ridiculed before
the people. Among others, one James Wedderburn and his brother, John,
vicar of Dundee, are mentioned as having excelled in this kind of
composition. The same authors composed books of song, denominated "Gude
and Godly Ballads," wherein the frauds and deceits of Popery were fully
pointed out. A third brother of the family, being a musical genius, it
is said, "turned the times and tenor of many profane songs into godly
songs and hymns, whereby he stirred up the affections of many," which
tunes were called the Psalms of Dundee. Here, perhaps, was the origin of
"Dundee's wild warbling measures."

The conjoint forces of tragedy, comedy, ballads, and music, thus brought
to bear on the popular mind, was very great.

Dundee has been a great sufferer during the various civil commotions in
Scotland. In the time of Charles I. it stood out for the solemn league
and covenant, for which crime the Earl of Montrose was sent against it,
who took and burned it. It is said that he called Dundee a most
seditious town, the securest haunt and receptacle of rebels, and a place
that had contributed as much as any other to the rebellion. Yet
afterwards, when Montrose was led a captive through Dundee, the
historian observes, "It is remarkable of the town of Dundee, in which he
lodged one night, that though it had suffered more by his army than any
town else within the kingdom, yet were they, amongst all the rest, so
far from exulting over him, that the whole town testified a great deal
of sorrow for his woful condition; and there was he likewise furnished
with clothes suitable to his birth and person."

This town of Dundee was stormed by Monk and the forces of Parliament
during the time of the commonwealth, because they had sheltered the
fugitive Charles II., and granted him money. When taken by Monk, he
committed a great many barbarities.

It has also been once visited by the plague, and once with a seven
years' dearth or famine.

Most of these particulars I found in a History of Dundee, which formed
one of the books presented to me.

The town is beautifully situated on the Firth of Tay, which here spreads
its waters, and the quantity of shipping indicates commercial
prosperity.

I was shown no abbeys or cathedrals, either because none ever existed,
or because they were destroyed when the town was fired.

In our rides about the city, the local recollections that our friends
seemed to recur to with as much interest as