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32S
into barracks, as lias been mentioned. Below the
barracks, an excellent nursery lias been made, part
of which was once the garden and orchard of the
castle. The appearance of the town is completely-
changed on that side ; and whatever it may have
gained in opulence, from the great extent of the
machinery employed in that quarter, it certainly
has lost in beauty and grandeur.
In a maritime town of so long standing as Dun-
dee, there must have been regulations, and per-
haps registers, respecting the numerous shipping
and mariners necessarily employed in the place.
Whatever these may have been, they were entirely
lost or carried away at the sack of the town. Be-
fore that period, whether or not there was a sea-
man's fraternity is not known ■ but in 1652, the
year after the destruction of the town, there was a
fraternity, whether an old one revived, or a new as-
sociation, cannot be positively said ; and in that
year the regular records of the fraternity com--
mence, which have been as regularly continued,
with various and extensive improvements, up to-
the present time.
The very hard life of sailors, and the numerous
accidents to which they are exposed, from every
element,, must at all times have rendered many of
them disabled, before the wonted decay of nature ;
aud those who had been long at sea, although they
might have escaped its perils, could not ward off
the infirmities of age. From these considerations,
it naturally followed, that experienced and reflect-
ing men would soon be induced to think of some
means to procure comfort and subsistence to the

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