any of the old Britijh monuments, which I apprehend thefe c’artj
ftones fucceeded. Thefe were, from their exceffive rudenefs j
firft efforts of the fculptor, imitative of the animal creation; anil
fuccefs is fuch as might be expefted: but in the ornaments abi
the crofies, and the running patterns along the fides of fome, J
fancy and elegance that does credit to the artifts of thofe m
days. Boethius is willing that thefe engraven pillars fhould bed
pofed to have been copied from the Egyptians, and that |
figures were hieroglyphic, as expreilive of meaning as thofe foil
on the cafes of mummies, or the fculptured obelifks of Em
The hiilorian’s vanity in fuppofing his countrymen to have be
derived from that antient nation, is deilitute of all authority;^
his conjefture that the figures we fo frequently fee on the colunr
of this country, had their fignification, and were the records of I
unlettered age, is fo reafonable as to be readily admitted. It wsl
method equally common to the moil civilized and to the mod if
barous nations : common to the inhabitants of the banks of tteli
and the natives of Mexico +. In the northern hemifphere, mot
ments of this nature feem confined to the tradl above mentionj
they cannot be compared, as the learned Bifhop Nicholfin does,!
the runic ftones in Denmark and Sweden: for they will be fo|
always attended with runic infcriptions, by any one who will*
himfelf the trouble of confulting the antiquities of thofe nation!
I muft take notice of a new-difcovered ftone of this clafs, fo|
in the ruins of a chapel in the den of 4uldbar, near Cartjtih|
* Boethius, Jib. II. p. 20.
f Conqueft o f Mexico, 73 . Purehas's Pilgrims, III. 1068.
$ Wormii Mon. Danic, 474, 485.
• Mr Skene, who was fo obliging as to favor me with a drawing of
lit On one fide was a crofs; in the upper compartment of - the
{other fide were two figures of ynen, in a fort of cloak, fitting on a
¡chair; perhaps religious perfons ; beneath them is another, tearing
{afunder the jaws of a certain beaft 5 near him, a fpear and a harp ;
lbelow, is a perfon on horfeback; a beaft like the Mufimon, which
jis fuppofed to have once inhabited Scotland; and laftly, a pair of
[animals like bullocks, or the hornlefs cattle of the country, going
aide by fide. This ftone was about feven feet long, and had been
fexed in a pedeftal found with it.
Proceed towards Forfar. About a mile on this fide of the town
Bs a moor, noted for a battle between the Pills and the Scots, in
the year 831. The Scots, under Alpin, had rather the advantage:
by them therefore might the great cairn near the fpot be compofed,
which to this day is called Pills Cairnley. The bafe was once fur-
lOunded with a coronet of great upright columns; but only one
remains, which is eleven feet high, feven broad, and eighteen feet
fn girth. -
F o r f a r , the capital of the county, contains about two thou-
land fouls; but, fince the great tera of the profperity of North
witm, has encreafed above half. The manufailures of linens
j this neighborhood, from four-pence to feven-pence a yard, are
/ty .confiderable, and bring in, as is faid, near twenty thoufand
la year. -
J The caftle flood on a fmall hill near the town, but at prefent not
jr a fragment is left.
■ The lake lies, or rather did lie, at a fmall diftance from the caftle,*
I'd) according to tradition, qnce furrounded the town; there be-
F o r f a r ,
C a s t l e .
L a k e .