736 



PETERHEAD PICKEN. 



Peterborough derives its name from an abbey 

 founded here during the Heptarchy, and dedicated 

 to St Peter. The present edifice, now the cathe- 

 dral of Peterborough, was begun in the year 1117, 

 and finished to a certain extent in 1143. In 120<>, 

 the abbey being in a state of poverty, king John 

 appointed Acharius, prior of St Albans", as abbot, 

 by whose care it began to flourish, and in 1238 it 

 contained one hundred and ten monks. It is sup- 

 posed, that soon after this, the beautiful west front 

 of the Cathedral was erected. By the west front 

 must be understood, the two square towers, with 

 lofty pinnacles, at the north-west and south-west 

 corners ; the three noble gothic arches which stand 

 between these towers; and the portico between 

 the arches and the west wall of the church. 

 Within each of the two towers is a winding stair- 

 case, leading up to the roof of the portico. That 

 portion of the cathedral, called the new building, 

 which is at the east end, is considered the most 

 modern portion of the whole, the date of it being 

 about A. D. 1500. 



The dimensions of the principal parts of the 

 building are as follows : 



Feet. 



Length of the whole Cathedral, measured on the outside, 479 

 Length of the Transept from north to south, . . 203 



Breadth of the west front, 156 



Height of the Lantern, 150 



Height of each Uothic arch at the west front, . S2 



In 1534, Chambers, the then abbot, together 

 with the prior and thirty-seven monks, professed, 

 under their hands and seals, fidelity and obedience 

 to king Henry VIII. and acknowledged him to be 

 supreme head of the church of England. Peter- 

 oorough then became a bishopric, and its abbey a 

 cathedral. In the following year, Catharine, the 

 first wife of Henry VIII., died at Kimbolton Castle, 

 Huntingdonshire, and was buried on the north side 

 of the choir, nearly opposite to the bishop's throne. 

 In the same cathedral, in July 1587, by torch- 

 light, the remains of the unhappy Mary, Queen of 

 Scots, were consigned to a tomb on the south side 

 * of the choir. Fotheringay castle, where she was 

 executed in the February preceding, is about ten 

 miles from Peterborough. After the body had re- 

 mained in its tomb for about twenty-five years, 

 her son, James I., removed it to Westminster 

 Abbey; but the superb monument raised to her 

 memory continued entire. 



The income of the bishopric of Peterborough is 

 comparatively small, being, according to the par- 

 liamentary return made by the bishop, only 3518. 

 By a recent law, it is to be augmented from part 

 of the revenue of the see of Ely, and the archdea- 

 conry of Leicester is placed under the episcopal 

 jurisdiction of Peterborough. 



PETERHEAD; a burgh and sea-port of 

 Scotland, in the district of Buchan, and county of 

 Aberdeen, situated upon the most easterly point 

 of the mainland of Scotland, thirty-two miles N. 

 by E. of Aberdeen, and 145 N. E. of Edinburgh. 

 It was erected into a burgh of barony in 159,3 by 

 George, earl Marischall, and the superiority of the 

 town belonged to the Marischall family till forfeited 

 in 1715. In 1728, the governors of the Merchant- 

 Maiden Hospital of Edinburgh acquired the greater 

 part of Peterhead by purchase, and, as superiors, 

 they had the nomination of the magistrates, until 

 the passing of the burgh reform bill in 1832, when 

 the municipal government was vested in twelve 

 councillors, who from their own number choose a 

 provost, three bailies, and a treasurer. The weekly 



market day of the town is Friday ; and there are 

 two annual fairs. The town is built in the form 

 of a cross, and is divided into four districts, which 

 are united to each other by a continuation of streets; 

 these districts are respectively called the Kirktoun, 

 Ronheads, Keith Inch, and Peterhead proper. 

 The houses, which are built of granite, so abun- 

 dant in various parts of the county of Aberdeen, 

 are neat and comfortable, and many of them com- 

 modious and elegant. The streets of recent 

 erection are well laid out. The harbours of 

 Peterhead are safe and commodious, and acces- 

 sible both from the south and north, being about 

 equally distant from the Firths of Forth and 

 Moray. To vessels frequenting the east coast of 

 Scotland, as well as to the regular traders of the 

 port, they afford excellent protection. At the 

 extremity of the south bay a light-house is erected. 

 The shipping belonging to the port amounts to 

 about 13,000 tons, and about 250 vessels annually 

 seek shelter in the harbour. The exports chiefly 

 consist of agricultural produce and the produce of 

 the fisheries ; also of granite from the neighbouring 

 quarries. The imports are groceries, flour, iron, 

 timber, coal, lime, &c. Peterhead has been long 

 engaged in the whale and herring fisheries. It 

 lately owned twelve vessels in the whale trade 

 alone, with 3629 tons. In 1837, 262 boats were 

 employed in the herring fishery, and upwards of 

 40,000 barrels of herring were caught. The district 

 of Buchan, of which Peterhead may be denominated 

 the capital, forms an excellent resort for those 

 who require the bracing effects of sea bathing and 

 sea air, and in its vicinity are certain chalybeate 

 waters long esteemed in cases of general debility 

 and nervous affections. Population of town and 

 parish of Peterhead in 1841, 7619. See a curious 

 History of Peterhead, composed, printed, and pub- 

 lished by the author, Peter Buchan. 



PICKEN, ANDREW, the author of the " Domi- 

 nie's Legacy," was born at Paisley in the year 

 1788. His father was an eminent manufacturer in 

 that town, and educated him for the mercantile 

 profession. At an early age he visited the West 

 Indies ; but finding that the business in which he 

 was engaged afforded no very bright prospects, he 

 returned to Europe, and obtained a confidential 

 situation in the bank of Ireland. To the great 

 regret of his Irish friends, he subsequently re- 

 moved to Glasgow, and entered into business. 

 Here he first came before the world as an author, 

 by publishing " Tales and Sketches of the West 

 of Scotland," a work which had great local suc- 

 cess. In this volume, appeared for the first time, 

 the pathetic story of " Mary Ogilvie," which 

 showed no common power of combining the ordi- 

 nary incidents of life, into pictures of intense and 

 harrowing interest. Soon after this publication, 

 circumstances induced the author to quit Glasgow ; 

 and he removed to Liverpool, where he established 

 himself as a bookseller. The mania of specula- 

 tion, which in 1826 seized even on those who were 

 deemed paragons of worldly wisdom, found too 

 ready a victim in Picken, to whom the world of 

 business was as a sealed volume ; he joined in some 

 of the wild projects of the time, and lost his all. 

 But like Francis I., he might have boasted that 

 honour still remained ; when his books were in- 

 spected, the creditors with one voice, bore hon- 

 ourable testimony to his integrity, and expressed 

 their sorrow for his misfortunes. They would 

 readily have aided him in commencing business 



