Descriptive account of the principal towns in Scotland

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of the children of the poor. There is a Relief Cha-
pel, and a Meeting House belonging to the United
Secession Church. The Town has several good Inns,
where the best accommodation is afforded to the tra-
veller. There is an elegant and well conducted Li-
brary, and News-room, supported by Subscription.
A Justice of Peace Court, is held here on the first
Monday in every month, and Quarter Sessions are
also held here. This Burgh has the custody of the
Standard Weights of Scotland.
Lanark is a Royal Burgh of great antiquity, and
appears to have been very early a place of eminence,
for here, Kenneth the Second, who died in 863, held
the first Assembly or Parliament, mentioned in Scot-
tish History. It received a charter from Alexander the
First, which with subsequent ones, from Robert the
Bruce, and James the Fifth, were finally ratified by
Charles the First, on the 20th February 1632. The
Castle of Lanark, was situated on an eminence to the
west of the Town, where the Bowling Green now is,
and was a place of strength, having sustained several
sieges in the wars with England. It was burnt down
in the year 1244, and no vestige of it now remains.
The Town is governed by a Provost, two Bailies,
a Dean of Guild, thirteen Merchant Councillors, and
the seven Deacons of the incorporated trades. It
joins with Linlithgow, Selkirk, and Peebles, in re-
turning a Member to Parliament. There was a Mo-
nastery of Franciscans, or Grey Friars, founded by
King Robert the Bruce in 1314* and an hospital, de-
dicated to Saint Leonard — the lands belonging to which
are now the property of the Burgh. A little to the
east of the Town are the ruins of a very ancient church.