HISTORIC IN SCENES PERTHSHIRE. BY WILLIAM MARSHALL, D.D., COUPAR ANGUS, 99 66 MEN OF NOTE IN BRITISH CHURCH HISTORY," THE WESTMINSTER STANDARDS 66 PREFACE. This Volume is composed of Papers which had been appearing for years in the Weekly News of Dundee. The Volume is identical in character and design with "Historic Scenes in Forfarshire," published in 1875. In the Preface to it we said two things which it is expedient to repeat here. The first was, that Historic Scenes being our theme, other subjects, however closely allied, were either avoided by us, or were touched on only so far as they were subservient to our proper purpose. The second was, that our Papers were compiled for the information and entertainment of the general reader. We, therefore, studiously shunned all nice and doubtful questions, which had engaged the researches and exercised the ingenuity of learned inquirers into our annals. These could only have perplexed and repelled the mass of those to whom the Penny Weekly Newspaper has happily become indispensable. If there is any difference between this Volume and its predecessor, it lies in the more patient and ample treatment which the Scenes in Perthshire have received. Our writing on those in Forfarshire was so far an experiment. It had not, so far as we were aware, been previously attempted in the Penny Weeklies of Dundee. It remained to be seen what acceptance such Papers would have from the general reader; and the fear of wearying him hurried us, sometimes perhaps unduly. We were not haunted by any such apprehension in compiling our Papers on the Perthshire Scenes; we were sure of the avidity with which they would be read. We composed them, making a freer and larger use of the materials we had before us, and it is to be hoped that the information contained in them will be found comparatively more replete and more satisfactory. Accuracy has been aimed at throughout, but we cannot flatter ourselves that it has been always reached. It is scarcely attainable in a work of such extent, dealing with matters so multitudinous and so multifarious, and over many of which, notwithstanding the efforts of savans to illuminate them, not a little obscurity hangs. Our thanks are due to Subscribers, and are hereby tendered to them. The circulation of the Volume must be mainly local, and without their kindly encouragement we could hardly have ventured on putting it to the Press. COUPAR ANGUS, January, 1880. CONTENTS. - -- CITY OF PERTH. - -- "The Fair City"-Its antiquity-Original site- - - spirators appointed to be tried at Perth-General - |