4 THE AGlilCULTUKE OF THE 



which are very majestic, and which many go far Lo see, are the 

 most massive of any of the kind in Scotland. It was burned in 

 the year 1390 by Eobert Stewart, Earl of Buchan, and Lord of 

 Badenoch, known as the " Wolf of Badenoch." 



In the eighteenth century there was a good deal of manu- 

 facturing in Elgin. There were many hand-weavers in the 

 town, but the power-loom has superseded all these. There are 

 two woollen manufactories at present in the town, one at 

 Newmill and the other in Bishopmill. Besides these factories, 

 there is an extensive tan-work, which has been in operation for 

 more than half a century. Elgin is the county town of Moray- 

 shire, and the returnincr bursh for the member of Parliament 

 elected by Elgin, Banft', Cullen, Inverurie, Kintore, and Peter- 

 head. The parliamentary constituency in 1881 was 930. In 

 short, Elgin may be called a fashionable little city ; many retired 

 naval and military officers, and business men, have been, 

 attracted to it by its pleasant situation and mild climate. The 

 population of Elgin in 1881 was 7413, 3257 males and 4156 

 females. The number of separate families is 1816, and the 

 number of inhabited houses 1465, while there are about 40 

 houses vacant and about 20 building. During the past half 

 century the population has been slowly increasing, but not very 

 materially. The town derives considerable importance from the 

 fact that, so to speak, it is the metropolis of a large rural 

 district. 



It appears that the erection of th(i sheriffdom of Moray took 

 place in the reign of James II,, and, although Sir Alexander 

 Dunbar of Westheld was deprived of the earldom of the county 

 in the minority of James IT., because he was accounted an illegiti- 

 mate son of John Dunbar, he was in 1450 made heritable sheriff, 

 whose jurisdiction extended over the whole of the province of 

 Moray. About this period, or perhaps a little earlier, the county 

 of Inverness was much more intimately connected, socially and 

 commercially, with the north-eastern portion of the province of 

 Moray than it had been since the first of the fifteenth century 

 down to the retirement of Sheriff Bell in 1882, when the counties 

 of Elgin and Nairn were again put under the sheriff of Inverness 

 instead of the sheriff of Banff as they had been for many years. 

 A sheriff-substitute resides at Elgin, who holds sittings 

 alternately at Elgin, Nairn, Grantown, and PiOthes ; while Sheriff 

 Ivory, under whose jurisdiction are the counties of Inverness, 

 Moray, and Nairn, resides in Edinburgh. For a number of 

 years, or rather centuries, Elgin has been the seat of presby- 

 teries, law, and county courts. The gross annual revenue of the 

 burgh in 1880-81 was £30,297, 18s. 6d., while the railway 

 valuation amounted to £781. 



The other royal burgh in Morayshire is Forres, which is 



