became great friends; and after admiring his pony, 1 had individually in him a sprightly and interesting personal cicerone during the rest of our observations.

Lord John Hay, and Admiral Campbell, who had joined us, afterwards walked a mile and a half up the retired and beautiful glen in the rear of the house, to the ruins of the ancient feudal castle of the Lords of Gifford, the ancestors of the family. Scott, with his magic touch, has, in Marmion, now stamped it with an interest never known before, or at least, in a very limited degree, by recording with its name a legend of superstition, early attached to it. In the beginning of the third canto of that poem, he thus introduces his hero to the vicinity of Yester:

"The livelong day Lord Marmion rode,
The mountain path the Palmer trod,—
By glen and streamlet winded still,
Where stunted birches hid the rill.
The noon had long been passed before
They gained the height of Lammermoor;
Thence winding down the northern way,
Before them, at the close of day,

Old Gifford's towers and hamlet lay."

And after establishing him at the inn for the night, in the host's tale, gives the origin of the name of "Hobgoblin Hall,"-by which the ruin has long been known--in the following lines:

"Sir Hugo, then, our Lord,

A braver never drew a sword;

A wiser never at the hour

Of midnight spoke the word of power.

HOBGOBLIN HALL.

The same whom ancient records call
The founder of the GOBLIN HALL.

I would, sir knight, your longer stay ;-
that cavern to survey;

Gave you
Of lofty roof, and ample size,-
Beneath the castle deep it lies;
To hew the living rock profound,
The floor to pave, the arch to round,
There never toil'd a mortal arm,--

It all was wrought by word and charm;
And I have heard my grandsire say,
That the wild clamour and affray
Of those dread artizans of hell,
Who labour'd under Hugo's spell,
Sounded as loud as ocean's roar,

Among the caverns of Dunbar !"

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The ruin occupies the summit of a high and precipitous bank, jutting out in a kind of peninsula, at the head of the glen, and overhanging the stream flowing through it. It is surrounded by a thick wood, above which one or two old towers alone are seen occasionally to peep. The apartment within it, which is indebted to magical artizans for its construction, is a spacious and lofty arched hall, almost entirely subterranean, and now almost filled with rubbish and parts of the ruin, though the arch itself is still unbroken. It was entered by a descent. of twenty-four steps, and is said to have communicated through a deep pit at the bottom of another stair, with the waters of the stream below. Hugh Gifford de Yester died within it in 1267; and it is traditionally memorable as the last fortification in

this country, which surrendered to General Gray, when sent into Scotland by the Protector Somerset.

The day has been one of the finest, in point of weather, of the season, and the walk through the park and glen, enlivened by its babbling waters, was delightful. We reached Stephenston only in time to dress for dinner, at which, with Admiral Campbell, we met Mr. Holden, of Haddington, an intelligent and travelled gentleman, long interested in the Northwest Fur Company, and who was in the United States with Captain Franklin, on his return from the polar regions.

BIELL.

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LETTER XXXVI.

A MORNING DRIVE IN LOTHIAN.

ell the seat of Mrs. Nesbit-Description of the mansion and grounds-Reception by Captain Mansel and Mrs. Nesbit-Déjeuné and examination of the establishment-Mrs. Ferguson's drive-Arrival at the ruins of Tantallon Castle-Correctness and beauty of Scott's description of it in Marmion-Sea view from it including the Bass Rock-Golf-club of Haddington Shire -Account of the game of Golf-The King's body-guard of archers-Return to Stephenston-Conversational powers and manners of Lady Sinclair.

DEAR VIRGINIA,

Stephenston House, East Lothian,
August 1, 1832.

The carriage was at the door this morning at an early hour after breakfast, for the circuit of a principal part of East Lothian ;-our party consisting of Captain Bolton, and Sir John, Lieut. Hay, and myself.

Stephenston House is about eight miles westward from the sea; and our first route from it was eastward along the Tyne, toward the German Ocean, through a rich country loaded with luxuriant crops of almost every growth. At the end of five or six miles we entered the gates of Biell, the residence of Mrs. Nesbit, a lady of affluence and family distinction in the neighbourhood. Like Yester, it is situated in a small valley or glen, enlivened by a rapid

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stream, and ornamented on either hand by plantations, and a fine park, extending over the hills both on the north and south.

The mansion, an embattled and castellated edifice, is a modern structure of light-coloured freestone in the florid Gothic style, erected on the site of an old castle of the name, on the brow of a hill, from which in the rear a succession of terraces lead down the bank to a shrubbery and lawn in the glen, overlooked with its stream and bridges by the principal suite of rooms. It presents an imposing and beautiful facade in the exterior view, both in front and rear; and within, exhibits the most perfect keeping, as a whole, of any mansion yet examined by us. The venerable mistress of the establishment was taking the air in a garden carriage, when we arrived, and we were received in the grounds by her nephew Capt. Manzel of the army, his lady, and Miss Manzel, a sister. This gentleman became our conductor through the glen, and to a high point beautifully wooded in the park, from which we enjoyed a fine view of the castle and the surrounding country. The whole is in good taste, and a perfection of keeping.

On our return to the house at the end of half an hour, or more, we were received in the drawing-room by Mrs. Nesbit, seated upon a divan, without rising. She is more than eighty years of age, but still full of vivacity and sprightliness, and was most courteous to Captain Bolton and myself as strangers. Notwithstanding her age, she presents a most striking resemblance to a full length portrait taken when a girl of seventeen or eighteen, which forms one of the