Gazetteer of Scotland

CRA
of coarfe whinftone, but has evidently
a confiderable quantity of calcareous
matter in its competition. When ta-
ken from the quarry, it is hard enough
to ftrike fire with fteel, but by expo-
fure to the weather, it foon crumbles
down to an earth, in the fragments of
which very fine fpecimens of cryftalliz-
ed zeolite is found. There is a mineral
fpring on the lands of Marchfidd,
called the <u>e/I of Spa<iv, containing
fufficient quantity of fulphate of mag-
nefia, to render it highly purgative.
John Strachan, Efq. of Craigcrool; , in
this pariih, about the year 1720, mor-
tified his eftate, of above 3ool./«- an-
num, to certain managers, to be ap-
plied by them in relieving the neceffi-
ties of " poor old men, women, and
orphans." The pariih of Cramond
has given birth to feveral men, who
have become eminent by their talents,
or their virtues. Of thefe may be
mentioned, ift, John, fecond Lord
Balmerinoch, noted for his fpirited
oppefition to Charles I. and for being
the beft friend of the Covenanters,
having fpent the greateft part of his
fortune in fupport of that caufe ; ad,
Sir Thomas Hope of Grantown, a ce-
lebrated lawyer at the Scottifh bar ;
3d, Sir George M'Kenzie, ill Earl of
Cromarty, well known for his volumi-
nous productions ; and, 4th, Doctor
Cleghorn, profeilbr of anatomy in the
univerfity of Dublin, who may be
confidered as the founder of the fchool
of medicine in that univerfity. To
thefe we may add John Law of Lau-
rifton, one of the molt remarkable
characters this or any other country
has ever produced. He was born at
Laurifton about the year 1670; and
ihortly after, difgufted with fome ne-
glect which he received at court, went
over to France, where he nearly com-
pleted the ruin of that monarchy by
his financial speculations. After being
raifed to the high rank of comptroller-
general of the finances of France, he
obtained liberty to erecl: a national
bank, which was attended with the
moft beneficial effect. Afterwards,
he began gradually to develope the
fcheme, which he had long before di-
gested, called the Mijifflppifyjlem. This
was the eitabliihment of an American
of weftern trading company, the ob-
ject of which was the planting and
cultivation of the French colonies of
CR A
North America. The plan was inv-
mediately adopted, and the abundance
of fallacious wealth which poured
into the kingdom, promifed to have
exalted that nation to the higheft
pitch of profperity. The event is well
known ; that fcheme proved to France
(what the South Sea Company after-
wards was to Britain) only a bubble*
threatening to involve the whole na-
tion in the fame general ruin. Law
ended his chequefed life, about the
year 1729, fomewhere in Italy, in a
ftate of almoft extreme indigence, af-
ter having aftoniihed all Europe with
his abilities, his projects, his fuccefs*
and his ruin. Population of Cramond
pariih, including the village of Nether
Cramond, as returned to Sir John
Sinclair, 1112.
Cramond (Nether); a village
in the pariih of the fame name. It is
fituated on the river Amond, where it
difcharges itfelf into theFrith of Forth;
it contains upwards of 340 inhabitants*
who are moirly employed in the iron
works carried on in the neighbour-
hood. The Amond is navigable for
fmall veffels nearly a quarter of a mile
from the Forth, forming a fafe and
commodious harbour; (fpecified in
the records of the Exchequer as a
creek belonging to the port of Leith.)
To this harbour belong 8 or 10 floops,
employed by the Cramond Iron-work
Company. Cramond lies about 3 miles
N. W. of Edinburgh.
CRANSHAWS; a fmall parifli
fituated in the midft of the Lammer-
muir hills, in the county of Berwick.
The furface confifts moftly of high
hills covered with heath and bent,
and therefore better adapted for pas-
ture than for tillage. Every farm, how-
ever, poiTeffes a considerable portion
of arable land, which is generally cul-
tivated and fown with turnip, for
the fupport of the fheep during the
feverity of winter. Lime has been of
the greateft fervice in meliorating the
foil. The rivers Whittadd'er and Dye
water this parifh, and abound with
trout. The general appearance is
naked and bleak, having few trees of*
any kind to fhelter the foil from the
ftorms, to which, from its elevated fi-
liation, it is much expofed. Cran-
fhaws-caftle, the property of Charles
Watfon, Efq. of Saughton, is a ftrong
ancient building, of ftnall extent, but-
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