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mon fcarcity of retreats for the diftreffed navigator: they occur
fe ld om , and have often near, their entrances the obftruftions o f
{and to render the accefs difficult. On the weftern fide of the
kingdom Nature hath dealt out the harbours with a perfedt pro-
ful'on; not a headland can be doubled, but what offers a fafe
anchorage to the diftreffed veffel.
Kdlerbrotbic would have wanted a harbour, had not the aid of
art been called in : for in default of a natural, a tolerable artificial
one of piers has been formed, where, at fpring-tides, which
jife here fifteen feet,' lhips of two hundred tons can come, and of
eighty at neap-tides ; but they muff lie dry at low water. This
port is of great antiquity: there is an agreement yet extant be-
Been the abbot and the burghers of Aberbrothic, in the year 1194,
.concerning the making of the harbour. Both, parties were bound
: to contribute their proportions 5 but the largeft fell to the ihare
|6j the former, for which he was to receive an annual tax,, payable
^ut of every rood of land lying within, the borough. This is a
jd borough, and, with Montrofe, Brechin, Inverbervie, and Aber-
2», returns one member to parliament.
iThe glory of this place was the abbey, whofe very ruins give-
fome idea of its former magnificence: it lies on a rifing above
* e town, and prefents an extenfive and venerable front.; is moft
jlicioufly fituated, commands a view of the fea to the eaft, of
■fertile country to the weft, bounded by the Grampian hills ; and,
If fouth, of the openings into the firths of lay and Forth.
jThe abbey was once inclofed with a ftrong and lofty wall,
T kh Surrounded a very confiderab.k traft: on the fouth-weft
.corner