Ann. reduced confols PRICES of of STOCKS, &c. India | Sou. Sea. Old S. S. New S. S., 3 per C. 3 per C. 3 per C. 3 per C.3 per C.B. 4. P. C 3 B. Lo.An.In, B. Stock Stock Ann. In Ann. B. 1726. 1751 Conf. 1758 &c. in NOVEMBER, 1776. NavyB. Lottery Prem. Difc. Tick. 821 11 16 Wind Weath ONE 31 1165 82 83 44 1 165 82 83 17 6 NE 2 165 82 83 44 Sunday 11 18 6 W 10 Sunday 167 81 1 83 4 42 32 167 81 68 1 42 11 18 11 18 OW SW 13 169 82 4 14 140 15 140 169 16 82 86 42 2 12 1 83 86 42 2 12 10 of SW Rain 83 140 N 83 86 42 86 36 19 141 81 82 85 20 141 169 83 85 37 21 141 82 834 85 37 22 341 165 824 85 37 23 165 8 83 85 37 2 222222 2 13 13 S ON W 13 9 O NW NNW 23 AVERAGE PRICES of GRAIN, by the Standard WINCHESTER Bushel, Rye. Barley, | Oats. Beans. Wheat. Rye. Barley. Oats. Beans. s. d. 3. d. THE LONDON MAGAZINE. FOR NOVEMBER, 1776. For the LONDON MAGAZINE.' Account of INCHSTUTHEL, the modern DELVIN, the Seat of JOHN MACKENSIE, Ejq;* (Illuftrated with an accurate Engraving.) HE fituation of the houfe is very fingular. On a flat of 154 Scotch acrest, regularly fteep on every fide, and in every part of equal height-about 60 feet above the great plain of Stormont which it ftands on. The figure is very remarkable as appears from the plate. "Two nations took advantage of this natural ftrength, and fituated themselves on it. The Picts, the long poffeffors of thefe eaftern parts of the kingdom, in all probability had here an oppidum, or town, fuch as uncivilized people inhabited in early times; often in the midft of woods, and fortified all round with a dike. Here we find the veftiges of fuch a defence; a mound of stones and earth running along the margin of the fteep, in many places entire: in others, time or accident hath rendered it lefs vifibie, or hath totally deftroyed it. The ftones were not found on the fpot: but were brought from a place two miles diftant, where quarries of the fame kind are still in ufe. Another dike croffes the ground, from margin to margin, in the place it begins to grows narrow. This feems intended as the first defence against an enemy, fhould the inhabitants fail in defending their outworks, and be obliged to quit their station and retire to a ftronger part. Near the extremity is what I fhould name their citadel; for a fmall portion of the end is cut off from the reft by five great dikes, and as many deep foffes; and within that is the ftrong hold, impregnable against the neighbouring nations. Nov. 1776. This place had alfo another fecurity which time hath diverted from them: the river Tay once entirely environed the place, and formed it into an island, as the name in the ancient language, which it ftill retains, imports; that of Inch-ftuthel, or the ille of Tuthel. The river at present runs on one fide only: but there are plain marks on the north in particular, not only of a channel, but of fome pieces of water, oblong, narrow, and pointing in the direction the Tay had taken, before it had ceafed to infulate this piece of ground. I cannot afcertain the period when its waters confined themfelves to one bed; but am informed that a grant ftill exifts from one of the James's of a right of fishing in the river, at Caput mac Athol, eaft of the place. It is not to be imagined that there can be any traces of the habitations of a people who dwelt in the most perifhable hovels: but as the most barbarous nations paid more attention to the remains of the dead, than to the conveniency of the living, they formed, either for the protection of the reliques of their chieftains from in- . fults of man, or favage beaft, or for fepulchral memorials, mounts of different fizes. -Monuments of this kind are very frequent over the face of this plain: the tumuli are round, not greatly elevated, and at their bafis furrounded with a fofs. Many bones have been found in fome of thefe barrows, neither lodged in stone chefts nor depofited in urns. The Romans, in their courfe along this part of Britain, did not neglect fo fine a fituation for a ftation. Not4 C2 withganding *By Mr. Pennnat. + One Scotch acre is one acre, one rood, and one perch Englifb. 564 Account of Inchftuthel, the modern Delvin. : The firft was once inclofed with a wall fourteen feet thick, whofe foundations are remembered by two farmers of the name of Stertan, aged about seventy; who had received from their father and grandfather frequent accounts of afhes, cinders, brick, iron utenfils, weapons, and large pieces of lead, having been frequent. ly found on the fpot, in the course of ploughing and to the weft of this ftation, about thirty years ago were discovered the veftiges of a large building, the whole ground being filled with fragments of brick and mortar. A rectangular hollow made of brick is ftill entire; it is about ten or twelve feet long, three or four feet wide, and five or fix feet deep. Boethius calls this place the Tulina of the Picts; and adds, that in their time it was a most populous city; but was deferted and burnt by them on the approach of the Romans under Agricola. He alfo informs us, that it bore the name of Inchtuthel in his days. The materials from which Nov. this hiftorian took the early part of his work are unknown to us, any further than what we learn from himfelf, that they were records fent to him in 1525 from Jona; but by whom compiled, remains undiscovered. I do not doubt his affertion; nor do I doubt but that fome truths collected from traditions may be fcattered amidft the innumerable legendary tales, fo abundant in his firft books. This I would wish to place among the former, as the actual veftiges of two nations are ftill to be traced on the fpot. I would alfo call it the Orrea of the Romans, which the learned Stukely fuppofes to have been Perth, notwithstanding he places it in his map north-east of the Tay, and on the very fpot where the prefent Delvin ftands. Near this fpot is Loncarty, celebrated for the fignal victory obtained by the Scots under Kenneth III. over the Danes, by means of the gallant peafant Hay and his two fons, who with no other weapons than yokes, which they fnatched from their oxen then at plough, first stopped the flight of their countrymen, and afterwards led them on to action. The noble families of Hay derive their defcent from this ruftic, and in memory of the action bear for their arms the instrument of their victory, with the motto of fubjugo. The king granted Hay as much ground as a falcon would furround in its flight; of which Delvin is thought to be a part. For the LONDON MAGAZINE. THE BRITISH THEATRE. OME of the leading caufes of the extreme S degeneracy English stage were very freely, and, we hope, very impartially difcuffed by us in our general Critique for the last month. Towards the conclufion of that month however, a kind of reformation heing promised by the managers of both houles, by fpecious advertisements, informing the Town that the productions of Congreve, and fome other of our mcft celebrated dramatic writers, would be fhortly ferved up, it induced us to check that degree of critical chaftifement, which truth would have amply juftified, but which promifes of amendment in future, would not then permit us to innic. We held the rod fufpended over the managers heads, in terrorem: we neve meant to throw it by and blindly trust to their affurances.-We concluded our criticifm for last month in the following remarkable words: "We are permitted to lay no more at prefent, but that the managers of Covent Garden, are forgiven their old faults, the managers of both houses, fince the commencement of the prefent feason, their new ones; and that there is nothing we more fincerely defire, than that obfervations for the month of November may, with juftice, abound with well-founded panegyric, inflead of just cenfure. Thus ftood the account between the Author of thefe detached obfervations on one part, and Meffrs. Sheridan and Co. and Meffts. Harris and Co. with their respective fuites, |