293 The Society of Weavers was inftituted in 1785. It is numerous and confequently wealthy; and its object is nearly the fame with that of the Cordiners' fociety. Befides thefe friendly affociations, there are two Mafons' Lodges in Dunkeld; and the greater part of their funds also is applied to charitable purposes. "A female friendly society should be established on the "fame principle of the Cordiners' and Weavers' societies*." This fuggeftion is worthy of an enlightened mind and benevolent heart. Would to God female friendly focieties, under right management, were as univerfal as undoubtedly they would be in every respect beneficial! Having given a comparative view of the ancient and modern state of Dunkeld, we fhall take our leave of this interesting fpot; and, from Inver, proceed on our journey fouthward, pursuing the course of the Tay till we clear the pass, and enter the heights of Birnam wood, on our way to the lowlands, where every thing presents us with an afpect characteristically different from what we have been contemplating in our progress through the deep receffes of the Grampian mountains; to which we now bid adieu. Soon after leaving Inver, we pass the parish church of Little Dunkeld, which is fituated in a pleafant field of confiderable dimensions. The ftipend of the clergyman here, as well as that of the clergyman on the oppofite fide of the river, is low indeed. The yearly ftipend of the former, including what is allowed for communion elements, hardly exceeds 751.: while that of the latter (Dunkeld) does not exceed 951. fterling. The times have * Vide Stat. Acc. vol. xx. p. 432. altered. altered. The bishoprick got into the hands of laymen long ago; and it is well known, that in Scotland the church government is, at leaft, cheap enough! The most useful branches of education too, viz. reading, writing, and accounts, are to be acquired at a far cheaper rate than among our southern neighbours. To the poor, this is an invaluable bleffing *. In the parish of Little Dunkeld there are two charity schools, and one parish fchool But the encouragment to teachers is poor in the Dunkeld boasts of a grammar-school; but the whole amount of its mafter's falary does not exceed (including fees for eighty fcholars, at half a crown each) 781. fterling per annum. There is likewife a Sunday-fchool, and a female dayschool for various branches of needle-work, and reading lessons in English. extreme. Keeping the heights of Birnam wood on the left, and the Tay on the right, we pass through the hamlet of Inch Eoen, which may be confidered as the laft group of highland huts that the traveller meets with on coming out of the defiles of the Grampians. The road is newly made, and excellent. It fweeps through the *The good effects of charity fchools (fays the author of the Statistical Account of Little Dunkeld) are manifeft and important. By means of them the youth in the highlands are early inftructed in the principles of religion and morality, as well as taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and a tolerable knowledge of the English tongue. Thus fucceffive generations arife of enlightened and ufeful citizens. Some have entertained the mistaken maxim, "That it is impolitic to give the common people fo much inftruction:" a maxim bad enough for Ruffia, or for the church of Rome during the periods of its fouleft corruption." See Stat. Acc. vol. vi. p. 372. Little Dunkeld. See Dr. Curries' (of Liverpool) " Obfervations on the Character and Condition of the Scotifh Peafantry," prefixed to his Account of the Life and Criticism on the Works of Robert Burns, 4 vols. 8vo. 1800. narrow narrow vale formed by the heights of Birnam, and the oppofite craggy fteeps of Stormont, till rifing to a level plain, where a small lake appears to the right, we clear the pafs, and leave behind that part of our island from which no hoftile foe ever returned without having had proofs of the independent spirit and determined valour of its inhabitants; and from which no friend ever departed without having experienced acts of kindness and hofpitality. In afcending the heights of Birnam, about two miles below Dunkeld, a building, now almost a ruin, is feen on the left. It was erected about fixty years ago *, for the reception of twelve poor men of the Scotish Epifcopal Communion, on the estate of Stuart of Grantully, who, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, endowed it with the fum of twenty thousand merks Scotish money. Murthly Castle †, one of the feats of the Grantully family, about half a mile farther to the left, charmingly fituated on a floping embankment, amid verdant meadows and spacious inclosures, around which the Tay fweeps fmoothly its clear and ample ftream, is feen to great advantage. On either fide of the river, the higher grounds are fteep, craggy, and well wooded. In the back ground, the plain of Stormont, a part of Strathmore, appears; behind which, Dunfinnan, one of the Sidla hills, made claffic ground by the magic pen of Shakespeare, towers in the diftance, and terminates the profpect. * 1740. A little below Murthly is the free-ftone quarry from which the ftone work of Dunkeld Cathedral was built. The hill of Birnam yields abundance of flate of a colour bordering on violet, remarkably beautiful. Lead ore mixed with quartz is alfo to be found but not of a very rich quality. Bounded Bounded on the fouth and eaft by the Ochil and Sidla hills, and on the west and north by the great and continued chain of the Grampians, STRATHMORE extends from Stirling to Stonehive, a length of, at leaft, fixty miles; thirty of which by fix in breadth are highly cultivated, and richly adorned by nature and art. This extensive valley (through which the rivers Isla and Erocht, after having rolled their tributary streams from the mountains, and burft their rocky bounds, in foaming fury* unite in the plain, and glide fmoothly along until the Tay receives them in dignified filence as he moves onward in his ftrength toward the German Ocean) is, by far, the most extensive level ground in North Britain. Strathmore is a fcene connected with many particulars respecting the hiftory and antiquities of Scotland. It may not therefore be deemed uninterefting, to notice a few of the leading incidents, with the fpots connected, most of which are within view from the ftation here mentioned, as we pass on; for, as little is to be met with in our way through the dreary tract of moor once the wood of Birnam, in order to fill up the void, a page or two shall be dedicated to the purpose alluded to, before we proceed further in our description. The traveller whofe curiofity leads him to enquire after the monuments of antiquity difperfed throughout Strathmore, in his *The river Erocht, two miles above Blair-gowrie, is confined within a deep and narrow channel, where meeting in its courfe huge rocks of an amazing altitude, it rushes amid refounding caverns, far above which is feen on a vaft impending precipice Craigball, fimilar in all refpects to Hawthornden near Edinburgh. The Rieth, a confiderable cataract, is often vifited by the curious; and is an object worthy of attention, particularly when viewed with the furrounding fcene near Blair-gowrie, which is at no great distance from Dunkeld. vifit along the courfe of the Ifla, will fall in with the remains of Caftle Forter and Caftle Newton. Both thefe caftellets belonged to the Ogilvies of Airly; but in the civil war during the reign of Charles I., and in the time of Cromwell's Commonwealth, they were burnt to the ground. The Marquis of Argyle performed this duty, which was foon afterwards returned by the family of Airly. Thus civil broils defolate a land; while the deluded victims take terrible vengeance on each other! Three miles beyond these ruins, the Ifla, below the Mill of Craig, precipitates itself over a perpendicular height of 70 or So feet. This water-fall is called the Recky linn. The rocks on each fide are of ftupendous altitude; and the water appears, as it moves among the huge and impending maffes to the plain through which it feeks its level, deep, fullen, and dark. As we proceed along the course of the Ifla to its conflux with the Tay, near the village of Alyth, the Caftle of Barry-hill, the remains of which are ftill visible, once ftood *. This stronghold is faid to have been the place of confinement of the celebrated British Helen, VANORA, by fome writers called Wanor, and Guinevar, the wife of King Arthur of fabulous record. A fepulchral monument, fuppofed to have been that of Vanora, is to be seen in the church-yard of Meigle; drawings of which are given with great accuracy in Mr. Pennant's Scotish Tour, vol. iii. p. 166. At Glames and Dunoon are alfo fome rude remains of antiquity. About two miles northward of Couper of Angus, at a fmall village called Couper Grange, there is a repofitory, fupposed to Near Barry-hill, in a ploughed field, an artificial cavity in form of a ditch, about fix feet deep by four feet broad, faced up with ftones, and covered with large broad flags, was discovered; and when part of it was laid open, alhes were found. Stat Acc. vol. vi. p. 406. contain |