438 



PERTH. 



slowly, caloric is more sparingly consumed, and thus 

 accumulates in the body. Men usually lose flesh in 

 summer, and recover it in winter, because the in- 

 creased perspiration dissolves and removes more 

 substance from the body in the former season. 

 Therefore a man is cooled by sweat, and in the dry 

 heat of a fever is refreshed as soon as a crisis pro- 

 duces perspiration. An interruption or even a dis- 

 turbance of perspiration, for a long time, must then 

 produce results in the highest degree prejudicial to 

 the health, and even dangerous to life. These re- 

 sults, in a great measure, depend on the close con- 

 nexion of the operations of the skin with those of 

 the internal organs, and are the more stubborn and 

 injurious the longer the perspiration is impeded. 

 The increase of the internal warmth often produces 

 a fever; also noxious matters are collected in the 

 blood, from which it should be freed; therefore it 

 changes from its natural condition, and an unnatural 

 excitement is produced. Finally, the operation of 

 the other organs of secretion is immoderately in- 

 creased, because they have to perform in part the 

 office of the skin: thence result, after a cold, rheum, 

 sore throat, cough, also serious internal inflamma- 

 tions, diarrhoea, diabetes, dropsy, protracted rheuma- 

 tism, and various other diseases. In a physiological 

 view, William Cruickshank's Experiments on the 

 Insensible Perspiration of the Human Body (London, 

 1795) deserves mention. 



PERTH, an ancient and beautiful town of Scot- 

 land, the capital of the county of the same name, is 

 situated on the right bank of the river Tay, about 

 twenty-eight miles above its confluence with the sea; 

 distant from Edinburgh forty-three miles, from Glas- 

 gow sixty-one, and from Dundee twenty-one. 



Its origin has been assigned to a remote period, 

 some antiquaries supposing that it was the site of a 

 Roman town called Victoria, built by Agricola. The 

 Picts, after their conversion to Christianity, erected 

 a church here, and dedicated it to St John the Bap- 

 tist, whom they chose as the tutelar saint of the place, 

 which hence derived the appellation of St John's 

 Town. About the year 1210, it was strongly forti- 

 fied, and at that period it was regarded as the capital 

 city of the kingdom of Scotland. Previously to the 

 accession to the throne of the house of Stuart, and 

 until the murder of James I. in 1436-7, Perth was 

 the usual residence of the Scottish kings; and the 

 parliament-house, in a close on the north side of the 

 High-street, for some time used as an episcopal 

 chapel, stood till a recent period. Freemason's 

 Hall at present occupies its site. Fourteen par- 

 liaments were held here between 1201 and 1459. 

 The walls of the city were rebuilt in 1298 by 

 the English king, Edward I., whose deputies re- 

 sided here till they were expelled by Robert 

 Bruce. In the reign of Robert III., a singular com- 

 bat occurred on the North Inch, between thirty 

 picked men of the clan Chattan and the clan Kay 

 respectively, in the presence of the king. One of 

 the clan Chattan having absconded through fear, a 

 saddler of Perth, by name Harry Wynde, supplied 

 his place for half a French gold dollar, fighting, as 

 he himself said, for " his ain hand." This circum- 

 stance has been made the foundation of one of Sir 

 Walter Scott's novels, which is entitled, " The Fair 

 Maid of Perth." In 1437, James I. of Scotland was 

 assassinated at the convent of the Black Friars, near 

 this place, by the earl of Athol, Robert Graham, and 

 other conspirators. At Perth the Reformation of the 

 church of Scotland may be said to have commenced; 

 for on the eleventh of May, 1559, John Knox hav- 

 ing preached a sermon in the parish church before 

 many of the principal nobility, the people were so 

 strongly excited, that taking umbrage at some indis- 



cretion in the conduct of a Catholic priest who was 

 present, they broke down the altars and images in 

 the church, and then destroyed all the monasteries in 

 the town. It was at Gowrie castle, on the south- 

 east side of the town, that the Gowrie conspiracy, 

 one of the most mysterious occurrences in Scottish 

 history, took place. 



In 1644, Perth was seized by the marquis of Mon- 

 trose, after the battle of Tibbennuir ; in 1715, this 

 town was the head-quarters of the Pretender and 

 the earl of Mar ; and on the subsequent attempt to 

 restore the house of Stuart in 1745, Perth was for 

 some time occupied by the forces of Charles Edward, 

 the young Pretender. William the Lion, king of 

 Scotland, in 1210, granted a charter to the inhabi- 

 tants of Perth, or St John's Town, in which he con- 

 firmed the privileges which had been bestowed by 

 his grandfather, David I., and added several new 

 ones ; and this grant was ratified by succeeding so- 

 vereigns. 



Among the religious foundations of Perth, which 

 were destroyed at the Reformation, were a convent 

 of Dominican or black friars, founded by Alexander 

 II., in 1231 ; a convent of white friars or Carmelites, 

 founded in the reign of Alexander III.; a monastery 

 of Carthusian monks, founded in 1429 by James I. 

 of Scotland, who, with his queen, was interred in 

 the abbey church ; and a convent of Franciscan or 

 grey friars, founded in 14GO by lord Oliphant. In 

 the records of the town it is stated that a company 

 of players visited Perth in 1589, and obtained from 

 the ecclesiastical consistory permission to exhibit 

 dramatic performances, on condition that no swear- 

 ing, banning (cursing), nor any scurrility should be 

 spoken. Perth formerly gave the title of earl to the 

 family of Drummond ; but the title was forfeited by 

 James, the fourth earl, for his adherence to James 

 II., by whom he was created duke of Perth; his 

 two sons were attainted in 1745. 



An extensive commerce was long carried on be- 

 tween Perth and the seaports of the low countries. 

 The town seems to have derived advantage from the 

 civil war, under Charles I. ; for after the expedition 

 of Cromwell to Scotland, a great many of his sol- 

 diers settled here, and from them the native inhabi- 

 tants acquired a spirit of industry and enterprise, and 

 a taste for English arts and 'modes of living. There 

 is a salmon-fishery on the Tay of considerable ex- 

 tent. The fish, either pickled or packed in ice, is 

 sent to London ; smacks sailing every three or four 

 days during the season. The principal manufacture 

 here was that of linen goods; but it has been in a 

 great degree superseded by the cotton manufacture. 

 The manufactures of leather, shoes, boots, and gloves, 

 are prosecuted extensively. Printing at one time 

 contributed considerably to the trade of the town, 

 and from the Perth press proceeded an Encyclope- 

 dia, editions of the Scottish poets, and other works 

 of reputation. 



The environs of Perth present a most beautiful 

 and interesting appearance. The entrance to the 

 town from the Edinburgh road is on a gradual de- 

 scent to the South Inch, and is beautifully picturesque. 

 Pennant calls the view " the glory of Scotland.' 1 At 

 the commencement of the Inch (a spacious green) 

 there is a grand avenue of trees which extend to 

 the town on the north side, on which there is another 

 inch or green equally delightful. These fine ex- 

 panded lawns are adorned by the river Tay, which 

 flows along their green banks, the opposite shore 

 being clothed in all the luxuriance that art and the 

 hand of cultivation can produce. Adjoining the 

 North Inch is a handsome bridge which crosses the 

 Tay ; and immediately across this bridge is situated 

 the village of Bridge-end, leading to Kinnoul hill, 





