The Grand Cliff of Kinnoull, viewed across the Tay

from the South Wist

Published Oct.1.1806.by JJohnson.

P. 252.

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wondering how it was formed. Dunsinnan Hill, too, fortified and inhabited by Macbeth, and presenting his boldest front, like Kinnoull and Moredun to the south-west, attracts, as you approach the summit of the latter, particular attention. I had a strong inclination to visit this place: but I could not always, without very great inconvenience, give way to my curiosity. It is situated near the south side of the great plain that intersects Scotland, about seven miles north-east from Perth.

The elevation above the level of the sea is one thousand two hundred feet. On one part of the hill, almost inaccessible except on one side, you still see, I was informed, the ruins of Macbeth's castle.

The view from the hill of Moncrieff has been often described. The style in which this has been done seems to rise into that of poetry. I shall only say in general, that it is faithfully correct and chaste. You see almost the whole extent of Strathmore from the hills of Menteith, near Loch Lomond, to the courses of the rivers Eske, that fall near Montrose into the German Ocean, with its stupendous boundary on the north, the

More Duun, its first or original name, signifies the great hill, the same as Dunmore. The lofty hills that rise uppermost on a ridge of mountains are called Ben; Dun denotes an isolated hill: a hill rising from a plain. This will abundantly appear, if we only recollect Dunbar, Dunbarton, Dundee, Dungannon in Ireland, Dumfermeline, &c. Benvoir, or Benmore, Benvoirlich, Ben Nevis, &c. &c. are the highest hills, the hills that tower above the rest in the range to which they belong, like the cupolas of magnificent edifices.

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Grampians, and a great part of the Sidley and Aichil Hills that skirt it on the south-a space comprehending the course of the Forth till it comes within a few miles of Stirling; the course of the Tay, from Dunkeld to its junction with the ocean; and the whole extent of Stratherne from one end to the other. On one hand you see below you the town of Perth; on the other, at a far greater distance, but still very clearly, the town and tower of Dundee.

On the south, through an opening in the Aichils, you have a vista of Loch-Levin and the Lomonds.

Repairing to my ale-house, at Road End, I remounted my poney, and rode slowly on to Perth ; which, with its fine environs, has also been often described. The river rolling in great majesty between the cliff of Kinnoull and the hill of Moncrieff; the island formed by the disjunction of the river into two parts a little below Perth; these now exulting in their reunion; the south Inch, an extensive and beautiful lawn, bounded on the south and west by the richest corn fields, on the east by the Tay, on the north by the town and suburbs, and fringed all round with a waving avenue of trees-these objects, as you approach Perth, would slacken the course of the most insensible traveller. Even Dr. Johnson, hungry, and thinking earnestly on his `dinner, if he had clearly perceived, must have stopped to contemplate them. Cromwell's Mount, as it is called, or the ruins of the temporary fort built by Cromwell, through which he would have

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* "A man," says the Doctor," seldom thinks of any thing more earnestly than on his dinner.”

passed, must at any rate have arrested his attention, and called to his remembrance a subject on which he was accustomed to think, with almost as great earnestness as on his dinner.

It is well-known that Perth, with Scone, almost contiguous, was considered as the capital of Scotland even so far down as the middle of the fifteenth century. Whoever glances at its situation on the map, scarcely needs to be told of the number of national and ecclesiastical councils that have been held here; the armies lodged in or encamped near it, the sieges it underwent, and the battles fought in its vicinity. It recalls to the mind very many of the most important passages in the history of Scotland. I shall just notice one which happened to recur forcibly to my imagination more than once during the time I staid, strolling about from place to place, in that antient, pretty, and thriving city. It was to Perth that king David Bruce, or David II, was conducted on his return from France, and where he assembled the vast army with which he invaded England. I shall here translate the account given of this by Froissard, who was cotemporary with David, and who had visited and remained six, months in Scotland.

"When the young king David was landed in his own country,* his subjects came to him in crowds; and with great joy and solemnity conducted him to Perth. † Thither came people of all ranks to see him and carouse. They afterwards

* At Inverbervie, in the Mearns.

Which this foreigner elsewhere describes to be a town situated on the river Tay, flourishing in commerce.