INVERNESS', a royal, parliamentary, and municipal burgh, situated at the mouth, and mostly on the right hank, of the river Ness. It is the chief town of the county to which it gives name. and may be regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Its environs, well cultivated and beautifully wooded, are almost surrounded by mountains and hills of various heights, forming altogether a most picturesque and interesting landscape. Pop. '71,. 14,510; annual value of real property (1878-79), 268,161; corporation revenue (1877-78), £3,642. It unites with Fort.rose, Nairn, and Forres in returning one member to parlia ment. The first charters of Inverness as a burgh are granted by king William the lion (1165-1214 A.D.). By one of these it is stipulated that when the king has made a ditch round the burgh, the burgesses shall make a palisade on the edge of the ditch, and keep it in good repair forever. In 1411 the town was burned by Donald, lord of the isles, on his way to Barlaw (q.v.). Macaulay, writing of the year 1689, describes Inverness as "a Saxon colony among the Celts, a hive of traders and artisans in the midst of a population of loungers and plunderers, a solitary outpost of civilization in a region of barbarians." The castle-hill, on the s. side of the town, part of an old sea-terrace, was the site of a castle, which, in 1303, was taken by the adherents of king Edward is of England, hut subsequently retaken by those of king Robert Bruce. King James 1. is said to have held a parliament in the castle in 1427. An iron suspension-bridge, constructed in 1855, con nects the two parts of the town. In the High street stands the town-cross, and beside it
the famous Clach,na-cuddin, a lozenge-shaped blue slab, formerly regarded as the palla dium of the hurgh. In the same street are the town hall and exchange, built in 1708. Of the old religious foundations of Inverness, there is little more than mere tradition. The Dominicans seen, to have had a monastery, founded by king Alexander II., in 1233. The Franciscans also are believed to have had a convent in the town. Among more modern buildings and foundations may be enumerated Raining's school, established 1747; the spire of the old jail, 150 ft. high, built in 1791, curiously twisted by the earth quake of 1816, and since readjusted; the royal academy, 1792; the county buildings and jail, on the site of the castle, 1835; and St. Andrew's cathedral, a fine Gothic building, the foundation-stone of which was laid in Oct., 1866, by Dr. Lengley,trchhishop of Can ] terbury. There is a small woolen manufactory, a workmen's club and library, several establishments, three newspapers, a native hank (the Caledonian). and five other 5:inking-offices. Inverness has still its four great annual fairs, but the establishment of shops throughout the county has greatly diminished their importance. It has three har bors, built at different times, and a considerable amount of shipping by the Moray firth and the Caledonian canal, which connects it with the w. coast.