The History of Dundee,
1874 History by James Thomson

James Thomson's 1874 work

INTRODUCTION

This work has been transcribed - verbatim - from the 1874 edition. Much about the history of Dundee has been changed, revised and updated by Historians over the years - So please refer to those new histories of Dundee for a more modern understanding of the History of Dundee.
This exercise is to just to make available the original source material from the 1875 Book.

Iain D. McIntosh, Friends of Dundee City Archives

Chapter X

Scotland assumed a different aspect. The distractions which the partisans of the rival dynasties kept up were so inimical to the peace and security of the country that its progress in agriculture, manufactures, and commerce was slow and fitful. But the cannonade on Culloden Moor proved the knell of expiring feudalism, and a new era dawned on Scotland, — less picturesque and thrilling, no doubt, for the pages of history or romance, but more grateful to contemplate as an era in which the dormant energies of her people achieved as marked a pre-eminence in peaceful enterprise as their fore­fathers had maintained by the sword for national independence.

In 1727, an act of Parliament was passed, establishing a Board of Trustees in Scotland to administer a sum of £4,000, set aside for the encouragement of manufactures and fisheries. The promotion of the linen trade was the chief object aimed at by the Board in the earlier years of its existence; and the increase in the exports of linen goods from 2,183,978 yards, in 1727, to 12,823,048, in 1764, was held to demonstrate the success of its labours in that direction. It is curious to find that a serious impediment to the operations of the Board in its early days was found in a sort of monetary vacuum which ensued when the Royal Bank entered the field hitherto solely occupied by the Bank of Scotland. The latter was first established in 1696, with a capital of £10,000; and a branch was tried at Dundee, but speedily withdrawn for want of support.

When the Royal Bank was launched in 1727, with a capital of £111,000, the most ruinous consequences to the country were predicted, and it was solemnly avowed that "no­body that knows the nature of banking does believe that two banks can be carried on in the same country!" In 1731, this possibility had forced itself upon the directors of the Bank of Scotland, for they again tried a branch in Dundee and other provincial towns, but only to be again recalled, after two years' unsuccessful trial, In 1746, the British Linen Company was established at Edinburgh, with a capital of £100,000, the object of which was to encourage native industry, by advancing ready money to the poorer manufacturers for their goods, and supplying to merchants, trading to Africa and the British Plantations, such kinds of linen cloth as they had hitherto been obliged to purchase from abroad. Mr Warden observes, "although it is rarely safe to pronounce authoritatively on the reason of any social change, in which many causes and elements are usually combined, yet it is a fact that the Linen trade underwent a rapid development, after the establishment of the British Linen Company; and no doubt that progress is due to the assistance it rendered to traders and others engaged in the manufacture. The Company was not long in discovering that assistance could be best given by advanc­ing money to the individuals engaged in it, and allowing them to prosecute the manufacture on their own account, free from the competition of a corporation. This led the Company to withdraw from the direct dealing in yarns and linens, and to adopt banking as their sole business. . . . After the institution of the Company, they had an agent in Dundee, for the purchase and sale of goods, of the name of Palmer; but that agency was long discontinued before the present branch Bank establishment was opened in 1811."

The Board of Manufactures had a more extended intercourse with Dundee during the infancy of its staple trade. In 1729, an offer of a spinning-school was made, but, strange to say, had to be declined on account of the poverty of the town precluding its contribution of the small quota required for its support. Three years afterwards, how­ever, we find Richard Holden, a skilled man, whom the trustees had brought from Ireland, setting up a bleachfield at Pitkerro, the Guildry of Dundee sharing the cost with the Board. Ten years later, we find the making of small quantities of Osnaburgs in Dundee and Arbroath recorded as something noteworthy. In 1799, a premium of £50 was paid to William Alison & Co. towards the expense of establishing an extensive manufacture of buckrams (which was located where Messrs Don Brothers' mills used to be) and in 1791, we find the Board interested in the first experiment of spinning by power, which was made by James Ivory & Co., at their water-mill at Brigton, Kinnettles, and towards which a grant of £300 was promised, on certain con­ditions. This marked the advent of a new era in the linen trade, when machinery was to supplant the antiquated spinning-wheel. Hitherto "the spinning of flax on the hand-wheel formed the principal occupation of females of all classes, both in town and country, and some of them, from long practice, became great adepts in the art. The yarn was either weaved at home, or sold in the district markets—of which there were many throughout the country – to agents from the large towns, such as Dundee, Glasgow, Montrose, &c. It was either made into linen in these towns, or sent off to England and manufac­tured there. After the introduction of flax-spinning by power, the trade 'became completely changed. The spinster and the hand-wheel of last century gave place to the factory girl and the spindle of the present; the manufacture ceased in the rural districts, and became concentrated in towns where spinning-mills were erected, and in a few other places."

We cannot better conclude the narrative of domestic events for the eighteenth century than by reproducing, from the "Dundee Magazine" for 1799, two letters, which describe the state of the town, and the manners of the citizens in the years 1746 and 1799. To those who know anything of the Dundee of to-day, the complacency of the author, in contemplating the high pitch of progress and prosperity reached at the close of last century, cannot fail to be amusing; and the contrast between our external and social condition then and now appears infinitely more striking and suggestive.

Tempora mutantur, Mr Editor, since I first studied my hornbook (now full hall a century ago) under good Darne Gilchrist, the town of Dundee, I may say, then lay in the compass of a nut-shell. At the close of a civil war and rebellion, Scotland was sadly torn and divided, and in a state of lamentable distraction and idle­ness. Manufactures (in so far as they were advanced) were almost wholly at a stand; the men were in a high fever of political delirium; property was nowhere safe (my father's black gelding was taken out of his stable by adventurers); and the credit of the country was naturally suspected and limited. From repeated insurrections, the happy effects of the Union with England had not yet been felt, and its consequent blessings were of course unexperienced and unknown.

inhabitants.—The inhabitants at that period did not exceed six thousand. The living were warned to bed by the sound of the bagpipe and the toll of the curfew, and the dead were carried to their graves by the tinkling of a hand-bell.

extent.—The extension of the town was not so far westward as present Tay Street, except a straggling brewseat and malt-loft in the Nethergate, and a house or two in the Overgate. It was bounded by the houff or burying-ground north­wards, and the present Sugarhouse terminated it to the east. Besides this there were no buildings so far as Blackness, westwards; Craigie (except Wallace of Craigie), eastwards; and Dudhope, northward. Black's Garden, Chapelshade, and Black's Croft were unenclosed, and in corn cropping. The last was let at an annual rent of fifty shillings sterling only. Hill-town or Rotten-Raw always formed an ancient barony of itself. The West Shore buildings were bounded on the south by Mr Smith's house, the lower part of which was possessed by Mr Thomas Neish. The tide flowed up to it, and frequently up to the present Fish-market. My worthy couzin Grizzel's country-house or villa was then at the West Port, on the south, and not fifty yards from the present Mr Pyott, the wheelwright's shop. The situation was prescribed to her by her physicians for the salubrity of the air, but above all for the singular advantage of the precious and wholesome flavour arising from a cow-byre below Starrs.

buildings.—The buildings were generally of wood. There were not then above half a-dozen of stone houses in the High Street or market-place. Large vacant areas were lying in a state of nastiness and puddle in the most central parts of the town, particularly in the Thorter-row and Burial-wynd; and pre­miums for building had been given by the magistrates. The town, in police, inhabitants, &c., had been above a hundred years stationary! A couple of dirty houses called inns, or public-houses, were situated in two narrow and dreary lanes, and not so good as a modern alehouse. These were comfortable caravanseras for the repose of the wearied traveller! and, alas! Bonny Dundee had none better.

shipping—The shipping (comparatively with the present) were extremely limited; and these were regularly unrigged and laid up for the winter, and there was no voyaging after October. The annual port revenue did not amount to above twelve hundred pounds sterling; and small vessels were then built close to the west gable of the present Sailors' Hall.

vivres.—Vivres (especially vegetables) were scarce, and could only be procured fresh on a Friday, and that only in summer and autumn, there being then no winter feeling. Onions, leeks, carrots, common kail, and cabbage formed the verdant catalogue. (John, Lord Gray, was the first who introduced potatoes Tor sale from the field in 1753) They were indeed cheap, and about one-fourth of the present price. Beef one penny halfpenny per pound, a hen fourpence, and eggs three halfpence per dozen. Spirits had not then shed their baneful effects, in general, over the constitution and conduct of the lower orders. A draught of malt bever­age formed all the debauch of the labourer and mechanic, and this was then so powerful as to send them reeling and happy home. Butchers' carrion (for such things were, and perhaps now are), was then seized and hung up in terrorem at the market-cross, and afterwards thrown into the river. Flour was unmixed, and milk was unadulterated. A choppen of ale was sold for a halfpenny, a goose for one shilling, a decent roasting pig for eightpence, and a Scotch pint of claret for four or five shillings.

churches.—According to Dr Small, there were then only two established churches; one of them well frequented, and a second one but indifferently. There was, however, a third one (the Cross Church) which was appropiated solely as a repository for hay for his Majesty's dragoon horses. So comparatively small was the population at that period.

shop rents.—The highest rent in the High Street did not exceed three pounds sterling; and from the shops in general little was to be procured The shop­keeper locked his door at one o'clock p.m., and retired to feed: his customers (if he was of any note) were forced to wait his bellyfilling, and there was no resource Some of these shops contained a motely assortment of train oil and salt, candles and molasses, black soap and sugar, all crowded into less than a square of three or four yards.

lodgings.—In those days, our predecessors were easily accommodated. No houses fetched above ten pounds of rent, and few half that sum. A lodging, indeed, of five rooms, low kitchen, garret, shop, a couple of gardens, and pigeon-house and stable, in the High Street, was let, in 1753, at £14 rent only. It was thought very dear, and every wiseacre wondered. The shop alone would now rent at £25 a-year. Withdrawing-rooms were not known, at least not used. The man and wife lived and soaked lovingly in their bedchamber, and the dining-room was reserved as a cold-bath for the first unfortunate visitor. The father parent of the middling and lower classes was then little known to his children: he break­fasted at the alehouse ; they went to school and returned before he went to dinner; they were in bed and fast asleep before he returned in the evening from his club, his two-penny, and his tobacco. Thus, unless on a Sunday, he saw no more of his children than the man in the moon.

merchants.—The venerable character of merchant was then in the back­ground. The respectable place they now hold in society was not then filled up. The toe of the peasant had not then come so near the heel of the courtier as to gall his kibe. The landed gentry, who (like the woodcocks) did us the honour to pass the winter amongst us, strutted it about on tiptoe, and in sullen hauteur. The feudal manners then scorched us, and reigned uncontrolled. Floating wealth had not then balanced her current account with landed insolence, and the simple cot­tager, drudging tenant, and useful mechanic were in a total state of poverty, servility, and depression.

carriages.—One single one-horse chaise supplied the demands and travels of the whole inhabitants. Even John Barnet, the solitary saddler, who repaired it daily before a journey, grew pert and saucy, from self-confidence and importance. John scrupled not tauntingly to desire his customers who were displeased to em­ploy his neighbour. John should have had his ears cropt.

carts and carters.—Robert Black in the Wellgate was the only carter in town.

roads.—Turnpike roads were then unknown. The roads were bad, narrow, and unshapely. A journey to Edinburgh was a serious business for a thinking person. It was a route of some days, with the addition of terror from rascally boatmen and lame hack-horses. A man generally made his bequest before he undertook it.

meadows.—The meadows or greens were then unenclosed, wet, and dirty, and the health of the inhabitants was much infected from stagnant pools there.
post.—The post arrived then in a very irregular and awkward manner. The letters travelled through Fife by Kinghorn and Cupar, by any common carrier.

milliners and mantuamakehs.—Of these there were two in all, who, with the aid of Mr Durham, the lank taylor (in the mantuamaking line), .did all the mil­linery and mantuamaking business in Dundee.

dancing.—Mr Noseman was the only dancing-master. I shall ever remember him. He was a tall German; he wore a small silver-laced hat, diminutive round silver buckles, and cane, and walked upright as an oak; drank brandy, and was a thorough pedant in his profession. The present postmaster and I figured away in out first minuet with him, on the same day, and paid each a pound of Bohea to the servant maid, as the accustomed and stated dues, and as the first fruits of our labours saltant.

horse market and shambles.—In the centre of the town, and in the narrow­est street, was held a horse market twice a-year. There horses neighed, galloped, trotted, and kicked; and the aged, the women, and children, were wholly at their mercy. In that same choice spot did our forefathers, in the exertion of their architective abilities, erect shambles and slaughtering place. Wounded animals escaping from the hands of the butcher, seldom failed to stick their horns in the first unguarded inhabitant that came in their way. Trembling scenes for parents, guardians, and relatives, and (I was going to add, husbands and wives), and a rich harvest for surgeons, undertakers, and gravediggers.

streets.—The streets were in a wretched state. Two narrow lanes (The lanes here mentioned are Tindal's Wynd and St Clement's Lane, which last joins with the Vault, at the point from which the name Vault is derived. A specimen of the ancient style of paving by round bools, now extinct, was last seen in Tindall's Wyud—such as is still visible in Arbroath and Forfar.) formed all the communication from the town to the shore and shipping; and they were coarsely paved with round sea stones. The pavements were worse; and stairs jutted out in the common path. Open cellar stairs adjoining formed men-traps for catching the heedless and unwary.
lamps.—Not a lamp was to be seen; not even the shadow of light. All was dark as Erebus, save when the moon lent her friendly aid. There was then no fire-engine in the town, and houses burnt at their own leisure.

raiment.—The raiment of the ladies were costly. Fashions did not change or vary much. High-priced stuffs could not easily be renewed. The grandmother's marriage brocade served the grand-daughter for her wedding garment. A linsy winsy clad the middling people. The lower order of the sex were barefooted, except on a Sunday, when, in imitation of their betters, (for white stockings were rare,) they put their limbs into mourning. A full suit of broad cloth was the general wear of gentlemen, and every youngster assumed a round curled wig at his marriage or majority; like barristers, it was thought necessary to convey the semblance of wisdom to the wearer. Wig and bonnet makers were then tolerable trades. The first is now sickly, and the last is lost, and in it is a corporate novelty—there we view a corporation without one active constituent.

bankrupts.—A bankrupt was then hardly known on this side the Tay, if we except a few lairds whose estates were brought to the hammer with less than a reversion. There were in truth no adventurers. There was little money, and less credit, for poor people could not afford to trust. With all our riches and improvements, the Jews have not yet ventured to make a settlement amongst us, —whether we are yet too poor or too sharp, is a problem that my modesty or talents will not at present permit me to solve

money banks.—There was no money bank north of the Forth. Old women and children kept their pozes in their kist neuks and pirly pigs Dealers got cash and notes the best way they could from Edinburgh.

town's revenue—The town's revenue was then in a low state. The present town-house, or public building, had been lately erected, and had cost a round sum. One of its public rooms (the west one) was not finished till near twenty years after the building. A Provost Fletcher had, before that period, given a severe wound to the funds by vanity and extravagance, and by entertaining the Con­vention of Burghs in this place. It therefore required wisdom, time, and economy to repair the breach, and to bring the funds again to useful and public purposes.

sunday —The Sunday or Sabbath was kept holy and decent; old women went to church with their bibles under one arm and a folding stool under the other. Those persons who did not attend at church gave at least no public offence, and disturbed not those that did. None but a straggling blackguard or two, who were deemed to be past all grace and reformation, were seen idle and parading in streets during divine service, or in any part of the day, or even in the evening Field ambulation was not practised on that day. There were seiners in those days; and boys were not then publicly permitted to infest the streets and lanes, and to play at marbles, fenny-stone, or pal-aals, to the offending of tender and sober consciences, and to the extinction of all decorum in a Christian society.

passage boats and piers.—The boats of the passage were not then decked, and, it must be confessed, were insufficient; and there was no sloping, shipping, and landing pier at all times of the tide These too deservedly impressed travellers against it, and there was too much reason for their complaint.

water.—Water-pipes, for the supply of the inhabitants from the Ladywell Fountain, had then been introduced, and a few wells were placed in convenient situations for that purpose.

Such was the general state of the town, for I am not writing a minute history. Many other matters stood nearly on the same footing as now. As, for example, swallows' nests, as far as I can learn, were built in the same manner, and were as wantonly destroyed by schoolboys; bees varied not in the texture of their cells; crows and magpies followed their several accustomed styles of architecture, and all instinctively defied improvement. Mankind came into the world with a bad grace, and often left it with a worse. Incontinency held its wonted place, and knavery lagged not behind. Pedants whipped boys, and apprentices lightened their masters' tills. Virtue despised vice; and she in her turn laughed at virtue. Cats mewed, dogs barked, mice chirped, geese cackled, frogs croaked, and things went on at the ancient jog-trot. Rich men died, and 'young spendthrifts succeeded. Children looked up for the death of the parent, and the parent looked down for the reformation of the child. Animosities and family feuds prevailed then as much as in the present day; and, like great potentates, the heaviest purse held out longest. Parsons preached long sermons by sand-glasses, and their wives administered salves and potions by midnight.

Little rogues were hanged, great criminals escaped, and captains swore big oaths. Physicians wore large muffs, dangled gold-headed canes, hemm'd loud, and looked wise; and according to the strength or weakness of the natural constitution, the patient recovered or expired. The rich lorded it over their dependents, and they, in then- turn, domineered over theirs. Whig and Tory were the pass-words for broils and bickerings. Syco­phants and parasites scraped and bowed, and even gravest men swallowed the en­ticing bait. The wealthy feasted, and the poor starved. A sceptic in religious matters was a character not then known. Such an animal would have been caged in iron, and shown, like a wild beast, for sixpence. Toppers swilled, guzzled, and besotted in the tavern; and their ladies in revenge took a cup of spirited or wine comfort at home. Lovers ogled, scoundrels broke vows, and dotards coo'd and bill'd.

Servants rode before their masters, and running footmen skipped it before their coaches. Farmers toiled hard, and fed on meal, milk, and water. They now live lustily on beef, pudding, and punch. Feasting ruled the roast, gave consequence, led the world, and enlisted table friends and flatterers. Guns and dogs, hawks and hounds, fiddles and flutes, and billiards and cards, made dreadful havoc amongst youth. Fornicators received the benefit of ghostly counsel. The case is now commuted; the session funds receive the benefit of their cash. Men smacked each other in the forum on the New Year's Day, and danced chapeau bas in the minuet at Christmas. Ladies tripped it in monstrous hoops, bound them­selves up in bone stays and husks, like Egyptian mummies, and footed it to church in gold, silver, lace, scarlet, and short mantles. Cowards blustered, and brave men fought. Official men loom'd large, and taylors and shavers looked little. Ingratitude was healthy, and required no nursing—like fern, it flourished in the barrenest soil. Cockfighting was publicly taught and encouraged at school, and the unfortunate combatants were, in imitation of the American savages, slain, boiled, and devoured. To sum up all, the sun rose in the east and set in the west. Lightnings flashed, thunders rolled and rains poured. Scandal, hypocrisy, and backbiting brought up the rear of this heterogeneal mass; and the world continued to roll like clock-work.—I am,

yours, &c.,

philetas. Dundee, April, 1799.

To mark the auspicious years when Tusculum
Wax'd great, was wealthy, and a goodly place;
Its glittering spears the ploughshares quickly form'd,
And industry sate at the silken loom:
Its manners, habits persons, fashions, changed,
The seat of nobles, and of classic lore;
Surrounded by green fields and pleasant villas;
Its sons were wise, and all its daughters fair:
And tho' withal, 'twas thus a rising city,
It lacked much, as travellers would tell.

sir,—He that will take the trouble to investigate the true source of barbarism and beggary in a nation, may trace it in the lone cottage of indolence, in the dregs of feudal infection and vanity, and in the cabins of sloth and idleness. It is the hand of diligence and perseverance that maketh rich; and it is industry that lifts the man from the dunghill, and places him in a comfortable and respectable situation.

It is a maxim and leading feature in the commercial world, and confirmed by practice and experience, that agriculture and manufactures are the parents of wealth in all countries. They give birth to ease, affluence, and conveniency, and are the consequent supporters of the State. Without these, and a government such as Great Britain enjoys, towns and cities, were they paved with emeralds, their buildings fluted with gold—were their sites pleasant as Zion, and their councillors wise as Solomon -they must (in the seaman's phrase) stand fast, and be stationary.

I have, in my former letter, laid before you a brief state of the town of Dundee more than threescore of years ago ; and am now about to show the reverse, or mo­dern picture, that you may from both form the contrast. We are now to view this little local circle in happy progression, and to mark out the handywork and transactions of mortals in social arts, from still and infant life, to a more busy and matured age.

the town of dundee, from 1746 to the present sera of 1799, hath risen in rapid style to trade, to wealth, and to population. It bears little resemblance to those early times when civilization was hardly in blossom, and refinement not even in abeyance; when our manners were wild, stiff, and formal; when dark ignorance prevailed; when habitations and accommodations were confined, limited, and inelegant, and the minds of the inhabitants borne down by poverty and wretchedness. Our forefathers, indeed, like the wild Indians, or those in distant and insulary situations, were contented only because they knew no better. From years and experience, we are now happily enabled to weigh comparatively, and to form our conclusions accordingly. It is, therefore, with pleasure that I turn from wastes and wildernesses, and from rude and ancient years, to more polished times, and to scenes of luxury and refinement; and I gratulate my fellow-citizens (the present generation) on the change. The minds of our grand-parents, like their clothing, were stiffly buckramed; and unmeaning and pedantic formality and ceremony were esteemed the essentials of good breeding: To sit erect as a pole at table, to drink healths regularly with small beer, and to pledge your neighbour at dinner, lest his throat should be cut in the quaff, were deemed the haut-ton of manners. The gentleman valued himself on the ceremonious bow, and the lady piqued herself on the sinking courtesy.

in extent, the buildings of Dundee are now doubled—they stretch to Black­ness, Craigie, and to the Hill or Rotten-row; and to the south we have encroached on the river. Some of them approach to elegance. The environs and country are much improved, and we are encircled by water, by gardens, and by villas. Fami­lies live in an improved taste, and require more accommodation. House rents are now from £5 to £40, and even to £50 per annum. Ground for building in the centre of the town hath become extremely valuable, and there is hardly a vacant spot in it. A small area, containing about 300 square feet, was lately sold at a public sale at the amazing price of £300.

in numbers of population we are, since 1750, quadrupled—that is, they may now be fairly taken at 25,000 souls.

in inns we are completely accommodated—neither Gordon's nor Morren's would do dishonour to any town in Europe; and it is by rivalship the country can be well served. We have had enow of John Barnets in our time already.

the shipping is wonderfully increased—foreign tonnage is at least quadrupled; vessels are well found and manned, and they voyage without interruption from Christmas to Christmas.—The London trade sail and arrive every fortnight; and our home tonnage may be reckoned at 8 to 9000 tons.

piers for the shipping and boats, as yet but every inperfect, are greatly extended, and have cost large sums—particularly a shipping one hath been added with arches for passing tide. The whole staple 'trade is loaded and unloaded there; and it forms a pleasant and healthy walk to the inhabitants. A ship-building dock is well occupied and employed, and vessels can be built there from 2 to 300 tons. A de­clivous boat-pier hath been built some years ago, with much judgment, under the management of the late Bailie Myles, at the West Shore, and gives easy access to passengers at all times.

manufactures are on a very increasing and large scale. The staple Osnaburg hath advanced greatly: a single weaver may now earn £50 a-year by his daily labour.

buildings have been greatly extended. There are now five churches well occu­pied and frequented, exclusive of every denomination of sectaries. A new market place for butchery meat, and a slaughter place, hath been built. We have an elegant hall for the Nine Incorporated Trades, a handsome English Chapel, and a Glassite octagon; and these give real ornament to all around. The Town-house or Tolbooth is a piece of noble architecture; but in its present situation can never be viewed to advantage or justice to the architect. Our forefathers (and even some of the present generation) seem to have looked no farther than their noses when they turned proprietors and builders. Never was a building (if we except the Mansion-House of London and the Sailors' Sail here) so murdered in situation. It is set down in a hole fitted only for a hog's stye, and, what is to be much lamented, it is one of those capital blunders which cannot, without immense ex­pense, be now remedied.

three new streets have been recently and judiciously laid out by the public-spirited and persevering exertions of Provost Riddoch. One of these is literally scooped out of a huge rock by force of gunpowder. Two of those communicate with the shipping, and the other (Tay Street) forms a convenient access to the country and turnpike.

the meadows are of late partially drained. They are enclosed with stone walls, and laid out (though yet greatly deficient) for washing and bleaching the linens of 'the inhabitants. A back road by the town is also begun to be made through these Meadows, and will, it is hoped, soon communicate to the turnpikes.

retail shops are found in every street and corner, and we are fully supplied with every family article; and, in general, you are well and civilly treated in return for your money.

merchants are a respectable, well educated, and wealthy body The taverns and ale-houses are deserted for the drawing-room and their friends ; and elegance and hospitality preside at their tables. The country squires have for the present quitted the town. Like Cincinnatus, they have returned to the ploughshares and to their seats, and have thus become Borough seceders. They find that, by time, they have acquired very respectable and opulent rivals in the city; that a couple of mansions are not cow necessary to spend one rent-roll, and that self-consequence and importance are delicate and tender plants, that are much more quietly reared and nursed in wilds and heaths, and amongst mountains and forests, than in the busily circle of a mercantile and independent community. We have three bank­ing-houses. The Old Banking Company, established here in 1763, now do busi­ness, it is thought, to at least sixteen times the extent they did at first setting out.

the post goes and returns daily. A mail coach from Edinburgh to Aberdeen has been established since August last, and travellers of every description profit by such conveniency. Letters are received here the third day from London.

the streets are rather better lighted up; nor are we groping about like Cupids or Jocky Blind Man in the dreary month of December.

We formerly had one single horse gig—we have now, at least, a dozen of elegant four-wheeled chaises, and, from trade and population, these are in constant demand and employ.
In 1716, we had only one carter—we have now one hundred and thirty; and nothing marks the increase of the town more than this article.

gentlemen and ladies and servants are well dressed, and neatly habited. Even our kitchen wenches carry umbrellas and wear veils, to protect their pretty persons from the inclemency of the winter sky, and their beauty and charms from the sun and dews of the summer. The fashion and ton in one article is wholly changed: the ladies alone now wear wigs, and the gentlemen are turned croppies and round-heads.

vivres of all kinds are confessedly dearer, but are to be had in great abund­ance at all times. Beef is 6d., a hen 1s. 6d., and eggs 6d. a-dozen; and there is a plenteous and cheap supply of vegetables. We have, in humble imitation of Covent Garden, our melons, cucumbers, and asparagus in the public street. Fish seldom exceed 1d. per pound.

the Town's annual revenue may be valued at about £3000. The tonnage, anchorage, beaconage dues, &c., forming a part of it, did not amount to more than £40 or £50 sixty years ago, and is now let at £1300 to £1400 sterling.

in the necessary supply of water from a plenteous, well-situated, and valu­able fountain, there is somehow an unpardonable negligence. The present cistern is inadequate for the purpose. It is not more than seven feet square, and two feet of depth; and, in place of an elegant and capacious bason and structure, the appearance and entry to it would disgrace the meanest village in Britain. More water is there lost and spilled than would serve another town of the same size, and our supply is very scanty. Our servants are wanderers, and idle half the day, journeying to and fro in quest of water, as if we belonged to a caravan in the desert.

the burying-ground is, from increasing population, too confined for the pur­pose of its first appropriation ; besides, it labours under an original evil, and which our predecessors had surely not examined—the ground and soil is damp and wet, and consequently very unfit for the purpose of quick and active putrescence.

morality and honesty, and some other smaller matters, seem to have made little progress in amendment these sixty years, in despite of schools and establish­ments. Vice, manufactures, and population, appear to have kept a steady jog-trot together. The ancient pulpit oratory, which, from the coldness of its composition, and its still more frigid delivery, if it often failed to command our attention, had the virtue at least, to lay us fast asleep, is in the meantime supplanted in fashion, by the mushroom field tribe of bawliny and bellowing missionaries.
The charms of novelty, the itch of curiosity (combined with the ignorance of their dangers and doctrines) and a wondering habit of enthusiasm, call forth, at once, the critics, the blockheads, the gapers, and the devotees; and if we may judge from the sam­ple, the auditors return little wiser than they went forth. The narrative system of Wesley is there servilely imitated, without one fresh spark of fancy, genius, or improvement ; and, like other diseases, it bids fair, methinks, to perish from pul­monary affection. Duelling is fast approaching to the North Pole.
The sword, (formerly the pride of all true cavaliers) is exchanged for the pistol; and a bullet in your belly is now as good as an ell of Ferrara steel in your body. Brandy shops vend liquid poison, and, strange to tell! the resources of the State thus depend, in a certain degree, on the continued gulping and murder of miserable and deluded victims. Professions, in the present age, are not regarded: Mankind consider them, from experience, as the foppery and fashionable compliments of the day, not as marks of sincerity and esteem.
The man who betrays you in the morning, riots merrily with you till midnight. Men and women do not always marry for conveniency: They wed not to be happy, but to be rich, powerful, and affluent; that they and their sons and daughters may shine in the drawing-room and ride in their coaches. Breed and descent, wisdom and madness, tawny or fair, diseased or wealthy, old or young, are alike from the question in modern matches. The elegance of the ancient dancing assemblies is gone! and in its place are intro­duced card-playing! and a warming reel before departure! Servants pilfer, vagrants steal, and hypocrisy smiles. The deceiver, after forfeiting his honour, is received into the favour of every other woman of the sex. Bankruptcy is not the mortal and fatal disease it was. Its virulence, however, decreases by habit; and, considering the number of annual patients now-a-days, the recovery is generally wonderful. Skeel tramping is yet in full blaze, and to be seen every lawful day of the week. In urinals we are highly improved; and from the wooden loom and brown jar we have ascended to the fair cream and clouded China-ware.

The cus­tom of patching is now happily given up; it had so much of the Jezebeel in it that I congratulate my fair countrywomen on its being deserted. Haggis and hodge-podge, sheep and crapped-heads, keep their places at the table, in defiance of pork, grisken, and roast-beef. Dad gathers it in farthings, and young Hopeful spends it by guineas. The mother toils at the distaff, and the thoughtless and extravagant young Baggage throws it away on gew-gaws. Quakers begin to mingle amongst us, and to groan in spirit. The Jews, as I formerly mentioned, have not as yet set up shop here; the Stragglers, however, are travelling about the country, with their faar -keekers, and so spying the land; whilst the main body are setting out to meet their promised deliverer, Bonaparte. Scandal and tale-bearing con­tinue to do the honours of the tea-table, and folly and extravagance to hold their rites at the shop of the milliner. The price of shaving (being frequently a blood­letting case), is advanced by the war! It was formerly one halfpenny, it is now one penny.

War, it is said, raises the price of many things. It hath, indeed, I confess, already raised the value of shoes cleaning and puppet-shows, sour milk and broom-besoms. Writing was taught in my time for sixpence a-quarter; we now pay ten times that sum. The old women were formerly the only witches, and we roasted them in bonfires. Witchcraft is now confined to the young; and they in their turn scorch us powerfully by charms. The matter of dead languages is now fully and generally known by translations; and Greek and Hebrew drag rather heavily. Pedantry, therefore, slackens apace. A gentleman is now better known by his manners than by his Latin; and merchants begin to find more money is to be got at a loom or desk than by poring over a Greek dictionary or an old classic. The ladies continue to admire red coats, and to have no objec­tion to the blue. Shortwaists, watering places, and bathing-quarters are the pre­sent general rage; and drowning is now as common in summer as starving was formerly in winter. We tread not now on fairy ground. Spirits and hobgoblins are little known in these days—they flee from society and refinement, and from the busy haunts of men.

These incorporeals are suffered to glide and betake themselves to cloisters, church yards, and dormitories, and to melancholy aisles. As rooks, magpies, and foxes, they nestle and burrow in the deserted and mould­ering tower and ancient chateau; and there they caw and howl to the midnight winds. 'Tis there only they hold their frantic orgies, take their nocturnal ram­bles, and startle the watchful and lonely sentinel at his post. 'Tis there, mayhap, the ghosts of Malcolm and Claverhouse perambulate a dreary scene, perform their uitic rounds, and vanish at the morning air.

Mankind continue to pout and spar, kiss, wrangle, toy, and trifle by turns. Folly, like death, spares neither sex nor age; and the wise heads, the wrong heads, the blockheads, arid the hot heads have been precious and prolific families since the days of their father, Adam.

Thus have I, Mr Printer, presented you with a full state of the town, buildings, police, manners, morals, &c ; and when put in the scale with the state of it in 1746, the difference in many things is great The comparative view, however, will enable the reader to judge, and he will thence find that these are real and solid amendments.—I am, yours, &c.,

philetas. Dundee, July, 1799.

[Our gossiping chronicler makes no allusion to any public amuse­ments as being available to beguile the leisure of the citizens of last century; but we glean from other sources that theatricals were, at least, occasionally offered them. In 1734, when a company of play­ers, organised by Allan Ramsay, were struggling to keep on the boards in Edinburgh, they bethought themselves of a tour in the provinces; and, early on an August morning, started for Dundee. Their recep­tion was extremely flattering, being honoured with the patronage of the Freemasons, who marched in a body, with the worshipful G.M. at their head, to the playhouse, "in their proper apparel, with hautboys and other music playing before them;" and heard performed the Jubilee, and The Devil to Pay;—let us hope, with pleasure to them­selves and profit to the poor actors. Dancing assemblies were about the same period introduced at Edinburgh, and Dundee followed suit. In the "Caledonian Mercury," the chief newspaper at that time pub­lished in Scotland, we find a string of verses extolling, in magnilo­quent terms, the charms of the ladies who had graced a Dundee assembly:

"Heavens! what a splendid scene is here,
How bright those female seraphs shine!" &c.

Numerous individual allusions occur, by half-blank names, evidently those of the upper ten who then led the fashion in the district, and among which damsels styled Bower, Duncan, Reid, Ramsay, Demp­ster, and Bow may be mentioned—

"Besides a much more numerous dazzling throng,
Whose names, if known, should grace my artless song.'

In 1755, Dundee found a local medium for chronicling the doings in the town, the first number of the Dundee Weekly Intelligencer having seen the light on May 23d of that year. It consisted of four small pages, sold for three half-pence, and was printed by Henry Galbraith & Co., at their printing office near the "Main Guard"—a location which we have not been able to identify. Its circulation seems to have been limited, for its existence was brief.

Towards the close of last century, the town was on several occasions the scene of lawless proceedings, connected with the scarcity of food. In 1772, a "meal mob" occurred of unusual audacity and violence, remi­niscences of which have been handed down by old inhabitants as the "mob of Mylnefield." The proprietor for the time of that estate was exceedingly unpopular in Dundee, and the belief had taken root in the public mind that he had expressed a wish to see the towns­people reduced to the condition of the Babylonian king, and forced to eat the grass on his fields. One day the excitement culminated in the assemblage of a mob, which followed a bagpiper, playing warlike airs, westward to the residence of the obnoxious laird. Arrived at Mylne­field, the crowd broke into the house, sacked it of everything portable, and destroyed what could not be removed.

There is no record of any of the participators of this lawless proceeding having been brought to justice, although common report pointed to several individuals as having shared in the spoil. A certain weaver was credited with having become possessed of a strong box, with the contents of which he esta­blished himself as a manufacturer; another was reported to have secured an ornament in the form of a ball of gold, which hung in the drawing-room, and which, after being discreetly concealed for a time in the "Mausie Burn," was afterwards taken by him to London, where its conversion into cash enabled the possessor to set up a public house. The story would be complete if we could add that the rogue had gratitude enough left to adopt the "golden ball" for the sign of his tavern.

The outbreak at Mylnefield did not exhaust the riotous tendencies of the lower orders; for, in the year following, another " meal mob" occurred, although the price (10½. to 1s. per peck), was not much dearer than usual. In the books of the Guildry and Trades frequent entries occur of purchases of meal by these bodies, sometimes from such distant places as Aberdeen, Banff, and Inverness, these supplies being retailed at cost price to mitigate the privations and allay the discontent of the people. Beans and peas were freely purchased on such occasions to convert into meal, as well as oats; and it is notice­able that, on several occasions of this kind, the barley had to be got by freighting a ship to fetch it from Holland. In 1782, the Magistrates found themselves under the necessity of contracting a loan of £1500 with the Dundee Bank for purchasing meal to retail to the poor; and, in 1795, another loan, to the extent of £4000, had to be negotiated for the same object. Five years later they hit upon a better plan of procuring supplies, by offering a premium of £100 for the first thousand bolls of barley-meal brought into the town.

The effects of the French Revolution in this country were not con­fined to peaceful discussion, although that was duly provided for in Dundee by the formation of a "Whig Club," which sent a congratu­latory address to the National Assembly, signed by its president, "honest George Dempster" of Dunnichen. Not content with this expression of sympathy, some restless spirits conceived the idea of planting a tree of liberty in Dundee. One evening a crowd collected on the. High Street, and proceeded to the grounds in front of Belmont House, in the Perth Road, from which a young tree was abstracted. Returning to the High Street, the sapling was planted there with due ceremony, and its branches hung with garlands. Provost Riddoch was a spectator, and it is averred, was compelled to walk three times round the tree, and shout—"Liberty and equality forever!" Having previously sent for the military, the provost had the tree taken up in the quiet of a Sabbath morning, and consigned to "the Thief's hole," a cellar under the Town-house. It was afterwards replanted in its native soil, and is now a goodly tree, the position of it being indicated to the passer-by from a stone inserted in the parapet-wall by the present proprietor of Belmont.]

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