Descriptive account of the principal towns in Scotland

"twenty years. The alterations and improvements which
have taken place in the city of Aberdeen since the year
1800 are truly astonishing. Many old houses, which
were of wood, have been taken down, and replaced by
handsome structures of stone. Three spacious ap-
proaches to the town have been formed, and carried in
direct lines to the very centre of the city, by means of
which the inconveniences of the old, narrow, and circui-
tous routes are now entirely avoided. That from the
north-west by Geoi-ge-Street is spacious and regular.
The approach from the north-east by King-Street is
handsome, and even elegant. The grand approaches,
however, from the south and west particularly attract
the notice of the stranger. These meet at Union-Place,
and are conducted thence in a straight line through Un-
ion-Street to the Cross. This street is carried over others
by three bridges, one of which can boast of an arch 132
feet span, the largest and finest in Scotland. At the dis-
tance of two miles, in each direction from the Cross,
there are bridges over the rivers Dee and Don. The
bridge of Don consists of a single Gothic arch, 67 feet
span, and is romantically situated between two project-
ing rocks which here confine the channel of the river.
It was founded about the close of the 13th century,
and the expence is said to have been defrayed by Bishop
Cheyne, who then held the see of Aberdeen. The bridge
of Dee was projected by the munificent Bishop Elphin-
ston, the founder of King's College, and was finished by
his successor Bishop Dunbar in the year 1520. It is a
handsome and substantial structure of seven semi-circu-
lar arches. Attached to each of these bridges, there was
a chapel in the days of popery. Amongst the many im-
provements connected with the city of Aberdeen, those