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