Towns > Dundee > 1822 - Dundee delineated; or, A history and description of that town, its institutions, manufactures and commerce

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glide and betake themselves to cloisters, church yards,,
and dormitories, and to melancholy aisles. As rooks, mag-
pies, and foxes, they nestle and burrow in the deserted and
mouldering tower, and ancient chateau ; and there they caw
and howl to the midnight winds. 'Tis there only they hold
their frantic orgies, take their nocturnal rambles, and
startle the watchful and lonely centinel at his post. 'Tis
there, mayhap, the ghosts of Malcolm and Claverhouse
perambulate a dreary scene, perform their antic rounds—-
'and vanish at the morning air.
Mankind continue to pout and spar, kiss, wrangle, toy, and
trifle, by turns. Folly, like death, spares neither sex nqr
age; and the wise heads, the wrong-heads, the blockheads,
and the hot heads, have been precious and prolific families
since the days of their father Adam.
Thus have I, Mr Printer, presented you with a full state
of the town, buildings, police, manners, morals, &c. and
when put in the scale with the state of it in 1746, the dif-
ference in many things is great. The comparative view,
however, will enable the reader to judge, and he will thence
find that these are real and solid amendments.
I am, yours, &c» PHlLETASt
Dundee, July, 1799.