. It was in these vales that the Saxons of
the plain and the Gad of the mountains had many a desperate and bloody
encounter, in which it was frequently impossible to decide the palm of
victory between the mailed chivalry of the low country and the plaided
clans whom they opposed.

Perth, so eminent for the beauty of its situation, is a place of great
antiquity; and old tradition assigns to the town the importance of
a Roman foundation. That victorious nation, it is said, pretended to
recognise the Tiber in the much more magnificent and navigable Tay,
and to acknowledge the large level space, well known by the name of the
North Inch, as having a near resemblance to their Campus Martins. The
city was often the residence of our monarchs, who, although they had no
palace at Perth, found the Cistercian convent amply sufficient for the
reception of their court. It was here that James the First, one of the
wisest and best of the Scottish kings, fell a victim to the jealousy of
the vengeful aristocracy. Here also occurred the mysterious conspiracy
of Gowrie, the scene of which has only of late been effaced by the
destruction of the ancient palace in which the tragedy was acted. The
Antiquarian Society of Perth, with just zeal for the objects of their
pursuit, have published an accurate plan of this memorable mansion, with
some remarks upon its connexion with the narrative of the plot, which
display equal acuteness and candour.

One of the most beautiful points of view which Britain, or perhaps the
world, can afford is, or rather we may say was, the prospect from a
spot called the Wicks of Baiglie, being a species of niche at which the
traveller arrived, after a long stage from Kinross, through a waste and
uninteresting country, and from which, as forming a pass over the
summit of a ridgy eminence which he had gradually surmounted, he beheld,
stretching beneath him, the valley of the Tay, traversed by its ample
and lordly stream; the town of Perth, with its two large meadows, or
inches, its steeples, and its towers; the hills of Moncrieff and Kinnoul
faintly rising into picturesque rocks, partly clothed with woods; the
rich margin of the river, studded with elegant mansions; and the
distant view of the huge Grampian mountains, the northern screen of this
exquisite landscape. The alteration of the road, greatly, it must
be owned, to the improvement of general intercourse, avoids this
magnificent point of view, and the landscape