widows, or superannuated men, rather than by families who live by the occupations of agriculture. In a few cases there is the family of a taylor, weaver, joinér, labourer, or other craftsman, who posseses no more land than a small garden planted only with cabbages and other coleworts, and who generally obtains a small plot from some neighbour farmer, to be manured and cultivated for a crop of potatoes. These dwellings begin also, of late, to assume a neat substantial form } a turf cottage in the low part of Moray is now rarely to be seen. Where the walls are still of sod, they contain two or three apartments, with a window in each, thriftily thatched, and the cold excluded by a door upon each room. Such dwellings are in general held of the tenant, in some cases from the proprietor; the doors, windows, and timber of the roof are gener ally provided for the occupier, who in that case must maintain them of undiminished value at his removal, completing what is farther requisite for the building at his own cost; where no labour is stipulated, the rent rises from 5 shillings to more than £1, in proportion to the value of the ground in the yard. There is no idea, however, of floor or ceiling, though often there is a daubing of clay plaster, which is sometimes white washed, and a chimney in that apartment which is not commonly used. SECT. VI.-- BRIDGES. No single improvement, more advantageous to the general interests of agriculture, nor more essential to the public accommodation of the inhabitants, not of this country only, but of the kingdom, has perhaps been ever nade, than the building of the bridge of Spey, on the post road from Fochabers to Elgin. It may not be necessary now to enumerate particularly the inconveniences, the loss of time, and the vexations which were occasioned, in getting across this river by the boat; the laborious exertions which were required, both in lugging the loaded carts on board, and getting them relanded on the other side, the trouble, fatigue, and persevering patience which were requisite, in compelling the frighted and resisting cattle to swim across to the Banffshire fairs, and the distress occasioned to their owners, in getting those unsold brought back, need not be dwelt on. Ferrying over a chaise generally required two voyages, the first with the horses, and the other with the travellers and the carriage. Frequently much fear with little danger, and sometimes considerable danger unperceived, without fear, and often, by the unmanageable alarm of the horses; and not unfrequently the passage was suspend ed for a day or two together, by the swelling of the river, or by frost. As the increasing intercourse made all those grievances more frequent, and more heavily conspicuous, her Grace the Duchess of Gordon was fortunately led to take some active measures for their removal. By her Grace's direction a subscription was opened, in the year 1798, and under her patronage was filled up in less than six months, to the amount of £3,955, the greater part by the inhabitants on the banks of the river joining in it; owing to her Grace's representations to Lord Melville and Mr. Pitt, also the sum of £6000 was allocated from the public revenue to assist in the structure. It is probable, that without her Grace's patronage and exertions, this work would not have been 1yet begun ;: and it is certain, that without the judicious and steady attentions of the Duke, it would not have been completed. His Grace having, by the investigation of skilful engineers, ascertained the most proper station for the bridge, he procured, at a considerable expense, plans, estimates, and the requisite specifications. But the difficulties to be overcome in establishing the foundation of piers, in such a deep impetuous river, liable also, by a rainy day in the mountains, to be suddenly raised 2, 4, or 6 feet above the ordinary level, suggested such a general apprehension of risk and failure, of loss and disgrace by the undertaking, that Mr. George Burns was the only engineer, who offered to engage for the execution of this great work, one of the conditions being, to uphold it for the first seven years after its completion. After much mature consideration and the risk of every probable contingency, the contract was framed by a professional conveyancer, aided by the opinion of able council, and his Grace thereby obliged himself to advance to Mr. Burns the whole expense agreed on, at the capital sum of £11,700. The first foundation stone was laid on the 29th day of June, in the year 1801, by the Marquis of Huntly, attended by the Mason Lodges, and the Volunteer Companies of the counties of Moray and Banff, in a grand procession, from the Common Hall of the town of Fochabers: a strikingly eloquent oration was spoken by his Lordship; and an appropriate devotional service was offered by the Minister of Speymouth, in which ten thousand people conjoined, whom this deeply interesting occasion had assembled. Beneath the stone which the Marquis of Huntly laid, in a proper niche cut into the firm rock, there was deposited a crystal bottle hermetically sealed, containing one of each of all the coins in circulation, and a scroll bearing this inscription, namely; Deo Annuente Pontis hujus In Spey, olim Tuessi, Humine Lapidem hunc primarium Nobilissimus Georgius Marchio de Huntly, Benigne Vindicis et Amici Georgio tertio Dei Gratia regnante Anno Christi M. D. C. C. C. I. Viator Perge et Plaude, The remaining part of the summer was employed in providing the materials, having the stone to carry ten miles from the quarries, in the hill of Spynie, at the rate of 6 shillings per ton. The foundation of the pier first built in the Spey, in the summer of the year 1803, was laid nearly twelve feet deep below the surface of the water in its lowest state; the pebbles, gravel, and stones having with much labour, difficulty, and repeatedly renewed exertion, been been previously scooped off to the bed of rock, over which the river in that part maintains its course. ALthough a wall one yard thick, of stiff compacted clay, supported on both sides by a close frame of plank vertically placed, and bound in the strongest manner together, was in the third summer completed, after several disappointed endeavours, yet the weight of the river pressing heavily on the space within, forced this fence, either beneath the clay, or through the fissures of the rock, in such quantities, that the united exertion of the workmen, aided by pumps, constructed on every known principle, scarcely permitted the first course of the foundation to be laid upon the rock. The basis of the other piers were with less difficulty established, the business being better known, and the obstructions, from the depth and weight of the stream not so considerable; and, in the autumn of the succeeding year, this elegant and substantial structure removed forever all that vexation by which the traveller had formerly been so much distressed. The piers are 36 feet in length along the course of the stream, and each one occupies 12 feet of its breadth; they are all raised to the height of 18 feet from the rock on which they are laid, opposing to the attacks of the river a bulk of masonry of nearly 8000 cubic feet, united as a rock into one solid mass by substantial cramps of iron, bound in with lead. The piers oppose the stream, not in a sharp or salient angle, which of itself creates an undermining vortex, but in the round form of the prow of a ship, which not only sustains the weight without exciting the violence of the torrent, but, instead of opposing only one single stone, presents a large surface compacted of many loads, obviously diminishing the pressure in the ratio F4 |