Fullerton's Gazetteer of Scotland-1844. Guizot's History of Civilization in Europe. Guthrie's Historical and Commercial Geography-1812. Julius Cæsar's History of Rome-Duncan's Trans. Leighton-in Swan's Fife Illustrated. Lindsay of Pitscottie's History of Scotland, or Chronicle. Maule's Abridgment of the Scots Chronicle. Manuscript Papers of the Scottish history, chartularies, &c., in the Advocates' Library. Mayor's History of Scotland-in James IV.'s time. M'Crie's Life of John Knox. M'Kenzie's Antiquities and Laws of Scotland. M'Culloch's British Empire-3d Edition. Melville, Sir James-Memoirs. Monypenny's Description of Scotland, 1612. Monteith's Tourist's Companion. Morton's Monastic Annals. New Statistical Account of Scotland-Fife, and Kinross-shire. Nicol's Geology of Scotland-Edition of 1844. Nisbet's Heraldry. Old Statistical Account of Scotland-1794-6. Parliamentary Reports, upon the Boundaries, in 1832-on Education, in 1837---on Religious Instruction, in 1839-and on Stipends, in 1847. Parliamentary Returns, August, 1850, in reference to Manufactures. Pennant's Tour in Scotland-in 1772. Pictish Chronicle. Poole's Statistics of British Commerce-1852. Pinkerton's History of Scotland. Randolph's Letter to his Mistress, in 1564. Report to Board of Agriculture-in reference to extent of land. Robertson's History of Scotland. Sibbald's History of Fife-Adamson's Edition. Spottiswood's History of the Church of Scotland. Tacitus' History of Rome-Gordon's Trans. INVERKEITHING, February 1857. INTRODUCTION. No county in Scotland presents so many points of interest, admiration, and surprise, as Fifeshire. Its progress in literature, the arts, agriculture, and commerce, possesses the highest claims on the philosopher, the moralist, and the divine;—the artist, the agriculturist, and the man of business. When we consider its comparatively limited extent—the richness of its mineral fields in coal, lime, iron, freestone, and whinstone— its extensive manufactories—its rapidly improved agriculture, that has shorn the forest, burnt the whins, and drained the marshy ground—the enterprising disposition of its merchants-its illustrious men-its 61 parishes-its 13 royal burghs, with 5 burgh-baronys-its 115 flourishing and populous villages, besides 48 hamlets, surrounded with innumerable estates and splendid mansions;—and, to crown the whole, its historical associations; the mind feels bewildered-it staggers and reels with astonishment. Let not the reader suppose that these are the effusions of a heated imagination, or the result of an interested native: No; they are the fruits of a 35 years' residence, under favourable circumstances of patient observation, and laborious research. They are, moreover, borne out by the detailed analysis that follows; and by the enthusiastic opinion of Mr Pennant, an English writer, in 1772, who says:-"Permit me to take a review of the peninsula of Fife, a county so populous, that, excepting the environs of London, scarcely one in South Briton can vie with it: fertile in soil, abundant in cattle, happy in collieries, in ironstone, in lime and freestone; blest in manufactures; the property remarkably well divided." "The number of towns is, perhaps, unparalleled in an equal tract of coast; for the whole shore, from Crail to Culross, about forty English miles, is one continued chain of towns and villages." And that at a period when nature had everything to do * Part II. p. 212. herself; when agriculture and trade languished from a variety of causes conspiring to retard their progress. It would be difficult to conceive the difference of his opinion, were he to rise from his resting place, and survey the surface of the county transmuted into a perfect garden ;—to contemplate the energy of the farmer, the enterprise of the manufacturer, and the railway speed of the merchant. Again, are we not told in Chambers's Gazetteer, that, "like China, Fife is a district in which there appears to be nothing lost for which a use can be found." Has not Wilkie, the celebrated painter, while resting his eye with delight upon the grand, majestic, towering hills of the county, exclaimed in ecstasy "Mine own blue Lomonds!" Was not Fife the scene of Macbeth's bloody tragedy,—as also of the unparalleled treachery and barbarous murder of the son of Robert III.? Had not Fife the honour of being the place in which the Reformation of religion in Scotland commenced? Was it not the birth-place and the cradle of Princess Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, who laid the foundation of the dynasty of her Majesty Queen Victoria? SURFACE AND COAST. The surface of the county, like most others in Scotland, is so diversified, that each of its parishes has some distinctive features of its own, presenting scenes that are rich in the peculiarities of their respective elements. Some spots are luxuriant, lovely, and superbly magnificent; while others are cold, barren, dreary, and repulsive. Yet the frequent variety of mountain, hill, and valley, wood, lake, and river, offer a picture that must rouse the misanthropist, and delight the painter! Though the county wants the variegated loveliness of Perthshire, and the dark and savage magnificence of Mull, it possesses so many other attributes and historical associations as to throw these comparatively into the shade. Some of the mountains, as Bencleuch, attain an altitude of 2420 feet above sea level. The hills frequently present deep glens, having a bare and rocky aspect, while others are thinly crested with wood, or clothed with verdure, struggling to maintain ascendency over heath, up to their summits. Again, the valleys are of the richest description; giving the whole the changeful hues of wilderness, green pasture, and arable cultivation. |