a borough town of Scotland, in the shire of Forfar or Angus, is seated on the north side of the river Tay, about 12 measured miles from its mouth, 40 measured miles north of Edinburgh, and 22 east from Perth, in W. Long. 2° 48'. N. Lat. 56° 26'. Its situation for commerce is very advantageous. Trading vessels of the largest burden can get into the harbour; and on the quay there are three very convenient and handsome warehouses built in 1756, as well as good room for shipbuilding, which is carried on to a large extent. The houses are built of stone, generally three or four stories high. The market-place or high street in the middle of the town is a very spacious oblong square, 360 feet long and 100 feet broad; from whence branch out the four principal streets, which with a number of lesser ones are all paved in the best manner. On the south side of the market-place stands the townhouse, an elegant structure, with a very handsome front, piazzas below, and a neat spire over it 140 feet high. This building was finished in the year 1734, and contains the guildhall, the court-room, a very neat mason lodge, the bank, vaulted repositories for the records, and the common prison, which is in the upper story, and does honour to the taste and humanity of the magistrates, under whose auspices it was constructed, being well aired commodious rooms, at the same time very strong and secure. Each prison is Dun 20 feet by 12, and 7½ feet high, well arched above and below.

The meal market and shambles, which were formerly on the high street, and esteemed a nuisance, were removed some years ago; and in the place of the shambles there is now erected by the incorporated trades, on the east end of the above large square, a grand building, with a large and elegant cupola: in the ground flat of which is a very neat coffee room, and several merchant shops; and in the upper stories public rooms for each trade, and a common hall occasionally used as a theatre. This hall is 50 feet long, 30 feet broad, and 25 feet high; having its front to the square decorated with Ionic columns.

The opulence of the corporations, nine in number, may be inferred from this, that they had, along with the kirk session, but very lately finished a most elegant church when they set about building the hall. This church, which is called St Andrew's Church, stands on a rising ground a little north from the Cowgate street; and has an elegant spire 130 feet high, with a peal of bells much admired. There is a neat entry to the church by a broad gravel walk, with grass plots on each side; and the whole policies around it are laid out with excellent taste, and in a superb style, as complete and well executed as any in Scotland.

Dundee, beside St Andrew's church, has four other churches, and five ministers on the legal establishment. The old church, in which were originally four places of worship, when entire, had been a very magnificent building, with a large square Gothic tower or steeple 186 feet high, on the west end of the church. This building was in the form of a cross, erected by David earl of Huntingdon, brother to William I. of Scotland (surnamed the Lion), and was dedicated to the virgin Mary. This he did on his return from the third crusade (in which with 500 of his countrymen he had accompanied Richard I. of England) anno 1189, in gratitude for his deliverance from several imminent dangers, and particularly from shipwreck, by which he had nearly perished when in sight of this town. At the same time he changed the name of the town from Allocetum to Dei Donum, whence its present name is thought by many to be derived; while others maintain that its name was Duntony, or "the hill of Tey." The word Allocetum in the Gaelic signifies "beautiful," and harmonizes very well with the Scripture sense of the hill of God. The word Duntony has the very same signification, "the Hill of God;" and both agree with the delightful situation of Dundee, and unite in giving it with propriety the name of Bonny Dundee. The hill rises on the north of the town to a great height, and is called The Law of Dundee; law being a Saxon word for a round hill such as it is. On its top there is evidently the remains of a camp, said to have been first erected by Edward I. of England, and lastly repaired by General Monk. Where the meal market stood is now erected an elegant Episcopal meeting-house; with handsome shops below.

Dundee had an old castle which was demolished by the famous Scots governor Sir William Wallace, who was educated in this town. The castle had proved very useful to Edward I. when he put a garrison into it to awe the inhabitants; but Wallace getting possession, ordered it to be destroyed, lest it should again fall into the hands of the English. This treatment so exasperated Edward, that, taking the town by storm, he set fire to the churches; and a number of the inhabitants having taken sanctuary there with their most valuable effects, were all burnt along with them. At that time he burnt also a great part of the town. The desolation he brought on the church has continued ever since, till the year 1787, when a noble edifice began to be built on the site of the one that was burnt down, and is now finishing; in which the ancient Gothic of the outside is excellently united with internal modern architecture, making one of the largest and neatest churches in the kingdom, and again completing the superb superstructure as erected at first by the earl of Huntingdon.

This town suffered greatly last century during the troubles of Charles II. and the usurpation of Oliver Cromwell; being sometimes under the command of one party, and at others in the mercy of another. In 1645 the marquis of Montrose took it by storm; and in 1651, under the command of its provost Major General Lumsden, it vigorously opposed General Monk, who carried it by storm the 1st of September, and put all in arms to the sword. And so great were the riches of Dundee, all the neighbouring gentlemen having retired to it with their best effects as a place of safety, that every private soldier in General Monk's army had near 60l. sterling to his share of the plunder; there being above 60 merchant vessels in the harbour at that time, and the like number of vessels sailed for England loaded with the spoils of the unfortunate inhabitants. By these and other invasions, the whole ancient records of the town were destroyed, except a deed of Queen Mary, signed by herself, conferring the present burying ground; and some charters of the Charles's, confirming the ancient rights and privileges as disposed by the Alexanders and other kings of Scotland.

This burying-ground is the only place in Scotland we know of called The Hoff, a Dutch word bearing all the senses of the English word court, having been formerly the burying-ground of one of the many religious houses that were in this town previous to the Reformation.

Dundee at present has 154 vessels belonging to the port, of about 16,000 tons burden, which employ 1300 seamen. Of these vessels 8 are employed in the Greenland fishery, 11 in the London trade, and the rest in the Baltic and country trade. Between 1814 and 1818 the bonding system was extended to Dundee by various acts of parliament. The magistrates have been lately, and still are at great expense in enlarging and fitting up the harbour, so as to render it of easy access, safe, and commodious; and have now made the passage over the Tay, where there is a great resort, so convenient, that travellers with their horses can get over at any time of tide, and a sufficient number of good boats properly manned are always ready. The river Tay opposite Dundee is about three miles broad; and being sheltered by high lands on both sides is a safe road for ships of the greatest burden: the piers are extensive, broad, and well adapted for the purposes of loading and discharging vessels; and when the harbour is completed on the plan they are presently engaged in, there will not be one superior to it in Scotland.

To enable the town to repair the damage done by Cromwell's Cromwell's army, and also their harbour and other public works, Charles II. granted them a small impost of one-sixth of a penny sterling, for 25 years, on the pint of ale brewed or brought into the town for sale; which grant has been frequently renewed by subsequent parliaments; and the fund arising therefrom is most properly bestowed by the magistrates in improving the town, and making it more convenient and healthy. For these purposes, several new streets have been made, the old ones have been widened, and a large convenient one at a considerable expense, carried down from the market place to join a fine walk, shaded very neatly with trees, that leads to the shore. This new street makes the access easy and commodious, which was formerly much confined and steep.

Till the year 1745, the town had only draw wells; but since that period it is most amply supplied from a large fine fountain of excellent water, conveyed through the town in lead pipes, and discharged by good wells at proper distance. These, with a fine well in the town's meadows, and a stream of water that runs through the ward and the meadows (two large beautiful greens on the north of the town), make it as well watered as any town in Scotland; and these greens, just at hand, serve all the inhabitants most commodiously for the necessary labours of washing and bleaching.

The number of inhabitants in Dundee has increased amazingly since 1780. There was then an accurate list of them taken, when they amounted to near 16,000; but by the census of 1801, the number was 26,084; and by the census of 1811, it was 29,616. Besides the established churches, there are three Episcopal meeting-houses, two of Seceders, one of Methodists, two of Independents, one Berean, and two Anabaptists. One of the Independents is of the Glassite denomination. Mr John Glass, from whom they take that name, resided here; and his principles, though spread far and wide, have always had the most extensive influence in Dundee.

The trade in the town has increased amazingly of late. Its staple is undoubtedly the linen manufacture: for which in summer 1788, they imported from the Baltic 32 cargoes of flax, hemp, &c. (near 3000 tons), besides several quantities from London, Leith, and other places; and on an average the brown linen stamped for the two preceding seasons at the stamp office here amounted to above four millions of yards, in value about 115,000l. sterling. But the annual average value of the cloth stamped in Dundee for 1815, 1816, and 1817, was above 300,000l. The flax is wrought up into coarse linens, chiefly osnaburgs, sheetings, soldiers' shirtings, &c. which is sold partly bleached (several fine large bleachfields being well employed in the neighbourhood) and partly brown. These linens are sent principally to London, Glasgow, and Liverpool, and from thence exported. Seven or eight vessels are constantly employed in the trade between Dundee and London, one of which sails every ten or twelve days. The making sailcloth has been long established here, and is carried on to a good extent; and rope-works have succeeded well. The Dundee coloured threads have been long justly esteemed, and give bread to a great number of people; indeed it was here that coloured threads first made a figure among the articles of trade in Scotland. Their sugar-house, a large undertaking, and tan works, are of established reputation. There has been lately erected a large glass-work at a great expense, and a plumbery and foundry are also now carried on to advantage. No doubt the trade of the place has been greatly promoted by the Bank; which is carried forward on the surest and most steady footing, and has always managed the business of the town and neighbourhood in such a way as to keep any other establishment of that kind from taking place. Of late the cotton manufactory has been introduced; a number of jennies being employed in spinning, and several looms in weaving it. A spirit for literature and education has greatly prevailed of late years in Dundee: for beside the public grammar school, which has an able rector and two good masters; the public English and writing school, where are three very proper masters; there is also lately established, and much encouraged, an academy for mathematics, French, Italian, and the polite arts, with masters suitable for the different branches, and a large apparatus for natural philosophy.

The salmon fishing in Tay is of much consequence; and the town is generally well supplied with fish of various kinds, though like every other article of living much raised in price of late years. Their other markets are also well supplied. An excellent nursery at the west end of the town has been much encouraged; and its neighbourhood is now adorned with many neat and elegant villas, showing the wealth and taste of the inhabitants.

Dundee is the birthplace of the celebrated and learned Hector Boetius, whose History of Scotland has been long in much reputation with many. Dundee, with Perth, Forfar, St Andrew's, and Cupar, returns one member to the British parliament.