DUNKELD CATHEDRAL.-BISHOPS.

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The town is situate in a plain on the east bank of the river, embosomed in richly wooded hills, to which the rugged face of Craigie-barns, on the north, presents an ample and majestic screen. To the west, Cragvinean rears his pine-clad shoulders; and on the south rise detached circular hills, at the base of which

"Across the shire of valleys and of hills,

Braidalbane, and great Athol's dread domain,
Swoln by the tribute from a thousand rills,
The Scottish Tiber thunders to the plain."

Of the two principal streets, one opens on a handsome bridge of five arches over the Tay, and at the west end of the other, stands the ancient cathedral, fourscore paces in length, in all its compartments of corresponding dimensions, and on a noble scale. Its architecture consists of the Norman, with that of every other variety introduced into ecclesiastical structures, during the three subsequent periods of the Gothic style. "Wanting only the roof, it wants nothing as a ruin." The choir, now converted into the parish church, was restored on the original model, and at a great expense, by the duke of Athol. Thus, while certain preservation has been gained to the whole structure, nothing has been lost of the original design; and the cathedral will now continue a venerable monument of ancestral piety, and of times when Dunkeld was the seat of primacy in Scotland, and "capital of ancient Caledonia." Among the episcopal worthies, the name of Gavin Douglas throws a hallowing lustre over the darker features of his day. William Sinclair, of a different temperament, was as much the champion of his country's liberty as the former was of its literature. His spirit was worthy of the age of Wallace, and formed to be the companion of the best patriots of his country. On one occasion, when a party of Edward the Second's troops had made a hostile inroad upon the coast of Fife, Sinclair-like the famous Matthew Schimmir, the warlike bishop of Sion-overtook the invaders in the midst of their plundering expedition, near Aberdour, and, with the assistance of only threescore retainers, expelled the intruders at the point of the sword,

Among the few sepulchral antiquities, the most remarkable is a statue in armour, with a lion's head at the feet, representing the ferocious "Wolf of Badenoch," Alister, son of Robert II. who burnt Elgin cathedral, and became otherwise notorious by his sanguinary disposition. †

Here, it is said, while the site of the cathedral was consecrated as a cell of Culdees, Kenneth Macalpin deposited the bones of St. Columba. As a consecrated spot antiquaries trace its history to the remote reign of Constantine, in the early part of the eighth century.

+ Hic jacet Alex'. Seneschallus. filius Roberti regis Scotor: et Elizabethæ More. Dominus de. Buchan. et Badenoch. qui obiit A.D. 1394.

Were we to quote the testimony of authors who have written on Scotland, we might here adduce many pages in praise of Dunkeld alone-a topic in which all tastes seem to harmonise, and where one of the most graphic modern writers found ample materials for the composition of an interesting volume. But our own remarks must be few; and, however fascinating the subject, our limited space must plead our excuse for numerous omissions. The pleasuregrounds surrounding the ducal palace of Dunkeld-which will shortly be replaced by a magnificent new family mansion—are kept up with great nicety. The walks are upwards of fifty miles, independently of a carriage-drive of thirty. These present every possible variety of picturesque scenery, and in their extent, and constant transition from one style of landscape to another, are equalled by no demesne in Great Britain. The greatest curiosity, however, is the cascade of the Bran. A hermitage, called Ossian's Hall, forty feet above the basin of the cascade, and directly in front, is so constructed, that the stranger, on entering it, is brought suddenly in view of the fall, whichmultiplied a thousandfold by the mirror-glass with which the walls and ceiling are covered-appears as if rushing upon him from every point. The effect is altogether magical, and although too artificial, is well calculated. to strike the visitor with astonishment-the more so, as there is nothing in the approach that leads him to anticipate such a scene; for, while he is contemplating a fine painting of Ossian, which covers the door-way, the latter suddenly springs open, and he is ushered into a fairy world, with the foaming cataract full in his view.

Between Dunkeld and Perth, the painter will find many rich subjects for his pencil; and every admirer of that landscape in which fertility predominates, and the sublime softens down into the picturesque, a source of uninterrupted. enjoyment. The heath-clad waste and frowning precipice are now succeeded by a kindly soil under industrious cultivation. Birnam-wood, which every reader of Shakspeare is prepared to contemplate with some degree of curiosity, is much

"That scene which opens before you after going through the pass, has not, perhaps, its parallel in Europe; and the grounds belonging to the duke, I do not hesitate to pronounce, are almost without a rival." Such is the testimony of the traveller, Dr. E. Clark; and, in confirmation, we cannot do better than annex to it that of Mr. R. Chambers :-" I may mention," says he, "after having seen almost all the rest of Scotland, this place appeared to me, on visiting it, decidedly the finest throughout the whole country." To this the present writer will add, that, after many excursions in the Alps, Switzerland, and continental Europe, he recalls, with undiminished pleasure, the delightful impressions made upon his mind by the scenery of Dunkeld.

†The pine and larch woods cover an extent of eleven thousand square acres-the number of trees planted by the duke, twenty-seven millions, besides several millions of various kinds. (Anderson, p. 100.) At the end of the cathedral the stranger is shown the first two larches introduced into this country. They were at that time treated as green-house plants, but are now of gigantic proportions.

PERTH. THE TAY.-MONCRIEFF-HILL.

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reduced in extent, and has never, as Pennant remarks," recovered the march of its ancestors to Dunsinnane."

PERTH, the capital of the county, and once of the country, is the arena of many historical events in which the fate of the kingdom has been involvedmany traits of national character and popular vicissitudes which arrest attention, and conjure up a thousand reminiscences in the reflecting mind.

Surrounded by a rich amphitheatre of hills undulating along the horizon, their summits covered with woods, their flanks sprinkled with cheerful countryseats, and washed by the majestic Tay, Perth is a city of almost unrivalled attractions. Highly favoured by Nature, it became a place of great commercial importance at the earliest period, and down to the present time has continued to be one of the chief seats of national prosperity. Its handsome bridge of nine arches, its elegant quays and public buildings-of which the most interesting are the celebrated Academy and Antiquarian Institution-the north and south Inches-extensive public lawns stretching along the river, either of which would form a Campus Martius-with numerous gardens and public walks, are all of the most beautiful description, and worthy of its patriotic citizens.

As one of the first places in Scotland where Knox promulgated the doctrines of the Reformation, which here took strong hold of the public mind, and extended its influence in every direction-Perth possesses a double interest, and recalls the most important epoch in the national history. It was, for some time, the centre of that moral revolution which broke the fetters of ancient superstition, emancipated the human mind from a despotism worse than feudal bondage, and at length placed a new dynasty on the throne.

The view from Moncrieff-hill is proverbially referred to as one of the most beautiful in the kingdom. Pennant styles it "the glory of Scotland." From this point, when the Roman legions came first in sight of Perth-the ancient Bertha-and beheld the Tay, the exclamation of "Ecce Tiberim!" announced

• As the metropolis of ancient Caledonia and the residence of her kings-still pointed out in the palace of Scone-Perth and its environs occupy no small share in the history of those times, before the seat of royalty had been transferred to the more southern parts of the kingdom. As the Scottish nation extended its authority by the conquest of the Picts, and its subsequent intermarriages with England, the royal residence, keeping pace with the expanded limits of the sovereign, passed successively from Dunstaffnage, Kildrummy, and Inverlochy, to Scone. Scone was exchanged in its turn for Falkland and Dunfermline-these for Stirling-Stirling for Linlithgow, and this for Edinburgh, and lastly, Edinburgh for London. Amidst these changes, after the establishment of the monarchy of all Scotland, the natural boundaries which marked the land confined, on the whole, the choice of a place of residence for the royal family to that space which is bounded by the courses of the Forth and Tay, on the south and north; on the west, by the rising of the country towards the middle of the island, and on the east by the ocean. During the hottest times of war with England, the interposition of the Tay recommended Scone as the most secure court-residence.