bd 
4 
1802.] 
canal being brought from the river Al- 
mond, at the diftance of four miles, which 
filled the trenches of the town (for Perth 
was then firongly fortified), but at what 
precife time this canal was firft cut, is’ 
not quite certain; this we know, from 
the town’s charters, that the canal ex- 
ifted fix hundred years ago, and it exilts 
at this moment, and is a fine body of 
water, nearly as large as the New River 
at London, and is ufed in ferving feveral 
bleach-fields before it comes to the town; 
and at the town it ferves a complete fet 
of mills, which bring in to the Corporation 
about one thouland pounds fterling a-year 
of rent. ) 
I mentioned before, that the town was 
fortified ; and, as it commanded the paflage 
over the river Tay, the poffeffion of it was 
much difputed in the times of Bruce and 
Baliol, and Edward the Firft and Edward 
the Third of England often refided in it, 
and the walls were pretty entire till about 
fixty years ago, but now fcarcely a veltige 
of them remains. 
The lait fieze Perth fuftained was from 
Oliver Cromwell. They kept him out a 
day, but then opened the gates; and to 
bridle the town, he ordered a citadel to be 
built on the fide of the Tay below the 
town, which was demolifhed at the re- 
fioration of Charles the Second. 
In the times of Popery, Perth hada 
number of religious houfes; fome of them, 
pirticularly the Charter-houfe, or Char- 
treux, were very magnificent, and had 
largerevenues. They were all demolith- 
ed at the Reformation, by John Knox and 
his mob, and in two or thrée days not a 
veftige of them remained: and it is fur- 
pulling, they fpared the prefent church, 
which isa very Jarze one, and in which 
John Knox preached that fermon ‘which 
enraged the mob fo much, that they jin- 
ftantly broke all the images in the church, 
and then fell upon the monafteries in the 
town and neighbourhood, and proceeded 
through the whole kinzdom to demolith 
every thing that had relation to religion ; 
by which means many fine edifices, which 
were an ornament to the country, were 
levelled with the ground, 
In very ancient times, Perth had a 
bridge over the Tay, which appears to 
have received much damage, by floods 
and ice, at different times, but was often 
repaired : but inthe year 1621 it was to- 
tally iwept away; and, till the prefent 
bridge was built, they crofled the river 
in terry-boats. 
The trade of Scotland, in old times, 
was very inconfiderable; but it appears 
{ ; é 
from old writings in the town-archives, 
Account of Perth. : 843 
that Perth had a good fhare of it, and 
that there was then fome linen manutac- 
tured, which afterwards came to be the 
ftaple of the country. she 
But it.was not till after the Union, or 
rather till after the year 1745, that. the 
linen- manufacture flourifhed, which it,now 
does, to a great extent; and, of late 
years, the manufacturers have got into 
fome branches of the cotton trade; and as 
we have a good many bleach fields and 
print-fields belonging to people in the 
town, a great deal of bufinefs is done, 
and many people employed. 
This town is the centre of the fal« 
mon-fifting inthe Tay: the fifh are fent 
to London in fmacks, either frefli or 
pickled, and it has been a mott beneficial 
trade to thofe concerned: but what may 
feem ftrangeis, that itis very difficult for 
the inhabitants to get.adifh of falmon ; 
and when they do, it cofts them nearly as 
dear as in London. ! 
In the year 1766 the foundation of our 
new bridge was laid, and it was finifhed 
In 177r: it is a moft fubftantial and 
handfome bridge, of nine arches, and is 
of the greateit advantage to the town and 
neighbourhood, as well as ta the king- 
dom at large; for it connetis the South 
with the North, and as turnpike-rcads 
are now very general, the improvement 
of the country has gone on very rapidly. 
A fubfcription for building the bridge 
was opened, and the noblemen, gentle- 
men, and others, fubfcribed liberally, and 
an Act of Parliament was obtained for 
laying on a toll; but by the indefaticable 
exertions of the late Earlof Kinnoul, who 
took much pains and trouble to forward 
the work, a confiderable fum was ob- 
tained from the rents of the forfeited’ 
eftates in Scotland, which paid off all the 
debt, and the bridge has been free more 
than twenty years. : 
We have had for more than two cen- 
turies anoted grammer {chool; and when 
learning Latin was more the vogue than 
itis now, Perth produced fome eminent 
Latin poets, as may be feen in the Deiz- 
cite Poeiarum Scotorum : but now few learn 
Latin, though ours mafters are ftill very 
capable of teaching it. | 
We have, however, a very ufeful efta- 
blifument, which took place about forty 
years ago-—an Academy for fitting young 
people fcr ative life: they are taught 
different parts of the mathematic’, men-’ 
furation, navigation, drawing, and the 
French language ; and it is obfervable that 
“our young people are now more intelligent 
than formerly :—-and about twenty years 
ago a library was fet on foot, by fub- 
yeni {cription 
