commerce, till the union between the two kingdoms opened new views, and excited the spirit of enterprise among the inhabitants. Before that period, the merchants of Scotland were excluded from the American and West India trade; and the necessary and dangerous circumnavigation of a great part of the island, before the vessels of Glasgow could reach any of the European ports, presented a formidable obstacle to the extension of its commerce. The first branch of trade in which the inhabitants of this place engaged, seems to have been the curing and exportation of the salmon, caught in the Clyde. About A. D. 1680, the exportation of salmon and herrings, from Glasgow to France, was very considerable; the returns being made in wine, brandy, and various other commodities. This appears to have been the principal trade of this port, before the union permitted its extension to America and the West Indies. The first vessel belonging to Glasgow, that crossed the Atlantic, sailed from the Clyde, in the year 1718, which constitutes a memorable epoch in the commercial history of Scotland. The trade to the American colonies increased so rapidly, and was carried on to so great an extent, that out of 50,000 hds. of tobacco, imported into Great Britain, 49,000 were engrossed by Glasgow. At the commencement of the American war, the commerce of this port had reached its greatest height; but from that event it received a blow which threatened its annihilation, and actually ruined many of the opulent merchants, whose capitals were embarked in that trade, and who had supposed themselves possessed of independent fortunes. Although the trade of Glasgow was thus interrupted, the commercial spirit of her citizens was not extinguished. They explored new sources, and increased their trade with the West Indies, and the continent of Europe. By these means, their commerce gradually revived, and has lately been much augmented. If the foreign trade of Glasgow has not yet attained to its former prosperity, the deficiency is amply compensated by the amazing increase of its manufactures. That

of linen had been begun in 1725, and was carried on to a considerable extent, but has of late yielded to that of cotton, which, according to a calculation made in 1791, produced manufactured goods to the amount of 1,500,000l., and employed no fewer than 15,000 looms. The cathedral is an ancient structure, which escaped the fury of the first reformers, who took so much pains to obliterate all the monuments of antiquity in that country. This city is finely situated on the Clyde, on the banks of which the landscape is rich, various, and delightful, being interspersed with a number of elegant About the middle of the eighteenth century, the population of Glasgow, including the suburbs, amounted to 23,546; in 1793, to 66,028, and since that time it must be considerably improved. The University of Glasgow is of considerable celebrity.

seats.

Perth is an ancient town, pleasantly situated in a plain on the banks of the Tay. Its trade is chiefly of the coasting kind, and linen its staple manufacture; besides which it has some of paper and leather. The population of Perth is computed at about 20,000, having doubled its number of inhabitants since the year 1755. It possesses a grammar school of great celebrity, which has produced many eminent statesmen, and scholars, of whom it suffices to mention the late earl of Mansfield, and the admirable Crichton. There is also an academy, and a literary and antiquarian society. The manners of Perth are gay, and the inhabitants have theatrical representations, regular assemblies and other polite amusements.

Dundee is also situated on the Tay, about sixteen miles below Perth. This town has repeatedly suffered the calamities of war, having been taken and burnt by Edward I. king of England, afterwards by Richard II., and again by the English in the reign of Edward VI. During the troubles which followed the death of Charles I., the marquis of Montrose took it by storm, as did afterwards general Monk, after a most destructive siege. Lumsden, the governor, was among the slain, and the town was given up to pillage. In 1792, the ves

sels belonging to this port amounted to 116, and their tonnage to 8550. Of the manufactures, 80,000l. was computed to be the annual value of the linens; 40,000l., of the canvass, &c. 30,000% of the coloured thread; and 14,000l. that of the tanned leather. The population, in 1801, amounted to 26,084. Dundee has given birth to many eminent characters, among whom may be numbered the celebrated Hector Boethius, Fletcher, Dempster, the brave lord viscount Duncan, and the late lord Loughborough.

Aberdeen is a large and handsome town, situated on a rising ground on the banks of the Dee. In 1795, sixty-one British, and five foreign ships entered this port. The chief manufactures are those of woollen goods, particularly stockings, of which the annual export is computed to amount to 128,000. The salmon fishery in the Dee, and the Don, is a valuable branch of trade, the annual average of the exported salmon being 167,000lbs. weight sent pickled to London, and from 900 to 1000 barrels of salted fish, to the Mediterranean. In the fourteenth century, Aberdeen was taken and destroyed by Edward III. king of England. The whole population was, in 1795, computed at 24,493, having within half a century, increased nearly one third. At Aberdeen is a university, of which the celebrated Hector Boethius was the first president, with an annual salary of forty Scottish marks, or 21. 38. 4d., a striking proof of the high value, and scarcity of money, in Scotland, about the middle of the sixteenth century.

Paisley, six miles and a half west from Glasgow, merits the attention of all those who consider manufactures as one of the pillars of national prosperity. At the commencement of the last century, this was a place of little importance, consisting of only one street, about half a mile long, with some lanes diverging from it, on each side. At present Paisley, with its suburbs, may rank among the principal towns in Scotland, after Edinburgh and Glasgow. It exhibits an interest

* Statistic Account, vol. viii. p. 204.

1

ing spectacle of ingenious and successful industry. The annual value of the produce of the manufactures in the town of Paisley, consisting of silk gauze, lawns, cambrics, threadgauze, muslins, white thread, ribbons, soap, candles, and tanned leather, have been computed at upwards of 660,000%, besides those of the suburbs, where two of the cotton mills contain 22,572 spindles, and employ nearly 1000 persons. According to the returns made to sir John Sinclair in 1721, the number of inhabitants in the town of Paisley, and its suburbs, amounted to 19,903. Since 1791, the population is supposed to have increased one fourth.

Stirling is chiefly remarkable for its historical fame, and for its romantic and commanding situation. Its castle is of great antiquity. It commands a delightful prospect diversified by the windings of the Forth, as well as by ancient ruins, elegant seats and populous villages. This fortress was often the object of bloody contention, and twelve fields of battle are said to be within view of its walls. In Scotland the scene is now happily changed: instead of gloomy castles, and ensanguined fields, we see the arts of peace converting to human use the rude materials of nature. The population of Stirling is about 5,000.

SCOTTISH ISLANDS.

The Scottish islands are generally classed in three grand divisions; the Hebudes, or western isles, erroneously called Hebrides, the Orkneys, and the islands of Shetland.

To the first of these divisions belongs Jura, about twenty miles in length, and at the most five miles in breadth. Mull is about twenty-eight miles in length, and its mean breadth about eighteen. The climate is cloudy and rainy. The population is about 7,000. The principal food of the inhabitants is potatoes, barly-meal, and fish ; and their drink pure water, except

when then can obtain whiskey. The habitations are hovels constructed of whin, or furze, and covered with thatch, while a hole in the roof serves for a chimney. In the whole island Dr. Johnson could find only one man that spoke English, and not a single individual that could read. Mull is surrounded with small, but interesting islands. Icolmkill, and Staffa, in the vicinity of Mull, are to the historian, and naturalist, curious subjects of investigation. The celebrated Icolmkill, or Jona, is only about three miles long and one in breadth, yet this remote and contracted spot was once the seat of religion, and learning, when not only England and Scotland, but also a great part of Europe, were immersed in the darkest and most barbarous ignorance. Jona may be considered as classic ground, and the primitive seat of Scottish literature. Innumerable inscriptions seem to sanction the well known observation, that when learning was almost extinct in most parts of Europe it found an asylum in these remote regions. But the light which it once diffused in this corner, was afterwards extinguished by the ravages of the Danes, and Norwegians, and ages of barbarism succeeded. Staffa, about six miles north of Jona, is about a mile in length, and half a mile in breadth, and exhibits a scene of natural magnificence almost unparalleled. Sir Joseph Banks explored those interesting regions. The beautiful basaltic columns, forming one entire end of the island, are almost fifty feet high, and standing in natural colonnades, disposed with all the regularity of architecture, present an appearance astonishingly grand and beautiful.

Skey, and its surrounding isles, form another groupe of the Hebrides. This is the largest of the division, distinguished by this appellation, being about forty-five English miles in length, and twenty-two in breadth, and containing about 15,000 inhabitants. From this island are exported considerable num

* Skey is the birth place of the Rev. Donald M'Leod of Edisto Island who has enriched the history of South Carolina with an account of the place of his residence so full and accurate as to render it the most complete statistical account that has yet been given of any place in the United States to the southward of New York.