by Mr. James Aird the minister, a man eminent for his piety and charity to the poor. The town is under the jurisdiction of the Earl of Kincardine, descended of a brother of the ancient family of Blairhall, of which also Sir William Bruce of Kinross, and several other gentlemen of the name of Bruce are descended; of which family of Blairhall, also the Earl of Elgin in Scotland, and of Alisbury in England, are descended. It is now the seat of the Honourable Dougal Stuart, one of the senators of the college of justice, who married the heiress '. Near to Torrie-burn stands the manour of Torrie2, now the seat of William Erskine, a son of the Lord Cardross. 'Twas formerly in the possession of the ancient family of the Wardlaws, of which several lairds of that name are descended. To the east of the town is Crumbie 3, a pleasant seat of the Lord Colvil of Cleish4, descended of the Lord Colvil Pp 2 "In social life sincere and just, "To vice of no kind given ; "So that his better part, we trust, "Hath made the PORT of HEAVEN." I Now the property of Erskine of Carnock. 2 The seat of Sir William Erskine, Baronet. 3 The lands of Torry and Crumbie contain much coal; the following table of the thickness of its various scams in both estates, was furnished by a gentleman, who was proprietor of the one, and had a lease of the other. Besides these different seams, there is, on the north parts of Torry, a fine parrot coal, in thickness four feet, which is very valuable, and is said to sell in the London market, at a higher price than any other. There is also very good ironstone, some of which has been wrought. Stat. Acc. Vol. VIII. No.25. 4 Now the property of James Wedderburn, Esq. of Inveresk. Colvil of Culross, whose predecessor was James Lord Colvil, a follower of Henry the Great, who to the immortal honour of himself and his nation, was the man whom God made the chief instrument to carry the battel of Cultras, so favourable to the protestants in France, against the bloody leaguers. Not far from this, towards the north, is the neat house of Pitfirren1, well adorn'd with curious gardens, large parks and meadows, the manour of the ancient family of the Halkets. There is in the register of Dunfermling a contract betwixt the abbot of Dunfermling and David Halket, design'd in some charters, de Lusfennen, De perambulatione terrarum de Petfarane, anno 1437. There is a vast fond of small coal in the lands, which is carried to the port of Lyme Kills, belonging to Pitfirren, being a small burgh of barony; it is well provided with coal-yards and cellars. Several whales have come in upon this coast; anno 1652. one The seat of Sir Charles Halket, Baronet. 2 From a remote period, the family of Pitferran obtained from government the privilege of exporting their coals to foreign parts, free of all duty whatever. The original privilege was renewed by Queen Anne, De cember 21. 1706, and ratified in Parliament March 21. 1707. The family continued to enjoy the privilege till 1788, when it was purchased by government for L. 40,000 Sterling, when the property that could injure the revenue was nearly exhausted. The most remarkable, in these lands, are the seams, consisting of five feet, two feet, and four feet each. They are all found within the space of fourteen yards, at the distance of three fathoms and a half from each other; and in their natural state, they dip from one foot in four, to one in six towards the north-east. Immediately above the two feet seam, are two strata of ironstone. The uppermost is four inches, and the lowermost two and a half inches thick. Being above a seam of coal, they are wrought along with it. They are of an excellent quality for making cannon, and have been exported to the Carron Company for that purpose. The ironstone began to be wrought by that Company in 1771, and in 1773 and 1774, there were sixty miners, and as many bearers employed in the mines. Since that period, the ironstone has been wrought by the tacksmen of the coal.. Stat. Ace, Vol XIIL No. 29. one 80 foot in length, of the whale-bone kind, came in, which (as I was inform'd) beside a vast quantity of oyl, did afford 500 weight of baleen. The jaws of it stand for a gate, in the garden of Pitfirren. And anno 1689 there came in one of the spermaceti kind, with big teeth in the under-jaw, the whale was above 52 foot long '. The coast abounds much with iron-stone, of which there are some pieces curiously figur'd, some like clam-shells, and one has the shape of the scabbard of a Turkish scimitar, of the kind call'd Siliquastrites. Close by Pitfirren is Cavil, the seat of an ancient gentleman of the name of Lindsay; and Pitliver3, the seat of Sir James Campbel, who married the heiress, of the name of Dempster. Hard is Dunfermling, a royal burgh4, having its name * See before, Part II. Chap. III. 2 Now the property of Dr. James Robertson Barclay. 3 Now the property of Robert Wellwood, Esq. of Garvock. from 4 The burgh, it appears, held of the monastery for near two centuries, It became royal by a charter from James VI. dated 24th May 1588. In this charter, called a charter of confirmation, the king ratifies sundry charters, donations, and indentures by John and Robert, abbots of Dunfermline; and particularly, an indenture made at Dunfermline, 10th October 1395, between John, abbot of the monastery, and the Eldermen and community of the burgh; by this deed the abbot and convent renounce, in favour of the eldermen and community, the whole income of the burgh belonging to their revenue, with the small customs, profits of court, &c. reserving, however, the yearly pensions payable to the monastery from the lands of the burgh; and the correction of the bailies, as often as they, or any of them, should be guilty of injustice in the exercise of their office. By the set or constitution, the government of the burgh is lodged in a council of twenty-two; consisting of twelve guildry or merchant-councillors, eight deacons of incorporations, and two trades-councillors; the magistrates are, a provost, two bailies, and dean of guild. The annual revenue is considerably above L. 500 Sterling. Eight public fairs are held through the year, and two days in the week, Wednesday and Friday, are appointed for markets; the market on Wednesday has for some time fallen into disuse. Stat. Acc. Vol. XIII. No. 29. from a hill near a crooked water, which is the situation of it; for it lies upon the ridge of a hill, sloping gently to the south. It was the ordinary abode of Malcolm Kenmore; the ruins of a tower he dwelt in are yet to be seen, near to the west bridge'. This king Malcolm III. founded the monastery, A palace was afterward built a little south-east of the tower in a most romantic situation, close on the verge of the glen, but at what particular period is not now known. The south-west wall of the palace still remains a monument of the magnificent fabric, of which it is a part, and tradition continues to point out the chimney of the apartment where that unfortunate monarch Charles I. was born.—The monastery was one of the most ancient in Scotland, founded by Malcolm Canmore for the monks of the order of St. Benedict; the building being left unfinished by Malcolm, was completed by his son Alexander I. The monastery and its church were dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and St. Margaret, Malcolm's queen. In some old manuscripts, it is called, Monasterium de monte infirmorum ; hence some have conjectured, that it was originally intended for an hoipital or infirmary. It continued to be governed by a prior till the reign of David I. who raised it to the dignity of an abbey, and in 1124 translated thither thirteen monks from Canterbury; before the dissolution, however, the fraternity had increased to twenty-six.—The abbey was richly endowed, and derived part of its extensive revenue from places at a considerable distance. Kirkcaldy, Kinghorn, and Burntisland, (called of old Wester Kinghorn), likewise Musselburgh and Inveresk, belonged to this abbey. According to a rental given up at the time of the Reformation by Allan Couts, in name of George Durie, abbot, the yearly revenue was as follows; Money, L. 2513: 10: 8 Scots; wheat, 28 c. 11 b. 1 f.-bear, 102 c. 15 b. 1 f. 3 p.—meal, 15 c.—oats, 61 c. 6 b. 2 f.—horse corn, 29 c. 1 b. 1 f. 3 p.—butter, 34 st.—lime, 19 c. 15 b.—salt, 11 c. 8 b.-According to another rental by the same person:—Money, L. 2404, 4 s.—wheat, 27 c. 4 b. 3 f.—bear, 83 c. 11 b. 2 f. 2 p.—oats, 158 c. 5 b. 2 f. whereof 84 c. white oats.—lime, 20 c.—salt, 11 c. 8 b.—capons, 374—poultry, 746.—The abbey was a magnificent and very extensive building, but fell an early sacrifice to the barbarous policy of the English, being almost entirely burnt down by them, in the beginning of the 14th century.· Edward I. of Eng. land wintered at Dunfermline in 1303. "In that place there was an abbey of the Benedictine order, a building so spacious, that according to an English historian, three sovereign princes, with all their retinue, might have -been lodged conveniently within its precincts. Here the Scottish nobles sometimes |