fifth is as positive that it means the dean's building.' It would be singular if none of these conjectures were right."

Near where Gordon's Hospital now stands in the School Hill, Alexander II., on a visit along with one of his sisters, founded a monastery of Dominican, Black, Mendicant, or Preaching Friars; and about the same time the Carmelites or White Friars were established, one on the south side of the Green, near where Carmelite Street now is.

The ancient records speak of a castle belonging to Alexander III., situated on the hill now occupied by the barracks. A windmill is mentioned in 1271. Blind Harry places the scene of one of the exploits of Wallace in Aberdeen, July 1297. The year before that Edward I. of England visited it. The diary of his progress says: "14 July 1296. The Saturday, to the cytie of d'Abberden. A faire castell and a good towne vponn the see, and taryed there v days." 1306 Bruce, after the battle of Methven, found refuge in the town for a time, until the English troops discovered his retreat and attempted to surprise him. He, however, received timely warning, and, unable to cope with his foes, quitted the city ("The ladys raid rycht by his syd"), and retreated to the mountains.-Bon Accord.

In

In 1306 the town was burned by the English. "It is said that when it was afterwards rebuilt it received the name of NEW ABERDEEN, a title which has frequently led strangers to suppose that the original site of the town was in the burgh, now called Old Aberdeen, but originally named Old Town, or Kirk Town of Seaton."

The city was well represented at the famous battle of Harlaw, of which more further on, when we come to the scene of it. But we may take this about it from Bon Accord :

"In 1411 occurred one of the conflicts in that great war between the Celtic and the Saxon races-between barbarism and civilisationwhich, beginning with the Pretender Donalbane, in the 11th century, was only finally ended on the Moor of Culloden in the days of the Pretender Charles, in the 18th century. Donald, Prince of the Isles, landed in Ross-shire, and at the head of vast multitudes of Highland savages, rapidly advanced southward, leaving havoc and desolation behind him, and threatening to glut his undisciplined hordes with the pillage of Aberdeen. The Saxon and Norman chivalry, along with the burghers of the town, marched forth to oppose him. The provost of our city joined their ranks at the head of a body of the inhabitants, and the armies encountered at Harlaw, on the banks of the Ury, distant about 19 miles from the burgh. The Celtic barbarian was routed, but the victory was not purchased without a heavy slaughter. Among the number of the slain was 'gude Sir Robert Davidson, quha provest wes of Aberdene;' and along with him fell many of the burgesses 'in defensione villæ et pro patriæ libertate.'" ("The pro

vost of Aberdeen was killed," says Sir Walter Scott," with so many of the citizens as to occasion a municipal regulation that the chief magistrate of that town, acting in that capacity, should go only a certain brief space from the precincts of the liberties." So, Sir Walter; but no trace of this regulation is to be found in the City Records.) The corpse of Sir Robert was brought to the city and interred beside the north wall of St. Nicholas's Church, before the altar of St. Ann, near the great arch of the steeple. On one of the neighbouring pillars of the Old Church was inscribed-" Robert Davidson, provest of Aberdeen, was killed at the battel of Harlaw in the year 1411." More than three centuries afterwards, in 1740, the remains of the body were discovered with a small crimson cap on the skull.

The citizens of Aberdeen are justly proud of the part they took in this glorious victory. Mr. James Gordon, who wrote in 1661, mentions that "the verie enseigne which they hade at Harlaw was to be seen in our tyme, and [was] not losed till ther unhappie encounter with Montrose, anno 1644." "The staff of the banner is still preserved, and the armour which their provost was said to have worn is deposited in the City Armoury." It is now set up in the vestibule of the Town-Hall.

Margaret, queen of James the Fourth, visited Aberdeen in May 1511, and was received with great magnificence, as has been celebrated by William Dunbar in his poem entitled "The Quene's Progres at Aberdene," printed for the first time by David Laing in 1834. James V. paid a visit of fifteen days in 1537, and later on his daughter, the beautiful Queen Mary, was there in November 1562.

"In the beginning of 1622, encouraged by the influence of Bishop Patrick Forbes, and of the magistrates, EDWARD RABAN left St. Andrews and established his press on the north side of the Castlegate in a new house belonging to the council, of which the lower part was used as a meal-market. In that year he printed, among other books, a treatise, 'De disciplina Ecclesiastica,' and the tale of The Twae Freirs of Berwick.' Raban was not only a printer, but an author, and has left compositions behind him both in prose and verse. 'The Glorie of Man consisting in the Excellence and Perfection of Woman,' published in 1638, was written, he tells us, 'to vindicate and deliver myself from the imputation of Sarcastick, bitter, too loose and liberall speeches agaynst the most noble, worthei and transcendent sexe of Women.' Contemporary with this 'Master Printer,' the first in Aberdeene, was David Melville, perhaps the first bookseller of whom the town can boast. It was probably after his death that Raban opened a shop at the end of the Brodgate, under the quaint style of The Laird of Letters.' This Caxton of Aberdeen seems to have died in 1649, and I regret that I cannot point out to the lover of literature the spot where his bones are interred."-Bon Accord.

From 1638 onwards Aberdeen was much involved in the struggles

consequent on the Reformation; but the Reformation never had a great hold there. The history of the time is full of the accounts of battles and their sad consequences. At the outset Montrose occupied

and held the town for the Covenanters. other side was the Marquis of Huntly.

The principal leader on the

In 1640 it was occupied by General Munro for the Covenant, and he and all his officers were presented with burgess tickets, which, in compliance with an ancient custom, still observed, "they put up in their bonnets." Again, in 1644, it fell under the power of the Marquis of Huntly," who, retaliating on the measures of Munro, commenced a pillage of the houses of the Covenanting gentry in the neighbourhood," and otherwise oppressed the citizens. Once more the royalists were driven out by Lords Burleigh and Elcho-to the joy of one party, and the grievous sorrow of the other. "The ane faction," says Spalding, "croppit the calsey courageously, prydfully, and disdanefully; the other faction wes forced to walk humelie, and to suffer the pryde of thair toun's nightbouris, who rejoiced at thair miserie." These Lords were followed by the Marquis of Argyle, on his way northward.

"Aberdeen was now once more to suffer from the victorious arms of Montrose. Twice had he entered its gates to chastise the citizens for their loyalty, and compel their adherence to the Covenant. He approached it a third time to punish them for their support of the principles which he had constrained them to cherish, and to exact their obedience to a monarch whom he had obliged them to abandon." For by this time he had turned his coat, and he was now the minion of Charles. He overpowered the city, which was given up to plunder, but on the anniversary of his victory at Aberdeen he was utterly defeated at Philiphaugh. The last siege and capture of the town was by Huntly in May 1646, but this success came too late, for a few days before it Charles had delivered himself to the Scottish army at Newark, and Huntly received orders to lay down his arms.

Into the fortunes of his son, and the troubles of the '15 and '45, we need not enter. The annals of Aberdeen have many records of them. We turn rather now to enumerate some of the principal places of attraction to visitors.

UNION STREET is the principal thoroughfare. It is about a mile in length. From the hardness of the stone, the architecture is almost without ornament of any kind, but the general appearance is massive, and the effect is pleasing. The granite is light coloured, a grayish white. The east end of the street terminates in the Castlegate, in the centre of which stands

THE CROSS, a hexagonal building, surmounted by a pillar bearing the Royal Unicorn rampant. The style is Renaissance, and the panels

are ornamented with medallion heads of Scottish monarchs, from James I. to James VII. Its builder was John Montgomery, and its date 1686.

THE STATUE of the fifth and last Duke of Gordon, Marquis of Huntly, and Colonel, first of the 92d, latterly of the 42d Highlanders, stands here also, a little in front of the Cross.

"Cock of the North, my Huntly braw,

Whaur are you wi' the Forty Twa?"

The statue is colossal, and was designed by Mr. Campbell of London.

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THE COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS Occupy one side of the Castlegate; they include the Sheriff Court-House, behind which is the prison. The whole pile is one of the largest and most imposing granite erections in Scotland. The style is a combination of the old Scotch, Belgian, and French; the most striking feature is the tower, which rises to a height of over 200 feet. The cost has been about £100,000. At the east end of the building is a square tower of ancient date, surmounted by a spire 120 feet high. Close to this, on the corner of King Street, are the offices of the North of Scotland Banking Company, a building of dressed granite in the Grecian style. On the opposite side of Castle Street stands the Union Bank, a chaste building. Marischal Street branches off towards the harbour. The Military Barracks occupy a commanding position to the east of Castle Street, on the site of the old castle.”—(Black.)

In KING STREET, which branches off at right angles from Castle Street, and runs northwards, out towards the Don, and is the commencement of the great road to Fraserburgh and Peterhead, there are some good buildings,-the Record Office, the Medical Hall, the North Church, several banks, and St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. In the last there is a statue by Flaxman of Bishop Skinner, son of the author of "Tullochgorum."

Returning westward by Union Street, we have, near the corner of Nicholas Street, the Town and County Bank Office, and opposite to it the National Bank forms the corner building of Market Street, at the bottom of which is the Post-Office.

A marble statue of the Queen, by the late Alexander Brodie, a native of Aberdeen, is in an open space close by the Town and County Bank.

Here too, a little further west, are the EAST and WEST CHURCHES, standing in the centre of a cemetery, and separated from the street by a handsome Ionic façade, each pillar of one stone and the intervals filled in with massive iron railings. The old West Church, which was erected about the middle of the eighteenth century, was burned down in 1874. The East Church, in modern Gothic, was rebuilt in 1870-75. The two were separated by what was known as Drum's Aisle, from

its being the burying place of the ancient family of Irvine of Drum. It formed the transept of the original Church of St. Nicholas, built in the 12th century. Till 1874 there remained the central tower, containing a fine peal of nine bells, one of which, the great bell Lawrence or Lowry, was 4 feet in diameter at the mouth, 3 feet high, and very thick, and bore the date 1352. This tower perished in the fire of 1874, which also destroyed the transept and the monuments of the Irvines. The Tower has been rebuilt and a spire added by the city architect, Mr. Smith. The Churchyard contains the remains of many worthies, among them Dr. James Beattie, the author of The Minstrel.

Where Union Street is carried over the ravine of the Denburn by a bridge of dressed granite of one arch of 130 feet span, and costing £13,342, stands on the left

THE TRADES' HALL, a fine granite structure, in which there are some interesting portraits by Jamesone and others, also a set of oak carved antique chairs. One of these is called King William's chair. Two other chairs have respectively the years 1564 and 1574 on them. The inscription painted on the shields of the different crafts are very curious.

At the north-west end of the bridge Marochetti's statue of the late Prince Consort is placed. The slopes from Union Terrace to the Denburn (this stream is now covered in) are prettily laid out as pleasure grounds. Further up the street, on the right, are the Music Hall Buildings; the great hall, in which there is a fine organ, is very spacious, and when filled will hold 5000 people. There are also spacious ball, supper, and other rooms. Next to these buildings is the Young Men's Christian Institute, where there is also a very handsome hall, and beyond it again the Royal Northern Club.

Closing the vista of Union Street, at the west-end stands the Free Church College. The fine museum and very valuable library, belonging to the late Mr. Thomson of Banchory, are preserved in it. general library is also extensive and valuable.

Its

Beyond the extremity of Union Street, many handsome residential streets branch off. Albyn Place, with its various terraces, Carden Place, and other streets, all contain large houses of considerable architectural importance. Towards the east end of Carden Place, in Skene Street West, stands the new Grammar School, a fine granite building in the early Scotch baronial style.

From the east end of Union Street, by the Town - Hall, opens Broad Street. At No. 64 or 68 in this street lived Lord Byron when a boy, and near by a narrow gateway leads into the quadrangle of Marischal College. This university was founded by George Keith, Earl Marischal, in 1593. The present buildings were completed in 1841, at a cost of £38,000. They form three sides of a square, with a central tower 100