a town of Scotland, and capital of the county of that name, situated in N. Lat. (6° 37'. W. Long. 2° 55'. This town, with Dundee, Cupar, Perth, and St Andrew's, jointly send one member to the British parliament. It stands in the great valley valley of Strathmore that runs from Perth north-east to the sea, almost in a straight line, about 50 miles long and betwixt four and five miles broad, bounded on the south side by gentle hills, and on the north by the Grampian mountains.

Forfar is a very ancient town, and was once a royal residence. Here Malcolm Carnmore held his first parliament in 1057. The ruins of his palace are still to be seen on the top of an artificial mount of a circular form, resting upon a base of about three acres of ground, and rising 50 feet high above the plain. The lake of Forfar, stretching two miles in length from east to west, and half a mile in breadth, and covering the palace on the north, afforded not only a plentiful supply of water for every purpose, but also added to the strength of the place. This lake which abounds with trout, pike, perch, and eel, has been greatly reduced by draining; and fine marl has been found in strata from two to six and eight feet deep, with mofs below ten feet deep.

Within this lake were formerly two islands raised by art, with buildings on each; to which Margaret, Malcolm Carnmore's queen, retired after the decease of her husband. Part of the ruins of these edifices are still to be seen.

Little is known of Forfar till the middle of the 17th century, except an act passed in the 13th parliament of James VI. 21st July, 1593, in the following words, which affords a specimen of the manners and language of the times: "Our sovereign Lorde, understanding that the acte and ordinance maid anent observation of the Sabbath-day within this realme, the mercatte-dae of the burgh of Forfare, being the head burgh of the shire, quhilk was Sundae, is taken from them; and his hienefic not willing that they in onie waies fould be prejudged hereby, therefore his hienefic, with advice of the esfaires of this present parliament, alters and changis their said mercatte-dae from Sundae to Fridaie, and willis the fame Fridaie oukly to be their mercatte-dae to them in all times hereafter; and the famin to stande with the like privileges and freedoms as the Sundae did of before." The market day has been long held on Saturday.

During the usurpation of Oliver Cromwell, a detachment of his forces, after racking Dundee, came to Forfar and burnt all the public records of the place; and the only charter the town now has is one granted by Charles II. after his restoration, confirming all its ancient rights and privileges.

As an evidence of the ignorance and barbarity of the times, it appears from the records of the trials kept in the charter-chest of Forfar, that nine persons were condemned and burnt here for witchcraft betwixt the years 1650 and 1662. These innocent people were all tried by a special commission from the lords of the privy council at Edinburgh; and although the commission expressly discharged torturing them on purpose to extort a confession of their guilt, yet, as it was then thought meritorious to obtain confession of guilt by whatever means, many inhuman cruelties were exercised upon the unfortunate objects; particularly, an iron boot was drawn upon one of their legs, and a wedge driven with great force between it and the leg. Another instrument, still carefully preserved here, was likewise used, and is called the witch bridle. It is made of iron in the shape of a dog's collar, with two pikes on the inside, about four inches distant and two and a half long. These pikes were put into the mouth, and the collar afterwards buckled strait on the back of the head, to which was affixed an iron chain, whereby the condemned persons were led to the place of execution called the Play-field, about a quarter of a mile to the northward of the town.

The streets of Forfar are rather irregular; but many of the houses are neat and well built. Ofsnaburgs and coarse linens are manufactured here; and many of the inhabitants are employed in making a coarse kind of flax.