CITY OF INVERNESS. 39 



contrast to that spirit of bigotry which so long denounced religious distinction 

 as a crime against the state, and made it a sufficient ground for persecution. 

 The Academy is a handsome building, with class-rooms for five masters, besides 

 the public hall, ornamented with a fine painting by an old Italian master, and 

 a bust from the chisel of Westmacott. The Northern Institution, for the 

 encouragement of literary and scientific pursuits, is among the recent proofs 

 of that march of intellect, which is now so generally promoted over the whole 

 kingdom, and no where with better judgment or more ennobling efforts, than 

 among the enlightened citizens of Inverness. Numerous private schools and 

 academies have also come in for their share in the great and important business 

 of public education ; and the most laudable exertions are employed by parents 

 and teachers, to qualify the course of human study* with the purifying influence 

 of religious instruction. Reading-rooms, chambers for county assemblies, and, 

 in short, all the usual resources of a great capital, only on a smaller scale, are 

 to be found in the city of Inverness. 



Within the last five or six years, the town has made a rapid advancement 

 in all that contributes to the health and comfort of the inhabitants, and to the 

 clean and cheerful appearance of the buildings. The streets have been newly 

 paved with granite ; the footpaths widened and laid with Caiihness Bag, a stone 

 well adapted for the purpose ; and the town exceedingly well lighted with gas. 

 The public sewers have been deepened and carried under the streets and houses 

 so as to sweep off every impurity, and preserve the town in a state of great 

 salubrity. The public Hospital, erected in a pleasant and cheerful situation 

 a short way out of the town, is supported by voluntary subscriptions only. 

 It is extremely well conducted, and, we may add, highly deserving of support. 

 Those wealthy individuals who annually resort for health to the mountains of 

 Inverness, cannot better express their gratitude than by here contributing to 

 that of its less fortunate inmates. 



Of the public walks, and the magnificent and varied prospects which they 

 command, it is hardly possible to speak too highly. The banks of the Ness are 

 bordered with a rich garniture of trees, embellished with numerous villas, and 

 within a mile of the town the stream is divided into separate branches by a 

 series of small islands luxuriantly wooded. Here, in ancient times, the city 



* By the late Dr. BELL'S munificent bequest for the purposes of education in his native country, Inverness 

 benefits to the amount of 10,000?. three per cent, consols, which is applied to the establishment of schools 

 on his well-known system. Previously to this, a fund was left in 1803, by Captain Mackintosh, for the 

 education of boys belonging to certain families of that name, and which now amounts to upwards of 

 25.000/. The public charities are numerous, originating in legacies devised by philanthropic individuals. 



