668 



M O N T R O S E. 



Montroie. holy land, carrying along with him the heart of Robert 

 V -^V~*' de Brus *. It is distinguished as the first place in 

 Scotland where the Greek language was taught by 

 teachers from France, brought over by John Erskine 

 of Dun in 1534 ; and as having sent forth from its se- 

 minary the celebrated scholar Andrew Melville. It 

 was the birth place of the warlike Marquis of Mont- 

 rose ; and the house in which he was born was oc- 

 cupied as an inn not many years ago. It was the 

 only town in Scotland, so late as the commencement 

 of the eighteenth century, where a person could be 

 found who understood the management of pumps in 

 coal works, namely John Young, a citizen of Mon- 

 trose, who had been sent over to Holland by the ma- 

 gistrates for the purpose of learning the most impro- 

 ved modes of constructing and using windmills. It 

 was die first port made by the French fleet in De- 

 cember 1715 with the Pretender on board; and that 

 prince embarked at the same place in February of 

 the following year. But one of the principal events of 

 the history of Montrose regards an alteration in its own 

 municipal constitution. The set of the burgh former- 

 ly consisted of nineteen members, seventeen as repre- 

 sentatives of the guildry, and two as representing the 

 seven incorporated trades. The old council elected the 

 new; and the old and new elected the office-bearers. 

 But the magistrates and council, upon the petition of 

 the- guild-brethren and the incorporated trades, granted 

 to the former the election of their dean, who became 

 ex fffficio a member of council ; and to the latter the 

 election of their two representatives in council: and 

 this alteration in the set having been submitted to the 

 convention of royal burghs for their approbation, was 

 confirmed by them in July 1816. In consequence, 

 however, of an informality in the mode of electing the 

 magistracy at Michaelmas following, the burgh was 

 disfranchised by a sentence of the court of session ; 

 and, in answer to a petition from the inhabitants, a 

 new charter, with an improved constitution, was grant- 

 ed by the crown, in the following terms : " That the 

 town-council shall, as formerly, consist of nineteen 

 persons, including in that number the provost, three 

 bailies, the dean of gnild, treasurer, and the master of 

 the hospital ; of which nineteen, fifteen shall be resi- 

 dent guild- brethren, and four shall be resident crafts- 

 men, including the deacon-convener for the time: 

 That, at the Michaelmas election, the six eldest coun- 

 cillors for the time from the guildry, who have not 

 served in any of the offices after mentioned for the 

 year preceding, and the whole four councillors from 

 the craftsmen, shall go out, but shall nevertheless be re- 

 eligible, if their respective constituents shall think fit : 

 That, upon the Monday of the week immediately pre- 

 ceding Michaelmas in each year, the magistrates and 

 council shall meet and declare the names of the six 

 guild councillors who go out in rotation, and also what 

 vacancies have arisen during the preceding years by 

 death or otherwise, in the number of guild councillors : 

 That, on the following day, being Tuesday, the guil- 

 iliT incorporation shall assemble at their ordinary place 

 of meeting, and shall first elect their dean of guild, and 

 six members of the guildry, as his council for the ensuing 

 year; and the person so chosen as dean of guild, shall 

 in virtue of his office, be a magistrate and councillor of 

 the burgh; and the said incorporation shall then pro- 

 ceed to fill u.p the vacancies in the number of merchant 

 councillors, occasioned by rotation, non-acceptance, 



resignation, death, or otherwise, during the preceding Montroi*. 

 year : That the seven incorporated trades shall also as- v -y ' 

 semble together in one place on the said Tuesday, and 

 shall first elect their deacon convener, who shall, in 

 virtue of his office, be a councillor to represent the 

 trades; and they shall then proceed to elect other 

 three in the room of those who retire from office, and 

 that two of the four trades councillors to be so elected 

 may be guild brethren, being always operative crafts- 

 men, and the persons electing them shall have no vote 

 in the guild in the same election ; but the other two 

 trades-councillors shall be operative craftsmen and bur- 

 gesses only : That the council shall meet on the Wed- 

 nesday immediately preceding Michaelmas, unless Mi- 

 chaelmas-day shall happen to be upon Wednesday, in 

 which case they shall meet on Michaelmas day, and 

 conclude the annual election for the ensuing year, by 

 continuing the ex officiis members, electing the two 

 members of council, who do not go out by rotation, 

 and receiving the new members from the guildry and 

 trades ; and, after such election and receiving the new 

 councillors, the members both of the old and new coun- 

 cil shall, according to the former set of the burgh, 

 choose a provost, three bailies, a treasurer, and hospi- 

 tal-master; that the provost, bailies, treasurer, and 

 hospital-master, shall not be continued in their offices 

 longer than two years together ; but they, with the dean 

 of guild, shall remain ex qfflciis members of the council 

 for the year immediately following that in which they 

 shall have served in these offices respectively." 



The town of Montrose stands on a level sandy plain, Situation. 

 or peninsula, bounded on the north-east by the Ger- 

 man Ocean, on the south by the river South Esk, and 

 on the west by a large expanse of water called the Ba- 

 sin, about eight miles in circumference. This basin, 

 through which the South Esk flows into the sea, is 

 nearly dry at low water ; but is so completely filled by 

 every tide, as to wash the garden walls on the west 

 side of the town, and to afford sufficient depth of 

 water in the channel of the river for allowing small 

 sloops to be navigated to the distance of three miles 

 above the harbour. At these periods of high wa- 

 ter, the appearance of Montrose, when first discerned 

 from the public road on the south, is peculiarly strik- 

 ing, and seldom fails to arrest the eye of a stranger: 

 The basin opening towards the left in all the beauty 

 of a circular lake ; the fertile and fully cultivated fields 

 rising gently from its banks ; the numerous surround- 

 ing country-seats which burst at once upon the view ; 

 the town, and harbour, and bay, stretching farther on 

 the right ; and the lofty summits of the Grampians, 

 nearly in the centre of the landscape, closing the pros- 

 pect towards the north-west altogether present to the 

 view of the traveller one of the most magnificent and 

 diversified amphitheatres to be found in the united 

 kingdoms. A handsome wooden bridge over the 

 South Esk, (fully described in the Scots Magazine, 

 Feb. 18 J7.) founded in 1793, about 700 feet in length, 

 and one of the most remarkable structures of the kind 

 in Great Britain, forms a fine approach to the town, 

 with the harbour on the right, and the basin on th 

 left. The river at this point is of considerable depth, 

 about twenty feet at low water in ordinary tides, and 

 thirty-five at spring tides ; and so rapid, that it fre- 

 quently runs at the rate of six miles an hour. On the 

 west side of this entrance, and close upon' the river, is 

 the largest of the three mounts, to which the French 



* We have been indebted to James Burnes, Esq. the present provost of Montrose, for much curious information repeeting the anti- 

 quities of the place, which we regret that our limits will not admit of our inserting at large. 



