On Monday we were
invited into the town-hall, where I had the freedom of the city
given me by the Lord Provost. The honour conferred had all the
decorations that politeness could add, and what I am afraid I
should not have had to say of any city south of the Tweed, I found
no petty officer bowing for a fee.
The parchment containing the record of admission is, with the seal
appending, fastened to a riband and worn for one day by the new
citizen in his hat.
By a lady who saw us at the chapel, the Earl of Errol was informed
of our arrival, and we had the honour of an invitation to his seat,
called Slanes Castle, as I am told, improperly, from the castle of
that name, which once stood at a place not far distant.
The road beyond Aberdeen grew more stony, and continued equally
naked of all vegetable decoration. We travelled over a tract of
ground near the sea, which, not long ago, suffered a very uncommon,
and unexpected calamity. The sand of the shore was raised by a
tempest in such quantities, and carried to such a distance, that an
estate was overwhelmed and lost. Such and so hopeless was the
barrenness superinduced, that the owner, when he was required to
pay the usual tax, desired rather to resign the ground.
SLANES CASTLE, THE BULLER OF BUCHAN
We came in the afternoon to Slanes Castle, built upon the margin of
the sea, so that the walls of one of the towers seem only a
continuation of a perpendicular rock, the foot of which is beaten
by the waves. To walk round the house seemed impracticable. From
the windows the eye wanders over the sea that separates Scotland
from Norway, and when the winds beat with violence must enjoy all
the terrifick grandeur of the tempestuous ocean. I would not for
my amusement wish for a storm; but as storms, whether wished or
not, will sometimes happen, I may say, without violation of
humanity, that I should willingly look out upon them from Slanes
Castle.
When we were about to take our leave, our departure was prohibited
by the countess till we should have seen two places upon the coast,
which she rightly considered as worthy of curiosity, Dun Buy, and
the Buller of Buchan, to which Mr. Boyd very kindly conducted us.
Dun Buy, which in Erse is said to signify the Yellow Rock, is a
double protuberance of stone, open to the main sea on one side, and
parted from the land by a very narrow channel on the other. It has
its name and its colour from the dung of innumerable sea-fowls,
which in the Spring chuse this place as convenient for incubation,
and have their eggs and their young taken in great abundance.
