Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/55

Rh dare is connected with the coast by canal and railway. Owing to the great development of the coal and iron trade, it has rapidly increased from a mere village to a large and flourishing town. Handsome churches, banks, and hotels have been erected, a good supply of water has been introduced, and as public park has been opened. Two markets are held weekly. The whole parish falls within the parliamentary borough of Merthyr-Tydvil. The rapid growth of its population is seen by the following figures: in 1841 the number of inhabitants was 6471; in 1851, 14,999; in 1861, 32,299; and in 1871, 37,774.  ABERDEEN, a royal burgh and city, the chief part of a parliamentary burgh, the capital of the county of Aberdeen, the chief seaport in the north of Scotland, and the fourth Scottish town in population, industry, and wealth. It lies in lat. N. and long. W., on the German Ocean, near the mouth of the river Dee, and is 542 miles north of London, and 111 miles north of Edinburgh, by the shortest railway routes.

Aberdeen, probably the Devana on the Diva of Ptolemy, was an important place in the 12th century. William the Lion had a residence in the city, to which he gave a charter in 1179, confirming the corporate rights granted by David I. The city received many subsequent royal charters. It was burned by Edward III. in 1336, but it was soon rebuilt and extended, and called New Aberdeen. The houses were of timber and thatched, and many such existed till 1741. The burgh records are the oldest of any Scottish burgh. They begin in 1398, and are complete to the present time, with only a short break. Extracts from them, extending from 1398 to 1570, have been published by the Spalding Club. For many centuries the city was subject to attacks by the barons of the surrounding districts, and its avenues and six ports had to be guarded. The ports had all been removed by 1770. Several monasteries existed in Aberdeen before the Reformation. Most of the Scottish sovereigns visited the city and received gifts from the authorities. In 1497 a blockhouse was built at the harbour mouth as a protection against the English. During the religious struggle in the 17th century between the Royalists and Covenanters the city was plundered by both parties. In 1715 Earl Marischal proclaimed the Pretender at Aberdeen. In 1745 the Duke of Cumberland resided a short time in the city. In the middle of the 18th century boys were kidnapped in Aberdeen, and sent as slaves to America. In 1817 the city became insolvent, with a debt of £225,710, contracted by public improvements, but the debt was soon paid off. The motto on the city arms in Bon-Accord. It formed the watchword of the Aberdonians while aiding King Robert the Bruce in his battles with the English.

Of eminent men connected with Aberdeen, New and Old, may be mentioned—John Barbour, Hector Boece or Boethius, Bishop Elphinstone, the Earls Marischal; George Jamesone, the famous portrait painter; Edward Raban, the first printer in Aberdeen, 1622; Rev. Andrew Cant, the Covenanter; David Anderson (Davie do a' thing), a mechanic; James Gregory, inventor of the reflecting telescope; Dr Thomas Reid, the metaphysician; Dr George Campbell, Principal of Marischal College, author of several important works, and best known by his Philosophy of Rhetoric; Dr James Beattie; Lord Byron; Sir James Mackintosh; Robert Hall; Dr R. Hamilton, who wrote on the National Debt.

Till 1800 the city stood on a few eminences, and had steep, narrow, and crooked streets, but, since the Improvement Act of that year, the whole aspect of the place has been altered by the formation of two new spacious and nearly level streets (Union Street and King Street, meeting in Castle Street), and by the subsequent laying out of many others, besides squares, terraces, &c., on nearly flat ground. The city is above eight miles in circuit, and is built on sand, gravel, and boulder clay. The highest parts are from 90 to 170 feet above the sea. The chief thoroughfare is Union Street, nearly a mile long and 70 feet broad. It runs W.S.W. from Castle Street, and crosses the Denburn, now the railway valley, by a noble granite arch 132 feet in span and 50 feet high, which cost, with a hidden arch on each side, £13,000.

Aberdeen is now a capacious, elegant, and well-built town, and from the material employed, consisting chiefly of light grey native granite, is called the "granite city." It contains many fine public buildings. The principal of these is Marischal College or University Buildings, which stands on the site of a pre-Reformation Franciscan Convent, and was rebuilt, 1836-1841, at a cost of about £30,000. It forms three sides of a court, which is 117 by 105 feet, and has a back wing, and a tower 100 feet high. The accommodation consists of twenty-five large class-rooms and laboratories, a hall, library, museums, &c.

The University of Aberdeen was formed by the union and incorporation, in 1860, by Act of Parliament, of the University and King's College of Aberdeen, founded in Old Aberdeen, in 1494, by William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen, under the authority of a Papal bull obtained by James IV., and of the Marischal College and University of Aberdeen, founded in New Aberdeen, in 1593, by George Keith, Earl Marischal, by a charter ratified by Act of Parliament. The officials consist of a chancellor, with rector and principal; there are 21 professors and 8 assistants. Arts and divinity are taught in King's College, and medicine, natural history, and law in Marischal College. The arts session lasts from the end of October to the beginning of April. The arts curriculum of four years, with graduation, costs £36, 11s. There are 214 arts bursaries, 29 divinity, and 1 medical, of the aggregate annual value of £3646, £650, and £26, respectively. About 60 arts