cathedral 
of DORNOCH. ' 
£)°RNoch, the chief town of the county of Sutherland , is fituated on the banks 
a firth, which penetrates almoft to the centre of that part of Scotland, and 
ai 'tn ? ^ ^ ^ as ^ ven its name. All along the banks of the firth, as is ulual on 
the S ^ ea> t ^ ie g rounds are in a higher ftate of cultivation than is general in 
and Inter * or P a rts of the country : in failing up this, the profpefts are pidturefque 
the rUra ^ ever finely varying. The number of fmall vefifels, and the traffic which 
ance ° CCaflon J the fifftermen, their boats, &c. animate the fhores with the appear- 
tu&o. : — pleafant farms enriching the declivities of the hills j the lofty 
fir J e fountains, which tower beyond, and are fometimes projefted into the 
thofe ^ eterrn i n ing its windings, prefent a combination of romantic fcenery, which 
i nt delight in the varied profpefts of nature, will hardly Purvey without 
refti «g pleafure. 
the i 0t ^ 1Tlerce > however, is not yet fufiiciently alive at Dornoch to compenfate for 
it s ly>' S ^ ^fiained, when the opulence ceafed to circulate in it, which fprung from 
Wj^^g an epifcopal refidence. Many of the more ancient towns of Scotland , 
thei^ ^ 0 uri fi 1 ing ftate arofe from religious eftablilhments, like Dornoch, have from 
fpl en a °ii t ion fallen into a mournful decay. This formerly, like Durham , the 
ledo- e 1 ^ eat Ecclefiaftics, where learning flourilhed, and whence divine know- 
ret Da' " aS now only exhibits the fad memorials of its ancient ftate, by the 
di&n-c S dle Cathedral church, and fcarce habitable ruins of the dwellings of the 
Stllfi ed clergy. 
*Th 
°Pen 6 ^ ean ’ s fioufe, which in the early days of evangelical inftitutions was the 
fl and ho <pitable refort of the traveller and ftrangerj where accommodation 
by p terin g> and the light of fcience opened intelle&ual entertainment j has ftill, 
ii\t 0 ^ fatalit y> a haplefs allufion to its former appropriation, being converted 
but the decayed ftairs, and mouldering walls, and forlorn look of the 
a Pan 
an 
brie 
inn 
'The 
nt s, fuggeft but melancholy recollections of its original deftination. 
*hef e ~ part ’ the aItar end of " the Cathedral, is completely in ruins : from 
^ 0 t hi c UlnS5 annexed plate exhibits fomething of the ftile of the columns and 
arch es, in which that facred edifice had been built. Another wing is ftill 
I 2 pretty 
