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It was afterwards annexed to the priory of St. Andrew's, hav|
been purchafed by bifhop Lamberton for that purpofe, fromH
Religious of Reading, in defiance of all the remonftrarices of tbfl
tremendous monarch, the conqueror of Scotland. In later time®
light-houfe has been ereited on it.
Reach the ftiore of the fine bay of Largo ; pafs by the lands I
the fame name, beftowed in 1482 by James ill. on that gall
feaman, his faithful fervant, Sir Andrew Wood, in order to keepshJ
fhip in trim. With two lhips .he attacked and took five EnM
men of war, that infefted the firth ; and foon after had equal f u l
cefs againft another fquadron, ferit out by Henry VII. to reven*
the'difgrace*. The Snots, during the reigns of James III. and IB
were ftrong rivals to England in maritime affairs.
Continue my ride along the curvature of this beautiful bM
and meet with the-chearful and frequent fucceffion o f tow ifl
Chateaux, and of well-managed farms. ■ The country is populous ¡|
the trade is coal and fait: the laft made from the fea-water. Tl*
coal is exported chiefly to Middleburgh, and generally oats ail
brought back in return.
Go through the village of Lundie. In a field not far diliaij
are three vaff upright ftones ; the largeft is fixteen feet high,
its folid contents two hundred and feventy. There are fragment^
or veftiges, of three others; but their fituation is fuch as 1H
any attempt to guefs at the form of their original difpofition *“■
the whole was entire. Near this place the Danes met with a coasT
fiderable defeat from the Scots, under the conduct of MacUti JE1
* Staggering State, he, 147.
1. R is therefore probable that thefe ftones are monuments
If the viftory. Mr. Dougal, of Kirkaldie, who was fo obliging as
Jo favor me with their rncaturements, gave himfelf the trouble of
Baufing the earth about them to be examined, and found-, on digging
about four feet deep, fragments of human bones.
; Breakfaft at the town of Levin, on the water of the fame name,
sunning from .Loch-leven, near Kinrofs. The mouth forms a har-
|Dur, where, at high water, veflels of a hundred tons may enter.
Imewhat farther are the piers of Methel, built in the laft century
ly David Earl of W’.mys. Go through the villages of Buckhaven,
Wmys, and Eafter-Wetrtys ; all in the beginning of the laft century
■arrying on a confiderable' filhery. On an eminence impending
jver the fea is the houfe of PFemys, the-feat of the antient family
If that name,( defcended from the old Earls of Fife. The place
Berives its title from the various caverns in the cliffs beneath.
1’On the the ihore is plenty of the ligufticum Scoticum, the Jhunifh of
utHebrides •, a pilant much in uie in the’weftern parts as a food.
■Pafs through a tratflr of collieries, and obferve multitudes of
■rcular holes, furrounded with a mound, and filled with water,
jhefe are called Coal-heughs, and were once the fpiracles or vent-
|ks to the pits, in inexperienced days of mining. The ftrata of
|al are of great thicknefs, fome at leaft nine yards. Many of
P beds have been on fire for above two centuries ; and there
Iwbeen formerly inftances of eruptions,of fmoke apparent in the
Jj'’ ®re in the night. The violence of the conflagration has
i but it ftill continues in a certain degree, as is evident in
J 1 ^nowi which melts ih ftreams on the furface wherever there
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