English (whatever fome particular Prelates might have done) nor think that even the Pope himself could oblige them to it.

And whoever confiders that Christianity was early profeffed in Scotland, and that the Northumbrian Kings fent to Scotland for Bishops and Pastors to instruct their People: it can never be imagined, that the Church of Scotland fhould be subject to the Archbishop of York, whofe firft Archbishop was Paulinus, azn 624. long after that the Scots were Chriftians.

CHA P. IX.

A fhort View of the principal Periods in the Scots Hiftory.

TH

HE firft is, from Fergus their firft King, who was Cotemporary with Alexander the Great, about 330 Years before Chrift's Incarnation, till 203 Years after it, being the fourth Year of King Donald I. when Chriftianity was embraced by him, and the Generality of the People. II. From thence, till the Year 444. when Fergus II. (having regained most of what the Romans, and others had conquered of his Kingdom) was fettled upon the Throne. III. Till the Time when Achaias entred into the Famous League with Charles the Great, King of France (and Emperor of the Romans) about the Year 790. IV. Till the Extermination of the Pits by King Kenneth Macalpin, anno 840. V. Till the Reign of King Malcolm III. when Laws were more formally enacted, the Church more regularly established, new Orders of Nobility erected, and the Marches of the Scotish and English Dominions more nicely adjufted. VI. Till the Death of Aexander III. anno 1285. when the Competition between Bruce and Baliol began, whereby (through the Treachery and Tyranny of King Edward of England) the Kingdom was miferably harraffed, and almost fubdued. VII. Till the Year 1306. when these Troubles, by the Valour of Wallace, Lord Douglas, and many other brave Heroes, were in fome Manner compofed, and Robert le Bruce eftablifhed on the Throne. VIII. Till the Year 1370. when Robert, the firit of the Name of STEWART, by Right of his Mother, Daughter to King Robert, and Sifter to King David Bruce, fucceeded, and from whom fprang a numerous Race. IX. Till the Year 1560. or the Reformation of Religion. X. Fill

X. Till the Year 1603. when King James VI. by Right of his Great Grandmother, fucceeded to the Crowns of England and Ireland. XI. Till the Year 1649. when Monarchy was eclipfed by the barbarous Murder of King Charles I. XII. Till the Year 1660. or the happy Restoration of the Royal Family. XIII. From thence till the Revolution. And, XIV. From thence till the Union of the Kingdoms, May 1ft. 1707. XV. Till the Acceffion of the illuftrious Elector of Hannover to the Royal Dignity. And, XVI. Till the prefent Time. These feveral Periods contain the Space of about 2066 Years, during which Time it may well be faid of the Scots, That their Crown was never on the Head of a Foreigner, nor did they obey the Laws of a Stranger, but have been governed by their own free and independent Kings.

СНАР. Х.

Of the antient and modern Divifion of Scotland, especially of the Counties, as they lie in Order from the Borders of England.

NORTH BRITAIN being antiently inhabited by the Scots

and Pics, the aforefaid Mr. Innes has very critically examined the Extent of their feveral Dominions (Vol. 1. p. 79, &c.) and Mr. Gordon has very clearly fet out the Boundaries and Dimenfions of the Countries antiently subject to the Scots, and how divided from the Pits: he alfo confiders how confiderable and powerful the Scots were in the Time of Charlemagne, proving the Reality of the League which that Emperor made with King Achaius, which Mr. Innes endeavours to difprove. Mr. Innes has been at prodigious Pains to fupport many Things which feem to be altogether new, and his own Conjecture; particularly, that befides the Scots and Picts, there was a third Kingdom in North Britain, viz. that of the Meata, who used the Welsh Tongue; which, in my Opinion, Mr. Gordon has proved to have no Foundation.

I cannot fay the Country was divided formerly fo much into ditine Provinces, as into feveral Clans or Tribes occafionally inhabiting particular Parts thereof, which are mentioned either by Roman Hiftorians, or antient Geographers. Thus (to begin with the most Northern, except the Orcades) the Country now call'd

E 2

Caithness,

Counties.

Caithness, was inhabited by the Logi; and Strathnavern by the Cornavii; Sutherland by the Merta; and Rofs (antiently called Lugia) by the Carnonace in the western, and by the Cante in the eastern Parts therecf. On the S. E. of the Canta, along the Murray Firth, dwelt the Tazali, taking up part of Innernefs Shire, and all Nairn, Elgin, Bamff, and Aberdeen Shires. On the Weft of the Tazali, and South of the Carnonaca, dwet the Creones, taking up the north-west Parts of Lochaber, and all the mountainous Countries towards the Weft Sea. On the South of the Creones dwelt the Cerones, or Cernotes, taking up all Lorn, Argile, Cowel, and Knapdale. On the South of the Ce rones were the Epidii, whofe Country is now called Cantyre. On the Eaft of the Creones and Cerones, and South of the Tezali, dwelt the Caledonii, the chief of all the Tribes in the Kingdom, who imparted their Name to all the reft. Their Country contained the Eastern Parts of Lochaber, Braidalbin, Athol, Part of Lenox, Monteith, Strathern, and other Parts of Perth Shire. On the South and Eaft of the Caledonii dwelt the Vacomagi, whofe Country was Merns and Angus (then called Horeftia) and alfo part of Strathern, Fife, Menteith, Lenox, and Striveling. On the Eaft of the Vacomagi dwelt the Venicones, their Country was formerly called Othlinia and Roffia, but now Fife and Kinrofs. All these were Northward from the Roman Wall, built between the Firths of Forth and Clyde. The firft People we find on the South fide were the Damnii, who inhabited the Countries about the Ifthmus whereon the Wall was built, viz. Part of Perth-fhire, Clackmannan, Stirling, Menteith, and Lenox, with all Renfrew and Clyddefdale. On the South-east of the Damii dwelt the Gadeni, or Ladeni, taking up Weft and Mid Lothian, and Tweedale. On the South-east of the Ladeni, dwelt the Oftadeni, taking up (befides fome Parts of Northumberland) East Lothian, Merfe, Teviotdale, and Selkirk. South-weftward from the Ottadeni dwelt the Selgove, in Eskdale, Annandale, and Nithfdale. And Weftwards from the Selgova, and South-weftward from the Damnii, were the Novante, in Cuningham, Kyle, Carrick, and Galloway.

But fcarce is there fo much as any Veftige left of the antient Names either of the People or Provinces, later ones having been fubftituted in their Places.

The Ordinary Division of North Britain is into that which is on the North of Tay, and that which lies Southward from it. The former is of the greatest Extent; but the other, for Fertility and Populoufnefs, is the best of the two.

March, commonly call'd the Merfe, fuppos'd to have deriv'd that Name from its being a bordering Country, in the LawWritings of Scotland is call'd the Shire of Berwick, which was formerly the principal Town of the Country, till it was taken

by

by the English. It was bounded by the River Tweed on the Shire of South, by Lothian on the North, by the German Ocean on the Berwick. Eaft, and Teviotdale on the West. This Country is very fruitful in Corn and Grafs, and abounds with the Seats of Perfons of Quality. The People, before the Union of the Crowns, had the Reputation of being esteem'd the moft warlike, and at the fame time the most juft, of any in Scotland. They could, together with the neighbouring County of Teviotdale, affemble ten thousand Horse for the Defence of the Country upon any fudden Invafion. The principal Rivers in this Country are Tweed, Whitteter, Blackader, Eye, and Ednem. The chief Places of Note are the Town and Castle of Duns, remarkable for the Caftle of Birth of the famous Joannes Duns Scotus, who had his Surname Duns. from it, fome of which Family is ftill in Being there; it has a good Weekly Market, efpecially for Cattle, and is a Place of the beft Trade in the County. After Berwick was taken by the English, it was the Seat of the Sheriff's Court, which has been remov'd, fince the Revolution, to Greenlaw, a Market-Town, four Miles farther Weft. Duns was alfo remarkable for the Encampment of the Scots Army there under General Lefly against King Charles I. when he came to the English Borders with an Army to perfuade Scotland to Obedience.

Hume, which gives Surname to that Great Family, and was Hume. formerly the Refidence of the Earls of Hume, whofe ftrong Ca

Eymouth.

itle there is now demolished. Coldingham, famous for its Abbey Coldingham. built by Edgar King of Scotland about ann. 1100. and for Ebba the Lady Abbefs, who, during a Danish Invafion, disfigur'd herfelf, and perfuaded her Nuns to do the like, by fliting their Nofes, to prevent their being debauch'd by the Danes. Fast- Fafcafle. caftle, a ftrong Fort upon the Point of the Promontory, call'd St. Ebb's-head, formerly belonging to the Family of Hume, but now demolished. Eymouth, a Sea-port, where Fortifications were formerly rais'd, to be a Curb upon the Garrison of Berwick; it gave the Title of Baron to his Grace the late Duke of Marlborough. Coldftream, a Market-Town, where there was Coldstream, antiently an Abbey. Eccles, where there was also an Abbey. Eccles, &c. Erfilton, noted for the Birth of Thomas Lermonth, commonly call'd Thomas the Rhymer, because he wrote his Poems in Rhyme; as much admired by the vulgar Scots, as Merlin and Bede's Prophecies by the English. The antient Families of this Country Antient Faare the Humes, Gordons, Swintons, Cockburns, Ridpaths, Spotf-milies. woods, Nifbets, Wedderburns, Blackaders, Rentons, Manderfions, Polwarths, Duns's, all deriv'd from the Estates poffeffed by their Ancestors, when that way of taking Surnames came in use: which, as it favour'd of Vanity, had alfo this Inconveniency attending it, that in a few Generations it loft the Memory of the common Family, from whence thofe Gentlemen were defcended.

E3

Chief Scats.

fcended. Thus the Dunbars and Humes, or Homes, tho' originally of the fame Family, came to be thought different. In like manner the Gordons, Swintons, Ridpaths, Nifbets, and fome fay the Spotswoods, tho' all of the fame Original, must have loft the Knowledge of it, had it not been for Tradition, or the Armerial Bearings of the feveral Families, which bespeak them to be of the fame Lineage. This Hint may serve once for all, as to thofe Families call'd of that Ilk, i. e. whofe Surname and Paternal Eitate are the fame, of which there are many in Scotland; and (except fome few late ones, which have affected to call Estates by their own Names) are generally efteemed antient and honourable. This County formerly gave the Title of Earls of March to the Family of Dunbar, who were very great Men, and derived their Origin, according to Camden, from the famous Gofpatric, Earl of Northumberland, who retir'd into Scatland upon the Norman Conquest, and was honoured with the Caftle of Dunbar, and the Earldom of March, by Malcolm Canmore, King of Scotland, from whence his Pofterity took the Name of Dunbar. Another branch of the Family being poffeffed of the Barony of Hume, took that for Surname, which they retain to this Day; and the Chief of the Family is the Earl of Hume. George de Dunbar being profcribed in the Reign of K. James I. that Family loft the Title of Earls of March, which was afterterwards confer'd upon Alexander, Duke of Albany; then, upon the Family of Stewart and Lennox; which being extinct, King William, fince the Revolution, gave the Title to William Dervglas, Brother to the Duke of Queensberry, whofe Son now enjoys it. Lauderdale is reckon'd part of this County. and is bounded by it on the Eaft from Rippeth to the Bown Mill, on the Weft by Twedale and Teviotdale, and on the North by Lothian. This Country takes its Name from Leeder and Lauder, a small River that runs through it, upon which the Town of Lauder, a Royal Burgh, that gave Surname to an antient Family, lies pleafantly fituated: 'tis remarkable for the Execution done upon King James the Third's Minions by the Nobility, who, under the Conduct of the Earl of Angus, took them out of the Court, and hanged them over Lauder Bridge. This County was formerly the Patrimony of the Morvilles, a great Family, Conftables of Scotland; but being forfeited for Treafon, it was annexed to the Crown, and govern'd by a Bailiff, as others of the King's Lands; which Office has fince been in the Family of Lauderdale, the Chief of the Maitlands, who have a noble and ftately Houfe on the River near Lauder, call'd Lauder-fort.

Seats in this County are, Polwart, Earl of Marchmont's: Blackader, Sir John Hume's; Harcafs, Sir Roger Hog's; Allenbank, Sir Robert Stewart's; Nifbet, Car's of Čavers; Langton, Cockburn's of Langion; Mertin, Sir William Scot's of Harden;