called Mainland, as being the largeft; it is about 60 Miles in length,. and 16 or 18 where broadeft. In Schetland, they have one Presbytery, which affembles at Scalloway.

The Thule of the Ancients, as defcrib'd by Sir Robert Sibbald.

Tho' the Ancients were at Variance about the particular Situation of Thule, yet they all agreed, that it was fomewhere towards the North; many make it to be one of the British Islands; and as Conradus Celtes faid long ago, it was encompass'd with the Isles of Orkney, fo I have alfo taken the Liberty to fubjoin it to them. Bochart obferves, that Thule in the Syriac or Chaldee, which is a Dialect of the Phoenicians, fignifies Darkness. And the Ancients had a mighty Notion of the Darkness of the Regions fartheft North. That the Phanicians failed far beyond the Mediterranian is indifputable. It is probable therefore that when they came to Coafts where Fogs were thick, and Nights were long, they might call them by one general Name, Thule: which Name the Greeks, and from them the Romans, not understanding, applied to fome Iftand in the moft Northerly Part of Britain. That the Roman Thule must be placed there, will appear evidently from what follows. What Cafar obferv'd of the Ancient Britains, that they painted their Bodies Blue, and fought with hooked Chariots, Silius Italicus affirms of the Inhabitants of Thule; and it is plain the Poet could fpeak only of those whom the Romans fought with in his time,

Cerulus haud aliter cum dimicat incola Thules
Agmina falcifero circumvenit acta Covino.

Pliny was of the fame Opinion, for he treats of Thule in the fame Chapter with the British Isles: and Tacitus in his Life of Agricola, fays, that when the Roman Navy failed about Britain, defpecta eft & Thule: They faw Thule as they failed by the Orcades.

Sir Robert Sibbald thinks that Ireland was the first of the British fles that was called Thule, as being the first remarkable Island that the Carthaginians met with in their Course from Cadin, fteering to the North, and alfo because Statius calls it Hefperia (or Western) Thule. But if Ireland was called fo, that is not the Thule which is mentioned by the Roman Writers; for the Romans never carried their Arms into Ireland; and therefore what they fay muft refer to fome British Northern Ifles, which they invaded under Agricola, and which was then poffefs'd by the Pics; whom Statins the Poet, who was contemporary with Domitian, calls Caledonians. Claudian does yet more particularly give the Name of Thule to the North Part of Britain, when he speaks of the great Exploits done there by Theodofins, Father of Theodofins the Emperor,

Emperor, and Grandfather of Arcadius and Honorius, whom he makes to Conquer the Scots and the Inhabitants of Thule, in a cold frofty Country, and the Moors in a fcorching one; where, by placing the Moors and Britains as the remoteft People then known in their feveral Parts, he clearly demonftrates that Thule must be fomewhere near the North Part of the life of Britain, then inhabited by the Pics and

Scots.

Claudian's Words are thefe

Illa Caledoniis pofuit qui caftra pruinis
Maduerunt Saxone fufo

Orcades, incaluit PICTORUM SANGUINE THULE,
Scotorum cumulos flevit Glacialis Ferne.

In Calidonian Frofts his Tents he pitch'd

When Orkney Isles he dy'd with Saxon Gore,
Then THULE with the Pictish Blood grew hot,
Ley Strathern bemoan'd huge heaps of Scots.

Ferne here is Strathern, i. e. the Valley of Ern; and had its Name from Ireland, or Erin, from whence thefe Scots came. Juvenal allo calls it by the fame Name, when he fays, Arma quod ultra Litora Juverna promovimus, in which he alludes to Agricola's Conquefts; as he does alfo to the great General's Care to inftruct the Britains in the Roman Arts, in this Verfe. De conducendo loquitur jam Rhetore Thule; which laft Verfe demonftrates that Thule belong'd to Brusin, and tho it was far North, whence it is called ultima, yet it could not be beyond that Island, because the Romans never carried their Arms any farther. Ferne therefore lying upon the Weft Coast, Thule feems to be upon the Eaftern, and is moft probably what is now called Eaft Rofs, Southerland and Caithness; for there the Picts, or as Silius Italicus calls them, the Blue Inhabitants of Thule, were anciently fettled, when the Southern Countries became part of the Roman Province. Before that time the Britains were all Pics, that is, were all Painted, and the Brigantes. were Blue in Seneca's Time. We are fure Thule lies tar North, Theodofius was there; and as he killed the Scots in Ferne, fo he killed the Picts. in Thule. Now Claudian's Ferne is not Ireland, because we have no Account that the Komans ever carried their Arms into Ireland, nor were any Roman Antiquities ever found there. Besides, the thick Woods in Caithness would appear very dark to Navigators, and fo might well deferve the Name of Thule; tho' with Sir Robert Sibbald's leave, I rather think that the Phoenician Thule was Ireland, which was anciently very woody, and confequently very foggy; and that the Romans afterwards applied that Name, which they did not throughly understand, to the Pictish Coafts, meaning thereby only an liland, or rather Peninfula, that was very far North, as the firft Thule was defcribed to be. The Ancient Norwegians who failed round Britain. and were Lords of the North and Weft Ifles for fome time, called one of the Western Mands

Ilands Ilar, or Thile, but which of them, we know not. Of this Snorro Sturlifon, the Iflandifh Hiftorian of Norway, who lived 500 Years ago, is a certain Evidence. For in his Account of Magnus Olaffon, King of Norway's Expedition in the Year 1095, towards the British Iles, he fays, that King Magnus went with a mighty Fleet Weftward to the Ifles of Orkney, which he conquer'd, and placed a Viceroy over them. Then he went to the Southern Ifles, i. e. the Hebrides, which lie S. W. of Orkney, where he wafted and burned, and forced the Inhabitants to fly, fome into Scotland, and fome into Ireland; That he particularly landed in Fona, where he suffer'd no Man to hurt the People or the Church; and from thence went to the fland Thile, and from thence to Satires Mulls, plundering both the Scotch and Irish Coafts, all along as he went. This fhews what Opinion the ancient Danes had of the Situation of Thule: And that one of the Western Islands was then fo called, is unquestionable. But part of Norway is alfo called Thulemark. Were there not therefore anciently more Regions towards the North, than one called by that Name? It is moft probable there And one may fafely affirm, that Juvenal, Statius and Claudian, went no farther than the North-British Coasts for their Thule, wherefoever they placed it.

were.

The Roman Wall in Scotland.

The firft Occafion of Building the Roman Wall, which now goes by the Name of Graham's Dyke, was given by Julius Agricola, to exclude the Scotch-Highlanders; for the Wall being built upon that Ifthmus or Neck of Land, betwixt the Rivers Forth and Clyde, which is not above 16 Miles over, the Enemy was by this means removed as it were into another Island: But here we muft not imagine that this Wall was built by Agricola, fince it is affirmed by no Hiftorian. He contented himfelf only with placing Garifons at convenient Distances, that his Forces might easily draw together upon the first Apprehenfion of Danger. The Garifons probably fettled by him, for those upon the Wall muft neceffarily have been fettled by others, were, 1. Coria Damniorum, which the Neighbours at this Day call Camelon; where the Remains of the Fortification are yet to be feen, and a Romen Military Way begins there, and runs to the South. Here also they discover old Vaults, and meet with Roman Coins. The 2d feems to have been about 6 Miles diftant to the North- Weft, where the Town of Sterling now ftands; for besides that the Narrowness of the River Forth, which has now a Bridge over it in this Place, required a Garison there; there is upon a Rock an ancient Infcription, intimating that a Legion once kop Garifon there. The 3d Garifon was plac'd about 8 Miles N. E. from the Second, where Roman Medals have been found, and not far from it runs a Roman Military Way. The 4th feems to be that which Lede calls Guidi, now called Kirkintilloch, fituate upon the Wall, where are ftill to be feen the Ruins of great Fortifications, and near it feveral

Infcriptions

Infcriptions have been found. The 5th was where the Town of Paifly is now feated. The fixth was the most remote to the West, called at this Day Dumbarton, conveniently fituated in a Point, where the Le ven runneth into the Clyde; but if this Conveniency was not a fufficient Teftimony, the Infcriptions that are found in the Neighbourhood will put it beyond all Difpute. The placing thefe Garifons was probably the Occafion of building the Wall afterwards along this Tract; but in building they took the directeft Line, which muft be the Cause why fome of the Garisons are at a Distance from it. It seems also to have been built at feveral Times, and by different Perfons, as the Situation of the Ground required for repelling the Enemy, and covering the Provincial Britains against their Invafions. The Wall firft began where the River Forth was narrow, and fo was carried along the Neck of Land between the Frith of Clyde and Forth, but afterwards was carri ed farther Eaft. The Penvahel, or Penueltuin, where Bede fays it begun, is at this Day called Walltoun, where there is an Artificial Mount dyked about; but the manner of the Wall is beft understood by Mr. Pont's Defcription in Dr. Gibson's Tranflation of Cambden's Britan mia, p. 959. First there appears a Ditch of 12 Foot wide before the Wall, towards the Enemy's Country; the Wall it felf is ten Foot thick, but it is not known how high it was at firft; there is a paved Way at the Foot of the Wall, five Foot broad, Watch-Towers within Call of one another, where Centinels kept Watch Day and Night, a Court of Guard to lodge a fufficient Number of Soldiers against all fudden Alarms, and a Void within for the Soldiers Lodgings. Befides thefe there are along the Wall great and noble Forts, ftrongly entrench'd, and tho' within the Wall, able to receive a whole Aray together. The Forts which remained in Mr. Pont's Time, who trac'd them all, were there. One at Langtown, a Mile Eat of Falkirk; One juft at Rouintree Burnhead, One at Wefter-Gowden, above St. Helen's Chapel; One at the Croy bill; a very great one at the top of the Banhill, One at Atchindevy, One at Kirkintilloch, or Kaerpentolloch; One at Eaft-Calder; One at Hill-toun Calder; One at Balmudy; One at Simerftone, and over Kilvin River, and Carefoun; One at Atermynie; One at Balcafle, over against Banhill; One at Kaellybe, over against Croy hill; One at the Roch-hill, over again ft the Weft Wood; a large one at Bankyir, over against Castle Cairy; One at Dumbafs: In the Ruins of that at Bankyir was found a large Iron Shovel, or fome Inftrument refembling it, fo weighty, that it could hardly be lifted by one Man. At the fame Fort alfo were difcover'd feveral Sepulchres cover'd with Large Rough Stones; and at Dun-Chroe Chyr, by Mony-abroch, were formerly Large Buildings. The Length of the Wall was 36 Scotch Miles, beginning between Queen's-Ferry and Abercorn, it ranged along Weft by the Grange and Kineil, to Innereving, fo on to Falkirk, from whence it proceeded directly to the Forest of Cumernald; next it ran to the Great Fort at the Ban hill, where have been found feveral Stones, fome with Pictures engraven upon them, and fome with Infcriptions. From whence it went to the Peel of Kirkintilloch, the greatest Fort of all, and fo Weft

ward

ward to Dumbarton, with a great Ditch upon the North-fide of the Wall ail along. It had alfo many fquare Fortifications in Form of Reman Camps.

Was not without Reason that Cafar said of Britain in ge

air.neral, Gælum Gallico temperatius, for even in the moft

Northern Parts of the fland, the Air is generally Serene, feldom clouded by Mifts or Fogs, more mild and temperate than in the Continent under the fame Climate, by reafon of the warm Vapours from the Sea upon all fides, and for the fame Reason, the continual Breezes of the Wind, cause the Heat in Summer to be no ways Scorching. The conftant Winds purify the Air, and keep it always in Motion; fo that its feldom known that any Epidemical Diftemper rages in the Country.

Soil.] The Country is for the most part Hilly and Mountainous, there being but few Plains, and they of no great Extent; and those they have are generally by the Sea-fide, from whence the Ground rifes fenfibly, the farther in the Country the higher; fo that the greatest Hills are in the middle of the Kingdom. The quality of the Soil, compared with that of England, is, take it all together, not fo good. 'Tis commonly more fit for Pafture than Corn, and for that Purpofe is very well Water'd. Where the Surface is leaneft, there are found Metals and Minerals, and confiderable quantities of Lead are Yearly exported: There is alfo plenty of other good Oars, if the Inhabitants would be perfuaded to take the Pains to work them. In a great Part of the Inland-Country, efpecially where it lies upon fome of the Fricks, the Soil is very good, and there grow all the forts of Grain that are to be found in the South Parts of Britain. In the low Grounds they have ftore of Peafe and Beans, which for the ftrength of their Nou rifhment are much ufed by the Labouring People. In the Skirts of the Country, which are not fo fit for Grain, there grow great Woods of Timber to a vaft Bignefs, efpecially of Fir-Trees, which thrive beft in Rocky and Mountainous Countries. Springs of Medicinal Waters are common enough; no Country is better provided with Fish, which would turn to a good Account, if their Fisheries were manag'd to the best Advantage; befides Shoals of fmaller Whales, the Porpus and the Meer-Swine are frequently feen upon their Coafts : And the great Whales of the Baleen, or Whalebone Kind, and thofe of the Sperma Ceti Kind, are caft now and then upon feveral parts of the Shore.

The