This book, published in 1857, provides a snapshot of the areas covered in the author's lifetime and before, covering the land areas of Clackmannanshire and its eastern neighbours, Fife and Kinross. Although the book contains some minor inaccuracies (acknowledged and largely dismissed by the author), it provides a solid base for further research.
A DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL GAZETTEER OF THE COUNTIES OF FIFE, KINROSS, AND CLACKMANNAN,
WITH ANECDOTES, NARRATIVES, AND GRAPHIC SKETCHES,
MORAL, POLITICAL, COMMERCIAL, AND AGRICULTURAL.
BY M. BARBIERI, SURGEON,
FORMERLY CHEMIST TO THE LATE EARL OF ELGIN.
PREFACE
The Author has frequently felt surprised at, and deeply regretted, the extreme ignorance of working men as regards the description and history of the county of which they were natives; notwithstanding the torrent of books that issues from the press. The surprise vanishes, however, when we reflect that such works as have been written on the subject are, to the working man, virtually sealed books; as none of them can be had under one, two, or even five pounds sterling. To avoid this expense, and supply the requisite information, are the objects he has in view.
Before we dabble into politics, arts, or sciences, we should be familiar with the geography and history of our own kingdom and county. These form the only sure foundation on which to erect the future superstructure; they do so by laying open an inexhaustible source of intellectual materials, by which much time and labour bestowed under opposite circumstances are saved.
The present work has not been hastily got up. A residence of thirty-five years under favourable circumstances, in three important parishes, has enabled the author to inspect most of the other parishes, towns, villages, estates, and public works at his leisure. The information of such as were not personally visited, was collected from written correspondence with the authorities, clergy, teachers, or leading individuals, besides assistance derived from the most approved guides, and other unexceptionable sources.
It will be found to contain a mass of interesting historical anecdotes, narratives, and graphic sketches, illustrative of former ages - moral, political, commercial, and agricultural.
Much attention has been bestowed on all the prominent parts relative to Malcolm Canmore, Bruce, Wallace, all the James's, Queen Mary, Elizabeth Stuart of Falkland, who formed the root of her present Majesty's dynasty; and other conspicuous characters who performed their parts in the eventful dramas of their respective times.
A rapid though clear summary of history has been given. The work, though concise in language, and occasionally abrupt, will be found to be comprehensive, and complete in all its parts.
The work being written entirely for the operative class, its style, construction, and unavoidable digressions, were adopted to suit those whose education and opportunities were limited. To have done otherwise, with the limited space at command, would have been to put algebra into the hands of children. It was only by availing himself of an abstract, chronological, and irrelative arrangement, that the Author has been enabled to condense an incredible quantity of matter, and thereby instruct, amuse, and lead the reader, when so inclined, to larger works on the subject, though not without sacrificing the elegant graces of composition at the shrine of expediency.
For the statistical parts of the work, the Author feels himself under a deep sense of obligation to Mr Dawson, author of "The Statistical History of Scotland," for permission to make extracts from his invaluable work ; as also to Messrs Fullerton, publishers of "The Gazetteer of Scotland," for the same privilege, as regards abridged anecdotes, narratives, and other interesting matter; and to many other authors who have kindly given their aid at a time he least expected it; aware, however, that the author was now an invalid.
The following list of authors, alphabetically arranged, represents those quoted in the work; the passages from which will be duly taken notice of, unless in mixed ones, where the language of two or more, with that of the author, render it impossible: but to avoid an endless repetition, the name of each authority will alone be given, by which space will be husbanded.
LIST OF AUTHORS
Anderson's Guide - In reference to cattle, etc.
Anderson's Geology of Fifeshire.
Arnot's History Of Edinburgh.
Bald, on the Coal Field of Clackmannan - In Were. Mem. vol. 3.
Barbour's History of Scotland.
Bede's History Of tba Saxons, Scots, etc.
Board of Trade returns - referring to Manufactures.
Black's Picturesque Tourist.
Boece's History - 1526.
Boethiu'8 History Of Scotland.
Boyce's History of Scotland.
Buchanan's History of Scotland.
Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise on Geology.
Census for 1851 - by Eyre and Spottiswood, London.
Chalmers' Caledonia - two Volumes.
Chalmers on Dunfermline.
Chambers' Gazetteer.
Chambers' Pocket Miscellany.
Chambers' Repository.
Dawson's Statistical History of Scotland - 1853.
Fordun's History of Scotland, or Scotichronicon.
Froissart's Chivalry of the 14th century.
Froissart's History.
Fullerton's Gazetteer of Scotland - 1844.
Fyfe's Summer Life on Land and Water.
Guizot's History of Civilizations in Europe.
Guthrie's Historical and Commercial Geography - 1812.
Hailes' Annals of Scotland.
Julius Ceasar's History of Rome - Duncan's Trans.
Knox, John - History of the Church Of Scotland.
Leighton - in Swan's Fife Illustrated.
Lindsay of Pitscottie's History of Scotland, or Chronicle.
Maule's Abridgment of the Scots Chronicle.
Manuscript Papers of the Scottish history etc., in the Advocate's Library.
Mayor's History of Scotland - in James IV's time.
McCrie's Life of John Knox.
McKenzie's Antiquities and Laws of Scotland.
McCulloch's British Empire - 3rd Edition.
Melville, Sir James - memoirs.
Monypenny's Description of Scotland, 1612.
Monteith's Tourist's Companion.
Morton's Monastic Annals.
New Statistical Account of Scotland - Fife, and Kinross-shire.
Nicol's Geology of Scotland - Edition of 1844.
Nisbet's Heraldry.
Old Statistical Account Of Scotland - 1794-6.
Parliamentary Reports, upon the boundaries, in 1832 - on Education, in 1837 - on Religious Instruction, in 1839 - and on Stipends, in 1847.
Parliamentary Returns, August, 1850, in reference to Manufactures.
Pennant's Tour in Scotland - in 1772.
Pictish Chronicle.
Poole's Statistics of |British Commerce - 1852.
Pinkerton's History of Scotland.
Randolph's Letter to his Mistress, in 1564.
Report to Board of Agriculture - in reference to extent of land.
Robertson's History Of Scotland,
Sibbald's History of Fife - Adamson's Edition.
Simpson's History of Scotland.
Sir Walter Scott's Works.
Sir Walter Scott's Letters on Demonology, etc.
Spottiswood's History of the Church of Scotland.
Statistical Report of 1838.
Tacitus' History of Rome - Gordon's Trans.
Tytler's History of Scotland.
Winton's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland.
Besides other authors referred to in the work.
INVERKEITHING, February 1857.
INTRODUCTION
No county in Scotland presents so many points of interest, admiration, and surprise, as Fifeshire. Its progress in literature, the arts, agriculture, and commerce, possesses the highest claims on the philosopher, the moralist, and the divine; - the artist, the agriculturist, and the man of business.
When we consider its comparatively limited extent - the richness of its mineral fields in coal, lime, iron, freestone, and whinstone - its extensive manufactories - its rapidly improved agriculture, that has shorn the forest, burnt the whins, and drained the marshy ground - the enterprising disposition of its merchants - its illustrious men - its 61 parishes - its thirteen royal burghs, with five burgh-baronies - its 115 flourishing and populous villages, besides 48 hamlets, surrounded with innumerable estates and splendid mansions; and, to crown the whole, its historical associations; the mind feels bewildered - it staggers and reels with astonishment.
Let not the reader suppose that these are the effusions of a heated imagination, or the result of an interested native: No; they are the fruits of a 35 year residence, under favourable circumstances of patient observation, and laborious research. They are, moreover, borne out by the detailed analysis that follows; and by the enthusiastic opinion of Mr. Pennant, an English writer, in 1772, who says:-
"Permit me to take a review of the peninsula of Fife, a county so populous, that, excepting the environs of London, scarcely one in South Briton can vie with it: fertile in soil, abundant in cattle, happy in collieries, in ironstone, in lime and freestone; blest in manufactures; the property remarkably well divided." "The number of towns is, perhaps, unparalleled in an equal tract of coast; for the whole shore, from Crail to Culross, about forty English miles, is one continued chain of towns and villages." And that at a period when nature had everything to do herself; when agriculture and trade languished from a variety of causes conspiring to retard their progress.
It would be difficult to conceive the difference of his opinion, were he to rise from his resting place, and survey the surface of the county transmuted into a perfect garden; to contemplate the energy of the farmer, the enterprise of the manufacturer, and the railway speed of the merchant. Again, are we not told in Chambers' Gazetteer, that, "like China, Fife is a district in which there appears to be nothing lost for which a use can be found." Has not Wilkie, the celebrated painter, while resting his eye with delight upon the grand, majestic, towering hills of the county, exclaimed in ecstasy - "Mine own blue Lomonds!" Was not Fife the scene of Macbeth's bloody tragedy, - as also of the unparalleled treachery and barbarous murder of the son of Robert III.? Had not Fife the honour of being the place in which the Reformation of religion in Scotland commenced? Was it not the birth-place and the cradle of Princess Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, who laid the foundation of the dynasty of her Majesty Queen Victoria?
SURFACE AND COAST
The surface of the county, like most others in Scotland, is so diversified, that each of its parishes has some distinctive features of its own, presenting scenes that are rich in the peculiarities of their respective elements. Some spots are luxuriant, lovely, and superbly magnificent; while others are cold, barren, dreary, and repulsive. Yet the frequent variety of mountain, hill, and valley, wood, lake, and river, offer a picture that must rouse the misanthropist, and delight the painter!
Though the county wants the variegated loveliness of Perthshire, and the dark and savage magnificence of Mull, it possesses so many other attributes and historical associations to throw these into the shade. Some of the mountains, as Bencleuch, attain an altitude of 2420 feet above sea level. The hills frequently present deep glens, having a bare and rocky aspect, while others are thinly crested with wood, or clothed with verdure, struggling to maintain ascendency over heath, up to their summits. Again, the valleys are of the richest description; giving the whole the changeful hues of wilderness, green pasture, and arable cultivation.
Since the forests of Falkland and of Clackmannan have disappeared, and the moor lands have been drained, the intervening valleys and lakes wear the appearance of richly variegated carse-ground. Almost every acre of the more level lands has been subjected to the dominion of the plough, or clothed with the richest pasture. On raising the eye up the steep glens, we observe streams "cradled" among the mountain-tops, with more or less impetuous fury. When to these we add the rivers, subordinate streams, and lakes, it must be admitted that a scene is presented which alternately pleases and tantalizes by its incessant change; though none but he who has patiently traversed the county would exonerate the author from a charge of exaggeration.
The coast, from Burntisland to St Andrew's Bay, is in many parts bold and rocky, presenting a firm rampart the invading attacks of the sea; crowned with small frowning cliffs, torn into fissures. These, gain, when viewed in the frequent storms or occasional tempests of winter, with the currents, shoals, rocks, and variable winds of the Forth, give to the whole a wild, savage, picturesque, grand, but sublime appearance, that defies description, and bewilders the tourist.
The Firth of Forth, from the low, sandy, naked headland peninsula of Fifeness, with its insidious Carr Rock, up to Stirling, with the other causes just enumerated, render it not a little difficult and dangerous of navigation; hence the Americans would sooner cross the Atlantic, or go through the Pentland Firth, than attempt the Forth without an experienced pilot.
BOUNDARY AND EXTENT
The origin of the name of Fife has defied the erudition and research of every historian since the time of Sibbald; and as much learned ink has only cast a cloud of darkness over obscurity, I shall cut the Gordian knot by "letting that flee stick to the wa'," to use the language of Bailie Nicol Jarvie.
Fifeshire was at an early period an extensive county, designated Ross. It then included Clackmannanshire, Kinross-shire, and a portion of Perthshire; and contained nearly 700 square miles. From the year 1426 to 1685, nearly 200 square miles were cut off. We can thus understand, from its extent, value, and importance, in the Celtic and Pictish ages, how it came to be called "the Kingdom of Fife." [Buchannan]
As it now stands, we find it bounded on the north and south by the rivers Tay and Forth; on the east by the German Ocean; and on the west by the shires of Kinross, Clackmannan, and Perth. Its total area is estimated in the Penny Cyclopoedia to be 322,560 acres; and Playfair says that four-fifths of the 500 square miles are arable. It has a medium length of thirty-six miles from east to west, with a medium breadth of fourteen miles; though in some places it is sixty miles in length, and thirty miles in breadth.
Nature, not content with the envy and avarice of man, laid her omnipotent hand over the entire coast of Fife, from St Andrews to Torryburn. Boethius thus refers to a most extraordinary inundation of the sea, in the seventeenth year of Alexander III., "which involved in a common destruction many towns and villages, and the inhabitants and their herds." Fordun says, "There never was such a deluge since the times of Noah, appears from its traces at this day."
This is confirmed by Martine in his Reliquiæ Divi Andreoe. Several lesser inundations have occurred from time to time, doing more or less destruction in their course. On the other hand, Anderson, in his Geology of Fifeshire, says:- "Along the rocky shore from Birkhill to Newport appearances are not wanting to show that the waves once beat upon a higher level, by eight or ten feet, than they do at present." He further tells us:- "Under the shingle, at Wormit Bay, a bed of peat full of nuts, leaves, and branches occurs, which again rests upon a bed of bluish clay."
The county lies betwixt 56 degrees 2', and 56 degrees 27' North Latitude, and betwixt 2 degrees 20', and 3 degrees 12', West Longitude.
PARISHES
Fife contains sixty-one distinct parishes, so ridiculously hewn into detached pieces in many instances, and the separate portions thrown sometimes into two or three other parishes, and even into other counties, that one is at a loss to discover either the motive or the policy by which their distribution has been regulated.
Sibbald tells us, that before the Reformation there were 48 parishes. The list he gives was drawn up in the reign of William the Lion. Parishes were first introduced by private individuals, and were not sanctioned till a future period by public authority. That they existed during the reign of Malcolm Canmore, (Malcolm III.) in Fife, is known by an early charter of David I. to the monastery of Dunfermline, quoted by Chalmers.
Ecclesiastical dues and tithes were paid to the clergy, before the reigns of David I. and Alexander I. In 1858, there were 165 insane and fatuous paupers in the county of Fife, at an annual cost of £2407, or £14, 11s, 0d each, according to Mr Dawson.
RIVERS
Besides the Forth and Tay, the county is watered by the Eden, Leven, and Orr; all of them being of more or less mercantile importance. To these rivers must be added lesser ones, besides a number of streams and burns that irrigate the lands and add much beauty in their course. Each of these will be taken notice of under their respective parishes.
LAKES
There are about eighteen lakes in Fife, the rudiments of what once formed its hundred and one. Some of them are extremely interesting, and all deserve the attention of the tourist; though none of them can bear comparison for size, beauty, or historical association with Loch Leven, the pride and boast of the county, till plundered of its birth-right to form part of Kinross-shire. Those deserving of attention are:- Loch Fitty, Loch Gelly, Loch Mill, Loch Ore, Lindores, Kilconquhar, Kinghorn, Camilla, Otterston, Raith, and Black Loch. All of them are well stocked with pike and perch; while some of them have excellent trout. Various species of wild fowl also frequent those lakes.
MOUNTAINS
None of the three can in strict language be termed mountainous; some of them attain commanding altitudes. The chief of these are the Ochils, which run along the northern boundary, and the Lomonds, the course of which is nearly parallel to them. The Ochils are a chain of trap-hills, rising gently on the south bank of the Tay above Ferry-Port-on-Craig, and attaining in Bencleuch and the Demyat-hill, at the western extremity, an altitude of 2420 feet above sea-level. At Craig-sparrow, Clatchart, and Craig-in-Crune, the hills are bold, abrupt, and precipitous. In almost every other part the hills are either cultivated, or covered with pasturage. Two lofty conical peaks surmount both extremities of the Lomonds. One, termed the East Law, is 1466 feet, and the other, the West Law, is 1721 feet, above sea-level. Falkland and Loch Leven give additional interest to the Lomonds.
WOODS
The forests that covered the county in the Caledonian and Pictish ages have from time to time fallen under the hand of the Roman, of the Scots, and of Civilization. These mighty agents reduced them to five - Cardenie, Eweth, Black-Earnside, Falkland, and Clackmannan forests. The three former have disappeared many centuries ago; even the fine Falkland and Clackmannan forests are now only to be found in the page of history. The Tullibody wood is but the skeleton of Clackmannan forest. To the above causes must be added the building of the 'Great Michael', the folly of James IV.; which, to Lindsay of Pitscottie, Leslie, and Buchanan, required her wood to be brought from Norway, after the oak forests of Fife, with the exception of that of Falkland, had been exhausted in her construction. This gigantic vessel was, according to Lindsay, 240 feet in length, and 36 feet across the beams. Her sides were ten feet thick. The expense of her construction was £7000, without artillery and ammunition. She carried 36 heavy cannon, with three of a smaller size. Her crew consisted of 300 sailors, 120 gunners, and 1000 fighting men. She was ready to be launched at the end of a year and a day. She was under the command of the celebrated Sir Andrew Wood of Largo. Lindsay further says:- "When this ship past to the sea, and was lying in the road, the king gart shoot a cannon at her, to essay if she was wight; but I heard say, it deaved her not, and did her little skaith."
These forests abounded with the deer, the wolf, the bear, the bison, and the boar. It was then that the kings of Scotland, down to the reign of James V. and VI., made them the scene of their frequent hunting expeditions, when at the royal residence of Falkland. The huge size of the boar may be judged of by two tusks attached by chains to the high altar of the Church of St. Andrews, in the neighourhood of which one had been killed. Boece, in his history, published in 1526, says each tusk measured sixteen inches in length, and four inches in thickness.
In reference to old or hard wood in Fife, Mr Dawson says:- "The principal and largest collection of trees, dignified by age and magnitude, being in the grounds around the charming seat of Leslie House, in the vale of the Leven. About £30,000 worth of hard wood might have been disposed of during the last war." In the low district east from Rossie, there is "now a forest of Scots firs stretching for many miles in length." Admitting this, nothing has been left but vestiges near Cupar and Newburgh. Though many parts are feathered with wood, they are only the ornamental efforts of man. The Gazetteer of Scotland gives most interesting examples of submarine forests at Largo Bay, and at Flisk.
ISLANDS
The principal islands are Mugdrum, in the Frith of Tay; and Inchkeith, May, Cramond, Inchcolm, Inchgarvie, and Inchmickery, in the Frith of Forth. The chief seaward rock is the Car-rock, a beacon station, one and a half miles north-east of Fifeness. All of these, with Beemer-rock, and the Doo-craig, will come under notice.
MINERAL PRODUCTIONS
The principal mineral treasures of the county are its coal fields. To these must be added lime, iron, whinstone, sandstone, and clay, which are more or less abundant.
By a charter dated in March, 1291, we find that William de Oberville "grants liberty to the convent of Dunfermline to open a coal-pit in his lands of Pityncreiff." [Dawson] The coal-field of Fife is estimated at somewhat more than 200 square miles. There are 62 pits open, employing 2560 men and boys. The parrot or cannel-coal burns with a bright flame, and yields twenty per cent. of bitumen. It is employed in the manufacture of gas, and brings a much higher price than any other species of coal. It is found most at the coal works of Torry, Dysart, Fall-field, Clatto, Burnturk, Teasess, and Kippledrae. [Ure's Chim. Dict.] The thickest bed of parrot coal is at Kippledrae, averaging five feet in thickness; and allowed to be the thickest deposit of it in Great Britain. Another variety is the common or caking coal, yielding about forty per cent. of bitumen, according to Ure, and producing a considerable quantity of smoke in burning. This, called also the black or domestic coal, is found in seams varying from one to twenty feet in thickness.
"Beginning at the west of Fife, and proceeding eastwards, the following coal-works are at present in operation, viz:- at Torry, Blair, Elgin, Wellwood, Protis, Hallbeath, Crossgates, Fordel, Dunibristle, Dundonald, Keltie, Beath, Rashes, Lochgelly, Kippledrae, Cluny Dunnikier, Dysart, Orr-Bridge, Balbirnie, Rothesfield, Wemyss, Drummochy, Lundin Mill, Grange, Rires, Balcarres, St. Monance, Pittenweem, Kellie, Gilmerton, Largoward, Bungs, Fallfield, Lathocker, Cairlhurlie, Teasess, Ceres, Drumcarro, Kilmux, Carriston, Clatto, and Burnturk." [Fullerton]
Excellent ironstone, suited for the manufacture of every useful article, as also a quantity of workable clay-ironstone, containing about 36 per cent. of iron. [Fullerton]
A large quantity of beautiful sandstone for building; as at Cullello, in the parish of Aberdour, which is the finest in the county, and exported to Edinburgh, where some of the finest edifices have been built with it. The granite or sandstone rocks are the result of gradual deposition through many ages. Limestone rocks are also the result of stratified deposits; they constitute the hard carbonate of lime, while chalk is the soft carbonate of lime. Ehrenberg states that all white chalk rocks are the produce of microscopic coral animalcules, possessing calcareous shells of 1-24th to 1-288th of a line in magnitude, and of which much more than one million are preserved in each cubic inch, that is, much more than ten millions in one pound of chalk.
All the varieties of Trap rock, commonly called whinstone, are very abundant in many places, as between North Queensferry and Inverkeithing. Largo-Law is almost wholly composed of it. That at Queensferry, Pettycur, Orchil (near Auchtertool,) Kincraig Hill, and Earlsferry, are considerably harder than any of the whinstone family in the county. Trap rocks are all of igneous or ancient volcanic origin. They have not only been forced up from below, but have been in a state of fusion; and hence the reason why no organic forms are to be found. They are of later origin than the stratified deposits.
Much good fire-clay for manufacturing gas retorts, fire-brick, tiles, and pottery.
Several of the metals, as silver, lead, copper, nickel ochre, and arsenic pyrites, will be found taken notice of, while describing the parishes. It is said that Sir John Erskine of Alva drew £45,000 from silver obtained at one part of the Ochil hills; but the track was lost, and ended in finding only lead. While referring to metals, I may make the following remark on Scotch gold. Sir Bevis Bulmer, Master of the Mint to Queen Elizabeth, employed 300 men for several summers, at the mines of Crawford, in Lanarkshire, and collected £100,000 sterling worth. The same gold is well known to have been used at the Scottish Mint. Nevertheless, when labour rose to four-pence a day, the gold would no longer pay for working it.
Under ST ANDREWS, we shall find that on one occasion covered dishes filled with coins of Scotch gold were presented to the guests by way of dessert - certainly very sweet fruit. By a charter of David I., to the monks of Dunfermline, we find that he grants to them the tenth of all the gold found in Fife; and so he might, with interest besides.
AGRICULTURE - EARLY STATE
In former ages, owing to the frequent foreign and English invasions, with internal feuds, agriculture was often in a very deplorable condition in Fife, as in other parts of Scotland. We find, on the authority of Froissart, Bower, and others, that agriculture was in 1097 but in a rude state in Fife, owing to its extensive forests, lakes, and marshes. Besides which, the tillers of land were bondmen, who were sold with or without the lands, in the reigns of David I., William the Lion, in 1178, and David II., in 1340. Indeed it is not a hundred years since the colliers were freed from slavery in Scotland. The farmers were little better; having no capital, they were rendered entirely dependent on the proprietor of the soil, receiving a portion of the produce as a reward for their labour. To these causes must be added frequent famines, and dreadful plagues that ravaged Scotland in their scourging career; and on Fife they fell with most deadly force.
We have already taken notice of the frequent inundations, producing the most fearful effects. A single illustration will suffice, in our limited space.
Thus, in 1335, Bower refers to a dreadful famine, occasioned by the continued ravages of war, and the cessation of all agricultural labour, that desolated Scotland, reduced the country to a desert, and added to the miseries of the people. Such as were able left the country, while poor people were driven into the woods, where, feeding on raw nuts, acorns, and roots, they were seized with malignant diseases, which carried them off in thousands. In 1341, however, Bower says, "the kingdom began to breathe anew, industry revived, the husbandman was again seen at the plough, and the priest at the altar." The picture just drawn was more or less frequently repeated for ages; hence the spirit of industry languished, and agriculture was nearly crushed; but, like the ants, what was destroyed the one season was rebuilt or ploughed up the next.
The houses of the poor were huts of slight erection, of turf, wood, or loose stones, "often laid waste by war." Though rudely lodged, they were, in times of peace, well fed, being allowed to raise cattle, swine, and poultry in abundance. Their bread was a mixture of wheat and oats, or pease or barley and oats; and ale appears to have been largely consumed, as brew-houses were in every village. Previous to 1785, farmers, with few exceptions, lived in low smoky houses, badly lighted, dirty in the extreme, with no other partition except that made by wooden bedsteads, forming what is called a "but and a Ben." They, moreover, had a cow or a pig as a part of their family. While these have now been transferred to their servants, their modern houses are more fit for the proprietor. The spinning-wheel and riding horse have given way to the pianoforte and the gig; a harp and carriage will certainly be the next improvement; and why not, if it be not at the public expense?
Formerly the clergy were the great improvers of agriculture: leases of land first proceeded from them, though they were not confirmed by Parliament till 1429, when James I. enacted a law to that effect. Wheat and oats were early cultivated in Fife; by a charter of David I. he granted the tenth of them from his manors of Kinghorn, Kellie, and Crail, to the monastery of Dunfermline. Beans were first introduced in the reign of James I. The breeding of horses was carried to a considerable extent in Fife. The forests teemed with herds of a small but hardy breed of wild horses. Oxen were used for the plough, and horses for conveying the agricultural produce to distant parts. Great attention was bestowed on the rearing of sheep and cattle. Goats were numerous among the mountains, and supplied thousands with meat in times of scarcity. The dairy, and the breeding of poultry, were objects of great attention.
The following remarks on the value of land, and provisions, are from Mr Leighton. The price of land was various and fluctuating, running from £20 to £40 of our present money per acre; and that of rents paid was equally fluctuating. We find the price of provisions from 1260 to 1324 still more variable, being sometimes double within two years. A chalder, or 14 bolls, of oatmeal was generally sold for one pound sterling. A cow was 4s 6d, a sheep 10d, swine 1s 6d each, and hens were 1d each. By bishop Fleetwood, (in his Chronicon Pretiosum,) I find an acre of land, in 1066, cost 1s.; or 120 acres, 100s.; a palfrey, 1s.; a sheep, 1s.; an ox was computed at 6d.; a cow at 4s.; and a man sold at £3 sterling. In 1544, good lands were let at 1s. per acre.
AGRICULTURE - PRESENT STATE
To the Union in 1707, must be attributed the origin of its present improved state. Suffice it to say, that the land-rental of the county has increased since the Restoration, in 1660, twenty-five fold.
The soil of Fife, from its irregularity of surface, deepness or rockiness, morass, shelter, or exposure, is necessarily various, and includes within its range the luxuriance of Egypt with the barrenness of Arabia. Generally the soil is of an excellent quality, being either deep rich loam, good clay, and gravel mixed with loamy earth or "the soil lies on rotten rock;" while some parts are cold, poor clay, and very wet.
Most of the county is arable, enclosed, and sheltered with ornamental woods, or thick strips of trees. To these we may add, that the range of the barometer is often both great and rapid; the average being thirty inches. The winds are to a high degree variable, both in force and direction. Unless in the spring and early summer months, when easterly winds prevail, they are usually westerly. Fogs, and drizzly rains, are "few and far between;" and though it is frequently cloudy, wet, and cold, it is not more so than other counties in Scotland. Indeed, in some respects, it is more pleasant than the western districts, and more fertile than the northern.
Every modern improvement in agriculture has been adopted in Fife; and the high state of cultivation over the whole county is a proof of the skill, industry, and enterprise of the farmers. The last sixty years have produced a great change in agriculture. Capital, intelligence, and energy have been brought to bear on it, and have effected the most remarkable improvements. To these must be added steam-navigation and railways, which have greatly facilitated the communication with the London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and other markets. The most important improvements made use of are the introduction of machinery, and the extensive use of drainage, with the use of farm-yard dung, bone-dust, guano, the feeding of swine, and the increased cultivation of turnips. "A great number of pigs have of late been reared; killed and shipped in a fresh state for the London market." Turnips have greatly increased the feeding of sheep. The Fife breed of cattle has for ages been celebrated both for breeding and for dairy ; though, of late, injudicious crossing has injured instead of improving them.
Oats are more cultivated in Fife than any other grain, being better suited to the soil and climate. 34,000 acres of land are annually sown with this kind of grain. Messrs Fullerton tell us that "the cultivation of wheat has kept pace with the improvements in agriculture. More barley is cultivated than formerly, owing to the vast number of distilleries, both here and in Clackmannanshire, which ensure a ready market to the grower." One-twelfth of the arable land is devoted to potato growing every year. The average yield per Scotch acre is six and a half tons of marketable potatoes, besides one-fourth more retained for seed and home consumption. Beans and pease, besides rye grass, and red and white clovers, are cultivated on almost every farm. But the growth of flax is nearly abandoned.
The extent of the farms ranges from 50 to 500 acres. The lands are let on lease, usually for nineteen years. The rents rise from £1 to £5; but in some cases a grain rent is paid, regulated and fixed yearly by the Sheriff. Fife possesses various large Associations for the promotion of improvements in agriculture, farm stock, and other purposes.
In conclusion, no land is suffered to lie idle. Thus, Loch Rossie and Loch Ore have been thoroughly drained, and transmuted into fine farm lands, at an expense of nearly £4000. Such extensive draining over the county has stopped the continual fogs which exhaled from the lochs, marshes, and peat bogs, that injured the crops, and affected the people with agues, and still more malignant diseases. In the dairy department, "the cows, when well fed, yield from ten to fourteen Scots pints of milk daily, during the best of the grass season, and continue long in milk." There are no less than 300 pigeon houses in Fife.
The above summary of the present state of agriculture has been drawn from the talented works of Fullerton and Dawson; and from the results of the author's personal observations.
MANUFACTURES
The low condition of manufactures in the early state of trade, was owing to the same causes which depressed agriculture, as we learn from Froissart; on which account Fife was seldom left to settle down in the cultivation of the arts of peace. The first impulse given to trade was making the inhabitants of towns freemen, and protecting them by charters and privileges.
A coarse woollen fabric was manufactured in the reign of David I., who encouraged the growth of flax, the manufacture of leather, and salt works; goldsmiths, armourers, and dyers, in the towns; and smiths, tanners, and shoemakers in the villages. Windmills were universally introduced in the reign of Alexander II. Malt kilns and breweries were found in every village, in the reign of David I. The prices of the work of all tradesmen were regulated by the magistrates, in the reign of James IV., in consequence of the extortions practised by artisans in their dealings with their customers. Bishop Fleetwood, (in his Chronicon Pretiosum,) states that in the reign of Edward III., the wages of the labourer was one penny a day. A master carpenter was limited through the whole year to threepence a day; and a common carpenter to twopence.
Fife has long been celebrated for its linen manufacture. The degree of its importance will be best seen by consulting the articles on DUNFERMLINE, KIRKCALDY, CUPAR, and NEWBURGH. The number of the looms in Dunfermline been doubled since 1828. Much of the goods made in this city is exported to the United States. The heavy work, as sailcloth, broad-sheeting, floor-cloth, and bagging, is mostly done in Kirkcaldy. The cotton manufacture, which is not extensive, is principally carried on at Kinross, by private workmen, who work for Glasgow houses.
We find, by a reference to the returns made by Mr James Stuart, factory-inspector, that many of the weavers work on their own account to the capitalist, from whom they receive the material, and who pay them on receiving a given quantity of finished cloth. Most of the hand-loom weavers have their own looms, or hire them, keeping them in their own cottages; performing the weaving themselves, assisted by their wives and children.
Fife has forty-seven flax-mills, and one woollen mill; while Clackmannanshire has twenty-four woollen mills. In these factories no children under nine years of age are employed.
Chambers, in his Gazetteer, tells us that "some of the greatest improvements in the art of bleaching and weaving have been the discovery of natives of Fife. In 1778 the fly shuttle was introduced by Mr John Wilson of Dunfermline." To the very ingenious and scientific bleacher, Mr Gavin Inglis of Strathendry, we owe the art of bleaching yarns before weaving.
To the following remark of Mr Dawson I can bear ample testimony:- "In the weaving of linens, whole towns, villages and hamlets, are busily employed without intermission."
Besides the iron trade, which is extensive, there are several paper-mills, brick, tile, earthenware, and china works; making of machinery; tanning of leather; ship-building; coach-building; salt-works; chemical works; breweries; and the distillation of spirits, which Fullerton says produced in 1847 605,149 proof gallons for Fife.
COMMERCE
The civil or religious struggles of former ages greatly retarded commerce, as we learn from Froissart, Pinkerton, and others. It seems to have first dawned during the reign of Macbeth, as we find that the kingdom had then acquired some degree of wealth; this was improved in the reign of Malcolm III., who imported rich dress for himself and his nobles.
The clergy of these times engaged largely in commerce; the higher dignitaries had their ships; thus James Kennedy, bishop of St Andrews, built a great ship called the St Salvator. They were also the bankers of the period; indeed, much of their lands came by money advanced to the proprietors in their necessities. It was not till the reign of James III. that Fife, at least for a time, enjoyed the advantage of peace with England. In his reign, that is, in 1487, the royal burghs in Scotland formed, as it were, a commercial parliament, which met for a long time at Inverkeithing, and then at Edinburgh once a year, under the name of a Convention, consisting of a representative from each burgh, to consult upon the common good of the whole. Their powers were extensive. The whole staple trade was subjected to their management. This singular institution is still in force; and exercises a very beneficial influence on commerce. In the reign of James IV., various laws were made to protect the public from extortions practised by merchants. Thus, "drapers were prohibited from drawing and extending the cloth, and so weakening it." Though the exclusive privileges of trade and commerce granted to royal burghs were given for the purpose of encouragement, their ultimate effects were most injurious. Monopoly in any of the departments of trade, arts, or science, gives the death-blow to all advancement. Dunbar represents many of the merchants in the reign of James IV., as being rich; while Pinkerton distinctly states that a merchant was considered wealthy who had £100. Certain it is, that all tradesmen, farmers, and their servants were very poor.
I may here remark, on the authority of Dunbar, that the first "blackamoor" woman, as he calls her, ever seen in Scotland, was brought home by John Barton, a Leith merchant, in 1545, and was an object of wonder and amazement to all.
To return to James IV., he was the first Scottish monarch who patronised navigation, which had hitherto been much neglected, though he carried his ideas to a romantic extreme, as we have already seen, and will find again shortly.
Fordun ascribes the prosperity of Scottish commerce to David I. He says that this monarch changed the coarse stuffs of his own land for the precious vestments of foreign nations, "and covered its ancient nakedness with purple and fine linen." In looking, however, deeper than the surface, we shall find that it was not to royalty that Scotland owed its early prosperity, but to the settlement of Flemish and Saxon merchants in the country. The Flemings "brought with them a knowledge of trade and manufacture," with industry and application, which till then were unknown to our Celtic inhabitants. Was the first provost of St Andrews not a Fleming?
The establishment of regular posts from London to Scotland and Ireland, in 1635, favoured commerce. It could not be otherwise when the mail, in 1740, went only three times a week between London and Edinburgh, "and on one occasion the London office sent only a single letter!"
With many other measures that were from time to time adopted, none had more influence than the erection of the British Linen Company, in 1746; and the incorporation of the British Herring Fishery, in 1749. Fullerton states that in the fishery department, we find that, with the exception of Peterhead, Wick, and Helmsdale, Fife cures more barrels of white herrings than any other county in Scotland; and that, since 1800, the shipping has increased one-third; and the tonnage, with the number of men employed, has been nearly doubled.
Steam navigation, since its experimental introduction in 1812, has so prodigiously increased to form a new feature in commercial enterprise. And when to it is added railway communication, with the aid of the electric telegraph, we feel at a loss to predict the future progress of commerce, or its mighty influence on society. So that what has been denied by the Government and other interested parties, has been effectually promoted by other irresistible agencies.
To revert to steam navigation. It should be known that the first application of steam is due to Mr James Taylor, who connected a steam-engine, constructed by Mr William Symington, to a boat, and tried it on the lake of Dalswinton, in Dumfriesshire, in 1788. The vessel moved at the rate of five miles an hour. All this was duly noticed in the Dumfries Journal for October, as also in the Scots Magazine of the following November. Mr Fulton launched his first boat on the Hudson, in America, in 1807; and Mr Bell set the Comet, of three horse power, a-going on the Clyde in 1812. [Chambers' Pocket Miscellany, vol. vii.] Again, Monteith says:- "In the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, is preserved a copy of a publication, circulated in 1753, noticing the usefulness of vessels impelled by wheels or paddles." This proposal was treated with neglect; and it was reserved for Mr Taylor, without any knowledge of the work alluded to, to fix the public attention on the plan. And Dr Darwin, in his "Botanic Garden," nearly a hundred years ago, predicted the application of steam to navigation, and to railways, as the following lines prove:-
"Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam! afar,
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;
Or on wide waving wings expanded bear
The flying chariot through the fields of air."
Till within the last hundred years, the roads in Fife, as everywhere else, were nearly inaccessible to wheeled vehicles. These have now undergone so great a change, that both turnpike and subordinate roads are to be found ramified through every part of the county. And when to these are added the extensive railway communication which we now possess, we are left in astonishment as to how trade was carried on by our ancestors. We have here another application of steam. Indeed, its uses are so endless that we dare not attempt an enumeration of them, so true is it that we "put a hook in the nose of the leviathan; play with him as with a child, and take him for a servant for ever;" thus we subdue nature, and derive aid from the elements of earthquakes. The steam-engine is brought to such perfection, that Parkes, in his Chemical Catechism, says, that "one bushel of coals will raise 6000 hogsheads of water ten feet high, and do the work of ten horses." Do not steam, the electric telegraph, gas-light, machinery, and the wonderful powers of chemistry, realize Franklin's extraordinary expression that "mind will become omnipotent over matter"?
ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS
"The Celtic people of Scotland erected no royal burghs; and we have no evidence of any earlier than the reign of David I. or Malcolm IV." [Fullerton.]
In the civil and military government of the country the Sovereign is now represented by a Lord-Lieutenant and Deputy-Lieutenants. By an Act of Parliament, in 1747, heritable jurisdictions were abolished, and the office of Sheriff vested in the Crown.
There are thirteen burghs:- Cupar, St Andrews, East and West Anstruther, Pittenweem, Kilrenny, Crail, Kirkcaldy, Dysart, Kinghorn, Burntisland, Dunfermline, and Inverkeithing.
Before the Reform Bill passed, Fife had other five royal burghs, but because they had never exercised their privilege, it has not by the Act been restored to any of them. These burghs were Auchtermuchty, Newburgh, Earlsferry, St Monance.
The bailies of the burghs-of-barony possess a very limited civil jurisdiction within the barony. They have the power of punishing assaults, batteries, and such-like crimes; while the power of magistrates of royal burghs is much the same as that of the judge-ordinary of the shire. [Fullerton.]
Courts are held at Cupar, Auchtermuchty, St Andrews, Anstruther, Colinsburgh, Kirkcaldy, and Dunfermline. The sheriff-depute is judge-ordinary of the county, and has two substitutes; one of these resides at Cupar, and the other at Dunfermline.
Before the Union, in 1707, Fife sent four Members to the Scottish Parliament. It is now represented by one member. The present constituency, since the Reform Bill, is 2856. The polling places are Cupar, St Andrews, Crail, Auchtermuchty, Kirkcaldy, and Dunfermline.
CONSTITUTION
We shall find under the head of EARLY HISTORY that the aborigines of Scotland had no form of government. In the early part of the feudal age, the small barons were amenable to the higher barons, who, with the nobility and high clergy, formed themselves into a Parliament. This legislative body gave limits to the King's prerogative, by which he could not declare war, make peace, or conduct any important business of diplomacy or government, without its concurrence. Its members were hereditary. Their power was kept in check by the common barons, or landholders; and these checked in turn by their vassals. The power of the King rested in his influence with the common barons, the burgesses, and lower ranks, who sought his protection in consequence of the abuse of power by the lords and higher barons. While the King had sufficient address to retain the affections of the people, he was able to humble the dominant confederacy of the higher powers; though, when he did not, his life lay at the mercy of all parties. [Robertson, Tytler, Fullerton, and Guthrie.]
With such turbulent elements, few men were able to wield the sceptre with pleasure to themselves or profit to the nation. Malcolm and Bruce were, indeed, exceptions. With them the nobility were either overawed by their power or held in subjection by their valour, the clergy rendered favourable by grants of land and other gifts, while all other classes were attached by the equal distribution of justice. The kings, aided by the clergy, who were jealous of the power of the nobility, eventually succeeded in diminishing the aristocratical power of Parliament. A new legislative form was established, to which the burgesses were added, called "the Lords of the Articles." Yet these were far from being wholly subservient to the Crown, the fate of Charles I. and the abdication of James VII. at subsequent periods sufficiently attest.
The government frequently composed of such turbulent and opposite materials that, to borrow the language of Plutarch, they were "like a ship with too many sails, exposed to the gusts of folly, tumult, and disorder;" but which, in process of time, was provided with the two anchors of the Peers and Commons. Till then their government exhibited the most odious scenes of that caprice, cruelty, and corruption, which universally prevail under despotism. The defenceless were delivered over to rapacious and unprincipled governors, who plundered them without mercy. They seemed not to know that "wanting virtue, life is pain and woe; that wanting liberty, even virtue mourns, and looks around for happiness in vain." They forgot that the strongest bulwark of nation is justice, moderation, and integrity.
CRIME AND LAW
Fullerton, Tytler, and Blackstone, tell us that before the introduction of Christianity there was no action so criminal as not to be compensated for by money, which by the Saxons was called Guilt; and thence the word guilty in criminal trials. Pardon was purchased even for murder, however atrocious the criminal, or noble the victim had been, by paying a mulct imposed upon the malefactor. Formerly every criminal could shelter himself from the law on assuming a nobleman's livery and attending his person. Such barbarous usages ceased after the spread of Christianity; and cases of felony and murder were then tried by a jury.
I find a jury trial, however, till within a recent period, was frequently more nominal than real, - indeed, a mockery on society. The bribery, the corruption, or infamous intimidation made use of, was too appalling to be detailed. Witness the celebrated case of Sir Matthew Hale and the miller; the political trials of Watt, Palmer, Skirving, and others, during the time of "the friends of the people;" and those during the last French war. These disgraceful abuses were only first put a stop to by that friend of liberty and of justice, the late Lord Erskine, the pride and the boast of Clackmannanshire. Nay, the power of a petty justice of the peace, or of an ignorant magistrate, to imprison a gentleman for two years, and then have the assurance to set him at liberty, without a trial, or even a precognition of the case, as the late Mr Francis Horner, advocate, states in one of his letters to Lord Murray, too clearly proves that there "was something very rotten in the state of Denmark."
How different was this state of society to that during the reign of Alfred of England, who was inexorable against his corrupt judges, whom he used to hang up in the public highways, as a terror to evil-doers.
In old times, all the freeholders met together in the presence of the king, or judge, on the top of a hillock, called the Moat-hill; where all national affairs were transacted, judgments given, and differences ended.
The laws were regulated by the Scotch Regium Majestatem, the oldest law-book; and from which the work of Glanville, who was a judge under Henry II. of England, was copied. [Fullerton.]
Their laws were frequently like the code of Draco, "whose laws were written with blood, and not with ink." Death was the indiscriminate punishment of every offence. And down to a comparatively recent period, we find that the sanguinary enactments of Queen Elizabeth and of "Bloody Queen Mary" were a disgrace to the name of Christianity. Nay, till within the last twenty years, the laws were more befitting the atmosphere of Morocco, than the boasted civilization of the British empire. They wanted the wisdom, the virtue, and the amiable manners of Solon or of Lycurgus, who lived 884 years before Christ. They had all the severity, without the wisdom, of the Spartans.
How different the law is now, to that before the Revolution, when the Privy Council of Scotland had inquisitorial powers, even that of torture. They were in the habit of burying alive the victims of their barbarity. In cases of sacrilege they flayed the culprit alive. This has more than once been disputed; but mark the following proof:- "There existed in this country certain traditions, that persons who had committed sacrilege were flayed alive, and their skins nailed to the doors of the churches they had robbed." Three portions of such skin, taken from different counties, were in 1848 submitted to the powers of the microscope, and clearly proved to be human, from the structure of the few remaining hairs; thus confirming a tradition of centuries past. [Lancet; and Monthly Journal of Medical Science for 1848]
Beheading was performed in Scotland by an instrument called the Maiden, which resembled the French guillotine; the model of which was brought from Halifax in England, to Scotland, by the Regent Morton; where it was first used for the execution of himself; and by which the Marquess of Argyle, Sir Robert Spottiswood, and many other great nobles, were beheaded. Guthrie says, "this curious implement of destruction is still to be found in a small armoury at Aberdeen;" and Black says it is now preserved in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries, in Edinburgh.
In former ages, innocence itself was frequently made the victim of tyranny. Thus were Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, and Henry Balnaves of Halhill, although innocent of the murder of Cardinal Beaton, forced to seek refuge in the castle of St Andrews.
The first sheriff of Fife was David de Wemyss, in the reign of William I., about the year 1195.
Mr Hill, the commissioner for inspecting prisons in Scotland, says:- "There is but little crime at present in Fifeshire, and much less than formerly. The most common offences at this time are assaults, and other disturbances of the peace, and petty thefts." "It is observed, that there are but few regular farm-servants among the offenders."
EDUCATION
So early as 1173, the clergy had schools in all the principal towns, in which grammar and logic were taught. These were under the direction of the monks of Dunfermline and St Andrews. In the First Book of Discipline, drawn up in 1561, we find parish schoolmasters mentioned.
It says:- "We judge, that in every parish there should be a school-master; such an one as is able to teach the grammar and the Latin tongue, where the town is of any reputation." In principal towns, academies were to be found; and Universities were recognised, as St Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. We distinctly see in this scheme of education, the first system of parochial schools.
Education divides itself into the parochial and private school systems. No branch of knowledge has been more neglected in Great Britain than education; and if its society be better educated than that of other nations, it is due to private and personal exertion made in adult age; for every secret means have been used by those in power and influence to withhold the source of all learning. So long as the parochial system is open to corruption, to patronage, and to the arbitrary power of interested parties, we shall continue to have ignorant or indolent men; or talented teachers who are the servile tools of a party. Private schools are still more defective. Being under no control, the most illiterate person can arrogate the power of being a public instructor. In both cases, the cause lies in the teacher being paid less than a labouring man; and in the want of a Board of Supervision. That there are many honourable exceptions to the above remarks, is admitted; but as a general principle, they will be found to hold true.
As to having a National Education, we seem to think ourselves above taking a lesson from Prussia, Austria, or France; though the system of any of them is very far above our own. Let us see what Dr Guthrie says on education. In the United States one in every six attends the school. In Prussia there is one in six; Saxony, one in six; Switzerland, one in six; Baden, one in six; Denmark, one in six. This assures us that every child in the country is educated. In Holland, nearly the same prevails; in Austria, it is one in nine; in Belgium, one in ten; in France, one in ten. "When I go to Scotland - O! I am ashamed of my country." "There is only one in eleven of the population of Scotland attending school." In Ireland, England, and Wales, there is but one in twelve of the population attending school. [The Witness, February, 1853]
From the tables of criminal offenders in 1849, reported by her Majesty's Advocate for Scotland, we learn that there were 134 offenders; "of these seven could neither read nor write, and 105 could only read, or read and write imperfectly." Leaving only 22 who could both read and write well.
The only efficient schoolmaster in the nation is the omnipotent British newspaper press, which reaches the hovel as well as the palace. Our school education is by much too superficial. Pope says:-
"A little learning is a dangerous thing,
Drink deep or not at all of that fatal spring;
For tasting it intoxicates the brain,
But drinking largely sobers it again."
Besides, though intellectual improvement be on the advance with the working class, it is too much in the current of light reading: the flowers of fiction, which win the heart by captivating the ear, are too frequently purchased at the expense of the gems of truth. The ignorant mind is thus dazzled by the beauties of figurative language,
"Or of the forms which fancy doth enrol."
Mr Dawson says:- "There are 61 parishes; and in 1837, at forty-nine parish schools, there was an attendance of 3571 scholars; and at 130 non-parochial schools, an attendance of 8715.
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE
In the primitive ages, man was too rude to write, too restless to study. When a bard was found, "as a moon among the lesser stars," he was permitted to speak of them to posterity, to transmit the genealogy of their kings, of the names and personal nobleness of their chieftains, and such other elements of their fame. It was not till long after the last crusade, in the thirteenth century, that learning dawned on the land; though the rise of literature can only be dated from the Reformation.
This need not startle us, when we consider that paper was not in use till the year 1000; and its manufacture in England, at Dartford, was not introduced till 1588; and that it was not till 1430 that Laurentius of Haarlem, by his invention of the art of printing, and its introduction into England by William Caxton, in 1474, that we got rid of the Gothic ignorance which overspread the world; and introduced learning, civilization, and refinement, the arts and sciences. Thus with the Reformation, the 15th and 16th centuries were certainly distinguished as the first era of modern history.
During the latter part of the ninth century, Alfred the Great of England endeavoured to dispel this darkness, and give his subjects a short glimpse of light. But the ignorance of the age was too powerful for his efforts and institutions. The darkness returned, and even increased. Persons of the highest rank, and in the most eminent stations, could not read or write, till the 15th century. The human mind, neglected, uncultivated, and depressed, sank into the most profound ignorance.
It is somewhat surprising that learning was, at the time of Henry IV., in a much lower state in England, and all over Europe, than it had been 200 years before. Bishops, when testifying synodal acts, were often forced to do it by proxy, in the following terms, viz.: "As I cannot read myself, N. N. hath subscribed for me" or, "As my Lord Bishop cannot write himself, at his request I have subscribed." [Guthrie.]
As might be expected, till the 15th century, Scotland exhibited a picture of most melancholy Gothic barbarity. Literature, science, and taste, were words scarcely in use during those ages. Nevertheless, Scotland could boast of some few great men. The writings of Adamnanus, and other authors who lived before and at the time of the Norman invasion, which are still extant, are specimens of early Scotch learning.
Guthrie tells us, that "Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, most unquestionably held a correspondence by letters with the kings of Scotland, with whom he entered into a league; and employed Scots in planning, settling, and ruling his favourite Universities, and other seminaries of learning, in France, Italy, and Germany. It is an undoubted truth, though a seemingly paradoxical fact, that Barbour, a Scottish poet, philosopher, and historian, though prior in time to Chaucer, having flourished in the year 1368, wrote, according to the modern ideas, as pure English as that bard; and his versification is perhaps more harmonious.
The destruction of the Scottish monuments of learning and antiquity has rendered their early annals lame, and often fabulous; but the Latin style of Buchanan's history is equal in classical purity to that of any modern productions. The letters of the Scottish kings to the neighbouring princes are incomparably the finest compositions of the times in which they were written, and free from the barbarisms of those sent them in answer. This has been considered as a proof that classical learning was more cultivated at the court of Scotland than at any other in Europe."
At the death of David II., that is about 1371, learning was entirely confined to the clergy. Indeed, down to the accession of the Stewarts to the throne, not a single baron could sign his name. About 1490, a constellation of the first order appeared in the person of Sir Michael Scott of Balwearie, a native of Fife, and who will be taken due notice of under ABBOTSHALL. Sir David Lindsay of the Mount flourished during the reign of James V., and for learning and literature bears the palm from all those of his day. Boece, in his account of the Universities in his time, makes no mention of the Greek language being studied. It was first introduced into Scotland in 1534. In proof of which, "the celebrated Andrew Melvill surprised his teachers, when he entered the University of St Andrews in 1559, by reading Aristotle in the original, which they themselves did not understand."
Leaping over the gulf of time, and passing over the masterly works on metaphysics by Hutcheson, Reid, and Dugald Stewart, we find the first great litterateur that Stretched forth his talismanic wand to civilize and conquer, "that poured its own young blood into the nineteenth century, and rushing over Europe, found a home in every heart, wielding an influence not less beneficent than supreme," was Sir Walter Scott.
On perusing the present work, it will be found that Fife has produced its full proportion of eminent men in all the branches of literature, science, and arts. While some have awakened the most pious feelings, others have instructed, enlightened, or amused. Besides those above adverted to, I have only space to mention the names of Lord Erskine; Adam Smith; Sir William Bruce of Kinross, the celebrated architect, who re-constructed Holyrood Palace, in 1672; Sir Andrew Balfour, to whom Edinburgh owes the origin of its museum; Sir R. Sibbald, who wrote the History of Fife; and Wilkie, the celebrated painter.
RELIGION
The religion of the aboriginal inhabitants of Scotland was that of the Druids, as to the origin and history of whom we are left much in the dark. Eusebius, Winton, and Bishop Barclay, concur in stating that their priests were the first and most distinguished order in the land, being chosen out of the best families. Besides theology, they were versed in astronomy, geometry, philosophy, politics and geography. They were the supreme judges in all causes, whether ecclesiastical or civil. They were governed by an Archdruid. Besides being under the sway of the old men of the tribe, they were under that of the priesthood of Druidism. Their temples were of the most simple construction, as will be found by referring to the "Standing Stanes of Lundin," at Largo. Barclay says their creed is not well ascertained, "though it is by all that they held the immortality of the soul, and its transmigration; that nothing could appease the gods more powerfully than human sacrifices; and that there was one supreme Deity, who presided over all others." Let not the reader ridicule the Druids in the use of burnt sacrifices, and boast of his own enlightened mind. These rites had the sanction of Moses - yes, and of Job, long before his period. Nor has he room to smile at transmigration : the pure Jews believe in it to this hour; and what is more, all but the Christian world have believed in the doctrine since the creation of the world.
The oldest Christian author after the Apostles was Justin, of Samaria, who died 167 years after Christ. Eusebius, the ecclesiastical historian and chronologer, in 330 after Christ; Bede, in 725, and other ancient writers, positively assert that Christianity was first preached in Britain, in the year 63, by the Apostles and their disciples, who fled to this northern country to avoid the persecution of Domitian, the Roman emperor; and it is reasonable to suppose that the success of the Romans opened a way for the triumphs of the Gospel of Peace, as many of the soldiers and officers of the Roman armies were Christians. And according to Archbishop Usher, a great number of persons professed the Christian faith in Britain, so early as the year 182. And agreeable to the testimony of Fullerton, Winton, and others, it further became the established religion under the management of certain learned and pious men named Culdees, the star of whose fame was St Columba, a descendant by his father from the King of Ireland, and by his mother from the King of Scotland. According to Bede, he left Ireland in 565, and landed his currach, or "boat of hide and timber," at Port-na-Currach, "the bay of the boat," in Iona, a small Hebridean island, separated from Mull by a narrow channel. It contains the ruins of a celebrated abbey and cathedral church of St Mary, founded by St Columba, where 61 kings of Scotland, Ireland, and Norway, were interred, besides the tomb of St Columba, who lies buried here, but uninscribed. "The whole gives countenance to the well-known observation, that, when learning was nearly extinct on the Continent of Europe, it found a refuge in Scotland, or rather in this island." And as Dr Johnson expresses it, "It was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence the savage clans and barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge, and the blessings of religion."
St Columba was accompanied by twelve of his council. He erected a mission establishment on the island, and soon spread his influence over the land, and even over Europe, by which "he diffused over a benighted world the lights of literature, science, and the Christian faith." We are told by Bede, that the doctrine of the Culdees nearly pure. Columba taught his disciples to conform their doctrines to the unpolluted fountain of the Scriptures; that nothing was divine counsel which was not found there; that they only received such things as are contained in the writings of the prophets, evangelists, and apostles; their works of rigid piety and charity were diligent and untiring; they were not tainted with the errors of the Church of Rome; they lived by the labour of their own hands, and not on "wine and walnuts," as too many of the moderns do. As my limits will not permit me to enlarge, I shall only say that the society was the most perfect type of the primitive Christians, and which has certainly not since been equalled. But like all human institutions, it gradually fell into corruption, and at the close of the 7th century, its glory became visibly on the wane, by giving place to a more powerful rival, that of Romanism.
Though David I. seems to have been the first to lay his unhallowed hand on the Culdees, and crush them at St Andrews, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Portmoak, St Serf's Isle, in Loch Leven, and every other establishment, introducing the Roman bishops and other Catholic clergy from England, where he had long resided, he appears to have been entrapped by their pontifical dress and ceremonies, which have indeed caught wiser men in their web of Penelope.
It is from St Columba that Inchcolm, in the Firth of Forth, derives its name. He had the merit of converting Bridei, the Pictish king, to Christianity, about the year 572. One of his apostles, Aidan, "is said to have in seven days baptised 15,000 converts." Dr McCulloch and Dr Johnson concur in stating that the temples of the Culdees must "have been comparatively rude, and probably composed of wicker-work or timber." Indeed, Bede tells us the first church that was erected in Scotland of stone, built by St Ninian, at Whithorn, in Wigtonshire.
Fullerton says that about the year 931, King Athelstan caused the Scriptures to be translated into the Saxon tongue.
It is unnecessary to go over the rise of the Church of Rome. In regard to its fall, John Wickliffe, an Englishman, educated at Oxford, in the latter end of the reign of Edward III., has the honour of being the first person in Europe who publicly called in question and boldly refuted those doctrines which had stood the test of many ages.
The fearful flames of religious persecution were now to be kindled by the supporters of the Catholic faith. John Resby, an English priest, in 1407, though Tytler says it was in 1405, was the first to propagate the doctrines of Wickliffe, and who by his boldness roused the fears of the clergy. He was seized by Lawrence, the abbot of Lindores, imprisoned at St Andrews, condemned, and burnt at Perth. The next person was Paul Crawer, a Bohemian physician, who, undaunted by the fate of Resby, attacked the errors of the Church. He was arraigned before the court of Lawrence, who, though unable to confute him, found no difficulty in adding another victim to the flames. He was accordingly burned at St Andrews, about 1426. We have then the powerful Patrick Hamilton, a youth related to the royal family. I shall here take the liberty of stating that the first Lord Hamilton was married to a daughter of James II. in 1474, who, failing the Brunswick line, is the next Protestant branch of the royal family in succession to the Scottish crown. Yet his influence did not protect him from the flames. Lindsay tells us he was betrayed by Archibald Campbell, a Dominican friar, but who was overtaken by a merited retribution within a year, as he died insane, the result of a tortured conscience. This is not the first instance of retributive justice, as will be found in our article on EARLY HISTORY. Indeed, we must never do evil, and think good will follow it. To these were added Forrest [Forret], the pious Wishart, and the venerable Walter Mill, who were burnt alive, before 1558, by the ferocious Cardinal Beaton and others, under circumstances of peculiar barbarity, as we are informed by Spottiswood.
The march of truth, however, was not to be impeded by such means. Such was the zeal of the martyrs, that they refused not to die for those who killed them. In reference to this subject, Pinkerton says:- "The flames were, in the course of one generation, to enlighten all Scotland, and to consume with avenging fury the Catholic superstition, the papal power, and even prelacy itself."
While light and darkness were unhappily struggling with each other, the state of Scotland was most deplorable. The impious pride, arrogance, and tyranny of the Catholic clergy was such, that with their feet in hell, their head above the clouds, they vainly imagined in their blind security, that their system would stand like a rock amid the waste of ages.
When such men as Henry Wardlaw, bishop of St Andrews; Kennedy, bishop of that see, and Patrick Graham, his uterine brother, prelates of primitive simplicity, whose probity, talents, and experience, were only equalled by their charity, which was munificent, active, and discriminating, are contrasted with Sheviz, Archdeacon of St Andrews; Lawrence, the Abbot of Lindores; Cardinal Beaton; and the Boydes, who were talented, but the most unprincipled of men; who did not scruple to violate the most sacred law, and sacrifice the lives of all who differed from them, - we are presented with the most perfect pictures of virtue and of vice.
Humanity seems to have been absent in England as well as in Scotland. Thus "Bonner whipped one boy to death; and an infant, springing out of the mother's womb from the stake as she burned, was thrown again into the fire."
Henry VIII. of England was so great an enemy of the Reformation, that he wrote a book against Luther, "Of the Seven Sacraments," about the year 1521, for which the Pope gave him the title of Defender of the Faith. But in 1527 he began to have some jesuitical scruple with regard to the validity of his marriage with his brother's widow. His dastardly intention, however, was to marry the famous Ann Boleyn, maid of honour to the Queen. By doing so, he quarrelled with the Pope, joined the Reformation, cut off the head of the Queen in the Tower, and married Jane Seymour for his third wife, who died giving birth to Edward VI. He then married Ann, sister to the duke of Cleves, whom he soon divorced. His fifth wife was Catharine Howard, niece of the duke of Norfolk, whom he beheaded; and ended by marrying Catharine Par, who narrowly escaped being brought to the stake, for having favoured the Reformation. Now, contrast his work, "Of the Seven Sacraments," with his infamous apostacy, with his immorality, and his crimes; and we have a character disgraceful to the name of Christianity, and which, therefore, could reflect no honour on the Reformation. Nay, we can thus understand why "he died in apprehension of futurity." Nevertheless, the power and influence of this fiend of iniquity was useful in rending the cloud that had darkened the Word of God for ages.
It was in 1534, in England, and under James V. of Scotland, that the Reformation made its first great efforts. In 1539, the first English edition of the Bible was authorised; and the present translation was finished in 1611. In 1542, the Scotch Parliament authorised the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and the introduction of Protestant books from England.
In the past struggles for truth, we do not find that the Reformers always mixed mercy with justice; thus by an act of the Convention, all who were present at the celebration of the mass, were to suffer confiscation of goods or bodily pains for the first offence; for the second, banishment from Scotland; and for the third, death; - according to Lindsay. Now, was this the doctrine of Christ, the master they professed to follow? If so, it is not in my Bible.
On the 3d of December 1557, that famous Covenant of the Reformers was drawn up and subscribed by the "Lords of the Congregation," by which the Reformers bound themselves to maintain their cause to the death. I may here remark that this extraordinary document was burnt at Linlithgow, in 1662, by the court parasites, with every mark of indignity. A Convention abolished the Catholic Establishment, and introduced a Confession of Faith, in August, 1560; and the first General Assembly was held in December. The first Book of Discipline was drawn up under the direction of John Knox, in January, 1561.
In 1559, we find John Knox making a preaching tour in Fifeshire; visiting Cupar, Crail, Anstruther, St Andrews, and other places, where his eloquence had its usual effect in pulling down altars, images, cathedrals, and monasteries. To stem the torrent of these excesses, the Archbishop of St Andrews used his influence with the Regent at Falkland, but with what success will be best perceived by referring to the article on CUPAR.
The Protestants proved thorns in the side of the Queen Regent. The perpetual disputes she had with John Knox, and others, gave her great uneasiness. John Knox was personally offensive to Queen Elizabeth of England, owing to his treatise against female government, or the "monstrous regiment of women." The furious sermon he preached against Queen Mary in her presence when she came to Fife, and his repeated rudeness to her, till, amid tears of anguish and indignation, she declared that "he was sovereign and master, and not herself," proves how little he thought of the female sex.
In the reign of Queen Mary, the council fixed the pay of the Protestant clergy at five to fifteen pounds a-year. The smallness of the stipends of the clergy in past times may be known from the fact that the Rev. John Skinner, the well-known correspondent of Robert Burns, and author of the songs, "Tullochgorum," and "The Ewie Wi' the crookit horn," was 64 years minister of the parish of Longside Aberdeenshire; residing in "a small cottage with a butt and ben," at Linshart, and thought himself rich with £40 a year.
In December, 1568, the first Parliament under the regency of Murray met, and fixed the preservation of lay patronages; recognised the right of the Church of Scotland to the tiends, for the support of its clergy; and further enacted, that all teachers of youth should be subjected to the examination of the superintendents and visitors of the church.
The second Book of Discipline was approved of by James VI., in August, 1590.
Before concluding this part, I may remark, on the authority of Chambers, that John Knox died at the age of 67, in November, 1572; and that he was buried "immediately under the present statue of King Charles II.," in the Parliament Square, Edinburgh.
Since the Reformation, the Protestant religion has been divided and sub-divided into almost endless sects. This is the more to be deplored, as every breach is only weakening the Church, and adding to the number of sceptics, already far too numerous. Of such as have left the mother Church, and certainly the most respectable, are the Secession, a body who separated from it more than 100 years since; and the Free Church party, who left the Establishment, and met on the 18th of May, 1843.
EARLY HISTORY
The elements of the history of the aborigines of Scotland are often meagre, obscure, and contradictory. Their history often excites our curiosity without gratifying it; for intermediate spaces of time are not unfrequently left blank, or filled up with dark hints, or with monastic fables. As these causes have opened up a field of boundless and frivolous conjectures, I shall endeavour to avoid the contested parts by following only such authors as are admitted by all to be trustworthy. To do otherwise, would be to fling myself over the precipice into the abyss of speculation, and find myself perishing at in total scepticism.
From the works of Tacitus, Fullerton, and Walsingham, we find that the aborigines of Scotland were clans of the same Gaelic origin as formed the common parent of the British nation. The Gauls, when subdued by Roman ambition, took refuge in Great Britain long before the era of Julius Caesar, who was killed 44 years before Christ. The Scotch portion of them formed twenty-one tribes, collectively called Caledonians, or "the Men of the Woods." The tribe that peopled Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan, were called Horestii up to the period of the Roman invasion in the year 83 of the Christian era; indeed, they retained their name till the year 297, when the orator Eumenius, in an oration before the Emperor, called them for the first time the Picts.
The aboriginal inhabitants had no towns within the present bounds of Fife. The county, with the lower portion of Perthshire and Angus, formed the greatest portion of their territory. Their first capital was Forteviot in Strathearn; and their last at Abernethy on the borders of Fife. They had, however, a considerable number of hill-forts. One of great strength on Dunearn hill, but which soon yielded to the art of the Romans; also upon Carneil hill, near Carnock; one on Craigluscar hill, one and a half miles north from Carnock; one on Saline hill, three miles north-west of it; one at the north part of the parish of Strathmiglo; one on the hills near Newburgh; and many others.
We find by the concurring testimony of Julius Caesar, Dio, and Tacitus, that the Horestii were little advanced beyond the state of rude savages. Yet, however paradoxical it may appear, they were brave, alert, and acquainted with various arts; remarkable for enduring fatigue, cold, and famine. Their arms were helmets, shields, spears, daggers, swords, battle-axes, and bows. They lived in miserable hovels; in a state of almost entire nudity, and painted their naked bodies. They did not cultivate the ground, but lived upon what they captured from their enemies, got by hunting, the milk of their flocks, or the fruits they found upon trees. They possessed wives and reared their children in common; and practised a system of mutual plunder and professional robbery. To all this, Herodian, so late the third century, agrees.
As regards their morality in marriage, they were not worse than the English at the period in question; thus Guthrie says:- "who formed themselves into matrimonial clubs. Twelve or fourteen men married many wives, and each wife in common to them all; but her children belonged to the original husband." But the most revolting part of their history has yet to be told; that is, the existence of cannibalism. "St Jerome says that some of the inhabitants of Britain were cannibals. In the reign of Henry I., in 1115, the Scots killed and ate a number of English, at Galloway." This practice, indeed, seems to have been common over Europe. Louis XI., king of France, drank the blood of children for the benefit of his health. The populace of Paris devoured the mutilated remains of the celebrated but unfortunate Marechal d' Ancre; and the same class of people at the Hague ate the heart of their great countryman, De Witt. Need we feel surprised at all this, when such men Diogenes, Chrysippus, Zeno, and all the Stoics, contended it was very reasonable for men to eat each other. And when we are told by Livy, "that Hannibal, in order to increase the hardihood and ferocity of his soldiers, used occasionally to have them fed on human flesh." [Truman on Food; and Month. Journ. of Med. Science, vol. iii.]
Again, Lindsay of Pitscottie tells us that in the 14th century, there lived in the parish of St. Vigeans, Forfarshire, a cannibal and his family, who occupied a dismal cavern, and allured young men and children to his haunt and there devoured them. They were all "burned quick" for this crime. And Mr Dawson states, that in the reign of James I., in 1420, in the parish of Garvock, Kincardineshire, there was a sheriff, called Melville, who had offended the neighbouring lairds. They decoyed Melville to a wood, where they had a large kettle of boiling water. They threw him into it, boiled his body; and each swallowed a spoonful of the soup.
To return from this long, but useful digression, - Caesar and Lucan state that the Horestii burned their dead; and that their vessels for navigating the lakes, and even the seas, consisted of canoes and currachs. The canoe was the stock of a single tree, hollowed out with fire, and put in motion by a paddle. The currach was a little ship, made of wicker-work covered with leather, and had a keel, with masts of the lightest wood. It was provided with sails and oars, and with accommodation for passengers. In this roomy though fragile vessel, the Horestii pushed boldly out into the North Sea, exposed during fourteen days, and frequently much more, in perfect safety. To the moderns, such navigation must seem surprising; more especially in the absence of the mariner's compass, which was not known till the Crusaders introduced it during the twelfth century, and till improved by Flavio Gioja, of Naples, in 1320; and ignorant as they were of maps and sea charts, which were not brought to these lands, till introduced by Bartholomew Columbus, in 1489.
To return to the Picts, Fullerton says that they were a colony from the south of Norway, that settled shortly before the Roman invasion; who, in self-defence, joined the Horestii, and thus became sufficiently powerful to annoy and check Agricola in his progress.
In the year 83 of the Christian era, Agricola and his Roman army crossed the South and North Queen's Ferry; one division marched to Carnock, while the other pushed on to Loch Orr, two miles from Loch Leven, "where a furious engagement took place, in which the Horestii, notwithstanding their bravery, were ultimately repulsed, and obliged to retreat:" and by which battle, from the pages of Tacitus, they appear to have been kept in check. The Fife army were under Galdus, a Caledonian king, who, according to Scottish historians, was the twenty-first in a lineal descent from Fergus I., the founder of their monarchy. He was entitled to all the praise Tacitus has bestowed upon him.
In the year 85, Agricola sailed round Britain, and discovered it to be an island. After which, he was recalled to Rome, in the same year, by the Emperor Domitian, who was envious of the fame he had thus acquired.
A war with the Germans in the year 170 caused the Emperor Aurelian to withdraw the division of his army from the whole of Caledonia north of the wall. Thus were the Horestii, who, though kept in check, had never been entirely subdued, now freed from the power of Rome. During nearly a century the Caledonians remained comparatively quiet. But while the English were advancing in arts and civilization under the Roman culture, it does not appear that the Horestii and other northern tribes had advanced beyond their original rude state.
In the reverses of the Fife men, it was more from the superiority of their discipline, than their courage, that the Romans gained any advantage over them.
The Pictish period continued up to the Roman abdication in 446; during which period there was a succession of forty kings, whose lives were generally as short as they were uncertain. The Picts were first under the sway of a king, named Drust, the son of Erp. During the many civil broils and foreign invasions, the Irish were privately invading the Highland coasts, and formed settlements in the year 360, being the first time the Scots are noticed in history.
We have the testimony of the venerable Bede and many others, that the Scots were Irish, who transferred their name, by which they were known in the middle ages, to Caledonia when they settled in it. After the middle ages, all who remained in their own land assumed the name of Irish, for reasons upon which it would be out of place hereto enter. If stronger proof be required, ancient history states that the Palladium of Scotland, after it came from Ireland, and before it was removed to Scone by Kenneth, was kept at Dunstaffnage Castle, three miles from the island of Lismore, or three miles north of the town of Oban. Mr Dawson says:- "From whence the celebrated stone on which the Scottish monarchs used to be crowned was transported to Scone, whence it was removed to England by Edward I., and is now deposited beneath the coronation chair, in the chapel of Edward the Confessor, in Westminster Abbey." Dunstaffnage Castle was originally the seat of royalty during the early ages of the Caledonian dynasty. Anderson, in his Guide, says:- "It is four storeys high, but with the exception of the vaulted dungeon, which is still entire, the building is now a mere shell." Again, Anderson further says, that Cairbre Ruadh, or red-haired Cairbre, son of Conan II., king of Ireland, headed the colony of Scots who migrated from Ireland in the 3d century, and by slaying Oscar, the son of Ossian, became undisputed possessor of the coast of Kintyre, in Argyleshire. They were driven back to Ireland; but the Scots returned in the 5th century, under Fergus and others, sons of Erc. Erca, a daughter of one of them, called Lorn, was the grandmother of St. Colomba. In the ninth century, Kenneth extended his dominions by the conquest of the Picts, who had previously been much weakened by successive wars with the Saxons, Britons, and Norwegians. The last murderous conflict between the Norwegians and the Pictish king Uen, in 839, we are told by Fordun and Buchanan, hastened the downfall of the Pictish monarchy, who were now unable to resist the arms of Kenneth II., the Scottish king, and thug enabled him in the year 843 to carry into effect a project he had long entertained, of placing both crowns on his head.
Long before the time of Kenneth II., however, every engagement only warmed the natives with resentment against their opponents. Great bodies of armed Scots landed, like regular colonies, and like a torrent continually increasing, rolled on, and swept everything before them. Wherever they marched, their route was marked with blood. They ravaged or destroyed all around them. They made no distinction between what was sacred and what was profane.
Like the Scots, the Saxons were continually making aggressions, and which did not end till the first royal connection of Scottish blood with the Saxon kings of England, by Malcolm III. marrying Margaret, sister of Edgar Ætheling, in 1068.
At the Roman abdication, the Picts and Scots, as appears by Gildas and Walsingham, two British historians, were a powerful nation, able to invade England, forcing the Roman walls, and driving the Britons to the very sea; which the two famous letters, in 422 and 446, for relief, called "their groans," will sufficiently attest.
In the Celtic age, that is, before the Saxon time, the county of Fife was governed by a chief, under the title of Maormor; but which in process of time gave place to the Saxon title of Earl. The first one we read of was Macduff, who was created Earl of Fife by Malcolm Canmore. The Earls of Fife were entitled to place the King of Scotland on the inaugural stone, and to lead the van of the king's army into battle. Their power and influence was such, that in 1286, Duncan, Earl of Fife, the son of Colbanus, was appointed regent to govern the kingdom.
In imitation of the Saxon divisions of land, the term shire was subsequently introduced, that is, in the 11th century.
The Scoto-Saxon period extended from 1097 to 1306, when Robert Bruce ascended the throne. This new dynasty introduced a new people, a new language, and new customs; a new jurisprudence, and new ecclesiastical establishments; nay, new forms of government, new names of men and counties, and even new dresses, were everywhere introduced. Thus, a complete revolution took place. Time alone was to tell its effects on society.
Chalmers, in his "Caledonia," gives an interesting list of the Saxon, Norman, and Flemish colonists in Fife, who fled from the fury of William the Conqueror, and found an asylum under Malcolm Canmore. These introduced their own peculiar manners, customs, and language. The Celtic inhabitants would soon intermingle with the intruders, by which their language would cease to be spoken.
During all the above dynastic changes, Fife seems to have had its full share of the disastrous effects of foreign and English invasion; and to have felt on more than one occasion the calamity of civil war. The following summary of the most prominent may be interesting to the un-informed reader, by giving a connected view of them.
In the year 83 of the Christian era, Agricola entered Fife. A great battle was fought near Merlsford, on the Eden, between the Romans and the Caledonians, about the year 85. There was a domestic conflict of the Picts, at Lindores, in 621, under Cineoch the son of Luthrin. The Danes made a descent upon Fife, at Crail, in 874, and in 881. During the reign of Duncan, in 1033, Sueno, king of Norway, fought at Kinghorn. After many engagements, the Danes were effectually driven out of Scotland, in 1040. William, king of Scotland, was taken prisoner by Henry II. of England, in 1174, and to deliver himself from captivity, was obliged to pay liege homage to Henry; as also all the Scotch nobility. In 1298, we find Edward of England marching to the forest of Black-Earnside, near Lindores, where he was attacked by Wallace, and defeated. Immediately after the battle of Falkirk, Edward delivered over St Andrews to the flames. In 1303, his savage ferocity destroyed the monastery of Dunfermline. In 1317, he landed his troops at Donnybristle, near Inverkeithing, where the Bishop of Dunkeld turned the battle. In 1327, during the invasion of England by Randolph, the Earl of Pembroke landed in Fife, and stormed the castle of Leuchars. In 1336, we find Edward wasting the country wherever he went, but he met with a spirited resistance from Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell, who was chosen Regent at a parliament held at Dunfermline. In 1386, the Earl of Fife, with the Earl of Douglas and others, invaded Cockermouth and Westmoreland, plundered these rich districts, and returned with great booty. In 1388, the Earl of Fife, with 30,000 men, invaded England; and advanced upon Carlisle, burnt and plundered with merciless fury, and returned with much spoil. In 1480, the Frith of Forth was visited by a squadron of English ships, but which were bravely attacked and repulsed by Andrew Wood, a great naval commander; and for whose services James III. granted to him and his heirs the lands and village of Largo. In 1526, the Douglases advanced into Fife, and pillaged the Abbey of Dunfermline, as also the Castle of St Andrews; where, to avoid detection, we find the Archbishop had fled, and was keeping sheep under the disguise of a shepherd, according to Lindsay of Pitscottie. To stem the torrent of invasion, James IV., with more gold than brains, conceived the gigantic idea of constructing an enormous ship, called the "Great Michael," which for size defied Francis I. and Henry VIII. to imitate; but like Robinson Crusoe's large boat, was nearly of as little use. In 1559, the Queen Regent despatched a body of Frenchmen by way of Stirling to Fife, to crush her opponents before succours should arrive from England; but an English fleet having appeared in the Frith, they made a hasty retreat by the same route, after taking the roof off Tullybody church to assist them in their dilemma. These invasions will be more or less taken notice of under the respective parishes.
In taking up the link of the Scoto-Saxon period in 1097, we find that during the former rude ages, the arts, sciences, and all the elegant improvements of life, were not only neglected, but regarded with contempt. War, politics, and agriculture, were the only arts they studied, because they were the only arts they esteemed. But having now fewer enemies to dread, the Scots, as they must now be called, began to taste the sweets of security, and to cultivate the arts, sciences, language, and manners of their new masters. The Saxons completed what the Romans had commenced.
In going back to 1066, we find that England was conquered by William (surnamed the Bastard,) duke of Normandy, in the battle of Hastings, where Harold was slain. William introduced the feudal law, in 1070. Justices of the Peace were first appointed in England, in 1076. The famous Doomsday Book began to be compiled in 1080, by order of William I., from a survey of all the estates in England, and was finished in 1086.
In 1080, numbers of the English had to fly to Scotland, to avoid King William, and thus introduced the English or Saxon language, as has already been adverted to. They were protected by Malcolm, who gave many of them land.
The first crusade to the Holy Land, which contributed to civilize Europe, was begun under several Christian princes, to drive the infidels from Jerusalem, in 1096; and which they took in 1099. Notwithstanding the expenditure of an ocean of blood and money, the Crusaders were expelled by the Turks in the 13th century. The cause of the failure of ill-conducted expeditions was "the house being divided against itself;" and that the real cause of Christ was not at heart. Curiosity to see Palestine, and a love of plunder, were the motive agents, though I admit Peter the Hermit, who projected the Holy War, to have been an exception to the general rule.
These passages, and the two or three following, may appear rambling, and unconnected with the subject in hand. Let the critic bear in mind that I am writing for the operative class, who require every available means to comprehend the question, in the absence of a well-filled library - as also, my extremely narrow limits.
We find that Scotland was not divided into counties till the 11th century, while England had been divided by Alfred the Great in 878. Glass windows were not used in the best houses in Scotland or England before 1180; and chimneys were not known till 1206. Nay, surnames were only first used among the nobility in 1208. The Magna Charta was signed by King John and the barons of England, in 1215. And the Commons of England were first summoned to Parliament in 1264. The first Prince of Wales was the unhappy Edward II., son of Edward I. of England, who was created in 1284; and who born in Carnarvon castle, in Wales. The first English duke was the "Black Prince," so called from his wearing black armour; who was son of Edward III., and who was created by his father Duke of Cornwall, in 1844. The first Scotch duke was the unfortunate Duke of Rothsay, in 1398.
The science of war received the aid of gunpowder, which had been invented in 1340 by Swartz, a monk of Cologne; and who might have been much better engaged. Cannon was first used by Edward III., in 1346; four pieces of which gained him the battle of Cressy. They were not used in ships till 1539. On the other hand, we have the authority of John du Plant Carpin, a monk, and the first traveller through Tartary, in 1246, for stating that gunpowder and artillery were used in the armies of Tamerlane, and introduced into Europe by the Europeans who were in his service. Besides, I have strong evidence in my hands to show that gunpowder, without charcoal, had been made by the Chinese many hundred years before it was used by Tamerlane.
We frequently read of the poverty of Scotland, in the writings of English authors; yet we find that Henry V. of England was frequently in such difficulties that he had to pawn his jewels, and on more than one occasion, the crown itself, as was the case in 1423. How different was this from Queen Isabella of Spain, who pledged her jewels to defray the expense of Columbus's voyage in 1492.
Such was the ignorance of the times, that the English burnt the heroic Maid of Orleans alive for a witch, at Rouen, in 1431; though she had raised the siege of Orleans, and placed the crown upon her sovereign's head.
The 15th and 16th centuries were extraordinary for the delusion of witchcraft, and for burning thousands of the deluded victims in every country in Europe. In this respect, Fife stands very prominent. The victims were sacrificed to the petty spite and vengeance of accusers. "No one, whatever his rank or character, was safe from an accusation of traffcking with evil spirits." Every man or woman had the choice of acting the part of accuser, or of being themselves accused. In making such charges, even children and young women had the power; and then enjoyed amusement from the consternation they were able to produce. "Strange how all this prejudice, imposture, and cruelty, should have received the solemn sanction of the most learned and devout men: clergymen of every degree; kings, legislators, and judges." Even Luther entertained similar notions about the fiend; he believed that the devil could come by night and steal nuts, and then crack them against the bed-posts. On one occasion, he threw an ink-stand at the devil, when the fiend entered his room. Nay, we find that the enlightened and just Sir Matthew Hale tried and condemned two women, in 1664, for witchcraft.
In reference to the power of children:- Christian Shaw, a girl of eleven years old, the daughter of Mrs Shaw of Bargarran, in Renfrewshire, having quarrelled with a maid-servant, determined to be revenged, and for which reason, fell into convulsions, saw spirits, and feigned herself bewitched. To sustain her story, she accused and implicated twenty others, from twelve years of age and upwards. On her evidence five human beings perished: Yes, through this accomplished and malicious hypocrite! Again; we are told in Chambers' Repository - "It is remarkable that this very girl afterwards founded the thread manufacture in Renfrewshire." She became the wife of the minister of Kilmaurs."
Sir Walter Scott states that "the Witch of Endor was a mere fortune-teller, to whom, in despair of all aid or answer from the Almighty, the unfortunate King of Israel had recourse in his despair, and by whom, in some way or other, he obtained the awful certainty of his own defeat and death." In 1711, an old woman was pronounced guilty. Chief-Justice Powell asked the jury if they found the woman "guilty upon the indictment of conversing with the devil in the shape of a cat." The reply was: "We do find her guilty of that." Ladies of high rank were tried for witchcraft. Catherine Rose, Lady Fowlis, was tried for poisoning ale and the dishes of three or more persons who stood between her and a person she wished to favour. Besides those intended, several others lost their lives, by having accidentally tasted of the ale or dishes. She had consulted witches. A local jury of dependents acquitted this abandoned woman. The next, among many others, Euphemia Macalzean, daughter of an eminent judge, Lord Cliftonhall, who had long employed witches to remove obnoxious persons out of her way - a task which she accomplished by poisoning. A just retribution, however, overtook her at last - she was burned at the stake in 1591.
Witchcraft was the subject of the express statutes of Henry VII., in 1541, Elizabeth, in 1562, Queen Mary, and James VI. Commissions were perpetually given by the Privy Council to resident gentlemen and clergymen to try and burn witches in their respective districts - according to the authority of Wodrow, Lamont, Mercer, and Whitelocke. We are informed by Barrington, that the number put to in England on this charge is estimated at 30,000; and those in Scotland at upwards of 4000 persons. Though St Andrews and Cupar produced their proportion of victims, Torryburn seems to have been the headquarters. Among the last cases was one at Pittenweem in 1704. The last in Scotland was at Perth, by order of James VI. I may here be permitted to remark, that James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, was the author of the "Witch of Fife."
We have, under the article CONSTITUTION, taken notice of the limited power of the King, and which if he overstepped he met with the fate of James I. and III., Charles I. and II, and James VII. We also adverted to "The Lords of the Articles," who were chosen men out of the clergy, nobility, knights, and burgesses. This institution seems to have been introduced by stealth, as the greatest lawyers are ignorant when it first took place. Before entering on the history of the feudal age, it may not be improper to state that the nobility sat in the same room with the commons, who had the same deliberative and decisive vote with them in all public matters.
We have already seen that William the Conqueror had introduced the feudal law in 1070 into England; we find, however, that Malcolm II. had introduced it into Scotland in 1030. Certain it is, that this celebrated institution, that existed for six hundred years, came into being much about the same time all over Europe.
A new division of property gradually introduced a new species of government, formerly unknown, under the name of the "feudal system." The King or general, who led the barbarians to conquest, parcelled out the lands of the vanquished among his chief officers, binding those on whom they were bestowed to follow his standard with a number of men, and to bear arms in his defence. Inferior officers imitated the example of their chief, and thus a system created, admirably calculated for defence against a foreign enemy, but which degenerated into a fearful engine of oppression.
In proof of land being obtained by might, and not by right:- The Scotts of Buccleuch held their very ancient possession of Deloraine till 1545, only by the strong title of occupancy, a charter very common in many parts of Scotland, up to that period.
The usurpation of the became unbounded and intolerable. They reduced the great body of the people into a state of actual servitude. They were fixed to the soil which they cultivated, and together with it were transferred from one proprietor to another, by sale or by conveyance. Every offended baron or chieftain buckled on his armour, and sought redress at the head of his vassals. His adversaries met him in like array. The dependents of the aggressor, as well as the defender, were involved in the quarrel. They had not the liberty of remaining neutral.
In the time of peace every clan or family looked upon its own chieftain or superior as its sovereign. Law confirmed these ideas, by giving petty tyrants a power of life and death upon their own estates; and they generally executed their hasty sentences in twenty-four hours after the party was apprehended; as the following case selected out of many others will show:-
Scott, the young Laird of Harden, one of the border chiefs, having invaded the territories of Sir Gideon Murray of Elibank, ancestor of the noble family of that name and title; and being caught in the very act of carrying away a large drove of cattle, was left with the unfortunate choice of an immediate execution, or of marrying "muckle-mou'd Meg," the third daughter of the family, who was distinguished by her mouth extending from ear to ear. Seeing the gallows erected in the yard, the culprit, to the astonishment of all present, indignantly rejected the alternative. Twenty-four hours were allowed him to reconsider his fate. The Laird of Harden, while in the dungeon, regarding life too sweet to be rashly thrown away, now declared his willingness to accept of the maiden's hand. The priest was sent for, and the indissoluble knot was immediately tied. [Greatly abridged from Chambers' Pocket Miscellany, vol. vii.]
On Scott of Harden, Leyden has the following lines:-
"But what the niggard ground of wealth denied,
From fields more bless'd his fearless arms supplied."
The summary vengeance of a feudal chief in former ages, is well illustrated by the expression "Jeddart justice;" which implies first hanging and then judging the criminal.
The monarchs of Europe perceived the encroachments of their nobles with impatience; for, while they enslaved the people they also controlled and gave laws to the crown. To counterbalance this mighty power, they conferred new privileges on towns, by abolishing all marks of servitude, and forming their inhabitants into corporations, to be governed by a council and magistrates of their own nomination. James V., in 1535, was the first who ordained that magistrates should thenceforth be chosen solely from among the substantial burgesses and merchants; and thus shortened the wings of the peers and landed gentlemen, who, under the pretence of protecting the towns, took care to curtail their resources.
The acquisition of this liberty soon produced a happy change in the condition of mankind. A spirit of industry revived; commerce became an object of attention, and began to flourish. Various causes contributed to bring about this potent and vital end. The last sparks of literature that had escaped the rude ravages of the Goths and Vandals, who overthrew the Roman empire, were preserved in Constantinople; which, moreover, had been for many ages the great emporium of trade; and the Crusades, which began in 1096, opened a communication between Europe and the East, Constantinople being the rendezvous for the Christian armies, in their way to Palestine. Indeed, Guizot, in his "History of Civilization in Europe," attributes the downfall of the feudal system entirely to the Crusades, as being the first impulse that commerce, civilization, literature, chivalry, and female liberty, received. I may here be permitted to state, that till then, females of the highest rank were as much slaves to their husbands as their meanest vassals; and were subject to be imprisoned, flogged, or tortured, and that without the power of redress.
During the feudal age, the misgovernment of many of the kings, most of the regents, and the licentious tyranny of the nobles, produced such a state of rapine, oppression, and murder, that no man was safe "unless he had sworn himself a servant to some common murderer or bloody tyrant, to maintain him against the invasion of others." [Fullerton] Witness the mock trial of Bothwell, for the murder of Darnley; the regencies of Murray, Lennox, Mar, and Morton; the ferocious Douglas, Lindsay, Ruthven, Graham, Gordon of Buckie, Balfour, Huntly, Kerr, Lethington, and a hundred others.
A number of the regents were actuated by a depravity of heart, and a remorseless cruelty of disposition, from which, to attain their object, they did not scruple at the means made use of; but some were influenced by motives of interest or ambition. The dissimulation, duplicity, factious intrigues, and open revolts of the nobles, were not unfrequently as fatal to the sovereign as the dagger of the assasin:- witness the reigns of James I., III., and V., Queen Mary, and all those in early history.
So much for the dark morality of the times, and that for ages. Besides which must not be forgotten the unprincipled duplicity of sovereigns; the most conspicuous instance of which was Elizabeth of England with Queen Mary. Beauty, talent, learning, and virtue, were equally lost in the whirlpool of iniquity. Executions and confiscations innumerable formed no check to such fearful dramas.
During the frequent feuds among the nobility, and the resistance offered by the Church, some of the kings used every exertion to bring about a reconciliation; yet they were not always successful in their endeavours, nor in the means which they employed. On other occasions, when the feuds and dissensions among the nobles were subsiding, when the clergy had to interfere with sovereign authority, and all parties concurred in promoting the royal interest, we find the king displaying the most capricious tyranny. On more than one occasion, when protection was sought, it was "such as vultures give to doves - covering and devouring them."
In the time of Baliol, that is, in 1295, many of the greater barons and nobles of Scotland deserted the cause of their country, and sold its independence to Edward of England, according to Buchanan, Robertson, and Tytler. Yet this was not so much the result of treachery, as it was of the violence of party spirit, that ran rampant for ages. The dissensions which occurred in the Scottish camps, previous to the fatal battle of Falkirk, in 1298, were the cause of that disaster; in which we find the men of Fife led by Macduff, the uncle of the young earl of-Fife, and the brave Sir James Douglas, under Wallace. For the part Fife had played, Edward's revenge was to ravage the shires of Fife and Clackmannan, burning villages and towns in his destructive march. How different was the concord of opinion, and the result, at the battle of Bannockburn, when Walsingham the English historian tells us that for years, a "hundred English would not hesitate to fly from two or three Scottish soldiers, so grievously had their wonted courage deserted them." To the above field of thorns, however, there were many noble exceptions; for bravery and patriotism we have only to name the immortal Bruce and Wallace, with others who cheerfully shed their blood to save their country from vassalage and from disgrace. Much of the turbulence and rebellion of the nobility and superior clergy must be attributed to the retrenchments of the feudal law, to frequent minorities, and to the spirit of the age, which few men have the power to rise above, or to resist.
While adverting to the tyranny of our Scottish kings, let us take a momentary glance at English government about the same period. The infamous and perfidious King John, he whom the barons obliged in 1215 to sign the Magna Charta, ordered a tooth to be drawn from a Jew at Bristol, every day till he should consent to give him 10,000 marks. The Jew lost seven teeth, and then paid the sum required of him. In 1255, his son, Henry III., threatened to hang all the Jews if they did not pay him 8000 marks. In the reign of George I., one Matthews, a young journeyman printer, was hanged for composing a silly pamphlet, "that now would not be thought worthy of animadversion." And so on, almost without end.
The crimes by which kings, regents, and nobles, had acquired their power, however, haunted them amidst all their prosperity, and a constant sense of insecurity at length produced either tyranny or imbecility. In 1537, "Lady Glammis, sister of the banished Douglas, was condemned to the flames for a conspiracy to take off the King by poison." [Fullerton.] The crime was great, but certainly the punishment was too much; and not mixed with mercy. The execution of the Duke of Monmouth, in 1685, who pretended to be the lawful son of Charles II., and some hundreds of his followers who were hanged, drawn, and quartered, by the instrumentality of the more than infamous Judge Jefferies and Colonel Kirke exhibited a scene of barbarity scarcely ever known in this country; unless indeed, we admit the barbarous cruelty of the Duke of Albany, and the determined assassin, Gordon of Buckie, both of whom will long be remembered in Scottish history.
In the fate, however, of the principal actors in the various bloody tragedies, it is instructive to observe the retributive justice of Heaven. Thus Darnley was blown into the air by gunpowder; Bothwell died in a foreign dungeon; Lennox perished by the stroke of a political adversary; Morton by the hand of the public executioner; whilst Lethington poisoned himself in prison. And as Fullerton well remarks, "we may add that although Ruthven died in his bed, yet blood did not depart from his house." His son was beheaded, and his two grandsons perished in the Gowrie conspiracy. And the bloody Sir James Hamilton, (called the Bastard of Arran,) who butchered one of the Lennox, while attempting the rescue of James V., was tried, condemned, and executed, in 1540, for being concerned in a conspiracy for the assassination of the king. Indeed, it is not too much to say, that 90 per cent. of such monsters died a violent death, and that the remaining ten died in apprehension of futurity." Witness Henry VIII.; Queen Elizabeth; Cromwell, who besides, never slept two nights in succession in the same bedroom, towards his end; and a host of others. In both the present work will be found to present a fearful list, when collected.
In professing to give an impartial and faithful outline of the early history of Scotland, I am painfully constrained to take notice of the treachery of many of our ancestors, though there is great reason to believe, that were it not for the increased power of the law, the picture of our cardinal virtues would not appear a whit more brilliant; such is the hypocrisy of the age! The treachery of Sir John Monteith, who seized and delivered up the brave Wallace to Edward of England, by whom he was crowned, in mockery, and then beheaded in 1305; - of Andrew Murray of Tullibardine, who led the English army into the Scottish camps under night, by whom 13,000 of our men were slaughtered; - the Queen Regent, who, with all the virtues attributed to her by historians, was too much tinctured with a Popish spirit, duplicity, and perfidy. Thus, when reminded of her promises to the Congregation, she did not blush to say, "The promises of princes are only binding when subservient to their pleasure." The perfidy of Charles I. brought him to the scaffold. The Regent Murray basely offered to deliver up the Earl of Northumberland to Elizabeth of England for execution, provided she would place Queen Mary in his hands. This scheme was arrested by James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, who had been taken prisoner at the battle of Langside, and had his estates forfeited, and made over to a favourite of the Regent, who turned the wife of Hamilton from the house in a winter night, in consequence of which she was driven into insanity. Hamilton looked to the Regent as the original cause of this atrocity, and therefore passed over the immediate actor, and shot him through the body, passing through Linlithgow, in February, 1570. So much for the honour of "the Good Regent," "the bonny Earl of Murray." The unhappy captive, that is, the Earl of Northumberland, was, however, basely delivered up for gold, to Elizabeth, who executed him at York; in this cage the traitor was the unprincipled Regent Morton, who owed his own life to the Earl of Northumberland during his exile after the murder of Rizzio, by affording Morton an asylum: so much for his sentiment of gratitude and of honour. We find that "Elizabeth agreed to deliver Mary into the hands of the Regent Mar, upon condition that she should be put to death within four hours after she had get foot on Scottish ground". [Tytler Vol. vii.] The accomplishment of this nefarious treaty was only prevented by the death of the Regent, who expired suddenly at Stirling, on the 28th of October, 1572. Did Elizabeth not forfeit her honour by delivering up the gallant Kirkcaldy of Grange, his brother, and Maitland of Lethington, to Morton, after promising protection? Were not the two first executed in the market place of Edinburgh, in 1572? Did not Maitland, anticipating the same doom, poison himself in prison? Did not the Scottish army basely deliver up Charles I. to the English Parliament, after a promise of protection, on receiving £400,000, and was he not executed? His own perfidy does not justify the act. Such instances of treachery, out of many more that could be given to disgrace the page of history, can only be equalled by the treachery of Caracalla, the Roman emperor; who, like Philip of Macedon, did not blush to say, "that children were amused with playthings, and men with oaths." I am tempted to exclaim with the poet :-
"I rage, I burn, no kind assistance nigh;
Give, give me ease, ye gods, or let me die!"
How different is this from the honour of Regulus, the Roman general, who, when taken prisoner in Africa, in the year 256 before Christ, was sent back on his parole to negotiate a change of prisoners. He accomplished his mission, and returned to certain death.
All the past vexatious events, which I have endeavoured to scan, could not have occurred without sowing the seeds of future misery in Fife, where its inhabitants took an active part, and which neither threats, danger, nor friendship could prevail in preventing; consequently, they reaped their own share of the calamities which ensued. To these must be added a concatenation of circumstances that conspired to sap the prosperity of the county to its foundation, and lay its population prostrate, from the peasant to the capitalist. These were - the removal of the court to London on the accession of James VI. to the crown of England; the rebellion against Charles I., giving rise to a protracted struggle; the disastrous battle of Kilsyth in August, 1645; in which Adamson says:- "Three regiments from Fife perished almost to a man. Most of the principal traders and shipmasters, with their seamen, besides a multitude of the people of all classes, were engaged in that most disastrous enterprise;" [Notes to Sibbald's History.] - the tyranny of Charles II. and James VI., a severe and long-continued famine following the Revolution in 1688; the utter failure of the Darien expedition in America, in 1699, where the Scots had settled a colony, and to the success of which all parties had looked for the means of restoring their ruined fortunes - every family of respectability in Fife was involved in this disastrous adventure, the total failure of which spread misery and dismay throughout the county; the mad expedition of James VI., who, in 1602, established a colony in the isle of Lewis, drawn principally from the inhabitants of Fifeshire, at the head of which was Sir James Anstruther, and other leading gentlemen of the county. James fixed upon the men of Fife as being the most industrious in husbandry, and skilful fishermen in Scotland. It proved still more unfortunate than the Darien expedition. They were either slain in battle, starved to death, or hanged by Murdoch Macleod, a powerful and ferocious chief. The laird of Balcomie, a gentleman of Fife, was thrown into a dungeon. Macleod was betrayed by his own brother, for a reward, to the Government, who hanged him at St Andrews. The cowardly vacillating policy of James is here very conspicuous: instead of revenging the insult offered to his crown, he ransomed the few survivors. Was that monarch any better at the long imprisonment and execution of his own mother? or yet at the insufferable privations of his daughter, princess Elizabeth of Dunfermline? Besides all these causes, there was the imposition of duties on salt, malt, and many other articles.
Lastly, and not the least, was the jealousy of the English merchants, who, under the favour of William III., nearly crushed all future exertion. Each of these had given a new blow to the prosperity of Fife, and threatened the annihilation of trade, commerce, and agriculture. Notwithstanding these disastrous events, there were distant intervals of prosperity; thus, industry began to revive in 1341; and in the brilliant reign of James IV., arts and sciences, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, received a new impulse. So true is it, that while a healthy stamina exists, a county, like a nation, will rise up and flourish, though it has been cut down to the root. And the present state of Fife proves the truth of our statement, by its exhaustless internal resources.
In taking leave of the early history of Scotland, I feel tempted to bring our favourite James VI. on the stage to play his second part - he "who never said a foolish thing, and never did a wise one."
The reception of James VI. in London was expressed with such extravagant joy, that Barclay tells us of a Scotchman who said, bluntly, - "This people will spoil a good king." And Sir Ritchie Moniplies, the son of Mungo Moniplies, the flesher of the West Port, Edinburgh, who, being purveyor to his Majesty and to his hapless mother, and being an eye-witness of the turbulent state of Holyrood Palace, is therefore undoubted authority, thus describes one scene. He alludes to seeing the King at Whitehall: - "But my certie, lad, times are changed since ye came fleeing down the back stairs of auld Holyrood House, in grit fear, having your breeks in your hand, without time to put them on, and Frank Stuart, the wild Earl of Bothwell, hard at yer haunches; and if auld Lord Glenvarloch hadna cast his mantle about his arm, and taken bluidy wounds mair than ane in your behalf, ye wald not have crawed sae crouse this day." But mark the retrospective view taken by King James on another occasion, by the same high authority:- "Cocksnails," said the King to Heriot, "when I think of these wild passages (in Holyrood), in my conscience, I am not sure but we lived happier in auld Holyrood, in those shifting days, than now when we are dwelling at heck and manger. Cantabit vacuus - we had but little to care for." [Chambers' Repository, No. 23.] King James did much good to his new kingdom by favouring the English trade, and instituting the East India Company. Though he greatly increased the spirit of commerce during his reign, he seemed regardless of the depressed state of his native land.
RETROSPECT
In drawing the character of the inhabitants of Fife, from past and present history, we find that no people can conform their tempers better than they do to their stations. They are taught from their infancy to bridle their passions, to behave submissively to their superiors, and live within the bounds of the most rigid economy. Their habits are industrious;- in social order, we have seen that they reflect honour on their county;- in sobriety, they will bear a comparison with any in Scotland. That they are intelligent to a high degree, is shown by their progress in arts and sciences; though, excepting in the towns and manufacturing districts, their intellect is seldom cultivated, and certainly not to be compared with the same class in the south of Scotland. Their crowning principle, however, is courage, which has always been undeniable. Nevertheless, they are like the celebrated Roman statue, which had two sides, one of gold, the other of silver. Amongst other questionable qualities, that of ingratitude to the medical profession is too conspicuous to pass unnoticed, and hence the truth of the following lines:-
"God and the doctor we alike adore-
Just on the brink of danger not before;
The danger past, both are alike requited-
God is forgotten and the doctor slighted!"
In casting a retrospective glance at all that has passed under review, as regards the early history of the church down to the Reformation; we are struck with the imperious, domineering ferocity of the high clergy; who were then the representatives of hell, rather than the meek, the merciful ambassadors of Christ.
In surveying the political horizon of past ages, we are astonished at the folly or the tyranny of most of the sovereigns, the misrule of the different who succeeded each other, the intrigues, treachery, and turbulence of the nobility, and the civil wars that frequently raged with unexampled ferocity, in which no quarter was given, and numbers of prisoners put to death in cold blood. These causes conspired to keep up a state of anarchy and confusion. No leader rose up capable of bringing the distracted elements of society into order by the vigour of his government; even the firm, bold, and energetic mind of Morton was unequal to the task.
As regards the county of Fife, we find that almost every parish has produced its proportion of eventful occurrences; though St Andrews, Falkland, Cupar, and Dunfermline, stand pre-eminent as being the theatres of the most astounding associations. The folly, the misery, the captivity, and crime, that mark the early page of their history, are amusing, instructive, and revolting.
When the gorgeous festivities of former ages are contrasted with the barbarous deeds of Falkland and St Andrews, we are left to question whether man was a rational and responsible being - the image of God - or was the savage and deceitful tiger of the forest in human shape, made to play his part of divine retribution for wise, though mysterious ends!
Having frequently adverted to education, literature, arts, and sciences, the following observations may not be unacceptable.
While I admit the barbarous state of our Celtic ancestors, and blush at the ignorance, the apathy, and the bigotry of the past, on the one hand; and freely own the magnificent and rapid advances of modern science, stretching from the invisible world of animalculæ that surround our globe, to the equally invisible planetary system; the one seen by the microscope, in the hands of Ehrenberg; the other by Lord Rosse's telescope, under the eye of Sir William Herschel; with all the intermediate inventions and discoveries in the arts, all of which turn the brain and bewilder the imagination; and have no disposition to withhold the need due to the mighty genius of modern origin - to men who dared to break from the trammels of scholastic bigotry - who looked to nature alone for their guide: I am still inclined to think that society is more indebted to them for rescuing what was consigned to unmerited oblivion, and for the application of them to inductive theory and practice, than for the originality of their ideas. I am disposed to put the question, - have we not been deceiving ourselves? Were the Egyptians, the Arabians, and the Greeks ignorant of what we now boast? - Yes, even the gas-light, the steam-engine, gunpowder, paper, printing, silk manufacture, porcelain, the art of dyeing, staining glass, besides a hundred others, equally marvellous. Do we bear in mind the destruction of the great Alexandrian library - the convulsions of nature and of man?
Are we certain that our discoveries are real they have not been anticipated? - that they will not be overthrown by generations yet unborn? Did my limits permit, a startling answer could be given to each of these.
Besides, as a science advances in its progress, the steps become more and more difficult; the generality take disgust, and it is no longer cultivated but by a few obstinate men, who take it up at heart, either by habit, or in hopes, well or ill grounded, to become famous in surmounting difficulties wherein some great men have failed. How uncertain should not be our knowledge? Our organs are so weak, - our means so short, - our studies so interrupted, - our life so harassed, - and the objects of our inquiries so vast! - Work without intermission, naturalists, physicians, and chemists of all sorts; after centuries of united and continuous efforts, the secrets that ye shall have taken away from nature, compared to her immense riches, will be but as a drop of water carried away from the ocean!
Of the numberless agents that nature employs, we know but few, and yet we know them imperfectly. Who knows if the others are not of a kind to escape for ever from our senses, instruments, observations, and trials? Who will give a check to that inclination to analogy, a manner to account and judge, so seducing, so convenient, and so deceitful? Hardly have we got hold of some facts, than we build systems on them, which carry away the multitude, and suspend the researches of truth. For one lucky conjecture, how many errors! The time employed to form an hypothesis, and that to destroy it, are almost equally lost. How vain, then, is it in man, with all his ambition and his prejudice, to pretend to that which he has never attained! - May we not say - "Let him be humble, as he is weak."
DESCRIPTIVE PART
Note.- Castles, structures, monasteries, antiquities, eminent men, historical notices, or anecdotes, will be found after towns, villages, or hamlets have been described in the parishes.
ABBOTSHALL
A parish in Fifeshire, disjoined from the parish of Kirkcaldy in 1650. It derives its name from the abbots of Dunfermline having resided in this division of it. Bounded on the north by Auchterderran; on the south by the Forth, and Kinghorn; on the east by Kirkcaldy; and on the west by Kinghorn and Auchtertool. It is four miles long, by two and a half broad. Area 3166 acres. Under tillage, 2631 acres; under wood, 535. It is watered by the Tiel rivulet, rising a little to the north-west of Auchtertool, running south-east, dividing the parish of Abbotshall from the parish of Kinghorn; as also by streamlets flowing from Lochgelly and Camilla Loch. A beautiful sheet of water, called the Raith Lake, in the heart of the Raith pleasure-grounds. It is nearly one mile long, by less than a quarter mile broad; and covers 21 acres. there is a sluice at the centre, to fill or empty the lake at pleasure. It abounds in trout, perch, tainel, and eel. On it are seen beautiful white swans, and wild ducks flying in every direction. It is surrounded with delightful and picturesque walks, and several pleasure boats occasionally skim its placid surface. The soil is of a superior quality. Near the sea shore it is decomposed whin on trap rock, well suited for barley or turnip crops. Further north, the soil is richer and stronger, generally of a clayey or dark loamy substance, adapted for wheat, beans, and other heavy crops. In some few parts it is cold and wet, therefore less productive. The land rents run from £1 to £6. No sheep are bred in this parish. There are five heritors. Population in the parish, 5030. Two annual fairs. The inhabitants are fond of general reading, though they have no public libraries nearer than Kirkcaldy. There are 30 licensed public houses. There are some very good shops. The part called Linktown is only a west suburb of the town of Kirkaldy; it is nevertheless a burgh of regality, governed by a baron-bailie, and has a lock-up-house. That portion at the east end of Linktown, running at right angles, is called the New Town, and has 800 inhabitants. There are several small hamlets in the parish, containing in all about 210 souls. Limestone is wrought at Chapel Quarry. Freestone for common building purposes is met with. Though there is much good coal, there are no pits open in the parish. The staple manufactures are bed-ticks, dowlas, thin sheeting, and sail canvas. There are nearly 750 hand-looms. There is a large brick and tile work; a brown earthenware pottery, with a mill for grinding flint; mills for grinding flour, barley, meal, etc. There are one meal and two bread societies. Parish Church stipend £199; glebe, £36. Patron, Ferguson of Raith. There is a Free and U.P. Church. Parish school, attended by 200 children; a charity school, and four private ones; attendance in all averages 500 children. On poor's roll, 148. Post Town is Kirkaldy.
The house of Raith was originally built by Lord Raith, in 1694. It stands near the summit of a hill, perhaps 400 feet above sea-level, almost in the centre of its fine gardens. Its length is 72 feet, by 40 in breadth. It contains a fine library, filled with ancient and modern books; besides a rich cabinet of minerals. Near the house stands the tower, a square building, with an inside stair 54 feet in length, from the top of which a noble and extensive view is obtained. As early as 1296, the estate of Raith had belonged to Sir John de Melvill. We find a descendant of Sir John in the person of Sir James Melvill, whose Memoirs are quoted in this work. Abbotshall forms part of the Raith estate. From the Abbots of Dunfermline, Abbotshall passed to the Scotts of Balwearie, in whose family it remained, according to Sibbald, during 500 years, and then was purchased by Sir Andrew Ramsay, a merchant, and provost of Edinburgh in 1654 and 1667, in which year Charles II. knighted him, conferred the title of Lord Provost on him, and ordered that he should take the same precedence as the Mayor of London. To return to Balwearie, we find that Sir Michael Scott, the wizard, was born at Balwearie, near the beginning of the 13th century. Yes, he "who cleft Eildon Hills in twain, and bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone." He was one of the ambassadors sent to bring the Maid of Norway to Scotland upon the death of Alexander III. He wrote a commentary upon Aristotle, and was well acquainted with philosophy, astrology, alchymy, physiognomy, and chiromancy. He is styled by Sir George Mackenzie as one of the greatest philosophers, mathematicians, physicians, and linguists of the times in which he lived. He is referred to by Dempster, Roger Bacon, Tytler, Sir Walter Scott, Vallani the historian, Dante in his Inferno, and many more. He studied at Oxford, Paris, Padua, Toledo, and the Universities of Germany. The ruins of the tower of Balwearie, from the top of which he "observed the face of the heavens, and conversed with the stars," still remain. He a contemporary of the celebrated Sir Thomas Learmonth of Ercildoun, usually called Thomas the Rhymer. He was interred in the monastery of Melrose. The family of Scott of Balwearie is now represented by Scott of Ancrum.
The following observations in reference to the renowned Thomas the Rhymer, whose exaggerated character is much better known to the working class than that of Solomon himself, may not be unacceptable. His prophetic knowledge has withstood the vulgar test of five hundred years; and till within the last fifty, his predictions were the fear of many, and the admiration of some of the more educated of society. In proof of the veneration in which he was held, we have the authority of Barbour, Fordun, Boethius, and Spottiswood. The latter historian says:- "Whence or how he had this knowledge can hardly be affirmed, but sure it is that he did divine and answer truly of many things to come." One of his predictions to the posterity of the poor was fulfilled, which runs thus:-
"The waters sall wax, the wuddg sall wane,
Hill and moss sall be a' torn in;
But the banno' will ne'er be braider."
As also the downfall of his house and family, which are thus expressed:-
"The hare shall kittle on my hearth-stane,
And there never shall be a Laird Learmont again"
[Thomas the Rhymer was a native of Earlston, in Berwickshire; and his name was Thomas Learmont.]
Amongst hundreds of others, he predicted that the Castle of Edinburgh would stand in the centre of the city, and that the thistle would grow on the top of the Fountain Well. The first has occurred, the other will soon follow. All this is easily explained, when we consider that he was a learned, observing, calculating, and reflecting character. The same could be done by many others, if they would be at the trouble to look further than their nose, but who continue to shave with a wooden razor, because forsooth, their great grandfathers did so.
The only other remarkable native of Abbotshall was William Adam, the celebrated architect, who left Hopetoun House and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh as specimens of his abilities.
ABDIE
A parish in the north of Fifeshire, lying among the Ochil hills; absurdly scattered into three separate parts, of which the largest is in the centre, where the church is situated. Its name signifies waterside. Bounded on the north by Newburgh and the mouth of the Tay; on the south by Collessie; on the east by Flisk, Dunbog, and Monimail; and on the west by Collessie, Newburgh, Auchtermuchty, and Abernethy. A portion is separated by Dunbog on the west and another by Newburgh on the east. If united as a whole, it would be six miles long by four broad. The area is nearly 7624 imperial acres, of which 6000 are under cultivation; 1520 in pasture or waste; and 300 under wood. The surface is a succession of fine hill and valley. The woods surrounding the mansions of Inchrye, Lindores, and Kinnaird, with others reaching the summits of many of the hills, add greatly to the beauty of the parish. The highest elevation is Norman's Law, in the eastern isolated portion, which is 850 feet, with a bold precipitous front, commanding a delightful view of the Frith of Tay, the Carse of Gowrie, and the vale of Eden, in all their richness and variety. Clatchard Craig, though inferior in height, is an object of particular interest in approaching Newburgh, by its abrupt precipitous front rising from the narrow pass it seems to guard. The parish is watered by the small river Motray, rising in Norman's Law, running a short course, and falling into the Eden, half-a-mile below Guard Bridge, and by Priest's Burn. By far the finest feature in the landscape of this parish is the Loch of Lindores. This beautiful sheet of water covers an area of 70 acres, is nearly one mile long, and in some places about 20 feet deep.
Sibbald says:- "The loch has pikes and eels, and the biggest perches of any loch in this country." It is also frequented by ducks, teals, snipes, and other waterfowl. The water belongs to one proprietor and the fish and the fowl to another. Its water turns six valuable mills. It is fed by the Priest's Burn, which never was known to freeze or dry up, even in the most extreme seasons. Loch Mill is in the small western division. This lake is small, feeds a stream that runs south, and falls into the Eden. The soil is various. On the banks of the Tay there is a rich alluvial field of considerable extent; on the higher grounds the soil is a deep black earth, or light and gravelly, but still very productive; the upper part of the mountains that are not clothed with wood are still in pasture. Much attention is paid to rearing sheep of a mixed breed. There are 20 farms, paying from £100 to £1200 per annum of rent. One-third more grain is raised now than was in 1792. There are 200 agricultural horses, and 112 cows. The market for the farmers is in Newburgh, where there is a weekly stock market; the sheep are taken from thence to London. From all this we find that Abdie is an agricultural parish. Ten heritors:- D. Maitland Macgill, Esq. of Rankeilour and Grange; J. Murray, Esq. of Ayton; Earl of Zetland, proprietor of Parkhill; D. Wilson, Esq. of Inchrye; T. Watt, Esq. of Denmiln; H. Buist, Esq. of Berryhole; J. Pitcairn, Esq. of Kinnaird; F. Balfour, Esq. of Fernie; C. Moyes, Esq. of Lumbenny; and Admiral Sir F. L. Maitland of Lindores. In 1851 the population was 1486. There are five inns, which are well frequented. Post Town is Newburgh. It is six miles west by north of Cupar. The principal village is called Lindores, a place of great antiquity. The ancient name of the parish was Lindores, according to Sibbald, - why or when changed is unknown. There are two hamlets, Glenburnie and Grange. All the three are within half-a-mile of the parish church. There are no collieries in the parish; coals have to be brought from Newburgh or Balbirnie coal-pits, which renders them dear. Limestone is found at Parkhill, but from the unfavourable dip of the stratum, and dearness of the coal, is not wrought. There is an old red freestone quarry near Parkhill. There are about 110 weavers, who make linen for the manufacturers in Newburgh. We find 20 thrashing mills; five corn and barley mills; a large saw mill; and a bone dust mill. These are wrought by water from the Loch, the Motray, or Priest's Burn, or by horse power. There are three whinstone quarries, employing 40 men; the stones are only applied to local purposes. Three turnpike roads intersect the parish; every facility of transport is afforded by the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway, and a ready access to Perth and Dundee by the Tay steamboats. The old church of Abdie originally belonged to the monastery of Lindores, the ruins of which stand on the west shore of Lindores Loch. The new one, built in 1827, stands a little to the north, and will accommodate 600 persons. Parish Church stipend £254; glebe, £23. A Free Church and Sabbath school. On the poor's roll, 47. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; attended by 45 scholars; but many attend the schools at Newburgh, Dunbog, and Collessie. There is a female school. The Patron is the Earl of Mansfield.
The most remarkable mansion is Inchrye, in the Gothic style of architecture; which, with its turrets, battlements, and a verandah in front, is truly romantic. The next picturesque object is Admiral Maitland's House of Lindores. The Admiral Commander of the Bellerophon, when Bonaparte surrendered himself as a prisoner of his, at the conclusion of the late French war. The vestiges of the ancient castle of Lindores are still to be seen in the village of Lindores, where a battle was fought in 621, while Cineoch, the son of Luthrin, was king of the Picts. [Annals of Ulster] In June, 1300, the battle of Black Earnside was fought by the Scots under Wallace, and the English, in which 3000 of the latter were killed, and 500 taken prisoners. [Harry the Minstrel's History of Wallace, and Sir James Balfour's Annals.] This battle took place on the lands of Parkhill, then part of the forest of Earnside; from which Wallace retired with his followers to the Castle immediately after. The Castle belonged to Duncan Macduff, the first Thane or Earl of Fife. Most of the lands of Abdie belonged to this family, till lost by forfeiture. Duncan, when liberated from his imprisonment in England, previous to 1350, had mortified the church of Auchtermuchty to the monastery of Lindores in fulfilment of a vow he had made. Duncan died in 1355. John Lesly of Parkhill was the first who entered the of St Andrews, and gave the first mortal stroke with his dagger to Cardinal Beaton. There are two rather large ancient British forts in the parish; one on the top of Norman's Law, and the other on the top of Clatchard Craig.
ABERCROMBIE
A small parish of Fife, on the shore of the Firth of Forth, nearly opposite North Berwick Law, in East Lothian. It retained this name, according to Sir John Connel, [History Of Abercrombie.] from 1174 till 1646, when the lands of Newark, constituting the barony of St Monan's, were disjoined from Kilconquhar, and annexed quoad sacra to Abercrombie, when it then called St Monan's. In legal documents it is still called Abercrombie. Bounded on the north by Carnbee; the Dreel burn separates it from Cambee and Pittenweem on the east; the Inweary rivulet separates it on the west from Elie and Kilconquhar. Nearly two miles long from north to south, and one mile broad from east to west. Area, 1084 acres; under tillage, 1015; under wood, 57; and 12 of a common. The sea coast above the beach is bold and rocky, but soon becomes level. Watered by the Inweary stream, rising in the marshes of Kilconquhar, flows two miles, and falls into the Forth close by the old Church of St Monan's; and by the Dreel burn, rising in the heights of Baldutho, flows five and a half miles, and falls into the Forth at West Anstruther; there are besides several excellent springs for all domestic purposes. There is a handsome stone bridge over the stream, which separates the parish from that of Carnbee, in the pleasure grounds of Sir Ralph Anstruther. The soil is very fertile and manageable, being a light loam, friable, very little clay, and free from stones. Rent of land, £1, 15s. to £3, 5s.; average, £2, 6s. per acre. Two heritors: Sir Ralph Abercrombie Anstruther, Bart. of Balcaskie, and Sir Wyndham Carmichael Anstruther, Bart. of Anstruther and Carmichael. They live in adjoining parishes. Population 1241; of this 1078 are in St Monan's, and 163 in the country. There are several public-houses. The nearest market-town is Pittenweem, in which is a sub-Post-Office, one and a half miles distant. Besides a Bible and Missionary Society, there are two Friendly Societies, and three Savings' Banks, doing well. The inhabitants are most industrious, and possess every reasonable comfort.
VILLAGE OF ST MONAN'S
Is so called from a hermit of that name in the 9th century, who resided here, according to Keith. His piety was so pure, that we are told by Camerarius [Catalogue of Scottish Saints.] that numerous miracles were wrought at his tomb. In one case, King David II. was grievously wounded by a barbed arrow in fighting against the English. As no surgeon could extract it, he wisely placed his whole trust in God: went to the tomb of that holy man; and while praying to God and St Monan, the arrow dropped out, leaving no scar behind it. The miracle is easily explained. Inflammation took place, succeeded by suppuration, which broke down the resisting fibres. In gratitude for this benefit the King built a most superb chapel in honour of St Monan; and this again was made into a monastery of the Black Friars by James III. The village was erected into a burgh-barony in 1584. It is governed by three bailies, a treasurer, and twelve councillors. Twelve constables are chosen annually from among the inhabitants, to preserve the peace. In the town-house there is a hall and a prison, in which, to the honour of the place, few are confined. The only hamlet is that of Abercrombie; which contains now little more than the manse and offices, two farm-houses and their offices, a wright and smith's shops, with a few houses; such is the fall of this ancient village.
There is much fine coal in the barony of St Monan's, ranging in thickness from 16 inches to seven and a half feet; but though more than once wrought, has been abandoned from want of capital. Coal is therefore an expensive article in the parish, as it has to be brought from Earlsferry, four miles distant. There is also coal in the lands of Abercrombie. Excellent limestone is found in abundance next to the village. The dip being rapid, the tirring deep, and the dearness of coal, render it for the present useless. A quantity of ironstone is found upon the beach, from one to two pounds weight each; as also regular bands of ironstone imbedded in the till; the proportion of pure iron averages 16 cwt. in the ton.
The staple employment of the inhabitants of St Monan's, which we have seen forms the most of the population, is fishing in all its departments. Nearly 300 individuals are employed; men, women, and children. The bait is gathered by the children; the women bait the nets; while the men and boys go a-fishing. The number of their boats is 26; 15 tons each; manned with 130, giving 5 men to each boat. Each boat is valued at £85; besides 20 nets at £4 each, being £80; and provisions other £30. In the summer they go to the north country herring fishing. At other times they are employed in cod-fishing the produce of which is cured, packed, and sent to the London and Liverpool markets. As herring is the bait for cod, this fishing ceases in the end of winter. They then go after haddocks, turbot, etc., and send them to the Edinburgh markets, or surrounding country. Besides the above boats, they have fourteen yawls of seven and a half tons, employed in fishing along the coast. The working of nets gives considerable occupation to the young. There is an extensive malting and brewing concern in St Monan's. The parish cannot number five weavers, and these have to turn their industry into other channels.
There is a tolerably good harbour at St Monan's, with a narrow entrance, and rough bottom; but it has in ordinary tides 14 feet of water, and at stream tides, 19 feet.
The old kirk of Abercrombie is now in ruins, and has not been used for two centuries past. It is in the north part of the parish. The present parish church is the old church already noticed, at the west end of the village of St Monan's. In 1827 it was completely repaired, and is now one of the most beautiful places of worship in the county. Parish Curch stipend, £162; glebe, £15. There is no Seceding or Dissenting chapel in the parish. Parish school is attended by 86. Teacher has the maximum salary. One private school, and one infant school. On the poor's roll 19, in 1836; and 36 in 1849.
The principal structure commanding attention, because of historical interest, is the Castle of Newark, which belonged to the celebrated General David Leslie, who distinguished himself in the Scottish army in 1644, under the Earl of Leven when he entered England. He opposed Montrose, and defeated that skilful commander at Philiphaugh. He was defeated by Cromwell at Dunbar. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester, sent to the Tower, and fined £4000. After the Restoration, he was created Lord Newark. Among other engagements we find him opposing Cromwell's army at the disastrous battle of Inverkeithing in 1651. He completely suppressed the civil war in Scotland in 1647. As to his defeat at Dunbar, we have the authority of Douglas's Peerage, that no blame can be imputed to Leslie. At a time when he had Cromwell's army entirely in his power, the rash zeal of the Committee of Church and State importuned him to leave his fastness, by which he lost the day. So much for ignorant men in power. General Leslie was the fifth son of the first Lord Lindores, according to Sibbald.
That talented historical writer Mr Leighton tells us that the barony of Abercrombie "belonged of old to a family of the name of Abercrombie, who assumed their name from these lands," and that "about 1315, Humphry de Abercrombie obtained a charter from Robert Bruce." He moreover states that the Abercrombies of Birkenbog, of Tullibody, and all other families of the name in Scotland, are descended from this first family.
Keith, Monteith, Leighton, and the New Statistical Account, state that David II. and his Queen narrowly escaped from shipwreck on the "stormy frith," and landed on the shore, hard by St Monan's. From this, and what has already been stated, we find that his Majesty would neither kill nor drown. Keith tells us that formerly the bell which rang for public worship was hung upon a tree in the churchyard, but was removed every year during the herring season, because the noise of it scared away the fish from the coast. The same high authority refers to a small old-fashioned model of a ship, in full rigging, that hung from the roof of the old church of St Monan's, like a chandelier, as an appropriate emblem of the maritime character of the inhabitants.
ABERDOUR
A parish on the coast of Fife. The name is from Aber, the mouth of a river, and Dour, the name of a small stream, which, a little below the village, empties itself into the Forth. Bounded on the south by the Forth; on the north by Auchtertool; on the east by Kinghorn and Burntisland; and on the west by Dalgety. Burntisland lies between it and a detached portion of the parish, called Kilrie-Yetts. The parish was formed by disjunction from the parishes of Beath and Dalgety in 1640. [Fullerton] It is three miles long from east to west, and as much from north to south. Area 5000 acres. Under cultivation 3250 acres; under pasture, or remaining waste, 1200; that might be cultivated, 360; under wood, 1800. The parish is divided by a ridge of hills, running nearly from east to west; from the east boundary the coast is rugged and steep, and generally covered with wood to the water's edge. Watered by the Dour, and Starlyburn. To the north of the ridge of hills is a cold and bleak tract; while on the south, both the climate and soil are much more kindly. Average rent of land is £2 per acre. The south part is well cultivated and enclosed. Much attention is paid to reclaiming waste land, and to drainage. Seven heritors; the principal are the Earl of Morton; Earl of Moray; William Fraser; Major Rose; William Inglis; Robert Wemyss; J. Drysdale; J. Boswell. Population 1945. There are two benefit societies in the parish. There is a savings bank.
VILLAGE OF ABERDOUR
It is less than quarter of a mile from the sea; it was created a burgh of barony during the reign of Charles I., by William, seventh Earl of Morton. It is the post town. There is an hospital for four widows, founded by Anne, countess of Moray. The sisterhood of the Poor Clares had a nunnery here. Besides the parish church, a Free church, an Episcopal chapel, the parish school, and a colliery school, it has long been a favourite bathing-resort from Edinburgh, though it is likely to be superseded by Portobello. Its harbour, though small, is well sheltered from all winds, owing to the rising grounds on every side, except the south. There is a steam-boat to Newhaven twice a day. The view from the village is certainly very fine; first we have Inchcolm, then Inchkeith, Burntisland, Cramond-lsland, Inch-Mickery, and the Carcary Rock. It is one mile from Dalgety; two from Donibristle; two and a half from St Davids; three from Burntisland; four from Inverkeithing; four from Crossgates; seven and a half from Dunfermline; one and three-quarters N.N.E. from Inchcolm; five and three eighths from Granton Pier.
There is one coal-work in the parish. Limestone is shipped at a harbour built by the Earl of Morton. The finest quality of building freestone to be found in the county is got in the quarry of Cullelo. There are two sawmills for cutting wood; an iron-mill for manufacturing spades, etc., driven by water; and about nine or ten hand-loom weavers, for ticking. Parish Church stipend, £207, 14s. 6d.; glebe, £12, 10s. Patron, Earl of Morton. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum. ln 1849 on poor's roll, 61.
The venerable old castle of Aberdour, now in ruins, the property of the Earl of Morton, rises in the midst of spreading trees, on the east bank of Starlyburn, which falls into the Forth in front, after a circuitous course. North of the castle is the elegant mansion of Stewart of Hillside, commanding the finest prospects. "The parish belonged to the monastery of Inchcolm, founded about the beginning of the 12th century, by Alexander I." [Fullerton.] Sibbald says that the west part of Aberdour was given by one of the Mortimers to this monastery, for the privilege of burying in the church. Aberdour originally belonged to the Viponts, who by marriage transferred it to the Mortimers in 1126. Besides these houses, we find Whitehill Cottage, Templehall, and at the north extremity of the parish is Cuttlehill House. I may here state that the lands of Aberdour, with the barony of Beath, were acquired by James Stuart, one of whose family in process of time became Sir James Stuart, who married the daughter of the Regent Murray. I may also state, that the popular title of the Earl of Morton formerly was "the Carle of Aberdour," and will be found in the ancient dredging songs of the fishermen of the Frith of Forth. [See Lawrie and Symington's Collection of Songs, 1792.]
INCHCOLM
An island in the Firth of Forth, nearly opposite to Aberdour. It is not a mile in circuit. Its shore is somewhat bold, rugged, and bleak. Nevertheless, a party farms the island from the Earl of Moray, and from its fertility in some places, contrives to rear limited crops. It is famed for the cultivation of its onions. The island is principally composed of greenstone, with some sandstone. If Inchcolm be destitute of beauty, it is rich in historical associations. Its primitive name was Æmona, or "the island of Druids;" and from which we infer that the Druids had a place of worship here before the introduction of Christianity. Winton tells us that the Culdees had a settlement here. The origin of the first monastery is thus related by Fordun:- "About the year 1123, Alexander I., having some business of state which obliged him to cross over at the Queen's Ferry, was overtaken by a terrible tempest, blowing from the south-west, which obliged the sailors to make for this island, which they reached with the greatest difficulty. Here they found a poor hermit, who lived a religious life, according to the rules of St Columba, and performed service in a small chapel, supporting himself by the milk of one cow, and the shell-fish he could pick up on the shore. Nevertheless, on these means he entertained the King and his retinue for three days, the time which they were confined here by the wind. During the storm, and whilst at sea and in the greatest danger, the King had made a vow, that if St Columba would bring him safe to that island, he would there found a monastery to his honour, which should be an asylum and relief to navigators. He was, moreover, farther moved to this foundation by having from his childhood entertained a particular veneration and honour for that saint, derived from his parents, who were long married without issue, until, imploring the aid of St Columba, their request most graciously granted." Thomas Forrest [Forret], the martyr, was converted on this island.
Patrick Graham, a worthy prelate of primitive simplicity and probity, was, by the unprincipled Sheviz, the archdeacon of St Andrews, first confined in Inchcolm, before he was removed to Loch Leven Castle, in which prison he died. This monastery suffered severely by being frequently pillaged by the English.
Paton tells us that this was, after the battle of Pinkie, occupied as a post commanding the Forth, in the Duke of Somerset's expedition, 1547. During the last French war, for the protection of this part of the Forth, the island was made a station for a battery of ten guns. The Old Statistical Account states that "the Earl of Moray attempted to cover the island with trees, which would have increased its picturesque appearance, but the attempt did not succeed." To the above authorities must be added Monnipennie, Maul, Monteith, and Walter Bowmaker.
ALLOA
A parish in Clackmannanshire. Its name is Gothic, signifying the sea-way. Bounded on the north by the Devon, which separates it from the parishes of Alva on the north, and Logie on the west; on the south by the Forth; and on the east it touches the parishes of Tillicoultry and Clackmannan. It is four miles long from east to west, and two miles broad. Area about 5000 acres. Under cultivation, 4376; under wood, 514 acres. Though there are no mountains or hills, except Gartmorn Hill, to the north-east, which is 390 feet high, yet its surface is so finely diversified with little hills and fertile valleys, as to form a richly varied landscape, unrivalled for picturesque beauty, such as thus described by Sibbald:-
"Such fields, such woods, such stately piles appear,
Such gardens grace the earth, such towers the air,
That Forth with Roman Tiber may compare."
Watered by the Devon, or North Devon, which rises in the parish of Blackford, Perthshire, descends with impetuosity from the Ochils, runs to the Crook of Devon, in the parish of Fossaway, turns west, and ultimately falls into the Forth at the village of Cambus. It is watered also by the Black Devon, or South Devon, which rises among the Saline hills in Fife, runs west, nearly parallel to the North Devon, and falls into the Forth opposite Clackmannan; besides which there is the largest artificial lake in Scotland, at Forest Mill, a weir and lade was built, thrown across the Black Devon, to supply the Gartmorn Dam, covering, when full, 160 acres, and in some places 36 feet deep. It is two miles from Alloa, and used for the Alloa colliery, and supplying the water-wheels of various manufactories; it is well supplied with a variety of fishes, some of the pikes weighing 18 and 20 lbs. The bridges, roads, and fences are in good order and well kept. On the banks of the Devon and Forth there is much fine carse soil; the subsoil in some parts is a strong clay, fit for making bricks and tiles; while between these rivers the land is more barren, owing to a considerable elevation of the country. Rent of land £3 per acre. Fifteen heritors. Population, 9493. Coal is abundant, and wrought long before 1650; thickness from two to nine feet; the principal collieries are Coalyland, and Carsebridge. There are two quarries, of white and red stone, but not wrought to any great extent. The manufactures are many and extensive, such as six woollen factories, making yarns, plaiding, shawls, tartans, druggets, blankets, and various other cloths; two extensive distilleries, making nearly 600,000 gallons of spirits per annum; eight breweries; glass-works, tanneries, foundries, potteries, brick and tile works, ship building, rope and sail making; extensive machine factories; tobacco and snuff factories; besides mills for grinding wheat, oats, and malt, with thrashing mills, driven by water or by steam; indeed, the town and parish form a little Birmingham. To these must be added a number of cotton and linen weavers, who work for the Glasgow manufacturers. There are two salmon fisheries, though on the decline for some years. Patron, the Crown. Parish Church stipend, £312, 9s. 10d.; glebe, £60; two Free churches at Alloa; a Free Church at Tullibody; two U.P. churches; a Baptist Church; a New Jerusalem congregation; a Congregational Church; and an Episcopal church There are ten schools in the town; parish schoolmaster salary maximum; a private one at Tullibody, Cambus, and Colliery village. In 1849 on poor's roll, 388. In the town there are five good inns, and 30 public-houses, besides others in the parish.
TOWN OF ALLOA
It was noted so early as the time of King Robert Bruce, who granted a charter to it in 1315. It is a burgh-barony. It stands on part of a rock a little above the harbour, near the ferry. The Sheriff and Justice of Peace Courts are held here, being virtually the county town. It is the polling place for the county of Clackmannan, in the election of a Member of Parliament. The principal street is regular, well built, and about 80 feet broad; inclosed by an avenue of fine lime trees, leading to the harbour; the other streets are irregular; a rivulet runs through the north-east end of the town, and falls into the river. By a Police Act obtained in 1822, water has been brought into the town. The harbour at the south end of the avenue admits vessels at neap-tides, with 15 feet of water, and 23 feet at spring tides. There is a dry dock a little west of the harbour. The great article of exportation is coals; the chief imports, flax, lintseed, grain, timber, and iron. There is steam communication to Edinburgh, and Alloa is a station on the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway. Post-Office. Coaches and carriers to all the principal towns. Two weekly newspapers; an excellent library, and public reading rooms; several friendly societies; branches of the Commercial, Union, and Western Banks; a Horticultural and Agricultural Society. In 1828 a gas-work was erected, making the gas of first rate quality; pipes are laid to Cambus distillery, a distance of two miles; and to other places in the neighbourhood. There are four fairs; Wednesday and Saturday are market days. David Allan, the celebrated painter, was born here in 1774.
VILLAGE OF TULLIBODY
It is remarkable for nothing excepting the historical associations connected with its ancient church; and its own high antiquity, which dates from the accession of Kenneth, King of the Scots in 843. Kenneth, from revenge at the Picts putting his father to death, and fixing his head to the gate of their capital, met Druskein, the Pictish monarch, on a field. Each took an oath, that they would not lay down their arms until one or other of the armies fell. The Picts were attacked with such skill and impetuosity, that in a few hours they were totally routed, with immense slaughter. As a lasting memorial, he founded a village, which be called "Tirly-bothy," signifying the "oath of the croft," since varied into Tullibody.
Tullibody church was built by David I., in 1149. On the north side of the church, where there had been formerly an entry, there is a stone coffin with the following tradition preserved of it:- That Miss Martha Wishart, only daughter of the laird of Mireton, a lady of great beauty and accomplishments, had declared her affection for the minister, Mr Peter Beaton, in 1449. He professed to be equally in love with her. The lady, however, discovered that his intentions were not honourable; and in consequence of which she sickened and died. She left orders not to bury her in the ground, but to put her body in the stone coffin, and place it at the entry to the church. Thus was the poor but perfidious vicar punished every time he passed to discharge the duties of his office; and the stone retains the name of the "Maiden Stone." [Old Statistical Account]
It appears from John Knox, that in January, 1559, when Monsieur d'Oysel commanded the French troops on the coast of Fife, they were alarmed by the arrival of the English fleet sent to succour the Reformers by Elizabeth, and they thought of nothing but a hasty retreat. William Kirkcaldy of Grange, taking advantage of their situation, marched with great expedition towards Stirling, and cut the Bridge of Tullibody, over the Devon, about a mile west of the village. The French, finding no other means of escape, took the roof off the church, and laid it along the bridge where it was cut, and thus got safe to Stirling, to the mortification of Kirkcaldy.
Alloa House is the seat of the very ancient family of the Erskines of Mar, who date so early as the 13th century. An eminent adherent of King Robert Bruce was Sir William Erskine. In 1800 the House was burned to the ground, leaving only the ancient Castle or Tower of Alloa, which is 90 feet in height, and the walls are eleven feet thick; "it and the lands of Alloa were exchanged in 1365, by David II., with Lord Erskine, for the estate of Strathgartney in Perthshire. The Erskines were guardians of Queen Mary, James VI., and Prince Henry, son of King James, in their childbood. A cradle, a baby's chair, and a golf, of rude workmanship, used by these young sovereigns, are now in the possession of Lady Frances Erskine, daughter of the late Earl, who lives in Edinburgh, who possesses also a miniature of Queen Mary. By John, the 11th Earl of Mar, being unfortunately engaged in the Rebellion of 1715, adhering to the Pretender, and following him to Rome, the titles and honours of the family were forfeited in 1716, but restored in 1825.
In 1571, John, Lord Erskine, was elected Regent of Scotland, on the death of the Earl of Lennox. George, Baron Abercromby of Aboukir and Tullibody, is the son of the gallant Sir Ralph Abercromby. James, the brother of the present Lord Abercromby, is now raised to the peerage, with the title of Baron Dunfermline.
The only antiquities deserving of notice are two stone coffins, each three feet in length, found in 1828. The bones, with gold bracelets, showed that they were the remains of adult men of distinction. From the shortness of the coffins, it appears that in remote ages, such bodies as were not burnt were doubled, and put into the stone coffins.
Alloa is seven miles from Dollar; seven from Stirling by land, and 17 by water; 20 from Kinross; 37 from Perth; and 27 and a half from Leith. Population of the town, 6676. There are four annual fairs. Tullibody is two miles W.N.W. of Alloa; one and a half from Menstrie; and six and a half from Tillicoultry. Population 600; village of Cambus has 289; village of Holton Square has 297; and village of Coalyland, 235.
ANSTRUTHER EASTER
This is the smallest parish in the county of Fife, the burgh, with a few acres of land, forming the parish. It was disjoined from the parish of Kilrenny, in 1636; had a church built; and which was thoroughly repaired in 1834. The name is celtic for Struther, said to signify "a low marshy place." Bounded on the east by the burgh of Kilrenny; on the north by the parish of Kilrenny; on the west by the burgh of Anstruther Wester; and on the south by the Frith of Forth. It lies at the bottom of a small bay, the shore of which is bold and rocky, with a headland to the west called Billyness. It is watered by the Dreel burn, descending from the high lands of Carnbee, on the west; water derived from springs is hard, and unfit for household purposes until filtered and corrected by carbonate of soda. A fine bridge connects it with Anstruther Wester. The principal heritor is Sir W. C. Anstruther, Bart., who is also the Patron. Population, 1161, out of which the burgh has 1146. Parish church stipend, £132; glebe, £25; one U.P. church; Congregational, Free, and Baptist church; Sabbath schools; parish schoolmaster salary shamefully small; and of course no other school. On poor's roll 29.
TOWN OF ANSTRUTHER
The town was erected into a burgh-barony in the reign of Malcolm IV., by Henry de Anstruther; and into a royal burgh by James VI., in 1583. It is governed by three bailies, a treasurer, and councillors. It has a weekly corn-market. Branches of the Clydesdale, Eastern, and National Banks of Scotland. The harbour is good, but might be much improved, as is the case with nearly all of them in the Forth. The trade from this place is coasting, and consists of grain, potatoes, and salted cod. In the 17th century it had an extensive trade with Holland and the Baltic. It has a Post-Office. It has two good inns, with several public-houses. The inhabitants are intelligent, but certainly are not disciples of Father Mathew. There is a large tanwork, a brewery, and a rope and sail work. Communication is carried on by coaches and carriers, besides packets. There are several benefit societies.
Eminent Men.
The manse was built as a gift to the parish, at the end of the 16th century, by James Melville, minister of the parish, who acted his part in turbulent councils of the Scottish church; and who was nephew to the more celebrated Andrew Melville. The town is renowned in song as the residence of "Maggie Lauder," who was a real person, who lived in the East Green, a low street connecting the town with the contiguous fishing village of Cellardykes; and which has been made the subject of an amusing jocular poem, called "Anster Fair," by W. Tennant, Professor of Oriental Languages in the University of St Andrews. It was also the birthplace of the celebrated Rev. Dr Thomas Chalmers, who died at Edinburgh, in May, 1847.
While adverting to this eminent man, I am tempted to state that when visiting Loch Lomond on one occasion, with some equally eminent men, he irresistibly exclaimed, "I wonder if there will be a Loch Lomond in heaven." [Dawson] In making this remark, the reader is left to draw his own inference. The first of the Anstruther family was William de Candella, obviously of Norman origin, who had been made an English baron, and ultimately settled in Anstruther in the reign of David I.; the grandson of whom renounced the name, and assumed that of his lands; a confirmation of whose charter is dated in the 7th year of the reign of Alexander II., in 1221. [Chalmers' Caledonia.]
The following tradition of the family of the Anstruthers, during the reign of Robert III., is too remarkable to be withheld from the reader:- The Castle of Dreel, the ruins of which still stand, and overhang the harbour of Easter Anstruther, at a point precisely opposite to the church of Wester Anstruther, has been a place of considerable strength. It was the baronial residence of the family of Sir William Anstruther. Sir William was scarcely past the prime of life, of a tall and powerful frame, and looked like one who had braved many a blast by sea and land. He was generous, grateful, noble, and fearless; but violent under the smallest provocation, proud of his pedigree, and had the eccentricity of going with his fishing vassals on their adventurous excursions, in all seasons of peculiar peril, and headed them in the frequent hand-to-hand contests which agitated the surface of the Firth from their national enemies beyond Berwick, as well as their hostile neighbours nearer home. From this circumstance, he was named "Fisher Willie." The knight had two children; a son, who had been at the court of King Robert III. from boyhood; and a daughter, who dwelt with her father in the Castle of Dreel. The fair Margaret, without the aid of romance, was the flower of the household. She was slender in her person, and beautiful in features; with light blue eyes and corresponding hair. Her temper was sweet, amiable, and obedient; her character upright, moral, and religious. Some time previous to the subsequent events, she had been at court for two months, and had given her heart to the Honourable Patric Home, whose ancestor, had killed Sir William's grandfather on the Firth; and for which reason he bore the most implacable hatred to young Home, who was son of the great and powerful Earl of Home.
The next neighbour of Sir William Anstruther was the Laird of Thirdpart; a man in the prime of life, low in stature, with a countenance which betokened acuteness, in the shape of low cunning. In a word, a man of despicable passions, who formed a good specimen of the dissolute men of the period, when the law met with little respect, and private feuds led to the commission of the worst of crimes - when a vassal knew no law but his master's will; and when the actors, by money or influence, were able to exonerate themselves from its vengeance.
The last person in the approaching drama is a wandering beggar; whose form, features, manner, and audacious character, sanctioned the opinion of his being frequently engaged as a hired assassin.
Sir William, some time before, had insulted the Laird of Thirdpart by rebuking him about his presumption in respect to Miss Margaret, and his attempts to make himself the king of Anstruther walk.
The rankling sense of insult led the Laird to meditate a retaliation far exceeding the offence. He sent the Baron a most obsequious, respectful, and cringing invitation to visit him at Thirdpart the next day, and to bring Miss Margaret. The generous-hearted and honourable knight felt pleased at his neighbour's forgiving disposition, as he scarcely thought he had manliness enough to forget the past. Having read the invitation to his daughter, and ordered her to be ready, that they might show the Laird all due courtesy, he returned a friendly and affirmative answer. In the evening of the same day, by the most perfect accident, the beggar had been taken into the house of Thirdpart, admitted into the private room of the Laird, by whom he was cautiously sounded, and then became acquainted with the designs of that personage and his associates, as also of the invitation. What were the precise inducements held out on that occasion we are not told, suffice it to say that the beggar, being in rags, made an advantageous bargain. He was then put into a garret room, and locked up.
The beggar remained motionless till the dead hour of night; rose, and with his lamp surveyed the window, which was secured by a strong wooden frame; this he cautiously removed by the help of the table and a strong knife. With a long rope, which had been wound round his person beneath his rags, to be useful in his secret calling, he fastened one end to a hook above the window; bolted the door of his room, and then descended safely to the ground.
On eagle's wings he flew to the Castle of Dreel, and with some difficulty procured an audience of its proprietor, and shortly addressed him thus:-
"Sir William, your life is in danger. You have been invited to Thirdpart to-morrow at noon; you have returned a favourable answer; you have insulted the Laird; and you are asked thither only to be murdered!" We are here irresistibly led to conclude that the object of the beggar was to make a still more advantageous bargain with Sir William; the more so, as he remained true to him.
At the command of Sir William, "the stranger detailed the whole circumstances of the previous day, and disclosed the proposal made to himself." He stood the fire of a rigid cross-questioning relative to all the parties and particulars. The whole statement was so clear, that conviction forced itself upon the Baron's mind, who could not resist exclaiming, "Plot for plot!"
The vagrant returned to Thirdpart; and by means of the rope, was found in the morning where he was left at night; having carefully replaced the window.
In the morning the Laird received a kind invitation to come to the Castle of Dreel, as Sir William had become suddenly unwell, though sufficiently able to receive company. The Laird, though disappointed, consoled himself with the idea, that his revenge was only postponed, not frustrated. Accordingly he set out for the Castle alone, after having consulted certain confederates, as also the beggar, whom he told to loiter about in his roguish profession, for a few days till the deed was done, and that a boat, with a trusty hand to row it, waited at Elie, to carry him afterwards across the firth to Lothian.
The knight of Dreel was made aware of the Laird's approach to the castle. He found it difficult to keep his wrath within bounds. Armed with a pole-axe, he met his foe at the top of the winding stair of the Castle. The unsuspecting traitor advanced. Behind him came one of the Baron's own domestics, followed, unnoticed, by the beggar, who could not foresee what the hot and rash knight was to do.
"Base traitor!" cried Sir William, addressing Thirdpart; "how darest thou pollute this castle with a smile to-day on the man whom thou wouldst have stabbed yesterday to the heart?" and observing the beggar, the furious knight further said: "Look behind thee and confess thy guilt!" The Laird unconsciously obeyed; grew pale as death, staggered backwards, and could not restrain the word "Traitor!" This rash word was no sooner said, than the axe descended on the head of Thirdpart, and laid him lifeless on the spot where he stood.
A long and profound silence followed this dreadful act. The passion by which it was dictated soon abated. Reason resumed its throne; and the knight became fully alive to the fearful consequences of the past, as the Laird was not without friends. Sir William at length cried "The King! the King! the King must be told all! He alone can remedy this evil hap!"
Having consoled fair Margaret by saying:- "A thought has struck me, which I will pursue," and ordering the beggar to be detained in the dungeon, the knight put on his best coat, an ample garment of the finest texture and richest workmanship; and within an hour after the catastrophe, took the road to Stirling, with two attendants.
On reaching the court, he presented himself before the King, and kneeling, exclaimed:- "A boon, a boon, your majesty!"
"What! my burly knight of Anstruther! Welcome, welcome! How doth the fair Margaret? One word of her before aught else.”
"My daughter is well, royal sire," replied the baron. "But, may it please you, listen to the suit I have humbly to prefer."
"Speak, Sir William Anstruther," said the King; "it will be a hard asking which I will refuse to a tried servant like thee."
"I have, then, your majesty, to beg that I may live to wear the coat now upon my back, and to possess all that is in it."
The reader should here be told, that he had adopted the strange device of putting his charter deeds in his coat-pocket.
So droll a petition tickled the fancy of the King, and all the other nobles present, leading to a burst of prolonged laughter. "Thou hast thy boon, Sir William, and thy coat along with it," said his majesty. We may here observe the weakness of the King.
The continued solemnity of Fisher Willie's look, arising from a doubt of the King's word, made one of the nobles suggest that his majesty should call for an explanation of the petition.
Having listened to all the circumstances of the case, the King looked grave and thoughtful. But the cloud disappeared on considering the treacherous nature of the plot. The monarch confirmed his first decision, only requiring a certified statement by the beggar, and by the confession of one of the surviving parties to the plot, under the promise of a pardon.
Transported with joy, the Baron entered his own castle on the third day. He ordered the beggar to be brought before him, sent for his daughter, and thus addressed her:- "All is well, Meg. I have now a debt to pay which must stand against me no longer. I owe this man my life; how thinkest thou he should be repaid?"
“He has the warmest gratitude of a daughter, for saving a father from death," said Miss Margaret, with moist eyes.
"By my honour, are fathers, so plenty, so little worth, so lightly esteemed, that a daughter can give but the frozen language of her mouth for such a noble act as this? No, he must have more from thee, Meg! To be brief, he must have thy hand!"
"Father! dearest father!" cried Margaret, in tones of extreme surprise and of agony, "do not break my heart! Oh, say you are not in earnest! I love another!"
To which Sir William said, "Nothing less can pay such a debt. He shall be thy husband! I swear it, by my father's bones!" Suiting his action to his words, he roughly seized the long black locks of the beggar, which came off, disclosing to view the short brown hair and fine features of a youth of two-and-twenty.
"Margaret! beloved Margaret!" said Patric Home, for such was the unveiled beggar. The young daughter grew suddenly red and pale by turns, till her contending emotions found vent in a flood of joyful tears shed in her lover's arms, opened to receive her. The more so, as former circumstances had given but little reason to hope that such pleasure would ever fall to their lot.
The Hon. Patric Home made the avowal to the knight, that he had disguised himself as a beggar, in the hope of seeing his mistress once more; and that he had brought with him a rope, prepared at all risks to scale the Castle, that he might have an interview with one without whom he felt life a burden. That rope, and mere accident, through divine Providence, had punished the wicked, and preserved the innocent. Sir William praised loudly young Home's courage and presence of mind, without which he would have been a dead man.
The attestation was made out, by the confession under promise of safety, of one of Thirdpart's associates, and sent to the King. Few blamed Sir William for the Laird's death. And the King made him wear the armorial bearings of a "hand with a pole-axe," with the motto, "I should have perished, had I not made another suffer." To this day, the Anstruther family bear these arms. [Abridged from Chambers's Pocket Miscellany, vol. 21, A small, cheap, and interesting work, that cannot be too generally read by all classes of society.]
ANSTRUTHER WESTER
It is bounded on the east by Anstruther Easter; on the west by Pittenweem; on the south by the Forth; and on the north by Carnbee and Kilrenny. It is connected with Anstruther Easter by a good bridge over the Dreel Burn, which was erected at the mutual expense of the two burghs in 1831. Area, about 600 acres of land. Almost the whole of it is arable. About 25 acres are under wood. The shore is bold and rocky, and the surface of the parish rises gently from the south towards the northern extremity. It is watered by the Dreel Burn, which rises in the high lands of Carnbee. The soil near the sea is either a black loam, or a light sand mixed with shells; either of them render it very fertile. In the higher grounds the greater part is a deep clay, which, in favourable weather, yields considerable crops. The rent of land is from £1 to £2 per acre. Much attention has been paid to draining, and to the breeding and feeding of cattle. Four heritors, Lord William Douglas of Dunino; Robert Bruce, Esq. of Grangemuir; Sir Windham C. Anstruther of Anstruther and Carmichael, Bart; Matthew F. Conolly, Esq. Population 443; of which there are not more than 40 people in the country. There are no mines of any description in the parish. Coals have to be brought from the neighbourhood, that is, from Waterriggs or Balkcaskie. There are no quarries worth working. Being a small burgh, there is scarcely any trade; they unite with Anstruther Easter and Kilrenny, that is, Cellardykes, in curing and sending salted cod, and smoked haddocks, called Finnan haddocks, with abundance of fresh fish, to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cupar, and other parts. Patron, Sir W. C. Anstruther, Bart. Parish church stipend £142, 5s. 6d.; glebe, £22, 10s.; there is no other church. Parish school, maximum salary; no private school. On poor's roll, 6.
TOWN OF ANSTRUTHER-WESTER
It was erected into a burgh of barony in 1554, and created a royal burgh by James VI., in 1587. It is governed by three bailies, a treasurer, and councillors. The town-hall is a large and handsome room. It has a Post Office. The police consists of 12 constables, called out when required. The market, held every Saturday, is in Anstruther Easter. Communication is by coaches, carriers, and steam-boats. Two friendly societies. It is now supplied with water; and since 1831 has had the main street widened other 20 feet. There is a handsome school. The lower orders are still too fond of a drop of the mountain dew. It is six miles to the west of Fifeness.
ISLE OF MAY
This is an island in the mouth of the Firth of Forth; six miles south-east; about a mile long, and three quarters of a mile broad. There is a small lake with a well of fine water; it affords the finest pasturage for sheep, hence the expression May mutton; the coarsest woolled sheep soon become as fine as silk. The island belongs to Anstruther Wester, though claimed by Crail. It consists entirely of dark greenstone. The shores are precipitous, presenting on the west extremity cliffs of 160 feet in elevation, and subsiding on the east into a low ridge or reef. It originally belonged to the monks of Reading, in England. There are the ruins of a monastery, and a chapel consecrated to St Adrian, Bishop of St Andrews, who was killed by the Danes in 872, and buried in Anstruther Wester. After passing through several hands, it came to Alexander Cunningham of Barns, who obtained a charter from Charles I., with liberty to build a lighthouse, and for which all ships passing up the Firth had to pay a tax. This lighthouse was a tower 40 feet high, with a fire of coals constantly kept burning on the top, but which was often undiscernible till within half-a-mile of the island. The island was ultimately purchased by the Commissioners for Northern Lights, for £60,000, who in 1815 rebuilt the tower, elevating it 240 feet above the medium sea-level; and fitting it up with oil lamps and reflectors; the light may be seen from any point, at the distance of nearly seven leagues. It is five miles from Fifeness; ten miles from the Staple-rocks lying off Dunbar; seven miles from the Bass; and fifteen miles from the Bell-rock. Kittiewakes, dunters, scarts, gulls, sea-pyets, and marrots, are the species of birds commonly seen upon the island. It is situated in North Latitude 56° 12', and West Longitude 2° 36′.
Before leaving the parish, I must advert to a fish-pond, which is certainly a curiosity. It was dug out of the solid rock some years ago, in the garden of the late Captain James Black, R.N.; it is of considerable length and breadth, and nearly 14 feet in depth; it communicates with the sea by a small passage bored through the rock, by which means its water rises and falls with the tide. It is abundantly stocked with cod, turbot, and flounders, so tame that they flock towards the person who feeds them.
AUCHTERDERRAN
A parish in Fife. Bounded on the south by Auchtertool; on the south-east by Abbotshall; on the north by Kinglassie and Portmoak; on the east by Dysart; and on the west by Ballingray. It is five miles from north to south, and three miles broad. With the exception of one-third in pasture, 500 acres under wood, some few acres of waste and unproductive land, the remainder of the parish grow wheat, barley, pease, beans, and oats. More oats are sown than of all the other grains. Though the ground rises in south-west to 620 feet, it falls to the east and north to 200 feet above sea-level. It is watered by the Ore, which runs through the whole length of the parish, from north-west to south-east, and then through the parishes of Kinglassie, Dysart, and Markinch, flows through Loch Fitty, and falls into the Leven two and a half miles before the united stream enters the Forth at the Town of Leven. Two bridges, each one arch, cross the Ore in this parish. There is a lake called Lochgelly, three miles in circumference, which lies on the south of the parish, and discharges itself into the Ore by a rivulet; till within the past 25 years, this lake used to supply nearly one half of Scotland with the best leeches. In Kirkaldy the name of leech was gelly, from that circumstance. One third of the soil is black earth, usually on whinstone; the other two-thirds are clay, with a mixture of sand. The climate is damp and variable. Rent of land averages £1, 5s. The large den of Cardon, one mile long, and of considerable width, might be planted with great advantage. The farms are well drained, enclosed, and cultivated; barley is sown now in April, instead of May as formerly; the draught horses are of a good kind, but the milch cows are inferior. Eleven heritors. Population 3210. The coal works are extensive, such as the Cluny, Ferguson of Raith; Lochgelly, Lord Minto; Dundonald, Mr Wardlaw Ramsay; and Capledrae, Mr Ayton. There is a railroad from Lochgelly to Inverkeithing. A number of excellent limestone quarries; whinstone quarries are at Balgriggy. Patron is Boswell of Balmuto. Parish church stipend £237, 10s.; glebe £30; there is a U.P. church at Lochgelly. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; there are two private schools, and a boarding school. In 1849 on poor's roll, 36. There are thirteen public houses in the parish; "drunkenness, formerly rare, is now lamentably frequent." [New Statistical Account, and Dawson.]
VILLAGE OF LOCHGELLY
It contains fully 870 inhabitants, who are chiefly weavers and colliers; it has three annual fairs. A branch of the Union Bank of Scotland; a Savings bank. It is four miles from Inverkeithing; four from Crossgates; six from Dunfermline; eight from Kirkaldy; and fourteen from Cupar. Post Town, Kirkcaldy. Of late an iron-work has started in the neighbourhood.
In the earlier numbers of Blackwood's Magazine we find several anecdotes of a colony of gipsies which were long established here; these will be more taken notice of under PATEMURE.
AUCHTERMUCHTY
A parish in Fife; stretching from among the Ochil Hills southward into the Howe of Fife. Bounded by the river Eden, which divides it from Strathmiglo, on the south; on the north by the Abernethy parish, portion of Perthshire; by Collessie on the east; and Strathmiglo and Abernethy on the west. It is two and a half miles from east to west, by two in breadth. Area, about 3000 acres. Under cultivation, 2560; under wood, 230; with 90 acres of a common. It becomes hilly towards the north, till it rises to a considerable height on the Ochils; while the low grounds on the Eden, in the south part of the parish, are level and flat. It is watered by a burn that rises partly in the north-west, and partly from Lochmill in the parish of Abdie, running through the burgh till it joins the Eden near Kilwis. The soil in the south-east presents an extensive plain of deep, rich, black clay, loam, and mellow earth; while it is light, loose, and dark, around the burgh. The rent of land is from £1, 10s. to £6. The land is well drained, and sheep husbandry much attended to. Though there are above 50 heritors, eight form the leading ones, the principal of whom are Mr Bruce of Falkland, Mr Skene of Hallyards, and Mr Andrew Murray. Population, 3704; out of which 2673 are within the burgh. There are whinstone quarries at Auchtermuchty Hill, behind Newton. Patron, Bruce of Falkland. Parish church stipend, £236, 19s 2d; glebe, £20; a Free church, two U.P. churches, another U.P. church at Dunshelt. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; there are other four private schools in the burgh, and one at Dunshelt. On the poor's roll in 1849, there were 76.
TOWN OF AUCHTERMUCHTY
Stands in the middle of the parish, on the road from Cupar to Kinross, and from Kirkcaldy to Newburgh; about half a mile from the Eden. It was erected into a royal burgh by James V. in 1517; confirmed by James VI. in 1591; and a new charter given by Charles I. in 1631. It consists of three principal streets, with many lanes; and the burn already adverted to runs through it. It is very irregularly built; most of the houses are good substantial structures; the most conspicuous of which are the church and town-house, with its tower and spire. It is governed by a chief magistrate (not a Provost), two bailies, twelve councillors, and a town-clerk. There is no guildry, nor any incorporated trades. With the exception of customs, there is no local tax levied by the authorities. It became bankrupt in 1816. It had considerable revenues at one time. There is a weekly market for corn and other articles, and three annual fairs. It is lighted with gas. It is a post town. There is a sub-distributor of stamps. There are branches of Union Bank and Western Bank of Scotland. A Savings Bank, established in 1821. An agricultural society. Two or three good inns, with several public-houses. The principal employment of the population, within and without the burgh, is weaving linen for the Dunfermline and Newburgh manufacturers; some cotton cloth for Glasgow; and woollen shawls. There are 1040 looms in the parish, of which 830 are in the town. There is a large bleachfield for cloth and yarn; an extensive malting house; a distillery; a corn, flour, and saw mill. In smith work, it is famed for the excellence of its beams and scales. It is one mile from the village of Dunshelt, which is on the road to Falkland, containing with New Inn, 624 inhabitants; three miles from Falkland; five from Newburgh; five from Letham; nine from Cupar; ten from Kinross; fifteen from Kirkaldy; fifteen from Perth; twenty from St Andrews; and 33 from Stirling.
The lands and fine old Castle of Myres, between the town and the Eden, originally belonged to the Earls of Fife; in 1484 they were turned over by a charter to John Scrimgeour, to whom was also given the lands of Hadfield, in the barony of Inverkeithing. They now belong to Bruce of Falkland.
Auchtermuchty is noted for the humorous Scottish poem, "The Wife of Auchtermuchty," which has been ascribed to James V. It originated in a ploughman reproaching his wife that she had a lady's life compared to him. It was agreed to exchange situations. "The bargain proved, as might be anticipated, a most unfortunate one for the gudeman, whose successive disasters in 'hussyskep' brought him 'meikle schame,' fairly sickened him of his new employments before nightfall, and forced him upon the sound reflection and wise resolution with which the ballad closes:- [Fullerton]
Quod he, "When I forsuke my plewch,
I trow I but forsuke my skill!
Then I will to my plewch again,
For I and this house will nevir do weil."
The following anecdote, greatly abridged, was related by an old inhabitant, with whom I lodged while inspecting the parish, in June 1822:-
On one occasion a minister, a young doctor, and a young farmer, met and were discussing the question of the existing hypocrisy of the age. The Rev. gentleman defended the part of increasing morality. The doctor as strenuously opposed him. The debate warmed into unbecoming anger; only to be set at rest by a demonstrative proof. The wife of the young farmer being within three weeks of her first confinement, was fixed upon by the doctor as affording a proper subject to settle the question. The farmer was to find a young foal of an ass, which was to be kept unrevealed, even from his wife. The lady was safely confined. The young ass had 180 drops of laudanum poured over its throat; well bandaged down; and put into a grand capacious cradle, with a counterpane and green curtains. In due time it was carried into the parlour, where the minister, farmer, doctor, and some nine or ten female cottagers were awaiting its arrival. As usual on such occasions, a glass was presented to the three upper persons in rank; then to the females, who invariably went first to the cradle, in their turn; each lifting up a small portion of the curtain, by no means sufficient to recognise what was under the counterpane; yet each paid the hackneyed compliment that "it was a bonny bairn, very like its faither," the first adding that "it had its faither's very mouth," the second "his nose to a shaving," the third declared "it had blue een like its faither," the fourth that "its lugs were just its faither owre again." At this part of the farce, that is, the fourth female, the minister lost his temper; he went up to the cradle, threw back the curtain; tore off the counterpane, loosened the bandages, which allowed the four legs to spring up, and displayed a young ass, to the horror and dismay of the females, who ran out of the house crying that the lady had brought forth an ass. The above anecdote is not to be understood as applied to Auchtermuchty; nor yet to Fife; it applies to the hypocrisy of the same class over most of Scotland. It is the glass that is cared for, not the infant.
AUCHTERTOOL
Or more correctly Auchterteil, Auchter being a Celtic word for higher, and Teil a rivulet. It is a parish in Fife. Bounded by Kinghorn, Burntisland, and Aberdour on the south; on the north by Auchterderran; on the north-west by Beath; and on east by Kinghorn and Abbotshall. It is three miles long, by one and a half broad. Area, 2630. Under cultivation, 1650; under pasture, 730; that might be profitably improved, 250; but none under wood. The Cullalo hills at the west of the parish rise to 750 above sea-level, having their steepest declivity on the south; the top of which commands a fine view of the Isle of May, the Bass, and North Berwick Law. Besides being abundantly supplied with springs of water, there is the rivulet Tiel, which flows from Camilla loch, and other two small rivulets flowing into it. Camilla loch is near the north-east boundary; covering 18 acres, and 22 feet deep in some places; it is supplied with pike, perch, and eels. Near Camilla loch there is a small cascade, and another on its south boundary. The soil on the south of the parish is loamy, from eight inches to five feet deep, lying on subsoil of rotten rock, requiring only to be opened and broken by the trench-plough, and exposed to the air, by which it would be pulverised, and rendered very fertile; on the north and west the soil is clayey, of the nature of till, or mossy, and of course less productive; much, however, could be done by deep draining. Rent of land, average £1, 4s; grazing of a cow or ox, £2, 8s for the season. Horses are only bred and reared for farm purposes, but not for sale; much attention is bestowed on the breeding and rearing of black-cattle, for which the growing of turnips and potatoes is much increased; sheep have lately been introduced, and appear to pay well. Five heritors; the principal are Earl of Moray, and Erskine Wemyss, Esq. of Wemyss. Population 517. There are no collieries; coals have to be brought from Lord Moray's colliery, and from other three in the parish of Auchterderran; the distance from either to the village of Auchtertool is four miles. There are two limestone quarries, wrought for local use, but not for sale. One freestone quarry, of an inferior quality, and never wrought for sale. There are several whinstone quarries, used for the turnpike and other roads in the parish. Patron, Earl of Moray. The parish church a mile distant from the village and hamlet. Stipend, £157, 18s. 10d.; glebe, £20. Parish schoolmaster salary, £129; one private school, and an infant school. A parish library. In 1849 on poor's roll, 12. The Dunfermline branch of the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway, and the Dunfermline and Stirling Railway, connect the parish with the main lines of traffic; Lochgelly Station is close adjoining.
VILLAGE OF AUCHTERTOOL
Is four miles west by south of Kirkcaldy, and eight miles from Dunfermline. The Post Town is Kirkcaldy, which is also the market-town. The population is 358. The parish library, established in 1824, has 240 volumes. There is a saving's-bank. Six public-houses, but no inn. It is famed for an extensive brewery, making ales, porter, and table-beer; the ales are shipped at Kirkcaldy for London.
HAMLET OF NEWBIGGING
It contains a population of 84. The principal edifice is Camilla House, the ruins of which still remain, near the west end of Camilla loch; its ancient name was Hallyards, and belonged to the Kirkcaldies of Grange, a family of considerable note in the history of Scotland. "When James V. was on his road to the palace of Falkland, after the defeat of his army on the English border, under the command of Oliver Sinclair, he lodged all night in the Hallyards, where he was courteously received by the Lady of Grange, 'ane ancient and godlie matrone,' as Knox calls her." [Fullerton] "It is said to have been the rendezvous of the Fife lairds at the rebellion in 1715." [Dawson]
BALLINGRY
This is a parish in Fife; sometimes called Ballgray, and pronounced Bingrey. While some trace its Celtic origin to "the village of the cross," others say it signifies "the king's town." It is bounded on the north by Portmoak; on the south by Beath and Auchterderran; and on the east by Kinglassie and Auchterderran; and on the west by Cleish; about a square mile of the parish is separated by a part of the parish of Portmoak. It is four miles long by two in breadth. Area, about 5000 acres. Under cultivation, 2840 acres; under pasture, 1920; under wood, 234. The only hill in the parish is Benarty; the south of which is well planted. It is watered by the rivulet Orr, which issues from Loch Orr; and which loch was, till lately, three-fourths larger than it is now, owing to extensive draining;
Loch Orr is frequently mentioned in Scotch history. The soil in the south part of the parish is only adapted for pasturage, having a cold bottom; while in the north part it is fit for any crop, being generally dry. Draining and other improvements have been well attended to. While barley, wheat, peas, and beans are sown, oats is the grain most generally sown, and that in March or beginning of April. There are nine heritors; the principal are the Earl of Minto and Lord Dundas. Population in the parish, 568. Coal is extensively wrought; the annual value being about £10,000. Though there be limestone in the parish, it is not good, and has to be brought from a distance of several miles. The Post Town is Blair Adam. Patron, Lady Scott of Abbotsford. Parish church stipend, £172, 8s 3d.; Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum. One Sabbath school. In 1849 on poor's roll, 7. There are two public houses, not too well employed, indicating the sober habits of the people.
The mansion-house and lands of Lochore originally belonged to the family of Lochore, who possessed great power and influence in the reign of Alexander II., and down to Robert Bruce. Sibbald, who refers to the Loch, and says that it abounded in pikes and perches, also says that there was an island in it called Inchgall, on which, in the reign of Malcolm IV., Duncan de Lochore built a castle. In 1315, Thomas de Lochore was one of the Parliament at Ayr, which entailed the crown on the heirs of Robert Bruce. In Agricola's invasion of Fife, we find that he marched one of the divisions of his army to Loch Ore, two miles from Loch Leven; having Cleish hills on his left, and Benarty hill on his right; in the year 83. This ninth legion was attacked and nearly cut off by the Caledonians; on which spot the Romans built a square camp, the circumference of which was 2020 feet. A farm steading, called the Chapel, now marks part of its site. Lochore was the property of the eldest son of the late Sir Walter Scott of Abbotsford, by marrying the heiress. East Blair; Crosshill; South and North Lamphunans; Balbegie; Flockhouse; Rosewell; and Kirkland, are all different lands within the parish.
BALMERINO
A parish in Fife; which was anciently called in the Celtic, Balmurynach, signifying "Sailor's Town." It is bounded on the north by the Frith of Tay; on the south by Kilmany; on the west by Flisk; and on the east by Forgan or St Fillans: it stretches on the bank of the Tay, on the west from the mansion-house of Birkhill, to the Wormit Bay on the east It is three and a half miles long from east to west and two miles from north to south. Area, 3346 acres. Under cultivation, 2700; under wood, 467; in pasture and roads, 543. Scurr Hill in the north, rises 400 feet above sea-level, and Coultry Hill near 500 feet, in the south, are hilly ridges of the Ochils that traverse the parish from east to west, leaving a beautiful intervening valley. The shores on the Tay are bold, rocky, and often precipitous. It is watered by small streams, and various fine springs, but has no river of importance. In general the soil is thin and sharp, of a black loamy quality, resting upon whinstone; much of it is light and gravelly; or of a strong plastic till; but through the efforts of the farmer, all of them have been rendered completely fertile and very productive. As there is neither bog nor marsh, and the soil dry, the climate is healthy beyond most other parishes in the county. Average rent of land, £1, 16s. per acre. About 110 cattle are annually fattened for the butcher, and as many calves reared; fat three year old cattle bring from £10 to £16 a head. Three heritors. No quarries are wrought in the parish. There is no coal nearer than twelve miles; most of it is imported from Newcastle. About 160 men and women weave dowlas and osnaburg for Dundee. Population 945. Patron, Crown. Parish church stipend, £240; glebe, £18. There is no dissenting chapel in the parish; the dissenters have to go to Rathillet. Parish school is at the hamlet of Galdry; the teacher has the maximum salary, with house and garden; there is a private school, and a female one. In 1849 on poor's roll, 24. There are four hamlets in the parish, Galdry, near the north boundary; Balmerino, on the coast; Coultry, towards the west; and Kirkton, near where the old church stood; all the four have not 600 inhabitants when united. The Post Town is Newport, four and a half miles. The market-town is Cupar, six miles. There is a passage-boat which sails from Balmerino pier to Dundee.
Balmerino is not without historical interest, deserving the attention of the reader. Fordun, Leslie, Buchanan, Keith, Sibbald, and other high authorities, state that the Picts were possessed of this district of Fife for a period of a thousand years; and that the lands of Balmerino, situated on the south bank of the Frith, were bought by Emergarde, the mother of Alexander II., and Queen Dowager of William the Lion, from Richard de Rewel, because its situation was beautiful and healthy. Here the Queen founded the Abbey in 1229, which she planted with monks of the Cistertian order. King Alexander granted the foundation charter in February 1230, adding still more lands to it. The example was followed by several neighbouring barons, till it became richly endowed. But, as Buchanan states, they ran from their abstemious and severe rules into all the corruptions and abuses attending wealth, power, and influence. All this was put a stop to, as Leslie tells us, by the Lords of the Congregation, who demolished the Abbey on their way to St Andrews in 1558. Queen Emergarde died in 1233, and was buried in the church before the high altar, as stated by Fordun. Nothing now remains of this grand Abbey but its ruins. "Recently much of the rubbish has been cleared off for the useful purpose of building drains and park dykes; among other desecrations, the site of the 'magnum altare' has been trenched, and the bones of Queen Emergarde dispersed as curiosities through the country." [Chambers' Gazetteer.] Such is the boasted patriotism of our age; would the Picts, the Caledonians, or the Romans, have been guilty of such an unhallowed act?
On the summit of an isolated mass of rock, at least 80 feet in height in the centre of the valley, stand the ruins of the ancient Castle of Naughtan; built by Robertus de Lundon, a natural son of King William the Lion, as stated by Sibbald.
At the Reformation the lands of the Abbey were given to Sir James Elphinston, in whose family they remained till the forfeiture of John, sixth Lord Balmerino, in 1746, who suffered decapitation on Tower Hill, along with the Earl of Kilmarnock, for the part they took at the battle of Culloden. All the Lords Balmerino were as talented as they were unfortunate, three out of six lords having been condemned to death.
The castle and lands of Naughtan came into the family of Hay during the reign of Alexander III. Sir William Hay of Naughtan is noticed by Winton as:
"Ane hanest knycht and of gud fame,
A travilit knycht lang before than."
Naughtan is said to have been the site of the battle of Dunnechtan, fought in 685, "wherein the Pictish King, Bredei, defeated and slew the Saxon King, Egfrid of Northumbria." There is a field called the Battle Law, in the neighbourhood of Naughtan, where, about the close of the 10th century, the Danes, in their flight from the battle of Luncarty, were attacked by the Scots and Picts, then united under Kenneth III., and again put to flight with severe loss.
That Balmerino is healthy, we are told by Martin, that "Magdalene, Queen of James V., being a tender ladie, the physicians choosed this place (St Andrews) and the abbacie of Balmerinoch, as having the best aers of any places in the kingdom, for her residence and abode." [History of the See of St Andrews.]
The last object of attention is Andrew Gullan, a weaver, and native of the parish, who was executed at Edinburgh for "holding Halkerston of Rathillet's mare," while the conspirators were engaged in murdering Archbishop Sharpe on Magus Muir. The actual perpetrators of that bloody tragedy made their escape to the Continent.
BEATH
A parish in Fife; which was anciently spelt Baith; and according to the New Statistical Account, "signifies, in Gaelic, birchwood." Bounded on the north by Cleish, from which it is separated by the water of Orr; on the south by Auchtertool, Dalgetty, and Dunfermline; on the east by Ballingray; and on the west by Dunfermline. It is four miles long, by three broad. Area, nearly 6800 acres. Under cultivation, 5270 acres; under pasture, 516; under wood, 530; that might be planted, or applied to pasture, 394. The surface, though rugged and hilly, presents only one called the Hill of Beath, at the south-west, which, besides affording fine pasture, commands an extensive and beautiful view. A little to the north-west is Loch-Fitty; three miles in circumference, rather shallow, and contains pike and perch, without scenery to recommend it; and from which the water of Orr takes its rise. The Loch is partly in the parish of Beath, and partly in that of Dunfermline; it is three miles north of Dunfermline. The bridges are all in good repair. The soil is moorish; with brown earth upon whinstone, till, and moss; owing to the quantity of wet land, and the elevation of the parish, the climate for the most part is cold and humid; much has been done by draining, but more remains to be done. The average rent of land is £1 per acre. The farm productions are oats, barley, a little wheat, with pease, beans, potatoes, turnips, and meadow hay. The New Statistical Account tells us that "several farms have been for many years under pasture for black cattle, and pay fully as well as in tillage." Eight higher, and five lower heritors. Population 1252. Though there are three collieries in the parish, only one is wrought at present, that is at Kelty. Lime, whin, and freestone exist, but not wrought. Patron, Earl of Moray. The parish church stands half-way between Kinross and Inverkeithing; stipend, £183, 17s. 10d.; glebe, £17; there is a Free church at Kelty. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; there is no other in the parish; In 1849, on poor's roll, 26. There is one inn, and four public-houses in the parish. The nearest market towns are Dunfermline and Kinross, each nearly six miles from the Kirk-town of Beath; it is also six miles from Inverkeithing; five and a half to Aberdour; 18 and a half to Edinburgh; and 25 and a half to Perth. The Post Town is Blair-Adam Inn, in the parish of Cleish, three miles distant. There are two small villages, Kelty and Oakfield, which between them contain 450 inhabitants, and a hamlet called Sheills. The Great North Road from Queensferry to Kinross and Perth, intersects the parish from south-west to north-east. The Dunfermline, and the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee lines of railway are close at hand.
Cowden-beath; Swinton's-beath; Stevenson's-beath; Hill-of-beath; Kirk-of-beath; Dalbeath; Foulford; Lassodie; Moss-side; Thornton; Cocklaw; and Cantsdam, where the parish school is situated, are all within the parish.
An extract of the minutes of session of this parish is given, by which we find that long after the Reformation, the parishioners had been so much neglected in religion, that they used to assemble "to heere a pyper play upon the Lord's daye, which was the day of their profaine mirth, not being in the works of their calling. Which was the caus that Sathane had a most faire name amongst them, stirring many of them up to dancing, playing at foot-ball, and excessive drinking, falling out and wounding one another." [New Statistical Account.] Yet the first manifestation of the Protestant faith in Scotland was at Beath:- "The first place of meeting that ever the Protestant Lords of Scotland had for the covenante and reformation was at the kirk of Beath." [New Statistical Account.]
BURNTISLAND
A parish in Fife; anciently called Wester Kinghorn. The ancient name of the town was Bartland, then Bertiland, and passed at last into Burntisland. It is bounded on the south by the Firth of Forth; on the north by Kinghorn and Aberdour; on the east by Kinghorn; and on the west by Aberdour. It is two and a half miles. from east to west, and as much from north to south. Area about 3000 acres. Besides what is under cultivation, 450 acres are in pasture, and 95 under wood; much waste land exists that cannot be profitably brought in, unless for planting hard-wood, as oak, ash, or elm, for which the soil is adapted. About half a mile inward from the sea, we meet with four ridges, running east and west and parallel to one another, nearly in the form of an amphitheatre; most of the town is built between the first and the second, called Schoolhill; the village of Kirktown is built on the third hill; one further north called Bin Hill, rises in the middle to 625 feet above sea-level; behind this ridge is Orrock Hill, and Dunearn Hill, which is 695 feet high; the north hills bear the marks of volcanic fire; the crater left on Dunearn is now a small lake. The parish is watered by Starlyburn on the west boundary, which flows from Newbigging quarry, one mile to the west of the town; runs a short course, and falls over a high rock into the sea, affording in summer a very fine picturesque appearance; the water being of a petrifying quality, has produced many petrified specimens of moss and wood, from holding in solution the super-carbonate of lime. The soil south of Bin Hill is generally a rich deep loam of great fertility; to the north the soil is lighter, yet yields moderately good crops; along the north boundary is edged with mossy ground. Rent of land from £1, 10s. to £6 per acre. Agriculture has generally been caried to great perfection in most of the parish, by reclaiming land, draining, and fencing; there are two corn-mills near the town. Twelve heritors. Population, 3158. Coal has to be brought from Lochgelly, seven miles distant. Limestone is extensively quarried at Newbigging; it is abundant also in other parts of the parish; excellent freestone is quarried at Grange; indeed, it and whinstone are found in many parts of the parish. The principal establishment is Young's extensive distillery at Grange, half a mile north of the town, where nearly 190,000 gallons of proof-spirits are annually made, by which 11,000 quarters of malt are consumed; in connection with the distillery near 700 head of cattle are annually fed, producing when sold above £10,000 sterling; besides feeding sheep. Patron, the Crown. The ancient parish church was at the village of Kirktown; the present one is within the town, and built in 1592; stipend, £186, 3s. 11d.; glebe, £50; there is a Free church, and a U.P. church. No parish school, but a burgh and six private schools. In 1849, on poor's roll, 58. There are three respectable inns, and seventeen public houses.
TOWN OF BURNTISLAND
It stands on a peninsula, projecting a considerable way into the Firth of Forth. There are about three miles of coast; the shore is rocky to the west of the town, and sandy to the east of it as far as Pettycur. The town belonged to the Abbey of Dunfermline till 1541, when James V. exchanged it for some lands in the neighbourhood; it then bore the name of Bertiland, and Bryntiland; at which time it received its charter of erection, and was proclaimed a royal burgh in 1568; in 1587 various charters were ratified by Parliament; a charter de novo damus was granted by Charles I. in 1632, and ratified in 1633. The town is clean and well built; it has two principal streets, with some lanes; the links, with handsome cottages for bathers; the summer residence of the late Rev. Dr Chalmers, called Craigholm, is at the east end. The principal trade is in curing of herrings for exportation, which is rather extensive; and cooperage. There is a whale-fishing company; a ship-building yard. It has been well supplied with water since 1803, conveyed by leaden pipes from the high ground on the east. There is a Post Office; a branch of the National Bank of Scotland; nearest market-town is Kirkaldy; no weekly market; one yearly fair; a parish and a subscription library; a golf club; benevolent societies; a total abstinence society; up to 1847 no Savings' Bank. The рорulation of the burgh in 1851 was 2724. The harbour is large, easily entered, of great depth, and sheltered from the wind at every point; and is the best on the Forth; it has a fixed light on the east pier, seen seven miles off in clear weather. There is a large dry dock, with 17 feet of water at spring tides. Burntisland is the steam-boat ferry station on the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway. It is governed by a provost, two bailies, and councillors. There is a guildry, and six incorporated trades. The town unites with Kirkaldy, Dysart, and Kinghorn, in sending a Member to Parliament. Much has been written of the flourishing state of Burntisland before the Union; and that 500 vessels used to be in the harbour at a time; whoever will be at the trouble of consulting Tucker on this point, will perceive that this was owing to Kinghorn, Kirkaldy, Dysart, Wemyss, Leven, St Monance, Elie, Pittenweem, Anstruther, Crail, St Andrews, and South Queensferry, being all counted as members of the head port of Burntisland. That the trade of the town fell off after the Union was only what occurred to all the ports in the Forth; and from which Kirkaldy and Alloa have alone recovered. The Carron Company have a small harbour for shipping their limestone at Starlyburn; there is also a pier half-a-mile to the east of the town, where lime is shipped. The only village in the parish is called Kirktown, once of importance, but now contains only 210 persons. The town is five miles and a third nearly to Newhaven; six miles N.N.W. of Leith; two and a half miles west of Kinghorn; three miles east of Aberdour; seven miles east of Inverkeithing; and fourteen to Kinross.
Rossend Castle, built by the Duries of that ilk, in 1538, as we find by the chartulary of Dunfermline, stands on an eminence overhanging the harbour. The Castle came into the hands of Kirkaldy of Grange after the Reformation, according to Sibbald. Dunearn, and the lands to the north of it, anciently belonged to the family of Orrock of that ilk. Spotswood tells us the General Assembly met at Burntisland in May, 1601, where James VI. renewed his vows as a Covenanter; and that the speech made by the King "bred not little admiration in the whole assembly." Lamont says that the town was fortified during the reign of Charles I.; and that it underwent a siege by Cromwell, and held out until he agreed to pave the streets and repair the harbour; and which he faithfully performed, at the expense of a tax laid not only on the parish, but on the county, as every parish had to send a man to work not only at these, but to increase the fortifications, or pay £18 Scots.
Under DUNFERMLINE, and INVERKEITHING, we shall have more to do with Cromwell. For a time, during the rebellion in 1715, the town was occupied by the Earl of Mar's troops. In 1746, a large body of Hessians were encamped here. We have already seen that the Roman army encamped on Dunearn Hill; this is confirmed by Tacitus, in the 22d chapter of his Life of Agricola. Sibbald and Chalmers state that the British fort was on the western summit, and the Roman on the eastern.
I shall now present the reader with the following historical incident, the mystery of which can only be equalled by that of the Gowrie conspiracy, which will be found under FALKLAND:-
On the 14th of February, 1563, Queen Mary had left Edinburgh for Dunfermline, to avoid a French gentleman, M. Chatelard, "grand-nephew to the famous Bayard, the chevalier sans peur et sans reproche," who had previously made himself acceptable at court, by letters from several of her friends and relations, besides being known to the Queen on a former occasion. He was, besides being prepossessing, accomplished in music and poetry, a soldier and a scholar. After being at court for three months, he was discovered concealed in the Queen's bed-chamber, having his sword and dagger with him. The reader must know that these formed a part of the court dress. He was commanded to leave the court; but contrived to follow the Queen to Burntisland. On her retiring to her chamber for the night, Chatelard was "actually discovered under the Queen's bed." In her agitation, the Queen ordered Murray to put his dagger in him; this he declined, reserving him to be punished in due course of law. He was secured, sent to St Andrews, tried, condemned, and executed there on the 22d of February; protesting his love and devotion to the last; and that his concealment at Burntisland was with the intention of clearing himself from the previous imputation. [Calderwood; Tytler; Leighton; and Chambers]
CAMERON
A parish in Fife; which was disjoined from the parish of St Andrews, and erected into a separate parish in 1645. Its name was taken from the farm of Cameron in the present parish, and upon which the new church was built. It is bounded on the north by St Andrews; on the south by Carnbee and Kilconquhar; on the east by Denino; and on the west by Ceres. It is five and a half miles long from east to west, and four in breadth. Area, 7300 acres. Under cultivation, 4680 acres; under pasture, 1775; under wood, 480; besides waste land. The parish is an undulating succession of gentle elevations, rising from north to south; having only the hill of Drumcarro Craig in the north of the parish, and which consists of trap rock. It is watered by rivulets flowing between the above elevations. There are ten bridges in the parish, and in good repair. While some parts have a soil of black earth, with a retentive substratum, to the north and lower part of the parish, and some of the same to the south, other parts are dry, upon gravel or whinstone rock; or a poor moorish soil resting upon tenacious clay; nevertheless, agriculture is progressing. Rent of land, average from £1 to £2. In agriculture the trenching and subsoil plough for a very retentive substratum is too little used. The Fifeshire breed of cattle are preferred to the Teeswater. The parish is generally well enclosed with hedges or dikes; while most of the thrashing-machines are wrought by horses, one goes by steam-power. Twenty heritors. Population in the parish, 1207. Coals are abundant at Drumcarro. Lime is wrought at Radernie; and an inferior quality at Winthank. There is a freestone quarry at Hazzleden. Excellent trap or whinstone is found in most parts of the parish. Patron, the Crown. Parish church is nearly in the centre of the parish. Stipend, £244, 12s. 2d.; glebe, £10; there is a U.P. church at Lathones. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; besides two private schools, one at Lawhead, the other at Denhead. In 1849, on poor's roll, 23. There are eight public houses; yet the people are sober and industrious. The nearest market town is St Andrews, distant four miles; where there is a Post-Office; there is however, ample means of communication. Being an agricultural parish, there is no village; but only three hamlets, situated at Denhead, Radernie, and Lathones. The Rev. Dr Fletcher of London at one time kept a school in this parish.
Archbishop Sharp. - "At the north-east corner of the parish is Mount Melville, a good house, with finely wooded grounds, the residence of John White Melville, Esq. of Bennochy and Strathkinnes. Within the enclosures of Mount Melville is a stone which marks the spot where Archbishop Sharp was murdered; these lands having then formed part of the extensive muir called Magus Muir." [Leighton]
The treachery, perjury, and apostasy; the cruelty, the diabolical wickedness, and forgery of warrants of apprehension, of this haughty and tyrannical prelate, whose greatest feast was to see his victims writhing under the agony of the tortures he had devised, and then laugh at the executioner tearing out the heart of the living man, came at last, by a just retribution of Heaven, to be murdered on Magus Muir, three miles west of St Andrews, on the 3d of May, 1679.
He was waylaid by a party of eleven covenanters, while on his way to St Andrews, in his carriage with his daughter. The persons engaged in this tragedy were David Hackston of Rathillet, John Balfour of Burley, James Russell in Kettle, and other eight. Finding he had very few attendants, they cut the traces, disarmed and dismounted his attendants. On his refusal to come out of the carriage, they dragged him out, tore him from the arms of his daughter, who piteously implored mercy with cries and tears; but the archbishop was in the hands of men who were now deaf to reason, and steeled against all supplication by a passion stronger even than revenge. After reminding him of his past wickedness, and of being an enemy to God, the assassins pierced him with innumerable wounds; then rifled the carriage of the arms and papers which it contained; rode off unmolested, leaving the lifeless and mangled body of their victim on the muir. Hackston, and Guillan were afterwards taken prisoners and executed, the only two who were not directly engaged in the murder. Guillan held the horses; and Hackston, who probably relented, had cried to the others to "spare those grey hairs!" All the real actors escaped. Four months afterwards, five of the Covenanters, innocent of the deed, were executed on the spot.
A previous attempt had been made by a fanatical preacher named James Mitchell, in July 1668, who discharged a pistol loaded with three balls at Sharp as he was sitting in his carriage in the High Street of Edinburgh. He missed his man, but wounded the Bishop of Orkney, who was with him. Mitchell made his escape, and defied every means to discover him for six years; when by accident the Archbishop happened to notice a man observing him narrowly; and caused him to be arrested and examined. Two loaded pistols found upon his person was all the evidence. He was promised a pardon by Sharp, if he would confess his guilt. On the faith of the pardon being registered in the council-books, and which was done, he confessed. In violation of the solemn promise, he was tried; at the court the Archbishop denied upon oath that any such promise had been given. Mitchell demanded that the council-books might be produced. These were refused, because their production would have proved the perjury. He was then put to the torture; sent to the Bass, a high rock in the Firth of Forth, kept there, loaded with irons; and executed at Edinburgh in January 1678.
The execution of poor Hackston is far too revolting to lay before the refined reader, for as Wodrow observes, the bare recital makes the blood run cold.
[Stephen's Life of Archbishop Sharp; Woodrow's Analecta, vol. I.; Burnet's History, vol. II.; Laing's History of Scotland; Burton's Criminal Trials, vol. II.; Privy Council Records, 1667; Kirkton's History; Lamont's Diary; Scots Worthies.]
CARNBEE
A parish in Fife. Its Gaelic name signifies birch hill. Bounded on the north by Cameron; on the south by Anstruther, Pittenweem, and St Andrews; on the east by Crail, Denino, and Kilrenny; and on the west by Kilconquhar. Length from north to south four and a half miles, and from east to west four miles. Area, 7300 acres. The parish is intersected from east to west by a ridge of hills, the highest being Kellie Law, which is 810 feet above sea-level; the others rise from 500 to 800 feet; from the highest one of the most extensive and beautiful views in Scotland is presented to the tourist; the other hills are Carnbee Law, Cunner Law, and Baldutho Craig; the back of these hills falls into the Moor of Carnbee. It is an agricultural parish in the strict sense of the term; furrow-draining goes on vigorously, the soil being generally a stiff clay upon a closely retentive subsoil in the southern half, while in the northern division it is still more inferior, with some exceptions; nevertheless excellent crops are raised in the former, and good ones in the latter in dry weather; though the high elevations are more adapted for pasturage than corn. There are two thrashing-mills driven by steam, six by water, 22 by horses, and one lint-mill in the parish. A number of small streams water the parish on the south division, uniting at last with the Dreel, which empties itself into the sea at West Anstruther; those on the north half join the Kenly, which flows east by Denino, and falls into St Andrews Bay. Rent of land runs from £1, 6s. to £3, 5s. There are 14 heritors. Coals are abundant; one colliery at Kellie, with two main seams of cherry coal, from five to seven feet thick; another at Cassingray, with six good seams, from two to three feet thick; the two collieries employ about 65 men. Limestone is wrought at Over Kellie, Gibliston, and Baldutho. Freestone of excellent quality is wrought at several quarries in the south division of the parish. Whinstone is abundant, as the entire ridge of hills already referred to consists of trap rock. Patron, Sir R. A. Anstruther, Bart. Parish church at the east end of the parish. Stipend, £253, 11s. 9d.; glebe, £30; there is a Free church.; but no U.P. church. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; there is one male and one female school. In 1849, on poor's roll, 32. The Post Town is Pittenweem, two and a half miles from the church; Anstruther is two miles, and is a Post Town; Colinsburgh is one mile from the west side of the parish; St Andrews is eight miles from the church; the centre of the parish is twelve miles south-east of Cupar.
Carnbee originally belonged to the Abbey of Dunfermline. The property of Carnbee had been acquired by Melville, Laird of Carnbee, in the reign of Robert the Bruce; it was again sold by Sir James Melville in 1598. Balcaskie, the seat of Sir R. A. Anstruther, Bart., is near the centre of the south boundary; Sibbald in his day described it as "a pretty new house, with all modish conveniences of terraces, parks, and planting."
Anciently, Balcaskie belonged to a family of the same name, with whom it remained till it became the property of a family called Strang; a descendant of which joined the unfortunate expedition to the Lewis, in 1603; in process of time it came into the hands of Sir William Bruce of Kinross, the eminent architect who completed the palace of Holyroodhouse. Kellie Castle, north-east of Balcaskie, now the property of the Earl of Mar, belonged to Sir Thomas Erskine in the reign of James VI.; he was the first Earl of Kellie, he bore a conspicuous part in suppressing the Gowrie conspiracy; and attended the King to England; the Castle is described by Sibbald; though now still entire, it is used as a farmhouse. Pitcorthie was the birth-place of the famous Earl of Carlisle, so often mentioned in history. Gibliston originally belonged to the Forresters of Strathenry. The properties of Nether Carnbee and Over Carnbee, are in the parish. The New Statistical Account says that Hugo Arnot of Balcormo, the author of "State Trials;" and the celebrated bookseller, Archibald Constable, were natives of this parish.
CARNOCK
A parish on the western boundary of Fife. The name is from the Celtic word Caer, signifying a fort. [Chalmers' Caledonia] Bounded on the north by Saline; on the south by Torryburn; on the east by Dunfermline; and on the west by Torryburn and Culross. It is nearly three miles from east to west, and rather less from north to south. Area, 2160 acres. Under cultivation, 1667; under wood, 450; the remainder in pasture, or roads. There are two hills forming a continuous range of fine rising ground, of considerable elevation, called Camp's Bank and Carneil Hill, besides lesser ones called Luscar Knowes, and the Clune of Newbigging, commanding extensive views of the Forth, from Stirling to Edinburgh, besides the Ochils, Benlomond, and Pentland Hills; which when combined with the wooded scenery, and the deep glen called Luscar Den, a picture of the most romantic beauty is presented to the eye, that can more easily be imagined than described. It is watered by the Carnock rivulet, and the burn of the East and West Pitdennies, running from east to west, which join other rivulets, falling into the Firth of Forth, beyond the bounds of the parish. There is an abundant supply of excellent water from springs; besides one called Ink Craig, near the village of Carnock, which on chemical analysis was found to be a mixture of coal, flinty earth, and clay; yet so black is it, that it may for ordinary purposes be used for ink. There are six small bridges connected with the parish, kept in good condition. The soil is generally shallow, resting on sandstone, whinstone, or a hard clayey subsoil, and consists mostly of loam, clay, and gravel. Husbandry in all its branches is well attended to; draining with stones and tiles is much used; bone-dust is extensively used for turnip; six of the thrashing-mills are driven by horses, four by steam, one by water, and one by steam and water; farmers attend more to raising grain than to grazing; more than 200 cattle are reared for sale annually, besides 35 horses; a considerable number of sheep are grazed in the parish; there is a corn-mill driven by water and steam. Five heritors; the principal of whom are John Stuart of Carnock, Sir Peter Halket of Pitfirrane, and Adam Rolland of Gask. Population 3191. While coals were formerly wrought in five different places, and shipped at the pier of Torryburn, and are by no means exhausted, they are now only wrought on the estate of Blair, in the west of the par. The lands of Luscar formerly produced a quantity of limestone; none of it is wrought now, not from the want of it, but because too much mixed with bastard limestone. Freestone is abundant, though the best comes from the quarry on the estate of Carnock, as it is more easily quarried, and may be cut out of any length. Whinstone forms many of the elevations of the parish. Much rich ironstone is found on the lands of Pitdinnies and Blair, but has not been wrought yet. Upwards of 300 persons are employed in weaving table-linens and tablecovers, consisting of cotton and worsted, for Dunfermline, where they get their webs ready for the loom. Patron, Stuart of Carnock. Parish church stipend, £155, 7s. 7d.; glebe, £24. Parish schoolmaster has the maximum salary; there are other three private schools. In 1849 on poor's roll, 20. Dunfermline is the nearest market town. The Stirling and Dunfermline Railway runs along south of parish. Post Town is Dunfermline. There are six public houses. One fair is held in the year, for cattle and shoes. There is no Savings Bank in the parish; but there is a funeral society called the Dead Fund. There are three villages in the parish, chiefly inhabited by weavers, and small feuars.
VILLAGE OF CARNOCK
It is two miles north of Cairneyhill, and three west of Dunfermline. The population is not much above 200. Post Town is Dunfermline, but it has a post-runner. The ruins of the old church show that it is 250 years old; the present church was opened in May 1840; it is a short distance from the old one, which was near the village. There is a library in it.
VILLAGE OF CAIRNEYHILL.
It is a very pleasant village; long, wide, and clean; upon the road leading from Dunfermline to Stirling; one mile east of Torryburn, two miles south of Carnock village, and nearly three miles west of Dunfermline. It stands on the burn of the two Pitdennies. Its inhabitants are chiefly weavers and small feuars, and average about 650. There is a U. P. church in it, built in 1748; the stipend is £96, a glebe, manse, and garden. It has a female boarding school, that reflects honour on the minister's lady who keeps it, as also on education; there is besides a private male school. A library with a good collection of books. Carriers go from Cairneyhill to Edinburgh, Auchterarder, Crieff, and Comrie. Indeed, it is difficult to find a more interesting village in the west of Fife. The other village is GOWKHALL.
By the New Statistical Account, we find that Carnock had formerly been much smaller than it is at present; and that "the Pitdennies, the lands of Luscar, and those of Clune, originally belonged to the parish of Dunfermline, and were disjoined from it, and annexed to Carnock in the commencement of the year 1650." By the same excellent authority, we find the following extracts from the parochial registers:- "Oct. 3, 1647. Having mist some of our people out of the church this afternoon, it was enacted, that some of our elders, day about, should go through the parish on the Lord's day, and see who was absent remaining in their houses; and if some just and lawful cause detained them not, that they should be censured." "Apr. 30. Ordained, that no more than 24 persons be at penny bridalls, under a penalty of a dollar." Such portion of the barony of Carnock as did not belong to Dunfermline, seems to have belonged to the Ramsays of Dalhousie originally, and to have remained till 1602, when Sir George Bruce, a descendant from Robert de Bruys of Clackmannan, obtained a charter of the barony. The descendants of Sir George became Lord Kinloss, Earl of Kincardine, and ultimately created Earl of Elgin, in 1663. The estate of Carnock was sold, and bought by Colonel John Erskine, who was father of the celebrated John Erskine, Professor of Scotch Law, who wrote the well-known "Institutes of the Law of Scotland." He was born at Newbigging House, in which the above work was composed. His eldest son was the late Rev. Dr John Erskine of Edinburgh; who died in 1803. The lands of Camp and Luscar belong to Rolland of Gask; Blair, to George Hill, Esq.; Pitdennies, Sir John Halket of Pitferrane; and Clune to Lady Buchan Hepburn.
Mr John Row, the historian, was minister of Carnock in 1592. He suffered many hardships in defence of the Presbyterian Church, but lived to witness the overthrow of prelacy. He died in 1646. His father was the first that taught the Hebrew language in Scotland. Rev. David Ferguson, son-in-law of John Row, was the first Presbyterian minister of Dunfermline. In 1740, the celebrated Thomas Gillespie was settled to preach in this parish, but summarily deposed by the General Assembly in 1752, for refusing to attend, or to acquiesce in the settlement of the Rev. Mr Richardson at Inverkeithing. Nothing seems to have been gained by this severe act of the Assembly, as it formed the foundation of a new sect of Dissenters called the Relief body. He died in 1774. [Wodrow, Dawson, Fullerton, New Stat. Acc.]
By Chalmers we learn that Agricola in his first expedition, after crossing at the Ferry, in the year 83, had two camps, one on Easter Camp, the other on Wester Camp; while the the Horestii had a British fort on Carneil Hill, and another on Craigluscar Hill. Several Roman urns and coins have been dug up from time to time that mark the spots. [Chalmers' Caledonia]
CERES
A parish in Fife. Mr Leighton traces its name to the church being dedicated to St Cyras or St Seres; besides, we find its name in ancient records spelt Siris, Cyres, Cyrus, Cires, and Seres. Bounded on the north by St Andrews, Kemback, and Cupar; on the south by Cameron, Kilconquhar, and Largo; on the east by St Andrews, Kemback, Cameron; and on the west by Cults, Kettle, and Scoonie. Its length is seven and a half miles by two and three-quarters broad. Area, 8000 acres. Four-tenths of this are in tillage; five-tenths in pasture; and one-tenth under wood. The parish forms a beautiful valley, lying to the south of Tarvet Hill. It is watered by several streams; three of them from the east, one from the south, and one from the West, unite near the village of Ceres, forming the Ceres Burn, pass through the village, flow through the beautiful den of Dura, and join the river Eden, near Kemback House. Ceres Burn, though usually harmless and insignificant, often swells suddenly, after heavy rains, and carries bridges, grain, and surface land all before it, to the great injury of the farmer.
The greater part of the parish is a deep cold earth, lying upon whinstone, limestone, or clay till; near the village of Ceres the earth is free, lying upon gravel; on the banks of the Eden, in the north-west part of the parish the soil is light and sandy, and rests principally upon a freestone rock. Average rent of land, £1, 15s. Stone being plentiful, the drains are usually all built; of the grain crop, nearly one-half is oats, one-fourth wheat, and the other fourth barley; a great number of cattle and pigs are fed for the market; no sheep are reared, the land being too wet; about 15,000 bolls of potatoes are annually cultivated; and nearly 450 acres of land are in turnips; there are 130 ploughs; 37 thrashing-mills, moved by horses, water, steam, or wind. Sixteen heritors. The population is 2833. Though there is no want of coal in the parish, none is worked now. There are are four limestone quarries; the Tequliats, the Woodtop, the Teasses, and the Laddeda. Freestone is abundant on the north side of the parish. There are several whinstone quarries of the finest quality. Upwards of 800 persons are engaged in weaving dowlas and sheeting, of the yearly value of £55,000 sterling; there are nearly 500 looms in the parish; besides a number of spinning mills; and two bleachfields for bleaching linen yarn. Springfield station, on the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway, is close to west end of the parish. Patron, Earl of Glasgow. Parish church stipend, £229, 13s. 4d.; glebe, £16; two U.P. churches, and a Free church. Besides the parish school, there are other five schools. In 1849 on poor's roll, 78. There are two annual fairs held in the village of Ceres, numerously resorted to for wool, corn, horses, and cattle. There are several friendly societies. Though there be 26 public houses in the parish, no people in the same class anywhere are more temperate, frugal, and industrious than they are. There are two villages, and three hamlets in the parish.
VILLAGE OF CERES
Is a burgh of barony, but has lost its charter. It is well built, and has several streets. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in weaving. Cupar is the Post Town; but there is a runner who goes daily to Cupar for letters and papers; the distance being two and a half miles. There are regular carriers from Ceres to all the neighbouring towns. The Parish church and two U.P. churches, are in the village. There is a subscription library, and a masonic lodge.
CRAIGROTHIE VILLAGE has about 250 inhabitants; it is a burgh of barony, the inhabitants of which still elect their bailie and councillors. The hamlets are CHANCE INN, PITSCOTTIE, and COALTOWN.
From the Chartulary of Dunfermline we learn that the lands of Ceres originally belonged to a family called Syras of Syras; and that Sir Michael Scott, ancestor of the Scotts of Balweary, married Margaret, daughter of Duncan Syras of that ilk, in the reign of William the Lion. Sibbald states that the lands afterwards came into the hands of Sir Thomas Hope, King's Advocate, in the reign of Charles I.; and who was ancestor of the Earls of Hopetoun, the Hopes of Pinkie, of Granton, of Rankeillor, etc., according to Douglas's Peerage. The ruins of Craighall house are situated m. S.E. of the village of Ceres, in a lovely deep, sequestered, and wooded den. Enough of them still remain to show their former grandeur. Craighall was the property of the celebrated jurisconsult, Sir Thomas Hope, already adverted to. Upon the estate of Scotstarvet, upon an eminence, and seen from a great distance, is a beautiful tower of jointed freestone, 24 feet square, and about 55 feet high. The walls are very thick, and the windows small; the whole is surmounted by a battlement.
Two miles south-west of the village of Ceres, are the ruins of Struthers, formerly the property of the Earls of Crawford. Sibbald says that in the reign of David I., it belonged to Radolphus de Ochter-Struther de eodem. John, first Lord Lindsay of the Byres, was a privy-councillor to King James II.; John, fifth Lord Lindsay, "was present at the death of James V. in 1542, and was one of the four noblemen to whom the charge of the young Queen Mary was committed;" [Leighton] Patrick, the sixth Lord, as is well remarked by Mr Leighton, "is chiefly remarkable for the brutality of his conduct to the unfortunate Queen Mary." Lindsay of Pitscottie, author of a well-known history of Scotland, was a native of this parish. Much more will be said of him under ST ANDREWS. It is not generally known that Lunardi, a Florentine, ascended at Edinburgh, in an air balloon, making the first aerial voyage ever performed in Scotland, at 3 o'clock afternoon, in October, 1785, and after crossing the Firth of Forth, landed in a field near the village of Ceres, about half-past four, in the presence of a number of peasants, who thought the sight indicated it to be the last day, and so fled to their houses to pray; a duty they had no doubt too long neglected.
Sir Robert Keith, Great Marischal of Scotland, was superior of the barony of Struthers, and contributed with his vassals to the successful issue of the battle of Bannockburn, under Bruce.
In a farm-house on the lands of Baldinny, the murderers of Archbishop Sharp spent the night previous to his murder, keeping watch by turns. It is erroneously stated in works, that the murder occurred in this parish, and which error arose from the circumstance of Magus Muir including a portion of St Andrews, Cameron, and Ceres. Whoever will read that part of the parish of Cameron, in reference to Archbishop Sharp, will feel satisfied that Mr Leighton has clearly pointed out the spot. One of the Scotts of Scotstarvet wrote a remarkable little work, called "The Staggering State of Scots Statesmen."
CLACKMANNANSHIRE
This is the smallest county in Scotland, being only about ten miles long by eight broad, or an area of 50 square miles, making 30,720 acres; of which 22,000 are arable, and 5000 in pasture. But like gold, what it wants in extent, is more than compensated for in value, such as cannot be equalled within the same narrow limits anywhere else. Its mineral productions in iron, coal, lime, freestone, whinstone, and fire-clay; its agriculture, and manufactures, will sufficiently attest the fact.
It is bounded on the north and east by Perthshire; on the south and west by the Firth of Forth, which separates it from Stirlingshire; and on the south-east by Fifeshire. A narrow strip of Perthshire crosses the hills between the counties of Kinross and Clackmannan. Alva, although belonging to Stirlingshire politically, is geographically connected with Clackmannanshire. Part of the parish of Logie, too, lies in this county. Besides which, Culross lies between Clackmannan and Fifeshire, and though politically in the county of Perth, naturally belongs to Fifeshire. The wisdom or folly of these political divisions are now hid from our comprehension. The surface on the banks of the Forth upon the south, is level, rich, and very fertile; but it gradually rises to the Ochil hills on the north, affording excellent pasturage for sheep. The vale of Devon, and the haughs of the Devon, lie to the south of the hills; in most parts of which the soil is rich, light, though not deep, on a gravelly bed; while in other parts it is less valuable, being much mixed with clay: on the whole, it must be admitted that the county is very fertile. Every modern improvement in agriculture has been adopted, and the high state of it, and large crops which are raised, attest the fertility of the soil, and the scientific skill and persevering industry of the tenantry. Besides other crops, beans and pease are much cultivated, sometimes broadcast, but oftener in drills. Farms vary from 80 to 100 acres each, but there are a considerable number of small feus held in perpetuity, containing about 40 acres each, and which are called the Mains of Dollar.
The county is watered by the Devon, which rises in the parish of Blackford in Perthshire, runs through the middle of the beautiful vale of Devon, and falls into the Forth, at the village of Cambus; and by the South, or Black Devon, rising in the hills of Saline, in Fifeshire, running west nearly parallel to the Devon, and falling into the Forth in the parish of Clackmannan; besides which, there is a small stream called the Gloomingside burn, that runs into the Devon. The climate, as might be expected, is variable; it is cold and wet in the hilly districts, retarding vegetation; snow has frequently been seen at a remarkable spot in the Ochils, above the house of Alva, where it is much shaded, in the month of June; in the lower grounds, as the parishes of Clackmannan and Alloa, the air is pleasant, dry, and agreeable; with the exception of east and north-east winds for some time in the spring, the prevailing winds are from the south-west.
The county is particularly rich in coal and ironstone. The coal runs from six inches to nine feet in thickness. They are all of an open burning quality, free from sulphur, and suitable for ordinary light work; but not for smith's forges, where a great heat is required, hence these have to be imported from a distance; the parrot-coal for the gas-works has also to be brought from a distance by sea-carriage. I have, in a former part of the work, adverted to the slavery of the colliers, and which was not removed until the year 1775, when it was abolished by Act of Parliament. The introduction of machinery, the steam-engine, and railways, have lessened the labour of the poor women employed in carrying the coals from the men, along long passages, and up a stair 18 fathoms high. The weight was from 100 to 200 imperial pounds. Besides that the railways enabled a man and a horse to do the work of 28 men and 28 horses formerly employed. Coals have been wrought in this country for upwards of 200 years. Clay ironstone, so frequently accompanying coal in Scotland, yielding from 30 to 35 per cent of pig-iron, has long been wrought in the county for the iron works. Limestone, freestone, and whinstone are abundant in the county; the Ochil hills are composed of trap and porphyry rocks. Before gunpowder was used in blowing up rocks, iron feathers, circular on the one side, and plain on the other, were inserted into a hole bored into the rock about three feet deep; betwixt these a long tapering wedge was placed, and sent home with the full force of sledge hammers, until part of the rock was burst asunder; such was the laborious and tedious process adopted, till science opened the gates of knowledge. Clay is extensively found, suitable for common brick-making; as also fire-clay, which comes out of the fire of a yellowish-white colour, very refractory, and therefore much used for making fire-bricks for the lining of furnaces, where an intense heat is indispensable; as also for making gas retorts, chimney-cans, and various other articles.
The chief manufactures are woollen, and these are now rather extensive; formerly Scotch blankets and Tillicoultry serges formed the chief employment. The principal articles now made are yarns, plaidings, shawls, tartans, blankets, druggets, and different species of cloths.
I have already, under the article WOODS, stated that the forests of Clackmannan are now only to be found in the page of history; and that Tullibody wood is but the skeleton of Clackmannan forest. That there is a good deal of wood is true, but it has all been planted by man. The royal forests that existed in the reign of David II. are gone, - yes, gone for ever. Mr Tytler tells us that King David granted to the monks of Holyrood a right to cut wood for building, as also of pasture for their swine; I need scarcely say that the monks would avail themselves of the privilege to its full extent. The young plantations consist mostly of oak and other hard wood, mixed with fir.
Till of late years the squirrel was unknown in this county; but now this nimble and elegant little animal is numerous in the woods. The hedgehog, now found in the woods, was also unknown. The brown or Norway rat had no existence here before 1750; it is now too numerous to make many friends. Did these creatures emigrate here for want of encouragement in their own country?
The county consists of four parishes. In 1837 there were four parish schools, and 31 private schools. Clackmannan unites with the county of Kinross in electing a M.P. Constituency of both in 1851, was 1633. The towns are Alloa and Clackmannan; the principal villages Dollar and Tillicoultry. The sheriff and small debt courts are held at Alloa. All criminals have to be sent to Stirling jail. In 1849, there were 80 criminal offenders; of these 21 could neither read nor write, 37 could read only, or read or write imperfectly. In 1849 on poor's roll, 673. The Stirling and Dunfermline line of Railway, with a branch to Tillicoultry, connects the county with the Scottish Central Railway and the Dunfermline branch of the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway. In conclusion, the coast is indented with numerous creeks, the principal of which are Alloa, and its subordinate port, Clackmannan. The county is between 56° 5′ and 56° 14′ North latitude, between 3° 33′ and 3° 56′ West longitude from Greenwich.
The above outline of the county is from the able works of Dawson and Fullerton; besides from personal observation in 1817, during which year I was six weeks in the county; and again in 1843.
CLACKMANNAN
A parish in the county of Clackmannan. As the origin of the name, given by various authors, is by no means satisfactory, I offer the following one taken from a number of old records of the county: [Favoured by W. Downing Bruce, Esq. We find nearly a similar version given in Chambers's Gazetteer.] "In the village there is a large stone, which having been broken, is girded with iron, and preserved with devout reverence as the palladium of the village. On this stone, the King Robert Bruce, when residing at the Castle, accidentally left his glove; and sending one of his knights to fetch it, he used the two words clack, a stone, and mannan, a glove; from which the town, village, and county derive their name." From this we perceive that the King had spoken his native Carrick Gaelic. It is bounded on the north by Tillicoultry and Dollar, as also by the river Devon; on the south by the Forth; on the east by Tulliallan; and on the west by Alloa. It is six miles long, by three miles broad. Area, 7000 acres; or 19 square miles. Under cultivation, 5000 acres; uncultivated, 400; under wood, 1600. Leaving the carse on the south, we meet with a range of pretty high hilly ground, at the back of which the "Black Devon" runs; at the north side of it the ground rises again comparatively high; at the back or north of this we come by a steep descent to the river Devon; from the summit of these hills we are presented with a most beautiful view, including some fine woodland scenery, and two interesting lakes abounding with perch. It is watered by the Devon, Black Devon, and the Forth; besides many lesser streams. I may here remark that no county in Scotland is better supplied with water than the county of Clackmannan. Though there is a considerable diversity of soil, the greater part is carse ground, and highly productive; still as much of the subsoil is that of a hard, cold till, it requires furrow-draining. The rent of land runs from £1, 10s. to £3, 10s. per acre. The thorough draining, liming, manuring, fencing, and additional plantations, have not only improved the agriculture of the parish, but have greatly ameliorated the climate. Great attention has been paid to the rearing and improving the breeds of the short-horned cattle, or Teeswater breed; the same attention is bestowed in breeding sheep on the Ochil hills; the preference is given to the pure black-faced, or these crossed with the Leicester. Leases are usually given for 19 years; and the farm-houses, as in Fife, are of a most superior description; most of the agricultural produce is shipped at the harbour at Kennetpans, or at good piers at the mouth of the Devon; the agricultural departments are under the care of the Clackmannanshire Agricultural Society. There are 18 heritors; the chief are, the Earl of Zetland; the Earl of Mansfield; the Earl of Mar; Lord Abercromby; Bruce, Esq. of Kennet; and Erskine, Esq. of Aberdona. Population 5802. The great majority of the population are employed at the different collieries, of which there are four, the Clackmannan, the Devon, the Kennet and Gurtary colliery. Coal has been wrought for the past 200 years in this district, and will continue to be so for other 200 years; there are ten workable seams of coal, varying from two to five and a half feet in thickness; these put out upwards of 500 tons daily, two-fifths of which are made use of in the parish, especially by the Devon Iron-works, producing an average value of £37,000 yearly.
A quantity of black band ironstone, and argillaceous ironstone, are worked by the Devon Iron Company; the value of which is above £8000 yearly. The Devon Iron Works in the parish are beside the river Devon, three miles from Alloa, and nearly four miles from Clackmannan; two railroads, the one three miles, the other six miles long, branch off from the works to the different harbours; these works have three furnaces, making on an average 6000 tons of pig-iron annually; this is again converted into cast-iron goods at the extensive foundry of that company. Excellent freestone is obtained at the Sauchie quarry; which at first is comparatively soft, but by exposure acquires great hardness, and proves very durable; a durable freestone is wrought a half mile south-west from Clackmannan; a very inferior stone is found at two quarries in the neighbourhood of the Black Devon. Limestone is abundant, though wrought only for local use. There is an extensive brick and tile work in the parish.
The extensive distillery of Kilbagie, the works of which cover six acres of ground; with byres for the feeding of 700 cattle; and the Clackmannan distillery, are sufficiently well known to require to be enlarged upon, further than to state that a large annual importation of barley is required. There are three sawmills driven by the Black Devon river. Besides other employments, many are engaged in weaving woollen fabrics for the Alva and Tillicoultry manufacturers. Patron, Earl of Zetland. Parish church stipend, £296, 11s. 9d.; glebe, £14; there is a Chapel of Ease; a Free church; and a U.P. church. On the poor's roll in 1849 there were 167. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; there are besides other six private schools; the average attendance on the seven is about 500 children. There are by far too many public-houses in the parish, though of late intemperance is less than it used to be; one circumstance much to be regretted is, a disregard to the sanctity of the Sabbath. Besides the town, there are three villages, and some hamlets in the parish.
TOWN OF CLACKMANNAN
It is pleasantly situated on an elevated ground, gradually rising to the height of 180 feet above sea-level. It consists of a principal street, which is wide, and generally well built, with several lesser ones, whose houses are in many instances mean. The ruin of the ancient town-house and prison disfigure the middle of the street. The new County Hall is at the north side of the town, and looks well; this is still the county town, though not for courts of law. The parish church is a neat structure in the Gothic style. There are annual fairs, but little business done. The population is about 1750. There are two libraries, allowed to get worm-eaten from a want of the usual desire for knowledge. There is a post-office in the town, though Alloa is the Post Town. It is a station on the Dunfermline Railway. The Stirling and Granton steamboats land and receive all passengers at Alloa and Kincardine. The harbour is formed by the union of the South Devon with the Forth; its usual depth of water is ten feet. On the west side, which is bold, abrupt, and rocky, stands the old tower of Clackmannan, commanding an extensive view. The ruins of the palace of Robert Bruce are close beside it; and which was also the family house of Bruce of Clackmannan.
The above palace "was the residence of the old Jacobite lady, Mrs Bruce of Clackmannan, who is mentioned in Currie's Life of Burns, as having knighted that poet with a sword which belonged to Bruce." [Black's Tourist.] See BROOMHALL, parish of Dunfermline, for the sword and helmet of King Robert Bruce.
The town of Clackmannan is two miles east of Alloa; three and a half miles west of Kincardine; and seven miles east of Stirling.
VILLAGE OF NEWTON-SHAW
It contains about 900 inhabitants, chiefly employed at the Devon Iron works; there is a U.P. church; and a private school. It is one and a quarter miles south of the river Devon; one and a half miles north of Alloa; five miles north-west of Kincardine; and seven and a half east of Stirling.
New and Old Sauchie are large and contiguous villages, one and a half miles north of Alloa, and six miles north-west of Kincardine; the population of New Sauchie is nearly 950; the inhabitants of both villages are principally colliers; there is an established chapel, a Secession preaching-station, and a good private school.
The village of Kennet-Pans is on the shore of the Firth of Forth; it is one and a half miles from the new village of Kennet, which is modern and neatly built, near the house of Mr Bruce of Kennet; and half a mile from the town of Clackmannan. The village of Kennet-Pans has a railroad to Kilbagie distillery, which is one mile distant; it is also two miles south of the town of Clackmannan, and one and three-quarters from Kincardine.
The first of the Bruces married Agnes Annand, heir to the lordship of Annandale, in the beginning of the 12th century, and shortly afterwards became possessed of Clackmannan. From the Old Statistical Account, we learn that King David II. gave Clackmannan to his kinsman, Robert Bruce, the first laird of it. In 1330 we find that King David resided at Clackmannan.
Michael Bruce, the author of "Lochleven" and other poems, was a teacher at the hamlet called Forest Mill, in 1766. The celebrated Rev. Thomas Boston of Ettrick was in his youth a tutor at Kennet.
The old tower of Clackmannan, built by King Robert Bruce, is 79 feet high; with several apartments; it had also been surrounded by a moat, with a draw-bridge. There are besides, Sauchie Tower; and Hart Shaw Tower, originally the property of the Stewarts of Rosyth. The venerable mansion of Schaw Park, and the mansion-house of Kennet, are deserving the attention of the tourist.
CLEISH
A parish in Kinross-shire. Bounded on the north by Perthshire, and by the parishes of Fossaway and Kinross; on the south by Beath and Dunfermline; on the east by Portmoak and Ballingry; on the west by the parish of Saline. It forms a strip of land, six and a half miles long by one mile broad, running due west and east, separating Kinross-shire from Fifeshire. Cleish-hills separate the parish from that of Dunfermline. Its area is seven and a half square miles. While one third of the land is in tillage, two-thirds are in pasturage, and well sheltered by more or less wood. Dunglow is the highest of the Cleish-hills, rising 1215 feet above sea-level; there are other three hills called the Ingans, and are respectively 1060, 1048, and 1030 feet. It is watered by four lakes, the largest, Loch Glow, is one and a half miles in circumference; these feed the Gairney, which in its turn carries their waters to Loch-Leven; the lakes are stocked with perches, pikes, eels, and a few trouts; the Gairney runs rather more than two miles along the north boundary, seperating Cleish from the parish of Kinross; besides all these, numerous burns and springs, proceeding from whinstone and freestone rocks, of the finest quality, are to be found in every part of the parish. The bridges were built not many years ago, with freestone in the parish, and are all in good order. The best soil in the lower lands is only middle-rate, and 450 feet at an average above sea-level; still by lowering of the Gairney, wedge draining, under-soil plough, enclosures, and planting, with other improvements, have changed an unproductive and sterile land since 1733, that even the peat-bog on the south side of Aldie now yields excellent crops of oats, potatoes, turnips, and grass; and 650 acres have been extended to nearly 4000 acres of productive land; and on some farms good wheat is raised, where no corn formerly grew. Much of the arable ground is in pasture, let yearly, stocked with full-grown cattle and sold at Falkirk markets, or at Hallow Fair; as also stocked with young beasts. The sheep kept on Cleish hills are the black-faced; though some of the English breeds are to be found on the low grounds. Few parishes can boast of as many cows as Cleish, having fully 170. There are six thrashing mills, two meal-mills, and two saw-mills, adapted for flooring, roofing, lath rails, or stakes. Three heritors, Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Adam of Blair-Adam; John Young, Esq. of Cleish; besides a number of small heritors. Population, 659. Besides the Kelty coal, it was formerly wrought to a considerable extent at Blair-Adam, but not now; Cleish is not a coal district. Good lime is only to be found at Scarhill, on the estate of Cleish. Excellent freestone, extending to nearly four miles, is to be found on the north side of the lower hills; that obtained from the Cleish side of Benarty hill is porous, bears a fine polish, and yields to no weather; it is also wrought at Nivingstone quarry. Whinstone is abundant in the highest hills. Patron, Young of Cleish. Parish church, stipend, £156, 16s. 4d.; glebe, £14. Besides the parochial school, there are two private ones, at Maryburgh and at Gairney Bridge. In 1849 on poor's roll, 9. With few exceptions, the people are sober, moral, intelligent, and sensible of the advantages of education. There is a parish library; and though there is no savings bank or friendly society in the parish, the inhabitants take the advantage of these institutions in Kinross. The nearest market town is Kinross, three and a half miles S.S.W. The Post Town is Kinross; though there is a post-office at Blair-Adam. Much of the grain, butter, and cheese in the parish is taken to Dunfermline, eight and a half miles distant. There are no villages; but some hamlets, such as Kelty, five miles south of the town of Kinross, eight to Inverkeithing, and ten to North Queensferry; and the hamlet called Gairney-Bridge, on the Great North Road from Edinburgh to Perth, from which latter town it is 21 miles, and 23 from Edinburgh.
The remains of an ancient fort are found on the top of Dunglow, built by the Romans; some urns containing bones, ashes, and bits of charcoal have been found. Formerly, on what is now the farm-stead of Gairneybridge, stood the school-house in which Michael Bruce, the poet, taught a school, and within a few yards of the same spot stood the public-house in which the fathers of the Secession held their first meeting. "A short distance from the parish church stands a rock called 'The Lecture Stane,' which was used, in the days of Popery, as a support for the coffin during the reading of the burial-service at funerals." At a romantic spot, in the grounds of Blair-Adam, we find "the Keiry Crags," taken notice of in "The Abbot" as the "houff" of John Auchtermuchty, the carrier.
COLLESSIE
A parish on the north side of "the Howe" of Fife. Fullerton derives its name from the Gaelic, "Col," a bottom, and "lessie," a den or hollow; the village of Collessie being situated at the bottom of a glen. Bounded on the north by the parishes of Abdie, Monimail, and a part of Newburgh; on the south by the parish of Kettle; on the east by Cults and Monimail; and on the west by Falkland and Auchtermuchty parishes. It is eight miles in length, by five miles in breadth. There are under cultivation or occasional tillage 5000 acres; 250 acres of waste land; and 1237 acres under wood. It is watered by the river Eden, which runs from west to east, for nearly three miles, and separates it from Falkland, Cults, and Kettle; besides several other rivulets, the water of Keilour separates the parish from Monimail, and forms its east boundary; the Eden is very narrow till it reaches the Guard Bridge in the parish of St Andrews. Since Rossie Loch was drained, there is no lake deserving of notice; it was once the largest sheet of water in the county, covering in 1740 an area of 300 acres; the under-draining, expense, and benefit to the farmer has been taken notice of AGRICULTURE. The soil in general, from the skill and industry that have been brought to bear on the land, is of a good sharp quality, principally upon a whinstone bottom; towards the centre and south part of the parish the soil becomes light and sandy; for which reason it has been planted with fir at Edensmuir for miles. Rent of land runs from 10s. to £3 per acre. In no parish in the county has agriculture made greater progress. By making a canal sufficiently large to prevent the over-flowing of the Eden, which frequently washed away the soil, as also by deepening the water of Keilour, much marsh land has been reclaimed; the drainage of Rossie Loch has been already adverted to. The black cattle reared is the Fifeshire breed, but far too frequently crossed with the short-horned or Teeswater, and with the Angus polled breed; the introduction of sheep has been more or less encouraged; the use of marl, both shell and clay so abundantly found here, has fallen off, except for top-dressing and making compounds for grass. Besides all the above advantages, there is what is called the Trafalgar Agricultural Society, that has proved most useful to the tenantry. There are seven heritors; of whom I shall only notice Charles Kinnear, Esq. of Kinloch, and D. Maitland Makgill, Esq. of Rankeilour. Population of the parish is 1520. Whinstone is quarried for building purposes in the parish for which purpose it is well adapted. A limited quantity of freestone is wrought at Rankeilour. Nearly 200 persons are employed in hand-loom weaving for Dundee, Glasgow, and Aberdeen houses. There are no public works in this parish. Patron, Johnston of Lathrisk. Parish church stipend, £240, 18s. 8d.; glebe, £15; there is a Free church, but no dissenting church in the parish. Parish schoolmaster has the maximum salary, with house and garden; one private, and one female school. In 1849 on poor's roll, 18.
There are four villages or hamlets in the parish; the Village of Collessie is the principal one, with 200 inhabitants; it is half a mile from Trafalgar Inn; five miles west of Cupar, which is the Post Town, though Auchtermuchty is also a Post Town, and nearest market town; a runner leaves letters and parcels at the Trafalgar Inn; it is six miles from the New Inn; there are carriers to various parts of the county; it has a parish library, the other villages are Gifferton, Edenston, and Monkston, which are new, neat, and comfortable; the old village at Kinloch will soon only be found in history. The village of Collessie is a station on the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway.
The distinguished Rev. Dr Hugh Blair was ordained parish minister here in 1742. Sir James Melville, a distinguished courtier during the reign of Queen Mary, and noticed in this work, was proprietor of the estate of Hall-hill. The property of Lumquhat belonged to David Earl of Huntingdon, brother of William the Lion; a descendent of him again, was Sir David de Brechin, who married the sister of King Robert Bruce. [Nisbet's Heraldry] Major-general Sir John Brown was proprietor of the estate of Rossie; he was taken prisoner by the English at the battle of Inverkeithing, on 17th July, 1651, and died at Leith in August; his body was brought over, and buried at Rossie. [Lamond's Diary] The house of Rossie is where the fine extensive lake was, already referred to, and which Sibbald says abounded with pikes and perches. Kinloch, originally the property of the Kinlochs of that ilk. Nisbet says that this family "seems to be very ancient, and the name one of the earliest surnames in the kingdom." The property ultimately came into the hands of John Balfour of Kinloch, a descendant of the Balfours of Burleigh. This John Balfour was one of the most active of the murderers of Archbishop Sharp. Sibbald tells us that Kinloch in his time belonged to "Mr James Bruce, descended from the family of Airth, who hath built a new house here with gardens and a park." Mr Leighton says that "the Bruces of Airth were descended from Edward Bruce, second son of Robert de Bruys, ancestor of the Earl of Elgin." We find by Nisbet that Sir James Sandilands of St Monance, and of Weddersbie in this parish, was created Lord Abercrombie in 1647, by King Charles I. A Sir James Makgill of Rankeilour, bred to the law, and who rose to be Lord Rankeilour in 1554, was one of those who fixed the stipends of the reformed clergy; was intimate with Knox; and had to fly from Edinburgh for being implicated in the murder of Rizzio.
Near the hamlet of Trafalgar tradition points to two very ancient military forts. The eastern one is called Marsh-field Castle. The western fort is called the Maiden Castle; the origin of the name was, "that during a siege laid to this station, the governor died, and that his daughter, concealing the event, gave the necessary orders in his name, and that the castle thus defended held out till the enemy was obliged to retire." Stone coffins, urns, and human bones, have from time to time been dug up here.
Anecdote of James VI.
"It is related that in the disguise, which he often assumed, of a poor travelling man, he knocked one evening at the door of the miller's house at Ballomill. After some little difficulty he obtained quarters for the night. He joined the circle round the miller's fireside, and partook of their social glee, as well as of their homely cheer. The miller's frank and honest bearing gained upon the opinion of the King, his hospitality and kindness increasing as he became more intimate with the stranger. In the morning, accompanying his unknown guest in familiar converse to the extremity of the farm, they were met, according to previous appointment, by the royal guards. The miller then saw with astonishment that he had had the honour of entertaining the King. At parting, to reward his hospitality, and at the same time to try his knowledge of fractions, his Majesty asked the miller, whether he would have the fourth part, or the eighth part, or the sixteenth part of the lands on which they stood. The miller pondered a little a question so important, and said to himself, "To ask the saxteenth part wud be o'er greedy, to ask the fourth part would be cheatin' mysell, I'll e'en strike between the twa and ask the aught." In consequence of this decision the eighth part of the lands of Ballomill was measured off to him, which long remained in the miller's family. The description in the title-deed still runs, "All and whole of the one-eighth part of the lands of Ballomill." The royal charter by which it was conveyed is still preserved in the parish. [Rev. Mr McFarlane, in New Statistical Account; and Mr Leighton.]
CRAIL
A parish in the south-east corner of Fife, commonly called "the East Nook o' Fife." Bounded on the north by the parishes of Denino and Kingsbarns; on the east by the sea; on the south by the sea and the parish of Kilrenny; and on the west by the parishes of Kilrenny and Carnbee. It is six and a half miles long, by one and a half broad. All the land is under tillage, with the exception of 80 acres under wood, and 70 of waste land partly used as pasture. The parish has no interesting features, having neither lake nor rivulet, and little wood to relieve the eye, which meets with only abrupt rocks on the coast, rising from 20 to 80 feet. It is watered by some burns; and is supplied with numerous excellent springs of the finest water. The lake of Sypsies, once covering eight acres, is now drained, and under the plough. The soil in the lower parts, and near the town, is of the richest deep black loam, to poor thin wet clay, but which has been improved by draining and other means. Rent of land is from £1 to £7 per acre. In agriculture, skill and industry have transmuted barren, marshy boggy land, into luxuriant fields of corn; few cattle are bred here, and almost no sheep are kept. There are 7 heritors, one of whom is the proprietor of "Thirdpart,". Population in 1851 was 1903. Though coals and lime exist, they will not pay the working, being too deep; the finest freestone is found at Craighead, Kingsmuir, and Newhall; ironstone, and fire and common clay are abundant; there has been a brick-work for many years, at which fire-bricks and chimney cans have been made extensively for exportation. Patron is the Earl of Glasgow. Parish church stipend, £297, 18s. 6d.; glebe, £30; there is a U.P. church, and a Free church. Besides the parish school, there are three private schools. In 1849, on poor's roll, 40. There are few public-houses, and the inhabitants are sober, industrious, and intelligent.
TOWN OF CRAIL
This is a royal burgh of great antiquity, being noticed so early as the 9th century, and received its charter from King Robert Bruce, in 1306, which was successively confirmed, by Robert II., in 1371, Mary, in 1553, James VI., and Charles I. and II. It was anciently called Caryle or Carraile. It consists of two streets, and three lanes, which at one period must have had a fine appearance, as many of the houses are massive and unique, the whole bearing marks of having "seen better days." The parish church is extremely ancient, and once collegiate; in which Archbishop Sharp was at one time the minister. The burgh is governed by a provost, two bailies, and councillors. Crail is one of the St Andrews district of burghs. Constituency in 1851 was 45. Population of burgh in 1851 was 1244. There is a branch of the Eastern Bank of Scotland. Crail was for ages engaged in the white and herring fishing, but that part of trade is now nearly neglected. Part of this may be owing to the harbour being small and inconvenient, though the defect might be removed by going to a creek a quarter of a mile to the east. Formerly haddocks were cured here in a peculiar way, and were yclept "Crail capons:"
"Next from the well-air'd ancient town of Crail
Go out her craftsmen with tumultuous din;
Her wind-bleach'd fishers sturdy limb'd and hale;
Her in-knee'd tailors garrulous and thin;
And some are flush'd with horns of pithy ale;
And some are fierce with drams of smuggled gin;
While to augment his drouth, each to his jaws
A good Crail capon holds, at which he rugs and gnaws."
[Anster Fair.]
Mr Leighton well remarks that "the coast of Crail would seem at one period to have been oftener visited by the whale than it now is," [Fire Illustrated] and gives the following verse of an old ballad:-
"Was you e'er in Crail town,
Saw you there Clerk Dischington?
To see the wonders o' the deep,
Wad gar a man baith wail and weep;
To see the Leviathan skip,
An' wi' his tail ding o'er a ship."
There is no more an annual fair; neither is there a weekly market in the town, the nearest one being East Anstruther. Crail is a Post Town.
Balcomie Castle, once the finest structure in the county, stands within one mile of Fife-Ness, and one and a half to the east of Crail. The lofty tower that still remains, forms a well known sea-mark. It was at Balcomie Castle where Mary of Guise landed on her arrival from France, and was met by her future husband James V. See ST ANDREWS for the splendid pageant on the occasion. There is a small cave below the Castle, where King Constantine II. was beheaded by the Danes in 881, after a battle that took place at Crail. On the top of the cliff overlooking the harbour of Crail, are the ruins of a royal palace, in which David I. resided in 1138. This monarch founded the celebrated Abbey of Melrose in 1136, as also the Abbey of Holyrood. For a considerable time after his reign, the houses of Edinburgh were all thatched with straw. Airdrie House, now the pride of the parish, of which Sibbald says, "in King David II.'s reign I find that it belonged to Dundemore of that ilk. Afterwards it came to the Lumsdens, who had it in 1466."
We find by Spottiswood, and Grierson in his History of St Andrews, that Crail was the starting point, in Fife, where Knox by his eloquence caused the altars, images, and other marks of idolatry to be pulled down. The great, the grand, the magnificent cathedral of St Andrews was the next object of their fanatical fury; realizing the truth of what Dean Swift said, that the nation was either in the cellar or the garret. In reference to the religious propensities of our Fife ancestors, we find that the Scottish Parliament passed an act abolishing the Sunday market in Crail; and that the session of St Andrews had to prohibit all drapers, fleshers, and merchants, from keeping the market of Crail on the Sabbath, under penalty of being debarred the benefit of "baptism, the Lord's Supper, and marriage." This was in April, 1582.
Before leaving Crail, I should have stated that the property of Balcomie originally belonged to John de Balcomie, and then passed through the hands of the Hays, the Leslies, and the Learmonths of Dairsie. [Sibbald and Nisbet.] About 1765 it was purchased by the late General Scott, who increased his fortune at the expense of many of our nobility, by his skill and success at the gaming table, in his town residence in Drummond Place, Edinburgh, afterwards occupied as the Excise Office, and removed some years ago. Lastly, a few years ago 25 stone coffins were dug up outside of "the Danes' dyke," where Constantine was killed, and are understood to have contained the relics of the Scottish warriors who fell in this engagement.
CREICH
A parish in the north-east of Fife. Bounded on the north by Flisk; on the south by Monimail; on the east by Kilmany and Moonzie; and on the west by Dunbog and Abdie. It is three miles long, by two broad. Area 2324 acres; under cultivation, 1803; in pasture, or waste, 276; under wood, 204. [New Statistical Account and Leighton.] A range of low hills of the Ochils rises to the north, none being above 540 feet above sea-level; some are planted, others are more or less cultivated to the top; the summits of Black Craig and Green Craig afford delightful views. The valleys are watered by small streams that unite and form the Motray rivulet at the village of Luthrie, which runs through the parishes of Kilmany and Leuchars, falls into the Eden at the inner bridge. The soil in some parts is good, but in general it is light and sandy. Rent of land from £1, 10s. to £2, 10s. Most of it is inclosed and well drained; and deep ploughing is used to renew the soil; the Fifeshire breed of cattle is preferred; there are about 60 milk cows, and 200 sheep in the parish; besides seven thrashing mills driven by horses, there is one corn mill driven by water. There are seven heritors. Population in 1851 was 386. Coals have to be driven from the Balbirnie and Orr Bridge pits, distant eleven and thirteen miles.; or from Balmerino, five miles off, where Alloa or English coal may be had. Good freestone may be had at the quarries of East Luthrie and Carphin. About 60 men and women are more or less employed in hand-loom weaving of Osnaburghs, brown and plain white sheetings, and dowlas, for Newburgh and Cupar; there are besides two resident manufacturers. Patron, Grant of Congalton. Parish church stipend, £226; glebe, £7; a Free church supplies this parish and Flisk. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum. In 1849 on poor's roll, 12. The inhabitants are intelligent, industrious, and sober. There are two hamlets, Luthrie with 150 inhabitants, and the parish church; it is five miles from Cupar, the nearest market, and Post Town; and Brunton with about 90 inhabitants; there are besides, at Luthrie, a meal-mill, a barley-mill, and a brewery. There is only one public-house in the parish.
On little eminences near the church are the vestiges of Roman camps. The Castle of Creich, at the north side of the parish, anciently belonged to the Bethunes, of which family was Janet Bethune, the Lady Buccleuch celebrated in "the Lay of the Last Minstrel," and Mary Bethune, one of "the Queen's four Maries." The beauty of Mary had not escaped the notice of even George Buchanan, as may be seen in his Valentiniana. We find by the New Statistical Account, that from Janet Bethune many of the chief nobility and gentry in Scotland are descended. Thus, she was first married "to Sir Robert Livingston of East Wemyss, and after his death to James the first Earl of Arran of the Hamiltons, and nephew to King James III. Of the issue of this latter marriage was James, Earl of Arran, who was also Duke of Chatelherault, and Regent of the kingdom." [Of Fifeshire.] Nisbet states that the first of the family of Luthrie and Carphin, was a son of Sir William Baillie, who married the daughter of the far-famed Sir William Wallace, who so nobly defended Scotland. [Heraldry, Vol. II.]
This parish is distinguished for having been the birth-place of the Rev. John Sage, the first of the post-revolution bishops in the Scottish Episcopal communion, and the author of that very remarkable production, the Fundamental Charter of Presbytery. [Chambers' Gazetteer.] The Rev. Alexander Henderson, celebrated for his staunch opposition to episcopacy, was born in Luthrie, in 1583. It was he who devised the plan of the parish school; he likewise had the merit of proposing, and with others framing, the Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the Directory of Church Government and Worship, and of improving the metrical version of the Psalms we now use. A more excellent man never adorned a pulpit in Scotland than Henderson; and Wodrow had a high opinion of his piety, solidity, and learning. [Aiton's Life and Times of Alexander Henderson.]
CULTS
A parish in the centre of Fife. In ancient writings, it was called Quilts. Bounded on the north-west by the Eden, which divides it from Collessie and Monimail; on the south and west by Kettle; and on the east by Cupar and Ceres. It is two and a quarter miles long, by one and a half broad. Area, 2240 acres; under cultivation, 1850; in pasture, 130; under wood, 115 acres. The ground rises on the south and east into Walton hill, from which urns and bones have been dug up; and Cults hills; otherwise the ground is flat and uninteresting. It is watered by the Eden, and Ballomill burn, which join, besides a number of other streamlets. The soil is generally light and gravelly, yet in some parts soft black loam prevails, or strong clay, producing good crops. The rent of land runs from 10s. to £3, 12s. per acre. Too little attention has been paid to enclosures and draining; there are six thrashing machines moved by horses, and four by water; there are mills for flour, barley, oatmeal, and malt; two saw-mills, one driven by steam, and one by water. Much attention has been bestowed on rearing and feeding the Fifeshire breed of cattle; but a few blackfaced sheep are all I could see in the parish. Patron, United College, St Andrews. Parish church stipend, £162, 5s. 7d.; glebe, £11; a Free church serves Cults and Kettle; and a U.P. church at Pitlessie. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; besides a private male and female school. In 1849, on poor's roll, 13. Population in 1851 was 915. Three heritors, the principal of whom is the Earl of Glasgow. No coals have been wrought for the past 45 years; they have therefore to be brought from Balbirnie, in the parish of Markinch, for fuel; coals for burning limestone come from Kilmux in parish of Leven, from Teasses in the parish of Ceres, or from Burnturk in parish of Kettle. No parish in Fife is more abundantly supplied with limestone quarries, and which when burnt produces lime of the finest quality; these are found along the brow of Cults hill. Freestone quarries are numerous in the parish, and one-third of them produce a fine building article. At least one-third of the people are more or less engaged in weaving dowlas for the manufacturers in Newburgh, Leslie, and Kettle, who again supply them with materials; there is a mill for cleaning yarn; and a mill for spinning tow at Hospital Mill. Pitlessie is the only village, though there are four hamlets, Crossgates, Walton, Hospital Mill, and Cults Mill.
VILLAGE OF PITLESSIE
It has 526 inhabitants; Cupar is the nearest market, and Post Town, from which it is four miles distant; a runner brings letters and parcels every day; there is a large annual cattle fair held; there are seven public houses; it is five miles east of New Inn.
On the north-east extremity of the parish, Lady Mary Lindsay Crawford, sister and heiress of George, 20th Earl of Crawford, erected a splendid mansion in 1813, called Crawford Castle and Priory. Lady Mary died in November, 1833. She was the last of a direct line which for nearly five centuries had flourished in Fifeshire, and whose deeds, for good or evil, have been enrolled on many pages of the chronicles of Scotland. [Fullerton]
The most interesting object in the parish is the celebrated painter, the poetic, yet graphic Sir David Wilkie, who was a native of Cults, of which his father was minister. He was born in the manse in November 1785, where he spent his early years. "Amid the gentle sloping hills and sweet valleys of Fife he studied nature, and imbibed that love of truth and simplicity which he afterwards so beautifully in some instances, and so grandly in others, developed." [Dawson] He received the honour of knighthood from King William IV. in 1836. As an artist he was not merely the pride of the parish, but the boast of the county, and the admiration of the kingdom.
CUPAR
A parish in Fife, variously spelt in ancient writings. The parish of Cupar, and that of Tarvit, were conjoined in 1618. Tarvit is on the south side of the Eden. Bounded on the north by Kilmany and Dairsie; on the south by Ceres and Cults; on the east by Kemback; and on the west by Monimail and Moonzie. It is four and a half miles long, by three and a half broad. Two-thirds of the parish are on the north side of the river Eden, which runs from south-west to north-east. Area, eight square miles, or about 5530 acres. All of it is arable. It consists of hill and dale feathered with wood in the most tasteful style, that give to the parish a rich and grand effect; the hills are cultivated as they rise, with the upper portions clad with pasture, or crowned with waving timber. It is watered by the river Eden, that rises near the north side of the west Lomond, fully fifteen miles west, and is joined by the Lady Burn at the east end of the town; springs are abundant, though hard. There are two stone bridges, and an iron suspension one, thrown over the river near the town; there is one beyond Russell Mill; besides many small bridges over the rivulets and burns. The soil to the south and west is light and sandy; while to the north and east it is extremely fertile. Rent of land from £2 to £6. The Fifeshire breed of cattle in this parish usually gain the prizes at the cattle-shows, such is the care taken over them; few sheep are kept here. There are 15 heritors. Population 7427. There is neither coal nor lime in the parish. There are four quarries of the finest freestone; and two quarries of whinstone. In 1836 on poor's roll, 150; in 1849 on poor's roll, 217.
TOWN OF CUPAR
It is nearly in the centre of the parish; and is a royal burgh of great antiquity. Sibbald refers it back to the reign of David II.; but the earliest preserved charter is by Robert II. in 1382, and dated at Dunfermline; this was confirmed by James I. in 1428 and 1436; James V. in 1518; James VI. in 1573 and 1595. The town presents a fine appearance; it is neat, clean, and well-built. It has three principal streets, with a number of lanes; besides which, it has two suburbs or villages, called Braehead and Newtown; the one on the north side of Lady Burn; the other on the east side of the Eden, on the Edinburgh road. The county-buildings, the jail, and town-house, are deserving of attention. The spire of the old church is also handsome, light, and elegant. It is the county town. Its population in 1851, was 6631. It is a Post Town. There are branches of British Linen, Commercial, Clydesdale, City of Glasgow, and Western Banks. It is a leading market-town, holding a weekly corn-market, besides having ten general fairs for grain, cattle, etc. In the manufacture of linen goods, 630 looms are employed; besides spinning mills, corn mills, and a snuff mill, at which "it is said that about 60,000 lbs. of snuff are manufactured there every year;" fulling mills, breweries, tanyards, and a variety of other works. A public library, containing nearly 7000 volumes; reading rooms; two newspapers - Fife Herald, and Fifeshire Journal; a Savings Bank; annual races, taken notice of by Lamont; a play-field, referred to by Arnot. Agricultural and horticultural institutions; benevolent and provident societies; besides a total abstinence society. Besides being engaged in the works already noticed, many of the inhabitants are employed in courts of law, banking establishments, or in agricultural pursuits. Cupar is governed by a provost, two bailies, and councillors; the magistrates dispose of petty assaults and other breaches of the peace; all other cases are brought before the Sheriff Courts, or sent from thence to the Crown-agent. Cupar joins with St Andrews, Crail, Kilrenny, East and West Anstruther, and Pittenweem, in sending a Member to Parliament; constituency in 1851 was 335. It is a station on the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway.
The distance from Cupar to Ceres is two and a half miles; to Letham, four miles; to Trafalgar Inn, six miles; to St Andrews, nine miles; to Auchtermuchty, nine miles; to Strathmiglo, eleven miles; to Falkland, eleven and a half miles; to Ferry-Port-on-Craig, eleven miles; to Newburgh, ten and a half miles ; to Kirkcaldy, seventeen and a half miles; to Crail, nineteen miles; to Kinross, nineteen miles; to Kinghorn, 21 miles; to Dunfermline, thirty miles; to Edinburgh by Kirkcaldy, 31 miles, by Railway, 32. It is six miles from the sea.
The only real villages in the parish are Glaidney at its south extremity; and Springfield at the west end. Both are more or less filled with people employed in weaving, or at the Mills. The old parish church was built in 1415, of which nothing remains but the spire; the present one is destitute of all elegance. The charge is collegiate; stipend of both ministers together, £467, 3s. 8d; unap. teinds, £208, 2s. 11d; a preaching station at Springfield; a Free church; two U. P. churches.; a Baptist church, and Episcopal and Congregational churches.
History furnishes us with many startling events that have occurred in the parish; as also of extraordinary characters who performed their respective parts on the stage of life. The following are some of the most interesting:-
The castle of Cupar stood on what was called Castle hill, the residence of Macduff, and the scene of that horrid tragedy, the murder of his wife and children by Macbeth, and which has been so immortalized by the great Shakspeare. The deadly resentment of Macduff followed his victim from place to place, till he ultimately overtook Macbeth at Lumphanan, a mile north from the church, on the brow of a hill, and killed him in single combat, in 1056; where a cairn is still shown as that of the usurper. Thus, while Macduff revenged his own wrongs, he rendered an important service to the son of Duncan, Malcolm Canmore, which led to his establishment on the throne. Duncan had ascended the Scottish throne in 1033, but was basely assassinated at Bathgowanan, near Elgin, by Macbeth, the maormor of Ross, in 1039; who seized the blood-stained sceptre of the unhappy Duncan. The crime by which he had acquired his power, however, "haunted him amidst all his prosperity, and a constant sense of insecurity at length produced rigour, and even tyranny." These, with the injuries he had inflicted on Macduff, the maormor of Fife, who joined Malcolm, were now too irresistible to be overcome. To use the language of Sir Walter Scott, the genius of Shakespeare has woven the whole "into the most striking tale of ambition and remorse that ever struck awe into a human bosom." Though all Scottish history admit that Lumphanan was the district where Macbeth was slain by Macduff, yet Shakespeare makes the scene to be at Dunsinnan. Macbeth was the last Scottish King buried in Iona, the place of royal sepulture having been removed by Malcolm Canmore to Dunfermline.
During the darker ages, theatrical representations, called Mysteries or Moralities, were frequently exhibited by the monks, on a part of the Castle-hill called the Playfield. Again, the same place "was appropriated in 1555, for the performance, sub dio, of David Lindsay's satire of the Three Estates, a witty drama, principally levelled at the clergy, and supposed to have had great influence in bringing the religious revolution which soon after ensued. This very clever poet, the study of whose works formed, for a long time, part of the education of every Scotsman, lived at his patrimonial estate, called the Mount, about four miles northwest from Cupar."
In 1559, we find the Archbishop of St Andrews at Falkland using his influence with the Regent against the excesses committed by John Knox. So much was the Regent incensed at the reformer, that she collected nearly 3000 troops under the command of D'Oysel, a Frenchman, and the Duke of Chatelherault; and marched them to an eminence in the neighbourhood of the town, called Garliebank. The "Lords of the Congregation on their part mustered fully as many, and stationed themselves on the opposite bank of the small river Eden. On both parties viewing each other, the commanders of the Regent requested a truce for eight days; this was agreed to, on certain conditions. And thus ended this formidable display at Cupar.
Up to 1420, the sheriff held his courts in the open air, upon the Moat-hill, on which the rude justice of those times was dispensed. Sibbald says that the place of the court was changed for the tolbooth of the county town in 1504. On this point; I do not find authors agree.
On one occasion the castle of Cupar had been taken by the English, but the Steward, who afterwards ascended the throne under the title of Robert II., and who, in 1338, commanded the Scottish army, obtained possession of the Castle, by the treachery of its defender.
Nearly all the Jameses, and the unfortunate Queen Mary, repeatedly visited Cupar. The last royal visit was made by Charles II., in 1650. Lamont states that he was entertained by the magistrates in the townhall, "where he gatt some desert to his foure houres, the place where he satte doune to eate was the tolbooth," he further tells us that after a song or two, a suitable speech was made in honour of his entry to the town.
A monastery of Black Friars was founded by Malcolm, earl of Fife, early in the 13th century. In the churchyard is a plain upright stone, bearing the following inscription on one side, in reference to some who had suffered martyrdom in 1681, for adhering to the Word of God; in which we recognise poor David Hackston of Rathillet:-
"Our persecutors filled with rage,
Their brutish fury to assuage,
Took heads and hands of martyrs off,
That they might be the people's scoff;
They Hackston's body cut asunder,
And set it up a world's wonder
In several places to proclaim,
These monsters gloried in their shame."
As usual in Fife, "several urns of baked clay, containing ashes of the ancient inhabitants," have been found; as also several stone coffins, containing human skeletons.
The late Rev. Dr Campbell was one of the ministers of the parish, and father of the present Lord Chief Justice of England, who was born in 1778.
In March of this year, the workmen of the Cupar Muir clay-pits laid bare the skeleton of an animal which has since been determined by Mr Page to be that of a seal, and which must have been imbedded there when the Howe of Fife was an estuary, and the sea stood from 120 to 150 feet above its present level. The locality in which these interesting remains were found is about eight miles inland, and upwards of 100 feet above the present high-water level. According to the doctrine of Mr Page and others, this seal is a pre-Adamite inhabitant of our northern waters, and is further invested with interest as being the only fossil specimen of the seal family which has yet been discovered. The specimen now found is a young animal, about three feet in length, and in a wonderful state of preservation - almost every bone being fit for the articulator. [Cupar News, No. 92; and Chambers' Journal for June.]
Cupar, like other burghs in Scotland, seems to have been tinctured with political corruption. Thus Pinkerton says, "Most borrows are at the devotion of some noblemen, as Cowper in Fife, managed by the Earl of Rothes."
I omitted at an earlier stage to state that though Cupar has no parish school, there have been two burgh schools since the reign of Charles I., and which in 1822 merged into the Cupar Academy. There are besides eight other private schools; two female boarding schools, a female school of industry, and an infant school.
The sources from which the account of this parish has been drawn, were Buchanan; Sibbald; Pinkerton; Lamont's Diary; Arnot; Cambden; Chalmers' Caledonia; Nisbet; Dalrymple's Annals; Sir Walter Scott; Lord Hailes; Dawson; Fullerton; and Chambers' Gazetteer; besides a personal inspection of the parish in 1822.
DAIRSIE
Is a parish in Fife. Bounded on the north by Logie, Kilmany, and Leuchars; on the south it is divided from Kemback by the Eden; on the east by Leuchars; and on the west by Cupar. It is two and a half miles long, by nearly the same in breadth. Area, 2306 acres. Under cultivation, 2200; under pasture, 60; under wood, 47 acres. The only hills are in the centre of the parish; the highest is Craigfoodie, rising nearly 500 feet above sea-level, presenting a bold precipitous front to the south-west; the other is Foodie Hill; from the summit of either extensive views are obtained. The hills are either cultivated to their summits, bearing fine crops, or planted with wood. It is watered by the river Eden, by Middlefoodie Burn, and smaller streams; salmon, trout, and other fish are found in them. The Eden is crossed by a bridge of three arches near the church, built by Archbishop Spotiswood. The soil is for the most part fertile, and in many places rich and deep. Average rent of land is now £2, 15s. per acre. There are two corn mills, and a barley mill, besides nine thrashing machines; these are moved by water, horse, or steam; to those must be added a saw-mill, wrought by the river Eden. There are eight heritors. Population is 708. Freestone is abundant in the lower parts of the parish. A whinstone quarry is found on Foodie Hill. There is a spinning mill at Newmiln, and another at Lydiamiln, both on the Eden; a part of the population is employed in weaving linens for the Cupar manufacturers. The patron is Captain McDonald of Sandside. Parish church stipend £262, 12s; glebe, £11; there is a Free church. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; a private school at Osnaburgh, and a small school at Foodieash. In 1849, on poor's roll, 12. There are two very small villages; Dairsimuir, otherwise called Osnaburgh, which is a station on the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway; Middle Foodie; besides the hamlets of Newmiln and Lydiamiln, both on the Eden. Cupar is the nearest market town, and Post Town; at Dairsimuir there is a sub-post-office under Cupar. The distance is two and a half miles from Cupar.
The old Castle of Dairsie, standing upon a rising ground near the banks of the Eden, must have been a place of importance and strength, as we learn from Sibbald that, in the minority of David II., 1335, the Regents of Scotland, Stewart and Moray, selected it as the seat of a Parliament, from which much good to the nation was expected. And which might have been the case, being, as Winton says, politically well adapted for such a purpose, had not the venom of jealousy kindled up the usual animosities among the Scottish leaders. The lands of Dairsie originally belonged to the Dairsies of that ilk. Sir Walter Scott tells us that a younger son of Thomas Learmont of Earlston, in Berwickshire (that is Thomas the Rhymer), married Janet de Darsie, and had the lands of Darsie in Fife by that marriage. This was in the reign of Alexander III. John Spottiswood, Archbishop of St Andrews, purchased the lands in the reign of Charles I.; he who was Chancellor of Scotland in 1635, but which office only hastened the downfal of his family, as we find by Aikman, Clarendon, and Laing; he who crowned Charles I. at Holyrood in 1633, according to Spalding and Crawford. The son of this good and learned man, Sir Robert, was beheaded at the market cross of St Andrews, in 1646; and Captain John Spottiswood, younger of Dairsie, was executed in Edinburgh, 1650. The Archbishop built the old parish church, about 1615. It was in the castle of Dairsie where he compiled his Church History. The end of his life was to seek refuge in England, where he died in December, 1639.
DALGETY
This is a parish in Fife. Bounded on the north and east by Aberdour; on the south by the Firth of Forth; and on the west by Inverkeithing. Length three and a half miles, fronting the sea; and two and a half broad. Area, 1280 acres. Under cultivation, nearly 1000; under wood, 255 acres; with 50 of moss and marshy ground. The ground rises gradually from the south to the north to a height of 436 feet above sea-level; from the top of which an extensive view is obtained of the opposite coast. Though there is no river in the parish, there are burns, and a most interesting lake called Otterston loch, three quarters of mile long, by a quarter mile broad, at the west end of the old mansion-house of Cockairney, the residence of Sir Robert Mowbray. On the north bank stands the old mansion-house of Otterston, from which the lake derived its name. When this is added to a most picturesque waterfall of 50 feet, in the darkly wooded glen of Fordel, with the hill and dale, a picture is presented to the eye that would delight and enrapture a Wilkie himself. While the soil is, in the south, a deep strong loam, mixed more or less with clay, the high ground is wet, marshy, and stiff, though the banks are of a much lighter and drier quality.Rent of land from £1, 5s. to £3, 10s. per acre. In the north division, draining is now much used. There are three heritors, the Earl of Moray, of Donibristle; Henderson of Fordel; and Sir Robert Mowbray. The population, 1513. Nearly two-thirds of the people are more or less employed at collieries. The extensive coal works at Fordel have been wrought for the past 260 years, and will in all probability continue for a century to come; the value of the annual export is admitted by Mr Dawson to average about 70,000 tons. These are chiefly exported from St David's, a small seaport in the parish, to which they are conveyed on a railway: besides being well adapted for household uses, they are much approved of for steam navigation. Patron, Earl of Moray. Parish church stipend, £227, 7s. 1d.; glebe, £20. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; there is a small school at Hillend. In 1849 on poor's roll 42. The limestone lies too deep for working; freestone is abundant, but the best is to the south of the parish. The only village is St David's, with a population of 160; it is one and a quarter miles from Inverkeithing, and two and a half miles west of Aberdour; the salt works have been abandoned; in the room of which a large brick-work has been erected. The longitudinal half of the village of Hillend, one and a quarter miles from Inverkeithing, with 180 inhabitants, belong to this parish. Why did our wise ancestors not make it the quarter of the village? Nothing shows the ignorance of their policy so much as the division of land; and making their roads across hills. The nearest market town is Inverkeithing. The Post Town is Aberdour. The old village of Dalgety is now only to be found in history.
Fordun, Barbour, Bower, Sibbald, and Lord Hailes, state that in 1317, Edward of England invaded Fife, and landed his troops at Donybristle. Being unprepared, undisciplined, taken by surprise, and few in number (500) compared with the enemy, the Fife-men, under the command of the sheriff of the county, became intimidated and took to flight. William Sinclair, Bishop of Dunkeld, receiving notice of their desertion, rode off to meet the fugitives with sixty of his best servants. This warlike prelate, whom Barbour terms "rycht hardy, meikill, and stark," thus addressed their leaders:- "Where are you flying? ye are recreant knights; you deserve to have your gilt spurs hacked off!" Then seizing a spear, he cried out, "Let all who love their country and their king turn again with me!" With this he made a fierce attack upon the English, who were speedily defeated and driven back to their ships, with the loss of 500 men, besides a considerable number who were drowned by the swamping of their boats. For this gallant action King Robert Bruce made him "The King's Bishop"; and he was long remembered by his countrymen.
We have now to deal with the dismal fate of an innocent neighbour of distinction. Balfour, Spottiswood, Moyse, Calderwood, Wodrow, Gordon, Robertson, and Aikman's Buchanan, tell us that Donibristle House, the Earl of Moray's, was the scene of the cold-blooded and barbarous murder of "the bonny Earl of Murray," by his inveterate enemy the Marquess of Huntly, in February, 1592; who besides set the house on fire, under night. On endeavouring to escape, by running to a boat, the unfortunate Earl was detected by a spark of fire on his helmet, and overtaken by a determined assassin, Gordon of Buckie, who killed on the spot. He expired, telling Gordon who had wounded him in the face, "You have spoilt a better face than your awin." The remote cause of this foul deed seems to have been revenge. The Earl of Murray had encountered and defeated the Marquess of Huntly in the north, in 1591. Another version of the cause was, suspicions entertained by James VI. of the Earl of Murray's attention to Queen Anne. This appears borne out by the ballad of "The Bonny Earl of Murray ":-
"Ye highlands and ye lowlands,
Oh, where have ye been?
They hae slain the Earl o' Murray,
And lain him on the green.
----------------------------
He was a braw gallant,
And he rade at the gluve;
And the bonny Earl o' Murray,
Oh, he was the Queen's luve!
Oh! lang will his lady
Look ower the Castle Doune,
Ere she see the Earl o' Murray
Come sounding through the toun."
[Motherwell's Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern.]
We must, however, bear in mind, that Huntly had received a commission from James VI. to pursue and capture Bothwell, the infamous successor of the still more infamous Hepburn, (Queen Mary's last husband,) who had made a daring attempt upon the King's person in the palace of Holyrood. Instead of proceeding against the rebel Bothwell, he (Huntly) came to Donibristle House, and slew the Earl of Murray, the heir of the late popular Regent. It is no argument against James that when Huntly afterwards went to the court of King Charles on his accession to the throne, he kneeled, and presented King James' original warrant. On which the King, after reading it, said, "My lord, this was wrong given, and worse executed." The truth seems to be, that the warrant had neither Bothwell nor Murray's name in it, and therefore could answer either party, as might suit Huntly's black design. The unfortunate Earl was son-in-law of the "Good Regent," who was residing with his mother, Lady Doune, at Donibristle Castle. The reader is aware that his father-in-law was Regent of Scotland, and brother to Queen Mary, being a natural son of James V. He was the Queen's prime minister. Before his creation in 1561, he was the Lord James Stewart, and prior of St Andrews. He was shot at Linlithgow.
Sibbald says that, "hard by it (Donibristle,) is Dalgety, the dwelling of the Lord Yester; it was repaired and beautified with gardens by Chancellor Seaton, Earl of Dunfermline (who was created in 1605, and) who lies interred in the church there." The cause of my being thus minute with persons, is because they will be found to have performed important parts in history. Donibristle was once the residence of the abbot of the monastery of Inchcolm.
DOLLAR
A parish in Clackmannanshire. Bounded on the north by the parish of Glendevon; on the south by that of Clackmannan; on the east by the parishes of Muckhart and Fossaway; and on the west by the parish of Tillicoultry. It is three miles long, by one and a quarter broad. Area, 4620 acres. Under cultivation, 1850 acres; under pasture, 2440; under wood, 240. The Ochil hills form the north barrier, while to the south of them is a valley, nearly level, and about one mile in breadth; the Damiett hill forms the west extremity of the range; there are, besides, the King's seat, Dollar Hill, and the Wisp; neither of them rise to 1900 feet. It is watered by the river Devon, by Kelly burn, and other streams that descend from the Ochils, passing through romantic glens of considerable beauty. All the bridges are in good condition, except one at the Rack-mill, which is of wood and nearly rotten. Though some parts are moss and marshy, others moist and clayey, some near the Devon are light and sandy, yet much good and productive land is found. Rent of land runs from £1, to £5, 10s. per acre. Much has of late been done by liming and draining, and the use of bone dust; but many of the fences have been entirely neglected; oats, wheat, and barley are now usually cultivated, beans and pease seldom; the cattle are the Fifeshire crossed with the short-horn; the black-faced sheep are preferred. There are six heritors. Population in 1851 was 1574; two-thirds of whom live in the villages of Old and New Dollar. There are two extensive collieries in the parish; the coals are a mixture of splint and cubical coal; one of the pits has not been wrought for some time. Ironstone yielding 30 per cent. of cast-iron is found in bands and balls. There is a large quarry of good freestone at Sheardale, and another at Quarrel-burn. Greenstone, otherwise called blue whinstone, is abundant. A large surface of fine brown plastic clay, fit for tiles, bricks, and common pottery; as also fire-clay for making bricks used in lining furnaces. Though lead and copper have more than once been found in the Ochils, they did not cover the expense of working them, especially after the principal vein was lost. Besides two large brick and tile-works, there has been a large linen bleach-field since 1787, and a manufactory for carding and spinning of wool. Patron, Globe Insurance Company. Parish church stipend, £158, 10s. 7d.; glebe, £17; a Free church of Dollar and Muckart; and an U.O.S. church. Parish schoolmaster salary £25, 16s.
VILLAGE OF DOLLAR
The principal attraction to this village is the important educational establishment called Dollar Academy, "founded by a native of the parish, who had realized a large fortune in London, by furnishing transports to government, and other mercantile pursuits, and bequeathed £80,000 to erect this institution. A very handsome edifice, in the Grecian style, was erected in 1819, and in 1837, 252 scholars attended. A library is also attached to this academy. [Dawson] The nearest market-town is Alloa, six and a half miles distant; the Post Town is Stirling, twelve miles north-east; but there is a runner every day from Alloa; there is a Friendly Society, instituted in 1829; there is no Savings Bank nearer than Tillicoultry, three miles distant; there are two fairs in the year, for cattle, in May and October. Though the inhabitants are intelligent, more intemperance goes on than is consistent with good order.
CASTLE CAMPBELL
This is one of the feudal relics of antiquity. It stands near the village of Dollar, on the top of a high rock, fully 100 feet, with a deep glen, thickly wooded on each side, with brawling streams running down the glen, and uniting below the Castle into one still more considerable. Unless by a draw-bridge, the Castle was formerly quite inaccessible, and therefore had been a place of great strength; indeed, only to be surpassed by "Fast Castle," the stronghold of Logan of Restalrig, (see Gowrie Conspiracy). It is surrounded by hills still higher than itself, which, being wooded to their summits, give to the whole a gloomy, grand, yet romantic effect. It is disjoined from the surrounding hills by a deep ditch shelving down to the bottom of the glen on each side. The original Castle had belonged to the crown, before it came into the hands of Colin, the first Earl of Argyle, who was created by King James II. in 1457, as stated in Douglas's Peerage. The original name of the Castle was Castle Gloom, said by tradition to have been so named by the daughter of a King who had been imprisoned in it. The melancholy name given to the Castle, to a hill behind, and to a burn the Water of Care, and to another the Burn of Sorrow, support the tradition. In 1493 its name was changed by an Act of Parliament, to Castle Campbell. The Argyle family possessed it till 1807, when it was sold. In 1645 the Castle was destroyed by the Marquis of Montrose, the enemy and rival of the family, while on his way to Kilsyth. Not satisfied with the Castle, he burnt every house in Dollar, because the inhabitants were vassals of the Duke of Argyle. Archibald, the fourth Earl, was the first Scottish nobleman who publicly embraced the Protestant religion.
We find by Spottiswood and McCrie that Thomas Forrest [Forret], Vicar of Dollar, suffered martyrdom for his religious opinions in 1538. His father had been master-stabler to James IV. He was first admitted a canon regular of Inchcolm; where he was converted by reading a volume of Augustine's works. He was afterwards admitted to the vicarage of Dollar, where he rendered himself obnoxious to his brethren, by telling his parishioners, "I am bound to speak the truth to you;" and for which he was often summoned before the Bishops of Dunkeld and St Andrews. The Bishop before whom he was tried, did not blush to tell him, "I thank God I have lived well these many years, and never knew either the Old or New Testament.". This worthy Christian, that is, Forrest, composed a short catechism; and made it a point to commit three chapters of the Bible to memory every day. This would be a better world were more to follow his godly example.
DUNBOG
Is a small parish in Fife. Bounded on the north by the Tay; on the south by Monimail; on the east by Flisk; and on the west by Abdie. It is three miles long, by one mile broad. Area, 1900 acres. Under tillage 1700 acres; under pasture, 250; under wood, 40. The parish forms a rich valley lying between two ridges of hills, running from west to east, being parts of the Ochils. Most of the soil is a rich black mould, though shallow, and resting upon whinstone; in some parts the subsoil is sand or gravel; in others a hard till, or a cold clay. Rent of land from £1, to £4, 10s. While the valley produces abundant crops of every description of grain, from draining on a suitable subsoil, and other means, the south hill, which rises to a height of nearly 500 feet above sea level, is, generally speaking, barren and uncultivated; though the north hill is cultivated to the top, the want of fences is here severely felt; the breed of cattle is mixed, and the shorthorns preferred; the sheep are the Cheviots and the black-faced breed. Being entirely an agricultural parish, there is neither coal, lime, or freestone; though whinstone is abundant; coals have to be brought from the pits of Balbirnie or Coul, eight or nine miles distant. There are three heritors, Lord Dundas, now Earl of Zetland; Balfour of Fernie; and Murray of Ayton. Population in 1851, was 220. Patron, the Crown. Parish church stipend, £225, 18s. 2d; glebe, £8, 15s.; no other church. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; no other school. In 1849 on poor's roll, 2. No public house. The large village, with its weekly market, has disappeared, owing to the modern system of farming. The nearest market and Post Town is Newburgh, about four and a quarter miles distant from the church; Auchtermuchty is now the principal Post Town.
By Sibbald, and Douglas' Peerage, we find that the oldest family and Castle, was that of Barcly; this family had possession of Collairney for a period of 500 years. A descendant, through marriage, was one Sir David de Lindsay, referred to by Wynton, as having fought at the battle of Halidonhill. [Cronykil, Vol. II.] Sir David Barclay rendered great assistance to King Robert Bruce.
I shall here take the liberty of stating, that during the first fifteen years of my residence in Fife, I had more or less opportunity of coming in contact with nearly a dozen of the clergy of the church of Scotland, and particularly with the late Rev. Dr Martin of Kirkcaldy, under whom I was for a period of 18 months; and that my experience of each and all made a deep and lasting impression in their favour, either as regards their moral and religious instruction of the young; or in their attendance on the sick and old.
DUNFERMLINE
This is the largest parish in Fife, lying in the west district of the county. Bounded on the south by the firth of Forth, and by Inverkeithing; on the east by Inverkeithing, Aberdour, and Beath; on the north by Cleish; and on the west by Saline, Carnock, and Torryburn. Length from north to south is eight miles, by four and a half broad. Area, 23,040 imperial acres, or 36 square miles; under cultivation, 13,391; not arable, 3740; under wood, 1135 acres. [New Statistical Account] The only hills worth notice are the hill of Beath, partly in this, and partly in the parish of Beath; it is the highest, and besides being in pasture to the summit, commands an extensive view; the other is Craigluscar-hill, on the north-east. It is watered by the Lyne, otherwise called Spital-burn; Tower-burn; and Baldridge-burn. The bridges are small, but in good condition. The city is supplied from springs at Cairncubie, in the Townmoor, one and a half miles north-east. The lakes are the Town Loch, Lochend, Loch fitty, Loch Gloe, and Black Loch, lying all to the north of the parish. The soil to the south of the city is of the finest quality, being a brown loam, resting on rotten whinstone; while most of it to the north of the city is inferior in quality, though much improved of late. Rent of land in the south portion from £1, 10s. to £3, 10s.; while in the north division, about £1 per acre. No branch of industry is more attended to than that of agriculture, in which neither skill, industry, nor capital has been spared in its advancement; there are fully sixty thrashing-machines, four corn or meal mills, two flour mills, two saw-mills; 420 draught horses, 150 young horses, 45 saddle or gig horses, and 460 cows; about 1550 black cattle, of the short-horned breed; 1300 sheep, and nearly 200 swine.
MANUFACTURES
The trade in the city seems to have commenced in 1718, when the manufacture of table-linen was established. This gradually progressed till the institution of weavers took place in 1740, with the establishment of the British Linen Company in 1749, who began to employ a number of looms for weaving table-linen in the city. These, with the industry, activity, and invention, the intelligence and enterprise brought to bear on it and other departments of weaving since 1788, added to various other trades, have proved a source of wealth to the city and neighbouring villages. To these advantages must be added the recent introduction of railways, connecting the city with Stirling, Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee; and these in their turn, with every other market in the kingdom. Its damask manufacture is unrivalled for the beauty and taste displayed in its design, and the skill with which it is executed. "In 1836 there were in Dunfermline and its vicinity, 3517 looms, employing upwards of 5000 persons, and estimated to produce goods to the annual value of £351,700." [Dawson] Most of the weavers work in their own houses. There are several spinning mills. Nevertheless, with all the past and present wealth, steam-power threatens to produce a great revolution in the hand-loom trade. Though table-linen is the chief manufacture, a considerable quantity of table-covers, either wholly cotton, or of worsted on cotton, and some counterpanes, are also made.
Coal
The mineral riches of this parish are great. The largest colliery belongs to the Earl of Elgin, and includes an area of fully 2600 acres of coal-field; producing about 60,000 tons annually, of which 40,000 tons are exported, by being conveyed to Charleston harbour by a railroad, six miles distant. The coal-works employ 620 persons. Wellwood's colliery produced in 1839 about 48,000 tons, and employed 252 persons; this coal is much used in Dunfermline and neighbourhood, besides being exported. The Townhill and Appin collieries, the former belong to the burgh of Dunfermline. These two produce about 8500 tons, and employ 70 persons. The Halbeath colliery, two and a half miles east from the city, produced in 1837, 18,437 tons, the greater part of which is exported; 175 persons were employed. A valuable bed of parrot coal is wrought here, and used by the gas works at Dunfermline and neighbourhood. The Cuttlehill colliery at Netherbeath has produced 2000 tons annually, and employs 32 persons. The Letham coal-work is not working now.[Chalmers, in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture.] From an old charter, coal is known to have been wrought in this district in the year 1291, probably the oldest record of it in Scotland; though Arnot refers to one about the same period. It is only surpassed by two notices in England, one about 1234, the other in 1284. [Dawson]
Limestone
This is principally wrought at Charleston, Roscobie, Lathalmond, and Dunduff, for sale; but is found at Craigluscar, Cowdens, Dunnygask, South-fod, Brucefield, and Sunnybank. Though the Charleston quarries are the most extensive of all those named, the quantity of either raw limestone or shell bears no proportion to what was in 1823, when I was chemist to the Earl of Elgin's works, and had to inspect them weekly. It was evident at that period that other forty years would render them useless either to his Lordship or workmen, from the greatness of the dip.
Freestone quarries are found at North Urquhart, Berrylaw, Pittencrieff, Millhills, Charleston, and Sunnybank. Whinstone is wrought at several quarries, particularly at Woodhill and at Redcraigs. Ironstone pervades the Elgin coalfield, and at one period was wrought to the extent of 4500 tons annually. It is found in other coalfields, but not remunerative. Clay for brick and tile is abundant in the parish, but most so at Charleston, where there is a good and deep field that will last many years, on which there is a large brick and tile work.
In 1818 it was found necessary to build a new parish church, and which was opened for divine service in 1821. It is an elegant structure, in the pointed style; surmounted by a fine tower, topped with a balustrade, on which Robert Bruce, King of Scots, is very conspicuous. Though equally elegant and capacious within, it does not convey the sound well. It is a collegiate charge. The patron is the Crown. The stipends of both incumbents are the same, £299, 11s. 8d.; unap. teinds. £755, 16s. 8d. Rev. Dr. Chalmers, minister of the first charge, has a manse and a glebe. There are other fourteen places of public worship, of all the usual denominations, within the city; besides one in Limekilns and another at Crossgates. Besides the burgh school and commercial academy, there are other 28 private schools in the parish, within the city, or in the different villages. There are 34 heritors. In 1851 the Population was 21,687. The villages and hamlets in the parish are thirteen in number, in the following order as regards population:- Limekilns, Charleston, Crossgates, Halbeath, Crossford, Wellwood, Townhill, Parknook and Blackburn, Milesmark, Masterton, Patiemuir, Brucefield Feus, and Roscobie.
LIMEKILNS
This is a large sea-port village, with a population of 1000. Few present so fine a view of the Forth and opposite coast; and still fewer are so well sheltered from the cold north and east winds; being screened by the high grounds of Broomhall on the north; and from the east winds by the Ferry-hills. And hence the reason why it was for many years a place of great resort for sea-bathing, and that from distant parts. Down to 1825 it was able to boast of an extensive shipping of coal; of having built during that year ten vessels belonging to the village, from the sloop to the brig; of having other 26 that went in the coasting and foreign trade; with a marine insurance company, established in 1815, for their mutual protection by loss at sea, with a capital of £14,000. They had moreover a large ship-building yard, employing 160 men and boys; an extensive brewery that made the far-famed Elgin Ale; a maltbarn; and was then the landing-place for the Alloa and Stirling steamboats. Though there are some fine houses, including the church and manse, the village as a whole has no pretension to regularity or beauty; this must be looked for in the scenery around, and which is very interesting. The nearest market and Post Town is Dunfermline, though there is a sub-post-office in the village. It has an excellent harbour, admitting vessels of 300 tons, at stream-tides. There is a neat Secession church, first built in 1784, and rebuilt in 1825; holding 1056, and cost £2000. The stipend is £160, with a manse. It has two private schools, and a subscription library. The name of the village is derived from limestone being burnt at the west end of the village, opposite the harbour, in kilns for the purpose; but now removed to Charleston. A historical fact deserving of notice is an ancient vault, built in former ages for storing up flesh, fish, and fowl; besides every description of wine, for the use of the monks of Dunfermline. These were imported into a capacious harbour immediately opposite to the vault, but which is now hardly to be seen, and at a period ages before there was a single house in the place. The vault is in excellent preservation, and now used as a principal schoolroom. Limekilns is a half mile from Charleston; one and a half from Pettymuir; two from Blackness; three from Dunfermline; four to Torryburn; four to Inverkeithing; and five from Queensferry.
CHARLESTON
This village, with a population of 800, lies a half mile to the west of Limekilns, at an elevation of fully 30 feet above sea-level. It was founded by the grandfather of the present Earl of Elgin, in 1778. It consists of an oblong square, closely built on three sides with low well-built houses of the same height, with a short double row of houses towards the east end. Each house has a small piece of garden ground, with a pig-sty. In the open half of the village, to the west, is a large inclosed bleaching-green in the centre. The whole has a clean, modern, and picturesque appearance. There is a large school, and an infant one, admirably conducted by their respective teachers, at the expense of a small monthly stoppage from the workmen. Besides a well-selected library, a sub-post-office, and a good inn, there are more benevolent and provident societies than are to be found in towns of greater pretensions.
The men are sober and industrious, exceptions granted; and the female portion most exemplary, in every sense of the term. Beneath the village there is a fine capacious harbour for coal and lime, brought from Lord Elgin's mines and quarries, and there exported. There are nine drawkilns opposite the harbour. I cannot conclude this description of Charleston without stating that had my narrow limits permitted, I would have gone into greater detail; as also expressed my deep regret at the loss of the late worthy and amiable Earl of Elgin, who did good by stealth, and blushed to find it fame!
BROOMHALL
This is a beautiful mansion of the Earl of Elgin, situated on a height of 30 feet above sea-level, and overlooking the village of Limekilns. It presents a front of 470 feet, on the exact model of the remaining examples of Grecian architecture brought by the late Earl from Greece. Amongst the objects of antiquity to be seen, are the sword and helmet of King Robert Bruce, that had been kept for ages in the tower of Clackmannan, and bequeathed to the Earl of Elgin by the widow of Henry Bruce, Esq., who died in 1772, and who was the last in a direct line from the time of David II.
The Earl is now the nearest representative of the royal house of Bruce. The next article commanding attention is the stone coffin of Constantine; he who embraced Christianity, who favoured the Christians, and gave full liberty to their religion, in 313; and who ordered all the heathen temples to be destroyed, in 331; and he who first gave the name to Constantinople, in 328. The coffin is of red granite, and of huge size. The bed on which the unfortunate Charles I. was born, is preserved in Broomhall, and still looks well. Lastly, a gold table presented to the late Earl by the King of Denmark; besides many other articles worth inspection.
CROSSFORD
This village is one and a half miles to the west of Dunfermline; with 460 inhabitants, chiefly employed in weaving table-linen for Dunfermline; most of them are small feuars. The village stands on the road leading to Cairny-hill, Culross, and Alloa. The village is clean, but without animation. The house and grounds most deserving notice are those of Halket of Pitferrane, at the west end.
CROSSGATES
This village contains 549 inhabitants; chiefly connected with the neighbouring coal works and quarries; besides some employed in weaving, and in agriculture. The Dunfermline, Perth, and Dundee Railway passes near the village. There is a U. P. church in it. The Perth road, from the south, goes through it. It is one mile from Cuttlehill; three and a half miles from Dunfermline; four miles from Inverkeithing, Aberdour, or Lochgelly; six from Queensferry; and nine from Kinross.
Halbeath, with 460, Townhill, 290, and Wellwood, 350 inhabitants, are all villages inhabited by colliers. The other hamlets are inhabited by weavers or labourers. The smallest is Roscobie, with 70 inhabitants.
CITY OF DUNFERMLINE
Three miles to the north of the Forth stands the city, at an elevation of 270 feet above sea-level, commanding a view of the entire parish. But from the church steeple the most extensive, rich, varied, and grand prospect is obtained that can possibly be imagined; stretching over more or less of fourteen different counties, including the beautiful windings of the Forth from Leith to near Stirling Castle. Again, if we take a more limited view of the luxuriant panorama beneath, we find the lands of Pittencrieff, Kavil, Pitferrane, Pitliver, Pitreavie, Broomhall, Logie, and a hundred others, with streams, hill and dale, too grand for the barrenness of language to describe, the whole uniting to remind one of the scenes so enthusiastically depicted by the poet Henryson, a native of Dunfermline, three centuries ago!
The city is well built, though the streets are somewhat irregular, and generally rather narrow. The principal public buildings are the abbey church, the town hall, the late guildhall, with a fine spire 132 feet in height, the new jail, and other edifices that do equal honour to the authorities and other parties. Besides the linen manufactures already referred to, the spinning of linen yarn has been extensively carried on since it was first introduced in 1806. There are two iron and brass foundries, a flour mill, candle and soap work, a tan-work, rope-work, tobacco manufactories, breweries, brick works, and several other works of industry. There are two weekly markets, one on Tuesday for the sale of grain by sample; the other on Friday for butter, cheese, eggs, etc.; besides eight annual fairs. There are branches of the bank of Scotland, British Linen, Commercial, and Western Banks. Dunfermline is a Post Town. The town library, as it is called, with an excellent collection of books, was instituted in 1789; the tradesman's library, containing 1800 volumes; the abbey church library, five congregational, and four circulating libraries. Public reading rooms. One weekly newspaper - "The Fifeshire Times;" and two fortnightly journals. There are scientific, phrenological, and horticultural associations. Three Freemasons' lodges. A society of Ancient Gardeners. Benevolent and provident societies. A flourishing Mechanics' Institute. The Harmonist Society, and a curling club. There is a National Security Savings' Bank, in a most prosperous state. The city is governed by a provost, two bailies, a guild magistrate, a treasurer, 17 councillors, and a town clerk. There are eight incorporated trades. Municipal constituency in 1852, 317. The sheriff-substitute and justices of peace hold their respective courts at stated periods. The peace of the city is preserved by an efficient police, for which an Act was obtained in 1811; the improvements resulting have been considerable, such as the introduction of water, with many other sanitary measures; more especially now that society is ten times more condensed than it was at the commencement of this century. The population of the city in 1851 was 13,861. Dunfermline has been lighted with gas since 1829; the effect of which on the streets, but especially on the truly elegant shops where wealth, taste, and appearance are combined, is extremely grand. How would these attractive shops have appeared in 1752, when "the town-council ordered twelve oil lamps from Edinburgh to light the corners of the principal streets"? Dunfermline is the seat of a Presbytery. It is also one of the Stirling district of burghs that return an M.P. Constituency in 1852 was 516.
When we contrast the fact of Dunfermline having barely 1000 inhabitants in 1600, living under limited circumstances, with its present population of 13,861, enjoying all the comforts of modern luxury, we are not a little startled. On the other hand, when we reflect on the former grandeur of its ancient abbey, to which Kirkcaldy, Kinghorn, Burntisland, Musselburgh, and Inveresk belonged; and that its palace was the frequent residence of a number of the greatest sovereigns that Scotland can boast of, we are constrained to admit that what it wanted in opulence was more than surpassed by its concentrated power and magnificence.
Not satisfied with having risen from a hamlet, under the protection of Malcolm Canmore, to that of being one of the centres of commercial strength and wealth, Dr E. Henderson of St Helens [A native of Dunfermline] has, by his unaided instrumentality, had the title of City conferred on Dunfermline, and which is now duly recognised; the Government having ordered the words "Plan of the City of Dunfermline" to be engraved on the Ordnance maps. For this mark of distinction and patriotism gratitude calls loudly for a lasting testimony that will point out to generations yet unborn the person who had raised their City in the scale of social existence. By this act the Doctor has done more for the honour of Dunfermline than all Europe put together; because, remove America and its own industry, and what has the rest of the world done for that noble City - where royalty, piety, and wisdom - bravery, wealth, and intelligence, found a cradle and a home!
The most ancient structure is the ruin of Malcolm Canmore's tower or castle, in the deep glen of Pittencrieff, near the city. The ruins of the palace, nearly as ancient, are about a hundred yards south-east of the tower, and must have been in its day an edifice of considerable magnificence. Besides Malcolm III., or Canmore, and his Queen Margaret, it has been more or less the residence of Edgar, Alexander I., David I., James IV. and V., Queen Mary and James VI.; besides being the birth-place of Princess Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, (who will appear afterwards in detail); as also the birth-place of the unfortunate Charles I., who in 1633 held a court in it while visiting Dunfermline. In 1650, Charles II. remained several days in the palace, and subscribed the national league and covenant, styled "The Dunfermline Declaration." He was the last monarch who visited Dunfermline. I have designedly reserved the birth of David II., which occurred in this ancient city in 1323, because he was the son of the immortal King Robert Bruce, though he did not inherit his father's heroic powers.
Malcolm III., surnamed Canmore, [From Cean-mohr, or Great-head.] was the 86th King of Scotland, from Fergus I., the supposed founder of the monarchy. He ascended the throne in 1057. He was a prince of great energy and valour, and his reign forms an important era in the early history of Scotland. His accession was followed by events which ultimately led to most important changes in the manners and customs of his subjects. His character stands high, if we consider the midnight darkness of the barbaric age in which he lived. He was a man of undaunted courage, with a noble and generous disposition. During all his life his conduct was uniform, maintaining his throne with the same spirit by which he won it; and defied such antagonists as the Conqueror and William Rufus for twenty-seven years to subdue.
One illustration is all that my narrow limits will permit. Returning from the district of Cumberland, shortly after his marriage, laden with spoil, and leading captive such a multitude of young men and maidens, "that for many years they were to be found in every Scottish village, nay, even in every Scottish hovel." [Simeon of Durham] Nothing indicates the wise policy of Malcolm so much as the anxiety he manifested to prevail on strangers, whether Normans, Danes, or Saxons, to settle in his dominions; so conscious was he of the inferiority of his own Celtic race. From the circumstance of Malcolm residing at Dunfermline, Fife was much in advance of other parts of Celtic Scotland. Boece says he introduced surnames, and invented the titles of Earls and Barons; while Lord Kaimes gives him the honour of introducing the feudal system into Scotland; [Essays concerning British Antiquities.] this Lord Hailes doubts.
In 1070, Malcolm married the beautiful, accomplished, and pious Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling, the heir of the Saxon line, who, along with his mother, Agatha, and his other sister Christian, fled to Scotland in 1068 to seek refuge from the oppressions of the victorious Normans. Malcolm had six sons and two daughters: Edward, Etheldred, Edmund, Edgar, Alexander, David; Maud, the wife of Henry I., King of England; and Mary the wife of Eustace, count of Boulogne. The language of the inhabitants of Fife at this period, and indeed up to the 13th century, was Gaelic. Turgot, in his Vitoe Sanctorum, says that none of the clergy of Scotland who assembled under Malcolm and Margaret, could understand the English language of the Scottish Queen; and that the King had to be the interpreter, who knew the English language by his previous residence of fifteen years in England.
Malcolm, while besieging Alnwick Castle, was suddenly attacked and slain by Robert de Mowbray, a Northumbrian earl, in 1093. His eldest son, Edward, shared his fate. The death of Malcolm was followed, in a few days, by that of his excellent Queen, who had long laboured under cancer of the stomach. The goodness of this Queen has never been surpassed; the fact of her inquiring into the condition of oppressed slaves, and secretly paying their ransom and restoring them to liberty, speaks volumes. By her kind and mild temper, she had exercised a most perfect influence over the fierce and impetuous character of her husband: thus, "although he could not read, he frequently turned over her prayer-books, and kissed her favourite volumes." Lord Hailes tells us that "she restored the religious observance of Sunday, an institution no less admirable in a political than in a religious light." In regard to her daughter Maude, who was married to Henry I., surnamed Beau-clerc, king of England, I have only space to state that she was styled by the people of England, "The good Queen Maude." She was the niece of Edmund Ironside. In the son of Maude was therefore conjoined the blood of the Normans, the Saxons, and the ancient Celtic inhabitants of the country. It is not a little remarkable that "the first stone-bridge over the river Lea, erected at Bow - and the first ever erected in England - was under her direction;" - well done Dunfermline!
Much difference of opinion exists among writers respecting the date of the first charter constituting Dunfermline a royal burgh. Most modern authors go no farther back than James VI., in 1588, who besides conferred upon it 900 acres of land. Fernie, Mercer, and Chalmers, in their histories of Dunfermline, have traced it back to the year 1363, and no further. Again, we find from papers relative to Dunfermline, published by that erudite antiquary, Dr E. Henderson, between 1833 and 1856, that in his charter researches he found that Dunfermline was a royal burgh before the year 1124. Indeed, a variety of valuable written evidence in my possession from the same undoubted authority has clearly established the fact of its high antiquity, but which are by far too voluminous for this work.
The most important structure in Dunfermline was its noble monastery, the admiration of every lover of art and of history, "founded by Malcolm III., about the year 1075." In its architecture, beauty was added to magnificence, and elegance to grandeur. On casting a glance on this roofless edifice, we find proofs of massiveness in conception, and elaboration in execution, sufficient to show how majestic it must have appeared, when it burst in its entire grandeur upon the eyes of the beholder! In 1303, Edward I., in returning from his devastations in Fife, with his usual savage ferocity, committed it to the flames, leaving only the church and cells, on the pretence, according to Matthew of Westminster, that the nobles were accustomed to assemble here to devise plots against the King of England. Froissart says that Richard II., after having burnt Edinburgh in 1385, went to Dunfermline, and that "the King was lodged in the abbey, but after his departure, the army seized it and burnt both that and the town." On this point, Hume makes a distant allusion.
Not satisfied with these fearful devastations, the infuriated Reformers wreaked their last vengeance on this inanimate structure, which ultimately proved to be only cutting off their nose to be revenged of their face. In the hallowed cemetery of this grand Abbey, we find the following royal personages interred:- "Duncan II., Edgar, Malcolm III., Alexander I., David I., and Malcolm IV., with Queen Margaret, consort of Malcolm III.; Isabella, Queen of Alexander I.; Margaret, Queen of Alexander III.; also Princes Edward, Ethelrade, Edmond, and Robert." Again we find "Alexander III.; Robert the Bruce; with Queen Elizabeth, consort of Robert Bruce; and Annabell, Queen of Robert III." Besides many who lie dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue; such as several Abbots and other celebrated functionaries of the Abbey; also, Malcolm, Earl of Fife; the great Randolph of Bannockburn renown; Robert, Duke of Albany, Governor of Scotland; Robert Henryson, "poet and schoolmaster of Dunfermline"; Robert Pitcairn, Secretary of State; David Ferguson, first Protestant minister in Dunfermline; Elizabeth Wardlaw, authoress of the celebrated poem, "Hardy Canute"; Rev. Ralph Erskine; Rev. Thomas Gellespie, etc. "Well may the City of Dunfermline be proud of having the ashes of so many of the great and good in keeping." [Extracted from "Royal Tombs at Dunfermline, by E. Henderson, LL.D. etc."]
I cannot leave the tower, the palace, and the Abbey without stating that the contemplation of their ruined structures, their sceptred monarchs, and their mitred sages, the victims of decay, "indulges thoughts that soar beyond the tomb."
In 1818 the tomb of Robert Bruce was discovered, and the skeleton found wrapped in lead. A cast of the skull was taken, and the whole replaced, and built over with mason work under the pulpit of the new church, which marks the spot where the great warrior is deposited. Yes, - he who stabbed the Red Comyn at the altar of the monastery of the Franciscans in Dumfries, in February 1305, for having basely betrayed his designs to King Edward of England. He who on one occasion defended a narrow and deep pass with his single arm against 200 of Roland Macdowal's men, who could approach him only one by one; and on another occasion, slew five of his pursuers with his own hand though they were round him. At the taking of Perth, in 1311, the King was himself the second man to mount the walls. At Bannockburn, he, with only 40,000 men, gave battle to Edward II.'s army of 100,000 men, in June 1314, where 30,000 of the English were left dead upon the field, with 200 belted knights, and 700 esquires, Bruce's loss being about 4000 men, and two knights. On this memorable occasion the men of Fife, under the brave Sir James Douglas, bore an important share. We have already seen the wailing language of Walsingham the English historian on this engagement.
The lamentation of an old English chronicler is still more forcible, who says:- "O day of vengence and misfortune! odious and accursed day! unworthy to be included in the circle of the year, which tarnished the glory of England, and enriched the Scots with the plunder of the precious stuffs of our nation, to the extent of two hundred thousand pounds. How many illustrious nobles and valiant youths, what numbers of excellent horses and beautiful arms, how many precious vestments and golden vessels, were carried off in one cruel day!" [William of Malmesbury] Again, Barbour and Joh. de Trokelowe tell us that the number of waggons taken laden with the spoil, would, if placed in one line, have extended sixty miles in length.
"Facts are chiels that winna ding,
And daurna be disputed."
The immortal Bruce died at Cardross, near Dumbarton, 7th June, 1329, aged 55; not so much from age, as from the effects of the arduous labours and fatigues he had encountered during the early part of his chequered career. His heart was deposited in Melrose Abbey, after an unsuccessful attempt to carry it to the Holy Land; and his body was buried in the Abbey of Dunfermline.
David II., son of Robert Bruce, was born at Dunfermline, on the 5th of March, 1323. He was unfortunately not destined to fill the footsteps of his magnanimous father. He was left to the care of the wise and brave Randolph, Earl of Moray; who died suddenly, however, at Musselburgh, on the 20th of July, 1332, three years after the death of Bruce. Winton, Barbour, and Fordun affirm that he was poisoned by an English friar. The death of Randolph placed Scotland between two fires; for during the long minority of David, the nation was under the machinations of Edward of England, and the powerful factions of a turbulent nobility; against whom, Donald, Earl of Mar, nephew of the late King, and now Regent, was unable to hold the reigns of Government in his feeble hands. Nay, on the very day of his Regency, Baliol landed a small body of three thousand cavalry at Wester-Kinghorn, and marched to Dunfermline, where he was strengthened by numbers of the discontented nobles; he then proceeded northward, and encamped at Forteviot, on the river Earn. And all this unmolested by the Regent, although at the head of thirty thousand troops. Baliol was further assisted by the treachery of Andrew Murray of Tullybardine, who was in the Scottish army under the Earl of March, only eight miles from the enemy. Murray basely pointed out to the English army a ford in the Earn, by which it could be crossed in safety, and thus led them under night, taking Mar's army by surprise, and indiscriminately slaughtering "whom they found either drunken or heavy with sleep." The number slain was "not less than thirteen thousand men," besides the flower of the Scottish nobility, and the miserable ignorant Regent himself. The infamous treachery of Murray of Tullibardine, however, soon met with its merited reward. "He was shortly after made prisoner at Perth, tried, condemned, and executed for his treason." [Fordun, Winton, and Hemingford.]
To return to the degenerate son of the great Bruce, David II., who lost his standards, his army of 15,000 men, and his liberty, at the disastrous battle of Neville's Cross, in 1346. He was taken prisoner, was eleven years in captivity, and paid 100,000 marks for his ransom. Though weak and selfish, he was not deficient in personal courage. He was a virtuous prince, though in abilities much inferior to his enemy, Edward III. of England. He died in the Castle of Edinburgh, in 1371, without issue, in the forty-second year of his reign. Marjory, who was the daughter of Robert Bruce, and wife of Walter Stewart, was the mother of Robert II., the first of the Stewart sovereigns, She was killed while riding near her residence in the neighbourhood of Renfrew, by a fall from her horse. Being pregnant at the time, the Cæsarean operation was performed, by which the life of the child was saved, at the expense of an injury to one of its eyes, and raised the nickname of King Blearie. The princess was buried in the Abbey of Paisley, which had long been the burying-place of the the Stewarts. I may here take the liberty of stating, that Edward I. of England, had the barbarity to confine Isabella, Countess of Buchan, sister of Robert Bruce, in an iron cage at Berwick, for many years.
Having already adverted to James VI., I shall reserve any further notice of him till we come to Falkland, where he performs a most mysterious part on the stage of life. Before taking up the subjects of Charles I. and II., and Princess Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, I shall give the following short anecdote of Ann, consort of James VI. In 1603, she was in Dunfermline Palace when word came to her of the death of Elizabeth of England, and of her succession as Queen of England. She rejoiced at this and exclaimed, "Weel I am glad that I am going to a country where I will not be laughed at for pittin' on a silk goon, for the Dunfermline folk hae been a great pest til me, a' speaken aboot my silk dress to this ane and that ane." [Favoured by Dr E. Henderson.]
Charles (Stuart) I. was born in Dunfermline, November, 1600; and proclaimed King on the death of James VI., in 1625. His coronation as King of Scotland was celebrated at Edinburgh. He was married to Henrietta Maria of France, in June following. The history and fate of others did not deter the unfortunate Charles I. from the same arbitrary proceedings and acts of tyranny. The overbearing conduct of the high Episcopal churchmen disgusted the haughty nobles, and soon raised up a party against the royal authority. His illegal impositions upon trade were resisted by the merchants, and protested against by Parliament. The former he imprisoned, as also nine of the latter. These served only to widen the breach, and prepare for his destruction. His prosecution of the Puritans, by the advice of Archbishop Laud, in 1637, added the Scots to the number of his enemies, who invaded England in August 1640, and took Newcastle and Durham. Such conduct brought Laud to the block in 1645. His perfidy to the Protestants, by his assistance to the French king against them at Rochelle, and raising money by forced loans from his subjects, all proved his reign to be nothing but a continued struggle between himself and the Parliament. At last, finding that all his efforts were blasted, he became submissive; but all was to no purpose, the wound was too deep to be healed. The King and Parliament met on the field of Warwickshire, where a great battle was fought. After several engagements, the Parliament called in the Scots to their assistance, who entered England with 18,000 foot, and 3000 horse. The Parliament gained a complete victory through the valour of Cromwell, in which the brave and daring Prince Rupert was entirely routed. In the King's flight, his secret papers were taken, and displayed his perfidy. Charles, at the siege of Newark by the Scots, found it prudent to escape in disguise, and throw himself on the mercy of the Scotch army, upon a promise of protection, in May 1646. This promise was basely violated by the Scots delivering his person into the hands of the English Parliament for 400,000 pounds, in name of arrears; probably little suspecting the fearful consequences. He was carried a prisoner to London, tried, and beheaded before his own palace at Whitehall, in January, 1649; aged 49, and the 24th year of his reign. Charles cultivated the polite arts, especially sculpture, painting, and architecture. Shortly before returning to London, he visited, amongst other places, Dunfermline and Falkland; but met with a violent storm in crossing the North and South Queensferry, in which one of the boats, with several of his servants, and some plate and money, was lost. In which fate the King would inevitably have shared, but for the accidental occurrence of a man-of-war being at hand at the time. As it was, much difficulty was experienced in saving his Majesty. [Calderwood; Rushworth; Burnet; Clarendon; Aikman; Balfour; Spalding; Whitelocke; Cromwell's Letters, and Tytler, vol. IX.]
It is much to be regretted that he did not perish; as he would thereby have been spared the ignominious end he came to; but which is only another proof amongst hundreds, that we must never do evil and think good will follow. In this case, we see a proof from the King to the soldier. Was the King not executed? Is the treachery of the Scots not a national reproach to this hour?
Charles II. was the last monarch who visited Dunfermline, in August, 1650. He was the son of Charles I., and born in May, 1630. He lived abroad during the time of Cromwell on a very precarious subsistence. The arbitrary imitation of his father was the cause of his flight. His restoration, in 1660, was effected by the general concurrence of the people. This was principally brought about by the unprincipled though talented General Monk. Charles confirmed the famous navigation act; abolished all monopolies; granted liberty of conscience; confirmed the abolition of all the feudal tenures; entered into many vigorous measures for the protection and support of the trade of England; and carried the art of ship-building to the highest perfection. And here his virtues end. He soon became warped by pleasure, the love of which knew no bounds, and sunk in indolence. To support his extravagant expenses, he sold Dunkirk to the French king for 250,000 pounds; and became a regular secret pensioner of that crown, which must ever reflect infamy on his memory. Again, in 1671, he seized upon the money of the banks, which had been lent him at 8 per cent. He was the first who made tea and coffee exciseable articles. In 1660, an Act was passed for erecting a Post-Office. He was crowned in April, 1661. In May 1662, he married Catharine, princess of Portugal. In 1665, the clergy voted for the first time in Parliament, and so have continued. In the same year the plague broke out in London, and swept off 68,596 of the inhabitants. In 1666, Prince Rupert was worsted in a sea battle with the Dutch. In September 1666, the great fire of London broke out, continued for 3 days, consuming 89 churches, public structures, and 13,200 dwelling houses; the ruins of which city measured 436 acres. The infamous Judge Jefferies impannelled such juries as were sure to find for the court. The King died in 1685, aged 55, and nearly 25 years after his restoration. He had been 12 years in exile. He had no children by his Queen, but several by his mistresses. His life was celebrated for wit and coarse gallantry, while his court was a nursery of vice. Frances Therese Stewart was the most admired, bewitching, and voluptuous beauty of the court. As regards literature, his reign has been by many reckoned the Augustan age. Charles II., before the battle of Worcester, was crowned at the palace of Scoon. Charles, before his flight, was so hard pressed by his enemies, that he passed through many adventures, exposed at every step to imminent perils, though he assumed different disguises, as wood-cutter, footman, ploughman, etc., and acted their respective parts. He lay for nights upon straw; and fed on the meanest fare. Sheltered for 24 hours on the branches of an oak -hence the name "royal oak." A smith remarked that his horse's shoes had been made in the north and not in the west, as he pretended, and thus detected him; from whom he narrowly escaped. Forty-one days were thus employed in various retreats. Not less than forty men and women had, at different times, been privy to his concealment and escape. He was succeeded by a greater fool than himself; (at least, he made a bad use of his talents;) by James VII., who was his brother. To a good understanding, he added lively wit; he was affable, engaging, and graceful, but a slave to debasing indulgences, and insensible to shame or reproach. He was selfish in the extreme, and utterly destitute of principle, honour, or gratitude. [Burnet's History, Vol. I.; Wodrow, Vol. I,; Sir George Mackenzie; and most authors quoted under Charles I.]
We have now to deal with the most interesting part of Dunfermline, namely, in the person of a princess of the house of Stuart; the circumstances involved in whose history alone will impart a degree of melancholy interest to a narrative fraught with the most instructive memorials; occurring at a period when Europe was the scene of jealousy, intrigue, and dispeace; and every action marked by bigotry, ignorance, and atrocity.
ELIZABETH STUART
Calderwood, after referring to a tumult in Edinburgh, says, that shortly before these events, the Queen (of James VI.) was delivered of a daughter in the palace of Dunfermline, on the 19th of August 1596. The child was baptized at Edinburgh on the 28th of November, and was named Elizabeth, after the Queen of England. After the ceremony, she was proclaimed by the heralds, under the title of "Lady Elizabeth," the first daughter of Scotland.
On her father's accession to the English throne, in 1603, she was consigned to the exclusive care and education of Lord Harrington, at Combe Abbey, in Warwickshire. In her studies, she soon proved to have excellent abilities. Her mind was docile, affable, vivacious, and quick of apprehension. With a graceful form and fair complexion, she inherited from her father a love of show and pageantry. At the early age of thirteen, she proved to be no mean poetess; and at 16, her marriage with Frederick, Elector-Palatine, was proposed by her royal father; and was not distasteful to the princess. The prospect of this match was hailed with feelings of delight both in Great Britain and in the Palatinate; it being known that Frederick was an enemy to the Catholic league. The only person to whom it was objectionable was the Queen-mother, Ann of Denmark, a weak and frivolous woman, who had only one consideration - and that was to see her daughter a Queen. This stupid idea, being continually inculcated in the mind of the princess, with her natural vanity, was the cause of her ruin, the loss of her happiness, her wealth, and her crown.
Be this as it may; Elizabeth was married to Frederick on the 14th of February, 1613. The festivities on the occasion were both expensive and long-continued, such as to have amounted to £140,000, a large sum in those days; and which rendered James unable to pay the past board and education of Elizabeth during so many years. Need we be surprised at his not paying for the education, when Tytler tells us that the poverty of the King was so deplorable that even so insignificant a matter as the expenses attendant on the baptism of the Princess Margaret were actually paid by the Lords of the Bedchamber out of their own private pockets. Frederick, Elizabeth, and their suite left London, and arrived at the ancient royal Castle of Heidelberg, where their reception was magnificent, and where for five years all seemed like a protracted vision of fairy land. Within the first year Elizabeth gave birth to a son, Henry-Frederick; and in other four years to Charles Louis and to her daughter Elizabeth. In her husband, her children, her people, and her home, blessings had been showered upon her. What more could she desire!
Happiness was first marred by the introduction of Abraham Scultetus, a bigoted old Calvinist divine. To great erudition, he united the most austere religious notions, and never ceased to prophesy an accession to royal power to Frederick and his Queen, as a thing of divine ordination. At this time the crown of Bohemia became vacant, the right of which belonged equally to Frederick and to Ferdinand II. of Austria. The Bohemians made choice of Frederick; all the Protestant powers of Europe urged his acceptance of the Crown; and the Queen spared no pains to bring Frederick to the same determination, with the willing agency of Scultetus. For a time, Frederick resisted all the proposals to make him a King, foreseeing the commencement of a warlike struggle with Austria and Spain; and that by accepting the Crown of Bohemia, he would sacrifice a substance for a vain shadow. Distracted between opposite opinions, he at length yielded to his wife's solicitations. It should be known that James VI. opposed his daughter's views, and never afforded the slightest assistance, aware that he would thereby incur the displeasure of the King of Spain, with whose daughter he expected to marry his son Charles; a circumstance that after all never occurred.
The die of Elizabeth's fate was cast. Ambition led her to destruction. They left Heidelberg, and entered Prague, the capital of Bohemia, in October, 1619, leaving a Regency to govern the Palatinate. In little more than a year they were compelled to fly from Prague, by the overwhelming strength of Austria and Spain, and the treachery of France; leaving behind kingdom, palatinate, electorate, rank, station, high hopes, and grand designs, to meet danger, unkindness, and all the bitterness which awaits on fallen greatness. Elizabeth was a heroine, a high-souled, uncomplaining woman, and devoted wife. In one of her letters to her father, she says of her husband:- "If he must perish, why, I will perish also." She wrote frequently to her father, imploring his assistance, but every appeal proved more fruitless than the former, leaving his daughter to her fate, to the mercy of an unrelenting conqueror. Such was James VI.; but more of him under FALKLAND.
The royal household first took refuge in Brandenburgh, where Prince Maurice was born, afterwards so well known in the civil wars of England. From this again they were forced to retire, and seek an asylum in Holland. Shortly afterwards, their son Henry-Frederick was drowned by the upsetting of a yacht at Haarlem, and in which accident the King nearly lost his own life. The anguish of the father mocks description. Elizabeth sustained the trial with even more than her wonted fortitude. Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, plunged with noble enthusiasm into the cause of Frederick; and both took the field. Gustavus was slain, and Frederick died of his wounds at Mentz, in February 1629, in the 36th year of his age. Thus ended the career of the King of Bohemia, a truly good man, more amiable than resolute. Overwhelming as this calamity was, Elizabeth bore up under it with uncommon fortitude. She occupied herself with plans to bring about a restoration of the Palatinate; as also in the education of her children. Two of her sons, now young men, were of opposite dispositions. Charles-Louis was selfish and arrogant, while Rupert was bold, robust, rash and impetuous, and lacked the discretion required for a statesman or a hero. In their enterprises, Charles-Louis was captured by the Austrians, and lodged in the Castle of Vienna; and Rupert became a prisoner of the French. Both of them were ultimately released.
Elizabeth had 13 children. Henry perished as already stated; and three others died young. Charles and Rupert have just been noticed. Next in order were Elizabeth, Maurice, Edward, Philip, Louisa, Henrietta-Maria, and Sophia. All the children, with the exception of princess Sophia, became Catholics, notwithstanding the care taken by their mother to educate them in the Protestant faith. In the civil war in England, Rupert and Maurice fought for Charles I., while Charles-Louis held by the Parliamentary party. The two former became afterwards pirates on the sea, in which capacity Maurice was drowned; and Rupert returned to England, was made governor of Windsor Castle, and died in retirement, a bachelor, in 1682. Philip, the fifth son, murdered the Sieur d'Epiney, a Dutch nobleman, at the Hague, for a supposed affront. Fleeing from justice, he went to France, and was slain in the civil wars. The daughters were married to Catholic princes, or became nuns.
At last the disastrous wars in Germany were terminated, and restored Charles-Louis to the Lower Palatinate. From this Elizabeth entertained great expectations. But the cold, selfish, calculating, heartless son left his mother to contend with poverty, insult, and debt. Her letters to him were like those to her father, equally lost. Deserted by her unnatural father, and now by all her children, she implored relief from the British Parliament, who granted her a pecuniary subsidy. This, with a cold invitation from her nephew Charles II., (after the Restoration,) who cared not whether his aunt lived or died, enabled her to return to England, and accept the hospitality of her friend, Lord Craven, who fitted up a mansion in a style of suitable elegance for his royal guest, at that time in the outskirts of London, but now included in Drury Lane.
At last, in the wane of life, her constitution was broken, and her noble spirits gone. So little did she occupy attention, that her last illness is described by no contemporary writer. All that is known of her decease occurs in a brief sentence in a chronicle of the period:- "On the 13th of February 1662, died the Queen of Bohemia - a princess of talents and virtues not often equalled, rarely surpassed." Thus obscurely perished Elizabeth Stuart, formerly the occupant of a throne, and who was the foundress of two of the most distinguished families in Europe - namely, the present royal family of England, and the Orleans branch of the royal family of France. The varied career of this extraordinary woman, from royal grandeur to abject poverty, (often obliged to wash her own clothes,) offers one of the most remarkable examples of the instability of fortune. To complete the contrast of her melancholy history, Charles II., who denied her bread while living, interred her in Westminster Abbey with all the mockery of a royal funeral.
I shall close this long narrative, with the princess Sophia, the youngest daughter of Elizabeth Stuart, who was married to Ernest Augustus, the young titular Bishop of Osnaburgh, who was descended from a junior branch of the House of Brunswick. This occurred in 1658. In another year her husband was fortunate enough to succeed to the Electorate of Hanover. In 1660, she gave birth to George-Louis, who, at the death of his father in 1700, succeeded to the electorate. Sophia lived to see the abdication of James VII., the accession of William and Mary, and the reign of Queen Anne. By an Act of Parliament, in 1708, the crown of Great Britain was secured to her and her descendants, being Protestants, to the exclusion of all other claimants. She died three months before Queen Anne, and her son was called to the throne of these realms as George I. This event occurred August 12th, 1714.
In this extraordinary and unforeseen manner did a grandson of the unfortunate Queen of Bohemia, born in Dunfermline, become King of England, and originate the dynasty of her present Majesty Queen Victoria. [Abridged from Chambers' Repository;-Benger's History of Elizabeth Stuart; -Schiller's Thirty Years' War in Germany; and Tytler.]
The extreme interest conveyed in this narrative must alone plead my apology for its length, of which no one is more sensible than myself, considering the extensive field I have yet to go over.
Conclusion
In religion, the Culdees had early formed an establishment in Dunfermline, till David I., entrapped by the gaudy dress of the Catholic clergy, crushed them by introducing a colony of Black monks from Canterbury in England. He raised it to the dignity of an abbey, having a mitred abbot, a prior and sub-prior under him. Their power was extraordinary, having that of life and death over the occupiers of lands belonging to the Abbey. The size and magnificence of this Abbey may be judged of by the language of Matthew of Westminster, who says that three potent sovereigns, with their retinues, might be accommodated with lodgings at the same time, without incommoding one another. Its wealth was equal to its size. The first abbot was Gaufrid, who died in 1154; and the last abbot was George Durie of the family of Durie of that ilk, who held the office, according to Lindsay, till 1560.
The lands deserving of attention, but which in our narrow limits cannot receive the justice they are entitled to, are:- Pittencrieff, Broomhall, Pitliver, Pitferrane, Logie, Pitreavie, Trancy, Woodmill, Touch, North Fod, Broomhead, West and East Craigduckie, Gask, Dunduff, Craigluscar, and many others.
To the eminent men already taken notice of, must be added Maister Robert Henryson, who was 'Schol-maister of Dunfermling,' in the 15th century. He was a poet of considerable talent, fancy, and power of successfully attempting various styles of composition. "The Testament of the Fair Cresseide;" - "The Borrowstoun Mous, and the Landwart Mous;" - His pastoral "Robin and Makyne;" and his "Abbey Walk," were admired by Dr Irving. The learned civilian, Edward Henryson, LL.D., was a grandson of the poet. Robert Pitcairn was one of the Lords of the Articles in 1570, and Secretary of State during the regencies of Lennox, Mar, and Morton. Two of the family of Seaton were Earls of Dunfermline, and Extraordinary Lords of Session. Three of the abbots of Dunfermline were Lord High Chancellors of Scotland. One of them was Richard Inverkeithing. Mr David Ferguson was the first Protestant minister of this parish, of whom Spottiswood speaks in high terms. The Rev. Ralph Erskine, and the Rev. Thomas Gillespie, have each left a name that will not soon be forgotten, either for uprightness of character, or soundness of Gospel. The lady of Sir Henry Wardlaw of Pitreavie, Elizabeth Halket, of the family of Pitferrane, was the authoress of the fine ballad of Hardyknute, so much taken notice of by Pinkerton and others.
In 1336, we find Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell giving a spirited resistance to Edward of England, and for which he was chosen Regent at a Parliament held at Dunfermline. In 1526, the Douglases advanced into Fife, and pillaged the Abbey of Dunfermline.
A principal object of antiquity is St Margaret's stone, two miles south from Dunfermline, near Pitreavie, where the Princess Margaret, afterwards consort of Malcolm III., leant on the stone, when on her way to the city, after landing at a small bay, near the present toll-bar, one mile north-west of North Queensferrry, having been wrecked there in her flight from England, immediately after the Norman Conquest, and from which circumstance this bay has been called St Margaret's Hope.
I cannot close this long article without remarking, that although Dunfermline has frequently sunk under the horizon of prosperity, by fearful conflagrations - twice by design, and once by accident; by pestilence, by famine, and by adverse fortune, it has nevertheless, by its own industry, energy, and talent, risen to opulence and fame!
Besides the authorities quoted, I have been indebted to Fordun, Barbour, Winton, Morton's Monastic Annals, Chronicon de Mailros, Froissart, Lindsay, Spottiswood, Buchanan, Sibbald, Guthrie, Fernie, Mercer, and Chalmers.
DUNINO
This is a parish in Fife; usually pronounced Dununie; said to derive its name from a nunnery on Dunino Law; though I entirely concur in opinion with the talented Mr Leighton, who considers it to mean "a fortified hill." It is bounded on the north by the parishes of Cameron and St. Andrews; on the east by St. Andrews and Kingsbarns; on the south by Kingsbarns, Crail, and Carnbee; and on the west by Carnbee and Cameron.
The lands of Kingsmuir, extending to 844 acres, belong to this parish, though claimed by Crail. Length from east to west three miles; in breadth, including Kingsmuir, two and a half miles. Area, 3315 acres; under cultivation, 2955; under wood, 300; waste land, 60 acres. The highest elevation, Dunino Law, from which the parish probably derives its name, is about 300 feet above sea-level. It is watered by three rivulets running through the parish, that unite into the Kenly or Pitmilly Burn, which empties itself into the German Ocean. Till lately the soil was wet and moorish, especially the portion called King's Muir, which is rather a stiff clay; while other parts are sandy or alluvial. Much has been done within the last 58 years by draining, planting, and enclosing; reclaiming waste land; the use of 12 thrashing machines, and one corn mill; land that in 1797 was valued at £2600, is now worth nearly £12,000; bogs have been converted into corn-land; formerly little wheat was raised, now the value of grain stands in the order of wheat, oats, and barley. The cattle are the Fifeshire breed. There are about 200 sheep in the parish. Four heritors. The whole parish presents vestiges of coal-working at some former period; but none is wrought at present, from a belief that it would not be remunerative; coals have therefore to be brought from St Andrews, four miles off, from Anstruther, five miles off, or from any other neighbouring parish. Limestone exists sufficiently for local use. Much fine marble exists, which when polished has a beautiful yellow and white striated appearance. The freestone in the quarries of Dunino is durable, and fine in texture. More or less ironstone has been found. The population in 1851, was 289. The parish is wholly agricultural. Patron, United College, St Andrews. Parish church stipend, £202, 6s. 6d.; glebe, £28. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum. In 1849 on poor's roll, 7. There are two public houses in the parish. Though the Post Town is St Andrews, there are six post-offices within from three to seven miles. There is no village. The nearest market-town is St Andrews, four miles distant from the church.; East Anstruther is five miles; and Cupar thirteen miles. The inhabitants are intelligent, sober, and industrious; and certainly more moral than they had been in 1650, when we are told by that standard authority, "The New Statistical Account of Fifeshire," that weavers were sometimes cited before the kirk-session for carrying home their webs to their customers on Sundays, and millers were cited for grinding corn, and reapers for cutting down corn on that holy day. The present church was erected in 1826; there is no dissenting church in the parish.
We find by Maitland's History that Dunino was a parish in 1458. There are the ruins of the Castle of Draffan; the Castle of Stravithy; and the Castle of Pittairthy, in the parish, all more or less noticed by Sibbald. The only eminent man was the celebrated John Fordun, author of the Scotichronicon, who resided for a considerable time in this parish. It is rendered probable that he was born in it, as he was a native of St Andrews diocese, of which Dunino formed a part. The learned author of "Anster Fair" was parish schoolmaster of Dunino, before he became professor of Oriental Languages in the University of St Andrews. The land called King's Muir "was a gift of Charles II. to Colonel Borthwick, a person who faithfully attended him in his exile, as a reward for his services and attachment." [Chambers' Gazetteer]
DYSART
A parish on the Firth of Forth, in Fifeshire. Its Celtic name Dys-ard, signifies "the height of God;" obviously indicating its origin to be from an ancient place of worship. It is bounded on the north by Kinglassie; on the south by the Forth; on the east by Markinch and Wemyss; and on the west by Kirkcaldy and part of Auchterderran. It is four miles in length from north to south, by two miles in breadth. Area, 3060 acres; and with the exception of 400 acres under wood, the whole are arable. The coast is bold and rocky for nearly two miles; the surface rising gradually to the north for above one mile, where it falls to the river Oar, which intersects the parish. It is watered by two rivulets, the Oar and the Lochty. The Oar having come from the west, is joined by a stream from Loch Fittie, and further east by one from Loch Gellie; thus increased the Oar joins the Leven in the parish of Markinch. The Lochty originates in Kinglassie, flows east for more than eight miles, falls into the Oar before it joins the Leven, which falls into the Firth of Forth. The Oar and the Lochty are crossed by two bridges, within three miles of the town of Dysart. The soil is good. Rent of land from £1, 10s. per acre to £6, 10s. Much waste land has been reclaimed within the past sixty years, by draining, embanking, fencing, etc.; wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, hay and turnip, besides some beans and peas. The Fife breed of cattle are preferred, though I saw several of the Ayrshire and Teeswater breeds; there are very few sheep; much attention is bestowed on the rearing of horses; indeed, unless in London I have not seen finer draught horses. There are four heritors. Population in 1851, was 8739. Coals are here both abundant and cheap; they have been wrought for the past 350 years. The pits have been repeatedly on fire, especially in 1662, as taken notice of by Buchanan in his Franciscanus; the cause is the presence of pyrites (a mixture of sulphur and iron.) In reference to the colliers, Tennant thus apostrophises Dysart in his "Anster Fair":-
"Then from her coal-pits Dysart vomits forth
Her subterranean men of colour dun,
Poor human mould-warps, doomed to scrape in earth,
Cimmerian people, strangers to the sun.
Gloomy as soot, with faces grim and swarth
They march most sourly, leering every one,
Yet very keen at Anster loan to share
The merriments and sports to be accomplished there."
Though the coals are rather slow in kindling, and leave much ashes, they produce a strong heat. There are some good limestone quarries. The freestone, though very durable, is not fine in appearance. There are five beds of ironstone, that lie below the coal, and are wrought when they come near the surface; a ton of it yields nearly 12 cwt. of iron.
Dysart was in early times so prosperous a place as to be called "Little Holland," and was famous for its manufacture of salt, so far back as 1450; hence the proverb, "to carry saut to Dysart," was like "carrying coals to Newcastle." It is mentioned in 1546 as one of the principal trading towns on the coast of Fife. Much fine linen cloth was manufactured; as also the manufacture of nails, in which more than 100 smiths were employed, making nearly 13,000,000 of them annually. Beside carrying on malting and brewing to a great extent, the shipping interest was considerable. All this prosperity has left the parish since the Union. It has shared the fate of others under the same circumstances. Nevertheless the introduction of the manufacture of checks and ticks in 1716 not only produced a reaction, though gradual, but a branch of trade that is now in a flourishing state. In 1836 the number of looms was 2088, making ticking and checks to the value of about £150,000 a year. There is a flax spinning mill; and about 100,000 tons of flax are raised annually in the parish. [Dawson] The quantity of cloth annually made was supposed to be about 31,006,720 yards. [Leighton, and Fullerton.] To all this must be added a pottery, a rope-work, a patent slip for repairing vessels, and other useful trades.
The patron is the Earl of Rosslyn. Parish church being a collegiate charge, the joint stipend £471, 6s.; a Chapel of Ease at Pathhead; a Free church; and a U.P. church The parish, or burgh schoolmaster salary, maximum; there are other 14 private schools in the parish. In 1849 on poor's roll, 272. Though there are nearly 150 public houses in the parish, sobriety, industry, and morality are fully as conspicuous here as anywhere else; low wages no doubt accounts for the sobriety.
TOWN OF DYSART
We find the town mentioned in Scottish history as early as the Danish invasion of Fife in 874. In process of time it became a burgh of barony and held of Lord Sinclair in the 13th century. I find that it afterwards received a charter from Robert III., [Chalmers' Caledonia] which again was confirmed by James V. Since then it has been a royal burgh, consisting of three streets, with an oblong square in the centre. The buildings are good, but many of them antique. The town house, with its tower and spire, has a good appearance. The harbour, though large enough, is not protected from the east wind; it is, however, superseded by an adjoining quarry being converted into a wet dock, sufficient to admit 18 or 20 vessels, with 17 feet of water. Trade has so far left it, that it can only boast of a few brigs, with some sloops. It is governed by a provost, two bailies, and a council. Population of the burgh in 1851, was 3201. It joins with Kirkcaldy, Kinghorn, and Burntisland, in sending a Member to Parliament. It is a station for the Edinburgh Perth, and Dundee Railway. The Post Town is Kirkcaldy, but it has a sub-post office; besides the railway steamboats halt here. There are subscription libraries; public reading rooms; friendly societies; and a Savings' bank.
There are three large villages and two hamlets in the parish. Village of Pathhead is one mile west of Dysart; one mile from the Gallowton; and three quarters of a mile east of Kirkcaldy. It has three well built streets; four schools; churches; and 2290 inhabitants employed in manufacturing of checks and ticking. This was the place so celebrated for making nails. The Village of Sinclairton joins Pathhead on the north-east; it and Hackley-moor lead to the Gallowton, and have 1240 inhabitants employed in weaving. There are two schools. The united villages of Easter and Wester Gallowtown stand north east of Sinclairton and Hackley-moor; they have about 1100 inhabitants, principally employed in weaving. There are three schools. The great north road to Dundee passes through the Gallowtown. The hamlets are Hackleymoor, with 434 inhabitants; and the Borland, with 184, employed in the coal works.
The ruins of Ravenscraig Castle, the property of the Earl of Rosslyn, noticed in the ballad of Rosabelle in the "Lay of the Last Minstrel," are on a lofty rock, projecting into the sea, half a mile west of Dysart. There is a high rock called the Fort, near the centre of the harbour, said to have been fortified by Oliver Cromwell. Dysart House, the Earl of Rosslyn's, lies about a furlong to the west of Dysart; it is an elegant mansion, and commands an extensive view of the Firth of Forth. I find by Sibbald, that the lands of Dunnikeir, the property of the late Sir John Oswald, anciently belonged to the family of Lundin of Balgonie.
The origin of the Earl of Rosslyn is traced back to the ancient family of St Clair, who in process of time married into that of Erskine of Mar. A son of one of the Erskines again married into the family of Wedderburn, in which originated the first Earl of Rosslyn. "Dysart gives the title of Earl to a branch of the Murrays of Tullibardine. William Murray, the son of the parish minister of Dysart, and an intimate associate in youth of Charles I., was raised by that sovereign to the title of Earl of Dysart and Lord Huntingtower, in the year 1643. During the civil wars he was much employed in negotiations of importance." [Chambers' Gazetteer] One of the Earl's daughters was married to the infamous Duke of Lauderdale.
The reader will no doubt recollect of Murray of Tullibardine being brought forward under DUNFERMLINE, whose treachery could only be equalled by that of Sir John Monteith, who delivered up the brave Wallace to Edward of England, in 1305. [Langtoft, Chron.; and Stow Chron.]
When the Danes invaded Fife in 874, they landed their troops at Dysart, marched into the interior of the country, and fought a battle in a field one and a half miles north of the town; which place is still marked by a large stone.
ELIE
A parish in Fife; on the Firth of Forth, forming the Bay of Elie. This small parish was disjoined from the parish of Kilconquhar in 1639. Bounded on the north and west by Kilconquhar; on the south by the Forth, forming the bay of Elie, and by Abercrombie; and on the east by Abercrombie; besides a detached portion, one mile north-west of the parish. Length, one mile from east to west; and one mile in breadth. Area, 1590 acres. Under cultivation, 1470 acres; under wood, 70; waste land, 40 acres, that lie near the sea shore, being little better than a bed of sand. There are no hills; the parish presents a flat surface in every direction. It is watered by a small stream that issues from Kilconquhar Loch, on the north boundary; this stream empties itself into Elie harbour. The soil is of an average quality. Rent of land, from £1, to £4, 5s. per acre. Little need be said on agriculture, further than that many of the leases run only for seven years; and that many of the fences are in the worst condition; hence the farmer has little inducement to lay out his capital in improving the land. There are three heritors; the principal of whom is Sir W. E. Anstruther. In 1851, the population was 843. Although coals are not wrought now in the parish, it bears ample proof of having been so at a former period; coals are brought from another parish, or imported from Newcastle. The limestone is not good, and therefore it is not wrought. There are no freestone or whinstone quarries. The patron is Sir W. C. Anstruther, Bart. Parish church stipend, £149, 8s. 8d.; glebe £28; there is a Free church, but no U.P. church. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; there are two small private schools. In 1849 on poor's roll 22. With few exceptions, the inhabitants are sober, industrious, moral, and religious; and reflect honour on their pastor.
VILLAGE OF ELIE
is a burgh-of-barony. It is neat, clean, well built, and has a fine appearance. The harbour is good, safe, and well sheltered from the west and south-west gales. A few fishermen live in the village, and go along the coast for white fish, for their own use and neighbourhood. Grain, potatoes, and other produce are taken to Leith weekly; and other mercantile goods brought back in return. The Aberdeen and Dundee Steamboats stop at the harbour twice a week to land and take in passengers. The nearest market is Colinsburgh, 24 miles distant; which is also the Post Town, though there is a sub-post-office in the village. The parish church and school are here. It is two and a half miles from St Monance. There is one inn; a good subscription library; and a friendly society, called the Sea Box; but no savings' bank has yet been attempted. From the fine clean sands few places in the Firth are better adapted for seabathing, hence in summer it is much resorted to for that purpose. It is five miles from Anstruther; thirteen miles from St Andrews, and fifteen miles from Cupar. Elie House stands in the vicinity of the village, on the north side.
The ruins of the ancient Castle of Ardross are about one mile east of the village. "There was once a village named Buchlyvie in the neighbourhood of the mansion-house. One of the Ladies Anstruther ordered it to be removed: and it is said, that, on leaving the place, one of the old inhabitants, a female, who passed among her neighbours for being wiser than she ought, predicted that the family should not flourish again for seven generations. The prophecy is still devoutly believed by a number of people; and the fact has added strength to their faith, the sixth proprietor, within the memory of middle-aged men, being now in in possession, and some disaster having occurred in the history of them all.” [New Statistical Account]
FALKLAND
"A purple land, where law secures not life." [Byron]
"In winter's tedious nights, sit by the fire
With good old folks, and let them tell thee tales
Of woeful ages, long ago betid;
And, ere thou bid good-night, to quit their grief,
Tell thou the lamentable fall of me."
[King Richard II., Act 5, Scene I.]
Falkland, or Faukland, anciently named Kilgour, is a parish in Fife. Bounded on the north by Kettle and Strathmiglo; on the south by Portmoak, Leslie, and Markinch; on the east by Markinch and Kettle; and on the west by Strathmiglo. Length from east to west is five miles by two and a half in breadth. Area about 12,000 acres; under cultivation, 8000; under pasture, 2200; land that might be reclaimed, 800; under wood, 400 acres. The appearance of the parish is much improved by the East and West Lomond hills; the east one rising 1466 feet. Besides having a considerable tract of level ground at the north, it is finely diversified, and beautifully ornamented with wood. It is watered at the north by the Eden, and a rivulet that issues from Glenvale, a deep ravine intersecting the West Lomond ridge. The soil is varied. Average rent of land, £1, 15s.; pasture land, 8s. Agriculture, from the draining, liming, enclosures, and other improvements, has advanced fully as much as any in the county within the past 45 years; extensive marshes now produce the finest grain. There are fourteen thrashing machines, and three corn mills; turnips are extensively cultivated for cattle and sheep, largely bought at the south country fairs; crossing with the short-horned breed is preferred; there are fourteen heritors. In 1851 the population was 3102. Coals have to be brought from Markinch or Lochgelly. Limestone is abundant on the East Lomond hill. Beds of a whitish freestone, having a fine hard texture, more than 500 feet thick, form the base of the Lomond ridge. At Hangingmyre there is a lead mine, once very profitable from the silver extracted from the ore, but which has not been wrought for the past 80 years. A great part of the population of the parish, but particularly in the town and two villages, are employed in handloom weaving of dowlas and sheeting for Dundee, Cupar, Newburgh, Kettle, and Kirkaldy; as also drills for Kirkaldy; there is a manufactory of dowlas and sheeting in the village of Newton of Falkland, one mile east of the town, with 200 inhabitants, who are mostly feuars; a good many are engaged in manufacturing window blinds, in the village of Freuchie, which has nearly 600 inhabitants, a U.P. church, and is one mile from Newton village; two miles east of Falkland; and two miles west of Kettle. Neither of these villages are over clean, notwithstanding our boasted superiority in everything over our forefathers. The patron is Bruce of Falkland. The parish church stipend, £266, 19s. 8d; "a victual stipend of bear is paid in lieu of manse and glebe." [Dawson] Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; there are two private schools in the town, and one in the village of Freuchie. In 1849, on poor's roll, 72. There are 12 public houses in the parish. The lands of the entire parish originally belonged to the crown, till Malcolm IV. gave them to Duncan, the fifth earl of Fife, because he married Ada, the King's niece; the charter is dated in 1160.
TOWN OF FALKLAND
This has a very remarkable appearance, situated at the north base of the East Lomond hill, hiding the sun from the inhabitants during the winter solstice; and particularly when viewed with its principal street, other smaller ones and lanes; its town-house and spire, its old church, its palace, and its castle. But when ancient history, as will soon appear, is brought to bear on the whole; when we reflect that it has been the seat of mirth and convivial meetings; the frequent residence of kings enjoying the pleasures of the chase in its celebrated forest; and that, on the other hand, it has been the scene of some of the blackest tragedies that ever darkened the page of history, we are filled with amazement, and admit the language made use of previously in reference to the county, to have been just. The town was a burgh of-barony under the earls of Fife, till James II. erected it into a royal burgh in 1458; and which charter was renewed in 1595, by James VI. There is a weekly market, and seven public ones in the year, It is a Post Town. Water has been abundantly supplied, of the finest quality, since 1781, from the Lomonds by means of pipes. There is a Free Mason's lodge, the St John's of Falkland, which has a benefit society connected with it. There are two good inns; and some shops. The town is governed by three magistrates, a treasurer, a town clerk, and a useless number of councillors. The magistrates have the usual privileges of a royal burgh, holding courts for civil and petty criminal cases. But what has become of their provost, who is distinctly referred to by Pitscottie, under the name of "Patrick Learmonth, provost of Falkland." Formerly the town possessed considerable property, but mismanagement has reduced it to very narrow limits. There is no guildry, nor incorporated trades. Qualified inhabitants have a vote for a county Member. The frequent residence of the royal family, nobility, and barons in the palace, must have refined the inhabitants very considerably, hence Allan Ramsay's allusion in Christ's Kirk on the Green:
"Folk said that he was Falkland bred,
And dancit by the buke."
And "Falkland manners" is to this day a proverbial expression; as also, "ye're queer folk no' to be Falkland folk.” They seem partial to quoting expressions made use of by James VI.; thus on unexpectedly meeting a person they did not wish to see they will exclaim, "Ye're there! as King James said when he cam on the wild boar in the wudd."
The Castle of Falkland was built ages before the palace. It was in this Castle where the tragedy, soon to be related, was acted. It is understood that James III. began building the palace, but it was only completed by James V. These have been the residence of all the Jameses, Mary of Guise, the unfortunate Queen Mary, Charles I. and II.; all of whom held their court in all the magnificence of the period. It was the bed of mirth, of grief, and of death of poor James V.; he had here his happiest days, and his deepest anguish!
Robert II. was succeeded in the throne by his eldest son, John Earl of Carrick, and crowned at Scone in August, 1390. The name of John being that of Baliol, was disliked by the Scots, and therefore changed to Robert III. In peaceful times he would have been the best of sovereigns; as he was amiable, wise, and loved justice. But he was timid and irresolute; these added to a love of peace made him yield to men destitute of principle, but endowed with force of character. Such qualities were not suited to the fierce spirit of the times. His weakness may be observed in entrusting his brother, the Regent, with the government of the kingdom. The King created his eldest son David Earl of Carrick, Duke of Rothsay, at a Parliament held at Perth, in April, 1398; and also his own brother, the Earl of Fife, Duke of Albany, who was Regent. The young Duke of Rothsay was immoderately fond of pleasure, but on the other hand was marked by a vigorous mind, a high sense of honour, and courageous openness of character, who would not long submit to be governed by his uncle Albany. Before a year had expired, Albany was removed from the Government, and the young Duke of Rothsay appointed Regent in his stead, under the direction of a council of which his uncle unfortunately formed one. The character of Rothsay is finely drawn by Wyntown:-
"Our lord the king's eldest son,
Sweet and virtuous, young and fair,
And his nearest lawful hear,
Honest, able, and averand (comely,)
Our lord, our prince, in all plesand,
Connand into literature,
A seemly person in stature."
The mortification of Albany's downfall roused him to the most deadly revenge. He was naturally a man of immoderate ambition, a soldier of suspected courage, and who scrupled not to commit the most atrocious crimes. He contrived by the basest treachery to commit one of the most unexampled acts of barbarous cruelty to be found in history. This he did, partly by misrepresenting some irregularities of the prince, and thereby obtaining from the weak-minded King a warrant to arrest him, on the pretext of a temporary confinement; and partly by inveigling the prince, under false pretences, into Fife. Moreover, the prince had incurred the resentment of his wife's brother, Archibald Earl of Douglas; Sir William Lindsay, of Rossie; and the infamous Sir John Ramorgny, a ready instrument of Albany. The prince was arrested at Strathtyrum, near where the Gore bridge crosses the river Earn, by Ramorgny and Lindsay, and conveyed a prisoner to the Castle of St Andrews, and then to Falkland Castle, where he was rudely thrust into a dungeon, heavily fettered, and consigned to the charge of two ruffians, named Wright and Selkirk, whose task it was to watch the agony of their victim dying by inches during 15 days without either food, or a single drop of water to quench his burning thirst. Not satisfied with the enormity of their crime, they crowned it by strangulation when he was too helpless to resist, after "he had, in the extremity of hunger, gnawed and torn his own flesh."
"Lo! where he lies embalm'd in gore,
His wound to Heaven cries;
The floodgates of his blood implore
For vengeance from the skies."
When the heavy door of his dungeon closed, and the bolts secured, the unhappy Prince was left to darkness, solitude, and misery. He irresistibly exclaimed, "Oh, my father! - my prophetic father! - The staff I leaned on has, indeed, proved a spear!" This refers to Sir John Ramorgny, his immediate murderer, on whom he had placed his trust, and lavished his favours. I will not dwell on the subsequent hours, nay, days, of bodily agony, and mental despair. The same Ramorgny, the Governor of the Castle, put his own daughter, as also a tender-hearted wet-nurse, both to death, for attempting feebly to sustain the prince's life for a few days, through a small fissure in the roof of his vaulted dungeon. Such was the viper the unsuspecting youth had nursed in his bosom! But it was not the will of Heaven that so great a crime should be perpetrated with impunity. And Macbeth tells us that "the avengers of wickedness peep through a blanket."
Douglas was no sooner informed than he went to the Castle, and looked on the body of the misguided youth, when he exclaimed "I had wrongs to be redressed, but to see such a sight as this banishes all remembrance of injury; it is revolting to humanity - it is more than barbarism itself can endure!" Black Douglas made short work of it; he caused Ramorgny and the two jailers to be hanged over the battlements immediately, and that without a trial.
The Duke of Albany, on being informed by the Earl of Douglas, went to his brother the King, and with the face of a Carthusian friar, and a well-affected voice half choked, announced the melancholy death of the Duke of Rothsay. The surprise, the grief, the anguish of the King may be more easily conceived than described. At length his Majesty exclaimed "O, Rothsay! O, my beloved David! Would to God I had died for thee, my son! my son!" After a brief silence, he said " Oh, Rothsay, Rothsay! thou hast at least escaped being a king!" The agony of his sorrow, the tempest of his grief, now changed to fury, to charging Albany with the murder; and said, "And was this all done to gain a step nearer to a crown and sceptre? But the besotted father, who gave the son into thy hands, who gave the innocent lamb to the butcher, is a king, and thou shalt know it to thy cost!"
After a private burial of the Prince in the monastery of Lindores, Albany was brought before Parliament, the judgment of which is pronounced by Lord Hailes to have been "a solemn farce." Such was the impotence of the king - the influence of Albany - and the power of the nobles! According to Simpson, in order to screen the atrocity of his crime from the eyes of his brother the king, Albany accused some innocent persons of the murder, and ordered them to be tortured. Tytler in his history justly remarks, that the melancholy fate of the young Duke of Rothsay, who gallantly defended the Castle of Edinburgh against Henry IV., in 1400, leaves an indelible stain on the character of his infamous uncle. He further tells us that the Duke of Albany allowed Henry IV. of England, to take Prince James (afterwards James I.,) the only surviving son of the poor infirm old King, and his own nephew, a boy of eleven years of age, a prisoner whilst on his voyage to France for his education, and kept him a prisoner for 20 years. The same unprincipled Albany had in his keeping the person of Richard II., the deposed King of England, and who was reported to have been murdered at Pontefract. Thus was the monster Albany left by a mysterious, inscrutable, though wise Providence, to rule unchecked by heaven and by earth, for a period of 34 years, and die in his bed, at the age of 80, in 1419. May I not say with Job:- "Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?" Nevertheless, blood did not leave his house. He was succeeded in the office of Regent by his son Murdoch, who was unable to govern his own children. He, and his two eldest sons, Walter and Alexander Stuart; with Duncan Earl of Lennox his father-in-law, were beheaded in 1425, for treason, at Stirling. Again, I may say with Job:- "The heavens shall reveal his iniquity: and the earth shall rise up against him." The earldom of Fife, with all its lands and castles, was forfeited to the crown. The castle of Falkland now became a royal palace, and thus ended the ancient race of Macduff. Robert III. died at his favourite residence, the ancient Royal Castle of Rothsay, in the Island of Bute, celebrated for its connection in history with John Earl of Bute, prime minister to George III., who died here; and the eminent Dugald Stewart of Edinburgh, who was born here. The anecdotes of the love of justice, and the amiable qualities of Robert III., would more than fill a small volume. His widow will be taken notice of under INVERKEITHING.
JAMES I.
He was, as already stated, second son of Robert III., and captured on his way to France, through the instrumentality of his infamous uncle the Duke of Albany. After suffering a captivity of 20 years, he was obliged to pay an exorbitant ransom. James was a poet, an accomplished prince, the greatest as well as the first of his name. He discovered great talents for government, enacted many wise laws, and was beloved by the people. In attempting to abridge the overgrown power of the nobles he was murdered by Sir Robert Graham, under circumstances of appalling atrocity. The tragedy was in the monastery of the Blackfriars at Perth, which was founded by Alexander II., and so remained till after the destruction of the Castle, when it became a royal residence.
On the night of the 20th February, 1437, the King, after supper, when standing in his dressing-gown talking with the Queen and her ladies before retiring to rest, they were surprised by Graham and a band of 300 catherans forcing their way to the royal presence. James, suspecting their purpose, attempted in vain to escape, the bars of the doors having been treacherously removed and the locks destroyed by Sir Robert Stewart, the chamberlain. The King wrenched up a board of the floor, and let himself down into the vault underneath; which concealment, by his precipitancy, after a considerable interval, was discovered, and two of the conspirators rushed down, with whom the King grappled, overpowered, and trod under his feet. Grahame now descended, to whom the King said: "I beseech thee that for my soul's salvation thou wilt let me have a confessor." "Thou shalt have no confessor but this sword," replied the assassin, and ran the unhappy prince through the body, leaving "sixteen wounds in his breast alone." The murderers fled to the Highlands; most of them were, however, taken and executed within two months. Graham was put to death with horrible tortures, "the very relation of which makes the blood run cold and the heart sicken;" yet "he died glorying in his crime." Of the other miserable wretches it is necessary to draw a last veil over the horrid scene. The murder of James raised Edinburgh to be the national capital; as neither Perth, Scone, Stirling, nor Dunfermline, were able to secure royalty against the designs of the nobility. [Contemporary account by the Maitland Club; Pinkerton ; and Buchanan.]
The singular fatality that attended this family calls for the following remarks. While James was on his way from Edinburgh to Perth, a fortnight before the murder, he was met by a poor Highland woman near Cramond Bridge, who warned him of his fate; but no attention was paid her. Two hours before the awful deed was perpetrated, the same Highland prophetic angel appeared before the King, and implored him to avert the danger. She was told to return next morning and he would speak to her; to which she replied it would be too late. Again; the vault had a door leading into a passage that communicated with the street. This door his Majesty had ordered to be built up only three days before. Kind reader, save me the pain of again reminding you that James was the brother of the unfortunate Duke of Rothsay. We shall soon find that James II., III., and IV., met with violent deaths. James the V. died of grief. We have seen the end of Charles I., and shall find that poor Queen Mary had a still more wretched end.
JAMES II.
He was born, crowned, and buried at Holyrood palace. He was married to the beautiful and accomplished Mary of Gueldres. The principal events in his reign are, his murdering the powerful Earl of Douglas with his dagger in Stirling Castle, after having decoyed the Earl to come and dine with him. There was no other way of entrapping the tyrant. This he did, as a just and merited retribution for the coldblooded murder of poor Maclellan, simply because he refused to join Douglas' standard. The next important event is James' death by the bursting of a cannon, at the siege of Roxburgh Castle, by which he was killed on the spot, in 1460, at the age of twenty-nine. On this occasion, the Queen seeing the army disheartened, addressed the leaders, and told them that she would soon give them another King to replace her husband, who was but one man. Next day, her son James III. arrived in the camp, and was crowned at Kelso in the seventh year of his age. This heroic address was the cause of the garrison surrendering in a few days. James II. was the first monarch crowned in Edinburgh; and held the first Parliament of his reign. He was much attached to the Capital, and bestowed many grants on it. James had shown much wisdom and firmness during his brief government, and promised to be equal to his ancestors both in warlike and and civil virtues. He was called "James with the fiery face," because of a red mark on his cheek. He frequently visited Falkland for the purpose of hunting in its splendid forest.
JAMES IV.
Though he was fond of gaiety, dissipation, and licentious pleasure, was an accomplished prince, generous and brave; he loved magnificence, delighted in war, and courted fame. He was nevertheless unwearied in his attention to business, and spared no personal exertion to promote the due administration of justice. He was affable and easy of access to the meanest of his people, and liberal even to profusion in his entertainments of the nobles. These, with his gallant bearing as a knight, gained the admiration of all parties. Moreover, he encouraged and protected commerce. He was married to Margaret, daughter of Henry VII., and sister of Henry VIII., in her fourteenth year, with much chivalrous pomp and splendour, in 1503. This union ultimately united the two crowns, and consolidated the empire in the person of James VI. The time came, when despite every warning, natural and supernatural, James rushed madly to Flodden, at the head of an army of 100,000 men; and by neglecting to attack the English whilst defiling past them, "died there the death of a stout soldier, but a frantic king;" having left 13 earls, 15 lords and chiefs of clans, besides 10,000 men slain, to wind-up his defeat, in 1513, and the 40th year of his age. In reference to the supernatural warning, an aisle in the church of Linlithgow is still shown, where the apparition burst upon the sight of James IV. to warn him against his fatal expedition to Flodden, and which as soon as it had delivered its message, "vanished like a blink of the sun or a whip of the whirlwind." As Sir Walter Scott remarks, "we have only to choose betwixt a deception and a supernatural appearance." [Lindsay of Pittscottie, Buchanan; Ridpath's Border History; Holinshed; and Weber's Flodden Field.]
JAMES V.
In 1525, Angus and the Douglasses obtained possession of the King's person by duplicity. Many attempts were made to rescue the King from the thraldom in which he was held at Falkland. On one occasion, Lennox attempted it with 10,000 men, and was defeated, besides being himself butchered, after the action, by Sir James Hamilton, a man of a bloody and ferocious character. James, at the end of three years' confinement, in May 1528, and when only sixteen years of age, planned and executed a scheme for his own escape. He dissembled his feelings, seemed pleased with his situation, and devoted himself to field sports. Having thus thrown his wily keepers in a great measure off their guard, the King gave orders to Douglas of Parkhead, Captain of the King's body guard of one hundred men, to be ready for a grand hunting match on the morrow at sun-rise. He then retired early to his apartment, where he exchanged his dress for that of a yeoman, and passing unobserved to the stables, saddled a horse, and with two grooms whom he had taken into his confidence, galloped straight to Stirling, where, as Lindsay says, immediately after which the gates of the town were shut; he then retired to the Castle, giving orders that no one should be admitted without a royal order. He was received with great joy by the Governor of the Castle, and having summoned his nobles around him, the Douglases were banished, and their estates forfeited. I must reserve the remaining history of this highly-gifted prince to another opportunity. Yes, he who died of a broken heart at the cowardice of his army, the rebellion of his nobles, and the humiliation of his kingdom!
JAMES VI.
An incident occurred at the palace of Falkland, called the Gowrie Conspiracy, the mystery of which has defied the talent of every historian for the past 250 years, till the searching eye of Mr Tytler has recently brought light out of darkness. One party, at the time, regarded it as a plot against the King, while another party did not hesitate to charge James VI. with a plot against the Ruthvens. The principal actors in the drama were the young Earl of Gowrie, and his brother Alexander Ruthven, sons of the Earl of Gowrie, who was executed in 1584 for treason. The leading features of the case, as published by James himself, were, that on the 5th August, 1600, he left his palace of Falkland in search of game, and met Alexander Ruthven, who with great confusion of manner told him that he had seized a suspicious character, with a pot-full of foreign gold coins under his cloak, and had secured him for his Majesty's examination. The King was further told that he would have to ride with a small retinue to Gowrie House at Perth, where the mysterious man was in custody. That after entering the castle by a private way, and dark stair-case, they found themselves in a small obscure room, in which was a man standing strongly armed. This was Henderson, one of the Earl's retainers, from whom Ruthven snatched a dagger, and suddenly altered his manner, reproaching the King for the execution of his father, and told him that he must now die to expiate the offence. Finding remonstrance, and a defence of his conduct, of no avail, he, after a powerful struggle, over-powered Ruthven; gained the window, called his attendants, and put both the Earl of Gowrie and Ruthven to death.
The royal retinue did not exceed fifteen persons, including the Duke of Lennox, the Earl of Mar, Lord Inchaffray, Lord Lindores, Sir John Ramsay, Sir Thomas Erskine, Sir Hugh Herries, and others. They were armed only with a sword or deer-knife at their girdle. The King's principal preserver was Sir John Ramsay, who "ascending by a backstair to the apartment where the King was, found the door open; (the truth is, Henderson fled in the midst of the struggle;) all the other doors having been locked; and rushing upon Ruthven, who was struggling with the King, struck him twice with his dagger." Three of the Earl's attendants were afterwards condemned and executed at Perth. From their confessions, it appeared that they were totally ignorant of the motives which prompted their master to so base a deed.
In favour of James VI., it should be stated, that to accomplish their fatal plot, the Ruthvens held out a bribe to the celebrated Logan of Restalrig, (another Rob Roy,) and which was no less than the estate of Dirleton and its magnificent Castle in Haddingtonshire, the value of which may be known from Logan's second letter, in which the old baron says: - “I cair nocht for all the land I hev in the kingdome, in case I get a grip of Dirleton, for I esteeme it the pleasauntest dwelling in Scotland." It was, moreover, the intention of the conspirators to convey the King, after getting possession of his person, to "Fast Castle," the strong hold of Logan, in Berwickshire. The reader should know that this Castle is the Wolf's Crag of "The Bride of Lammermoor." It is 200 feet above the German Ocean; and so impregnable a tower, that 20 men could have defied any army. Most historians concur in opinion that Queen Elizabeth was at the root of this infamous plot. An Act of Parliament was passed, by which the honours and estates of Gowrie and his brother were forfeited, and the surname of Ruthven for ever abolished.
The recent discovery of the originals of Logan's letters in the Register Office at Edinburgh, has set the question finally at rest; that is, that Gowrie and his brother were the conspirators.
I must again reserve my outline of the character and strange history of our favourite James VI. for another opportunity, having encroached too much on this parish already; and aware of the Atlantic lying before me.
We are told by Chambers in his Gazetteer, that "in the year 1715, after the battle of Sheriffmuir, the famous Rob Roy garrisoned the palace with a party of the Macgregors, and proceeded to lay the country under contributions for miles round. They continued their violent practices for a considerable time, quite unmolested, and at last retired with a great booty." According to Buchanan a plot had been laid by Bothwell and the Hamiltons to murder the Earl of Murray, Queen Mary's natural brother, in 1561; by which they might have her Majesty completely in their power. The tragedy was to be acted in Falkland forest when the Queen was hunting, and when her Majesty and Murray were unarmed, and with few attendants. The plot failed, however. Again in 1562, Arran in his frenzy, made the same treasonable attempt, according to Knox, but which by a kind Providence was frustrated. In 1593, the Earl of Bothwell made one of his desperate attempts on the person of James VI., and which led to the imprisonment of Wemys,
'The wanton laird o' young logie,'
whose escape forms the subject of an ancient ballad. The romantic desire of plotting against the crown seems to have been very general formerly; as we find the last architect employed in finishing the palace of Falkland, Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, was accused of high treason, tried, convicted, and executed as a traitor, in August, 1540.
When Falkland was in her glory she could boast of a fine lake, called the Rose Loch, on the east of the palace, well stocked with fish, and with the wild duck and snipe. The following lines will show the poetical mirth of James V. while at Falkland:-
"Was nevir in Scotland hard nor sene
Sic dansin nor deray,
Nouthir at Falkland on the Grene,
Nor Pebillis at the Play,
As wes of wowaris, as I wene,
At Christis kirk on ane day; etc."
The learned Callander, and Allan Ramsay, say that "Christis Kirk" is the kirktown of Leslie, near Falkland. Richard Cameron, the founder of the Cameronian sect, was a native of Falkland. He distinguished himself by his resistance to the violent introduction of Episcopacy into Scotland. He was killed at Airs Moss in 1680, in a skirmish with the troops of Charles II. The celebrated "Jenny Nettles" hanged herself upon a tree in the wood of Falkland. Fossil organic remains are found on the East Lomond hill, 1200 feet above sea-level. Several traces of ancient fortifications are to be found on the Lomond hills; and Sibbald refers the camp of the Ninth Legion to have been where the tower of Falkland stands now.
In taking leave of Falkland, for the present, I cannot do better than quote the lines of Sir David Lindsay, who being attached to the court, spent much of his time at the palace:-
"Fare weill, Falkland, the fortress of Fife,
Thy polite park, under the Lowmound law :
Sum tyme in thee, I led a lustie lyfe,
The faloo deer, to see thame raik on raw. *
Court men to cum to thee, thay stand grait aw,
Saying, thy burgh bene of all burrow is baill,+
Because in thee, they never gat gude aill."
* Walk in a row. + Thy burgh is the most wretched of all.
The town of Falkland is one mile from Newton; one and a half from Fruchie; two from Dunshelt; three from Strathmiglo; three from Auchtermuchty; eleven and a half from Kirkcaldy; eleven and three quarters from Cupar; fifteen from Kinghorn; fifteen from Perth; eighteen from St Andrews; and 22 N.N.W. from Edinburgh.
FERRY-PORT-ON-CRAIG
A parish in the N.E. part of Fife. Its name is obviously derived from that of the village, which again takes its name from a ferry, a port, and a craig on the shore. This parish was disjoined from that of Leuchars in 1606, and erected into a separate parish. Bounded on the north by the Tay; on the south by Forgan and Leuchars; on the east by the ocean; and on the west by Forgan. It is four miles long, by one mile in breadth. Area, 2512 acres, under cultivation, 1350; under pasture, 1030; under wood, 114; and 18 acres of a common. Unless the Tay, that bounds it on the north, and some small burns, it is supplied only by an abundance of excellent springs issuing from strata of hard whinstone. The soil is either a rich black loam, or a light loam on a sandy bottom. Rent of land on an average £2. Though draining, where required, is attended to, enclosures are much neglected; there are five thrashing machines, besides a meal and barley mill, in the parish; potatoes are extensively cultivated for the London market, and are found to pay well; the cattle are a mixed breed, of the Fife, Angus, and Ayrshire; the sheep are a cross breed from the Cheviot and Leicestershire, of which a considerable number are kept; no more horses are reared than are required, and some have to be bought. One heritor. Population in 1851 in the parish, 2238, of which number the village contained 2051. Coal, limestone, and freestone are not wrought here, but there is a small quarry of whinstone for building and road-making. The patron is the Crown. Parish church stipend, £159, 13s.; glebe, £35; it is in the village. Parish schoolmaster salary, £30, with house and garden; there are two other schools. In 1841, on poor's roll, 20. The people are regular and exemplary in their attendance on divine ordinances, though there is a considerable want of due attention to the spiritual wants of their children, by which all the labour is thrown on the shoulders of the respective clergymen. This indeed is too much the case in other parishes, notwithstanding the religious cant made use of, but which is the weakest of policy, as it will only recoil on themselves. So much for the boasted march of intellect.
VILLAGE OF FERRY-PORT-ON-CRAIG
Is opposite the village of Broughty, and crossed by a ferry of the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway. There is a good road along the face of the banks to Newport, at which two piers have been erected for coal, lime, grain, potatoes, and other cargoes, as also for passage boats. There are two lighthouses west of the village of Ferry-Port-on-Craig, which I may here state is now called TAYPORT, on the shore, which, with those on the opposite coast of Forfarshire, serve as guides to vessels entering the Tay under night. The nearest market-town and Post Town is Cupar, or St Andrews, though Dundee is most frequented, owing to the easy access by a steamboat or a packet, every day. There is a fair held annually. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in weaving linen for manufacturers in Dundee; many of them, however, go to other employments in summer. There is a mill for spinning linen yarn, moved by water. There is a moderately extensive salmon fishery along the whole shore of the parish. There is a branch of the City of Glasgow Bank. A subscription library was instituted in 1829, and a Savings Bank in 1836. The Parish church and a U.P. church are in the village, besides a Free church. In some ancient records I find the village is called Pittencraig, Portincraig, and Portouncraig.
All the lands constituting the parish originally belonged to the Bishops of St Andrews, who feued them to the father of the celebrated Sir Michael Scott of Balweary, the wizard, from whom they received the name of Scotscraig, that is, by uniting their name with the craig. After passing through many hands, the mansion-house and grounds of Scotscraig now belong to David Dougal, Esq. It was once the property of the infamous Archbishop Sharp.
The village is one mile across to Broughty, four and three quarters to Newport, four to Dundee, ten and three quarters to St Andrews, and eleven to Cupar.
FIFENESS
Or the East Neuk of Fife, is the eastmost point of land in Fife. It projects into the German Ocean, in North latitude 56° 17′, and West longitude 2° 36′. From it a ridge of sunken rocks, called the Carr-rock, projects one and three quarter miles into the sea, on north side of the entrance of the Firth of Forth. It is two miles from Crail, six miles N.N.E. from the Isle of May lighthouse, and eleven miles S.W. by W. from the Bell rock; it is half a mile from Constantine's Cave, one mile from Balcomie House, and five miles from Kingsbarns. It has been the cause of many shipwrecks, for which a beacon was raised on it, but, when nearly completed, was thrown down in 1817 by the violence of the sea; another of iron was, however, erected. From this point the coast stretches away north-west, forming St Andrews Bay.
FLISK
A parish in Fifeshire, on the banks of the Tay. Bounded on the north by the Tay; on the south by Creich and Abdie; on the east by Balmerino; and on the west by Dunbog. It is four miles in length from east to west, by one mile in breadth. Area, three square miles. Under cultivation, 2210 acres; under pasture, 140, under wood, 266. Occupying the northern slope of the Ochils, a considerable portion of its surface is hilly and irregular, except about a quarter mile from the river, where it is level ground along the whole extent of the parish: the hills are Lyndemus, nearly 750 feet above sea-level, Logie Law, and Glenduckie Hill. With the exception of the Tay, that bounds it on the north, the parish is watered by small burns, and supplied by innumerable springs of the finest water. The soil, for the most part, is a clayey loam, varying from one to three feet in depth, lying on rock, clay, and till; the whole is nevertheless fertile, and the land is found cultivated from the shore of the Tay to the summit of the hills. Rent of arable land is at an average £1, 10s. per acre. Much has been done by draining land naturally wet; till lately stone draining was chiefly used, but now tile-draining, is introduced; some of the grounds are not sufficiently enclosed; a mixture of one part of bone-dust to two parts of coal ashes is much used for turnips on the hill lands; wheat, barley, and oats, with potatoes, turnips, peas, and beans, are grown in the proportion of the order here given; the Fifeshire breed of cattle crossed with the Forfarshire is the kind kept; there are few sheep kept, owing to the hardness of the soil not being favourable to grass; there are eight thrashing mills; there is a great deficiency of cottages in this parish, which is the cause of the continued decrease of population. There are three heritors. Population in 1851 was 213. Coals have to be brought from Newburgh, Balmerino, or the Balbirnie pit; though some use English coal, brought in vessels to the beach. There are three quarries of sandstone and clinkstone; none of them are of importance, and only used for local purposes. The parish being entirely a rural one, there are no manufactures carried on within it. The patron is the Earl of Zetland. Parish church stipend, £151, 11s.; glebe, £7. There is no Dissenting place of worship. Parish schoolmaster salary, £34, school fees, £12. In 1849, on poor's roll, 4. There are no fairs, nor public-houses in the parish. The nearest market-towns are Newburgh, six miles; Cupar, eight miles; and Dundee, ten miles. There is a post-office at Newburgh, but the Post Town is Cupar. There is no village, but a small hamlet, the farm of Glenduckie, consisting of a dozen cottages.
The barony of Ballanbreich, or as usually pronounced, Bambreich, originally included the whole of the parish. This formed part of the great lordship of Abernethy; the extensive barony of which remained for nearly 500 years in the family of Rothes. In the reign of Robert the Bruce, one of the daughters of Sir Alexander Abernethy married Sir Andrew de Lesley. A descendant, Norman Lesley, son of George Earl of Rothes, was on the 29th May, 1546, the principal actor in the murder of Cardinal Beaton.
Bambreich Castle had been a place of great strength; it was 180 feet in length by 70 in breadth, inclosing a court yard in the centre; and was four storeys high. It was surrounded by a deep moat, with one drawbridge. Though time has played her part on this structure, enough remains to show its extent and former grandeur. Glenduckie lies south-west of Ballanbreich, and is now the property of Mr Murray of Ayton. Anciently a considerable portion of the parish was occupied by a forest, called Flisk wood, which formed a continuation of the forest of Earnside; but of this all vestiges are now removed.
"A submarine forest ten miles in length, and similar to those of Skaill in Orkney, of Lincolnshire, and of Mount's Bay in Cornwall, lies along the margin of the Tay, stretching from Flisk-point under the manse, about three miles upwards and seven down the river. It is covered at full tide with four or five feet of water. It consists of a bed of peatmoss, and has no alluvial stratum superinduced. Many stumps of trees with their roots attached, and manifestly in the place and position in which they originally grew, have been observed. It rests on a bed of grey-coloured clay, whose surface, with slight variations, is horizontal, and on a level with low water-mark." It seems pretty certain that this moss must be at least ten feet below its original level. [New Statistical Account of Fifeshire.]
Several rude stone coffins, containing urns with burnt bones, have been discovered in the parish. The old church of Flisk, that had withstood the weather for 500 years, was replaced by another in 1790. The eminent Rev. John Fleming, D.D., Professor of Natural Philosophy in King's College, Aberdeen, was long a minister of Flisk. John Waddell, parson of Flisk, was one of the early judges of the Court of Session. He was also rector of the University of St Andrews, and as such one of the judges who condemned Patric Hamilton to death, on the 8th of May, 1534.
FORGAN
A parish in Fifeshire, anciently called St Phillans, from its church having been dedicated to that saint. Bounded on the north by the Tay; on the south by Kilmany, Logie, and Leuchars; on the east by Ferry-Port-on-Craig; and on the west by Balmerino. Length from east to west is four and a half miles by two in breadth. Area, 5000 acres. Under cultivation, 3900 acres under pasture, 470; unarable, 240; under wood, 370. The coast along the Tay is bold and rocky, rising from 30 to 50 feet; the brow of which is clad with elegant villas and gardens. The surface has an irregular, undulating, yet highly pleasing aspect. The only hills are those of St Fort and Newton, the highest rising 300 feet; from the summit of which we command a view of streams, and hills feathered with wood, and vales, that elicit thought, and give to the sublimity of nature a freshness that rouses the imaginings of the soul within. Besides having the Tay on one side, it is watered by burns, and innumerable springs. Most of the soil is good black loam and clayey earth; while a part of it is light and sandy, suited for sheep pasture. Rent of land runs from £1, to £3, 5s, though some favoured parts bring £4, 10s. Draining, and stone, hedge, and ditch inclosures, have progressed in the parish, though the fences are still deficient; there are fifteen thrashing machines, with a meal and barley mill; the cattle are the Fife, Angus, and Ayrshire breeds; of late much attention has been bestowed on sheep husbandry, as it improves light lands. There are six heritors. Population in 1851, was 1125. Coals, unless brought from coal pits ten miles distant, are usually imported. Lime and freestone have to be brought from quarries nine and twelve miles distant. Patron, the Crown. Parish church stipend, £230, 19s. 8d.; glebe, £25; a Free church at Newport; and a Congregational church. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum, the fees averaging £25; and a female school. In 1849, on poor's roll, 25. There are two inns, and five public houses in the parish. The nearest market-town is Dundee, which is thirteen miles from Newport; Cupar is also a market town, distant eleven miles; as also St Andrews, about the same distance. The Post Town is Newport. There are two harbours, one at Newport opposite to Dundee, distant thirteen miles, with 800 inhabitants; and another at Woodhaven, one mile to the west, at which there is a brewery of strong ale. Both harbours admit vessels of nearly 150 tons. Coal, lime, freestone, wood, grain, potatoes, and other goods are imported and exported from these ports. From Newport steamers cross hourly to Dundee. The salmon fishery produces about £150 annually, by using the net and coble; when stakenets were used, 7000 salmon have been caught in a single net. The current at Newport is strong, particularly at ebb-tide, running nearly four miles an hour.
The lands of Morton, Kirkton, Friarton, St Fort, Newton, Wormit, Tayfield, formerly called Innerdovat, are all in the parish. The finest mansion is that of St Fort, which in 1458 belonged to a family called Nairn, as we find by Sibbald and Douglas' Peerage.
INVERKEITHING
"Since word is thrall, and thought is free,
Keep well thy tongue, I counsel thee."
The parish of Inverkeithing is on the shore of the Firth of Forth, in the south-west part of Fifeshire. Its antiquity may be judged of from its frequently renewed baptism, by which it has received the names of Enderkeyden, Henderkeyden, Enderkeithing, Innerkeithing, and now Inverkeithing, It was united to the parish of Rosyth, formerly Rosaith, in 1636; and includes the island of Inchgarvie. It is bounded on the north by Beath and Dunfermline; on the south by the Forth; on the east by Dalgetty and Aberdour; and on the west by Dunfermline. Its form is so irregular as to defy the descriptive powers of every previous writer: one compares it to a boot; a second to the capital letter L, and a third to a man standing with out-stretched arms. Length from east to west is four and a half miles, by three in breadth. [Imperial Gazetteer] Area, 4482 imperial acres; [Ordnance Maps] with the exception of ten or fifteen acres in young wood, and about 45 acres under pasture on the upper parts of the hilly ground to the north, every inch of its fine undulating fertile fields has come under the advancing progress of the plough. The hills consist of a range of greenstone, not exceeding 300 feet above sealevel, with a south exposure in the north part. At the east end a peninsula runs south into the Firth, called the Ferry hills, at the extremity of which is North Queensferry. There are nearly six miles of sea coast; along which the tourist feels that
"Over the Firth the eye delights
To view Dalmeny's bosky heights."
In turning his eye to the rocky, wild, yet romantic beach, he finds that
"Here the rude ocean utters speech,
And murmurs on the rocky beach."
Again; when he surveys the north part of the picture, where rising ground meets in every imaginable form and variety of aspect - where rich luxuriant fields and cottages are blended with barren rocks or yellow blooming whins, he irresistibly halts, because
"One spot there is so passing fair
The dreamy wanderer lingers there."
The parish is watered by the Keith rivulet and Pinkerton burn, that unite and fall into the harbour. With few exceptions, the water of the springs contains more or less carbonate of lime; and in the upper part of the parish it has a sensible impregnation of iron. The bridges are necessarily small, but kept in good condition. The soil in the south part is a decomposed greenstone, and very fertile; in the interior, it is clayey or sandy, with a substratum of sandstone, but excellent in quality: while on the higher grounds in the north of the parish, it is either clay, ferruginous sand, or moss, very poor and not susceptible of much improvement; the effects of which are severely felt by the first wet season. In inspecting the parish in 1846, I considered a sixth part to the north to be of this description. Rent of land runs from £1, 5s. to £4 per acre; the average is nearer the higher rate. Skill, capital, and enterprise are here brought to bear on every farm; each farmer vieing with his neighbour for superiority: tile draining is preferred to stone, as more economical; a good deal of manure is imported from Leith; with some exceptions of stone walls, all the fields are well enclosed with thorn hedges. There are seven heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851, was 2499. There are no coal-pits, though there are many in the adjoining parishes. There are several good limestone and sandstone quarries, though not extensive. Greenstone for building, paving, and road-making, is quarried in several places, but chiefly at the Carlin Nose, and generally sent off by sea:-
"On the blue sea the Carlin Nose
Afar his gloomy shadow throws,
And stately ship or passing skiff
Is dwarfed beside that towering cliff.”
This branch of industry forms a principal part of the employment of the inhabitants of the town and immediate neighbourhood; and so far as regards the rock, will afford work for the next forty years. The manufactures or works consist of a foundry, where large articles are cast, and steam-engines, with other machinery, are made; an excellent ship-building yard, with a patent slip for repairing vessels, the advantage of which is now felt by all who had otherwise to go to Granton or Bo'ness; a large rope and sail-work, a most convenient appendage to the ship-building department. Iron vessels are also built here. A large brick-work, where excellent fire-bricks are made, gas-retorts, chimney cans of the most elegant patterns, and other ornamental work, of a beautiful cream colour; and some of the specimens, as regards form, taste, and workmanship, are scarcely to be distinguished from marble. A tan-work, conducted on the most efficient principles. Two mills for making meal and flour. Six weavers, who work for Dunfermline; with carpenters, masons, smiths, and slaters. I may further remark that lately malting has been commenced; as also a saw-mill moved by steam-power. The patron is Lady Baird Preston. Parish church stipend, £276, 7s. 4d.; unappropriated teinds, £29, 13s. 11d.; glebe, £40; there is a U. P. church. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum, with house and garden, and school fees averaging about £70; there is one private male, and one female school; besides Sabbath-day schools. On the poor's roll last year, 104. Besides two good and respectable inns, there are fully enough of public houses in the parish. The people in their general character are highly intelligent, sober, orderly, provident, and most industrious; but which excellent qualities are marred by a contemptible envy, and childish secrecy, much beneath the spirit of the age.
TOWN OF INVERKEITHING
This is a royal burgh of great antiquity, dating its first charter from Alexander I.; [Chalmers' Caledonia] which was renewed and confirmed by William the Lion, and again by James VI., in 1598. It stands on an eminence of nearly thirty feet above sea level, overlooking the Bay which bears its name; and which bay, when viewed from the top of Castleland hill early in a summer morning, at highwater, can only be compared to the beautiful bay of Naples, though much smaller in size. The town consists of one principal street of considerable length, with a fine oblong square in the centre, besides the back-row, mill-row, and lanes diverging from these. The new parish church, replacing that which was burnt in 1825, the school-house, the bank, the grain stock-market, and several elegant shops, are fully deserving of attention. The town-house, built in 1770; and jail, fortunately seldom required, with the dark and dungeon-like appearance of the black-hole next to the side of the church, irresistibly reminds one of the following couplet:-
"Here stand the gospel and the law,
Wi' hell's hole atween the twa."
The U.P. church is rather neat, and very commodious, besides being heated in winter by stoves. The burgh is lighted with gas, the brightness of which contrasts strongly with the old dim oil lamps, and even then, like the angels, few and far between. There is no want of water, under the precautions adopted. The streets are kept clean and orderly, under the superintendence of a town-keeper. It is a Post Town. There is a branch of the Eastern Bank of Scotland, which, under the judicious management of William Fraser, Esq., has greatly benefited the town and neighbourhood. There are fire, life, and sea insurance agencies; and a number of provident and benevolent societies. A subscription library, with nearly 800 well selected volumes, from which much spiritual and solid temporal information might be derived, but which are infinitely more visited by the small book-worm than by man. The cause is obvious; the brightness of the intellect is drowned in an ocean of light reading, conveyed in the catch-penny fictions of the day. There is a Customhouse. The harbour is good, safe, and capacious, though a good deal out of repair, and might be deepened and much improved. In its present state, it admits vessels of 250 tons at spring-tides. The registered vessels this year are 25; tonnage, 2873. A considerable number of foreign and English vessels load coal here, which is brought from the coal-works at Halbeath and Townhill, by a railroad of five miles in length. The harbour is lighted with gas. Running from the harbour to the East Ness, is a row called Preston Crescent, consisting of neat houses, and a few handsome buildings. In reference to repairing the harbour, I find the following minute entered in the Session books of Carnock:- "29th July 1666. There was a contribution intimate for repairing the harbour of Inverkeithing." [New Stat. Acc., Fife]
Now, if such was the case when Inverkeithing was in her glory, being the resort of considerable shipping from all the ports of Europe, and which it had enjoyed since the time of William the Lion, during whose reign it was in its most flourishing state, why do we not apply to the same benevolent quarter for relief now? There is a curious and rather lofty stone pillar at the cross, surmounted by what may be imagined to be a rampart Unicorn, but which, like Sancho Panza's cock that required its name to be written under it, lest it should be taken for a fox, the same wise measure is equally called for here, to prevent strangers from taking it for an overgrown Salamander. The principal street is in the line of the great north road to Perth. I find by an Act of Parliament passed in 1503, that Inverkeithing was one of the "ports on the seaside," ordered to have "ports of lime and stane," by which the town was locked up every night. The stock-market for grain, though once attempted, has long been given up. The five annual fairs formerly held are reduced to one on the first Friday in August. It is numerously attended by country people from this and all the parishes around; at which there is much more amusement than business transacted. Few objects attract more attention than Cupid and his myrmidons, who exercise their diplomatic arts to advantage. A few of the tender sex, who cannot touch spirits at home for a pension, show marked indications by their happy manner that they have had the share of a Hawick gill; who, like the mistress of Andrew of the Cuttie Gun, in the old song says,
"Weel she loo'ed a Hawick gill,
And leuch to see a tappit hen."
The fair is usually much annoyed with what was anciently called "master-full beggars, pretended fools, and such-like vagabonds," against whom an Act of Parliament was passed, in 1449, by which their ears were nailed to the Tron or to a tree, then cut off, and they themselves banished the country, to which if they returned again they were immediately hanged. The revival of a single instance of the Act would secure honesty. Population of the burgh, in 1851, was 1814. It is governed by a provost, two bailies, a dean-of-guild, a treasurer, town-clerk, procurator, and nine councillors. The power and lands attached to the burgh were formerly very extensive; thus, we find that it drew custom from the Forth to near Milnathort; and from Devon Water on the west, to Leven Water on the east, being an extent of 20 miles each way. Within these bounds the magistrates had the power of pit and gallows, that is, of inflicting the punishment either of drowning or hanging, a rising ground facing the town still bears the name of the Gallow-bank, and there is still in it a Gallow-tower. It would seem that in those days hanging had been little thought of either by the magistrate or the culprit; thus we are told by Bower, that when two men were taken out of a boat to be tucked up where one was hanging, one of them said to the other:- "Come on, my man of valour, march warily, for we are bound for the gallows top;" and sang the following lines:
"Sing, three merry-men, and three merry-men,
And three merry-men are we;
Thou on the land, and I on the sand,
And Jack on the gallows-tree."
As I have already stated under CRIME AND LAW, justice could only be procured by money. Bribes alone could secure a favourable hearing of any cause, however just. The thief could easily escape the punishment due to his crime, by bribing the judge or the magistrates, while the honest farmer was often accused of theft or robbery for the sake of the fine. Nay, the shameless height to which the practice of selling the royal pardon had been carried during the reign of James III., led the Lords of the Articles, in the Parliament held in 1471, to petition his majesty that he "would close his hand for a certain time coming against all remissions and respites for murder." [Acts of the Scottish Parliament, Vol. II.]
As justice ultimately prevailed over corruption, so did the lands and right of custom belonging to Inverkeithing dwindle away. Nothing at last was left to sustain the municipal extravagance of our forefathers, except an occasional parliamentary election, such as that of Sir John Henderson, who contested the burghs with Lord Cochran, the successful candidate, who fought the battle at the expense of Pitt and Dundas. On this occasion poor Sir John lost £30,000. No wonder that "wine and other liquors were as abundant as sea water." These were in the golden days, when birds could speak as well as sing.
The above municipal extravagance by no means applies to Inverkeithing alone; the sin attached itself to most of the burghs of Scotland. The single instance of an eighteen-pence rope for the Tron church of Edinburgh costing the inhabitants £80 for a dinner, sufficiently attests the fact.
While on the subject of "pit and gallows," I omitted to state that Inverkeithing joined with Dunfermline in supporting a hangman. This was economy with a vengeance; one thing certain is, such an arrangement would at least secure to the poor man constant bread.
In the ridings of the Scottish Parliament, the provost of Inverkeithing was entitled to ride next to the provost of Edinburgh. The convention of the burghs, authorised by James III., was held at Inverkeithing, before it was appointed to meet at Edinburgh. The ancient family of the Hendersons of Fordel (chiefs of the clan Henderson,) held the office of hereditary provost and sheriff, by a grant from Queen Mary and Henry Darnley, but this right was never exercised. The burgh joins with Dunfermline, Stirling, Culross, and South Queensferry, in sending a Member to Parliament.
The dilapidated remains of two fine large monasteries are still visible, and Fordun tells us there were establishments for both black and grey friars. Inverkeithing was for ages the town residence of many noble families, such as of Rosebery, Fordel, and others; and even of royalty itself. Mr. Chambers asserts that "David the First is known certainly to have had a minor palace here." And there is nothing improbable in this, when we know that he had one at Crail, a more insignificant place. It was the abode of the beautiful and the wise Annabella Drummond, queen of Robert III., and mother of the illustrious James I., and of the unfortunate Duke of Rothsay. By a charter from her husband, the magistrates were to pay to her 100 shillings a year at the Feast of Pentecost. She died here in 1403, and was buried in Dunfermline. With her death, and that of the Earl of Douglas, as also the venerable Trail, Bishop of St Andrews, who died within a short period of each other, it has been said by Fordun and others "that the glory and honesty of Scotland were buried with these three noble persons;" such was their united wisdom and authority. On this occurrence Wynton takes the following notice of a comet:-
"The comet appeared that year,
A fair bright stern (star) and a clear,
That stern appearing signifies,
As clerks find in great treatys,
Death of princes or pestilence,
To fale or wede with violence:
And thither the beams it strikes all,
Where these casis (casualties) first shall fall.”
As regards David I., I have further to remark that we have the high authority of Mr. Dawson, who says "it was frequently the residence of David I." The palace is exempted from burgh jurisdiction, though in the middle of the town, and is now the abode of the artisan. It is said to contain a subterraneous passage to the sea. "When the late church was repaired in 1806, there was found a font made of fine sandstone, which has been placed in the porch of the present church." The bowl of the font is a hemisphere, two feet broad, by one deep; and contained, when found, a quantity of human bones, and an ink-glass. The entire font is four feet high, and three feet broad at the upper part, resting on a pedestal. Its form is hexagonal. Each of the faces has very fine hieroglyphic figures representing the armorial bearings of King David, Robert III., and Annabella Drummond.
The last assemblage of the Culdees took place in the church of Inverkeithing, when David I. laid his unhallowed hand on the purest Christians that have adorned the land either before or since. While on the church, I may state, that adjoining the west end of it, there is a very old steeple containing a large bell and a fine public clock. The Relief Church owes its origin to the deposition of Mr Gillespie, minister of Carnock, on account of his refusal to attend the meetings of presbytery held for the purpose of placing an incumbent of this parish against the will of the parishioners, in 1752. Morality seems to have been in a sad state, when the Lord Ordinary had to appoint a guardian of morality, in 1701, aided by a strict system of espionage to carry out the law. In church discipline, acts of swearing, drunkenness, neglecting public worship, carrying water on the Sabbath, "ferrying people across on the Sabbath without an order from the minister," (was that not Catholic absolution?) consulting a "wizard," and women for scolding, met with censure, fine, or loss of church privilege. I find that down to 1745 matters were not any better; the stiff-neck of the Israelites still remained.
"The parish has produced no eminent men," not one able to hold the mirror up to nature -
"To wake the soul by tender strokes of art,
To raise the genius, or to mend the heart."
Admiral Greig formed no exception; he rose from a very inferior rank in the Russian navy, at a period when a man with one eye was a king among the blind. And having been nine years in that nation, I should have some little knowledge of its character.
CASTLE OF ROSYTH
and lands that extend west to Brucehaven, next to the village of Limekilns, in the parish of Dunfermline. The Castle stands on a small rock, connected by a causeway with the mainland, about fourteen miles west of the burgh. "It anciently belonged to a branch of the great family of Stuart, descended from James Stuart of Durrisdeer, brother to Walter the Great Steward of Scotland, father to Robert II., the first of the family who ascended the Scottish throne." According to Sibbald, the last laird died about the beginning of the last century without issue and unmarried. The Castle is now the property of the Earl of Hopetoun. This ancient Castle, besides being taken notice of by Sir Walter Scott in his novel of the Abbot, is historically of considerable importance as being the seat of the great patron of Bower the historian, who continued Fordun's Scotichronicon. As a short notice of these two able writers may be interesting to the reader, in many respects, I shall submit the following facts to his attention.
John Fordun was a native of the village of Fordun, in Mearns, Kincardineshire, and not of Fife, though he lived long in the county. He flourished about the year 1380. He wrote the first five books of the Scotichronicon, and 23 chapters of the sixth book. The remainder of the work, which extends in all to 16 books, was compiled by Walter Bower, or Bowmaker, principally from the materials collected by his predecessor.
Bower was a native of Haddington, and was born in the year 1385. He was elected Abbot of Inchcolm, in the year 1418. He commenced his part of the Scotichronicon from the death of David I., and ended his work with the death of James I., in 1437. Sir David Stewart of Rosyth was his great patron, who urged him to go on with the work, and furnished him with additional information which his own researches had discovered. Bower's work is admitted by all to be of great value to the historian, as containing important and authentic information, more so than is to be found in the contemporary English annalists, as Trivet, Higden, Knighton, and Matthew of Westminster. [See Innes, Critical Essay, Vol. I.]
NORTH QUEENSFERRY
Is a small village at the south angle of the peninsula forming the Ferry hills. Entering from the west, we meet with a range of truly elegant villas and handsome cottages; the first to attract attention is St Margaret's House, surrounded with tastefully laid out grounds, the property of William Elder, Esq., within half a mile of the Ferry. The рорulation of the village is about 434. Unless the surrounding scenery, there is nothing to call attention here, except the piers, which are unrivalled. From the form of their government, the inhabitants have existed for ages destitute of riches; or increasing in their number. Mr. Mercer tells us that the boatmen once lived on the margin of what was once the Ferry-loch, on the top of the Ferry-hills. From time immemorial they admitted no admixture of strangers; in which case nobody became a boatman at this ferry, unless by succession. The resources of the village have greatly fallen off since Burntisland has become the ferry-station. At one period the rent amounted to £2300. Nevertheless, its natural advantages are such that it requires little prophetic knowledge to predict that, sooner or later, it will again become the fixed ferry for the south and north passage. In the year 83 of the Christian era, the Roman invasion of Fifeshire took place by Agricola's army crossing this ferry; besides that of Cromwell, of whom we shall soon have more to say.
"In old times, the ferry was subject to the Abbots of Dunfermline," to whose parish it belongs, though ecclesiastically annexed to that of Inverkeithing. The ruins of an ancient church are still visible, and its churchyard is still in use. The burgh of Inverkeithing draws custom from the Ferry passage. The village is feued from the Marquis of Tweeddale. The Ferry is a coast-guard station. From North to South Queensferry, or from pier to pier, is one and one eighth of a mile. The middle third of the Ferry passage has 175 feet of water.
ST MARGARET'S HOPE
This has already been taken notice of under DUNFERMLINE. All that remains is to state that it consists of the Bay between the promontory and Rosyth Castle. The Queensferry was also named from Queen Margaret frequently using it in her passage to or from the palace at Dunfermline; Buchanan calls it Margaritoe Portus.
INCH-GARVIE
This is a small island lying half way across the Firth, that is, nine-sixteenths of a mile from the north or south shore. It is in the parish of Inverkeithing. It is about five furlongs in circumference. In 1491, James IV. granted a charter to John Dundas of Dundas, by which he was to draw the duties on ships passing, and to build a fortalice on the island, because of the frequent damage done in the Forth by the English and Dutch. After the appearance of Paul Jones and his squadron in the Firth, in 1779, the fortification was repaired, and mounted with 24-pounders, but which have since been removed. Between Inch-Garvie and the north side, the greatest depth is nearly 40 fathoms; south of that island it is not more than 22. I find that in the reign of Malcolm IV. there was a fortified castle on Inch Garvie, and used as a state prison.
BEEMER ROCK
Lies in the middle of the Firth of Forth, within the parish of Inverkeithing, on which many vessels have been wrecked. It is a half mile from Long Craig Island; three-quarters of a mile west of North Queensferry pier; and near one mile to the west of Inch Garvie.
FERRY-HILLS
These form the north boundary of the Queensferry; they include the Cruicks; and the West Ness, which latter forms the S.S.W. arm of the harbour. The Ferry-hills are of considerable historical importance. "During the reign of Alexander III., when Scotland was in a very prosperous condition, and enjoyed much commerce with the continental countries, a project was formed by some wealthy Jews to establish a New Jerusalem upon this piece of ground, which should be come in some measure an emporium of commerce, and be a city of refuge and a rallying point to their wandering nation. They proposed to fortify it, which could have been very easily done, and the bays on each side were to have formed the harbours." [Chambers' Gazetteer ; and New Stat. Acc., Fife.] As usual, bigotry and jealousy gave the death-blow to this laudable design, so blind are we frequently to our own interest. A document confirmatory of this project is said to exist in the Register Office of Edinburgh. Again; The Lombard merchants proposed to establish a trading settlement on the Ferry-hills. The narrow policy of Alexander III, once more defeated their object. Fordun says, "A year had not expired, when the vessels of different nations laden with merchandise came into our ports, anxious to exchange their commodities for the productions of our country." No sooner, however, was the prohibition known, then the trade left. Alexander was now anxious to retrace his steps, but like the submission of Charles I., it was too late. The Ferry-hills are further remarkable as being the place on which the forces of Cromwell landed, in 1651; but of which more notice will soon be taken.
JAMES' TOWN
This is a new hamlet built on the foundation of an old magnesia-work; it consists of about two dozen of houses, and a store, now closed; it stands a little to the west of the west angle of Inverkeithing bay:-
When fate sent me to James' town, it was surely in her anger;
For there was naething there but highland pride and hunger.
HILLEND
This is a village one mile east of the burgh; the longitudinal half of which belongs to the parish of Inverkeithing, and the other half to the parish of Dalgety; another instance of the wise political division of parishes by our ancestors. It contains about 280 inhabitants, chiefly of the labouring class. It lies on the Aberdour road; and is honoured with a sub-post office, besides being the quarters where the Kirkcaldy carrier puts up. The scenery around it renders it rather interesting.
The distance from Inverkeithing to North Ferry-Toll is three quarters of a mile; to Queensferry, two miles; to Hillend, one mile; to Masterton, one and a half miles; to St Davids, one mile; to Rosyth, one and a quarter miles; to Donibristle, two miles; to Dalgety church, two miles; to Aberdour, four miles; to Dunfermline, four miles; to Crossgates, four miles; to Limekilns, four and a quarter miles; to Charleston, five miles; to Beath, six miles; to Lochgelly, eight miles; to Kelty, eight miles; to Edinburgh, twelve miles; to Kirkcaldy, thirteen miles; to Kinross, thirteen and a half miles.
BATTLE OF INVERKEITHING
As the following comprehensive outline of the battle will be divested of the figurative language of Wilson or of Scott, whose flowers of fiction win the heart by captivating the ear, the reader must expect to find only the sober gems of truth as found in the pages of authentic historians; though certainly not amongst the moderns, whose numerous works on this point tantalize more than they gratify. Nothing is more perplexing than to find thirteen authors giving detached parts of this engagement. Hence the difficulty of forming a connected chain from the whole.
Although the memorable fields of Bannockburn, and of Flodden, the one fraught with success, the other with disaster, were still fresh in the memory of every true Scotsman, it is not to be concealed that, while wars and desolations were still raging with tempestuous fury over almost every other county in Scotland, serious fears were entertained for the safety of Fife, which, by fate or valour, had so frequently been the victim of English tyranny. These fears were not illusory; Fife was destined once more to be the devoted province; and Inverkeithing fixed upon as the scene of action, on which field the bloody tribute was to be exacted by the one, and resisted to the last by the other!
"The hour is nigh: now hearts beat high;
Each sword is sharpen'd well:
And who dares die, who stoops to fly,
To-morrow's light shall tell."
Cromwell had no sooner recovered from a third severe relapse of ague, in June 1651, than he renewed his hostile operations against Charles II. While he marched westward, to force the enemy from his strong position at Stirling, where he found Charles too securely intrenched at the Torwood, and protected by bogs and brooks, he collected a flotilla of gunboats under Lambert, who was ordered to attack the town of Burntisland, on the coast of Fife. This attack having completely failed, Colonel Overton, at the head of a detachment of 1400 foot and 100 horse, surprised and took North Quensferry, which was feebly guarded; while Lambert attacked the island of Inchgarvie. Previous to this, a detachment of 3000 troops, under Major-General Sir John Brown of Fordel, and Colonel Holburn of Menstrie, had been despatched from Stirling to stop Lambert's landing at Burntisland. Sir John Brown had just reached Dunfermline, when he received the news of the capture of Inchgarvie and North Queensferry. His object was now to regain these important points, which commanded the passage of the Firth. In this attempt he was foiled, by Cromwell sending across the Firth 4000 men and 500 horse, and encamping them on the Ferry-hills. Brown, nevertheless, marched his men to Hillfield, immediately adjoining Inverkeithing. On approaching the devoted burgh, the bagpipers played up:-
"Oh, Bold and True,
In bonnet blue,
That fear or falsehood never knew;
Whose heart was loyal to his word,
Whose heart was faithful to his sword-
Seek Europe wide from sea to sea,
But Bonny Blue-cap still for me!"
These unwelcome news from friend and foe, were no sooner known than the ancient royal burgh buckled on its armour; longed for the fatal hour; and like the brave but frantic James IV., prepared to rush to the unequal combat! This they did by sending 400 of their untrained but valiant men; that is, untrained to fire-arms, but masters of the broadsword, spear, or dagger, determined to conquer or perish in the attempt; men who, like the Jews of old, while rebuilding the walls of their beloved city, were obliged to hold the sword in one hand, while they wrought with the other. This company was met by 100 celebrated archers from Perth, under the command of captain Butler, John Davidson, lieutenant, and James Dykes, ensign; who were marching to Burntisland to watch the motions of Cromwell's fleet and army. Insignificant as the number may appear, these archers were more formidable than any other 500 men. Each of them was a dead-shot at the distance of nearly 500 fathoms; and in proof of their great proficiency in this "noble art," I may state that in a contest of archery held on the Links at Leith, the Perth-men triumphantly carried off the prize, and offered the odds of ten to three, a challenge which their opponents wisely declined:- [See Penny's Traditions of Perth.]
"Hail, land of bowmen! seed of those who scorn'd
To stoop the neck to wide imperial Rome -
O dearest half of Albion sea-wall'd!"
[Albania, (1737.)]
These two detachments joined Brown's division, of which nearly 1000 were natives of Dunfermline.
We shall now, by special permission, enter the Scottish camp for half an hour, on the memorable evening before the battle. Order, quietness, and harmony prevailed amongst all ranks; the sentries were in the act of being posted at due distances from each other; nothing was discernible or heard except the predictions of an astrologer, who practised upon the superstitious credulity of the troops, by foretelling that "the lion would be devoured by his whelps." This was no sooner made known to General Brown, than he ordered the intruder to leave the camp immediately, on pain of being instantly shot; and then addressed his men on the ignorance and folly of such wretches; taking at the same time a retrospective view of past victories, and concluded by assuring them that while their cause was just, God would crush all opposition, by "putting a hook in their nose and a bridle in their jaws, and leading them the way they should go." The talismanic effect of which was too obvious to be mistaken; the entire force, with one exception, declared their fidelity to the house of Fordel and to the king. And when we gazed on the stately old warrior, with his mountain-top clad with snow, his eyes great and grey, with silver locks of hair dangling over his shoulders, we certainly were impressed with confidence and awe:—
"O'er his huge form and visage pale,
He wore a cap and shirt of mail;
And lean'd his large and wrinkled hand
Upon the huge and sweeping brand,
Which wont of yore in battle fray
His foeman's limbs to shred away,
As wood-knife lops the sapling spray."
[Marmion, canto VI. st. xi.]
Sir John, aware of his inferior strength both in men, horse, and cannon, prudently sent a dispatch to Stirling for a strong reinforcement, but which was, within three hours, secretly, basely, and treacherously countermanded by Colonel Holburn, who had in a dispatch stated that the Scots had gained a complete victory, besides having re-taken the Queensferry and Inchgarvie; in which, however, General Brown had fallen.
Thus was the night passed in blind security. The morning dawned; yes, the day that was to decide an important struggle; because on it depended whither Cromwell's army was to march to Perth, and so become possessed of one of the most renowned strongholds in Scotland. Both armies met at the field of combat, which was in the valley traversed by Pinkerton burn, on the 20th of July; all prepared to take the lives of their fellow creatures, or to lose their own; while thousands from the neighbourhood assembled on the various heights to view the deadly strife, with the savage delight which the heathens took in the contests of their gladiators. Before sounding the attack, the brave Sir John ordered his men to kneel, and pray for success to their arms. Now, with all due respect to this brave man, this part seems reprehensible, because unchristian; when their prayer ought to have been for forgiveness, the more so, as they were at the gates of eternity. Immediately after which, the bloody combat commenced, and continued for nearly six hours, when the Scots retreated to Pitreavie, but only to renew the conflict; and which now raged with terrific violence for two hours, when the Scots, after the most gallant resistance to be found in history, were subdued. Mr Coventry says:- "When the battle was lost, the Highlanders fled to the Castle of Pitreavie as an asylum, invoking the Virgin (Mary) for protection in their native words, Oigh! oigh! They put their backs to the walls of the castle, and continued to protect themselves with their drawn swords, when the people within threw down stones from the bartizan, and killed the poor fellows.
It was remarked in the country, that, from that day, the Wardlaws of Pitreavie went like snow off a dike." [New Stat. Acc. of Clackmannanshire] In this engagement against a superior number, "Holburn escaped; Brown was taken prisoner, and sent to the castle of Edinburgh. Sixteen hundred foot were killed, and twelve hundred were taken at Innerkeithing and Dunfermline, with 52 drums, colours, and bagpipes." [Memorabilia of Perth; and Penny's Traditions of Perth.]
In this battle we are presented with some of the most desperate acts of valour, as also of Highland clannish fidelity to their Chief. In proof of the first, we are told that Sir John Brown, Lord Balcarres, young Bacomie, young Randerstone, and the Briechens fought like demons; as did also Sir John Ogilvie on the other side. The Chief of the clan Maclean here lost six sons, each of whom came up successively to defend him, and was successively cut down. We are told in the picturesque language of historians of that period, that the plain was "like a hairst field with corpses;" that is, a field thickly strewed with newly cut sheaves of grain. Pinkerton Burn is also said to have "run red with blood for three days," in consequence of the slaughter.
It is admitted to have been a most affecting spectacle to see the field after the action. Relatives in search of their nearest and dearest; wives overpowered with grief seeking their husbands; mothers in search of their only sons, their staves on which they leaned; sisters anxiously looking for loving brothers; and children whose tender hearts were bursting with agony at the last sight of their dead or dying fathers! The meeting of a brother, who had been but slightly wounded, with his sister is described with much tenderness and simplicity:-
"Whiles they leugh, and whiles for joy they grat,
Whiles kissed sweet, and whiles in arms plet."
Nearly a hundred of the dying and the wounded were imploring those who passed them for one mouthful of water, but were overlooked in selfish anxiety of each being in search of her own; here, as usual, the skin proved to be nearer than the shirt. Some were heard to cry, with feeble voice, “Strike but one blow in our revenge, we all died for you!" One of the wounded, who had been a miller, vowed that if he recovered, and met Colonel Holburn "where there was neither hand to help nor eye to see, by all that was blessed, he would throw him into his barley mill and bring him out as fine as meal." The cruelty and shameless atrocities of the English soldiers towards the dying and the helpless, were such as cannot be laid before the refined reader of the present age.
On going to Pitreavie, the sight was still more appalling; where the sensitive mind irresistibly exclaimed:- O Pitreavie, Pitreavie, the groans, the cries, the shrieks of the dying and the wounded; the shot, the pierced, and the trampled will long be fresh in the memory of thy posterity! One, - yes one consolatory thought alone remains, that the Fife heroes of this crimson day, who have dyed the field and the burn with their blood, have left a name to be envied by the English tyrant, and the proud Roman, who checked, but never extinguished the sacred flame of liberty! Still it was at Pinkerton Burn where the flower of the brave men of Inverkeithing suffered most; though not a few bleeding hearts were in the town to bewail the day of Pitreavie!
Space does not permit me to enter into the baseness and treachery of Colonel Holburn, further than to state that his escape was preconcerted by Lambert. Cromwell himself the following day crossed the Firth at the head of 14,000 men, and joined Lambert. They "lay one night at Fordel, and drove in their horses among General Brown's standing corn;" and marched to Perth, which was surrendered by Lord Duffus, the governor, upon Cromwell offering honourable terms.
In reference to Sir John Brown, we are told by Lamond in his Diary: "At this tyme Sir John Browne was taken prisoner, young Bacomie wounded, and Randerstone younger wounded; both were taken prisoners. The following regiments of horse were scattered, viz. the lord Balcarresses, Briechens, Sir Jho. Brouns, and coll. Scots. 1651, Aug. General Maior S. Jhone Browne departed out of this life att Leith, whille he was prisoner with the English garresone ther. His corps were brought ouer to Rossee in Fyfe. In Apr. following, his estate was sequestrat by the English, and a fyft part of it allotted to his lady yearlie."
On Sir John being thrown into prison, he exclaimed -
"O for a draught of power to steep
The soul of agony in sleep!"
And died in a few days of sheer grief. Thus ended the great, the noble Sir John Brown of Fordel; whose last battle for the liberty of his beloved land was only the hundredth he had fought with honour, distinction, and bravery; whose mighty arm had struck terror into the renowned Earl of Montrose himself, in 1644.
I shall now close the battle with the following lines, slightly altered:-
"Tradition, legend, tune, and song,
Shall many an age that wail prolong;
Still from the sire the son shall hear
Of the stern strife and carnage drear,
Of Innerkeithing's fatal field,
Where shiver'd was fair Scotland's spear,
And broken was her shield !"
[Marmion, canto VI., st. xxxiv.]
In drawing up the foregoing account of the battle I have been indebted to Cromwell's Letters and Speeches; Cromwelliana; Penny's Traditions of Perth; Memorabilia of Perth; Adamson's Poem of The Muse's Threnodie-Cant's edition; Lamond's Diary; Fair Maid of Perth; New Statistical Account of Fifeshire; Dawson; Chambers' Gazetteer; and Pictorial History of Scotland.
ANECDOTE
"At the time the Great North Road was forming - about 1723, I think,) Daft Davie Semple was employed on it; Davie was 'a character' in his day, and belonged to Inverkeithing; he was proud of being employed on the Great North Road - he could think of nothing but the Great North Road "from Henderkeethen to Kinross" - he dreamt of it by night, and talked of it by day - it was all his idea. Well, one Sunday Davie happened to stroll into Inverkeithing church in the middle of the sermon, when he found the minister speaking about the narrow way to everlasting life, and the broad way to destruction, and calling upon the congregation to choose this day which of the two roads they would take; Daft Davie bawled out that he would take "the great north road frae Henderkeethen til Kenros!" So unexpected a reply put an end to the sermon, and the congregation was dismissed by prayer! [Favoured by E. Henderson, LL.D.]
KEMBACK
This is a parish on the south bank of the Eden, in Fife. Bounded on the north by Leuchars and Dairsie; on the south by Ceres; on the east by Ceres and St Andrews; and on the west by Cupar. It lies east of Cupar, and west of St Andrews. It is three miles from east to west; and one and a half miles in breadth from north to south. Area, 1850 Scots acres, or 2200 imperial acres; under cultivation, 1500; under pasture, 300; under wood, 330 acres. The parish is formed by a ridge of hills, running through it from east to west, called Kemback hills, but formerly called Nydie hills; they slope as gently to the south as they do abruptly to the north; the highest altitude is Clatto hill, 548 feet above sea-level. The parish is intersected by a beautiful and romantic serpentine little glen, called Dura Den, through which flows a considerable stream called the Kame or Ceres burn, which rises in the hills of Scoonie parish, nearly seven miles to the west, crosses the parish and unites with the river Eden at Dairsie church, next the ruins of the castle. It is impossible to imagine anything more beautiful and picturesque than this glen, and Kemback hills, the one variegated with flowers, rocks, and bushes; the other planted with wood to their summits; giving to the whole a grand and sublime appearance. "The soil exhibits every variety; clay, black loam, light sandy soil with a dry bottom, and thin gravel; and is upon the whole very fertile." [Fullerton]
At Dura Den there are numerous beds of red marl, about four feet thick. Next the river Eden, the soil is exceedingly fertile, being rich alluvial clay. Rent of land, from £1, 15s. to £5, 10s. per acre; the former is the nearest average. There are nine thrashing-machines, wrought by horse, steam, or water; a meal-mill, a barley-mill, and a flax-scutching-mill at Blebo; besides at Kemback there is a meal-mill, a saw-mill, and a bone-mill; there are upwards of fifty agricultural horses; cold wet soil has of late been well drained; and much waste land has been reclaimed. Beds of sandstone, 350 feet thick, of a bright yellow colour, are found here; as also beds of lead ore, which have occasionally been wrought since 1722, but given up because stopped by water, or the hardness of the rock, the expense being considered too great. [Fullerton] There are five heritors; the principal is Alexander Bethune, Esq. of Blebo; there are fully 100 acres feued to various parties, of from three to twenty acres of unproductive heath. Population in 1851, was 956. There are two spinning mills; the Yool-field one, wrought by a large water-wheel, impelled by Ceres burn, equal to 45 horse power, and employing nearly 200 hands; the other the Blebo mill, with a water-wheel of 14 horse power, and employing 50 hands. The patron is the United College, St. Andrews. Parish church stipend, £157, 7s.; glebe, £24; there is no dissenting church in the parish. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum, with a free house; there is a female school at Kemback mill. In 1849, on poor's roll, 21. There is no village, but two or three hamlets, the largest is at Dura Den. The nearest post and market town is Cupar, 4 miles from the church; St Andrews is four and a half miles from the east end of the parish I have omitted to state, that the Dura Den freestone takes on a very fine polish, and therefore is much used as a building stone.
The lands of Rumgay, or Rumgally; Dura House; Blebo House, and the lands of Myreton, the property of A. Bethune, Esq.; and Kemback House, are all in the parish; rivalling each other in their respective beauties, though Kemback House, Mr George Makgill's, seems to have attracted most notice from Sibbald. There are "precipitous mural cliffs of great height, indented with caves, in which the persecuted of a former age are said to have found an asylum." [New Stat. Acc., Fife.]
KENNOWAY
This is a parish in Fife. Bounded on the north by Kettle; on the south by Scoonie, Wemyss, and Markinch; on the east by Scoonie; and on the west by Markinch. It is three and a half miles in length from east to west, by two and one eighth miles in breadth from north to south. Area, 3750 acres; under cultivation, 3370; under pasture, 130; under wood, 255 acres. The parish lies with a south exposure, ascending gradually from the south to the north; having its surface finely diversified with varied heights and declivities; the view from these heights is the most extensive and beautiful that can be conceived, commanding that of most of the county, the Forth, the south coast, from the Island of May west to Edinburgh and the Lammermoor hills; and from the north banks of the parish, we see large portions of the counties of Angus, Perth, Stirling, and the Grampian mountains. Besides being watered by several burns that intersect the parish, there is a beautiful rivulet that enters the parish on the north, near Balnkirk, which follows a circuitous course, meeting another burn on the south, passes close to the village of Kennoway, and falls into the Leven within one mile further to the south; its passage from the village is in a deep, winding, and beautifully diversified glen, called the Den; though not large, nothing can surpass it in romantic effect, such as to cause the tourist irresistibly to linger here. The soil, though various in quality, from the poorest to the richest loam, is in general fertile, and nearly all arable. The rent of land runs from 15s. to £3, 10s. per acre. There are 10 heritors. Population in 1851, was 2257.
Coal has been wrought for the past 50 years, at Balgrie colliery, in the east part of the parish; its thickness is five feet, at a depth of nearly 60 fathoms, and employs 50 colliers. Though there is freestone in the Den, it is coarse, soft, and does not stand the weather; whinstone is abundant, but used more as road-metal than for building. In agriculture much has been done during the past 30 years, by draining, liming, bone and rape-seed dust, ploughing so as to open the hard sub-soil below, cutting ditches and planting hedges, with better inclosures, though these might be still more substantial than many that I saw. The crops are usually wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, and turnips, with some beans and pease; the cattle reared are the Fifeshire breed; of sheep I saw about 18 scores, in fine condition; there are three thrashing-machines, two moved by steam; there are two mills for grinding oats and barley; a spinning-mill for spinning tow, a lint-mill for scutching flax, and a plash-mill for washing yarn. Nearly 400 persons are employed as weavers and winders, by manufacturers in the surrounding parishes, as Kirkaldy, Leven, etc.; the goods manufactured are chiefly dowlas of various widths, tweels, diapers, and Darlingtons. Besides weaving, there are nearly 80 men employed in making shoes for Dundee, for fairs and other markets. The patronage is in the Crown. Parish church stipend, £242, 17s.; glebe, £20; there is a U. P. church, and an Original Burgher church. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum, with a free house. In 1849, on poor's roll, 48. There are eleven public houses in the parish, certainly too many for the cause of order and morality; though it is admitted that in general the people are industrious, provident, sober, and peaceable; it is equally certain that intemperance is on the increase. There is one village, and two hamlets. The nearest market towns are Cupar and Kirkcaldy, each being nine miles distant.
VILLAGE OF KENNOWAY
The population of the village is about 940, chiefly employed in weaving. All the three churches are in the village. There is a sub-post office under Leven; another Post Town is Markinch. There is a Saving's Bank; a library connected with the Sabbath schools; an Equitable Deposit Society; Societies for Religious purposes; the Kennoway Reed Society. There are two annual fairs held in the village, but which like most country fairs, are now more a name than reality. An old house is still pointed out in which Archbishop Sharp passed the night previous to his being murdered. The hamlet of Star has 252 inhabitants, engaged in weaving; and that of Baneton has 136 inhabitants.
The mansion-houses of Auchtermairnie, Kingsdale, and Newton Hall, are the principal ones in the parish. The lands of Kennoway and village, belong to the family of Bethune of Balfour; I may here state that the names of Bethune and Beaton found in history, are the same; that is, they were branches of the same family. The property of Duniface, Easter and Wester Newton, Treaton, Wester Kilmux, Lalathan, Halfield, Balnkirk, and Carriston, are in the parish.
There is a round hill called the Maiden Castle, on the farm of Duniface, on which a British fort in ancient times stood.
It is generally understood that "The Diary of Mr John Lamont of Newton," was written by a Mr John Lamont, proprietor of Easter Newton in this parish; even the late Mr. Constable (a Fife gentleman,) who first published the work in 1810, was of this opinion. The Rev. Mr. Bell, minister of the parish, has satisfactorily shown that such was not the case. [New Stat. Acc.]
The village of Kennoway is one mile from Windigate; two and a half miles from Leven; and three and a half miles from Markinch.
KETTLE
A parish in Fife; frequently called King's Kettle, because the village anciently belonged to the crown; it was formerly written Catul, and Katul. The name of the parish was anciently called Lathrisk, and sometimes Lorresk, because the parish church stood on the lands of Lathrisk, till removed in 1636 to the village of Kettle.
It is bounded on the north by Cults and Collessie; on the south by Markinch and Kennoway; on the east by Scoonie, Ceres, and Cults; and on the west by Falkland. From east to west it is six and a half miles long, by less than two miles in breadth. Area, 6373 acres, or nine square miles; under cultivation, 3230 acres; under pasture, 900; under wood, 210 acres. The hills are Downhill, the highest in the parish, Bandon hill, Clatto hill, and another hill upon the Knock of Clathe; though none of them rise to anything like a high altitude, the highest commands an extensive view. Besides being watered by several burns, the Eden runs down a low strath, between a range of hills at no great distance, but sufficient to allow the meadows and corn land on each side to be occasionally inundated in floods; the Eden abounds with red and white trout, besides pike and eels; it bounds the parish on the north. Much of the surface on the north side is rich and beautiful, level, and water-fed; yet fine carse land will be found next to beds of sand, having a mossy surface on the sub-soil of stiff clay; on the higher grounds the soil is often strong and clayey, which, with a colder air, renders the crops slower in growth. Rent of land on the low grounds runs from £1, 10s. to £3 per acre; and on the higher from 15s. to £1, 15s. per acre. There are eleven heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851, was 2601. Coals used to be wrought at Burnturk, but unless for burning lime at the Pitlessie lime-hills, they are not now otherwise used, being a blind coal; for household purposes, and smiths, they are usually brought from Balbirnie, Balgonie, or Clunie. Limestone of the finest quality is abundant, particularly at the quarry of Forthar. Freestone, though found, is not fit for building; the finest whinstone to be found in the county is here, being not only capable of being finely dressed and squared for building houses, but one of the quarries is famed for producing the finest soles for bakers' ovens, by its resisting the action of fire.
In agriculture much attention has been paid to draining, in which nature has assisted by the sloping state of the ground; the parish is well inclosed by stone dikes, or by ditch and hedge; no cattle are reared, but a considerable number are bought and fed on turnips and potatoes during winter, and sold when fattened; very few sheep are kept; potatoes are extensively cultivated for the London market; the quantity of ground engaged in grain is in the following order, oats, barley, and wheat. Weaving linen called dowlas employs nine-tenths of the hand-looms in the parish, which numbered "in 1838 about 400 hand looms," [Dawson] while the other tenth weave window-blinds. There are, besides, two mills for spinning linen yarn, moved by water. The parish is traversed by the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway. The patron is the Crown. Parish church stipend, £268, 15s.; glebe, £3; there is a U.P. church; and a Free church at Cults that serves Kettle. In 1849, on poor's roll, 57. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum, and a free house, besides three other private schools. There are ten public-houses in the parish. There is one village, and four hamlets.
VILLAGE OF KETTLE
It lies on the south side of the Eden, north of the Cupar and Kirkaldy road, by the New Inn. Nearly in the centre of the parish. Population, 587. It is a Post Town. The nearest market-town is Cupar, six miles distant; and Freuchie, in the parish of Falkland, is one and a half miles. It has a handsome church, with an elegant tower and clock; besides the U.P. church; and school-room. The hamlet of Holekettle Burnside has 223 inhabitants; Bankton Park has 156; Balmalcolm has 126; and Coalton-of-Burnturk has 81; all these hamlets lie within a quarter, a half, or one mile from the village.
The properties in the parish are the following - Lathrisk; Riggs; Orkie Mill and lands; Forthar; Chapel; Dovan; lands of Balmalcolm; Burnturk; Downfield; Ramorney, originally belonging to the family of Ramorney of that ilk, one of whom was the ancestor of Sir John Ramorney, the immediate murderer of David, Duke of Rothsay; besides the lands, castle or tower of Clatto, and which I shall now introduce to the reader, being particularly interesting:-
On the lands of Clatto are the remains of an old tower, at the south-east extremity of the parish, which anciently belonged to a wealthy laird, but who, with his whole family, were very notorious robbers and murderers. The old road from Cupar to Kinghorn passed through Clatto-den, and in the face of the hill there was a cave which communicated with the Tower of Clatto, from which the bandits rushed out upon the unsuspecting passengers, and, dragging them into the cave, robbed and murdered them. The following is the traditional account of the discovery and punishment of these assassins. "One of the Scottish kings, said to have been James IV., happening to pass that way alone, was attacked by a son of the laird of Clatto; but the king, with one blow of his sword, cut off the right hand of the robber, with which he had seized hold of the bridle of his horse. The assailant instantly fled, and the king, having taken up the severed hand, rode off with it. Next day, attended by a proper retinue, his majesty visited the tower of Clatto, and demanded to see Seaton (the name of the laird) and his sons, who were noted as hardy, enterprising men. The old man, affecting to be gratified by the king's request, conducted his family into the presence, but it was observed that one of the sons was absent; and, on inquiry being made after him, it was alleged he had been hurt by an accident, and was at the moment confined to bed. The king, however, insisted on seeing him; and, being led to his apartment, desired to feel his pulse. Whereupon the young man held out his left hand, but his majesty requesting to have the right, after many excuses, the poor wretch was obliged to confess that he had lost his right hand. The king then told him that he had a hand which was at his service if it fitted him; and the gory hand of the robber being produced, the king explained how it came into his possession, and the whole family were thereupon apprehended, tried, and executed, for the various robberies and murders they had committed." [Fullerton, vol. II., p. 95; Leighton; and New Stat. Acc., Fife.]
The reader need feel no surprise at Laird Seaton and his family being robbers, when he recollects the case of Scott, the young laird of Harden.
KILCONQUHAR
A parish in the east part of Fife, It is generally called Kinnuchar. Bounded on the south by the Firth of Forth, and the parish of Elie; on the north by Cameron and Ceres; on the east by the parishes of Abercrombie and Carnbee; and on the west by the parishes of Newburn and Largo, and partly by Largo bay. Length from south to north is nine miles, by nearly two miles in breadth. Area, not settled upon; under cultivation, 2900 acres; under pasture, 1600; under wood, 800; and about 200 acres of links. With the exception of some high ridges running east and west, the surface is sufficiently level to be nearly all arable. The ridges are - Kincraig Hill, 200 feet above sea-level, which rises immediately from the beach, presenting a bold and rugged precipitous front to the boiling surf of the sea; and forms the headland or promontory constituting the projecting part of Largo Bay; four miles north, rising gently, till it reaches a ridge called Reres, and Kilbrachmont, 600 feet high; these terminate in Largo Law on the west, and Kellie Law on the east; a deep ravine now separates the south from the north parts of the parish into nearly two halves; two miles further north, the surface gradually rises 750 feet at Dunikier Law; Bruntshields is the last hill on the north extremity of the parish, nearly two miles from the former; besides all these, we have Balcarres Craig, 200 feet high, rising abruptly from the bottom of the ravine, and being completely insulated from the surrounding hills, offers no obstruction to the eye. From any of these hills a rich view may be obtained, though that from Dunikier Law or Balcarres Craig can only be surpassed by the parish of Kennoway; we have here wood, water, hill and valley displayed with all the taste of nature and of art; when we cast the eye down on the highly cultivated lands, the richly wooded grounds of Kilconquhar, Pitcorthie, Balcarres, Charleston, Elie, Cairnie, Gilston, Lathallan, Falfield and Kilbrachmont, in which the ash, elm, beech, oak, and plane-tree dispute the palm of superiority; again, our vision falls on the beautiful sheet of water called Kilconquhar loch, nearly two miles in circumference, clothed with wood on three sides, abounding with some of the largest pike and eel to be found in the county, in proof of which, Mr Farnie, in March of this year, caught a pike three and a half feet in length, 18 inches in girth in the middle, and weighing nearly 19 lbs. It is also frequented by a great variety of waterfowls, including the wild duck and teal; besides having been long honoured by a number of swans, who seem to have had the usual antipathy of the age at witches; thus we are told in the New Statistical Account:- "A famous witch of Pittenweem is said to have been drowned here, and the loch appears to have had swans in it at that time:"
"They took her to Kinniuchar Loch,
And threw the limmer in,
And a' the swans took to the hills,
Scar'd with the unhaely din."
[Witches of Pittenweem.]
The view is not confined to the parish; it includes distant counties, besides the Forth, the Tay, and the German Ocean; nevertheless, I would advise the tourist to see that Largo Law has had the politeness to take off his hat first, otherwise the following prognostic lines observed by the people of the parish, who have built them on the foundation of experience, may prove too true, as they did on one occasion to myself:-
When Largo Law puts on his hat,
Let Kellie Law beware of that.
When Kellie Law gets on his cap,
Largo Law may laugh at that.
The parish is watered by a large stream, that rises in the upper grounds, and meeting with smaller burns, becomes sufficient to drive several cornmills, and a flax mill; and then falls into Largo Bay, at Shooter's Point. Besides other burns to the north of Dunikier Law, the parish is well supplied with the finest springs, in proof of which I need only state that the Loch is entirely supplied by springs, and has enough to feed a stream besides; in some parts the Loch is very deep. Much of the surface consists of light soil well adapted for spring wheat; there is much rich alluvial soil, and a good deal of black loam, well wrought; in the higher grounds the crops are later, because the air is colder. The average rent of land will run to £2, 5s. per acre. The land is well drained and enclosed; much attention is paid to turnip husbandry; nearly double the oats are raised to either wheat or barley; the cattle are the Fife breed, of which, with old, young, and milk cows, they have fully 1450; the half of the cattle are fed upon turnips or grass, to fit them for the market; sheep are seldom kept; of horses of every description there cannot be less than nearly 500, and that because they are reared for the market when they reach nearly four years old; there are 24 thrashing mills, generally driven by horses, though some are propelled by steam. Twelve heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851, was 2489. Coal is abundant at Grange or Earlsferry, at Reres, Balcarres, Largoward, Falfield, and Lathallan; though limestone has been wrought at Kilconquhar, Balcarres, and other parts of the parish, it is neither abundant nor of the best quality; this is not a parish for freestone; and the whinstone is only used for road-metal. Nearly 300 persons are more or less employed in weaving dowlasses, checks, and sheetings for Kirkland, Kirkcaldy, or Dundee; there are no manufactures nor spinning mills in the parish. Patron, Earl of Crawford and Balcarres. Parish church stipend, £314, 16s. 8d.; glebe, £27; a Chapel of Ease at Largoward; a U.P. church at Kilconquhar, and another at Colinsburgh. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; there are other five private schools, besides a female one at Kilconquhar. In 1849 on poor's roll, 100. There are twelve public-houses. There are three Villages, which are as follows:-
EARLSFERRY
Though a village now, it is in reality a royal burgh of great antiquity, but whose charter was destroyed by fire in Edinburgh. A new charter was in consequence granted by James IV., in which it is narrated that the burgh of Earlshall was "of old past memory of men, erected into ane free burgh," etc. By this charter all its ancient privileges and immunities were renewed and confirmed. At one period it carried on a considerable trade, besides having two annual fairs and two weekly markets. All this is now only matter of history. They lost the power of sending a Member to Parliament at the Union, because they refused to pay for one; they are therefore thrown into the county constituency. Its magistrates have the same powers with those of other royal burghs. They have a full complement of councillors and a treasurer; the oldest magistrate acting as provost. It consists of a single street, with bye lanes, so intimately joined with Elie on the east, that they both appear as one town. The town-house is an old building standing in the middle of the town, surmounted by a spire with a clock and bell. It has a town-hall, with a prison for criminals, in a most wretched condition. Its population is not passing 670, chiefly weavers, fishers, and some colliers. There is no proper harbour, but this is the less to be regretted, as there is a pier and harbour at Elie. The following is the origin of the name of the burgh:-
MACDUFF'S CAVE
On one occasion, when Macduff found it necessary to fly from the vengeance of Macbeth, he concealed himself in a cave at Kincraig-point, which still bears his name. It penetrates 200 feet into the rock, and is 160 feet high, forming a grand alcove at the entrance from the sea. By the kind assistance of the people of this little fishing village, the officers of Macbeth found it impossible to discover his retreat; who, however, forbade any one to provide him with the means of leaving the coast, on pain of death, and kept a watchful eye on the whole shore of Fife. "Regardless of danger, the fishermen of the town, watching an opportunity, brought the fugitive Earl out of his cave, and ferried him over to the opposite side (Dunbar), a distance of at least ten miles." After Macbeth was slain, Malcolm III. (Canmore), at the request of Macduff, the Maormor of Fife, constituted the village a royal burgh, under the name of Earlsferry, with the very singular privilege that the persons of all who should cross the firth from thence should be for a time inviolable, no matter how fearful their crime might be; that is, that no boat should be allowed to leave the shore in pursuit till those who had already sailed were half-way over. As may easily be imagined, every advantage was taken of this privilege, till the power had to be withdrawn. Chambers tells us that "the last authenticated case of a refugee coming hither for protection was that of Carnegie of Finhaven, who had slain Lord Strathmore, in a squabble in the street of Forfar, in 1728."
Modern writers find fault with Macduff being called an Earl, and go the length to deny that any royal burgh was "erected earlier than the reign of David I. or Malcolm IV.;" with due respect towards them, this is in direct contradiction to Chalmers, who tells us that Inverkeithing was constituted a royal burgh by Alexander I., besides other towns in other counties that were erected still earlier than Inverkeithing. Besides the fact of Boece maintaining that Malcolm invented the titles of Earls and Barons, we know that he lived fifteen years in England, and was therefore likely to introduce the Saxon titles as he did the language. Andrew Wintoun states that "Earlsferry was really the place of Macduff's embarkation for Lothian, Kilconquhar castle being that in which his wife and children suffered from the cruelty of the tyrant." Earlsferry is a half mile west of Elie; two miles south of Colinsburgh; and six miles east of Largo. Kincraig Point, or Ness, has several other caves besides Macduff's cave, such as the Hall-cave, the Devil's-cave, etc.
VILLAGE OF COLINSBURGH
It was built by Colin, third Earl of Balcarres, who died in 1722; and hence its name. It is a burgh of barony under the Balcarres family. It is well built; has a weekly corn-market; and two annual fairs for the sale of cattle; the East of Fife Agricultural Society meets annually here. It is a Post Town. There is a branch of the Commercial Bank of Scotland. A justice of peace and small debt courts are held at stated intervals. There is a handsome and conspicuous U. P. church. There is an extensive currying work, at which leather to the value of many thousand pounds sterling is annually manufactured. There is a good inn; several carriers; easy means of communication, besides the assistance of the Largo steamer. The rock called Balcarres craig, rising 200 feet; and Balcarres House, are in the vicinity. Population about 580. The road to Anstruther and Crail passes through the village. It is two miles north of Elie; four miles east of Kirktown of Largo; four miles west of Pittenweem; and ten miles south of Cupar.
Village of Kilconquhar, and the hamlet of Barnyards, have a population of nearly 570 between them. There is a tan-work in Kilconquhar. The parish church and the U. P. church stand in this village. The parish church is handsome, and has a tower 80 feet in height.
The family of Lindesay of Balcarres sprang from two brothers, Walter and William de Lindesay, in the time of David I. The house of Lamberton sprang from Walter de Lindesay, while the house of Crawfurd had its origin from William. Each of these distinguished themselves in Scottish history. [New Stat. Acc., Fife.]
Sir David Lindesay of Balcarres, a descendant of the Crawfurds, was a man of great learning, besides being a laborious alchemist, writing ten ponderous volumes upon the Philosopher's Stone, with as much profit to himself as that of Lord Monboddo, who spent years in proving that man, as well as quadrupeds, was born with a long tail, but finding it inconvenient, soon contrived to lop it off close to the rump. The operation was repeated every succeeding generation, and thus gaining a joint each time, till nature abandoned the stiff-necked Israelites to their unhallowed work. Sir Henry Lindesay Bethune, proprietor of the lands of Kilconquhar, is a descendant of the house of Crawfurd. The family of Gourly, proprietors of the estate of Kincraig, have possessed the land for nearly 600 years. The ancient family of the Lords Lindsay of the Byres, so frequently found in history, were predecessors of the Earls of Crawford and Lindsay. The lands of St Ford, Grange, South and North Falfield, Burntshields, Kilbrachmont, Charlton, Reres, and Lathallan, are in the parish. Mr Leighton tells us that "Lady Anne Lindsay, the eldest sister of the Hon. James Lindsay, was the authoress of that exquisite Scottish lyric, 'Auld Robin Gray.'" [Fife Illustrated.]
KILMANY
This is a parish in Fife. Bounded on the north by Forgan and Balmerino; on the south by Cupar and Logie; on the east by Forgan; and on the west by Creich and Moonzie. The Eden river separates it from Leuchars. Its length from east to west is six miles by two miles in breadth Area, 4700 acres; under cultivation, 3550 Scotch acres; under wood, 250. [Dawson] The west consists of a succession of softly swelling hill and pleasant valley; the parish is divided at different places by small ridges, the highest not exceeding 400 feet above sea-level. Immediately to the north of the hamlet of Kilmany, there is a beautiful and romantic glen, called Goales Den, through which a stream finds its way to the Motray; the glen is a deep cut in Kilmany hill, the result of a disruption of the trap-hills which bound the valley to the north; its banks have been tastefully planted with trees and walks made through it, which, with its little waterfalls and overhanging rocks, assuredly present a variety of the most picturesque scenes, that must irresistibly rouse and gratify the cold fastidious misanthropist himself. The parish is watered by the Motray, rising from various sides of Norman's Law; these unite before they enter the parish at Starr, through which it flows, as also the lands of Murdo-Cairnie, and Mountquhanie; it is also watered by the Cluthie, or sometimes called Colluthie, which rises to the east of Rathillet school, runs about a mile, and joins the Motray, which empties itself into the Eden by Kilmany church and the two Kinnears; there are other two burns passing through Lochmalonie, Rathillet, and Myre-Cairnie; eight bridges are thrown over the Motray, and three over the other streams. Though there is no lake now, proofs exist that there has once been an extensive lake at the east part of the valley. The soil is very various, from beds of sand and moss to the richest that could be desired; but generally speaking, very fertile. On one occasion, when making some agricultural enquiries on this point in 1821, at a ploughman, I was surprised to find him suddenly overcome with grief; on wishing to know the cause, he stated that he found labour to be a useless task, and was tired of the world. On reflecting a few minutes, the following lines occurred to my mind, and which I repeated:-
"Work - and pure slumbers shall wait on thy pillow;
Work - thou shalt ride over care's coming billow;
Lie not down wearied 'neath woe's weeping willow!
Work with a stout heart and resolute will.
Work for some good- be it ever so lowly;
LABOUR - all labour is noble and holy."
(Osgood.)
To which he simply replied:- "Wark an' a sair heart 'll no fill a hungry wame." Rent of land will average £2, 5s. per acre. Within the last 75 years more than 200 acres of a morass have been drained; furrow draining with the subsoil plough, and adapting the lime, bone dust, rapeseed meal, etc. to the various soils, with better enclosures, have entirely changed the face of this parish; a good deal of cattle, of the Fife breed, are raised and sold fat; a great number of the three best breeds of sheep are annually fed upon turnips for the butcher; there are 17 thrashing mills; besides three corn mills, one of the above thrashing mills, and one saw mill, all moved by Motray.
There are ten heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851, was 662; which is a decrease of one-fourth within the last 56 years.
There is no coal in the parish, it has therefore to be brought from the parishes of Ceres, or Cameron. As to quarries; we find various species of whinstone, from the hardest dark blue, in great blocks, separated from one another by a coat of yellow ochre, to a species of rotten rock; but nothing like either lime or freestone. Unless a saw mill, and about a dozen of weavers, there is no branch of industry except that of agriculture. Patron, United College, St Andrews. Parish church stipend, £225, 7s. 11d.; glebe, £30; there is a U.P. church at Rathillet. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum, with house and garden, at Rathillet; with two female schools, one at Hazleton, and one at Kilmany. In 1849, on poor's roll, 10. There are only two public-houses in the parish; the character of the people is everything that could be desired. There is no village, but two hamlets; one is Kilmany, situated on the face of a bank rising from the Motray; it is towards the east of the parish; it stands nearly half way between Cupar and Newport, each of which is about five miles distant; Cupar is the Post Town, and nearest market town; the parish church is near this hamlet; it is three miles from the harbour of Balmerino on the Tay. Rather more than a mile to the west is the hamlet of Rathillet, near to which is the house of Rathillet, the ancient seat of the Hackston family.
The lands of Hillcairnie; Myre-Cairnie; Lochmalonie, once the property of Mr George Dischington, in 1669, probably the person referred to in the ballad, under CRAIL. [Lamont's Hist. of Fife.]
Easter and Wester Kinnear; Lands and Village of Kilmany; Montquhany, the property of the family of Balfour, in whose house Knox says there was "neither fear of God nor love of virtue, farther than the present commodity persuaded them," and David having been one of the murderers of Cardinal Beaton, will come under notice when I come to ST ANDREWS, and Sir James Balfour will appear sufficiently infamous under LOCH-LEVEN; Murdocairnie was the property of Sir James Melville of Raith, ancestor of the Earl of Melville, in 1543; his second son, Sir Robert Melville, was a very prominent character during the reigns of Queen Mary and James VI.; the lands of Starr likewise belonged to Sir Robert Melville. I may here remark that James Bruce, a son of Sir Robert Bruce of Clackmannan, was rector of this parish, till he was preferred to the Bishop's see of Dunkeld, in 1440, and consecrated in the abbey church of Dunfermline; he was also made Lord Chancellor of Scotland, in 1444. [Miller's Lives of the Bishops of Dunkeld; and Crawford's Officers of State.]
The only other house and lands in the parish deserving of notice are those of Rathillet. I find by Sibbald that they were conferred upon Duncan, Earl of Fife, sixth in descent from Macduff, by Malcolm IV. At the time of the forfeiture, they were sold by the Crown to a family of the name of Hackston (sometimes written Halkerston.) One of this family, David Hackston, proprietor of Rathillet, was one of the parties who murdered Archbishop Sharp at Magusmoor. To conceal himself, "he retired for a time to the north, but afterwards joined the main body of the Covenanters in Lanarkshire, where a declaration was drawn up, which Hackston assisted in proclaiming at the market-cross of Rutherglen, on the anniversary of the restoration of Charles II. He fought at Drumclog, and afterwards on the 22d of June at Bothwell-bridge, where he commanded a troop of horse, and was the last to leave the field; indeed, had his advice been followed on that day, the result might have been very different from what it was. He was now proclaimed a rebel, and a reward of 10,000 merks offered for his apprehension. For a time he lurked about in concealment with the remains of the party; but was finally taken prisoner at Airdsmoss by Bruce of Earlshall." [Fullerton, Vol. II.]
I shall close my remark on poor Hackston by stating that he was a man of talent, undaunted courage, constancy, and faithfulness.
The late celebrated Dr Thomas Chalmers was minister of Kilmany from 1803 to 1815. Exclusive of his public character, it was only such as enjoyed the favour of his private friendship, of whom I had the honour of being one, who knew the real value of this eminent man. I shall never forget a six hours' conversation with the Rev. Dr., in January 1823, when returning in a post-chaise from Galashiels in the midst of a severe snow-storm. A letter from the Dr., dated St Andrews, in my possession, will sufficiently attest the fact.
KILRENNY
A parish on the coast of the Firth of Forth in Fife. Bounded on the N. by Carnbee and Crail; on the S. by the Forth; on the E. by Crail; and on the west by East and West Anstruther and Carnbee. It is three and a half miles in length, by a little more than two and a half miles in breadth. Area, 2400 acres; with the exception of 30 acres under wood, and 30 in pasture, all is under tillage. A ridge of bold high rocks rises from the beach, and the surface gradually ascends towards the north, presenting a fine cultivated slope of the most fertile description. From the nature of the ground, the burns are rapid after rain. The Statistical Account of Fife, for 1843, states that "along the coast, although containing a strong mixture of clay, it is rich and productive, while in the higher parts, as it rests on strong clayey subsoil, it is more retentive of moisture, and, in wet seasons, less productive." The rent of land will average about £2, 12s. per acre. The land has been well drained with tiles or with stones; and well enclosed by hedges or dikes; as little land is kept in pasture, parks in other parishes are taken for rearing their young stock, which in cattle is the Fifeshire breed; few sheep are kept here; there are fifteen thrashing machines in the parish, three of which are driven by water. There are six heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851 was 2194. Coals have to be brought from the parish of Carnbee, five miles distant, or from Elie, seven miles distant; the coal here being only fit for burning limestone. Limestone is wrought at Cornceres, Innergelly, and Thirdpart. The best freestone quarry is at Blacklaws. Patron, Sir W. C. Anstruther, Bart. Parish church stipend, £269, 2s. 2d.; glebe, £27, 10s. Parish schoolmaster salary, £34, 48. 4d., with about £40 fees; there are two private boys' schools at Cellardykes, a female school, and an infant school. In 1849, on poor's roll, 41. There is a benevolent fishermen's society.
I shall close the country portion of the parish, by stating that the bold rocks along the shore, already adverted to, are perforated by some fine large caves, standing several feet above high water mark, and nearly 40 feet in height; these caves have been the abode of the fairy, in the character of a black fox; of the persecuted covenanter; and latterly of the smuggler.
The burgh of Kilrenny consists of a large village and a hamlet. The village is Nether Kilrenny or Cellardyke, standing on the sea coast, which is divided by the Dreel burn from Anstruther Easter; and this again being next Anstruther Wester, gives the three the appearance of one long town.
CELLARDYKE
Was a burgh-of-regality till the year 1819, when by some error at one of the elections, it was disfranchised, and is now under commissioners appointed by the Court of Session. Before which occurrence it was governed by a chief magistrate, two bailies, a treasurer, and 12 councillors. It was one of the St Andrews' district of burghs in returning a Member to Parliament. There is a small harbour, but unsafe in east or south-east gales; which obliges the boatmen to take East Anstruther harbour, but which again can neither be entered nor left except at certain states of the tide. These causes force them to Craignoon harbour, lying between Nether Kilrenny and East Anstruther. The dexterity, hardihood, and daring of the Cellardyke fishermen are proverbial. They usually have about 80 or 90 boats, varying from 12 to 18 tons each, manned with four men and a stout boy. The boats cost from £80 to £100 each, besides being provided with from 15 to 20 nets, at an expense of from £4 to £5 each. The take of herrings by the fishermen of this place, 1839, was 25,000 barrels. Cod and haddocks are also extensively exported in a fresh, dried, and pickled state. For herring they go to Peterhead and Wick, leaving a few boats at home for herring in the Forth. The other fish caught at home are cod, haddock, skate, and flounders, with the lobster, parten, wilk, and limpet. There are no oysters or mussels found along the shore, hence they are at a considerable expense for mussels to bait their lines, which have to be brought from a distance. Their markets are Edinburgh, Dundee, and Perth; or Glasgow, London, and Liverpool; besides selling their fresh fish to cadgers, who cart them to more distant parishes in the county. Population of the burgh in 1851 was 1860, of whom 335 were fishermen. The nearest market and Post Town is East Anstruther, about one mile from Upper Kilrenny; and Upper Kilrenny is three miles west of Crail, and eight and a half miles S.S.E. of St Andrews. Upper Kilrenny lies less than half a mile inland, and is little more than a hamlet, containing only the parish church, manse, parish school, and a few other houses.
The following lands or houses are in the parish:- Innergally; Rennyhill; Kilrenny Mains; Caplie formerly belonged to the family of Inglis of Tarvet, who sold it to Sir John Scott, who called the barony by the name of Scotstarvet; Thirdpart was also long the residence of the Scotts of Scotstarvet; East Pitcorthie is also in the parish; the chief landowner is Sir Windham Carmichael Anstruther, of Anstruther, Bart.; Barns Muir; Firthfield; Pitkerie; Spalefield; Balhouffie; Crowhill; Cauldcoats; and Briery Bush, are in the parish.
KINGHORN
A parish on the shore of the Forth, in Fife. Whatever has been the original derivation of the name, there cannot be a doubt that in process of time it has been called Kinghorn from the King's horn being blown "when he sallied out for the diversion of the chase in this neighbourhood." Bounded on the east and north by Abbotshall; on the west by Burntisland; on the south and south-east by the Firth of Forth; and on north and west by Auchtertool and Aberdour. The parish includes the island of Inchkeith. Its length from south-east to north-west is four and a half miles, by two and three quarters miles in breadth. Area nearly eight square miles or 5000 acres; under cultivation, 2900; under pasture, 850; under wood, 175; uncultivated, 200 acres. It runs fully three miles along the coast. The surface is beautifully diversified by rising grounds, into hill and valley; the alternations go on till they reach the Hill of Glassmount, fully two and a half miles from the shore, and which is 600 feet above sea-level; beyond this Hill, that is, to the north, the surface is much more level; the hill is finely wooded. A lofty overhanging cliff, at the Burntisland extremity, is called the "King's Craig," or the "King's wud end;" towards the harbour of Pettycur the shore presents a fine level sand; the coast again becomes bold and rugged, forming the headland called Kinghorn Ness, leading into the bay of Kinghorn, and which is formed by a fine curve of nearly a quarter mile in extent, terminating on the east in the Kirk-craig, another bold projection running well into the sea. One mile to the east of Kinghorn we meet with a very large cave, both as to width, height, and depth, presenting its dark gaping mouth to the sea. The parish is watered on the East by the Tiel Burn, and by some small rivulets running along the valleys, besides the Easter and Wester Myres (marshes). Behind the town, a little to the north-west, there is a fine lake called Kinghorn Loch, covering 20 acres of surface, besides being fully 30 feet deep, and surrounded by the most pleasing hills; the loch is supplied with fish and frequented by water-fowl. The soil is a deep dark loam, such as to enable the farmer to bring most of the parish under a high state of cultivation. The rent of land will average about £3, 15s. per acre. Draining, trenching, and inclosures have been more attended to in this parish than in most others in the county; a great number of cattle and sheep are purchased from other counties, and fattened for the butcher. There are eleven heritors. Population in 1851, was 3030. Coal seems to have existed here, but has been wrought out; it has therefore to be brought from Lochgelly, or Cluny. Limestone is rather abundant and good, though that from Inverteil quarry is by far the finest, as it bears to be cut and polished. The freestone is good, but there is not much of it. Whinstone is found both soft and hard, and sufficiently abundant for all local purposes. Fire-clay exists, but is not wrought. The manufactures consist of three spinning-mills, and an extensive bleaching field. The patron is the Earl of Strathmore. Parish church stipend, £280, 6s. 11d.; glebe £19; there is a Free church at the village of Inverteil; there is also a U.P. church. Parish schoolmaster salary, minimum; there is a private school, a female and infant school; there is besides a good school at Inverteil, or sometimes called Westbridge. In 1849 on poor's roll, 86. There are eight or nine public houses in the burgh, and an inn at Pettycur.
TOWN OF KINGHORN
I find three of the best modern authors state that Kinghorn is a very ancient burgh, and that its privileges of a royal burgh wore conferred by David I., "the whole of its privileges having been confirmed by Alexander I."; yet Chalmers tells us that the first royal charter was granted by Alexander III. [Caledonia, Vol. I.] The latest charter is by James VI. in 1611. It is governed by a council of nine, who elect a provost and two bailies. Kinghorn is one of the Kirkcaldy district of burghs returning an M.P. Constituency in 1851-2, was 36. Though some parts of the town are irregularly built, and admit of improvement, still the town-hall, jail, a handsome school-house, including a fine museum and good library, with several other modern and substantial buildings, reflect honour on its civic authorities. The parish and U.P. church are in the town. The trade of Kinghorn, (often called Kingorden,) is chiefly connected with the spinning and preparation of lint for the linen manufacturers of Fifeshire. The town possesses two large lint-mills and spinning establishments, moved partly by steam-power, and partly by water; hand weaving forms also a chief part of the trade. There is a subscription library. There is no guildry in Kinghorn; but there are five incorporated trades. Population of the burgh in 1851 was 1568. Kinghorn is a station on the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway. There is a small and indifferent harbour attached to the town, but the Leith and Newhaven boats land at a port and hamlet called Pettycur, half a mile to the West of it. It is a Post Town. It lies directly opposite Leith; it is three miles S.S.W. of Kirkcaldy, and seven miles from Kinglassie. So long as Kinghorn was the seat of royalty its trade flourished, but it fell with the decay of Glammis Castle. The town is well supplied with water, by pipes led from the loch. No place proves the mutability of this world so much as Kinghorn; thus, the ancient grim stately walls of Glammis Tower are to be found alone in the page of history, the spot over which it stood being now under the plough; nay, the very seals have long left the shore, as if aware that the Abbacy of Dunfermline had no longer a claim on every seventh one caught at Kinghorn; a privilege granted to the monks in a charter by David I.
Before taking notice of remarkable edifices, I shall run over the various lands in the parish, and which it would be well for the reader not to disregard, as they are frequently connected with historical events. South and North Glassmount; South and North Piteadie; Drinkbetween; Banchory; Justine; Abden; East and West Balbarton; Seafield; Cauldhame; Baidland; East and West Boglilly; Vicars-Grange; Grange; Balmuto; Grangehill; East Balbeardie; Ross; and Inchkeith, under the Duke of Buccleuch.
The Castle of Kinghorn was for ages the residence of the Scottish Kings, till Robert II. gave it and the lands to Sir John Lyon, on his marriage with the King's third daughter Jane, by Elizabeth Mure; by which Sir John was advanced under the title of Lord Glammis, and in 1606 elevated under the title of Earl of Kinghorn, but which was changed by Charles II. to the title of the Earl of Strathmore.
In the reign of Duncan I., that is, in 1033, Canutus (some call him Sueno,) King of Norway, invaded Fife, and landed at Kinghorn with 8000 men, but they were soon attacked and vanquished with great slaughter by Macbeth.
On the 16th of March, 1285, Alexander III. was killed by a fall from his horse, over a rugged precipice called the "King's Craig," the "King's wood end," or the "Fatal Rock," while returning under night from Inverkeithing to the Castle of Kinghorn. The spot where his horse stumbled is about one mile west of Kinghorn, and was marked by a stone cross which existed in the reign of James II. The night was dark, and the road at that time wound dangerously along precipitous cliffs overhanging the sea, at an almost perpendicular height of 150 feet. The King was found on a large projecting piece of rock in the form of a wedge, nearly forty feet from the sands. His courtiers earnestly entreated him to delay his journey till next morning, but to no effect. The death of Alexander will be found in history to have been the most fatal event that ever occurred in Scotland. It led to wars that lasted for many years, arising from doubts having existed of his being thrown over. I feel much amused at Knighton, the English chronicler, who says that his death was a judgment from heaven for having broken the holy season of Lent by a visit to his queen! Such theology would not pass muster in our day.
Alexander III. was born in Roxburgh Castle, 4th September, 1241. He made himself conspicuous by defeating Haco, King of Norway, who invaded the village of Largs, in Ayrshire, by cutting his army of 20,000 men to pieces, capturing 160 sail of vessels, and recovering the Western Isles in 1263. Alexander was at the coronation dinner of Edward I. of England in 1272; and which solemnity, for extravagant profusion of the luxury of the times, has no equal in history; as a single proof, "500 horses were let loose, for those that could catch them to keep them." The death of Alexander rendered the kingdom a disputed subject of twelve candidates, who submitted their claims to the wily arbitration of Edward of England; and which, with the suspicion already adverted to, laid the foundation of a long and desolating war between both nations. No part of Scotland suffered so severely as Edinburgh castle, which, with the city, was surrendered and recovered frequently up to 1361, when they were by stratagem secured by Sir William Douglas. Seafield Tower, near the shore, once the residence of the Moutrays of Roscobie, is very old and has been long in ruins.
The house and lands of Abden anciently belonged to Sir John Melville of Raith, who was executed for high treason in 1549. Sir Andrew Melville of Garvock was a descendant of Sir John, and was master of the household to Queen Mary and James VI. The lands at last became the property of the family of Wardlaw of Pitreavie.
The lands of Grange belonged to the family of Kirkaldy of Grange in the time of James I. Sir James Kirkaldy of Grange was Lord High Treasurer of Scotland in the reign of James V., and for a time under the Regent Arran. We are told by Crawford that "he was considered one of the wisest and worthiest in the nation, but through the interest of Cardinal Bethune, he lost his office of treasurer." He afterwards engaged in the conspiracy to murder the Cardinal, and certainly was present with his eldest son, his two brothers, a nephew, and two other relations. His son, Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange was a very conspicuous character during the reign of Queen Mary and the minority of James VI. He was governor of Edinburgh Castle, and which he held out after the battle of Langside, in defence of Queen Mary, against the united force of the Regent Morton and that sent by Elizabeth to reduce it, till honourable terms were offered him; on the faith of which he surrendered. The terms of the capitulation were basely violated, and he, with his brother Sir James, was hanged at the market-cross of Edinburgh, August 3d, 1573. He was one of the ablest and most honest public characters of the period. The achievements of Sir William Kirkaldy at Stirling, Edinburgh, and elsewhere, were of the most brilliant description.
The house of Balmuto has a square tower of great antiquity, though its age is unknown. The present family of Boswell are descendants of Sir John Boswell, the first of Balmuto, who died before 1430. [Leighton]
The New Statistical Account gives an exact copy of a letter written by James VI. to the laird of Balmuto, David Boswell; and which letter is in the possession of the present proprietor, John Boswell, Esq. It throws some light on the "wants and character of that singular monarch." It consists in the King begging the loan of 1000 merks from the laird to assist in defraying the expenses of his marriage; and takes special care to state that he is aware that the laird will much rather hurt himself than dishonour his prince and his country, besides showing their poverty in the face of strangers. The bearer of the letter, as also of the 1000 merks to his majesty, was Sir George Boswell, surgeon to the King and to Ann of Denmark. The letter bears the date of 2d September, 1589.
I find that Thomas Boswell figured very conspicuously in the train devoted to the amusement of James IV.; he "was a cadet of the old house of Balmuto, in Fife." [Scottish Worthies] He was also an ancestor of the well-known biographer of the eminent Dr Samuel Johnson. [Pictorial History of Scotland]
I shall now present the reader with a brief outline of the history and character of James VI., avoiding, however, all passages already taken notice of.
JAMES VI.
His majesty was born on the 19th of June, 1566, in the Castle of Edinburgh; and was crowned at Stirling on the 29th of July, 1567. He came to Edinburgh in 1579, and held his first Parliament in person. He was married to Ann, daughter of the King of Denmark, in 1589, by whom he had several children, such as the princess Elizabeth and Charles I.
He succeeded to the English throne by the name of James I., upon the death of Queen Elizabeth, March 24th, 1603, aged 37, having been King of Scotland ever since he was a year old, on the deposition of Queen Mary his mother, who was the daughter of James V., son of James IV. by Margaret, eldest daughter of King Henry VII. of England. "The two kingdoms have since been ruled by the same sovereign; but it was not till a century after that the two Parliaments were incorporated into one by the Union of 1707." This union of the two crowns, however, destroyed the independence as it impoverished the people of Scotland. On the government being removed, trade was checked, agriculture neglected, and the gentry obliged to seek for situations in other countries. While in Scotland, James did much good to Edinburgh; by the erection of the College in 1581, the first professor being appointed in 1583. In 1592, Presbyterianism was established by law in Scotland; nevertheless, whilst he outwardly patronized the Protestant, he privately cultivated the Popish party. James manifested considerable ability in the government of Scotland, though he exhibited repeated instances of his ridiculous vanity, prejudices, profusion, folly, and littleness of soul. His vanity is visible in not only empowering the magistrates to have a sword of state carried before them, and to wear gowns, but in sending them patterns of these garments from London.
I have already adverted to the reception of James in London. Nearly all authors state that he was averse to cruelty and injustice, but from them I respectfully differ, as we shall soon see. He was very little addicted to excess, temperate in his meals, and kind to his subjects. He always granted that as a favour which his people claimed as a privilege; thus, Spottiswood tells us that his love of arbitrary power is conspicuous in the work he wrote, called the "Basilicon Doron." During his reign, the nation was enriched by commerce, which no war interrupted. He was not unmindful of literature, as is proved by his patronage of Lord Bacon, of Camden, and others, though no great author himself, and of a very pedantic taste. On this point "it has been justly said that Buchanan made him a scholar, and nature had destined him for a pedant." His pacific reign, and theological contests with ecclesiastical casuists, proved him more fit for a mitre than a crown. He not unfrequently lost himself in a German ocean of metaphysics. Penetrating into the mysteries of mind and life, he made many a vigorous dive for truth, though he grasped nothing but water, which slipped from his fingers whilst he was holding up his prize triumphantly to our gaze.
On the 5th of November 1605, a plot was discovered of a design to blow up the Parliament House, with 36 barrels of gunpowder put in a cellar, under the Lords' House. Guy Faux, a priest, who was to have set fire to the train, was discovered; who, with two Jesuits, and other accomplices, were executed in January following.
In 1624, we find the King and Parliament in open opposition to each other; so as to produce the two parties, who were in after times distinguished by the names of Tories and Whigs. Indeed, he frequently had but Lord Colville, (a Fife man,) to depend upon, who was distinguished for military genius; and who frequently gave Henry IV. of France no small anxiety. We find his Majesty continually inventing new ways to raise money, as by monopolies and loans; (a case under BALMUTO has already been given.) Among other expedients, he sold the titles of baron, viscount, and earl, at a certain price. Thus a hereditary knight-baronet cost 1095 pounds. The feeble and vacillating mind of James is nowhere so conspicuous as his being haunted by the fear of witches and sorcerers; and for which to discover the secrets of "Satan's invisible world" he put many unfortunate creatures to the torture; till a circumstance occurred in the person of Margaret Aitkin, who, though innocent, confessed herself guilty, and accused others equally innocent, amid the agonies of the torture, that opened the eyes of this paragon of wisdom and of learning; but, as Spottiswood and Tytler inform us, not until the poor wretch was burnt at the stake, in 1597. If a jury brought in a verdict of "not guilty," in a case of witchcraft, James caused the jury to be brought to trial, as was the case, according to Calderwood, in the instance of Barbara Napier; and which jury only saved their own necks by pleading guilty. In 1623, three poor women were burnt for witchcraft in Perth, by James' orders. His conduct in sacrificing the great, the brave Sir Walter Raleigh, to gratify the court of Spain, is an indelible stain on his character. His unnatural conduct to his unfortunate mother, as also the Princess Elizabeth, and his jealousy of Prince Henry, only because the youth was the favourite of the nation, admit of no defence. The first day of the year, which in Scotland had commenced on the 25th of March, was now ordered to be kept in future on the 1st of January, 1600. James, after a splendid but troublesome reign over his three kingdoms, died in 1625; and was succeeded by his son, the unfortunate Charles I.
GEORGE BUCHANAN
James VI. passed his early years in Stirling Castle, under the tuition of George Buchanan, the poet, and who was the faithful historian of the manners of his age, the acute observer of character, the stern opponent of wrong, and the fearless champion of right. Buchanan's bold and manly style of writing, in the 17th book of his history, referring to the assassination of Rizzio, in Holyrood House; his animadversions on the Queen's conduct in this matter; though the work was dedicated to James VI., and was likely to damage his character in the royal estimation, will more than bear me out in the leading remark. He had also been appointed to assist the youthful Queen Mary in her classical studies. He was one of the commissioners for revising the Book of Discipline. He wrote the important work "De Jure Regni apud Scotos;" his "History of Scotland;" and what was most useful, the "Translation of the Psalms;" besides many poems. In all his writings, his style is held to unite the excellencies of Livy and Sallust, besides boing profound and masterly. He has been the admiration of Mr Hallam, Le Clerc, Thuanus, Dr Robertson, Bishop Burnet, Joseph Scaliger, Henry Stephens, and Sir James Mackintosh, besides every man capable of judging of correct and good literature. If he had a fault, it was that of being a violent enemy to Queen Mary, as is too clearly shown in his furious attack, entitled "Detectio Mariæ Reginæ," but which was admirably answered by Adam Blackwood, [A native of Dunfermline, born in 1539] as also by Winzet, Barclay, Sir George Mackenzie, and Sir Thomas Craig, the celebrated lawyer.
One reason for Buchanan's conduct may have been his being the fellow student and friend of Knox. Of several anecdotes given by Dr Irving in his Life of Buchanan, I have selected one of the most interesting:-
"On one occasion the king was diverting himself with young Mar, while Buchanan was intent on reading, and who, finding himself annoyed by their obstreperous mirth, he requested the king to desist; but as no attention was paid to his request, he threatened to accompany his next reproof with something more formidable than words. To this James replied that he would be glad to see who would bell the cat. Buchanan immediately threw aside his book with indignation, and bestowed upon the delinquent that species of scholastic discipline which is deemed most ignominious. The Countess of Mar having overheard the cries of the king, hastened to the scene of his disgrace, and taking him in her arms, she demanded of Buchanan how he dared to lay his hands on the Lord's anointed? To which the venerable preceptor replied, 'Madam, I have skelped his arse, and now you may kiss it if you choose.'"
George Buchanan was born about the beginning of the year 1506, at a farmhouse called the Moss, in the parish of Killearn, and county of Stirling. He died at Edinburgh on the 28th of September, 1582, at the age of 76, and was interred in the Greyfriars' Churchyard, Edinburgh. His poverty was such that he had to be buried at the public expense.
James VI. and Buchanan have been drawn from the works of Calderwood; Spottiswood; Robertson; Aikman; Tytler; Moyse's Memoirs; Melvil's Diary; Melvil's Memoirs; Rushworth's Collections; Cook's Hist., vol. II.; Chambers' Life of King James; Hailes' Secret Correspondence of Sir R. Cecil; Lingard's Hist. of England; and Irving's Life of Buchanan.
INCHKEITH
This is an island in the Firth of Forth, ecclesiastically annexed to the parish of Kinghorn, soon after the Reformation in Scotland. It is about three miles south-east of Pettycur; four miles from Leith; seventeen miles W.N.W. from the Bass Rock; and 22 miles from the isle of May. Latitude 56° 2′ North, longitude 3° 8' West. It is of a long, irregular figure, measuring nearly one mile in length, by the fifth of a mile in breadth, and comprising altogether about 70 acres. At the south-east or narrowest end lies a small rocky islet, called the Longcraig. The rock consists of limestone, with overlying masses of greenstone, basalt, and tufa. Though there is not a single tree that would hang a cat on the island, it is productive of a rich herbage, well suited to the pasturage of cattle or horses, but too rank for the use of sheep. The north and south ends rise gradually to the height of 180 feet above high-water mark, while the east and west sides are precipitous and abrupt. There are an abundant supply of excellent springs of the purest water that is anywhere to be met with; this is collected in the higher parts, and conducted by a leaden pipe to the boat harbour, from which the shipping in Leith Roads is supplied. There are a great number of the common grey rabbits here; its shores abound with fish and oysters, and other kinds of shell-fish, besides seals.
The island was called Keith from a noble family of that name who received it from Malcolm II., “as a reward for killing with his own hand, Camus, a Danish chieftain, at the battle of Barry, in the year 1010." Maitland's History of Edinburgh states that in 1497 all the worst cases of plague were sent to Inchkeith. Lindsay of Pitscottie tells us that James IV. wished to discover what was the natural and original language of the human race, and for which purpose he sent two infants under the charge of a dumb woman, to reside here. They were provided with everything that their situation might require. No person was allowed to speak by signs to the woman. The children ultimately arrived at maturity. The result of the experiment is not recorded; but which may be accounted for by the death of the King at Flodden. Lindsay tells us that "Some say that they spoke good Hebrew, but as to myself, I know not but by the author's report." This reminds me of Voltaire, who tells us in his History of Louis XIV. of France, that his majesty was very anxious to know if an ass could be taught grammar; and for which he ordered a young intellectual ass to be put under the tuition and instruction of the best masters of Paris. But after two years' hard labour the poor ass could only be learnt to bray more harmoniously than before. The experiment was abandoned, to the great joy of the ass. In process of time, Inchkeith was included in the grant of the castle and lands of Kinghorn to Lord Glammis. Lamont says it was bought along with the mill of Kinghorn, and some acres of land, by Sir John Scot of Scotstarvet, in 1649, for 20,000 merks. It now belongs to the family of Buccleuch. For many ages, Inchkeith was fortified, and has been more than once taken by the English, and re-taken by the Scotch. The first lighthouse, with a stationary light, was erected in 1803; this was changed to a revolving light in 1815; and again improved in 1835, by substituting a dioptric light. It is elevated 235 feet above the medium level of the sea. In clear weather, the light is seen at a distance of four or five leagues.
In describing Inchkeith, besides the works quoted, I have to acknowledge the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, Fullerton, Dawson, and Chambers.
KINGLASSIE
This is a parish in Fifeshire. Bounded on the north by the river Leven, which separates it from Leslie; on the south by Dysart and Auchterderran; on the east by Markinch and Dysart; and on the west by Auchterderran, Ballingray, and Portmoak. It is five miles long from east to west, by two and a half in breadth. Area, nearly 6000 acres; under cultivation, 5450; under wood, 350; waste land 200 acres. The surface is intersected by two or three ridges, the two highest hills not passing 200 feet above sea-level; besides moderate ones on the lands of Goatmilk, on one of which, called Redwells, there is a square tower, fully 50 feet from the base, and seen from a considerable distance. Besides having the Leven on the north boundary, the parish is watered by the Lochty, rising on Benarty hill, next to Kinglassie parish, and receiving strength from Bog Lochty, intersects the village of Kinglassie; it is watered by the Orr, rising from the loch in the parish of Ballingry; besides a small streamlet called Sauchie, near the village; these all empty themselves into the Leven at the east boundary of the parish; it is well supplied with springs. There are nearly ten small stone bridges. "The soil is partly a deep clay, and partly a light loam, with some rich pasture meadow." [Fullerton]
The rent of land runs from £1 to £4 per acre. Till within the last 45 years the parish was more or less very marshy land, as may be known from the term Bog Lochty; and some of the close drains on strong clay required to be from six to nine feet deep; by proper draining nearly 350 acres have been rendered fertile or arable land. A good deal of the black horned Fife breed of cattle are kept; and a considerable number of calves are reared. Thrashing mills are numerous, besides three or four flax mills. There are nine heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851, was 1186. Though a good deal of coal exists in the parish, none has been wrought for some years. Limestone is found but is not abundant. There are some freestone quarries. Whinstone is most abundant. Ironstone is found, and more would be discovered were coal wrought. Patron, the Earl of Rothes. Parish church stipend, £236, 19s. 2d.; glebe, £18; a Free church; but no U.P. church. "Parish schoolmaster salary, £34, 4s. 41d.;" [Fullerton] one private school, attendance 45. In 1849 on poor's roll, 26. There are from three to four public houses. In sobriety, industry, morality, and religion, the people are all that could be desired; exceptions, once for all, being granted. There is only one village in the parish.
VILLAGE OF KINGLASSIE
Its population is nearly 400 inhabitants, who consist principally of weavers and mechanics. The Lochty flows through it. Though it is only two miles from Leslie, it is six miles from Kirkcaldy, which is the Post Town, and nearest market town; it is seven miles from Kinghorn. It has two annual fairs; and an agricultural association meets here once a year. A number of carriers go between it and Kirkcaldy There is a brewery for ale and porter. The two churches and schools are in the village. There is a parish library.
The lands and houses in the parish are Inchdairnie, Petuchar, Caskieberren, Finglassie, Leslie Park, Goatmilk, Pitlochy, Kinglassie, Auchmuir, Cluny, and Kinninmont. Inchdairnie is pleasantly situated one mile east from the village, amidst some old plantations. Part of a Danish fort is seen on Goatmilk-hill; and which fort had been more or less carried on from Fifeness to Stirling.
KINGSBARNS
A parish on the east coast of Fife. Its name is derived from the granary or barn used in former ages for storing the grain paid to the Crown, as the rent of lands belonging to it in this district. Bounded on the north by St Andrews; on the south by Crail; on the east by the German Ocean; and on the west by St Leonards and Crail. In length it is nearly four miles, by nearly two miles in breadth; this includes a sixth part of it separated, and surrounded by the parish of Crail. Area, nearly a square of four miles or 3057 Scots acres; under the plough, 2898 and a half; [Fullerton] under wood, 148; waste land, 10 acres. The shore is low and rocky, presenting a long line of rugged front, with one prominent headland at Randerstone; and notwithstanding the rocky wall, affording a resistance to the furious swell of the German Ocean during easterly gales, the sea is making obvious encroachments; of this I saw proof after an absence of nearly 30 years. Though there are two elevations of ground, there is nothing deserving the name of a hill. Besides being watered by burns, it has the advantage of the Kenlowie, a small river that divides the parish of Kingsbarns from St Andrews; this has its rise near Cupar, and after a course of six miles it falls into St Andrews bay a little below Byrehills. "The soil of the east part of the parish towards the shore is light and sandy, but fertile, west of which it is generally a deep black loam, in some parts tending to clay. In the west and higher division of the parish the soil is rather inferior, in many places strong and heavy, and in others thin clay and muirish.” [Fullerton] The rent of land will average £3, 15s. This parish is an agricultural one; as usual much attention is bestowed on tile-draining; a considerable number of the Fife breed of cattle are fattened for the butcher, and others sold from the straw-yard for the grass. No sheep are kept here; a good deal of potatoes are raised; there are fully eighteen thrashing mills, and one meal mill. There are eight heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Popuation in 1851, was 893. Though much coal exists in the parish, it is not wrought because of the expense required to remove the underground water; for which reason coal is both scarce and dear, as the nearest pits are eight and ten miles distant; the general supply is therefore brought by sea, from Charleston in the parish of Dunfermline, and some from Newcastle. Limestone is found sufficient for local purposes; and which is the more to be regretted, as I found its adhesive power fully equal to Lord Elgin's lime. There is a good freestone quarry at the shore, but rendered nearly useless for common purposes in the upper part of the parish, owing to the expense of carriage; and the whinstone, though good, is not abundant. From this view of the mineral productions, we see that nature has given a fine sample of each, but a supply of nothing. Some ironstone is likewise found at the shore, but in the same niggardly quantity. Weaving gives employment to upwards of 30 looms, on which are wrought dowlas and osnaburgh. The only other branch of industry is a few boats employed in skate and hand-line fishing, with the lobster and crab, giving employment to a few hands. I may here remark, that as usual in all the coasting villages on the Fife shore of the Forth, a number take to the seafaring line of life, in which some remain; while others return in winter, and follow their old employments of weaving, or other trades. Patron, Earl of Glasgow. Parish church stipend, £267, 8s. 10d.; glebe, £29, 15s.; there is no dissenting church in the parish. Parish schoolmaster salary, £34, 4s. 43d.; besides one private school. In 1849, on poor's roll, 24. There are four public-houses in the parish; certainly too many for the small population. There is only one village.
VILLAGE OF KINGSBARNS
It is three miles from Crail, the Post Town, but a post runner goes through the village on his way to St Andrews; it is five miles from Fifeness; six and a half miles from St Andrews; and seven miles from Anstruther. The nearest market towns are St Andrews and Anstruther. It is 17 miles from Cupar. There are two annual fairs, but they are by no means attended now as they used to be. The parish church is here; as also a subscription library. Nearly two-thirds of the population live in the village. The habits, morality, and religion of the people are good. Kingsbarns was disjoined from the parish of Crail in 1631.
"Near the north boundary of the parish is Pitmilly, the residence of David Monypenny, Esq., lately one of the Lords of Session and Justiciary. The family of Monypenny is of great antiquity in Scotland, and have held the lands of Pitmilly for upwards of 600 years." [Fullerton] The old mansion and lands of Cambo first belonged to the Camboes of that ilk, then to a family called Myreton or Morton, and ultimately to the Erskines. The property of Kippo originally belonged to the Berkeleys or Barclays. Kilduncan at first belonged to the family of Duddingston. The property of Randerston, in the disjoined portion of the parish, surrounded by Crail, first belonged to the Mortons; then to Michael Balfour, Sir David Balfour, and James Balfour in succession, according to Sibbald. These names should be borne in mind, as they are often found in history.
As frequently occurs in Fife, several stone coffins, containing human bones, have been dug up near the sea-shore.
KINROSS-SHIRE
This is a small inland county, situated at the west extremity of the county of Fife, from which it was first separated in the year 1426, and completely so in 1685.
Much learned ink has been wasted in tracing the derivation of its name, but without the smallest success. It is enough for us to know that this county formed a part of the "Kingdom of Fife," and which Buchanan, Sibbald, and Irvine [Irvine's Historia Scoticæ Nomenclatura.] tell us that in the ancient language of the Picts the whole county was called Ross. It is bounded on the east and south by Fifeshire, and on the west and north by Perthshire. It is separated from Fifeshire by the Lomond hills, Benarty hill, and Cleish hills; while the Ochil hills separate it from Strathearn on the north. Its length from east to west, that is, from Auchmuir Bridge, over the river Leven, to Fossaway kirk, is eleven and a quarter miles; and from Kelty Bridge on the south, to Damhead on the north, is nine and three-quarter miles; it is about 30 miles in circumference; Area, 70 square miles, or about 45,000 imperial acres; of which 30,000 are arable, 3000 in wood, and 4500 in water, consisting principally of Loch Leven. The great north road from Edinburgh to Perth enters between Benarty and the Cleish hills, intersects the county from south to north, and crosses the north barrier of the Ochils by Glenfarg, a romantic vale or pass, at Blair-Adam; on the north-east there is another opening, between the Ochil and Lomond hills, that leads to Cupar; and on the west, at the Crook of Devon, there is a level road towards Stirling. The county may be described as an open vale or plain, environed in uplands and hills.
Till within the past 60 years, the county was more or less covered with forest, barren hills, morass, or water, and was one of the most unproductive districts in Scotland; the more so, on account of the climate in the higher grounds being cold and wet, and frosts setting in somewhat more early and continuing longer than in the adjacent districts to the south; yet such has been the rapid progress of the all-powerful efforts man, that by draining, inclosing, planting, liming, skill and capital, it will now bear a comparison with many of the neighbouring counties. While the hilly parts are fenny and barren, they afford excellent pastures. The less elevated parts are light and sandy; the low grounds are somewhat inclined to clay. At least three-fifths of the surface are under the plough. Property is here very much subdivided, and mostly occupied by small resident owners, feuars of the estate of Kinross, which occurred about the end of the 17th century. The farms will run from 40 to 300 acres. "The crops cultivated in this county are chiefly oats, barley, and pease. Wheat is seldom sown. Artificial grasses, consisting of clover and rye-grass, are also cultivated. Considerable attention has lately been paid to turnips; but potatoes are far more generally reared as a fallow crop." [Dawson]
There are no coal works established in the county. Limestone is found in abundance, and wrought in the Lomond hills. Freestone of the finest quality is wrought at the quarries in the parish of Cleish. Whinstone is met with in any part of the county. "The hills are mostly composed of coarse whinstone, in some of the fissures of which occur small veins of lead ore." [Fullerton]
Weaving cotton for the manufacturers of Glasgow, and manufacturing tartan shawls and plaids, gives employment to a considerable number of people.
"The population in 1801 was 6725; and in 1851 it was 8913. In 1849 on poor's roll, 149; cas., 155; ins. or fatuous, 8; orphans or deserted, 12. Received from assessment and other sources, £878, 16s. 7d.; expended, £942, 17s. 7d. In 1849, the total number of offenders was 13, of whom four were tried before the Circuit Court of Justiciary; three by the Sheriff with a jury and three without a jury. Of these eleven could only read, or read and write imperfectly." [Dawson]
The county contains four parishes:- Cleish, Kinross, Orwell, and Portmoak. Besides which, part of the parishes of Fossaway and Arngask are in this county. There is only one town, which is Kinross. There is only one principal village, namely Milnathort. As a sheriffdom, the county is united with that of Clackmannan; which two shires unite in sending a Member to Parliament. Constituency in 1851-2 was 574. Assessed property in 1842-3 was £43,941. Loch Leven Castle abounds in historical interest, and will be duly taken notice of under LOCH LEVEN.
The county lies between 3° 14′ and 3° 35′ West longitude, and between 56° 9′ and 56° 18' North latitude.
For much of the above outline I acknowledge myself indebted to the masterly works of Fullerton, Dawson, and Chambers, though the county underwent a careful personal inspection in the years 1823, 1828, and 1844.
KINROSS
This is one of the parishes of Kinross-shire. Its name was formerly written Kynross, and in title deeds, Kinrossium. Bounded on the north by Orwell; on the south by Portmoak and Cleish; on the east by Lochleven, and a part of Orwell; and on the west by Fossaway and Tullibole. Its length is three and three-quarter miles from north to south; and three and a half from east to west. Area, 5600 acres. Under cultivation, 4500 acres; under pasture, 500; under wood, 220; black moorish soil, on a barren subsoil, 280; moss, on a cold sand and clay bed, 100 acres. The parish though surrounded with hills, is itself level, and nowhere rises 100 feet above Loch Leven. It is watered by three small rivers, which fall into Loch Leven; these are, the North Quiech, rising among the Ochils in the north-west corner of the parish of Orwell, and runs south-east to Loch Leven, a little below the village of Milnathort; the South Quiech, rising in the Ochils, one and a half miles north-west of the North Quiech, running south-east through the parish, to Loch Leven, at the town of Kinross; and the Gairney, rising in the Cleish hills, running to Thratemuir, then east to the Bridge of Gairney, and falls into Loch Leven two miles from Kinross. Besides those mentioned, Loch Leven receives the Orwell; the parish is also watered by several burns; and has a number of the finest springs of water. There are thirteen stone bridges, all in good condition. The surface is principally a thin black loam; with some parts of a deep black alluvial surface on a sandy or gravelly bed; while other parts have a great admixture of clay. [Dawson, and Fullerton] Rent of land runs from £1 to £4, 10s. Notwithstanding the climate of this parish being moist, cold, and variable, every means has been used to overcome the elements and the soil, by draining, stone fences, thorn hedges, planting, liming, and other improvements; so much so, as not only to produce good crops of grain, but to have banished ague from the district, which for ages had been the scourge of the parish, as it had been over all Fifeshire. The Rev. Dr Buchanan tells us that there are 274 horses in the parish; 52 colts; 9 bulls; 332 cows; 329 calves; 646 other cattle; 367 sheep; swine; and 22 thrashing machines. [New Statistical Account] There are eighteen heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. In 1851, the population of the parish was 3227. Coal has to be brought from Kelty, or from Lochgelly. Though much excellent freestone is wrought, there is a greater quantity of a very coarse quality; enough of good whinstone, fit for road metal, is wrought for local use. There are three mills in the parish, one called the Kinross mill, for grain; the Balleave, and the West Tillyochie mills, used in the manufacturing of tartan. There are upwards of 600 persons engaged in weaving ginghams, pullicates, and checks for Glasgow; tartan shawls, plaids, and other articles of female dress; besides in the manufacture of damasks from Dunfermline. There is an excellent trout-fishery on Loch Leven, which is let at about £200 of yearly rent. [Fullerton] The patron is Sir Graham Montgomery. Parish church stipend, £199, 10s. 5d.; glebe, £35; there are two U.P. churches, besides a Free church. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; besides seven private schools. In 1849, on poor's roll, 65. In my stay at Kinross, I found much more of the old independent spirit existing among the people, than is to be seen in most other parishes anywhere; indeed, spirit and shame are rapidly giving place to the most servile hypocrisy and dissimulation; of this I have seen too much while inspecting the parishes of all the three counties.
TOWN OF KINROSS
It stands at the west end of Loch Leven, which when viewed with its handsome county-hall and jail, its town-hall, elegant parish church, a good main street, with subordinate ones lighted with gas; two libraries, branches of the British Linen, City of Glasgow, and Edinburgh and Glasgow Banks; a Saving's Bank; a gas establishment (though out of the town;) four annual fairs; a weekly market; a post office; two U.P. churches; several benevolent societies; two large and handsome inns, besides smaller ones; a total abstinence society; a public reading room; a curling club; a police; and frequent cattle shows. All these, I repeat, give to the whole an active and pleasant appearance; and certainly very different to the dirty, crooked, and dark abode it was in 1793, when its streets were first lighted by lamps. In 1851 the population was 2590.
The town is governed by a committee of the inhabitants, who are elected annually at a public meeting. Formerly the manufacturing of linen and cutlery, were the principal trades. The Great North Road from Edinburgh to Perth intersects the town throughout its length.
The distance from Kinross to Milnathort is one and three-quarter miles; to Kelty, five miles; to the Crook-of-Devon, six miles; to Dron, six and a half miles; to Beath, seven miles; to Strathmiglo, eight miles; to the Crossgates, nine miles; to Bridge of Earn, ten miles; to Dollar, twelve miles; to Inverkeithing, thirteen miles ; to Dunfermline, fourteen and three-quarter miles; to Perth, fourteen miles; to Kirkcaldy, fourteen miles; to Burntisland, fourteen miles; to Alloa, eighteen miles; to Cupar, nineteen miles; to Stirling, 23 miles; and to Edinburgh 27 miles.
ANECDOTE
During a short stay at Kinross in May, 1823, I received the following anecdote from a very intelligent gentleman:-
On one occasion a clergyman was riding to Inverkeithing, to assist at a sacrament; and when nearly two-thirds on his way, he halted at a road-side public house, where, without dismounting, he called for half a gill. He was told by the servant maid that her master and mistress were on before him for the same church, and that they had locked up the measures, and left out only the bottle. To this the minister replied "Never mind, my woman, bring the bottle, my mouth just holds half a gill." The order was obeyed; but the young woman kept a lynx-eye on his efforts of deglutition. The reverend gentleman paid for the half gill; on which the servant said - "Ee na, sir, ye took three half gills; for I saw yer bandees play wiggy waggy three times." Finding himself convicted, he paid the claim and left, no doubt much refreshed, and better informed of the intelligence of a country servant girl.
INCIDENT
In 1565, Regent Murray formed a plot to way-lay Queen Mary as she passed through Kinross, from Perth; intending to seize and imprison his Sovereign. Her Majesty was too quick for the Regent. Having got a hint of the danger, she passed through Kinross just two hours before the arrival of Murray's emissaries on their traitorous purpose. In this act, Murray's object was good; the failure of which is much to be deplored. Had he succeeded, he would have prevented her marriage with the infamous Darnley, and with the still more dastardly Bothwell. Nay, more, he would have saved her head:
LOCH LEVEN
This magnificent sheet of water has engaged the pen of the historian, the contemplative eye of the tourist, and the pencil of the painter, ever since the days of the unfortunate Queen Mary's incarceration within the walls of its renowned Castle.
In its original state it was fifteen miles in circumference, extending over 4638 imperial acres, and nearly 19 feet in depth; while now, it is barely twelve miles in circumference, with an area of 3543 acres, and depth of 14 feet. [Report of Dr. Fleming of Aberdeen.]
The difference was brought about by a considerable drainage, with a view of reclaiming one or two thousand acres of lands, by which the grasping disposition of man was to be rewarded; but after an outlay of nearly £35,000 the land proved to be little better than a bed of sand; so that with the exception of some mill-owners, it has never paid its expense, besides giving rise to endless difficulties and disputes. The lake receives the Orwell and all the other streams of the county. It is studded with four little islands. The vale of Kinross, with its fine spreading trees, the town, and Kinross House, are seen to great advantage on the west and north-west sides. It is bounded on the north by the plain of Orwell; a part of the Lomond hills terminates on the north-east; and Benarty hill on the south-east. In this direction the River Leven flows from the lake, "and, after a course almost due east of thirteen miles, falls into the sea at the town of Leven. It is joined by the Lothry a short way below Leslie House, and by the Orr half-a-mile above Cameron-bridge." "Its current is very rapid, having a fall of no less than 310 feet in the above distance." [Fullerton]
About a mile east from the town, but near the lake, are the ruins of Burleigh Castle. The principal island of the four already adverted to is opposite the town, and is about five acres in extent, on which stand the ruins of the Castle, built by a King of the Picts. The great tower of the Castle is four storeys in height; of a square form; with walls of six feet thick. Its main entrance was on the second floor, which was reached by an outside stair and a drawbridge. The principal apartment fronted the entrance, and was provided with a wooden floor hinged on one side, and a bolt or spring at the other, by which, if overcome by an enemy, they could in a moment send all on it into the dungeon below. [Sir Walter Scott, and Keith, vol. ii.]
Loch Leven Castle was besieged by the English in 1301, which ended in Sir John Comyn raising the siege. [Balfour's Annals.]
In 1335 Allan Vypont held the Castle in the interest of David II., against Sir John Strevelyn, who had besieged it, but who was ultimately compelled to raise the siege, with great loss to the English. This was brought about by taking advantage of Strevelyn's absence, with most of his troops, who had gone to celebrate the festival of St Margaret at Dunfermline. Vypont seized the favourable opportunity on the 19th of June, rushed out and carried all before him, with considerable slaughter. [Fordun, Abercromby, Buchanan, and Sir David Dalrymple.]
In 1429, Archibald Earl of Douglas was committed a prisoner to the same castle, for unbecoming language to James I. [New Statistical Account - Kinross.]
In 1484, the eminent Patrick Graham, of primitive simplicity, was imprisoned in the Castle, after having first been incarcerated in Inchcolm, and then in the monastery of Dunfermline. The Castle was also the prison in which the poor Earl of Northumberland was confined for three years, in 1569, after his rebellion in England, where he was defeated, and took refuge in Scotland, where protection was promised him. He was basely betrayed.
All the past on this celebrated Castle is but as a drop of water taken from the ocean compared with the imprisonment of the beautiful, the talented, the unfortunate Queen Mary! on whom history, tongue, and pencil-friend and foe, are still actively engaged. Before going further, I may state that the Castle was popularly called the Lion's Den, from the circumstance that the Regent Morton, like a fox, retired to it when in danger, and watched the progress of events.
In June, 1567, the enemies of the Queen made a sudden attempt to secure her and Bothwell, with 1000 men, while her Majesty was unprepared; but as usual, too quick for the best of them, she contrived to go with Bothwell to the Castle of Borthwick, the seat of the Laird of Crookston, in Edinburghshire, ten miles from Edinburgh. [Robertson the historian was born in the manse of Borthwick, of which his father was minister.]
This was three weeks after her unfortunate marriage. Here again they were taken by surprise while sitting at supper, by Morton and his force, who surrounded the Castle. The Queen once more escaped their vigilance, as we are told by Lord Herries, who says that the Queen was disguised in man's apparel, booted and spurred; and Bothwell disguised in a woman's habit; and in the night deceived the guards, and rode off to Dunbar Castle. On the 14th of June the Queen and Bothwell left Dunbar with 2000 men, and were entrenched on Carberry hill, about eight miles from Edinburgh, on the 15th. The opposite force, though not so numerous, were chiefly of the higher classes, better disciplined, and had more courage. After viewing the movements of each other during the day, the Queen's troops gradually dwindled away to little more than the half; observing this, her Majesty sent for the gallant Kirkaldy of Grange, and surrendered herself into the hands of the insurgents, after obtaining a solemn assurance that they would abide by the terms of their engagement. With the single exception of Kirkaldy, her majesty was taken to Edinburgh more like a low criminal than the Sovereign of Scotland; and that, as Calderwood says, when she was ready to faint from fatigue and want of refreshment. Such was the conduct of noblemen who called themselves men of honour, and who could trample on a fallen foe, and that foe a woman! Her Majesty was not taken to Holyrood Palace, but confined in the provost's house, (which was James Henderson of Fordell's town house); and there refused a change of clothes, and a woman to attend her; and this on the authority of Keith. Lest the citizens should rise, and rescue the Queen, she was next morning removed to Holyrood Palace, under a strong guard. On the evening of that day (16th of June,) "Mary was compelled to ride thirty miles to Lochleven Castle, mounted on a miserable hack." [Pict. Hist. of Scot.]
The royal captive rode between Lord Ruthven and Lord Lindsay of the Byres, "men familiar with blood, and of savage and fierce manners;" besides being surrounded by a strong guard. In appearance, Mary, once the boast of the nation, and the admiration of Europe, now presented a picture of the most degraded and abject humiliation; deserted by friends, sycophants, parasites, and flatterers; and left to taste the bitterness of the gall and wormwood preparing for her daily food. "Relentlessly pursued by her enemies, she was even more endangered by the falsehood, treachery, ambition, and cold-blooded cruelty of her once boasted friends, and apparently most devoted adherents." [Pict. Hist. of Scot.]
Thus, Tullibardine, the Comptroller, brother-in-law of the Earl of Mar, told the English ambassador Throckmorton, that "within the last forty-eight hours, the Archbishop of St. Andrews, on the part of the Hamiltons, has proposed to us to put the Queen to death." [Throckmorton to Elizabeth, July 27, 1567.]
Be this as it may, on her arrival she was placed under the surveillance of William Douglas, the brother uterine of Murray. "Her accommodation was most wretched," and rendered more so by the severe and insulting treatment of "Lady Lochleven." The Queen employed her time in working a flowered crimson velvet bed, and which is now in Scone Palace. To crown her misfortunes, she was compelled to attach her signature to the abdication of the throne, by the threats of the brutal Lindsay, whose iron hand made the weeping sovereign understand that worse than imprisonment awaited her in case of a refusal. This "brought to a close the first act of this most tragic history of the beautiful, but erring and suffering, daughter of the house of Stewart."
The Queen's first attempt to escape from prison, in the disguise of a laundress, was through the assistance of George Douglas, the younger brother of the owner of the Castle; but she was detected by the delicate whiteness of her hands and arms. She was conveyed back to her prison, and young Douglas dismissed from Loch Leven. Her second and last successful attempt, through the same agency, on the 2d of May, 1568, was by a page having stolen the keys, which enabled her to get out, locking the gate, and throwing the keys into the lake to prevent pursuit. Miss Strickland tells us that Jane Kennedy, a female attendant, had not been quick enough to the Castle gates till they were locked by the retreating party, but who nevertheless leaped from the Queen's chamber window, on the third floor, into the loch, and, striking out, swam stoutly after the boat till she overtook it and was received in her dripping garments within that little ark. I may inform the reader that the same authority states that this true-hearted heroine was doomed to find a watery grave two-and-twenty years after this noble action. Before the close of this article, we shall find that even this discarded Queen had true friends, "but like the angels, few and far between." Her Majesty found it necessary to avoid the parish of Kirkcaldy in her flight, because of the Laird of Raith, Henry Balnaves, who had persecuted her from her cradle. Tytler states that the keys were discovered by a boy wading on the margin of the lake in 1805, at the close of a very dry autumn. They were very much covered with rust. "The keys of Lochleven Castle are now in the Museum of the Antiquarian Society, Edinburgh." That they were the real keys in question has been clearly proved by certain marks, though my limits deny me the power of leading evidence. As we now leave Loch Leven for the last time, I cannot do better than give the following lines from a native of the county, on a castle in which were acted many of the darkest tragedies that ever soiled the page of history.
"No more its arches echo to the noise
Of joy and festive mirth; no more the glance
Of blazing taper through its windows beams,
And quivers on the undulating wave;
But naked stand the melancholy walls,
Lash'd by the wintry tempests, cold and bleak,
And whistle mournfully through the empty hall,
And piecemeal crumble down the tower to dust."
[Poems by Michael Bruce.]
On reaching the shore, Mary gallopped first to the Ferry, and without drawing bridle, to Niddry Castle, (parish of Kirkliston,) "having been joined on the road by Lord Claud Hamilton with 50 horse." Here she rested for a few hours. She then proceeded to Hamilton Castle, (in Lanarkshire,) where many of the nobles soon brought around the Queen an army of 6000 men. Here the historian is startled by finding that the Hamiltons and many of the nobles, only lately her secret enemies, were now willing to risk a battle in her defence. Nay, "a bond was at the same time drawn up, pledging all who adhered to it to fight to the last; and to this bond were attached the signatures of nine earls, nine bishops, eighteen lords, twelve abbots and priors, and nearly one hundred barons." The result was a battle at Langside, (an eminence within sight of Glasgow.) The army of the Regent was 1000 men less than that of the Queen. The contest lasted only three quarters of an hour; but during which short period it was fought with the utmost fury and desperation, when the Queen's troops had to give way. The loss of the battle was owing to the want of generals able to conduct it, such as Kirkaldy of Grange, who fought on the opposite side; and to the want of field ordnance. Amongst others killed on the Queen's side, was Balwearie (a Fife man,) and Hamilton of Bothwell-haugh, the assassin of the Regent Moray. Her Majesty, who stood on a rising ground, no sooner saw her army give way, and that the battle was gained by the Regent, than she fled to the Abbey of Dundrennan, (Kirkcudbrightshire,) fourteen miles from the Solway Frith, attended by her best friend Lord Herries. The distance the Queen rode was sixty miles, and that without ever stopping. She arrived in the evening; rested all night, and embarked on her ill-starred voyage to England, in opposition to the strenuous objections and remonstrance of Lord Herries. Yes, to England, "where she had often been promised a safe and honourable asylum by Elizabeth." In place of protection, she found a prison, of which death alone was to open the door at the end of 18 years. To obtain possession of Mary, nothing was too base for the unprincipled duplicity of Elizabeth - that fiend of hypocrisy and of blood! justice, honour, sex, and humanity were equally sacrificed. Thus was Mary almost constantly over-reached by her less scrupulous opponents. "She was from the very outset of her career the tool, the puppet, and the victim of others." But, as is well remarked by Rapin, a beautiful historian of Queen Mary, though a Frenchman, who says," the mainspring of all-of the murder of Rizzio and Darnley, the marriages, the rebellion, the deposition, the hopeless captivity, and execution-was the base and perfidious Elizabeth." Yes, she who led the innocent Earl of Essex to the scaffold,-one whom she professed to love and adore! In drawing the character of Elizabeth, we must not forget her cruelty to the Puritans, many of whom suffered death at her hands, notwithstanding her religious pretensions.
Had the unfortunate Queen been married to Edward VI. of England, as was proposed by the English, it would have averted the mischief, the misery, and the death that attended her. Nay more, it would have stopped the mutual animosities of the two nations; and would have stemmed the ocean of blood that flowed during that eventful period. But the Scotch nobility opposed the union.
Mary was at last brought to trial. With dignity and firmness she denied the jurisdiction of the Court, and conducted herself with calmness and courage, pointing out many defects in the evidence. Justice, however, was denied her, and therefore she was condemned. Elizabeth, while she was hypocritically affecting much reluctance at signing the death-warrant, was urging Mary's keepers to put her privately to death.” Mary ascended the scaffold on the 8th of February, 1587; laid her head upon the block with calm courage; "and at two strokes the executioner severed her head from her body." Thus perished, in the forty-fourth year of her age, Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots. When we look at the dark characters that figured in the drama around her, we are constrained to admit that her imprudence in marrying the barbarous fool Darnley, and the unprincipled villain Bothwell, must be imputed "rather to the fault of the times than to any depravity in herself."
The above tragic history calls for the following remarks and critical reflections.
Throckmorton, the English ambassador, a man of honour and integrity, and friendly to Queen Mary, does not hesitate to avow his opinion that, as the Hamiltons were next heirs to the crown, they would have been very willing to see both Mary and her son privately despatched. [Throckmorton to Elizabeth, 18th July, 1567.]
The Pictorial History well remarks, that "there is, therefore, little doubt that Mary was the victim of a conspiracy on the part of Morton and his unprincipled associates;" to which might have been added, a villain still worse than Morton, and that was Sir James Balfour of Montquhany - (a Fife man,) a man on whom the Queen showered her favours from first to last, one in whom her Majesty had the most perfect confidence, and that because he professed to inform her of the plots of her enemies, as indeed, he did, having betrayed them while he was betraying her. However incredible this may appear, history will much more than bear me out. His first act of ingratitude was to be "the original deviser of the murder of Darnley;" his last was to plot the destruction, and the death of his benefactress. Nay, he was at the battle of Langside, "and was instrumental in obtaining that decisive victory against her." Another villain, equally in the Queen's confidence, was Robert Melvill, brother to Sir James; he too was false to his royal mistress. He made himself envoy to Mary in order to betray her to Queen Elizabeth.
The famous silver casket, said to have contained indubitable proofs of the guilt of Mary, and professed to have been found in the Castle of Edinburgh, was, it is more than probable, a tissue of falsehood and forgery. It has been well remarked, that "there is one circumstance to be taken into account in judging of the truth or falsehood of this story, namely, that in the confidential letters of Drury to Cecil at this period, written from day to day, and containing the minutest information respecting all the current events of the period, there is no allusion to the discovery of such papers as implicated Mary, which, if it had been made, could hardly have escaped the notice of so acute an observer." [Pict. Hist. of Scotland.]
Chateauneuf tells us that Elizabeth affected to receive the tidings of Mary's death with overwhelming astonishment, indignation, and sorrow. With the mimic emotion of a tragedy queen, her countenance changed, she gasped in vain to find utterance, and stood for some time fixed like a statue in silent amazement. This done, she tried another act, and, with great artistic skill, gave way to one of her favourite outbursts of violent passion. Her third act of hypocrisy was to gave vent to loud wailings, tears, and lamentations. [Letter to the King, 27th of February, 1587, and Pict. Hist. of Scotland.] Her tears must have been those of the crocodile, for she had signed the death-warrant; and even done worse, as has been already adverted to.
Many enemies have written against Queen Mary; two-thirds of whom have done so from ignorance of her history; indolence and bigotry have caused them to rest on the authority of Hume, whose policy was to hold up Queen Elizabeth at the expense of Mary. Yet even Knox and Buchanan tore her to atoms, and only because she was a Catholic; such is the length that bigotry will go even with great men. Buchanan, nevertheless, met with his match, in the person of Adam Blackwood, a zealous defender of Queen Mary, whose statements are quoted by Miss Strickland, in her recent "Life of Queen Mary." Blackwood was born at Dunfermline in the year 1539. His education was under the charge of his grand-uncle, Robert Reid, Bishop of Orkney, and president of the Court of Session. Blackwood's work is entitled "Martyre de la Royne d'Escosse." Lesley, Winzet, Barclay, Sir Thomas Craig, and others, have been warm advocates of the unfortunate Mary. It is, moreover, evident, that as Mr Tytler's work, and all the best authors, are carefully studied, coupled with the spirit of the age, this sovereign will, like Cromwell, receive that justice her memory is entitled to. In being Mary's advocate, I am not blind to her errors, neither do I mean to conceal that she was aware of the death of Darnley before its occurrence. In the first place,-" Who can throw the first stone?" if ye be real Christians; in the second place, she never thought he was to have been blown into the air by gunpowder; lastly the reader will have to turn over to the parish of WEMYSS, where he will find provocation more than sufficient to account for her rash act in giving her consent. But admitting for a moment that she had been his immediate murderer; did ever the vilest criminal receive the slow torturing treatment she had to endure for 18 years, living between hope and despair, before the axe stopped the pendulum, and thus closed a disgraceful drama!
The reader is here reminded of the cold, the callous-hearted James VI., son of Mary Stewart, whom she loved and adored; for whom she resigned her crown; to whom she looked forward for redress, for liberty, for happiness in the evening of her age! Yet never did he make a single vigorous effort to rescue his mother, though Hamilton threatened the invasion of England with 10,000 men, while she was in the Border prison. This he stopped; and why? only that the selfish wretch might ingratiate himself into the favour of Queen Elizabeth, and so pave the way to the throne of England.
I cannot close her eventful history without remarking, that while thousands might have contributed their strength, their riches, their power, or their counsel - few had more than a sigh to offer - and none but Lesley had a tear to spare!
Queen Mary was executed at Fotheringay Castle, which had been so long her prison. Fotheringay is a town of Northamptonshire, nine miles south of Stamford. Here are the ruins of a very ancient Castle, in which the illustrious King Richard III. was born. It was destroyed by order of James VI.
The same shift in which the Queen lost her head was made a present to her great-grand-son James VII., by the priests of St Winifred's chapel, in Flintshire, Wales, in 1686; which place he visited to inspect a well underneath, which throws out 21 tons of water every minute.
The next island on Loch Leven, out of four, deserving of attention, is St. Serf's island at the East end; on which stood a monastery, said to be upwards of a thousand years old.
Loch Leven is two miles from Loch Ore. The drainage of the lake "has been the destruction of some of the species of the fish, together with the diminution of the number and deterioration of the quality of others." Some of the trout have weighed 8lbs.; and one was caught nearly 18 lbs.; and pike has been caught weighing 2 stones, 14 lb. to the stone. So much for killing the goose for the golden eggs.
Like Inverkeithing, the parish of Kinross had its gallows' knowe, at Lathro; and which was the place of public execution. I wonder if the situation of the hangman was a company concern with another parish, because if not, I would pity the poor fellow.
The eminent characters of this parish were Sir William Bruce, who was architect to Charles II., and designed the Palace of Holyrood, as also Hopetoun and Moncreiff Houses; and built the mansion-house of Kinross, which was intended for the residence of James VII. It was built in 1685, "from the fines levied on the Covenanters." The late distinguished Professor of General Pathology in the University of Edinburgh was a native of this parish - a name that will go down for ages with the profession of Medicine; and of whom I am proud to say I was a pupil.
The materials with which the above long article has been constructed, including the second part of the history of Queen Mary, have been carefully collected from the following authors. These have not been hurriedly consulted for the "Gazetteer," but have been the gradual result of close research during the past 47 years; the Queen having always been a pet subject:
David Hume; Robertson's Hist., vol. I.; Keith, vol. II.; Melvil's Memoirs; Bell's Life of Queen Mary, chap. XXIII.; Buchanan, vol. II.; Anderson's Collection, vols. I., II., IV.; Lord Herries' Hist. of Queen Mary; Knox, p. 449 ; Calderwood, vol. II.; Spottiswood; Chalmers' Life of Queen Mary; Labanoff, vol. II.; Laing's "Dissertations on the murder of Darnley;" Riddell, in Blackwood's Magazine, Oct., 1817; Tytler, vol. VII.; and Goodall, vol. II.; besides works already quoted.
KIRKCALDY
This parish is on the shore of the Frith of Forth, in Fife. It derives its name from the town of Kirkcaldy, where there was in ancient times a Culdee place of worship; whence the name Kilculda, "the cell of the Culdees," afterwards corrupted into Kirkcaldy. Bounded on the south by the Forth; on the north by Dysart and Auchterderran; on the east by Dysart; and on the west by Abbotshall. It is two and a half miles in length from north to south, and scarcely one mile in breadth from east to west. Originally it included the present parish of Abbotshall, but which was disjoined from Kirkcaldy in 1650. The great increase of population justified the act. Area, 1050 acres; under wood, 195 acres; after deducting the burgh, all the rest is under cultivation. The sea-coast embraces its entire breadth on the south; the sea-beach is level, with beautiful sands; to the north or back of the town, the ground gradually rises to an elevation of 300 feet above sea-level; in stating this, I should say that the rise is gradual for a short way north, then it rises rather abruptly. It is watered by the East Burn, which receives two tributaries in its course, and falls into the sea at the meeting of the parishes of Kirkcaldy and Dysart. The richly wooded banks of this rivulet, intersected with walks, and adorned with wild flowers, gives it a most romantic and beautiful appearance. The soil at the back of the town, and for some short distance, that is, till the ground rises abruptly, is dry rich loam, and very productive; further north the soil is retentive, cold, wet, and clayey; the north extremity of the parish, called the town's common moor, is of little value, notwithstanding every effort to improve it; the soil on the south of the High Street is very sandy. Rent of land near the town is from £4, 10s. to £6, 10s. per acre; on inferior soil, and further north, it runs from £2 to £3, 5s. per acre. From the smallness of the parish, the agricultural part calls for no remarks. There are six heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. The Statistical Account for 1845 states that "there is only one coal-pit in operation at present. It is 46 fathoms deep. The bed of coal is five feet in thickness; but the expense of turning out this coal is much increased, in consequence of its being composed of two seams, separated by a stratum of clay fifteen inches thick." The same authority informs us that "above the coal, which is now being wrought, there is a bed of whinstone eight fathoms thick." Considerable quantities of iron ore are also found in this coalfield in globular masses.
The wealth of this parish consists in its manufactures and commerce. The manufacture of linen, flax-spinning, bleaching, and machine-making, was little known in this parish till 1733; and at that period no more than 177,740 yards of linen were manufactured in this district, and this included the parishes of Abbotshall, Dysart, Leslie, etc.; this would leave but a small proportion to Kirkcaldy. Nevertheless, every encouragement was given for the introduction of hecklers, bleachers, and others required in the trade; so that in 1750, the linen trade had increased to the value of £22,000 sterling, when the war with America interrupted the intercourse with that nation and the West Indies; so much so, that in 1773 the manufacture had declined and fallen to £15,000 sterling. They were now shut out of Holland and Flanders. Every month added new disasters, till an angel of blessedness arose, in the person of Mr James Fergus, an enterprising manufacturer of the period, who had the courage to go to England, a nation already too envious of the Scotch, and open up an extensive market for the manufactures of Kirkcaldy; and since which time they have gone on rapidly increasing. "In 1792, they employed about 810 looms, of which 250 were in the parish, 300 in the parish of Abbotshall, about 100 in Dysart, about 60 in Largo, and the rest in other parishes. The total value of the manufacture at that time was supposed to be about £45,000 sterling." [Fullerton] The manufactures of Kirkcaldy consist at present almost exclusively in weaving linen, sheetings, dowlas, checks, ticks, sailcloth, and coarse cottons. "In 1838, there were ten flax-mills; and in 1839, nearly 1000 looms at work." [Dawson] The weaving is wrought partly by powerlooms, and partly by the hand-loom. It requires little foresight to see that erelong the whole of these goods will be wrought by the power-loom. Without entering into the disputed question of the good or bad effects of machinery on weavers, I entirely concur with Mr John Hill Burton, who tells us in his able work on "Political and Social Economy," 1849, that unless weavers give up the deeply-rooted habit of learning their children the same trade, they will shortly all fall a burden on the parish; while by sending them to other trades they would rise in society, and add to the wealth of the nation. It is singular that so intelligent a class of men should be so blind to their own interest, and should be ignorant of the natural and social laws, which distinctly tell us that we must change with the times. The Crown is the patron. Parish church stipend, £246, 11s. 5d.; glebe, £30; unap. tnds. £268, 16s. 7d.; there are two U.P. churches.; a Free church; an Episcopal church; a Congregational church; a U. O. S. church; and a Baptist church. There are two parish or burgh schools, at one of which 100 children are educated gratis, ages from 6 to 15 years; each pupil receiving in addition 30s. annually for clothing; there are besides other 14 private schools in the parish. In 1849, on poor's roll, 170. There are upwards of fifty public-houses in the parish, and which may be called the burgh, as the population are there alone; certainly by far too many for the encouragement of morality and industry among the working class. When I lived in Kirkcaldy in 1821, the noise and rioting of men, and the unbecoming conduct of many of the mill-girls, in the evening of pay-days, were frequently disgraceful, and all this the result of the abuse of drink. Be it understood, it is the abuse, not the use, that I here condemn.
TOWN OF KIRKCALDY
This town is a royal burgh and seaport. It dates its charter from David II. in 1335. It is formed of one long street, nearly one mile in length, which when added to Linktown (parish of Abbotshall), forming its west suburb, is altogether nearly two and a half miles, and renders the appellation of the "Lang Toun" not improperly bestowed. On the high bank to the north, there is another street running parallel to the main one. There are a considerable number of cross streets and lanes, but many of them are irregular, narrow, and ill-paved. The principal objects of attraction are the town-house and jail, the parish church, the banks, a number of private buildings, and shops, that are not only handsome, but many of them elegant and substantial. The town has been much improved by obtaining an Act of Parliament in 1811. It is well supplied with water; and lighted with gas since 1830. It has branches of the Bank of Scotland, City of Glasgow Bank, Commercial Bank of Scotland, National Bank of Scotland, and Union Bank of Scotland. A Chamber of Commerce since 1825. A weekly stock-market for the sale of grain; and three cattle-markets in the year. It is the seat of a custom-house, and of a post office. Besides a shipping company, there is a mechanics' library, a subscription library, and a circulating one, containing in all fully 9000 volumes; there is a fine public-reading room; a weekly newspaper, called the Fifeshire Advertiser; a Bible Society; a Savings' Bank; an Agricultural Society. The finest flesh and fish markets in the county are in Kirkcaldy, and regularly supplied. At one period the town was locked in by its east and west ports. The town is governed by a provost, who is also called admiral, two bailies, a dean-of-guild, a treasurer, a town clerk, and sixteen councillors; the magistrates hold courts for the decision of civil and small criminal cases. The Sheriff holds circuit courts for small debts every second month. There are justice-of-peace courts for the same purpose. Kirkcaldy unites with Dysart, Kinghorn, and Burntisland, in sending a Member to Parliament; constituency in 1852 was 477. It is a station on the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway. The population of the burgh in 1851, as given in the large folio copy of the census, was 5797, [Census for 1851 - by Eyre and Spottiswood, London.] and not 10,475, as given by Mr Dawson, and by Oliver & Boyd; the error arises by including the population of Abbotshall, which of itself contains 5030. Benevolent societies, as the "Prime Gilt Box," and many others, need only be adverted to.
The harbour of Kirkcaldy is large, with good stone-piers, but owing to being dry at low water, large vessels can only enter near the stream: much, however, has been done lately to remove this obstruction. The east pier has a lighthouse on it. Several smacks belong to this port, and trade with London, Glasgow, and Leith. The principal articles of import are flax and timber; of exports, manufactures and coals. It sends several vessels yearly to the whale-fishing. It has a considerable coasting trade. Steam boats from various parts of the Forth land passengers when the tide permits; and at low water by small boats, or by a wooden jetty.
Like most ports on the Forth, Kirkcaldy has had its full share of vicissitude and misfortune. Thus its harbour was driven in by a tempest, and threw the town into debt to rebuild it. In the time of Charles I. it had 100 sail of vessels belonging to it, but of which number 93 were lost or taken at sea within eight years; after which it recovered for a time; when the Union again put a stop to its prosperity. In 1772 it had but 11 vessels carrying 50 men. Since then its shipping trade has slowly but progressively increased, and now it can boast of upwards of 100 vessels with 950 men. The introduction of the manufactures already taken notice of, and which now form the staple trade, has fortunately turned the scale permanently in its favour. To these must be added a number of spinning establishments; several bleachfields for the yarns; a distillery; a ropework; iron foundries; machine works; and various other branches of trade; such, indeed, is the state of activity in this town, that it can only be surpassed by Dunfermline.
Its capital, its enterprise, and its progress, are therefore matters of surprise. While I freely admit Kirkcaldy to be entitled to its full share of the above merit, we must not overlook the fact that it owes its entire origin to the ancient Abbey of Dunfermline, to which it was a vassal for upwards of a hundred and twenty years. "The first notice we have of the burgh is in 1334, when it was mortified by David II. to the monastery of Dunfermline, with whom it continued till 1450, when the commendator and convent conveyed to the bailies and community the burgh and harbour, the burgh acres, the small customs, the right of pasture on the muir, the right to hold courts, etc." [Nearly all modern authors.]
Previous to this, it was only a burgh of barony, holding of the abbot and monastery; but it was immediately thereafter erected into a royal burgh, with all the customary privileges. The original charter was ratified by a charter of confirmation by Charles I. in 1644; to which were added new rights, and larger immunities. From the clergy being among the earliest cultivators of foreign commerce, we can easily comprehend how Kirkcaldy came to be the port of the monks of the abbey of Dunfermline, as also, how it must have received considerable benefit from the foreign commerce of the period. Before the Union with England, Kirkcaldy was extensively engaged in the fisheries, and exported not only salted fish, but salt and coals. I have already adverted to the loss Kirkcaldy sustained in the time of Charles I, the value of which amounted to £53,791 sterling. To all this were added the unhappy disputes of the period, and worst of all, the jealousy of English merchants. For additional security, the inhabitants of Kirkcaldy had deposited goods and money in Dundee to the value of £5500 sterling. This was irrecoverably lost at the time that Dundee was taken by General Monk. During the civil war, Kirkcaldy had 480 persons killed in battle; of whom 200 fell at Kilsyth alone. The suspension of the trade with Holland, after the Restoration, increased ruin and deep distress upon the burgh. To relieve themselves of poverty, against which they were no longer able to bear up, they applied to the Convention of Burghs to ease them of their public burden in 1682. What was their redress? The addition of an annual assessment of 2000 merks. And why this injustice? Because the burgh had fallen under the displeasure of the court, "for the part it had taken during the civil war." And this, forsooth, is charity, mercy, and Christianity, hourly preached up by king and priest! As cold makes a naked man run, a new application was made to the Convention in 1687, when the few remaining influential men, and two of the magistrates, had left their home, their birth-place, for ever. No redress was granted till the Revolution took place, into which Kirkcaldy had entered with spirit and alacrity; for which conduct they obtained the scurvy, miserable abatement of £1000 Scots from their annual assessment. Still, this relief, added to the national security after this great event, enabled the inhabitants for a time to hold their heads above the water, and again recover from their languishing commerce. The effects of the Union, increased taxes and customs, with the American war, have already passed under review.
At the Revolution, the town had a debt of £3333 sterling. In 1791, it was £2430; in 1832, £7649. At the balance in October 1843, it was only £775, 6s. 2d.; a state of affairs found in few Scottish burghs. [New Stat. Account, Fife.]
The income of the town, in 1788, was £284, 11s. 11d. [From a Return to the House of Commons in 1789.] The revenue in 1842 was £2312. The town has no landed property. Land to the extent of 487 acres were feued at the full value in 1723, to repair the harbour, already taken notice of. "The revenue of the burgh arises from shore-dues, feu-duties, petty customs, market-place, warehouses, etc." "Customs revenue in 1850, £9179." [Dawson]
"Kirkcaldy has the immediate supervision of the creeks or harbours of Largo, Leven, Buckhaven, East and West Wemyss, Dysart, Kinghorn, Burntisland, and Aberdour." [Fullerton]
James Townsend Oswald, Esq. of Dunnikier, is proprietor of seven-eighths of the landward part of the parish. Though the lands of Dunnikier are in the parish of Dysart, Dunnikier house is in the north part of the parish of Kirkcaldy.
So late as 1739, much of the goods made in Kirkcaldy were conveyed by the manufacturers on horse-back to the various towns in Scotland. How different is it now!
In its distress Kirkcaldy had recourse to smuggling gin from Holland. Flax-spinning, by machinery, was introduced here from Darlington, in 1793; and the first steam-engine applied in 1807. It is only 70 years since females began to weave; they now form a considerable proportion of the number employed, arising from low wages.
It was not till the shipping interests were nearly destroyed in Kirkcaldy that manufactures were introduced.
Henry Balnaves of Halhill, who acted a conspicuous part in the reigns of James V. and of Queen Mary, "was the son of poor parents in the town of Kirkcaldy." He was educated at St Andrews and studied at Cologne. On his return to Scotland in 1538, he was appointed a Lord of Session; had a seat in Parliament; took an active part in the Reformation; was one of those engaged in the formation of "the first Book of Discipline;" and suffered imprisonment more than once. The most eminent man, however, to whom the town of Kirkcaldy can lay claim as being his birthplace, was Dr Adam Smith, author of the "Wealth of Nations," and who filled the chairs of Moral Philosophy in the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. This truly great man, surpassed only by Newton;- the boast of Fife, and the admiration of the civilised world, was born in 1723. "The house in which he was born, which has been but recently taken down, was situated immediately to the west of that occupied by the Bank of Scotland, and is the property of Mr Beveridge, merchant." [Leighton, vol. III.] He died in 1789. In 1851, John Fergus, Esq., M.P., presented the town with a marble bust of this illustrious man, from the chisel of Marochetti, on a highly polished pedestal of Peterhead granite. So far as the benevolent effort of a single individual goes, the act is deserving of the highest praise. But the very act reflects disgrace on the parish, and those around it, for not purchasing the site of his birthplace, on which a lofty plain square monument of the hardest whinstone might have been erected at little more than the cost of this bust; and which would have caught the eye of a thousand for every dozen that now see it; besides, the example would have roused the dormant faculties of many a poor, but highly intelligent man, who wants but extra mental stimulus to excel Adam Smith himself:-
"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
The past neglect shows the want of respect, and a strange insensibility to the high honour conferred on the town; the more so, as Dr. Adam Smith was the only person who taught the inhabitants the true value of pounds, shillings, and pence; the god they so much worship! A generation will arise, who will blush at the sordid ignorance of its forefathers!
The next person deserving of attention is the late benevolent Robert Philp, Esq.; a Christian who at least practised what he professed. He was a native of the parish; and long an extensive manufacturer in the town. He left the munificent bequest of £74,000, the interest of which is to be expended in educating and clothing 400 poor children. There are four schools; that is, in Kirkcaldy, Pathhead, Abbotshall, and Kinghorn. The best behaved scholars, on leaving school, receive £10 "to enable them to begin the world." In 1810, Mr John Thomson, merchant in Kirkcaldy, left £780 for the same benevolent purpose.
I cannot draw this article to a conclusion without referring to the jail, which is the best in the county; and what is of still greater importance is the fact that in Mr Hill's report in 1836, we find "there was not a single criminal confined in it;" and less than three debtors in any year. This accounts for the wealth and prosperity of the town, as it proves that honesty is still the best policy.
"Stone coffins, and large quantities of human bones have been discovered in different places, by workmen digging for foundations," in the town.
The Culdees had for ages an establishment in Kirkcaldy, till David I., in the middle of the 12th century, brought them under the subjection of the English monks of Dunfermline; and ultimately suppressed these primitive Christians, whose sincerity and purity have not been equalled since.
When Kirkcaldy was at its lowest ebb, that is, at the Revolution, the inhabitants found means to apprehend the Earl of Perth, who was Lord Chancellor, and had managed the affairs of Scotland under James. They knew he was against the Prince of Orange. After detaining that nobleman in prison five days, under a constant guard of 300 men, they sent him under a convoy of three boats, manned with 200 hands, to Alloa, where they delivered him, on receipt, into the custody of the Earl of Mar. They found it necessary to keep up the guard of 300 men for four months, on receiving information that a force was coming from the Highlands, to burn the town in revenge for Perth's apprehension. [Fullerton, vol. II.]
The reader who has attended to the previous history of Kirkcaldy, will find that in this case, the cure was worse than the disease.
ANECDOTE
In 1821, when I formed one of an evening party at the house of the late Rev. Dr Martin, the lively mirth of the young people was observed to flag; to counteract which, the Doctor privately caused a fool, who used to wander the streets, to be brought. Meantime he encouraged a young lady, the very picture of ugliness, but witty and full of good humour, to make love to the fool, and offer to marry him. No sooner had the lady performed her part to admiration, and offered marriage, than her new gallant said:- "A'm no sae fond o' a bonny burd, as gee tippence for a houlet." [A letter from the Doctor, in my possession, will sufficiently authenticate our intimacy.]
The town of Kirkcaldy is half a mile from Pathhead; one and a half miles from Dysart; three miles from Kinghorn; six miles from Burntisland; six miles from Kinglassie; eight miles from Loch-Gelly; nine miles from Leven; ten miles from Edinburgh; eleven miles from Falkland; thirteen miles from Inverkeithing; eighteen miles from Cupar; 20 miles from Newburgh; and 31 S.W. from Dundee.
LARGO
This parish lies on the sea shore of Fife, at the bottom of Largo Bay. It is bounded on the north by Ceres; on the south by Largo Bay; on, the east by Newburn; and on the west by Scoonie. It is nearly four miles in length, by three miles in breadth. Area, 6800 acres; under cultivation, 5910 acres; under pasture, 300; under wood, 600 acres. The only hill on the east side of the parish, two miles from the shore, is Largo Law, rising 910 feet above sea-level. It is of a conical form, green to the summit, where it is cleft in two. From the top of the hill we command one of those extensive and grand views of the whole surrounding country, including the beautiful Forth, its islands, and the opposite shore, so frequently taken notice of in the description of Fife, that they must be seen - yes, and that by thousands of Fife people themselves, many of whom are entirely ignorant of the beauties and sublimities of their own parish, till they read of them in works written by persons belonging to other counties; such is the apathy of men who boast of their march of intellect. The south side of Largo Law is very precipitous; while the east slopes very gradually. To the west of it is a deep ravine, called Keil's Den, or Glen, extending two miles, through which flows a burn, intersecting the parish from north to south This beautiful ravine is finely ornamented with wood, is exceedingly picturesque, and forms a favourite walk of sea-bathing parties during summer. The shore is low and sandy, but the ground soon begins to rise towards the north. The surface of the parish is exceedingly diversified by rising grounds and valleys. "The soil on the north is generally of a thick black mould on a wet bottom; in the south, of a black loam, partly on a wet, and partly on a dry bottom interspersed with fields of light land; rich breaking clay is peculiar to the south-east; and there are some tracts to the west of Largo Law, of a more obdurate nature, and on a wet bottom." [New Stat. Acc.]
The average rent of land is £2 per acre. In agriculture much has been done for this parish by furrow or surface draining, and that with advantage; though much remains to be done, as also more attention paid to the fences. The cattle are the Fife breed; horses are only reared for draught, and are of a fine quality; sheep are not bred here; but hogs are bred and fattened in great numbers. There are ten heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851, was 2800. Though there are three seams of coal wrought in the parish, the quality is inferior, one of which is called rum coal, and extensively used for lime-burning; finer qualities are brought from Wemyss and Largo ward. There is only one good freestone quarry, but which has the disadvantage of having a considerable dip. Excellent limestone is found on the estate of Teuchats. There is a spinning-mill for flax, moved by water and steam, and a water-mill for cleaning flax. The patron is Durham of Largo. Parish church stipend, £268, 16s. 4d.; glebe, £31; there are, besides, a Free church, a U.P. church, and a Baptist church. The parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; besides two private schools. There is a subscription library, with nearly 600 volumes. In 1849, on poor's roll, 108. Notwithstanding three or four inns, and fourteen public houses in the parish, I found the general character of the people, with exceptions, to be sober, moral, and orderly; and what is more, polite and well inclined to answer the numerous inquiries I made; certainly much more so than in Inverkeithing parish, where the invariable answer was, "I dinna ken," and that from the child to the well informed adult; hence the childish secresy already adverted to under that parish.
Lower Largo is the largest village in the parish, including Temple and Drummochy, situated near the sea, with a population of 650. It is near the centre of the bay, at the influx of the rivulet called the Keil, whose estuary is but an indifferent harbour to the place. It is frequented for sea bathing. Some linen goods are woven here. It was the birthplace of the celebrated Selkirk, who will come under review.
Upper Largo, with a population of 490, lies three miles east, on the road to Leven and Anstruther. Some linen goods are also woven here. It was the birthplace of Sir Andrew Wood. There are, besides, the hamlets of Lundinmill, population nearly 500; Backmuir of Gilston, and Woodside, population 370. Three small vessels belong to Lower Largo. For ages this harbour carried on a considerable trade with Rotterdam, and other continental ports, in coal, salt, iron, freestone, etc. It is two and a quarter miles E.N.E. of Leven, and three miles from Colinsburgh.
Largo Bay is an invaluable roadstead, affording good anchorage, and shelter from all winds except the south-west.
SIR ANDREW WOOD
A naval officer, whose history of acts of unparalleled bravery would more than fill a thick volume, was born in Upper Largo. His last triumph of importance was in 1480, when the English sent an armed squadron of ships to the Firth of Forth, to capture him at all hazards, under the promise of a high reward. His own strength was only two armed vessels, against five, and moreover, he was taken by surprise and unprepared. The engagement lasted 36 hours, when Sir Andrew Wood brought the five vessels into Dundee harbour, and took Captain Bull and his lieutenants prisoners to King James III.; for which the barony of Largo was conferred by the King in 1402, by charter under the great seal, on Sir Andrew Wood, his naval commander, in acknowledgement for his brilliant achievements against the English. Within the grounds which surround Largo House is a circular tower, which formed part of the castle inhabited by the gallant Wood. "Sir Andrew, like Commodore Trunion (in Peregrine Pickle,) brought a considerable portion of his nautical ideas and manners with him on shore. He caused a canal to be formed from his house almost down to the church, and on this he used to sail in his barge in state every sabbath day." [Fullerton; and Leighton.]
ALEXANDER SELKIRK
The celebrated hero of Robinson Crusoe, was born in the village of Lower Largo in 1676. His father was a fisherman, as also his only brother. There are many people in the village of the rare name of Selkirk; but this particular family has ended in a daughter, who, being a married woman, has lost the name; to keep up which, however, she has very properly called one of her children after her celebrated kinsman. Our hero was a youth of high spirit and incontrollable temper, as may be seen by consulting the Session books of 1695 and 1701. He was repeatedly called before the Session to answer for domestic quarrels and assaults, but with the exception of the last summons, he chose to put them at defiance. The mortification of his public exposure before the congregation was more than he could endure. From this trivial event, the world is indebted for the admirable fiction, from the pen of Daniel Defoe, and which for more than a century past has charmed the romantic imaginations of its youth. "In 1703, he engaged as sailing master on board the Cinque Ports, bound for the South Sea, and having quarrelled with the captain, he was put ashore on the uninhabited island of Juan Fernandez, where he remained in entire solitude four years and four months. He was at length discovered, and brought to England by Captain Wood Rogers; and subsequently returned to Largo." Selkirk brought home with him his gun, sea chest, and drinking cup, which he had with him on the island; and they are still preserved, in the house in which he was born, by the descendant of one of his brothers. On calling, and examining these relics, while living in Kirkcaldy, I found the cup to be formed out of a cocoa nut, with the small segment cut from the mouth supplying a stand. It was mounted anew with silver, by the late Mr A. Constable, the celebrated bookseller, (a Fife man). The gun is nearly seven feet long. The chest is very strong, of the finest wood, jointed in a complicated manner, and convex at the top. Our hero remained nine months with his family; then went away on another voyage, and was never more heard of. The house in which he was born still exists, and is on the north side of the principal street of Largo. One word respecting Daniel Defoe, than whom a more erudite and enterprising character did not exist in his age. His adventures, prosperity, adversity, talents, political and religious sentiments, his frequent imprisonment, and high sense of honour, would, if wrought up, far, very far surpass his work of Robinson Crusoe.
John Wood of Tilliedavy, son of the brave Sir Andrew Wood of Largo, was born in this parish, and bred to the church. He was active in the cause of the Reformation; was a bitter enemy to Queen Mary; and was killed by the laird of Reres a few days after the assassination of the Regent Murray. Melville and Keith accuse him of being ambitious, mercenary, and treacherous.
In 1659, John Wood, a branch of the Woods of Largo, bequeathed the sum of £68,418 Scots for the purpose of building and endowing an hospital within the parish. It supports 16 indigent and enfeebled persons of the name of Wood. We find by Lamont in his Diary, that it was opened in 1667. It was rebuilt in 1830. Each person is allowed £15 annually, in monthly payments, besides vegetables, a gardener, and porter.
The barony of Largo, the most extensive in the parish, is now the property of the Durhams of Largo. Sir Alexander Durham, a descendant of Sir William Durham of Grange, who performed an active part during the reign of Robert Bruce, was the first who bought this property.
Philip de Lundin obtained the barony of Lundin or Lundie from Malcolm IV. Thomas de Lundin was a natural son of William the Lion. He married the heiress of this house, and from him descended the family of Lundie or Lundin. The house and estate are now the property of Erskine Wemyss, Esq. of Wemyss. [Leighton]
The late Sir John Leslie, K.G., Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, was born in the parish in 1766. In his 13th year he was qualified for the senior mathematical class in the University of St Andrews. He became first well known by his differential thermometer, completed in 1794. He contributed largely to the new edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, and which included, "The Progress of Mathematical Science in the 18th century." He was created a Knight of the Guelphic Order in 1832, and died in the same year.
The following are the principal houses or properties in the parish. Strathairly originally belonged to the Lundies, as also Balcorm, and Pratis. West and East Gilston; Teuchats; and Balhousie. The Castle of Balcruvie, formerly called Pitcruvie, at least the old square tower still remains, belonged to Sir John Lindsay of Pitcruvie, who was a son of the fourth Lord Lindsay of the Byres.
"The Standing Stanes of Lundie" are an object of great antiquity, and certainly not less than two thousand years old. Sibbald, Monypenny, and most authors, admit them to have been Druidical temples. There are three of them, triangular in form, and 18 feet in height above the surface, and supposed to be nearly as much below ground. They are of red sandstone. They stand in the middle of a park, half way betwixt the villages of Largo and Leven. There had been more of them at some period, as the remains of a fourth stone were found some years ago; and no doubt the antiquary will feel thankful that they were too heavy for the pocket.
An iron 32-pounder was presented to the late General Durham by the Board of Ordnance, as being the brother of Admiral Sir Philip Durham, who was a lieutenant on board of the Royal George at the time that vessel was wrecked in 1782, and was one of 70 who, out of 1200 persons, were rescued from that fatal calamity. The gun was recovered in 1836.
Lamont's Diary, extending from 1649 to 1671, gives a most ancient and remarkable account of this parish, embracing various genealogical and historical notices. It was first printed in 1810, and again by Mr A. Constable in 1830.
In Largo Bay, between Cornockle Burn and Lower Largo, a submerged forest is seen at low water, roots of birch, hazel, and alder trees appearing in their natural position, along with peat.
LESLIE
A parish in Fife, originally called Fetkill. Bounded on the north by Falkland; on the south by Kinglassie; on the east by Markinch; and on the west by Portmoak. It is nearly five miles in length, by three miles in breadth. It lies between the Lomond Hills on the north, and the river Leven on the south; and which river traverses its south boundary, dividing it from Kinglassie. Area, nearly nine square miles; under cultivation, 4324 acres; under pasture, 965; under wood, 350; waste land, 27 acres. The tourist meets here with every imaginable diversity of nature, in the form of hill and valley, wood and water. The undulations of the land from the Lomond Hills down to the river Leven, and intersected by two streams, one from the north, the other from the west, each falling into the Leven, a short way below Leslie House; which again is surrounded by the most magnificent wood; to these must be added the luxuriant gardens of the valleys, with the wild flowers that in simplicity of beauty surpass the crowded efforts of man. The bridges are kept in good order. The goodness of the soil may be judged of from the fact of barley having been cut here for many years past before any other in Fife, at least on two farms; and the other farms were not behind their neighbours. The above illustrates the state of agriculture; nothing remains to be stated, except that the land is well fenced by hedges and stone dikes, which are too much neglected in many parishes; and which frequently acts much against the interest of the farmer. There are four heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1755 was 1130; in 1801, it was 1609; and in 1851, it was 3800. This difference of the population arises from the increase of manufactures; while in all agricultural districts, population is greatly on the decline; and what is much to be regretted, the evil is not at its worst. At no very distant period, a reaction will have to take place to preserve the proprietor, society, and the ploughmen. Coal is wrought to a small extent at the east of the parish; most of it is brought, however, from other parishes, and that at a cheaper rate. Limestone quarries are wrought for local use. A very hard trap or whinstone is extensively wrought at several quarries, and used in building, with freestone for the rybats and skews. The manufactures of the parish consist of six mills for spinning flax, the largest of which are those of Prinlaws, belonging to Mr Fergus, moved by the water of Leven, and by steam; there are, besides, three bleachfields, and 270 weavers who work linen and cotton goods for Glasgow. The patron is the Earl of Rothes. Parish church stipend, £257, 8s. 6d.; glebe, £18; there is a Free church; two U.P. churches; a U. O. S. church; and a Baptist church. Besides the parish school, there are six private schools. In 1849, on poor's roll, 54. There are four inns and fourteen public-houses in the parish; but notwithstanding these hotbeds of vice, the people are much more frequently drunk with politics than with whisky. With them politics absorb every leisure hour; indeed, in this respect they surpass Dunfermline.
VILLAGE OF LESLIE
This is a burgh of barony, holding under the Earls of Rothes. Its records go back for 300 years. It is governed by two bailies, and till lately 16 councillors. Leslie consists of one long street, running east and west, lined by tolerably well built houses of one and two storeys, with a few still thatched. Some neat modern mansions adorn the west end. Nearly every house has its garden behind. There is a beautiful public green at the east end, on which, in former times, all the packmen of Scotland used to hold an annual festival, Leslie being their head-quarters, where the initiation of members took place, by ducking them three times over head in a pool. This ceremony was followed up by all the games and other sports of the age, and concluded with the barbarous diversion of bull-baiting and bull fighting.
These customs have entailed upon the inhabitants a love of more refined sports. No stranger can mistake the employment of the inhabitants when he hears the sound of the weaving shuttle from one end of the village to the other. Its population is said by Oliver & Boyd to be 1342, though all modern authors call it 1821; I believe the former to be right. There is a branch of the Union Bank of Scotland. The nearest market town is Kirkcaldy, nine miles distant. The Post Town is Markinch, three miles distant, but there is a sub-Post-Office. There are two fairs in the year, one of them for cattle and show of horses. There is a subscription library, well filled, and what is more, greedily made use of. It is ten miles south-west of Cupar, twelve from Kinross, and two from Kinglassie. There is a Savings Bank, and a Total Abstinence Society. The station of Markinch, on the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway, is close adjoining.
Leslie House is the residence of the Earl of Rothes, which ancient family is traced by Chalmers [Caledonia] to Bartholomew, a Flemish baron, who settled in Scotland in the reign of William the Lion. One of his descendants obtained the barony of Fetkill, which in process of time was changed to Leslie, and from which the family adopted their name. The first Earl of Rothes was created in 1457. The first Duke of Rothes, the celebrated Lord Chancellor of Scotland, was created by Charles II, in 1680. The principal object of attention in Leslie House is the picture gallery, which is three feet longer than the gallery at Holyroodhouse. The most curious relic of former times, and still in good preservation, is the dagger with its sheath, used by Norman Leslie, at the murder of Cardinal Beaton (formerly called Bethune). Pitcairn, we are told by Sibbald, was the property of the learned and celebrated Archibald Pitcairn, M.D.; who was a native of this parish; a farın still retains his name, and the ruins of the house in which he resided may still be seen. The Douglases of Strathendry are an old family in Fife. "The famous Adam Smith, author of the Wealth of Nations, was a cadet of the Douglas family. At one time, when residing at Strathendry, when a mere child, he was stolen by some gipsies; and it was not till after a considerable search had been made, that he was rescued from their hands." [New Stat. Acc. Fifeshire] Prinlaws and Strathendry are both in the parish.
On the authority of Allan Ramsay and others, we find that Leslie Green was the scene of the poem by King James, styled "Christ's Kirk on the Green." Allan Ramsay distinctly says that the scene was at Leslie in Fife. It was, moreover, the King's favourite hunting ground.
Caledonian battle-axes of stone and flint; arrow heads of the finest workmanship; as also stone coffins filled with human bones, have been found under ground in this parish.
In the Romish age, the lands of Strathendry were subject to an annual tax of 6000 eels from the river Leven, to the Abbey of Inchcolm.
LEUCHARS
This parish is in the north-east part of Fife, lying on the left bank of the Eden. Its ancient name was Lough-yards. Bounded on the north by the Ferry-port-on-Craig and Forgan; on the south by Kemback and St Andrews; on the east by the German Ocean; and on the west by Logie and Dairsie. The Eden on the north separates the parish from that of St Andrews. It is eight miles long, by four miles in breadth. Area, 9820 acres; under cultivation, 6310; under pasture, but poor land, 3060; under wood, 360. The surface in general presents an extensive plain, seldom rising more than fifteen feet above sea-level; but towards the W.N.W., it gradually rises till it reaches that portion of the Ochil Hills which separates this parish from that of Logie. From the summit of these heights, an extensive view of the level part of the parish of St Andrews and of the German Ocean is obtained. Though some parts are richly feathered with wood, it is generally bare of that ornament. Besides the river Eden, it is watered by the Moultry, a stream running from north to south; and the Monzie burn from the west, which joins the Moultry, that discharges itself into the Eden. Few parishes present so great a variety of soil; thus we have from the richest loam and clay, to the poorest sand and moorish clay; towards the Moultry we find extensive beds of strong blue clay. The rent of good land runs from £2, 10s. to £4 per acre, while poor land may be stated at from 7s. to £1, 8s. per acre. In describing the land, I should have stated that there is an extensive flat sandy tract of ground called Tents-Muirs, which appears to have been at one time submerged, and has either been laid dry by the retreat of the sea, or by a slight upheaving of this part of the coast. Though deep draining, manuring, liming, and other improvements have turned some of it into extensive farms, a great portion of it is incapable of cultivation at present; but from chemical observations that I made, there is no doubt that other 50 years will render nearly the whole arable. The cattle is the Fifeshire breed, crossed with the Tees water; the ground being well enclosed, is well adapted for sheep husbandry, which prevails to a considerable extent, every variety of sheep is reared. There are three meal mills, one barley mill, one lint mill, and a saw mill, all moved by water. There are 15 heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851 was 1991. Coal is not found in the parish, and is therefore brought from other parishes; or by sea from ports in the Firth of Forth, or from Newcastle. There is also no limestone. The freestone is the new red sandstone, coarse in texture, and very inferior in quality. There are a number of excellent quarries of the hardest whinstone, much used for building, and for road metal. The manufactures consist of 140 looms, giving employment to weavers, who work dowlas, osnaburghs, silesias, towelling, and sheeting, for Cupar and Dundee. Patron is the Crown. Parish church stipend, £253, 3s. 4d.; glebe, £30; there is a Free church, and a U. O. S. church. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; besides other three schools. There are eleven public-houses in the parish, five of them in the village of Leuchars. In 1849, on poor's roll, 59. Excellent mussel beds of considerable value are near the mouth of the river Eden. Much care is bestowed on their cultivation and propagation. These beds afford bait to a number of fishers along the coast. In closing the descriptive part, I must state that the parish church, in the village of Leuchars, built in the 12th century, is the only one in Scotland now remaining that is in the Norman style; all others being more or less mixed. There are two villages.
VILLAGE OF LEUCHARS
This village is six miles from St Andrews; seven miles from Cupar; and eight miles from Dundee, the only market-towns. It has 634 inhabitants. There are two cattle fairs in the year, but not well frequented. There is a subscription library, the value of which seems much appreciated. There is a sub-Post-Office, under the Post Town at Cupar. It is a station on the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway. The Village of Balmullo contains 270 inhabitants. It stands on the road from Cupar to Dundee. The Original Seceders have a chapel here.
The ancient Castle of Leuchars, the residence of the Celtic chief, Ness, the son of William, whose daughter was married to Robert de Quinci, is now only to be found in history. It stood upon a bank of earth, on the edge of a swamp, and was surrounded by a deep broad ditch, which inclosed nearly three acres of ground, and must have been a place of great strength in former times. In 1327, it was taken and demolished by the English, under the Earl of Pembroke; but was subsequently rebuilt. The above Robert de Quinci was a Northamptonshire baron, who settled in Scotland in the reign of Malcolm IV., and part of that of William the Lion; and by marriage acquired the barony of Leuchars, which then included a considerable portion of the parish. A female descendant, Elizabeth, in 1266, married Alexander Cumyn, Earl of Buchan; whose son married Isabel, daughter of Duncan, tenth Earl of Fife. This Earl of Buchan was defeated at Inverury by Bruce, with great slaughter; he fought on the side of Baliol. The barony of Leuchars was afterwards divided into three portions by Robert II., who conferred a part on Sir John Wemyss of Reres; Sir Alexander Ramsay; and Thomas Monypenny of Pitmilly. Leuchars is now the property of Lindsay of Balcarres.
Earlshall was the residence of the Earls of Fife, till disposed of by Robert III. to the Monypennys of Pitmilly, as we are told by Sibbald. I find it impossible to do justice to this ancient noble house, situated amid venerable trees as old as itself; the whole producing an effect that to describe would incur the censure of exaggeration, or of having fallen far short of the mark. The lands of Pitlethie were anciently a royal hunting seat of James III. or James IV. Brackmont anciently belonged to Sir John Wemyss of Reres; as also the lands of Pusk. The lands of Seggie were the property of Sir Philip Meldrum of Meldrum. The lands and mill of Monzie belonged to the Monypennys. The properties of Clayton, Dron, Brocklay, Hayston, Ardit, Lucklaw, Craig-Sanquhar, Muirhead, and Pitcullo, are all in this parish.
LOGIE
This parish is in Fife; and anciently called Logie Murdoch. Bounded on the north and west by Kilmany; on the south by Dairsie and Leuchars; and on the east by Leuchars and Forgan. It is four miles in length; by one and a quarter miles in breadth. Area, 3343 acres; under cultivation, 2770; under pasture, 300; under wood, 270 acres. As the parish lies at the south-east extremity of the Ochil hills, which here present several parallel ridges or small mountain ranges, the highest of which is Lucklawhill, rising nearly 600 feet above sea-level, the general surface is necessarily irregular and hilly. It is watered by several burns from the higher grounds. Any good fertile loam is to be found on the sides of the hills; the lower part being generally moorish and thin. The average rent of land may be set down at £2 per acre. This being an agricultural parish, every means has been used to improve it; and were the enclosures better than they are, farmers would rear more sheep than they do, as they are found greatly to improve light dry land; that is, by allowing the land to lie in grass for some years. The sheep are of various breeds. A good deal of cattle are reared here, but more are bought and fattened in winter by turnips for the butcher. The Fife breed answers best. The quantity of grain grown is in the following order - oats, barley and wheat; then grass, turnip, potatoes, pease and beans, occupy most ground in the order just given. Coal and freestone are not wrought in this parish; but whinstone is very abundant, from being so near the hills. Lucklawhill consists of a yellow coloured porphyry, "very hard, and susceptible of a very fine polish." There are six heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851, was 467. The Crown is patron. Parish church stipend, £205, 2s. 5d.; glebe, £12; there is also a Free church; but no U.P. church in the parish. In 1849 on poor's roll, 13. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; there is no private school. A library was left for the use of the parish, by Walter Bowman, Esq., about a hundred years ago, under peculiar restrictions. The heir of entail was prohibited from lending books to any person; but he was bound to keep a suitable room for the library in his house. Though free access was allowed to any respectable person, no one was allowed to handle a book without first washing his hands, and for which water and a towel was constantly at hand. Women and children were expressly prohibited from having access to the library. [Fullerton, Dawson, and New Stat. Acc. Fife.] There is no public house in the parish. Logie Village is a small one, near the parish church, from which the nearest market and Post Town is Cupar, distant four and a half miles. There are other two hamlets.
The only man of eminence that belonged to the parish was John West, a well known author of a System of Mathematics.
ANECDOTE
The lands of Logie belonged to Sir John Wemyss of Reres, ancestor of the Earls of Wemyss, in the reign of Robert III. [Leighton.] A younger branch of this family held the lands in the reign of James VI. An incident that occurred to Wemyss Logie, while he was a young gallant at the court of the Scottish Solomon, gave rise to a ballad called "The Laird of Logie." Sir Walter Scott says that "In the year 1592, Francis Stuart, earl of Bothwell, was agitating his frantic and ill-concerted attempts against the person of James VI., whom he endeavoured to surprise in the palace of Falkland. Through the emulation and private rancour of the courtiers, he found adherents even about the king's person; among whom it seems was the hero of the ballad." As the narrative is of considerable length, I shall give a comprehensive abstract. The young Laird had been made the tool of the arch-villain Bothwell. He was detected, imprisoned, tried, and condemned to be executed. And this on his own free and full confession. Previous to this dilemma, he had been in love with Miss Margaret Twynlace, a maid of honour to Queen Anne, whom he had brought the length of marriage. The object of his affection no sooner knew the state of her unfortunate lover, than she planned his escape. This she was enabled to do by having the privilege of sleeping in the royal chamber, and on the fatal night in particular. She waited till their majesties were both asleep; went out by a private door, and going to the guard at the door of the room in which the laird was confined, she told them that she was commanded by their majesties to bring him immediately before them. The guard obeyed the mandate. She conveyed the young laird to the window of an apartment, provided him with a long cord, and desired him to lose no time. She returned to the royal chamber, and went to bed. It seems the guard waited upon his return till morning, and then found that they had been deceived. No sooner were the circumstances of the case made known than it occasioned considerable laughter. Through the influence of the Queen, the King pardoned the Laird of Logie in a few days, who married the lady who had hazarded her reputation, her liberty, and perhaps her life. [Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Vol. III.; "The Historie of King James the Sext;" and Spottiswood's History of the Church of Scotland.]
The lands of Denbrae, Kedloch, Cruivie, and the ruins of the Castle of Cruivie, and the lands of Forret, are in the parish. A descendant of the house of Forret, who had been vicar of Dollar, suffered martyrdom in 1540, on the Castle hill at Edinburgh.
LOMOND HILLS
These are two beautiful conical trap hills, situated in the shires of Fife and Kinross. The East Lomond is the most regular, interesting, and beautiful of the two; it is in the parish of Falkland in Fife; and has an elevation of 1260 feet above sea-level, though Mr Cunningham estimates its altitude at 1466 feet. [Geology of the Lothians.] This hill contains limestone and coal. The West Lomond is in the par. of Portmoak in Kinross-shire; usually stated to be 1300 feet, but which is estimated by Mr. Cunningham at 1721 feet. Loch Leven lies at its base. A smaller point called the Mid Lomond stands between the two principal Lomonds; it consists chiefly of freestone and trap strata. A valley separates the Lomonds from the Ochills.
MARKINCH
A parish in Fife; anciently written Merkinch. Bounded on the north by Falkland and Kettle; on the south by Dysart and Wemyss; on the east by Kennoway and Leven; and on the west by Leslie, Kinglassie, and Dysart. Length from north to south is six miles, by four miles in breadth. Area 7500 acres; but the New Statistical Account makes it "10,200 imperial acres," from which it allows 8500 to be under cultivation; 800 under wood; 100 under moss or peat; and the remainder in public works, roads, and water-courses. One of these stupid detached portions of the parish is separated from its parent by the parish of Wemyss, and lies at the mouth of the river Leven, on the shore of the Frith of Forth; on it stands the village of Dubbieside. The surface is generally undulating, presenting alternately hill and valley, running east and west. The parish being intersected by four fertile valleys, is watered by the rivers Leven and Orr, besides Balbirnie burn and another stream, all of which unite towards the east extremity. When to all these are added beautiful plantations, tastefully situated, and a deep narrow ravine beside Dalginch Law, we are presented with a scene grand and picturesque, but to which no language can do justice. The bridges are in good condition. The soil in some parts is loam, gravel, or clay, on a subsoil of sand; or thin wet loam, clay, and sand, on a stiff retentive subsoil. In agriculture, much has been done by furrow-drains of two and three feet deep, to drain the water and deep morass that once constituted this parish, like many others in the county. Tile draining is also much used. Oats, wheat, and barley are raised in the proportion of this order. One-seventh of the land is grass. Rearing and feeding the Fifeshire breed of cattle are much attended to. There are four flour mills, and five meal mills in the parish; those at Cameron Bridge are the most extensive. There are twelve heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851 was 5843. Coal has been more or less wrought since the 14th century in this parish, though not extensively till 1730. It is extensively wrought at Balbirnie, Coull, and Rothes; as also at Balgonie, or rather Thornton, near the Bridge of Orr. Ironstone is very abundant, and contains from 60 to 80 per cent. of pure iron; but is not wrought, as it interferes with the seams of coal. There are several fine freestone quarries in the parish. Lime is brought from Chapel, Forthar, Pitlessie, or Inverteil lime-works. The manufactures of this parish are very extensive; and though varied, are chiefly connected with the linen trade. The spinning mills at Balgonie are the largest. They spin both flax and tow; and consume nearly 500 tons of flax annually. The cost of flax and tow used is above £25,000 sterling; and 270 persons are employed. The average quantity of yarn spun per week is 10,000 spindles. The heavier tow-yarns are manufactured into canvass, sacking, etc. The Haugh spinning mills, near Cameron Bridge; and at New Inn, for spinning linen yarn; as also near Plasterer's Inn for spinning wool, are each of them large. There are four extensive bleachfields, where the linen yarn is bleached, employing 600 hands. Some paper mills are here, one of which, the Balbirnie, manufactures at an average 45,000 reams yearly. There is also a manufactory of sulphuric acid; and a large distillery at Cameron Bridge. The Crown is patron. Parish church stipend, £284, 7s.; glebe, £30; there are besides Chapels of Ease at Miltown and Thornton; two U.P. churches.; one of them at Inverleven, a small remote village; and a Free church. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; there are, besides, other seven private schools. In 1849, on poor's roll, 204. The public-houses are not more numerous in the parish than the population calls for; the sober habits of whom, considering their employments, being manufacturing district, will bear a comparison with most parishes. One fact is certain, however, that the increased decorum brought about by Mackenzie's Act has been at the expense of ten-fold immorality and hypocrisy; by carrying drink home to the wife and family, with all the spreading evils of so horrid an example. Either stop distillation, or remove every restriction, if you wish to mitigate the evil. In proof of which, see the Dutch in this respect. There are seven villages in the parish.
VILLAGE OF MARKINCH
Is nearly in the centre of the parish, half-a-mile from the river Leven. It is nine miles from Cupar or Kirkcaldy. It contains upwards of 1300 inhabitants. The parish church is here, the tower of which is of great antiquity. There is a U.P. church, the parish school, and a branch of the Commercial Bank of Scotland. It is a Post Town. There are several benevolent and benefit societies. We find by Mr. Tytler, that Markinch was of some note in 1296, in which year Edward I. of England, while on his way from St Andrews to Stirling, made Markinch his first stage, and his next Dunfermline. [Hist. of Scotland, vol. I.]
The village of Thornton is four miles off, with 530 inhabitants; with a station near it for the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway; though the best station is at Markinch. The Village of Milton of Balgonie is two miles south of Markinch, with 600 inhabitants; Balgonie Castle stands near it, on the south bank of the Leven; it belongs to the Earl of Leven, and is of great antiquity. The village of Kirkfortharfens is ten and a half miles north of Kirkcaldy. The village of Dubbieside is seven and three-quarter miles north-east of Dysart; it stands at the mouth, and on the south bank of the Leven; there are 403 inhabitants. Besides these, there are the villages of Coaltown, and Star with 252 inhabitants, but which is only partly in this parish, as most of it is in the parish of Kennoway.
The lands of Balfour, according to Sibbald, belonged to the family of Balfour, as early as the reign of Duncan; and from which lands they assumed their name. By marriage it came to Sir Robert de Bethune in the reign of Robert II. James Bethune, a descendant, was Abbot of Dunfermline in 1504. David Bethune, son of the laird of Balfour, was his nephew. This David was also the celebrated Cardinal who was murdered at St Andrews. The house of Balfour contains an original portrait of the Cardinal, and another one of Mary Bethune, one of the Queen's four Marys. In reference to their being original, they may have, for ought we know, been painted by the celebrated Dutchman, De Witt, who in one batch, produced the portraits in Holyrood Palace, from Fergus I. down to James VII., all originals! On this point I fully concur with Sir Walter Scott, who says, "It is truly wonderful that every Scottish king should have been born with a nose like the knocker on a door."
The lands of Barnslee, formerly called Brunton, and anciently a part of Dalginche, came in process of time into the hands of James Law, Archbishop of Glasgow, in the 17th century; from whom were descended the Laws of Lauriston, the last of whom was the originator of the unfortunate Mississippi scheme in France, the well-known Mr Law.
The lands of Balbirnie belonged to Orm, the son of Hugh, the ancestor of the family of Abernethy, in the reign of Malcolm IV. [Leighton] The lands of Dalginche, Balgonie Castle, Balcurvie, Auchmuty, Little Lun, Bankhead of Balcurvie; Kirkforthar, originally Lord Lindsay of the Byres; Bandon, Lochty Side, Thornton, Pyotstoun, formerly belonging to the family of Pyot; Tillybrae, Woodbank, and Mackie's Mill, are all in the parish.
Markinch Hill. This remarkable hill is nearly 900 feet long; 100 feet above the ground-level; the north side is cut into six terraces that rise in regular gradation from ten to twelve feet, with an average breadth of 20 feet. It is composed of a fine sand, intermixed with water-worn stones. It overlooks an extensive field, which has once been an impassable morass. It has been the work of the Roman army under Agricola.
Immediately around the Maiden Castle, which is at the east extremity of the parish, we have strong proofs that it has been the scene of some bloody conflict, from the number of stone-coffins containing human bones, as also Roman weapons of war, that have been found. Boethius says that the Maiden Castle belonged to Macduff, Thane of Fife.
In referring to the family of Bethune, I omitted to state, that they originally came from French Flanders, with William the Conqueror. Respecting the Lindsays; the first Earl of Lindsay was an Anglo-Saxon, who, after the battle of Hastings, accompanied Edward Atheling into Scotland to the court of Malcolm Canmore. From this family sprang the Earls of Crawford, and the Lord Lindsay of the Byres. [New Stat. Acc., Fife.]
The ancient cross of Markinch stands on a rising ground somewhat to the north of the village of Markinch, near the entrance to the garden of Balbirnie. As it now stands, it is nothing more than a broad slab seven feet high, and without any carving. A unicorn's head, the twisted horn of which is supplied by an iron rod, has lately been discovered, built into a wall not far removed from its original position, which was in front of the present entrance to the parish church. This relic had surmounted the above cross.
Cameron-Bridge is a hamlet in the south-east corner of this parish, on the river Leven, at which there is an extensive distillery.
MONIMAIL
This parish occupies a portion of the central valley of Fifeshire. It is bounded on the north by Cupar, Moonzie, Creich, and Dunbog; on the south by Collessie and Cults; on the east by Cupar; and on the west by Abdie and Collessie. It is five miles long, by four in breadth. Area is "about 16 square miles;" [New Stat. Acc.] under cultivation, 3000 acres; under pasture, 2000; under wood, 500 acres. A range of whinstone hills lies to the north, of which Mount Hill is the highest; on the top of which a beautiful pillar has been erected in memory of the late Lord Hopetoun in 1826; it is upwards of 100 feet in height. The south portion is generally more level, and diversified by soft and gentle undulations. I ought to have stated that the above pillar is a plain Doric column, hollow within, with a narrow spiral staircase, from the top of which a grand view is obtained of the vale of Stratheden, and the firths of Forth and Tay. The parish is watered by several rivulets, one of them turning a mill-wheel without a dam; they all fall into the river Eden; there is, besides, an abundant supply of excellent springs. The soil in general consists of decomposed rock and vegetable mould; while the less productive parts are a deposit of clayey till of some feet; but in both cases resting on whinstone. Considering that the "Laigh of Fife" was once an extensive lake, it is surprising to see what draining and other improvements have done in this part of the county, where the enterprising farmer has literally turned the barrenness of Arabia into the luxuriance of Egypt; though on the other hand, we must not forget that the stamina, the gold, was there, and only required to be wrought. The Fife breed of cattle, and the Ayrshire cows for milk, are preferred. Though sheep are not reared, they are largely bought to feed on turnips through the winter. Potatoes are rather extensively cultivated for the London market, as also for feeding cattle. The rent of land will run from £1, 5s. to £3, 10s. per acre. There are eight heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851 was 1102. Coal has to be brought from Markinch or Dysart. The south half contains freestone, sufficient for local use. The whinstone, though abundant, is with few exceptions unfit for building, as it soon yields to the action of the atmosphere. Weaving of linens is carried on in the parish to the annual value of "between £2000 and £3000." [New Stat. Acc.] The patron is the Earl of Leven. Parish church stipend, £272, 6s. 6d.; glebe, £12; there is a Free church. Parish schoolmaster salary, about £70; besides which there are three private schools. In 1849, on poor's roll, 18. There are three public-houses in the parish. There are two parish libraries; and a flourishing friendly society. The nearest market-town and Post Town is Cupar, five and a half miles from the parish church. There is one village, Letham, with 450 inhabitants; it is four miles west of Cupar, and five miles east of Auchtermuchty; it has an annual fair in June. There are two hamlets in the parish; Monimail, with 85 inhabitants; and Easter Fernie, with 60.
The residence of Balgarvie originally belonged to the family of Balfour, from whom the powerful family of the Lords Balfour of Burleigh were descended. Upper Rankeilour anciently belonged to the family of Rankeilour of that ilk; and then to the Sibbalds of Balgony. From this family sprang Sir Robert Sibbald, knight, M.D., the celebrated author of the History of Fife." He was born in 1641; and died about 1722. The most correct edition of his History of Fife is that of 1710. Uthrogal belonged to the Clephanes of Carslogie. Wester Fernie, the property of Francis Balfour, Esq., belonged originally to the Earls of Fife, as we find by Sibbald. Melville House is not older than 1692, being built by George, first Earl of Melville. Cunoquhie was anciently a part of the estate of Fernie. Nether Rankeilour is the property of David Maitland Makgill, Esq. The lands and castle of Monimail anciently belonged to the Archbishop of St Andrews. The castle was built by Bishop William Lamberton, who died in June 1328. The Mount requires a separate description:-
North of Fernie is the Mount, the birthplace of the celebrated Sir David Lindsay, Lord Lyon King-at-Arms, during the reign of James V. He was descended from a younger branch of the family of Lord Lindsay of the Byres. He was the eldest of five sons; and was born at the Mount about the year 1490. His education was commenced at the burgh school of Cupar, and he was then sent to St Andrews in 1505, (the year of Knox's birth,) and left it in 1509, at the age of nineteen. He travelled in Italy the next two years, and returned to Scotland. At the birth of James V., on the 12th of April, 1512, he was appointed a page of honour to the young monarch, with whom he remained till 1524. His fidelity, affection, and playful occupations are graphically and pleasingly stated by himself, as follows:-
"How as ane chapman beris his pack,
I bure thy grace upon my back;
And sumtymes stridlingis on my neck
Dansand with mony bend and beck;
The first syllabis, that thou did mute
Was pa-da-lyn, upon the lute;
Then playit I twenty springs perqueir,
Quhilk was great plesour for to heir;
Fra play, thou leit me never rest,
But gynkertoun, thou luffit ay best;
And ay quhen thou come from the scule,
Then I behuffit to play the fule.”
If Sir David Lindsay was surpassed as a poet by Dunbar, Kennedy, Douglas, and other illustrious men, who possessed more creative power, his writings are on the other hand characterized by more sound sense, sagacious observation, and keen sarcastic wit; to which was added his various learning, with a perfect knowledge of courts and of the world. So popular a writer was he, that the lower orders of society still make use of the phrase, "Ye'll no find that in a' Davie Lindsay." He was the most fearless and independent man in his age, sparing the faults of neither king nor priest, either in his writings, or yet to their face. He was the first great open enemy the Catholics had to dread; still, strange as it may appear, they never once molested him. His writings are numerous; among the best are The Dream," the "Complaint of the King's Papingo," and his celebrated "Satire of the Three Estates." Lindsay was one who attended the dying prince, (James V.) at Falkland, and closed his eyes, after a faithful service of 31 years; and, as Lyon King, directed the funeral rites, in the chapel of Holyrood-house. That James V. was an excellent poet is proved by the praise bestowed on him by Lindsay, Bellenden, and Drummond of Hawthornden. Sir David Lindsay died about the close of 1557; and was buried in the family vault, in the church of Ceres; though "no stone marks the spot where the Lord Lyon sleeps with his fathers." His marriage was unhappy. He had no children. [Works of Sir D. Lindsay, Vol. I.; Lives of Scottish Worthies, Vol. III.; Chalmers' Life of Lindsay; Sir Walter Scott's Abbot; Pinkerton's Hist., Vol. II.; and Pitscottie, Vol. II.]
James and Andrew Melville, (ancestors of the present Earl of Leven and Melville,) were distinguished for their diplomatic talent in the reigns of James and Queen Mary, and performed active parts in their time.
MOONZIE
A parish in Fife. In 1238, it was called Urhithumenesyn; and in 1513 it was changed to Uchtermonsey; in process of time it assumed the name of Moonzie. Bounded on the north by Kilmany and Creich; on the south by Monimail; on the east by Cupar and Kilmany; and on the west by Creich. Length from north to south is two miles by one and a half in breadth. Area, 1375 acres; the whole is arable, with the exception of one and a half acres under wood, and 30 acres of moss-land. The surface is finely diversified by various round-shaped hills of no great eminence, presenting in other places, particularly where it marches with Kilmany, level flats of considerable extent. Besides smaller streams, it is watered by Moonzie Burn, that rises from Lordscairnie Myre, runs east through several parishes, and falls into the Eden, near the Inner Bridge. Till within the last 60 years there was a lake or myre in the farm of Lordscairnie, two miles long, by a quarter mile in breadth; but by an expensive drainage it has been converted into arable ground. This parish is the most remarkable in the county for its deficiency of trees, and, till lately, in the total absence of hedges. The soil is generally a strong black loam, or a light dry loam, resting on rotten whinstone. The rent of land may be averaged at £2, 10s. per acre. If this parish be not picturesque, it is one of the best agricultural ones in the county; the Fifeshire black horned cattle is preferred; much attention is bestowed on rearing good horses; there are four thrashing-mills. There are three heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851 was 198. Coal has to be brought from Balbirnie or Dysart; or English coal from Newburgh or Balmerino. Whinstone is found, but neither freestone nor limestone. Patron is the Earl of Glasgow. Parish church stipend, £187, 17s. 10d.; glebe, £30. In 1849, on poor's roll, 6. Parish schoolmaster salary, £30. There has been no public-house in the parish for many years. There is neither village nor hamlet in the parish; though several small collections of houses form the residences of the agricultural labourers belonging to the different farms. The parish church, situated on a rising ground in the south-west part of the parish, is three miles distant from Cupar, which is the nearest market town, and Post Town. I cannot close the descriptive part, without remarking that this parish has decreased in population nearly 100 since 1755. This is a fearful state of society in so small a parish. No wonder that emigration is yearly increasing, and taking away the strength and flower of the nation. The government, the proprietor, the farmer, and society, are all equally involved in this great question; and sooner or later the landholder will find that he has only been killing the goose for the golden eggs, by renting his land to farmers, who, with exceptions, have not a capital able to work the land, without draining the strength of it out. The truth is, both extremes of farming, that is, too large or too small, are injurious to the proprietor, and to society.
Cairnie Castle, commonly called Lord's Cairnie, was built by Alexander, third Earl of Crawford, commonly called Earl Beardy, from his long black bushy beard, as also the Tiger Earl, from the fierceness and cruelty of his disposition and his undaunted courage. He lived in the reign of James II. The ruin is four storeys high; the walls six feet thick; and has been a place of great strength.
The house of Colluthie was erected by Sir William Ramsay of Colluthie, who, about 1356, married Isabel, Countess of Fife, daughter of Duncan, the last Earl of Fife of the ancient race of Macduff.
NEWBURGH
This parish forms the north-west boundary of Fife. It was separated from the parish of Abdie in 1632. It consists of two portions joined at a right angle; the one stretching along the Tay, from east to west, is two miles long, by half a mile in breadth; the other, stretching from north to south, across the ridge of the Ochils, is three miles in length, by three-quarters of a mile in breadth. Bounded on the north by the Tay; on the south by Abernethy, Auchtermuchty, Collessie, and Abdie; on the east by Abdie; and on the west by Abernethy, in Perthshire, and by Abdie. Area, 1145 acres; under cultivation, 737; under pasture, 280; under wood, 88; under fruit trees, 40 acres. The south portion, occupying the ridge of the Ochils, is an alternate series of hills and valleys. Here Craigsparrow rises to the height of 600 feet; and the Blackcairn to that of 800 feet above sea-level. The north part of the parish is a beautiful and finely wooded level. The principal woods are those of Mugdrum, covering 34 acres; Pitcairly, 12 acres; and 41 acres belonging to the town of Newburgh. The orchards here owe their origin to the skill and industry of the former monks of the abbey of Lindores, as the venerable remains of the trees are still to be seen. The parish is watered by a rivulet issuing from Loch-mill, running round the east of Pitcairly for some distance, and falling into the Eden at Auchtermuchty; as also by a streamlet that rises from the Lake of Lindores on the east, and falls into the Tay at the Pow. There is also an abundant supply of excellent springs, from one of which, called the Nine Wells, rising in the south-west part of the hilly district, the town is supplied by pipes. The soil in the north division, north-east of the town, is a rich clay, not inferior to any part of the carse. In the upper part of the parish it is generally either a loose black loam, or a compact ferruginous mould, of little depth, but of great fertility. Rent of land in the hilly part will average £3, 5s.; while the richer lands in the immediate vicinity will run to £6 per acre. In agriculture I felt surprised to find that besides four large farms, 24 acres of land were shared among 20 small proprietors, and other portions wrought each by a single plough; yet the whole were in a high state of cultivation, such as to remind me of the language of Goldsmith, who says
"Every rood of ground maintained its man."
The wedge form of draining has done much for the land. The cultivation of turnips has much improved the higher grounds, which have been manured with bone dust. Excellent crops of the finest barley have been raised after sheep have eaten off the turnip crop. There are three heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851 was 2986, while in 1755, it was only 1347; showing the influence of manufactures on a parish. Coal does not exist in this parish, and has to be brought from Lochgelly, Balbirnie, and Balgonie; or brought coastways from Dysart, Wemyss, Charleston, and Alloa; English coal is also used. Some little limestone and whinstone are wrought for local use; but as a road has now been made from the village of Glenburnie, (one mile east of the town,) through the Ochils to Auchtermuchty, this will lay the lime and coal fields of the county open. Patrons, Earl of Mansfield and Hay of Leys. Parish church stipend, £225, 14s. 2d.; glebe, £40; there are two U.P. churches.; a Congregational church; a Free church; a Baptist church; and a Methodist church. Parish schoolmaster salary, £60; there are three private schools, besides two Sabbath schools. In 1849, on poor's roll, 86. There are thirty public-houses; three-fourths of them in the town. A good deal of private drinking goes on, the result of Mackenzie's Act.
TOWN OF NEWBURGH
Few towns present so fine an appearance as Newburgh does from the river; the European and Asiatic styles are to certain extent happily blended, by most of the houses having gardens, or rich orchards; which, with the town-house, surmounted by a spire, the elegant parish church, in the pointed style; innumerable handsome dwelling-houses, and attractive shops, give to the whole an effect claimed only by towns of higher pretension. Again, when we enter the town, we find it consist chiefly of one long well-built street, about half-a-mile in length, a range of houses fronting the harbour, and some lanes leading down to the "shore." To these must be added a suburb to the south of the town, but within the parish of Abdie, the result of the increased trade and manufactures of the burgh. A stranger passing through it finds, from the appearance of the shops, the various public works, and the bustle to and fro, that enterprise and wealth reside within its walls. The town-house was erected in 1815; and the parish church in 1833. Water is supplied by pipes brought from the Nine Wells, already adverted to, and gas was introduced in 1837. Newburgh is a Post Town; there is a sub-distributor of stamps, who disposes of £600 sterling worth of stamps annually. The Commercial Bank of Scotland has had a branch here since 1833; and the Central Bank of Scotland a branch since 1834. There is a branch of the Fifeshire National Security Savings' Bank; there are several benefit and friendly societies; as also the Lindores Lodge of Freemasons, and the Caledonian Friendly Lodge of Odd Fellows. There are two annual fairs, the Race fair, and the Haggis fair; where more amusement than business is transacted. The harbour, usually called "the shore," consists of a long pier parallel to the river, and five projecting piers at right angles to it. The stir and bustle here shows that much business is going on. Vessels to the amount of 1600 tons belong to the port; "and two packets are regularly employed in bringing from Dundee the raw material used in the linen manufacture, and in ́carrying away the manufactured goods." Grain and potatoes are rather extensively exported; while wood is imported from America, Norway, and Memel; lime is imported coast-ways, and coals from England. The steam-boats that run between Perth and Dundee touch regularly at Newburgh. Vessels are often obliged to wait at this port, on their way to Perth, for the flow of the tide. The population of the burgh in 1851 was 2638. Newburgh is a station on the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee Railway.
Newburgh owes its origin to the abbots of the monastery of Lindores in its neighbourhood, and is therefore of considerable antiquity. Alexander III. erected it into a burgh-of-barony in 1266, with all the usual privileges. In 1457 it was erected into a royal burgh. In 1631, Charles I. confirmed the ancient charter; [Chalmers Caledonia] but the burgh never exercised its right of sending a member to the Scottish Parliament, and consequently, at the Union, was struck out; and again, at the passing of the Reform Bill, the inhabitants, from their own carelessness, lost their power to vote for a burgh member, and have therefore only a county vote. It is governed by two magistrates, a town clerk, and twelve councillors. The magistrates have the usual civil and criminal jurisdictions. All criminals requiring a higher court are taken at once to Cupar jail. Small debts are recovered by a circuit court held once a quarter by the sheriff. The magistrates and council levy no taxes except the customs and market-dues; and a small tax upon the inhabitants, amounting to £10 yearly, to pay the interest of money borrowed for bringing water into the town.
We have now to deal with the most interesting part of Newburgh, that is, its manufactures. These are extensive, and have rendered the town as wealthy as it was poor in the 17th century, when Cunningham described it as "a poor country village." Till about the year 1780, the inhabitants of Newburgh were more or less employed in agriculture, since which period, however, the linen manufacture has been introduced, and made such rapid progress as only to be surpassed by Dunfermline or Kirkcaldy. "The number of looms employed within the town in 1833 was 564; the number of webs manufactured, 23,600; value £128,325. In 1838, the value of goods manufactured was £170,000." [Fullerton] Now, if such was its prosperous state nearly 20 years ago, what must be its present condition, with the superadded advantages of railway conveyance, of the electric telegraph, and of the improvements in steam machinery? The goods are exported to America and the West Indies, as also to London, Manchester, Leeds, and other British markets. The merchants of Newburgh also carry on a very considerable trade in grain, which is much facilitated by a weekly stock market, to which the farmers of the surrounding district bring their grain. I have only space to state that ship-building has been carried on in a spirited manner for many years.
The ruins of the once celebrated abbey of Lindores lies at a short distance north-east of the town, near the river Tay, on a gentle rise. This monastery was founded in 1178, by David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of William the Lion, and heir-presumptive to the Scottish throne, after his return from a crusade in the Holy Land, in commemoration of his escape from shipwreck, from slavery, and of his having taken Ptolemais from the Saracens. Fordun, Spottiswood, and Sibbald, all take notice of the grandeur of this monastery, and that kings and nobles lavished their fortunes, their lands, and their power on it; till its patronage extended over twenty-two parish churches, and claimed a right of property in seven of the chief royal burghs of Scotland, according to Knox and Calderwood. We must, on the other hand, bear in mind that this Abbey was disgraced by Lawrence, one of the Abbots of Lindores, who was Inquisitor in Scotland, and who committed Jacob Resby, Paul Crawar, and others, to the flames. We find, however, that the celebrated historian, the amiable John Leslie, bishop of Ross, was Abbot of Lindores; he who lost his see for being a faithful and zealous adherent to the unfortunate Queen Mary; yes, he who was called "a priest's get" by John Knox; while in the Court records of the time, "he is said to have been born of creditable and honourable parents." And all history admits that "he was the most eminent prelate, statesman, and historian, that ever held the Abbacy of Lindores." This monastery suffered the destructive effects of the Reformation more than most places. As if time was ashamed of the maniacal fury of the Reformers, it has covered the top of the ruins with ivy, and surrounded the bottom with thorn and hazel, and thus gives an air of melancholy grandeur to the once proud and powerful abbey. It was in this abbey where the murdered young Duke of Rothsay was interred, according to Winton. It was here where the last of the noble house of Douglas, James, the ninth Earl, found an asylum, after a chequered life, spent amidst the toils and cruelties of civil war; and where he remained till he died in 1488, whereupon the following verse was written:-
Why do you laugh to see my shaven crown?
My cell, my cloister, and my hooded gown?
This is the power of that Soveraine Queen,
By whom monks, monarchs; monarchs monks have been.
The greatest object of remote antiquity is the celebrated Cross of Macduff, which stands at the distance of about one mile to the south in an opening of the Ochil Hills, on the confines of Strathearn. It was considerably destroyed by the Reformers on their way from Perth to the Abbey of Lindores in 1559. The cross had a "privilege of Clan Macduff, whereby any person, being related to Macduff within the ninth degree, and having committed homicide in chaude mellee (in hot blood, without premeditation), should, upon flying to Macduff's Cross, and paying a certain fine, obtain remission of his guilt." "The tumuli around the pedestal are said to be the graves of those who, having claimed the privilege of the law, failed in proving their consanguinity to the Thane of Fife. Such persons were instantly executed." [Sir Walter Scott; Lord Hailes; Fordun; and Wintoun.]
Another cross, called Mugdrum Cross, stands a little way west of the town, within a few yards of the Tay, in Mugdrum woods. Nothing is known of its history. Mugdrum House stands at the west side of the parish, upon the Tay, next the town.
The monastery of Lindores stood on a part of the forest of Black Earnside, in which I have already stated that Edward of England was completely defeated by Wallace, in 1298; and in which engagement Sir Duncan Balfour, Sheriff of Fife, was killed.
ANECDOTE
David, heir-presumptive to the Scottish throne, already noticed, was shipwrecked on the coast of Egypt, and made captive. "His rank being unknown, he was purchased by a Venetian, who brought him to Constantinople, where he was accidentally recognised by some English merchants. By these merchants he was redeemed and sent home. After having surmounted various difficulties, he was in imminent hazard of being again shipwrecked on the coast of Scotland. In gratitude for his escape he built the old church at Dundee, and founded the Abbey of Lindores." [Leighton, Vol. II.] Sir Walter Scott founded his Tales of the Crusades on this incident.
Newburgh is two and a half miles from Auchtermuchty; three miles from Falkland, or from Abernethy; nine miles south-east from Perth; ten and a half miles from Cupar; and twenty miles from St Andrews, or Kirkcaldy.
NEWBURN
This parish lies on the Forth, in Fifeshire. Its ancient name was Drumeldry; its present name is from a small rivulet called Newburn, that runs through most of the parish; no doubt made when nature thought fit to make a new boundary line. Bounded on the north and east by Kilconquhar; on the south by Largo-bay; and on the west by Largo. It is three and a half miles from north to south in length, and two miles in breadth. Area, 2400 acres. All under cultivation except 350 under pasture; and 130 acres under wood. Nature having bestowed on this parish a beautiful assemblage of rocks, woods and waters, hills and dales, with all the display of her rich and inimitable romantic master hand, they must be seen to be believed, as no language can otherwise do them justice. The surface near the shore is sandy, forming extensive links, which are kept in pasture. The ground ascends from the shore to the north, till it attains its greatest height at Gilston. The soil, with the exception of the links, is very fertile, and produces crops both in quality and weight that can scarcely be surpassed. Rent of land may be averaged at £2, 12s. per acre. There are six heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851, was 375; while in 1801, it was 412. Patron is Charles Halket Craigie, Esq. of Dumbarnie and Hall Hill. Parish church stipend, £200, 15s. 6d.; glebe £25; parish schoolmaster salary, £30, and £14 of fees, besides which there is an allowance for teaching a certain number of poor children, from a fund left by John Wood, Esq., of Orkie, in 1659. In 1849 on poor's roll, 11. There is one public house in the parish. Sobriety and industry prevail. The nearest market-towns are Colinsburgh and Largo; these are near the east and west part of the parish; the Post Town is Leven. Balchristie is the only hamlet in the parish, containing a few houses. This was granted to the monks of Dunfermline by David I., but a dispute ensued between the prior and canons of St Andrews, and the monks of Dunfermline about their respective rights to Balchristie. King William determined that the monks should have Balchristie, subject to the rights which the Culdees had in it during the reign of David I. The reader should know that King Malcolm granted Balchristie to the Culdees, who had a church in this parish. The name is said to signify "Town of the Christians." It is one and a quarter miles south-west of Colinsburgh. After the Reformation Balchristie became the property of Alexander Seton, sixth Lord Seton, and Earl of Dunfermline; he who was Lord Chancellor of Scotland in 1605, and held it till he died in 1622.
The property of Dumbarnie lies next to Balchristie; it belonged to John Craigie, Esq., brother of the laird of Dumbarnie, in Perthshire, from which the lands were named. A daughter married Charles Halket, Esq., of the family of Pitferran. [Leighton] Hall-hill; Coats; East Newburn; Drumeldry; Gilston; and Wester Lathallan, are lands in the par.
OCHIL HILLS
"These are a range of mountains commencing in the parishes of Dumblane and Logie in the south of Perthshire, about two miles from the river Forth in the vicinity of Stirling, and extending in an E.N.E. direction to the river Tay." It lies across the head of the whole peninsula of Fife, defending it and the low ground of Kinross, Culross, and Clackmannan, from the storms that come from the Grampians. Its length is 24 miles, with an average breadth of 12. It is very steep to the south=east and north-west, and in some places almost perpendicular. The greatest altitudes are at Bencleuch, or the hill of Alva, in the parish of Tillicoultry, which is 2460 feet above sea-level; the Demyat-hill, in the parish of Logie, 1345 feet; and the King's Seat, four miles from Dollar, is 2160 feet above sea-level. I need scarcely state that the prospect from the summit of any of these, is the most magnificent that can well be imagined, "comprising nearly one-third of the surface of Scotland, and probably two-thirds of its wealth." The Ochils are unusually rich in minerals; yielding up round the base large quantities of coal and iron, besides other metals. Most of the range affords excellent sheep-pasturage, and many parts are in a state of fine cultivation.
ORWELL
A parish in Kinross-shire; originally called Urwell. Bounded on the north by the parishes of Arngask, Forteviot, Dunning, and the Kinross-shire section of Forgandenny; on the south by Kinross parish and Loch Leven; on the east by Portmoak and Strathmiglo; and on the west by Fossaway.
Length from east to west eight miles, by four in breadth. Area, about 21 square miles, or 13,000 acres; under cultivation, 8200; under wood, 750; waste land, 550 acres. The ground gradually rises to the north of Milnathort, till it reaches the Braes of Orwell, and then more suddenly to different heights on the Ochil Hills; the highest of which do not exceed 1100 feet above sea-level; the south portion of the parish is generally level, the average height of which may be set down at 392 feet above the same level. It is watered by the North Queich, that flows through the parish; from its source to its mouth is nearly six miles in length; there are some very beautiful little cascades among the hills in the earlier part of its course, besides which there are several burns, and springs of the finest water so abundant, that water may be had at any point, and at small depths. The soil in the south portion is a sandy clay, mixed with till; while on the Braes of Orwell it is a sharp gravel of excellent quality, adapted for either potatoes or turnips. Rent of land will average £1, 12s. In agriculture much attention is bestowed on wedge-draining; with few exceptions the land is not adapted for wheat; while oats and barley produce a profitable return; the Fife breed of cattle is here preferred; there are 450 acres of good pasturage; the thrashing-mills are generally driven by horses, though three are driven by water, and one by steam; the land is generally well inclosed. There are 25 heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851, was 2569. Coal has to be brought from one or other of the Fife parishes, averaging from seven to nine miles distance from Milnathort. Limestone is found on the West Lomond and Bishop-hill; there are six quarries of red sandstone, but only one next to Milnathort is wrought for sale; whinstone of a purple colour, and very hard, is found in the central part of the parish for several miles, generally used for dikes, or road metal. The patron is Sir Graham Montgomery. Parish church stipend, £155, 19s. 11d.; glebe, £20; there is a Free church, and a U.P. church. Parish schoolmaster salary, £34, 4s. 41d., with about £40 fees; there are other five private schools. In 1849, on poor's roll, 50. There are thirteen public houses in the parish, by which means intemperance has rather increased of late years; the generality, however, are intellectual, moral, and religious; and the inhabitants of surrounding parishes are not more alive to the benefits of education. Loch Leven is embraced by the parish for nearly one and a half miles on its north and east sides. The only village is Milnathort.
VILLAGE OF MILNATHORT
Usually called Mills-of-Forth, contains not less than 1605 inhabitants. There is not a more neatly built village in the county, made still more pleasant by the North Queich, one of the tributaries of Loch-Leven, flowing past it, and spanned by a new bridge. The inhabitants are noted for intelligence and enterprise. Their chief occupation is in weaving tartan shawls and plaiding, with some cotton cloth. There is a weekly market for the sale of corn by sample, the only one in the county, and well attended by distillers from distant parts. There are two annual fairs for fat cattle; and other four in the year for the sale of cattle, sheep, and horses. There is a branch of the City of Glasgow Bank. The village is lighted with gas from the town of Kinross gas-works. There is a large public library, besides other smaller ones. All the churches are in the village; as also the par. and three private schools, and a branch Savings bank. It stands at the intersection of the Great North Road from Edinburgh to Perth; and the road from Stirling to Cupar. It is one and three quarter miles N.N.E. of Kinross; six miles of Dron; nine miles of the Bridge of Earn; and fourteen miles south of Perth.
About a quarter mile south-east from the village stand the ruins of Burleigh Castle. It had been a place of great strength, surrounded by a deep ditch filled with water, and a redoubt. The most interesting part of its history is the following tragic anecdote:-
ANECDOTE
"In 1707, Robert, only son of the fourth Lord Burleigh, learning that Mr Henry Stenhouse, the schoolmaster of Inverkeithing, had married a girl (for whom he, young Burleigh, had an attachment, on account of which he had been sent abroad to travel,) and taken her from her father's house in his absence, on his return went directly to the schoolmaster's house, and shot him through the left shoulder, at his own door, in consequence of which Stenhouse died twelve days after. Mr Balfour was apprehended some time afterwards, tried 4th August 1709, and sentenced 29th November to be beheaded. He, however, escaped from prison the 1st or 2d of January 1710, by exchanging clothes with his sister, and concealing himself successfully for some years. [New Stat. Acc. Kinross-shire; Fullerton, vol. I; Maclaurin's Criminal Trials; and Douglas' Peerage of Scotland.]
The place of young Burleigh's concealment was in the hollow of an old ash tree, "and hence received the appellation of Burleigh's Hole. He afterwards engaged in the Rebellion of 1715, and was attainted."
PITTENWEEM
A parish on the shore of the Forth, in Fifeshire. It derives its name from Pits (coal-pits;) and Weem, the ancient name of a large Cave. Bounded on the north by Carnbee; on the south by the Forth; on the east by West Anstruther; and on the west by St Monan's. Length from east to west is one and a half miles by three-quarters of a mile in breadth. The surface is level, and the soil in general a black loam, very fertile, yielding heavy crops of wheat and barley. There are five heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851, was 1473. Coal is very abundant; indeed the whole parish lies in a field of excellent coal; though the only pit we have any account of is Cromwell's Pit, which was opened by Oliver Cromwell, who took possession of the Earl of Kelly's estate. This pit is still working. Limestone is also found here. The patron is Sir W. C. Anstruther; Bart. Parish church stipend, £166, 1s. 10d.; glebe, £12, 12s.; there is a U.P. church, and an Episcopal church. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; besides two private schools. In 1849, on poor's roll, 43.
TOWN OF PITTENWEEM
It consists of two or three principal streets, with connecting ones. Some of the houses, and even streets, are much more ancient than others that are of modern architecture; the whole, however, being clean, with many good and well filled shops, impress a stranger with a favourable opinion. It was originally a burgh of barony, holding of the Priors of the Priory of Pittenweem. I find by Chalmers' Caledonia, that Robert III. had erected it into a free royal burgh, and which was confirmed by a charter granted by James V. in February 1542. Another charter was granted by James VI., in 1593. These charters were ratified and confirmed by Act of Parliament, in June 1633. The town is governed by a provost, two bailies, a treasurer, and twelve councillors. It is a Post Town; has a branch of the Western Bank of Scotland; and had in 1851, 1450 inhabitants. There is a granary, grain mills, a ship-building yard, and a brewery, though at one time it had 30 breweries. Pittenweem is one of the St Andrews district of burghs returning an M.P. Constituency in 1851 was 51. Some sloops and small schooners belong to the harbour, which is small, and much exposed to south-east winds. "In 1639 the ships belonging to the port consisted of thirteen sail of large vessels, besides fishing boats." Nevertheless, herring-fishing and fish-curing are extensively carried on here. There are two benefit societies in the town; and a Mason Lodge, the "St Andrew's of Pittenweem."
On the brow of an eminence overhanging the town stands all that remains of the Priory of Pittenweem; the monks of which were of the order of St Augustine. A great cave or weem, from which the place derives its name, lies half way between the beach and the ruins. It consists of two spacious apartments, and at the termination of the inner one is a well of excellent water. Where the apartments join, there is a stair leading to a subterraneous passage under the Abbey, 150 feet in length, but now blocked up; another stair leads from the refectory to the farther extremity of its passage.
It is not generally known that it was in Pittenweem that the robbery was committed upon the Collector of Excise by Wilson and Robertson, which led to the famous Porteous Mob in Edinburgh. The house in which this transaction took place is still standing, and is a thatched one of two storeys, with an outside stair, immediately west of the town house, on the south side of the street. [Chambers' Gazetteer, vol. II.; and Dawson.]
I may state that the cause of the mob was owing to the hangman having bungled the execution of the two criminals; he not having served an apprenticeship to the trade, at least the poor devil had no regular indenture to show. This enraged the crowd; and to suppress which, Captain Porteous of the City Guard ordered his men to fire on the people, and that without having had the Riot Act read. The result was, the death of one, and other two wounded. Porteous was put in prison till the storm would blow past. Fifty gentlemen in disguise went one night and took him out of prison by force, and hanged him on a dyer's pole in the Grassmarket. The pusillanimity of the Provost on this occasion cost him nearly two years' imprisonment.
In 1779, the celebrated Paul Jones paid one of his unwelcome visits to the burgh of Pittenweem, to the no small alarm of the inhabitants; at least his small squadron lay off the harbour for several hours, within half-a-mile from the shore. It may not be generally known that he was a Scotsman, and not an American; though from political causes he had entered into the service of America. His real name was John Paul. In reference to the priory of Pittenweem, I ought to have stated that the Isle of May belonged to it, as also several churches, and considerable landed property; and that the canons-regular were introduced into Scotland in the year 1114.
With the exception of the lands of Waterless, Coalfarm, and Greendikes, all the other lands in the parish consist of burgh acres.
PORTMOAK
This parish is in Kinross-shire; and formerly called Portmog, Portmoag, and Portmag. Bounded on the north-west by Orwell; on the north-east by Strathmiglo and Falkland; on the south by Auchterderran and Ballingry; on the east by Leslie; and on the west by Cleish, Kinross, and Loch Leven. It lies between Loch Leven and the boundary with Fifeshire. A strip of the parish on the south-east runs one mile into the parish of Auchterderran ; and a detached portion, 140 acres, lies in the bosom of the parish of Kinglassie. God bless our forefathers for their wisdom or their knavery; no argument can defend their absurd division of land. It is seven miles in length, by five miles in breadth. Area, 6566 acres; under cultivation, 2260; under pasture, 613; under wood, 350; uncultivated land, 1600; under water, 1700 acres (Loch Leven.) The parish comprehends a rich landscape. West Lomond Hill, two miles from the east side of Loch Leven, rising 1030 feet above sea-level; and Benartie Hill, seven furlongs from the south side of the Loch, rising to 1000 feet; with their descending braes and plantations occupying a large portion of the surface; while the low grounds present fine meadows, and the loch itself is shaded by the craggy elevation of the hills, or skirting the carse ground that forms its shores. Few parishes are so well supplied with springs of fine water; indeed, the village of Scotlandwell derives its name from this circumstance. Three of these springs in particular deserve the attention of the tourist. The bridges are in good order, and two of them thrown over the Leven are excellent. The soil in general is light, early, and exceedingly fertile, particularly to the west; while to the east it is strong clay or heavy loam ; near the north bank of the lake, there are more than 200 acres of peat and moss. Rent of land will run from 12s. to £3, 5s. The land is well drained, fenced, and cultivated; dry stone dikes are preferred to hedges. The pasture lands usually maintain about 1300 black cattle, and 2000 Leicester and Cheviot sheep; a great number of swine are reared in the parish; there are upwards of 250 horses, for farm, cart, or riding; with upwards of 300 milch cows; and calves are largely reared. There are nine heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851 was 1550. Limestone occurs in great abundance, and is quarried and burnt to the amount of 6000 tons of carbonate in the year. Sandstone, soft and unfit for use; as also hard, and fit for building, abounds, but is not quarried; whinstone is found on the north side of Benartie. The only manufacture in the parish is one for making parchment. Patron is Sir Graham Montgomery. Parish church stipend, £264, 11s. 4d.; glebe, £10; there is a Free church; and a U.P. church at Balgedie. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; besides four private schools. In 1849, on poor's roll, 25. The people are intelligent and sober. They are a reading population, and keep up two libraries, one of which is connected with the Secession Church. There are two villages, and three hamlets. Each of the villages has a nominal fair to what they once had.
VILLAGE OF SCOTLANDWELL
It stands at the south-west base of the West Lomond Hill; three-quarters of a mile east of Loch Leven, one mile south-east of Kinnesswood, and five miles south-east of Milnathort. The Post Town is Kinross. Many of the inhabitants are crofters of the carse ground. The village is said to derive its name from an hospital, designated Fons Scotia, which was founded here, toward the middle of the 13th century, by William Malvoisine, bishop of St Andrews. The fine springs of water already noticed are in the immediate vicinity. The parish church is on the edge of the hill overlooking the village. The ancient parish church stood at Portmoak hamlet. Population is 510; chiefly employed in agriculture.
VILLAGE OF KINNESSWOOD
Has 350 inhabitants. It is a small sequestered village, three-quarters of a mile east of Loch-Leven, and five miles east of Kinross, in a romantic and pleasing locality, and commanding a beautiful view of the Lake and its islands; and is famed as the birth-place of Michael Bruce, in 1746, author of "Poems on Loch Leven," the ballad of "Sir James the Rose," and of several of the Scripture Paraphrases. He died of consumption at the early age of twenty-one, and was buried in the churchyard of Scotlandwell, where there is an obelisk to his memory. [See Rev. Mr McKelvie of Balgedie's biographical notice of him.]
The hamlet of Balgedie stands half a mile north of Kinnesswood, and has a U.P. church. Besides other two hamlets, there is the hamlet of Portmoak, at which the ancient parish church stood, with a deserted burying ground, which is now turned into a farm-stead, on the margin of Loch-Leven, and west of Scotlandwell.
Loch-Leven covers 1730 acres of this parish. The island of St. Serf, 70 acres in extent, lies five furlongs distant in the Loch, directly opposite Portmoak. Winton tells us that the Culdees had a settlement on this island in the year 700. It afterwards became a dependency of the Augustine Abbey of St. Andrews. Keith distinctly refers to this Culdee establishment.
The most distinguished native of this parish was Andrew Winton, Prior of Loch Leven in the reign of James I., and author of "The Loch Leven Chronicle, or a History of the World from its creation to the captivity of James I.," in Scottish verse; a copy of which is preserved in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh, and published about the beginning of the present century.
John Douglas, the first Protestant Archbishop of St Andrews, was a native of the parish. "The parish also figures largely in the preliminary history of the Scottish Secession, as the scene, for many years, of the ministry of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine."
SALINE
This parish is in Fife; and forms the extreme west boundary of the county. Bounded on the north by Cleish, in Kinross-shire; on the south by Carnock; on the east by Dunfermline; and on the west by Clackmannanshire and Perthshire. Length from east to west is five miles, by three miles in breadth. There is little wood in the parish. The east half of the parish is mountainous, rising into a lofty ridge called the Saline Hills; many parts of which are marshy. The west half is in general level. The soil of the greater part is a mixture of clay and loam, which, in some places, is of a fertile nature, capable of rearing abundant crops of wheat, pease, or beans. The lighter soils bear fine crops of oats and barley. Rent of land will average £1, 10s. “There are large tracks of moss which yield excellent peat." Much has been done in this district in draining to improve the land. The rearing of cattle forms an important portion of the agriculturist's care in the east division, from its lying high; but here also, in many places, the soil is capable of bearing abundant crops. There are fifteen heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851 was 1792. The parish abounds with coal, lime, and ironstone. Patronage is in the Crown. Parish church stipend, £156, 17s. 2d.; glebe, £15; there is a Free church. Parish schoolmaster salary, nearly £80; there are two private schools. In 1849, on poor's roll, 18.
VILLAGE OF SALINE
It is neat, clean, and extremely picturesque in appearance. The houses are very neatly built and white-washed, and have all small kitchen gardens, or plots of flowers attached. The parish church is a handsome building in the pointed style; and seen from a distance in all directions. The village consists of small feus held of the family of Torrie. The Post Town is Dunfermline, from which it lies six miles north-west. There are about 750 inhabitants.
ANECDOTE
About 45 years ago, a valuation of the farms of this parish was made before the late Sheriff of Dunfermline. One farmer represented the district as cold, bleak, wet, and marshy, and the land of little value. The Sheriff being irritated by his evasive answers on the one hand, and his under-rating the value of a certain farm on the other, asked him if he would be pleased if he got the farm for nothing. The farmer coolly answered, "No, your honour, without I had also livery meal."
The lands or property of Nether Kinneder, Upper Kinneder, Craighouse, Bandrum, Burnside, Grey Craig, Balgonar, Saline Shaw, Sheardrum, and Cultmiln, are all in the parish.
Two Roman camps, two ancient towers, and some cairns, are still visible in the parish.
SCOONIE
This parish is in Fifeshire, forming the west side of Largo Bay, and at the mouth of the river Leven. Bounded on the north by Ceres; on the south partly by the river Leven, and partly by the Forth; on the east by Largo; and on the west by Kettle, Kennoway, Markinch, and Wemyss. Length from south to north, four and a half miles; breadth, two miles at the south but scarcely half a mile at the north. Area, 3855 acres; under cultivation, 325; under pasture, 250; under wood, 250; uncultivated links, 105 acres. Though there are no hills, the ground rises gradually, with several swells, from south to north, till it reaches 700 feet above sea-level, affording an extensive view of the Forth and south shore. The coast is flat and sandy, more than one mile in length, without a rock in its whole extent, and forms part of Largo Bay. The river Leven rises from Loch Leven, flows through a narrow vale to the sea, at the town of Leven; its course is nearly twelve miles, and in the upper part, it divides the county of Fife from Kinross; its banks are often steep and woody, but not precipitous; the Leven is crossed by numerous bridges; one highest up, near the lake, has several arches; besides others, there is one at Auchmuir, at the foot of the carse; and a handsome suspension bridge that connects the town of Leven with the village of Dubbieside, which cost £500, and to re-pay which a halfpenny is charged for each passenger. The Leven abounds with various kinds of trout, pike, and eels; but salmon has now left it, owing to the formation of dam-dikes. Few rivers in Scotland, and running so short a course, are so serviceable in turning machinery as this beautiful stream, which is clad with mills, and with extensive bleachfields. There are few springs of good water in the parish; unless one called "the boiling well," from its bubbling appearance; its water is very pure, and copious, but rather distant from the town. Rent of land runs from 16s. to £4 per acre; "the average value of raw agricultural produce raised yearly in the parish is £14,050." The Fife breed of cattle are fattened for the Edinburgh, Glasgow, or London markets; some sheep are kept to be fed on winter turnips, or kept as a breeding stock. There is a thrashing mill moved by steam. Eight heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851, was 3115. Though the whole parish lies on a bed of fine coal, and was wrought for upwards of a century, none of the seams are at present wrought; coals have therefore to be brought from Wemyss or Kilmux, or imported from England. There is little or no freestone, and what is used for building has to come from Inverkeithing, Blair, or other parishes. Whinstone is quarried in the north part of the parish. There is a large stratum of ochre, four feet thick; and several seams of the finest quality of fire-clay. The principal manufacture in the parish is the spinning of flax and tow, and the manufacture of linen goods. There are six mills for spinning flax and tow, including an extensive one at Kirkland; nearly 200 persons are employed in hand-loom weaving; besides these, there is an iron foundry, a saw-mill and wood-yard, a brick and tile work, and a bone-mill. Patron is the Crown. Parish church stipend, £270,16s. 7d.; glebe, £50; there is a Free church, a U.P. church, and a Congregational church at Leven. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; besides four private schools. In 1849, on poor's roll, 116. There are 27 public houses. Though the inhabitants of the parish are sufficiently alive to the benefits of education, and the outward forms of religion, especially in Leven, the conduct and morals of many of them are not of the highest order. There is only one village in the parish.
TOWN OF LEVEN
This is a burgh of barony, under the family of Durie, and includes the hamlet of Scoonie Burn. It is a sea-port at the mouth of the river Leven; and connected with Dubbieside by a suspension bridge. It chiefly consists of two parallel streets, with several bye-lanes. In 1851, its inhabitants numbered 2083. To hand-loom weaving, their chief employment, must be added the various manufactures already noticed under the parish, most of which are carried on in the town or in the vicinity, such as the extensive work at Kirkland, on the right bank of the river, about half a mile above the town. There are six fairs in the year. It is a Post Town. There are branches of the Commercial Bank, the City of Glasgow Bank, and the Western Bank. There is a Savings Bank, a gas company, a golf club, a curling club, several societies; a mechanics' institution, with a good library; and a subscription library, with 700 volumes. There are two principal inns. Ample communication is afforded by the Leven Railway. Sheriff small debt courts are held at stated periods. A board of police has been established for some years. The harbour is a natural one, formed by a creek at the mouth of the river. It admits vessels of 300 tons burden at spring-tides, but is rather difficult of access, owing to shifting sand-banks. A small quay has been built some years since, but quite inadequate to the increasing trade of the port. Several vessels belong to it. The principal imports are flax, timber, pig-iron, ashes, bones, and malt; and the exports are linen yarn, linen cloth, whisky, potatoes, bone-dust, and cast-iron. A packet sails once a week to Leith. Leven is one mile from Methel; two miles from Kennoway; two and a half miles from Lower Largo; two miles from Buckhaven; nine miles from Kirkcaldy; and ten miles from Cupar.
ANECDOTE
The estate of Durie, on the south side of the parish, was once the property of Sir Alexander Gibson of Durie, who was presiding judge of the Court of Session, and one of the most eminent men of the age. There is a curious and well-known tradition of his Lordship being kidnapped by the artifice of the Earl of Traquair, Lord High Treasurer of the period, who had a case of considerable importance before the Court of Session, and who knew that the casting vote of the presiding judge would go against him. The Earl procured one of the Border moss-troopers, under the celebrated John Armstrong, to waylay and carry his Lordship off to an old castle in Annandale, called the Tower of Graham, in the vault of which he was kept for three months, without ever once hearing a human voice, or seeing the face of a person, receiving his food through a small aperture in the wall. His friends went into mourning, under the impression that his horse had thrown his rider into the sea, (the place where he was kidnapped was the Frigate Whins, at Leith,) and a successor was appointed to the office. The lawsuit being decided in favour of the Earl of Traquair, he was muffled as before in a cloak, without a word being spoken, at the dead hour of night, conveyed in the same mysterious way, and set down on the very spot where he had been taken up. And strange as it may seem, his Lordship supposed himself to have been in the dungeon of a sorcerer, and that he had been spirited away by witchcraft. [Abridged from Sir Walter Scott's Border Minstrelsy.]
Need we be surprised at the delusion of his Lordship, when such men as the enlightened and just Sir Matthew Hale condemned women for witchcraft, in 1664.
The properties of Letham, Aithernie, Montrave, and Kilmux, are in the parish.
ST ANDREWS
This parish is on the east coast of Fife. Its ancient name was Muckross, or the "land of boars," and which seems to be borne out by a village still called Boarhills; besides, before the introduction of Christianity, the city was surrounded by a forest, with little cultivated ground in the district; and in which forest the wild boar abounded. Bounded on the north by the river Eden; on the north-east by the German Ocean; on the south and west by Denino, Cameron, Ceres, and Kemback; and on the south-east by the Kenly Burn, which separates it from Kingsbarns and Denino. It is ten miles long from north-west to south-east, with an average breadth of two miles. Area, rather more than 17 square miles, or 11,000 acres; under cultivation, 9844; under pasture, 544; under wood, 345 acres. There are six miles of sea coast; four miles of which are bold and rocky, rising in some places to perpendicular precipices of 50 and 100 feet. Particular rocks have received names, as the Maiden Rock, rising 40 feet, and from six to twelve feet in thickness; the Rock and Spindle at Kinkell, and the Buddo Rock near Boarhills. Among the rocks several caves may be noticed, as Lady Buchan's Cave; and Kinkell Cave, 75 feet in length, 25 feet broad, and 11 feet high on one side. There are several little creeks among the rocks, that are useful to small vessels discharging coals or lime. The chief hills are the hill of Clatto in the west division, rising 548 feet; East Balrymonth, 360; and West Balrymonth, 375 feet above sea-level; (these are often called East and West Balrymont.) The inland surface presents fine open valleys, highly cultivated, and ornamented with wood. A moderate sized stream, rising in the parish, after flowing five miles, and driving several corn mills, falls into the sea; and a smaller stream also rises in the parish, and falls into the sea. The river Eden, after a course of nearly 24 miles, runs along the north boundary for four miles, and falls into the German Ocean, one and a half miles north of the city. The parish is also bounded by the Kenly Burn, the course of which is seven miles. The Gair or Guard-bridge, having six arches, over the Eden, on the road to Dundee, was built by Bishop Wardlaw, who died in 1444. There are no lakes nor cascades in the parish. Rent of land will average £1, 18s. per acre. The land has been well drained, though not well enclosed, because not so well adapted for pasturage as for tillage. The cattle here is generally a mixed breed. The sheep are the Highland and Cheviot breeds. There are fifty thrashing mills, three meal mills, three flour mills, and two barley mills, in the parish. Population in 1851 was 6740. Coal is found at Denhead Moor, but not wrought; it is therefore brought from Drumcarro, six miles distant, or Largoward, seven miles; or imported from Charleston, in the Forth, or from Newcastle. Excellent freestone is obtained at the quarries at Nydie Hill, and at Strathkinness Moor, three miles west from the town. Ironstone is extensively wrought on the estate of Mount Melville, and at Denhead. There are different whinstone quarries for road metal. A considerable quantity of linen is made in the parish for Newburgh and Dundee. There is an extensive steam saw mill near the harbour. Patrons are the Crown and Town Council. Parish church stipend of the first minister, £439, 9s. 4d.; glebe, £23; of the second minister, £161, 18s. 2d.; glebe, £16, 5s. 2d.; with an additional allowance for a manse to each. There are two Free churches, one at Strathkinness; a U.P. church; an Episcopal church; a Congregational church; and a Baptist church. Besides the Madras College, there are several private schools in the parish, and some excellent boarding schools. In 1849, on poor's roll, 330. There are 46 public-houses in the parish; three-fourths of them are in the city, certainly too many for the population. There are four villages, Strathkinness, with 500 inhabitants, Boarhills, Grange, and Kincaple. One of the streams that water the parish is called the Kenlowie or Kenly burn. A dangerous rock, called the Buddo Rock, is in St Andrew's Bay, nearly two miles from land.
CITY OF ST ANDREWS
It is situated on a rocky ridge, projecting into the Bay of St Andrews; this ridge is three quarters of a mile long, by half a mile broad, and washed by the angry ocean on the east and north sides, which terminate in abrupt precipices of fully fifty feet in depth. St Andrew's Bay is admitted by all to be dangerous to navigators, particularly when vessels are driven in by easterly winds, and are compelled to run into the mouth of the Tay, which, in its turn, is full of sand banks. The view to the sea, either from the city, or from the coast road to Crail, is much admired, especially when the German Ocean sets in with tempestuous fury, sending her mountain waves and spray up to the clouds. The city is more than a mile in circuit; with some principal streets, intersected by smaller ones, well built, well paved, kept clean, and lighted with gas. Besides which, there are fine terraces, an elegant crescent, a University, divided into two distinct colleges; the splendid Madras College; a handsome spire, 156 feet high; the beautiful chapel of St Salvator, founded by Bishop Kennedy, who died in 1466; the new Town Church, with its spire; a public walk, now called the Scores; a botanical garden and observatory; with some fine shrubberies, that give to the whole an attractive appearance; and when to these are added several good libraries, a young museum, and charitable institutions; branches of the Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow, Clydesdale, and Western Banks; a Savings' Bank, several annual fairs, and a population in 1851, of 5107, we certainly find the city to be recovering from the character given to it by the celebrated Dr Johnson, who said:- "There is the silence and solitude of inactive indigence and gloomy depopulation." Indeed, as contrasted with the city of Dunfermline, we find that St Andrews stands pre-eminent for appearance, for learning, and for religious history of the darkest dye; while Dunfermline is unrivalled in the county for population, wealth, and intelligence.
By Martin and Chalmers we find that the charter of St Andrews is as old as David I., who erected it into a royal burgh in 1140. This charter was renewed and confirmed by Malcolm IV., the grandson of David, and is still preserved among the burgh records. It was created a city or Archbishop's see in 1471. The city is governed by a provost, dean of guild, four bailies, and 23 councillors. It unites with Cupar, Easter and Wester Anstruther, Crail, Kilrenny, and Pittenweem, in returning a Member to Parliament. The parliamentary constituency in 1852 was 237; and the municipal, 207.
I cannot avoid reminding the reader that the first Provost of St Andrews was Maynard, a Fleming, who was appointed by David I.
The harbour is difficult of access, though, being defended by piers, it is safe and convenient; and its only drawback is, that it is a tidal harbour; and not even then, if vessels carry more then 100 tons burden, without discharging part of the cargo. The fault is at the mouth of the harbour. The port is now constituted by Government a bonding-port. While at the beginning of the 16th century the port was visited by nearly 300 vessels at a time, from every nation in Europe, it had but one small vessel when Tucker wrote in 1656. There are now, however, between 18 and 20 vessels belonging to the port. When St Andrews was in the pride of her glory, the city alone could boast of 13,500 inhabitants, 70 bakers, and 65 brewers. In 1793, the population of the whole parish was only 3951; and the bakers now do not exceed 12 or 13, with two brewers.
The city is connected with Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee by railway. It is 39 miles N.N.E. of Edinburgh; twenty miles from Newburgh; eighteen miles from Falkland; ten and three quarter miles from Ferry-Port-on-Craig; ten from Newport; ten miles from Crail; nine miles from Cupar; six and a half miles from Kingsbarns; five and a half miles from Leuchars; and four miles from Cameron. It is in Latitude 56° 19′ 33" North, Long. 2° 50′ West.
ORIGIN OF ST ANDREWS
Leaving out of the question its miraculous origin, recorded by every writer; history, at the head of which is Winton, bears me out, that in the year 370, a priest called Regulus, with certain portions of the body of the martyr St Andrew the Apostle, who suffered in the year 69, took ship and came accidentally to this country, and was shipwrecked in the bay of Muckross, or the "land of boars." Regulus did this meritorious act to prevent the Emperor Constantine from carrying these sacred relics to his city of Constantinople. The King of the Picts received him well; built the church of St Regulus, still to be seen; and established the Culdees. The church was by Hungus (Ungus,) made supreme in the kingdom of the Picts. And as soon as Kenneth became the King of the Scots, he transferred the seat of royalty from Abernethy to this place, which he for the first time called St Andrews. So far as the date is concerned, it agrees with Eusebius, Bede, Usher, and other respectable writers; though in this case, I would have more confidence in the version given of St Columba.
UNIVERSITY
The University of St Andrews is the oldest in Scotland; it was founded by Henry Wardlaw, Bishop of the diocese, in 1411. St Salvator's College was added by James Kennedy, Bishop of St Andrews, in 1455; St Leonard's College by Prior Hepburn, in 1512; and St Mary's College, in 1537, by Archbishop Beaton. These establishments were remodelled under the direction of George Buchanan in 1579. There is a common library, containing about 55,000 volumes. There are 64 bursaries, of the joint annual value of £840. This University was the first fountain from which all knowledge flowed, proving itself to be both "power and safety." And in the elegant language of Lord Brougham, it is
"Unmeasured strength with perfect art combined,
Awes, serves, amazes, and protects mankind."
This University, moreover, sheds an ethereal light over a benighted land, by piercing the darkness of ignorance that shrouded one party, while it dispelled the mists of doubt that obscured and chilled another, who were too prone to run into scepticism. Which light was-
"As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm;
Though round its breasts the robing clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head."
SCHOOLS
"The English and grammar schools of the city were incorporated with that excellent institution called the Madras College. In 1833, the Madras College was built and endowed from a bequest of £60,000, left by Dr Bell, who was a native of this city, and the founder of the monitorial system of education." [Dawson]
CATHEDRAL AND MONASTERIES
The noblest structure in St Andrews was its Cathedral, founded by Bishop Arnold in 1159, and requiring 160 years for its completion by Bishop Lamberton; who, I may remark in passing, was a zealous and effective partizan of Robert Bruce. The Priory, or Augustine Monastery, was founded by Bishop Robert in 1144. A Dominican Convent was founded by Bishop Wishart in 1274. The Convent of Observantines, founded by Bishop Kennedy, and finished by his successor, Patrick Graham, in 1478. Besides, the chapel of St Regulus, said to be 1400 years old. These were structures that for age, magnificence, and learning that emanated from them, were, with the exception of Rome, unequalled in Europe; and for solidity of reasoning, have certainly never been surpassed. Not satisfied with his work of devastation at Crail, Anstruther, Lindores, and other places, John Knox made this city the theatre of his eloquence, and with its usual effect, by which the most magnificent of cathedrals, and other monasteries, were laid in ruins by an infuriated mob in a single day, in 1559:-
"The steir, strabush, and strife,
When bickerin' frae the towns o' Fife,
Great bangs of bodies, thick and rife,
Gaed to Sanct Androis town,
And wi' John Calvin i' their heads,
And hammers i' their hands and spades,
Enrag'd at idols, mass, and beads,
Dang the Cathedral down."*
* Tennant's Papistry Storm'd, (1827.)
But though St Andrews has lost its noble structures, its splendid mitres, and its illustrious archbishops, whose fame and learning were once the pride of Scotland, it still preserves. talents and genius sufficient to raise it at some future day to its former name and place among the brighter stars. The present state of the city sufficiently bears out my prediction. Has it not weathered every civil and religious tempest? Was it not the cradle of the Culdees, of the Church of Rome, and of the Protestants? Was it not once the market of every nation of Europe? In grandeur, power, and influence, did it not surpass every city in Scotland? In a word, with all its change of circumstances, it still possesses many of the elements of romance and of moral study.
The cruelty and excess of the Catholic clergy have been sufficiently adverted to.
CASTLE
The celebrated Castle of St Andrews stood on a projecting rock, washed by the sea; but of which the ruins are all that remain as a testimony of its dark and mighty deeds. It was built by Bishop Roger about the beginning of the 13th century, as a residence for himself and his successors. From which cause, and its strength, it was often besieged, taken, and re-taken. It was destroyed by the Scots in 1335, who had not a force sufficient to garrison it. Bishop Trail, however, rebuilt it towards the close of the 14th century. James I. received his education here, under Archbishop Wardlaw. James III. was born in it in 1460; in a charter of James II. the Castle is called "the happy birthplace of his first-born son." James VI. took refuge within it, after his escape from the nobles who committed the Raid of Ruthven, in 1583, and was there joined by the well-affected part of the nobility. After his accession to the English throne, James on one occasion revisited St Andrews in 1617. And Charles II. spent two days here, in July 1650, and was the last monarch who visited this ancient city. James V. and Queen Mary, were too frequently here to be further noticed at present. At the north-west corner of the Castle, next the sea, there is a tower, in the bottom of which is a circular pit, or dreadful dark dungeon, cut out of the solid rock. The depth is 22 feet, diameter at the bottom 17 feet; the neck of the orifice is 7 feet, by 8 in depth. Into this fearful tomb were the victims of ignorance, cruelty, and revenge thrown; and left to die of cold, thirst, and famine. In this receptacle of human barbarity, a large quantity of human bones was found after the Reformation. So much for the meek ambassadors of Christ!
The Castle was the residence of the infamous Cardinal Beaton. The window is still shown at which he sat and feasted his eyes on the martyrdom of Wishart; and from which window he was afterwards suspended by his murderers. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the sanguinary temper of the ecclesiastics was often fearfully displayed, when at last the unbounded ambition, relentless cruelty, and insupportable arrogance of Cardinal Beaton, had raised up against himself a host of enemies, who had even before Wishart's arrest and execution determined on his destruction.
A conspiracy was formed against his life by Norman Lesley, John Lesley, James Kirkcaldy of Grange, Cassilis, David Balfour, Glencairn, the Laird of Brunston, with James Melville, and other 28 associates. They entered Beaton's castle by artifice, stabbed the porter at the gate, dismissed 100 workmen, and 50 household servants. The doomed Cardinal took the alarm, and with his page, barricaded the door of his chamber; but John Lesley calling for fire, the door was opened from within. The conspirators instantly rushed upon the Cardinal, and stabbed him repeatedly with their daggers. It would appear that Norman Lesley gave the first stab, and Melville the last mortal stroke. On this their victim dropped from his chair and expired. This event took place at 3 o'clock in the morning of the 29th of May, 1546. The conspirators were joined by others, to the number of 140, for the defence of the Castle; and among whom was John Knox. They defied every effort to take the Castle for a twelvemonth; this was occasioned by Henry VIII. sending them both money and provisions, and whatever was necessary for its defence. In June, 1547, the Castle was bombarded by a French fleet, to which they surrendered upon condition that their lives should be spared. Most of them, with John Knox, were imprisoned in various dungeons throughout France for three years.
The conduct and language of John Knox on this occasion are beneath the name, the dignity, and character of a Christian. Such expressions, for example, as - "after having written merrily upon the subject;" and again, - "salting him well in a corner of the sea-tower," admit of no extenuation in any Protestant, much less in a minister of the Gospel. Fullerton justly remarks:- "Language such as this can hardly fail to inspire disgust;" and in which opinion Chambers entirely concurs. As regards the murder of the Cardinal, I entirely concur in the sentiments of Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, who said:-
"Although the loun be well away,
The deed was foully done."
Constantine III., towards the end of his lifetime, threw down the crown, joined the Culdees in St Andrews, and died there in 943. In 1303, the city was the object of Edward III.'s savage ferocity, by committing it to the flames in retaliation for the resistance made by Macduff at a previous engagement. In 1306, we find the Bishop of St Andrews was among the first to join the standard of Bruce. In 1336, upon Edward's departure, Sir Andrew Murray of Bothwell wrested the Castle of St Andrews, as also the Tower of Falkland, from the English, which were in their possession. These form but a fraction of the sufferings endured by this city. The Priory was suppressed in 1606. The last bishop before the introduction of the presbyterial order of 1639, was the distinguished John Spottiswoode. John Douglas, native of the parish of Portmoak, was the first Protestant Archbishop of St Andrews. "In the prison are preserved the silver keys of the city. Here also is the monster's axe, which took off the heads of several distinguished royalists."
While on the murder of Cardinal Beaton, I should have stated that a paper in his own handwriting was found in the King's cabinet, containing the names of three hundred of the principal nobility marked out as criminals; the Earl of Arran (James Hamilton, Regent), being first in the list. The arrest of George Wishart was by the Cardinal employing the Earl of Bothwell, (one little better than himself,) to decoy him, and then, contrary to a solemn promise, conducting him to St Andrews, where he was condemned to the flames.
QUEEN REGENT
Mary of Guise, or the Queen Mother, sister of the Duke of Guise, who was Regent during 1554-1560, had a most difficult part to play between Church and State; so much so, that, enfeebled by disease, and the harassing life she had led, she retired to the Castle of Edinburgh, where she died on the 10th of June, 1560. She was a princess of respectable talents, but who made a bad use of them, and always over-acted her part.
JAMES III.
I have already stated that this sovereign was born in St Andrews. He was a weak but refined prince, more constituted to be a private Duke than the ruler of a kingdom. Suspicion, indolence, immoderate attachment to females, and many of the errors of a feeble mind, are visible in the conduct of this king. In personal accomplishments he was far in advance of the age in which he lived. He was passionately fond of the study of mathematics, architecture, literature, music, and the fine arts. He regarded his rude and ignorant nobility as barbarians, who again looked on him with contempt as a weak and effeminate sovereign. This mutual aversion at length led to the most fatal results. The nobility entered into conspiracies against a monarch whom they neither feared nor loved. Besides which, "twice had the unhappy monarch to take the field in arms against his own brother, the Duke of Albany, and twice in like manner against his own son," afterwards James IV. His other brother, the Earl of Mar, conceived a treasonable scheme for his dethronement. Tytler says that "Mar was bled to death in a warm bath, whether by accident or design is unknown." Ferrerius, Lesley, and Buchanan, say it was by design; while Drummond of Hawthornden, on the authority of Bishop Elphinstone, states it to be by accident. The second time the King met his rebellious son was at the battle of Sauchie, within a mile of the field of Bannockburn, in 1488. The King's troops were defeated; and himself thrown from his horse after crossing the burn at a hamlet called Milltown, nearly a mile from the battle field, while flying from the enemy. He fell at the door of Beaton's Mill. The miller and his wife carried him into the mill, ignorant of his name or station. He inquired for a priest, aware that he was dying. Being asked who he was, he answered, "This day at morn, I was your king." An ecclesiastic named Borthwick was brought, who, kneeling down under pretence of reverence, pulled out a dagger and stabbed his unresisting victim repeatedly to the heart. The King's body was buried with royal honours in the Abbey of Cambuskenneth. He perished in his 35th year, and 28th of his reign. The whole of his treasure, valuable effects, and ordnance, preserved in Edinburgh Castle, fell into the hands of his rebellious subjects, and the infamous Boyds. In his lifetime, few supported him so truly as David, Lord Lindsay of the Byres; who is admitted to have been a commander of talent and loyalty. The King was united to Margaret of Denmark, who died in the 31st year of her age, before her eldest son's unnatural rebellion and her husband's tragical end. By his Queen the King left three sons, James, his successor; a second James, who became Archbishop of St Andrews; and John, Earl of Mar.
JAMES V.
In following up the history of this sovereign disclosed earlier, I have to remark that "James manifested many high qualities fitted to adorn the throne, and benefit his country. He was unwearied in his efforts to restore order, and suppress violence." With an army of 8000 men, he traversed the lawless districts, and executed the more powerful Border chiefs, among whom was the famous freebooter Johnnie Armstrong, with forty-eight of his men, in 1529. Though Armstrong was the terror of the west marches of England, the mode in which he was captured reflects little honour on the King. Armstrong was summoned to appear before the King, on a solemn promise of personal safety, and having obeyed the summons, "he and his attendants were, in violation of public faith, hanged at Carlenrig, two miles to the north of Mosspaul, on the road between Hawick and Langholm." Armstrong's residence was the Tower of Hollows, in the parish of Canonbie, Dumfriesshire. The King next laid his hand on Tushielaw, which was the stronghold of the celebrated Adam Scott, called "King of the Border," from the greatness of his power and depredations. As he had hanged many an unfortunate person upon an ash tree, he was himself barbarously hanged over his own gate by James V., and then suspended upon the said tree. Tushielaw is in the parish of Ettrick, Selkirkshire. Lindsay tells us that in 1540, James, with an expedition of twelve ships and 15,000 men, 500 of whom were from Fife and Angus, sailed to the isles and northern extremities of Scotland, which alone had set his laws and power at defiance. With the gallows, the dungeon, and acts of mercy, he soon brought the lawless and ignorant to a sense of their duty.
James, immediately after completing the most important work of his reign, namely, the establishment, on a permanent footing, of the College of Justice, or Supreme Civil and Criminal Tribunals of Scotland, in 1532, set sail for France in 1536, and brought with him the gentle and beautiful Magdalen, daughter of Francis I., in 1537. Ere fully six weeks had elapsed, however, she was called to a premature grave. Buchanan, an eye-witness, says it was the first instance of mourning dresses being worn by the Scots. James soon after consoled himself with another wife, by marrying "the too-celebrated Mary of Guise, afterwards the Queen-mother and Queen-regent." He greatly promoted the trade of Scotland. His friendship was courted by the Pope, and all the Powers of Europe. He humbled the proud nobility; and had he lived longer, he would have seized all the church revenues, in imitation of Henry VIII. Living, however, under constant apprehension, James was thrown into a state of despondence and melancholy. His sleep was troubled by frightful visions. “On one occasion, his chamberlain found the King sitting on his bed, who declared that the bastard of Arran had appeared to him with a drawn sword, threatening to cut off his hands, and to return shortly to complete his revenge." This vision obtained credit and importance, from its apparent verification which speedily followed. "James's two infant sons died within a few days of each other, leaving the King again childless, and the succession uncertain." These two sons were, James, Prince of Scotland, born in May 1540, and the other, Robert, Duke of Albany and Earl of Fife, born in June 1541. Broken-hearted by the failure of all his well-meant schemes, the news of the shameful defeat at Solway Moss by Henry VIII., by the disobedience and open mutiny of the nobles, was more than the proud spirit of James could bear. He was mortified; the honour of his arms appeared irretrievably tarnished; "he had been insulted by Henry, his kingdom invaded and laid waste, and he saw himself powerless to defend or retaliate." The result was, he betook himself to his palace at Falkland, where, after two weeks of mental anguish, James V. died of a broken heart on the 14th December 1542, aged 31, and in the 29th year of his reign. When informed, eight days before his death, that the Queen had been delivered of a daughter, his only surviving child and successor, he made the prophetic remark that "It cam' wi' a lass, and it will gang wi' a lass!" alluding to the daughter of Bruce, through whom the kingdom had come to his family. Thus we see the completion of his extraordinary vision; let the unreflecting sceptic say what he may.
James V. was a poet, though few of his works have reached our time.
In his many adventures, amorous, and otherwise, he went in various disguises, and assumed the fictitious name of "The Gudeman of Ballangeich." The songs of "The Gaberlunzie Man," "We'll gang nae mair a rovin'," and others, were founded on these adventures when travelling in the dress of a beggar.
In 1538, St Andrews was the scene of a splendid pageant prepared by Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, in honour of Mary of Guise, who was married to James V., when she entered the city, on her arrival from France. Her Majesty was met at Balcomie Castle, where she landed, by the King, his nobles, dignified clergymen, and a host of gentlemen, all magnificently dressed. On passing through a triumphal arch at the Abbey gate, above which was a representation of a cloud, that opened on her approach, and allowed a fictitious angel to come down, having the keys of Scotland in her hands, delivered them to the Queen, and then disappeared. On which an oration was then delivered to her by Sir David Lindsay, "instructing her to love her God, obey her husband, and keep chaste, according to God's will and commandments." The marriage ceremony was performed with great pomp. The royal party left St Andrews for Cupar, where they dined; at which a number of covered dishes, filled with coins of Scotch gold, obtained from the mines of Crawford-Moor, were presented to the guests by way of dessert; and in the evening they went to Falkland, where they followed the hounds and the fallow-deer over the Lomond hills. The festivities were continued for forty days.
On one occasion, the Earl of Athol erected a rural palace in a meadow, which for splendour, magnificence, and romantic beauty, so far as costly tapestry, stained glass, gold, and every luxury that could delight the senses, never had been equalled; and these again were lavished with a profusion, a taste and eastern grandeur more easily conceived than described, even by the novelist. All this was contrived to entertain James V. and the Queen, in 1539. On the departure of the royal party, the whole of this fairy mansion was committed to the flames, that it should never be profaned by a less noble inhabitant.
ANECDOTE
Bishop Wardlaw was so hospitable as seriously to embarrass his income. One day his chamberlain gently remonstrated with his lordship, and concluded by proposing to make out a list of persons who should have the privilege of dining at pleasure at the Bishop's table; then asked what names his lordship would wish him to put down. The laconic answer of the incorrigible Bishop was:- "Fife and Angus in the first place, (meaning the counties,) and as many more as you choose."
Mr Leighton tells us that the allowance made to Lamberton, the Bishop of St Andrews, when a prisoner of Edward of England, was sixpence a day for himself, threepence for his serving man, three halfpence for his foot-boy, and three halfpence for his chaplain.
Printing was introduced in St Andrews, about the year 1542, by John Scott, a printer, who carried on the art there to some extent. The first printer who introduced the art into Scotland was Walter Chapman, a native of Edinburgh, who printed there various pamphlets and small works in 1508. St Andrews has the honour of greatly improving the shape, beauty, and art of founding of letter types, by the ingenuity of the celebrated Mr Alexander Wilson, professor of astronomy in the University of Glasgow, who was born at St Andrews in 1714.
Archery has been practised in St Andrews for ages. Lindsay tells us that James V. laid a bet with the dowager Queen Margaret, who had been boasting of the skill of her countrymen in this art. Six Scotchmen were chosen to shoot against the same number of Englishmen. The Scotch gained the victory, for which the gratification of the King was unbounded. The bet was a hundred crowns and a tun of wine. Would these celebrated archers excel the famous men of Perth? The game of golf has also been practised here from a remote age; and still continues to be a favourite amusement; so much so, that a Golf Club, consisting of 400 noblemen and gentlemen, was instituted in 1754.
One mile north-west from the city is the property of Strathtyrum, which Lamont says was purchased by Archbishop Sharp, in 1669. It was near Strathtyrum where the unfortunate Duke of Rothsay was seized and made prisoner by Sir John Ramorney and his accomplices. The lands and village of Strathkinnes, two and a half miles west of the city, belonged once to the first Lord Balfour of Burleigh. Claremont belonged to Mr George Martin, author of "Reliquiæ Divi Andreœ." was the first who gave a detailed account of the institutions of St Andrews. His work was not published till 1797. He was secretary to Archbishop Sharp.
In the above lengthened parish, the following authors have been carefully consulted:- Auchinleck Chronicle; Pinkerton, Vols. I. and II.; Rymer, Vol. XI. and XII.; Lesley's History; Pitscottie, Vol. I.; Buchanan's Hist., book XII.; Crawford's Officers of State; Ferrerius; Fordun; Drummond's Hist. of the James's; Tytler's Hist., Vol. IV.; Boethius's Hist. of Scotland; Martin's Reliquice Divi Andreœ; Lyon's Hist. of St Andrews; Turgot's Chronicle of Scottish Affairs; Grierson's Delineations of St Andrews, Edit. 1822; Lamont's Diary; Dempster's Ecclesiastical Hist. of Scotland; Wyntown; J. Melville's Diary; Spottiswood's History of the Church of Scotland; and Major's Hist. of Scotland.
ST LEONARDS
A parish in Fife. It received its name from a nobleman, who was canonized after his death, soon after the middle of the sixth century. We cannot trace the erection of this parish earlier than 1512. It is formed of different portions of the city and suburbs of St Andrews, including three farms (the two Kenloways or Kenlies, and Pikie,) four and five miles from the parish church, but in the parish of St Andrews. Area, 850 acres; under cultivation, 654; under pasture, 327 acres; there is no wood. The description of the parish of St Andrews applies strictly to this parish, with the following exceptions:- Population 587, of which 72 reside in the country. There are several quarries of freestone, which, though soft, is found to be durable, and adapted for building. Patronage is under the Crown. Parish church stipend, £152, 1s. 9d.; glebe, £25. In 1849 on poor's roll, 14. Post Town, St Leonards. The rents of the lands of Pikie are paid to the City of Glasgow, in consequence of a deed of mortification by Scot of Scotstarvet. This appears to have been from an act of clannishness, as I find that Scot's ancestors had belonged to the neighbourhood of Glasgow. There is no parish school; children in the distant country portion have to go to the school of Boarhills, one mile from them.
STRATHMIGLO
This parish is in the north-west part of Fifeshire, lying directly north from the Lomonds. Bounded on the north by the Fife portions of Arngask and Abernethy; on the west by Orwell and Portmoak; on the south by Falkland and Portmoak; and on the east by Auchtermuchty. Length from south-east to north-west is seven miles, by three miles from south to north. Area 5000 acres; under cultivation, 4020; under pasture, 600; under planted wood, 350, and under natural wood, 30 acres. The parish is divided into two nearly equal parts by the river Eden, through its whole length. The Eden receives the name of Miglo while it intersects the parish; and from which Miglo the parish derives its name. Before proceeding further, I may state that our very wise ancestors provided a long narrow tongue of land to the village of Strathmiglo, running one mile east in length, by fifty yards in breadth, separating the good people of Auchtermuchty from those of Falkland, but whither for speech, justice, or defence, is not for me to judge. The parish has the Lomond hills on the south, and the range of the Ochills on the north. One of the most noted of the wild places among the hills, where our persecuted ancestors sought to worship their God in peace after their own fashion, was "Glenvale," a deep and wild ravine in the Lomond hills, where the counties of Fife and Kinross meet. An accessible rock at the bottom of the remotest part of this ravine formed the pulpit from which the proscribed ministers preached to their harassed flocks; and which rock is still called the preaching rock. To some extent on both sides of the river, the surface is either level or gently undulating. The West Lomond hill is the highest in Fife, having an ascertained altitude of 1721 feet above sea-level. The Miglo (river Eden) has its source from two branches, one rising at the north-west and another at the south-west corner of the parish. In its course it propels a number of mills, for corn, flour, lint, and spinning, besides a bleachfield. The soil on the south is light, and rests on freestone, producing ordinary crops of barley; while on the north it is a rich loam resting on a whinstone bed, yielding abundant crops of wheat and other grains. Rent of land will run from 18s. to £4, 5s. The land is generally well enclosed; the cattle reared are a mixed breed; a few farmers have flocks of sheep which are fed on the upper part of the Lomonds, while other farmers feed their sheep during winter off their turnips, and sell them in the spring; there are 26 thrashing mills in the parish, a fourth of them driven by water, the rest by horses; besides four corn mills, one flour mill, and a barley mill, all driven by the Miglo. There are 23 heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851 was 2509; while in 1755, it was only 1095. Limestone of a good quality is wrought at two quarries on the Lomond hill. The same hill furnishes an excellent white freestone, that is taken as far as Perth; there are quarries of red freestone, extensively wrought on the south side of the river; the stone is durable, takes on a good polish, and is driven to distant parts in Fife and Perthshire. Quarries of good whinstone, fit for building, are on the lands of Kincraigie and Wellfield. The inhabitants of the parish are principally employed in weaving dowlas, sheeting, stripes, and ticking; diaper, damask, and towelling; with some cotton goods, and woollen shawls. Mr Leighton estimates the number of looms employed in the parish at 500. There is a spinning mill, a lint mill, and a wool mill. The patron is the Earl of Mansfield. Parish church stipend, £269, 2s. 2d.; glebe, £10, 10s.; there is a Free church; a U.P. church; and a Ref. Pres. church. Parish schoolmaster salary, £34, 4s. 1⁄2d., with £2, 13s. 1⁄2d. private endowment; there are three other private schools. In 1849 on poor's roll, 46. As usual in manufacturing districts, the public houses are sufficiently numerous; though I regret to say, I found the young agricultural portion of the population in all the three counties, much more given to intemperate habits, and many of them to worse propensities, than the same class were forty or fifty years ago; and this entirely the result of the present bothy system.
BURGH OF STRATHMIGLO
The burgh, and the suburbs called Kirklands, Stedmoreland, and Temple lands, occupy the north bank of the Miglo, at the east end of the parish; while the feus of Wester Cash, and the town feus, are on the south bank of that stream. The burgh consists of one principal street, running parallel to the river, with about five lanes diverging at right angles to it, and the East and West Back Dykes. The parish church is a plain modern structure. There is a townhouse in the middle of the village, with a neat tower and spire, seventy feet high, built in 1734. There is something antique and picturesque in the appearance of this village. There is a town green; one fair in June; "the Strathmiglo Friendly Society;" a subscription library; a Mason Lodge; and a brass instrumental band. The nearest market-town is Auchtermuchty. There is a sub-post-office under Kinross. The population of the burgh and suburbs is nearly 1500. The nearest coach conveyance is at New Inn, six miles distant. It is a place of some antiquity. Sibbald says, "it belongs to the Lord Burghly since 1600, anciently to the Scotts of Balwearie, who, about 1251, got it from the Earl of Fife for their good services. Duncan, Earl of Fife, got it from Malcolm IV. with his niece." The first charter granted to Sir William Scott of Balwearie gave power to erect the village into a burgh-of-barony, with the liberty of "having and holding within the said burgh ane Tolbooth, and ane pair of gallows, and ane weekly market on Fridae, and twa public fairs yearly." The jougs and gallows were erected a little to the west of the Kirk Wynd. The charter was confirmed under the Great Seal in the reign of James VI., in 1605. But the power of the superior fell under the sweep of the Act 20 Geo. II., in 1748, abolishing the heritable jurisdictions. "The affairs of the burgh are now managed by a committee of the feuars, elected at an annual general meeting of their body, and consisting of a preses, six members, and clerk." [Leighton]
Besides the burgh, there is a small village called Gateside, at Edenshead, one and a half miles west of Strathmiglo; besides two hamlets, one called Burnside, at the west boundary; and Newbigging, situated to the north-west of Gateside.
The river Eden, rising in the high grounds of Strathmiglo, runs from west to east through the Howe of Fife, passes Cupar on the south, and finally falls into the shallow sinus betwixt St Andrew's Bay and the estuary of the Tay.
The burgh is two miles from Auchtermuchty; three from Falkland; seven and a half from Newburgh; eight from Kinross; eleven from Cupar; twelve from Perth; and fifteen from Kirkcaldy.
We have seen that Strathmiglo owed its importance to the Scotts of Balwearie, who were barons of great wealth and power, being proprietors of nearly 30 estates in various parts of the county, from Pitferrane in the west to Mugdrum in the east. I, moreover, find by history that this ancient family had continued for sixteen generations, from the celebrated Sir Michael Scott, the wizard, who flourished in the reign of William the Lion, and that he was the fourth baron and third knight of this family. The downfall of this ancient house occurred in 1600. This was owing to Sir James Scott having connected himself with the treasonable and unprincipled Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, who had made various mad attempts to gain possession of the person of James VI. in 1591-2-3-4. He was involved with the Earl of Huntly's desperate attempt at insurrection, at Glenlivet, in 1594. He was, besides, an enemy to the Reformation. The penalty of these follies was repeated fines and ransoms to Government; and plundering of his property by the Protestants, who thought it best to fish in troubled waters. The family is now represented by Sir William Scott of Ancrum, who still preserves the seal of the family. The Castle of Strathmiglo stood in a field a little east of the burgh, and had been surrounded on all sides by a large moat, and which alone remains to mark the spot of that stronghold. In viewing it with an attentive eye, and connecting it with ancient history, I could not but drop a tear for the renowned Sir Michael Scott, who had been the admiration of the learned; who had startled, staggered, and terrified the ignorant.
ANECDOTE
Sir James Scott is traditionally represented as having been harsh to the poor; an instance of which is still handed down. "He was looking over a window, it is said, of his castle of Strathmiglo, situated to the east of the village, while his servants were throwing a great quantity of oatmeal into the moat which surrounded the castle, owing to its being old and unfit for use. An old beggar man came to the outer end of the drawbridge, and requested to be allowed to fill his wallets with the meal; but the haughty baron of Balwearie refused this humble request, on which the poor man pronounced a woe upon him, declaring he should beg before his death. It cannot be said that the curse, if ever perpetrated, was literally fulfilled, but certainly Sir James saw the ruin of his family; and the tradition still is, that such was his poverty at his death, that a subscription was raised among the neighbouring proprietors to pay the expense of his funeral." [Leighton in Swan's Fife Illustrated, vol. II.; and Fullerton, vol. II.]
Sir James Scott is among the few Fife gentlemen who are characterised by John Knox as being "enemies to God, and traitors to their country."
In the middle of a muir at the north part of the Lomonds, south of Barrington, and about half-a-mile west of Kilgour, the celebrated and well-known Jenny Nettles was buried. She who has given name to two very fine old Scotch songs, one beginning, "Saw ye Jenny Nettles coming through the market," the other, " I met ayont the cairney, Jenny Nettles, trig and braw," both of which are great favourites in Strathmiglo.† This unfortunate heroine was a native of Strathmiglo, and was famed through all the surrounding country for her great beauty. When Rob Roy took possession of Falkland Palace, after the battle of Sheriffmuir, one of his Highland officers paid too successful attention to the rustic beauty; and she, on being deserted by her faithless lover, in a fit of shame and despair put a period to her existence by hanging herself on a tree at the roadside, about half-way between Falkland and Strathmiglo. Her body was, as in those days, denied the benefit of a coffin, and of a churchyard. She was consigned to the earth, like a dog, in the muir already mentioned. About 25 years ago, two ear-rings and twenty-four beads were found in her grave.
Tradition, besides other more indubitable evidence, says that a great battle was fought near Merlsford, on the Eden, between the Romans and the Caledonians, about the year 85. The numerous cairns and tumuli, in which were found urns and burnt bones, with which the surface of the parish is covered, besides stone coffins enclosing skeletons, pits containing quantities of skulls and ancient weapons, all point out that one or more battles had been fought. It has been conjectured that this is the long-disputed site of the great battle of Mons Grampius, described by Tacitus. And Colonel Millar, who resides on his brother's property of Urquhart, has certainly rendered it more than probable, in an essay he read on the subject before the Society of Antiquaries at Edinburgh, in 1830, and which has been published in their Transactions, (vol. IV.) No attempt has yet been made to overturn his arguments upon the subject.
On the level ground which forms the summit of the ridge between the two Lomonds, there were at one period no less than eight Druidical temples.
In the 15th century, the old tower of Corstoun was the property of John Ramsay, who was descended from the house of Carnock, one of the most ancient families of the name. The old tower of Pitlochy, or Pitlochie, was anciently the inheritance of the Lundens of Balgony.
TILLICOULTRY
This parish is in Clackmannanshire. Bounded on the north by Blackford; on the north-east by Glendevon; on the south by Clackmannan and Alloa; on the east by Dollar; and on the west by Clackmannan and Alva. One half of the parish runs into Perthshire. Length from north to south, six miles by one and three-quarters in breadth. Area, 6000 Scotch acres. The number of acres under cultivation, pasture, and wood, have not been ascertained with that accuracy that would entitle me to insert them. The lower third of the parish to the south is all under the plough, and a portion of the north two thirds. The two thirds, or 4000 acres, of the parish on the north are among the Ochil hills; these are composed for the most part of red and grey granites, with clay-slate for the remainder. The summits of some parts of the Ochils, as Bencleuch, rise 2300 feet above the Devon, which runs at its base; I need not state that the view from its top is magnificent and extensive, including the Grampian, the Dundaff, the Lomond, and Pentland Hills. When the eye falls upon the lower hills that are bold and romantic, with wooded glens, rocky precipices, and frequent brawling cascades, contrasted with the rich verdure of the sloping valleys and meandering streams, the mind becomes entranced, till recalled by a storm, or by nightfall. These are not the effusions of the novelist, but of one who has more than once seen what he has here so feebly attempted to copy from nature. The King's Seat is another high summit; while others, as Kirkhill and Cuninghar, south-east from Tillicoultry House, are more beautiful and romantic than high. All of them nevertheless afford excellent pasture, by which nearly 4000 sheep are maintained. The parish is watered by the Devon, that has attracted the notice of the tourist and the poet; it rises in the hill behind Alva, runs east on the north side of Tillicoultry, then through Dollar, Glendevon, and Muckart, thence issuing south into the vale, it takes a west course at the Crook of Devon, and two and a half miles below the church of Fossaway, it forms that wonderful group of rocks and waterfalls called the Rumbling Bridge, Deil's Mill, and Caldron Linn. The beautiful, grand, and terrific train of broken cascades, tearing and roaring over rugged rocks with a tremendous noise, must be seen to be credited. On one occasion two gentlemen from Dunfermline, in 1823, foolishly laid a bet that they would leap across the fearful Caldron Linn, which I consider to be at least twenty feet in diameter. They were provided with neither ladder nor rope. As may be expected, the first one fell into the boiling pit, where he tumbled and rolled; thrown up the one minute to the surface, only to be ingulfed the next; unable to cry for help to his half-petrified companion, who nevertheless recovered sufficiently to run to the Inn, nearly half a mile, and procure a hook, rope, ladder, and assistance. He was taken out, carried to the Inn, and lay nearly a fortnight before he could leave for Dunfermline. This adventure was communicated to me, shortly afterwards, by the more fortunate of the two. The windings of the Devon are numerous and truly beautiful; which, with many burns that emerge from the hills, the largest being the burn of Tillicoultry, formed by the confluence of Glooming-side burn, and Daiglen, two nearly equal streams, are made by the art and industry of man to turn the machinery of eight or nine large woollen factories. There is a spacious and secure bridge over the Devon, with two wooden bridges, one below the village of Tillicoultry, and another one and a half miles to the west of the village of Cambus, for the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway. The soil in some parts is a deep rich loam mixed with sand, in others a quick loam, but not deep; while a mixture of loam and clay, on a variety of subsoils, is occasionally to be met with. Rent of land will average £4 in rich fields; while in poorer soils it will run about £1, 10s. Much attention has been bestowed to draining on both sides of the Devon, with stone or with tile, as the case required. There are ten heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851 was 4686. Coal is found abundantly on both sides of the Devon; but is chiefly wrought on the south side of the river. The quality is various and excellent. The principal coal that is wrought in the parish is Colsnaughton, on Woodlands, and at Devonside. There is a three feet seam of rough cherry coal, and a 5 feet seam of a fine quality of cherry coal; there is a three feet seam of splint coal; and a six feet seam of a strong coal, being a mixture of rough and splint. Ironstone is extensively wrought by the Devon Iron Company. "On the west side of the parish it runs in strata, from two to five inches in thickness, and on the east side, it lies in bands, or promiscuously among the blaes. The latter is of a kidney shape, and fine quality, said to yield from 20 to 30 per cent." [New Stat. Acc.] There is an abundance of white, yellowish, and reddish freestone, of good quality. Excellent whinstone, fit for building and road-metal, is quarried in the Mill-glen. Copper ore, silver, lead, cobalt, arsenic, and sulphur, have been found in the parish, but not sufficiently renumerative to pay the expense of working them, and leave a profit behind. A fine stratum of dark-blue clay, suitable for fire-bricks, is also found in the parish. There are considerable manufactures of tartans, shawls, plaidings, Scotch blankets, and Tillicoultry serge, which, including those persons who work at home, cannot employ less than 1000 men, women, and children. The New Statistical Account tells us that "the quantity of wool annually used by the principal manufacturers is stated to be about 30,000 stones." The patrons are the Heirs of K. W. Ramsay. Parish church stipend, £282, 4s. 1d.; glebe, £40; there is a Free church, a U.P. church, and a Congregational church. Parish schoolmaster salary, minimum; there are other three schools. In 1849 on poor's roll, 40. There are eleven public-houses. The morals of the population are not worse than in other manufacturing districts, but education is at a very low ebb; this arises from their being able at an early age to earn wages, which will average 7d per day. I conversed with upwards of fifty, and found the greater proportion naturally intelligent; one half of these again were extremely so, but on inquiry they were found not to be natives of the county. Such is the force of cultivation of the same degree of intellect. Before closing the descriptive part, I may contrast the present population of the parish, which is 4686, with that of 1755, when it was 787. This requires no comment on my part, further than that it shows to a demonstration the effect of manufactures on a nation. The agricultural population, on the other hand, is rapidly taking the opposite direction.
VILLAGE OF TILLICOULTRY
It stands on the road from Stirling to Kinross, on the right bank of the Devon. The parish church, a Secession one, and another already noticed, with the parish school, a boarding school, various provident and benevolent societies, a branch of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Bank, and of the Union Bank of Scotland, a Savings' Bank, a total abstinence society, a sub-post-office under Stirling; with bakers, fleshers, and grocers; smiths, wrights, and masons, with an extensive work for making machinery, and a branch of the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway; these, with the manufactures already noticed, contribute to enliven the village, which has considerably increased in prosperity within the last fifty years. Its population in 1851 was 3217. The nearest market town is Alloa, four miles distant; it is two miles from Alva; four from Dollar; six from Tullibody; and nine from Stirling.
There are three other villages, Colsnaughton, Earlstown, and Westertown, which only twenty years ago were little better than hamlets, that are now rapidly rising into importance. They are filled with colliers, founders, brick and tile makers, etc. Colsnaughton alone has 700 inhabitants, with a schoolhouse built and endowed by Mr. Wardlaw Ramsay. There are two or three other small hamlets in the parish.
St Serf had visited Tillicoultry in the end of the 6th century, where, according to the Romish legends, he had performed some of his miracles, Tillicoultry House and Harviestoun House are the principal objects of attention; they are elegant modern mansions, surrounded by fine plantations, laid out with taste; they include the oak, elm, ash, birch, beech, plane, larch, and pine, besides some good and aged lime and chestnut trees. There are other plantations on the estates of Glenfoot and Shannock, equal in value. The estate of Tillicoultry was the property of the family of Mar nearly six hundred years ago. The family of Lord Colville of Culross held it from 1483 to 1634. Lord Colville was raised to the peerage by James VI., and was distinguished for military genius, and figured conspicuously in the wars under Henry IV. of France. He spent the latter part of his life, and died, in Tillicoultry. The estate was sold in 1634, to the distinguished poet, William Alexander of Menstrie, afterwards Earl of Stirling. James Bruce, Esq. of Kinross, bought it in 1781; James Erskine, Esq., bought it in 1810; and R. Wardlaw, Esq., in 1814.
The principal antiquities are a Druidical circle on the south end of Cuninghar; and the ruins of a circular tower on a basaltic eminence called the Castle-craig.
RIVER DEVON
This river everywhere abounds in excellent trout and par; besides pikes and eels in its pools, it possesses plenty of salmon in the spawning-season, with whole brigades of delicious white and grey sea-trouts in harvest and spring. Most of the hill-burns abound in trouts of fine quality and flavour, and are caught in great numbers after rain. It is somewhat singular that trouts have never been found in the Gloomingside-burn, though it has plenty of water and remarkably fine pools; and if put in alive, they will neither propagate their species nor long survive. Such a fact must be owing to a chemical cause acting on the water, though the external senses have been unable to discover it.
TORRYBURN
This parish is in the south-west corner of Fife, lying along the shore of the Firth of Forth. It derives its name from the Burn of Torrie. The parish consists of the united parishes of Torrie and Crombie; the earliest notice of the former is in a list drawn up in the reign of William the Lion; while Crombie was formerly dependent on the Abbey of Culross. The separation of the parishes seems to have been about the year 1595. Bounded on the south by the Forth; on the north by Carnock; on the east by Dunfermline; and on the west by the parish of Culross, in the county of Perth. Here again we see the wisdom, the folly, or the knavery of our ancestors, by having several lands in the parish of Saline, eight miles, distant, with the parish of Carnock between them. But let us be charitable; perhaps Torryburn found it necessary to banish their incorrigible subjects to the bleak hills of Saline. Length from east to west, five miles by two in breadth. Area, five square miles. The surface is beautifully varied. From the higher grounds we command several fine views of the Firth and its opposite shore, so far east as the Castle and part of the city of Edinburgh. It is watered by the burn of Torrie, and by two smaller streams that bound the parish on the east and west. "A small loch, which at one time existed on the lands of Oakley, is now drained." [New Stat. Acc.] In general the soil is rich, and capable of producing every kind of crop; in some parts it is much mixed with clay. Rent of land from £1 to £5; the average may be stated at £2, 10s. It is well enclosed by dikes, hedges, and ditches; and in a state of high cultivation. Within the last twenty years a good deal of land has been gained from the Firth, owing to the tide, at low water, receding to a considerable distance from the shore. There are six heritors of £100 Scots valued rent. Population in 1851 was 1341; when the parish was in its most flourishing state, that is in 1775, it had nearly 1900 souls; being a difference of 569 backwards, like the crab. The whole of the parish lies more or less on beds of coal, both splint and parrot, which were once extensively wrought; but owing to the failure of the then proprietor of Crombie, both the coal and salt works were abandoned. The only colliery now working employs about 60 men altogether, and turns out about 8000 tons annually, one fourth of which are fine parrot coal, fit for gas works. There are beds of fine brown clay suitable for making bricks and tiles. A number of the inhabitants are employed in weaving table-linen for the manufacturers of Dunfermline, and cotton goods for those of Glasgow. The patron is Stuart of Carnock. Parish church stipend, £179, 9s. 4d.; glebe, £10; there is a Free church, but no other Dissenting place of worship. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; there are two sewing schools; besides a private school at Crombie. In 1849, on poor's roll, 32. There are twelve public houses in the parish. Neither morality nor education are of a high order in this parish; and which seems to have been the case also in 1653, as the minister reported to the session that there were in the parish "ignorant persons, scandalous livers, persons who had not attended diets of examination, and those who did not profess to keep family worship, in all near 200 persons." [New Stat. Account, Fife.] It is only fourteen years since six adult persons in this parish could neither read nor write. There are two villages and two hamlets in the parish.
VILLAGE OF TORRYBURN
It lies on the coast. The number of inhabitants is 670, who are employed in weaving. There is a harbour, now little frequented, but which at one period could boast of having 1000 tons of shipping belonging to it. At that period, the goods manufactured in Dunfermline were conveyed to Torryburn harbour, and from thence to Borrowstowness in a large boat, to be shipped for London. The nearest market-town is Dunfermline, which is also the Post Town; there is, however, a private post. There is a Friendly Society called "the Dead Box," giving £6 at the death of an adult person, and £2 at the death of a child of a member. There is a small parochial library, and two Sabbath schools. There is one annual fair held on the second Wednesday of July; at which the sale of confections, toys, and crockery, forms all the business transacted; these are wound up in the evening with a horse-race, and some dancing and drinking. The village has nothing in particular to recommend it, unless a fine clean sea-beach; and the tortuous course of the burn of Torrie that runs through it, and hence the phrase of "the Crooks in Torryburn."
The other village is called Newmill, or Torrie, with 400 inhabitants. It is principally noted for a large saw-mill, and wood-yard; though from the remains of a pier, which seems to have been of considerable extent, shipping had once formed its chief trade. There is a brick, tile, and pottery-work at Valleyfield. A burn at the west end of Newmill, over which there is a bridge, divides Fife from Perthshire. The village lies half a mile west of Torryburn, and one and a half miles east of Culross. The two hamlets are Crombie-Point, now an insignificant sea-port, but once an extensive shipping port. It is now a mere calling place of the Newhaven and Stirling steamboats; and a passage-boat crosses to Bo'ness when the tide answers. There are about 82 inhabitants. It is one mile east of the village of Torryburn, and eight miles W.N.W. of Queensferry. The other hamlet is a farming one, a quarter of a mile to the north of Crombie-Point; with about 48 inhabitants.
The village of Torryburn is two miles east of Culross; four miles south-west of Dunfermline; and nine miles west of Queensferry.
The lands of Torry anciently belonged to the family of Wardlaw, from whom sprang the celebrated Henry Wardlaw, bishop of St Andrews. The mansion-house of Torry is magnificent in architecture, and more or less surrounded by beautiful trees of various ages. The lands of Crombie anciently belonged to Lord Colville of Cleish, a descendant of Lord Colville of Culross. The houses and lands of Valleyfield; Craigflower Park; Inzievar; and Oakley, formerly called Annfield, are all well deserving the attention of the tourist.
Torryburn was formerly infected with the mania of witchcraft, and so recently as in 1704, one Lillias Adie was accused of that sin, but "who afterwards died in the jail of Dunfermline, and was buried within the flood-mark between the villages of Torryburn and Torrie." [New Stat. Acc.] Mr Logan was the minister at that time. And one woman, Helen Kay, in 1709, was rebuked before the congregation for having said that the minister "was daft," when she "heard him speak against the witches." [New Stat. Acc.] But previous to these periods, the poor wretches were burnt at the stake.
I find that a public collection was made in the parish of Torryburn, in 1643, to the amount of £26, 13s. 4d., for the relief of the captives of Inverkeithing. This was true Christian charity, and in every sense better than the unchristian act of burning witches, and that by men under the false pretence of learning and of godliness.
WEMYSS
This parish is on the shore of the Forth, in Fifeshire. The name is derived from the Celtic Uamh, "a cave," of which there are seven in the rocks on the shore. Bounded on the south by the Firth; on the north by Kennoway and Markinch; on the west by Dysart; and on the east by Markinch and Scoonie. Length from south-west to north-east is five and three-quarter miles; by one and a half in breadth. Area, about 5000 acres; under cultivation, about 3000; under pasture, 1150; under wood, 650 acres. The sea beach is bold and rocky, from which the surface rises towards the north, where it is in some places considerably elevated; and when to these are added the plantations and extensive pleasure grounds in the neighbourhood of Wemyss Castle, we have another of those fascinating pictures of the county already so frequently portrayed. The soil is very various, though chiefly consisting of decomposed sandstone, often only a few feet thick; or of a strong mixture of dark-coloured clay, not unfrequently 30 feet deep. Rent of land from £1, 12s. to £4, 5s. per acre. Draining and liming the land has been well attended to; a good deal of potatoes are planted, and a quantity of turnips are raised; live stock are kept and reared to rather a considerable extent. There is only one heritor of £100 Scots valued rent, and that is Wemyss, Esq. of Wemyss, proprietor of the whole parish. Population in 1851, was 5647; while in 1755, it was only 3041; the difference is to be found in increased manufactures, and extending the coal department; one-third of the population are employed in mining operations; the gross product of which averages upwards of £18,500. There are twelve workable seams of coal in the parish, which indeed lies upon rocks of the coal formation; there are four coalpits, one of which, called the Wemyss coal-pit, has been working constantly for the past two centuries; and turns out, according to the New Statistical Account, about 40,000 tons yearly. Besides other two pits, there is a parrot or gas coal pit. There is one ironstone pit, in bands and balls; and one ochre pit. There is a good quantity of dark red sandstone of various shades of colour, hardness, and durability. There is no limestone nor whinstone in the parish. The manufactories for the preparation and spinning of flax, and weaving of canvas, sheeting, dowlas, ducks, sacking, and other fabrics, are extensive. The yearly wages paid for the whole are about £36,000. [Dawson] Wemyss was formerly famed for making salt, both in quantity and quality; thus, in 1820, the annual sale at West Wemyss and Methil was 50,000 bushels, while now it will not average 6000 bushels. Patron, John Angus, Aberdeen. Parish church stipend, £269, 2s. 2d.; glebe, £25. The Chapel of Ease at Methil has been shut up since 1849; there is a Free church; and a U.P. church at Buckhaven. Parish schoolmaster salary, maximum; there are other six private schools. In 1849 on poor's roll, 155. Public houses are in proportion to the population, yet the generality of the people are industrious, moral, and religious; indeed, I found them more so than might have been expected in a district engaged in manufactures and collieries. My professional practice in Kirkcaldy in 1821 gave me frequent opportunity of inspecting the parish; and from letters recently received, I find they are not worse now. Two causes will account for this - the parish has been blessed with excellent and attentive ministers; and much has been done by the managers of the Kirkland works, in the shape of order and good example. With me, "such a captain, such a company." In the parish there are four libraries, several friendly societies, and four savings banks. There are seven villages in the parish. The nearest market-town is Kirkcaldy, which is also the Post Town, but a post-boy supplies the parish with letters and newspapers from Kirkcaldy, which is six miles from East Wemyss. There are Sabbath evening schools in all the villages.
EAST WEMYSS
This was once an agricultural village; of extreme neatness, and has the parish church. There are now four considerable manufacturers in it, who weave various descriptions of cloth. Population 850. There is a carrier, who goes to Kirkcaldy; two libraries; and a Savings Bank. It is one mile from West Wemyss; or from East and West Coaltown.
WEST WEMYSS
This is a burgh-of-barony, governed by two bailies, a treasurer, and councillors. Population 1000, who are mostly colliers. There is a harbour, where coals are extensively shipped. There is a Savings Bank; and a library.
BUCKHAVEN
A large fishing village, with 1469 inhabitants. It consists of a perfect confusion of mean cottages arranged on the face of a steep promontory, in such a manner that neither street nor road can pass through them. It has either been built during a dense fog; or in a dark night, under the light of a lantern; or possibly it may have come down from the clouds, like a Russian shower of young frogs near a lake:-
"May the foul fiend drive ye,
And o' to pieces rive ye,
For building sic a town."
Nevertheless, though order, neatness, or cleanness are not to be found outwardly, the same charge cannot be laid against them in the internal arrangement of their houses; and what is still more important, poverty is so unknown, that their boats and nets have been valued at upwards of £20,000. They are most industrious in their habits, and daring in their calling. Their manners and speech are so peculiar, rude, and clownish, that to have been at the College of Buckhaven has long become a proverb. They are admitted to be the descendants of the crew of a Brabant vessel, which was wrecked on this part of the coast, in the reign of Philip II., (that is, in the reign of James IV.) They proposed to settle and remain, and for which permission was given by the family of Wemyss. By degrees they acquired our language, and adopted our dress. While they were formerly ignorant and credulous, so as to be lampooned, and made the objects of several humorous pamphlets, as the tale of "Wise Willie and Wittie Eppie" that have made the village of Buckhaven a household name throughout the whole of Scotland, they have now the character of a sober and sensible, industrious and honest people. Their honesty, indeed, would put all other classes of Christian society to the blush; thus in making a bargain, they pass their word over a skate-rump, while we must have bills, bonds, and stamps; and are too frequently not sure even then! A new pier and harbour were formed about sixteen years since. There is a considerable manufacture of linen in the village. There is a U.P. church; a Savings Bank; two carriers who go to Kirkcaldy; and a library. It is one and a quarter miles from Methil; two miles from Leven; two from East Wemyss; and five from Dysart.
KIRKLAND
A village lying in a secluded beautiful situation on the Leven. There is an extensive manufacturing establishment, at which spinning and bleaching yarn, and manufacturing linen cloth, is carried on. It is lit up with gas; employs about 700 hands; and consumes annually 1400 tons of hemp and flax. There is also a private school attached to it. Nearly 290,000 spindles of flax, tow, and hemp yarns, are spun annually, two-thirds of which are used in weaving. It is one mile west of Leven, and one mile north of Methill.
METHIL
A small sea-port village. It is an ancient and decayed place. It was erected into a free burgh-of-barony in 1662. It has a better harbour on the Forth than any in the neighbourhood. Population 530. Many of its houses are in ruins, and its trade nearly gone. It seems to be the shrivelled-up skeleton of a once important place. It is half a mile from Dubbieside; one mile west of Leven; one mile east of Buckhaven; and one mile south of Kirkland.
EAST AND WEST COALTOWNS (of Wemyss)
These are two adjacent villages; the inhabitants of both are colliers. There is a Savings bank at West Coaltown. The population of East Coaltown is 170; that of West Coaltown is 340. They are one mile north of West Wemyss, and four miles north-east of Kirkcaldy.
EDIFICES
Situated on the top of the rocks, about 40 feet above sea-level, is Wemyss Castle, a short way off the village of West Wemyss, the residence of the family. It is a large and magnificent building, commanding an extensive view of the Firth of Forth. Besides being visited by Queen Mary, Charles II. spent a day in it in July 1650, and again one on the 13th of July, 1657. Among other relics of antiquity preserved in the Castle, is a silver bowl presented to Sir Michael Wemyss of Wemyss by Eric, King of Norway, in 1290, when he and Sir Michael Scott of Balwearie went to bring home the Princess Margaret, the granddaughter of Alexander III., at his death, according to Wynton and Fordun.
Macduff's Castle, the ruins of which stand on the top of the cliffs of the sea-shore, a little to the east, of the village of East Wemyss. Two square towers are all that remain of a place that bears the marks of great strength. It has the appearance of having been built in the 14th century, at which period it was the residence of the Livingstons, who were succeeded by the Colvilles, according to Sibbald. Its traditional name may easily be traced to the fact that the lands of Wemyss originally formed a part of the property of Macduff, the Maormor of Fife, Shakspeare's well known "Thane of Fife." There are the ruins of an ancient chapel a little to the west of West Wemyss; and of another equally ancient near Methilmill.
CAVES
I have already stated that there are seven caves or weems, in the rocks which bound the shore, a little to the east of East Wemyss, and nearly 300 feet beyond high-water mark. Jonathan's cave has nothing to distinguish it except that a person of that name and family at a remote period resided in it. One of them is narrow at the entrance, but spacious within, and contains a well of the finest water. One of the caves, a little to the east of Wemyss Castle, is 200 feet in length, 100 in breadth, and 30 in height. But the King's cave is by far the most interesting, as the following anecdote will show.
ANECDOTE
James V., when rambling the country in one of his frolicsome moods, narrowly escaped being murdered, at least so the world will say when they read the following narrative. Being benighted and overtaken by a storm, he unconsciously took refuge in one of the above caves, occupied by a large band of robbers. He was soon invited by one of them to come into the interior of the cave. To his horror and amazement he saw nearly forty savage-looking men; some engaged in eating and drinking of the best, while others were singing and dancing. His majesty no doubt saw that he had caught a Tartar, in other words, that he had gone into the lion's den. But James, like all the Stuarts, was no coward; he contented himself, and entered into their convivial sport.
Bed-time came, and all the party retired to rest, as also the King. Singular as it may appear, tradition states that his Majesty slept soundly. Next morning, to his surprise, he found himself safe in purse and person. After receiving a substantial breakfast, James thanked the company, and offered to reward them. To his astonishment he was told that he was welcome to their homely fare; that he was known to them from the first moment; and that all they wished was his Majesty's protection through life. This the King promised to give, and fulfilled his word while he lived.
According to Sibbald and Douglas, a part of the estate of Wemyss anciently belonged to a family of the name of Livingston, who held it for three generations. The present proprietor is Erskine Wemyss, Esq. of Wemyss, representative of the oldest family in Fife; and who are believed to be the only family in the Lowlands who can, through the male line, claim kindred with Celtic blood. According to Sibbald, Gillimichael, the third in descent from Macduff, had a second son named Hugo, who obtained the lands from his father, with the patronage of the church of Markinch. He is mentioned in the chartulary of Dunfermline, as Hugo the son of Gillimichael, during the reign of Malcolm IV. One Sir David Wemyss, the oldest son of Sir Michael, (he who went to Norway), was Sheriff of Fife. His son, again Sir David, was one of the hostages for the release and ransom of David II. I find that the family of Wemyss received extensive grants of lands in Fife, from Robert II. and Robert III. One Sir David Wemyss was killed at Flodden in 1513. Sir John Wemyss repulsed the English who landed in Fife in 1547; "and was constituted Lieutenant of Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan, in 1559." The first baronet of the family, the 18th in direct descent from Hugo, was created Lord Wemyss of Elcho, in 1628; and again advanced to the title of Earl of Wemyss, Lord Elcho, and Methill, in 1632. The second Earl of Wemyss built a harbour at Methill, in 1672.
I ought to have stated, while on Edifices, that Princess Margaret was the undoubted heiress of the Crown of Scotland, and that the Princess died at Orkney, on her passage to Scotland.
The inhabitants of Inverleven attended the Chapel at Methil, though they properly belong to a detached portion of the parish of Markinch, but they are too remote from their own church.
"The quantity of fossil organic remains belonging to the vegetable kingdom is immense. Whole forests of fossil trees have been discovered in the beds of shale immediately above some of the coals, many of them of the most perfect form." [Stat. Account-Fife]
The late Rev. Harry Spens, D.D., who was minister of this parish, and who translated the Republic of Plato, wrote an account of Buckhaven and its inhabitants, in 1778. By this account we learn that this parish was the first place in England or Scotland to assert that the instant a slave set his foot on British ground he was free. A gentleman from the West Indies brought home a negro slave, and resided at Methil. The negro embraced the Christian religion, and was baptized by the name of David Spens, in the Church of Wemyss. His master now resolved to send him back to the West Indies, that he might be sold to another. The inhabitants of the parish rose in defence of Spens, and raised a large sum of money to meet the expense incurred at the court of Session, in 1770, where the case was tried by the master. The master, however, died before the case was ended, and it was not proceeded with by his successor; so that the slave obtained his freedom. [A lengthened account of the case is also given by Mr Leighton, vol. III.]
QUEEN MARY
The conclusion of the descriptive part of the parish brings us to the most eventful period of Scottish history, namely that of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. And if we observe the combination of innocence, beauty, and talent, struggling with duplicity, treachery, treason, and murder, we are constrained to admit that history has not produced its parallel either before or since. The era was one of serious importance and difficulty, requiring a masculine, bold, sagacious, and energetic spirit to preside over it; yet amid the most gigantic operations and results of that memorable period, we find poor Mary-baffled and beaten-ever intruding with her wondrous spell of beauty and misfortune. "We still see the infatuated and crushed woman clinging to the wheels of the mighty national revolution, which she could neither arrest nor guide."
I shall now trace her birth, education, marriages, and persecution; requesting the reader then to refer to LOCH LEVEN for the concluding half of her history, which includes her fall, escape, imprisonment, and execution. Queen Mary was born in the Palace of Linlithgow on the 8th of December, 1542. On the 21st of July, 1543, Lennox, Huntly, and Argyle, at the head of 10,000 men, conveyed her to Stirling Castle, where the infant sovereign was put under the charge of Lord Erskine, (hereditary keeper of the castle,) Lord Lindsay of the Byres, Graham, and Livingston, [Buchanan's History.] to avert the danger of an opposite party who were rising. Thus was Mary in her cradle already the subject of conspiracies. The coronation of the young Queen took place at Stirling, on the 9th of September of the same year. [Sadler's State Papers, vol. I.] For additional security, the Queen was again removed in 1547 to the Priory of Inchmahome, situated on a little isle on the Lake of Monteith, in Perthshire; not far from Suir, where Rob Roy took from the factor of the Duke of Montrose his collection of rents, and that without his leave, as Paddy said. This was in September. During the Queen's minority, the government of the kingdom was under the Earl of Arran, who was the chief of the house of Hamilton, and who was Regent. His father" was created Earl of Arran, and received the island of Arran as a gift from James IV., in 1503, for having negociated the King's marriage with the Princess Margaret of England." To avert the danger of an English invasion, the youthful Queen, now in her sixth year, was sent to be educated at the French Court, and which she safely reached on the 13th of August, 1548, escaping the efforts which were made for her capture by the English, who were anxious to have her married to Edward VI. Beaugue, who was an eye-witness of the embarkation, states that "the young Queen was at that time one of the most perfect creatures the God of nature ever formed, for that her equal was nowhere to be found, nor had the world another child of her fortune and hopes." [History of the Two Campaigns.] Mary was married on the 14th of April, 1558, to Francis, the Dauphin, who succeeded to the throne of France in 1559, and died the following year, on the 6th of December. Thus was Mary left a widow at the age of eighteen. Besides being a princess possessed of great beauty, and of the highest personal accomplishments, her majesty was not deficient in sagacity, dignity, and spirit. Nay, there was about her a magnetic something which defies description - not only of her person, but of the soul which it enshrined. But these rare qualities were blended with innocent simplicity, an amorous propensity, and the bigotry of the dark age in which she lived. Mary, in compliance with the earnest solicitations of her subjects, consented to return to her own dominions; though fondly attached to a country in which she had spent the few years of the only happiness she ever knew-naturally attracted by the elegance, splendour, and gaiety of a polite court; which, when contrasted with the rude manners and turbulent conduct of her subjects, though loyal-hearted, made her put her hand on her heart, and part from her friends "in silence expressive of an anguish too great for utterance." The Queen left Calais on the 14th of August, 1561, and by a happy stratagem, a favourable wind, and a dense fog, was enabled to escape the vigilance of Queen Elizabeth's fleet, which was ordered to capture Mary at all hazards. Mary had previously intended to go to Dover, and travel home by land, but Elizabeth indignantly refused a safe-conduct. Such were the measures adopted by England to intercept the Scottish Queen, that one of her vessels was captured and carried into port. She arrived at Leith on the 19th of August, after an absence of thirteen years. Her reception was hearty and most enthusiastic. The voyage from France is on the authority of Camden, Throckmorton, Knox, and Chalmers. On the afternoon of the day of her arrival the Queen went up to Edinburgh, but as there were no carriages in Scotland, she was doomed to the mortification of proceeding on horseback, but not on her favourite state palfrey, which had been captured in the same ship with the Earl of Eglintoun. Her entry was under a canopy of fine purple velvet, lined with red taffeta, fringed with gold and silk, supported by 16 wealthy burgesses; and her reception was as enthusiastic as it was rude and boisterous, expressive of the affection of a warm-hearted, generous people. The commencement of her reign was marked by a free toleration to the Protestant and Catholic churches; and which, but for the determined opposition of Knox, would have preserved peace, and averted the fearful tragedy that subsequently befel that unfortunate princess. So much was this the case, that Mr Tytler states that the Queen "advised him to treat with greater charity those that differed from him in opinion." After a few days' rest, Mary resolved to make a tour through Scotland, for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the general condition of the kingdom. This she did at four distinct periods. The Queen left Holyrood on the 11th of September, and visited Linlithgow; then proceeded to Stirling, where she was threatened with a fiery death, as the curtains of her bed took fire while she was in bed and asleep, with a lighted candle beside her. She left Stirling on the 15th, and advanced by Alloa, Culross, and Inverkeithing, to Leslie Castle, in Fifeshire. On the 16th, she made her entrance into Perth, where all due honour was paid her; went to Dundee next day, crossed the Tay, and proceeded to St Andrews; where, after a week's residence, she visited Falkland, where her father James V. died; and on the 29th returned to Holyrood. In this tour, her majesty's personal charms and gracious deportment won for her the cordial affection and admiration of all who saw her. To reduce to obedience formidable bands of freebooters on the Borders, Mary found it necessary to despatch her brother, the Lord James, at the head of a large army, who pursued the marauders into their strongholds, and as Mr Tytler says, "razed their towers to the ground, hanged twenty of the most notorious offenders, and sent fifty more in chains to Edinburgh." In 1562, the Earl of Arran became suddenly deranged. Mary made a tour to the North, and started for Inverness; and in her progress discovered a conspiracy of the Earl of Huntly to murder the Earl of Mar, [Robertson] which, by setting her majesty's authority at defiance, ended in the execution of Huntly. In 1563, we find the Queen with the infatuated Frenchman Chastellet, or as called by some, Chatelard. In this affair, her majesty's virtue is represented by Sir James Melville as unimpeachable, and "that her reputation for such was spread in all countries." Knox himself says, "The Queen would lie upon Chastellet's shoulder, and sometimes privately she would steal a kiss of his neck. And all this was honest enough, for it was the genteel treatment of a stranger." From this remark, and that from a Protestant, it is self-evident that we were not justified in the execution of the poor Frenchman, whose passion had been roused by her majesty's conduct. The custom of the age was no argument, and that because "nature will be nature still." In the same year, Mary made a tour to the west; and during which, religious riots broke out in Edinburgh; and the wily Elizabeth made every effort to have the Scottish sovereign married to an English subject, while the potentates of Europe were each anxious to secure her hand for himself. The most important character that now appears on the stage, and who performs a part in the drama that lays the foundation of Mary's ruin, is Lord Darnley. He was introduced to her majesty at the Castle of Wemyss in 1565. He made so favourable an impression on the Queen, that Sir James Melville says "her majesty took well with him; she remarked, 'he was the handsomest and best proportioned lang man she had seen.'" [Memoirs] When everything is considered, it is not wonderful that she looked to Darnley as one who would aid her own interests, and tend to conciliate a large body of her people. As a prince of the blood-royal, he was her equal in birth - his grandmother being the sister of Henry VIII., and his mother, the Countess of Lennox, a consin-german to Queen Elizabeth. Undeterred by the menaces of Elizabeth, or the violent opposition of Moray, the youthful Queen, now in her 23d year, determined to marry Darnley, who was in his 19th year. The royal pair were married at Holyrood on the 29th of July. The most singular part is the fact that deep researches have brought to light a contemporary record, which proves that the same marriage had been privately solemnized nearly four months before at Stirling Castle. [Prince Labanoff, vol. VII.]
Two days had not passed after the marriage of Darnley, when his conduct was such as to be styled by Randolph "truly disgraceful;" and before a few weeks were over, Mary's violent attachment to Darnley's youthful beauty grew into disgust by his arrogance, selfishness, stupidity, and drunken brutality. His conduct soon "kindled the rage of a despised mistress, an injured wife, and an insulted Queen." Yes, this was the weak, the proud, and wicked Darnley, who murdered the inoffensive David Rizzio, the secretary, and that in the presence of his sovereign, then in the seventh month of her pregnancy. And why murder Rizzio? Only because he would not consent to the imprisonment or the murder of the Queen! These fearful statements are given on the authority of Randolph, Prince Labanoff, Blackwood, and Tytler. Labanoff distinctly states that Darnley had given his consent to the death of the Queen, as well as to the murder of Rizzio. In this atrocious murder, Darnley was assisted by Lennox, the rough and ferocious Douglas, Lindsay, Ruthven, Morton, Lethington, and the mosstrooper Kerr of Faldonside, all of whom had the concurrence of Moray, at that time an exile in England; and which tragedy was acted on the evening of the 9th of March, 1566, while the Queen was at supper, attended by Rizzio. In this cold-blooded deed, Darnley put "his arm around her waist, and embraced her with every demonstration of affection;" Mary bitterly complained that he came to "betray her with a Judas' kiss." And though he was too much of the coward to plunge the dagger into his victim's bosom, yet he could hold her majesty's arms with an iron grasp, to prevent her from protecting Rizzio against his assassins, while they inflicted 56 wounds. The ferocious Ker of Faldonside held a pistol to her majesty's breast during the murder. [Drury, Bedford, and Randolph's Letters to Cecil; and Fair Maid of Perth.] Ruthven told Mary that "she must blame her husband, and not any of them," for the murder of Rizzio. Strange as it may seem, she told him at the time that she predicted that the babe within her would yet "root out him and his treacherous posterity." This was wonderfully realised in the case of the Gowrie conspiracy, in which James VI. rooted out the whole family, and even the name. In this murder, Mr Tytler brings a charge against John Knox of being privy to the conspiracy. Having referred to Darnley being a drunkard, I find that Sir William Drury, in a letter to Cecil, not only points out his licentious prodigality, but drunken habits, especially on the island of Inchkeith, where he had been guilty of such acts as could not be described. As Keith remarks - " These must have been black and odious doings, which Sir William was ashamed to rehearse.”
Previous to the above affecting scene, that is, on the 7th of March, the Queen opened the Parliament in person, though not with the same magnificence that had been displayed in her first Parliament, in 1563, which was such as had never been previously attempted in Scotland. Not satisfied with their murder, the conspirators made the Queen a prisoner in her own palace immediately after, notwithstanding an attempted rescue. At this time, Moray and other banished Lords returned. Her Majesty was now surrounded by plots, counter-plots, and conspiracies at every point. Aware of the weak mind of Darnley, he also was imprisoned with the Queen. By false promises and stratagem they contrived to escape to Dunbar; which was no sooner known than the conspirators fled with the utmost precipitation. Mary now discovered the truth of her husband's guilt of the late murder, and therefore pardoned Moray and all the banished Lords, by which she secured a powerful party in her favour. On the 19th of June, the Queen was safely delivered of a son, James VI., an event that proved happy for the three kingdoms, but unfortunate to her alone.
Darnley, intoxicated with the favours showered upon him by the Queen, and dazzled with the magnificent prospects dawning on his imagination, lost all control of his temper, which was ardent, impetuous, and passionate; insolent, proud, disdainful, and suspicious; besides being rash, headstrong, presumptuous, and vindictive; with a mind too weak to keep a secret, however vital. With this assemblage of vices it can surprise no one that the past and the contemplated future atrocities of this cast-off son of nature were as nothing. His insolent and overbearing conduct towards the nobility became so intolerable as soon to league them against him, and more especially when it became known that he intended to murder the Earl of Moray; and of which deed he did not blush to tell the Queen that "he only waited the opportunity." [Blackwood; Bedford; and Raumer.] But the vengeance of an offended God overtook Darnley, for on the night of the 9th of February 1567, he was blown into the air by gunpowder in a house at the Kirk-of-Field, on the outside of the city-wall of Edinburgh, on the site of which the College now stands; to which house he had been conveyed in a litter, by Mary's orders, from Glasgow, where he was recovering from an attack of small-pox. Carte says that her majesty no sooner knew that her husband was ill, than she sent her own physician to attend him, visited him personally, accompanied him to Edinburgh, and slept in the chamber under his bed-room. On the night of Darnley's murder, the Queen left him to be present at a mask ball. This, her enemies say, was planned and designed by her; while her friends maintain that Darnley's murderers took advantage of her majesty's absence. Certain it is, that when Lethington mysteriously hinted at the possibility of means being found to put an end to her sorrows, and "that your majesty shall be quit of him without prejudice to your son;" the Queen replied, according to Keith, "I will that ye do nothing whereby any spot may be laid to my honour or conscience." On the other hand, Mignet, Bell, and Tytler, admit that the Queen was put upon her guard, and ought to have defeated the abominable design of the conspirators. I have not, however, forgotten Darnley's design to murder the Queen and which was the cause of poor Rizzio's violent death, who was, previous to this black design, an especial favourite, a pet of the monster. The chief murderer in this new tragedy was James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, a man of utter profligacy, but who had a showy pleasing demeanour; and who became the unfortunate Queen's second husband. The other parties concerned were, Lethington, Sir James Balfour, Huntly, Argyle, Ruthven, Lindsay, and Archibald Douglas. Morton, like a wily fox, refused to join the conspirators without the Queen's written warrant. [Laing, Vol. I.; Vol. II.] Here we see the ready assassin only waiting the command of his royal mistress. On visiting Darnley at Glasgow, her majesty found the weak-minded fool helpless from debility, ready to confess his guilt and brutal conduct, and craving her forgiveness under the promise, like a boy, that he would not do the like again.
Previous to the murder of Darnley, her majesty found it necessary to crush a new host of insurgents, and commenced by leading her army from Stirling through Fife to St Andrews, Dundee, Perth, and other districts; during which she issued a proclamation against the rebels, stating at the same time that Moray was aspiring to the Crown. [Keith] As Mary's finances were now exhausted, and finding that pledging a part of her jewels had only realized 2000 marks, a sum totally inadequate to her necessities, she had recourse to borrowing sums of money from the merchants of Edinburgh. These, under the pretext of poverty, pled their inability to contribute to the loan, though they had recently afforded pecuniary aid to the insurgents; the truth of which being discovered, seven of them were amerced in 1000 marks each. On this the Corporation of Edinburgh granted a loan of 10,000 marks, "on condition of their receiving from the Queen the mortgage of the superiority of Leith." With this recruited exchequer, and at the head of 18,000 men, Mary soon expelled Moray and other insurgents from Scotland. Moray's plot to seize the Queen at Kinross has already been stated under that head.
If Darnley was a wicked fool, we have now to deal with an accomplished villain, with one who completed the ruin of what the other began. He was a man destitute of all principle, honour, and humanity. "He was coarse in mind, sensual in character, brutal in conduct;" and had withal a boundless and unscrupulous ambition, ready with an undaunted resolution to perpetrate the most foul atrocity. This was Bothwell, who murdered Darnley; and who first entrapped and then delivered up the gentle and laborious martyr George Wishart to Cardinal Beaton. Nearly two years before the murder, Bothwell returned from banishment, on account of the part he had taken in the conspiracy of the Earl of Arran. In proportion as Darnley's brutality towards the Queen increased, "the Earl of Bothwell rose in her confidence and esteem;" and, like his predecessor, received gifts and honours he never deserved. Such was the destitute and desperate situation of poor Mary, surrounded by conspiracies, insurgents, and sycophants who were more to be dreaded by their continued treachery than the open assassin, that in an evil hour the infatuated woman gave her hand to this fiend of iniquity! This could not be done, however, without bringing Bothwell to a trial for the late murder, as the nation was up in arms against him. This was reluctantly done with the assistance of a pack-jury, too frequent in those days, and who, with judges still worse than themselves, found no difficulty in pronouncing a unanimous verdict of acquittal, in the absence of all evidence; but who at the same time condemned to death a number of subordinate agents. Such was "the result of this judicial farce," to use the language of Mignet. Another ordeal had to be gone through before marriage was solemnized, and that was, Bothwell had to divorce his wife Lady Jane Gordon, and which the arch-villain did under the plea of her being his cousin in the fourth degree. A more flagrant and scandalous pretext could not have been adopted. And strange to say, Huntly gave his consent to the divorce of his sister from Bothwell. This he did to have his estates restored, which had been under confiscation for the foul part he played in the late murder. The banns of marriage were now ordered to be proclaimed, but which at first Craig, the colleague of Knox, refused to do, and moreover, accused Bothwell to his face of being guilty of rape, adultery, and murder. [Anderson, vol. IV.] Nevertheless, the unfortunate Queen was married on the 15th of May, 1567, in open defiance of a weeping nation. Short-lived as was her happiness with Darnley, the day of her marriage with Bothwell had not ended, when she told De Croc, the French ambassador, that all happiness was past with her in this world, and wished only for death. On another occasion, when Sir James Melvil had an interview with Mary and Bothwell, he tells us that the Queen was so disdainfully handled, and with such reproachful language, "that Arthur Erskine and I, being present, heard her ask for a knife to stab herself, or else said she, I shall drown myself." [Melvil's Memoirs] And to complete this fearful catalogue, we find Kirkcaldy of Grange writing to Bedford that Bothwell," that barbarous tyrant, is not contented to have murdered the father, but he would also cut off the son, for fear that he hath to be punished hereafter," and that by poisoning the infant prince. [Laing, vol. II.]
In a letter from Sir Robert Melvil to Cecil, we find him entreating Cecil "to consider the conduct of the Queen as the effect of the evil counsel of those around her, rather than proceeding from herself." [Tytler, vol. VII.]
I cannot close this painful drama without stating that the day of retributive justice overtook Bothwell in his diabolical career, and that was at the battle of Langside, from which he fled to the coast, became a pirate on the high seas, where he was taken a prisoner by the Danes, thrown into a dungeon, and after ten years' captivity, died in a state of insanity and wretched misery. In this last act of the justice of Heaven, the reader cannot but have observed the innumerable instances brought forward to prove that sooner or later wickedness always meets with its merited reward.
The reader will now have to turn to LOCH LEVEN, for the last half of the unfortunate Queen Mary's tragic history.
In the above history of Queen Mary, the following authors have been carefully consulted:- Buchanan's History, vol. II.; Sadler's State Papers, vol. I.; Beaugue's History of the Two Campaigns; Tytler, vols. II., V., VI., VII.; Melville's Memoirs; Drury's Letters to Cecil; Bedford's do., do.; Randolph's do., do.; Fair Maid of Perth; Labanoff, vols. I., II., VII.; Laing, vols. I., II., V.; Keith's History, vols. I., II.; Anderson's Collections, vols. I., II., IV.; Raumer; Hume's History; Miss Strickland's Lives of the Scottish Queens, vols. III., IV.; Knox's History, vol. II.; Chalmers's Life of Mary, vols. I., II.; Spottiswood's History, folio; Lord Herries' History of Queen Mary; Scott's Border Minstrelsy, vol. III.; Pitscottie; Leslie; Throckmorton's Letters to Cecil; Camden Annals; Goodall, vols. I., II.; Bell's Life of Queen Mary; Calderwood's History; Blackwood's Life of Queen Mary, Maitland Club edition; Maitland Club Miscellany, vol. III; Robertson, vol. I.; Mignet's Life of Queen Mary, vol. I.; Chambers's Life of James VI.; Brantôme; and Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. I.
APPENDIX
Note. The Appendix includes Tables of the Population and Area of the Parishes in the counties of Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannau ;-Tables of the Sovereigns besides a variety of interesting matter, illustrative of several passages of the work, and which were withheld at an earlier period, lest they should swell the "Gazetteer" beyond my original intention.
COUNTY SUMMARY
| County of Fife | Population | Area Acres | County of Fife | Population | Area Acres |
| Abbotshall | 5,030 | 3,166 | Flisk | 213 | 2,632 |
| Abdie | 1,485 | 7,624 | Forgan | 1,125 | 5,000 |
| Abercrombie | 1,241 | 1,084 | Inverkeithing | 2,499 | 4,482 |
| Aberdour | 1,945 | 5,000 | Kemback | 956 | 2,200 |
| Anstruther Easter | 1,161 | Kennoway | 2,257 | 3,750 | |
| Anstruther Wester | 443 | 600 | Kettle | 2,601 | 6,373 |
| Auchterderran | 3,210 | 7,500 | Kilconquhar | 2,489 | 5,540 |
| Auchtermuchty | 3,704 | 3,000 | Kilmany | 662 | 4,700 |
| Auchtertool | 517 | 2,630 | Kilrenny | 2,194 | 2,400 |
| Balingry | 568 | 5000 | Kinghorn | 3,030 | 5,000 |
| Balmerino | 945 | 3,346 | Kinglassie | 1,186 | 6,000 |
| Beath | 1,252 | 6,800 | Kingsbarns | 893 | 3,057 |
| Burntisland | 3,158 | 3,000 | Kirkcaldy | 5,797 | 1,050 |
| Cameron | 1,207 | 7,300 | Largo | 2,800 | 6,800 |
| Carnbee | 1,129 | 7,300 | Leslie | 3,800 | 5,700 |
| Carnock | 3,191 | 2,160 | Leuchars | 1,991 | 9,820 |
| Ceres | 2,833 | 8,000 | Logie | 467 | 3,343 |
| Collessie | 1,520 | 6,487 | Markinch | 5,843 | 7,500 |
| Crail | 1,903 | 2,560 | Monimail | 1,102 | 10,240 |
| Creich | 386 | 2,324 | Moonzie | 198 | 1,375 |
| Cults | 915 | 2,240 | Newburgh | 2,986 | 1,145 |
| Cupar | 7,427 | 5,530 | Newburn | 375 | 2,400 |
| Dairsie | 708 | 2,306 | Pittenweem | 1,473 | 1,440 |
| Dalgety | 1,513 | 1,280 | St Andrews | 6,740 | 11,000 |
| Dunbog | 220 | 1,900 | St Leonards | 587 | 850 |
| Dunfermline | 21,687 | 23,040 | Saline | 1,792 | 8,500 |
| Dunino | 289 | 3,315 | Scoonie | 3,115 | 3,855 |
| Dysart | 8,739 | 3,060 | Strathmiglo | 2,509 | 5,000 |
| Elie | 843 | 1,590 | Torryburn | 1,341 | 3,520 |
| Falkland | 3,103 | 12,000 | Wemyss | 5,647 | 5,000 |
| Ferryport on Craig | 2,238 | 2,512 |
| County of Kinross-Shire | Population | Area Acres | County of Clackmannan | Population | Area Acres |
| Cleish | 659 | 4,800 | Alloa | 9,493 | 5,000 |
| Kinross | 3,227 | 5,600 | Clackmannan | 5,802 | 7,000 |
| Orwell | 2,569 | 13,000 | Dollar | 1,574 | 4,620 |
| Portmoak | 1,550 | 6,566 | Tillicoultry | 4,686 | 6,200 |
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE PICTISH KINGS
| Date of Accession A.D. | Duration of Reign, Years | ||
| Drust | Son of Erp | ||
| Talorc | Son of Aniel | 451 | 4 |
| Nacton Morbet | Son of Erp | 455 | 25 |
| Drest Gurthinmoch | 480 | 30 | |
| Galanau Etelich | 510 | 12 | |
| Dadrest | 522 | 1 | |
| Drest | Son of Girom | 523 | 1 |
| Drest | Son of Wdrest, with the former | 524 | 5 |
| Drest | Son of Girom | 529 | 5 |
| Gartinach | Son of Girom | 534 | 7 |
| Gealtraim | Son of Girom | 541 | 1 |
| Talorg | Son of Muircholaich | 542 | 11 |
| Drest | Son of Munait | 553 | 1 |
| Galam, with Aleph | 554 | 1 | |
| Galam, with Bridei | 555 | 1 | |
| Bridei | Son of Mailcon | 556 | 30 |
| Gartinaich | Son of Domlech | 586 | 11 |
| Nectu | Nephew of Verb | 597 | 20 |
| Cineoch | Son of Luthrin | 617 | 19 |
| Garnard | Son of Wid | 636 | 4 |
| Bridei | Son of Wid | 640 | 5 |
| Talorc | Son of Wid | 645 | 12 |
| Talorcan | Son of Enfret | 657 | 4 |
| Gartnait | Son of Donnel | 661 | 6.5 |
| Drest | Son of Donnel | 667 | 7 |
| Bridei | Son of Bili | 674 | 21 |
| Taran | Son of Entifidich | 695 | 4 |
| Bridei | Son of Deleri | 699 | 11 |
| Nechton | Son of Deleri | 710 | 15 |
| Drest and Elpin | 725 | 5 | |
| Ungus | Son of Urguis | 730 | 31 |
| Bridei | Son of Urguis | 761 | 2 |
| Ciniod | Son of Wredech | 763 | 12 |
| Elpin | Son of Bridei | 775 | 3.5 |
| Drest | Son of Talorgan | 779 | 5 |
| Talorgan | Son of Ungus | 784 | 2.5 |
| Canaul | Son of Tarla | 786 | 5 |
| Constantin | Son of Urguis | 791 | 30 |
| Ungus (Hungus | Son of Urguis | 821 | 12 |
| Drest and Talorgan | Son of Constantine and Son of Wthoil | 833 | 3 |
| Uuen | Son of Urgus | 836 | 3 |
| Wrad | Son of Bargoit | 839 | 3 |
| Bred | 842 | 1 |
UNITED SCOTTISH AND PICTISH LINE OF KINGS
| Date of Accession A.D. | Duration of Reign, Years | ||
| Kenneth II. | Son of Alpinus | 843 | 16 |
| Donald II. | Brother of Kenneth II. | 859 | 4 |
| Constantine II. | Son of Kenneth II. | 863 | 18 |
| Hugh | Brother of Constantine II. | 881 | 1 |
| Gregory | Son of Donald, a nobleman | 882 | 11 |
| Donald IV. | Son of Constantine II. | 893 | 11 |
| Constantine III. | Son of Hugh | 904 | 40 |
| Malcolm I. | Son of Donald IV. | 944 | 9 |
| Indulphus | Son of Constantine III. | 953 | 8 |
| Duff | Son of Malcolm I. | 961 | 4 |
| Culen | Son of Indulphus | 965 | 5 |
| Kenneth III. | Son of Malcolm I. | 970 | 24 |
| Constantine IV. | Son of Culen | 994 | 1 |
| Kenneth IV. | Son of Duff | 995 | 8 |
| Malcolm II. | Son of Kenneth III. | 1003 | 30 |
| Duncan I. | Grandson of Malcolm II. | 1033 | 6 |
| Macbeth | General of Duncan I. | 1039 | 18 |
| Malcolm Canmore III. | Son of Duncan I. | 1057 | 36 |
| Donald Bane V. | Brother of Malcolm III. | 1093 | 1 |
| Duncan II. | Natural son of Malcolm III., slain by Donald Bane | 1094 | 2 |
| Donald Bane V. | Who re-ascended the throne | 1096 | 1 |
SCOTO-SAXON PERIOD
| Date of Accession A.D. | Duration of Reign, Years | ||
| Edgar | Son of Malcolm II. | 1097 | 10 |
| Alexander I. | Brother of Edgar | 1107 | 17 |
| David I. | Brother of Alexander I. | 1124 | 29 |
| Malcolm IV. | Grandson of David I. | 1153 | 12 |
| William the Lion II. | Brother of Malcolm IV. | 1165 | 49 |
| Alexander II. | Son of William II. | 1214 | 35 |
| Alexander III. | Son of Alexander II. | 1249 | 37 |
| Margaret | Granddaughter of Alexander III. | 1286 | 4 |
| Interregnum | 1290 | 2 | |
| John Baliol (a) | A descendant of the Earl of Huntingdon | 1292 | 4 |
| Interregnum | 1296 | 10 | |
| Robert Bruce I. (b) | A descendant of the Earl of Huntingdon | 1306 | 23 |
| David II. | Son of Robert I. | 1329 | 42 |
HOUSE OF STUART
| Date of Accession A.D. | Duration of Reign, Years | ||
| Robert II. | Nephew of David II. | 1371 | 19 |
| Robert II. | Son of Robert II. | 1390 | 16 |
| James I. | Son of Robert III. | 1406 | 30 |
| James II. | Son of James I. | 1436 | 24 |
| James III. | Son of James II. | 1460 | 28 |
| James IV. | Son of James III. | 1488 | 25 |
| James V. | Son of James IV. | 1513 | 29 |
| Mary | Daughter of James IV. | 1542 | 15 |
| James VI. | Son of Mary | 1567 | 58 |
| Charles I. | Son of James VI. | 1625 | 24 |
| Commonwealth | 1649 | 11 | |
| Charles II. | Son of Charles I. | 1660 | 25 |
| James II. (VII.) | Brother of Charles II. | 1685 | 4 |
HOUSE OF ORANGE
| Date of Accession A.D. | Duration of Reign, Years | ||
| William, and | Son-in-law of James VII. | 1689 | 13 |
| Mary | Daughter of James VII. |
HOUSE OF STUART
| Date of Accession A.D. | Duration of Reign, Years | ||
| Ann, | Daughter of James VII. | 1702 | 12 |
HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK
| Date of Accession A.D. | Duration of Reign, Years | ||
| George I. | A descendant, by the female side, of James VI. , | 1714 | 13 |
| George II. | Son of George I. | 1727 | 33 |
| George III. | Grandson of George II. | 1760 | 60 |
| George IV. | Son of George III. | 1820 |
The above tables of the Sovereigns have been carefully drawn up from Innes' "Chronica de Origine Antiquorum Pictorum," vol. I.; Innes' "Critical Essay," vol. I.; Chalmers' "Caledonia," vol. I.; Skene's "Highlanders of Scotland," vol. I.; Pinkerton's Enquiry into the History of Scotland preceding the reign of Malcolm III.; Hailes' Annals, vol. I.; Fordun; and Guthrie.
(a and b) - Baliol and Bruce were descendants in the female line, hence the competition for the crown.
ABERNETHY
Though this parish is in the county of Perth, nearly a third part of it is within the county of Fife. The Fife portion is bounded on the south by the parish of Strathmiglo; on the east by the parish of Auchtermuchty; on the north by the Perthshire portion of the parish of Abernethy; and on the west by the parish of Arngask. Its surface is very irregular, as it lies high among the upper ridge of the Ochils, forming a succession of hill and valley. The soil, with the exception of some under wood, rests upon trap rocks, and is fertile and well cultivated. The population may be estimated at 180. The barony of Balvaird is within the Fife portion. The barony and lands of Balvaird anciently belonged to the Barclays of Kippo, a branch of the Barclays, lords of Brechin. In the reign of James IV., a daughter, Margaret Barclay, then married Sir Andrew Murray, a son of Sir William Murray of Tullibardine. The ruins of the ancient Castle of Balvaird consist of a lofty square building, four storeys in height, and had been a place of great strength. [Nisbet's Heraldry, vol. II.] The greatest antiquity, called the "Rocking Stone," is near Balvaird, and is a Druidical remain. It consists of a large stone placed upon another, which formerly by a "slight touch rocked to and fro." This rocking is now prevented by earth and gravel having choked it up, but which could easily be removed, had the Antiquarian Society the taste they profess to have; the want of which is the more to be regretted as so singular a phenomenon is admitted to be extremely rare.
ARNGASK
A parish lying between Abernethy and Forgandenny, and partly in the counties of Perth, Kinross, and Fife. The Fife portion is two miles long from east to west, and about one and a half miles in breadth from north to south. It is bounded by Strathmiglo on the south; by Abernethy on the east, by the Perth portion on the north; and by the Kinross portion on the west. It occupies the upper part of the Ochils. The population may be set down at 230. The barony of Arngask, or Forgie, as it was formerly called, belonged to the very ancient family of Frisel, or Fraser, as it is now written. Their charter is dated 1210. A female heir, in 1332, married Sir Richard Barclay of Kippo, a descendent from the lords of Brechin. A female heir, again, from this family, married Sir Andrew Murray, and who thus obtained the baronies of Kippo, Arngask, and Balvaird, and from whom the present Earl of Mansfield is descended. [Nisbet's Heraldry, vol. II.] It was near the property called Pitilloch, anciently Pitpollock, where Duncan, Earl of Fife, the eighth Macduff, was murdered in 1286 by Sir Walter Percy and Sir Patrick Abernethy, at the instigation of Sir William Abernethy of Salton. [Pict. Hist. of Scotland.] Arngask is nine miles E.S.E. of Perth. Post Town is Kinross.
FOSSOWAY AND TULLIBOLE
This is a united parish in the west part of the vale of Kinross-shire. Fossoway belongs to Perthshire, and Tullibole is connected with Kinross. The district contains a considerable portion of the Ochils. The parish is watered by the Devon, the North and South Queichs, and the East and West Gairney. At the Crook-of-Devon are the Rumbling Bridge and Caldron Linn. There are two villages, Crook of Devon and Blairngone. There is a strong mineral water at Blairngone, "an imperial gallon containing rather more than half a troy pound of salts." There are two collieries. The parish is about eleven miles in length, by ten in breadth, but being very irregular, its superficial area is not more than about fifty square miles. It is bounded on the north by Dunning; on the east by Orwell and Kinross; on the south by Cleish and Saline; on the west by Clackmannanshire; and on the north-west by Muckhart. The population of the parish is about 1600; of this 600 may be set down for the Kinross portion. The two parishes were united in 1614. The Castle of Tullibole was built in 1608. The Murrays of Tullibardine were the ancestors of the Duke of Athole, and were the ancient proprietors of the parish. Plantations are now rising and improving the appearance of this part of the parish.
ANTIQUITIES
The antiquities of the three counties of Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan are replete with historical interest, as throwing light on their past features, and rousing up the reflective faculties of men who boast of the present march of intellect. These consist in the Druidical remains of temples, as "the standing stones of Lundie," at Largo; the "rocking stone," near Balvaird; subterranean passages, safe-guards, or hiding-holes; natural caves, as the celebrated one called Macduff's Cave at Kilconquhar; besides the King's Cave, and many others, of which the Covenanters frequently availed themselves during the Stuart tyranny. The Roman antiquities are numerous, and their use sufficiently manifest. Those of Pictish origin are more curious for their obscureness than for their imposing character; the most striking are artificial terraces cut in parallel rows along the face of hills, as occur at Markinch; their design is still an enigma to posterity. The Moats, or artificial hills, on the summit of which were held the baronial courts in the feudal age. Grose regards these high mounts as the "judgment-seats" of our ancestors. The Roman ecclesiastical antiquities are, as works of art and magnificence, unequalled in modern times; exquisite specimens of which are to be found in Dunfermline; and before the Reformation, were to be seen in St Andrews, Inchcolm, Loch Leven, and many other parts of the county. The ancient castles were numerous, consisting in general of a high square tower, surmounting an abrupt rock, or overhanging some stream. The walls were for the most part from eight to fourteen feet thick; rising in height to three or four storeys, and covered with a vaulted roof. Each angle had a turret. The tower was sparingly lighted through very small windows, giving to the whole a gloomy, unwholesome, and fearful appearance. And to crown the scene, we have the deep and dark dungeon, into which the miserable prisoners were let down by ropes, covered with a ponderous iron hatch, and either murdered, or left to die of starvation, as the large quantity of human bones found in the dungeons of St Andrews, Falkland, Cupar, and Loch Leven, sufficiently attest!
DUNFERMLINE
ETYMOLOGY
Nothing is more in accordance with the feelings of the general reader, the historian, or the antiquary, than the etymology of names of places. There is a natural and irresistible desire - an itching in man, to know the origin of every thing, be it spiritual or temporal. As regards the etymology of parishes or towns, we are left entirely in the dark; and that because the names of most of them are in the Celtic language, while some are in the Norman, Saxon, Flemish, or Norwegian. Such has been the difficulty experienced by the most learned men, that the Gaelic, Latin, and Greek languages have been tortured to no purpose, to discover the correct etymology of the parishes described in in this work, and that frequently at the expense of more useful matter. That rare exceptions do exist, are proved in the case of Dunfermline, when traced back by such men as Dr. E. Henderson, a singularly gifted native of that important parish; a man whose profound antiquarian researches, and astronomical calculations, have been the admiration of the most eminent men in Europe. I need only name the late celebrated M. Arago, Astronomer-Royal of France, and refer to the Rev. Dr. Chalmers's "History of Dunfermline," as also to the British and foreign journals, for more striking evidence of the fact.
Historians have hitherto derived the name Dunfermline from "Dun," a hill or fort:- from "Fiar," crooked or winding; and from "Loin," a rivulet, etc. Thus "Dunfiarloin" signifies hill or fort beside the crooked or winding rivulet; a far-fetched derivation, to say the least of it. Some years ago Dr Henderson, in his researches among the old charters of the Abbey, discovered that the burn or rivulet which flows down the glen of Pittencrieff was anciently called "Aqua de Ferm," or the water of Ferm. Dr. H. at once saw the importance of this word "ferm" in connection with the true etymology of Dunfermline. He derives the names thus:- "Dun," a hill or fort:- "Ferm" the name of the burn or rivulet: and as the last syllable was anciently written "lyn," he supposes that this refers to the little linn on the "Ferm water," a little below the Palace wall. All these objects, "the hill or fort," - "the Ferm water," and "the lyn," are in close proximity. It is now admitted on all hands that this derivation of Dr Henderson is the proper one, and we understand that on Dr H. communicating his discovery to the Ordnance Office authorities, they deemed it of so much importance, that "Aqua de Ferm" was ordered to be engraven on said burn on their Plan of the City of Dunfermline, where the reader will find it. [Vide Paper on Dunfermline Antiquities, by E. Henderson, LL.D.]
TWO BURGHS
Much confusion has hitherto prevailed in the details of the older part of Dunfermline, a confusion which has hitherto baffled the efforts of the historian to unravel; we observe that Dr Henderson has also cleared away this obscurity, for he finds embodied in the name Dunfermline two burghs, viz., Dunfermline in ancient times had two burghs, a Royal Burgh, and a Burgh of Regality. Dunfermline was not singular in this respect, for we find in Edinburgh at an early period two burghs in one street, viz., in the 12th century the Royal Burgh of Edinburgh was confined to the present High Street and Lawnmarket, and was united to the Regality Burgh of Holyrood, now called the Canongate, at the Netherbow. We have another notable instance in the Cities of London and Westminster joining at Temple Bar. This discovery of the two burghs in Dunfermline by Dr. Henderson is of great importance to the future historian. We observe in his paper on Dunfermline Antiquities, that he points out the locality of the two burghs: viz. all to the north of the old churchyard - Abbot Street and Canmore Street - (the sites of the wall north of the Abbey) is the site of the ancient Burgh Royal, whilst the Burgh of Regality occupied the site of the present Nethertoun; hence the Royal Burgh was "the upper toun" and the Regality Burgh was "the netheir toun," having the Abbey and Abbey Parks or gardens between them; he also shows that the lands in the vicinity of the Regality Burgh were peculiarly ecclesiastical, and gives a variety of instances in proof of his position. "It is not a little remarkable that in 1790, in the garret of an old house in the Back Street of the Nethertoun, upwards of forty volumes of the Regality Records were accidentally discovered." "The Burgh Royal which David I. formed in 1124 is still in existence; but the Regality Burgh ceased to exist in 1748." [Vide Paper on Dunfermline Antiquities, by E. Henderson, LL.D.]
CITY OF DUNFERMLINE
When Dunfermline first became a City is also involved in obscurity; certain it is, it bore such a designation in the olden time, and it is so styled by authors before the Reformation in 1560. The old Seal of the burgh is a double iron one of nearly two and a half inches in diameter; it is undoubtedly of great age; on it we find the word "Civitatis." On some deeds of date 1685 and 1690 we find wax impressions having on them also the same words "Civitatis." Probably Dunfermline became a City under the first mitred Abbot, who was the Pope's legate and Lord Chancellor. Dunfermline then had a Merchant Guild, was a Royal Burgh, the Sovereign at its head, and was endowed with ecclesiastical authority and power almost unexampled." [Dr Henderson.]
Previous historians have allowed "City" in connection with Dunfermline to escape their notice. Dr Henderson was the first to notice it and to bring its recognition to a successful issue. On the Government Plan we find "Plan of the City of Dunfermline," so therefore Dunfermline is a City and a Burgh Royal.
For Dr Henderson's valuable and learned antiquarian researches on the Royal Tombs at Dunfermline,” I must, for want of space, refer to his pamphlet on the subject.
ANTIQUITIES
The oak taken from the palace of Dunfermline was used for panelling the walls of Abbotsford, near the village of Bridgend, so called from a bridge over the Tweed, erected by David I., in the parish of Melrose, Roxburghshire. The most curious objects of attention here are, a picture of the head of Queen Mary in a charger, painted the day after her decapitation at Fotheringay; the body clothes of Sir Walter Scott, worn immediately previous to his decease; the door of the old Tolbooth of Edinburgh; the pulpit from which Ralph Erskine preached; and the library of this created paradise, containing 20,000 volumes. Abbotsford, when first purchased, was a wild but romantic spot, called "Cartly Hole."
PATIEMOOR
Usually called Pettymuir, is a village one and a half miles E.N.E. of Limekilns, in the parish of Dunfermline. It contains about 190 inhabitants, engaged in weaving coarse cloth, and in agriculture. It bears the marks of having been much larger, and of having seen better days. Independent of the question of a building of considerable antiquity, usually pointed out as having been the College of Pettymuir, but which seems analogous to that of Buckhaven, this village is of historical importance, such as not to have escaped the pen of the great Sir Walter Scott, who felt a peculiar interest in the Scottish Gipsies, of whose four head-quarters Pettymuir formed one. The mystery of their origin, language, habits, and mode of fighting, has puzzled the most learned in the civilised world, and amongst others, the great magician, Sir Walter Scott. Of this race Dr Bright says:- "The condition and circumstances of the Gipsy nation throughout the whole of Europe, may truly be considered amongst the most curious phenomena in the history of man."
"A plundering race, still eager to invade,
On spoil they live, and make of theft a trade."
The Gipsy race had what they termed a palace here, in which their Kings were installed and crowned, whose power was for life; and whose successor was elected from deputations sent from every part of Scotland to Pettymuir. In former ages, there were four divisions of the Gipsies in Scotland; their head-quarters were in the north, south, east, and west. The first appearance of the Gipsies in Scotland was in April, 1505. After remaining for some months, their leader, named Anthony Gavino, obtained a letter of introduction to the King of Denmark, from James IV. [Pinkerton, vol. II., Appendix, No. 4.]
For a considerable time they were a privileged race; thus I find that James V. granted a writ of privy seal, ordering all sheriffs and magistrates to support the authority of John Faa, the Gipsy chief, and which was in February, 1540. In process of time, however, no laws were able to restrain the depredations of these vagrants, and in 1603, a proclamation was issued, banishing the whole race out of Scotland for ever. Those who remained were hanged and drowned without mercy, at fourpence the dozen.
The modern reader is not to imagine that the inhabitants of Pettymuir were Gipsies; that race only formed a fraction of the population of the time referred to. Whoever wishes more information on this singular subject, may consult Blackwood's Magazine, from 1827 to 1831.
OAKLEY
Oakley is partly in the parishes of Carnock, Torryburn, and Saline, though principally in Carnock. It is now the seat of an extensive iron manufacture, and which has risen like a phoenix out of the fire within the past twenty years. It has a population of about 1675, more or less employed at the iron works, collieries, and freestone quarries. Though ironstone abounds, the coal is not sufficient to supply the demand, and therefore has to be brought from some distance, as also limestone, by railway, for the reduction of iron ore. The engine-house is certainly a grand structure, built of beautiful freestone, and ornamented with arched windows nearly thirty feet high; indeed, it would puzzle a stranger to say whether it was a palace or a cathedral. The walls are so massive and so deeply founded as to have taken about 55,000 cubic feet of stones for the foundation alone. There are six furnaces, built of the best fire-brick, with stalks nearly 180 feet in height. The dwelling-houses are neatly built of stone, slated, and arranged in wide rows. Oakley is a Post Town. It is one mile south-west from the village of Carnock, and four miles west of Dunfermline. It is a station on the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway.
KILBAGIE
While the Article on Clackmannan was in the press, I discovered when too late that this once famous distillery was undergoing important alterations, with a view to adapting the very extensive premises to chemical works, and also for the deodorisation of sewage, according to Mr Manning's process.
PEAT-MOSS
This is in great abundance at Brunshiels, to the east of Mossmorran - that is, Bog-moss, in the south-western division of Fife. Mossmorran is nearly 1200 acres in extent; and runs from 2 to 24 feet in depth. There are a great quantity of adders in it, many of them three feet in length.
FIFE SURNAMES
The following is a list of the names of the first Saxon colonists in Fife, who fled from the fury of William the Conqueror, and found an asylum under Malcolm Canmore. The Merleswanes, the Siwards, the Lindsays, the De Quincis, the Melvilles, the Lundies, the Durwards, the Hays; the Orms, who were the progenitors of the Abernethys, the Colvills, the Moubrays, the Mortimers, and the Viponts, the Gourlays, the Rewels, the Bosvilles, the Lascelles, the Grants, the Monipennies, and William de Candella, an English baron, who was the first of the Anstruther family, in the reign of David I.; the grandson renounced the name, and assumed that of his lands. The families of Berkley, now Barclay; Valonii; Car, now Ker; Erskine; Lumsden; Durham; Cunningham; Scott; Stewart; Douglas; and Graham. The names of Maynard and Bartholomew were Flemish. The posterity of Bartholomew adopted the name of Leslie from the lands they possessed.
CRIME AND LAW
When the criminal records are raked together, with the patience of Job, from 1488 to 1543, we are presented with a picture of the prevalence of theft, robbery, and murder in the higher rank of criminals that would make the present class of our esquires and nobles blush at the morality of their ancestors. During the periods referred to, both the criminals and the victims belonged equally to the upper classes of society. The lower orders, called the "rascal multitude," were comparatively innocent, and that because they were unable to bribe, and because they were tried by the code of Draco, which condemned them to be hanged, drowned, or burnt without judge or jury. To the above crimes must be added the houghing of cattle, fire-raising, taking the crops, and possession of the very land itself. In robbery, the property of the King was not more secure from depredation than that of his subjects. On one occasion his majesty's sheep was stolen by Symon Armstrong, a wealthy Border reiver; and in 1526, the artillery "coming from the castle of Stirling to the King's majesty at Edinburgh, for the defence of his person," were carried off by Robert Bruce of Airth and his brothers. Nay, even the King's crown was stolen about the same time from the palace of Holyrood. [Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. I.] Indeed, nothing came amiss to those dignified robbers "which was not too hot or too heavy." In those days the law was powerless, because the magistrate, the sheriff, and the judge were too frequently the most flagrant violators of the laws, and the worst oppressors of the poor. Thus we find that Patrick Agnew, the Sheriff of Wigton, in 1513, stole from his poor neighbours their swine, oxen, cows, and a young horse, besides ten bolls of barley. On another occasion this exemplary dispenser of the law was convicted and fined five marks for taking a bribe to acquit a murderer. In not a few cases robbery was committed by persons of the highest rank; thus I find that Hugh, Lord Somerville, was accused of oppressing John Tweeddale in Carnwath, and robbing him of all his horses, mares, oxen, cows, and crops, with all his goods and utensils. George Ramsay of Clatto, John Betoun of Balfour, James Betoun of Melgum, John Graham of Claverhouse, and others, had to find caution to appear at the next justiciaire of Fife, for having oppressed the lieges, and for a violent assault on John, Lord Lindsay, Sheriff of Fife, in the execution of his office, and breaking up the doors of the Tolbooth of Cupar, in which he was holding his court. [Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. I.] In the case of fire-raising and burning of a byre of the Laird of Rosyth, with sixty oxen and eleven cows, by Janet Anderson, a person above the common, she was condemned to be drowned in a sack. In Pitcairn's work these plundering acts form only the prelude to scores of the most fearful tragedies perpetrated by Baronets, Lords, and Earls, and who usually escaped with impunity, though the subordinates engaged in these murders were generally executed. I shall close this heart-rending scene with the two following cases. The slaughter of George, James, and Robert Crichtoun by William Lord Abernethy of Saltoun, and others; and the burning by the Drummonds of the Kirk of Monivaird, "wherein 120 of Murrayes, with their wives and children, who were all either burnt or slain. [Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. I.] The above facts were not occasional cases, but of daily occurrence. Alexander I. was so just a sovereign "that he caused the Lord of Mernis, his brother, and son, to be hanged "because they tuik away the guddis of ane puir wyff." [Wyntown's Chronicle, vol. I.] This King was, for the vigour and promptitude of his justice, traditionally remembered by the epithet of the "Fierce." He seems to have been another Alfred of England.
At the Union a right of appeal was granted from the Court of Session to the House of Lords. In 1815, a court for the trial by jury of civil causes was established.
AGRICULTURE
In 1728, near Kilysth, a day labourer was the first who began the open cultivation of the potato in Scotland. [Duncan's Philosophy of the Seasons.]
I refer to Muir's History of Scotland, in 1521; as also to Pinkerton, vol. II., for much interesting matter as regards the habits, manners, dress, and houses, of the agricultural class of society.
I find that in the reign of King Robert Bruce, wheat cost only seven shillings per quarter; oats, three shillings; barley-malt, four shillings; peas, two shillings; beans, five shillings; beer, from eight to eighteen shillings the butt; oxen, five shillings and six pence each; a fat hog, two shillings and six pence; in 1288, swine sold at one shilling a head; hens cost a penny each; sheep, eighteen pence each; a first rate cow, ten shillings; in 1261, cows were sold at five shillings each.
In 1300, the average wages per day were:-admiral of the fleet, two shillings; captains, one shilling; seamen, three pence; masons, carpenters, and smiths, four pence; plasterers, three pence; miners, three pence; labourers, two pence; women, one and a half pence.
In 1350, land was let for two shillings per acre; a cottage with an acre of land, four shillings and six pence; a cottage without land let for six pence only, per year. [Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. I., and Tytler, vol. II.]
MORALITY
I find by Chalmers that from 1090 to 1330, the higher classes enjoyed the luxury of wine; and that the beverage of the common people was beer, which was both abundant and cheap; and that none of the malt was manufactured, in those simple times, into the less healthful beverage of spirits. And from medical records, I find that in 1565, "the Incorporation of Surgeons in Edinburgh possessed the exclusive right of selling whisky in the city." It is much to be regretted that "the exclusive right" was ever withdrawn. Were wine cheap, and beer better than it now is, we should see less poverty, less misery, and less crime! In a damp cold climate such as this, where labour is excessive, with a poor scanty diet, and the mind racked with anxiety, a nutritious stimulant is indispensable. But be it distinctly understood, that as ardent spirits contain not an atom of nutritious matter, they only rob the system of the little it has, and bring it to a premature and sinful grave.
COMMERCE
The exports and imports of Scotland from 1097 to 1370. The exports were wool, skins, hides, salted fish, horses, sheep, and cattle; and sometimes falcons, and greyhounds. The imports were fine linen and silks, broad cloth, and a rich woollen cloth, called sayes, carpets and tapestry, wine, oil of olives, spices, drugs, arms, armour, and cutlery, and occasionally of corn and barley, and gold and silver plate. [Pict. Hist. of Scotland.] The exports from Fife at the present period, exclusive of an endless variety of manufactured goods, consist of the produce of the whale fisheries, salted cod and herrings, coal, limestone, lime, potatoes, and grain of all sorts. The imports from foreign ports are:- timber, bark, hides, tallow, flax, hemp, tar, iron, etc. And coastwise, pavement and slates, groceries, and other articles required for home consumption.
CORPORATIONS OF TRADES
The fraternity of the carpenters, masons, and cordiners, appears to have originated in 1475, the weavers in 1476, the butchers in 1488, the hammermen in 1496, the waukers or fullers in 1500, the corporation of the surgeons in 1505, the bakers in 1522, the bonnet makers in 1530, the goldsmiths in 1581, and the skinners in 1586. [Pinkerton, Vol. II.]
RELIGION
The tyranny of the Protestants immediately after the Reformation was such, that in 1561, James Kellone, a shoemaker, was condemned by the magistrates of Edinburgh to be hanged, for acting the popular pantomine of Robin Hood on a Sunday. Great efforts were made to get this severe sentence modified, but in vain. "Knox and the bailies were solicited in his behalf, but they refused to interfere." The consequence was, that on the day of execution, Edinburgh flew to arms, seized the provost and bailies; pulled down the gibbet, and broke it to pieces; then rushed to the Tolbooth, the doors of which they broke open with hammers, and delivered the condemned Robin Hood, together with all the other prisoners there, in open defiance of all authority. One of the imprisoned bailies had the gross ignorance to fire a pistol at the insurgents, by which the servant of a craftsman was grievously wounded. This added coals to the fuel, occasioning a fierce conflict that continued five hours, eventually ending successfully to the rioters. [Diurnal of Occurrents] Though the conduct of the first offender (the shoemaker,) cannot for a moment be justified, the sentence of the petty tyrants had all the savage barbarity of the Papists they had so lately crushed; their act was therefore a bad example, the worst of policy, and inconsistent with the holy word of Christ, who did not forgive seven times, but seventy times seven!
While our ancestors were the quintessence of vindictive cruelty, we cannot but admire their bigoted sincerity in religion. When contrasted with the moderns, who are the model of humanity, but who are, with many honourable exceptions, a mass of canting hypocrisy, it is difficult to determine which of the two to prefer. The cases of Palmer, Redpath, John Paul, and others, were only daring instances of what millions feel inclined to follow, but who lack the courage or the talent to put them in force. Thousands are at this hour playing the same game at hazard, behind the screen; hence the late fearful crash in which the innocent were ingulfed in the same commercial whirlpool with the guilty.
THOMAS THE RHYMER
The well-known prediction of Thomas the Rhymer to the Earl of March, the day before the death of Alexander III., is too important to be passed over here:- "That before the next day, at noon, such a tempest should blow as Scotland had not felt for many years before." The next morning, the day being clear, says Boece, and no change in the air, the nobleman did challenge Thomas of his saying, calling him an impostor. He replied that noon was not yet past. About which time a post came to advertise the earl of the king's sudden death. "Then," said Thomas, "this the tempest I foretold, and so it shall prove to Scotland." [Spottiswoode]
As Chaucer was the first English novelist, so Thomas the Rhymer was the first Scottish one, who wrote the Romance of Sir Tristrem, the authenticity of which was established by Robert of Brunne, who was a contemporary of his. Henry the Minstrel represents Thomas the Rhymer as being alive in 1296, the year in which Wallace took up arms, and when Thomas predicted his success. [Henry the Minstrel's Life of Wallace, book II.]
The date of his birth is not known, but he was in the height of his reputation at the death of Alexander III., in 1285: Besides the authors formerly adverted to, who acknowledged his high reputation as a prophet, I must not omit the names of Wyntown, Bower, and Henry the Minstrel. He predicted the ultimate success of King Robert Bruce. Bower has given a circumstantial account of the celebrated prediction of Thomas the Rhymer, respecting the disastrous fate of Alexander III.
SIR MICHAEL SCOTT
This extraordinarily gifted man, who was the admiration of all the learned in Europe, courted by Kings and Emperors, and the terror of all the ignorant at home, was born about the year 1213. Filled with the thirst of learning from his youth, he commenced his studies first at Oxford, where he had Roger Bacon for a fellow-student. His application was incessant, aware of the truth, though centuries before, of the remark made by Samuel Johnson, "that no man can be great without great labour." He died in 1287, and was buried in Melrose Abbey. "It is well known," says Tytler, "that many traditions are still prevalent in Scotland concerning the extraordinary powers of the Wizard; and if we consider the thick cloud of ignorance which overspread the country at the period of his return from the Continent, and the very small materials which are required by superstition as a groundwork for her dark and mysterious stories, we shall not wonder at the result. The Arabic books which he brought along with him, the apparatus of his laboratory, his mathematical and astronomical instruments, the Oriental costume generally worn by the astrologers of the times, and the appearance of the white-haired and venerable sage, as he sat on the roof of his tower of Balwearie, observing the face of the heavens, and conversing with the stars, were all amply sufficient to impress the minds of the vulgar with awe and terror." [Lives of the Scottish Worthies, vol. 1.] "Accordingly," says Sir Walter Scott, "the memory of Sir Michael survives in many a legend, and in the south of Scotland any work of great labour and antiquity is ascribed either to the agency of Auld Michael Scott, of Sir William Wallace, or of the Devil." [Notes on the Lay of the Last Minstrel.]
Among the countless traditions so happily described by Sir Walter I have only space to give a faint outline of the following:-
On one occasion, when on an embassy to the King of France, he chose to fly through the air mounted on a huge black horse. As they crossed the sea, the Devil insidiously asked Sir Michael what it was the old women of Scotland muttered at bed-time. The old wily politician had been too far north for his Satanic majesty, for he knew well that to answer "that it was the Pater Noster" (the Lord's Prayer), would have enraged the Devil, who would have unhorsed him, and given him a watery bed. But Michael sternly replied,
"What is that to thee?
Mount, Diabolus, and flee!"
Finlay conjectures that Balwearie was the scene of the atrocious Lammikin's "black revenge," as related in the ballad of that name, of which one copy commences thus:-
"Lammikin was as gude a mason
As ever hewed a Stane;
He biggit Lord Weire's castle,
But payment gat he nane."
And another copy,-
"When Balwearie and his train
Gaed to hunt the wild boar,
He gar'd bar up his castle
Behind and before."
[Finlay's Scottish Historical and Romantic Ballads, vol. II.]
EMINENT MEN
The following brief notices of ancient authors and eminent men are all that my space will permit of, to enable me to keep faith with my pledge of completing the work within twelve parts. Much valuable and interesting historical matter is still left out, finding that two-thirds of my readers would not exchange a penny romance for the most captivating history of their own counties, notwithstanding their boasted march of intellect! Such being the case, I shall leave those intelligent children who prefer chaff to wheat, to feed on the error of their elegant cogitations.
BARBOUR was born about 1316. His "Bruce" was composed about 1375. After Thomas the Rhymer, Sir Michael Scott, and Huchown, Barbour is the most delightful old author. His style and language were more neat and elegant than even that of Gawin Douglas, who wrote more than a century after. He was among the first who wrote in his own native tongue. He studied at Oxford and France. He died in 1396.
ANDREW WYNTOWN, Prior of St Serf's monastery, on the island in Lochleven, was born about 1350, according to his editor, Macpherson. He commenced his Chronicle in 1420, and finished it in 1424. He was a contemporary of Barbour. His Chronicle is valuable both as a picture of ancient manners and as a repository of historical anecdotes. It consists of nine books; the sixth book commences with the "War betwen the Scottis and the Peychtis." His language is pure, and often animated. As a historian he is highly valuable; indeed, his reputation as an accurate and trustworthy one stands deservedly high. His work throws much light upon the progress of the country in agriculture, manufactures, and commerce of the times. His manuscript, which was in the vernacular language of the country, was not printed until 1795. He admits Barbour to have been an accurate historian.
HENRY THE MINSTREL, or BLIND HARRY, was born about 1415; the unbounded. popularity of whose "Life of Sir William Wallace" has come down to the present day. Scarcely anything is known of the life of this venerable bard, beyond a single statement found in "Major's History of Scotland." Harry has been honoured by the praise of Warton and Ellis, who state that in point of genius he was not inferior to Barbour or Chaucer.
WILLIAM DUNBAR, of whom Warton says, he was an excellent poet, unrivalled by any which Scotland ever produced." He was a native, of Lothian, and born about 1460. He was a grandson of Sir Patrick Dunbar of Beill. He studied at St Andrews, and at Oxford. Sir Walter Scott says," The genius of Dunbar and Gavin Douglas is sufficient to illuminate whole centuries of ignorance."
GAVIN DOUGLAS, Bishop of Dunkeld. This learned and amiable prelate was the third son of Archibald, sixth Earl of Angus, the celebrated "Bell-the-Cat." He was born about the year 1474.
WALTER KENNEDY was indebted for his reputation to his poetical contest with Dunbar. He was the third son of Gilbert, first Lord Kennedy. He received his education at the College of Glasgow, where he took his degree of Master of Arts, in 1478. Gavin Douglas styles him "Great Kennedy," Dunbar laments his death, and Lindsay says that his language was polished.
JOHN BELLENDEN, Archdeacon of Moray, the translator of Hector Boece's History of Scotland, and of the first five books of Livy. He was born about 1490, and died while on a visit to Rome in the year 1550. Of him Dr Irving says, "His poems are the effusions of an excursive fancy and a cultivated taste."
ROBERT HENRYSOUN, the poet, has been taken notice of under DUNFERMLINE. His birth, life, and death are equally involved in obscurity. The only notice of this accomplished genius to be found in any author, is a brief statement of Urry, the editor of Chaucer. From him we learn that "Henrysoun was in all probability born during the reign of James II.; but the exact period is unknown." It is certain that he died before Dunbar wrote his Lament for the Death of the Makers, for he commemorates him among other departed poets:-
"In Dunfermling death has tane Broun,
With gude Mr Robert Henrysoun."
A distinguished writer says,- "Of the works of this remarkable man, it is difficult, when we consider the period in which they were written, to speak in terms of too warm encomium." [Lives of Scottish Worthies, vol. III.]
HECTOR BOECE, or BOYCE, was born at Dundee about the year 1465. He completed his education in the University of Paris. He was appointed a professor of philosophy in the College of Montaign, where he gained the friendship of the celebrated Erasmus. On the establishment of King's College, Aberdeen, he was appointed Principal of the new seminary. He was the first Scotsman who had the honour of writing the Latin language fluently, if not elegantly. His most famous work was the "History of the Scots," in 1527. Of this work, Maitland says, "He embodied it in narrative so interesting, and language so beautiful, as to be worthy of a more refined age." [Maitland's Biographical Introduction to Bellenden.]
JOHN MAJOR deserves little more notice than that of having been the instructor of Buchanan and Knox; one of the most vigorous thinkers of his time; the Principal of St Salvator's College, St Andrews; and a good metaphysical writer. His "History of the Nation of the Scots" is not a work of great merit.
JOHN LESLEY, the celebrated Bishop of Ross, was born in 1527. He studied at the Colleges of Aberdeen, Paris, Poictiers, and Toulouse. With many other preferments, he was an ordinary Judge of the Court of Session, Abbot of Lindores, and Bishop of Ross. His Latin History of Scotland is elegantly written, and in its later portion supplies a good deal of important information. It contains ten books, and terminates with the year 1562. He published an edition in the Scottish language, but only from the death of James I. to the year 1561. Of this work his editor remarks:- "As a specimen of pure and vigorous composition in his native language, by one of the most able and accomplished Scotchmen of the sixteenth century." Amongst many of his works, he wrote the "Origin, Manners, and Affairs of the Scots;" and an acute defence of Queen Mary. To the fortunes of his unhappy sovereign Lesley adhered with unshaken fidelity.
TURGOT, Bishop of St Andrews about the commencement of the 12th century, composed in Latin a variety of historical works, chiefly referring to the affairs of Scotland. Fordun's ScotoChronicon forms the continuation of one of these, viz., his "Chronicle of Scottish Affairs."
MARTINE'S "Reliquiae Divi Andreae" contains a mass of valuable information relative to the religious establishments of St Andrews. He was the first to give a detailed account of its institutions. His work remained in manuscript for more than a century, when it was at last printed in 1797. He was secretary to two of the archbishops previous to the Revolution.
FALCONER, the author of "The Shipwreck," and the other work by which he is chiefly known, his "Universal Marine Dictionary," was born in one of the small towns in the county of Fife, which border the Firth of Forth. [Chambers' Pocket Miscellany, vol. XX.]
JOHN KNOX, the reformer, was a member of the Knox family, whose seat was Ranfurly Castle, the ruins of which stand near the town of Kilbarchan, in Renfrewshire.
JAMES WATT, the improver of the steam-engine, was born in Greenock on the 19th of January, 1736, and died in August, 1821.
Having thus disposed of the constellations of former ages, and who certainly have not left their shadows behind, as literature has been fearfully retrograding for the past hundred years, I shall leave the lesser stars to one more able to touch them with his talismanic wand.
ANCIENT HISTORY
"The ancient chronicles of the kingdom were, for the most part, the productions of the monkish annalists of the age, and were usually deposited in the religious houses to which these clerical students belonged. But many of the histories and chronicles must have perished during the frequent incursions of the Norwegian or Danish pirates, by whom the Scottish monasteries were repeatedly plundered. The monastery of Icolmkill, where, previously to the union of the Scottish and Pictish kingdoms, the sovereigns of Scotland were solemnly crowned and interred, was burnt and ravaged by these marauders no less than six times during the course of the tenth century, and the gests and annals of the Scots and Picts, and other important records, deposited in that venerable establishment, must in all probability have perished at the same time. But the ambition of Edward I. proved a more formidable enemy to the ancient historical records of Scotland than either the ravages of the Danes, or the corroding tooth of time." The ancient laws and usages of Scotland were by "Edward collected from the libraries of the monasteries and the repositories of the public records, the chronicles, charters, writs, and other documents, which treated of the ancient history of Scotland, and either destroyed or carried them into England." [Pict. Hist. of Scotland, vol. I. and Innes' Critical Essay, vol. I.] It is to the indefatigable zeal and industry of Fordun, who traversed every mile of Scotland and of England on foot, sparing neither expense nor labour in the noble prosecution of his praiseworthy design, that we are indebted for the first rays of Scottish history. And had he not interfered with the first emigration of the Scots in the days of Moses; with the form of the universe; with the partition of the world among the three sons of Noah; and the exact situation of Paradise, he would have been a great man. In this respect, however, he was by no means singular; even Buchanan, so late as 1582, in his history "unfortunately adopted too many of the fables of his predecessors."
ERRORS
That an occasional error has crept into the present work, I am ready to admit, notwithstanding the utmost care taken to guard against it. Where is absolute perfection to be found? not among the angels. Nevertheless, I challenge the carping critic, generally the most ignorant in society, to point out another work on the subject with as few errors. The atrabilarian paragon of mensuration has objected to the agricultural division of land being less than the area of the respective parishes. In his wisdom, he overlooks the surface required for towns, villages, hamlets, commons, lakes, rivulets, roads, and abrupt rocks. He has, moreover, selected one of the least important instances. What would he say of Monimail, where the area is 10,240 acres, while the agricultural and wooded portion are only 5500 acres. As to his resentment, I shall only say-
"Spare me thy vengeance,
In quiet let me live;
I ask no kindness at thy hand,
For thou hast none to give."
In reference to real errors on the point at issue, I must admit of an egregious one, as regards Aberdour, where the area is 1610 acres, exclusive of the village and roads, less than the agricultural and wooded portion of the parish; account for the difference who may. I do not hold myself responsible for the fact, as the statement there given was taken from three of the most unexceptionable authorities, and there was no other standard to go by.
REGENTS
The Earl of Arran, who was of royal descent, the next heir to the crown, was the first Regent chosen during the minority of Queen Mary. This was in December, 1542. Though possessed of many private virtues, he wanted the strength of judgment and firmness of character necessary to govern Scotland. He became contemptible in the eyes of his own subjects, and the Reformers disliked him as an apostate. He was alternately bribed and threatened to resign. He at last solemnly abdicated the regency in favour of the Queen-mother, and for which he was rewarded by the King of France with the dukedom of Chatelherault. This was in April, 1554. In other eight years the Earl became suddenly mad.
REGENCY OF MARY OF GUISE, MARY OF LORRAINE, the Queen-mother, mother of Queen Mary, or Queen-dowager of James V. The Queen mother was installed in the Regency in 1554, a dignity which had long been the object of her ambition. She manifested considerable abilities, an accurate discrimination of character, and wonderful address in conciliating her opponents, and in retaining the confidence of her adherents. She was gentle and humane, without weakness. But with all these qualities, as formerly stated, she was void of honour, and did not scruple to violate the most solemn promises. This, when added to repeated intrigues, and bad counsellors, were productive of consequences disastrous to the peace of the country, as well as to the interests of the house of Stuart, the consequence of which was that on the 21st October, 1559, she was deposed from the Regency.
REGENT MURRAY
The Earl of Murray was appointed Regent of the Kingdom, so long the object of his guilty ambition, in August, 1567. This was the Lord James, Prior of St Andrews, natural son of James V., and brother of Queen Mary. Though in early life he was intended by man for the church, nature had chosen him for a consummate politician, and conferred upon him great and commanding talents. The events of his Regency brought into play his varied and unquestionable abilities. His knowledge of human nature was profound. "He was brave almost to rashness; his address was dignified; his countenance noble and kingly." But with all these transcendent qualities he certainly was not "The Good Regent" so much lauded by certain authors. Did Queen Mary not accuse him in her proclamation of aiming at the Crown? Did he not basely offer to deliver up the unfortunate Earl of Northumberland to Elizabeth of England for execution, after promising him protection? Did he not consent to the murder of Rizzio, and tacitly approve of the murder of Darnley? and did he not betray Norfolk? What was his conduct to James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh; and by whom he was shot? And many more acts could be brought forward to darken the life of this consummate hypocrite. Who can admire his mean servility to Elizabeth? To secure the object of his policy he courted popularity, and for which he put on the convenient and useful cloak of religion, having prayers and family worship in his house twice a day. Such with the sincere Christian is godly, but otherwise is a profane mockery! His whole public conduct as recorded in history, must be judged upon the old but sure principle - "By their fruits ye shall know them." He was shot in February, 1570; in the fortieth year of his age, and the third of his government.
REGENT LENNOX
Matthew Stuart, Earl of Lennox, and nearly related to the crown, succeeded Murray in the office of Regent of the kingdom in July, 1570; and began his administration with great vigour. The Regent was shot by one of a party of Kirkcaldy of Grange's men, who fought in defence of Queen Mary, at Stirling, on the 4th of September, 1571. Calder, an officer, who shot the Regent, was afterwards broken on the wheel. In the same year Lennox had hanged and quartered Hamilton, Archbishop of St Andrews, for having been accessory to the murder of the late Regent. He was condemned to death without the least formal trial.
REGENT MAR
The Earl of Mar was chosen Regent the day after the death of Lennox. He had hitherto had the charge of the young King's education, (James VI.) History states that he was an honest and patriotic nobleman, who sank under a load of grief for the state of Scotland, at which he looked with horror, and was unable to prevent. His death occurred after a few days' illness, at Stirling, in October, 1572. [Robertson, vol. II.; and Aikman's Buchanan, vol. II.]
How are we now to reconcile the odious fact of Mar having formally signified, along with Morton, his consent to put Queen Mary to death? [Tytler, vol. VII.] As the evidence against Mar is undeniable, I hold him to have been an infamous character; and with such men, with whom poor Mary was surrounded, who were predetermined for her death, she had not the remotest chance of life. That unfortunate sovereign was doomed to die, and that by a party who had sealed her fate by unchristian bigotry; a Queen who once for a few short days was
"Followed, flattered, sought, and sued."
REGENT MORTON
The Earl of Morton followed Mar as Regent, in November, 1572; being the fourth who had exercised the office within five years. He possessed a vigorous, determined, but turbulent mind, with talents of a superior order. He disgusted the people with his unscrupulous rapacity, was detested by the clergy for his oppression of their body; and dreaded by the nobility. He had all the remorseless cruelty of the tiger, with the cunning of the fox. Besides having brought scores of innocent victims to the scaffold, his life was stained by some atrocious crimes. In his confession he said:- "Because I acknowledge myself, of all sinners, to have been one of the greatest." He was at last accused of having been one of the murderers of Henry Darnley, found guilty, and executed in June, 1581. With all his immense ill-gotten wealth, he had not twenty shillings on the scaffold; so much had his enemies plundered him, while in prison.
In the few remarks I have made on the above six Regents, we cannot but be forcibly struck with the finger of God pointing to the guilty. The celebrated reformer, John Knox, died on the day that Morton was elected Regent.
EARL OF LENNOX
He was connected with the royal family both of Scotland and England. He married Lady Margaret Douglas, daughter of the Princess Margaret, Queen-dowager of James IV., and sister of Henry VIII. by her second husband, Archibald, Earl of Angus; and by this marriage he became the father of Lord Darnley, who was thus the grandson of Henry VII. of England, the second cousin of Queen Elizabeth, and the cousin (by half-blood only) of Queen Mary of Scotland.
"GO TO FREUCHIE."
As the origin of this phrase may not be known to the general reader, though made use of over all Scotland, when it is wished to get quit of a troublesome opponent, I shall give the explanation of it. In former ages Freuchie was a penal settlement, "where all those who transgressed the municipal laws of the ancient burgh of Falkland were transported to." The poor culprits stood aghast when the presiding magistrate, with all becoming solemnity, pronounced the dread sentence in those three ominous words, "Go to Freuchie."
In addition to what has been said previously, I may state that Freuchie stands at the north-east base of East Lomond hill, on the road from Falkland to Kettle. It has a sub-post-office. From a register kept by a worthy inhabitant, I find the population to be "about 1100."