1803.] 
farms, and fent others to different parts 
of the kingdom, where farming is carried 
on after the moft improved plan. He gives 
allowances for farm-houfes, inclofings, 
and every other improvement in agricul- 
ture ; and being aided by the fpirited in- 
duftry of his tenants, he has made the 
whole face of the country weara very dif- 
ferent appearance from what it did fome 
years ago. His Lordfhip has drained a 
mofs on one of his eftates, of 115, anda 
lake of 217 Scotch acres, at the expence 
of feveral thoufands. Great numbers 
of artificers and labourers are conftantly 
employed in carrying on the works about 
his Lordfhip’s five feats in Scotland, all 
of which he keeps up, to the great advan- 
tage of the country. He is. univerfally 
beloved by his tenants, and always Paes 
to them in an eafy and familiar way, lift- 
ening to their complaints like a friend and 
a father, trulting nothing of this kind to 
his ftewards, but always redreffing their 
jut grievances himfelf. When travelling 
from one place to another, his Lordfhip, 
whenever he falls in with a perfon to 
whom he is not known, amules himfelf by 
queftioning them about hinfelf and his 
men of bufinefs; and often remedies 
abufes coniplained of in this way. When 
the late tearcity was {o much felt in the 
North of Scotland, his Lordthip fupplied 
his poor tenants with mealand grain at the 
ufual prices in years of plenty, and like- 
wife corporations ata very reduced price. 
His conttant ftudy hss been to improve 
and ornament the country ; and were 
ether proprietors to follow his laudable 
example, it would long ago have worn a 
very different afpeét. Rothemay is a fine 
eld houle of his Lordfhip’s, fituated in 
the parifh of Rothemay, in Bamfifhire. 
Anextenfive natural wood and large plan- 
tations around it render it extremely beau- 
tiful. Delgaty-caftle is another of his 
Lordfhip’s houfes, fituated feven miles 
from Duff-houle. This fine old cattle 
was built in the year 1550. ‘The thriv- 
ing manufaétories “of! Turriff are in its 
neighbourhood, and about three miles 
from the river Deveron, which divides the 
counties of Bamff and Aberdeen. 
Delgaty cafile thére is alfo a fine natural 
wood, and very extenfive plantations, and 
the adjacent country highly improved.— 
Innes-houfe likewife belongs to his Lord- 
fhip, furrounded by more than five thou- 
fand acres of his moit thriving plantations 
and improved farms. It 15 fituated with- 
in five miles of the river Spey, in the 
county of Moray, and about three miles 
from the town of Elgin. The water of 
MonTuyuy Mas. No. 105. 
Prefent State of the County of Bamff. 
About. 
113 
Leffie, which runs paft Elgin, empties it- 
felf into the fea about three miles from 
Innes-houfe. The lands alfo on the weft 
fide of Elgin are very good foil; the 
farms belonging toLord Fife in this neigh- 
bourhood are in good order. An exten- 
five natural oak-wood, which is elfewhere 
uncommon in that country, and planta~ 
tions extending four miles on the road 
to Forres, belong to his Lordfhip. At 
Mar-lodge, where his Lordfhip retires a 
fhort time in the fummer from his nume- 
rous cares to recrvit his health, Nature 
exhibits herfelf in the moft fublime and 
romantic attitude. The Dee rifes here in 
his enchanting foreft, and at the diftance 
of one hundred miles runs into the fea at 
Aberdeen. ‘The many waters that wan- 
der through the foreft of Mar are as clear 
as chryftal. The water-falls—the im- 
menfe number and variety of trees, fome 
of them eighteen fect in circumference, 
would have been a fine fubject for the 
pencil of Ruyfdale ; and Salvator Rofa’s 
genius would have had ample fcope among 
the rocks and mountains which are in this 
foreft, fo vaft, fupendous, and fublime.— 
Herds of red-deer, roe, and ail forts of 
game, abound amid the wild fcenery of 
this place, which in grandeur is perbaps 
unequalled in the world. The vaft tracts 
of land which his Lordfhip now poffeffes 
in addition to his immenie patrimonial 
territory, is a {trong inftance of what may 
be performed by a lifeof dignity and pru- 
dence, which contemas the frivolous and 
expenfive follies of fafhion; and the 
owners of thofe eftates which his Lordfhip 
has purchated, fome of them defcended 
from a long line of anceftors, verify the 
obfervation of Horace: 
Nam propriz telluris herum Natura, ne= 
que illum, 
Nec me, nec quemquam ftatuit. 
Nunc ager Umbrenifubnomine, nuper Ofelli 
Dictus, erit nulli proprius 5; fed cedetin ufum 
Nune mihi, nunc alii. 
The example of ingenious induftry, fet by 
James the late Earl of Findlater, and James 
the prefent Eat] of Fite, has been followed 
very generally by the gentlemen and the 
more opulent farmeis in the county.— 
Leafes have beengranted, contrary to the’ 
ujual practice in the greater part of the 
northern counties in Scotland ; and the 
whole country where improvement is prac- 
ticable wears an animated and cheerful af- 
pect. In former times the Lairds o 
Bamffthire, as of other parts of the North, 
were fo tyrannical, mean, and fhort-fight- 
ed, as to be offended at any appearance of 
comfort or elegance in the way of living 
and 
