DUNFER NI LI N E, a considerable manufacturing town in Fifeshire, Scotland, is situated about three miles north of the Frith of Forth at Qucensfcrry, on a rising ground, with a declivity towards the south, and commands a fine view, not merely of the Forth and its banks, but of the higher lands in fourteen different counties. It is a royal burgh. By a charter dated 24th May 1588, James VI. ratified various deeds of John and Robert, abbots of Dunfermline, and particularly an indenture, 10th art. 1395, by which the holding of the town from the abbey, until it was erected into a royal burgh, is regulated. The government of the burgh is vested in a provost, two bailies, and dean of guild, chosen annually by a council of twenty-two, consisting of twelve guildry or merchant councillors, eight deacons of incorporations, and two trades councillors. The burgh revenue exceeds 500/. per annum. In 1791-2, the population of the town, suburbs, and adjoining fens of Pittencrief, appears, from the statistical account, to have been 5192. In 1801, ac cording to the census then taken, the number of inha bitants was 5484, occupying 705 houses; of which 506 were within the royalty, and contained 4702 souls. In 1811, the number of houses was 554, and the number of inhabitants 4315, being, in ten years, a decrease in the burgh of nearly 400; but during the same period, the suburbs have increased nearly 1000, the number of houses being 843, and of inhabitants in all, 6352.
Dunfermline is remarkable chiefly for its antiquities, which connect it with the history of Scotland; and for its manufactures. At a very early period it was a royal residence. Malcohn Canmorc (111.) usually resided, it is said, in a tower on a small hill in the glen adjacent to the town. A fragment of this tower still remains, and is now included in the romantic grounds of Pittencrief, belonging to Mr Hunt. A little to the eastward of the tower, on the brow of the glen, the remnant of a pa lace, afterwards built, and long inhabited by the kings of Scotland, still exists. One wall is pretty entire, and affords a specimen of its ancient magnificence. Charles 1. and the Princess Elizabeth, his sister, from whom the House of Hanover derive their title by descent, were born in this royal residence. The Abbey, of which no
thing but the ruins now remain, is another interesting re lict of other times. It was one of the earliest and richest religions houses in Scotland. It was founded as a monas tery by Malcolm Canmore, for the monks of the Bene dictine order, completed by his son Alexander I. and dedicated, with its church, to the Holy Trinity, and St Margaret, the queen of Malcolm. It was governed by a prior till the reign of David, who converted it into an abbey; and was at one time so magnificent and exten sive, that 44 three sovereign princes, with all their reti• nue, might have been lodged conveniently within its precincts." Its revenues were derived from places at a considerable distance; but it suffered amidst the ravages of war and reformation, with the other monuments of superstition and royal prodigality. The Abbey was nearly burnt down in the 14th century. Edward I. win tered at Dunfermline in 1303. The church and some cells which had been spared, were, however, nearly de molished in 1560, by the reformers; and the Abbey be ing erected into a temporal lordship in 1593, and be stowed on Queen Anne of Denmark, all that now re mains of this once splendid ecclesiastical edifice, is a part of the great church, built by Malcolm, and the rubbish and ruins which surround it. The part of the church which is still preserved, is occupied as a place of worship. Adjacent to the church, the cemetery of many kings of Scotland is pointed out ; and we learn from Sir Robert Sibbald's History of Fife, that the fol lowing royal personages are here interred: Malcolm III. Queen Margaret, King Edgar, Alexander I. Sibilla his queen, David I. his two wives, Malcolm IV. Alexander III. his queen Margaret, Robert I. his queen Isobel, Edward II. son of Malcolm III.; his brother Etheldrade, earl of Fife ; M'Duff, earl of Fife ; Constantine, earl of Fife; William Ramsay, earl of Fife; Thomas Randel, earl of Murray, governor of Scotland. Robert the Bruce, the most illustrious of our Scottish kings, is also said to be buried at Dunfermline. But all marks of royalty are obliterated from their graves.