forms a junction with the water of St. Mary.-The town boafts of high antiquity. The Thanes of Fife, from the earliest times of which any account has been tranfmitted to us, held here their courts of juftice. It is at prefent governed by a provoft, three bailies, a dean-of-guild, 13 guild counsellors, who choose one another, and 8 trades counsellors or deacons, elected by the 8 incorporations.-The town of Cupar is the most wealthy community in the county of Fife. Its annual revenue, at prefent, amounts to 430 1. Sterling. In conjunction with the towns of Perth, Dundee, St. Andrews, and Forfar, it fends a commiffioner to Parliament. The revenue arifing from the poft-office, in 1763, was 20 1. per quarter; it now amounts to go 1. Sterling per quarter.

Population. The population, which was accurately afcertained in the month of June 1793, has increased greatly within thefe 40 years, as appears from the following table:

POPULA

In the chartulary belonging to the Benedictine Monks of Dunfermline, we find a precept by "Willielmus, Comes de Rofs, “ juftitiarius ex parte boreali, maris Scoticani, conftitutus," directed,

Davidi de Vemys, vice-comiti de Fyfe," warranting him to deliver, to the monastery of Dunfermline, the eighth part of the amercements of Fife, impofed in the courts held at Cupar, in the year 1239. In the rolls of the Parliament, affembled in the beginning of the reign of David II. may be feen the names of the Commiffioners from the royal burgh of Cupar. The town, in antient times, depended on the Earls of Fife. The castle of Cupar was the chief refidence of that powerful family for many ages. The town is in poffeffion of feveral royal charters, conferring on them extenfive property, and many valuable privileges.

POPULATION TABLE OF THE PARISH OF CUPAR OF FIFE.

A more particular statement of the number of the inhabitants, ranked according to their different profeffions and occupations, will be inferted, along with other articles, in the STATISTICAL TABLE, at the conclufion of this ac

count..

Buildings, &c.-Cupar, especially when approached by the turnpike road from the east, has the appearance of a neat, clean, well built, thriving town. The ftreets, within the laft twelve months, have been all completely paved at the expence of the corporation. There are no houfes in ruins, and none untenanted. Upwards of a third part of the town has been rebuilt, during the last 25 years, in a neat and handfome ftile. Confiderable additions have also been made. No

• The number of females, fo much exceeding that of the males, must be accounted for chiefly from this circumstance, that the youth of Cupar, at all times forward to engage in the military life, are many of them, at prefent, abroad in the fervice of their country. The population has advanced rapidly of late years, owing to the extention of the linen manufacture, and to the increased demand for hands employed in erecting new buildings, and in carrying on important and extentive im provements in gardening and agriculture.

1

No less than 70 houses, chiefly for manufacturers and labou rers, have lately been built on St. Mary's Water, or, as it is called, the Lady Burn. A ftreet, in a better ftile, has begun to be formed, on the road leading from the bridge on the fouth fide of the town.

Church. The parochial church of Cupar, in early times, ftood at a confiderable distance from the town, towards the north, on a rifing ground, now known by the name of the Old Kirk-yard. The foundations of this ancient building were removed by the prefent proprietor, in 1759; and many human bones, turned up in the adjoining field by the plough, were collected and buried in the earth. In the year 1415, this structure had become ruinous, or incapable of accommodating the numbers who reforted to it. In the course of that year, the prior of St. Andrews, (the head of all the regular clergy in Scotland, and poffeffed of inmenfe revenues), for the better accommodation of the inhabitants of the town of Cupar, and that the rites of religion. might be celebrated with a pomp, gratifying to the taste of the age, erected, within the royalty, a fpacious and magnificent church. The year in which this erection took place, is afcertained by the following extract from the Book of Paisley : "Sal: Hum. 1415. In Cupro de Fyfe fundata eft nova parochialis ecclefia, quae prius diftabat a Burgo ad plagam bo• "realem." This church was built in the beft ftile of the times, of polished free ftone, in length 133 feet, by 54 in breadth. The roof was fupported by two rows of arches, extending the whole length of the church. The oak couples were of a circular form, lined with wood, and painted in the taste of the times. In 1785, this extensive building was found to be in a state of total decay. The heritors of the parish refolved to pull down the old fabric, and to erect,

on the fame fitc, a church on a more convenient plan. This plan they have accordingly carried into execution, at a very confiderable expence; and the new church of Cupar is by far the most convenient and elegant ftructure of the kind, to be found at prefent in the county of Fife. It is to be regretted, however, that the new building was not joined to the fpire of the old church, which fill ftands. The vestry, er feflion-houfe, by intervening between the church and Spire, gives a detached and aukward appearance to both. The fpire has always been confidered as a very hardfome ftructure, and appears light and elegant when viewed from the caft or weft. It was built by the Prior of St. Andrews, in 1415, only up to the battlement. All above that was added in the beginning of the last century, by Mr William Scot, who was for many years minifter of Cupar.

County Room.-During the period in which the church was erected, the gentlemen of the county, by fubfcription, and by an affeffiment on their valued rents, built on a large feale, and in the modern tafte, adjoining to the town-houfe, a room for their ufe at head courts, for their accommodation at balls, &c. A tea room, and other apartments, have fince been added.

Prifcns.-Oa the oppofite end of the town-houfe, and under the fame roof, there are apartments of a very different nature, not conftructed for the elegant accommodation of the rich and

This gentleman was of the antient family of BALWEARIE, poffeffed of a confiderable eftate, and a great favourite with Archbishop Spottiswood, with whom he paffed much of his time in the neighbouring delightful retreat of Dairfie. He died in 1642, in his 85th year, and his remains were interred in a handsome tomb, created by his family, at the west end of the church-yard.

and powerful, and to add to the splendour of their "gay"fpent feftive nights;" but calculated for fecuring and pu nishing those, who, by their misconduct or their crimes, have fubjected themselves to the arm of the law, and which have continued, in their prefent form, for ages paft, the dismal receptacles of the accufed, the profligate, and the guilty. -The prifons of Scotland, (if with propriety we can give that name to the dungeons in which, all over the kingdom, criminals are confined), accord but too well with the barbarifm which marked and difgraced that remote period, in which most of them were erected, and with that favage and illiberal fpirit, which feems to have dictated no inconfiderable part of our criminal code. The prifon of Cupar, which is the public jail, for the very populous and wealthy county of Fife, yields perhaps to none, in point of the meannefs, the filth, and wretchedness of its accommodations. It is, in truth, a reproach to the town in which it stands, a difgrace to the county which employs it, and a stain on that benevolent and compaffionate fpirit, which distinguishes and dignifies this enlightened age, and which has led it kindly to attend to "the forrowful fighing of the pri"foner," to meliorate his fituation, and foot he his woes. How would the feelings of the benevolent How ARD, who, with unparallelled activity, and astonishing perfeverance, unfhaken and unterrified, like a kind angel, went through every land, demanding and obtaining comfort to the wretched, and liberty to the captive!-How would his feelings have been shocked, if, in his compaffionate tour, he had turned afide into the peninfula of Fife, and visited the cells of Cupar !

The apartment deftined for debtors is tolerably decent, and well lighted. Very different is the state of the prifon under it, known by the name of "the Iron-houfe," in which perfons fufpected of theft, &c. are confined. This is a dark,

damp,