Perth, about twenty years since, and again recently, has engaged attention in connection with this title. The chief magistrate had, from an early period, been styled "Lord Provost," but the Court of Session on one occasion refused to acknowledge the right to such designation, and some years afterwards, in a case which came before them, the Lord Justice - Clerk and Lord Meadowbank challenged the claim which was made to the title, and the counsel for the Magistrates, Mr Patton, was called upon to show upon what grounds the designation was assumed. This was done briefly at the moment, consuetude, and the recognition of the title in some recent Acts, being chiefly rested on. But by order of the Court, a minute was subsequently given in on the part of the Magistrates, when, after discussion, and the Judges present delivering their opinions seriatim, they, on the 12th March 1836, unanimously sustained the title, with the exception of Lord Meadowbank and the late Lord Medwyn, who were of opinion that it required an express charter to warrant the assumption of the title. As the subject was one of interesting historical details, a well-prepared minute was lodged by the counsel, of which only the headings can be here cited: 1st, That the burgh of Perth was of high antiquity; 2d, That Perth enjoyed this pre-eminence until the middle of the fifteenth century, at which time Edinburgh became the capital; 3d, That though losing its pre-eminence by the selection of Edinburgh as a capital, Perth had uniformly and constantly maintained the second place in the order of burghs, and its right to do so has been repeatedly and solemnly acknowledged, as by a precept of King James VI., 30th May 1594, followed by a decreet-arbitral of the King and his Lords of Session, which was ratified by Parliament upon the 9th July 1606, since which period the right of priority has been enjoyed and exercised; 4th, Perth stands second in the order of the principal burghs in the rolls of the Convention, and of the Scottish Parliament; 5th, On the 15th April 1601, King James VI. accepted the office of chief magistrate of Perth ;* 6th, The charters of the burgh give a right to

* The metrical historian of Perth, although no authority in the argument, thus humorously celebrates the fact of King James VI. being proclaimed Provost of Perth at the market-cross, along with many festivities of which he was an eyewitness :

the burgesses to appoint a Sheriff, having within the town power and authority coextensive with the Sheriff of the county; 7th, For a very long period a use and consuetude have existed of addressing the chief magistrate of Perth by the title of the Lord Provost; he was introduced to the King at Holyrood House in 1822, by the Lord-lieutenant of Perthshire, under that title, and the Gazette of that time contained the address of "The Lord Provost, Magistrates and Council of Perth," which was presented to his Majesty, and acknowledged by the Secretary of State to have been received by the King in the usual form; and, 8th, and most conclusively, the chief magistrate received this title and designation under a deed granted by the Crown, and bearing the sign-manual of his Majesty, appointing him a director of the Royal Lunatic Asylum at Perth; a designation which was repeated in the charter passed upon the precept or warrant, and passing the Great Seal. *

Although, therefore, Perth was never the seat of a Bishop, nor constituted a city by royal charter, yet its claims to the dignity in question, now enumerated, appear to be many and strong, together with its having been, as the learned gentleman might have added also, a walled town; indeed, according to Jo. Major, anno 1521, "the only properly walled town in Scotland."+ But the time when it began to be styled city, and the authority by which the title was adopted, are unknown.

Lately the present Lord Advocate, in his Education Bill, designated Perth a town, and the chief magistrate Provost, but when a remonstrance was made to him on the subject, he acknow

"But who shall show the Ephemerides

Of these things which sometimes adorn'd that city?
That they should all be lost it were great pity;
Whose antique monuments are a great deal more
Than any inward riches, pomp, or store;

And privileges would you truly know,

Far more indeed than I can truly show:

Such were our Kings' good-wills, for to declare

What pleasure and contentment they had there.

But of all privileges this is the bravest,

King James the Sixth was burgess made and Provost."
ADAMSON'S Poem of The Muses' Threnodie, 1638.

* Traditions of Perth, 1836. Memorabilia of Perth, 1806.

+ De Gest. Scot., lib. i., fol. ix.

ledged that this was done through inadvertence, and restored the proper title.

In respect of the cumulative grounds of claim to the designation of city, Dunfermline bears a considerable resemblance to Perth.

Early in 1855, E. Henderson, Esq., LL.D., a native of Dunfermline, and, as already noticed, deeply interested in its antiquities, submitted a detailed statement of the grounds upon which he conceived that Dunfermline was entitled to this style and dignity, to the Right Hon. Lord Campbell, Lord Chief-Justice of England, when he had the honour of receiving an equally favourable response. The Memoranda to his Lordship, and his opinion, are, with some verbal alterations, as follow:

MEMORANDA.

"1. Dunfermline, as early as the year 1070, was a chief residence of Scottish royalty, and was more or less so up to the accession of James VI. to the English crown in 1603. About A. D. 1080, the capitular church of the Holy Trinity of Scotland was erected at Dunfermline, and two of its earliest seals had the following legends, viz.: 'Sigill. Capitli. Eccliesce Trinitatis, De Dunfermlin,' and 'Sigillum Sancte Trinitatis.' A few years afterwards (instead of Icolmkill) the capitular church of the Holy Trinity at Dunfermline became the future place of 'Sepultura Regum' for Scotland. In this church were interred eight kings, five queens, six princes, two princesses, and a long list of abbots, Scottish nobility, &c.

"2. As early as the year 1395, Dunfermline had 'a Guild,' constituted by the abbot, and endorsed by royal authority. About this period the town had ports, 'whereat were collectit the kyngis grate customis, and alswa the lessir customis of the plaice.' Dunfermline was governed by a mayor and aldermen, and its seal had the following legend, viz. : Sigillum Civitatis Fermiloduni.' (Seal of the City of Dunfermline). "3. The Bishop of Ross (Dr John Leslie), an accomplished scholar, and a man of extensive experience, published a 'History of Scotland,' in Latin, at Rome, in the year 1578. In alluding to Dunfermline in his History, he says of Malcolm: Templum in civitate Dunfermilingensi magnifice suis impensis exstructum sanctiss. Trinitati dicavit.'

"4. King James II., in one of his charters to the abbey (in 1450), declares that Dunfermline is a place to be held in the very highest esteem and veneration.

"5. Dunfermline never had a Bishop. Yet, its church of 'the Holy Trinity' might not differ much in its worship, as it did not in its architecture, from the usual cathedrals. In the year 1244, the Abbot of Dunfermline,

by virtue of a bull from the Pope, assumed the mitre and other pontifical ornaments, and was styled by the grace of God, Lord Abbot of Dunfermline,' and had a seat in the upper house of the Scottish Parliaments. Archbishops or Bishops, the Pope's Legates a Latere, Lord High Chancellors of Scotland, Secretaries of State, Lords of the Privy Council, &c., have been abbots of Dunfermline; and on two occasions, the Kyngis sons have held the abbacy.'

"6. The spiritual and temporal rights, &c., of Dunfermline Abbey were very great, viz.: The Abbot of Dunfermline was superior, or over-lord, of lands the property of others. He received the resignation of his vassals on bended knees, testifying all due humility. He had the right and privilege of holding his courts in the fullest manner, and giving judgement by duel, by combate, by yron, by fyre, or by water. The Abbey was exempted from attendance at courts of law, which was a common burden on other subjects. If any of the men on the territories of the Abbey committed a crime, they could be repledged from the Supreme Criminal Judges of the Kingdom, and brought to the abbot's court. The men belonging to the Abbey were bound to answer for their crimes nowhere but before the abbot and his court in the church of the Holy Trinity of Dunfermline. The abbot, by a bull from the Pope, was endowed with the formidable privilege of excommunication, which was used on several occasions.

"7. Dunfermline Abbey had very extensive possessions in churches, lands, &c. To the Abbey belonged the following churches and chapels, viz.: Abercrombie church and chapel, Bendochin, Calder, Carnbee, Cleish, Cousland, Dunipace, Dunkeld, church and chapel, Kellin, Kinross, Kinghorn (easter and wester), Kirkaldy, Kinghorn, Melville, Newlands, Newton, Newburn, North Queensferry chapel, Orwell chapel, Perth (its church of St John), Perth (its church of St Leonard), Perth (its chapel of the Castle), Stirling church and Stirling chapel of the Castle, Strathardolf, and Wymett, as also for a time the patronage of St Giles' Church, Edinburgh, Also the abbot was superior over the priories of Urquhart and Pluscardine in Morayshire, and, at a late period, prior of Coldingham, in the shire of Berwick; and as early as the year 1170, he was superior of the schools of Perth, Stirling, and several other schools in different parts of Scotland. The following is a list of some of the remote places from which the Abbey of Dunfermline derived revenues, conferred either by Scottish sovereigns or opulent subjects at various periods, from motives of gratitude or piety, viz.: Kildun (near Dingwall), Buckhaven, Balchristie, Carnbee, Crail, Newburn, Kinglassie, Kirkaldy, Abbotshall, Kinghorn, Burntisland, Kinross, Orwell, Perth, Scoue, Bendothy, Dunkeld, Kirkmichael, Dollar, Tillicoultry, Clackmannan, Stirling, Logie (near Stirling), Linlithgow, Cramond, Libberton, Maistertown in Newbottle, Newton, Inveresk, Tranent, Musselburgh, Haddington, Berwick, Coldingham, Roxburgh, Renfrew, &c. : Also from many places in the con

tiguous parishes of Inverkeithing, Beath, Saline, Cleish, Carnock, Torryburn, and Dunfermline parish itself. To the Abbey and Monastery of Dunfermline David I., by charter, granted the whole wood necessary for fuel and building; also the seventh seal of those caught at Kinghorn after being tithed. Malcolm IV., by charter, conferred on the Abbey the right of demanding and receiving the half of the fat of the whales that were caught or stranded in the Forth (except the tongue). The abbot had a ship that was exempted from duties. The monks, &c., had a right to the Queensferry passage and ship of Inverkeithing, on condition that those belonging to the court, as also strangers and messengers, should have a free passage. The abbot, &c., had likewise the customs of vessels entering the harbour of Inveresk; likewise houses, lands, annuities, salt-pans; and in 1291 obtained a coal-pit and stone-quarry. The abbot had an eighth part of all fines for offences levied in Fife. He was entitled to the skins and fat of all animals killed at festivals in Stirling. Alexander III., by charter, conferred on the Abbacy certain duties from his own kitchen. The first ships arriving at Perth and Stirling paid the monastery five merks of silver yearly for vestments. The Abbey, likewise, had a tenth part of all the hunting between Lammermoor and the river Tay, a tenth part of all the King's wild mares of Fife and Fothrif; a tenth part of all the salt and iron brought to Dunfermline for the King's use; a tenth part of the gold that might come to the King from Fife and Fothrif; a tenth of the cane payable in grain, cheese, malt, swine, eels, &c.; and a tenth part of all the Abbey lordship revenues in corn, animals, fishes, money, &c.

"8. Parliaments of Scotland have frequently been holden in Dunfermline; also meetings of the Convention of the Estates.

"With such extensive privileges, property, jurisdiction, &c., can Dunfermline claim the honour of being called a City ?"

Copy REPLY of the Right Hon. Lord CAMPBELL, Lord Chief-Justice of

England.

"STAFFORD, March 20, 1855. "SIR,-After carefully perusing your letter of the 13th instant, I am of opinion that Dunfermline is entitled to be called a City. "I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient faithful servant,

"To Dr Henderson," &c.

"CAMPBELL."

Manchester, too, had a bishop some years before it became a city, so that circumstance did not, ipso facto, constitute it a city. It became so only by royal charter.

It is a common and natural question, how old is the burgh seal of Dunfermline having the word Civitas? The question cannot be positively answered, as no record of the age either of