FORDOUN, village and parish in Kincardineshire. The village stands 2 miles north-west of a railway station of its own name, and 4 north-north-east of Laurencekirk, and has a head post office with all departments, a hotel, Established and Free churches, and 2 public schools with about 172 scholars. The parish contains also Auchinblae village, measures about 9^ miles in length and 7 in greatest breadth, and comprises 26,869 acres. Real property in 1880-81, 23,221. Pop. 1992. The surface includes part of the How of Mearns, and ascends thence, in diversity of hills with intersecting vales, to a water-shed of the Lower Grampians. The chief seats are Fordoun House, Phesdo, Monboddo, and Drumtochty; and the chief antiquities are Kincardine Castle ruins, part of a Roman camp, and remains of two ancient Caledonian stone circles. Fordoun was the residence of the author of the Scoto-Chronicon, and the birthplace of the Protestant martyr George "VVishart. Public schools are at Auchinblae and Tipperty.

FORDYCE, village and parish on coast of Banffshire. The village stands on a burn of its own name, 3 miles south-west of Portsoy, and has a post office under Banff, Established and Free churches, and 2 public schools with about 164 scholars. Pop. 331. The parish contains also the town of Portsoy, and the villages of Sandend and Newmills ; and it measures about 6 miles along the coast and 8 miles inland, and comprises 17,198 acres. Real property in 1880-81, 18,977. Pop., quoad civilia, 4289 ; quoad sacra, 1976. The coast is some-what bold, rocky, and cavernous, but includes the bays of Portsoy and Sandend. The interior presents considerable variety of hill and dale, and has summits about 700 and 1030 feet high. A chief seat is Glassaugh, and chief antiquities are Findlater Castle and remains of a Scandinavian camp. Established, Free, United Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and Roman Catholic churches are at Portsoy. 10 schools for 889 scholars are in the parish, and 1 of them and enlargements for 288 are new.

FOREBANK, part of Hilltown suburb of Dundee.

FOREHOLM, small island in Sandsting parish, Shetland.

FOREMAN, wooded lofty hiU, with extensive view, adjacent to the Deveron, on north-western verge of Aberdeenshire.

FORENESS, peninsula in Sandsting parish, Shetland.

FORESTFIELD, railway station, 6 miles east of Airdrie, Lanarkshire.

FORESTMILL, hamlet, 3 miles north-east of Clackmannan, Clackmannanshire. It has a public school with about 64 scholars.

FORFAR, town and parish in central part of Forfarshire. The town stands 32 miles north-east of Perth ; sprang from an ancient royal castle, figuring in the time of Malcolm Canmore, and demolished in 1307 ; is near a lake about a mile long, with quondam island, now a peninsula, believed to have been a retreat of Malcolm Canmore's queen ; ranks now as the capital of Forfarshire, and as a royal and parliamentary burgh ; unites with Arbroath, Brechin, Montrose, and Bervie in sending a member to Parliament ; consists of irregularly-aligned streets, with many good modern houses ; carries on some manufacture and much general business ; publishes a weekly newspaper ; and has a head post office with all departments, a railway station, 6 banking offices, 5 hotels, county buildings founded in 1873, court-houses of 1871, a handsome town hall, a public hall of 1871, a steepled parochial church, a quoad sacra parochial church, 2 Free churches (one of them an early English edifice of 1880), United Presbyterian, Congregational, and Baptist churches, a costly elegant Episcopalian church of 1881, a burgh academy, 4 public schools, a female industrial school, a free library of 1871, an infirmary, and waterworks projected in 1877 and estimated to cost 37,000. Pop. of the burgh, 12,817. The parish contains also Carseburn and Lunanhead villages, and measures 5 miles by 4J. Acres, 8353. Real property in 1880-81 of burgh, 34,861 ; of landward part, 15,793. Pop., quoad civilia, 14,470; quoad sacra, 10,558. The surface is part of Strathmore, and presents a level appearance, but is diversified by numerous rising-grounds and two small hills. The only mansion is Lower, and the chief antiquities are ruins of Restennet Priory and remains of two Roman camps. 8 schools for 2401 scholars are in the parish, and portions of them for 967 are new.

FORFAR (ST. JAMES), quoad sacra parish with church in Forfar. Pop. 3882.

FORFARSHIRE, county, bordered by German Ocean from North Esk river to Firth of Tay. Its length is 38 miles ; its greatest breadth 36 miles ; its coast-line 23 miles on the ocean, and 12 on the Tay; its circuit about 150 miles ; its area 890 square miles. The coast in parts between Montrose and Arbroath is rocky, in other parts is mostly low. The interior consists of four parallel and very diverse districts : first, a rich champaign, from 3 to 9 miles broad, with pleasant diversity of surface on the east ; next, the greater portion of the Sidlaw Hills, from 3 to 6 miles broad, with intersecting glens and hollows ; next, the central reach of Strathmore, here called the How of Angus, from 4 to 6 miles broad, diversified by gentle eminences ; next, the Benchinnan Mountains, from 9 to 15 miles broad, rising tier behind tier, with intervening glens and ravines, to summits of the Grampians 3180 and 3250 feet high. The chief rivers are the North Esk, the South Esk, and the Lunan, running to the ocean ; the Dighty, running to Firth of Tay; and the Isla, rising on north-west border of Benchinnan Mountains, tracing western boundary of How of Angus, and departing into Perthshire ; and all of them together are worth less to the county than the Firth of Tay. The rocks have much interest for geologists, but, except in pavement flag, have very little for economists. Agricultural improvement was late and slow, but became vigorous and skilful. Tex tile manufacture, especially in coarse linens, is very prominent, and gives vast employment in _the chief towns. Commerce also is flourishing, and has head ports at Dundee, Arbroath, and Montrose. The towns with each more than 10,000 inhabitants are Dundee, Arbroath, Montrose, Forfar, and Lochee ; with each more than 5000 are Brechin and Broughty Ferry ; with each more than 2000 are Kirriemuir and Carnoustie ; with each more than 1000 are Ferryden and Friockheim ; and the villages with each more than 300, are Letham, Monifieth, Newtyle, Edzell, Auchmithie, Glammis, Northmuir, Hillside, Craigo, Claverhouse, and Muirhead. The Caledonians, the Eomans, the Picts, and the Anglo-Saxons figured in Forfarshire in a similar way as in other counties north of the Forth, and all of them have left in it some interesting antiquities. Real property in 1880-81, 639,282. Pop. in 1871, 237,567 ; in 1881, 265,374.