40 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



magistrates entertained the king's judges with rural feasts when they came to 

 hold assize-courts. " Salmon, caught in the_ adjoining pool, formed the prin- 

 cipal delicacy ; while claret, brand}', and even the classic sack, flowed in plentiful 

 libations among the guests." The surface of these islands is now intersected by 

 pleasant walks, where the more refined citizens of the present day indulge the 

 luxury of exercise and recreation. When the projected plan, of connecting 

 these islands with the opposite banks by means of chain bridges, shall have been 

 carried into effect of which an earnest has been already given in the completion 

 of one Inverness and its precincts will have scarcely a rival within the limits 

 of ancient Caledonia ; even now it may challenge comparison with the finest 

 cities in the kingdom. Every thing has been done for Inverness that can be 

 effected by wood or cultivation ; whilst, in a natural state, it unites the opposite 

 qualities of a rich campaign with the wildest Alpine scenery here interrupted, 

 and there contrasted, in the most striking manner. The beautiful plain on 

 which it stands girdled with hills, variegated in shape and size, here projecting 

 their rocky escarpments, there swelling in wooded cliffs, and interspersed with 

 pleasing evidences of improved taste and increasing prosperity presents one of 

 the finest prospects in the kingdom. 



On the Crown, a rising ground to the east of the town, formerly stood an 

 ancient castle,* the nucleus of the burgh, where Macbeth is supposed to have 

 resided when he perpetrated the murder of his sovereign. But on this point 

 Shakspeare and the antiquaries are at variance ; the latter having endeavoured 

 to vindicate the castle from so foul a stain, by transferring it to a place in the 

 vicinity. The version of the poet, however, will remain the more popular, and 

 is too intimately associated with the drama to be overthrown by antiquarian 

 arguments. This primitive fortress was razed by Malcolm Canmore, who built 

 another on the eminence close by the river, which, after having served as a 

 palace and fortress through a long line of royal descendants, was blown up by 

 the insurgent forces in the last rebellion. 



The Castle-hill has been very recently embellished with a spacious new 

 court-house, record-office, and county-rooms, to which, it is said, a jail, better 

 accommodated to the different classes of prisoners, will be added. Down to 



* " This castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air 

 Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself 

 Unto our gentle senses. 

 The guest of summer 



The temple-haunting martlet doth approve 

 By his loved mansionry, that the heaven's breath 

 Smells wooingly here." MACBETH, Act\. SceneG. 



