SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED, 



the surprise and pleasure with which they discovered a resemblance between the 

 two rivers. In the present day, however, the exclamation would not be com- 

 plimentary ; the Tay gains exceedingly by comparison with the ' yellow' 

 Tiber, which has scarcely the volume of one of the tributaries to the former, 

 unless when swollen by continued rains. In transparency, too, no less than in 

 volume, the Caledonian river has greatly the advantage. By a sudden inundation 

 of the Tay, in the reign of William the Lyon, the ancient city of Perth was 

 overthrown in a night. The royal palace shared the same calamity, and with 

 that, the king's infant son, the nurse, and fourteen other persons, perished. 



The hill of Kinnoull is a point of view much resorted to by strangers ; 

 while the antiquary and patriot find an interesting pilgrimage among the 

 " tumuli of Luncarty" the celebrated battle-field of that name. This victory 

 obtained over the Danes, in 980, gave name and title to the noble family of 

 Hay.* The battle was decisive ; of the enemy, according to tradition, those 

 who escaped the sword were drowned in the river. A bleaching field and corn 

 lands now occupy the scene of battle. The classic reader will recall the spirited 

 lines of the poet Johnston on this subject.f At a short distance, on the 

 Almond, a tributary of the Tay, is the scene of the pathetic legend of " Bessy 

 Bell and Mary Gray," a scene which, independently of its associations, is 

 highy picturesque. It is in the demesne of Lord Lynedoch, a circumstance 

 which gives it an additional attraction to the patriotic tourist. J Pitkaithly, so 

 long a fashionable watering-place, is also in the immediate neighbourhood, 



* For the interesting legend, the reader may consult the family history of Kinnoull, descendants of the 

 Scottish Cincinnatus, who, like his Roman prototype, left the plough to rout an army. Dupplin is also 

 the scene of a sanguinary conflict in 1333, by which, for a time, the cause, of Bruce yielded to that of 

 Baliol. 



f " Quo ruitis, cives ? Heia! hosti obvertite vultus! 



Non pudet infami vertere terga fuga ? 

 Hostis ego vobis ; aut ferrum vertite in hostem. 



Dixit, et armatus dux praeit ipse jugo. 

 Qua, qua ibat vastam condensa per agmina Danurr 

 Dat stragem. Hinc omnis consequiturque fuga 

 Servavit cives. Victorem reppulit hostem, 

 Unus cum natis agminis instar erat. 

 Hie Decios agnosce tuos magna? aemula Romse, 



Aut prior hac ; aut te his Scotia major adhuc." 



\ These young ladies, according to the fondly cherished tradition, were celebrated for their beauty, and 

 sincerely attached as friends. Their families had rank and property in the country, and lived on a 

 footing of mutual intimacy. In the plague of 16-15, which committed dreadful havoc in the population of 

 this district, these young ladies, in the hope of avoiding infection by entire seclusion from society, retired to 

 a lonely spot, called the " Burn Brje." Hither, however, they were traced by a young gentleman in the 

 neighbourhood, who had long entertained a romantic passion for both, but without being able to decide 

 which was the most beautiful. The consequences of this visit were fatal. Having himself caught the 



