[Gazetteer of Scotland Contents]
A VIEW of Scotland, introductory to a copious Gazetteer, must necessarily be very general. Every natural, political, and ecclesiastical division of the country, each great cluster of islands, every chain of heights and remarkable mountain or hill, each lake and river and arm of the sea, every city, town, village, and conspicuous mansion, and every interesting object, be it what it may, a landscape, an antiquity, a natural curiosity, or a work of art, are so fully noticed in their regular places, that a general article has no scope for description, and needs not even to be studded with references. Yet such a rapid geographical outline as shall indicate the mutual relations of the parts, – some details which refer strictly to the country as a whole, and a few particulars which, while belonging to only some localities or to classes of objects, could not, without frequent repetition, be inserted in the body of the work, – will form both suitable and pleasing materials for our Introduction.