A topographical dictionary of Scotland |
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Common terms and phrases
Aberdeen Aberdeenshire acres ancient annually arable Argyllshire banks beautiful black cattle bolls bounded breadth broad built burgh of barony Caithness called church clay Clyde coal coast considerable contains covered with heath crops cultivated Cupar district Earl Edinburgh elegant erected excellent extends feet fertile firlot firth fishing formerly freestone frith Glasgow ground half a mile harbour Hebrides hills hilly inhabitants Inverness Inverness-shire isle King land lately limestone loam Loch Lord lying manufacture Mid Lothian miles in length miles long Moray moss mountains nearly Orkney parish partly pasture Perth Perthshire plantations Population in 1801 pulation in 1801 quarries rish rivulet road rock rocky Ross-shire royal burgh ruins salmon Scotish Scotland Scots seat sheep shire side situated small island small river small village soil square miles stone surface tains takes its rise tion town trout valley vessels
Popular passages
Page 330 - once the luminary of the Caledonian regions," as Dr. Johnson expresses it ; " whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge, and the blessings of religion.
Page 240 - with great platters of porridge, each having a little piece of sodden meat ; and, when the table was served, the servants sat down with us; but the upper mess, instead of porridge, had a pullet, with some prunes in the broth : and I observed no art of cookery, or furniture of
Page 241 - large falling bands about their necks. The unmarried of all sorts did go bareheaded, and wear short cloaks, with most close linen sleeves on their arms, like the virgins of Germany. The inferior sort of citizens wives, and the women of the country, did wear cloaks made of a coarse
Page 240 - companions, sent from the governor of Berwick, about bordering affairs, were entertained after their best manner. The Scots, living then in factions, used to keep many followers, and so consumed their revenue of victuals, living in some want of money. The}' vulgarly eat hearth cakes of oats, but in cities
Page 613 - to define the angles precisely, and at the same time with a great deal of elegance ; and, to render it still more agreeable, the whole is lighted from •without, and the air is perfectly free from the damp and noxious vapours with which natural caverns in general abound."
Page 648 - When you enter the Trosachs, there is such an assemblage of wildness and of rude grandeur as fills the mind with the most sublime conceptions. It seems as if a whole mountain had been torn in pieces, and frittered down by a convulsion of the earth, and the huge fragments of rocks,
Page 50 - which runs at the depth of near 130 feet below the surface of the earth ; the fine groves of pines, which majestically climb the sides of a beautiful eminence that rises immediately from the brink of the chasm ; all these objects cannot be contemplated without exciting emotions of wonder and admiration in the mind of every beholder.
Page 613 - edifices ! But, when we behold the cave of Fingal, formed by nature in the isle of Staff'a, it is no longer possible to make a comparison, and we are forced to acknowledge that this piece of architecture, formed by nature, far surpasses that of the Louvre, that of St.
Page 157 - of the people within view of its lofty summit. Before a storm " the spirit of the mountain shrieks," and its head and sides are enveloped with clouds. It is mostly composed of reddish porphyry, but near the bottom is found argillaceous schistus, intersected with veins of quartz and lapis ollaris.
Page 613 - been described by travellers. " The mind can hardly form an idea more magnificent than such a space, supported on each side by ranges of columns, and roofed by the bottoms