i S0# O I ^v)rLALiruttfe, ^jV)rLALiruft'/tj ^WUINIVtKV/^ ^lUYAf %a3AINI13\\V ^^UIBRARYQc. -s^lllBRARYQr AWEUNIVER^/A ^ ^OFCAllFOff^ ^0FCAIIF0% o ? 5^ ^WEUNlVER5//^ "^/saaAiNfljwv^ '^ o sm^^' '^/sa3AiNn3\\v^ ^IIIBRARYQa ^lllBRARY6k ^^ ,\WEUNIVER% CO O o ^OFCAllFOftf^ ^OFCAUFOff^ .\WEUNIVER%. &Aiivaani^ ^(^Aavaan-^- %i3dnvsoi^ ^ILIBRARYQr ^ILIBRARYQ^ ^tfOJIWDJO'^ ^^mim-i^'^ ^WEUNIVER%. o so "^/saaAiNflawv -s^UIBRARYO/^ ^iifOJIlVJJO^ ^OFCAllFORil^ ^OFCAIIFOR^ ^^Aavaan-^^ ^OAavaan# ^WEUNIVERi/A %a3AiNnawv ^OFCAIIFO%, "^(^AavaaiH^ .\WUNIVER% ^lOSANCEUj> ^^^Aavaan-^'^ ^WEUNIVERiyA o ^ ^\WEUNIVER% ^lOSANCElfj> r A^lllBRARYQ^ ^^OdnVOJO"^ TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND, B Y A N UNUSUAL ROUTE: WITH ATRIP T O T n E ORKNEYS AND HEBRIDES, CONTAINING HINTS FOR IMPROVEMENTS I N AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE. WITH CHARACTERS AND ANECDOTES. EMBELLISHED WITH VIEWS OF STRIKING OBJECTS, AM a A MAP^JNCLUDING THE CALEDONIAN CANAL. B y T H E REV. JAMES HALL, AM. IN TWO VOLUMES. Vol. II. llonDon : PRINTED rOR J. JOHNSON, ST. PAUL's CHURCH YARD. 1807. j "^j J li r '.', if L I- .'/ W. iNliiichant, Printer, 9, Grevifle-Street* Holbotai ^ VOL. IL 324 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. From ABERDEEN to BANFF. From Aberdeen, where I si)ent a week very plea- santly and experienced much civility and hospita- lity, as every stranger who is introduced to any re- spectable person in the place does, I crossed the Don, by a very fine bridge of one large arch, -on my way to Peterhead. The people in England, nay, even in the south of Scotland, have scarcely any conception of the astonishing impro\ ements of late made in the roads, &c. &c. all around this thriving and really po- lished capital of the north of Scotland.^ The roads on the north side of Aberdeen are made in different directions, in some places to the extent of thirty miles, as" well as on the south side of it, at the ex- pense of, 1 believe, five shillings per yard. They are mettled with hard stones, broken down to about the bigness of hens eggs, nine inches deep, a suf- ficient breadth, and then covered with gravel. And what serves to point out the growing prosperity and enterprizing spirit of the gentlemen in this ])art of the country, is, that there is a canal almost paral- lel to one of the great lines of roads, ahcady (]ug as far as the burgh of Ihverary, by which means goods may be carried backward and forward to and from Aberdeen, near twenty miles either by land or water. The gentlemen and land proprietors of each parish advance money, in a certain proportion, to make TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 325 the road; and what they do not advance is bor- rowed on interest, which is paid by a toll levied at certain places. Upon crossing the Ythan, a deep and dead river, stealing slowly through a good soil and a well-culti- country, I fell in with a fellow-traveller on horse- back, who accompanied me for some miles, and with whom I had a great deal of conversation. He told me of a late lord, who had kept a number of concubines, of whom fresh supplies were sent every year from London ; and of a number of no- blemen's and gentlemen's seats, and great improve- ments in the country watered by the Ythan. I ask- ed him if there were any salmon in the Ythan, *' O yes," said he, " but one of the proprietors on our side of the river was finely taken in about the salmon. About fifty years ago, as there was a pro- prietor on each side of the water, they held the pas- sage boat and the fishing in common between them. The rent of each was then about twelve pounds a year." One of the proprietors, more shrewd than tho other, and beginning to observe the value of the. fisheries, said to the other, *' As we do not always agree about the rent of the boat and the fishing, if you will give me the whole power of letting the- fishing, I will allow you to let tlie boat, in all time to come, to whom and at what you please." The agreement was made, and drawn up. on this condi- tion ; and the salmon fishing brings in now about five or six hundred a year, while the boat rentdoeii not greatly exceed the old tvvelve pounds. There is a fine view of the sea and &e^-coast all the way from Aberdeen to l^eterh^ad;, ^n iny way 526 TRAVELS IK SCOTLAND. thither I went to see Slane's Castle, and the famous^ Bullers of Buchan, in the vicinity of that noble and- Tomantic mansion. Slane's Castle, the seat of the earl of Errol, is situated upon a peninsulated rock, almost perpendicular from the sea. In a storm, the- waves actually dash upon its walls, and tlje spray ia^. vafted by the winds over the tops of the house and offices into the gardens and adjacent fields. The present mansion is a very old and spacious edifice,- forming a quadrangle in the middle. I The antient castle is in ruins, having been demolished by king James VI. on the earl of Huntley's rebellion in 1594. J For several miles to the north of Slane's Castle the sea-coast is formed by a border of high rocks indented with immense chasms, and here and there spacious caves. I Near the house of Slanes are some rocks of a very striking appearance, on which thousands of birds build their nests. About two miles to the north, near the fishing village of Bow- ncss, are the Bullers. These are great hollows in a rock projecting into the sea;- through which rock, open at the top, you may see the roads, lying in a bason below, which forms, in bad weather, a good harbour.'|-They are divided from the sea by a nar- row^ and high rock, peforated by three grand arch- ways, through which the water pours into the awful cavern an hundred yards in diameter, foaming, and in appearance boiling up with fury. The scenery around, of rock, water, sea-fowl, &c. is wildly grand. ' I went also- to see the dropping co'ce, or cave of Slanes. You enter this cave by a narrow mouth, when it grows wider and wider as you advance. The light of the candles carried with us was reflected 5: V <^ i 1 f TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. SS? from the roof and sides of it with uncommon and pecuhar beauty. I observed most of the petrifac- tions were \vhite, or bluish, and of a calcareous na- ture. Petrifaction here, as in most other placesy is a progressive work that requires some time. Some of the petrifactions 1 found only begimiing, and, as it were, still in a fluid state ; some of them soft as clay, and others hard as stone. The liquid oozing from the roof in a few minutes seems to be formed into a wheyish substance, then thicker and tougher; afterwards it can be carried hke clay; and at last becomes so hai-d, that it must be broken, with a hammer, or something of the kind, before it can be detached from the roofs where it hangs in some places like icicles. I found all the icicles of a cal- carious nature ; but the petrifactions in the sides and bottom of the cave were of a calcareous na- ture, mixed with silica. * Slaine's Castle stands in a beautifully romantic situation, but certainly too much exposed to the sea and winter storms. % How different the notions of men, and how va- ried their ideas of happiness ! Two great men lately hired an elegant carriage at Aberdeen, and came to this part of the country to a house situated on the sea-shore. While they were at dinner, the servants informed them that the carriage was moving by the wind. Upon coming out, the gentlemen saw the carriage moved by the wind, and were informed, that, unless it was stopped, it would be blown into the sea. The wind still increasing, the servants begged leave to fix it, or carry the carriage to some other place, but were not permitted. At length the gen- 328 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. tlemen having seen the carriage actually blown over the rocks into the sea, declared, when they saw it driven by the wind, met by a tremendous wave, and dashed to pieces among the rocks, that they woidd not have wanted this noble sight, as they termed it, for a thousand guineas. They therefore went into the house highly delighted, and subscribed a handsome sum, which they supposed would be the price of the carriage. But one of the gentlemen failed before the money was paid, and the poor inn- keeper at Aberdeen was obliged to put up with a certain proportion of the value of his carriage. PETERHEAD. * This town, situated on the most easterly point of Scotland, which is the nearest land to the northern continent of Europe, as it lies within three hun- dred miles of the Naze of Norway. It contains about three thousand people. ( They have laid out on a new pier not less than seven thousand pounds. The harbour is divided into two parts, the south and the north harbour by the Inch, or island Keith, near which is a fort, and a guard-house, with a bat- tery of four twelve pounders and four eighteen pounders. They have twelve feet water at the pier head. The commerce here is very considerable to the Baltic and Dantzic. Upwards of twenty ves- sels are employed in this and the coasting trade, and three or four large sloops are annually sent to fish among the Hebrides, where they catch great quan- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 3J9 titles of cod and ling, which they salt and sell to the indolent inhabitants of the western Highlands, whom it seems impossible to rouse to fishing or any regular industry. More than two thousand barrels of cod and ling are sent annually to London. At Peterhead there is a famous mineral spring, which they say is of great efficacy in distempers of the bowels, and operates as a very powerful diure- tic. Whatever effect it may have upon others, it had none that I could perceive upon me. There is certainly no want of accommodation for strangers who resort thither in the season for drinking the waters. A good inn, ball room, salt water baths, elegant lodging-houses, &c. Bath itself is scarcely superior to Peterhead in this respect. I am inclined to think that the people here would make much of such a spring as Pickethley Wells, the effects of whose waters are certainly not equivo- cal. The people of Aberdeenshire, it is alleged, are apt to vaunt very much of any thing belonging to their district; but this vanity is nearly allied to pub- lic spirit and true patriotism. If they boast of any natural advantages they possess, they are also dis- posed to make the most of them. I was sorry to see all along the coast of Buchan so little wood, and that what had been planted seemed very far from being in a thriving state. There must be some- thing in the easterly winds different from the saline particles they contain, that proves injurious to trees. In Norway, Denmark, Sv^eden, &c. trees often grow at the very brink of the ocean. If trees grow thus in Norway, &c. and not in Buchan, there must be 330 TBAVJXS IN SeOTLANI>. some other cause than the saline particles in the air that prevents them. 1 was also sorry to find the proprietors not careful in adapting the plants to the soil; nor attending to this, that as alders, willows, and other aquatic plants, receive through their leaves and branches a very considerable degree of nutriment from the exhalations of moist soils as well as by the roots, so they ought to be planted in such. The trutti is, aquatic plants feed more by the branches than is generally imagined ; and it is now found, that even if you plant a willow tree, or any wood of the kind, on the top of a pillar, with only earth to cover its roots, it will grow and be vi- gorous, so long as its branches overhang a pool or any kind of water. There is a species of wood, I understand, that grows within the sea-mark, even though its roots and branches be lashed by the waves of the sea; and some of it has lately been found to take root in the sands on the sea-coasts of Ireland, Why is not this matter inquired into, and tried in our northern climes? It is true, the wood of this plant is spongy, and not valuable, but what of that? If planted on the sands of Leith, the Links of Kirkaldy, St. Andrews, and along the coasts of Buchan, &c. &c. it would not only beau- tify the country, but prove a covert from the north and easterly winds to trees and other vegetables; and even if of no other use, it would save much ex- pense in the article of fuel. The late minister of Frazersburgh, I could easily see, had done what could be done to ornament his glebe with - wood, hut did not succeed. I pursued my route from Peterhead to Frazers- TRAVELS in: SCOTLAND. 331 burgli, situated on the promontory of Kiiinaird's Head, which forms the entrance from the south into the Murray Frith, which is described not less justly than poetically by Buchanan, whose delinea- tion of Scotland is a master-pie.^e of geographical description. Having noticed the Spey and the Ness, and Murray between them, he says, that a vast bay of water chastises and repels the prominence of the land. * Having viewed the light-house at Frazersburgh, with its excellent reflectors, and observed the grow- ing progress of agriculture and the arts all along the coast of Buchan, I came to the estate of Troup, on my way to Ban if. Almost all the way from Peterhead to Banff, in antient times, the land must have projected much farther into the sea than at present; but the perpe- tual lashing of the waves, caused by the frequent north-easterly winds, has not only washed off the earth, but, in the course of ages, wasted and under- mined the rocks, which are high here, making them in many places hang over the sea, and rendering it dangerous to sail near the coasts, on account of the huge masses of broken rocks that appear here and there above the surface, both at low and high water, all along the coast. The estate of Troup, which is large and exten- sive, is in a high state of cultivation ; but much of its value is, 1 find, owing to an accidental disco- very. For many years, from outliers that appeared, * Inter eos Aranes, Oceanus Germanicus velut retro in occidentem terram Agens sinu vasto ejus Laxitatem Castigat. Buck. Rer. Scot. lib. i^ 332 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. there was every reason to conclude there was lime on this estate, and the proprietor was at much pains, as well as expense, in trying to discover the rock. At length a mass of lime-stone was discovered, which gave univcrsul joy to the proprietor and the country, as lime was much wanted here. Lime kilns, &c. were erected at much expense, and men set instantly to work to reduce the stones into lime; but the huge stone discovered was found to be only an outlier, or detached piece of lime-stone from some rock, which could not be found. The proprietor being disappointed and vexed, the kilns were suffer- ed to go to decay, trials having been made for years in almost every corner of the estate in vain. How- ever, after many years, apoor man one day, by asud- den stroke, found his plough broken by something hid in the ground. The poor man, vexed that his plough was broken, went to see what had done it, as no large stones had been found there before, and observed a piece of stone newly broken from a rock below, which seemed to be lime, and which he car- ried immediately to the laird, or land proprietor, that he might see it. The proprietor, finding it to be excellent lime, by its effervescing with aquafortis, oil of vitriol, &c. and that there were thousands of thousands of tons in the rock to which it belonged, advising the poor man to forget the misfortune of his plough, gave him a handsome present, and a snug little farm rent-free during life ; this discovery of the poor man's being equal to some thousand pounds to the proprietor. The great outlier, or large stone found by itself, which was lime, though there was nothing of the TAAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 333 kind near it, serves to shew, among thousands of thousands of similar facts, that there must, in some former period, have been some vast concussion of nature here. When we see huge stones by them- selves on the surface and on the tops of mountains, as these did not grow there, we may rest assured they have been cast up in consequence of some vol- cano, earthquake, or uncommon operation of na- ture. There is, in the parish of Ordiguhill, a large outher of hme stone some tons weight, and no Hme- rock to be found near it. As this huge lime stone ^could not, by any operation of nature, grow there, where there is nothing but rough whin or granite stories all around, it must have come there some way or other. It could not come there by the hands of man, as the art of man, assisted with the most pow- erful engines, could not have moved it; therefore, being detached from some lime rock below, it must have come there by some uncommon effort of na- ture. At St. Andrews, at Red Head, between Aber- brothic and Montrose, at Slanes, and the Bullers, as well as almost all the way from Peterhead to the mouth of the Spey, the sea-coast is bold, and the rocks in some places, particularly at Troup Head, near a hundred feet high. All this I have seen, and it is well known that such is the case in a thou- sand places all over the globe. Now, this being so, and the sea at the foot of those rocks for the most part, as in Norway, very deep: the stupendous rocks, with the immense chasms in them that excite our wonder, must have been produced by some sudden and violent effort of nature, to give vent to subter- raneous fire and volcanic matter. And those huge rocks on the tops of mountains on which the eagles 334 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. build their nests, were, no doubt, once in the bowels of the earth, and have been tost up there by the hand of Omnipotence for the wisest purposes. ' At Gamery, a few miles east from Banff, 1 found that three Danes' heads had been built in the church wall.^ The Roman senate offered its weight in gold for the head of Caius Gracchus, tribune of the peo- ple, because he rebelled against them, which, with lead that had been run into it, below the brains, by the slave that cut it ofi^ in order to make it heavier, weighed seventeen pounds : but I am of opinion the Danes heads found here would each have outweighed the Roman tribune's, without the lead. - PORGUE. ' The sands of Forgue, which are wide and exten- isive, were about a hundred years ago a fertile plain ; I but a wind having arisen from the east, and continuing some time, blew so much sand on this place, that though it sometimes shifts, and is here and there collected into a kind of heaps, yet I be- lieve it is in general from fifteen to twenty feet deep over some thousand acres. At any rate, I saw the church, which has no roof, but is surrounded and filled with sand to the very eves. There are se- veral thousand acres of sand of the same kiiid in Murray, particularly in the parish of Dyke, where a number of sand hills now cover that tract of land wbich was formerly the estate of Mr. DufF, of Culbin. It had been the custom to pull up the hent, a rough spiry grass, with uncommonly long and fibrous roots, near the shore, for litter for horses, by which means, the sand being loosened, TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 335 <*-ave way to the violence of the sea and wind, which carried it over several hundred acres of land. It is in the parish of Forgue that the religious and wor- thy Mr. M 1 resides, whose daughter was married, in the manner above related, to the surgeon at Pic- kethley. BAMFF / Has some foreign trade, and contains about three thousand inhabitants, who certainly do not lie under obligations to some of their magistrates. ' Two great men, that happened to live in the neighbourhood, like crows on an old horse, have picked the town to the very bones ; and, for a mere trifle, bought up and inclosed with high walls almost every inch of ground that belonged to it. Nay, either so foolish, or self- interested, have the magistrates here been, that, not many years ago, they sold the salmon fishing of the river Deveron, which runs into tlie sea here, for less, I believe, than it brings in yearly. -The chief manufactures at Bamif are patent ribbed stockings, and white thread, which are shipped off for London, and various other places. | The town of Bamff, the capital of the county, is pleasantly situated at the side of a hill, and the mouth of the river Deveron. The harbour is but in- different ; being but small, and sometimes shut up by the shifting of sands after storms. The situation of Bamffshire, on the Murray Firth, and the fine river Dev^eron, certainly invites to the most industrious cultivation ; but how many territo- ries, more highly favoured by nature, lie either waste 336 THAVELS IN SCOTLAND* or display only squalid huts, half starved cattle, and here and there a slip of corn land, on the banks of rivers and streams. It is to the animating- breath of two. noblemen, highly distinguished for genius, judgement, and themostpatriotic and enlarged views, that Bamffshire is indebted, for the exhibition of a scene little to be expected in so northerly a latitude. The first of these was the late earl of Findlater, who made very extensive plantations between CuUen and Bamff, and first introduced proper agriculture. He encouraged his farmers to build good houses, to im- prove their farms, and establish manufactures. His farms were not much above a hundred acres of arable land, which were let for three nineteens, or ' forty-seven years certain, besides, as it was expressed, a life-time. But the tenant was to name the life he fixed on at the beginning of the third nineteen years. If the person, whose life was fixed on, died before the expiration of the nineteen years, the lease was at an end. But if not, the lease was continued till the death of that person. The second nobleman mentioned, as a fostering genius of Bamffshire, is the present James, earl of Fife. An account of his lordship's improvements would fill a volume ; and many a volume has been written on a far less interesting and instructive sub- ject. But an idea of the spirit and success with which his lordship pursues at once the improvement of his own vast territories, and the good of his country, may be formed from the following particu- lars. Immense tracts of ground, which were a barren waste, have been converted, by his lordship, into TRAVELS IX SCOTLAND. 337 arable land, or covered with woods. The very thin- ning of the woods planted by his lordship produce above a thousand pounds per annum. Of the estates which he possesses in the adjjoining counties of Murray, . Bamif, and Aberdeen, more than twelve thousand acres have in a few years been laid out in planting. The town of Macduff is situated in the parish of Gamery, and county of Aberdeen, and lies on the sea shore, near a mile to the eastward of the mouth of the Deveron, one mile from Duff House, and the same distance from Bamff, on the opposite side of the river. In the year 1752 it consisted of only a few fishing huts J and from that time down to the year 1758, very few additions were made to it. The town, and a very extensive estate adjoining, belong to lord Fife; and within about a mile of Macdufif, stands Duff House, his lordship's principal seat* About the year 1759, the present earl, then lord Macduff, obtained from his father, the late earl, the Duff House estate, on a part of which the town of Macduff stands. At this period, his spacious domains were nearly in a state of nature. The proper system of agriculture was there totally unknown. The cul- ture of turnip and hay crops not practised. The black cattle and sheep, from poor winter keeping, were of a diminutive size, and of little value. To remedy these defects, and to remove from the inhabitants strong prejudices in favour of antient usage, was the earl's first object ; and he has cer- tainly succeeded beyond the most sanguine hope. By introducing English husbandry, and new breeds of black cattle, sheep, and horses, the country is completely altered. Wheat, turnips^ and hay, are z 338 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. now raised in great abundance, many of the farms laid out in enclosed fields, and a proper rotation of cropping adopted ; while the former hovels with turf walls, covered with thatch, are metamorphosed into stone houses, slated or tiled. But while his lordship was thus successfully im- proving the soil, he wisely considered that commerce and agriculture ought to go hand in hand, and there- fore bestowed much attention on the improvement and extension of the town of Macduff. The local situation affords one of the best sea-ports oti the J^turray Frith. He began by building a harbour, at the expense of 60001. sterling, which has been the means of saving a great many hves, by affording shelter to ships in storms, when it was impossible for thetn to get into the neighbouring harbours, lie then gave great encouragement to industrious me- chanics and sea-faring people to settle in it. 7'he town was laid out in a regular form. His lordship built, at his own expense, a church, and estabhshed a clergyman. For a small annual feu duty, ground sufficient for a garden, and the scite of a house, was allotted to each person, and in the immediate vicinity an acre or two of land, at a moderate rent. A few fishing huts have thus, by his lordship's creative genius, become regular well-built streets, inhabited by twelve hundred souls and upwards, in general, sober and industrious^ comfortable and happy, under his lordship's protection. In times of scarcity they have been uniformly supphed with corn from his lordship's granaries, considerably under the market prices; and the inhabitants are well supplied witk provisions of all kinds from the adjacent estates, and also with the greatest variety of fish, uhcom- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. S29 Tiionly cheap. Thus fostered, the population is in- creasing rapidly, and the trade in proportion. Twelve vessels^ from 60 to 130 tons burthen, belong to the port, and more than double that number already resort to it annually. The harbour dues are extremely low: in 1788 they amounted only to ten pounds ; but, though the rate still continues the same, such is the rapid increase oftrade, that, in 1802, they amounted to more than 501. For several years past, from thirty to forty cargoes of English lime have been landed at the port, almost solely used by the farmers as manure, in addition to the lime manufac- tured in the country. An equal number of cargoes of coals have been landed, besides wood, iron, Lon- don and Leith goods. The principal exports are salmon, white fish, both barrelled and dried, thread, kelp, butter, and grain ; of which last article there has been sent from the port of Macduff, in the last year, to the value of /rom twenty to tiiirty thousand pounds. Two thriving ship building companies are estab- lished in the town, a tan-work for the manufacture of leather, and a rope- work of considerable extent. There are a considerable number of weavers, who .pianufacture cloth, both for exportation and home c!6nsumption. The mechanics are blacksmiths, house carpenters, wheelwrights, cabinet-makers, shoe-makers, tailors, and coopers. There is a masons lodge, and three other public societies in tlie town, whose funds are in a prosperous state, and applied occasionally for the support of decayed members. In the year 1782, his lordship obtained a crown <;htir^er, erecting Macduff into a royal borough, or '340 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. barony, with power to the iuliabitants at large to chuse a provost^ and other magistrates, and coun- sellors for the internal government and police of the town ; and about the same time the antient cross of Macdutt was rebuilt on an eminence at the west end of the town. The old prison having fallen to decay, his lordship, at his own expense, erected a new one last year, in the centre of the town. Over the apart- ments allotted to debtors and criminals are several apartments for public meetings. In the late war, almost all the male inhabitants, from the age of sixteen to sixty, enrolled themselves for the defence of the country ; and sixty of the number were formed into a volunteer company, regularly trained to the use of small arms ; and, in case of invasion, offered to march to any part of the island. ' Within a mile of the town, there is a celebrated mineral spring, called the Well of Tarlair, to which about a hundred of the gentry annually resort; and from the use of this water, and sea bathing, tind great relief in va- rious complaints. 1 Duff House is a most magnificent fabric, with a square tower at each end. 'I'he front is richly orna- mented with carving. The rooms are small, but the best apartments elegantly furnished. In this house, there is one of the i\n6st collections of por- traits, perhaps, in the kingdom. The trees, shrubs, and walks about the house, are laid out with the most correct taste, and greatest elegance. All tl>e neighbouring hills are covered with pine. The park, wliich is twenty miles round, contains a variety ofgame, such as deer, hares, pheasants, wood pigeons, 8i.c. and was planted entirely by his lordship. Many TRAVELS IX SCOTLAND. 341 of the trees, however, are seven feet and a half in circumferencej about three feet from the ground, and from fifty to sixty feet high. Through the grounds, and near the house, there runs a beautiful river, the Deveron ; over which there is an elegant bridge of nine arches, built by govern- ment. The earl of Fife began to plant in 1 756. The trees, which measure seven feet and a half, were planted the following year. They were taken out of a nur- sery when about tvv^o years old, and planted in a deep loamy soil, on the bank of the river Deveron. The largest trees in his lordship's plantations are silver firs, and larch. The ash, beech, and oaks, however, are very httle inferior in dimension. In the manage- ment of his plantations, his lordship has been parti- cularly attentive to the thinning of them, and keep- ing the fences in good repair, so as to prevent the encroachment of cattle, which, in the north of Scot- land, has hitherto been much neglected. But the advantages of lord Fife's management having become evident, his example has been happily followed by others. Among these, the greatest planter is the earl of Murray, who, I understand, has planted as great, or a greater number of acres than even the earl of Fife. Lord Fife has planted with forest trees above twelve thousand standard Scotch acres. By his judicious economy, on the most exposed moors, and M'here the soil is extremely thin, oaks and other forest trees grow luxuriantly. In thinning the woods, the worst trees are Jil vays cut down, and the best preserved. In most of the n o )rs, a great many firs are planted, and are always cut down, in order to make room for other forest trees. If large, they are sold by mea- 343 TftAVEES IN SCOTtAND. sure; ifsnifill, by lots. It is a fact, and may tend to encourage planters in similar situations, that when the earl of Fife first began his plantations at DufF House, there never had been a tree, from an idea that trees would not grow, on that coast, so near the sea. His lordship has now, however the satis- faction to see every kind of forest trees, even on the highest grounds, in the most prosperous state. Lord Fife, in spite of the enormous weight of taxes levied upon houses, under the denomination of "window lights, property tax, male and female ser- vants, &c. still preserv(^s seven different establish- ments, which are an ornament to the country; namely. Duff House, Dalgety Castle, Balveny Castle, Innes House, Kothemay, Marr Lodge, and Fife House, at London. Dalgety is a fine old castle, built in 1350, seven. miles from Duff House, in the parish ofTuriffl The thriving manufacturing village of Turiff is situated near this, and about three milts from the Do'eron, which divides the county of Aberdeen from Bamtf At Dalgety Castle, there is a fine natural wood, as >yell as ver}*^ extensive plantations ; and thie country around it is greatly improved. Balveny Castle is situated on the banks of the river Tiddach, which falls into the Spey about three miles bf.'low the castle. It is surrouiided with fine old wood. The old castle is a very fine ruin. The present castle, which is a very magnificent and commodious mansion, wa$ built by the late lord Fife. In the woods and hills around it there is plenty of all kinds of game. ^ Innes House is situated in the county of Murray, within five miles of the river Spey,* about three from the town of Elgin, and three from the mouth of the. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 343 Lossie, which runs past Elgin. It is here that we find the most extensive of all lord Fife's plantations. It covers five thousand acres, and is in a very thriv- ing ccndition. The land on the west side of Elgin is excellent soil, and all the farms belonging to lord Fife in excellent order. There is an extensive na- tural oak wood here, which is an uncommon thing in this part of tlie country. Lord Fife's plantations are carried on for about four miles on the road to Forres. Rothemay, situated on the Deveron, iiS a very good old house, and the natural scenery around it beautiful, There is here an extensive natural wood, and very large plantations. The farms, and country found, is under excellent cultivation. / \ Marr Lodge is situated on the banks of the river Dee, about thirty miles from the sea,> which it joins at Aberdeen. Tlie river takes its rise from a spring about twenty miles above Marr Lodge. The house is placed on a beautiful plain, surrounded with large mountains, covered with wood. At some distance from the house, on a commanding situation, is a small tower;; and at another place on the brow of the mountain behind, a gothic chapel ; and at another, a fine obelisk; all built of stone. The small chapel i& inhabited by the forester. The forest, in extent, is not less than twenty-five miles square. It is bounded by the counties of Bamff, Inverness, and Perth. It contains abundance of deer, and all kinds of game, as hares, badgers, &c. Foxes also are in great plcntyj and in the winter season, when the snow is deep, very destructive to the roe-deer. The different waters that ftqw through the diifei'cnt S44 TRAVELS IX SCOTLAND. woods, are as clear as chrystal. There are many beautiful cascades in this forest. Of a great variety of different kinds of trees there are some more than eighteen feet in circumference. The river abounds in fijjh of different kinds, sal- - mon, trout, pike, &c.^ / Of birds, Marr forest has all the species known to the most inland and elevated parts of Scotland : ea- gles, falcons, kites, ravens, ptarmigans, moor-fowl, or grous, the black cock, or cock of the wood, called by the natives coper calzie, &c. 8cc. f The eagles inhabiting, and as it were reigning in the rocks, or the sides of the mountains, are exceed- ingly numerous, and very troublesome neighbours. When they are in want of food for their young, they not only destroy great quantities of grous, and vood-pigeons, and other gregarious or harmless birds, but will carry off to their nests, lambs, and young or little dogs. The rocks and mountains of this elevated region are uncommonly stupendous and grand. It is no wonder that the earl of Fife, possessing such various and vast tracts of land, should take dcr light in improving them, and promoting the geiieral prosperity of Scotland or that for its defence he should have raised and ecjuipped two regiments. By tlic general anveed fertilizes the ground, and gives grass a relish peculiarly grate- ful to cattle. As this may be called the spoils of the ocean, being torn from the rocks at the bottom, and cast ashore by the fury of the waves, how far it is proper in the proprietors to make their tenants pay for the liberty of using it, I do not pretend to know. This much I know, that the te- nants here are often obliged to pay for the liberty to use and gather it. PORTSOY. ' Portsoy, about half way between Bamif and Cul- len, is a little town, situated on a small promontory running into the sea. This place has not a little of both manufactures and commerce. \ Its principal exports are corn, thread for stockings, salmon, her- rings, and white fish : its imports, flax, M'ine, wood, iron, and other articles, both for home consump- tion and foreign trade. There are also at Portsoy some salt-pans ; but, I should suppose, the expense of coals, in conjunction with the heavy tax, must make the profits arising from making salt here very inconsiderable. When the duke of Cumber- laud passed through this village, ia the spring of , TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 353 1746, he proposed setting it on fire, as he had been informed the people in it were, to a man, attached to the Pretender, He, however, passed it without putting his resolutions in practice. Not far from Cullen, a little to the eastward, there is a rock at the edge of the sea, that has been for- tified by the Danes; and which, in those days, be- fore the use of gunpowder was known, must have been impregnable. Not far from this place, on a peninsulated rock, stands the old castle of Finlater. ^ The massy ruins that cover the rock; the outer walls, particularly those fronting the sea, corresponding* exactly with the face of the precipice, in the same manner as those of Cardinal Bealon's castle which I had seen, at St. Andrews; the strongly walled apartments; the walls and double ramparts that defended the isthmus on which the castle stood : these remains make a strong impression, and carry back the mind, as by force, to the times in which all this was ne- cessary for protection. ' Cullen House, the present mansion of the earls of Finlater, is situated on the edge of a glen. /The plan- tations around it are very extensive. A bridge of one arch, of seventy feet in height, is thrown over the glen just by the house, at the bottom of which there runs a rapid stream. There is a fine library in Cullen House, enriched with many thousand vo- lumes of books, well chosen, and in splendid order. The late earl of Finlater was a man of genius, learn- ing, taste, and public spirit. He was better ac- quainted than any other nobleman with the inte- 410708 354 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. rests of Scotland, and the best means for promoting them. The people in England, who are unacquaintcdt with this part of the country, and who may be prejudiced by Dr. Johnson's account of Scotland, have scarcely any conception how much the roads, and almost every thing, is improved here. Former- ly the jolts in a carriage, from the roughness of the road, were, no doubt, extremely disagreeable; but now a London alderman, if he chooses to take a trip thus far, may loll at his ease in his carriage, as scarcely a stone is to be found on the road big- ger than an egg. At CuUen House, the seat of the earl of Finlater, there is one- of the fmest gardens in Britain. The hoi house, I believe, cost his lordship not much less than antiently would have built a palace, and pro- duces as fine pine-apples, graphs, &c. &c. as any in Britain; and the pleasure ground, next to lord Fife's, and that at Gordon Castle, is among the prettiest and most extensive in Scotland. Besides the beautiful marbles and granites to be found in the lower parts of the county of Bamft- there are, on the top of a hill near Portsoy, and not far from Cullen, beautiful specimens of the chrystal stone almost transparent, and thousands of thousands of tons of a beautiful species of agate. There are great numbers of large stones on the top of this hili, as white as chalk, and as hard as f int, which are rolled down, put on shipboard, and being carried to the potteries about Newcastle, &c. are pounded, by mills for the purpose, to a powder, and then made into a thousand different kinds of TRAVELS IN SCOTLANJ>. 355 pottery, and sent to'most parts of the world. As there are water- falls and room enough in the neigh- bourhood of this hill^ why are not the stones pound- ed and formed into earthernware in the country where they are found ? t At the fisher town of Cullen, I found on imtiieiise number of curs, which, it seems, hke the dogs of Kamskatka, feed upon lish, and sometimes go them- selves and catch Grabs, lobsters, &c. among the rocks.^^Upon inquiring the reason of their having so many dogs, I was told they breed them for their skinsji'which being sewed and blown up like blad- ders, are fixed by the fishers to their lines, with hooks, to prevent them from sinking, y And this is not an unnatural idea: for it is well known that the skins of dogs, and all the canine species, are less po- rous than others. Hence, as they do not perspire, but their perspiration comes off by foam at the mouth, which is very visible when they are warm, so they are more apt to go mad and be infected by the hydrophobia than any other animals; A cler- gyman from Aberdeenshire being bit by one of these curs, which he had reason to conclude was mad, in- stantly ran to the house, and having got a large sharp knife, cut out the flesh all around the wound, which happened to be the root of the thumb, and would not be prevented by those that saw him. The consequence was, the clergyman escaped the hydrophobia, though at that time many cattle died mad, and several people were infected with that dreadful- distemper. Lap-dogs too are dangerous animals in this point of view. Aa2 556 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. I could not help observing how hard the poor people labour here to gain a subsistence. The me- chanics at Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Lon- don, Glasgow, &c. generally gain as much in three or four days as supports and keeps them drinking the rest of the week. It is otherwise here; for all kinds of clothing are generally dearer than in Eng- land and the great towns in Scotland, and the food they eat not much cheaper, while their wages is much inferior, though now growing better. ' From Cullen to Fochabers, a distance of twelve miles, is a very fine country all the way, land the crops of wheat, barley, and oats, very strong and flourishing. On this road are a number of seats be- longing chiefly to gentlemen of the name of Gordon. FOCHABERS. I The old town of Fochabers is an assemblage of miserable huts : but in the new town there are seve- ral good houses and two tolerable inns.\ At this place there is an establishment for making sewing thread, in which about fifty girls are employed, un- der the patronage of the duchess of Gordon. As I passed through the Enzie, * on my way to Fochabers, I fell in with a number of people, though not on a Sunday, seemingly going to church. Hav- ing put up iiiy horse, I followed them to the end of their march, wherever or whatever it might be. It was a Roman Catholic chapel, and I believe the * A district so called. Of this district, I suppose, the clan Mac- enzie were the Aborigines. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. ' 357 most numerously attended of any in Scotland. When I entered, I saw five or six hundred people all de- ^ voutly kneeling, it being Whitsuntide. There is an elegant painting of St. Gregory over the altar, I believe valued by the cognoscenti at some hundred guineas. The familyof Gordon, in this neighbour- hood, being long attached to the Roman Catholic persuasion, after the reformation took place in Scot- land, is the reason why this, in the language of the canters, is the greatest nest of the Roman Catholics in Scotland. I have seen the Portuguese ambassa- dors, and several other of the best Roman Catholic chapels in London ; but this, which will, I under- stand, accommodate fifteen hundred persons, seems to exceed an}^ of them in size, and several of them, particularly in the invalid room, in neatness and convenience. Upon inquiring how the people here could raise money, to build so large a house, I was informed, that though ihey were certain it did not drop from the clouds, yet the managers of this chapel frequently, while it was building, received money from unknown hands, particularly a hun- dred pounds one morning, without ever being able to trace from whence it came. This, with a variety of anecdotes respecting the nunnery at Winchester, and that at Hammersmith, in the neighbourhood of London, tends to shew, that though, on account of the penal statutes, they did not shew it, many were attached to the Roman Catholic persuasion. In a large square stone in the front of this chapel, in large capital letters, is the word DEO. As these letters call up the idea of God, the most sublime that can enter the mind of man, I was surprised ta 25$ . t^ave;,s in Scotland. ^cc the word jostled as [t is from the centre of the stone, and the mind \yithdra\vn from the subl'nne idea suggested by it to the insignificant circumstance ' of 1/8 J, ihe year, it seems, in whjclithe chapel wa^ built. True criticism requires fhjit the min^ should not be drawn avvay from the contemplatJon of sub- lime ideas by insignificant circumstances. If the year in which the chapel was built must be put up, this is not the place. I am surprised this (['id not strike the Roman Catholic clergy in this part of the couiit;ry, ^yhom I foi^nd in general, as well as Petei^ Gordon, escj. of Aberlour, one of their supporters^ tc> be polite and intelligent. vTThough, as a Protestaiit, I believe the seat of devotion to be the heart, yet while in this chapel, as well as iu every other place of public worship, I complied as far as I could with the ceremonies of iteir church- since, whatever the articles of their faith may be, I know Roman Catholics whom I be-: iieve to be as "ood Christians, and as fit for thq ' . . - ^ ' ' kingdom of heaven, if I may ur?e the expression, as those who are denominated Protestants. XA"^^ ^^^"" funately, with the well-informed, the question now j5 not so much of what sect or dcnqmination of Christianity, such ^nd such a;^ one rs, as if he bq ^ truly good man. V \ Gordon Castle, the seat of the duke of Gordon, T^'hich has, perhaps, the most e^tenive and splen- did fronts of apy house in Britain, is situate at Fo- chabers, on the banks of the S.p,ey,\not far from the place where that river runs into the sea. The plan- tations and pleasure grounds round this noble mansion are beautiful in the extreme, and serve tQ TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 359 ishew what industry can do in the midst of muhs and mountains. The north-east front is regular. The south-west front has a square tower in the middle, which rises considerably above the top of the house. The wings are new and very elegant. The higher parts of the building, towering amidst the fine old trees in the park, which have been planted in rows and ave- nues, present to all the country round an image of magnificence. The walks or pleasure-grounds are beautiful, various, and extensive. The hills above the house are all planted with fir. Near this place, and where the duke of Cum- berland crossed the Spey, the most rapid river in Scotland, to attack the rebels at CuUoden, in the year 1746, has been lately built a splendid bridge, which I believe cost about twenty thousand pounds, and adds much to the convenience, not only of the people of this part of the country, but to the com- munity at large. The salmon fishery here, which, as the land on each side of the river belongs to the duke of Gordon, is solely his grace's property. The sal- mon are, in general, boiled and picked, and sent oft^" for the London market. Messrs. Robinson and Co. of the Tay, and Mr. James Gordon, of Portsoy, formerly rented this fishery at the yearly rent of fifteen hundred pounds ; but it has been since held on lease at the yearly rent of five thou- sand. What makes the fishery so valuable here, and at the mouth of most rivers in Scotland, is, that by a $60 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. decision of the suprenie court in Scotland, and agreeably to the opinion of the first lawyers in Eng- land, the proprietors of land on the banks of rivers at their entrance into the sea have a right to put pets, cruives, or any kind of trap they please, com- pletely across the river, except a few feet in the middle, so as to prevent any salmon going past their own territories ; with this single exception, that during Sunday they are not at liberty directly or indirectly to prevent the fish from going up, and must leave a given space in the middle of the river for allowing them, if they please, to proceed up^ wards. In consequence, salmon are, sometimes, found at the source of the Spey, which is a hun- dred miles up the country, and not far from Fort Augustus, on the great Caledonian canal. At a certain town between Buchanness and the Spey, famous for gaiety, and an imitation of the manners and style of living of the great, learn- ing that there was to be a ball, I felt, as no- thing gives me greater pleasure than to see my fellow-creatures happy, a strong desire to see it. Knowing the power of a silver key, which I take care always to carry about with me, I went in the evening, and putting something quietly into the door-keeper's hand, found easy admittance. Though I expected to see nobody I knew, I was scarcely seated, when a well-informed gentleman, to whom I was known, came up and accosted me. Glad to find a friend, M'here I scarcely expected to see a single acquaintance, I asked, in a whisper, " Pray what are these dashing ladies near the head of the dance, with the red and green ostrich feathers." TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 36l " Tush," said he, taking me by the arm, *' let us retire into this corner, and I will tell you. *' The lady with the large green ostrich feather was lately a dasnmg Irish widow. The squire, her husband, nearly opposite to her, dressed in scarlet,^ was taken in by her. Her brother-in-law, a baronet, in whose house she lived, represented her to the squire, who was then in the army, as a lady not only of high accomplishments and respectable con- nections, but also of a large fortune, and swore to the truth of what he said. The squire was en- chanted, and married her without delay. He, how- ever, found that his widow had scarcely any thing but a handsome external appearance. When he brought her to his estate in Scotland she seemed never happy, as was unluckily the case with him- self, except when the house was full of company, or she was abroad in quest of amusement. She advised her husband, though he had not money to spare, to scoop out about two acres of land be- fore the house to make an artificial lake, the wa- ter being also partly dammed up by an expensive wall, as also to build barges, and have watermen in uniform, with painted oars, like those on the Thames on a lord-mayor's day. When all this was done, the barges, the oars, the watermen, the uni- forms, &c. &c. prepared, as also a splendid com- pany invited, and an elegant dinner prepared, be- hold a flood came, destroyed tlie dam head, car- ried oiF the boats, and left, as formerly, only a small pond, which the ducks and geese immediately took possession of, though their numbers had become much fewer, and that they were almost reduced to 36^ TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. nothing, in consequence of the late continual feast- ing. The estate, which has been since sold, and brought fifty thousand pounds, is found scarcely enough to pay the debts of this young and extrava- gant pair. Fortunately they have got another estate. With resrard to the ladv who has the red feather : having been married, though she had not a shil- hng, to an old English squire, who died soon after he married her, she enjoys a jointure of eight hun- dred pounds a year. Soon after his death, she went to Bath on the look out, as was natural. Her husband, who is nearly opposite to her, having re- turned from seeing an uncle at Rome, and almost without a shilling in his pocket, went to Bath to try his fortune ; and although then near forty, and she not much above twenty years of age, in con- sequence of a tolerable talent for mimickry, and singing some scraps of Italian and French songs, he had prepared for this occasion, he picked up this young and handsome widow. I must not omit to mention also, that he has a son and daughter by a former wife. Having persuaded her to sell her an- nuity, here they are, and what is to come of them I "know not. As to the old stout gentleman you see hobbling through the dance, he is a Scotch baronet, who, having spent the most of his patrimonial estate, went to Bath on the ruins of it, in quest of a for- tune, where he remained many years, but did not succeed. When young, he refused an handsome lady there worth thirty thousand pounds, hoping to obtain one worth more. When a httle older, he had almost agreed with one who had twenty thousagd. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 5^3 but a younger canditlate for the lady's affections fyom Ireland succeeded in carrying her oif. The remains of his own fortune being at length com' pletely gone, he lived th^re on the bounty of a friend, and was at length so reduced, that he would have married any woman whatever, if she Iiad had even a hundred or two a year; but being novr old, he has left Bath, lost hopes, and, to prevent him being a burthen on his friends, they have got him appointed an officer in the militia. As to the young couple you see at the foot of the dance, their history is astonishing. The mau married about a dozen years ago, being then a jour- neyman mechanic, and had not a shilling in liis pocket, and the clothes on his back unpaid. He has succeeded in life, however, as a shopkeeper and merchant; and now that he is rich, and has become a man of landed property, he, his wife, his eldest son and, daughter, having all gone toge- ther to the dancing school to learn to dance, made some improvement, and been applauded at dancing- school balls, here they are : and, on account of the nimbleness of their feet, &c. I have no doubt but they will find attention paid to them. That beautiful young lady you see with the ele- gant turban is Miss G. of P. Her father, a ba- ronet, succeeded to a handsome estate, being heir qf entail. As the baronet had a son, ia line pro- mising lad, he sold his paternal estate, which this young lady might have inherited, and which brought near ten thousand pounds, to build an elegant house, and otherwise improve his newly-acquired entailed property; but alas ! after this ten thousand pounds \ \ 5^4 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. was nearly expended in draining, enclosing, and other- wise improving the surface of this estate, her father and brother died ; and, by the laws of entail, the estate, with her money scattered on the surface of it, has gone to the heir-at-law, au old man, without any children, and who is scarcely any other way con- nected with her father's family than all the Hotten- tots and the sons of Adam are. Now this ball and these anecdotes are not intro- duced here with any great precision, according to what may be called local or geographical order, the natural band of connection in tours or travels. A violation of this law I doubt not but my reader will, for obvious reasons, in the present instance excuse. * And now having arrived at the banks of the Spey, where I formerly passed seven years, in the course which I made many excursions to different places, I shall proceed to describe or relate some matters of fact, without troubling my reader in every in- stance with the circumstance of time, or the parti- cular spots from whence I set out to another. \ KEITH. \ In my way to Huntley Lodge, an old castle and hunting seat, belonging to the duke of Gordon, and which, in feudal times, was taken by his grace's an- cestors from the Cummins,^ t;i et armis, I halted at New Keith, an inland thriving village, nearly in the middle of Bamffshire, where the bleaching busi- ness is carried on to a considerable extent, and hnens TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. $65 Df various fabrics are manufactured and sent off for the London market. This village, which is large, regular, and well built, owes its prosperity to the liberal and enlarged views, and fostering genius of the late, and great James, earl of Fiudlater. It was erected by his lordship in 1750, upon a barren moor, and feued out in lots. There is a wonderful charm in perpetual possession. It now contains about fifteen hundred souls. \/7A. While here, I saw a number of people collected in ^'^^ the streets, as if some accident had happened. Upon inquiry, I found it was occasioned by a woman hav- ing gone three different times to doctor Dougall, to have a tooth drawn ; and as often run out of his house, her tooth-ach going away whenever she saw him come with his instruments to pull it out. Though an extremely good hearted man, and always glad M'hen he had it in his power to do good, he was so irritated, when he saw her running out a fourth time, that, holloing after her, and ordering her to be stopped, he followed her into the street ; and, hav- ing, as it was dry, laid her down, there pulled out the tooth, and left her, with half a crown, to a per- son to take care of her. v At the inn here, I fell in with a genteel looking young man, seemingly a good deal dejected. This young man, who was from the north of England, having seen, at a boarding school in Yorkshire, a young lady, from the West Indies, said to have a handsome fortune, though a little tinged with the colour of the Africans, married her ; and took home to his house also a younger sister, whose education was also finished; as the money paid to the boarding 363 TUAVELS I\ SCOTT A XD. mistress, he thought, would do as well in his. pocket as hers. Having- wrote and re-wrote to the West Indies, for the annuity due to his wife, and lier sister^ and received no answer, he set sail for the West In- dies ; but before he reached that part of the world, the gentleman in \yhose hands his wife's fortune was invested, had set out for London. The young.man, therefore, followed him. When he arrived at Lon- don, the gentleman had indeed come there, but was gone to Scotland. The young man whom I saw here, had come to this part of Scotland, but found it impossible to recover any of his wife's fortune, nay, not even what would pay his travelling expenses, and was thus far on his way to his, no doubt, dis- consolate wife, and his sister-in-law, whom he haii left without a shilling. J3y the side of the river that runs by the bleach- field at Keith, where vast quantities of linen are whitened, not by muriatic acids, as is too often done, I met a gentleman with a fishing-rod in his hand, whose name is J n. Having been intro- duced to him, and accepted an invitatiort to dine with him, I found a good dinner, excellent wine, , and what I most wished for, a vast variety of mis-- ^Rellaneoiis information ; though mixed with great eccentricity and extravagance of sentiment, on some particular points. For several years, I\Ir. J n had been an olhcer on board a xebeck, or Turkish ship, in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, &c. and, dur- ing that time had become attached to the Mahome- tan mode of worship, lie told us plainly, for a- clergyman of the church of Rome dined with us, that he totally disbelieved the Ghiistian religion; TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. S67 and, when speaking of the estabUshed clergy, he said) *'They are nothing but a set of liars, appointed by government, at nearly equal distances, up and down the country, to tell the people lies on Sunday, respecting religion and the government." Nay, he went so far as to say, that he wished the devil would blow in the air every church in the kingdom, out at the very foundation. As to his political principles, though he had been many years an officer in the British navy, they were of the levelling kind ; and he did not like Mr. Pitt. He prophesied of him, that he would not live long, and told us that before the late tax was laid upon sugar, Mr. Pitt had bought up several tons of it, to sweeten his and the devil's coffee in the other world. I saw on a bye table, an elegant copy of the Koran, or Turkish Bible, in three volumeSj large octavo, of which he told us he read a chapter every morning and .evening. /Vfter hearing him some time, I began to think him deranged ; but, upon consideration, found that he spoke ra- tionally on every subject ; except rehgion, and the, British government ; which he certainly hates, though he has a handsome annuity as a superannuate sea officer. When the clergyman that dined with us found fault with him for using the name of God^ once or twice Irreverently, in the course of conversa- tion, he bowed, and made an apology : how^ever, the clergyman having somehow lost his gloves, and ex- pressing much anxiety about them, added, God only knows where they are. Mr. J n, looking at him, said, with a significant tone, do you think God has nothing to do but look after your gloves? It is a most conspicuous proof and example, how much'the 36s TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. understanding of men are under the influence of their wills, or passions, that a man should be found, who gives up the rehgion of Jesus Christ for that of Mahomet. HUNTLEY. It is situated on the banks of the Bogie, \ a river celebrated so far back as the days of Charles II. for its banks being covered with white linen cloth, and its waters for a pecuhar quality, favourable to bleach- ing. It is a tolerably thriving inland village, about twenty miles from the sea, containing from two to three thousand inhabitants, and has some manufac- tures, particularly of linen, which are sent to the London market. And here resides the marquis of Huntley, to whom the people of this country look up, and on whom Providence has conferred not only a good head, but an extremely good heart. / / In this neighbourhood, on the side of a hill not ^' far frpm the river, there is a millstone quarry of un- commonly hard grey granite. They put a long piece ^^of wood through the centre of each millstone, and ^^direct it down the hill till it comes to level ground ; where it may be put on a carriage, and drawn by horses. One of these lately, being large and heavy, broke off from the men directing it on its edge, and acquired such Velocity by the time it approached the foot of the hill, that it sprung over the river, though thirty feet broad, and ran a considerable way on the other side before it stopped. \ I myself remember to have seen, what I may call / TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. SSQ a very terrible march of a millstone, near Tillicoul- try. A millstone being loosened, and pushed off by a number of herds, as they call them, fellows keeping cattle, came rolling, and bounding from the side of one of the Aichil Hills, to the bottom, where above five thousand people were hearing a tent- preacher, oh a sacrament Sunday. The stone had acquired such velocity and force, by the time it approached the foot of the hill, where the people were sitting, that, as it came straight toward them, it would have killed some hundreds of them, had it not, as it were, by the interposition of providence, broke into pieces, which did no harm, when it was not above two hundred yards from the terrified mul- titude. Necessity often leads both men and other animals to do 'what they otherwise would not. As I was, one day, amusing myself with the objects around me, on the road between Huntley and Portsoy, I ob- served two magpies hopping round a gooseberry bush in a small garden, near a poor-like house, in a peculiar manner, and flying out and into the bush. I stepped aside to see what they were doing, and found, from the poor man and his wife, that, as there are no trees all around for some miles, these magpies, for several years, built their nest, and brought forth their young in this bush. And, that foxes, cats, liawks, &c. might not interrupt them, they had barricadoed, not only their nest, but the bush all around, with briars and thorns, in a fonnidable manner ; nay, so much so, that it would cost even a fox, cunning as he is, some days labour to get into the nest. The materials in the inside of the nest Bb 370 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. were soft, warm and comfortable to the touch, but, all around on the outside, so rough, strong,, and firmly entwined with the bush, that, without a hedge knife, hatch bill, or something of the kind, even a man could not, without much pain and trouble, get at their young; for, from the out to the inside of the nest, it was longer than my arm. Frogs, mice, worms, or any thing living, was what they brought tlieir young. One day, one of the magpies having lighted on a rat, but not being able to kill it, one of the young ones came out of the nest to its mother and tlie rat, while they were fighting about the bush, and assisted in killing it; which they did not accomplish, till tlie father, arriving with a dead mouse, also lent his aid. The poor woman told me, that, of the two mag- pies, the mother was the mott active and thievish. She was also very ungrateful ; for, although the children about the house had often frightened cats, hawks, tS:c. from the nest, yet she one day seized a chicken, and carried it to the top of the house to eat it. But the chicken's mother flew up after the mag- pie; and, having rescued the chicken, took it in her nib ; and, as it was not able to fly, brought it down in the same way as a cat carries her kittens in her mouth, taking its neck in her nib ; and the poor chicken, though it made a great noise, while tlie magpie was carrying it up, was extremely quiet, and seemed to feel no pain while its mother was bringing it down. These magpies had been faithful to one another for several summers, and drove off their young, as well as every one else that attempted to take possession of their nest. This they carefully rcpaiied, and barricadoed in the spring with rough,^ TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 37] strong, prickly sticks that they soijietimes brought to it jointly, one at each end, pulling it along, when they were not able to lift it from the ground. I gave the poor people's children a shilling each, because they had not robbed nor disturbed the magpies. The same poor people, having one year lost the mother of some chickens, the cock became their protector, took them under his wings in the night- time, and whenever it was cold, and continued this paternal care, notwithstanding that his wives often tried to seduce him from the chickens, to attend to themselves. Here too I was informed, a pigeon took care and fed the young himself; his wife, and the mother of the young ones having been seized and carried off by an insidious cat. Who is not tempted to exclaim, with the philosopher, Deus est anima ERUTORUM ! HILL. OF NOTH. \My next route was to the top of Noth, a hill not far from Huntley, where they report there was once a volcano. \I examined this place very minutely. Many of the stones around this hill, not only near the top, but all around its base to a considerable distance, appearing partly to have been in a state of fusion, no doubt serves to support this opinion; but I am rather inclined to think that these stones have assumed this appearance from having been built up in the form of a wall or rampart, and wood having been set on fire, piled up on each side of them, to smelt them, and make them run together, B b2 372 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAXD. and consequently to form a stronger fence and more durable than if built with the strongest cement. Some of the stones of this country evidently con- tain iron and ores of various kinds, and consequently by being put between fires, might easily be made to run together, and thus form a fence of stones run together, and capable of continuing in that state \ A for thousands of years. 1/^ A few miles from Huntley I passed a rrll, sczircely a foot deep, that conveys water to drive a mill. A cat, sunning herself, and purring one day by the side of this rill, seeing a salmon in it, leaped on its back; but not being able to pull it out, she conti- nued crying in an uncommonly curious manner, and held it till a person ran to her assistance. The salmon, which weighed eight pounds, must have lost its way, being more than two miles from the water of Bogie, and thirty from the sea. \ KILDRUMMIE CASTLE. \ Between the rivers Dee and the Spey, at the foot of the Grampian Hills in Brasmar, is situate Kildrum- mie Castle, an old and extensive ruin, once the seat of the earl of Mar. It was in Kildrummie Castle, then deemed impregnable, that the heroic and great king Robert Bruce lodged his family, Avhile he himself, with about two hundred followers, fled for safety after the unfortunate battle of Methven, near Perth, to the lakes and recesses of the Grampian mountains and the Western Islands. It is situated on a rising ground projecting into a deep glen. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 373 It is of a pentagonal form, the angles defended by- very strong and lofty towers, one of which is still fifty yards high. The court enclosed within this massy pentagon takes up an acre of ground. Besides the impression made by the vast extent of the ruins, I was much struck with an arched way under ground more than a mile, by which, in antient times, when necessary, they could leave or enter this castle. I proceeded some yards in this subterraneous passage, but finding it wet and dis- agreeable, I returned. \ In almost all parts of Scotland, if the people dis- like the estabhshed clergyman of the parish, they find dissenters of various kinds ready to increase the disHke; but in some places the people are so thinly scattered, and so poor, that they are not able to support dissenters; and in others, the landholders neitli^r will allow them to build places of meeting for dissenters^ nor to attend such without incurring their displeasure. In such cases, when the patron appoints a minister that the people dislike, they must either go and hear him on Sunday, or stay at home, there being often no other place of public worship within a dozen or even twenty miles. Hav- ing no other place of public worship but the parish church, and not choosing to go there, a number of people in the upper part of the county of Bamff agreed to meet at a central house, and read Fiavel's works. A dozen of them having met at the same hour with the parish church, they opened the book, which was a large folio, and looked at the fronris- piece, a print of the author. Having done this, the master of the house proposed, that before they be- 374 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. gan to read, as it was cold, each of them should take a glass of spirits. As they were viewing the print a second time, another person arrived to hear the devotions of the day. The landlord moved that they should each have a second glass. This also being agreed to and drunk, they turned over the title page, and came to the epistle to the reader. Some proposed they should begin by reading this, others that it should be passed over. Some again proposed, as the bottle M'as on the table, that they should take another glass, and consider of it. So ihcy did, and by the time public worship in the church was over, the people here were nearly all drunk, and not above a sentence of the book read. I wished to get a view from some high moun- tain in this part of the country; but 1 found I was too far from the sea here, as I wished not only to see the country, but the ocean, from an elevated situation. I therefore directed my course northward, and came to I3chinnis, a high moun- tain on the banks of the Spey, about twenty miles from the Murray Firth, in Aberlour parish. \ BELRINNIS. \ It being a very fine day, immediately after break- fast, I set out to climb this high mountain, which \s .seen by mariners coming from the northern o^ean before any other land ; and which, by a barometer I carried with me, I found near three thousand feet above the level of the sea. y But, though the (lay was extremely clear before I reached the top, I TRAVELS IN- SCOTLAND. 375 toiind myself enveloped in a cloud, whence I could see any object distinctly only at a few yards distance, Perceiving a fine breeze as I was ascending, I hoped the cloud would disperse, and therefore, though I felt it extremely cold, and myself extremely hun- gry, having foolishly put nothing in my pocket, I resolved to remain there some time. But, to my astonishment, while I was stepping about to keep myself warm, on the top of the hill, I perceived something of an uncommon appearance through the mist at a distance. I approached it indeed, not without fear, and at length found it to be a phalanx of wedders, or sheep three years old, oii the top of the hill, ready to defend themselves from every attack. They were arranged in a line, form- ing a blunt wedge, with an extremely large one in the middle, having a large black forehead, and a pair of tremendous horns. There were about a hundred in front, and about fifty on each side of him. A number of weaker ones were in the rear, and not one of them eating, but looking sternly at me. I was not afraid, knowing them to be sheep ; yet I was not quite easy, as, if any fox had appear- ed at this time in attacking him and even chasing him, they might have killed me. ^- These wedders are sent up into the hill in the end of April, or early in May, and the proprietors never look after them till about the end of October. \ It is well known they never sleep all at a time, but, as is the case with crows, geese, and other gregarious animals, there is always one at a distance on the look out. They never rest in a hollow, even in the most stor- my night, but upon a rising ground, where they can 576 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. Bee all around ; and, when they are attacjced by a fox, or dogs, their assailants never fail to be killed. When furiously attacked, they form themselves into a circle, their heads all out ward, and the weaker ones in the centre; and if, as it sometimes happens, that a fox takes a spring, and leaps in among them, they instantly turn, and boxing him with their head, and stamping him with their feet, and tossing him with their horns, never fail to kill him; his ribs being generally all broken. When domesticated, animals generally leave their protection to man; but, when left to themselves, both instinct and ex- perience teaches them how to defend themselves. When these sheep on the top of the hill saw me retire they grew more careless, and did not keep their ranks so straight; but whenever I turned, and was approaching them, they looked more steadily at me, stood closer together, and firmed their ranks more yegularly; and, I verily believe, had I attempted to attack them, they would have resisted. I had once a mind to try it, but I confess I was afraid, as I observed them seemingly bending their knees, to make a spring at me. I amused myself for some time with the variou.^ vegetable productions on the top of this hill. I observed four or five different species of heath, which, with cup -moss, yellow fog, as it is called by the common people, and -two or three species of short tough grass, were the only vegetables I saw here. Round all the top of it I only found one small dwarfish plant of the heath, called foxtail. In a small hollow, with some water in it, I found a young ^rout. How it could come there I know not. It is TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 377 observed in India, that in appearance it sometimes rains fishes, that thousands of them are sometimes found soon after rain on the tops of the houses, which, as they were in the land of Judea, are gene- rally flat; and this in inland places, which have no com- munication either with the sea, lakes, or rivers. It is, however, found, that the ova of fishes, insects, &c. are not only blown by the wind, but car- ried from one place to another, by having adhered to the wings and feathers of aquatic birds ; and I am of opinion, that the ovum from which this trout sprung, and several other small fishes I saw in the rills near the top, must have come here one of these two ways. So quick is the growth of animals and vegeta- bles in India, that the ova of fishes blown or carried to the tops of houses, and into the fields, in a day or two after rain, by the moisture and heat, become alive and able to swim. Indeed, even on the banks of the Spey the growth of some ani- mals and vegetables is astonishing. Rhubarb, it is well known, even in the north of Europe, will sometimes in May or June, after rain, grow nine or ten inches in twenty-four hours ; and that gos- lings, in the course of two or three months, are as big as their mother. AYith regard to fishes, even in cold countries, where the growth of every thing is more slow than in warm climates, it is known they sometimes arrive at the ne plus ultra of their growth in a very short time. As an in- stance : not long ago, as a , flood, early in the spring, had ' happened in the Spey, and banks, trees, &c. &c. had been carried along with it, some thousands of salmon fry, about two or three inches 378 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. long, were found in a hollow, left b}'^ the water. With a view, if possible, to ascertain their growth, hundreds of them were taken, and triangles, squares, ovals, circles, &c. carefully and neatly cut in their tails and fins, they were put into the Spey, seve- ral of which were caught in August and Septem- ber four and five pounds weight. I began to be so extremely hungry, that I would have given five shillings for a halfpenny roll ; and it being about four in the afternoon, I had thoughts of descending; when, all at once, as I was looking towards the east, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the clouds went off from the mountain, and fields, hills, rivers, and other objects thirty miles distant, all at once appeared to view. The sight was grand in the extreme, and called up immediately to my mind that omnipotent being who makes the clouds his chariot, and rides on the wings of the wind. Astonishment seized upon my mind, and I stood admiring the grandeur of the scene. Before nor since I never felt myself impressed with such sublime ideas of the power of him M'ho created the mountains, bade the sun, whose light and influence at once beamed upon me, to roll, and the far-distant ocean, which also appeared to view, and whose noise I even here heard, to hush and be still. In- stead of the sensations of hunger and fatigue, which the moment before made me uneasy, I perceived a secret enjoyment, a calm satisfaction, and a glow of love to God and to the creatures of his hand, which no language can express. When I saw Pe- terhead on the east, at the distance of near sixty miles, and thousands of variegated intervening ob- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 379 jects; on the north, the wide-extended ocean, as far as the ':ve could reach, and near twenty miles of land th jtervened ; and, toward the west, Inver- ne?->, tl .'Is of Lovat, Urquhart, and all the beau- ti I c ....I ry of Murray, with tovvns scattered here a'... there, appearing no more than a speck or pin's head, I was led to admire the wisdom, power, Eiid goodness of that being who had created such an astonishing variety of obJQcts for the comfort and happiness of man, and that unspeakable lov- ing;- kindness of his which induced him to calculate matters so that such diminutive, helpless, little ani- mals, as men ars, should be raised, one generation after another, from the comforts provided for them here below, to the hope of enjoyments far greater and more lasting beyond the sky. When this fervour had subsided, I could not help thinking, from a view of the vast disproportion be- tween the cultivated and uncultivated parts, which I here saw and recollected elsewhere to have seen, that Scotland, ata medium, is not one-fourth part peopled; that notwithstanding the greatNquantities of land taken in and improved, there are millions of acres yet in a state of nature, and that, as not a twentieth part of the ground in prospect is im- proved, that might be, and that as animals gene- rally multiply in proportion to the quantity of food provided for them, if the landed proprietors here would exert themselves and encourage tenants, by giving them long leases and other proper encourage- ment, this, as well as the greatest part of the north and west of Scotland, might be made to produce subsistence for ten times the number of inhabitants \ 380 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. that are in it at present ; and that, instead of the "world's being eternal, as speculative men have so of- ten argued, it seems only to be but created of late, since so little of it is yet improved. The sun, having in appearance descended many degrees since he appeared to my wondering eyes, and about to be hid from my sight by the obstruc- tion of a distant mountain, I thought of descending; and, by the time I came to a cottage at the foot of the hill, where I was partly known, he had hid his head behind the hills. Having been hospitably en- tertained by the mistress of this humble cottage, with her plain, but to me, at that time, delicious fare, willing to shew my gratitude, not only by words, as she would take nothing, I put some small pieces of silver into one of her children's hand, and left her, receiving her and her children's blessing. But this was to me a day of wonders ; for not long after I left the poor woman's house, when it began to grow dark, upon looking back to view that mighty mass of matter which had raised me near three thousand feet perpendicular above the spot where I then stood, I saw a considerable part of its surface on fire. Having never seen such an aw- ful muirburn, as it is called, before, my amasement was again renewed, as it called up to my mind the idea of those four days, when, in the year \666, three-fourths of London were burnt, and ten mil- lions of sterling of value consumed ; and of that awful period, when not only its surface, but all this. huge mountain, as well as the globe itself, would be one universal blaze. By the laws of Scotland, no muirburns are per- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. S81 mitted after the first of April ; lest the nests of muir fowl, partridges, and other game, should be destroy- ed, ^owever, anxious to destroy tall rank heath on the hills, which is neither so rich, nutritious, nor so grateful to the sheep and cattle, as the fine young heath, which springs up from the roots, enriched by the ashes of the old, the country people, when they have not accomphshed it before, and the weather proves favourable, are apt sometimes, especially if they think it can be done unobserved, to set part of the hills on fire even after April and May ; and it sometimes happens that moss takes fire by means of these muirburns, and continues to burn all the summer, or until a heavy fall of rain puts it out. The muirburn in Belrinnis, which I saw, as none could trace who began it, was termed accidental; and though it happened in the midst of summer, yet, as no serious mischief was done by it, no strict inquiry was made who began it. Robert Grant, esq. of Elchis, a gentleman in this neighbourhood, had several hundred acres of a fine young plan- tation destroyed by one. Sometimes also houses, corn fields, &c. &c. are burnt by them in high w^inds, and as in cities, when any part of them takes fire, the fire always spreads and runs towards that quarter from whence the wind comes; as fire, like the human race and other animals, requires pure air to make it live, and always increases or decreases in proportion to the quantity of combustibles and "^ure vital air it receives. Next morning I went to see Kinermonie, in the parish of AberlourA on the south-east bank of the SS2 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. Spey, once belonging to the Knights Templars of St. John, who were surprised in the year 1310 in a wood on the opposite side of the river, whither they had gone to convays drove them off to a considerable distance. The cagle$ in this country are thought, by people who are judges of this matter, to be uncommonly large and vora- cious, and their claws are so long and strong, that I have seen them used by young people, by way of curiosity, as a liorn, with a stopple for holding snuff, 9Dd carried regularly in the pocket for that purpose. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. .391 Many of the cattle in the Highlands are never in a house, either summer or^ winter. In severe winters, it is not an uncommon thing for the horses in the hills, fop hunger, to eat one another's tails and manes ^ nay, one another's ears : but the tails and manes are oftencr eaten, as this is done without any, pain or resistance. They will , fight a tough h-dt- tie for their ears.||r Indeed, domesticated cattle are sometimes reduced to nearly^the same state ; and when the spring happens to be late, fodder some- times rises suddenly to an enormous price ; hay- often starting, in the course of a week or two, from sixpence to three shillings per stone. Elevation, I find, in certain situations and aspects, does not retard vegetation. Thus, in Badenoch, there are spots cultivated near fifteen hundred feet above the level of the sea ; and yet, the grain ripens nearly as soon upon these, when they lie in a glen or on a southern exposure, as if they were a thousand feet lower. But grain, and other vegetables, in an elevated situation, when it is not screened from the north and east, and when there is little or no expo- sure towards the -south, is always late in ripening, in proportion to its elevation, and the dampness of the soil. On a farm in Bamffshire, in the parish of Ordiquhill, I observed one field about three hundred feet elevated above another, and the grain nearly as far advanced ; owing to this circumstance, that it was situated in what may be denominated an elevated hollow, or, as it were, bason. Though the Spey is a broad and rapid river, yet, in some places, there are fords, through which, when tliese happen to be far from any boat, th^y sometimes 592 TiiAVEis rx scotlaxd, "\vacle, and tlirough which jiorscs, curt.-,. Sec. are drawn. A beautiful young woman, lately, coming to one of these fords, the water, which is very clear, ap- pearing not deep, slie wished to cross it as fa.^t as pos- sible. Having taken oO' her shoes and stockings, and iji^Ijusted her petticoats for wading, she took a stick, by way of staff, to .steady herself in wading. Near themiddle of theriver, finding the water deep, and far above her knees, she began to iK'sitale, whether to proceed or return. People a hay-making, on the pppkosite bank, saw her a coming; but the river not being swollen, and several having crossed in the same manner that day, they thouglit there was no flanger. However, when they saw the young woman stand a considerable time, and then cry for help, they ran to her assistance ; but, while they were doing this, she fell forward, and was carried away by the stream. In about a quarter of an hour, she was found a quarter of a mile from where she was cross- ing; but, though all means were used, recommend- ed by the society for recovering drowned people, animation could not be restored. Indeed, not unfrequently people are drowned while crossing the rivers in the Highlands. A cler- gyman lately having occasion to go from Bamifshire to Elgin, in Murray, thought there was no danger, it being summer and fine weather, in trying a ford about ten miles from the mouth of the Spey. Being on horseback, he rode before, and his servant fol- lowed on another horse with a cart, and the cler- eyman's wife in it, with some articles going to town. When they were near the middle of the stream, the servant informed his master that his TRAVELS lif SCOTLAND. 3^3 head was giddy, and stopped the horse. His mas- ter said he might return, wliich lie attempted to do, but, losing his balance in the turning, he fell and disappeared; and the horse, with the lady in the cart, in turning, went off the ford into deep water, and was plunged over head. The clergyman, who had been married only a ftw months before, seeing the servant- disappear, alighted from his horse, and making towards the cart, got to it just as his wife had left it, she being up to the neck. However, both he and she, in their early days, having learned to sv.'im, though carried off tlicir feet, swam to the side at which they had entered; but the servant, though taken out of the water in ten minutes, and the people persevered for six hours, at which I myself assisted, in rubbing him with warm grains, vi^hich happened to be at hand, he being laid on a bed before a good fire; as also in chaffing his hands, arms, legs, &c. and putting the pipe of a pair of bel- lows into one nostril, and blowing gently with it, while the other and the mouth was carefully kept shut; and practising the other means recommended for the recovery of drowned people by the Dutch physicians and physiologists, and after them by many others,* yet all proved ineffectual. In the * Though Dr. Ilawes would fain insinuate, that he, forsooth, is, if not the discoverer, yet a great improver in tkis matter '. If men of ^lents, genius, and regular education, did not scorn to appear in the train of quackery, parade, and mummery, they might n^u- pally be induced to take th*? lead in the management, ajid make rnany important observations on suspended animation and the re- storation of life. There arr some important observation on the guackcry, Sec. now alluded to in the English Review, for March 394! TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. young man's pockets were found money and bills to the amount of sixty pounds, which he meant to put into the bank at Elgin. The domesticated animals, as well as the fowls in the interior of the Highlands, shew often peculiar marks of sagacity. In a {gentleman's house I w^as amused to see, one morning at breakfast, a cock, a beautiful bird, the door being open, come into the room. The mistress of the house threw some crumbs to him; but though it was early, and he had got nothing that morning, he would not touch them, but ran to the door and called his wives in a curious significant tone, till hearing him, he brought them to where the crumbs Mere; and taking some , of them in his nib, though he ran, and collecting them, laid them down before his wives, particularly one who was, it seems, also one of his daughters. In the course of my peregrinations one day through this part of the country, I went into a small hut, at the foot of a hill, where I only found a poor old woman about eighty years of age and her cat. As the poor woman was making some pottage for herself, the cat seemed clamorous for a share of it; and, indeed, grew so noisy, that the poor woman, with a spoon, took, some boiling hot out of the pan, and put it into the cat's dish. The cat being hungry, immediately put her mouth to it; but, finding it too warm, she put her foot gently, though hastily, among it, but evidently spread it with a view to it cooling the sooner; and, in the mean time, took some out of 1795, p. '20g. This article might be read with advantage by the sub- scribers to many funds set on foot by interested managers. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 395 the dish on her foot, and having twirled it about in a curious manner, also to cool it, first ate what was on her foot, and then went to what was in the dish. Indeed, not only the wild, but almost every spe- cies of domesticated animals in the Highlands seem to possess an uncommon share of sagacity. When the little Highland horses come -to any boggy, soft, or miry piece of ground, they first ptit their nose to it several limes, and then pat on it in a peculiar way with one of their fore feet; and some way or other, from tlie sound and feel of the ground, know whether they will not sink in it. They do the same thing with ice, and generally determine in the course of a minute whether they will proceed or not! Not far from Bamif, a physician,* who had been ex- tremely useful, and netted some thousands of pounds, besides bringing up a genteel family, but who some- times fell from his horse, and slept for hours by the road side, having one of these small horses, it never once went away when he fell off or lay down to sleep, but tarried till its master awoke. Nay, sometimes it would go round about him, and, by pushing him and rubbing him with its nose, awake him. Others of them, wlien any thing about their feet have been wrong, have been known to go to thesmithy, and hold up the foot of their own accord that gave therh uneasiness, or requlved to be shod. But of all animals in the H ighlands, the dog is, perhaps, the most sagacious. Not long ago, while a young man, an acquaintance of the coachman's, was walking, as he had often done, in lord Fife's Stables atBamff* a Highland cur, that generally was * He died lately. S96 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. about the stables, gave the young man no trouble. However, having taken an opportunity, when the servants were not observing, to put a bridle, &c. in his pocket, the dog began to bark at the young man, and when he came to the stable door, would not suffer him to pass, but actually bit his leg to prevent him. As the servants had never seen the dog do so before, and the same young man had been often with them, they could not conceive what could be the reason for the dog's conduct. How- ever, when thev saw the end of a valuable bridle peeping out of the young man's pocket, they were able to account for it ; and upon the young man giving the servants the bridle, &c. the dog left the middle of the stable door, where he for some time had stood, and allowed him to go out. And I re- collect, when I passed some time at the viscount of Arbuthnot's, at Hatton, in the parish of IVIary Kirk, one of his lordship's estates, when the out-of-door servants went out one morning, they found a man that they knew, and that lived at a few miles dis- tance, lying on the road a few yards from the stable, with a number of bridles, girths, &c. &c. near him, and the house dog, which was of the High- land breed, lying also at his ease, holding the seat of the man's breeches in his mouth. The man con- fessed his crime, and told them, that the dog had struggled with him, and held him in that situation for five hours ; but that immediately after the ser- vants appeared, the dog let go his hold. It is well known, that in London, the other year, a box, pro- perly directed, came to a merchant's shop to lie there all night, and be shipped off with other goods TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 397 next morning; and that a shepherd's dog, that ac- cidentally came into the shop with a customer, dis- covered, by his smelling it, and repeatedly barking at it in a peculiar way, after it had lain in the shop some hours, that the box contained not goods, but a fellow who intended to plunder the shop in the \ night time, and admit his companions. \ The saga- city of birds is well known. Though they cannot count, yet when they feed their young, they always begin, though they should be all gaping, at that place where they left off the time immediately preceding.^ It is owing to birds not being able to count that hens and other birds continue to lay eggs (if you abstract one at a time) day after day, and w^ek after week, in hopes to have as many as their wings can cover, and they can conveniently hatch. , /^^ ^ And here I cannot help mentioning the sagacity ' of some species of rats, to be found in the Highlands, and which there, as well as in other parts of Scot- land, proceed from one district to another, not by the exercise of their feet, but by adhering to the tails of the horses. The truth is, when the High- landers go to sea-port towns for coals, salt, groce- ries, &c. as their horses' tails are generally long, nay, so much so as to sweep the ground, rats from about the shore and stables where they lodge, often leap up among the hair in the horses' tails, where they sometimes continue for days, and till they are carried to the interior of the country. And as it was found some time ago, that two rats, each having the end of a straw in its mouth, lead blind ones, such bhnd ones walking in a line between them, SOS TRAVELS IN SCOTLANT?. with the middle of the straw in its mouth ; ^o it hag' been found, more lately, that pole-cats, and water as well as land rats, treat their old, blind, and infirm friends, in the same way, with a small stick in their mouths, when they travel from one glen or district to another in the Highlands, and which they seldom do- butin a body, as if by compact and agreement ; indica- ting that among them, asisevidently the caseamang' rabbits, there -is a species of government and subor- dination. \ In the interior of the Highlands, a farmer living near a great man, whose pigeons ate much of his grain, and having made repeated complaints with- out effect, as he was not at liberty to' shoot them, got a dead dog conveyed into the pigeon-house, Avhich induced all the pigeons to forsake it; and it was not till some months after, that the gentleman knew the reason they had done so, and that any carrion in a pigeon-house produces such an effect. I am sorry to say, that as in England, so in Scot- land, by way of speculation, some men marry a handsome woman, not so much because they love her, as because they hope to obtain a divorce and ' ample damages from some rich seducer. Several of late, in the north of Scotland, have tried this mode of making money, and have unfortunately suc- ceeded. During my stay in the interior of the Highlands, I employed people to procure for me the eggs of par- trido;es, muirfowl, lapwings, crows, magpies, &c. to be hatched by hens, ducks, geese, and the like. Young partridges, in a few minutes after they get their nib through the shell, and often with part of it adhering TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 399 to tfteir hind parts, run off, not in a direct line, but always by the side of a road, hedge, ditch, -or in some hidden place. They run a few yards, which, when only a few minutes disengaged from the shell, they do very quickly, then stoop, putting ,their breast to the ground, then run and stoop again. ]\Iuir fowl, lapwings, wild geese, and ducks, do the same when hatched by domesticated fowls. I never failed to find the young produced from wild ducks or geese eggs, when hatched by domesticated fowls, to be the colour of wild ducks and geese without the least degree of approach to the colour of domesticated ones. But I found, if their young, upon being prevented from running away, laid eggs, that these being hatched, the young ones, in general, did not differ much, though they did ahttle, from the colour of their undomesticated state. \lf you put crows or magpies eggs below a hen, she never fails to peck and kill the young of such soon after they are hatched ; and if you put mag- pies eggs under a crow, in a state of incubation or the contrary, the crow never fails to kill the young magpies, and jostle them out of the nest, as do the magpies to the young crows. )(^ If you put hens eggs under a duck, she will not pay attention to the chick- ens when hatched. A common hen, so far as I know, is the only fowl that cares for the young she may hatch, not of her o\vn species. She seems as much alarmed when the ducks she has hatched go to the water, as if she herself had laid eggs that produced them. \ A cow, I have found, sometimes allows the calf of another to suck her, and a ewe another's lamb; 400 TRAVELS ISr SCOTIA.^^. and it k a fact, that in the Highlands, as wll%6 in some otiier parts of Scotland and also England, dogs sometimes suck cows. Young; horses have also been found to suck cows ; and bulls, particularly when young, do the same. In Berkshire, not long ago, a pig, as its mother had more young ones than she could well suckle, often attempted to suck an ewe, which the ewe would not permit; but after her lamb was killed, she allowed the pig sometimes to suck her. It is, I believe, pretty certain, that in Berk- shire, when they tied up a dog from sucking a cow, so that he could not come to her, she often went to him, that he might do it. I knew a man in Bamff- shire, deprived of reason, that wandered about the country ; and, as he frequently, in summer, lay out all night, he generally went and sucked cows, where ever he could hnd them, and he was generally fat and healthy, and generally chose to sleep and sculk all night about byres or parks, if permitted. Considering the variety of improvements now going on almost every where in Scotland, the consequence ofhberty, it is not a little surprizing that the gentlemen, in the interior are still, in many points of view, so blind to their own interest. It is well known that the ashes of fern are extremely useful, not only in making soap, but for odier purposes. Now, if the gentlemen, almost every where along the coasts of Scotland, encourage their tenants to burn sea-ware; the ashes of which, being useful in our glasshouses and other manufa*:tories, fetch a high price ; "\vhy do not the land pjfoprietors, particularly in the interior, where, manufactures being but few, hands can be easily spared, encourage their tenants to collect and burn, tllAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 401 cii the sides of hill^ and waste lands, the ferns which grow there, which could easily be done, and would undoubtedly find a good market? And, as rag\Veed, a biennial, which also abounds in many places, and which, besides when young, being good for sheep, is found to 'contain an excellent dye stuff, I am surprised that gentlemen do not try to con- vert what grows in their fields into mOre useful purposes than any it serves at present. It is a fact, that from the bark of the elder, or arn tree, ^s the common people call it, the juice of ragweed, and a few other productions of the country, the Avomen in the interior, even at this day, as has been done in all ages, produce in their tartans, &c. as va- lious and vivid colours as the dyers in England carl do with their foreign drugs; and, however much the tanners may call the fact in question, certain It is, that besides producing an excellent die, the bark of the alder, as well as that of the birch tree, con- tains an excellent tawn; and that they are often employed for that purpose by the counti'y people, many of whom make, even yet, their own shoes; and, as their forefathers did, to avoid the tax on leather, privately tawn hides with the baifk of birch and alder. In many parts, I observed what is tefmcd a capuf mortuumj in other words, fields and parts of the same field that would scarcely produce any thino- and that the farmers, particularly in the Hi<'-h- lands, imagined this disease in the ground, and reluctance to produce, arose from the mere fatio-ue of bearing: but they should reflect, that this want of energy iii the ground to produce, which some- D d 402 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. times happens to ground by no means worn out, is often not so much owing to its fatigue, that is, its being exhausted by bearing, as to other causes; and that the ploughing even one-tenth of an inch deeper, or introducing a little earth, however small, that has lain dormant for a few years, or different from the soil in question, would not only give a vegetative quality to the whole, but, like a small quantity of yeast put to a tun of stagnant new ale, give hfe, vigour, and vivifying qualities to the whole. In the course of my travels on the banks of the Spey, I fell in, one evening, with a crowd of people about the edge of it. Upon inquiring the cause of their croM^ding together, I found they were ducking a tailor. The tailor, who was rather of a diminutive size, had had the bands of matrimony proclaimed three different Sundays with a young woman in a neighbouring parish; but offered to stake five gui- neas, that though this was the case, yet he could get any servant-maid in the parish to marry him be- fore Sunday. There being a beautiful young girl in the house where this tailor and they who held the bet were drinking, they fixed upon her as a trial. The tailor immediately stept to the kitchen, took her by the hand, told her that, though the bands of matrimony were proclaimed with another, he did not mean to marry her; that, however, he was de- termined to be married without delay ; that she was the person he had fixed on, and that he must have her answer this evening. The girl did not believe liim. However, upon two of his acquaintance, who were sent by him, reasoning with her on the same f' 1>^ ^ ^ X %, ^ ^ s^ TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 403 ground that he had done, namely, that he had a house and a good business, and she neither father nor mother to care for her, she began to hesitate, and partly to promise to hear him. There happened to be in the house, a drunken smith, an uncommonly stout man, who observing what was going on, and finding, interrogating the tailor, that he was only in Jest with the girl, and did not mean to marry, im- mediately took him to the river side, and then, dragging him by the collar into the river, duck- ed him heartily, only bringing his head now and then above water, that he might not be drown- ed. Such, I found, was the cause of so many being assembled here, all heartily approving of the drunk- en smith's conduct, as I confess I also did, the tai- lor certainly deserving punishment for treating a poor unsuspecting girl as he did. Though you meet as polite peoplehere as any where in England of the same rank, yet it must be con- fessed, that some time ago the people of this, as well as other parts of the north of Scotland, were cruel and barbarous in the extreme. For instance, in looking into the parish books of Aberlour,^, I found that a young woman, less than a hundred years ago, had stood in the jugs (an iron collar fixed by a chain to the church door), for saying she was with child to one of the parish, though she told the truth.^ It was certainly shameful in the young man to deprive the young woman of her virtue, but certainly much more shameful not only to deny the fact, but also to induce the justices, of whi-ch he was one, to condemn the poor girl to stand like a Dd 2 404 tRAVELS IX SCOTLAND. common malefactor at the church door for telling the truth. Previously to the year 1748, the great landholders had power of life and death, or pit and gallowsj as the Scotch law expresses it^ and so much were the Common people attached to their chiefs or great men, that they, in general, implicitly submitted to their de- cision, sometimes not so much through fear as a de- sire to pleise them. When a poor man, some tiir.p before 1748, on the banks of the Spey, was found fault with by his superior, the proprietor of Ballen- dalloch, and put into a pit till the gallows was pre- pared, he drew a short sword that he had got into the pit, and declared he Would kill the first man that put a hand to Iirm. His v ife, however, upon vising this argunjent : " Come up quietly and be hanged, and vith their servants, &c. drew near the tents in neat hunting dresses, and brought with them sixty- five brace of birds, besides hares, partridges, and a large pole-cat, the terriers had caught. At half past four, dancing began on fine shorty soft heath, in full bloom all around, At five^ dinner \yas annovinced, To the best of beef, mutton, fowls, and venison, there was added some braces of most excelleiit muir- fowL The fire with which they were dressed, in the end of the tent behind a large green curtain, was composed of oil and gunpowder. There was porter, beer, brandy, cyder, perry. Sec. with wines of the very best taste and flavour. We were all happy. The ong and glass went round, and the day, as it generally (|qes with each of the company, desceiided in peace.- \ > 406 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. Next day, as I was riding up from Castle Grant, ^f/^ on the banks of the Spey, I came up with a good looking young man, without the appearance of any teeth. After some conversation, finding him civil, ** Pray how came you to lose your teeth." Oh ! re- phed he, shaking his head, I was but the other week at a market ; and, hearing some noise in a house where there were some people drinking, and, as if they had been fighting, I had just peeped in at the door ; when, while I was laughing at their fighting about they knew not what, I received a stroke with a stick, that drove in all my teeth, without any other way hurting me, and here they are, says he, pulling some beautiful white teeth from his pocket. But I have got an excellent lesson, and shall never inter- fere with drunken people again, unless I am com- pelled to do it. Notwithstanding that there are some ignorant and savage individuals to be found in the interior of the Highlands, ^et the people in general are better in- formed on several points than in the southern parts of Scotland, or in England, which seems in a great measure owing to their travelling far to markets, &c. to the parochial schools, and the schools established by the society for propagating christian knowledge, all over the Highlands. This society, in general, appoint well qualified and diligent schoolmasters, and pay them from ten to twenty pounds a year each; which schoolmasters are under the cognizance and controul of the presbytery of the bounds; and who,, though the schoolmasters are bound to teach the chil- dren of the poor gratis, and to afford them school and otherpious books, yet, to make the schoolmaster com- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 407 fortable, have enaqted, that the landholders, where such school is situate, shall afford a house, fuel, and a few acres of land to the schoolmaster. In every glen and sequestered place, at a distance from the parochial school, there is generally a school of this kind ; and many, who are making a figure both in the army and navy, and particularly who bled on the banks of the Nile, have been educated at these schools. But there is another cause of the knowledge to be found among the common people in the Highlands and islands of Scotland, and that is, what is termed the royal bounty ; or a thousand pounds a year, given by his majesty to catechists and preachers, which are also scattered in the glens and other seques- tered places, at a distance from the parish churches. These catechists and preachers are, in general, sober and attentive, going from house to house instructing and catechising the people. I went to hear Mr. Alexander Grant,- of Glenrinnis, one of these glen preachers, and must say that I heard as good a ser- mon, seemingly spoken extempore ; and nearly as well delivered, though for twenty years he has had only thirty pounds a year, as I have heard in some of the London churches, where the rectors are allowed six or eight hundred pounds. Though the utihty of the parochial schools is ob- vious, yet there is one great fault in them, that too many things are taught in them by one person ; for, how is it possible that any one man can teach, with accuracy, Greek, Latin, French, English, arithmetic, book-keeping, mathematics, geography, &c. &c. A good grammar school in every presbytery or cer- 408 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAJiD. tain district, with an able master, and an assistant, where grammatical studies are chiefly attended to, is an object devoutly to be wished. The business of a schoolmaster in Scotland is not near so lucrative as in England; some of the masters of academies there getting more money per annuni. by seUing skipping-ropes, whipping-tops, &c. &c. to. their pupils, which they in general do, than the, twenty pounds of salary, and all the items of a paro- chial schoolmaster's income in Scotland taken to- gether. In perusing the parish books of Aberlour, I found it mentioned, that though the parson had desired his ciders, which are a kind of church-wardens, to hold a court, on a certain occasion, they did not attend; but, immediately after public worship, ran out to the church- yard, there being, as it is expressed, a fray in the church- yard, occasioned by the proprietor of Elchies, and ano^ ther gentleman, having drawn swords, fighting, and most of the congregation also fighting, having joined the one or the other of these persons. Theparsonalso went out, but his persuasion was insufficient to make the combatants desist. Such frays often happened in this country about a hundred years ago. \ Not only the common people, but even the clergy, and better sort, in the interior of the Highlands, till about sixty or seventy years ago, believed in <^hosts, fairies, brownies, hob-gobblings, and the like. \I fell in with an old man, that positively insisted he had seen them,, and that a gentleman, belonging to the parish of Boharm, upon shooting among fairies, who were dancing round a green tumulus, one summer evening, wounded one of them, so that it could not TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 409 fly off with the rest ; that he caught and kept it all night; but that, recovering, it flew away in the morning. Pliny, the best informed and the most voluminous writer of natural history, among the Romans, tells us that a boy used to ride across a bay in Italy on a dolphin's back, and this old man lirmly beheves, that in the days of his father, a water kelpie, or a something which, I found, he could not describe, would frequently come to the edge of the Spey ; and, taking his father on his back, and others, one by one, carry them across the river, where it was so swoln and furious, that no boat could cross it. Smiling at this old man's credulity, I said nothing, knowing it would be in vain to attempt to convince him, that Pliny and he too must have been mis- taken. V The great faults of the common people in the Highlands are laziness and an inordinate attach- ment to whiskey, a strong spirituous liquor. Indeed, in many places, whiskey is with them the grand elixir and universal specific for all disorders. They administer it in colds, fevers, and faintings, and it is a frequent prayer of theirs, that " God may keep them from that disorder that whiskey will not cure." Children often, the day they are born, begin to be initiated in drinking this baneful liquor ; and so lazy are many of them, that they rather choose to lounge about idle, and half starved, than work and be well ' I fed. The truth is, their laziness is a kind of second nature. Brought up from their infancy in tending sheep and cattle, and seeing no object to rouse their attention, or a desire to better their condition, they grow callous and indifferent ; and, if I may sse the 410 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. expression, delight to drone on doing nothing. But, though this is evidently the general character of the Highlanders, yet, rouse their attention, and shew them any prospect that promises success, and they become active, enterprizing, and persevering; in this re- spect resembling the Cherockee Indians, and most other nations only verging towards improve- ment. While in the upper parts of the county of Bamff, going one day to a small farm house, in quest of something for my horse, as well as myself to eat, I observed a large fox lying dead on the floor, and learned that the good woman of the house, having gone out in the morning to a furze bush, not many yards from the door, for some wearing apparel that had been drying on it, seeing a fox sleeping in the bush, and recollecting that she had of late lost almost all her fowls, went quietly to the house, and with one stroke of her tongs, made him motionless. She informed me that a fox had been caught in a trap by her husband, by the leg, some weeks before, but that it bit off the foot, a little above where it was held, and, going away, left it in the trap. In Glenaven, which is a desert place, near twenty miles long, and scarcely a house or any thing to be seen but cattle, which are sent there to graze in summer, observing some gentlemen, with dogs, shooting at a large old nest in a tree, I rode up to them, and found, that one of the terriers coming past, and looking up into the tree, continued barking, though nothing was to be seen. This induced the gentlemen to return ; but though they saw nothings as the terrier continued to bark, looking up at the TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 411 nest, they fired at it, when an old, and a number of young pole- cats appeared, running about in the nest. They fired several times, till one of the pole-cats ven- tured to come down, but it was chased, and soon killed. A young man, servant to one of the gentle- men, climbed up the tree, and found five large young polC'Cats in the nest, who were all shot, but one, that bit his hand so dreadfully, that he roared out, and was in danger of losing his hold, and being killed. Glenaven is an uncommonly cold place in winter; the snow generally lying till April and May, when it begins to break, and the heath, in black spots, here and there in the glen, and on the sides of the hills, to appear through the snow. So severe is the frost here sometimes, that lately a heron, which delights to stand in the edge of rivers and lakes, found the foot on which it had stood so frozen, when it had been sleeping, that in the morning it was not able to get away, its foot being so much frozen among the ice. In that attitude it was found and caught. It is difficult to account for the formation of such enormous quantities of peat-moss as are to be found in many parts of the Highlands, even on the summit of hills, where large trees of various kinds are pre- served in them. In some parts of the Highlands I found peat-moss on the tops of the hills, three and four feet deep, with sometimes a stratum of blue clay ; and sometimes of sandy stones, though not round, or having the appearance of being rolled in water un- derneath. In former times, the mountains and hills of Scotland must have been covered on the summit with wood, though there is none to be found grow- 412 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. ing on them now. In some places, there is an oily, and highly inflammable substance mixed with the ^nioss, particularly towards the bottom, which makes it give great heat, and burn like a torch. In other places, the moss, though not oily, is hard, heavy, and impregnated with highly inflammable matter, ap- proaching the nature of pit-coal, which leads me to think that many, if not all, the seams of coal in the earth are, perhaps, vegetable matter ; and that, was any violent eruption of nature to take place, and these large strata of moss to be placed some fathoms below the surface of the earth, as some of them are extremely hard and black already, they would, in all probabiHty, assume not only the appearance, but, by the pressure, the exclusion of the air, and new im- pregnations from surrounding materials, become strata of coal, such as at present are found and dug out of the earth. Though in many parts of Scotland there are thou- sands of acres of peat-moss, that will not be ex- hausted for ages, even though they should dig it up and burn it, merely for the excellent soil sometimes found below it ; yet, in many places, the moss is al- ready completely exhausted j and, were it not that the landholders arc beginning to form plantations of lirs and other woods adapted to the soil, these parts, in all probability, would soon become uninhabited^ on account of the cold in winter, and want pf fuel The natural sagacity, perhaps suspiciousness of the greater part of the common people ip. the moun- tains of Scotland, is remarkable. When I asked any question, they generally, by \vay gf preliminary, an- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 4*13 swered it by asking another ; and the more you urge them to answer you, notwithstanding their propen- sity to obhge, the more numerous their questions- become. Like the naked savage in Demerara, who, when about to rob his master, rubbed all his body vith oil ; that he might the more easily glide out of their hands, if any should catch him * so, by a na- tural instinct, the inhabitants of the interior, and mountainous parts of Scotland, are careful, before they satisfy your curiosity, to guard against all the consequences that might possibly tlow from their doing so. There are a variety of druidical temples and mo^ numents of antiquity in the mountainous as well as the southern parts of Britain. The forests of oak and other trees in the north and mountainous parts of the country, which are now covered with moss, and whei'e there are no trees at all, must have been immense, and the machines with which the Druids carried and set up the stones that now mark the scite of their temples, vast, and beyond what we have any conception of at present. Indeed, I cannot compre- hend how such immense and ponderous stones, as I saw at Stone-hinge, by Salisbury, in Wiltshire, could he moved; nor can I comprehend how the Druids, in the mountainous and northern parts of Scotland, could move such enormous masses as are at many of their temples ; some of them being ten, twenty, and, perhaps, thirty ton weight. They must have had engines, or mechanical contrivances, of which we, well informed |ls we think ourselves, have not any, even the least, conception. The immense cairns tgo, or heaps of stones, which ^14 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. are frequently to be met with, and which were raised over the dead bodies of their chiefs, and great men. were not formed witliout reason. It has been asked of what use these cairns and heaps of stones are? and why every one was required to add a stone to the general heap ? The reason is obvious. At this day, though it can do them no good, we are apt to revere the ashes of the good and the great ; and though it can be of no real use to them, to put their remains in lead coffins, or otherwise try to preserve and keep them together. In the times of the Druids, when Scotland, as well as England, was overrun with woods and immense forests, bears, wolves, and other wild beasts, the human bodies were often dug up out of their graves, torn in pieces, and eaten by them. \ ^^ To prevent the bodies of those they revered from those devouring animals, they generally raised a heap of stones over them, and every one that passed being desired, not only to shew their respect to their supe- riors, but also to contribute their mite of respect to the remains of the deceased hero, or great man, generally added a stone to the heap,\as it tended still more to protect their bodies from being devoured. And, when their Druids, or other great men in the priesthood, were buried in woods, or near their temples, where it would have been inconvenient to raise a heap of stones over them, they buried them in stoiie coffins, that could not easily be torn asunder by the teeth of devouring animals. Notwithstanding the rapid improvements and diffusion of knowledge in all parts of the coun- try, there are many, even yet, in the interior parts of Scotland, who believe in charms, and anti- charms ; and, though it is not so often to be seen TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 415 as formerly, yet sometimes they put a slip of the mountain ash over the door of their cowhouses, &c and tie pieces of it in their cows tails, to prevent witchcraft and enchantment. Even in a clergyman's house, I saw an infant with a silver broach, or buckle, fastened to its clothes for the same purpose : but this was done by the nurse; the clergyman was certain it could be of no use, but allowed it to continue, as one and all the females in the house were of a differ- ent opinion. They always fix it to girls somewhere to the clothes about the left hip, and on boys about the middle of the left thigh, to protect his powers of \ generation. Nay, ^I fell in with an old woman, in the course of my travels, near the source of the Spey, with a large brass broach, in the form of a circle, about five or six inches diameter, fixed on her clothes upon the left hip, which she liad worn, night and day, for more than half a century ; to preserve her from mischief, x The people in England, and indeed in the southern parts of Scotland, have scarcely any conception how hardy those who live in the northern and moun- tainous parts are. To give an instance : the other winter, as about a hundred people, who attended a wedding, were crossing the Spey, in an uncommonly cold, frosty day, the bride's mother becoming dizzy, was likely to fall into the river. The bridegroom, seeing this, in turning his horse, in the middle of the water, to keep her steady, lost his balance, and, falling into the water, disappeared for some time, being carried down the river among pieces of ice that were passing. However, at about tep or twelve yards frpm the place where he ieil, recovering him- 416 TRAVELS IN SCOtlAJJD. self, he raised his head above water, scrambled among the ice to the water side, shook his ears, mounted his horse, and, though often advised, would not shift his clothes ; but, as hearty and as happy as a king, danced all the evening, the icicles, like the bells on Aaron's robe, hanging, dangling and rattling at the tails of his coat, as he was dancing. Between twelve and one, he retired to bed with his fair bride, and ap- peared in excellent spirits next -morning ; coughs and colds being what he scarcely ever felt. \ln the Western Isles, women are sometimes seen suckling their children while wading up to the knees in snow, without either shoes or stockings ; and, being ha- bituated to it, without finding any inconvenience. Mr. Campbell, one of the late duke of Argyle's factors, or stewards, as a never-failing cure for the cold, was wont to put on his great coat and boots, go and lie down for a minute or two in that state in the water, and then immediately go to bed, boots and all. He lived to be a very old man ; and this, it seems, was his constant as well as never-failing cure for any serious cough or cold he happened to catch. Nor do the old, but also the young give demoij- stration of hardiness ; for, as two little boys, the other winter, in the upper parts of the county of BamfF, the one about six, and the other about eight years of age, who, having neither father nor mother, were begging, were overtaken by a fall of snow, in the month of February, about five o'clock, in a cold frosty evening, and not seeing any house, nor know- ing which way to go, after they were tired, lay down in a furrow, in one another's arms, and, covering themselves the best way they could with a small TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 417 blanket each of them had about them, fell asleep; and about seven in the morning waked, the weather being calm and serene, in perfect health. Though few people are rich, yet, comparatively speaking, there are but few beggars in the High- lands, and no poor's rates, the poor being sup- ported with what is collected at the church door on Sundays, and donations or legacies left them, and distributed by the minister and his elders as to them seems prudent. The; diversity of climate between Murray and some parts of the interior of Scotland is very con- siderable. A gentleman in the upper parts of the county of Bamff having advertised in the news- papers some farms to let, some Murray, farmers came with a view to bid for them. When these men left tlic lower parts of Murray early in the morning, tlie ploughs and harrows were going, the birds singing, &c. ; but when, about mid-day, they arrived at the farms advertised, which were at the foot of the hill of Belrinnis, they found the farms not cleared of the winter snow, and the frost so hard, that scarce a plough could enter. But this diversity of climate, which happened within a do- zen or fifteen miles of each other, can easily be accounted for. A certain degree of cold, even in Ja- maica, attends a certain elevation ; and in the mountains, near the centre of that island, there are often frost and snow; and Scotchmen, who live about these mountains, complain that they have found it nearly as cold in Jamaica as it is in Scotland. In like manner the river Spey rises near three thousand feet perpendicular above the E E 418 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. level parts of Murray ; and there are grazing places, nay, even patches of ploughed land in Strath- spey above fifteen hundred ft?et perpendicular above the level of the sea; and when this elevation hap- pens to be upon a cold, damp soil, the difference of climate is remarkable ; and seed time, in some places, often does not commence till the month of May. In the upper parts of Bamffshire, happening, one Sunday, to hear an old clergyman, Avhose text was, " When ye are reviled revile not again," partly recommend duelling ; and, being asked to dine with him, I hinted, as delicately as I could, that I thought his method of treating his subject a little uncommon. He confessed that he was an enemy to duelling in general, but thought it might be necessary in some cases. I found, however, this gentleman had a son, a young man about nine- teen, who, upon his being appointed to a cadet- ship in the East India Company's service, was the only Scotchman in the character of a gentleman that happened to be in the ship which took him out to India. This being the case, the second mate, an Englishman, took an opportunity, when ordering him to do this and the other thing, to call one of the men a Scotch scoundrel, booby, lousy rascal, and the like. The j^oung man, think- ing himself pointed at, begged of the officer, when he gave his orders, or found fault with his men, tlrat he would not use the word Scotch so frequent- ly, since, though the man might be a Scotchman and a scoundrel too, yet there was no necessity for using so frequently and so forcibly an epithet TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 419 tliat conveyed a national reflection. As the officer persisted in using this term, the young man told him, he should wish to speak with him on the first island they came to, it not being allowed to give or receive a challenge on shipboard. At length, IMadeira appeared. The young man then sent a message to the officer, that, as the boat was going on shore, he expected he would accompany him. Upon having occasion to send this message a se- cond time, he deshed it to be added that he had a couple of pistols, as also of swords, and he should have his choice; but that, if he did not come without delay, he would come and kick him. The officer at length seeing his folly, came upon deck, and promised not to use the word Scotch, as he had done. But this did not satisfy the young man. As the offence had been committed openly and repeatedly before all the ship's com- pany, it was necessary that the apology, if one was to be made, should also be open and explicit. The once blustering, but now humble officer, there- fore, came on the quarter-deck, and begged the young man's pardon; which was granted on the condition of not using any such national reflection during the voyage. Having dined with the good old clergyman, whose son had acted, though against the letter of the law, in really so prudent and spirited a manner, I went to my quarters to note some things in my memorandum book, which, when I had done, my landlady told me an acquaintance of hefs had been at the church, and had learned that the ladies in England, as they are called spinsters, are now be- E e 2 420 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. ginning to be diligent at their wheels; that the prin- cesses had all taken to spinning; that the queen and the duchess of Gordon had met lately, as was the fashion long ago, at a spinning match, striving who could spin fmest and the most. She had also heard in the church-yard, (for the country church- yard is generally the exchange of the parish, where all th^ news and lies are handed al)out, and all the new gowns, &c. of the young people exhibited), that,\is the short-waisted gowns were first intro- duced by a lady who was with child, that she might not hurt tlie child, and adopted by the young women to shew how careful they would be were they married,\so gowns were now becoming longer, and that the fine ladies in London, Sec. had now got their hair dressed exactly in the same way as the girls in the Highlands have dressed theirs for many years. With such a mixture of truth and lies do the people in retired parts of the country amuse themselves. The people's ideas of justice and equity are very different at present from what they were about a lumdred years ago; for,' even so late as the year 17 15, nothing was more common than for a man to go from his own to a neighl>ouring parish, and not only to take one, but dozens of sheep, thinking it no great crime; and it is well known, that when a man in the parish of Inveraven, about that period, had stolen some sheep, and shorn and scraped their hprns to disguise them, was detected, he was pre- vailed upon to drive the sheep back to the place where he found them ; but that he thought the new laws absurd and severe that obliged him to return TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 421 the wool also, and have nothing for his trouhle, and accordingly obstinately persisted in keeping the wool. The most notorious thief of this kind, who was hanged about eighty years ago, was named Robert, commonl}' called Rob, Roy. He had lived by plun- dering, all the days of his life. He and his party, that sometimes amounted to fifty, often attacked castles and gentlemen's houses, and carried them by force: and so desperate was he, that when the people in a certain castle would not give him admission, it being harvest, he and his men brought corn from the fields, packed it up all round the house as high as the eves, and were about to set it on fire, to smoke them out like rats, as he expressed it, when those within, to prevent being with the house burn- ed to ashes, yielded. As he had murdered many, when he was taken he had his right hand cut oft* before he was hanged, which was found to be co- covered with red hair, like a beast : so strong was he, and so much had he been in the open air. ., Though the young men here practise gallantry, and pay, in general, as much attention to the ladies as ever was done in any age or country, and would, as the earl of Essex did to queen Elizabeth, permit their teeth to be pulled out to shew their sweet- hearts, who are attacked with the tooth ache, what an easy matter it is to lase a tooth, yet I am sorry to say some of the female servants here are, perhaps, the greatest slaves and drudges in the world. There are servants in England hired and- kept for shew; and so much do some of the ladies about London wallow in riches and luxury, that they have a servant to attend their lap-dog, to comb and wash it, tak it out an airing, to protect it from 492 ^ TRAVELS IX SCOTLAND. snarling curs, and carry it where the road happens to be bad : but such slaves as some of the ser- vants in the Highlands are, I never saw, except in Caithness, &c. where the women carry out the dung in baskets on their backs, while tjie men he lounging about the house, doing nothing but lill- ing the wicker baskets on the women's backs. Notwithstanding that the people in the Highlands are in general lazy, yet I was astonished to see with what facility some of them can almost do every thing. Respectable farmers, not only iu the inland parts of the country, but even not far from towns and seats of improvement, often make and mend their own shoes, clothes, carts, harrows, ploughs, &c. &c. without being at all ashamed of it. So they do in Norwtiy, and Swedish, and Russian Finland. I dined one day, in Badenoch, with a respectable farmer of the name of IMacdonald, who did all this, though he had more than a thousand pounds out at interest, and who politely said to a woman that sat beside him, when one pulled out his watch, " Ma- dam, the watch there puts us in mind of the hours, but you ladies make us forget them." Thre is a shamefully destructive amusement, which the men are fond of, and which, though against the law, too many of the proprietors in the upper parts of the country do not discourage, I mean the killing of salmon in the rivers in winter, while they are spawning. As, by law, the heritors near the mouths of rivers are entitled to do all they can to prevent fish going up the rivers, so the pro- prietors on each side of the river in the upper parts of the country,' though it is against the law, seem to wjnk at their tenants for destroying ^s ijiany TRAVELS IX SCOTLAND. 423 of them as th^y can, and preventing them from go- ing down tli river again; and thousands of salmoa are not only killed in tlie river Spey, in the Aven, and other rivers that run into it, but also, I believe, in most rivers in Scotland, particularly in the north- ern counties, by what they call blazing, or torch- n light, and which they do in the following manner. ,^ i^n/ When it grows dark, at or near a shallow part of the river, where, during November, December, and part of January, the fish are generally busy in making a bed for their spawn, four or five people meet, and having stripped the lower part of their body naked, and having a strong barbed hook, with a long handle, one carrying a large torch of lighted fir, split from the roots of trees found in moss, they instantly rush into the water, M'here the fish are busyand, whil e the fishes know not what do do, astonished at the sudden light, many of them are killed with the long barbed hooks. In many places of the Spey this is generally repeated seve- ral times of an evening; nay, sometimes, now and then, from four or five, when it grows dark, till day light next morning; as the fish that have escaped ^ever fail, after some time, to return to their spawn- ing again : and, though there is not a doubt that fish in this state are not only what is termed foul, but also unwholesome, yet they are eaten, and often sold at a high price, sometimes even a shilling the pound ; and although, to the delicate and lux- urious, it will appear a strange amusement, in a cold winter evening, to wade up to the neck in water and pieces of ice, yet certain it is, that those who once begin this amusement generally 424 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. grow fond of it, and that they seldom catch co](| by it, but generally sleep sound, and find it a cure for the cold. It is true, this is most frequently done by. young men, but it is also true tliat men of fifty, sixty, or even seventy, sometimes practise it, and come for miles in the coldest evenings, even in the midst of frost and snow, not so much for the profit as the pleasure this amusem.ent affords. On the banks of the Aven, a rapid river that runs through Glenaven, above noticed, into the Spey, oa the east side, about twenty miles from its mouth at Fochabers, T found erected a carding, and prepara- tions for a spinning machine. If the manufacture of flannels, and other woollen goods, were intro- duced into the Highlands, it might be the means of banishing that indolence and love of loitering about doing nothing, and preventing that spirit of emigra- tion to America Avhich has, of late, become so com- mon, and which must continue to increase, unless some rational means, such as the introduction of manufactures, prevent it. In the straths and glens in the Highlands, the land in many places is tolerably well ploughed, but in all miserably enclosed, and certainly not one twentieth part of it under the plough that might be under it. But the reason is obvious : for, as cattle fetch good prices, and they gain money with less trouble by tending them than by the laborious bu- siness of ploughing, harrowing, &c. so the High- landers have seldom more ground under the plough than is absolutely necessary for their subsistence. The consequence is, that when a crop fails, which it sometimes does, particularly when the summer TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 425 happens to be cold, and rains and the winter sets soon in, or the snow in the spring continues long, that they themselves, and their cattle in the spring, are often in a state of famishment. / It was, till very lately, a practice throughout the Highlands, to blood their cattle now and then for the sake of their blood; which, having boiled with a little oat- meal, they ate, to save their other provisions. \ This, though httle short of Abyssinian savage- ness, is certain beyond all doubt ; nor is the prac- tice in some parts of the Hebrides, Caithness, and Ross-shire, to this day wholly laid aside. Mt is not much above two hundred years, as we are in- formed by Buchanan, since the natives of the Hebrides ate raw flesh. \ On the top of the Highland hills I not only saw ptarmagam, a kind of wild pheasant, though they are generally extremely shy, but also a variety of other beautiful birds, which we shot with water, not to spoil their plumage, and which will be found stuffed in the British Museum. \ If you shoot a little water from a musket at a horse's head, the suddenness and velocity with which it comes stuns him, and makes him fall down, though he soon recovers.A So it is with birds: you should, there- fore, run to them immediately when you shoot them with water, otherwise you will lose them. It was, and still is a custom in many places in the Highlands, that whoever comes into a house after a person dies, and before such person is interred, as also after a child is born till it is baptized, must eat and drink in the house before they leave it. This 42(7 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. being the custom, to save expenses, anfl because they think it disrespectful to God to have an un- baptized child in the house, poor people generally have their children as soon baptized as possible. But it happened once to a poor man in this part of the country, that a river, as is often the case, ran between his house and the clergyman's, so that nei- ther the poor man could get to the clergyman, nor the clergyman to the poor man's, in order to have the child baptized. The river was swoln by the gradual melting of the snow, and there was no bridge within twenty miles. The poor man's cheese, his bread, &c. was nearly expended ; he, therefore, on the one side of the river, and the clergyman on the other, consulting what was to be done, agreed that the child should be brought to the river side; that the father, presenting the child, should take on the vows, as they term it, and the minister with a scoop, or Dutch ladle, should throw over the water: which was done, though with dithculty, owing to th^ breadth of the river; after which, the clergyman pronounced the name, prayed aloud, so as to b^ lieard by the parent and his attendants on the other side, after which each went to their respective places perfectly satisfied with this new mode of bap- tism, and that, if the child died in infancy, it would go to heaven. It is customary in the Highlands, as well as in most other parts of Scotland, to prevent parents be- coming sponsors for their children, when baptized, if they lie under what is termed church censure. Mr. Macpherson, an extensive farmer in the High,- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 427 lands, not far from Loch Spey, being oftener tipscy than his friends could have wished, the minister threatened not to baptize any child for him, nor admit him to any church privilege, till he did pe- nance for his improper conduct before the congre- gation. About the time when this misunderstand- ing took place between the minister and Mr. Mac- pherson, the farmer's wife was delivered of two fine boys ; and, as it is customary to go to church and have their children baptized on Sunday, the farmer took his to have them baptized along with others he knew were to be there. I am sorry to say, that many of the Highlanders imagine that the virtue of baptism consists in the water after a blessing has been prayed for on it by the clergyman. The far- mer was one of those. As there were that day se- veral children to be baptized, the minister prayed as usud upon such occasions, that God would bless the element of water to be used, and accompany with an effectual blessing, the sacrament of baptism, about to be administered. When the farmer went up with his children, after the others, begging them to be baptized as the rest, and holding them on his arms, the minister refused, alleging he was under church scandal. The farmer, therefore, holding the children carefully with his left arm, put forth his right hand into the basin among the water, upon which a blessing had been prayed by the minister; and, sprinkling a little of it gently on each of his son's faces, said in Gaelic, "The one of you is named Duncan, and the other Donald, and the d 1 another baptism ever ye shall have;" and then \ 42S TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. making a bow to the minister, took them both home with him. I was amazed to see how much the. ministers in the interior of the Highlands are' plagued with dogs in their churches./ ;As ahiiost every family has a dog, and some two, and as these dogs generally go with the people to church ; so many dogs being collected often fight, and make ^uch a noise during public worship, as not only disturbs the congre- gation, but endangers the limbs of many. I have seen more than twenty men plying with good cud- gels, yet unable to separate a number of dogs fight- ing in a church. ^Nay, so much trouble do dogs give in some churches, that there is one appointed to go through the church-yard with a kind of long- handled forceps, which he holds out before him, and with which he wounds the tails, legs, and ears, &c. of the dogs, and thereby keeps the church and church-yard clear of these useful, but totally unne- cessary animals in a place of public worship^In- deed, as these long-handled forceps have been found so useful in the Highlands, perhaps they might be of use in some other places; for ladies in too many places bring their lap-dogs to church, both on the north and south side of the Tweed. It often hap- pens that a lady's lap-dog, running out and into her mutJ' at church, and playing other antic tricks, draws more attention than the parson. Perhaps in England, in some places, they are at much more pains in brushing and washing their churches than in purifying their hearts from wicked- ness ; but, in some parts of Scotland, their churches are disgusting and shamefully dirty. I found a pa- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 4^9 rish church on the banks of the A ven, which, though the parishioners meet in it every Sunday, has no door, scarcely a pane of glass in the windows, and at least a hundred holes in its roof. The truth is, calves, cattle, sheep, swine, &c. &c. lodge in it all night. In going to a kind of pew in it, I went over the feet, and positively in one place up to the calves of my legs in cow dung. The clergyman and presbytery can order a decent church to be built at thqf joint expense of the heritors, accord- ing to their valued rent; but as many of the heritors never go to church themselves, and the clergy have sometimes farms or other favours to ask for themselves and their friends, to save the heritors the expense of a new church, which now in general costs at least seven or eight hundred pounds, they put up with an old one, as the people also do to save the ex- pense of driving materials to a church in inland parts, which they are obliged to do, as their part of the business. To a Gentoo, a Strathaven church, most copiously replenished and bespattered with cow dung, could not fail of appearing a very holy tem- ple. In most parts of the Lowlands, however, and even in some of the Highlands, they begin to study decency, neatness, and even a degree of elegance, in their churches. , Ridiculous circumstances sometimes occur even in the most sacred places. As in Highland churches, in winter, the water in the font, or basin for bap- tism, is sometimes turned into ice in a short time, it is customary to bring in the water just before the baptizing begins. The beadle of a church in the interior of the Hisrhlands havinor foroot to brino- in the water till the minister was proceeding to bap- 430 TRAVELS IX SCOTLAXD. tize, ran out for it, but brought in some so warm, that the clergyman, having burnt his fingers, for- got himself, used some antic gestures with his hand, and interlarded the baptism of the child with an address to the beadle, threatening to come down and kick him out of the church. Abraham, we are told, made a feast when his son Isaac was weaned ; but, as was the case till lately in most parts of Scotland, in the Highlands it is still usual to make a feast when a child is baptized. Nay, so much does this custom prevail, that it is no uncommon thing to see people that are almost beggars having fifty or sixty people at dinner with them upon such occasions, others of better condition have more. However, those that attend generally send fowls, pieces of beef, mutton, butter, cheese, meal, whisky, tea, sugar, or something be- fore them; so that such dinners, instead of causing expenses to the poor people, are generally an advan- tage, in the same way as their weddings are. Being invited to a baptism dinner while in the Highlands, I saw an hundred fowls at least, besides pieces of beef, mutton hams, which they call Spagan-dow, or Black Ham, black indeed with smoke, all boil- ing in a large cauldron, with barley, rice, onions, &c. ; and there were as many more with legs of mutton, hares, partridges, &c. stewed, or otherwise cooked in a different way from boiling. All this, with abundance of potatoes and greens, composed a dinner fit for a Highland laird, an English lord, or a German or French prince. But though feasts of this kind tend to enliven and cheer those hardy sons of the mountains, and to brighten the chain of friendship, yet they have this inconvenience, that \ TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 431 they generally occasion too much drinking. For in- stance, on the banks of the Spey, the other year, about twenty people, men and women, that had been at church on a week day to get a child bap- tized, upon going afterwards to the pubhc-house to drink, as is customy, the child's health, actually lost the child on their way home, and could give no ac- count of it. The truth is, the woman, who had the care of it, having sat down for a little by the way, laid down the child, and they being all tipsy, or, as the Greenlanders express it, having taken too much of the mad waters, forgot to take it up again; and, upon people being sent in quest of it, they found the child fast asleep, having got a good dose of punch, as they term it, to make the httle fellow sleep while the" clergyman was baptizing him. And,N so indecent are they at funerals, that lately, on the bor- ders of Badenoch, when crossing a bridge, having placed the coffin on the parapet of the bridge to rest themselves, though there were near two hun- dred of them, it fell over into the water, and was carried down a considerable way, while the friends, relations, and mourners, some on the one side, and some on the other of the river, went along with it, admiring how prettily it sailed. They would have allowed it to go farther, had not the coffin, upon coming to a stone, turned and gone on with the head first; which, as that was not the way they would have carried it, twenty or thirty fel- lows rushed into the stream, look it out, and car- ried it for some time, not observing that they them- selves, like the water, were carrying it with the head first. \ Indeed, as disputes sometimes arise at funerals, it is no uncommon thing to see twenty 432 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. or thirty men fighting, some on horseback and some on foot, and the corps laid down on the road, till they see -how the fray will Cind. \ ' . In the south of Scotland, not long ago, when carrying a corps to be interred, they were obliged to leave it in the snow, neither being able to carry it to the church-yard, nor home again ; but so hardy are the Highlanders, that a circumstance of this kind scarcely ever happens; as they often force their way through snow up to their neck. Though the itch was once very common in the Highlands, yet I seldom fell in with any affected with it ; and found as good beds in many parts of it, as in the hotels and great inns in England. The volunteers in the Highlands are a noble sight, and it gave me much pleasure to find, in almost every parish, hundreds of stout, hardy men, both old and young, not only well acquainted with the various military evolutions and branches of duty, but determined to defend not only the northern, but even to march to the southern parts of Britain, if any hostile foe dared to set a foot on it. It would have been dangerous, even fifty years ago, to have put arms into so many of the Highlanders hands, but there is no danger now ; as they are, though not much attached to their chiefs, as much attached to their king and country, as any subjects in Britain. I was astonished to find so many crows in the Highlands, till I learned that, at a certain season, they, with their young, from all quarters, repair to the hills, for the sake of the berries that grow on a low bush, often not so tall as the heath, and which are known by the name of crow-berries. It is observed, that some species of the fig-tree TRAVELS IN SCOTLAN.D. 4.^3 have two crops of fruit on them at once, and that the former year's fruit is not ripe, till thefmit of the succeeding year is not only fairly formed, but as large and heavy as when ripe. The juniper bushes, which are almost every where to be met with about the roots of the Highland hills, have this quality of the fig tree, and always two crops of berries on them ; as also another small shrub somewhat similar to the crow-berries, but not near in such plenty. From the Highland horses, which are extremely hardy and strong for their size, as well as other ani- mals that go, as it were, wild in the hills, I am led to conclude that domestication is the sole cause of that diversity of colour, which appears among ani-' nials of the same species. Thus partridges, muir- fowl, magpies, sparrows, larks, linnets, thrushes, ^c. &c. are, and always have been, of the same colour; but, when domesticated and left to the care of men, from a variety of causes, their young assume various colours. Ducks, when wild, we know, have all the same appearance ; but, when tamed, their young become of various colours. Wild pigeons, in general, have all the same hue and colour. It is only in a domesticated state that they assume a different one. The same is the case with quadrupeds. Itis well known that hares, foxes, rabbits, wolves, lions,, leopards, bears, wild cats, wild asses, &c. &c, have all nearly the same colour ; but domesticate them, and, while you oblige them to see the labours of man, and prevent them from often seeing the country in an uncultivated st^te, by degrees their young as- sume a thousand variegated appearances. The horses and cattle that run wild iu-the-feills, as also in 434 T.RAVE.LS IN SCOTLAND. the Orkneys, Shetland, and Western Isles, arc all nearly of the same colour, which is for the most part that of hares, foxes, deer, and other Avild animals : and there is not a doubt, but were all the horses, cows, dogs, cats, cocks, hens, &c. &c. that assume ten thousand diiferent colours among men, to be turned out into the muirs and mountains, and suf- fered to run wild, their young would, in the course of years, become what their progenitors were, of a brown heath colour. The truth is, heath, which is here the ground, or leading colour in the garb of nature, being more than any other presented to the imagina- tion of quadrupeds and fowls in a certain state, may be the reason that brown, or the colour of heath, and a hill at a few miles distance, is the leading feature in the colour of most fowls and animals in an un- domesticated state. Upon the same principle it is, that there is not such an infinite variety in the coun- tenances of Indian tribes, and men in a state of nature, as in polished nations. The Swiss, the High- landers, the Africans, the Laplanders, the Hottentots, the Tartars, the Esquimaux Indians, the Chinese, 8cc. and even the people in different districts of the same country, that do not intermarry nor mingle much with others, are also a proof of what is here stated. In many parts of the Highlands, it is difficult to persuade the farmers, that, in moist soils, stones lying on the surface arc disadvantageous to a crop, and to the growth of both grass and grain. And it is a certain fact, that a farmer on the banks of the Spey, who had been persuaded by Mr. Johnston, who published Elkinton on Draining, to collect and drive off a number of stones from the surface of several TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 435 fields, brought them all back and scattered them on it again ; as lie insisted that his crops were mucU worse than before the stones were taken away. But, as the soil was damp, he would have ameliorated his fields much more, had he cut trenches in the dampest places ; and, filling these with the stones, made 'what is called covered drains with them. Either government, or the proprietors of the greater part of Scotland, should put into the hands of each of the farmers, some plain treatise on agriculture, pointing out, among many other things, how much the climate, as well as the soil of a country, is altered and bettered by draining, enclosing, and other opera* tions of the husbandman. I amused myself, one day, in the woods of Glen- more, belonging to the duke of Gordon, in observ- ing how thev* float wood down the river Spey, from this and many other places on its banks. The float formerly was guided by a man sitting on a very small vessel, not altogether unlike to the idea I have of the India catamaran, called a courach. This vessel was of an oval shape, aboutfourfeetlong, and three broad ; with a small keel from head to stern ; a few ribs across the keel, and a ring of pliable wood round the lip of it; and the whoki covered with the rough hide of an ox or horse. The rower sat on a trans- verse seat in the middle, holding in his hand a rope, the end of which was tied to the float. With the other hand he managed a paddle, kept the flcat in deep water, and brought it to shore when he pleased. Many thousand pounds worth of wood, chiefly fir and birch, are annually floated down this river. The fir, in spars of twelve, twenty, and sometimes Ff2 436 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. thirty feet long, and many thousands only ten feet, being carried to Sunderland, are let down into the coal-pits, and placed at proper distances below, to support the weight of the earth, when the pillars of coal have been digged. Hundreds of these floats, following one another, guided by a man on each end, go down at the rate, when the river is a little swohi, of sometimes ten miles an hour, and are landed at its ^ -^outh. \ ' I/" A It is curious to observe the various methods of \ . mourning in different parts of the world. When the Persians mourn, they are dressed in white ; it was customary on extraordinary occasions, when the Grecians mourned, to shave their heads ; and when a certain city w^as taken, the Athenians, we are informed, not only shaved their heads, but took an oath not to let their hair grow till the city was re- taken. When the Highlanders mourn, they set the bag-pipes a playing, and begin to dance, drink, and be merry, from an idea that the deceased is gone to a happier country. \ A number of young people generally meet in the evening, and continue in the same room with the corps. At such wakes, every kind of amusement is carried on, and the bag-pipes sometimes play all the way before the corps to the grave. Nor is any per- son permitted to depart from a house where there is a dead person, without eating and drinking; and so hard do they generally drink upon such occasions, ' that, in one point of view, they may be said to drown their sorrow. Many of the people in the Highlands firmly be- lieve in the prescience, or presensation of magpies. While I was at breakfast onemorning iith a worthy TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND, 437 clergyman, to whom I had been introdaced by letter, the servant came in, holding up her hands in a pray- ing attitude, saying, " The Lord prepare us all for death ; there will be two dead persons in this house before a month." Our eyes were all immediately turned toward the maid, and, I confess, my teeth, as well as most of the young peoples at the table, which were going when the maid came in, immediately, as it were, ceased to move of their own accord, at the first word uttered by the maid. When the good old parson, whose teeth were neither so good nor many as they once had been, had masticated sufficiently what was in his mouth, turning to the maid, he said, " How know you that two of us are to be dead ere a month?" "Oh, sir, a magpie alighted upon and tore one of your shirts, and that gentleman's there," pointing to me, and I am sure that mischief will follow." The old man smiled, and looked at me. Though neither this good old man nor I died, as was prophesied by the maid, yet she still believed in the fore-knowledge of the magpie, as a poor man in the neighbourhood died, and his friends having asked that day a shirt from the clergyman, to be put on him in his grave, the shirt on which the magpie, by accident, had aliohted, was the one giv^n to be put on the popr man. Vlt sooths some of the religious poor to think that they are to he in their graves in a clergyman's shirt, y As there are pretenders to the second sight, v/hich the bettersort of people do not altogether discourage, as it sometimes induces those that steal to return the goods, lest they should be discovered, so there are, in the Highlands, quacks and pretenders, even yet, to prevent witchcraft, enchantments, and barren- 438 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. ness in women. There is a j\Ir. Willox, near Tamin- toul, a man of some information, and who always wears scarlet clothes, that pretends he possesses this art ; and, I am sorry to hear, is not unfrequently ap- plied to. For instance, a man named Stuart, on the banks of the Spey, who had been married nine years, and had no children, went to the said Willox, and laid down his guinea, the ordinary fee. Willox, having a large black pebble of a curious shape, which he keeps in an elegant golJ and silver box, and which he says came i'rom Italy, being handed down to him from his grandfather, took it, went out to a well, near his house, brought in about half an J^nglish gallon of water ; and, with the pebble or stone in his hand, moved the water quickly, several times: then, saying the Lord's prayer three times, in Latin, and other Latin prayers, which, as he is a Roman Catholic, he can do, he bottled up the water, desired the man to say his prayers regularly every evening, and give his wife three wine glasses of this water at bed time, and there was no fear. The man did so, and actually, I am assured, has had a child every other year since. This seems to exceed the miracle of what made so great a figure in advertise-, ments in London newspapers, some years ^go, of the nine times died blue flannel. If what is affirmed iu the case of this woman be true, it is, no doubt, to be sat down among the wonderful effects of imagi- nation. A respectable farmer also, more than forty miles from Tamintoul, whose wife had lingered for years, without any physician being able, and many were tried, to discover what was the matter with her, was, at length persuaded by his neighbours^ that she was TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 439 XiHitched, as they term it. Nay, they teased him so much, that, to prevent his neighhours saying he did not care whether his wife was cured or not, he sent for Willox, paid him a guinea, and all expenses. When Willox came, in his scarlet coat, breeches, &c. he pesambulated the house, garden, barns, &c. fre- quently standing and holding out his nose, as if to smell where the witchcraft was lodged. At length he pretended he had discovered it ; and, running hastily, put his hand into a hole of the wall of the house, and pulled out a fowls stomach, broiled and cut into certain bits, which he said had been put there by some person, in concert with the devil. The poor woman, it seems, got a little better ; and, so credulous was the farmer, as well as his neigh- bours, as to believe that Willox cured her. Pedlars, or travelling merchants, introduce every Tirticle of dress into the Highlands, and find here a good market; the people often having plenty of money, from the high price they receive for their cattle, sheep, &c. And it is not a little curious, that the head dress and fancy wigs, sold by per- fumers and fancy dressmakers, in London and Paris, are exactly of the form in which the young women ia the Highlands of Scotland have dressed their heads these many years. The gowns and petticoats worn, by the Highland, are nearly the same stuff as those worn by the Welch girls ; only in the Highlands they are generally a kind of tartan, whereas in Wales they are generally a kind of striped stuff. Though the introduction of the arts be highly cal- culated to im.prove a people, and the Highlands of Scotland have been gradually improved by theth ever since the year 1748, when government dis- 440 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. covered the true method of civihzing the Highlands, and making them a national advantage ; yet, till this took place, the progress of the arts and refinement was extremely slow. As a proof of this, there is a floor at Castle Grant, in tolerable soundness, made solely by the axe, and before the use of the sa.w was introduced into the Highlands. Nay, at Elchics, not a dozen of miles from the mouth of the Spey, in the house belonging to Charles Grant, Esq. there is a stair in that wing which was originally a castle, the wood of which seems to have been put there, with- out having been touched by a saw. Among the better sort of people, tallow candles and oil lamps, as well as wax candles, are sometimes used ; but, as it is not only cheaper, and gives a better light, many, upon ordinary occasions, use only pieces of fir, split thin, from the roots of trees, found in the mosses ; which, from the great quantity of the resinous and inflammable matter they contain, give excellent light. It is the business of the young people in the house to prepare an4 hold these can- dles, one of which, affording near as much light as a torch, generally serves all in any one room of the house. Agreeably to this notion, when a rich man in London lately was extoUing the candlesticks on the table, which were of massy silver, elegantly carved ; a gentleman from Strathspey, being present,' said, that these w^re not near so valuable as the candlesticks in many parts of the Highlands of Scotland. A thousand guineas were immediately laid, that there were not better, nor more valuable than these, in all the Highlands. The gentleman, who held the bet, was allowed a sufficient time for thV candlesticks to be brought to Loudon, for iu- #^ TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 441 spection, and proof that they had been used in the Highlands previously to the staking the thousand guineas. When the evening of the day arrived, that the Highland candlesticks were to be inspected, four uncommonly handsome young men, in elegant Highland dresses, unexpectedly entered the room with blazing torches of fir in their hand. It was uni- versally agreed, that these were the candlesticks used in the Highlands, and those referred to when the bet was laid, and also that they were the most valuable. The gentleman, therefore, who proposed it, lost the bet. We are told that two bull-dogs, in the days of James I. of England, killed one of the fiercest lions in the tower of London, and, I am of opinion, that two or three of the shepherds curs, in the Highlands, would do the same. So fierce and hardy are they, while at the same time so faithful, that, like the dog mentioned by Ossian, which continued three whole days in the hills with his master after he was killed, they sometimes continue two or three days in the hills withouteating or drinking, or giving the least signs of wishing to leave him and them; thereby confirm- ing the truth of Dr. Goldsmith's remark, that many who call themselves christians are less faithful to their creator than some dogs are to their master. \ ''[/ Till about forty or fiftv years ago, bundling, or a young man and woman being put to bed together by their parents, was very common; but such were the customs and manners of the country, that if the woman was with child, the man was reckoned a scoundrel, and none would have any dealings with him if he did not marry her.-^ On the other hand, if there was no child in the case, they dissuaded him 442 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. from marrying, and thought there was no harm done. Something of this kind is prevalent in most countries newly colonized and but thinly inhabited, and exists in this part of the country, in some degree, to this day; for, if a girl is with child by a man, he is, as it were, and I think justly, despised, if he does not marry her. And I think the conduct of the Highlanders in this respect more consonant to sound reasoning and polished manners, than that of those who, though they pretend to be Christians, men of feeling, and so forth, make no scruple of as- sociating \vith the wretch (for I think he is no other,) who, by the force of money, or false promises, has se- duced an innocent female ; and who, while they, at the very time they act thus to the man, would avoid and disregard her who is undoubtedly, in the eyes of God and of every good man, the more excusable of the two. Indeed, notwithstanding our refinement in manners^ and improvement in knowledge, yet, in some instances, our conduct to the fair sex is shameful and base; and the laws of our country are, in one point of view, extremely defective, Blackstone remarks, in his Commentary on the Laws of England, that two men were hanged for robbing a man of three farthings. If a man steals one of my horses, my cows, my sheep, or of my bank notes, he is hung up by the neck, and kicked out of the world. If he steals my dog, my cat, or pocket handkerchief, or a few of my apples, it is ten to one but he gets a jaunt to Botany Bay. If he comes and steals my daughter's or any of my fe- male relation's virtue, be she the darling of my soul, the object of my fondest wishes, the sharer of my TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 443 tleclining years, and of infinitely more importance t)oth to her and me than all I have in the world, yet it is ten to one if this robber of my all is scouted out of one company on account of his conduct, or my daughter ever again admitted iuto any respects able society. The sheep-walks in the Highlands, particularly of late, that sheep liave brought so high a price, have become an excellent concern. A gentleman in Ba-- denoch, who has only a part of one, I have the best information, netts at least six hundred pounds a year by it. Some of these sheep-walks are from twelve to twenty miles long, and nearly as broad ; and this vast extent of sheep-walks, swallowing up in one a number of families, is the reason why the population in the Highlands is decreasing, emigra- tion every day taking place, and all the wealth of the country concentrating in a few monopoHzing overgrown individuals. It is obvious, that the Roman Catholic clergy's being obliged to go to Rome, upon many occa- sions, for ordination, tended much, in the dark ages, to improve the kingdoms of Europe, as they gene- rally introduced into the places where they were settled the improvements they saw on their way. to and from Rome. In like manner, the clergy, be- ing obliged to attend at the present day, some one of the universities, and their going once in four or five years to the general assembly at Edinburgh, has not only a tendency to open their own eyes, as to the improvement of their glebes, &c. but also to enable them to open the eyes of others to such im- provement. Whatever be the cause, one thing is cer- 444 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. tain, that the clergy in the Highlands are extremely useful, not only in a religious, but in a civil point of view; for as they have, in general, small farms attached to their glebes, and which, being in the centre of the parish, are frequently seen by the parishioners when they come to church, so it generally happens that the new improvements in farming, implements of husbandry, &c. are intro- duced and tried by them, which, if successful, is well, and, attached as the people too often are to old customs and opinions, are generally adopted ; but if unsuccessful, as the clergy do not depend for a living on farming, they are able to bear it. All over the Highlands they seem to prefer stone fences to any other ; and this is a fortunate circum- stance: for, as many parts are stony, the stones re- moved to the edges of the fields serve to build the fence ; and thus stone fences serve a double purpose, not only to keep cold places warm, and consume the stones, but also to fence round and divide one field from another. The Highland clergy, observ- ing these advantages, have many of them been at much pains in improving their glebes and farms, where it could be done, and their conduct in this point of view does them much credit; as, where their example is followed, the fanners themselves not only reap the advantage, but the value of land is increased to the proprietor, and the face of the country beautified and rendered more fruitful, as well as the climate ameliorated. The clergy also in general attend to the article of draining: a matter of much importance in cold damp soils, and sometimes advantageous in another TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 445 point of view, inasmuch as where covered drains are adopted, and, which is often the case, more stones are found in a field than are necessary to build the, fences, these drains serve to occupy the surplus stones, and consequently, to save the ex- pense and trouble of carrying them to a greater di- stance. Hedges, no doubt, beautify a country, but then they frequently require topping, thicken- ing, cleaning, weeding, &c. ; and it is often also many years after they are planted before they be- come a fence, and when grown they sometimes har- bour such numbers of birds as become destructive to the grain. Besides, though a stone fence fall, the materials being at hand, they can easily, at any time, be put up again. The military spirit of the Highlanders is well known ; and the courage of the forty-second regi- ment, which was first raised on the banks of the Spey, to suppress a numerous banditti that had laid the country under contribution, and is generally re- cruited from the Highlands, was not only conspi- cuous of late on the banks of the Nile, when combat- ing Buonaparte's invincible legion, as he styled it, but upon many other occasions. Having traversed the south-eastern banks of the Spey, from its mouth to its source, I turned north and east, following its course on its opposite banks, on my way to the lower parts of Murray, till I arrived at Elchies, on the north-west banks of the Spey, and about fifteen miles from Elgin. I staid there sometime, where t found both Mrs. Grant and her husband, the proprietor, extremely hospitable, 448 . TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. intelligent, and attentive to me. I observed one day, while there, a transmigration of eels in the river. When I first observed them, it was about 6ne in the afternoon of a Sunday. How long the eels had been transmigrating before I know not. They continued making their way up the river all that day till about eight in the evening, when it grew dark. They began again early next morning, but how long before five I cannot say. They con- tinued to migrate for three whole days after I ob- served them, with only an interval of a few hours in the night. They kept as near the north-west edge of the river as they coidd ; and, when there were bays the edge of it, they went regularly round these, whether great or small. They were about ten abreast, and each eel about three and one-half inches long: they marched at regular distances, which might be about four, or rather three and one-half feet. There were stronger ells as a su^rd, and ge- nerally about five or six inches long. I observed the smallest and weakest ones always kept nearest the edge, where the current was least. From an accurate calculation a hundred passed every mi- nute, making six thousand per hour. They proceeded at this rate for three days, from about half an hour before the sun rose till about half after he set, making about sixteen hours each day, in all about forty-eight hours, which, multiplied by the six thousand that passed every hour, make two hundred and eighty-eight thousand, most of which I saw pass; but whence they came, or what they were in quest of, I know not. They did not stay for one another, but each made the best of its TRAVELS ly SCOTLAND. 447 way, wriggling with the utmost celerity; and when I pushed any, of them farther into the river, tliey al- ways came to the edge as fast as they could. Not one but had its head up the water. They seemed to be in great haste, and breathing hard, as small bub- bles of air often rose up to the surface ; and when, having caught any of then, I turned its head down- ward, so as to swim with the current, it would not, but with all the expedition in its power joined its new companions, and wriggled on along with them. As I could not be always there, I appointed others to watch their motions, and I found, though I could not see exactly how they acted, that, during the time it was beginning to grow dark, by a kind of signal, they all at once hid themselves in the sand or mud for miles at the same instant, and seemed not only under the command, but the pro- tection of the larger ones, that, like officers, com- manded them. Indeed, I saw sometimes large eels from twelve to fifteen inches long, making up the water now and then, about three or four yards far- ther towards the middle of the river, and about five-and-twenty yards behind one another; but Avhether they where connected Avith the general emigration I know not, though I rather suppose they were, as they were never above twelve or thir- teen feet from the small eels, and often seemed to turn an anxious look towards their young friends^ The young ones, as they were near the edge, were sel- dom an inch below the surface. Those about five or six inches long might be between one and two inches below the surface, being in deeper water, and the large eels went at a much greater velocity than the small ones. But, if they had any connection, or 448 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. care of the small fiy, they must sometimes have stopt short, or slackened their pace. I have seen the horse and foot guards reviewed by his majesty, &c. &c. in Hyde Park, and ten thousand men perform- ing the same action at the same instant of time ; but the eels in the river Spey kept their ranks as regularly, and seemed to be as subservient to the greater ones, as any of the corps at a review are to the command of their officers. There are sometimes, it seems, astonishing migra- tions of eels in the river St. Lawrence, the Missis- sippi, &c. &c. in North America, which, when large, they catch by hundreds at a time, and stack up, when dried, with other fishes, as winter provision for them and their cattle. The truth is, cows,, horses, sheep, &c. *c. eat fish in winter on the banks of the Mississippi, Ohio, &c. as well as about the northern parts of Kentucky and the back settle-^ ments. In the Highlands, and all along the banks of the Spey, they have a cruel way of catching eels and other fishes, by what they call set lines. One end of these being fastened to the bank by a stake, after affixing a weight and lines, hooks, &c. to the mid- dle of the line, they throw it into the water: and when they come to draw it, which they generally do some hours after, they find the poor fishes struggling to get free. But there is a better, at least a more humane method of fishing for eels, and that is, to put into the middle of a parcel of hay or straw any garbage that attracts them; and, having sunk this in the water with a rope and a stone, afterwards to pull it out suddenly, when the eels Avill generally be found in the middle of the tRAVELS tX SCOTLAND* 449 Straw among the garbage, and may be killed in- stantly without keeping them in pain. When at Elchies, I went to see Tauperindonish, an excellent well in the middle of a small wood near ' the house, with a considerable swamp near it, caus- ed by the perpetual flowing of water from the well. When clearing away this swamp one winter, which was done by Mrs. Grant's order, (who suggested and set on foot many excellent improvements both without and within doors), the workmen found in it thousands of thousands offrogs frozen together, which they drove away in carts, and which seemed life- less and void of feeling, but when put near the fire, began to give symptoms of life, then to open their eyes, and at length to hop off in excellent spirits. One da}', dining at Carron, one of the estates be- longing to Charles Grant, esq. of Elchies, with a well-informed man, he told me, that, about five years ago, having leisure for observation, he began to suspect, that, among geese, a gander having once chosen a partner, continues year after year to choose the same, unless something comes in the way to prevent such choice. Anxious to ascertain this fact, he marked with care five, and found, that for the three succeeding years, during which he attended to them, each gander annually chose the companion he had had the former year, and continued faithful to her. Some of the geese in his flock he found near thirty years of age; and he told me, he had the best information, that a gander, which hap- pened to be killed by accident a few years before, belonging to this flock, was above eighty, and had been observed, for above fifty years, to associate eg 450 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. only with one female, which happened to he killed ahout twenty years before. I was the more apt to believe this, as it is well known that pigeons, tur- tle (loves, &c. having once paired, continue, in ge- neral, faithful to one another, till death or accident separate them; and that the survivor, as is the case among crows, which are in general long-lived, as Pliny observes, often dies of grief for his lost mate. A gentleman in the company asked if I knew how far sea fowls, eagles, partridges, and the singing tribes, continue faithful to the companions of their former years, when they meet in the spring. I told him I could not, but informed him that there is a goose alive at a clergyman's house near Glas- gow one hundred and twenty years old, it being al- lowed to live about the house, and become the pro- perty of every succeeding clergyman there. It is observed, that the duration of the life of ani- mals generally bears some proportion to the time between their conception and birth ; but, in nature, there are a thousand variations from this general rule; and, indeed, it is a question with me whether there be any propriety in it. However, the duration of the life of some animals is astonishing. Elephants live sometimes from two to three hundred years. Ulysses, upon his return to Ithaca:, though he had been twenty years absent, found his dog alive. An ass died lately in Carisbrook Castle, in the Tsle of Wight, that had been there about fifty years. The widow of a warm shopkeeper in South wark thought this ass, which was employed in drawing water from a profound well there, so great a curiosity, that for some years, and while she remained a wi- TRAVELS IN SCOTLANp, 46\ dow, she absolutely went every year to the Isle of Wight, chiefly, as she declared, to see the ass. A land tortoise was killed lately by accident in the garden, at Lambeth, belonging to the archbishop of Canterbury, by the gardener, that had lived in it since the days of archbishop Laud. A hawk, only a very few years ago, was killed on the rpcks, near Bergen, in Norway, with a ring on its leg that indicated it had belonged to Louis XIV. of France. A sea fowl, that had once been tame about a far- mer's house bordering on the Solway Firth, disap- peared, that had visited it year after year regu- larly for forty years. Toads and other animals have been found in the heart of piaiiks and blocks of marble, where they must have lived for generations without either food or drink. Indeed, that toads can live a long time without either is now beyond a doubt. A number of people, the other year, at Glasgow, tried the experiment. On Christmas-day, having found a toad, they dug a hole in the ground six feet deep, put the animal in an iron pot, and then burying it in the ground, went away till that day twelve months, when they and many others assembled to see if the toad was alive. Upon dig- ging and opening the pot, which they had carefully covered over with a sheet of white iron, they found the toad alive and healthy, and not the least mark of filth or fosces abo-ut it, but every thing sweet and clean, as when they put him into it. They were afraid, that, upon being exposed suddenly to the open air after his long and close confinement, he might be ill. However, he was not; for, being ta- ken carefully out, he looked about him, hopped ofJi Gg2 452 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. and all, with one consent, agreed to give him his li- berty. ' From a minute examination of Badenoch and the upper parts of the counties of Aberdeen, Bamff, and Murray, which in many parts are cold, bleak, and damp, and, in general, about four or five hun- dred feet higher than any other cultivated land in Britain, we have, a striking proof, among thousands of the same kind, that this globe has once been completely under water. At an elevation of from twelve to thirteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, I found, in the face of a rising ground, from which materials had been carried away for repairing the roads, fifteen ditferent strata in the depth of four feet perpendicular : some of these of* sand, others of clay and mud, loam, &c. ; one of them of shells and sand, and another a sediment of moss and other vegetable substance; and all of them seemed to indicate that the ground, even in this ele- vated situation, had been one day completely co- vered with water, if not at the bottom of the ocean. This curious phenomenon may be found also on a rising ground, a little south-west froin the parish church of Knockand, on the lands belonging to the proprietor of Elchies. Wliile traversing the hills in the upper parts or Murrayshire, 1 found one of those pieces of flint called arrow heads. It was shaped nearly like a heart, was extremely sharp, and had a neat handle, about half an inch long, for sticking it into the wooden arrow. I had seen several of these before, Avhich the common people call elfs darts, but none of them neater, nor better calculated for pier- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 453 ing than this. They seem to have been used by our forefathers, before the use of iron was known; and, upon being fixed to the point of an arrow, are admirably calculated for penetrating and sticking fast, as this one, with some others I have seen, was barbed like a fish-hook. "^^.Bidding adieu to the good old squire and his lady at Elchies, into whose company itwas impossible to go without coming away wiser, I set out for ROTHES, which is a small village, beautifidly situated on the banks "of the Spey, and which contains a colony of masons, who live here with their families in winter, and generall}', in the spring, set out all at once in quest of employment, some to Glasgow, Edin- burgh, Perth, Aberdeen, and sometimes, near ^ hundred of them, to the Hebrides, or "Western Isles, where, for many years past, it has been fashionable for even poor people to lay put often all . the money they have on the walls of a house. The castle of Rothes, which is now almost level with the ground, was the seat of the once famous duke of Rothes : and here Norman Leshe, who was active in cutting off cardinal Beaton at St. Andrews, was born. \ Here, too, Leslie, the commandpf of the Scotch Covenanter's army, and whose four daugh- ters were married to the most respectable men in Scotland, was brought up as a poor boy in the kitchen ; and, notwithstanding the figure he made, it is next to certain that he could not, to the day of 454 TRAVELS IN SCOT LAN' I). lirs death, either read or write. Indeed, learning in former times was not a thing very common. There are many papers, both in London and Paris, marked M'ith a cross for the signing of a name, with this circumstance added to it: Quoniam Archicpiscopus scribere ncsciat; that is, because the archbishop cannot write. About half a mile south, and west from 'the old castle of Rothes, and not far from the Spe}% where water carriage to the sea could be procured with- out much expense, I found, on a rising ground, an immense bed of a beautiful stone, which seems to be a species of agate. It is somewhat trans- parent, and its colour is between the white flint and the crystal stone; but then there are beautiful veins of red and purple to be found in almost every square inch of it. As tliere is plenty of fuel in this neighbourhood, and water to drive machinery, this elegant mineral, if not calculated for more impor- tant purposes, miglit, I should suppose, be ground down, by mills, to a fine powder, and then con- verted into beautifully streaked china of a thou- sand different appearances, which would certainly be as transparent, light, and beautiful, as any in the world. If I mistake not, it might be attend- ed with highly benefical consequences, if some per- son or persons, well acquainted with minerals and metals, would take a view of this, as well as other parts both of Murray and Bamffshire. Pearl oys- ters have been found in the Spey. Precious stones are sometimes found washed down from Cairn- i^orum, in Strathspey; and there are some symptoms of coals, as well as dther valuable mineral substances TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 455 to be found in this part of the country, as well as about Huntley. In my way from Rothes to Elgin, observing a to- lerably looking parish-church thatched with straw, and having inquired why it was not slated like otliers, I was informed, that the parish, being small, had been divided and attached to others, but that the parishioners, irritated at this, and determined not to suffer their parish church, which they thought their property, to be demolished, had actually ston- ed the man who first attempted to pull it down; and who, being chased by the women, was drowned in the Spey in attempting to avoid their fury. Se- veral of the women were tried for murder and sedi- tion; but, owing to some mistake in the indictment, they got off; and the church, being permitted to stand, is now occupied by dissenters, who, instead of instructing the people, fill their heads with level- ling notions respecting government and fanaticism. \ Upon my arrival at Elgin, the chief town in Mur- ray, which is beautifully situated on the banks of the Lossie, and may contain about three thousand inhabitants, I went to see the ruins of the cathe- dralAvhich, though not the most extensive, are the most entire of any in Scotland, those of Arbroath excepted. The west entrance and the wall at the east end are mostly entire. The grand steeple near the centre, above two hundred feet high, fell, many years ago, very unexpectedly, with a dreadful crash. The people in England would be surprised to find how mild the winters in general are here. I myself saw a moss rose, nearly blown, which grew in the open air in Elgin, and had been plucked on the 456 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND, twelfth day of January. There are excellent clubs, as they are termed, and funds in this place, as in- deed now in most towns and villages in Scotland, for the supnort of the widows and chiklren of deceased members, as well as of decayed members themselves. The laws and bye-laws of these in- stitutions are in general excellent, and not only have already done, but promise to do much good. There is also a certain sum given to the widow when her husband dies, and she has an annuity for life; in some institutions ten, in others twenty, and in some of them thirty pounds sterling. There are also tontines in various towns and vil- lages in Scotland, but I do not know that it is com- mon with gentlemen in Scotland, as it is in England and Ireland, to raise money among their tenants arid others, by way of tontine, to improve their estates. Could Scotch proprietors', who have much outfield and improveable land, and not much money to spare, be induced to adopt this method, it might be attended with highly beneficial consequences to themselves, and the country at large ; as it is cer- tain that the money they would borrow, as a ton- tine, at ten per cent, upon being laid out in improv- ing their waste lands, (such lands being security for the- annuity to the lenders), might fetch twenty per cent, at least. Thus, if ten men lend me one thousand pounds at ten percent per annum, and I pay a hundred pounfls a year to ten, to nine, to eight, seven, or any number of them, so long as any of them shall live, if this thousand pounds laid out on my waste ground, which there is no doubt but it wilJdo, produce one hundred poundj yearly more TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 457 than it otherwise would have done, at the death of the last of them, I, or my heirs, are a hundred a year richer than we should have been ; and so on in proportion; and the lenders were well paid for their money. In former times, this county, which is fertile, and, in general, notwithstanding its increased po- pulation, exports, at a medium, twenty thousand bolls of grain, or about fifteen hundred quarters annually, was much exposed to the depredations of the chief- tains and greatlords,particularly of the Gordons ; these chieftains, to be revenged of their enemies, often set- ting fire to that part of the town belonging to their enemies, and their corn fields. To prevent such mis- chief, often done in the heat of passion, it was judged prudent that the Gordons and their oppo- lients should not, as formerly, each live in a sepa- rate part of the town, but that they should live promiscuously, and have their ground, as they term- ed it, 7'idge about ; which means alternate ridges, and which prevented the clans from burning corn- fields, as they could not burn those of their enemies without burning those of their friends. There are borough, and many village lands both in the north and south of Scotland, whose names, situations, and rights, evidently refer to this antient but barbarous custom. I was astonished to find the roads in many parts of Murray so bad, and that turnpikes have not been introduced into it, as into most of the other coun- ties to the southward ; but the reason seems to be that Murray, being a low-lying country, and ge- nerally a sandy bottom, they are afraid, were they to have turnpikes, that, as the sand blows here frc- 458 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. quently, these roads, by being blown over with sand, would, after having saddled the county with considerable expense, not be better than they are. They have, however, it seems, the matter under consi- deration, and have got a new and a much better line of road pointed out, by an experienced surveyor; but here, I find, the matter rests. In this part of the country, as well as many others, not only near, but at a distance from the sea-coasts^ agriculture is studied as a science ; and every possi- ble method tried to render the earth productive. However, as the farmers here often mix pure sand with the dung, and spread it on the ground, even though the soil be sandy, I should like to know what good purpose it can serve to scatter sand on land that has too much sand on it already. At a sale by auction, in Elgin, I was not a little surprised to hear the auctioneer, using gross and low wit, and not only immodest, but extremely immoral expressions; which, however pleasing they might be to low grovelling mrnds, and advantageous to the pereon whose goods were on sale, were a disgrace in a civilized country, and disagreeable, I think I may venture to say, to nine-tenths of the females present. I saw several of them blushing at his expressions, and actions, which, in a public officer, if not ap- pointed, at least approved of, by the magistrates, appeared equally shocking and surprising. Drollery and gentle satire may be permitted in an auctioneer, but immoral and indecent expressions, in a public character, are shameful in the extreme. Bad as too many of the people in London are, they would have hissed him, and showered rotten eggs at his head. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 459 Though tlie arts and tlie sciences are studied here with as much attention, perhaps, as any where in Scotland, and improvements in almost every art made daily, yet a surgical operation was required from the medical men here, that they would, not perform. In some cases, it seems, the side is opened, and certain operations performed on the lungs, &c. This, like the cesarean operation, ought to be the last resource ; and, certainly, ought not to be tried, if it can possibly be avoided. The surgeons here re- fused to perform any operation of this kind, on a certain person that applied to them for that purpose; and, before the surgeon arrived from Edinburgh to perform this nice, I should rather have said dan- gerous, experiment, the patient was dead, and I think better for the surgeon than if he had died under his hands. When at Forres, which is a small burgh, beauti- ully situated not far from the sea, and which may- be styled the Montpelier of this part of Scotland, I w^ent to see Sweno's stone,\a monument erected by the road side, consisting of a single stone on its end, with a variety of figures of horses and men in ar- mour. This stone is fifteen feet above ground, and eight below. Tradition says, it was erected on the final expulsion of the Danes from tliis part of Scot- land. It is the most entire, as well as the most curious, to be found in Britain ; but how, or by what means, the men in those days, could either carry or erect a stone of such enormous w eight, is more than I can comprehend. There are fools to be found every where. Upon observing a neat house, beautifully situated in the 460 TRAVELS IN SCOTI-AND. midst of trees, and having a delightful prospect at the west end of Forres, and thinking the man must be happy who dwells there, I was informed that it was named Birds-yards ; that it was lately sold by a young man, to whom it was left by his father, with a considerable estate attached to it ; that, in the course of a few years, the young man, though he had received a liberal education, had spent near twenty thousand pounds sterling ; that, being re- duced from keeping his carriage, his mistress, &c. &c. he had enlisted as a common soldier in the guards, at London ; and that now his friends, who often supplied him with money, and, as he was young and handsome, wished to buy a commission for him in the guards, have given over assisting him, as he has married a woman who keeps a green-stall in Edinburgh ; in other words, a street- walker. TRAVELS INT SCOTLAND. 461 \ From FORRES to INVERNESS. From Forres I went to Auldearn, a parish near the burgh of Nairn, where a battle was fought by Mon- trose, at the head of a party of Charles Fs forces, against the covenanters. \ A great many lost their hves upon this occasion ; though the battle was not decisive; and, itis the tradition, that a rivulet, which runs through the middle of the place, at present, as it did when the battle was fought, ran with blood. Though the face of the country is improved, and improving fast here ; and the arts of peace carefully cultivated, yet I was sorry to observe that here, as well as in too many other places, public worship is neither respected, nor attended by the higher ranks. I am led to this remark, from observing that a neat house, ofa peculiar construction, built near the church, in religious times, for the proprietors of a large estate to pray and sing psalms in, between sermons, on Sunday, is converted into a stable and cow-house, and that the family for many years have scarcely, either in the morning or afternoon, been seen in the church. So that, with regard to religion, the face of the country is also changed. The common peo- ple, in all ages, have been apt to imitate their supe- iors. If they, too, come to neglect to worship the God of their fathers, it is not diihcult to foresee what will be the consequence. Being invited to dine vvitli a gentleman near Auldearn, when I was praising the salad, which I 462 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. found extremely good, he said, smiling, " You need not be afraid, it is not dressed with castor oil." Upon inquiring what he alluded to, he told me that a gentleman and his lady, in the neighbourhood, "who sometimes, as is the case in inland places, w^here there are no resident doctors, when any of their tenants are sick, recommend an emetic, or the like, to them, and at their own expense afforded the me- dicine. This gentleman, having an appeal to the house of peers, about a large estate, was at London ; and, as he gained the process, and was about to re- turn to Scotland, he bought some s^allons of castor oil, to lie at his house, and be served out as occasion should require. Upon his arrival in Scotland, as is natural, all the nobility and gentry, who were ac- quainted with him, came to dine with him, and con- gratulate him and the family on so many thousand pounds yearly being added to their fortune. When mostly all the genteel families for twenty miles round had paid their compliments to him in this manner, and he and his lady found leisure to hear the complaints of those sick people that applied to them, he found that some castor oil might be useful to a person that had come to consult them. Upon this, he rang the bell for John, the servant, who ap- pearing, and being desired to bring some castor oil, replied, it is all done. Done! replied the gentleman, do not you know there is a keg of it lately come from London. " Yes, but, if it please your honour, that one is done too." How can that be, replied the gentleman, in a passion ? " Why, sir, you have had such a round, of company almost every day since it came, and always salad at table, that it is all gone." TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 463 ** Don't you know, it is castor oil I want, and that the name is written in large letters on the cask." *' So it is," replied the servant, *' but as your honour knows, it was for the casters, and dressing the salad : it is all gone." " O you scoundrel, now I understand you ; so you have been dressing the salad all this time with it. But harkee, John, for God's sake do not mention it." The truth is, all the company were highly pleased with the salads, and had often spoke in their praise ; and the gentleman and his family had never in their life a better sum- mer's health, nor the people that visited him. Notwithstanding the fertility of Murray shire, I find many people died in it, of want, during the fa- mine which happened about a hundred years ago, and that, as in most towns all over Murray shire, there were men appointed, whose business it was to peram- bulate the town of Elgin, and its environs, every morning, and bury whomsoever they found dead. Happily for us, Ave live in other times, when govern- ment are not only careful in promoting every mea- sure that may tend to excite industry among the people, but also to import from foreign countries what may be necessary for the support and conve- niency of the most distant provinces, when the crop happens to fail. My next object was to visit Culloden, where the duke of Cumberland gained a complete victory over the rebel army, in April 1746, three thousand of them being killed in thirty-five minutesX This vie* tory was, no doubt, fortunate for the country at large, though it pressed hard on individuals. But, the glory the duke obtained by it was, undoubtedly, 4^4 TRAVELS IX SCOTLAND. tarnished by the cruelty exercised on the chiefs, who acted from sentiments, though mistaken, not dis- honourable ; and still more by the calamities inflicted on the poor people, who had no alternative, but were forced to follow their chiefs. The graves, or long ditches, where hundreds who fell on that day were buried, are yet visible, and are covered with short beautiful grass, much eaten and beloved by the sheep ; while all around these silent mansions is heath and barrenness ; and the country, to a con- siderable distance, bleak and dreary, which it has ever been, I suppose, since the flood. The spot, near the field of battle, where nineteen poor wounded men, who had crawled from among the slain to a poor woman's house, and had lodged there all night, were shot the day after the battle, by order of the duke, was shewn me. The remains of the stone dyke, which, during the battle, was pulled down, and beside which so many hundreds fell in a few minutes, are still to be seen. A sensible old man, I fell in with in this country, said, he never would forget the scenes of cruelty he saw committed here. The day after the battle, he told me, a very handsome and accomplished young man, who had been in the rebel army, thinking it the likeliest way to be concealed, put on his sister's clothes, and went walking about with her, and her acquaintance. As some of the king's officers passed, they made a bow to the ladies, and the ladies of course dropped a curtsey ; but, unfortunately, the young man made a bow, which discovered him : and being almost instantly torn from his sisters and friends, he was, without any ceremony, immediately hanged. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 46: FORT GEORGE. From CuUoden, I went to see Fort George, wliich, though not large, is one of the most regular in Eu- rope. Having put down my name and address, in a book, ^hich, as is the case at the dock-yard at Portsmouth, &c. &c. is required of every stranger that enters it, I was sorry to think that a million of money, which this Fort cost, should have been ex- pended to little purpose. The spades, picks, axes, hammers, tents, beds, wheel-barrows, camp equipage, &c. &c. of which there are immense stores here, are all rotten, and scarcely good for anything; nay, so useless are they, that I am of opinion, though go- vernmentwere to allow the men employed in digging the Caledonean canal, which is in the neighbourhood, the use of them, they would not think it any advan- tage. Indeed, the Fort itself, which was originally meant to keep the Highlanders in awe, is evidently now of little use, but as barracks for soldiers and valids ; for as to its being a check on enemies ships, proceeding up to Inverness, I fancy i'ew will be dis- posed to make the attempt. I was much pleased with the chapel; but sorry to find that the deputy chaplain, like ^ome of the deputy clergy, or curates in England, had so little for his trouble. There must be something wrong in that church government^ which either authorizes, or per-^ mits a young and fat idle clergyman to take from the altars of God, without serving at them, large por- tions, while there is scarcely left a scanty subsistence for him that dues the duty. It is mifortunate, that 466 TEAVELS IN SCOTLA-VD. there is too often ground for the remark, both in Scotland and in England, that, in general, the better the clergy are paid, the less they are attentive to their duty ; and, indeed, the immense swarms of dissenting clergy, both on the north and south side of the Tweed, shew that the established clergy, upon many occasions, are not so attentive to their duty as they ought to be. Blind as the common people are, they in general would not part with their money to any ignorant fanatic, if they saw their parish priests carefully performing their duty. When the people hear it read from the desk, that there is to be no prayers in the afternoon, as the clergyman is going a nutting with the squire, they are partly excusable for giving their tythes with reluctance, and paying attention to some clergyman, who, so far as they are judges, will be more importunate with heaven for the forgiveness of their sins. Religion has of late be- come a mere farce in too many places in Scotland, as well as England ; and how can it be otlierwise, if the clergy set the example? There are too many puppy captains and colonels in the army, and, I was sorry to find, not only in the north, but south of Scotland, clergymen that but a year or two before ]iad amused themselves with skipping ropes, whip- ping tops, &c. It is not many years since Mr. C k, a clergyman, I rather should have said a big boy, had the impudence to speak in the general assembly of the church of Scotland, he having been dubbed the reverend, and appointed to a Hving in the church before he was twenty years of age, because his father had influence with the patrons, who were the mas- ters of a once famous university, and with the pres- bytery. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 46/ xWhile viewing the rooms of officers, petty officers, and men, at Fort George, I could not help being surprized at the conduct of a woman in the Fort, who, it seems, gained her livelihood by washing. Having a fine boy, about a year old, who was laid in his cradle, but was not likely to sleep, she first gave him half a wine glass full of strong whiskey, to lull him asleep. But, this not having the desired effect, she gave him another, and I learned, sometimes qi third, to pacify his crying, that she might have lei- sure for her washing. I should not be surprized, if this child lives till he becomes a man, to bear that he is attached to his bottle. \ Lessons of this kind are, no doubt, one cause why so many are attached to dram drinking, one of the most common vices among the lower orders of the people. Indeed, many of the better sort, having once habituated themselves to dram drinking, canno^ be persuaded to lay it aside. So much w^as a gentle-- man in Buchan, of considerable landed property, attached to it, that, for some years before he died, though he was confined to his bed, and could not walk, yet, if he observed a bottle with spirits, by mistake left in his room, he never failed to get out of bed, and crawl on his hands and feet across the room to it, though so weak, that this, with re^ turning to bed, was often the labour of an hour. Though there are some spots of land between Fort George and Inverness^ tolerably well cultivated, yet I was sorry to see some beautifully lying land, and seemingly excellent soil, still in a state of nature. If the heritors in the north and south of Scotland have ^ot ready nioney to improve their \yaste ground, l\ li 21 468 TUAVELS IN SCOTLAND. M'hy do they not raise it by way pf tontine ; as is no\r frcciuentl}' done both in England and Ireland ? There are indivi(kials and societies in London, if they can find it nowhere else, that will advance any sum on reasonable terms, upon obtaining security for their money on the lands to be improved. Some scheme of this kind, if patronized by government, might, perhaps, operate in counteracting those nu- merous emigrations that are not only openly, but privately going on in the northern and western parts of Britain. / Though there are not many hedges, noranygieat woods, I found in my way between Fort George and Inverness, an uncommon number of sparrows, and other birds. It is customary for the squires in Eng- land to receive large parcels of cats heads at all seasons of the years, as they generally give a shilling* for each, supposing them to be destructive to par- tridges, hares, &c. and for the farmers to receive sackfulls of sparrows and other birds heads, as they offer generally three-pence the dozen for them, supposing them destructive to the corn; but, if the Eiiglish farmers would come to this part of the country, they would find thousands of sparrows, &c. where there is scarcely any corn; and that, owing to the millions of iiisects, ova of animals, &c. &c. which little birds pick up, they generally do more goad than^ ill. Poor little things, they aj-e certainly entitled to a little grain, and it is cruel to refuse jt them. The cats catch mice and other vermin, and, being thus useful, they are certainly entitled to partridges and young hares as well as we, if they can catch them; and I am glad to find TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 469 that the Scotch are not yet so mercenary as to send to England sackfulls of cats and birds heads for the sake of the re\vard. ^ INVERNESS. At Inverness I found a strange medley of the Scotch and English language spoken in the streets. In Nairn, as at well as this place, there are, as it were, two towns, and two different people, as the peo- ple that come from the country, and intend to speak GaeHc, live in one end of the town, and those that cannot, or do not intend to speak it, live in the other. It has been often and justly remarked, that the people of Inverness speak English with remarkable purity ; partly because they are at great pains to learn it, not merely from vulgar conversation, but by book, as we do Greek and Latin; and partly be- cause English garrisons from the times of Cromwell have, in a great measure, given the tone, in re- spect of both diction and pronunciation, to the ^ whole county, from Fort William to Fort George. N Inverness, the nortliermost town of any note in Britain, is beautifully situated on the south banks of the Ness, over which there is a stone bridge of seven arches. ""-^The salmon fishery here, M'hich is let t8 London fishmongers, is very considerable. There are several thriving manufactures at Inver- ness, a g9od deal of shipping, and a great deal of inland trade. It has a very commodious harbour for vessels of two hundred tons, and ships of four 470 TRAVELS'tN SCOTLAND. or five hundred can ride within a mile of the town- It is certainly admirahly situated for both distant and domestic or inland commerce. Its population is estimated at about six thousand. On the north, near the town, arc the remains of Oliver Cromwell's fort. Of the castles of Macbeth, Malcolm Canmore, and the Cummins, nothing re- mains but rubbish. Some of our Londoners, when they hear of In- verness, and that it is more than a hundred miles beyond Aberdeen, will perhaps think it the very skirts of the creation, and that to be condemned to live there would be worse than being sent to Botany Bay : but let me tell such cockneys, that there is scarcely an article, good, bad, or indif- ferent, to be found in London, but is to be found here also, excepting watchmen and patroles, of which, fortunately, there is no need. The assembly rooms here, though not so large, are yet as well proportioned, and nearly as elegant as the assembly rooms at Edinburgh, London, and Bath. The academy is also a neat building, and the plan of education seems not only to be well laid, but, in general, properly executed. I was sorry, however, to find, that one of the rectors of the academy here had given up his place, and gone to London, imagining, with others of a warm imagination, and some knowledge in the laws of astronomy, that he had discovered the method of finding the longitude in the same way as they da the latitude, by the quadrant^ of altitude. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND 471 From INVERNESS to FORT AUGUSTUS. From Inverness I went to the Fall of Foirs, along the banks of Lochness and the line of the CALEDONIAN CANAL; and whether it was owing to the stkte of my mind, the idea of the national advantages arising from the canal, the appearance of the lake, or the beautifully varied objects that presented themselves to my mind, I confess this was, upon the whole, the most pleasant forenoon's excursion I ever made. I found it from eight to ten miles from Inverness to Loch- ness, and all this way the earth must be cut and scooped out, in order that ships may pass from the Murray Forth to Lochness; which is one of the largest lakes in Scotland, being twenty-four miles long, and from two to three broad in some places. Its waters, owing to some sulphureous matter at the sides and bottom, never freeze; and so deep is it, that though in some places it has been sounded with a line of near a thousand fa- thoms, no bottom has be-en found. The Caledonian Canal, which will reach from In- verness on the Murray Firth to Fort William, bor- dering on the Irish Sea, will divide the northern parts of Scotland into two, and be of much use in a variety of ways, not only to this part of the 472 TRAVELS IX SCOTtAND. country, but to the empire at large. As it is te- tlioLis to bail tVoii) the Baltie tliroudi the English Channel, and dangerous to go round by the Ork- neys, it is more than probable there will be a communieation opened between the northern parts of Europe and the northern parts of America through the Caledonian canal; and this canal will, in all probability, in process of time, contribute to the improvement of that immense tract of coun- try called Labradore, ai\d from that improvement draw in return immense advantages, in the way of navigation and commerce, to thenoith of Scot- land. The Caledoiiial Canal is certainly a measure cal- culated not only to ameliorate the condition of many in the north of Scotland and the face of the country through which it passes, but also iVaught w iih much probable advantage to the Bri- tish commerce, as well as extensive alterations for the bettering our settlemcMtts in North America. IMerimashee, and several other of our settlements on the northern banks of the river St. Lawrence, bor- dering on Labrador, it is to be hoped, wdl soon feel its beneficial effects. It is certain, that the ri- vers about JMerrimashee not only abound with fish, and that the land produces excellent crops, but that the climate is excellent, and the people long- lived and healthy. Kamskatka, which is about the same latitude, is of much use, and brings in consi- ilerable revenues to the Russian government, not- withstanding that it has more territories than sub- jects to occuy them. Labradore, in like manner, encouraged by the growing demands and facilities TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 473 of commerce, and fostered by the attentions of go- vernment, will, it is to be hoped, be taken out of the hands of wolves, boars, and foxes, and become the peaceful abode of civihsed hfe, and a new source of wealth to the British nations. Indeed, it could be wished that those of the Highlanders who are determined to leave their native country could be induced to settle in British America, by having more advantageous offers held out to them than they can- expect, on the banks of the Ohio, the counties of Kentucky, the borders of Lake Superior, &c. or even the environs of New York ; where, particularly during the warm months of the year, death stalks about, laying his cold iron hand on thousands in the prime of life. I am the rather led to turn my hopes to our territories on the banks of St. Law- rence, as I am afraid the four hundred and seventy- five thousand pounds,* which it is estimated the Caledonian canal will cost, and which has been partly granted by government to prevent emigra- tion, will not have the desired effect. Like a con- tagious fever, the spirit of emigration, when once it has become general, is not easily opposed ; and the people of the Highlands, driven from their farms by the avarice of their landholders, will rather seek a scanty subsistance on a foreign shore than remain at home, to see their possessions, which they and their fathers occupied, in the hands of strangers, and Exclusis'e of expenses to be incurred by the purchase of land. But the additional expense on this head is not expected to be very- considerable, as many of the proprietors have offered their land gratuitously, and as the land itself on the intended line of canal is not in general of great value. 4^4 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. turned into extensive sheep-walks. The high wages given for digging the Caledonian canal may detain someofthesefora time; but, till they cease to hear of the success of some of their acquaintance that have gone before them, or find themselves invited to im- prove the seats of their forefathers and the scenes of their younger years, they will never cease to wish to be gone, where hope induces them to think they will be happier. It is also unfortunate for the Caledonian canal, that there is but little ground on each side of it ; the hills of Lovat being on the one hand, and the hills of Urquhart on the other : the roots of which, in many places, jutt out to the very borders of the lake. What then is to be done with the Highland- ers after the canal is finished? There is scarcely any ground on its banks that can be improved, so as to be settlements for them. The towns and vil- lages of Scotland are, perhaps, too full already, and the abodes of their youth are now turned into ex- tensive sheep walks, and in the hands of a few over- grown monopohzers. What then can they do but go to our settlements abroad, or some other settle- ments ? This is lord Selkirk's reasoning: and it is irrefragable. At home, the landed proprietors, though many of them have thousands of acres that might be improved, will not give above nineteen years of a lease, which is not adequate, at any rent, for improving some land. There are not manufac- tures in the north to employ a twentieth part or the hands that are idle, even if the genius and ha- bits of the Highlanders inclined them to manufac- tares. Travels in Scotland. 475 It seems cruel to prevent the poor wretches of the northern parts of Britain (as the Highland Society has, in fact, found means of doing by an act of par- liament) to transport themselves beyond the sea, while, at the same time, there is no object presented to rouse their attention, or excite their industry at home. Government must, therefore, either provide employment for these poor people for many years at home, or lay its account with seeing them transport themselves to a foreign shore. The truth is, the 'Americans, knowing the state of the Highlands, have agents in every part of it, who, by advertise- ments, hand-bills, promises, and flattering accounts, set the people agog, and render them unhappy till they are on shipboard, when their misery begins. From the promises and representations of the agents every young man thinks himself certain of a farm when he goes to America, and that whether he lias money or not ; and every young woman who has not found a husband in her own country hopes to find one there. If government cannot suppress the spirit of emigration, it should endeavour to give it a benignant and wise direction. The road along the side of Lochness runs through a beautiful shrubbery of birch, oak, and alders. The opposite, or northern side of the Loch is formed by lofty mountains, covered with heath. For seve- ral miles from the east end of the Loch there are many plantations of fir, some of them very exten- sive. On the southern side of this great pass, formed by a chain of glens and lakes, or, as we may now say, to the south of the Caledonian canal, the country is exceedingly mountainous, and supposed 476 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. to be the most elevated 2:rouncl in Scotland. From the numerous lakes of this lofty region, many streams descend into seas on the opposite side of the island. Here, in the district of Badenoch, is the source of the Spey ; and from hence the Spian, is- suing from the western extremity of Loch Logan, after a rapid and precipitous course of twenty miles, joins the Lochie. The united streams of these, re- ceiving in their couse the waters of several rapid ri- vers, fall into the Atlantic near Fort William, with such force and rapidity, that for a long way it is unmixed, and has not the least taste of salt water. On the top of a mountain in this region of mountains is Loch TarfF, about a mile wide, with several small islands in it, on some of which are a few shrubs. From this flows the river TarfF, which falls into Lochness near Fort Augustus. This river is famous on account of its cataracts, known by the name of the Falls of Foirs. Over the river Tarff, upon two perpendicular rocks, is thrown an arch near one hundred feet from the level of the water. There is one fall of the river above the bridge, and another below it. Just above the bridge the whole body of the Tarflf falls about fifty feet into the glen of that name. About a quarter of a mile below the bridge it falls near two hundred feet: after which it rolls and tum- bles over large and rugged rocks into Lochness. Of this fall I determined to have as near a view as pos- sible. As there had been rain in the hills, the river was somewhat swoln, which made the fall awfully beau- tiful; and that I might have the better view, I TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 477 crawled clown a considerable way among rocks and precipices, not without considerable danger of fall- ing headlong. At the corner of a wood, not far from the Fall, I observed an old healthy-looking woman gathering sticks, to dress her food and warm herself, that had, it seems, resided in a small hut in a corner of the wood near Jiinety years. Few, very few, who have seen the half of her years, are more nimble than she seemed to be. Upon putting a little money quietly into her hand, she thanked me, and desired me to take care, in going to view the fall, as if a foot shpped it might be at the risk of my neck. Its majesty and sublimity is best beheld when you stand near the i)Ottom; which, indeed, as the poor wo- man tol(' me, is of difficult access. We are told, that the people who live near the Fall of Niagara, in America, are extremely dull of hearing, and always speak loud, from the drum of their ears bemg affected by the continued noise of the water; and that there is a perpetual cloud above the Fall, which in certain positions, when the sun shines, appears beautiful, possessing all the co- lours of the rainbow. 1 am led to believe this ac- count, as, for hours after I left the Fall of Foirs, I thought I heard its noise at my ears ; and in a cer- tain position, when coming up from viewing it, I observed the smoke w^hich arises from this fall, and which always, less or more, hangs over it, ex- hibiting a number of beautiful colours, which, for a considerable time, I viewed with pleasure and ad- miration. At the General's Hut, a small inn near the Fall of 47S TRAVELS IX SCOTLAND. Foirs, which may be near twenty miles from Inverness, on the south side of the lake, and which is so named because general Wade halted there some time, I felt myself in a very uncomfortable situation. I was extremely hungry, it being near live in the evening, and I had taken nothing since seven in the morning, except part of a small cake of gingerbread I had purchased when leaving Inver- ness. At the General's Hut, though they had not any eatables, besides oatmeal cakes, cheese, and butter, I might have made a very good meal, for hunger is an excellent sauce; but alas! I had not well begun my repast, when I observed, by my landlady's hands, that she had the itch ! Upon my asking her who baked the cakes, the replied, " the maid." I ask- ed to see the maid, who almost instantly appeared, and I found by her hands, though I said nothing, that she was infected also. Thus, from the idea of the mistress having made the cheese and the butter, and the maid the cakes, I was so disgusted that I could not eat any more. Therefore drinking plenty of porter, which I found bottled and extremely good, and finishing the rest of the gingerbread, I took my poney, which I had seen well fed, and set out for Fort Augustus, which is about twelve miles west- ward. The same physical circumstances which invite the formation at certain places, of canals, also lead to the establishment of military posts. As the fortifi- cation or prajtentura of Agricola extended over the isthmus between the Clyde and the Forth, where along-side of its remains are now found the Carrou TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 479 Canal, so the Caledonian Canal is naturally asso- ciated to the chain of forts that runs across the northern parts of Scotland. This chain is formed by Fort George, Fort Augustus, and Fort William. Fort George precludes all entrance up the Murray Frith towards Inverness on the east; Fort Augustus curbs the inhabitants midway; and Fort William is a check on any attempts in the west. I should ra- ther say, that such was their original design, for now there is very little danger of revolt and rebel- lion in the Highlands; but at the time when they were constructed they were far from being unne- cessary, either for the purpose of power or good go- vernment. Detachments were, and I suppose are now made, though not perhaps with so much regu- larity, to Inverness, Bernera Barracks, opposite to the Isle of Skie, and Castle Duart, in the Isle of Mull. Other small parties were also scattered in huts throughout the country to prevent the stealing of cattle. * * In the first part of the last century, the law in the Highlands of Scotland was not enforced without the aid of the soldiery. About the year 1 720, or soon after, a number of independent companies were formed, under different commanders, for the purpose of preventing robberies, enforcing the law, and keeping the peace of the country, under the name of the Highland Watch and the Black Watch, from the colour of their clothes. They were afterwards formed, towards the close of 1739, with the addition of four companies, into the High- land or forty-second regiment, under their first colonel, John, earl of Crawfurd. -^v The following particulars, extracted from " Memoirs of the Old Highland Sergeant Donald Macleod," of the authenticity of which, by the person who drew them up from his own mouth, and from 480 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. Doeks, or basons, for the entrance of vessels into the canal from the eastern and western seas, have 6thcr evidence, I am well assured, will serve to convey a pretty clear and lively idea of the state of the Highlands at that time. " James Roy Stewart, a gentleman and a driver, or rather stealer of cattle, in Strathspey, had long laid the countrj', far and near, under heavy contributions of both horse and cattle, and defied, wounded, and dispersed the officers of justice: when sergeant Mac- leod, with a party of thirty men, was sent to surprize, if possible, and to secure him in his house at TuUoch-Gorum. The sergeant came upon him suddenly, and early in the morning, while he was in bed. He left the men without, disposed at small distances from each o^er, around the house. He himself went boldly in, armed w.th a dirk, a sword, and loaded pistols. His wife, a very lady- like wo- man, was up and drest.ed, early as it was; for it was customary for some trusty person to keep watch while the red * robber slept. At the sight of Macleod, Mrs. Stewart was greatly discomposed, for she suspected his errand; but she endeavoured to dissemble her tears, and to soothe her suspicious guest by all the officiousness of hospitality. " Madam," said Macleod, " I am come to speak to James Roy. He is in the house, I know, and in bed." . This he said at a venture, for he was not sure of it ; but his firm and determined manner overcame the poor gentlewoman, so that she assented to the truth of his inform- ation. Roy Stewart, on hearing what passed, jumped out of his bed, with his clothes on, in which he had lain, and, armed with a dirk and pistols, he seemed desirous at first of making towards the door; but Macleod seized the pass, and the robber, dissembling his inten- tions, assumed a courteous air, called for whiskey and brejid and cheese, and pressed his uninvited guest to partake heartily of such cheer as his house afforded. " I know," said he, " you are not alone, for no man ever durst to come into my house alone, on such an errand." The sergeant, without acquiescing in this last sentiment, but, on the contrary, with an asseveration that he feared not the face of man or of devil, acknowledged that a company of men lay not far from So called from the colour of his half. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 481 been begun to be formed. The works of the dock, or bason, adjoining to the intended tide-lock at them both at that raomeiit. " Very well," said Stewart, " but I hope you are not in a hurry: sit down, and let you and I talk together, and take our breakfast." Maclood agreed to this, and a bottle of whiskey, at least, was exhausted in good fellowship, before a word was said of business on cither side. At length Macleod, after a short pause in the conversation, said, " Jamie, what did you Avith the thirty head of cattle you drove away from the laird of Glen Bissct'sj and thesix score, or thereabout, that you took away from the lands of Strathdown?" It was in vain to deny the fact; Macleod had not come to try, but to secure, and produce him for trial. Stewart, therefore, waving all discussion of that point, said, " Sergeant Mac- leod, let me go for this time, and neither you nor the country shall be troubled with me any more." " Jamie, I cannot let you go : you have slashed many men, and stolen much horse and cattle. Hovv many straths are afraid of you? Jamie, you must go with me." " Sergeant Macleod, let me go for this time, and I will give you a hundred guineas." ." It was not for guineas, Jamie, that 1 came here this day; rather than be drawn off from the duty of a soldier for a few guineas, I would go with you and steal cattle." James Roy was now in great distress, and his poor wife, falling on the ground before Macleod, and embracing and holding fast his knees, implored mercy to her husband with showers of tears; and their four children, stark naked from their beds, joined their in- fant intercessions with tears and loud lamentations. The noble- minded sergeant, moved with compassion, took the lady by the hand, and comforted her with these words : " My dear, I will, for your sake, and the sake of these innocent babes, let James Roy go for this time, on condition that he will deliver all the cattle that I have mentioned, to be given up to their right owners." This condition was eagerly accepted, and Stewart, in the flow of gratitude and joy, would have given Macleod whatever share or portion of the hundred guineas he had offered as his ransom, that he pleased to accept; but the ser- geant generously decli^d to accept one single shilling, and all that he required was refreshment for his thirty men, which was afforded in great plenty. A great part of the day was spent in conviviality, ^ li 482 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. Carpach, on Loch-Eil, upon the western sea, which were carried on throujihout the Avhole of the and in the evening they were directed to the cattle, which they restor- ed td their proprietors. Very different from the conduct of our Donald, towards the noto- rious James Stewart Roy, was that of sergeant Macdonald, not many years thereafter. It was known that two oxen, which were missing, had been taken by Stewart ; and sergeant Macdonald was sent with a party to take both the robber and the oxen. The oxen were readily given up ; but Stewart was forced to purchase the connivance of ser- geant INIacdonald at his escape, by giving up all that he had in the U-orld, whicli amounted to 24-51. This sum he kept in a strong chest in his own house: for, in those day, the Highlanders were unac- quainted with bills of exchange, and there was no paper currency. Yet Macdonald, to whom James Roy weakly imagined he might now trust his safety, in order, it was supposed, to conceal or discredit any report of his robbing the robber, had the treachery, a few weeks after, to draw the unfortunate Stewart into an ambuscade, under the guise of friendship, and surrender him to justice. Stewart wa hanged, together with one Macallum, at Perth. The same eleva- tion of mind that distinguished James Roy among all the cattle- drivers of his times, appeared on his trial; and, during the interval between his sentence and its execution. His only Hope had been, that he might, by cunning or by force, escape the hands of consta- bles and soldiers. It never occurred to him to place any confidence in deficiency of evidence, or any chicanery of law. He made a free and full confession of the life that he had led, and was anxious to vin- dicate the character of his poor wife and children, from all suspicion of participation in his crimes. He declared that his wife had often iorwarned him of the end to which his course led, and conjured him, with tears, to live at home, and be contented with the returns of his own farm. He had many accomplices among his neighbours and kindred; but no delusive hints of a reprieve, not even the exhorta- tions of the fanatical ministers about Perth, renowned in all times for blind zeal and absurdity, could persuade him to give up one man, that had committed himself to bis honour. ' In contra^ with the animjited, and, in some respects, noble con- TRAVELS IN SC0TLANI3. 483 Winter 1803 4, have now, I understand, been com- pleted ; as also the excavations, banks, &c. for a duct of James Hoy Stewart, appeared the brutal stupidity of Ma- callum. This wretch had for many years retired with his father from all human society, and lived in caves and dens, in the recesses of the Minegeg mountains; into which habitations he brought, like the Cyclops in Homer, sheep, goats, and even oxen. The party that discovered Macallum, found, in his den, a deep cavern in a moun- tain, the bones of the animals he had made his prey, piled up in heaps, or disposed in such a manner as to form, with hay laid over them, a kind of bed; the flesh of bullocks salted up in their skins; and large quantities of fir-wood for firing. In the interior part of the cavern lay the father of Macallum, in his plaid, resting his head on a truss of hay, and groaning in the agonies of death. This miserable object they did not disturb, but left him to his fate. Young Ma- callum, in the form as well as the nature of a savage, for his hair and beard had extended themselves over his face, so as to render it scarcely visible, was conducted to Perth, where he was condemned to die, for a series of thefts committed for more than twentyiyears. During the time of his trial, as well as after it, he shewed an astonish- ing indift'e re nee about his fate. He minded nothing but eating; and had a very constant craving for food, particularly animal food, which, had it been given, he w-ould have devoured in immoderate quantities. When the ministers of Perth talked to him of the *' heavenly manna, and the bread of life." " Give me meat," said Macallum, " in the mean time." Even on his way from his prison to the gallows, he called for some rolls and cold meat, that he recollected had been left in his cell. This beast, however, so inveterate and often ridicu- lous is the pride of clanship, growled some expressions of discontent, that Stewart was honoured with the right hand, as they were led forth to the place of execution. After the melancholy fate of Stewart, his family were soon involved in so great distress, that they were obliged to throw themselves on the charity of the world. Now the treachery of sergeant Macdonaid, who, on pretence of saving the life of Stewart, had robbed his family of almost all that stood between them and ruin, was discovered, and excited universal indignation. He was given up by Sir Robert I i 2 484 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND.' similar purpose, at Clachnacnrry, on the shore of Loch Beauly, on the eastern sea. These docks, or basons, are each of them about four hundred yards in length, and upwards of se- venty in breadth, a space which will admit large vessels to lie therein, and to pass and turn with ease. At both places, several people of the Highlands, who have been engaged in canal work in other parts of Scotland and in England, have been employed and set useful examples to others who have not been accustomed to that sort of employment. Three small boats have been provided at each end of the intended inland navigation, for carrying pro- visions, tools, and other articles; and two large barges for carrying stone and other materials, the one upon Loch Eil, and the other upon Loch Beau- ly. A very considerable quantity of fir and birch timber was purchased in the vicinity of the works, the price varying from ten-pence to fourtcen-pence the cubic foot. It is expected that a great saving will arise from hence in the prosecution of the works, as this timber, for most purposes, is not inferior to what must otherwise have been im- ported at double those prices. Both at Clachna Carry and Carpach, workshops for blacksmiths and carpenters, and store-houses for tools and utensils, have been erected, with huts for accommodating- above a hundred men. Munro, his colonel, to a judicial trial ; and, for that and other crimes of a similar nature, was hanged at Inverness. Our worthy sergeant Macleod, not long after his expedition y> TuUoth-Gorum, was sent with a small party to catch James Robert- son, a horse-stealer, in Athol, &c. &c." TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 485 The nutnber of men employed in the works in the fnd of 180J, besides" those already established in trades, and engaged in making and repairing tools and utensils for the use of the workmen, was about , one hundred and fifty. I understand that this number, in the progress of the work, has been since doubled. 4 \ X^^iVTh^ wages given to labourers are, on an average, A about eighteen-pence a day. / Lines of road are to be formed for opening the shortest and easiest intercourse between the coun- tries to the south and those to the;north of this great inland navigation. Roads are to be extended to the eastern and western coasts, through the counties of Inverness, Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, and especially to the fishing station at Wick ; the only sta- tion, by the bye, of all the fishing stations establish- ed by the British Fishing Society, that holds out any reasonable expectation of success. Through this northern tract, or division, only one military- road, after the year 1745, was extended. On the south side of the navigation, a bridge is to be thrown, over the river Tay at Dunkeld ; and also a road on the side of the ferry leading towards the northern en- trance of the Crinan Canal. The one-half of the expenses of all these improve- ments is to be defrayed by the country, the other by government. Fort Augustus, situated on a plain at the head of Lochness, between the TarfF and Oich, is a for- tress capable of containing only from four to five hundred men. It is formed by four bastions. It is well enough fitted for bridling the country and en- forcing the law and execution of justice, but inca- 486 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. pable, I should suppose, of making any defence against artillery, being commanded by several heights at no great distance. Below the fort is a small pier, which affords shelter for small vessels and boats that come from Inverness to supply the garrison. Over the Oich is a bridge of three arches, well builtj M'hich opens a communication with the north and north-west. From Fort Augustus I had a peep of Loch Lo- chy, through which the canal runs, as well as Loch Oich. \The distance between these being but small, it will not require much cutting to form the canal. The country all around is wildly beautiful, grand, and subhme ; but as it was my object to see the most northerly parts of the kingdom before my re- turn southward, I crossed the lake, and landed near the castle of Urquhart. This was once the seat of the Cuinmings, at one period the most powerCul clan in Scotland. It is situated on a promontory of solid rock jutting into Lochness. The lake, with its woody borders, and the lofty mountains with which it is environed, render this a most ro- mantic situation. Nor will it, after this, be so me- lancholy a place as it must have formerly been, a's it will be approximated both in imagination and by the facility of communication to other places and countries, by means of the Caledonian Canal. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 487 From FORT AUGUSTUS to DORNOCH. While crossing the lake, I began to see a reason why there is, perhaps, less rain in Murray shire than any whei-fc else in Scotland. There is evidently a hollow from Inverness to Fort WiUiam, with the high hills of Lovat, &c. on the south, side, and the hills of Urquhart on the north; and all along this hollow, which extends the whole breadth of the island, there is a perpetual current of air, as in a Syphonj- either from, west to east, or directly con- trary. If, then, the clouds, impregnated with rain, arise from the west, by the time they approach this current of air they generally begin to acquire such a velocity as carries them past Inverness., and even over the whole of the lower parts of Murray into the German Ocean, before much of the rain, with which they are impregnated, falls; and the same principle operates when the clouds, impregnated with rain, arise from the German Ocean. Hence, probably, the reason why from eight to ten inches less of water falls in the lower parts of Murray than any where else in North Bri- tain. But whether this current of air, alw^ays from east to west, or the contrary, will upon some occa- sions be detrimental or advantageous to the shipping on the Caledonian canal, I leave the projectors to determine. The roads on the south side of the lake, from In- verness to Fort Augustus, must have been made at 488 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. a vast expense, it being, in some places, cut through the rock at the foot of the hills of Lovat, which extends to the very lake; but, on the other side, at the foot of the hills of Urquhart, there seems scarcely any road at all, and the only pleasant sen- sation I felt arose from a most extensive prospect of lofty and rugged mountains, rising to a prodi- gious height, and in some places almost perpendi- cular from a widely extended lake. \ After a long fatiguing ride through a tract of country but thinly peopled, and in many places miserably cultivated, I arrived at CROMARTY, Where I found a number of genteel people, and many as well and as fashionably dressed as any in the city of London. 7. The bay here is noble, and the harbour so large, that the British navy might ride secure in it. \The entrance into the bay is nar- row, and there are rocks in the sea on each side at the entrance, which are called the souters of Cro- marty, because they guard the entrance into the l)ay; and, on account of this name, some imagine that the Greeks have been here, and that the name is taken from the Greek word (tuIod, Servator, or Sa- viour, but it is more likely derived from the word shooters; in other words, rocks shooting out into the sea. Though the feudal system and clanship is fast de- clining in Scotland, yet I was sorry to fmd so many marks of it in this part of the country. Being in- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 489 troduced here to a respectable family, by a letter I had with me, as I had been, by means of lettevs to a variety of families in the different places I had vi- sited, I found the gentleman of the house, and in- deed all the family, proud of their clan, which they called the clan Donachie, or those that were de- scended from that individual of the family who was called Duncan. As I knew little of their clans, and was, as I observed some of the company also were, fatigued with hearing the long history he had given us of his family, and the antiquity and grandeur of his clan, wishing to change the subject^ I said, "As for me, I am of the clan Adam, which I believe is the oldest of them all." The gentleman, a little nettled, replied, " And so are the Hotten- tots," and went on with the history of his clan. I confess I think the time might have been better spent than hearing such minute details, and "could not help being astonished that any sensible man should think that such cruel bloody ancestors could reflect any honour on their posterity, which the gen- tleman seemed to think his did. The only other day I remained at this place, for I had been three days there already, I was again condemned to hear the mistress of the house, a good-looking old woman, give us the .history of her clan: and her daughters, who were handsome, and by no means uninformed, seemed to delight in pointing out to tlieir mother, in the course of her narration, some particulars re- specting marriages, courtships, &c. when she wa likely to forget them. We all listened to the lady with attention: and, out of complaisance, I with 490 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. the rest, when she had ended, said, we were obli- ged to her. The daughters, who afterwards gave us a tune on the forte piano, and sang to it some beautiful Gaelic, as well as Scotch, songs, possessed many amiable qualities; and, excepting their heads being, perhaps, too much filled with an idea of their own importance, as the descendants of so powerful a clan as the clan Keron, which it seems was theirs by the mother's side, I saw no fault in their deportment or appearance. Cromarty is situated on a narrow neck of land, which stretches out into the Murray Frith, at the mouth of Cromarty Bay. It has a considerable coasting trade in corn, thread, yarn, fish, and skins; and, as already mentioned, a most excellent harbour. Though nothing can be imagined more horrid than the general aspect of the small county of Cromarty, it is in many places not unfertile, and well cultivated. Near the town of Cromarty par- ticularly are many neat enclosures and beautiful plantations. It seems, on the whole, to be a thriv-: ing place. Having rode along the South side of Cromarty Firth to Dingwall, where I fell in with nothing worthy of remark, except a beautiful and extensive view, and some well-cultivated fields, I went to Tain. At this place nothing disgusted me more than some fanatics, whom I met by accident. As the people at Cromarty seemed to pique themselves on a minute acquaintance with the history of their clan, so the people here would make you believe that they are indifferent to all the pleasures and the TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 49 1 vanities of this world, and solely taken up with spi- ritual concerns ; and, knowing well how much the pride of ancestry and clanship prevails in many places, they will frequently observe, " that it is of small importance how any person is born, in a car- nal or physical sense: the great point to be ascer- tained being to know whether we be born again." This very expressive metaphor, in the Sacred Scrip- tures, is meant to denote that total change of senti- ments, habits, views, and hopes, that is brought about gradually by the progressive influence of the doctrines, precepts, examples, and motives held out in the gospel. But the melancholy fanatics of Tain suppose that the new birth, or regeneration, is the work of a moment, as it were, and accordingly they are anxious to trace their conversion and elec- tion, or, as they say, their being both called and chosen to some particular occasion of time, place, or incident. They are wholly absorbed in metaphysi- cal notions and doubts. With the love, charity, and joyful hopes inspired by the genuine doctrines of our Saviour they seem to be unacquainted. Being here on a Sunday, and not wishing them to think me an outcast, I went to hear sermon along with them. It turned wholly on matters of contro- versy. Not only were Deists and Unitarians very roughly, I do not say xtry skillfully, handled, but Arminians also. The bishops of England, in their addresses to the clergy under them, have for some years exhorted them, with the utmost earnestness, not only to defend our religion against Deists, but to be at great pains to explain and maintain the pe- culiar and mysterious doctrines of Christianity. The bishop of London, in a charge delivered to the 492 TRAVELS IX SCOTLAND. clergy of his diocese in 1795, exhorts them, iihov^ all things, to mainia n and explain these in a course of sermons before unlettered christians. I very much doubt whether this be a zeal according to know- ledge. Unlettered christians, very fortunately, do not entertain the least doubt concerning the truth of revealed religion, or of the doctrines of the church, however mysterious. To start game for the feeble efforts of their untutored intellect, and the vagaries of an ill-regulated imagination, prompted in their exertions by evil appetites and desires, is not good economy. Next to the open aggressors of Christianity, and of our religious establishments, in effect, though not in design, are those officious con- troversialists, who think it worth while to follow infidels and heretics into all the cavities and corners, in which, by mingling a little light with much dark- . ness, they endeavour, and sometimes with two much success, to throw all things into doubt and' confu- sion. The divine precepts, and doctrines^ as far as they can be comprehended by human understanding, shine by their own light, and communicate warmth and life by their own heat Instead of endless dis- putation,, nay, instead of too many moral discourses, it would be well to read very large portions of the Scripture, unmixed with human sentiment however pathetic, and all conceits however ingenious. It was formerly, and is, I believe still, usual fo the ministers in Ross-shire, Caithness, and the Ork- neys, to stop occasionally in the midst of therr dis- courses, and call on their hearers, to let them know, if any thing in their discourse wanted explanation. Ross-shire, of which Tain is one of the principal towns may be called the Holy Land of Scotland, but a TRAVELS IN SCOTLANDi 49a few days, was long enough to co^vi^ce tfie that religion does not influence the hearts of the people here more than in other parts of the country, where their public devotions do w^t occupy ahove one half the time. Having crossed the Firth, at Tain, I arrived at Dornoch, in Sutherland, where I observed the coun- try in many places to have a cold, dreary, and bleak appearance. Dornoch, the county town of Su- therland, has not more than about five hundred inhabitants. \ It has been observed, that there are too many tide-vv'^aiters and excisemen in the country, and that the revenue might be levied as effectually, as well as at less expense, if there were fewer. This may be the case on the river Thames and some other places, and there may be abuses in this as well as in other public offices in London, where the clerks generally sit more than one half of their time read- ing Roderick Random and other books of the kind ; the oiBces often admitting and paying more clerks, &c. than they have occasion for. Yet I am cer- tain there are not more revenue officers along this coast than are necessary, considering the number of smugglers. The truth is, that notwithstaading all the vigilance of government, the greater part of the northern coasts of Scotland are swarming with them, and foreign spirits of all kinds, of an. excellent quality, are every where to be found, particularly near fishing towns; the fishers going out with their boats, and bringing ashore what the smugglers cannot conveniently land. I mention these circumstances because I know them to be true, and because, notwithstanding what is said in favour 494 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. of the Brunonian system, and that small keep off great fevers, nothing tends more to enervate the body, corrupt the mind, and banish genuine cliristianity, than dram-drinking, which I found too much prac- tised here, even by those that say long prayers, as well as in many other places. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 495 From DORNOCH to CAPE WRATH. ' From Dornoch, through a country, some parts of which seemed to be tolerably well cultivated, and others in a state of nature, I arrived at the foot of the Ord of Caithness. \ This is an exceedingly high hill, though I did not ascend it, which is seen from the coasts of Murray, rising in a grand and majestic nianner. However, I am sorry to say, the country looks bleak and barren in most places around it; and, except about Berrydale Castle, the seat of the earl of Caithness, and the improvements lately made by Sir John Sinclair, Mr. Horn, writer to the signet; and a few others, Caithness has yet a most dreary appearance. I am surprized that the proprietors of land here do not encourage and invite farmers from the southern counties of Scotland, to occupy and improve their estates. There is much ground ia- Caithness, with long tough grass, which evidently shews the soil in Caithness to be fertile, were it pro- perly cultivated and drained ; and were a few good farmers to be scattered here and there over the country, and to find suitably encouragement from the proprietors, particularly as the herring and other fisheries on its coast are capable of much improve- ment, Caithness might become much warmer, and a kind of paradise, compared with what it is. It is ,true the soil in many places seems swampy, but thea .there are stones enough in most places to make Covered drains ; and, where these cannot be easily 4^6 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. obtained, the other methods recommended by Elkington on Draining, might be adopted to advan- tage. It is unfortunate that thei-e is not more wood in Caithness; but certainly, clumps, belts, and patches, of wood, might, by degrees, be adopted ; which, by carefully suiting the plant to the soil. Mould no doubt thrive ; and, consequently, beautify and warm the country. It is true, wood, in general, does not thrive here, unless well sheltered ; but I am sorry to say, * that they who have introduced planting here, have ' not attentively (lord Caithness excepted) adapted the plant to the soil. It is a fact, that on several parts belong to the earl of Caithness, birch springs spon- taneously, though yearly destroyed and eaten down by the cattle ; and in several places, particularly in hollows, the plantings and clumps introduced by his lordship are in a thriving condition. Sir John Sin- clair has some plantations about Bradwell, in the parish of Hall-kirk, of the thinnings of which he lately sold to the amount of ten pounds, a great matter for this country ! Yet, still it seems, wood, with proper care, may be raised of some kind. There is not a doubt but it grew here formerly, and even in Iceland. It seems easy to raise wood in the neighbourhood of wood ; but very difficult to raise it where there is no wood. The French voyager, Peyrouse, remarked, that where any island in high latitudes had been denuded of its wojod, it was next to impossible to restore it. You must begin this ar- duous and slow work, by raising any kind of wood that will grow, however dwarfish. In general, the men and women of Caithiiess, are TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 497 but of small stature, as well as the trees. We are not to judge of them by such tall strapping fellows as Sir John Sinclair, and other gentlemen from that county ; who have the double advantage of plenty of victuals and a keen air. They are stunted crea- tures, with a sharp visage, indicative of both intelli- gence and want. I was at pains to inquire into the diet of these poor people. Breakfast, meal and BREE, that is, water-gruel, not the substantial por- ridge of the Lowlanders. Dinner, meal and bree kail, or a kind of soup meagre, in which there is boiled, perhaps, some barley or grits, with some kail, and a scanty allowance of bar- ley-cakes. Supper, meal and bree : or, in place of this, so wens, a kind of frumarty, made from the husks of grits, or oatmeal. On Sundays, or other festivals, they have, after their meal and bree, some milk, or perhaps two eggs. If any farmer is rejiorted to eat flesh ; the laird considers this as a fraud on him. *' I must look sharp after this man : he has his farm too cheap. They tell me he eats flesh-meat.*' It is a comuion thing for labourers, or farmers servants, to stipulate with their masters, that, besides their meal and bree, or soup meagre for dinner, they shall have a certain number of stocks of kail, to be eaten with bread and salt. This must appear to an Englishman wholly incredible ; as being altoge- ther insuflicient to keep soul and body together. Nevertheless, there is nothing more certain, and I dare to appeal for the truth of it to any one ac- quainted with Caithness. Fish, they sometimes have ; and certainly might have it oftener, if some- thing wrong in the political ^ponpmy of the country, i: k 498 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. did not counteract the benignity of nature; as at Perth, and other parts, with respect to the salmon. The lairds and ladies of Caithness, seem social, convivial, gay, and merry, in proportion to the misery of the poor slaves, from whose labour and privations they derive the means of their festivity. They visit one another often, and for weeks at a time One thing peculiar to Caithness : The gentle- ^men gently pinch the toes of the ladies with their own toes, by way of making love, under the table at dinner or supper. I was astonished at a constant treading on my toes, one night, which was repeated after many wry faces on my part. Next morning, having mentioned the circumstance to some one, J was let into the secret. My toes, by mistake, re- ceived a compliment not intended. Caithness in its present state, it must be confessed, seems not much calculated for the produce of trees, as there are in many places not more than three feet of earth, and rock every where below ; consequently rock not being an absorbing stratum, rain, when it falls, lodges above the rock ; and, if more than is sufficient to moisten the earth, ruins the main or top root, when it goes down that far: but this excess of moisture, which mu"st obstruct, in many cases, the growth even of acquatic plants, might in a great measure be prevented by draining, which would not only give vent, in nine cases out of ten, to the sur- plus moisture, and prevent the main and other root* from being too much steeped in water, but also ame- liorate the climate, and give life to a thousand differ- efit kinds of vegetables that never will thrive till this mode of procedure is adapted. Though 1 found many genteel and well-informed TRAVELS I?r SCOTLAND. 49S^ people here, yet I could not help observing a cast of countenance in the people, which, though uncom- mon, is by no means disagreeable. Many of them have high cheek bones, rather broad foreheads, and, though a peculiar, yet a shrewd and sensible look. The coast of Caithness, from Dornoch to Wick, a distance of near sixty miles, running north and east, is not much indented, and nearly a straight line. The ord of Caithness, and a variet}'^ of other hills of less note, spread their roots to the sea, which here is fertile in proportion as the land is barren. Except- ing at Gosport, near Portsmouth, I never saw a greater variety of broken and curious shells, than I found on the beach, not far from Dunbeath Castle, where I went one morning to amuse myself, by tak- ing a plunge in the sea. They have, what they call, lucky and unlucky days, hours, and objects here, as well as in the inte- rior of the Highlands, where Inverness-shire joins Aberdeenshire, BamfFshire, and that of Murray; and where, as travellers seldom visit those places, I have been the more minute in my remarks. For instance, if an ox or sheep is killed, during the time the moon vs decreasing, they imagine the pieces, while salting, boiling, or otherwise dressing, will grow less ; but, if these are killed while the moon is encreasing, they imagine that these pieces will also encrease. Hence they generally kill oxen, sheep, &c. from the change to the ftdl of the moon. There is a certain day in which they generally marry ; and they imagine, were they to marry on any other day, that the marriage would be unfortunate. The day on which they generally choose to enter the pale of K k2 500 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. matrimony, is Thursday. A custom prevails in this part of the country, at weddings, even among what is called the better sort of people ; which, though formerly common all over Scotland, and still gene- rally prevails among the lower classes, will probably be considered in England as either very indelicate, or a proof of great simplicity of manners, according to the cast of different imaginations. \ The married couple are bedded before witnesses. The bride re- tires first from the entertainment, accompanied by the unmarried women. She is found sitting upright in bed, in a night dress, when the bridegroom, with the unmarried men enter. The bride and bridegroom drink to the health of the company, and the com- pany to the health and happiness of the bride and bridegroom. The bride turning herself about a little, throws her stocking over her left shoulder ; and the person on whom it falls is to be first married. ^ It is often attempted by the men to make the bride- groom drunk. This I understand had lately been tried with a worthy clergyman, about sixty years old, who was well seasoned to drinking, and very fond of convivial society, in vain. Instead of avoid- ing, he encouraged the glass. He called for one bottle of wine, and one bowl of punch after another, till the young men fell a yawning, being oppressed with the liquor, and ready to fall asleep. They said, ** Come, come, it is time to part." The bridegroom replied, *'Aye! aye! what is your hurry ?" but fol- lowed them up stairs, muttering, " Poor creatures!" There is a rivulet, across which the Sinclairs went, at a certain hour in the forenoon, to the battle of Flouden, where so many of the Scots were killed ; and, as scarcely one returned, the people of Caith- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 501 ness to this day think it unlucky to cross the said rivulet at that hour. WICK AND THURSO. Having visited Wick and Thurso, which are con- siderable little towns, and inhabited by some genteel people, I found nothing that surprised me so much as the probability that a straw hat manufactory was about to be established in them, to supply the Lon- don market. Our grandmothers wore pinners and veils, or tartan plaids flung negligently over the head ; and sometimes velvet hoods, exactly the shape of their heads, who, before their marriage, wore nothing but their hair, the head dress which nature gave them ; and our grandfathers plaited straw for mats to wipe their feet, when all over with mud; but *^hat would they say, were they to look up now, and ee our finest ladies ornamenting their heads with straw, plaited into all possible shapes of bonnets, from the old fashioned gipsey hats, worn by our soldiers wives, to the small helmet, or bead piece, resembling a barber's bason ! When at Thurso, I felt a strong desire to see Cape Wrath, the north-west point of Scotland, it being part of my plan. Therefore, mounting my horse, I set out to see it ; but, of all the roads I ever tra- velled, this is the most dismal and dreary, and I found that even my horse thought so ; as he often wished to return. Indeed, there are so many rivers and torrents to cross, so much bad road, or rather no road at all, such barren, dreary, prospects, and so few well-cujtivated spots to diversify the scene, and, S0$ TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. with all, so bad accommodation, even though one has plenty of money, that I was led to think, were the British legislature to enact, that dehnquents from the parish of St. Giles, in London, and other parts of the country, should be transported here, instead of Botany Bay, it would be an improvement in our code of laws. When I arrived at Cape Wrath, I saw the pro- priety of the name. The rocks that form the shore, though not so stupendous as those at the Red-head in Angus, are very high. The sea ran tremendously l^igh ; and, like as I had seen at St. Andrews, the -foam was flying over my head for miles into the country. There is no town or village nearer to Cape Wrath, than from thirty to forty miles. It is not one peak or projection into the sea, but, like Cape North, in Lapland, a concave, or portion of a circle, terminated by two promontories or projections. The minister's and the ganger's house are within half ^ mile of it. The face of the country is rugged and bleak in the extreme ; only a small spot cultivated here and there, and the cattle I saw long haired, lean, and seemingly half starved. Upon seeing the manse of Edracheillis, I felt a strong desire to wait upon the clergyman, and tell him my name and profession ; but, havino; no letters of introduction to him, I did not put him to any trouble ; though I wish I had, for my poney's sake, who did not fare so well here. The minister here has a glebe, not worth, 1 under- stand, above five pounds sterling a year; though it be three or four miles long, and nearly as broad ; and a farm for about ten pounds per annum, that extends many miles. But though this is the case, TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 503 and it'supports above fifty cattle, and some hundreds of sheep, yet its value is lessened, both to the pro- prietor and tenant, from this circumstance, which at once points out what the place is, that the clergyrnan thinks it surprising if less than ten or a dozen of his cattle fall yearly over the rocks, and break their neck. However, the people here are much attached to it, and, like the Laplanders, with regard to their country, think it one of the finest places on the face of the earth ; and it is fortunate they think so. Were not this the case, it would soon become a de- sert. But this is not suiprising, as man, like other animals, is apt to be in love with the country that produced him, and the objects he is habituated to see in his early days, and particularly those of his ear-r liesl, tenderest, and most pure and sincere affec- tions. He recollects how sincerely he loved, and how kindly he was taken care of, and how sincerely beloved. It is moral sentiments and associations, playing about the heart, that attach us to things devoid of sentiment and life. I am led to this remark, from an excise ofBcer I accidentally met with in this part of the country. Glad of information, I accepted an invitation to dine with him, and found him hospitable. In the course of conversation, he told me, that of all the places he had ever seen, he liked Cape Wrath the best; that though the face of the country was rugged, and not much wood on it, yet it produced thousands of cattle and sheep, which were driven to the south country ; that wool, butter, and cheese, and every produce of the country, fetches excellent prices ; and, when speaking of lord Seaforth, the proprietor 504 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. of all the land in this part of the country, and the duke of Gordon, said, that he would ihink it more honourable to be lord Seaforth's cowherd, than the duke of Gordon's steward. I was the less surprised to find the rest of the people that dined with us in love with Cape Wrath, as they had scarcely ever seen a town, or any road, other than that made by the feet of men and horses, but not a little at the excise officer's opinion; who, in the course of his profession, had been in several parts of the south of Scotland, and north of England. Upon inquiry how they got such excellent wine and coniac brandy, he told me, that some pipes of wine, and casks of brandy had come ashore there, some months before; and that, as nobody claimed it, and there were no names on the casks, they thought there was no harm in now and then making merry with it. Neither the wine nor the brand}^ was in the least hurt by having been for some time tost about in the ocean. Some of the people along this coast, like some in other parts of Scotland, particularly on the south- east coast of Fife, do not think it a crime, when a ship is wrecked, to carry off valuable articles from it. They think, if a ship is cast away upon their coast, that providence does it for their good ; and, when dead men are washed ashore, they who find them first think themselves fortunate, as they have it in their power to rifle their pockets, and secret the property found on them. I find there is but little fishing near the Cape. If fish were to come near it, they would be swept along with tremendous waves, and dashed against the rocks. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND, 505 I was surprised to find a newspaper here, that only- eight days before had been printed at London : but this generally takes place even in the middle of winter ; for they have a foot post that weekly, sum- mer and winter, though it be near sixty miles, runs between the Cape and Thurso ; and which he often does wading to the middle in snow. I had almost forgot to mention the grace which was said before dinner, in the excise officer's house ; which, though short, was not unexpressive, and which, so far as I could understand the Gaelic language, was ; God bless the meat, And them that eat. It is the opinion of some philosophers, that self interest is the great spring of all our actions; and, notwithstanding their hospitality and seeming atten- tion to those that visit them, from every view I can take of the conduct of the Highlanders in general, as well as those that live about Cape Wrath, and have little communication with the rest of the human race, I am led to believe, there is some truth in the remark. If a Highlander runs a few miles with you, to shew you the way over a hill, without a stipulated sum being promised him, you m.ay depend upon it, he has some peculiar end or other of his own in view. He tries to sift out of you where you dwell, what you are, and what you can do for himself, a son, an ac- quaintance, or some person to whom he wishes to be of use ; and, if he finds you have no money, nor can be any way of use to him, he leaves you, in general, to find the way yourself. And this idea seems to be confirmed by the general conduct of the Scotch, S06 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAXD. but particularly the Highlanders. I am very re- luctantly compelled, by a regard to truth, to bear witness to the fact noticed by Dr. Samuel Johnson, that the lower sort of the Highlanders are greatly addicted to lying ; as well as they formerly were to stealing. In their reports, they are apt to answer what is for their own interest, and what agreeable to the person to whom the report is made, rather than ".the real matter of fact. Neither, indeed, do they seem to have the same reverence for an oath as the Lowlanders I speak of the lowest orders : for, as to the higher, they are known to have a nice sense of honour. There are no people in the world more ob- sequious to their landlords than the Scotch and Highland peasantry, while their leases are short, and they are altogether at the mercy of those land- holders ; but, give them two or three nineteen years of a lease, or put them in any way independent of your smiles or your frowns, and they at once shew you they are independent. The Highland proprie- tors are not ignorant of this feature of the character of their tenants. Hence the reluctance of those pro- prietors to give long leases. If they did, they know their influence is gone. While they keep their te- nants dependent on their will and pleasure; they know they can rule over them, and induce them to do what they please. And hence it is, that some of the Highland landholders will not be induced, by any motives, to give their tenants long leases, knowing that the probable chance of war, and thejr being able to raise a regiment, or any given part of it, will fetch more, in some shape or other, from govern- ment, than all the additional rent they could expect from'grantinga long lease; thus, preferring the be- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND, 507 ing flattered and followed by a needy peasantry, to seeing the country flourishing, and thousands around them happy as well as themselves. It is a certain fact, the chieftains in the Highlands are now, for the most part, instead of being almost adored, in general despised. And, why ? merely because their lands are let out in large sheep walks, to tenants that are nearly as independent as them- selves, and the tenants turned out of their small pos- sessions have no more favours in expectation. The English farmers and tenants do not flatter and fawn so much about the landholders, while their lease is un- certain, nor do they shew such an independent spirit as the Scotch, after their leases are secure. In fac!^ the Enghsh seem to possess greater asquanimity, mo- deration, and command of temper than the Scots ; neither so prone to haughtiness on the one hand, nor to abject submission on the other. There are thousands of cattle about Cape Wrath, Ross-shire, and the other parts of the Highlands, that never were within the walls of a house)\^nd, scr hardy are those animals, that, during deep snow, they, as well as the small horses in many other places, eat the hair of one another's tails for want. This fact may be de^ pended upon, however improbable it may appear. The sheep can shift better in a severe winter than cattle, as they bear the cold better, and are led as it were by instinct, like the rein deer in Lapland, to scrape the snow with their feet from the top of the heath, which they eat as often as they can reach it, having no other subsistance. Cattle seldom scrape with their feet the snow from the heath ; though horses sometimes do. Hence they are more frequently 508 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. found dead for Avant, than sheep. Strathnaver, the name of the country, for thirty or forty miles all round, seems to me the least improvcable place in Scotland ; however, if the moisture, with which it in many places superabounds, were carried oif by draining, even this county might add con- siderably, not only to the individual advantage of lord Seaforth, the proprietor, and his tenants, but to that of the commonwealth to which it belongs. Though, perhaps, it is not worth mentioning, yet I cannot help observing one peculiarity among the people at Cape Wrath, as well as in many other parts of the Highlands, which is, that as they are of opinion cinnamon is an excellent thing for their health, so they generally put some of it in the tea-pot among their tea ; as also in their punch ; to give it a flavour. It is observed by Hawthornden, in his history of the Jameses, kings of Scotland, that, when a ship was wrecked on the coast of Galloway, and the people went to inspect the cargo, they thought that the cinnamon, with which the ship was loaded, was only chips for lighting fires, and that they sold it for this purpose to those that chose to buy it, at sixpence the cart load, which it seems several of the better sort of people bought at that price ; but were surprised that the chips, when they put them in the fire, sent forth so fine a smell. But, had the lowest of the people at the farthest part of Scotland, at the present day lived in Galloway, when this ship was wrecked, they would have fK)intedout another use for cinnamon, than hght- ing fires. Leaving Cape Wrath, and my new friends in that quarter, I made the best of my way back tQ Thurso, in order to visit John O'Groat's house. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND, 50^ The manners of the people in the interior of the Highlands are much less changed than in any other part of Scotland. The West and North Highlands, the Orkney Islands, and the Hebrides, as well as the eastern and southern paits of Scotland, have in general taken the tone of their manners, customs, prejudices, &c. from the strangers that almost daily intermix with them; but the people in Badenoch, and the centre of the Highlands, where the counties of Inverness, Murray, Aberdeen, and BamfF meet, generally intermarrying among themselves, and, hav- ing little intercourse with others, are nearly, at pre- sent, what they were some centuries ago. It is cer- tain that the greater part of Berkshire, as well as some other parts of England, like most of the pro- vinces in Holland, is several feet below the level of the sea ; but this country, and indeed the cultivated ground all around on the upper parts of the banks of the Spey, particularly the parish of Laggan, the highest in Britain, is elevated nearly a thousand feet above any other cultivated ground in the kirigdom. However, as in England, trees of all sizes, even to the height of forty feet, are transplanted, by taking up the roots, and keeping the earth about them, by putting all into a coarse basket, proportionably large ; and the basket with its contents, which soon rots, into a hole dug for it at the place where they wish the tree to grow, so, notwithstanding that this place, from its internal and mountainous situation, is in general the least improved, as well as the least improvable part in Scotland, I was glad to see this plan adopted here, and the basket, very properly, both rough and full of holes, so as easily to allow the new roots, that might shoot out previous to the SlO- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. basket's decaying, to find their way out in quest of* food. By this method, it is obvious, trees can be carried, for miles, any where in the midst of summer, without the least danger of their dying ; or even, if well M'atered, being sickly above a day or two. Rhubard, too, I found, as well as some other plants, have here, in the month of June, been found to grow nine inches in twenty- four hours ; a motion visible to the naked eye, and equal to that of the minute hand of a small watch, whose motion is easily per- ceived, without the help of a glass. I wish the lords and lairds in Scotland were as sensible of the impor- tance and as attentive to the maintenance of relimon and good morals as they in general are to the improve- ment of the physical qualities and powers of their estates. I am sorry to say that, though the clergy in gene- ral in Scotland are respectable characters, and highly useful, yet many of them, particularly of late, have been appointed to church livings, not so much on account of their piety, virtue, and learning, as on other accounts. I know a clergyman, in Aberdeen- shire, who had given up the profession, because he had not talents for it, and no prospect of a living. A certain great man, however, who is fond of stand- ing at a turning loom, because this clergyman could turn a little, play on the bag-pipes, and knew some- thing of the materia medica, gave him a living. When government, the other year, recommended it lo the people to be ready to rise en masse^ the clergy- man, now that he had something to lose in the event of a revolution, strongly recommended the measures of government; and, as an inducement to military preparation and exercise, told them, hei himself TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 511 would follow them to the field, and pledged himself to cut off legs and arms, to sew up all the gashes made by the weapons of the enemy, heal their wounds, and give them medicines, though the wounded should lie as thick as at the battles of Lodi, Marengo, and Jamappe. He pointed out to them what an advantage it would be to them to have a skillful surgeon, ready, at a moment's warning, to pour balm into their wounds. In consequence of this address, the people, who had been to a man wil- ling to rise and defend their property, in case of in- vasion, became alarmed, and absolutely refused to be drilled. I know another clergyman, who spends the greater part of his time at his turning loom, carving pieces of wood, bone, hgnum vitae, ivory, steel, brass, &c. , into the shape of frogs, mice, rats, sparrows, and the like ; and in making, in a smithy he has built at his manse, various kinds of nails, particularly those that smiths use for fastening horse shoes. This gentle- man too, pretends to skill in th'i.healing art ; but the parishioners, though they must apply to him for spiritual advice, the patron of the church having appointed him their pastor, and there being no other place of public worship near them, have no faith in his skill as a physician, and seldom or never apply to him, except out of compliment, when there is scarcely any thing the matter with them. But what class of men is perfect? A certain epis- copal congregation, I shall only say not fifty miles from Aberdeen, wishing to have a genteel and fa- shionable clergyman, sent the other-year to London for one ; who, when they saw and heard him, pleas- ed them much. But this geutleraari has already lost ^13 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. their good opinion, for he generally not only goes, it seems, in a blue jacket to market for provi- sions, but balls, assemblies, &c. in a cocked hat and full dress ; and every Sunday morning, immediately before he goes to church, he visits the kitchen, to give orders about the dinner, as also immediately after he returns ; when, if the dinner is not cooked, and particularly the meat not roasted to his mind, he often takes the spit with the meat on it, and belabours his lady for not having it done better. As the Scots are more addicted to excess in drinking than nicety or intemperance in eating, and rearlier to notice any other faults than their own, the neigbours call this an English vice. How different the conduct of my hospita- ble entertainer, the Rev. Mr. L , near El- gin; who, after superintending the business and education of a numerous family of fine beautiful children, attending to the spiritual as well as tem- poral concerns of his hearers, and the duty of hos- pitality to strangers, employs his leisure hours in studies connected with his profession ; particularly in geology and others, that serve to illustrate and prove the truth of the Sacred writings ! During my passage from Cape Wrath to the Orkneys, my thoughts ran upon the whole of my travels in Scotland, which now was seen at some distance, and this every moment increased; and the most general impression that remained on my mind was the marked difference between what I had seen of the Highlanders and the Lowlanders. The Lowlanders are certainly advanced far before the Highlanders in civilization and all the arts, and TRAVELS In SCOTLAND. ^513 much more industrious. They are also, though what I am going to say may probahly be called in question by some, more chearful and lively than the" Highlanders. Tlie Highlanders are fond of dancing, when rouzed by the bagpipe or other mu- sic, but they are at bottom gloomy and melan- choly. They are, I think, naturally very kindly af- fectioned to their kindred, and obliging to their neighbours, and very tender-hearted and prone to compassion. They have not any very accurate no- tions of the natural turpitude of either lying or stealing, though they are afraid of the gallows. They are still, after all the operation of a free go- vernment, less apt to regard principles than per- sons. They will stick at nothing that is desired by a great man. In the interior parts there are yet striking remains of savage mantiers. I am led to this remark from what happened to a beautiful woman, with whom 1 happened to dine lately, on the borders of Badenoch. This lady be- ing handsome, though poor, was courted by many, and among others by a Mr. Macg r, major domo to colonel G . One day Macg r came running to his master saying, " Oh, Sir ! Green, the hand- some sergeant, has this day married m}^ favourite, the young woman you have often heard me men- tion. I saw her since it happened, and she is wil- ling, though married, to come with me this even- ing, if you will protect us. Upon the colonel say- ing .he would, Macg r immediately set out on horseback; and, it being about the shortest day and dark, succeeded in bringing her privately from Green and the wedding people, who were all danc- l1 514 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. ing and happy. Finding the bride gone, Green suspected Macg r, and immediately set oQt for the colonel's, with many others, armed with muskets, swords, pistols, clubs, staves, &c. demanding his M ife. The doors being fast and barricadoed, the colonel from the upper windows replied, " She is not your wife, as the marriage was not consummated." " True; but it was done before." " That sig- nifies nothing in the eye of the law. It should have been done after, otherwise the marriage is not worth a farthing. The lady has (led hither for pro- tection; therefore, if you do not be gone, you will be shot at from the vindows." The colonel, who had an elegant house, and had saved about ten thousand pounds, seeing such & beautiful woman, although above sixty years of age, was determined, if possible, that neither Green nor Macg r should have any business with her; and so managed the matter, by putting a thousand pounds in her hand, that she became with child, and brought forth to him a line boy. The colonel* relations, who hoped to be his heirs, took the alaiTn, lest he should marry her; and one evening, when the colonel was from home, and all was quiet, fouv men disguised, and with crapes over their faces, rushed into the room where she was, and, seizing her, with a pair of scissars they had, cut off hev ears, and immediately ran off, each in a different di- rection from the house. But they were mistaken : for this maiming, which is by the laws of Britain death, instead of lessening, increased the colo- nels attachment to her. When she had a second son to hun, he made his will, leaving the greater TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 515 part of his fortune to her and her children; and actually would have married her, had he not, by accident, discovered that it was doubtful whe- ther the children were his or Macg r's. She was married, though Green is alive, to this Macg r, when I saw her; but though the dinner, wines, &c, were excellent, and I received much attention and some information from them, yet, had I known their history when she and her husband invited me to dine with them, I would not have accepted the in- vitation. In Glasgow too, the other year, a boy that had been twice or thrice in prison for stealing, coming into a mercer's shop, picked something from the counter, and was going away. The master of the shop seeing this, and recollecting him, immediately took up a pair of scissars from the counter, cropped his ears, and desired him to put these in his pocket. ORKNEY ISLANDS. Having crossed the Pentland Firth, or the tiar- row sea between the main land and the Orkneys, I travelled on as fast as ferries would permit, tilKl came to Kirkwall, in order to see their fairX or yearly market, which continues for eight days, and may be termed the carnival of these islands. ' And here I found myself highly entertained, as almost every body from the other islands was here. I saw, as it were, the whole people and riches of the islands at once. Indeed, tjus season is their grand festival, lIS! 6\S TRAVELS IN SCOTLANf). They were all in their holiday clothes ; and I con* fess, even in London, I scarcely ever saw so much money afloat. lu one place I saw nearly two thou* sand pounds sterling given and received, being all in hundred pound parcels, in the course of a few minutes. There were here booksellers, pedlars, grocers, wholesale and retail dealers, from Edin- burgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, &c. &c. Being ac- quainted with the Rev. Mr. Allison, minister of St. Andrews and Deerness, I made his house, at his request, my head-quarters. It was amusing to see the medley of busy faces at Kirkwall upon this occasion. The samples of fish, butter, cheese, fea- thers, grain, quills, &c. &c. and draughts on Edin- burgh, Leith, Glasgow, but particularly London, were giving and receiving every where ; besides a vast quantity of gold and silver in circulation. Here were to be seen as fashionable and as well- dressed people as any in the capital of the king- dom: for, it seems, there are dolls or figures both of men and women, as big as a child, sent here fre- quently from London, that the milliners, mantua- makers, and tailors, may see the newest fashions of gowns, head-dresses,- coats, breeches, hats, &c. &c. As I was looking at the miniature figure' of a man, made of stuffed shambeau leather, pointing out the reigning fashion at London the week be* fore, the man having it there on sale, told me its price was only half a guinea, imagining, I suppose, that I meant to buy it for the use and inspection of my tailor. The island [of Pomona, or Mainland, in which TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. Sl7 Kirkwall is situate, and where this fair, or marl et, is h^ld, is about thirty-two miles long, and in some places nine broad. It has some excellent har- bours, to which ships run in distress, and nine parish churches. I should suppose that this country, notwithstand* ing the mirth, happiness, and bustle I saw, must be cold and dreary in winter, as there is scarcely any wood to beautify the country, or keep it warm, and almost all their fuel is imported from England, which, notwithstanding that a late tax is taken off, considering freight, &c. &c. must be at an expense the generality of the people cannot aiford. I found my friend, Mr. Allison, the clergyman, lived very comfortably. He had a tolerably good house, consisting of eight apartments, besides a kiti- chen, cellars, and out-houses. He had a large gar- den, well stocked with fruit-trees and kitchen stuifs, and this, \vith his glebe, which indeed cost him 9, hundred guineas in enclosing, in a great measure supports his family. He has besides about a hun- dred guineas of stipend yearly. It is a shame (though Mr. Allison never does) that the clergy in the Shetland and Orkney Islands should so of- ten \yink at their churches being the repositories of smuggled goods, chiefly foreign spirits. The apostle Paul exhorts his converts not to be filled with wine, wherein is excess, but to be filled with the spirit. The people in the Orkney and Shet-e land Islands, perhaps, misinterpret this text. As I saw many of the people of the Shetland Islands at the market at Kirkwall, particularly from Mainland, which is the largest of them, being 518 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. nearly sixty miles long and twenty broad, and of which Lerwick is the capital, I did not go to see them. The manners, customs, and language of these islanders are nearly the same as in the Orkneys, only their countenances are darker, and seemingly \ more weatherbeaten. \ '^ \ There being an elegant ball one evening at Kirk^ Wall, during the market week, I \vent to see it ; and must say, that though I have seen assemblies at Edinburgh, London, Bath, &;c. yet I scarcely ever saw more mirth, innocence, elegant dancing, or more handsome and elegantly dressed ladies iij my life ; Wnd I have reason to conclude, that had - ' any of th6 English squires and dashing beaux been there, they would have thought so ; but though the better sort of people in the Orkneys seem to live comfortably, yet I am afraid, that, as happens in many other places, the common people do not. In- deed, in the market, some of them, though seem- ingl}^ happy, exhibited strong marks of poverty; and I was sorry to see these poor people so much impos- ed upon by those who visit them. If I mistake not, almost all the goods in the market were either old and iiot fresh, or they were what is termed ba^ or unmarketable goods. I was much pleased to find here a number of weavers, &c. employed by the Glasgow manufac- turers, and two Miss Sinclairs employing near a hundred girls, from sis to twenty years of age, in the manufacture of plait and straw hats. The straw is bought from the farmers in England, cut in certain lengths, and after being milled and dress^- ed, is plaited; and, as is done in Caithness an^lj TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 519 many other places, sewed and made up into bonnets of various shapes and colours, for the London mar- ket and home consumption, Leghorn and other hats having- almost entirely given place to this species of manufacture, I saw no shoei made of plaited straw here, though I observed them at Bedford, in Eng- land; and some of the dashing ladies on the south side of the Tweed are beginning to use this elegant ware. Having been invited to witness a marriage during my stay in the Orkneys, I was peculiarly pleased with the address of the clergyman to the young- people who had entered the pale of matrimony, say- ing to the young husband, " You, having presented this woman with a ring, which is emblematical of eternity; and, as you have given her that, which has no end, so, by this action, you signify that your love shall have no end. And remember that you, the woman, by accepting the ring, which, though you turn it round a thousand times, you will not come to the end of it, promise that your love, affection, and obedience^ to that man, who gave you it, shall be perpetual." Among the Egyptian hieroglyphics, eternity AV^as represented by a fish with its tail in its mouth ; so I am of opinion, with the good clergyman of the Orkneys, that there is more meant by the giving and receiving a ring than is generally supposed. Every one knows that the Orkney and Shetland Islands formerly belonged to the kingdom of Den- mark and Norway, and that they passed under the sovereignty of Scotland only in the fifteenth cen- tury. It is not many years since the Norse Ian- 520 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. guage was spoken in some of the interior or central parishes of Pomona, and still later that it was understood at least in Shetland. But the most cu- rious remains of the Norwegian government in the Orkneys are the Udallehs, whose landed posses- sions are allodial, and which, as the territorial estates in Norway are at this day, were, for I know not if I can speak in the present time, redeemable, on paying the price for which they were mortgaged "by the next of kin, as was the case among the Jews under the Mosaic Law. My stay in theOrk- neys was, by my plan, so short, that I had not time to make inquiries, or receive accurate information concerning the Udallers, their number, circum- stances, and whether the redemption of their estates was often or ever claimed. I regret this the more, that Dr. Barry, in his excellent and really admirable History of the Orkneys, which I have since seen, does not give any satisfactory account of the pre- sent state of these people ; on every other point he is learned, entertaining, and instructive. He only stales, that in the Orkneys allodial have been swallowed up a^ndlostin feudal tenures, in the Orkneys, as in other countries, from the same causes, and some that were peculiar to the Orkneys. He alludes to aristocrati- cal oppression, but does not speak out. By my in- formation, however, there appears to be still a greater number of Udallers than he states; not a few of them were pointed out to me at the. fair. They appeared to me to be a poor and dispirited class of men. 1 was told that they were very indolent, and that it would be better for some of them that they had no estates at all ; as, trusting to these small and TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 521 insignificant properties, they were very apt to neg- lect productive industry. I suppose they are pretty much in the situation of the lairds of Abernethey in this respect. I here subjoin an account of the present state of Shetland, communicated to me by a minister of a parish there. I SHETLAND ISLANDS. The islands of Shetland are situated in the North- ern Ocean, between 59o. 50'. and 60. 50'. of north latitude, the first degree of west longitude from London passing through the centre of the country. Their principal harbour, Bressay Sound, is distant about two hundred and thirty miles from Aberdeen; and between these ports there is a monthly commu- nication by a packet, which, at an average, performs the voyage in forty hours. The number of these islands is not exactly known, but if those of all sizes are reckoned, must be great, probably not below sixty. The names of the prin- cipal are Mainland, Bressay, Whalsey, Feilar, Yell, Unet, Veila, Papa, Burra, Trondra^ Eula, and Fair- Isle. Besides these, which are all peopled, there are many small islands that also contain inhabitants, some being occupied by a single family. The Main- land is nearly sixty miles long from south to north; its breadth so irregular, that it cannot be ascer- tained: however, it is believed there is no spot in it more than three miles distant from the sea. None of the other islands are above five or six miles in length or breadth. The face of the country, in ge- neral, is rugged, and its appearance barren, to a de- i522 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. gree that can hardly be conceived by the natives of a happier land. Some patches of cultivated ground appear along the margin of the sea; but every where else nothing presents itself to the astonished observer but bleak moors and morasses, interspersed with huge grey rocks, and separated by gloomy lakes, or creeks, and inlets of the ocean. Not a tree nor shrub is to be seen. Even the heath appears to be stunt- ed, and seems to languish under the baneful influ- ence of the northern blasts. But although at pre- sent no tree is able to raise its head in Shetland, an universal persuasion seems to prevail that the coun- try was once covered with wood. It would, how- ever, be difficult to account for the origin of this belief, which, in the opinion of the writer of these notes, is entirely destitute of foundation. The rea- sons of this opinion are as follow: The greater part of the Shetland Islands are covered with moss, at an average five feet in depth. IVIoss is well known to possess a most powerful antiseptic quality, and to preserve incorrupt, for a long scries of ages, what- ever vegetable or even animal substances it happens to contain. But though the present writer examined, with minute attention, many spots in these mosses, whence peats had been dug, he never could discern the least vestige of a tree: neither timber, bark, nor leaves; and, though he often made inquiries on this subject of intelligent natives, he never heard any person say that he had seen the remains of wood in any of the Shetland mosses. There must, how- ever, have been discovered in them, trees, or parts of trees, if wood, at any former period, had been produced in Shetland; and, consequently, the cir^ TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 523 mmstance of none ever being found affords a clear indication that wood never grew in the country. Whether or not any remains of trees are to be met with in Iceland and the Orkneys, the present writer is uncertain; though, till he shall see the affirmative established by good authority, he must hesitate to give his assent. Though no trees will grow in Shetland without the shelter of a wall, there are some to be found in gardens, several of which have been planted many years ago, and of some the writer has had an oppor- tunity of observing the progress from their arrival in Shetland. In general, they grow with sufficient vigour till they have attained the height of the sur- rounding wall; then, in summer, they put forth shoots to the length of six or seven inches above it, which are invariably destroyed by the blasts of the succeeding winter; so that, in a few years, the tree acquires a bushy stunted appearance at the top, similar to a hedge, the top of which has for a long time been annually cut. Thus it is pretty evident that the cause, which prevents the growth of trees in these islands, is the frequent and violent winds which prevail there, and which, in autumn and win- ter, invariably blast the vegetation of the preceding summer. In Shetland, if we except the months of June and July, there is scarcely a week that passes without a severe gale ; and its chmate, without exag- geration, may be described as an intermitting storm. In fact, no tree could withstand it, without the be- nefit of complete shelter; but, as there is no reason to imagine that the climate of Shetland w as ever more favourable in this respect, so it is impossi- ble to believe that ever trees grew in the coun- 524 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. try ; and till a total change of climate takes place, none ever can grow. Some writers have ascribed the want of trees in these northern islands to the in- fluence of the sea air, but that this has any qualities inimical to their growth does not seem to be the case. In Norway, under ^he same latitude as Shet- land, trees grow to a large size on the very brink of the ocean ; and in Shetland, when planted in an enclosure, they grow as rapidly and vigorously as in Scotland, till they have reached the height of the surrounding wall, above which they are unable to raise their heads. If the sea air was what checked their growth, would not the marine effluvia operate before they had reached the top of the wall, as well as afterwards, since the air both below and above that level must be equally impregnated with these effluvia ? Excepting these violent gales of wind alluded to, the climate of Shetland is not much different from that of the north of Scotland. In winter, snow lies but for a short time, and frost is never intense. But as there is no severe cold in winter, so there is lit- tle genial warmth in the summer; the sun, during the months of June, July, and August, being often obscured by fogs. On the shortest day the sun is iive hours above the horizon, and on the longest nineteen. For a month before and.after the summer solstice, there is indeed no darkness ; at midnight the refracted rays of the sun still illuminate the at- mosphere, and a sufficiency of light is enjoyed for every purpose. The lark, too, at this season, may be heard singing during the whole night. In au- tumn and winter the aurora boreahs is more frequent TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 525 and more brilliant than in any other part of Great Britain ; its coruscations are wonderfully vivid, and at times seem to dart almost instantaneously across the whole firmament. A curious fact in meteoro- logy deserves to be mentioned: thunder and light- ning rarely or never occur in summer, as in most other countries, though these phenomena are very ts-to kick and beat the scallags. The mise- rable condition of these unfortunate men is quite TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 549 hopeless: to seek relief from a change of masters is utterly impracticable. It is reckoned as unhand- some in any man to receive into his service the seal- lag of another, as it would be in a Jamaica plan- ter to harbour another's runaway negro. The state of our negroes is paradise compared with that of the SCALLAG. It has been remarked by our forefathers, that a gloomy morning often ushers in a beautiful day. This proverb was verified with regard to a young- couple with whom I fellin, in this part of the coun- try. Mr. T y r, tnough his father was poor, having had a tolerably good education, and been at the university of Aberdeen, got himself appointed schoolmaster of a large parish in this country. Dur- ing the time he filled this office, he became acquaint- ed with Mr. W t and his family, which only con-" sisted of himself, his wife, and daughter, with the servant, who lived in a neat snug house, in a beau- tifully romantic though sequestered place. ^Ir. T y r, being young and handsome, gained the daughter's affection; nay, so much, that they be* came too familiar. It is thought little or no disgrace for a servant- maid, or one in a low station, to have a natural child; and some young men prefer these when about to marry, before others, as by tliis they know that they probably wiil have children. But for one who is in the character of a lady to have one, is, as they ex- press it, an awful thing ; and, in this respect, one false step for ever damns her fame. INlr. T. knew this ; and, to remedy it, proposed, though he was afraid to marry her, as he had nothing to support her, and 5^0 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. herfather being extravagant, though more than sixty years of age, as l)e could write well and knew busi- ness, had set out for Edinburgh in quest of employ- rnent, and to avoid liis creditors. In the mean time, it having been blazed abroad, as is commonly done ii\ the country in cases of this kind, that IVIv- T, and Miss W. had fallen, as they term it, and as their crime >vas an offence against the noli vie tctngere^ the vir-^ tue without which, aiid indeed \tvy properly, no man can be either clergyman, schoolmaster, or elder in the church, M. T. though he had married her, found it necessary to give up his place, and re- tire to a village with his wife and his mother-in-law-, and nothing to support them but twelve pounds a yedr remitted by the old man from Edinburgh. Mrs. T. was at length delivered of a son; and Mr. T. as he could not raise a school where he resided, was completely idle, being, as is too often the ca^e -with Scotchmen, ashamed to work. In this state he lived till he, his wife, his mother-in-law, and the child, were almost nothing but skin and bone, for want of food. Mrs. T. had learned mantua-mak- ing, but never having practised, and not being very dextrous at it, she found little eniployment. Mr. T. had a brother in the West Indies, to whom he often wrote his case. At length he received thirty pounds to fit himself out for the West Indies : but, when Mr. T- got the money, he could not help providing some necessaries for his family, and the money .was soon gone; part of it having been em- ployed, as they express it in Scotland, in driving the wolf from the door ; in other words, in satisfy* ing gaping creditors. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 551 By the time another thirty pounds came, Mrs. T. . was about again to be on the straw ; and Mr. T. in or- der to pay his passage, was obhged to leave his wife without a shilling. For three years she heard nothing of him; and, her father dying, she supported herself, her mother, and her two infants, by going out to sew, at three-pence a-day with her victuals, the sum al- lowed here. Her clothes became tattered, her colour faded; and though young, with naturally handsome features, being much pitted with the small pox, she became uncommonly plain-looking. In this situa- tion, her toes through her shoes, and her neckerchief having the marks of being often, yet not well, washed, while she and her mother, one cold even-> ing, were sitting by a fire, not too good, peeling and eating potatoes for supper, with only a little cold water in a wooden cup before them, a genteel, handsome, well-dressed man, in deep mourning, came into the house; and, bowing, sat down with- out being desired, having politely asked how they did. None of them knew him. His voice, as well as his face, was altered by the hot climate. Hav- ing asked when Mrs. T. heard from her husband, she replied, with the tear in her eye, " I have not heard of him since he left this, and I am afraid never will." " That is very strange," re. pHed the gentleman, " for I am certain he \s alive." Shaking her head, she said, '* Had he been aiive, I would have heard from him." " You must not think so, I saw him in the West Indies, and well, only a ftw months ago." Laying down the potatoe she was eating, and giving a little of tJiC water to her eldest son, a fine stout half-naked boy^ 55^ TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. he said, " Ah, Sir ! I am afraid there must he nome mistake in the case. He certainly would have wrote me this," she said, while she Mnped the tear from her cheek. Taking her by the hand, he said, " I assure you he is alive. He desired me to wait on you with his kind love." " I am much obliged to you, Sir," wiping her tears again, she replied. " But," said he, " do you not know me, my dear?" throwing his arms around her neck ; " do 3^ou not know me?" Upon looking, for a moment, earnestly in his face, she fainted, and was unable to speak for some minutes. When she look- ed up a second time in his face, he said, '' My dear, my brother having died, left me a handsome for- tune, and I am co'me to see you, to part no more." It was about a year after this when I dined w^ith them, and I found Mrs. T. not only elegantly dressed, but stout and jolly, though she had a third son at the breast. But transitions from the extreme of happiness to the deepest distress also frequently occur. I am led to this reflection from what happened to me a few days after I had seen and heard Mr. T's story. In traversing this part of the country, I went one day past a respectable looking house, when I was desired, by a man standing at the door with his hat off, to walk in, which I the rather did, as I wished to see the inside of it, and to have some whey to drink. Though all oyer the Highlands and islands they sometimes seem rather to rejoice at funerals than be sad, I found here a number of people sit* ting at the fire-side with the remains of a child ^^ TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND 553 a coffin on a bye table. Mr. Green, the master of the house, being an extensive farmer, and in easy circumstances, had been many years married with- out any children. At length, Avhen above forty years old, j\Irs. Green brought forth a fine boy, which became the darling of the whole house. In the evenings, when the business of the day was over, the servants, sitting round the fire, generally strove who should have the child most frequently on their knee, to dandle, sing to it, and amuse it; and it no doubt afforded the parents much plasure to see their child thus beloved, and caressed, and so early in life both giving and receiving pleasure. Having amused themselves with the child in this manner, one of the servants was handing it, one evening, to another on the opposite side of the fire, who had asked him, and had reached out his arms to receive the child. While in this attitude they were tickling it about the neck, to make it laugh, the child being stout and lively, and about a year old, gave, when going from the one servant's arms to the other, a spring, and leaped into a cauldron full of wort that liappened to be boiling on the fire. Neither having leisure nor inclination to visit the other Western Islands, though some of them are well worth seeing, I took ship, and having the island of Tirie, lona, or Icolnikill, and ^lull, on the rights and Rum, with its lofty mountains, on the left, I sailed for Fort ^Villiam,Nvvhere, after a plea- sant voyage, the continent, mountains, islands, &c. appearing in a variety of attitudes as the ship skim- med along, we arrived in safaty. Finding the fort here neither so regular, nor so 554 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. extensive, as I'ort George, nor seemingly of any use,- except as barracks for soldiers, I bent my course towards Inverary. After a tedious and wearisome journey of more than twenty miles, the greater part of which lay over two mountains, I reached, at length, exhausted and in a melancholy mood, the inn called the King's House, situated on the side of a rapid river, issuing out of the dreary and dreadful pass of Glencoe. Here provisions were as scarce and poor as at the general's hut on Lochness ; with the im- portant difference, that, if there was any cause of disgust, as there probably was, I fortunately did not perceive it. It is a miserable and dirty hut; though the landlord has this, with some pasture land, rent free, besides lOl. per annum from government. However, I slept soundly, and early in the morning, well refreshed, and in good spirits/proceeded through Glencoe, which is ten miles in length, and whose horrors have often been described, to a small but not uncomfortable inn at the ferry of Bally liulish. Here, an isolated hill, beautifully rising in a conical form, and verdant to the top, with the waters of Loch Lynn, which on one side wash its base, form a pleasing contrast with the gloomy precipices of Glencoe, and the savage rudeness of the mountains with which it is environed. By Appin, Aird, Ardnamurknage, DunstafFnagCy and Dunolly, gentlemen's seats distinguished ; some of them by the rude magnificence and frowning de- fiance of former times ; and others, by the elegance and convenience of modern improvement, I ar- rived at Oban. This flourishing village is situated on the bay of Oban in the sound of Mull, which bay is of a semicircular form, from twelve to fourteen fathomu i TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. *553 deep, and large enough to contain above five hun- dred vessels. It has every where good anchorage, and is defended from the fury of the >vinds by the island of Mull and Kerrera. The village is rapidly extending itself round the edges of the bay. The houses and gardens, rising above one another on the acclivities tlrat bound the bay, exhibit a picturesque and pleasing appearance. When the custom-house, in 1766, was transferred from Fort William to Oban, it consisted only of three or four .houses or huts. At present, its population amoutits to near seven hun- dred souls. It has several flourishing manufactures; twenty sloops employed in the fishing and coasting trade; and a ship of three hundred tons in the Bal- tic trade : such are the efi'ects of natural advantages seized and improved by wise economy. An English traveller, equally patriotic and intelligent, and parti- cularly conversant with naval affairs, the late Mr. T. Newte, of Tiverton, recommends Oban, I think by considerations that could not but have weight if they were attended to, as one of the happiest situations in Great Britain- for the erection of a ro3'al dock 3'ard and arsenal. Haviilg staid all night at Oban, where I met with some very well informed people, I pursued my route to Bunawe, on the lake of that name, where the Furness company have a house and place for making. charcoal ; and in the neighbour- hood of this place an iron work. Here I rested, and passed the night in a small inn, or alehouse, that formed a perfect contrast with the king's house ; a blessing for which travellers are indebted no doubt to the Furness company. I went on from Bunawe to Dalmally, a large and straggling village, pleasantly situated on a large river, which descending from the 554* TRAVELS IN SCOTtAND. Black Mount, falls into Loch Awe. This lake is not only of large extent, but extremely beautiful and picturesque, being in some places interspersed with islands covered with verdure, or oak, hazel, and birch ; or where rocky, with tall fir trees ;* in others, finely indented by promontories advancing and spreading into the lake a great way, and joined to the main land only by narrow isthmuses. At the north, on a tongue of land jutting into the loch, there is a large, old, and ruinous castle, belonging to the earl of Braid-Albin. This was the antient den or strong hold of the family, from which, at ihe head of their vassals and tenants, they issued forth to commit occasional depredations on their neigh- bours. The truth is, thai, in the times to which I refer, this practice, as I hav^e hinted above, was very far from being singular. The family of Braid-Albin, in the vicinity of Loch Awe, their most antient pa- trimony, possess a country thirty miles in extent. Bidding adieu to Loch Awe, at Cladich, I made the best of my way, through a bleak aiul dreary region, to Inverary. From the inn at Inverary, wliich is more splendid and extensive than one would expect in the midst of lakes and mountains, I went to see the seat of the duke of Argyle, which is a square building of blue- ish granite, having a round tower at each corner, and a square one in the centre. It is situate on a gentle eminence, in the midst of an extensive plain, bounded behind and on each side by lofty mountains, and having Loch Fyne in front, open- ino- into a wide bay into the sea. The inside of this princely mansion is adorned with every sp'ien- did decoration of the useful and elegant arts; and TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 55$ the improvements in and about the house have cost, I understand, above two hundred thousand pounds sterling. At tlie inn here, I observed two men in close conversation in the room near me, who seemed in- terrupted by me. I therefore drew towards the corner, and pretended to sleep. The one who was the chief speaker, was, it seems, a London book- seller of the name of Macallister, aHas Macdonald, come to the country to see his fj^iends ; and the sub- stance of his story was this. Some years ago, Mr. Macclonald had failed, and been put in prison; and that, as he said, chiefly owing to a licentious book having been proved to be sold by one of his shopmen ; but he got out, and began trade again on a small scale. His friends, sorry for ban, as he was young and healthy, advised him to marry some old maid or widow worth money, to set him fairly afloat again, and recommended, much Miss T ^J, the daughter of an. old Scotch physician, who, though not handsome, was deserving, and would have somethnig. Mr. M. wished much to see the lady, but could not get himself introduced to her. He therefore wrote to her himself, giving his ad- dress, and informing her, that, from what he had heard of her person and accomplishments, he beg- ged to know if she would ^ee him. He soon re- ceived a note, saying, that her father had no ob- jections to his breakfasting there next morning. Mr. M. attended, and was pleased with every thing except the lady's person. In a week or twb he gave up the pursuit, though she told him she had no ob- jections to marry him. When her father died, which 656 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. was not many months after, though she called at his house and mentioned the matter, Mr. M. still de- clined the match, and he heard no more of her. About three years after this, however, Mr. ^f, being in very easy circumstances, ran into a small inn, in the city, to avoid a heavy fall of rain. While he was standing at the fire, he recognized his old friend Miss T 1 warming, in an old tin pot, a penny farthings worth of porter. Soon after her father's death, who was a good worthy man, a dash- ing, good-looking young Irishman, learning what she was, got introduced to her ; and pretending to ad- mire her person, in a week or two gained her af- fections and married her. Having got the three or four thousand pounds into his hands, he in a very short time spent it ; and, during that time, infected her with a loathsome disease. In this forlorn state he left her, without bidding her adieu. Her rent being unpaid, her clothes went to the pawn- brokers- and sh^ now lives, it seems, by singing^ ballads on the streets. The whole country on this side of Scotland is va- rious, abrupt, and sublime. It is every where deeply indented with lakes on the one hand, and on the other, studded, though at unequal distances, with islands. And from the lakes, or sea shores, hills and mountains rise, not by long slopes, but in a sudden, bold, and almost perpendicular manner, to a great elevation. The whole of the coast, as well as the islands, is subject to almost continual rain ; which, of course, is more favourable to pasturage than the culture of grain. There seldom passes a day, in, \vhich there is not some rain, more or less. TRAVELS IN" SCOTLANlJ. S37 One of those travelling collectors, called Eng- lish RIDERS, came in his route, among other places, to Inverary. He staid day after day, delaying his departure, until there should be some appearance of fair weather. At last, his patience being exhausted, he swore hastily to the landlord, that he believed it rained every day in the year at Inverary. " Hoot, nae," replied the landlord, *' it snaws sometimes." The ri<:ler immediately called for his bill, discharged it, and, without saying a word, went and took his horse, and set off: like Sancho Pancha embracing his ass, and in profound silence quitting all the cares and fears, with the pomp and parade of his govern- ment of Barataria. There was a great deal of volunteering among the Highlanders some years ago. Sometimes it was encouraged, sometimes not: at last it was given up. Every man was allowed a shilling a day when under arms for training, which was two shillings per week. It may be mentioned as strongly characteristic of the invincible laziness of the High- landers, that many of them made a shift to live on this pittance, with the conquests of their gun among the hills. They were plentifully supplied with powder, and their shooting was connived at. They regretted it much when there was no more encouragement for volunteering. Having viewed Inverary, and the beautifully- variegated prospects around, Ben Lomond raising his lofty summit, like the father of the mountains around him, next drew my attention. I therefore directed my journey thither. Loch Lomond, at the foot of this stupendous 558 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. mountain, which contains a number of beautiful small islands, presents a delightful prospect. In short, though cockney tours are now what book- sellers call a bore, and journies thither by those that have neither inteUigence nor taste to perceive what is' most worthy of notice, nor talents for de- scribing it; yet it is not surprizing that so many make the attempt, since so many beautiful and stupendous objects conspire to draw attention. If the lakes of Cumberland, the spars of Derbyshire, the manufactories at Sheffield, Birmingham, Manches- ter, &c. draw numbers to those places, it is not surprizing that Ben Lomond, and the lake of that name, attract multitudes, and set them a writing about them as well as they can, by their truly sublime and stupendous beauties. I had often heard of Dumbarton, but had ne- ver seen it; therefore, perceiving the force of the saying, that the eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor the car with hearing, I left the enchanting scenes presented by the indescribable beauties of Loch Lomond, and proceeded for Dumbarton, though convinced that nothing there could afford any high gratification after my eyes and other senses had been feasted so sumptuously. However, I was agreeably disappointed, and when I arrived at DUMBARTON, The idea of its antiquity and former utility, as well as of that civilization and refinement of manners, which render such petty forts as this, though once > V V '^ TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 659 of high importanxre, now of no use, made such an impression on my mind, as made aie entirely for- get Ben Lomond and all his attendant beauties. This antienffort, once thought impregnable, by beina: erected on a his:h rock in the midst of a large plain, and situate near the mouth of the Clyde, not far from Greenock and Port Glasgow, ont he opposite side, has stood many sieges, which are well known to those who are acquainted with the history of Scotland. Some time before I ap- proached it, I crossed the river Leven, which runs out of Loch Lomond into the Clyde, near which there is a beautiful marble monument, erected to the memory of Dr. SmoUet ; and where, as he was born on its banks, I could not help calling to mind those lines of his : Pure stream, in whose transparent wave My youthful limbs I oftea wont to lave, &c. [ From Dumbarton, through a variety of beauti- fully thriving villages, I made the best of my way to Glasgow. I But, tired as I was ; and, notwithstand- ing it was about sun-set, I could not help, before I retired to rest, going to pay a tribute of tears, which I did copiously, over my brother John's grave ; who, dying at the age of twenty-one, was buried not far from the high church. He had walked from Glasgow, and when very much heated by the walk, sat down on the banks of the Clyde, to hear a tent preacher, on a sacrament Sunday. He there caught cold, which was followed by a fever, and this by death. SCO TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. There is something in human nature, whicn, aft certain moments, attaches us to our friends and re- lations, in a forcible and irresistible manner. It is this principle which induces men, who have made fortunes, and are about to leave the world, to think of their relations, even though they have never seen them, and to think of the place of their nativity, and the scenes of their early years, though they have not seen them for a long time. Something of this prin- ciple I found had fast hold of my mind ; and, not- withstanding the vast variety of variegated, sublime, and beautiful objects I had seen, in the course of my excursions, still the idea of my deceased brother, whose grave I had seen, and whose head I had laid in it, was uppermost in my mind, till this idea was conquered, or rather superseded, by the thoughts of my dear parents, whose piety and devotion I shall never forget, and whose prayers for my spiritual as well as temporal interest, though they then made no impression on me, 1 then recollected, and shall never forget. These, with a variety of other ideas con- nected with them, were uppermost in my mind ; and it was not, till after several waking hours a bed, and fervent prayers to the father of the universe, that the prayers of my parents for my spiritual wel- fare should be heard, that I went to sleep. GLASGOW. I had seen this city several times, but it still struck me greatly, even without the circumstance of novel- ty. After considering the regularity of the streets, and elegance of the buildings, the first thing that at- TRAVELS IN SCOTLA^^D. .S6l tracted my attention, was the heterogeneous mass of people assembled here, of such different characters, and liviugamong one another. lam led to this observation, as, it being Sunday when I landed, on returning to my quarters, from paying a tribute of tears to my brothers ashes, on one side of the street, almost in every house, I heard psalms singing and fervent prayers ascend- ing to the father of the universe, while, on the other, there was nothing to be heard but swearing, blas- pheming, and the most obscene and abusive language. In short, the one side of the street, if appearances were not false, might be called the temples of the Holy Ghost ; the other, in the language of Rowland Hill, the hot-beds of the devil. And it was asto- nishing to see in some places a set of drunkards and debauchees reeling from the bagnios, and, .at others, numbers going leisurely home with their Bibles under their arm, from places of worship, to their peaceful habitations. Upon going out one forenoon I met about five hundred men, all in a mourning habit, and having more than an ordinarily composed carriage, and se- rious appearance, attending a funeral. When I had passed them, I turned and followed the procession, in order, if possible, to learn how so many well dressed men came to be collected, not one of them wearing any thing but mourning. There are, it seems, notwithstanding tlie profligacy of many in this city, near a hundred praying socie- ties, each of them consisting: of about thirtv mem- bers, who meet weekly ; and, once a month, there is one elected from each of these societies to attend another society or prayer meeting, composed of o o 562 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. a member from each of the rest. And, as at each of the particular societies they not only read, pray, and sing psalms, but also converse over religious matters,- keeping regular minutes of what is done ; so, at each general meeting, they pray, read, and sing psalms, and not only converse on religious subjects in general, but consider of appeals, cases of conscience, and other religious matters laid before them from the societies in the city and environs, of which this is composed. A clergyman, it seems, is always in the chair, at the society composed of delegates from the others. There are certain funds belonging to these societies, appropriated for purchasing religious books, hiring rooms, providing for sick and poor members, paying physicians and apothecaries to attend any of the members when taken ill; and defraying the funeral expense of any deceased member when ne- cessary. When any dies, being a member of the head prayer meeting, the meetings, it seems, in general all attend the funeral, and the person whose body was about to be interred, and whose funeral procession I followed, was of this description. If any members are sick, there are certain others, who, by routine, visit them, pray with them, inquire, so far as is prudent, both into their temporal and spiritual concerns, call in the physicians, &c. who are pair! by the societies; and, if such member die, they give orders respecting the funeral, &c. so that, it some times happens, the relations of the deceased have no business with the funeral more than others, nur, unless thty choose, are put to any expense at it. As the different corps of volunteers, the officers in the army, navy^ &c. &c. have unifornis, . so some tRAVELS IN SCOTLANJ). 663 teachers of religion here think that, like those that Avent to the crusades, the different sects of christians should be distinguished in the same manner. This idea has been in part adopted in Glasgow; and some of the various denominations of christians are about to be clothed in uniform. One sect of christians have chosen a green short coat for the men, with green buttons. Though a certain uni- form is pointed out to the ladies in it, which is a green skirt and jacket, yet, as they are making some remonstrances, that not being the fashionable colour at present, I understand they are partly to be allowed to dress as they please;- provided their bosom and neck are properly covered. So that it is proba- ble, as the Quaker is known by his broad brimmed hat, and his lady by her plain grey bonnet, the E^avida- lites, the Unitarians, the Anti-trinitarians, the Hal- danites, the Universal Redemptionists, &c. &c. Avill all be known, on Sunday, and perhaps on other days, by the uniform and badges of their peculiar sect. As I always, if in health, go somewhere to church on Sunday ; antl, if they are praying christians, have no objections to hear them ; while here I went one Sunday to church, whither I saw great crouds going, and found it to be what are called Uni- versal Redemptionists. Their preacher argued their cause with considerable eloquence, and endeavoured to shew, that as God made man, and is able, so now that his justice is satisfied, he will make him happy. This sect is, it seems, gaining ground fast here; and I am sorry for it, as such doctrines are not only soothing and pleasant to flesh and blood, but apt to induce the young, the giddy, and the thoughtless, to o o2 564 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. think that it is unnecessary for them to lay any te- straint on their unruly appetites and passions. The prosperity of Glasgow is truly astonishing, and shews what industry can do. It was thought that Edinburgh would be ruined, when the parlia- ment of Scotland was transferred to London ; but time has shewn that opinion to be false. It was thought that Glasgow would decline when we lost America, but time has discovered the mistake. Be- fore the late American war, the merchants and manu- facturers in Glaso'ow had seen the advantaojes of commerce ; when, therefore, they found themselves shut out of the American market, they studiously looked out for another. When prevented from im- porting tobacco, to gratify the propensities of the gentlemen, the}- imported cottons, &g. from the West Indies ; and, working these up into elegant fabrics, thereby had it in their power to gratify the taste of the ladies. Thus they did good to their country, and put the money into the Scotch, that uged to go into the Gentoo weavers pockets. But commerce and manufactures have their in- conveniencies, and there is too good reason to con- clude, that though the external circumstances of the common people are considerably bettered by them, yet their morals are not. The manners of the com- mon people here weie certainly never so profligate ; and their high wages but serve to furnish too many of them with the means of becoming more wicked ; and, owing to the mixture of the sexes at the manu- factories, infant prostitution is, it seems, not un- common ; and so audacious have some of the httle wretches of both sexes become, that if a girl is so- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 56S licitecl to go to a manufactory, she will ask if any boys are to work along with her ; and a boy, if girls ; making these conditions of their engagement. For there are some manufacturers, it seems, who keep their boys and girls separate. Certain it is, that a high preference is given to servants, labourers, clerks, 5cc. from the country; as too many of those brought up in the city and its environs, as is too often the case about all great cities, are debauched, and not to be trusted. Nay, so abandoned are some of the lower orders about Glasgow, that, on a Sunday afternoon, in the green, which is a large meadow, with public walks, belongs ing to the citizens at large, and where hundreds were assembled, (after having, for the special pur- pose, formed a ring, only a few yards diameter) one of the inhabitants, with an abandoned woman, that had agreed to it, while his companions, and those forming the ring, continued to shout and applaud him, did what, even cats, elephants, and many other of the inferior animals avoid in public, for a Scotch pint of gin. There are virtuous as well as vicious characters every where ; and, though the one is not always re- warded, nor the other punished, yet this, in the course of providence, is generall}^ the case. A poor girl, having been bred at one of the manufactories, ^nd seen the vicious conduct of some of the young people, left them, to tr}'' to gain her bread in some other way. Having studied the mantua-making and millinery business, and taken a room to do busi- ness for herself, she bought a ticket, and went to a ball in the city, that she might see the fashions, ^nd $66 TRAVEIS IN SCOTLAND. be the better qualified to please the few customers she had, by her modesty, prudent behaviour, and unremitting attention to business obtained. Having sat a considerable time in the ball room, without being noticed by any one, she dropped a curtsy to some ladies she had before seen, who passed her ; but being, like too many of the Scotch, filled with pride, did not deign to take the least notice of her. But providence generally rewards the virtuous. While she was sitting, escorted by none, and, because she was poor, despised by those that knew her, a young gentleman, with a livery servant, who came to the city that evening, and inquiring if there were any amusements in town, heard of the ball ; and, through the influence of his pocket, got admission to it. Looking round him, and seeing every body some way or other engaged, except the young girl, he went to her and sat down beside her. Finding her handsome, and plainly, though neatly dressed, as also extremely modest, while many of the other ladies seemed forward, he asked her to dance. If he was pleased with her before, he was more so now; and redoubled his attention. She, however, soon retired, which he thought was only for a few minutes; but, as she did not return, the gentleman found himself 'fextremely uneasy. He inquired of every body, but none present could tell him either her name, or where she resided. One or two of the squire?^ daughters, who looked down on her with a species of contempt, were nettled that a young man, so good looking, and so accomplished, should make such a fuss about a plain dressed, poor girl, said, they knew nothing of her. Vexed that he had not so-. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 567 liclted more earnestly her address, which she had twice refused, he returned to his quarters, almost distracted. After hunting about for some time, he found her out, and alone, in a clean neat garret, busy at her needle. Without telling her his anxiety, he had some conversation with her, and found her not only of the strictest virtue, but that she had purposely avoided giving him her address, and in- forming him she was leaving the ball-room ; as, if he had retired with her, some in the ball-room might have thought it, as she herself did, improper : and, as she wished to live virtuously, she also, at the same time, wished and was determined to avoid, as far as she could, even the appearances of evil. After re- peated trials to shake the pillars of this amiable young woman's virtue, in the course of several visits, without effect, he asked her in marriage ; and she, who once lived in a garret, now rolls in her carriage, has a train of servants at her command, and is be-f loved and esteemed by all that know her. The half of the people of Glasgow, at least of the lower classes-, appear to be Highlanders^ This is quite apparent from their very visages. The physiognomies of people are formed, in the course of ages, by causes physical, and causes moral. The physiognomies of the Highlanders, being constantly in the open air, exposed to the accumulated heats of a sun, in the summer months, long above the horizon, and to the autumnal, winter, and vernal blasts, have acquired a kind of grin : while, from an apprehension of danger, and a resolu- tion to defend themselves, they have contracted, at the ame time, au air of vigilance and suspicioo, 66s TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. mingled with an expression of ferocity and defiance. The present race of Highlanders are not very ap- prehensive of danger, and are not, of course, re- duced to the necessity of putting on an air of defiance. But their fathers and grandfathers were. And they have not yet opened their minds and countenances to the safety, confidence, good humour, and expansion of the Enghsh and Lowland Scots. The visages on the eastern coasts of the north of Scotland, as already observed, have the high cheek bones, and also the red hair and complexions of the Scandinavians. The western Highlanders are chubby, bluff, or fleshy, in their countenances, and have black hair; not unfrequently curling. All this is quite consonant with the obser- vation of Tacitus.* A few years ago, the magistrates were obliged to cut down the rows of beeches, hedges, shrubbery, &c. that surrounded the green, and to remove the seats, placed here and there under tlie trees, for the accommodation of invalids and others; as, generally after it grevv^ dark, and during the whole night, the worthless part of the inhabitants practised there every species of impurity and lewdness, i Petitions from the inhabitants, that lived near the green, re- presenting the shameful practices carried on under the trees and hedges, induced the magistrates to cut them down ; and it is to be lamented, that, even yet, at all hours of the night, scenes of lewdness are so often to be seen. St. James's and Hyde Park, at London have not more need to be purified from * In vita Agricol. cap. xi. ^TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 66^ wickedness than the green of Glasgow, Money, there, as about London, Edinburgh, and other places, too often, it seems, stops the mouths of the watchmen. I do not pretend to develope the cause; but certainly there seems to be an extraordinary de- gree of shameless lewdness among the lower classes in Glasgow. The. very lowest class, as porters, la- bourers, watchmen, &c. are, for the most part, either Highlanders, or the descendants of Highlanders. In this class, too, are not a few Irish. But, to balance this last circumstance, a great number of Irish young gentlemen resort to the university. Ireland has the honour of having given a very celebrated professor to this university, and a still more celebrated genius, for a rector. I need not say that I allude to pro- fessor Hutchinson and Mr. Edmund Burke. BANKS OF T^E CLYDE. \ I had now staid long enough at Glasgow to view the college, the glass-works, the iron-works, and other manufactories, and to become acquainted with the strange medley' of society here: but, being unwilling to leave the western side of Scot- land, without iiaking a view of Bothwell Castle, the palace of Hamilton, and the falls of the Clyde, I mounted my horse, and, at day-break on a morning in October, when the weather in Scotland is com- monly fine, and the atmosphere clear, set out on the road to Hamilton, a distance from Glasgow often or twelve miles. The land on either side of the Clyde is beautifully dotted with gentlemen's seats, >yith surrounding or adjoining plantations, and in the 570 TRAVEtS IN SC,OTLAND. highest state of cultivation. For the greater part of the way, the river is beautifully fringed with wood. About six or seven miles from Glasgow is Both well- Bridge, where a battle was fought in 1651, between the Scotch covenanters and tlie loyalists. \ The mili- tary movements of the contending parties were imi- tated with wonderful exactness by the school- boys in many parts of Scotland ; and still I believe the game, or play of Bo thwell- Bridge, is a favourite di- version with the school-boys on the Clyde, the Forth, and the Erne. About two miles from Bothwell-Bridge, is Bothwell Castle, an antient seat of the Doug- lasses. This was a massy and really stupendous structure. The walls, a great part of which are still standing, were sixty feet high, and eighteen thick. In one part, this enormous mass, crushing its foundations, though of rock, fell, walls and rock together, into the Clyde. The breach in the foun- dation was repaired, and the wall rebuilt. The castle formed a quadrangle, with a round turret at each corner, three of which are still entire : but all the internal part has been demolished, or fallen into ruin. In the centre stood the citadel and place of arms, which is yet entire. The windows of the castle look- ing ail of them i^^ito the square, or area, were placed very high ; the bottoms of them being at least fifteen feet from '^the ground : a precaution, no doubt, against arrows, or other missile weapons. This also accounts for the elevated position, as well as the nar- rowness of the windows, in all antient edifices ; such as churches, and public buildings of all kinds. It became the fashion even in private houses. Nor is it till lately that this fashion has been exchange^ TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 571 for windows reaching from nearly the floor to the cieling, of any modern apartment. On the opposite side of the Clyde appear the ru- ins of the beautiful castle of Blantyre, belonging to the barons or lords of Blantyre. Between this mo- nastery and Bothwell Castle there was a subterra- neous communication, by means of an excavation below the bed of the Clyde ; so that the Douglasses might have taken refuge in that sanctuary, if they should have been forced to abandon their fortress. This communication, it is said, was kept open even after the monastery was secularized : and there are not a few stories told, whether true or false, of meet- ings in this subterrraneous passage, between lovers, at a time when feuds and animosities subsisted be- tween their parents. Having breakfasted and refreshed my horse at Bothwell Bridge, I rode on to Hamilton, a very neat town. It is a burgh of barony, containing about four thousand inhabitants. At the end of the town stands Hamilton Palace, in the same manner as the fine house or palace of Dalkeith, belonging to the duke of Buccleugh, near Edinburgh, stands at the end of the town of Dalkeith, also a burgh of barony. We frequently find burghs of barony con- tiguous to the seats of lords. H^imilton Palace is a large pile of building, with two deep wings, built at right angles to the centre. It is chiefly renowned for a spacious gallery, furnished with admirable paintings. There is here an excellent garden, well stocked and dressed, of not less than seven acres, with a good hot-house and green-house. In the midst of lofty, largCj and venerable oaks, on ^ rock hanging over the Clyde, are seen tlie ruins 572 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. of the old castle of the Hamiltons; of which, little remains are standing, except the gateway. Here also, in the park, are seen some cattle, whose breed is traced to the indigenous, or original, and wild cat- tle of the country, to which they are supposed to bear a near resemblance. There is certainly some- what uncommon in their appearance ; they are not, however, wild, but seemingly as tame as other cat- tle. They have short legs, long bodies, and more than ordinary curhng hair. On a rising ground, in front of Hamilton House, stands a fanciful building, in the style of a gothic castle, where there are two or three good rooms, commanding a delightful prospect. The rest of the building is occupied by servants, or allotted to other purposes. This edifice is called, from the duke of Hamilton's French title, Chatelherault. At the inn, at Hamilton, which is excellent, I pas- sed the night, and early next morning proceeded to Lanark, a royal burgh, capital of the county, and containing, I believe, from two to three thousand inhabitants. It seems to be a poor place, if one may judge from the general appearance of both the houses and inhabitants. Nevertheless, it is charm- ingly situated on the brow of a hill, above the Clyde, which, fof miles both above and below, is skirted for the most part with fine natural woods. It put me in mind of Crieff, and the wooded valley of* the Erne, between that town and the I^och. I speak only of the situation: for C'rieff seems to be a pretty busy and thriving place. I had not stopped longer at Lanark than just to see my companion properly taken care of, when I proceeded to see wh^t indeed had alone brough^t TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 573 ine to Lanark ; the fall of the Clyde at the Corra Liuu, or Pool. I did not think that any thing of the kind in Scotland could make a more forcible impression on my senses and imagination than the falls of Foyers and the Devon; but the Corra Linn astonished me still more, and made a deeper and more awful impression. It is not without reason that the falls of the Clyde are accounted the grand- ' est and most picturesque scene of the kind in Bri- tain. About three miles above Lanark, the Clyde, the greatest river in Scotland next to theTay, and near- ly as large as the Thames at Wallingford, tumbles, in one cataract, from rock to rock, for about the space of a mile. At Stone-Byers, it makes one en- tire shoot over the rock, and falls between sixty and seventy feet. At the Corra- Linn, where it falls a hundred feet, it does not, like that at Stone-Byers, rush over the rock in one uniform sheet, but at three different places, bounds a little, as if with renovated vigour and impatient of delay, in its precipitate and furious course. I am really at a loss how to describe the effect produced by those tremendous cascades. After see- ing the smoke ascendiug for more than a mile as I advanced, I first heard, and then saw the Clyde roaring and raging, as if provoked at resistance. The question started in my mind: *' Is Na- ture, then, so bustling and noisy in her operations? so tumultuous, rapid, and impetuous?" I had, in common, I suppose, with others, conceived of na- ture as something, though ever busy, yet still, quie- scent, and imperceptible in its operations. I now 574 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. almost started to see her in so unexpected a form. To the eye of Reason her never-ceasing hand is seen in the vicissitudes of seasons and the growth of plants, as well as in roaring cascades, the bil- lows of the ocean, or thunder and earthquakes. But it is not so with the imagination. Where the water begins to fall down the horrid chasm, at the Corra Linn, on a projecting rock there stands an old castle, which, in the earlier part of the last century, was inhabited. It was certainly one of the most romantic and awful situations in which ever mansion stood. When the river is swoln with rain or dissolving snow, it shakes in such a manner as to spill water in a glass. On the edge of this stupendous fall is a mill, formed partly by scooping the rock, the outer wheel of which seems ready to be dashed in pieces even by the skirts of its foam. On a high rocky bank, overlooking the Linn, there is a summer-house, which was built in 1703 by Sir James Carmichael, of Bonniton. From the uppermost room of this mauon de plaisance there ^s a prospect of the fall, very curious as well as otherwise striking. Immediately on entering, as, you throw your eyes towards a mirror placed on the side opposite to the fall, you see the whole of the mighty cataract, pouring, as it were, on your head. There is not any point of view from which the Cor- ra Linn is not seen with astonishment, and a mix- ture of awe and horror. The roaring and raging of the water as it falls, its hollow murmurs in the chasm below, the screaming of wild fowl, and wood- clad locks, fornj altogether a scene grand and wildly pleasing. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 575 The walk between the fall of the Corra Linn and that of Stone Byers is in the highest degree roman- tic. The rocks on each side of the river, all along covered with wood, are a hundred feet above the bed of the river. The fall of Stone Byers, though not so great as that of the Corra Linn in point of height,, is three times as wide. Its mass is more di- versified ; its various forms exhibit a greater appear- ance of both quantity and disorder. The cascade of Corra Linn ravishes and overpowers your senses. It is not long before you look about towards new objects. That at Stone Byers, though somewhat less commanding, and, as it were, insolent in its rage, has, in some respects, more grandeur, and cer- tainly you contemplate it for a longer time without fatigue. It now drew towards the end of October, when I was under an engagement to meet a young gentle- man from the south, settle him in proper quarters, and introduce him into the university of Edin- burgh. To this city I hastened to return; but understanding that the direct road from Lanark, which in many places was not good, and led through a bleak, barren, and uninteresting country, at least to a "strange, I returned to my steps pretty late in the evening, and for half the way under the light of the moon to Hamilton, where I staid all night, and next morning set out for Edinburgh, by Sj6 Travels in Scotland. The kirk of SHOTS. While I rested and refreshed myself and my fel- low-traveller at this place, I learnt the following anecdote: ^-' Some time ago, a gentleman on horseback, with a livery servant, happening to be overtaken by an unexpectedly heavy shower near this place, made all the haste he could to a farm-house on the road side, where the fowls, children, servants, &c. were all running towards the house. The gentleman, having been obliged to stay an hour or two, on account of the rain, amused himself with observing the good woman and the children, &c. all standing round the fire drying their clothes. Among the rest, he ob- served a beautiful little girl, completely wet. Hav- ing taken hold of the girl's hand, and asked if she would go with him, with a finely modest, innocent look and tone of voice, she said she would. He then asked her parents if they would give her to him ; to which, thinking it only words of course, they made no reply, but that she was too young. Hethen, beingmuch pleased with her sensibility, pro- posed to them to send her to a boarding school, either at Glasgow or Edinburgh, as to them should seem proper; for which he said he would willingly pay : and, to convince them that he was serious, and meant nothing improper, he desired them to fix on a magistrate and minister in either of these places, under whose care she might be placed, and only to teil Lim their names; while the girl, listening. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 577 and now and then took a fine, innocent, and, as it were, stolen view of him, her httle bosom glow- ing with gratitude, the parents replied, " We know- nobody either in Glasgow or Edinburgh, much less a magistrate or a minister." He then took out an Edinburgh almanack, and desired them, from the names of the magistrates and ministers they would find in it, to fix on one of each, under whose care they shonld wish their daughter to be ; which they at length did; and, having. taken the name of the magistrate and minister in Edinburgh they had fixed on, he wrote to tbem, begging them to be careful of the girl; to send her to a respectable boarding-school, and to draw on him, at the Bank, for the sum, whatever it might be. Then, taking an affectionate farewell of the girl^and putting money into her parent's hands, to equip and send her to Edinburgh, he proceeded on his way through Glasgow to the west of England, where he had a handsome estate. The parents sent the girl as desired ; and the gentleman, having been twice at Edinburgh, and been much pleased both with her -person and growing accomplishments, as well as her amiable temper and deportment, married her when she was little more than fifteen years of age. And, it is a noted fact, that when a certain great person- age' was born, and the finest women in England were inquired after to be nurse, this little girl, born in a thatched house, and who for several vears look- ed after her fathers sheep, even after she had borne two or three children, was reckoned one of the handsomest and best made women in England ; and being reckoned among the fittest person? in England pp 578 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. for suckling the heir to the crown, an offer of thi^ honourable office was made to her; but, at the de- sire of her husband, who was in affluent circum- stances, she dechned to accept it. Being safely arrived in Edinburgh, I sold my horse, to which, I confess, I had become much at- tached, and of whose health and welfare I have since had satisfactory accounts. I sold him cheap to a per- son whose assurances I could rely that he s-hould be well treated. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 679 EDINBUIlGIi, The capital of Scotland, stands on three hills, and the ridges of the middle one are covered with lofty stone buildings, some of which are fourteen sto- ries high. From the castle, which is situated on a lofty rock at the upper end of the High Street, there is an extensive noble prospect; and at the other end, about a mile distant, is Holyrood House, the palace of the Scottish kings. I went to view the New Town, which contains some of the most beautiful specimens of architecture in Britain, perhaps in Eu- rope. Heriofs and Watsotfs hospitals, for the edu- cation and support of the sons of citizens, are, though the plan of each is different, noble buildings, and amply endowed. The Parliament Close, where the courts of law meet, is not only extensive, but contains some of the richest shops in Edinhurgh. There are excellent views from Arthur's Seat, and the Calton Hill. I was much pleased with the elegant simplicity of Hum.e's monument, and the capaciousness of the High Church, where the ge- neral assembly of the church of Scotland meets annually. I was sorry to find the buildings of the New College not nearly complete. However, from the specimens of the , rooms that are already finished, and which are uncommonly spacious, ele- gant, and convenient, Edinhurgh College, as it is already the fir-t medical, bids fair for being, vv'ith rcgai'd to its external appearance, the most shewy p p 2 A80 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. seminary of learning in Europe. Through means of a little money, I got admission to the class room, where they were dissecting a man that had been kept in spirits for some months, having been hanged for murdering his wife. The body had but little smell. When we entered, it was l}ing on a table in the middje of the room, covered with a clean linen cloth, and seemed hard and shrivelled, from having been so long among spirits. The botanical garden here seems to excel that at Oxford in size and elegance, as well as in variety of useful and beautiful exotics; but why is the cotton plant neither here nor at Oxford? I expect- jed to find Indian corn, sugar cane, coffee, indigo, rice, tea, &c. &c. growing here under frames, but ibund none of them. Nor had they any of the bread-fruit tree, though I cared the less, as I had \seen it before and since in the pleasure garden of Mr. Fraser, the director of the water-works at Wap- ping, to whom I had been introduced by my wor- thy friend the Rev. Dr. William Hall. In the King's Bench, Fleet, and other prisons ip England, prisoners often liv^e luxuriously, and keep their mistress ; some of them spending not less than a thousand pounds sterling a year. The same thing, it seems, is not unfrequent in Edinburgh. Even yet there is some defect in our bankrupt laws. Female societies are now becoming common. There is a famous one in the town of Litchfield, where they choose a president and clerk, make laws, raise money, inquire into cases of distress, pay fines, and order sums to be paid from the fund for chari- table purposes, without suffering any man to b TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. ^81 amongst them. They have begun, I find, a society of this kind in Edinburgh. Formerly the magistrates paid eighty pounds ster- ling a year for carrying the filth from the streets of the city ; but, so much are matters altered, that they now receive several hundreds annu- ally ibr liberty to take it away. Nay, so well was agriculture understood, even before Dr. Coventry was appointed professor of it here, that the manure of the streets was sliipped and carried many miles by sea, after having been bought at Edinburgh at a high price. There are whimsical people every where^ A gen- tleman near Hyde Park Corner, London, having his first wife in a coffin, lying under his bed, and a window'in the lid of it over her face, looks through this every night whe^ he goes to bed, notwithstand- ing what his present wife says to prevent him. A gen- tleman at Edinburgh, of rather a whimsical turn, some time ago used to curl and powder his horses tails and their manes after thev had been well friz- zed and pomatumed ; and, having built a house, had abnost the one end of it, from the founda- tion to the top, of glass, thinking this by far the best way to light a house, and save the window tax. However, this house did not let to advanta"*e till a late wliimsical colonel M , of C k, rented it, who argues there is no vent, as he expresses it, for money, in Edinburgh ; and that, except at London, Bath, and Paris, where he confesses one may get clear of money, if they are anxious, he knows no where that one can get aventy-sev^n thousand 582 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. pounds sterling a year spent, which, it seems, is hia annuity. The elegant and useful arts are, perhaps, as far advanced in Edinburgh as any where in Europe, Indeed, in architecture they excel here, and in clock-, work, &c. they cannot be exceeded; for I found two of the town clocks, notwithstanding thei-r mul- tiplicity of hands and their exposure to the weather, go eight days without varying above half a minute. The ideabf a clock was suo-rt-ested two thousand two hundred years ago at Rome, where one stood at the door of the senate, and cried the hour of the day ; and afterward, the better to be heard, with a ham- mer struck a bell, to tell the hour. The clock- smiths here se,em to have improved this idea, and carried their art to the summit of perfection. The value of land is increasing here, as well as in most parts of Britain, Not far from WestminsterT bridge, an acre and a few perches of land, which, in the year 15Q4, was let for two shillings and eightT pence per ^nnum, is now let at two hundred and fifty pounds sterlipg, on building leases; so, in some places here, particularly between the New and Old Town, some pieces of ground arc of a hundred times more value than they were twenty years ago. Coals, though dug from pits in the neighbourhood, are nearly as dear here as in London, owing to the increase of the city, and the expense of land carriage. Till the days of queen Elizabeth, it was customary to $it, in winter, in dining-rooms, drawing-rooms, par- lours, &c. \yithqut fire, having only a little straw, or }iay on the floor, to keep their feet warm. If the price of fuel continues to increase here, as it has TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 5S3 done for some time past, the poor, and even mid- dling classes, will be obliged to shut up their fire- places, and adopt the old custom. When a bee happens to be out in boiiSterons wea- ther, it takes up a small stone, or something to ballast its body, and bring it down, when likely to be carried away. The fisherwomen here, as well as at Aberdeen, and many other places, seem to imitate the bees in this particular. When they have sold their fish, they sometimes put stones, if they have nothing to carry, into the fish creel, or basket, as they find more ease, they say, in walking with than without some weight on their back. But I do not find that the fish-women of the coast of Scotland imitate the bees, in generously giving a part of their fish to other women, when their husbands have been unsuccessful in fishing, and caught nothing, It is well ascertained, that, if a bee, which happens to have been unsuccessful in quest of food, meet one that has been successful, the unsuccessful bee, on communicating his wants to his successful brother, is always supplied with something to enable him to pursue his excursion, or return to the hive, as he shall judge most prudent. Unexpected events sometimes happen, and men are often punished when they least expect it. A captain of the anny, a handsome young man, hav- ing been lately stationed witli his party at St. An- drews, seduced a pious clergyman's daughter. When the young woman could conceal the matter no - Jonger, being afraid and ashamed to tell her father, she wrote to her brother, a lieutenant in the army, at that time in England. The moment he perceived 584 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. his sister's disgrace, he went, having o])tained leav^ of absence, to St. Andrews ; and learning that his sister's seducer was at Edinburgh, he, with- out telling his father, or any person, his reason, having ordered a carriage, set out with his sister thither. Learning that the captain resided at a respectable coffee-house, in the Ne\y Town, he 'landed there, and was ushered into the very next room where the captain and some brother officers were pushing about the bottle after dinner. Having a clergyman with him, the lieutenant desired tlie "Waiter to tell the captain a gentleman in the next room wished to speak with him: The captain im- mediately came. Upon his entrance into the room, the lieutenant, without saying a word, locked the door, and, putting the key into his pocket, said, pointing to his sister, sir, do you know that lady? After some hesitation and astonishment, he said he (Jid. Then, replied the lieutenant, raising his voice, as you are unmarried, and there is a clergyman a waiting, by God, if you do not marry her before yod leave this room, I will blow out your brains. Therefore, say whether you will or not. The captain, upon being sternly asked asecond time, said he would. Then, said the heutenant to his sister, Bess, are you willing to marry him ? Yes, brother, repHed she, trembling. The clergyman, who was in an adjoining room, finding them, by the lieutenant's order, holding one another by the hand, and profes- sing their marriage, declared them before two wit- pesses, married persons, which, according to the laws of Scotland, is quite sufficient. The lieutenant, jminediately took his hat, and, leaving the room, TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 585 *aid, sir, I leave my sister under your care ; and, by jail that is sacred, if you are uncivfl to her, I will ^ick yoii out of the world, I dined here one day aj'ith this hasty married captain, who, it seems, makes an affectionate and an attentive husband. Next day I fell in with Mr. O , on his way fronj JLiOndon to the Mearns, where he had been a mason, and courted a poor girl, a servant maid ; but, some- thing coming in the way, he went to Jamaica, and, jby means of a neat dial he had made, got acquainted with the governor ; and, in the course of about a dozen of years, made a handsome fortune by his business, with which he returned to his native country. Tliough, for several years, Mr. O had forgot the young woman he had courted, and she him, yet, having a desire to see her, as he learned ghe was unmarried, in a hunting dress, with dogs, horses, servants, &c. he went to the place where she Resided ; and, having found her reaping in the fields, Jie called her to him. Having been habituated to be among fine dressed ladies, and she past the bloom of life, be did not feel much attachment to her, when be saw her. Therefore, putting a bit of paper in her jhand, which she put into her bosom, without looking at it, he bid her adieu. When she went to the reapers, she was reading the bit of paper, but could not make it out: nor could her master. In the .evening, therefore, she went to the parson of the parish, to see what it meant. A hanasome j'oung man, one of the reapers, who had some attachment ^o^her, went to escort her to the parson's in the even- ing ; and, finding it a five hundred pound note, jiii^rried her next day ; and she now lives happily. 5S6 TRAVELS IX SCOTLAND, "With regard to Mr. O. having married a fine dashing young lady, he wished every day of his Hte he had married the country girl, as she is the mother of some fine children, and his lady, notwithstanding tl>c twinging antlers he wears, or supposes he wears, has npne. It is found impossible to keep some people out of scrapes. Mr. A , the son of a Scotch general, having been married some years, found himself con- siderably in debt, though he had no children, and an estate pf a thousand a year. After his lady's death, his rents, having bee^ seized by his creditors, at the age of fifty, he went to London to try his for- tune in the market of love, on an annuity from his creditors of two hundred pounds a year. Being a general's son, and having some acquaintance there, ^ho learned his situation, he got introduced to a maiden lady, seventy-two years of age, who had at her disposal about fifty thousand pounds, and who was disposed, even at that age, to enter the pale of matrimony, Mr. A finding this, proposed the matter to her, and hinted that the only thing which prevented him pushing the matter mere anxiously, was, some little embarrassment in his circumstances. She asked how much would make him easy ? He said five, though he should have said seven thousand pounds. She immediately gave him the five thou- sand. He married her; and, after having lived with him three or four years, she died ; and here I found him on his way to the north, nearly as poor as ever. He finds himself too far down the hill of life for trying his fortune at Bath ; and it is too expensive for him tc uvc at London. The truth is. he does not TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 587 Icnow what to do. He has an extensive Hbrary of elegantly bound books, but he never looks into it. He has always plenty of books on the bye-tables iu his sitting-room, &c. but never puts a hand to them. He makes a tolerable figure at a tea-table, or in a \>a\\ room ; and is well acquainted with that species of conversation which pleases women ; but then he is never happy, except when he has a crowd around him at dinner, and this he cannot afford. It generally happens, that no sooner does a man get rich than he mounts some one rocking horse or other. This was evidently the case with a gentleman I saw in Edinburgh. After having, in the East Indies, made a considerable fortune, he began to think of his mother, who lived in a hut, in Aberdeen- shire. Wishing to be esteemed and admired in his own country, all at once, when she was now sixty years of age, and happy at her wheel, spinning for her daily bread, he bought a large house for her, sent her a splendid carriage, with servants, elegant furni* ture, &c. and stored her cellars well with wine, rum, brandy, porter, &c. and plenty of the best Tokay; desiring her to live like a lady, and see her friends. The coach coming unexpectedly to the door of her hut, wliile she was spinning, with her cat purring in her lap, her only companion, and her hen lying warming herself at the fire-side, she v/as immediately taken and arrayed in a fine silk gown, a black velvet hood, &c. and thus splendidly rigged by aa elegant lady, that came in the coach to be her ser- vant and companion. The old woman was surprised, when the coach landed, and could scarcely believe what ^he saw. After she was dressed, the cat would 588 TRAVELS IX SCOTLAND. . not come near her, and her hen, flying over their heads, got out at the door, and could not be found. The old woman insisted upon taking her wheel, her cat, her hen, and some other things into the car- riage. But her servants, especially her maid, ob- jected to this, saying, the cat was ugly, the wheel black and dirty, and not fit to go into a coach. After much altercation, the servants prevailed upon her to leave every thing, which she consented to, except her cat and her hen, which went along with her with much reluctance. This good old woman, in two or three days, became quite unhappy in her fine new house, and actually, in the course of a few weeks, left it, the carriage, &c. &c. in the possession of her servants, and went back with her cat and her hen to her old habitation ; which, fortunately, was not set on fire, as her coachman had proposed, when she was about to leave it. The only thing the old wo- Hian ordered to follow her was some dozens of Tokay, to which she took a hking; and with which, and what the servants now and then sent her, she entertained all her poor neighbours that used to Tisit her, before her son interrupted her happiness. Tlie truth is, had he settled a few pounds a year on her, he would have shewn himself a wiser man, and added more to his mothers happiness, than by what he did. As Dr. Johnson said of the Scots, if you catch them young, you may make any thing of them; but, to alter, to any considerable extent, one's way of life, after the habits are completely formed, supposing thereby to add to their happiness, is folly - in the extreme. The old woman, ia her hut, how- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND 589 ever, with two or three of her neighbours, learned to discuss every day a few bottles of Tokay, till she be* gan to learn that each of them cost half a guinea. I fell in with a relation of the old woman's here. The high school of Edinburgh is undoubtedly the best grammar-school in Scotland, and produces as good Latin and Greek scholars as any school in England ; but it is to be lamented, that, as is the case at Eton, Westminster, Harrow, Winchester, &c. a very great proportion of the young mep. bred at this school have their morals so corrupted, that they become scarcely good for any thing ; and it is no- torious that the lane, or street, leading to the high school, is inhabited by some of the most abandoned of both sexes in Scotland. Notwithstanding that Edinburgh is the first medi- cal school in Europe, and the physicians here know their duty as well as any in the world, yet quack's and old women's prescriptions sometimes prov^ suc- cessful, when theirs do not. I am led to this re- mark, from what I myself saw. While I M^as at din- ner, one day, with my friend, Mr. Murray, a gentleman tliat had made a fortune at Demerara, and whom I l)ad known when I lived in the north country, a well dressed woman came to his house, and, being ad- mitted to the room where we were, fell a weeping, saying to Mr. Murray, " My husband's head is so much swelled, that you cannot see an eye in his head ; and, as some of the best physicians in Edin- -burgh, as well as the Messrs. Woods, have given him over, what will become of me and my poor children ? I have heard you have skill, arid I shall ' be much obliged to you if you will come ar.d see him," 590 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. Soon after Mr. M. took his umbrella, It being a rainy day, and I accompanied him. When we sa\r the man, his head, indeed, was as big as three ordi- nary heads, and not an eye was to be seen. Mr. M. said to the woman, follow me, which she did ; then taking her to a small garden he had, he took some red cabbage leaves, and desiring her, when she had parboiled them, to put them into a clean flannel bag ; and, when drained, lay them by way of pillow under his head, as hot as he possibly could bear them. The woman did so ; soon after which he went to sleep, though he had scarcely slept any for ten days before ; and, when he awaked, which was not till after seven hours, his head, being reduced to its natural size, to the inexpressible joy of his wife and family, he could see, speak, and hear, as also eat, none of which he had done for near eight days before. In three or four days, the man, who was a butcher, and who had caught cold in his head, was at his business, and quite well. The very next day, Mr. M. was applied to by another north country woman, whose husband was extremely ill, and swelled with the dropsy ; and who said, that the physicians, having tapped him twice, had given him over. We went to see him also ; w hen Mr. M. desired the woman, whose name was IVIac- donald, to send for some hands full of digitalis^ or foxglove, (a well-known herb that grows about rocks and by the way side, and has a number of beautiful purple flowers like ladies thimbles); andhav* ing boiled it, give lier husband some table spoons- ful of the juice now and then, and put the herb, when boiled and drained, into a :&annel bag, as hot TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 501 US he could bear it, about his belly and thighs. This she did ; and the consequence was, that, in the morning, the swelling was almost gone, and her husband, having been for some time kept warm, with care, which this regimen requires, is as stout and healthy at this day as any man in Britain. In a word, well-informed as the physicians here are, they are sometimes mistaken. It is well known, and Grose, in his History of India, confirms it, that when the Gentoo physicians give a patient an eme^ tic, a cathartic, or the like, they only put the dose into his hand, below his arm pit, or some fold of the body, to be held there for two or three minutes ; and, in due time, the medicine operates, in the same manner as if taken in by the mouth. Mercury, it is well known, has the same effect, whether taken in at the mouth, or rubbed on the body. Why do the physicians oblige us to swallow Glaubar salts, castor oil, and other nauseous draughts, when the Gentoo physicians produce the desired effect with- out giving their patients that trouble? But it is true, our physicians begin to apply more external remedies than formerly, and to take lessons from rude nations ; and it is a notorious fact, that they jpecommend in rheumatisms the same cure that was recommended to Captain Cook by the queen of Ota- heite, the pinching all his body between the thumb and fingers. And, in hot countries, when one catches the yellow fever, the physicians generally strip the patient naked, and, laying him on a table, rub mer- cury into .hi. a; as if they were salting beef; at least, this is the waj the physicians in Jamaica treated a, colonel v/:.o caught the fever there, but ky tUi" ^^2 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. treatment soon recovered, while those that were not treated so died. Camomile, which is a preparation of mercury and laudanum, seems to be the chief ingredient gi- ven now in ijiost medicines in Edinburgh. There iare, no doubt, as they are both fohnd to purify the blood, excellent medicines, but it is well known the one weakens the constitution, by causing an excess of perspiration, and the other is of a binding nature. Indeed, laudanum is so commonly used here, that It is given to lap-dogs, horses, &c. There are now hospitals in London fox horses, lap-dogs, &c. and they are talking of adopting the same plan at Edin- burgh. Indeed, every farmer now has his opiuum box, and gives his horse an opium pill, to lull him asleep when any thing is the matter with him ; and so much is the health of this noble animal studied now, that government allow a higher salary to the surgeon of a regiment of horse than to the sur- geon of a regiment of foot, for which I see no other reason than that the life of a horse is more valued than that of a man ; as, if he died, he would cost government more money than a man M'ould. The Advocates Library is a noble collection, and contains every thing useful, as well as rare and cu- rious, in literature. Indeed, if I mistake not, it is equal to the Bodleian at Oxford, and the National Library at Paris, and inferior to none in Europe, ex- cept the Vatican at Rome. The taste for books seems almost completely changed in Scotland, as well as in England, since the days of king Wil- liam and queen Anne. During her reign, govern- ment sent a great number of books to each pre&by- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND, 6^3 tery, as also to some parishes in BamfFshire, Mur- rayshire, .&c. upon the supposition that the clergy and people were ignorant, and so poor, that they were not able to buy books. However, as most of these parish and presbytery libraries consist in com- mentaries and expositions of the Old and New Tes- tament with books of controversial divinity, they are now almost completely useless, since few either of the clergy, or people, seem to trouble themselves ,with these matters. During my stay at Edinburgh, I went to hear Rowland Hill, the famous field preacher, who hap- pened to be there, and found, I suppose, about ten thousand people about him. One day at breakfast, this gentleman, hearing his servant-maids disputing about washing the passage, each saying it was not her work, he came out to them, and callin<^ f(,r the mop and Mater, stooped down, and was wash- ing it himself, saying, " As I\Irs. Hill says it must be washed, and none of you will do it^ it seems I must do it myself." Upon this, both the maids be- gan, and by a kind of violence prevented him from doing it. Upon another occasion, in a very rainy evening, happening to be near the kitchen door, he heard a dispute between John, the coachman,, and one of the maids, about going out for something wanted ; and John arguing .that his only business was to look after the horses, and drive the carriage, when ordered. Upon hearing this, Mr. Hill went to his room, rang the bell, and ordered the coach- man to be called. The coachman, having put too the horses, and come round to the door, which he did under a heavy fall of rain, was ordered to drive 594 TRAVELS IN SCOTLA'J^iJ. the maid to the fishmongers for sixpenceworth of oysters, saying, "/As you did not choose to take an umbrella and step out for them yourself, you must take the trouble of driving her thither." I had heard these and other anecdotes of this famous field-preacher, which made me the more attentively listen to him. From his attitudes, his tones, his gestures, his phraseology, and his notions of reli- gion, I thbught, and still think, having heard him more than once since, that he has more zeal than knowledge. It is his peculiarities more than his parts, that seem to draw attention. Indeed, with many, the most ridiculous parts of his conduct are most approved. For instance, not long ago a great croud of people having assembled to hear him at Edinburgh, and having waited and sung psalms till they were fatigued, they sent to see whether he was to preach to them or not. At length he mounted the pulpit, told them his nose had been bleeding niuch, and, as a proof of it, waved about in his hand a large white bloody handkerchief; and, spreading it all bloody, over the Bible, on the pulpit, he desired them to sing a hymn, men- tioning if to them, and that he would return to thetii in a little time; which they did, with seem- ingly new and additional strains of fervent devo- tion. The hvmn he desired them to sino- dwells ilpoh the merits of the blood of Jesus, and his dying to save guilty man. Curiosity had led great numbers to hear him at Edinburgh; but I could see, from their groaning ^and other circum- stances, that many of them were either tinctured Avith hypocrisy or fanaticism. Among the Wesley- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 593 ites, and some other denominations of Dissenters, there are persons, it seems, appointed, or at least encouraged for groaning at certain times during the/ sermon, with a view to induce others to ,do so, and thus raise the reputation of the preacher, as well as that of the sect to which he bciono-s; and he is thought the best preacher who produces the greatest number of groans, whether they are accompanied with tears or not. v A poor woman, coming lately to see. a friend at Edinburgh, being better dressed and cleaner than she had been for years before, was asivcd how she came to be so much altered for the better. She whispered, that she was appointed one of the groaners, and had beside victuals and drink, clothes, and a weekly allow- ance. Indeed, I was led to conclude that some of the groaners had either been employed, or had vo- lunteered their services to Mr. Hill ; but, if employ- ed, he liad unfortunately not fallen on the best, as some of them made the most noise, when, at least so far as I am a judge, there was least occasion for it. There are women in Edinburgh \\'ho live by the wages of iniquity as well as elsewhere. Colquhoun, in his Police of London, and he seems to have had tolerably good information, says, that there are fifty thousand women on the town, besides ten thousand that Hve partly by prostitution and partly by other means. The hospitals and physicians books in Edin- burgh seem to indicate, that though in proportion to the population there are not so many riotous eat- ers of flesh, there are as m.aiTy viciously inclined people in Edinburgh as in London. Q q 2 596 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. Though the poor]s rates in England amount to five miUions stt iling annually, and three of those are paid in London and its environs, and there are no poor's rates in Scotland, yet there are fewer beg- gars in proportion to the number of inhabitants in Edinburgh than in London ; which seems to be owing to this circumstance, that though the Scots have many faults, and laziness is none of the least, yet there is, if I may so express myself, in general j a noble pride about them that induces them to live on their own earnings, however scanty, rather than on the bounty of others. It is astonishing how much influence grief and disappointment have upon some persons compared with others. Miss 11 , from the province of Mur- ray, whom I saw here, is a fine healthy young wo- man, not much above twenty years of age; but her hair, which was quite black, in the course of a few days became white as wool, from the vexation that she was found not to be the wife of a rich baronet, though she thought that, by the Scotch laws, she was. It is strange that the magistrates of Edinburgh, who are, in' general, men of parts and discernment, should appoint any one to the office of town crier that neither can read Sx:otch nor English. I heard oi>e of them, when reading an advertisement, blunder almost at every word, and^pronounce the very first word advertisement, laying the accent an the third syllabic, when it should have bo >n the second^ -nd confounding tlu ' shops, where goods are ' "stith the word ..^uj^cr, meaning, the mouth V--; Ti d. r;d. at Aberdeen, till htel v, thev sre- TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. SQJ uerally pronounced both these wo; ds the same way. Upon the eve of a king-'s fast day there, about a y'ear ago, one of the town crier's proclaimed, tjjiat, as to-morrow was a fast day, by order of the ma- gistrates, no one within tlie Hberties of the city, un- der pain of fining and imprisonment, should open their shops; but he pronounced it chops, from morning till night. An Englishman, who happen- ed to be there, imagining that the magistrates had ordered that none should open their mouth to eat all that time, left the city, swearing, for his part, he would not obey them : and that, as* the magis- trates were fools for issuing such an order, so he thought the people would be fools if they obeyed it. ' It is unfortunate that the police of modern times cannot prevent low ribaldry and abominable' lan- ffuao'e from beino: used in the streets. '. At the end of the Cannono-ate I heard a man of a decent appearance most emphatically pray that the devil would come with his broom and sweep all the ex- cise officers, tide waiters, &c, into hell, j I would have complained to a magistrate, and got the fellow puiHshed, as he certainly deserved, for his emphatic prayer, but found, that civilised and improved as every thing is here, yet the conduct of great num^ hers of the lower onlers is most abandoned. - One halt of tiie iaiiubitants of Edinburgh, as well as of Perth, Stirling, and many otiier towns in Scot- iand, are evidently originally from the Highlands : and, in general, all the drudgery and severe labour is performed by people from those places, who are generally stout and well made, in the same man- 598 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. ner as all the drudgery in London is generally done by the Irish, and, in some cases, the Welsh. Those from the She;:land and .Orkney Islands, many of whom also settle here, have not only a peculiar c?ast of countenance, and darkish colour, but they are, in general, not so tall as the Highlanders. The Icelanders, ^vho discovered Greenland, in the tenth century, observed, that scarcely any of the inhabitants exceeded five feet in height: and the French philosophers, who, many years ago, were sent to measure a degree of longitude upon the arctic circle, found a Lapland lady suclvling her first child, that was only four feet and one inch high. There is evidently something in extreme cold that nips and retards the growth of animals as well as vegetables, which in extreme latitudes are Always of the dwarfish kind. I could not help observing the conduct of a Iloman Catholic gentleman, with whom I dined or.e Friday, while in Edinburgh. No consideration could ever, I understand, induce him to eat flesh on a Friday, as, it being against the law of his church, he thought it would subject him to severe punish- ment, not only in this, but in the world to come; but, at the same time, he seemed to think that there was no harm in playing at cards, attending balls and assemblies, getting drunk, wenching, &c. on Sun- flay. . It has been observed, that a considerable pro- portion of the peers never marry; and that, whei^ they do, jt is generally very young women. J5ut the game liiay be said of the gentlemen in Edinburgh in genej-^1 ; fof a couoiderable proportion of them do TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 6Q9 not many at all ; and (contrary to the conduct of Irish fortune hunters, who do not hesitate to marry any woman, he she old or young, handsome or the contrary, provided she lias mo.ney) when they are old, marry women often not one-third of their own age. But though old men of fortune generally, when they marry, choose young women, this whim seldom seizes young ladies of fortune, and those who have it in their power to choose a husband. There are, however, some exceptions: since a young lady in London lately, who had more than fifty thousand pounds at her own disposal, proposed the matter, and actually married the physician who at- tended her father on his death-bed, though he was nearly three times her own age, and there were more than a dozen of young handsome men, not only English, but Irish, anxiously soliciting her hand. It is astonishing that so many, both in Scotland and the great towns in England, should be so much imposed upon by wine merchants. Certain it is, that the gentlemen in the Highlands, and all round the coasts of Scotland, have, in general, much bet- ter and much cheaper wine than they hav6 in the capital. The truth is, that in Edinburgh, as well as in London, it is no uncommon thing, if one exa- mines into the matter, to find, in many wine cellars, a fellow standing in a liogsheiul of sugar, with a common gardener's spade in liis hand, throv>ing su- gar into a large vat, half filled vvith water; which, being stirred about frequently, mixed with alum water, corn brandy, and then a small proportion of real wine put into it, they ferment, bottle up., and palm on the public as the genuine blood cf the 600 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. grape. The Lacedemonians, in general, boiled their wine down a fifth part, and kept it four years. Few wine merchants in Edinburgh, I am afraid, imitate the Lacedemonians ill eitlier of these particulars. In visiting one of the church -yards here, where they have got into the way of burying in a row, and going round regularly ,from one end to the other, I found a dog had been buried in it, through the affection of his master, who, being a man of property, had travelled the continent, and taken this dog to Rome with him, left him there with a friend, and returned to Edinburgh. Six months after his master had left Rome, this dosf, it seems, leaving Rome, set out alone in quest of his master, and tracing his route through Italy over the Alps, through France, &c. he at length arrived at Calais. Though often prevented by the sailors, this dog, at length, was j>ermitted to come on board, at Calais, by means of a gentleman who wished to have it, though by this time nothing but skin and bone, having nothing but what he could steal or pick from dunghills by the way. All the way from Calais to Dover the gentleman was attentive to this dog, and thought he had gained his affection; Avhen, to his surprise, a few yards before they ar- rived at Dover, the dog jumped overboard, and swimming ashore, ran off as fast as he could. The collar on his neck told to whom he belonged ; and, in less than six weeks from the time he had left Home, this faithful animal arrived at his master's Jiouse at Edinburgh. This brings to my mind the dog belonging to 4 gentleman in Aberdeen, which ran about half a mile. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 60l and pulled a man by the skirt to where his master had fallen through the ice into the river Dee in a dark night, and was supported by his musket hat rested upon the edges of the ice where he had fal- len ; and the dog that a noble and highly respect- able peer informs us, went and drowned himself be- ' cause another dog had got, after repeated attempts on his part to prevent it, before him in his master's favour. Nor can I forbear to mention here, as another striking instance of the reason, as well as moral sentiment or sensation of animals, a well- authenticated story or apecdote of a cat belong- ing to a respectable and very good friend of mine residing at this moment within a very few miles of London. The cat was, of what the connois- seurs in cats call the Persian breed ; that is to say, short in the body, but high on the legs. It was a sensible and a remarkably playful creature. Its master was wont to caress it very much, and feed it with too great a proportion of the cream allot- ted for breakfast and tea, for which he now and then got heartily scolded. Whether from grateful attachment, or by way of soliciting more cream, it would sit down for hours on the table on which he was writing, and now and then amuse itself by catching at the pen, as it moved, with which he wrote. One of her kittens died : it was the win- ter season. My friend's wife, with himself, was sitting by the fire, when in comes the cat, following the maid, when she opened the door, with her dead kitten in her mouth. She laid it down close by her mistress's feet, mewed piteously, and gently pushed j]ef mistress's legs with her head, evidently imploring 602 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAXD. her to restore the kittea to. life. She had cou^ ceivecl an idea that the ladv could do somethinjr for the kitten that she could not do herself. There is not a doubt but the more sagacious ani- mals of the domesticated kind have some notions of men, similar to what men have of invisible and in- telligent powers. To the inferior animals man is a god. It is atHrraed by some, that the feline race is incapable of ingratitude, or any social. virtue. They are rapacious, it is true : but not altogether unsocial. Were a do- zen of rooms open to them, they would sit down in that which has company in it, and that too vcy near the company. Having introduced church-yards, I cannot help mentioning the difference between the Scotch and Enghsh mode of interment. In Scotland there are scarcely ever more than one laid above another in the same grave. In England, but particularly in many church-yards about London, there are often fourteen or more laid, one above another, in the same grave, and sometimes the fees to the clergy- man, grave-digger, &c. &c. particularly if there be a lead coffin, amounts, for they will not take one farthing less, to forty-seven pounds fifteen shillings and seven -pence, for liberty to be hud- dled up among this mass of mortality ; and so difficulted are they for room in the church- yards about London, that often before day, in the morning, cart-loads 6f dust, bones of alder- men, &c. &c. are, after having been sold, driven out to manure the fields. All this is particularly ex^ emplified at St. George's burying-ground, at the ^nd of Oxford-Road, 1 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 603 / There is an indecency of xlress and conduct to be met, sometimes, in Edinburgh, as well as elsewhere. The ladies at the opera, and other play-houses in London, have many of them not only their bosoms, but also their neck behind almost quite naked, and in this they are too often imitated by the ladies in the north ; and those of them who have not money to spare, to buy Hungary and honey waters, Italian paste, and the like, to wash and anoint themselves, put, now and then, round their necks, &c. the skin of sozvcfis {a, well known Scotch dish) well boiltd, which is a strong drastic, and which cleans and whitens what it covers, astonishingly. They put this on the face also, like a face-cloth, with holes for' their eyes, mouth and nose, and go equipped in this manner to bed for a few hours. Upon washing themselves, they find all the black particles sucked out of their face, neck, arms. Sec. This is in fact a- cosmetic, for which, with some quackery for dis- guising it, and under another name, some Londoner might, with great advantage to himself, take out a patent. There are beautiful clumps and plantations of trees to be found all around Ediuburgli, and indeed , jiow about most towns and gentlemen's seats. Ev^n in many of the -iiorthern counties, nothing is. more common than to transplant trees, of all kinds, fruit as well as forest trees, eighteen and twenty feet high. Nay, cherry trees, &c. of any size, in full bloom, it js found, may be transplanted, without any injury done to the blossom, provided the fibns of the roots &re not sutilered to dry, and the hole in which the yoots are put be filled with thick muddy water. lu- 604 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. deed, such is the bounty of nature, and the facility with whic the juices flow through plants, that it is now ascertained, if you put the branches of almost any tree into the ground, in a sheltered place, and turn their roots uppermost, these roots will grow into branches, and bear fruit, and the branches be- ing pruned, and put into the hole in muddy water, turn into roots. Though colleges are often only hospitals for old opinions, yet this is not the case with the college at Edinburgh ; as the professors are left to treat the subject^ belonging to their department as they please. In some colleges, the professors, by the con- ditions of their benefice, are kept in a kind of tram- mels, with regard to both the books to be used as text, or class books, and the doctrines to be taught. Such restriction is of no great detriment when it ex- tends only to the language in which instruction is to be conveyed, as is the case with the professors of church history at St. Andrews. They are obliged, by the presentation to their livings, to give their lectures in Latin. I attended that class, during three years at St. Andrews, and never heard the professor, in his pubhc character, speak one word of Enghsh all that time. Fortunately, professor Brown, who then filled the chair, and whose goodness and attention to me, as well as to the students in general, I shall never forget, could speak Latin with as much ease and fluency as English ; and such Latin, being pure, was readily understood. One of the otheff professors of divinity also lectures in Latin. The third professor discourses in English. >Jotwithst^nding the improvements about Edia-. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 605 Ib^rgh, I could not help observing thistles, rag-weed, furze, broom, &c. too frequently in its neighbour- hood, not only on the road side, but even in some of the fields. It is well known, that the seeds of thistles, rag- weed, and the like, are blown with the wind, and that though furze, as lord Kaimes ob- serves, is the onlv shrub in Britain that flowers all the year round ; and broom in bloom is one of the most beautiful shrubs we have, and appears like gold at a distance, yet they ought, if possible, to be completely extirpated out of those parts of the country where sheep are not reared. And, it is to be hoped, the day is not far distant, when the farmers, who allow thistles, rag-weed, and the like, to seed on their fields, without having attempted to prevent them, will be subjected to a penalty. It is found that no persuasion can induce the na- tives of New South Wales to wear clothes ; and that, some of these, of both sexes, are every day to be seen in the streets of Parramata, the chief city at Botany Bay, walking among well-dressed people, completely naked ; and that the first families in that country are often served at table by their servants in that state : which, however disagreeable at first, after some time, gives Europeans no more trouble than to see a naked dog, or a naked horse. Indeed, in Edinburgh, London, &c. matters are not much dif- ferent; fine ladies often appear both within and without doors, with sometimes little else than a thin muslin gown on Xhem ; and some of our young men display their shapes, particularly in summer, in thin, light flesh-coloured silk pantaloons, reaching from tlieir ankles almost to their neck. The ladies in 06 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. Oliver Cromweirs days would have risen in rebellion, had men worn such a dress. But habit becomes a secorr! nature ; and we take as little notice of such dresses, as the gentlemen latt^ly going, throu.rh the city of Moscow attending a funeral did, when they saw nearly a hundred beautiful young ladies, who had been in the Bath, come out stark naked, to view the funeral procession. It is, I think, surprising they have not a greater number of natural and artificial curiosities for the inspection of those that visit the metropolis of Scot- land. Natural history, as well as chemistry, being not only a rational, but now a fashionable study, should induce the magistrates, professors, &c. to collect materials from every quarter. And, as there are Scots in elevated stations scattered over all the face of the earth, still attached to their native country, there is not a doubt, were it even hinted to them, but they would send such an astouishing variety of materials as would soon form one of the most extensive and valuable museums in Europe. Indeed, the collection of wild beasts at Edinburgh is but trifling. The eagle, at St. Omers, belonging to the Benedictine monks, which is three hundred and forty years old, collects many people to see it, and the beasts and birds which Pidcock, at London, has, is, I believe, a source of advantage to himself, as well as of amusement and instruction to the public. Why is there not a collection upon an extensive scale at Edinburgh? However, with regard to the animals themselves, it is better there is not; as the exhibi- tors of such animals, like Robinson Crusoe with the goat he had caught in a pit, generally tame them TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 607 by starving. The truth is, were it not for the eata- bles the monkeys, squirrels, &c. &c. get from chil- dren, and others, that go to see them at Pidcock's, they would in all probability die for want. I saw the monkeys, &c. one evening get supper, and one of them, poor little thing, only got one small boiled potatoe, the large ones, in a minute, having de- voured all that was set before them. This little creature, as well as the eagles and other birds, who still cried and looked for more, was extremely angry; and, having cracked some nuts, which a gentleman that was with nie gave it, the monkey threw those back in his face, that, when opened, were found empty. Indeed, it seemed to know, by the feel and- weight, whether they were empty or not, before it opened them. As for the elephant, he ate a bushel of apples, that a visitor allowed him, throwing them quickly, one after another, with his proboscis, into his mouth ; and when he had sucked up six pots of porter, one after another, which he did in less than a minute, and seemed to rehsh much, he stretched out his proboscis to the gentleman and me, as it were, to shake hands with us ; and, while he thanked us for the porter and apples we gave him, ask us for more. When I first saw him reach out his proboscis, I confess I was afraid ; but, after he got the porter and apples, he became extremely kind to me; though I confess I did not like his putting his pro- boscis into my pocket, to see if I had any apples in it. There are, perhaps, not baser characters to be found any where than sometimes in Edinburgh. Seeing a tall stout man, crossing the Cannon-gate, 608 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND, one day ; and asking a friend, that was with me, if he knew him, he replied, " yes, it is that scoundrel Mr. B , brother-in-law to a certain right honour- able lady." Mr B , it seems, having been intro- duced and recommended to a rich good-hearted old man, at Plymbuth, was for several months al- most a daily guest at his table, and provided with a good place by him on board of a first-rate man of war. ' But about the time Mr. B was to enter on board, one of the good old man's daughters was taken ill. The physician, being sent foij, found her some months gone with child. All the family were astonished when they learned the cause of her disor- der, but when the young woman's mother heard that Mr. B was the father, she, as also two of her daughters, who were with her at the time, actually fainted. It was the thoughts that Mr. B had, at different times, and unknown to them, seduced the mother, and three of her five daughters, that af- fected them all so much. That providence permits such wretches to live is more than we short-sighted mortals can well account for. Mr. B is an Irish- man ; and, as there are many of his countrymen settled in Germany, Hungary, &c. and all along the banks of the Danube, from its rise in Swabia, to its entrance into the Black Sea, so, I understand, he is gone to try if he can, like them, pick up a rich widow on the continent. During the time I staid in Edinburgh, I only ob- served one person, a big boy from the country, wearing mire-pipes^ or stockings without feet, called in some parts of Scotland, huggers. The English smile at the Scots for this part of their dress, which TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 609 as well as many of the customs in England, almost completely laid aside. But, as in Scotland, in many places, there are rivers without bridges, marshy ground, and bad roads, in such places, stockings of this kind are sometimes useful, as they tend to keep the legs from chopping, while they are easily adjusted to the waters, or mars^ies to be passed. The truth is, when the poor people, who used to w^ear them, came to a mirp, a rivulet, or the like, through which they found it necessary to pass, they pulled up the stocking, without pulling it off; and, having waded through, went on for a few minutes, till their legs dried, and then pulled them down. Notwithstanding that an union took place between Scotland and England, a hundred years ago, and the daily intercourse that takes place between these kingdoms, there are leading features in the character of each, .which shew that they are not yet com- pletely blended ; and, unfortunately, the late at- tempt to revive the Gaelic language, with other cir- cumstances, has prevented that comixture of the Hio-hlanders with the other inhabitants of Scotland, that would tend to their mutual advantage, and to induce them to pull together as one, w^ien govern- ment shall have occasion for their services. Indeed, there seems to be something defective, with respect to the assimilation of the manners of the subjects in most of the governments of Europe. At Vienna, the Hungarians are allowed to settle nearly in one part of the city, wdiereas the emperor ought to use means that they may be spread nearly equallj^ over the whole city ; that they may the more easily coalesce with his other subjects. In London, the R r do TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. Irish, in general, settle in the parish of St. Giles; and, owing to this, some of them, both men and women, after being twenty years in London, have nearly as much of the Irish brogue, and the man- ners of Ireland, as they had the day they left it This also, in a certain degree, is the case with the Scots ; who, as they generally come by sea, land and take up their abode at Wapping, if unfortunate in other parts of London. Conse([uently, almost all the inhabitants of Wapping, and its vicinity, are either adventurers from Scotland, or sprung from Scotch people. Nor is it much different with the Highlanders, when they arrive at Edinburgh ; for, as they generally associate together, and live as near as possible to that part of the city, v^here the High- landers have taken up their abode, there is, as it were, a Highland Town, in the midst of the capital of Scotland. As at Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Rome, Constanti- nople, London, &c. the mountaineers and people from the skirts of the empire generally are the por^ ters, draymen, scavengers, &c. so it is at Edin- burgh. For almost all the chairmen, cadics, porters, watchmen, and other drudges, in Edinburgh, arc from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. At Edinburgh, I learnt some particulars respect- ing the UDALLEHS, or holders of property by allodial and immemorial right or tenure in tlie Ork- neys and Shetland islands, into which I had not had time to make due inquiry during my short residence in the former; nor yet into the condition of the lower or labouring class of the people. A war of pamphlets had arisen between the lairds rt^AVELS IN SCOTLAND, 6l 1 feh(i the tenants, the only disciimination of ranks known in Sbetlanrl, with the exception, perhaps, of some shopkeepers in Lerwick: a Mr, Mowatt, one of the kiirds, on the side of his order; and two of the ministers of Edinburgh, one of whom had been sent as a missionary to Shetland, by the society in Scotland for propagating christian knowledge, on that of the tenants. From a perusal of those pamphlets, compared with the testimony of some persons from Shetland, then in Edinburgh, or rather Leith, but whose names it might be very inconve- nient for them for me to mention, I learnt what follows : I was right in my conjecture that there was a greater number of ndallers yet remaining in the Orkney, and still more in proportion to the number of inhabitants in the Shetland Isles, than one would be ready to infer from Dr. Barry's Histcryofthe Orkneys. I also learnt the peculiar causes why allodial yielded to feudal tenures in the county of Orkney and Shetland. These were the facility with which viceroys, Stewarts, or lords paramount could oppress small proprietors, amidst many fluctations, and at so great a distance from -the seat of law and government. Earl Patrick, a natural son of James V. and brother to Mary (jueen of Scots, and others after his time, who held the office of Stewart of the Orkneys atnd Shetland, very often evicted*^ land from the simple udallers, under the pretence that they had no written rights to produce. The dis- *To evict and eviction are terms in the Scotch law, importing to dispossess, and dispossessipn, by a judicial process. K r 2 612 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. possessed udaller, if he was able, paid the price of the lands of which he was dispossessed to the lord paramount of the estates in the neighbourhood, or the viceroy, or Stewart of the crown, and held them, in feu, under a superior. Earl Patrick, just mentioned, in a disposition, or transference of the laiuls of sand to Joram Humphrey, states, that he had evicted seven marks (from twelve to fifteen acres) of that land, from Paul Nicholson, in Culs- wick, for stealing a swhie; and that he had evicted six marks from another udaller, in Culswick, for stealing bolts from his trood ; probably some piece of wreck that had been drawn or driven into Culs- wick others, being accused of offences against the laws, and threatened with capital punishment, made their peace with the Stewart, by resigning to him their possessions. The violence and oppression exercised by the lords of Orkney and Shetland was gradually diminished by the regular establishment of good laws and government, and was wholly checked and suppressed by the jurisdiction act, in 1748. So that now there does not appear any reason why an udaller, in the Orkney or Shetland Isles, may not enjoy his little property in peace and security, as well as the Aichil and Abemethey lairds above described. As to the redemption of estates by the next of kin, it was never dreamt of in our isles. It was probably the sniallncss an^ insignifi- cance of the udal properties, still existing, that pre- served them from aristocratical rapacity. The modes of oppression and rapacity formerly exercised over the po<)r udallers, in Orkney and Shetluld. appear to have been very near a-kin to -TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 6l3 those whereby the chancellor, the earl of Perth, sought, with too much success, to swallow up the litrle estates in Stratherne, in the estate of Drum* jnond. As to the general state or condition of the bulk or mass of the people in Orkney and Shetland, it would be difficult to find any other term so appro- priate, as to say, that it is a state of actual slavery or bondage. They cannot, indeed, be transferred, like slaves or cattle, from one master to another : nay, they may quit the service of any master when they please. But it is next to impossible for them, by any change, to better their condition, if they re- main in any of the islands : and, even if they betake themselves to the Greenland fishery, as they some- times do, they not only cut oif an easy retreat and welcome back to their native country ; but expose their parents, children, brothers and sisters, and all most dear to them, to the vengeance of the laird or landholder, who warns them of his displeasure, and who, on a few months notice, may turn them out of their houses, and even send them to jail for life; for they are generally, nay almost always in his debt. The aged p.irents, and young children of the men, who are all fishers, are in fact a kind of hostages to the lairds for what they call-their good behaviour : that is, that they shall si;iy at hoine, and fish, cut sea- weed for kelp, or perform other service for them, for whatever they please to allow them. It is in a similar manner that a number of Highland lairds, or landholders, by refusing leases to their tenants, have it almost as much in their power to furnish a jiumber of soldiers to government, as any German prince. 614 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. In the Orkneys, the numerous class of the la- bouring people, or actual cultivators of the soil, are called Cotters, wha arc almost, though not quite, in so helpless and hopeless a state as the Hebridean scallag, who is sctually sometimes stripped naked, tied by the hands to a stake, and scourged hy his master without judge or jury. To every con- siderable farm there is attached a number of cottagers, or cotters, each of which has a small garden, or, as they call it, yard, lor raising kail, or cole wort, with as much ^-rass and corn land as will pasture one or two of their small cows ill summer, and furnish proveiuler for them in win- ter. These cotters are perfectly under the dominion or controul of the tenant, as the tenant ai;ain is of the laird or tacksman. He may remove them when he pleases, or when he pleases call upon them, as rent for' their little possessions, to work for him at any time of the year, or any sort of employment. Their children, too, when they are able to work, must work for hitn in the capacity of servants, for whatever wages he thinks reasonable. *If they should be bold enough to refuse, their parents might, and probably would, be turned ontof their habitations. As for himself, he miglit find employment at sea, but not easily at land. The tacksmen and tenants set their face, by a tacit compact, against such re- fractory servants, over whom they are almost as de- spotic as our managers of theatres!, ^ho can easily lay their heads together, are over the poor players. In the Shetland Isles, where the people have not the same resources in pasture and agriculture, but depend almost v/holly on the sea for ill necessaries, TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 6l5 the yoke of bondage is wreatlied still tighter about ' the necks of the people. The sea, the unbounded ocean, is naturally associated in our imagination with' ideas of freedom; but fishers must have a dwelling, a domicilium at land, and this domicilium they cannot have without devoting their labour to some landholder on his own terms. The young men may emigrate, Avhich they sometimes do, though they are for the most part retained at home through the influence of the social, generous, and tender passions. Fear lest the laird should visit their presumption in quitting his estate, on their parents, restrains some. The passion of love restrains others, and plunging them into all the wants and cares of a family, inevitably enslaves them for life. The people of Shetland marry very young. When a youn'g man arrives at the age of eighteen or nine- teen years, he goes, for a few months in the sum- mer, to the Greenland fishing, for which he receives from two pounds to fifty shillings. Alany of the landholders exact a guinea put of his wages for this indulgence, as they call it. When this is agreed to, his parents may remain without the dread of being turned out of their possession. When the young lads have been one season at the fishing, they generally consider themselves as men. They are eiicoi-.'/.K^ed !)v their landlords, in order to prevent tliein from leaving the country, to marry; and the consequence commonly is, that they find themselves involved in debt and large fa- milies in a very itw years. The landholders, in order to increase the num- ber of fishermen, and extend the fisheries, on which 6l6 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. chiefly the value of their estates depends, have, within the last thirty years, so divided and subdi- vided their farms, that in many places where for- merly one family possessed eighteen or twenty acres of land, there are now three or more crowded to- gether wiUiout decent accommodation, or even the common necessaries of life. Hence the poverty that subjects them to a total dependence on the store-houses of their masters, and renders them more than ever incapable of pursuing the business of fish- ing on their own account. The negroes in the West Indies do not seem to be more dependent; nay, I am told, often not so much, on the stores of their masters, as the bondmen, for they are, in fact such, in Shetland, on the store-houses and will of the laird. They are obliged to find their own implements, and to sell their fish to the laird, and the laird only, at his own price. In short, not only all the labour of the poorShet-; lander is under the controul of the landholder, but all that he has. Being always in debt to the land- lord for articles advanced from his store-house, they dare not sell a cow or sheep without his con- sent. They must be obedient in all things, right or wrong. They must not only be, in bondage, but apparently satisfied with their bondage. If they' murmur, or meditate emigration, the landloitl i^ beforehand with them, and coerces or punishes them in some shape or other, Of the evil of dividing and subdividing the farms; so much, and reducing the people to so miserable a tate of poverty and dependence, the most judicious of the landholders have become sensible. They TRAVELS IN SeOTLAND. 6l7 would willingly enlarge their farms to the former extent, grant leases, and even commute personal service, or prasdial bondage, for monied rents. But it is scarcely possible to find tenants in cir- cumstances to stock them. The experiment of emancipating, as it has been called, the poor Shet- ^ landers, has been tried, as stated above, by my reverend friend, in Shetland, in vain. What can the best men, the most philanthropic, and the wisest legislature do ? Slavery, or bondage, is a great evil, but the sudden removal of even this evil may lead to greater evils. Were a law to be enacted, that bondage, or personal services in the Shetland isles, should immediately be abolished, rents paid in money, leases granted for nineteen years, and that too of farms of a reasonable extent ; tenants would be wanting of sufficient stock or capital ; the land would be neglected ; and the fishing wholly abandoned ; the national wealth and re- venue would be impaired, and thousands of peo- ple reduced to famine : for they cannot apply^ to the business of fishing, their only resource, without the aid of their landlords. In short, the human race has existed, and continues to ex- ist, in a vast variety of conditions, and a state of bondage is one of them. This condition is to be ameliorated not by a rash, incisive, and destructive hand, but by operations gentle and gradual, as opportunities of!"cr, and circumstances invite. The Shetland tenants, beside their rents, pay the foUowins: taxes : First, that called Scatt, about 6d. on every mark f arable land, with a due proportion of pasture 618 TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. gwund. The Scatt was antiently paid to the kingij of Norway ; and^ upon the cession of the Orkney and Shetland islands to Scotland, was transferred to the Scottish crown. Afterwards, when these were conveyed by the sovereign to vassals, or feudatory chiefs, the Scatt was considered as granted alo^g witli the superiority. It was paid to earl PatricK;^ and the earls of Morton ; aiVl is now, in consequence of purchase, paid to lord Dundas. Notwithstand- ing this, the tenants are obliged to pay their propor- tion of the ordinary cess, or land-tax, to the crown. Secondly, cot'?i tiend, or tythe. Of this, one half is paid to the patron, lord Dundas, and the other to the minister of the parish. To the proprie- tor, a cock or a hen, for every mark of land. They pay also. three days labour in the year to the laird, and as much to the minister. Thirdly, oj!:' and sheep mone?/. In the year IGOO, earl Patrick having obtained a grant from the crown of the Shetlands as well as the Orkneys, built the cas- tle of Scalloway on the main land, andj among other oppressive exactions, compelled the people of both countries' to furnish annually a certain number of oxen and sheep for his table, which were paid for at a certain fixed rate of composition. This exaction, being transmitted along with the superiority, hasi been continued. Fourthly, the xvattle: an imposition which had its rise so early as the tenth century ; A\'hen it was demanded by the clergy, as the price of the holy water they distributed among the people. This perquisite, being afterwards transferred to the bishop, it came, at the reformation, to the crown ; and from the crown, to the feudatory chief. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND^ 6l9* As there are proprietors, in both Shetland and the Orkneysj who hold their lands, without any writtea ^ flocuments, and njerely by immemorial possession; so there are others, in both the Orkneys and Shet- iands, who hold their land by a more exceptionable tenure: namely, by gripping. For some time: after these islands came into the possession of the Scottish crown, they became a receptacle for con- victs, out-laws, and all manner of vagabonds; who^ not unfrequently, found means. of wresting from poor udallers, estates, or parcels of land, in times when the' law was often evaded or controlled, and major vis was every thing-. Men of wealth and power in the country soon came to follow the example of those piratical and predatory strangers. And lands, thus violently seized on, are, without ceremony, stated, in some rent-rolls at this day, to be possessed in virtue of GRIPPING. There are many estates, nay, per- liaps,. the most of the great estates in Scotland, par- ticularly in the Highlands, that owe their magni- tude, in some measure, to griping, or, as the Scots say, GRIPPING, as well as some of those in the Ork- ney and Shetland islands. I do not recollect any part of the habitable globe, where the mass of the people live under so great poverty and hardships as in the Shetland islands, the Hebridean scallags, or slaves, always excepted. The Shetland isles are, in fact, it ap- pears, little else than an assemblage of rocks, moor- ish hills, and mosses. The Shetlanders seem to be like seals, amphibious animals. They derive their sustenance from the sea, though, like seals on their sandbanks, they must have a place for resting, and drawing breath. 620* TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. The natural sterility of Shetland is strongly ex- pressed by the following fact. So destitute are the poor Shetlanders of food for their stunted cows, that, in the latter end of spring, and the beginning of summer, before the heath, and what grass there is, springs up, they give them fish, boiled and bro- ken down, bones and all, into a kind of mash. And the poor animals, compelled by hard hunger, actu- ally eat this unnatural food. Lord Dundas, as might be expected from the well-known liberality of his character, and others of the land-holders, have declared their willingness, and even desire, to emancipate the people from bon- dage. But the experiment, as above-noticed, has been made. The people destitute of capitals, and entirely dependent on the store-houses of the" lairds and tacksmen, M^ere they left to provide for them- selves, would perish for want. Lord Dundas has bound all his tacksmen, upon all his estates in Shet- land, to allow a free market to their sub- tenants, if they desire it: and is ready to assign fishing stations, with secure and permanent domicilia, wherever they shall be found fittest for the purpose. But the tenants have hitherto found itadviseable to continue on the old footing of personal service, or, what in truth may be called, as it is, prscdial bondage, or slavery : so great is the difficulty of amehorating the condition of mankind ! Yet, it is to be hoped, that the emancipation of these islanders will one day be effected ; when free fishing stations, and perma- nent domicilia, shall invite capital, and encourage free exertion. For the business of fishing the Shetland islands are, beyond all doubt, singularly favourable. Tiic TRAVELS IN SCOTEAND.. *621 circumjacent sea abounds with fish of all kinds. Their harbours are innumerable, and, from the depth of water in them, piers would be unnecessary. Their fishers are hardy and intrepid. Accustomed to the most wretched accommodations and the hard- est fare, they conduct the business of fishing at the least possible expense. English seamen require beef, porter, cheese, &c. whereas, a sufficient supply of oatmeal, tobacco, and spirits, would suffice for Shet- landers. All the provision which Shetland fishermen ver carry to sea with them is a small bottle oiblandaj a cake of oaten or barley bread, and a bottle of gin to each man. On this provision they have been known to remain at sea three days and nights together. This blanda, buttermilk, kept for a very long time, is mentioned by the historian Buchannan as the fa- vourite beverage of the Hebridean islanders. They were wont to keep it, he tells us, for years. The land-holders and tacksmen of Shetland have been charged, not only with compelling their tenants and cotters to fish for them, at their own expense, but also to purchase necessaries at their store-houses only, also at any price they please. This, I find, is not true. The fishers are under no manner of restriction from purchasing what articles they want at the cheapest market. But, without money and without credit, they depend for all things on their landlords or masters. These are the results of M^hat I read and heard about Shetland, in Edinburgh; where, indeed, I had a fairer opportunity of coming at the truth of the contested points than I should have had in the place itself. *6!22 TRAVELS IN SCOTLANB. It seems to be not a little singular that there should be so much difficulty in ascertaining the numbf rs of people in great cities : a matter which, one would imagine, admits of all the precision of arithmetic. The population of Edinburgh is esti- mated by some at eighty thousand, by others, very considerably above this number. That Edin- burgh is a very populous, as well as a very affluent, place, may reasonably be inferred, from the flou- rishing state of the trade of begging there ; though it is, perhaps, seldomer resorted to there than in almost any other city of equal magnitude. Not many years ago, a young man, in the mer- cantile line, having occasion to go frequently between Edinburgh and Leith, was in the habit of giving charity to a poor man that stood generally near the middle of Leith Walk. Upon the young man not giving the poor man money as formerly, one day, when nobody happened to be passing, the poor man said, *' Pray, young man, has any misfortune hap- pened to you, that you have not of late given mc sixpence as usual." The young man confessed there had. The poor man then whispered, specify- ing the number. " Call for David Black, at the head of Leith Walk, to-morrow, or any even- ing at eight, and you will hear of something to your advantage." The young man smiled at this, and had no intention of attending ; however, as his curiosity was roused, he thought there could be no great harm in calling at the poor man's house. Upon touching the knocker, a neat servant opened the door, and ushered him into the parlour, where the old man, to whom he had given manj* a sixpence. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. 619 was sitting in an elegant elbow chair at the one side of a good fire, and Mrs. Black in one of the same kind at the other. Upon the young man's entering, Mr. Black, dressed in an elegant wig, and a suit of neat brown clothes, though a little old fashioned, / rose, and, bowing, desired him to sit down, say-^ ing, he was glad to see him. When Mrs. Black re- tired, which she soon, did, ^Ir. Black rose, went to a drawer, and, taking fronv thence a two hundred pound note, put it into the young man's hand, say- ing, " Sir, I have been often obliged to you, nay, more so than to any that passed. You are welcome to this; and, if you think it will be of any use to you, upon caUing for me any evening at this hour, you may have more." The young man, looking at the note, was surprized ; but was prevailed upon to put it into his pocket, and asked to stay supper, which he did. Mr. Black added, * I have nobody \o care for but myself and Mrs. Black. My girl is provided for. You must not be angry with me, paving got the habit of begging, I cannot give it over. I have been three times prevailed upon to do this, but always found myself unhappy. I made four thousand pounds by selling gingerbread in the Parliament Close, where people pass to and from the courts of law, with a basket on my arm ; but a stout young fellow, with a similar basket, by degrees, jostled me out of that place ; after which, I took up my station where you daily see me, and \vhere I have collected some thousands of pounds. The young man called some evenings after, and found the 0I4 couple as formerly, with the addition pf Miss Black, their daughter, and only child, a fine, fjtO TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. modest, acGomplished young woman, about seven- teen years of age, just retiinied from the boaidirig- school at Musselburgh. The young man, having been highly pleased with the prudence, appearance, and amiable conduct of this young lady, at length obtained her consent, and married her ; and, having retrieved his losses, which were much less than he once supposed, he found himself extremely happy. The only inconvenience attending his new state was, the difficulty of hindering Mr. Black from putting on old tattered clothes above his ordinary apparel, and going out a begging, which he some- times did, notwithstanding all they could do to pre- vent it. Before I quit Auld lleikie,* the kind reader will indulge my propensity to prattle, while I relate just- one other anecdo^. Mr. B n, a respectable, though seceding clergy- man, in H n, not far from this city, being poor, when a boy, was employed in driving frequently a farmer of East Lothian's horses. Having gone, one day, to Edinburgh, in company with many others, with grain to the market, while the horses were resting, and his companions sleeping beside them, INIr. B. went to the Parliament Close, where lie heard the cheapest books were to be found, in quest of a Greek Testament. The proprietor of the shop, walking before the door when he passed, find- ing a poor ragged-like boy asking for a Greek Testament, asked him what he would do with it? Tl\e familiar appellation, or, as it were, nick name, by which Edinbut-jl^h is called among the people there, and iaits vicinity. Rcils (acuns suiukc. TRAVELS IN SCOTLAND. ^1 " Why, read it, if it please your honour."-^" 'Can you read it?"" Why," replied the boy, *' I will try it." Some of the shopmen having found one, put it into his hand, and the master said, " If you can read it, you shall have it for nothing." The boy took it, and, having read a page, translated it with great ease. The bookseller would have no money, though the boy, who had pulled out a half crown from a purse in his pocket, urged him much to take it, knowing that to be the price of the book. About twenty years after this, a well- dressed man came up to the samejjookseller, who, as formerly, was walking before his door, but now with a wig and a staff, saying, " Sir, I believe I am your debtor." The bookseller said, "I do not know; but step in, and any of the young men will tell you." ' But," replied he, '' it is to you personally that I am indebted." Looking ni his face, he said, " Sir," I do not know that you owe me any thing." " Yes, I certainly do. Do you recollect, that about twenty years ago a poor boy came and got a Greek Testament from you, and did not pay for it." " Yes, perfectly," replied the bookseller, " I have often thought of it, and the boy was no sooner gone, than I was angry with myself for not ask- ing his ncCme, and where he resided." " I," replied the clergyman, " was the boy, my name is B n, and I live at H n." Upon looking again in his face and giving him his hand, he said, " Mr. B. I am glad to see you, I have often heard of you. We have here in our shop, as they have in every univer- sity library in the kingdom, your self-interpreting 6^t TRAVELS IN" SCOTLAND. Bible, your Church History, &c. &c. which havC brought me in much money, and are more called for than any books in my shop. Will you be so oblig- ing as dine with me ?" Which being agreed to, as was natural, some bottles of excellent wine went down, while they discoursed of the days of former years. THE ENI>. W. Marchant, Printer, 9, Greville-Srreet, Holborn. INDEX. A A , Mr. the son of a Scotch general; matrimonial anecdote of, 584". Aberragie, I98. Aberbrothk, manufactures at, 280. Religion, and abbey, 281. Peculiar privileges of the freemen of, ib, Violence exercised by Paul Jones against this place, ib, Bones of a whale near the har- boHr, 282. Ahercrumbie, sir Ralph, his birth-place, 23. Aberdeen, route from Monlrose to, 298. from Stonehaven, 311. Its division, population, and trade, ib. Manufacture, soil, and natural advantages, 312. Colleges; house used both as a church and a playhouse, z6. Musical assemblies; manners of the inha- bitants; spirited improvements going on here, 313. Fertility of the land in the neighbourhood, 315. Facility with which the colleges have conferred degrees, ib. Collection of natural curio- sities in the university; one college here would be sufficient, 317. Different methods of two professors in communicating their sentiments on philosophical subjects, 318. lUiberality of spirit still prevalent here, particularly towards certain mechanical pro- fessions; anecdote, 31.9- Clubs, 320. Route to Bamff from; excellent state of the roads all round, 324. Aberdovr, 56. Abernethci/, route from Falkland to, by Kinross, 185. Ancient im- portance of this town, 198. Its advantageous situation, 199- Its description, 200. Religion ; was formerly the metropolis of the Seceders, 201. Religious family of a public-house here, 222. State of trade and society, 223. Public-houses here greatly benefited by the administration of the sacraments among some of the sectaries, 225. account of the sacrament week among those people, 226. The Law of Abernethey, 233. Agreeable family- dinner at a pvblic-house, zi, moderate charges lor entertain- ment there, 235, 236. Abriven, 244, 247. Admiithy, village of, the author's singular reception at, 283 to 285. Adrian, the first who forbade a master to put his slave to death, 41. Agate, vast quantities of a beautiful species of, in the county of Bamff, 354. Immense bed of a species of, found near Rothes, 454. Agricola, wall of, 21. Camps, 241. Agriculiure ; an improvement suggested in the present practice of, ia Scotland, 401. ^Small proportion of ploughed land ia the stvatlui S S INDEX. nd glens of the Highlands, 424. Some plain treatise on agricul- ture should be circulated among the farmers ol Scotland, 435.- Studied as a science in many parts of the country, 458. State of agriculture in the Shetland islands, 529. See also many particu- lar articles. Akkil hills, 10, 25, 37, 17^, 232. Etymology of their name, 179. Their general economy a few years ago, 180. improved system, 181. Stateof society in, 182. Alhuniy or white book, at the inn at Lawrence Kirk, 305. Alexander the Great, vast quantity of silver and gold possessed bj him, 30. Alfred, the first who forbade parents in England to sell their^hil- dren, 41. Alga marina, sea-weed, or dilce; the practice of cutting it away far the making of kelp, probably repels the herrings from the shores, 91. The farmers obliged to pay for the privilege of collecting ic, in Bnmftshire, 351. Allison, Rev. Mr. minister of St. Andrews and Deerness in the Ork- neys, 51 6, 517- Alloa, 28. Alloa-House, ib. 23. vast variety of gold and silver plate at, 30. Anabaptist lady baptized in warm water, and violent dispute arising thence, 13. Angels ridiculously represented spouting water from their mouths, 3. Anstruther, western and eastern, 84. '1 he late sir John, 70. hi ingenious improvements in agriculture, /A. e.\cites a general spi- rit of industry in his neighbourhood, 80. Antiquity, remains of, in the Shetland islands, 537 to 540. Apothecary of Aberdeen, anecdote of, 314. Apparition, marvellous story respecting one, 27. See also the article Ghosts. Aquatic plants feed more by- the branches than is generally ima- gined; instance, 330. Aqueducts in the course of the canal from the Forth to the Clyde, 5, 6. ^Those of the ancients proceeded from imperfect principles, 39, 40. Archery, exercises of, established in the university of St. Andrews^ 121. Ardoch, Roman camp at, 18. Argyle, duke of, his seat at Inverary, 554. Arnott, Rev. Dr. minister of King's Barns, professor of divinity in the university of St. Andrews, 149. A pluralist, contrary to the spirit of presbyterianism, i6. Arroxo-head, flint, found by the author, 452. Arts, the progress of, in the Highlands, was very slow till within the last si.Kty years, 439. Ass, a remarkably old one, curious anecdote respecting, 450. Athol Highlundtr, ferocious conduct of one, 267 Auchtertire, 240. Auctioneer, immodest and immoral expressions used by one in Elgin^ 458. Auld Rcihie, 3 nickname of Edinburgh, 6^0 note. INDEX. Auldearn, parish of ; battle fought at, 4^1. Aurora horealis, its frequency and brilliancy in the Shetland islands, 524. Avntiy river, accidents on, 382. Crossed by the country-people oa stilts, 383. B. B , Mr. an apothecary of Aberdeen, anecdote respecting, 314. B n, Mr. anecdote of, 620. B r, Mr. a singular adventure of his, which terminated in matri* mony, 25. Bachelors, old, 251. Bacon, lord, Sip. Baconian philosophy adopted in the university of St. Andrews, 126. Badenoch, 391, 452. Balcarras, 64. Earl of, his seat near Kilconqubar, 79- grandi prospect from, ib. ^tt//, description of some singular characters at one, 360 to 364.' Interesting anecdote of an occurrence at one in Glasgow, 565, 566, BalUndalloch, the seat of general Grant, 382. Balthaik, 213. Balveny Castle, a seat of the earl of Fife, 342. Bamhriech, castle of, 21 6. Bamff, route from Aberdeen to, 324, 331. Its foreign trade, manu- factures, situation, and harbour, 335. Route to Fochabers from, 349. Improvements ' lately introduced into Bamffshire, 336 to 345. Bancho, predecessor of the race of Stuarts, 22. Bannockbiirn, and singular remains lately discovered there, 9, 18. Baptism of an anabaptist lady in warm water, and violent dispute ari- sing thence, 13. Two curious instances of the administration of, 426, 427 ; another, 429. Custom in the Highlands of making a feast when a child is baptized, 430. singular incident on an oc- casion of this sort, 431. Barclay, Mt. of Urie, 309. Mr. John, founder of the religious sect of theBereans, 217. Bark of the elder might be made very serviceable in dying, 401. JBcrra, island of, one of the Hebrides; its size, and state of religion in, 543. Great quantity of shell-fish ; employment of collecting and burning sea-weed ; manners of the'^nhabitants, 544. Barremiess, instance of an alleged cure of, by a charm, 438. Bass, the rock, 83. Bayonets, sent for the use of the loyal inhabitants of Aberdeen in th rebellion of 1745, moved by an old magistrate to be thrown uito the sea as outlandish and dangerous weapons, 313. Beuttie, professor James, of the university of Aberdeen, 3l6. Bees, particulars in the habits of, 583. Beggars, few in the Highlands, 417. Fewer proportionally in Edin*^ burgh than in London, 596. Anecdote of an extraordinary one at Leith, 618. Belrinnis, a high mountain on the banks of the Spey, 3/4, 376, 4l7 Grand view from, 378. Muirburn on, 380, 381. s s a INDEX. Benckugh, the highest of the Aichil hills, 179' Ben Lomond, 10, 557, 558. tn V Choin, 240. Btreaiis, doctrines of the religious sect of, 217, 218. Anecdote of those of Crieff, 21<). Benyddle Castk, 4i).5. ^e/u//, Mr. of BJfour, 7!. Birds, several kinds of, though good for food, rejected in tlie High- lands, 72. Sagacity of, 397. Birds'yards, a seat near Forres; story of a late proprietor of, 460. Birks of' Internal/, 2 17. Bissef, Rev. Dr. Thomas, his reply to an officious female missionary, 14, Remarkable cfftcl produced by one of his sermons, ib. Black W''a^t;//,^establishmcnt and purpose of, 479 ^^f Bluntyre, ruins of the cattle of, 571. Blazing of salmon, a shameful and destructive amusement; descrip- tion of, 423. Bleeding of cattle for the sake of the blood ; former practice of, in the Highlands, 425. Boatman, the ; song of, and on what occasion composed, 103. Boerkaate, 318. Bogie, river, 368. Boring of cannons, understood in the East as well as in Scotland, 3. Botanical garden at Edinburgh, 580. Both-well Bridge and Castle, 570. Boyne, the, an old castle, 349. Brandy Nan, an invalid visitor at Pitkethley wells, 248. Brechin, round tower at, and castle, 302. Bressay Sound, the principal harbour of the Shetland isles, 521, 537, Briars and thorns, their use, 24. Britons, state of, under the Roman government, 7. ^roaches or buckles, worn by way of charms in the interior parts of Scotland, 415. Brothers, diflerent destiny of two, 290. Brown, professor, of the univei-sity of St. Andrews, 604. Bnice, David, account of his assembling the vast army with which he invaded England, 255. Bruce, Robert, 372- How his remains were disposed of, 51. Froibsart's account on that subject, 52 note. Bruce, Mr. clergyman at Aberbrothic, in danger from a shot fired by Paul Jones into that town, 281. , J5n/fe's house, 7 His Travels considered, ib. 'Bvchan,coaAi of; httle quantity of wood along, and cause of this, 329. ' , late earl of, resided at St. Andrews for the education of his family, \26. Buchanan, his delineation of Scotland, 331. Buckhaxen, originally peopled by a colony of fishers from Denmark, 57. Manners of the present inhabitants, 58, with respect JO religion, 59. Singular adventure here, 6\. BuUers, of Buchan, 326. Bundling, former custom of, in Scotland, 441. Biumaparie; his d(jstruction predicted from the Book of Revelations, by an insane methuditit, 222. INDEX. I^ur^hers and Anti-Burghers, two sects of SeceHers, 50^. burial, difference between the Scotch and English modes of, 602. Burleigh Castle, 1^. Burleigh's Hole, a remarkable tree so called^ ib. Burnt Island, 56. Butter, used for producing a pure flame in the kitchen-fire, in some great houses in the north of Scotland, 404. C. C /, Mr. J. of Stirling, sends his dues to the clergyman by the hands of the hangman, l6. Cairns, or immense sepulchral heaps of stones, in Scotland, and their purpose, 413, 414. Caithness, county ot, capable of great improvement, 495. Scarcity of wood in, 49'^. Small stature of the common people, ih. 4.97- their diet, 497- The soil might be much amended by draining, 49s. Peculiar cast of countenance of the inhabitants, 499-"" Sea-coast of, ib. Caldron Linn, a vast fall of the river Devon, 191, I92, Caledonia, situation of the ancient, 18. Caledonian Canal; its course described, and proposed advantages considered, 471 to 475. -Docks, &c. of, 480. Number of mea employed in the works, 485. Roads of communication, ib. Cambushenneih, 21. Camelon, village of, once a Roman town, 6, 1 8. Campbell, Mr. his singular cure for a cold, 4l6. Canal from the Forth to the Clyde, 5. Candlestick^, bet respecting thos3 used in many parts of the High- lands, 440. Cape irrath, route from Dornoch to, 495. Dreary road from Thurso to, 501. Account of, 502 to 504. Captain, story of one hastily and unexpectedly married, 583, 584. Caput 7norfuunt (m agriculture), improvement suggested in the pre- sent practice respecting, 401. Carnegie, Sir David and Lady, 308. Carriage, an elegant and convenient one described, 195. Anecdote of one driven by the wind into the sea, and dashed to pieces among rocks, 327. Carron uorh, 3. ' Carse of Gourie, 271- Fertility of the land of, 177* Cascades, tremendous, on the Clyde, 573. Castle Grant, 386. Old floor at, made solely by the axe, 440. Castles, ruined; great number of, in Scotland, and cause of this, 216. Castor oil used for dressing salads, anecdote respecting, 462. Cat, instance of one leaping upon the back of a salmon in the water, 372. Anecdotes of the sagacity of two, 3."4 6OI. Custom of buying cats' heads, 468. Barbarous and cruel amusement of cat- races, as practised at St. Andrews, l65. Cataracts on the river Devon, I9I, I93. Cattle, often reduced to great distress for want of provisions in the Iii,hlauds, aud hardiness of those kept there, 391, 507. Former INDEX. practice in the Highlands, of bleeding cattle for the sake of the blood, 425. Catlie o; the Shetland isle, 531. Cruel inethod of conveying cattle and sheep across ferries, in the northern and western isles, 545. CcltSf their origin the same as that of the Goths, but the characters of the two nations i;ltimi'tely became very different, 34-. Chalmers, the late Dr. John, his character, 7 3. 74. His intellectual system, 76, 77. Valuable manuscript left by him, 78. Character I [ t\,e Scotch f more haughty and more abject than the English, 507. Charies IJ. \isits the town of Pittcnwecra, 80 to 82. Charms, bt lief in th^ virtue of, exists in the interior parts of Scot- land, 414, 415. Charter, curious, to the estate of Hopetown House, 2. Of the pit/ of St. Andrews, l6i. Chatelherault, a building belonging to the Duke of Hamilton, 572. Chiene, singular instance of antipathy to, II. Chevalier de St. George, 83. Chieftains in the Highlands now for the most part despised, and cause of this, 507. Chiltlren. See the article Parents. Chronicles of Ca/it, or Memorabilia of Perth, 266. Chrifsfal stone, oeautiful specimens of, in the county of Bamff, 354. Chnr<.h; inadequate construction of a new one^ at Cupar of Viio, 170. One attempted and imagined tu be. moved more toward the centre of the church-yard, 2^5. Uouse at Aberdeen used both as a church and asa playhouse, 312. rDisgusiing state of the interior of churches in some parts of Scolland, 428, 42.9. A man stoned by the people for attempting tu pull one down, 455. Churches in the Orkneys (-ften made the repositoiies of smuggled goods, 517- Church-yards, diticrencc between the modes of interment, 6:c. in Scotch and English, 602. Cicero, statue of, at Oxford, 43. Ciniianon much used in many parts of the Highlands as excellent for health, 508. Cities, project of Fletcher of Saltoun respecting, 1 9. Civilization ; advanced state of, in Scotland, in the early part of the fourteenth century, 31. Clackrr.an7ian, carse of, 23. Castle of, and fine view from it, 29- Sepulchral monuments here; and shocking instance of cruelty re- corded by one, 42. County of, 177, 178, 2l6. the roads in this county good and level, 4.4- Clanship, pride of, still retained in one part of Scotland ; instances, 488, 489. ' . Clergymen^ instances of two in the same parish successively deprive.d of their living for being too familiar with their maid-fervants, 44, Anecdote of one near Montrose made drunk by one of his pa- rishioners for a wager, 294. The clergy in the lli<^hlands ex- tremely useful, not only in a religions, but also in a civil ponit of view, 413, 444. General remissness of the established clergy, 466. - Many clergymen lately appointed to livings on other accounts than those of the appropriate qualifications i some instances of INDEX. this sort, 510 to 512. amiable instance of an opposite nature, 512. State of the cleig^' in the Orkneys, Shetland, c;Md tiie West- ern islands, 544. Climate; extraordinary diversity of, between almost contiguous parts of the in erior of Scotland, 417- Clocks, the idea of, suggested above two thousand years ago at Rome, 682. Clubs at Aberdeen, and anecdote respecting two members of one, 320. Clj/de, baniis of, 569. Falls off, at the Corra Linn and other spots, 573 to 575. Coal, beams of, about Alloa, 37- Consideration respecting n the pri- mitive nature of coal, 38. Uncommon echo in a coal-mine, ib. Singular machinery for draining a coal-mine, 39. Relic of slavery in many of the collieries m Scotland, 40. Cock, sagacity of one in the Highlands, -SQ^. Ci^ld, extreme, nips the growth of animals as well as of vegetables, 598. Cold, singular cure for one, 4l5. Coliiiiburgli, SO. College, new, at Edinburgh, 579-' Commons. See the article Land. Comae, plain of, 241. Consular load from Stirling, 17. Copland, professor, of the university of Aberdeen, 317. Copper-mvie in the Shetland islands, 534. Coriijute, Mr. rector of the public school at Perth, 260. Corra linn, fall of the Clyde at, 573, 574. Cotters, the labouring people in the Oricne^s so called, their abject condition, 6l4. Cov^s sucked by other animals, instances of, 399- Crail, 6'2, 63. Defective agricultural knowledge here, 84. Ac- count of the town ; it has gradually declined for the last fifty years, 85. Magnitude and importance of the herring-fishery here formerly, 8(>. Smuggling carried on here, 98. Cekbrated cha- racters, natives or inhabitants of this town, 99'~- See also the ar- ticle Herring-Jishei'y. Cr arc fur d Lodge, 172. Criejf) its situation, C40, Manufactures, &c. 241. IManners, &c. of the inhabitants, 242. High charges at the inn; custom of giving deuchan dorish, or a drink at the door, 245. Cromhrty, bay of, 4S8. -Situation, trade, and environs, of the town, ' 490. CromzceU's fort, near Inverness, 470. His mount, near Perth, 254. Crows very numerous in the Highlands at a particular season, 432. Cruelty, shocking instance of, recorded by a tombstone in Clackman- nan church-yard, 42. Cuckoo followed by some little birds for the sake of its fasces, 30(). Cidlen, 349. Immense number of dogs at, and their use, 355. Road to Fochabers from, 356". CuUcn House, the present mansion of the earls of Finlater, 353,354, Culloden, scene and anecdotes of the battle of, '463, 464. iJfDEX. Cklross, 48. Singular mark indented on a large stone in (he mtiif of, 49. Siignitication of the name Culross, 16. Cumberland, duke of, 352, 359. Cvparof'Fife, 167. Great variety of modes of worship here, iGS. Anecdote of an hypocritical practiser of long prayers, 169. Late inadequate construction of anew church here, 17O. Cutty stool, and its use, described, 183 note. See also the article Repenting stool. D. X> , Mr. shoemaker at Aberdeen ; anecdote of, at a public ball there, 319. JD , Mr. of Stonehaven, how treated by a gentleman whom he had called a scoundrel, 310. I^ gy Mr, a canting Glassite, Q76. Dainty Davie, a pulpit-thumper at Dundee, 274. Dairsie mill and bridge, 167. Dalgety Castle, a seat of the carl of Fife, 342, Dancing, graceful, at a ball at Grantovvn, 387. Danes, their invasions of Britain, and possessions here, 36.-r Colony of shipwrecked, between St. Andrew's and Dundee, 58. Three Danes' heads built in a church-wall, 334. De Foe, Daniel, 66. Degrees conferred with too much facility by the university of Aber- deen, 315. Deill's mill, the, a cataract on the river Devon, 193. Deluge, striking proof of the, 452. Denburn, fine bridge over the, 311. ^ Demhan dorisk, or a drink at the door; custom of giving, at the inns at Crieff, 243. Deteron, river, 335,341. Deron, river, its beautiful and interesting course, I9O. The Rum- bling Bridge over it, I91. Cataracts on, ib. 193. Plan for mak- ing this river navigable for several miles, 193* Diet of the common people in the county of Caithness, 497. Digitalis, how used successfully in the cure of dropsy, 590. Dingtvall, 490. Dinner, elegant, near the banks of the Spey, 405. Dissenters, curious anecdote of a small assemblage of, 373. J)Mr^i//e/-j/, very large, at Kilbcggie, 46. Dogs, immense number of, at the fisher town of Cullcn, and their use, 355. Instances of sagacity of, 395, 396\ Trouble given by, in the churches in the interior of the Highlands, 4'28. One buried in a church-yard at Edinburgh, through the afiection of its master; anecdotes of its fidelity, and of the sagacity of some othci*s, 6OO, 601. See also the article Shepherds' curs. Domestication the sole cause of the diversity of colour among animals of the same species, 433. Don, river, fine bridge over, 324. Dornoch, route from Fort Augustus to, 487- Situation and inhabi- tants of this town, 493. Koute to Cape Wrath from, 495. Dovay, plate belonging to the academy at, buried, 37- IKDEX* Dmgall, Df. of New Keith, anecdote of, 365. Dvuglas, lord James, his magnificent equipage in his expedition to Jerusalem, 31, 37. Charged by Robert Bruce with the disposal of his remains, 52 note. Dovglas, Mr. of Finhaven, 69. Dove-cots, great number of, in Fife, 21 6. Draining, its peculiar importance in the Highlands, 444. Dram-drinking, the foundation of this pernicious habit often laid in infancy; and anecdote of a confirmed dram-drinker, 467- See also 494. Dress, almost approaching to nakedness, of fashionable persons both at London and at Edinburgh, 603, 605. Dropping cave of Sianes, 32^. Dropsy, case of, and cure, 590. Druidical temples and remains in Scotland, 413, 414. Drummond, ancient family of, 244. -The chancellor Drummond, and anecdote of Mrs. Drummond, 245. Drummond Castle, 239. Ducking a tailor, for delusive enticements to a young woman to marvf him ; instance of, 402. Dvff House, a seat of the earl of Fife, 340. Dumayat, hill of, 10. Dumbarton, 558, 559* Dumblane, 23. Dumfermline, route from Stirling to, 23. Manufactories and church at ; remains of a magnificent abbey and royal palace ; and the cathedral, 50. Prospect from the battlements of the church- steeple, 53. Route to St. Andrews from, 55. Dunbeath Castle, 499. Duncan, king, murdered by Macbeth, 68. Duncrub, the seat of lord Rollo, 247* Durdas, lord, admiral of the Shetland islands, 526. Dundee, route from Perth to, 271. Situation and manufactures of this town, 272. Harbour and schools; religion, 273. Great in- delicacy practised here, 274. A Sunday, spent in a religious family here, 27 5. This place yearly increasingin size, 277. Dundonald, lord, his ;eat at Culross, 48. J)wg-, village of, 247. * Dvmwttar, 308. Dunsinvan hill. 253. Dvplin, castle of, 197. Durham, Mp. iaird of Largo, 66. Dyke, parish of; sands in, 334. Dysart, 57- E. Eagles in Marr forest, 344. Curious instance of an eagle's nest fur- nishing a gentleman with a larder of game, and other particulars of tl^ib pair, 3''^9, 390. Longevity of one at St. Omcr's, 606. Ears oi a boy cut off by a shopkeeper from whom he had stolen something, 515. Echo, remarkable, in a coal-miu, 38. At a church near Aberbro* thic, 283. INDEX. Edinburgh, route to Stirling from,!. Firing the guns of the castle hasjj, perhaps, done ijreat mischief in regard to the fisheries, 48. Situation and public buildings of, 579- The new college; bota- nical garden; prisons; and female society, 580. Cleaning of the treets; singular house, 581. Advanced state of the elegant and useful arts here ; value of land; dearness of coals, 582. Fisher- uomen, 583. ^The high school ; state of medical practice, anec- dotes, 589, to 592. ^The advocates' library, 592. Prostitutes, 595. Fewer beggars proportionally here than in London, 596. Ribaldry and abominable language used in the streets ; great proportion of the inhabitants originally Highlanders, or from the islands, 597- A considerable proportion of the gentlemen do not marry, 598. Impositions and scandalous practices of the wine- jnerchants here, 599' l^ress of the ladies; plantations of trees round the city, 603. College, 604. Scarcity of natural andarti- ficial curiosities here, 606. Highland part of the city, 610.-'^ Population, 618. / Edracheiliis, manse of, 502. Education, result of a secluded course of, exemplified in a family at St. Andrews, 161 to 16'3. Consequences of a neglect of education from motives of parsimony, instanced in a family in the neigh- bourhood of Montrose, 301. ^General good state of, in the High- lands, 406, 407. Practice respecting, among the gentry of the Hebrides, 546, 547- Bels, monstrous, caught in the loch of Kilconquhar, 71, 73. Very few persons in the inland counties of Scotland will eat eels of any kind, 71. Instance of transmigration of, in the river Spey, 446' to 448. Different ways of catching, 448. Elckiesy 445, 449. Old staircase at, made without the use of a saw, 440. Hc^o, castle of, 213. E/cko, lord, educated at the university of St. Andrews, 126. Elephant, particulars of one exhibited in London, 607. Elevation of situations, in certain circumstances, does not retard vegetation; instances, 391. * Elgin, its situation, population, and ruins of its cathedral, 455. General mildness of the winters here, ib. Clubs, 456. Inuno- dest'and immoral expressions used by an auctioneer heie, 4SS. Elgin, lord, his lime-works, 50. Elie, town of, 69. Parish of, 70. Elie House, 70. Emigralion from the Highlands, various remarks respecting, 424, 448, 473 to 475, 541. Encyclopa:dia PerthensiSy 262. Enzie, the, 356. Epigoniad, Dr. Wilkie's, considered, 127, 128. J^/v/e,' river, 237, 238. ' ' flrskine, lord, and his brother Henry, educated at the university of St. Andrews, 126. Erskine, rev. Mr. Ebenezer, opens the fiirst meeting of SecederSj at Perth, 204. ^jcope, providential, instance of, 56. INI>EX. mc&W, singular metbod of readinj?, adopted by a Seceder student, 21 h Evangelical preaching (as it is called) considered, 14, 15. . F. F , Mrs. a widow lady at Aberdeen, curious anecdote of, 321. Fairies, a belief in, still exists in the interior of the Highlands, 408, JV/irwey, house or castle of, 171> 17'^- Falkirk 7miir, 10, 37. Falkland, route from St. Andrews to, l67- The palace here, 17^ 173. The forest, 173. Singular profligacy of a right honourable person hereabout, 175. Route to Abernethey from, by Kiuross, 186. FaUqf Foirs, 4:76,4,77. Famine about a century ago in Murrayshire, 463. JF'o/g, river, 198. Angling in, 23,>. Female society at Litchiield, .580. Fences of store }i)ri.'\QV\\\\ to any other Tvind all over the Highlands, 444. More advantageous than hedges, 445. Jerfl* growing on \va.^te iands might be turned to profit if collected ^and ournt, 400, 401. ^Fettcr-cairn, aini origin of this name, 298. /V/f, before the ui>i;.n, was the heartiest and happiest part of Scot- land, .95), Humours and fare at a Fifan wedding, 100. Was for- merly called the kingdom of Fife, 101. Peculiar natural advan- tages enjoyed by this county, 177. Equal division of pi j perty throughout. Hi. 178, 2.6, 217- Great number of dove- cots in, 216. East nook of, a charmiiig district, 65. North nouk of, 167. Fife, earl of, 172 note. Improvements introduced by him into BamfF- shire, 336 to 341. His seven different seats, 342. His general character, and anecdotes of him, 345, 346. Fifeness, 101. Finlater, old castle of, 353. Late earl of, iZ. improvements intro- duced by him into Bamfi'shire, 336. Fir, pieces of the roots of, split thin, used instead of candles in many parts of the Highlands, 440. Fis/i, appear sometimes to be rained in India, 377- Quick growth of, in different countries, ib. Numerous kinds of, caught on th* Shetland shores, 533. Fishers, colony of, the original seTtlers at Buckhaven, 57- Fisheries of the Tay alnio>t ml incaiopolized by one man, 263. Fish- ery among the Hebrides 328, 329. '" 'he Shetland isiaitds, 528. See also the articles Herrivg-fishery and Salmon. Flannel and other woollen goods; beneficial effects whirh would :.tren(l the introduction of the manufacture of, into the Hi^^hlari'l-. ^24. Fletcher of Saltoiin, his project respecting the cities ot Giea brila.Ji and Ireland, 19- Floats used on the river Spey, 435. Flouden, battle of, 500. Fochabers, route from BamfT to, 349. Account of: Old an-l Ne\r towns; sewing-thread manufactory, 356. Foodf the Highlanders peculiar in rejecting many sorts of, 71 to Th INDEX, Fordj/ee, aneddote of the parson of, 34^.- Fornicators doing penance in the parishes of the Aichils, 183. Torres, 459- Route tf) Inverness from, 46'l. Fort Augustus, route from Inverness to, 471. Account of, 485. ' Rouleto Dornoch from, 487. Fort Charlotte, in Shetland, 337. Fort George, 465. Fort IVilliam, 55^. Forth; the water gn its banks unwholesome in some situations, and recommended to be filtred, 23. Its singular windings between Stir ling and Alloa, 28. Frith of, 2. Forts, chain of, across the northern parts of Scotland, 479. Forty-second regiment, 445. Origin of, 479 note. Forvie, sands of, 334. Foxil, wild and domesticated, particulars concerning the natural his- tory and manners of, 398, 399. Fox killed by a farmer's wife in the county of Bamff, 410. ,' Foxglove. See the article Digitalis, Frays in a church-yard after public worship, instance of, 408. Frazersburgh,33l. Friday, inconsistent scruples of a Roman-catholic gentleman on the observance of, 598. Frith of Forth, 2. Of Tay, 176. Frogs, vast multitudes of, found frozen together in a swamp, revived by being brought near the fire, 449. Fuel, great scarcity of, in some parts of Scotland, 2.Q9. Funerals, singular incidents at two, 431, 432. Instance of one very numerously attended, at Glasgow, 56 1. Furrier of London, his application for a lease of a rabbit-warren in Scotland, 116 note. G. Galloio Lee, near the village of Crieff, 244. Gamery, three Danes' heads built in the church-wall of, 2Sit. Gardening, an improvement in, not introduced into Scotland, 322. Gardenstone, late lord, 304. Garvies, a small fish very plentiful in the Forth, 47. Geese, curious particulars in the natural history 'of, 449. General's Hut, near the Fall of Foirs, 477> 478. Gentoo physicians, practice of, 59 1. Ghosts, belief in, still exists in the interior of the Highlands," 408. See also the article Apparition. Gibson, Mr. rector of the academy at Perth, 262. Glasgow, its streets and buildings, 560. Contrariety of scenes here on a Sunday, 56l. Commercial prosperity of this city, 564. Profligate manners of the common people, ih. 565. A great proportion of the inhabitants appear to be Highlanders, 567. ^Ex- traordinary degree of lewdness among the lower classes, 568, 569. Glass, one side of a house at Edinburgh almost \vholly constructed of, 581. Glossitis, discipline of, 27^f 4rkn preachers, 407.. INDEX. Clenofen, 410, 411. Gkndevon, 1S2, * ' . Gleiidoick, 213. Gkiiie, Mr Jamc5, of his majesty's corps of engineers; some parti- culars respecting, 133 to 135, Glemvore, woods of, 435. Gkiifarf, lady, anecdote of, 245. Gold a/id silver, consideration whether there is more of these metals in the world now than there was anciently, 30, 31. Only way of accounting for any supposed diminution of them, 37. Golf, game of, as practised in the university of St. Andrews, 123. Goose-race, barbarous and cruel custom of, as practisea at St. Ali drews, l65. Gordon Caslk, the seat of the duke of Gordon, 358, 359. Great golden font at, 30. Gordon, Peter, esq. of Aberlour, 358. Gordons, depredations anciently occasioned by the hostilities of the, 457. Goths, of similar origin with the Celts, but ultimately advanced much more in improvement, 34. Grace before dinner, near Thurso, 505. Graham, ancient family of, 244, 245. Sir John de, his sword pre* served as a curiosity at the head inn at Clackmannan, 43. Graham's dyke, 6. Grain ; the Highlanders will eat bread made of any kind singly, but not of a mixture, 73. Gianimar-sckool, a good one in every presbytery or certain district of the Highlands much wanterl, 407. Grampians, manners of tL ancient inhabitants of, 298, Grangemovth, 4. Granite, quarry of, near Huntley, 368. Grant, sir James, chief of the Grants, 386. ' Robert, esq. of Elchies, 381, 445, 4+9. rev. Mr. clergyman of the church of Kirkmichael, 384, Mr. Alexaiuier, a glen preaclier, 407. Gray, Mr. minister of Abernethey, '209 to 211. Green, IMr. of the Hebrides, melancholy death of his only child, 553. GVoawers employed in the dissenting congregations, 5'^5. Gronith, very rapid and visible, of some plants in the interior of the Highlands, 510. Guests (ghosts) row, the name of a street in Aberdeen, 31 6. Qymnastic exercises in the university of St. Andrews, 120, 123, 125. H. JT ne, INIr. his singular religious enthusiasm, 13. Jiair, remarkable instance of a change in the colour of, in a few days, by vexation, o^ii. JIaldane, Mr. his missionaries, 14. Halleij, laird, whimsical anecdt.te of his doing penance for fornica- tion, in the church of Sabne, 183 note. Jiamifton, and the palace there, 57i. Ruins of the old castle of the Hamiltons, 572, INDEX. Hampstead, medicinal springs lately discovered at, 24S. Hangmen^ reflections on their condition, history of, a desiderafum in moral philosophy, 'J6'6. Hardincis, extraordinary, of the people in the northern and moun- tainous parts of Scotland, 415, 4l6". Harris, oi,e of the Hebrides, 541. Haice.s, Dr. 3.93 note. Bfariiy three Danes ; built in a church-wall, 334. Hebrides, or Western isles, number of, 540. Manner of living among the gentry of, and education of their children, 546. Man- ner of living among the lower classes ; arid condition of the la- bouring people, 547. Hedges le.>s advantageous than stone fences, 44>'i!. Hen, instance of one bringing her chicken down from the top of a house by its neck, 370. Henderson, sir John, his seat, 56. //fro// caught alive, frozen to the ground, 411. Herring'fis/ter^ on the coast of Fife; its former magnitude and im- portance, and present reduced state, 86,87. Inquiry respecting the true cause of this decline, 88 to pi- The practice of cutting away the sea-weed for the makingof kelp, probably repels the her- rings, 9'. Attempts that have boen made by government for the extension of the Scottish fisheries, 92, 93. Projects for the same end recommended by individuals, 94, 95- Rational ideas on thi^ subject, 95 to 98. High school of Edinhingh, 589- Highland Watch, establishment and purpose of, 479> note. ^ Highlands, narrative furnishing some idea of the state of, in theearljr part of the last century, 480 note. Highlanders, peculiar in rejecting many sorts of food, 71 to 7S- Manner in which they are distinguished from the Lowlanders by > Froissard, 256, note. difference of character between them, 512. Their physiognomy, and its peculiarities accounted for, 567, 5t)8. Hill, Dr. political sermon preached by him, 106' Another sermon of his, circulated at the public expense, 107. Contrasted with John Knox, ib. p ' Mr. Henry, in what manner chosen professor of Greek in the university of St. Andrews, 146. Rowland, 307. Eccentric and ridiculous anecdotes of, ^93, 594. His groaners, 595. Hopetuun House, and curious charter to this estate, 2. -- Horse-?ttarket near Brechin, 303. Horses in the Highlands sometimes eat one another's tails, manes, and ears, through hunger, 391. Their sagacity, 395. Attention paid to their health in England and Scotland, 592. Those of the Shet- land islands, 531. How of Fife, 170. Hunter, Dr. professor of humanity in the university of St. Andrews, 146. Nf r. minister of Saline ; whimsical anecdote of his rebuking a fornicator doing penance in his church, 183 note. ' Robert, of Lunna, 529. INDEX. Huntley, village of, 368. Huntley, marquis of, 36'8. Huntley iMdge, an old castle and huntingrseat of the duke of Gor* don, 364. Hydrophobia, instance of a clergyman's escaping by his firmness, 355." I. Improvement in the condition of the lower ranks, plans for, should proceed by slow and careful advances; instance, 528, o'i[). Jndependancc, the Highlanders eager to shew a spirit of, when they havt the opportunity, 506. Innes House, a seat of the earl of Fife, 342. Intellectual systern of the late Dr. Chalmers, 76, 77- Invasion, discouraging effect produced by an address from a medical clergyman to his flock respecting, 510, 511. Inter Pqfray, 243. Castle of, 240. Inverary, the seat of the duke of Argyle, 554. Inverbervie, 308. Inverkeithiiig, signification of this name, 55. Description of th town, ib. Singular sermon here, 56. Inverlochy Castle, 22. Inverness, proper for a seat of government for the northern division of Scotland, IQ, 20. Route from Forres to, 46'l. Difference in the language here; the English spoken with remarkable purity, 469. Situation of this town; its salmon-fishery, manufacturei and trade, harbour, ib. Population, 4/0. Remains of fort and castles, ib. This town well supplied with every article of convenience and luxury, ib. Assembly-rooms and academy, ib. Route to Fort Augustus from, 471. Iron, great variety of articles now made of; as ships, bridges, roads, &c. 4. Itch not so prevalent as formerly in the Highlands, 432. See also 478. J. James V. his manners, 100. James VI. room in which he was born, 3. Johnson, Dr. 254, 353. Jugs (an iron collar fixed by a chain to the church-door), instance of a young woman standing in, 403. Juniper-hushes in the Highlands, singular property of, 433. Justice and equity, improved ideas of the people in the interior parts of Scotland respecting, 420. K. Keith, island, in the harbour of Peterhead, 328. Keith, New, village of, 364. Story of a young man at the inn here, 365. Kelly Law, 65. Keinble, anecdote of, 289- Kennedy, archbishop, his tomb in the church of St. Salvator, at St, Andrews, 159. Kid, singular sermon on a text respecting a, 56. Kiers (the), woodhead of, and view from, 238. INDEX. Kilheggie, 46. Kikonquhar, loch and village of, 71. ^Th? minister's house at, 73, KUdrummy^ 22. Castle, 372. Kilmont, stupendous terraces at, 197. Kincardine, 47' Old castle of, 2-44. Kincraig, 67. Kinermunie, 381, Kinghomy 56. Kinkell, bridge of, 244. Kinnaird's Head, promontory of, 331. Kinnoull, hill or cliff of, 176, 214, 252. Earl of, chosen chancellor of the university of St. Andrews; his laudable conduct in that si- tuation, 108, 109. Kinross, signification of this name, 49. ^Town of, 188. its manu- factures, I89, County of, 177, 178, 2l5. Kinross House, 188. Kirk of Sfiots, and story of the fortunes of a farmer's daughter at this place, 57^. Kirkaldy, 57. * Kirkmichacl, Gaelic sermon preached in the church of, 383. Kirkwall, fair of, 515. Elegant ball at, 5-18. Manufacture of straw hats here, ib. Kiss, holy, spoken of by StPaul, litterally inculcated by a non-cleri- cal preacher, I69. Knights Templars, 382. KnoXf John, the reformer, 16, IO7. L. X , rev. Mr. near Elgin, a hospitable and pious clergyman, 512. Laggan, parish of, its great elevation, 509* Lairds, lower and superior classes of, in the Aichils, 184, 185. Con- dition of an Abernethey laird, 223, 224. Lanark, 572. Land, uncultivated, considerations on the great quantity of, both ia Scotland and in England, 10, 46, 379> 467. Fertility of the land in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, 315. Landlady of the inn at Tamintoul, singular story of, 384. Largo, celebrated characters born at 66, 67.^-Charity established here for old men, 67. Den of, 64. House of, 66. Hill of, 22. Law, 62, 63. Lark heard singing all night in the Shetland islands in the middle of summer, 524. Latin, and other dead languages, great prepossession in favour of, at Perth 259. Laurence Kirk, village of, 304. Album, or white book, at the inn here, 305. Laziness very prevalent among the common people in the Highlands, 409, 557. Learning, scarcity of, in former times, 454. Leases, long, greatly wanting for the agricultural improvement of Scotland, 379, 385. Principal motives of ihe Highland proprie- ters for not granting such, 506, tJeruHck^ the principal town in the Shetland islands, 531. Its popu* latioa and situation, 537. LcsliCf the couiinaiider ot the Scotch covenanters' army, 453- ic.W/f, Mr. John, J33. Leuchars, 58. Leren, earl of, his seat, 171. Late Countess of, 309- ieiw, town and river of, 6'l, 187- Lexv.s, or Harris, the largest of the Hebrides^ 541. Libru/y, ajvocates', at Edinburgh, 592. Lights Used iuiitcad of candles in many parts of the Highlands, 440. Limestone; value and importance in an agricultural view, of a rock of, discovered in an estate, 332. Linie-uorka o{ lord Elgin, 50. Lindvres, hike of, 2U. Ruins of the rich abbey ofj 21 Li/ditJig()v.\ palace of, 3. Lubou, Roman aqueduct atj 40. Id)ch Awe, 554. XocA fi/tie, 554. Loch Lochy, 486. Loch Lomond, 557, 55S. Loch Oich, 48(). Loch Tarff, ijG. Lochie, river, 47^. Locklevin, 175, 187. Trout of, 188. Castle of, 186. Lochness, 472, 475. Lomonds, 175. Longevity of a gander; 449. Of some other animals, 4oO, 451.' Longitude, a method of finding, supposed to be discovered, by one o^ the rectors of the academy at Inverness, 470. Louis XIV. anecdote of, 349. Lovht, lord, golden plate given by George I. to, 29. Lvcky and unlucky days^ hours, and objects, believed in. some parts of Scotland, 499. Lunan bay, and parish of, 286", 287. Luvgs, critical surgical operation performed on, in some parts of Scotland, 459- Luthermvir, grt-at agricultural improvement of, 298. Luxury, refined instance of, in many kitchens ia the north of Scot- land, 404. j JLyingy very general practice of, among the Highlanders, 506,^ Lysimachus of Babylon^ his vast quantity of gold, 30. M. MacaUim, a robber executed at Perth, particulars of, note, 482 483. Macbeth, story of, 68. Ruins of his castles, 253, 470. ilfacrfoa/c? of the Isles, 541. - Serjeant, his villainous conduct toward a robber whom hfe was sent to apprehend, 482 note. His punishment note, 483, 484. Mr. appointed professor of naturalphilosophy in the VU)^ versity of St. Andrews, 151. "" ' "" Mr. a. LQudo;i bookseller, 555* T T IN'OEX. Haednff, town of, 337. Improvements introduced in and around, by the present carl of Fife, 388. State of its population and trade, 339- ^Erected into a royal borough, iJb. ^ ^lacduff's caie, 68. Macg r, Mrs. singular story of, 513 to 515.' Mackany, 239. Mackod, Serjeant Donald, Lis conduct toward a robber whom he was sent to apprehend, 480 note. Maggy Lauder, house at Crail where she lived, ^^. Magpies, curious account of two building their nest in a gooseberry- bush, 36"9. Firmly believed by many people in the Highlands to possess the talent of prescience ; anecdote on this subject, 436,437. Mahometan met at New Keith, S66. Maidservant, singn\a.v anecdote of the death of one in Aberdeenshire, 323. Slavery and drudgery of the maid-servants in the Highlands, 421. Malcolm, king, ihe successor of Macbeth, 68. Remains of his castle, near Inverness, 470. Manners of the people in the interior of the Highlands, much les^ changed than in any other part of Scotland, 509. Marble, great quantity of fine, near Bamff, 349. Margaret, queen of king Malcolm III. 2. Marr Lodge, a seat of the earl of Fife, 343. Forest, 344. Marriage with two sisters, argument for its legality, 278, C79.~~ Practice of marriage for the sake of recovering damages in case of adultery, 398. Conduct of many of the gentlemen of Edin- vburgh and others respecting marriage, 598, 599r ^ary of Guise escorted to Scotland by the admiral of France, 102. Unsuccessful pretensions of Henry VIII. to her hand, ib. song compofced on this occasion, 103. Mary queen of Scots, room in which she was born, 3. Paintings of, 29? 70. 'Her escape from the castle of Lochlevin, 1 86. Master of a parish, this name assumed and explained by a country schoolmaster, 280. Maute, honourable William Ramsay, 280. ^ Maxto-wn, Mr. morning prayer of, 246. "May, isle of, 82, 83. Medical practice at Edinburgh ; state of, and anecdotes on this sub- ject, 589 to 592. Mehille,gcncTa\, 164. House, 17 ! . Lord,his conduct, compa- red with that uf his predecessor the earl of Kinnoull, as chancellor of the university of St. Andrews, 105, 147. Men are, have been, and always will be, nearly the same in stature, 43. Me/istri^ 25. Military spirit of the Highlanders, 445. 'iVM of Erne, 243. Mill-^G7ies, singular anecdotes respecting two, 368, S69. Milnathort, or Mills of Forth, village of, 194. '^S'iinifalty valuable, might probably be found in Murray and Bamff- shirc, 454. Mire-pipes, or buggers, a part of the dress of the Scotch poor, 6Q9. INDEX. IHissionaries, Sandcmanian sent into tlie central Highlands; tinsnccess- ful, 13. An officious missionary family in the presbytery of Duo-; kcld, 14. llitchel, Mrs. matrimonial anecdote respecting, 249.^ Modest If, reflections on, 307. Moncnef, hill of, 1.06", 1.97, 251, QSX View from, 253. Monimail, village and parish of, 171. Monks, are the men to whon> the European nations remote from Italy owe their best lessons and examples in both agriculture and mecha- nics, 15^;. Montrose, singular disposition of the houses at, 287- Disagreement among the inhabitants, U>. Public buildings, 288. Population, situation, harbour, and salmon-fisheries, 2^6. General character of this town, 297- Route to Aberdeen from, 298. Mauseleuia of the ducal family of, 244. Moray, earl of, his iniprovcnionts, b6, Muredu/i, '25'2, 253 note. Morton, earl of, his scat, 56. , Mr. professor in the university of St.And^e^v, 138. Moss. See the article Peat-moss. Mmriiing, cu^stom of, in the Highlands, 436. , Muckle Bin, at Abernethey, the scene of the celebration of tke sacra* menis among some of the sectaries, 225, 229. Miigdrum, island of, 215. Midrburn, instance of one, on Belrinnis, 380, 381. Mnirs. See the article Land, vncultkated. Murray, ancient family oi, 244, 245. Present earl of, 341. Murray Frith, 33 1 . Murrayshire, badness of the roads in many parts of, 457. Cause why there is perhaps less rain in this county than any where else in Scotland, 487, Muthil, village of, 240, ^ N. Jfairn, 469. Navigations its origin perhaps as early in the northern parts of Eu- rope as in the Mediterranean, 33. Its origin in Scotland, 34 to 36. Its state in Scotland in the reigns of James IV. and V. 101. Hests of a species of foreign birds, used for making soup, ZO6. Neiiburgh, situation and manufactures of, 213. Grand clifl' here, 214. Variety of religious sects, 217. the Bereans, 220. jSfew Mills, 50. Kiagara, fall of, 477- Nimans, St. church of, 9. Marvellous story extracted from the parisk books of, 27- Norman Laxv, grand prospect from, I76. North Benckk Law, 80, 82. Northesk, lord, his seat near Aberbrothic, S83. Noss-kead, a remarkable rock on the Shetland shore, 5$5w. Noth, hill of, 371. ( O , Mr. matrimonial anecdote of, 5S5. Oath not itrictly reverenced among the Highlanders, 50O, 112 INDEX. -Obscene prints and books sold to young people by a pedlarj 30/. Ochiltreey lord, story of his elevation to the peerage, and subsequent degradation, 304. OgiMe, professor, of King's college in the university of Aberdeen, 317. Ord of CaUhnesSy 4.95, 4.09. Orlwejf islands, 36. Account of, 515. ^Their number, 540. Wretched state of the mass of the people in, 6l3, 6l4. Ostlers, dishonest practice of, 388. ^- '1* /-, dexterity by which a young man obtained the living of, 268. PonArwZe, 278. . Panmure, house and plantations of, 280. Parents in England lirst forbidden to sell their children by Alfred, 41. Arguments by which that practice was Bupported, tb. Park, Mr. the African traveller, 8. His character, ii. Partnership in eteri/ thing between an old man and his son, anecdote of, 303. TaulJones, violence exercised by him on the town of Aberbrothic, --281. Peat-moss, enormous quantities of, found in the Highlands, 411, 412. Pedlars, the introducers of every article of dress into the Highlands, 439. Penycutk, palace of, 173. Perpetuiim mobile, a sort of principle of this nature applied to ma- chinery for draining a coal-mine, SQ. Perth, estate and family of, 244. Fine view in approaching from Pit- kethley, 254. Its ijoportance in thehistory of Scotland, 255. Cha- racter of the inhabitants, 256". Was the principal focus of theCal- vinisticdoctrincii,257. its unfavourable character in other respects at that time, ih. this in some degree improved at present, 258. Union here of a classical education vvith religious bigotry and severity accounted for, Ih. to 20"O. Present state of religion here, 261. Respect paid to literature and science. 2(^>3. State of trade and manufilcturcs, il>. 266. Fi'^heric', '263. Improved state of agriculture hereabout, 265. This town is nearly the centre of Scotland with regard to popi^lation, 2C6. Route to Dundee from, 271. Peterhead; its situation, population, harbour, and commerce, 328. Mineral spring here ; accommodation for strangers, 329- Petrifactions in Uie Dropping Cave at Slancs, 327. Physioiyncnuy of the Highlanders, and its peculiarities accounted foF, 567, 568. Pic/5, their empire in Scotland, 32. Their different appellations, and significations of these, ib. Their manners and customs, ih. Their expeditions, and colonies planted by them, 33. The Pictish partof Scotland advanced much more in improvement than tlie Cellicy 35. Pigeon-house, method of inducing the pigeons to forsake, 5^^. Pinkie, 0,1. Pirie, Mrl Al^nder, professor of philosophy among the Sccedn^ INDEX. 208. Establishes a Berean church at Newburgh, 220. His expo- s'ition of a passage in the Revelations, 221. Pit and galloxLS, power of, formerly vested in the great landholders of Scotland; and anecdote on this subject, 404. Pitkethkij wells, 24'2, 247. Disgusting practice at, 248. Fitteiiueem, 80. Visit paid to this town by Charles II. if/, to 82. PlfUOy his doctrine as explained by the late Dr. Chalmers, 76", 77 Player, one raises a collection in the character of a strolling preach- er, 49. Singular and melancholy adventure of two strolling play- ers, 288. Extraordinary character of a gentleman who married a strolling actress, 29O to 294. P/c//air, rev. John, 132. , Dr. appointed principal in the university of St. Andrews, 151. and why. Plough, imperfect construction of, in the Shetland islands, 530. Plumber^ remark of one respecting a lead coffin, 315. Pole-cats, nest of, in a tree, 410. PoOTo, island of, 516. Poor's rates, none in the Highlands, 417- Pork rejected as a food in the Highlands till little more than half a century ago, 7I. Portsoy, its situation,' manufactures, and commerce, 352. Pottery, stones furnishing the material for, in the neighbourhood of Portsoy, 354. Prayer, anecdote of the hypocritical practice of, by a tradesman, \6^. Praying societies at Glasgow, 56'l, 562. Preachers, strolling, 16. Too much encouraged in Scotland, 49. Prejudices, mutual unfavourable ones between the Scots and English, fast subsiding, 271. Professors, different methods of two in the university of Aberdeen, in communicating their sentiments on philosophical subjects, 318. Prostitutes in London and in Edinburgh, 595. Ptarmugan, a kind of wild pheasant, found on the Highland hills, 425. Q. Q , duke of, 305. Quack, religious, at St. Cyrus, 307. Quackery, disgusting instance of, 268. Quarry, fine, of free-stone, near Kincardine, 47. Questions generally asked by the common people in the mountains of Scotland, in answer to other questions, 412, 413. R. R , Miss, the colour of her hair changed in a few days by vex- ations, 596". Rabbits, singular anecdote of a fright occasioned by, 167. Rain, cause why there is perhaps less in Murrayshire than any where else in Scotland, 487. Almost continual on the western coast of Scotland, 556. anecdote on this subject, 557- Rats, sagacity of, in the Highlands, 397. Red Head, promontory of, 283, 286. Religion, great variety of, at Stirling, and frivolous disputes of the dif- INOEX. ff rent sects, 12.13. atCulross,48. Meanb by which Scotland an- ciently possessed so great a number of religious edifices and founda- tions, 158. Public worship neglected by the higher ranks in many places, 461. Fanatics at Tain, 4^0, 4f)l.- -Ross-shire the ftolylund of Scotland, 492. Religious unilbrnia worn at Glasgow, 562, 56'3. See also the article Misshnarks. ^epenthig-stoolL, still retained in some churches of Scotland, 351. Se-e also the aiticle C/(^-s/oo/. lUrelations^ singular exposition cf some passages in, 221, 222. BJieuviafisrrt, method of cure of, 591. Richardson, Mr. the monopoliser of the fisheries of the Tay, 263, 264, 359. Ridge-abovt, origin and present relics of the distribution of gropnd by this custom, 457. Ring, its emblematical signification in the marriage-ceremony point- ed out by a clergyman iu the Orkneys to the parties, 5l9- Road, consular, fro.Ti Stirling, i7- Considerations on the actual state of the roads in Great Britain, 44 to 46. Excellent state of those all round Aberdeen, 324. General good condition of roads ^n Scotland, 354. Badness of, in many parts of the county of Mur- ray, 457. Roads from Inverness to Fort Augustus, 487r Rob Roy, a notorious thief, particulars respecting, 421. Rock fortified by the Danes, 353. Rollo, lord, 247. Roman remains at the village of Camelon, 6. Inquiry into the state of our ancestors under the Roman government, 7. Roman-catholic chattel in the Enzic, 356, 357-- Inconsistent scruples of a Roman-catholic gentleman on the observance of Friday, oQ^. Ross-shire the halt; land of Scotland, 492. . , Rothemay, a seat of the ear} of Fife, 343. Rothes, situation and inhabitants of, 453. Castle, ih. Royal bountt/, applied \o the dift'usion of knowledge a;moTig the com- mon people of the Highlands and islands of Scotland, '407. Rudder, an additional one at the stem of vessels prepensed, 2. Rumbling bridge over the river Devon, 19J. Ruthven, abbey of, 244. Ryrner, regent, of the universjfy of St, Andrews, pleasant anecdotes resjiecting, 112 note. Rynd, Mr. William, rector of the public school at Perth, 260, S. ^ f, miss, an officious sectarian missionary in the presbytery of Dunkeld, 14. Sacraments, the administration of, among some of the sectaries, a con- siderable means of profit to the public houses iu some places, 225. ^ Description of the sacrainent-weck among the Seceders, 226 to 232. St. Andrerws, city of; route from Dumfermlinc Xo, 55. View of, in approaching it, 103. Stm-ts of, 155. Remains of the cathedral, J56. Wall surrounding the priory, 157. Annual fair the foun- dation of its prosperity and opulence before the Reformation, 158. Numerous religious houses formerly established here, io.^ . INDEX. Storms in the bay, 1^0. Numerous empty houses, l6l. Singular family here, ib. Very few fish in the inner part of the bay, l63. '^Charter and keys of the city, l64, Barbarous and cruel cus- toms of cat-races and goose-races here, l65. Route to Falkland from, 167. The unkersiti/. Customs respecting the professor of ,church-hislory her^^, 8.6". Present state of the university, 104. Abuse in the grant of professorships, 105. Political sermons by a principal of one of the colleges, IO6, IO7. Distinguished pro- fessors who have flourished here, 107- Its ancient celebrity re- vived by the chancellorship of the earl of KinnouU, 108. its public library, and strict discipline, at that time, 109. Colleges, ^10. Discipline &c. of the Divinity college and the Philosophy college, e6. St. Salvator's college, 111. its fine chapel, 113. St. Leonard's college, 111. Regulations and economy of the col- leges, 113. hour of shutting the gates, ib. dinner, 114. break- fast, J 17. prayers, 118. sessions and vacations, II9. gyninas- lic exercises; archery, 120. game of golf, 123. horsemanship, 125. Sons of distinguished families educated in college here, 126. Decline of the university by a gradual and general relaxation, 14jO. Various instances of intriguing policy, and of the abuse of patronage, in the university, 146' to 153. The revenue of the col- leges vastly greater than their expenditure, 150, 154. iS^. Cyrus, SO6, 307. -S^. Monans, church and steeple of, 82. Salads dressed with castor oil, anecdote respecting, 462. Saline, village of, 183 note. Salmon-fishery near Kincardine, 47. In the river Ythan, 325. At f och^bers, 359- Cause of the great value of the fisheries at the mouth of most rivers in Scotland, i6, 360. Shameful amusement of killing salmon in the rivers in winter while they are spawning, 422. Sands of Forvie and of other places, 334. Savageness, instances of a degree of, remaining in the manners of the Highlanders, 513, 515. Scallags, or labouring people of the Hebrides, their miserable condi- tion, 547, 548, 614. Actually in a state of slavery, ib. ' Scaliatcay, a village of Shetland, 537. Schools esiabiirhed all over the Highlands, beneficial effects of, 405. .\ good school specifically for grammar, in every presbytery or certain district of the Highlands, much wanted, 407. The business of schoolmaster in Scotland not near so lucrative as in England, 408. ^cone, anciently a scat of the Scottish court, 20. Charles II. solemnly crowned at, in 16"51, 81. Prospect from, 265. " Scotch ;" instance of this epithet being used as a national reflection, spiritedly noticed by a young Scotch gentleman, 418. Scots-Ton tt, J 7], 172. Seaforth, lord, 503, 504, 508. Sea-ford, dangerous method of catching, on the Shetland shores, 535, 536*. ^kuis, numerous in the bay of St. Aiidrews ; method propoeed for catching them, l63, j54.--Method of catching them used in tlie Hebrides, 54-3. Sea-zveed. See the article Jlga marbia. Secedrrs; leading features in the doctrine, character, and history , of, 201 to 212. Description of the sacrament-week among them at Abernethey, 226 to 232. Seduction, defect of the laws respecting, 4;i2. Unparalleled instance of, 608. Sdf-itUerst the constant spring of action among the Highlander?^ 505. Selkirk, Alexander, the archetype of Robinson Crusoe, 66'. Sermon, one on a singular subject, 56. Political one by a principal in the university of St, Andrews, 106.' another by the sam,e, cir- culated at the public expense, 107. Set lines, method of catching eels and other fishes by, 448. Sharp, archbishop, his monument in thetoun church of St. Andrews, 159' Particulars respecting him, l60. Spot where he was imix^ dered, l64. Sheep and pastures of the Shetland islands, 532. Sheep-xcaJhs in the Highlands, great value of, 443. Shepherds' curs; fierceness, hardiness, and fidelity, of those in the Highlands, 441. Sheriffmvir,h-c\n\iioi, 18, 23. Shetland ides, 36. Inhabitants of, 517. Situation of these islands; their number, and names, 521. Universal barrenness of their in- terior parts, 522. violent winds the cause of this, 523. The cli- mate, 524. Population and language, 525. Proprietorsof lands, and their mode of living, 526. Manners of the lower ranks, ib. -T-Fisherpaen and fishery, 5 '28. IneftVctual and premature attempt to improve the condition ot the lower classes, 52% State of agri- culture here, 529. Horses and cattle, 531. Sheep and pastures, 532. Species offish and of quadrupeds found here, 533. mine-, rals, 534. Shipwrecks numerous on the coasts, and conduct of the inhabitants on these occasions, ib. Rockiness of the shores, 525. Singular small pasture-island, used to fatten sheep, 536. Trade in these isles, ?6. Remains of antiquity, 537- range of circular towers along the eastern coast, 538, 539- curious weapons formed of a very hard blue stone, 539- Wretched state of the mass of the people, 6l3 to 617. Ship-wreck, anecdote of a marriage resulting from, 350. Custom of plundeiing wrecks on some of the coasts of Scotland, 504. ^Fre- quent on the coasts of the Shetland islands, and conduct of the in- i.habitants on such occasions, 534. Shoemaker, the author mistaken for one, 283 to 286. Anecdote of .OTieat a horse-market, 303. of one at a public ball at Aberdeen, 319. Shooting water from a musket at animals, practice of, 425. Shots, Kirk of, and story of the fortunes of a farmer's daughter at, 576. Sidley hills, 170. Silter. See tit article (?o/(rf. Smson, Dr. of the university of St, Andrews, 11$. INDEX. Sincfdrs, rivulet crossed by them in going to the bxttb of Floudeq, 500. Skate, wonderful, caught at Crail, 98. Skene, late general, seat of, 1 98. Siwie'iOastle, 326, 327- Slavery, relic of, in many of the collieries in Scotland, 40. In one shape or other it has existed in all ages, 41. Its gradual abolitioA in Europe owing to the influence of Christianity, ih. Praedial slavery actually existing in the Hebrides, and also in the Shetland 'isles, 547 to 549, 612 to 6l7. $loane, sir Hans ; the high road turned a^eat way in order not to 'disturb his remains, 45. Smuggling carried on at Crail, 98. Great number of smugglere on the northern coasts of Scotland, 493. Societti for propagating christian knowledge, schools establi^ed by, in the Highlands, 405. Solan geese, 84. Sowens, skin of, used by the ladies of Edinburgh as a cosmetic, 603. Sparro'xs, their great utility in destroying insects, 468. Sptns, Dr. his attempts to inspire llie inhabitants of Buckhaven Avith propernotions of religion, 59>'60. Spey, river, 417,435, 476". Splendid bridge over, near Fochrtbers, 359. Melancholy accidents in its fords, 39 1, 392. 'Instance ofi transmigration of eels in, 446 to 448. Spian, river, 476. Spi}tslcis, origin of this term as an -appellation of unmarried women, 308. Spirit qfidne, a glass of, given to a carrier by a college-student as a trick, 318. Stand fire, method used by a gentleman to teach his son to, 294. 6'/ea;flr/, Jitraes Ray, a notorious robber ; narrative of the depreda- tions, apprehension, and execution of, note 480 to 4S3. Sti/ts used by the country -people to cross the river Avon, .383. Stirling, route from Edinburgh to, 1. The castle, 10. Manufac- tures here, 11. Great variety of religious sects, and thoir frivolous disputes, 12. Ancient importance of this city in the history of Scotland, 17. Was a military station in the time of the Roman?, ih. Proper for a seat of government for the southern divison of Scotland, 19, 20. Its situation, and natural advantages, .20. Route to Dumfermline from, 23. Stone Bi/crs, fall of the Clyde at, 573, 575. ^Stonehaven, town of, its picturesque situation, harbour, and manu- facture s, 309. -'New village of, ?6, a singular occurrence here, 310. Koad to 'Aberdeen from, 311. ^tonelienge, 413. Sto7ics, huge, detached on the surface, and on the tops of mountain?, a proof of some uncommon operation of nature, 333. Erroneous prejudice among the farmers in the Highlands, respecting the effect of stones in moist soils, 434. Stornauaif, the chief town of the largest of the Hebrides, ^541. - Strafierne, valley of, I96. Upper, 238, 242, 244. Lower, .24a ^42. * tytft Sirathkinnes, moot of, l67. Stratkmiglo, ipS. Straihnaver, 508. Strathspry, 4 Id. iS^razi) Aaif-y for ladies, 501. Manufadfory of^ at Kirkwall, 5lS. Struther's, ancient seat of, 172. Sunday, one passed in a religious family at Dundee, 275.-*-Exccssive zeal of a clergyman of Montrose respecting, 288. Beginning W be very ill spent in Scotland, 295. iSur^con of London, an insj^ne methodist, predicts Buonaparte's de- struction from the Book of Revelations, 222. Surgical operation, dangerous, practised in some part* of Scotlalhdy 459. Swelled head, case df^ and cure, 589* 590. Sueno's stoncj 459' r. T ly miss, daughter of a Scotch physiciafc, interesting story of, 555. T y r, Mr. of the Hebrides, interesting story of, 549 to 553. Tailor ducked for delusive enticements to a young woman to marry him, 402. Tain, fanatics at, 490. Tamintoul, village of, and lingular story of the landlady of the inR here, 384. Tarbat Tower, 1 71, 172. Tarf, river, and bridge over, 475. > View of one of the falls of, ib^ 477. Tarnaway, castle of, 37' Taupcrindonish, a well at Elchies, 449- Tay, almost all the fisheries of,, monopolized by one man, 253. Walk up this river from Perth to Scone, 265. Teeth, instance of a young man who had lost all his, by interferiug in a drunken fray, ^Qik Telescope and moon-gb5"S at the Old Town college in the university of Aberdeen, 317. Temple Bafy London, 382. Terraces apparently too regular for nature, yet too vast for arty 197. Thomson, Peter, an active member of the Bereans at Crieff, anecdote of, 219. Thunder and lightning seldom or never occur in summer, but very common in winter, in the Shetland islands, 525. Thursday, a favourite day for weddings in some parts of Seotlaod,. 500. Thurso, town of, 501. Tiddach, river, 342.. TUlibody, 23. Tillicoultry, 44. Toad, curious experiment with one,. 451. Tombs in Clackmannan church-yard^ 42. -Egyptian law respecting inscriptions on, li. INDEX. V\intin$ in various towns and villages of Scotland, 456, 468y Tootk-drauing, anecdote of, 36'5. Torri/burfif 50. Torwood, 19. Tuuer of London, statues of the kings and queens in, 44'. Range of circular towers along the eastern coast of Shetland, 538. Town-crier y erroneous pronunciation of one at Edinburgh, 596. Lu- dicrous anecdote of the mispronunciation of one at Aberdeen, 597. Trance, instance of a man supposed to be in one, 55. Translations of the ancient writers, the present frequency of, a very unequivocal symptom of the decay of learning, 75. Transplanting large trees, method of, 509, 603. Treading on toes under the table, a way of making love in the county of Caithness, 498. Trcesy reason of their great scarcity in Shetland, 522, 523. Trick, unjustifiable, played by a college-student, 317. Trinity, sermon respecting, at Tain, 491' History of the famous passage in St. John concerning, 492. Troupy estate of, owed its agricultural improvement to an accidental discovery, 331.- Trout, great number of, caught in the river Farg, 232. Tulidelp/iy principal, of the university of St. Andrews, 112, 118. TuUibardin, castle of, 244. Turiff, village of, 342. Tmk, a fish so called in the Shetland islands, 528 note. U. Udallers, a remain of the Norwegian government in the Orkneys particulars of, 520, 610 to 6 13. Uniforms, religious, worn at Glasgow, 562, 563. Universal redemptionists, sect and doctrine of, at Glasgow, 563. Urquhart, hills of, 4/4, 488. Castle of, 4S6. Vallum of Agricola, 6. Veneti, a nation of Gaul, their ships far superior to those of the Ro- mans, 34. Venus de Medicis, 43. ' . Volunteers in the Highlands," 432, 557* W. Wallace Tree, 9. Water, practice of filtring it recommended in some situations, 24.- Practice of shooting it from a musket at animals, 4i25. Water-kelpie, story of one, 409. Weapons, curious old, formed of a very hard blue stone, found in Shetland, 539- Wearers, prevalence of new and gloomy notions of religion amon^ 277. jyedders, a sheep three years old ; a phalanx of, met with, 375. Their habits and manners, ib. 376' ^Vedding, bumours and fare at a Fifan, 100. Ceremony of, emOTig some begging gypsies, 271. Festivities at a country wedding on the banks of the Esk, 2.Q9> 300. Thursday a favourite day for this ceremony in some parts of Scotland ; custom of the ncw- inarried couple being bedded before witness*^, 500. of the men attempting to make the bridegroom drun4;, ib. Ceremony of one in the Oi-kneys ; address of the clergyman to the parties, 519. Instances of unjustifiable tricks played at two weddings, punished by heavy fines, 342. Story of a hasty and unexpected one at Edinburgh, 583, 584. Weeds, frequent in the fields round Edinburgh, 605. Whale, a dead one found off Aberi>r(*thic, 282. Whales sometimes cast by storms into the bays -and creeks of the western islands, S+^S. Shoals of them sometimes found on the Shetland shores, 533. Whiskey, general and pernicious use of, among the common people in the Highlands, 409. Given in repeated doses by a washer- woman to her infant, to lay him asleep, 467. Wick, town of, 501. ITrc* of Brtigly, 196. Widotv, curious anecdote of one of Aberdeen, 321. Wilkie, Dr. author of the Epigoniad, character and anecdotes of, 1 18, 127 to 140. Wiliox, Mr. near Tamintoul, a pretender to remedy barrenness anti witchcraft; and anecdotes on this subject, 438, 439. Windo'xs proposed to be made of cast iron, 4. Wine-merchants, impositions and scandalous practices of, 5^^. Witchcraft, pretenders to the prevention of, in the Highlands ; and alleged instance of, 437, ^^9' Witches, ideas respecting, 27. Woody admiral Andrew, 67, 83. , late Dr. Robert, anecdote of, 258. WoodJtead of the Kiers, ajjd view from, 238. WodkR. See the article Flannel. Worldy appearance against its being eternal, 380, Y. Yelhwfwer, method of cure of, 591. . YtMn, river, and salmon-fishing in, 325. ERRATA. J'age 28, Line 19, for dean Sherlock's, read Drelincourt'i. 29^ 9, far turf, in which, read turf : in this tower* 29, 22, f(r one thousand, read three hundred. , 33, 14, for pedatory, read predatory. 42, 10 t. b for see, read examine. 46, iSyfffr twenty, read two. 63, 16, fvT Poleiuio, read Polemo. ' 67, 9, ybr who, re(id and. 68, -20, after this, read the means of. 75, 2i2, /^in- Horat. re!(d Persius. 77, 5, Yor knows, read IS sensible. 82,- 19, o/ler of, pwfthe. 91, 18, for hinderaiice, read sustenance, and d?e the full point, 100, 8, for Heiles, read Hailes. 103, 1, jf'or centuries, read countries. 105, 8, for Noe, read Noah. 114, 1, for to stay, read stayed. 114, 8, and elsewhere, for hebdomader, read hepdomaden 114, 22, for longer and shorter, read longer and longer. 119, 7, for sper edenndi, read spe redeundi. 124, 12 f. h.for consults, read consists. 125, 18, for land, read sand. 129, 2, dete still. 149^ 2, f. b. /or possessors, read professor*. 149, 12 f. b. after benefices, put by. 149^ 26, for the earl of Fife, read the earl of Kintor. 151^ ir, /or Hills, read Hill. 1.54, 2 t. h. for that, read the. 158, 17, for commenced, read conceifed. 159, 10, fr Ireland, read Iceland. , 159, 14, for constitution, read construction. . 174, 3, _/br thirteen, read eighteen. 175, 29, jf**" liuudred, read thousand. 184, 19, /br old, read young. * 192. 8, /or receiving, read raising. 196, note read Catill. ; 197, line 21, for the time, read mean time. 197, .5, i. b, yi^r heads, rertd seats. 199, 22, for west, read best. 199, note for Scaggerrc, read Scaggerac. S;03, line 4, for Antinoiuiaus, read CalviiiiatJ, 223, 8, for this was, read these were. VoO, 1 f. b. for seen, rend viewed. Pagp 213, line 5, fer f!acliitmis!iirc rtai ClackuannMsbire. ' i49, 9, o/ecr'bit, put siKKilcl. 4.74, ' 1 2, for Aihenus read AlLetiasur ware, read weed. 414, 16, for prevent, read secure. 425, 6,for h\ood, read b\ee.^.\. 43.5, 19, /r formerly, read I found. . 465, 12 f b ybr valids, read invalids. 473, id, for counties, rrwi coiiulry. .592, 3, for camomile, read caiuntcl. The reader is also requested to escrse other iiiaccwrscics of less consequence, sod ScotticiMM, occasioned by the Author's absence from the press. A- l^S/A ^ ^Fro UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 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