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fcene of drunkennels. His irregular conduct has rendered him an object of detestation to all the fober and virtuous part of the neighbourhood. Such is the man (and the description is not exaggerated) who has had the honour to join, in the facred bonds of wedlock, many people of great rank and fortune from all parts of England. It is 40 years and upwards fince marriages of this kind began to be celebrated here. At the lowest computation about 60 are supposed to be folemnized annually in this place. Taken at an average through the year, they may be estimated at 15 guineas each; confequently this traffic brings in about L. 945 a-year. The form of ceremony, when any ceremony is used, is that of the Church of England On fome occafions, particularly when the parfon is intoxicated, which is often the cafe, a certificate only is given. The certificate is figned by the parson himself, and two witneffes under fictitious fignaThe following is a

tures.

Copy of one of thefe Certificates, in the original Spelling:

"This is to fartfay all perfons that my be confernid, that A. B from the parish of C. and in county of D. and E F. from the parish of G. and in the county of H. and both comes before me and declay red themseless both to be single persons, and now mayried by the forme of the Kirk of Scotland, and agreible to the Church of England, and givine ondre my hand, this 18th day of March, 1793"

Is it not a difgrace to the police of a civilized country, to permit fuch irregularities to be practised with impunity? And is it not a reflection on the good fenfe and difcernment of the Nobility and Gentry of England, (for fome of the English Nobility have been married here), to fuffer themselves to be impofed upon, and their pockets to be picked, by fuch miscreants?

NUM

NUMBER XXXVI.

PARISH OF DUNLOP,

(COUNTY OF AYR, SYNOD OF GLASGOW AND AYR, PRESBYTERY OF IRVINE).

fon perhaps lefs attended to and understood; owing, as we suppose, their origin to mere fancy or arbitrary will, we think them unworthy of a serious investigation, and that every attempt to account for them, is but a confirmation of what we fuppofe. On the other extreme, is the opinion of those who allow, indeed, that they may be traced, and their meaning ascertained, but that in order to this, ancient times must be confulted, and ancient tales be believed. Whatever, therefore, comes ftamped with this authority, and has any relation, though but in found to the name, is ad uited as a matter of importance, and fufficient to fette every inquiry of this kind. 1o fuch persons the marvellous

marvellous and improbable are so far from being objections, that they rather appear to be natural for the times that gave them birth, and neceffary to give dignity and permanancy to what they were intended to exprefs. It is for this reason, that the names of places have been explained in the most fanciful manner, and circumftances adduced in the explication of them, that exceed every degree of probability, and are evidently falfe. The name before us, as accounted for by fome, is one of thefe. According to them, there was among the Danes who infefted this country, a man of extraordinary strength and stature, and that upon a time, to show I fuppofe his extraordinary folly, he made a remarkable leap from a hill in the neighbourhood of the place where the church now ftands, and that to this incident the hill itself and the parish are indebted for their name. But without examining into the merits of this story, or regretting that it had not been more circumftantially told, we need only obferve, that the name is with much more probability derived from an old and respectable family in the parif, or from its hilly appearance Dun-lp or Dun-luib, fignifying, in Gaelic," a winding or circuitous hill;" and were we to credit the tradition, that the house of Dunlop flood originally on the top of Dunlop-hill, we might be led from this circumftance, and the appearance of the ground about it, to fuppofe, that it might be called, in the language of the times, the houfe on, or the house of the winding hill, and that the family itself might afterward affume that name, and give it to the parish. The parish is of an oblong figure, being about 7 English miles long, and 21 broad. It is bounded by the parishes of Neilfton, Stewartoun, and Beith. From the firft of these it is feparated in front by a small burn or brook on the E. from the fecond in the fame manner on the S. and from the last by Lugton on the N. This has its fource in the parish of Neilston,

I

Neilfton, is well stored with fish, especially trout, and is at prefent only worthy of notice for the extent of country through which it paffes, and the winding course which it takes in its progrefs to Garnoch, which it turns in the neighbourhood of Kilwinning. There are no rivers, and but 2 burns in the parish, one of which is confiderable enough to afford a fufficient fupply of water during the winter, and in wet feafons, to the mills which are erected on it, and is said to contain the charhe or chare, a fpecies of trout of the finest quality.

Roads. By means of the roads which interfect it in different places, there is an easy access to every part of the parish, and likewise to the country and town around it. In confequence of this, the people have frequent and friendly intercourse with one another, know the value of every thing they have to fell, and can bring it to the best market. To the fame cause, perhaps, may be ascribed that polish and urbanity which they have in common with their neighbours, and that fondness for drefs which is fo obfervable on public occafions.

Surface, Soil, and Produce.-The parish of Dunlop may be faid to ftand upon high ground, and to confift of a great variety of hills. None of thefe, however, are remarkable for their height, but many of them for the beautiful and extenfive prospects which they give, and all of them for the rich grafs which they produce, arifing from an elevated bafe, which occupies great part of the parish. The ground, though hilly, is of easy access, and well adapted to the purposes of pasture and agriculture For the fame reason, it abounds in fprings of excellent water; and being moreover within a few miles of the fea, it is bleffed with a pure and healthful air. In confequence of this, the people arc tab

ject

ject to few difeafes, and generally live to a good old ages In the western parts of the parish, the soil is either light or of a thin clay, and towards the E. the prevailing foil is deep and heavy, with a cold wet bottom. And this, it is probable, has given rife to a practice unknown in other parts of the country, and which strangers are apt to confider as foolish and unaccountable. The custom is, to plough with 4 horses and 3 men; 2 of the men are employed in the ufual way; but the third, with a long pole fixed to the beam of the plough, directs the beam, and asfifts the ploughman. By this mode, of an ancient date among them, they imagine they do more and better work in the same time, than could be done by any other method. But whether the advantages of this, fuppofing them to be real, will overbalance the expense of an additional horse and fervant, is certainly a queftion of fome importance, especially to those who have nothing but custom to justify their continuance of it. In a place like this, where the farms are small, and where the ploughing is carried on by two neighbours jointly, this expense is indeed not so readily perceived; yet ftill it must be for their interest to perceive it, and for their credit, as proper farmers, to retrench it. From what has been faid concerning the difference of foil, it is easy to see that there will be a difference also in what it produces. The crops accordingly, which are usually oats, are better and more productive in the first and second, than they are in the third division of foil; thofe of the former yielding from 17 to 19, and thofe of the latter but from 12 to 15 pecks of meal the boll. The average rate, however, of meal the boll, for the whole parish, will not exceed 14 pecks, though the boll here contains a bushel more than it does in most other counties in Scotland. And what may appear a little ftrange for a parish not of great