts of about 2lb. weight, Pikes and Eels. During winter it is frequented by Swans and other wild fowls.
The greatest rise of water in
Lough-Ness
is fourteen feet. The lakes from whence it receives its supplies are
Lough-Oich, Louch-Garrie,
and
Lough-Quich.
There is but very little navigation on it; the only vessel is a gally belonging to the fort, to bring the stores from the east end, the river
Ness
being too shallow for navigation.
It is violently agitated by the winds,
Its agitations in 1755
and at times the waves are quite mountainous.
November
1st, 1755, at the same time as the earthquake at
Lisbon,
these waters were affected in a very extraordinary manner: they rose and flowed up the lake from east to west with vast impetuosity, and were carried above 200 yards up the river
Oich,
breaking on its banks in a wave near three feet high; then continued ebbing and flowing for the space of an hour: but at eleven o'clock a wave greater than any of the rest came up the river, broke on the north side, and overflowed the bank for the extent of 30 feet. A boat near the
General's Hut,
loaden with brush-wood, was thrice driven ashore, and twice carried back again; but the last time, the rudder was broken, the wood forced out, and the boat filled with water and left on shore. At the same time, a little isle, in a small lough in
Badenoch,
was totally reversed and slung on the beach. But at both these places no agitation was felt on land.
Rode to the Castle of
Tor-down,
SEPT. 1. Castle of
Tordown
a rock two miles west of Fort
Augustus:
on the summit is an antient fortress. The face of this rock is a precipice; on the accessible side is a strong dyke of loose stones; above that a ditch, and a little higher a terrass supported by stones: on the top a small oval area, hollow in the middle: round this area, for the depth of near twelve feet, are a quantity of stones strangely cemented with almost vitrified matter, and in some places quite turned into black
scoria:
the stones were generally granite mixed with a few gritstones of a kind not found nearer the place than 40 miles. Whether this was the antient site of someforge, forge, of whether the stones which form this fortress
I was informed that at
Arisaig
is an old castle formed of the same materials.
had been collected from the strata of some
Vulcano,
(for the vestiges of such are said to have been found in the Highlands) I submit to farther enquiry.
From this rock is a view of
Ben-ki,
a vast craggy, mountain above
Glen-Garrie
's country. Towards the south is the high mountain
Coryarich:
the ascent from this side is nine miles, but on the other into
Badenoch
is very rapid, and not above one, the road being, for the ease of the traveller, cut in a zigzag fashion. People often perish on the summit of this hill, which is frequently visited during winter with dreadfull storms of snow.
After a short ride westward along the plain,
SEPT. 2.
reach
Lough-Oich,
a narrow lake; the sides prettily indented, and the water adorned with small wooded isles.
Glen-Garrie,
On the shore is
Glen-Garrie,
the seat of Mr.
M'Donald,
almost surrounded with wood, and not far distant is the ruin of the old castle. This lake is about four miles long; the road on the south side is excellent, and often carried through very pleasant woods.
After a small interval arrive on the banks of
Lough-Lochy,
Lough-Lochy.
a fine piece of water, fourteen miles long, and from one to two broad. The distant mountains on the north were of an immense height; those on the south had the appearance of fine sheepwalks. The road is continued on the side of the lake about eight miles. On the opposite shore was
Acbnacarrie,
once the seat of
Cameron
of
Lochiel,
but burnt in 1746. He was esteemed by all parties the honestest and most sensible man of any that embarked in the pernicious and absurd attempt of that and the preceding year. By his influence he prevented the Rebels from committing several excesses, and even saved the city of
Glasgow
from being plundered, when their army returned out of
England,
irritated with their disappointment, and enraged at the loyalty that city had shewn. The Pretender came to him as soon as ever he landed.
Lochiel
seeing him arrive in so wild a manner and so unsupported, entreated him to desist from an enterprize from which nothing but certain ruin could result to him and his partizans. The Adventurer grew warm, and reproached
Lochiel
with a breach of promise. This affected him so deeply, that he instantly went and took a tender and moving leave of his lady and family, foreseeing he was on the point of parting with them for ever. The income of his estate was at that time, as I was told, not above 7001.
per ann.
yet he brought fourteen hundred men into the field.
The waters of this lake form the river
Lochy,
and discharge themselves into the western sea, as those of
Lough-Oich
do through
Lough-Ness
into the eastern. About the beginning of this lake enter
Lochaber;
So called from a lake not far from Fort
William,
near whose banks
Banque
was said to have been murthered.
stop at
Low-bridge,
a poor house;
Lochaber.
travel over a black moor for some miles; see abundance of cattle, but scarce any corn. Cross
High-bridge,
a fine bridge of three arches flung over the torrent
Spean,
founded on rocks; two of the arches are 95 feet high. This bridge was built by General
Wade,
in order to form a communication with the country. These publick works were at first very disagreeable to the old Chieftains: it lessened their influence greatly; for by admitting strangers among them their clans were taught that the Lairds were not the first of men. But they had another reason much more solid:
Lochaber
had been a den of thieves; and as long as they had their waters, their torrents and their bogs, in a state of nature, they made their excursions, could plunder and retreat with their booty in full security. So weak were the laws in many parts of
North Britain,
till after the late rebellion, that no stop could be put to this infamous practice. A contribution, called the
black meal,
was raised by several of these plundering chieftains over a vast extent of country: whoever payed it had their cattle ensured, but those. who dared to refuse were sure to suffer. Many of these free-booters were wont to insert an article, by which they were to be released from their agreement, in case of any civil commotion: thus, at the breaking out of the last rebellion, a
M'Gregor,
Who assumed the name of
Graham.
who had with the strictest honor (till that event) preserved his friends cattle, immediately sent them word, that from that time they were out of his protection, and must now take care of themselves.
Barrisdale
was another of this class, chief of a band of robbers, who spread terror over the whole country: but the Highlanders at that time esteemed the open theft of cattle, or the making a
spreith
(as they called it) by no means dishonorable; and the young men considered it as a piece of gallantry, by which they recommended themselves to their mistresses. On the other side there was often as much bravery in the pursuers; for frequent battles ensued, and much blood has been spilt on those occasions. They also shewed great dexterity in tracing the robbers, not only through the boggy land, but over the firmest ground, and even over places where other cattle had passed, knowing well how to distinguish the steps of those that were wandering about from those that were driven hastily away by the Free-booters.
From the road had a distant view of the mountains of
Arisaig,
beyond which were
Moydart, Kinloch,
&c. At the end of
Lough Shiel
the Pretender first set up his standard in the wildest place that imagination can frame. The inhabitants of this country are mostly Papists, and here the strength of the rebellion lay.
Pass by the side of the river
Lochy,
now considerable.
Inverlochy.
See
Inverlochy Castle
with four large round towers
The largest is called
Cummin
's tower. These towers so greatly resemble those built by the same monarch in
North Wales,
that I scarce hesitate to attribute this castle to him. By several accounts it appears that there had been a castle on the same spot, built many centuries prior to this ruin; and it is also asserted, that the league between
Charlemagne
and
Achaius,
King of
Scotland,
was signed by the latter in it.
, which, by the mode of building, seems to have been the work of the
English,
in the time of
Edward
I. who laid large fines on the
Scotch
Barons for the purpose of erecting new castles. Reach
Fort William,
built in King
William
's reign, as was a small town near it, called
Maryborough,
in honor of his Queen; but prior to that, had been a small fortress, erected by order of
Cromwel,
with whose people the famous Sir,
Ewen Cameron
Who is said to have killed last Wolf in
Scotland,
about the year 1680.
had numerous contests. The present fort is a triangle, has two bastions, and is capable of admitting a garrison of eight hundred men. It was well defended against the Rebels in 1746, who raised the siege with much disgrace. The fort lies on a narrow arm of the sea, called
Loch-yell,
which extends some miles higher up the country, making a bend to the north, and extends likewise westward towards the isle of
Mull,
near twenty-four
Scotch
miles.
This fort on the west, and
Fort Augustus,
in the centre, and
Fort George
on the east,
The Chain
form what is called the
chain,
from sea to sea. This space is called
Glen-more,
or the great Glen, which. including water and land, is almost a level of seventy miles. There is, in fact, but little land, but what is divided by firth, lough, or river; except the two miles which lie between
Lough Oich
and
Lough Lochy.
By, means of
Fort George,
all entrance up the Firth towards
Inverness
is prevented,
Fort Augustus
curbed the inhabitants midway, and
Fort William
is a check to any attempts on the west Detahments are made from all these garrisons to
Inverness, Bernera
barracks opposite to the Isle of
Skie,
and Castle
Duart
in the Isle of
Mull
I was informed that coal has been lately discovered in this island. What advantage may not this prove, in establishments of manufacture in a country just rouzed from the lap of indolence
. Other small parries ate also scattered in huts throughout the country, to prevent the stealing of castle.
Fort William
is surrounded by vast mountains, which occasion almost perpetual rain: the loftiest are on the south side;
Benevish
soars above the rest,
Benevish
and ends, as I was told, in a point, (at this time concealed in mist) whose height from the sea is said to be 1450 yards. As an antient
Briton,
I lament the disgrace of
Snowdon,
once esteemed the highest hill in the island, but now must yield the palm to a
Caledonian
mountain. But I have my doubts whether this might not be rivaled, or perhaps surpassed by others in the same country, for example,
Ben y bourd,
a central hill, from whence to the Tea there is a continued and rapid descent of seventy miles, as may be seen by the violent course of the
Dee
to
Aberdeen.
But their height has not yet been taken, which to be done fairly must be from the sea.
Benevish,
as well as many others, harbor snow throughtout the year.
The bad weather which reigned during my stay in these parts prevented me from visiting the celebrated parallel roads in
Glen-Roy.
As I am unable to satify the curiosity of the Reader from my own observation, I shall deliver in the Appendix
No.
III.
the informations I could collect relating to these amazing works.
The great produce of
Lochaber
is cattle:
Trade of
Lochabers.
that district alone fends out annually 3000 head; but if a portion of
Invernessshire
is included, of which this properly is part, the number is 10,000. There are also a few horses bred here, and a very few sheep but of late several have been imported. Scarce any arable land, for the excessive wet which reigns here almost totally prevents the growth of corn, and what little there is fit for tillage sets at ten shillings an acre. The inhabitants of this district are therefore obliged, for their support, to import six thousand bolls of oatmeal annually, which cost about 4000l. the rents are about 3000l.
per ann.
the return for their cattle is about 75001. the horses may produce some trifle; so that the tenants must content themselves with a very scanty subsistence without the prospect of saying the lest against unforeseen accidents. The rage of raising rents has reached this distant country: in
England
there may be reason for it, (in a certain degree) where the value of lands is encreased by accession of commerce, and by the rise of the price of provisions; but here (contrary to all policy) the great men begin at the wrong end, with squeezing the bag, before they have helped the poor tenant to fill it, by the introduction of manufactures. In many of the isles this already shews its unhappy effect, and begins to depopulate the country; for numbers of families have been obliged to give up the strong attachment the
Scots
in general have for their country, and to exchange it for the wilds of
America.
The houses of the peasants in
Lochaber
are the most wretched that can be imagined; framed of upright poles, which are wattled; the roof is formed of boughs like a
wigwam,
and the whole is covered with sods; so that in this moist climate their cottages have a perpetual and much finer verdure than the rest of the country.
Salmons are taken in these parts as late as
May;
about 50 tuns are caught in the season. These fish never appear so early on this coast as on the eastern.
Phinocs
are taken here in great numbers, 1500 having been taken at a draught. They come in
August
and disappear in
November.
They are about a foot long, their color grey spotted with black their flesh red; rise eagerly to a fly. The fishermen suppose them to be the young of what they call a great Trout, weighing 30lb. which I suppose is the
Grey
Br. Zael.
III. 248.
.
Left
Fort William,
and proceeded south along the military road on the side of a hill,
SEPT. 4.
an awefull height above
Loch-Leven
The country people have a most superstitious desrire of being buried in the little isle of
Mun,
in this Lough.
a branch of the sea, so narrow as to have only the appearance of a river, bounded on both sides with vast mountains, among whose winding bottoms the tide rolled in with solemn majesty. The scenery begins to grow very romantic; on the west side are some woods of birch and pines: the hills are very lofty, many of them taper to a point, and my old friend, the late worthy Bishop
Pocock,
compared the shape of one to mount
Tabor.
Beneath them is
Glen-Co,
Glen-Co.
infamous for the massacre of its inhabitants in 1691, and celebrated for having (as some assert) given birth to
Ossian;
towards the north is
Morvan,
the country of his hero
Fingal.
Leave on the left a vast cataract, precipitating itself in a great foaming sheet between two lofty perpendicular rocks, with trees growing out of the fissures, forming a large stream, called the water of
Boon.
Kinloch-Leven
Breakfast at the little village of
Kinloch-Leven
on most excellent minced stag, the only form I thought that animal good in.
Near this village is a single farm fourteen miles long, which sets for only 351.
per ann.
and from the nature of the soil, perhaps not very cheap.
Saw here a
Quern,
A Quern
a sort of portable mill, made of two stones about two feet broad, thin at the edges, and a little thicker in the middle. In the centre of the upper stone is a hole to pour in the corn, and a peg by way of handle. The whole is placed on a cloth; the grinder pours the corn into the hole with one hand, and with the other turns round the upper stone with a very rapid motion, while the meal runs out at the sides on the cloth. This is rather preserved as a curiosity, being much out of use at present. Such are supposed to be the same with what are common among the
Moors,
being the simple substitute of a mill.
Immediately after leaving
Kinloch-Leven
the mountains soar to a far greater height than before; the sides are covered with wood, and the bottoms of the glens filled with torrents that roar amidst the loose stones. After a ride of two miles begin to ascend the
black mountain,
The
black mountain.
in
Argyleshire,
on a steep road, which continues about three miles almost to the summit, and is certainly the highest publick road in
Great Britain.
On the other side the descent is scarce a mile, but is very rapid down a zigzag way. Reach the
King
's house, seated in a plain: it was built for the accommodation of His Majesty's troops, in their march through this desolate country, but is in a manner unfurnished.
Pass near
Lough-Tutta,
a long narrow piece of water, with a small pine-wood on its side. A few weather-beaten pines and birch appear scattered up and down, and in all the bogs great numbers of roots, that evince the forest that covered the country within this half century. These were the last pines which I saw growing spontaneously in
North Britain.
The pine-forests are become very rare: I can enumerate only those on the banks of
Lough-Raynach,
at
Invercauld,
and
Brae-mar;
at
Coygach
and
Dirry-Monach:
the first in
Straith-navern,
the last in
Sutherland.
Those about
Lough-Loyn, Glen-Moriston,
and
Straith-Glas;
a small one near
Lough-Garrie,
another near
Lough-Arkig,
and a few scattered trees above
Kinloch-Leven,
all in
Invernesssire;
and I was also informed that there are very considerable woods about
Castle Grant.
I saw only one species of Pine in those I visited; nor could I learn whether there was any other than what is vulgarly called the
Scotch Fir,
whose synonyms are these:
Pinus sylvestris foliis brevibus glaucis, conis parvis albentibus.
Raii hist. Pl. 1401. syn. stirp. Br. 442.
Pinus-sylvestris.
Gerard's herb. 1356. Lin. sp. Pl. 1418. Flora Angl. 361.
Pin d'Ecosse, on de Geneve.
Du Hamel Tr
it
des Arbes. II. 125. No. 5.
Eyrre,
Strom. Sondmor
12.
Most of this long day's journey from the
black mountain
was truly melancholy, almost one continued scene of dusky moors, without arable land, trees, houses, or living creature, for numbers of miles.
The roads are excellent; but from
Fort William
to
Kinloch-Leven,
very injudiciously planned, often carried far about, and often so steep as to be scarce surmountable; whereas had the engineer followed the track used by the inhabitants, those inconveniences would have been avoided.
These roads, by rendering the highlands accessible, contributed much to their present improvement, and were owing to the industry of our soldiery; they were begun in 1723
Vide p.
81.
, under the directions of Gen.
Wade,
who, like another
Hannibal,
forced his way through rocks supposed to have been unconquerable: many of them hang over the mighty lakes of the country, and formerly afforded no other road to the natives than the paths of sheep or goats, where even the Highlander crawled with difficulty, and kept himself from tumbling into the far subjacent water by clinging to the plants and bushes of the rock. Many of these rocks were too hard to yield to the pick-ax, and the miner was obliged to subdue their obstinacy with gunpowder, and often in places where nature had denied him footing, and where he was forced to begin his labors, suspended from above by ropes on the face of the horrible precipice. The bogs and moors had likewise their difficulties to overcome; but all wore it length constrained to yield to the perseverence of our troops.
In some places I observed, that, after the manner of the
Romans,
they left engraven on the rocks the names of the regiment each party belonged to, who were employed in these works; nor were they less worthy of being immortalized than the
Vexillatio
's of the
Roman
legions; for civilization was the consequence of the labors of both.
These roads begin at
Dunkeld,
are carried on thro' the noted pass of
Killicrankie,
by
Blair,
to
Dalnacardoch, Dalwhinie,
and over the
Coryarich,
to
Fort Augustus.
A branch extends from thence eastward to
Inverness,
and another westward, over
High-bridge,
to
Fort William.
From the last, by
Kinloch-Leven,
over the
Black Mountain,
by the King's house, to
Teindrum,
and from thence, by
Glen-urqhie,
to
Inveraray,
and so along the beautifull boundaries of
Lough-Lomond,
to its extremity.
Another road begins near
Crief,
passes by
Aberfeldy,
crosses the
Tay
at
Tay-bridge,
and unites with the other road at
Dalnacardoch;
and from
Dalwhinie
a branch passes through
Badenoch
to
Inverness.
These are the principal military roads; but there may be many others I may have over-looked.
Rode through some little vales by the side of a small river; and from the appearance of fertility, have some relief from the dreary scene of the rest of the day. Reach
Tyendrum,
a small village. The inn is seated the highest of any house in
Scotland.
Tyendrum.
The
Tay
runs east, and a few hundred yards further is a little lake, whose waters run west. A lead mine is worked here by a level to some advance; was discovered about thirty years ago: the veins run S. W. and N. E.
SEPT. 5.
Continue my tour on a very fine road on a side of a narrow vale, abounding with cattle; yet destitute both of arable land and meadow, but the beasts pick up a sustenance from the grass that springs up among the heath. The country opens on approaching
Glen-Urqhie,
Glen-Urqhie.
a pretty vally, well cultivated, fertile in corn, the sides adorned with numbers of pretty groves, and the middle watered by the river
Urqhie:
the church is seated on a knowl, in a large isle, formed by the river: the
Manse,
or minister's house, is neat, and his little demesn is decorated in the most advantageous places with seats of turf, indicating the content and satisfaction of the possessor in the lot Providence has given him.
In the church-yard are several grave-stones of great antiquity, with figures of a warrior, each furnished with a spear, or two-handed sword: on some are representations of the chase; on others, elegant fret-work; and on one, said to be part of the coffin of a
M'Gregor,
is a fine running pattern of follage and flowers, and excepting the figures, all in good taste.
On an eminence on the south side of this vale dwells
M'Nabb,
a smith, whose family have lived in that humble station since the year 1440, being always of the same profession. The first of the line was employed by the Lady of Sir
Duncan Campbell,
who built the of castle of
Kilchurn
when her husdand was on a croisade: some of their tombs are in the church-yard of
Glen-Urqhie;
the oldest has a hammer and other implements of his trade cut on it. I here was favored with several translations of some
English
poetry into the
Erse
language, an epitaph, and an elegy, to be found in the Appendix
No.
IV.
, by those whose turn leads them to peruse performances of that kind. After breakfast, at a good inn near the village, was there present at a christening, and became sponsor to a little
Highlander,
by no other ceremony than receiving him for a moment into my arms.
Pursue my journey, and have a fine view of the meanders of the river before its union with
Lough-Aw;
in an isle in the beginning of the lake is the castle of
Kilchurn,
Castle of
Kilchurn.
which had been inhabited by the present Lord
Breadalbane
's grandfather. The great tower was repaired by his Lordship, and garrisoned by him in 1745, for the service of the government, in order to prevent the Rebels from making use of that great pass cross the kingdom; but is now a ruin, having lately been struck by lightening.
At a place called
Hamilton
's Pass, in an instant burst on a view of the lake, which makes a beautifull appearance;
Lough-Aw.
is about a mile broad, and shews at lest ten miles of its length. This water is prettily varied with isles, some so small as meerly to peep above the surface; yet even these are tufted with trees; some are large enough to afford hay and pasturage; and in one, called
Inch-hail,
are the remains of a convent
The country people are still fond of burying here. Insula
interments are said to owe their origin to the fear people had of having their friends corpses devoured by woles on the main land.
. On
Fr
-Elan,
This isand was granted by
Alexander
III. in 12
7 in
Gilcrist M'Nac
and his heirs for ever, on condition they should entertain the King whenever he pssed that way.
the
Hesperides
of the Highlands, are the ruins of a castle. The fair
Mego
longed for the delicious fruit of the isle, guarded by a dreadfull serpent: the hero
Fraoch
goes to gather it, and is destroyed by the monster. This tale is sung in the
Erse
ballads, and is translated and published in the manner of
Fing
The whole extent of
Lough-Aw
is thirty miles, bounded on the north by
Lorn,
a portion of
Argyleshire,
a fertile country, prettily wooded near the water-side. On the N. E. are vast mountain:
Mount
Cronachan.
among them
Crouachan
Or the Great Heap.
towers to a great heights it rises from the lake, and its sides are snagged wich woods impending over it. At its foot is the discharge of the waters of this Lough into
Lough-Elive,
an arm of the sea, after a turbulent course of a series of cataracts for the space of three miles. At
Bunaw,
near the north end, is a large salmon-fishery; also a considerable iron-foundery, which I fear will soon devour the beautifull woods of the country.
Pass by
Scotstown,
Scotstown.
a single house. Dine at the little village of
Cladish.
About two miles hence, on an eminence is sight of the convent on
Inch-Bail,
is a spot, called
Croisch an Tsleahd,
or the cross of bowing, because, in
Popish
times, it was always customary to kneel or make obeisance on first sight of any consecrated place
Druidical stone and temples are called
Claeban,
churches having often been builton such places: to go to
Clachan
is a common
Erse
phrase for going to church.
Pass between hills finely planted with several sorts of trees, such as
Weymouth
pines, &c. and after a picturesque ride, reach
Inveraray.
Inveraray.
the castle the principal seat of the Dukes of
Argyle,
chief of the
Campbells;
was built by Duke
Archibald;
is quadrangular with a round tower at each corner and in the middle rises a square one glazed on every side to give light to the staircase and galleries, and has from without a most disagreeable effect. In the attic story are eighteen good bed chambers: the ground-floor was at this time in a manner unfurnished, but will have several good apartments. The castle is built of a coarse
lapis
ll
ris,
brought from the other side of
Lough-Fine,
and is the same kind with that found in
Norway
of which the King of
Denmark
's palace at
Copenhagen
is built. Near the new castle are some remains of the old.
This place will in time be very magnificent; but at present the space between the front and the water is disgraced with the. old town, composed of the most wretched hovels that can be imagined. The founder of the castle designed to have built a new founder on the west side of the little bay the house stands on: he finished a few houses, a custom-house, and an excellent inn: his death interrupted the completion of the plan, which, when brought to perfection, will give the place a very different appearance to what it now bears.
From the top of the great rock
Duniquaich
is a fine view of the castle the lawn sprinkled with fine trees, the hills covered with extensive plantations, a country fertile in corn, bordering the Lough, and the Lough itself covered with boats. The trees on the lawn about the castle are said to have been planted by the Earl of
Argyle:
they thrive greatly, for I observed beech from nine to twelve feet and a half in girth, pines nine, and a lesser maple between seven and eight.
But the busy scene of the herring-fishery gave no small improvement to the magnificent environs of
Inveraray.
Every evening
The finery is carried on in the night, the herring being then in motion.
some hundreds of boats in a manner covered the surface of
Lough-Fine,
an arm of the sea, which, from its narrowness and from the winding of its shores, has all the beauties of a fresh-water lake: on the week-days, the chearfull noise of the bagpipe and dance eechoes from on board: on the sabbath, each boat approaches the land, and psalmody and devotion divide the day; for the common people of the north are disposed to be religious, having the example before them of a gentry untained by luxury and dissipation, and being instrusted by a clergy, who are active in their duty and who preserve respect amids all the disadvantages of a narrow income.
The length of
Lough-Fine,
Lough-Fine.
from the eastern end to the point of
Lamond,
is above thirty
Scotch
mises; but its breadth scarce two measured: the depth from sixty to seventy fathoms:
Herrings.
It is noted for the vast shoals of herrings that appear here in
July
and continue till
January.
The highest season is from
September
to
Christmas,
when near six hundred boats, with four men in each, are employed. A chain of nets is used (for several are united) of a hundred fathoms in length. As the herrings swim at very uncertain depths, so the nets are sunk to the depth the shoal is found to take: the success therefore depends much on the judgement or good fortune of the fishers, in taking their due depths; for it often happens that one boat will take multitudes, while the next does not catch a single fish, which makes the boatmen perpetually enquire of each other about the depth of their nets. These are kept up by buoys to a proper pitch; the ropes that run through them are fastened with pegs, and by drawing up or letting out the rope (after taking out the pegs) they adjust their situation, and then replace them. Sometimes the fish swim in twenty fathom water, sometimes in fifty, and oftentimes even at the bottom.
It is computed that each boat gets about 40l. in the season. The fish are either salted, and packed in barrels for exportation, or sold fresh to the country people, two or three hundred horses being brought every day to the water-side from very distant parts. A barrel holds 500 herrings, if they are of the best kind; at a medium, 700: but if more, for sometimes a barrel will hold 1000, they are reckoned very poor. The present price 1l. 4s.
per
barrel; but there is a drawback of the duty on salt for those that are exported.
The great rendezvous of vessels for the fishery off the western isles is at
Cambeltown,
in
Cantyre,
where they clear out on the 12 th of
September,
and sometimes three hundred busses are seen there at a time: they must return to their different ports by
January
13th, where they ought to receive the praemium of 2l. 10s.
per
tun of herrings; but it is said to be very ill paid, which is a great discouragement to the fishery.
The herrings of
Lough-Fine
are as uncertain in their migration as they are on the coast of
Wales.
They had for numbers of years quitted that water; but appeared again there within these dozen years. Such is the case with the loughs on all this western coast, not but people despair too soon of finding them, from one or two unsuccessfull tryals in the beginning of the season; perhaps from not adjusting their nets to the depth the fish happen then to swim in: but if each year a small vessel of two was sent to make a thorough tryal in every branch of the sea on this coast, they would undoubtedly find shoals of fish in one or other.
Tunnies.
Tunnies,
Br. Zool, illustr.
33.
called here
Mackrel-Sture,
are very frequently caught in the herring season, which they follow to prey on. They are taken with a strong iron hook fastened to a rope and baited with a herring: as soon as hooked lose all spirit, and are drawn up without any resistance: are very active when at liberty, and jump and frolick oft the surface of the water.
SEPT. 7.
Crossed over an elegant bridge of three arches upon the
Aray,
in front of the castle, and kept riding along the side of the Lough for about seven miles: saw in one place a shoal of herrings, close to the surface, perfectly piled on one another, with a flock of Gulls, busied with this offered booty.
After quitting the water-side the road is carried for a considerable way through the bottoms of naked, deep and gloomy glens. Ascend a very high pass with a little lough on the top. Reach the end of
Lough-Long,
another narrow arm of the sea, bounded by high-hills, and after a long course terminates in the
Firth
of
Clyde.
Near this place see a house, very pleasantly situated, belonging to Colonel
Campbell,
amidst plantations, with some very fertile bottoms adjacent. On ascending a hill not half a mile farther, appears LOUGH-LOMOND.
North-Britain
may well boast of its waters;
Review of the Lakes.
for so short a ride as thirty miles presents the traveller with the view of four most magnificent pieces.
Lough-Aw, Lough-Fine, Lough-Long,
and
Lough-Lomond.
Two indeed are of salt-water; but, by their narrowness, give the idea of fresh-water lakes. It is an idle observation of travellers, that seeing one is the same with seeing all of these superb waters; for almost every one I visited has its proper characters.
Lough-Leven
is a broad expanse, with isles and cultivated shores.
Lough-Tay
makes three bold windings, has steep but sloping shores, cultivated in many parts, and bounded by vast hills.
Lough-Raynach,
is broad and strait, has more wildness about it, with a large natural pine wood on its southern banks.
Lough Tumel
is narrow, confined by the sloping sides of steep hills, and has on its western limits a flat, rich woody country, and is watered by a most serpentine stream.
The
Lough
of
Spinie
is almost on a flat, and its sides much indented.
Lough-Moy
is small, and has soft features on its banks, amidst rude environs.
Lough-Ness
is strait and narrow; its shores abound with a wild magnificence, lofty, precipitous and wooded, and has all the greatness of an
Alpine
lake.
Lough-Oich
has lofty mountains at a small distance from its borders; the shores indented, and the water decorated with isles.
Lough-Lochy
wants the isles; its shores slope, and several straiths terminate on its banks.
Lough-Aw
is long and waving: its little isles tusted with trees, and just appearing above the water, its two great seeds of water at each extremity, and its singular lateral discharge near one of them, sufficiently mark this great lake.
Lough-Lomond,
Lough-Lomond.
the last, the most beautifull of the
Caledonian
lakes. The first view of it from
Tarbat
presents an extensive serpentine winding amidst lofty hills: on the north, barren, black and rocky, which darken with their shade that contracted part of the water. Near this gloomy tract, beneath
Craig Roston,
Mc Gregors.
was the principal seat of the
Mc Gregors,
a murderous clan, infamous for excesses of all kinds; it length, for a horrible massacre of the
Colquhuns,
or
Cabouns,
in 1602, were proscribed, and hunted down like wild beasts; their very name suppressed by act of council; so that the remnant, now dispersed like
Jews,
dare not even sign it to any deed. Their posterity are still said to be distinguished among the clans in which they have incorporated themselves, not only by the redness of their hair; but by their still retaining the mischievous disposition of their ancestors.
On the west side, the mountains are cloathed hear the bottoms with woods of oak quite to the water edge; their summits lofty, naked and craggy.
On the east side, the mountains are equally high; but the tops form a more even ridge parallel to the lake, except where
Ben-Lomond
Its height is 3240 feets.
, like
Saul
amidst his companions, overtops the rest. The upper parts were black and barren; the lower had great marks of fertility, or at left of industry, for the yellow corn was finely contrasted with the verdure of the groves intermixed with it.
This eastern boundary is part of the
Grampian
hills,
Grampian
hills.
which extend from hence through the counties of
Perth, Angus, Mearns,
and
Aberdeen.
They take their name from only a single hill, the
Mons Grampius
of
Tacitus,
where
Galgacus
waited the approach of
Agricola,
and where the battle was fought so fatal to the brave
Caledonians.
Antiquarians have not agreed upon the particular spot; but the able Mr.
Gordon
Itin. Septent.
39.
places it near
Comerie,
at the upper end of
Straithern,
at a place to this day called
Galgachan Moor.
But to return.
The road runs sometimes through woods, at others is exposed and naked; in some, so steep as to require the support of a wall: the whole the work of the soldiery: blessed exchange of instruments of destruction for those that give safety to the traveller, and a polish to the once inaccessible native.
A great headland covered with trees separates the first scene from one totally different. On passing this cape an expanse of water bursts at once on your eye, varied with all the softer beauties of nature. Immediately beneath is a flat covered with wood and corn: beyond, the headlands stretch far into the water, and consist of gentle risings; many have their surfaces covered with wood, others adorned with trees loosely scattered either over a fine verdure, or the purple bloom of the heath. Numbers of islands are dispersed over the lake of the same elevated form as the little capes, and wooded in the same manner; others just peep above the surface, and are tusted with trees; and numbers are so disposed as to form magnificent vistos between.
Opposite
Luss,
at a small distance from shore, is a mountainous isle almost covered with wood; is near half a mile long, and has a most fine effect. I could not count the number of islands, but was told there are twenty-eight: the largest two miles long, and stocked with Deer.
The length of this charming lake is 24
Scotch
miles; its greatest breadth eight: its greatest depth a hundred and twenty fathoms. Besides the fish common to the
Loughs
are
Guiniads,
called here
Poans.
The country from
Luss
A tolerable inn on the borders of the lake.
to the southern extremity of the lake continually improves; the mountains sink gradually into small hills; the land is highly cultivated, well planted, and well inhabited.
I was struck with rapture at a sight so long new to me: it would have been without alloy, had it not been dashed with the uncertainty whether the mountain virtue, hospitality, would flourish with equal vigor in the softer scenes I was on the point of entering on; for in the
Highlands
every house gave welcome to the traveller.
The vale between the end of the lake and
Dunbarton
is unspeakably beautifull, very fertile, and finely watered by the great and rapid river
Levin,
the discharge of the lake, which, after a short course, drops into the Firth of
Clyde
below
Dunbarton:
there is scarcely a spot on its banks but what is cultivated with bleacheries, plantations and
villas.
Nothing can equal the contrast in this day's journey, between the black barren dreary glens of the morning ride, and the soft scenes of the evening, islands worthy of the retreat of
Armida,
and which
Rinaldo
himself would have quitted with a sigh.
Before I take my last leave of the
Highlands,
Entrances into the
Highlands.
it would be proper to observe that every entrance into them is strongly marked by nature.
On the south, the narrow and wooded glen near
Dunkeld
instantly shews the change of country.
On the east, the craggy pass of Bollitir gives a contracted admission into the
Grampian
hills.
On the north, the mountains near
Lough-Moy
appear very near, and form what is properly styled the threshold of the country; and on the West, the narrow road impending over
Lough-Lomond
forms a most characteristic entrance to this mountainous tract.
But the
Erse
language is not confined within these limits; for it is spoken on all sides beyond these mountains. On the eastern coast it begins at
Nairn;
on the western, extends over all the isles. It ceases in the north of
Cathness,
the
Orkneys,
and the
Shetland
islands
In the
Shetland isles
are still some remains of the
Norse,
or old
Norwegian
language.
; but near
Lough-Lomond,
is heard at
Luss,
at
Buchanan,
east of the lake, and at
Roseneth,
west of it.
Cross the ferry over the
Levin
at
Bounel,
and after a ride of three miles reach
Dunbarton,
Dunbarton.
a small but good old town, seated on a plain near the conflux of the
Levin
with the Firth of
Clyde;
it consists principally of one large street in form of a crescent. On one side is the
Tolbooth,
and at the south end the church with a small spire steeple. The waites of the town are bagpipes, which go about at nine o'clock at night and five in the morning.
Its ca
tle.
The castle is seated a little south of the town on a two-headed rock of a stupendous height, rising in a strange manner out of the sands, and totally detached from every thing else. On one of the summits are the remains of an old light-house; on the other, the powder magazine: in the hollow between is a large well of excellent water fourteen feet deep. The sides of the rocks are immense precipices, and often over-hang, except on the side where the governor's house stands, which is defended by walls and a few cannon, and garrisoned by a, few invalids. From its natural strength, it was in former times deemed impregnable; so that the desperate but successfull scalado of it 1571
Robertsons hist, Scotland,
II. 15.
octavo. Guthrie
's, VII. 331.
may vie with the greatest attempts of that kind, with the capture of the
Numidian
fortress, in the
Jugurthine
war, by
Marius;
or the more horrible surprize of
Fescamp
Sully's Memoirs, Vol.
I.
Book
VI.
, by the gallant
Bois-rosè.
From the summits of this rock is a fine view of the country, of the town of
Dunbarton,
the river
Levin,
the Firth of
Clyde,
(the
Glota
of
Tacitus
) here about a mile broad, and of the towns of
Greenock
and
Port Glasgow,
on the opposite shore. The business of this country is the spinning of thread, which is very considerable. There is also a great salmon-fishery:
Fish.
but in this populous country, so great is the demand for them that none can be spared for curing.
Gilses
come up the river in
June,
and continue in plenty about twenty days; and many Salmon Trout are taken from
March
to
July. Phinocs,
called here Yellow Fins, come in
July,
and continue about the same space of time as the Gilses: the fishermen call them the young of some great Sea Trout. During
May, Parrs
appear in such numbers in the
Levin,
that the water seems quite animated with them. There are besides in that river Perch and a few
Poans
At
Dunbarton
I was informed by persons ot credit, that Swallows have often been taken in midwinter, in a torpid state, out of the steeple of the church, and also out of a sand-bank over the river
Endrick,
near
Lough-Lomond.
.
Pass by the ruins of
Dunglas
castle,
SEPT. 8.
near the banks of the
Clyde,
which meanders finely along a rich plain full of barley and oats, and much inclosed with good hedges, a rarity in
North Britain.
At a distance are some gentle risings, interspersed with woods and villas belonging to the citizens of
Glasgow,
GLASGOW.
The best built of any modern second-rate city I ever saw: the houses of stone, and in a good taste. The principal street runs east and west, and is near a mile and a half long; but unfortunately, is not strait. The
Tolbooth
is large and handsome. Next to that is the Exchange: within is a spacious room with full-length portraits of all our monarchs since
James
I. and an excellent one, by
Ramsay,
of
Archibald
Duke of
Argyle,
in a Judge's robe. Before the Exchange is a large equestrian statue of King
William.
This is the broadest and finest part of the street: many of the houses are built over piazzas, but too narrow to be of much service to walkers. Numbers of other streets cross this at right angles, and are in general well built.
Market places.
The market-places are great ornaments to this city, the fronts being done in a very fine taste, and the gates adorned with columns of one or other of the orders. Some of these markets are for meal, greens, fish, or flesh. There are two for the last, which have conduits out of several of the pillars; so that they are constantly kept sweet and clean.
Near the meal-market is a publick grainary, to be filled on any apprehension of scarceness.
The guard-house is in the great street, which is kept by the inhabitants, who regularly do duty. An excellent police is observed here, and proper officers attend the markets to prevent any abuses.
The old bridge over the
Clyde
consists of eight arches, and was built 400 years ago by Bishop
Rea;
two others are now building. The tide flows three miles higher up the country, but at low water is fordable. There is a plan for deepening the channel; for at present the tide brings up only very small vessels; and the ports belonging to this city lie fourteen miles lower, at
Port Glasgow
and
Greenock,
on the west side of the
Firth.
Near the bridge is a large alms-house, a vast nailery, a stone-ware manufacture, and a great porter brewery, which supplies some part of unindustrious
Ireland.
Within fight, on the south side, are collieries; and much coal is exported into the last-mentioned island, and into
America.
The great imports of this city are tobacco and sugar: of the former,
Trade.
above 40,000 hogsheads have been annually imported, and near 20,000 again exported into
France.
The manufactures here are linnens, cambricks
The greatest cambrick manufacture is now at
Paisly,
a few miles from this city.
, lawns, tapes, sustians, and striped linnens; so that it already begins to rival
Manchester,
and has in point of the conveniency of its ports, in respect to
America,
a great advantage over it.
The college is a large building, with a handsome front to the street,
College.
resembling some of the old colleges in
Oxford. Charles
I. subscribed 2001. towards this work, but was prevented by the troubles from paying it; but
Cromwell
afterwards fulfilled the design of the royal donor. It was founded in 1450, by
James
II. Pope
Nicholas
I. gave the bull, but Bishop
Turnbull
supplied the money. There are about 400 students belonging to the college, who lodge in the town: but the Professors have good houses in the college. Young gentlemen of fortune have private tutors, who have an eye to their conduct; the rest live entirely at their own discretion.
The library is a very handsome room, with a gallery round it, supported by pillars. That beneficent nobleman the late Duke of
Chandos,
when he visited the college, gave 500l. towards building this apartment.
Messrs.
Robert
and
Andrew Faulis,
printers and booksellers to the university, have instituted an academy for painting and engraving; and like good citizens, zealous to promote the welfare and honor of their native place, have at vast expence formed a most numerous collection of paintings from abroad, in order to form the taste of their
cleves.
The printing is a very considerable branch of business, and has long been celebrated for the beauty of the types and the correctness of the editions. Here are preserved in cases numbers of monumental and other stones
Several have been engraven by the artists of the academy. The Provost of the University did me the honor of presenting me with a set.
, taken out of the walls on the
Roman
stations in this part of the kingdom: some are well cut and ornamented: most of them were done to perpetuate the memory of the
vexillatio,
or party, who performed such or such works; others in memory of officers who died in the country.
The cathedral is a large pile,
Churches.
now divided into two churches: beneath, and deep under ground, is another, in which is also divine service, where the congregation may truely say,
clamavi e profundis:
the roof is fine, made of stone, and supported by pillars; but the beauty much hurt by the crowding of the pews. Near this is the ruin of the castle, or Bishop's palace.
The new church is a very handsome building, with a large elegant porch; but the outside is much dissigured by a slender square tower with a pepper-box top: and in general, the steeples of
Glasgow
are in a remarkable bad taste, being, in fact, no favorite part of architecture with the church of
Scotland.
The inside of that just spoken of is most neatly finished, supported by pillars, and very prettily stuccoed: it is one of the very few exceptions to the slovenly and indecent manner in which Presbitery keeps the houses of GOD: reformation in matters of religion seldom observes mediocrity: here it was outrageous; for a place of worship commonly neat was deemed to savor of popery; but, to avoid the imputation of that extreme, they run into another; for in many parts of
Scotland
our LORD seems still to be worshipped in a stable, and often in a very wretched one. Many of the churches are thatched with heath, and in some places are in such bad repair as to be half open at top; so that the people appear to worship, as the
Druids
did of old, in open temples.
Went to see
Hamilton
House, twelve miles from
Glasgow:
SEPT 10.
rode through a rich and beautifull corn country, adorned with small woods, gentlemen's seats, and well watered. Hereabout I saw the first muddy stream since I had left
Edinburgh;
for the Highland rivers running generally through a bed of rock, or pure gravel, receive no other teint, in the greatest floods, than the brown crystalline tinge of the moors, out of which they rise.
See on the west,
Bothwell
Bridge.
at a little distance from the road, the ruins of
Bothwell
castle, and the bridge, remarkable for the Duke of
Monmouth
's victory over the Rebels in 1679. The church was collegiate, founded by
Archibald
Earl of
Douglas,
1398, and is, as I heard,
Bishop
Picock's manuscript Journal.
oddly incrusted with a thin coat of stone.
Hamilton
House,
Hamilton.
or Palace, as it is called here, is seated at the end of a small town; is a large disagreeable pile of building, with two deep wings at right angles with the centre. The gallery is of great extent, and furnished (as well as some other rooms) with most excellent paintings: that of
Daniel
in the Lion's den, by
Rubens,
is a great performance: the fear and devotion of the prophet is finely expressed by his uplifted face and eyes, his clasped hands, his swelling muscles, and the violent extension of one foot: a Lion looks fiercely at him with open mouth, and seems only restrained by the almighty power from making him fall a victim to his hunger; and the signal deliverance of
Daniel
is more fully marked by the number of human bones scattered over the floor, as if to shew the instant fate of others, in whose favor the Deity did not interfere.
The marriage-feast, by
Paul Veronese,
is a fine piece, and the obstinacy and resistance of the intruder, who came without the wedding garment, is strongly expressed.
The treaty of peace between
England
and
Spain,
in the reign of
James
I. by
Juan de Pantoxa,
is a good historical picture. There are six Envoys on the part of the
Spaniards,
and five on that of the
English,
with their names inscribed over each: the
English
are the Earls of
Dorset, Nottingham, Devonshire, Northampton,
and
Robert Cecil.
Earls of
Lauderdale
and
Lanerk
settling the covenant, both in black, with faces full of puritanical solemnity.
Several of the Dukes of
Hamilton. James
Duke of
Hamilton,
with a blue ribband and white rod. His son, beheaded in 1649. His brother, killed at the battle of
Worcester.
The Duke who fell in the duel with Lord
Mohun.
Fielding,
Earl of
Denbigh
The person who shewed the house called him governor of
Jamaica;
but that must be a mistake. If any errors appear in my account of any of the pictures, I flatter myself it may be excused; for sometimes they were shewn by servants; sometimes the owners of the house were so obliging as to attend me, whom I could not trouble with a number of questions.
; his hair grey, a gun in his hand, and attended by an
Indian
boy. The finest I ever saw of
Vandyk
's portraits: it seems perfectly to start from the canvass, and the action of his countenance looking up has matchless spirit. His daughter, and her husband the Marquiss of
Hamilton.
Old Duke of
Chatelherault,
in black, with an order about his neck.
Two half-lengths in black; one with a fiddle in his hand, the other in a grotesque attitude; both with the same countenances; good, but swarthy; mistakenly called
David Rizzo's;
but I could not learn that there was any portraits of that unfortunate man.
Maria Dei Gratia Scotorum Regina,
1586.
AEt.
43. a half-length; a stiff figure, in a great ruff, auburne hair, oval but pretty full face, of much larger and plainer features than that at Castle
Braan,
a natural alteration from the increase of her cruel usage, and of her ill health; yet still with a resemblance to that portrait. It was told me here, that she sent this picture, together with a ring, to the Duke of
Hamilton,
a little before her execution.
A head, said to be
Anna Bullen,
very handsome, dressed in a ruff and kerchief edged with ermine, and in a purple gown; over her face a veil, so transparent as not to conceal
The bloom of young desire and purple light of love.
Earl
Morton,
Regent of
Scotland.
The rough reformer
John Knox.
Lord
Belhaven,
author of the famous speech against the union.
Philip
II. at full length, with a strange figure of Fame bowing at his feet with a label and this motto,
Pro merente adsto.
About a mile from the house,
Chatelberault.
on an eminenco above a deep wooded glen, with the
Avon
at its bottom, is
Chatelberault;
so called from the estate the family once possessed in
France:
is an elegant banqueting house, with a dog-kennel, gardens, &c. and commands a fine view of the country. The park is now much inclosed:
Wild cattle.
but I am told that there are still in it a few of the breed of the wild cattle, which
Boethius
Gignere solet ea sylva boves candidissimos in formam Leanis jubam babtntes, caetera mansuetis simillimos verò adeo feros,
&c. Deser. Regni Scotiae, sol. xi. I was also informed that the same kind is found in the Duke of
Queensbury
's Park at
Drumlanrig:
but at present, in no part of
North Britain
in an unconsined state. I imagine these to have been the same with the
jubatos Bisontes
of
Pliny,
which were found in his time in
Germany,
and might be common both to our island and the continent.
says were peculiar to the Caledonian forest, were of a snowy whiteness, and had manes like lions: they were at this time in a distant part of the park, and I lost the sight of them.
I regret also the not being able to visit the falls of the
Clyde
near
Lanerk,
which I was informed were very romantic, consisting of a series of cataracts of different heights from ten to fifteen feet, some falling in sheets of water, others broken, and their sides bounded by magnificent rocks covered with trees.
Returned to
Glasgow.
Crossed the country towards
Sterling.
Passed through the village of
Kylsithe,
SEPT. 11.
Kylsithe.
noted for a victory gained by
Montrose
over the Covenanters. Thro' a bog, where numbers of the fugitives perished, is now cutting part of the canal that is to join the Firths of
Forth
and
Clyde.
Saw the spot where the battle of
Bannockbourne
was sought, in which the
English
under
Edward
II. had a shamefull defeat.
Edward
was so assured of conquest that he brought with him
William Baston
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 sing his success, which he did in such lines as these:
Hic capit, bic rapit, hic terit, hicferit, ecce dolores;
Vex tonat; as sonat; hic ruit; hic luit; arcto modo res.
Hic secat; hic necat; hic docet; hic nocet; iste sugatur:
Hic latet, hic patet; hic premit, hic gemit; hic superetur.
St.
Ninian.
Went through the small town of St.
Ninian
Apostle of the
Picts,
son of a prince of the
Cumbrian Britains,
converting the Picts as far as the
Grampian
hills. Died 432.
, a mile south of
Sterling.
The church had been the powder-magazine of the Rebels, who, on their retreat, blew it up in such haste, as to destroy some of their own people and about fifteen innocent spectators.
Sterling Castle.
From the top of the castle is by far the finest view in
Scotland.
To the east is a vast plain rich in corn, adorned with woods, and watered with the river
Forth,
whose meanders are, before it reaches the sea, so frequent and so large, as to form a multitude of most beautifull peninsulas; for in many parts the windings approximate so close as to leave only a little isthmus of a few yards. In this plain is an old abby, a view of
Alloa, Clackmanna, 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 west, the straith of
Menteith,
as fertile as the eastern plain, and terminated by the Highland mountains, among which the summit of
Ben-Lomond
is very conspicuous.
The
Sylva Caledonia,
or
Caledonian
Forest, begun a little north of
Sterling,
and passing through
Menteith
and
Straithern,
extended, according to
Boethius,
as far as
Athol
on one side, and
Locbaber
on the other. It is very slightly mentioned by the antients
By
Pliny, lib.
iv, c. 16. and
Eumenius,
in his Panegyric on
Consiantius,
6.7.
; but the supposed extent is given by the
Scottish
historian.
Lie at
Falkirk,
a large ill-built town,
Falkirk.
supported by the great fairs for black cattle from the Highlands, it being computed that 24,000 head are annually sold 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 intercourse with
Glasgow.
In the church-yard, on a plain stone, is the following epitaph on
John de Graham,
styled the right hand of the gallant
Wallace,
killed at the battle of
Falkirk
in 1298
Fought between
Falkirk
and
Carron
works, at a place called to this day
Graham
's Moor.
:
Here lies Sir
John
the
Grame
both wight and wise,
Ane of the chief reskewit
Scotland
thrise.
Ane better knight not to the world was lent,
Nor was gude
Crame
of trueth, and of hardiment.
Mente manuque potens, et
VALLAE
fidus Achates Conditur hic
Gramus
bello intersectus ab
Anglis. 22.
Julii.
1298.
Near this is another epitaph, occasioned by a second battle of
Falkirk,
as disgracefull to the
English
as the other was fatal to the
Scots:
the first was a well disputed combat; the last, a pannic on both sides, for part of each army flew, the one west, the other east, each carrying the news of their several defeats, while the total destruction of our forces was prevented by the gallant behaviour of a brigadier, who with two regiments faced such of the rebels as kept the field, and prevented any further advantages. The epitaph I allude to is in memory of Sir
Robert Monro
Conditur heic quod poterit mori ROBERTI MONRO
de Foulis,
Eq. Bar. Gentis sui Principis Militum Tribuni: Vita in castris curiaquc
Britannica
onesté productâ Pro. Libertate religione Patriae In acie honestiffimé defunctâ Prope FALKIRK
Jan.
xviii. 1746. AEt.62. Virtutis consiliique fama In
Montanorum
cohortis Praefectura Quamdiu praelium FONTONAEUM memorabitur Perduratura; Ob amicitiam et sidem amicis Humanitatem elementiamque adversariis Benevolentiam bonitatemque omnibus, Trucidantibus etiam, In perpetuum desideranda. DUNCANUS MONRO
de Obsdale,
M.D. AEt. 59. Frater Fratrem linqucre fugiens, Saucium curans, ictus inermis Commoriens cohonestat Urnam.
, the worthy chieftain of that loyal clan, a family which lost three brothers the same year in support of the royal cause. Sir
Robert
being greatly wounded in the battle was murthered in cool blood, by the Rebels, with his brother Dr.
Monro,
who with fraternal piety was at that time dressing his wounds: the third was assassinated by mistake for one who well deserved his death for spontaneous barbarities on Highlanders approaching according to proclamation to surrender their arms.
I have very often mentioned fields of battles in this part of the kingdom; scarce a spot has escaped unstained with gore; for had they no publick enemy to contend with, the
Scots,
like the
Welsh
of old, turned their arms against each other.
Iron sounderies.
Carron
iron-works lie about a mile from
Falkirk,
and are the greatest of the kind in
Europe:
they were founded about eight years ago, before which there was not a single house, and the country a meer moor. At present, the buildings of all sorts are of vast extent, and above twelve hundred men are employed. The iron is smelted from the stone, then cast into cannon, pots, and all sorts of utensils made in sounderies. This work has been of great service to the country, by teaching the people industry and a method of setting about any sort of labor, which before the common people had scarce any notion of.
Carron
wharf lies on the
Forth,
and is not only usefull to the works, but of great service even to
Glasgow,
as considerable quantities of goods destined for that city are landed there. The canal likewise begins in this neighborhood, which, when effected, will prove another benefit to these works.
At a small distance from the sounderies, on a little rising above the river
Carron,
Arthur
's Oven.
stood that celebrated antiquity called
Arthur
's Oven, which the ingenious Mr.
Gordon
Itin. Septentr. p.
24.
lab.
iv. as the book is very scarce, I have taken the liberty of having that plate copied into this work.
supposes to have been a
sacellum,
or little chapel, a repository for the
Roman Insignia,
or standards: but, to the mortification of every curious traveller, this matchless edifice is now no more; its barbarous owner, a
gothic
knight, caused it to be demolished, in order to make a mill-dam with the materials, within less than a year, the
Naiades,
in resentment of the sacrilege, came down in a flood and entirely swept it away.
ARTHUR'S OVEN TWO LOCHABER AXE S
Saw near
Callendar
-House some part of
Antominus
's Wall,
Sept. 12.
Graham
's Dyke
or, as it is called here,
Graham
's Dyke
So called from
Graham,
who is said to have first made a breach in this wall soon after the retreat of the
Romans
out of
Britain.
Vide
Boethius,
cxxxi.
. The
vallum
and the ditch are here very evident, and both are of a great size, the last being forty feet broad and thirteen deep; it extended from the Firth of
Forth
to that of
Clyde,
and was defended at proper distances by forts and watchtowers, the work of the
Roman
legions under the command of
Lollius Urbicus,
in the reign of
Antoninus Pius.
According to Mr.
Gordon,
it began at old
Kirk Patrtik
on the Firth of
Clyde,
and ended two miles west of
Abercorn,
on the Firth of Forth, being in length 36 miles, 887 paces.
Passed thro'
Burrowstoness,
a town on the Firth, inveloped in smoke from the great salt-pans and vast collieries near it. The town-house is built in form of a castle. There is a good quay, much frequented by shipping; for considerable quantities of coal are sent from hence to
London;
and there are besides some
Greenland
ships
This year the whale-fishery began to revive; which for a few years past had been so unsuccessfull, that several of the adventurers had thoughts of disposing of their ships. Perhaps the whales had till this year deserred those seas; for
Marten,
p. 185, of his voyage to
Spitzbergen,
remarks, "That these animals, either "weary of their place, or sensible of their own danger, do often " change their harbours."
belonging to the town.
The whole country from
Falkirk
for some distance from the Firth is very low, and in many places protected from the sea by banks. I observed in certain places far from the water, vast beds of oister-shells; a mark of it having once been possest by that element.
Reach
Hopeton
-House,
Hopeton
House
the seat of the Earl of
Hopeton;
a house began by Sir
William Bruce,
and finished by Mr.
Adams:
is the handsomest I saw in
North Britain:
the front is enriched with pilasters; the wings at some distance joined to it by a beautifull colonade: one wing is the stables, the other the library.
The great improvements round the house are very extensive; but the gardens are still in the old taste: trees and shrubs succeed here greatly; among others were two
Portugal
laurels thirty feet high. Nothing can equal the grandeur of the approach to the house, or the prospect from it. The situation is bold, on an eminence, commanding a view of the Firth of
Forth,
bounded on the north by the county of
Fife;
the middle is chequered with islands, such as
Garvey, Inch Keith
This isle is opposite
Leith.
By order of council, in 1497, all venereal patients in the neighborhood were transported there,
Ne quit detrimenti res publica caperet.
It is remarkable, that this disorder, which was thought to have appeared in
Europe
only four years before, should make so quick a progress. The horror of a disease, for which there was then supposed to be no cure, must have occasioned this attention to stop the contagion; for even half a century after, one of the first monarchs of
Europe, Francis
I. fell a victim to it.
, and others; and to the south-east is a vast command of
EastLothian,
and the terminating object the great conic hill of
North Berwick.
The whole ride from
Sterling
to
Queen's-Ferry
(near
Hopeton
-House) is not to be paralleled for the elegance and variety of its prospects: the whole is a composition of all that is great and beautifull: towns, villages, seats, and antient towers, decorate each bank of that fine expanse of water the
Firth;
while the busy scenes of commerce and rural ceconomy are no small addition to the still life. The lofty mountains of the Highlands form a distant but august boundary towards the northwest; and the eastern view is enlivened with ships perpetually appearing or vanishing amidst the numerous isles.
Pass by
Queen's-Ferty;
fall into the
Edinburgh
road, and finish, this evening, in that capital, a most agreeable and prosperous Tour. It was impossible not to recall the idea of what I had seen; to imagine the former condition of this part of the kingdom, and to compare it with the present state, and by a sort of second-sight make a probable conjecture of the happy appearance it will assume in a very few years. Nor could I forbear repeating the prophetic lines
Written on a window in
North Britain.
of
Aaron Hill,
who seemed seized with a like
rêverie:
Once more! O North, I view thy winding shores,
Climb thy bleak hills, and cross thy dusky moors.
Impartial view thee with an heedfull eye,
Yet still by nature, not by censure try.
England
thy sister is a gay coquet,
Whom art enlivens, and temptations whet:
Rich, proud, and wanton, she her beauty knows,
And in a conscious warmth of beauty glows:
Scotland
comes after like an unripe fair,
Who sighs with anguish at her sister's air;
Unconscious, that she'll quickly have her day,
And be the toast when
Albion
's charms decay.
After a few days experience of the same hospitality in
Edinburgh
that I had met with in the Highlands,
SEPT. 18.
kinds, I continued my journey south, through a rich corn country, leaving the
Pentland
hills to the west, whose sides were covered with a fine turf. Before I reached
Crook,
a small village, the country grew worse: after this it assumed a Highland appearance, the hills were high, the vales narrow, and there was besides a great scarcity of trees, and hardly any corn; instead, was abundance of good pasturage for sheep, there being great numbers in these parts, which supply the north of
England.
The roads are bad, narrow, and often on the edges of precipices, impending over the river
Tweed,
here an inconsiderable stream. Reach
MOFFAT,
MOFFAT.
a small neat town, famous for its spaws; one said to be usefull in scrophulous cases, the other a chalybeate, which makes this place much resorted to in summer. Doctor
Walker,
minister of the place, shewed me in manuscript his natural history of the
western isles,
which will do him much credit whenever he savors the world with it.
The country between
Mossat
and
Lockerby
is very good,
SEPT. 19.
a mixture of downs and corn-land, with a few small woods: the country grows quite flat and very unpleasant. Cross a small river called the
Sark,
which divides the two kingdoms, and enter CUMBERLAND.
About three miles farther cross the
Esk
over a handsome stone-bridge, and lie at the small village of
Longtown.
The country is very rich in corn, but quite bare of trees, and very flat. Near this village, at
Netberby,
are the ruins of a
Roman
station, where statues, weapons and coins are often dug up.
Cross the
Eden
to
Carlisle,
a pleasant city, surrounded with walls,
SEPT. 20.
Carlisle.
like
Chester,
but they are very dirty, and kept in very bad repair. The castle is antient, but makes a good appearance at a distance: the view from it is fine, of rich meadows, at this time covered with thousands of cattle, it being fair-day. The
Eden
here forms two branches, and insulates the ground; over one is a bridge of four, over the other one of nine arches. There is besides a prospect of a rich country, and a distant view of
Coldfells, Cross-fells, Skiddaw,
and other mountains.
The cathedral
Begun by
Walter,
deputy of these parts, under
William Rusus;
but the new choir was not founded till about 1354.
is very imperfect,
Cromwell
having pulled down part to build barracks with the materials. There remains some portion that was built in the
Saxon
times, with very maffy pillars and round arches. The rest is more modern, said to have been built in the reign of
Edward
III. who had in one part an apartment to lodge in. The arches in this latter building are sharp-pointed: the east window remarkably fine.
The manufactures of
Carlisle
are chiefly of printed linnens, for which near 3000l;.
per ann.
is paid in duties. It is also noted for a great manufacture of whips, which employs numbers of children.
Salmons appear in the
Eden
in numbers so early as the months of
December
and
January;
and the
London,
and even
Newcastle
markets, are supplied with early fish from this river: but it is remarkable, that they do not visit the
Esk
in any quantity till
April,
notwithstanding the mouths of both these waters arc at a small distance from each other. I omitted in its proper place an account of the
Newcastle
fishery, therefore insert here the little I could collect relating to it: the fish seldom appear in the
Tyne
till
February:
there are about 24 fisheries on the river, besides a very considerable were, and the whole annual capture amounts to about 36,000 fish. I was informed that once the fish were brought from
Berwick
and cured at
Newcastle;
but at present, notwithstanding all goes under the name of
Newcastle
Salmon, very little is taken there, in comparison of what is caught in the
Tweed.
The country near
Carlisle
consists of small enclosures; but a little farther on, towards
Penrith,
changes into coarse downs. On the east, at a diftance, are ridges of high hills running parallel to the road, with a good inclosed country in the intervening space. Above
Penrith
is a rich inclosed tract, mixed with hedge-row trees and woods. On the south-west, a prospect of high and craggy mountains. After I left
Lockerby,
Nature, as if exhausted with her labors in the lofty hills of
Scotland,
seemed to have lain down and reposed herself for a considerable space; but here began to rise again with all the sublimity of
alpine
majesty.
PENRITH is an antient town,
PENRITH.
seated at the foot of a hill: is a great thoroughfare for travellers; but has little other trade, except a small one of checks. The church is very neat, the gallery supported by large columns, each formed of a single stone. In the chuech-yard is s monument of great antiquity, consisting of two stone pillars eleven feet six inches high, and five in circumference in the lower part, which is rounded; the upper is square, and tapers to a point: in the square part is some fret-work, and the relievo of a cross. Both these stones are mortifed at their lower part into a round one: they are about fifteen feet asunder; the space between them is inclosed on each side with two very large but thin semicircular stones; so that there is left a walk between pillar and pillar of two feet in breadth. Two of these lesser stones are plain, the other two, have certain figures at present scarce intelligible.
Cross the
Emot,
a small river, and soon after the
Lowther,
SEPT. 21.
over
Yeoman
's Bridge, near which I enter WESTMORLAND. About four miles farther cross
Clifton
Moor, where the Rebels made a short stand in 1745, and sacrificed a few men to save the rest of their army. Pass over
Shap
Fells, more black, dreary, and melancholy, than any of the Highland hills, being not only very barren but destitute of every picturesque beauty. This barren scene continued till within a small distance of
KENDAL, a large town on the river
Kent,
in a rich and beautifull vale,
Kendal.
well cultivated, and prettily wooded. Here is a very great trade in knit worsted-stockings, some linsies, and a coarse sort of cloth, called cottons, for the
Guinea
trade.
Near
Burton
enter LANCASHIRE. Reach its capital,
Lancaster,
a large and well-built town, seated on the
Lune,
Lancaster.
a river navigable for ships of 250 tuns as high as the bridge. The custom-house is a small but most elegant building, with a portico supported by four ionic pillars, on a beautifull plain pediment. There is a double flight of steps, a rustic surbase and coins; a work that does much credit to Mr.
Giller,
the architect, an inhabitant of this town.
The church is seated on an eminence, and commands an extensive but not a pleasing view. The castle is entire, the courts of justice are held in it; and it is also the county jail. The front is very handsome, consists of two large angular towers, with a handsome gateway between.
Hastened through
Preston,
SEPT. 22.
Wiggan, Warrington,
and
Chester,
and finished my journey with a rapture of which no fond parent can be ignorant, that of being again restored to two innocent prattlers after an absence equally regretted by all parties.
APPENDIX.
NUMBER I. Concerning the Constitution of the Church of
Scotland.
PResbyterian government in
Scotland
took place after the reformation of popery, as being the form of ecclesiastical government most agreeable to the genius and inclinations of the people of
Scotland,
When
James
VI. succeeded to the crown of
England,
it is well known, that during his reign and that of his successors of the family of
Stewart,
designs were formed of altering the constitution of our civil government and rendering our kings more absolute. The establishment of episcopacy in
Scotland
was thought to be one point proper in order to facilitate the execution of these designs. Episcopacy was accordingly established at length, and continued to be the government of the church till the revolution, when such designs subsisting no longer, presebyterian government was restored to
Scotland.
It was established by act of parliament in 1690, and was afterwards secured by an express article in the treaty of union between the two kingdoms of
England
and
Scotland.
Among the ministers of
Scotland,
there subsists a perfect equality; that is, no minister, considered as an individual, has an authoratative jurisdiction over another. Jurisdiction is competent for them only when they act in a collective body, or as a court of judicature: and then there is a subordination of one court to another, or inferiour and superiour courts.
The courts established by law are the four following,
viz.
Church Sessions, Presbyteries, Provincial Synods, and above all a National or General Assembly.
A Church Session is composed of the Minister of the parish and certain discreet Laymen, who are chosen and ordained for the exercise of discipline, and are called Elders. The number of these Elders varies according to the extent of the parish. Two of them, together with the Minister, are necessary, in order to their holding a legal meeting. The Minister always presides in these meetings, and is called Moderator; but has no other authority but what belongs to the
Praeses
of any other court. The Church Session is appointed for inspecting the morals of the parishioners, and managing the funds that are appropriated for the maintainance of the poor within their bounds. When a person is convided of any instance of immoral conduct, or of what is inconsistent with his christian profession, the Church Session inflicts some ecclesiastical censure, such as giving him an admonition or rebuke: or if the crime be of a gross and publick nature, they appoint him to profess his repentance in face of the whole congregation, in order to make satisfaction for the publick offence. The highest church censure is excommunication, which is seldom inflicted but for contumacy, or for some very atrocious crime obstinately persisted in. In former times there were certain civil pains and penalties which followed upon a sentence of excommunication, but by a
British
statute these are happily abolished. The church of
Scotland
addresses its censures only to the consciences of men; and if they cannot by the methods of persuasion reclaim offenders, they think it inconsistent with the spirit of true religion, to have recourse to compulsive methods, such as temporal pains and penalties.
If the person thinks himself aggrieved by the Church Session, it is competent for him to seek redress, by entering an appeal to the Presbytery, which is the next superiour court. In like manner he may appeal from the Presbytery to the Provincial Synod, and from the Synod to the Assembly, whose sentence is final in all ecelesiastical matters.
A Presbytery consists of the, Ministers within a certain district, and also of one ruling Elder from each Church Session within the district. In settling the boundaries of a Presbytery, a regard was paid to the situation of the country. Where the country is populous and champaign, there are instances of thirty Ministers and as many Elders being joined in one Presbytery. In mountainous countries where travelling is more difficult, there are only seven or eight Ministers, in some places fewer, in a Presbytery. The number of Presbyteries is computed to he about seventy. Presbyteries review the procedure of Church Sessions, and judge in references and appeals that are brought before them. They take trials of candidates for the ministry: and if upon such trial they had them duly qualified, they license them to preach, but not to dispense the sacraments. Such licentiates are called Probationers. It is not common for the church of
Scotland
to ordain or confer holy orders on such licentiates till they be presented to some vacant kirk, and thereby acquire a right to a benefice.
It is the privilege of Presbyteries to judge their own members, at least in the first instance. They may be judged for herefy, that is, for preaching or publishing doctrines that are contrary to the publick standard imposed by Act of Parliament and Assembly; or for any instance of immoral conduct, prosecutions for heresy were formerly more frequent than they are at present; but happily a more liberal spirit has gained ground among the Clergy of
Scotland.
They think more freely than they did of old, and consequently a spirit of inquiry and moderation seems to be on the growing hand; so that prosecutions for herefy are become more rare, and are generally looked upon as invidious. Some sensible men among the clergy of
Scotland
look upon subscriptions to certain articles and creeds of human composition as a grievance, from which they would willingly be delivered.
Presbyteries are more severe in their censures upon their own members for any instance of immoral conduct. If the person be convicted, they suspend him from the exercise of his ministerial office for a limited time: but if the crime be of a heinous nature, they depose or deprive him of his clerical character; so that he is no longer a minister of the church of
Scotland,
but forfeits his title to his benefice, and other privileges of the established church. However, if the person thinks himself injured by the sentence of the Presbytery, it is lawful for him to appeal to the Provincial Synod, within whose bounds his Presbytery lies: and from the Synod he may appeal to the National Assembly. Presbyteries hold their meetings generally every month, except in remote countries, and have a power of adjourning themselves to whatever time or place within their district they shall think proper. They chuse their own
Praeses
or Moderator, who must be a Minister of their own Presbytery. The ruling Elders who sit in Presbyteries must be changed every half-year, or else chosen again by their respective Church Sessions.
Provincial Synods are the next superiour courts to Presbyteries, and are composed of the several Presbyteries within the province and of a ruling Elder from each Church Session. The ancient dioceses of the Bishops are for the most part the boundaries of a Synod. Most of the Synods in
Scotland
meet twice every year, in the months of
April
and
October,
and at every meeting they chuse their Praeses or Moderator, who must be a clergyman of their own number. They review the procedure of Presbyteries, and judge in appeals, references and complaints, that are brought before them from the inferiour courts. And if a Presbytery shall be found negligent in executing the ecclesiastical laws against any of their members, or any other person within their jurisdiction, the Synod can call them to account, and censure them as they shall see cause.
The General Assembly is the supreme court in ecclesiastical matters, and from which there lies no appeal. As they have a power of making Jaws and canons, concerning the discipline and government of the church, and the publick service of religion, the King sends always a commissioner to represent his royal person, that nothing may be enacted inconsistent with the laws of the state. The person who represents the King is generally some
Scots
nobleman, whom his Majesty nominates annually some time before the meeting of the assembly, and is allowed a suitable salary for defraying the expence of this honourable office. He is present at all the meetings of the assembly, and at all their debates and deliberations. After the assembly is constituted, he presents his commission and delivers a speech; and when they have finished their business, which they commonly do in twelve days, he adjourns the assembly, and appoints the time and place of their next annual meeting, which is generally at
Edinburgh
in the month of
May.
The Assembly is composed of Ministers and ruling Elders chosen annually from each Presbytery in
Scotland.
As the number of Ministers and Elders in a Presbytery varies, so the number of their representatives must hold a proportion to the number of Ministers and Elders that are in the Presbytery. The proportion is fixed by laws and regulations for that purpose. Each Royal Burgh and University in
Scotland
has likewise the privilege of chusing a ruling Elder to the Assembly. All elections must at least be made forty days before the meeting of the Assembly. Their jurisdiction is either constitutive or judicial. By the first they have authority to make laws in ecclesiastical matters: by the other they judge in references and appeals brought before them from the subordinate courts, and their sentences are decisive and final. One point which greatly employs their attention is the settlement of vacant parishes. The common people of
Scotland
are greatly prejudiced against the law of patronage. Hence when a patron presents a candidate to a vacant parish, the parishioners frequently make great opposition to the settlement of the presentee, and appeal from the inferiour courts to the Assembly. The Assembly now-a-days are not disposed to indulge the parishioners in unreasonable opposition to presentees. On the other hand, they are unwilling to settle the presentee in opposition to the whole people, who refuse to submit to his ministry, because in this case his ministrations among them must be useless and without effect. The Assembly therefore for the most part delay giving sentence in such cases, till once they have used their endeavours to reconcile the parishioners to the presentee. But if their attempts this way prove unsuccessful, they proceed to settle the presentee in obedience to the act of parliament concerning patronages. Upon the whole it appears that in the indicatories of the church of
Scotland,
there is an equal representation of the Laity as of the Clergy, which is a great security to the Laity against the usurpations of the Clergy.
The business of every Minister in a parish is to perform religious worship, and to preach in the language of the country to his congregation every
Sunday,
and likewise on other extraordinary occasions appointed by the laws and regulations of the church. The tendency of their preaching is to instruct their hearers in the essential doctrines of natural and revealed religion, and improve these instructions in order to promote the practice of piety and social virtue. Of old, it was customary to preach upon controverted and mysterious points of divinity, but it is now hoped that the generality of the Clergy confine the subject of their preaching to what has a tendency to promote virtue and good morals, and to make the people peaceable and useful members of society.
Ministers likewise examine their parishioners annually. They go to the different towns and
I must observe, that Bishop
Burnet
(by birth a
Scotchman
) adopted in his diocese the zeal of the church of his native country, and its attention to the morals and good conduct of the clergy and their flocks. Not content with the usual triennial visitations, he every summer, during six weeks, made a progre's through some district of his diocese, preaching and confirming from church to church, so that before the return of the triennial visitation he became well acquainted with the behaviour of every incumbent. He preached every Sunday in some church of the city of
Salisbury;
catechised, and instrncted its youth for confirmation; was most vigilant, and strict in his examination of candidates for holy orders; was an invincible enemy to pluralities, and of course to nonresidents; filled his office with worth and dignity, and by his espiscopal merits, it is to be hoped, may have atoned for the acknowledged blemishes in his biographical character.
villages of the parish, and in an easy and familiar manner converse with them upon the essential doctrines of religion. They make trial of their knowledge by putting questions to them on these heads. The adult as well as children are catechised. They likewise visit their parishes and inquire into the behaviour of their several parishioners, and admonish them for whatever they find blameable in their conduct. At these visitations the Minister inculcates the practice of the relative and social duties, and insists upon the necessity of the practice of them. And if there happen to be any quarrels among neighbours, the Minister endeavours by the power of persuasion to bring about a reconciliation. But in this part of their conduct, much depends upon the temper, prudence, and discretion of Ministers, who are cloathed with the same passions, prejudices and infirmities, that other men are:
To this sensible account of the Church of
North Britain,
I beg leave to add another, which may be considered as a sort of supplement, and may serve to sling light on some points untouched in the preceding: it is the extract from an answer to some queries I sent a worthy correspondent in the Highlands, to whom I am indebted for many sensible communications:
To apprehend well the present state of
our
church patronage and mode of settlement, we must briefly view this matter from the Reformation. At
that
remarkable period the whole temporalities of the church were resumed by the Crown and Parliament; and soon after a new maintenance was settled for Ministers in about 960 parishes. The patrons of the old, splendid Popish livings, still claimed a patronage in the new-modelled poor stipends for parish ministers. The Lords, or Gentlemen, who got from the Crown, grants of the superiorities and lands of old
abbies,
claimed also the patronage of all the churches which were in the gift of those
abbies
during popery. The
King
too claimed the old patronage of the
Crown,
and those of any
ecclesiaslic corporations
not granted away.
Lay-patronages were reckoned always a great grievance by the Church of
Scotland,
and accordingly from the beginning of the reformation the Church declared against lay-patronage and presentations. The ecclesiastic laws, of acts of assembly, confirmed at last by parliament, required, in order to the settlement of a Minister, some concurrence of the congregation, of the gentlemen who had property within the cure, and of the elders of the parish.
The Elders, or
Kirk
-Session, are a number of persons, who, for their wisdom, piety and knowledge, are elected from the body of the people in every parish, and continue for life,
sese bene gerentibus,
to assist the parish Minister in suppressing immoralities and regulating the affairs of the parish. Three of these men and a Minister make a quorum, and form the lowest of our church courts.
Thus matters continued to the year 1649, when by act of parliament patronages were
abolished
entirely, and the election or nomination of Ministers was committed to the
Kirk
-Session or Elders; who, in those days of universal sobriety and outward appearance at least of religion among the Presbyteriaris, were generally the gentlemen of il best condition in the parish who were in communion with the church. After the
restoration
of King
Charles
II. along with episcopacy patronages returned, yet under the old laws; and all debates were finally determinate by the
General Assembly,
which even under episcopacy in
Scotland
was the supreme ecclesiastic court. Thus they continued till the Revolution, when the Presbyterian model was restored by act of parliament.
The people chose their own ministers, and matters continued in this form till the year 1711, when Queen
Anne
's ministry intending to defeat the
Hanover
successon, took all methods to harass such as were firmly attached to it, which the Presbyterian Gentry and Clergy ever were, both from principle and interest. An act therefore was obtained, and which is still in force, restoring patrons to their power of electing ministers.
By this act the King is now in possession of the patronage of above 500 churches out of 950, having not only the old rights of the crown, but many patronages acquired at the reformation not yet alienated; all the patronages of the 14
Scots
Bishops, and all the patronages of the Lords and Gentlemen forseited in the years 1715 and 1745. Lords, gentlemen and magistrates of burroughs, are the patrons of the remaining churches. A patron must present a qualified person to a charge within six months of the last incumbent's removal or death, otherwise his right falls to the Presbytery.
A Presbytery consists of several Ministers and Elders, All parishes are annexed to some Presbytery. The Presbytery is the second church court, and they revise the the acts of the
Kirk
-Session, which is the lowest. Above the Presbytery is the Synod, which is a court consisting of several Presbyteries. And from all these there lies an appeal to the General Assembly, which is the supreme church court in
Scotland.
This supreme court consists of the King represented by his Commissioner, Ministers from the different Presbyteries, and ruling Elders. They meet annually at
Edinburgh,
enact laws for the good of the church, finally determine all controverted elections of Ministers. They can prevent a clergyman's transportation from one charge to another. They can find a presentee qualified or unqualified, and consequently oblige the patron to present another. They can depose from the ministry, and every intrant into holy orders becomes bound to submit to the decisions of this court; which, from the days our reformer
John Knox,
has appropriated to itself the titles of The VERY VENERABLE and VERY REVEREND ASSEMBLY of the Church of
Scotland.
All the clergymen of our communion are upon a par as to authority. We can enjoy no pluralities. Non-residence is not known. We are bound to a regular discharge of the several duties of our office. The different cures are frequently visited by the Presbytery of the bounds; and at these visitations strict: enquiry is made into the life, doctrine and diligence of the incumbent. And for default in any of these, he may be suspended from preaching: or if any gross immorality is proved against him, he can be immediately deposed and rendered incapable of officiating as a Minister of the gospel. Appeal indeed lies, as I said before, from the decision of the inferior to the supreme court.
Great care is taken in preparing young men for the ministry. After going through a course of philosophy in one of our four Universities, they must attend at least for four years the Divinity-Hall, where they hear the prelections of the professors, and perform the different exercises prescribed them: they must attend the Greek, the Hebrew, and Rhetoric classes; and before ever they are admitted to tryals for the ministry before a Presbytery, they must lay testimonials from the different professors of their mortis, their attendance, their progress, before them: and if upon tryal they are found unqualified, they are either set aside as unfit for the office, or enjoined to apply to their studies a year or two more.
Our livings are in general from 60 to 120l. sterling. Some few livings are richer, and a few poorer. Every minister besides is entitled to a mansion-house, barn and stable; to four acres of arable and three of pasturage land. Our livings are exempted from all public duties; as are also our persons from all public statute-works. As schools are erected in all our parishes, and that education is cheap, our young generation is beginning to imbibe some degree of taste and liberal sentiment unknown to their illiterate rude forefathers. The English language is cultivated even here amongst
these
bleak and dreary mountains.
Your
Divines,
your
Philosophers,
your
Historians,
your
Poets, have found their way to our sequestred vales, and are perused with pleasure even by our lowly swains; and the names of
Tittotson,
of
Atterbury,
of
Clerk,
of
Secker,
of
Newton,
of
Locke,
of
Bacon,
of
Lyttelton,
of
Dryden,
of
Pope,
of
Gay,
and of
Gray,
are not unknown in our distant land.
NUMBER II. Account of the fading Woman of
Rosshire.
Dunrobin,
Aug.
24, 1769.
The Information of Mr.
Rainy,
Missionary—Minister in
Kincardine,
anent
Katharine M'Leod.
KAtharine M'Leod,
daughter to
Donald M'Leod,
farmer in
Croig,
in the parish of
Kincardine, Rosshire,
an unmarried woman, aged about thirtyfive years, sixteen years ago contracted a fever, after which she became blind. Her father carried her to several physicians and surgeons to cure her blindness. Their prescriptions proved of no effect. He carried her also to a lady skilled in physic, in the neighborhood, who, doubtfull whether her blindness was occasioned by the weakness of her eye-lids, or a defect in her eyes, found by the use of some medicines that the blindness was occasioned by a weakness in her eye-lids, which being strengthened she recovered her fight in some measure, and discharged as usual every kind of work about her father's farm; but tyed a garter tight round her forehead to keep up her eye-lids. In this condition she continued for four or five years, enjoying a good state of health, and working as usual. She contracted another lingering fever, of which she never recovered perfectly.
Some time after her fever her jaws fell, her eye-lids closed, and she lost her appetite. Her parents declare that for the space of a year and three-quarters they could not say that any meat or liquid went down her throat. throat. Being interrogated on this point, they own'd they very frequently put something into her mouth. But they concluded that nothing went down her throat, because she had no evacuation; and when they forced open her jaws at one time, and kept them open for some time by putting in a stick between her teeth, and pulled forward her tongue, and forced something down her throat, me coughed and strained, as if in danger to be choaked. One thing during the time she eat and drank nothing is remarkable, that her jaws were unlocked, and she recovered her speech, and retained it for several days, without any apparent cause for the same; she was quite sensible, repeated several questions of the shorter catechisms; told them that it was to no purpose to put any thing into her mouth, for that nothing went down her throat; as also that sometimes she understood them when they spoke to her. By degrees her jaws thereafter fell, and she lost her speech.
Some time before I few her she received some sustenance, whey, watergruel, &c. but threw it up, at least for the most part, immediately. When they put the stick between her teeth, mentioned above, two or three of her teeth were broken. It was at this breach they put in any thing into her mouth. I caused them to bring her out of bed, and give her something to drink. They gave her whey. Her neck was contraded, her chin fixed on her breast, nor could by any force be pulled back: she put her chin and mouth into the dish with the whey, and I perceived she sucked it at the above-mentioned breach as a child would suck the breast, and immediately threw it up again, as her parents told me she used to do, and she endeavoured with her hand to dry her mouth and chin. Her forehead was contracted and wrinkled; her cheeks full, red, and blooming. Her parents told me that she slept a great deal and soundly, perspired sometimes, and now and then emitted pretty large quantities of blood at her mouth.
For about two years past they have been wont to carry her to the door once every day, and she would shew signs of uneasiness when they neglected it at the usual time. Last sum-summer, after giving her to drink of the water of the weil of
Strathconnen,
she crawled to the door on her hands and feet without any help. She is at present in a very languid way, and still throws up what she drinks.
NUMBER III. Parallel Roads in
Glen-Roy.
ALL the description that can be given of the Parallel Roads, or Terrasses, is, that the Glen of itself is extremely narrow, and the hills on each side very high, and generally not rocky. In the face of these hills, both sides of the glen, there are three roads at small distances from each other, and directly opposite on each side. These roads have been measured in the compleatest parts of them, and found to be 26 paces of a man five feet ten inches high. The two highest are pretty near each other, about 50 yards, and the lowest double that distance from the nearest to it. They are carried along the sides of the glen with the utmost regularity, nearly as exact as drawn with a line of rule and compass.
Where deep burns or gullies of water cross these roads, they avoid both the descent and ascent in a very curious manner; so that on the side where the road enters those hollows, they rather ascend along the slope, and descend the opposite side until they come to the level, without the traveller being sensible of ascent or descent. There are other smaller glens falling into this
Glen-Roy.
The parallel roads surround all these smaller ones; but where
Glen-Roy
ends in the open country there are not the smallest vestiges of them to be seen. The length of these roads in
Glen-Roy
are about seven miles. There are other two glens in that neighbourhood where these roads are equally visible, called
Glen-Gluy
and
Glen-Spean,
the former running north-west and the latter south from
Glen-Roy,
Both these roads are much about the same length as
Glen-Roy.
It is to be observed that these roads are not causeway, but levelled out of the earth. There are some small rocks, though few, in the course of these roads. People have examined in what manner they made this passage through the rocks, and find no vestige of roads in the rock; but they begin on each side, and keep the regular line as formerly. So far I am indebted to Mr.
Trapaud,
Governor of
Fort Augustus.
I cannot learn to what nation the inhabitants of the country attribute these roads: I was informed that they were inaccessible at the east end, open at the west, or that nearest to the sea, and that there were no traces of buildings, or
druidical
remains, in any part, that could lead us to suspect that they were designed for oeconomical or religious purposes. The country people think they were designed for the chace, and that these terrasses were made after the spots were cleared in lines from wood, in order to tempt the animals into the open paths after they were rouzed, in order that they might come within reach of the bowmen, who might conceal themselves in the woods above and below. Ridings for the sportsmen are still common in all great forests in
France,
and other countries on the continent, either that they might pursue the game without interruption of trees, or shoot at it in its passage.
Mr.
Gordon,
p. 114, of his Itinerary, mentions such terrasses, to the number of seventeen or eighteen, raised one above the other in the most regular manner, for the space of a mile, on the side of a hill, in the county of
Tweedale,
near a village called
Romana,
and also near two small
Roman
camps. They are from fifteen to twenty feet broad, and appear at four or five miles distance not unlike a great amphitheatre. The same gentleman also has observed similar terrasses near other camps of the same nation, from whence he suspects them to be works of the
Romans,
and to have been thrown up by their armies for itinerary encampments. Such may have been their use in those places: but what could have been the object of the contrivers of the terrasses of
Glen-Roy,
where it is more than probable those conquerors never came, remains a mystery, except the conjecture above given should prove satisfactory.
NUMBER IV.
GALIC
PROVERBS.
1.
LEAGHAIDH a Chòir am bèul an Anmbuinn.
Justice itself melts away in the mouth of the feeble.
2.
'S làidir a thèid, 's anmbunn a thig.
The strong shall fall, and oft the weak escape unhurt.
3.
'S fàda Làmb an Fhèumanaich.
Long is the hand of the needy.
4.
'S làidir an t' Anmbunn ann Uchd Treòir.
Strong is the feeble in the bosom of might.
5.
'S maith an Sgàthan Sùil Càrraid.
The eye of a friend is an unerring mirror.
6.
Cha hhi 'm Bochd sogh-ar Saihhir.
The luxurious poor shall ne'er be rich.
7.
Fer an tain' an Ahhuin, 's àm at mùgha a fùaim.
Most shallow—most noisy.
8.
Cha neil Clèith air an Olc, ach gun a dhèanamh.
There is no concealment of evil, but not to commit it.
9.
Gihht na Cloinne-hìge, hhi 'ga tòirt 's ga gràdiarraidh.
The gift of a child, oft granted—oft recalled.
10.
Cha neil Saoi gun a choi-meas.
None so brave without his equal.
11.
'S mìnic a thainig Combairle ghlic a Bèul Amadain.
Oft has the wisest advice proceeded from the mouth of Folly.
12.
Tuishlichidh an t' Each ceithir-chasach.
The four-footed horse doth often stumble; so may the strong and mighty fall.
13.
Mer a chaim
eas Duin' a Bheatha, hheir a Brèith air a Chhòimhear snach.
As is a man's own life, so is his judgment of the lives of others.
14.
Fànaidh Duine sona' re Sìth, 's bheir Duine dòna duì-heum.
The fortunate man
awaits,
and he shall arrive in peace: the unlucky
bastons,
and evil shall be his fate.
15.
Che do chùir a Ghuala ris, nach do chuir Tuar haris.
Success must attend the man who bravely struggles.
16.
Cha Ghlòir a dhear abhas ach Gnìomh.
Triumph never gain'd the sounding words of boast.
17.
'S tric a dh' shàs am Fuigheal-fochaid, 's a mheith am Fuigheal-faramaid.
Oft has the object of canseless scorn arriv'd at honour, and the once mighty scorner fallen down to contempt.
18.
Cha do deìohair
FEAMM
Righ nan Làoch riamh Fear a làimhe-deise.
The friend of his right-hand was never deserted by FINGAL the king of heroes.
19.
Thìg Dia re h' Airc, 's cha 'n Aire nar thig.
GOD cometh in the time of distress, and it is no longer distress when he comes.
EPITAPH.
By BEN JOHNSON.
UNderneath this marble hearse
Lies the subject of all verse;
Sidney
's sister,
Pembroke
's mother:
Death,
ere thou hast kill'd another,
Fair and learn'd, and good as she,
Time
shall throw a dart at thee.
Translated into
Galic.
AN sho na luighe so Lìc-lìghe
Ha adh-bheann nan uille-bhuadh,
Mathair
Phembroke,
Piuthar
Philip:
Ans gach Daan bith' orra luadh.
A Bhais man gearr thu sios a coi-meas,
Beann a dreach, sa h' Juil, sa Fiach,
Bristidh do Bhogh, gun Fhave do shaighid:
Bithi'—mar nach bith' tu riamh.
A Sailor's Epitaph in the Church-yard of Great
Yarmouth, Norfolk.
THO'
Boreas'
blow and
Neptune
's waves
Have tost me to and fro,
By GOD'S decree, you plainly see,
I'm harbour'd here below:
Where I must at anchor lye
With many of our fleet;
But once again we must set sail,
Our Admiral CHRIST to meet.
Translated into
Galic.
LE Uddal-cuain, 's le sheide Gaoidh
'S lionmhor Amhra thuair mi riamh;
Gam luasga a nùl agus a nàl,
Gu tric gun Fhois, gun Deoch, gun Bhiadh.
Ach thanig mi gu Calla taimh,
'S leg mi m' Achdair ans an Uir,
Far an caidil mi mo Phramh,
Gus arisd an tog na Sùill.
Le Guth na Troimp' as airde fuaim
Dus gidh mì, 's na bheil am choir
Coinnich' shin ARD-ADMHIRAL a Chuain
Bhon faith shin Fois, is Duais, is Lònn.
SAPPHO
's ODE.
BLEST as the immortal Gods is he,
The youth who fondly sits by thee,
&c.
Translated into
Galic.
1.
'ADhmhur mar Dhia neo bhasmhor 'ta
'N t' Oglach gu caidreach a shuis re d' sqa:
Sa chluin, sa chìth re faad na hùin
Do Bhriara droigheal, 's do fhrea gradh cùin.
2.
Och!'s turr a d' fhogair thu mo Chloss
'Sa dhuisg thu 'm Chroidh' gach Buaireas bo
cd:
'N tra dhearc mi ort, 's mi goint le 't Aadh
Bhuail reachd am uchd, ghrad mheath mo Chail:
3.
Theogh 'm Aigne aris, is shruth gu dian
Teasghradh air feadh gach Baal am Bhiann:
Ghrad chaoch mo shuil le Ceodhan Uain
'S tac aoidh mo Chluas le bothar-fhuaim.
4.
Chuer Fallas 'tlàth mo Bhuil gun Lùth
Rith Eal-ghris chuin tre m' fhuil gu diu.
Ghrad thug am Plofg a bheannachd lcom
Is shnìomh mi sheach gun' Diog am Chòmm.
EPITAPH on a LADY, in the Parish-Church of
Glenorchay,
in
North-Britain.
1.
AN sho na luigh ta san INNIS
Bean bu duilich leom bhi ann
Beul a cheuil, is Lamh a Ghrinnis,
Ha iad 'nioshe sho nan tamh.
2.
Tuill' cha toir am Bochd dhuit beannachd:
An lom-nochd cha chluthaich thu nis mo'
Cha tiormaich Dèur bho shùil na h' Ainnis:
Co tuill' O LAGG! a bheir dhuit treoir?
3.
Chan fhaic shin tuille thu sa choinni:
Cha suidh shin tuille air do Bhòrd:
D'fhàlabh uain s7ugrave;airceas, sèirc is mòdhan
Ha Bròn 's bì-mhulad air teachd oiru.
In
English.
1. LOW she lies here in the dust, and her memory fills me with grief: silent is the tongue of melody, and the hand of elegance is now at rest.
2. No more shall the poor give thee his blessing: nor shall the naked be warmed with the fleece of thy flock. The tear shalt thou not wipe away from the eye of the wretched. Where, now O Feeble, is thy wonted help!
3. No more, my fair, shall we meet thee in the social hall: no more shall we sit at thy hospitable board. Gone for ever is the found of mirth: the kind, the candid, the meek is now no more. Who can express our grief! Flow ye tears of
Woe!
A young LADY'S Lamentation on the Death of her LOVER. Translated from the
Galic.
GLoomy indeed is the night and dark, and heavy also is my troubled soul: around me all is silent and still; but deep has forsaken my eyes, and my bosom knoweth not the balm of peace. I mourn for the loss of the dead—the
young,
the
beauteous,
the
brave,
alas! lies low.—Lovely was thy form, O youth! lovely and fair was thy open soul—Why did I know thy worth—Oh! why must I now that worth deplore?
Length of years seemed to be the lot of my Love, yet few and fleeting were his days of joy—Strong he flood as the tree of the vale, but untimely he fell into the silent house. The morning Sun saw thee flourish as the lovely rose—before the noontide heat low thou droop'st as the withered plant.
What
then
availed thy bloom of youth, and what thy arm of strength? Ghastly is she face of Love—dim and dark the soul-expressing eye—The mighty fell to arise no more!
Whom now shall I call
my
friend? or from whom can I hear the sound of joy? In
thee
the friend has fallen—in thy grave my joy is laid.—We lived—we grew together. O why
together
did we nor also fall!
Death—thou cruer spoiler! how oft hast thou caused the tear to flow! many are the miserable thou hast made, and who can escape thy dart of woe?
Kind Fate, come lay me low, and bring me to my house of rest. In yonder grave, beneath the leafy plane, my Love and I shall dwell in peace. Sacred be the place of our repose.
O seek not to disturb the ashes of the dead!
NUMBER V. Of the Columns in
Penrith
Church-Yard.
SINCE the printing of p. 218, I have been favored with two beautifull drawings of the pillars
The lesser pillar engraven with these is by tradition of the country thought to belong to these; but Mr.
Farish
thinks it is at too great a distance from them to admit of that supposition: its height is six feet.
in
Penrith
Church-Yard. One was communicated to me by the Rev. Mr.
Farish
of
Carlisle,
and represents them in their present state; the other by the Rev. Mr.
Monkhouse,
Fellow of
Queen's College, Oxford,
which is a view of them before they were mutilated. The first is certainly a most authentic representation of them; the last varies in many particulars from the form they now appear in: in that the columns are drawn entirely square from top to bottom, whereas the lower part of the pillars now extant are rounded. There is no fret-work on the old drawing of these columns, but instead are two small rude figures of human heads. The thin semicircular stones are deeply and regularly indented on their edges, which appear of an equal thickness throughout; whereas the others are very sharp, or ridged at one extremity, and dilate gradually till they arrive at a considerable thickness at the other. The figures in the old sketch are of a boar, and perhaps a bear. The upper ends of these pillars seem faithfully to supply what has been destroyed, a cross and a capital.
How this great variation in the drawings of the same columns happened, is not easy to say; for it does not appear that there ever were any others in the place. Time has obliterated the figures of the animals but whether any workman had chizzled the whole shafts of the pillars to their present form, is, I think, scarcely to be conjectured; they bear all the appearance of antiquity. The old drawings are done with much elegance, and are copied from some collections in the custody of Mr.
Monkhouse,
formed by
Hugh Todd,
D. D. Prebendary of
Carlisle
and Vicar of
Penrith,
as materials for the antiquities of the diocese he belonged to. Notwithstanding my doubts about the entire fidelity of the old drawing, (which was done about the year 1690) I cause it to be engraven as a companion to the other, in hopes that some antiquarian of the country will oblige the Publick by clearing up the point.
By Mr.
Monkhouse
's permission I annex Doctor
Todd
's account of these antiquities:
At the north door of the church are erected two large stone pillars of a pyramidical form, cruciated towards the top, each of them fifteen feet high, and plac'd at the distance of seventeen feet from each other. The space between them is surrounded with the rude figures of four boars, or wild hogs. What this monument denotes, and for what reason it was first erected, may be somewhat uncertain. The common vulgar report is, That one
Ewen
or
Owen Coesarius,
a very extraordinary person, famous in these parts for hunting and fighting, about 1400 years ago, whom no hand but the hand of Death could overcome, lyes buried in this place. His stature, as the story lays, was prodigious, beyond that of the
Patagons
in
South America,
viz. fifteen feet. That the two pillars denote his height, and the four ough unpolish'd stones betwixt represent so many wild boars which had the honour to be kill'd by this wonderful giant. That there might be, in remote times, in these regions, men of large gi gantick figures, as there are now near the
Magellanic
Streights, and that they might affect
Roman
sirnames and distinctions as the
Americans
about
Darieen
do
Spanish,
needs not either be discussed or denied. But those persons give the best account of the original, nature, and design of these stones, who look upon them as of a much later date, and for a very different intention. That they were erected long after the introduction of christianity at the north (or Death's) door of the church in the form of a cross, in order to rest the bodies of the dead upon them, and to pray for their souls (as the manner was): And that the four figures of Boars are the cognizance
The Bear and ragged-staff was; but I do not recollect that the Boars had any thing to do with the Earls of
Warwick:
But as Boars and Bears are represented on the stones, it seems as if this Mr.
Caesarius
was a knighterrant, who cleared the country of monsters; so in memorial of his exploits these figures were engraven. The heads too might have been cut on the columns in memory of some petty tyrants of the neighborhood whom he had demolished; for such bloody trophies were in former days very common; witness, among the
Welsh,
the
Tripen Sais,
or three Englishmen's heads, borne in the arms of many of our families, as a token of the prowess of their ancesters.
of the Earls of
Warwick,
some of whom held the seigniory of
Penrith
and lived in the castle, and might be at the expence of the work.
PILLARS IN PENRITH CHURCH YARD
A Recapitulation of the ANIMALS mentioned in the TOUR, with some additional Remarks in Natural History.
Wild Cattle.
THE offspring of them now domesticated are said to be found in
Hamilton
Park.
Vide
p. 206.
Roebuck.
Inhabits the forests on the south of
Lough-Raynach,
those in the neighborhood of
Invercauld,
the woods near
Tarnaway
and
Calder
castles, and about
Lough-Moy
and
Lough-Ness;
and its most northerly haunts are the woods of
Langwall,
at the entrance into
Cathness.
A full-grown Roe weighs 60lb. the hair in summer is short, smooth, and glossy, red at the tips, cinereous beneath. At approach of winter the hair grows very long and hoary, and proves an excellent defence against the rigor of the highland air. The rump and underside of the tail white. The tail very short. Below the first joint of the outside of the hind leg is a long tuft of hair, such as is found on the legs of certain Antelopes. The horns of a Roebuck of the second year are strait, slender, and without any branch: in the third become bifurcated: in the fourth, trifurcated, and grow more scabrous and stronger, in proportion to their longevity. It feeds during summer on grass, and is remarkably fond of the
Rubas Saxatilis,
called in the Highlands on that account the Roebuck Berry. When the ground is covered with snow it feeds on the extreme branches of the pine and juniper. It brings two young at a time. The Fawns are elegantly spotted with white. It is extremely difficult to rear them; commonly eight out of ten dying in the attempt. The flesh of the Roe is by some accounted a delicacy: to me it seemed very dry. They keep in small families of five or six.
I.
Roebuck.
II.
White Hare.
Highland Grehound.
Is the kind which
Boethius
takes notice of, and says is one of the three that are not to be found any where else. He calls it,
Genus venaticum cum celerrimum turn audacissimum: net modo in feras Jsd in hostes etiam Latronesque; praesertim si dominum ductoremve injuriam affici cernat aut in eas concitetur.
This sort of dog is become very rare.
Vide
p. 127.
Wolfish breed.
I saw at
Gordon
castle a dog the offspring of a Wolf and
Pomeranian
bitch. It had much the appearance of the first, was very good-natured and sportive; but being slipped at a weak Deer it instantly brought the animal down and tore out its throat. This dog was bred by Mr.
Brook,
animal-merchant, in
London,
who told me that the congress between the wolf and the bitch was immediate, and the produce at the litter was ten.
White Hare.
Peculiar to the summits of the highest mountains of the Highlands: is less than the common Hare; its limbs more slender; its flesh more delicate: it never descends into the values, or mixes with the common kind: is very agile and full of frolick when kept tame: is fond of honey and carraway comfits, and prognosticates a storm by eating its own dung: in a wild state, does not run an end, but seeks shelter under stones as soon as possible.
During summer its predominant color is grey: about
September
it begins to allume a snowy whiteness; the alteration of color appearing about the neck and rump, and becomes entirely white, except the edges and tips of the ears: in
April
it again resumes its grey coat.
A small animal,
Lavellan.
mentioned by Sir
Robert Sibbald,
as being common in
Cathness,
living in the water, and whose breath is noxious to cattle. I suspect from the description that I had given me, that it is the same with the Water Shrewmouse,
Br. Zool. ittustr.
p. 83.
I could get no account of Sir
Robert
's mouse with a black back, which he says kills moles.
Seals.
The Seals on the coasts of
North-Britain
are the common and the great.
Syn. Quad. Nris.
265. 266. But I could not learn that the
Walrus
was ever seen in any of the SCOTTISH Seas; notwithstanding it was found about the
Orkney
Isles in the days of
Boethins.
Vide
Desc. Regn. Scotiae,
xvi.
BIRDS.
Eagles.
The Sea Eagle breeds in ruined towers, and leaves its summer haunts before winter. The Ring-tail Eagle,
Br. Zool.
breeds in rocks, and continues in
North-Britain
the whole year.
Falcons.
The Peregrine and the Gentil Falcons breed in
Glenmore,
and other lofty rocks of the Highlands. The Gyr-Falcon has been shot in
Aberdeenshire.
A large white Hawk, I suppose an unspotted bird of the last species, has bred for these last twelve years at
Hilleigh-Green,
near
Hackness,
four miles from
Scarborough.
Goshawks.
Breed in trees in the highland part of
Aberdeenshire.
Owl
The great-horned or Eagle Owl has been shot in the shire of
Fife.
Crow.
The common species is very rare in the Highlands, there being scarce any other sort found there than the
Royston
or Hooded Crow, which resides there the whole year. Whence those that visit us annually during winter migrate from is uncertain.
Chatterer.
Visits the neighborhood of
Edinburgh
annually, appearing in flocks during winter, and feeds on the berries of the mountain ash.
Chough.
Is found in the farthest parts of
Glenlion,
and near
Achmore.
Cock of the Wood.
I.
Ptarmigan.
II.
Hen of the Wood.
Ptarmigan.
Another of the grous kind, common on the summits of the highest highland hills.
Vide
p. 79. and
Br. Zool. illustr.
p. 21. If I mistake not, I have heard that a few are still found on the
Cumberland
mountains.
Bustard.
Now extinct in
Scotland. Boethius
says that in his days it was found in
Merch.
Ring-dove Stare.
I found in the Journal of Mr.
James Robertson
an ingenious
eleve
of Doctor
Hope,
that these two birds are found in great abundance during summer in the Isle of
Aryan.
Ring-Ouzels are very common in the Highlands.
Nightingale.
Not found in
North-Britain.
Stone-Chatter.
This bird is seen near
Edinburgh
during winter; so does not migrate.
Pine-Bulfinch.
Br. Zool. illustr.
p. 59. Found during summer in the pine-forests of
Aberdeenshire,
and probably breeds there.
Snow-flake.
I have had lately an opportunity of comparing this bird with the greater Brambling, and find them to be different, and not as I once thought, varieties of the fame kind. The size of this is less, and the claw of the hind toe much shorter. A few of these birds breed with the
Ptarmigans
on the summits of the highest mountains; but the greatest numbers migrate from the most distant north, even from
Greenland
and
Spitzbergen.
Vide
Br. Zoel illustr.
p. 17.
WATER FOWL.
Whimbrel.
Breeds in the hills about
Invercauld.
Red Godwit.
Breeds in
Lincolnshire.
For the list of other fen birds,
vide
p. 9, 10.
Auks.
The black-billed Auk and lesser Guillemot appear during winter in flocks innumerable in the Firth of
Forth,
and are called there
Marrots.
Their summer retreat is not yet traced. The little
Auk
is sometimes shot near
Aberdeen.
Arctic Gull.
Is called in
North Britain
the
Dirty Aulin.
I saw one flying over the Firth of
Forth
near the
Queen
's Ferry.
Goosander.
Doctor
Walker
of
Moffat
shewed me one killed during summer in the western isles; also some other birds which were supposed to have migrated out of
Great-Britain.
He also discovered in the Isle of
Tirey
the
Tringa interpres.
REPTILES.
Snake.
A new
British
Snake was discovered in
Aberdeenshire
by the late Doctor
David Skene,
a gentleman whose loss will be deplored by every lover of natural history; for to great knowlege was added the most liberal and communicative disposition. The account he favored me with of this reptile was this: Its length was fifteen inches: it had no
scuta abdom.
or
caudalia,
but was entirely covered with small scales, which on the upper part of the held were larger than the rest: the tongue was broad and forked: the nostrils small and round, and placed near the tip of the nose: the eyes lodged in oblong fissures above the angle of the mouth: the belly was of a bluish lead-color with small white spots irregularly dispersed: the rest of the body of a greyish brown with three longitudinal blackish brown lines, one extending from the back of the head to the point of the tail, the two others were broader and extended the whole length of the sides. Doctor
Skene
informed me that it was the same with the
Anguis Eryx
of
Linnaeus,
p. 392.
FISH.
Basking Shark.
This species frequents the Firth of
Clyde
and the seas of the western isles: the Trustees for the forfeited estates encourage the fishery, and furnish the adventurers with money to purchase the proper materials.
Picked Dog.
Swarms on the eastern coast of
Scotland,
and is taken and cured for the use of the common people. Mr.
James Robertson
observed near the Isle of
Skie
a species called there the
Blind-hive,
which is reckoned a great restorative.
Greater Weever.
Draco major seu araneus
Salvian. 70. This species was taken near
Scarborough,
and communicated to me by Mr.
Travis.
Its length eleven inches; greatest depth one inch and three-quarters: head flat: eyes large: edges of the jaws rough with minute teeth; the lower jaw the longest, and slopes less than that of the common species: the head covered with minute tubercles; cheeks and gills covered with small scales; on the last is a sharp spine.
First dorsal fin is black, and consists of five spines; the second reaches within a small distance of the tail: the pectoral has thirteen branched rays; the ventral six; the anal extends as far as the second dorsal: tail large, triangular, and even at the end.
The scales run in oblique lines from the back to the belly, with a division between each row.
Codfish.
One was taken at
Scarborough
in 1755, which measured five feet eight inches, and its girth round the shoulders five feet: its weight 781b. and was sold for a shilling.
Saury.
Saurus
Rondel. 232. After a violent storm from the N. E. in
November
last, a great number of these fish were flung on shore in the Firth of
Forth
on the sands of
Leith.
An account and an accurate figure of one of them was communicated to me by Mr.
George Paton
of
Edinburgh,
a gentleman who is a zealous promoter of natural knowlege.
I. Greater Weever.
II. Saury.
Rondeletius
describes this fish among those of the
Mediterranean;
but speaks of it as very rare even there.
CRUSTACEA.
Thorney Crab.
Cancer spinosus, maximus, orientalis
Seb. Mus. 56. tab. xxii. fig. 1.
Cancer spinosus amboinensis
—44. tab. xviii. fig. 10.
C. Horridus
Lin. syst. 1047.
C. spinosus, thorace cordato, mucronato: pedibus tantum tribus cursoriis: chelis inoeq, ped. minoribus,
Gronov. Zooph. No. 976. Body of a heart-shape: length from the snout to the end of the back five inches one-tenth: snout projecting and bifurcated: the upper crust covered with thick spines; those on the margins very long, sharp and strong: the claws covered on all sides with great spines; the right claw twice as large as the left: the fangs beset with small tufts of hair: on each side only three legs echinated like the claws, and nine inches long. No
British
crustaceous animal is so well guarded as this.
I have seen this species almost wholly incrusted with the
Lepas balanus,
and
Anomia squammula.
Doctor
Skene
favored me with a fine specimen, it being taken on the coast of
Aberdeen.
INSECTS.
Oniscus.
Oestrum, Sea on the
Torkshire
coast.
Psora,
ibid.
Marinus,
ibid.
Oceanicus,
ibid.
Trifurcatus novus,
ibid.
Quadratus novus,
ibid.
Phalangium.
Grossipes, Sea near
Aberdeen.
Dr.
Skene.
Balaenarum,
ibid.
I Thorney Crab.
II. Cordated Crab.
QUERIES, Addressed to the Gentlemen and Clergy of
North-Britain,
respecting the Antiquities and Natural History of their respective Parishes
Many of the parishes in
North Britain
are of such extent as to supply ample materials for a history of each alone; so it is to be hoped some parochial
Geniuses
will arise and favor the Publick with what is much wanted, LOCAL HISTORIES.
, with a View of exciting them to favor the World with a fuller and more satisfactory Account of their Country, than it is in the Power of a Stranger and transient Visitant to give.
I. WHAT is the ancient and modern name of the parish, and its etymology?
II. What number of hamlets or villages are in it, their names and situation?
III. What are the number of its houses and inhabitants?
IV. What number of people have been married, christened and buried, for the space of 20 years last past, compared with the first 20 years of the register? When did the register begin? If there are any curious remarks made therein, please to give an account thereof.
V. Are there any vaults or burial places peculiar to any ancient or other families? What are they, and to whom do they belong?
VI. Are there any ancient or modern remarkable monuments or grave-stones in the church or chancel, &c. Please to give the inscriptions and arms, if any, on the same, if worthy notice, especially if before the 16th century.
VII. Are there any remarkable ones in the church-yard? Please to give an account what they are. Are there any paintings in the windows either of figures or arms? Add a copy or description.
VIII. Are there any tables of benefactions or other inscriptions which are worthy notice, on any of the walls of the church, either within or without? Please to insert them at full length.
IX. Are there any particular customs or privileges or remarkable tenures in any of the manors in the parish?
X. What ancient manor or mansion-house, feats or villas, are in the parish?
XI. Are there any annual or other processions, perambulations, or any hospital, alms or schoolhouse; by whom and when founded, and who has the right of putting people into them?
XII. Have you any wake, whitson ale, or other customs of that sort used in the parish?
XIII. Is there any great road leading thro' the parish, and from what noted places?
XIV. Are there any crosses or obelisks or any things of that nature erected in the parish?
XV. Are there any remains or ruins of monasteries or religious houses? Give the best account thereof you can.
XVI. Are there any
Roman, Pictish,
or
Danish
castles, camps, altars, roads, forts, or other pieces of antiquity remaining in your parish; what are they, and what traditions are there, or historical accounts of them?
XVII. Have there been any medals, coins, or other pieces of antiquity dug up in your parish; when and by whom, and in whose custody are they?
XVIII. Have there been any remarkable battles fought, on what spot, by whom, when, and what traditions are there relating thereto?
XIX. Has the parish given either birth or burial to any man eminent for learning or other remarkable or valuable qualifications?
XX. Are there any parks or warrens, the number of deer, and extent of the park, &c. any heronries, decoys, or fisheries?
XXI. Do any rivers rise in or run thro' the parish, which are they; if navigable, what sort of boats are used on them, and what is the price of carriage
per
hundred or ton, to your parish?
XXII. Are there any, and what bridges, how are they supported, by private or public cost, of what materials, what number of piers or arches, the length and breadth of the bridge and width of the arches?
XXIII. Are there any barrows or tumuli, and have any been opened, and what has been found therein?
XXIV. Are there any manufactures carried on in the parish, and what number of hands are employed?
XXV. What markets or fairs are kept in the parish, what commodities are chiefly brought for sale; if any of the manufactures or produce of the country, live cattle, or other things, that toll is paid and to whom, and where are they kept?
XXVI. Is there any statute fair for hiring of servants, and how long has it been established; what are the usual wages for men and maids, &c. for each branch of husbandry?
XXVII. Are there in any of the gentlemen's houses, or on their estates, any pictures which give insight into any historical facts, or any portraits of men eminent for any art, science, or literature; any statues, busto's, or other memorial which will give any light to past transactions?
QUERIES Relating to the Natural History of the PARISH.
I. WHAT is the appearance of the country in the parish; is it flat or hilly, rocky or mountainous?
II. Do the lands consist of woods, arable, pasture, meadow, heath, or what?
III. Are they fenny or moorish, boggy or firm?
IV. Is there sand, clay, chalk, stone, gravel, loam, or what is the nature of the soil?
V. Are there any lakes, meers or waters, what are they, their depth, where do they rise, and whither do they run?
VI. Are there any subterraneous rivers, which appear in one place, then sink into the earth, and rise again?
VII. Are there any mineral springs, frequented for the drinking the waters; what are they; at what seasons of the year reckoned best, and what distempers are they frequented for?
VIII. Are there any periodical springs, which rise and fall, ebb and flow, at what seasons, give the best account you can?
IX. Are there any mills on the rivers, to what uses are they employed?
X. Are there any and what mines; what are they; to whom do they belong; what do they produce?
XI. Have you any marble, moorstone, or other stone of any sort, how is it got out, and how worked?
XII. What sorts of manure or amendment do they chiefly use for their land, and what is the price of it on the spot?
XIII. What are the chief produce of the lands, wheat, rye, oats, barley, peas, beans, or what?
XIV. What sorts of fish. do the rivers produce, what quantities, and what prices on the spot, and in what seasons are they best?
*XIV. What quadrupeds and birds are there in your parish? What migratory birds, and at what times do they appear and disappear?
XV. Are there any remarkable caves, or grottoes, natural or artificial? give the best description and account thereof you can.
XVI. Are there any and what quantities of saffron, woad, teazels, or other vegetables of that sort, growing in the parish, and the prices they sell for on the spot?
XVII. Is the parish remarkable for breeding any cattle of remarkable qualities, size, or value, and what?
XVIII. Are there any chalk-pits, sand or gravelpits, or other openings in the parish, and what?
XIX. On digging wells or other openings, what strata's of soil do they meet with, and how thick is each?
XX. How low do the springs lye, and what sort of water do you meet with in the several parts of the parish?
XXI. Is there any marl, Fuller's earth, potters earth, or loam, or any other remarkable soils, as ochre, &c.
XXII. Are there any bitumen, naptha, or other substances of that nature found in the earth?
XXIII. Does the parish produce any quantities of timber, of what sort, and what are the prices on the spot,
per
load or ton? Are there any very large trees, and their size?
XXIV. Are any quantities of sheep raised or fed in the parish, and on what do they chiefly feed?
XXV. Are the people of the country remarkable for strength, size, complexion, or any bodily or natural qualities?
XXVI. What are the diversions chiefly used by the gentry, as well as the country people, on particular occasions?
XXVII. What is the nature of the air; is it moist or dry, healthy or subject to agues and fevers, and at what time of the year is it reckoned most so? and, if you can, account for the causes.
XXVIII. Are there any petrifying springs or waters that incrust bodies, what are they?
XXIX. Any hot waters or wells for bathing, and for what distempers frequented?
XXX. Are there any figured stones, such as echinitae, belemnitae, &c. Any having the impression of plants or fishes on them, or any fossil marine bodies, such as shells, corals, &c. or any petrified parts of animals: where are they found, and what are they?
XXXI. Is any part of the parish subject to inundations or land floods, give the best account, if any things of that nature have happened, and when?
XXXII. Hath there been any remarkable mischief done by thunder and lightning, storms or whirlwinds, when and what?
XXXIII. Are there any remarkable echoes, where and what are they?
XXXIV. Have any remarkable phaenomena been observed in the air, and what?
If the Parish is on the
SEA COAST,
XXXV. What sort of a shore, flat, sandy, high, or rocky?
XXXVI. What sorts of fish are caught there, in what quantity, at what prices sold, when most in season, how taken, and to what market sent?
XXXVII. What other Sea animals, plants, sponges, corals, shells, &c. are found on or near the coasts?
XXXVIII. Are there any remarkable Sea weeds used for manure of land, or curious on any other account?
XXXIX. What are the courses of the tides on the shore, or off at Sea, the currents at a mile's distance, and other things worthy remark?
XL. What number of fishing vessels, of what sort, how navigated, and what number of hands are there in the parish?
XLI. How many ships and of what burthen belong to the parish?
XLII. Are there any and what light-houses, beacons, or land-marks?
XLIII. What are the names of the creeks, bays, harbours, headlands, sands, or islands near the coasts?
XLIV. Have there been any remarkable battles or sea-fights near the coasts, and when did any remarkable wrecks or accidents happen, which can give light to any historical facts?
XLV. If you are in a city, give the best account you can procure of the history and antiquity of the place; if remarkable for its buildings, age, walls, sieges, sieges, charters, privileges, immunities, gates, streets, markets, fairs, the number of churches, wards, and guilds, or companies, or fraternities, or clubs that are remarkable; how is it governed? if it sends members to parliament, in whom does the choice lye, and what number of voters may there have been at the last poll?
ITINERARY.
DOWNING,
21 Miles Chester,
Deonna, Devana
PTOL.
Deva
ANTON. RAV. CHOROG.
Deva, colonia legio cretica vicessima valeria victrix
R. C.
18 Miles Northwich,
Condate
R. C.
8 Miles Knutsford,
12 Miles Macclesfield,
10 Miles Buxton,
13 Miles Middelton,
11 Miles Chesterfield,
16 Miles Worksop,
12 Miles Tuxford,
8 Miles Dunham Ferry, on the Trent,
Trivona fl.
R. C.
10 Miles Lincoln,
Lindum
PTOL. ANTON. RAV. CHOROC. R.C.
6 Miles Washenbrough and back to Lincoln,
12 Miles Spittle,
12 Miles Glanford Bridge,
12 Miles Barton, Humber River,
Abus
PTOL. R. C.
5 Miles Hull,
8 Miles Burton Constable,
22 Miles Burlington Quay, Its bay,
Gabrantuicorum portuosus sinus
PTOL.
Portus faelix
R. C.
5 Miles Flamborough Head,
Brigantum extrema
R. C.
10 Miles Hunmanby,
10 Miles Scarborough,
13 ½ Miles Robin Hood's Bay,
6 ½ Miles Whitby,
13 Miles Skellin Dam,
9 Miles Guisborough,
12 Miles Stockton, Tees River,
Tisis fl.
R. C. its mouth,
Dunum sinus
PTOL.
20 Miles Durham, Were River,
Vedra fl.
R. C.
6 Miles Chester le Street,
Epiacum
R. C.
9 Miles Newcastle,
Pons Aelii
NOTIT. IMP.
Tyne River,
Vedra fl.
TTOL.
Tina fl.
R. C.
14 Miles Morpeth,
9 Miles Felton,
10 Miles Alnwick,
Alauna
RAV. CHOROG.
16 Miles Belford,
16 Miles Berwick,
Tuessis
RAV. CHOROG.
Tweed River,
Alaunus
PTOL.
Tueda
R. C.
SCOTLAND.
16 Miles Old Cambus,
10 Miles Dunbar,
Ledone
RAV. CHOROG.
6 Miles North Berwick,
14 Miles Preston Pans,
8 Miles EDINBURGH,
9 Miles South Ferry,
Fifth of Forth,
Boderia
PTOL.
Bodotria
TACITI. R.C.
2 Miles. North Ferry,
Fife County,
Horestii
R. C.
Caledonia
TACITI.
15 Miles Kinross,
20 Miles Rumbling Brig, Castle Campbell, and back to Kinross.
13 Miles Castle Duplin,
Duablisis
RAV. CHOROG.
8 Miles Perth,
Orrea
R. C.
Tay River and its mouth,
Taus
TACITI.
Tava AEst.
PTOL. R. C.
1 Miles Scone,
1 Miles Lunkerty,
13 Miles Dunkeld,
20 Miles Taymouth,
15 Miles Carrie on Lough Raynach,
20 Miles Blair,
35 Miles Through Glen-Tilt to Invercauld,
18 Miles Tulloch,
15 Miles Kincairn,
9 Miles Banchorie,
18 Miles Aberdeen,
Dee River,
Diva fl.
PTOL. R.C.
Ythen River,
Ituna fl.
R. C.
25 Miles Bowness,
27 Miles Craigston Castle,
9 Miles Bamff,
Devron River,
Celnius ft.
R.C.
8 Miles Cullen,
12 Miles Castle Gordon,
Spey River,
Celnius fl.
PTOL.
Tuessis
R. C.
8 Miles Elgin,
Alitacenon
RAV. CHOROG.
10 Miles Forres,
17 Miles Tarnaway Castle, Calder, Fort George.
Firth of Murray,
Tua. AEst.
PTOL.
Varar AEst.
R.C.
12 Miles Inverness,
Pteroton, castra alata
R. C.
10 Miles Castle Dunie,
18 Miles Dingwall Foules.
Eirth of Cromartie,
Loxa fl.
R. C.
Rossshire,
Creones
R. C. the same writer places at
Channery
in this county,
Ara finium Imp. Rom.
15 Miles Ballinagouan,
6 Miles Tain,
Castra alata
PTOL.
9 Miles Dornoch. Its Firth,
Vara ast.
TTOL.
Abona fl.
R.C.
Sutherland County,
Logi
R. C.
9 Miles Dunrobin Castle,
18 Miles Hemsdale,
Ord of Cathness,
Ripa alta
PTOL.
Cathness County,
Carnabii, Cattini
R. C.
Virubium promontorium
R. C.
8 Miles Langwall,
15 Miles Clythe; Clytheness,
Vervedrum prom.
R. C.
8 Miles Thrumster,
3 Miles Wick,
Wick River,
Ilea fl.
TTOL.
16 Miles Duncan's or Dungby Bay, and John a Grout's house.
Dungsby Head,
Berubium promontorium
PTOL.
Caledonia extrema
R. C.
Stroma lsle,
Ocetis Insula
R. C.
2 Miles Canesby, and back the same road to
137 Miles Inverness,
Inverness County,
Caledonii
R. C.
17 Miles General's Hut,
15 Miles Fort Augustus,
Lough Lochy,
Longus fl.
R. C.
28 Miles Fort William. R. C. places
Banatia
near it.
14 Miles Kinloch-Leven,
9 Miles King's House,
19 Miles Tyendrum,
12 Miles Dalmalie,
16 Miles Inveraray,
22 Miles Tarbut,
Loch-Lomond,
Lincalidor Lacus
R. C.
8 Miles Luss,
12 Miles Dunbarton,
Theodosia
R. C.
Firth of Clyde,
Glota
TACITI.
Clotta est.
R.C.
15 Miles Glasgow,
Clidum
RAV. CHOROG.
24 Miles Hamilton, and back to Glasgow,
13 Miles Kylsithe,
18 Miles Sterling,
8 Miles Falkirk,
Calendar,
Celerion
RAV. CHOROG.
15 Miles Hopeton House,
11 Miles EDINBURGH,
18 Miles Lenton,
18 Miles Bild,
18 Miles Moffat,
18 Miles Lockerby.
ENGLAND.
21 Miles Longtown in Cumberland, Netherby,
Castra exploratorum
ANTON.
Aesica
RAV. CHOROG.
9 Miles Carlisle,
Lugavallium
ANTON.
18 Miles Penrith,
Bereda
RAV. CHOROG.
11 Miles Shap in Westmorland,
15 Miles Kendal,
Concangium
NOTIT. IMP.
11 Miles Burton in Lancashire,
Coccium
R. C.
11 Miles Lancaster,
Lengovicus
NOTIT. IMP.
Lune River,
Alanna fl.
R. C.
11 Miles Garstang,
11 Miles Preston,
18 Miles Wiggan,
13 Miles Warrington,
21 Miles Chester,
21 Miles Downing in Flintshire.
The antient names of places marked R. C. are borrowed from the late Dr.
Stukeley
's account of
Richard
of
Cirencester,
with his antient map of
Roman Brittain
and the Itinerary thereof, published in 1757. The rest from Mr.
Horsly
's remarks on
Ptolemy, Antonine's Itinerary, Ne
i
i
imperii,
and
Ravennatis Britannia Chorographia.
INDEX.
A
ABERDEEN,
New, Page 112
Old, Page 116
Alnwick
Castle, Page 31
Alum works in Yorkshire, Page 21, 22
Amber, Page 13
Appenines of
England,
Page 26
Argentine,
Struan
's favorite fountain, Page 96
Arthur's Oven, Page 212
Augustus,
Fort, Page 171
Auldearne,
Page 133
Avosetta, Page 10
Aw,
Lough, Page 187
B
Bamborough
Castle, well regulated charity there, Page 32, 33
Bamff,
Page 122
Bass
Isle, Page 44
Beggars, few in
Scotland,
Page 83
Bel-tein,
a singular superstition. Page 90
Benevish,
higher than
Snowdon,
Page 179
Berridale,
Page 150
Berwick
on
Tweed,
its salmon-fishery, Page 38, 39
North, Page 45
Birch tree, its great use, Page 109
Birds,
of
Lincolnshire,
Page 9, 10, 11
Flamborough Head,
Page 15
Farn Islands,
Page 36
Birnam
Wood, Page 74
Black-meal, a forced levy so called, Page 176
Blair
House, Page 97
Bodotria
of
Tacitus,
Page 41
Ballitir,
Pass of, Page 111
Botanic garden at
Edinburgh,
Page 58
Bawness
Castle, its strange situation, Page 118
Braan
Castle, Page 141
Brae-mar,
Page 103
Bran,
fine cascade on the, Page 75
Brotche, Page 83
Bulfinch, greater, Page 109
Bullers of
Buchan,
Page 119
Burlington,
Page 13
Burnet,
Bp. amiable in his episcopal character, Page 236
Buxton,
its salubrious waters, Page 3
C
Caldor,
or
Cawdor
Castle, Page 133
Cambus,
Old, Page 41
Campbell,
Castle, Page 66
Carron
Iron-works, Page 212
Cathness,
Page 156
Cattle, wild, Page 206
Cawdon
Glen, a cataract there, Page 65
Chain the, what, Page 178
Chatterer, Page 278
Chester,
its singular streets, Page 1
Cathedral,
ibid
Hypocaust,
ibid
Chesterfieid,
Page 5
Chester Le Street,
Page 29
Church
Scotch,
its constitution, Page 221
Clan-Chattan,
or
M'Intoshes,
Page 161
Clergy
Scotch,
commendable conduct of, Page 134
Coal of
Sutherland,
its miraculous quality, Page 147
Cobles, a small boat, Page 35
Cock of the Wood, Page 278
Coker,
its romantic situation, Page 28
Coldingham
Moor and Abbey, Page 41
Coranich, or howling at funerals, Page 92
Cottages, wretched in the Highlands, Page 109
Crab, the Thorney, Page 285
Craigston
Castle, Page 122
Crane, now unknown in
England,
Page 12
Cromartie,
Firth of, Page 141
Crows, Royston or Hooded, Page 80, 278
Cullen
House and Town, Page 124, 125
singular rocks near, Page 125
Culloden
House and Moor, 136.
Customs, singular ones in the Highlands, Page 90, 159
Cuthbert
's Ducks, Saint, Page 35
D
Days, long in
Cathness,
Page 158
Dalkeith,
pictures there, Page 60
Dean of Guild, what, Page 138
Delamere
Forest, Page 2
Dingwall
Town, Page 141
Dogger
Bank, great fishery near, Page 18
Dornoch,
Page 145
Dunbar,
Page 42
Dunbeth
Castle, Page 151
Dungsby
Bay, Page 153
Dunkeld,
Page 75
Dunrobin
Castle, Page 145
Dunfinane,
Page 72
Duplin
Castle, pictures there, Page 67
Durham,
Page 26
E
Eagles, Page 277
Eider Ducks, Page 35
Edinburgh,
its lofty situation, Page 46
inconveniences, Page 47
reservoir, Page 48
University, Page 51
Elgin,
a good town, Page 128
its cathedral,
ibid
Erse
language, where spoken, Page 158, 198
F
Fairies, belief in, Page 94
Falcons, Page 277
Falkirk,
great cattle fairs there, Page 209
Battle, Page 210
Fern
Islands, Page 34
Fasting woman, extraordinary case of, Page 248
Ferr, East, its fish and birds, Page 9, 10
Fiery cross, what, Page 164
Finchal
monastery, Page 28
Fine,
Lough, its herring-fishery, Page 190
Flamborough
-Head, its birds, Page 15
Flixton,
Page 16
Forchabus,
Page 128
Forfeited estates, how applied, Page 139
Forres,
great column near, Page 130
Foss-dyke, Page 6
Fraoch-Elan,
the
Hesperides
of the Highlands, Page 188
Freeburgh
Hill, a large Tumulus, Page 24
Freswick
Castle, horrid situation of, Page 152
Funeral customs, Page 91
Fyers,
fall of, Page 170
G
Gannet, Page 45, 155, 159
Geese, how often plucked, Page 8
George,
Fort, Old, Page 137
New, Page 136
Gishorough,
Page 25
Glen-Co,
Page 182
Glen-Roy,
strange roads there, Page 179, 253
Glen-Tilt,
a dangerous pass, Page 101
Glen-Urqhie,
Page 186
Godric,
Saint, his austeries, Page 28
Gordon
Castle, Page 126
Gowrie
conspiracy, Page 71
Graham, John De,
his epitaph, Page 210
Graham
's Dyke, Page 213
Granite Quarries
at
N. Ferry,
Page 62
Aberdeen,
Page 116
Gre-hound, the Highland, Page 127, 275
Grout's, John a,
house, Page 153
Gull, Arctic, Page 62
H
Halydon
Hill, battle of Page 40
Hares, white, Page 79, 276
Heronry, a great, Page 11
Herring fishery, Page 190, 191
High-bridge, Page 175
Highlands,
awefull entrances into, Page 74
Dress of the Highland Men, Page 162
Women, Page 165
Arms, Page 163
Character of the Highlanders, Page 165
Sports and amusements of, Page 167
Hopeton
House, Page 214
Huntings, magnificent in old times, Page 99, 103
I
Jameson,
the painter, Page 81
Fine picture of his at
Taymouth, ibid
Other pictures of his, Page 122, 123
Jet, where found, Page 22
Inoculation practised as far as
Shetland
Isles, Page 158
Insects, Page 286
Inveraray
Town and Castle, Page 189
Invercauld,
its magnificent situation, Page 106
Inverlochy
Castle, Page 177
Inverness,
Page 137
Fair, Page 162
Joug, what, Page 134
Itinerary, Page 299
K
Kilchurn
Castle, Page 187
Killicrankie,
Pass of, Page 98
Kinloch-Leven,
Page 182
Kinloss
Abbey, Page 130
Kinross,
Page 55
Kittiwake, a sort of Gull, Page 120
L
Labor, its price in
Scotland,
Page 68, 110
Late wake, a strange funeral custom, Page 92
Lavellan, the Water Shrew-mouse, Page 150, 276
Leith,
Page 57
Lincoln,
its beautifull cathedral, Page 6
Lochaber,
Page 175, 179
Lochiel,
his seat, Page 176
Loch-Leven,
Page 64
its fish and birds, Page 65
Loncarty,
battle of, Page 73
Lossie
River, Page 129
Lothian,
East, its fertility, Page 42
M
Macclesfield,
Page 3
Mackrel-sture, Page 192
Mac Nabbs,
an antient family of smiths, Page 186
Marble, white, Page 148
Marriage customs, singular, Page 160
Moffat,
Page 216
Monrief,
Hill of; its fine view, Page 69
Monro,
Sir
Robert,
his epitaph, Page 211
Morpeth,
Page 30
Mountain, the black, Page 182
Mummies, natural, Page 153
N
Natural history, recapitulation of, &c. Page 273
Ness,
Lough, Page 168, 171
agitations of, in 1755, Page 173
New-bottle,
pictures there, Page 57
Newcastle
on
Tyne,
Page 29
its salmon-fishery, Page 218
Nightingale, none in
Scotland,
Page 279
O
Ord of
Cathness,
a high promontory, Page 149
Orkney
Isles, Page 153
Ouzels, Ring, Page 80
P
Pearls, Page 71
Penrith,
the pillars at, Page 218, 267
Perth,
a fine town, Page 69
its trade, Page 71
Pictish
castles, Page 146
Pine forests, Page 107, 183
Pines, vast plantations of, Page 142, 143
Poetry,
Erse,
261, &c.
Preston Pans,
Page 46
Proverbs,
Erse,
Page 258, &c.
Provisions, prices of,
at
Edinburgh
Page 56
at
Aberdeen,
Page 115
at
Inverness,
Page 138
Ptarmigans, Page 79, 279
Q
Queries relating to the antiquities and natural history of
North Britain,
Page 287
Quern, a hand-mill, Page 182
R
Raynach,
Lough, pine forest near, Page 87
Rents,
how paid in the Highlands, Page 110
raising of, ill effects of, Page 180
Roads, parallel in
Glen-Roy,
Page 253
Roads, the military, Page 184
Robin-Hood
's Bay, Page 22
Roe-bucks, Page 273
Royston Crows, Page 80, 278
Rumbling Brig
near
Glen-devon,
Page 65
near
Dunkeld,
Page 76
S
Page
Sacrament, indecently received in
N. Britain,
Page 83
Sailors and Soldiers, an attempt to colonize, Page 95
Salmon fisheries,
antient laws to preserve, Page 117
in
England,
Page 24, 26, 39
in
Scotland,
Page 70, 115, 120,128, 157
Salt-Pits at
Northwich,
Page 2
Sand, inundations of, Page 118, 131
Saury, a new
British
fish, Page 284
Scarborough,
Page 16
its fisheries, Page 18
Scone,
Page 72
Scotland,
unpromising entrance into, Page 40
Seals, Page 149, 157, 277
Second sight, Page 154
Sheelins, or summer dairies, Page 102
Slain
's Castle, Page 119
Snake, a new species, Page 281
Snowflake, Page 280
Soland Geese, Page 45, 155, 159
Spalding,
Page 12
Spectre story, Page 89
Spey,
a violent river, Page 127
Spinie
Castle and Lake, Page 129
Stags, Page 274
Steuart, Mary,
pictures of, Page 140
Stocking trade in
Aberdeen,
Page 112
Stockton,
Page 25
Straithearn,
a fertile tract, Page 67
Stroma
Isle, Page 153
Struan, Robertson
of, a poet, Page 88
Swineshead
Abbey, Page 12
Syhilla
Queen, where buried, Page 84
T
Tantallon
Castle, Page 44
Tarnaway
Castle, Page 133
Tay,
Lough, Page 78
never frozen till this year,
ibid
Isle, and convent on it, Page 84
Tay
-Bridge, inscription on it, Page 81
Tay-Mouth,
its beauties, Page 77, &c
Theft of cattle, once held not dishonorable, Page 176
Tordown
Castle, its singular cement, Page 173
Tumel,
the falls of, Page 96
Lake, Page 97
Tunny, Page 192
Turner,
Dr.
William,
the naturalist, Page 30
Tweed,
Page 38
Tyendrum,
highest seated house in
Scotland,
Page 185
U
Urqhuart
Castle, Page 169
V
Venereal patients, where formerly confined, Page 214
W
Weever, Greater, Page 283
Were,
its fish, Page 27
Page
Whitby,
Page 23
Wick,
Page 152
William,
Fort, Page 177
Witches,
where burnt, Page 55, 145
Macheth
's, Page 131
of
Thurso,
Page 145
Wolves, how long existing in
Scotland,
Page 178
Women, the common, hardly treated in
North Britain,
Page 121, 157
Y
Yew tree, a great, Page 85
Ythen
River, Page 118
FINIS.