The battlements of Merchiston Tower command an extensive view, of great interest and beauty.

CRAIGMILLAR CASTLE.

THIS fine old ruin, situated on the top of a gentle eminence, forms one of the most striking features in every view on the south of Edinburgh.

The date of original erection is uncertain, but the castellated wall which surrounds the mansion appears, from a date preserved on it, to have been built in 1427. The castle and estate belonging to the family of Preston, who frequently held the highest offices in the magistracy of Edinburgh. It was acquired by Sir Simon Preston, in 1374, from one John de Capella.

Being so near to Edinburgh, Craigmillar was often occupied as a royal residence. The Earl of Mar, younger brother of James III., was imprisoned here for some time; James V. resided there occasionally during his minority; and, in the eventful 1566, Queen Mary resided there, and held, with her deceitful and double-dealing counsellors, some of those dark and mysterious councils which terminated in Darnley's death, and her own ruin. So often had Craigmillar been honoured with her residence, that the adjacent village acquired the name of Petty France, from her French guards being quartered there.

In point of architecture and accommodation, Craigmillar surpasses the generality of Scottish castles. It consists of a strong keep, or tower, flanked with turrets, and connected with inferior buildings. There is an outer-court in front, defended by a battlemented wall and flankers; and beyond these there was an exterior wall, and, in some places, a deep ditch or moat. On the boundary wall may be seen the arms of Cockburn of Ormiston, Congalton of Congalton, Moubray of Barnbougle, and Otterburn of Redford, allies of the Prestons of Craigmillar. In one corner of the court, over a portal arch, are the arms of the family, three unicorns headcouped, with a cheese-press and barrel or ton, a wretched rebus, to express their name of Preston. The inside of the great hall is stately, though not equal to that of Borthwick. In a stone window-seat is cut a diagram for playing at the game called the Walls of Troy.

Craigmillar, with other fortresses in Mid-Lothian, was burned by the English after Pinkey-fight in 1555, and Captain Grose surmises, with great plausibility, that much of the building, as it now appears, was erected when the castle was repaired after that event.

The ruin is happily surrounded with some fine old trees, which,

with the varied form of the building, render it a favourite subject for the pencil. It belongs to the descendant of the great lawyer, Sir Thomas Gilmor, who acquired the property about the Revolution.

ROSLIN is scarcely more fortunate in its own scenery, than in the romantic and classical vicinage of Hawthornden. The narrow glen which connects these two celebrated spots is one of those beautiful and sequestered valleys, which so often occur in Scotland, and generally where they are least to be expected, from the appearance of the general landscape. It often happens, that, amid an open and comparatively uninteresting country, where there is little to interest the traveller, he is conducted by the course of some fairy stream into a dell abounding with all the romantic varieties of cliff, and copsewood, and waterfall, through which the brook has found itself a 'more wild and pleasing course than along the surface of the more level ground. The vale of Roslin is precisely of this description. You may in many places approach its very verge without being aware of its existence; and, on the other hand, when you have descended into its recesses, you seem to be in a primitive wilderness. The cliffs which arise on each side of the dell are pleasingly varied, and present themselves to the spectator as the shattered ruins of some ancient building, of which some parts still stand firm in all their former strength, while others, broken and shattered, impend over and threaten the spectator. The copsewood with which they are clothed, wherever the roots can find room or subsistence among the chasms of the rocks, adds inexpressible beauty to the scene, especially in spring, when the green leaves are in all their first tenderness of colouring, and in autumn, when they have received the gorgeous, but melancholy tints, which betoken their approaching fall. It is only to be regretted that few of these beautiful trees have been permitted to grow to full size. The pathway, alternately ascending towards the verge of the rocks and descending into the bed of the river, winding amongst the various obstacles which the situation of the ground, the digressions of the stream, and the projecting masses of rock, offer to a more direct progress, has that delightful intricacy which at every step presents new and interesting points of view, giving, even to objects which we have already seen, all the interest of novelty as we approach or recede from them. In some places the track has that slight degree of danger which adds pleasure to the walk, to all who are not constitutionally timid. But it is telling a tale which has been repeated a thousand times, to say, that a morning of leisure can scarcely be anywhere more delightfully spent than in the woods

of Roslin, and on the banks of the Esk. In natural beauty, indeed, the scenery may be equalled, and in grandeur exceeded, by the Cartland Crags, near Lanark, the dell of Craighall, in Augus-shire, and probably by other landscapes of the same character which have been less celebrated. But Roslin and its adjacent scenery have other associations, dear to the antiquary and the historian, which may fairly entitle it to precedence over every other Scottish scene of the same kind.

The architecture of its beautiful Gothic chapel has been elsewhere treated of at length, and by a hand well entitled to classify and particularize its various beauties. The mouldering ruins of the castle, with its tremendous triple tier of vaults, were long the abode of the proud family of the St Clairs, whose titles at one period of their history would have wearied a herald, yet who were, perhaps,

-"not so wealthy as an English yeoman."

This mouldering fabric has been often described in detail, with all the legendary additions extracted from Father Hay's manuscript. Some forty years ago or more, we remember the moderate and comparatively modern mansion, which has been erected amidst the ruins of the old castle, inhabited by a genuine Scottish laird ofthe old stamp, the lineal descendant of the high race who first founded the pile, and the last male of their long line. His figure was, with exception of that of Douglas Duke of Hamilton, almost the only one we recollect which carried our imagination back to the Scottish barons and warriors of antiquity, who, each lords and monarchs within their own domains, scarce knew how to pay homage to sovereignty itself. The last Roslin (for he was uniformly known by his patrimonial designation, and would probably have deemed it an insult in any who might have termed him Mr Sinclair) was a man considerably above six feet, with dark grey locks, a form upright but gracefully so, thin-flanked and broad-shouldered, but, it would seem, for the business of the war or the chase, a noble eye of chastened pride and undoubting authority, and features handsome and striking in their general effect, though somewhat harsh and exaggerated when considered in detail. His complexion was dark and grizzled, and, as we schoolboys, who crowded to see him perform feats of strength and skill in the old Scottish games of golf and archery, used to think and say amongst ourselves, the whole figure resembled the famous founder of the Douglas race, pointed out, it is pretended, to the Scottish monarch on a conquered field of battle, as the man whose arm had achieved the victory, by the expressive words, Sholto Dhuglas-"behold the dark grey man." In all the manly sports which require strength and dexterity, Roslin was unrivalled; but his particular delight was in archery. It was he who announced to each candidate who was ad

mitted into the Royal Company of Archers, that he became the member of no private association, but of a body who had the privilege of acting as the King's Body-guard, should his Majesty ever visit his ancient metropolis, the limits of their service being Edgebucklinbrae on the east, and Cramond Bridge on the west of the city. It is not known on what document or tradition Roslin founded this claim; but it was indulged to the Royal Company of Archers by the condescension of his present Majesty, and they had the distinguished honour of performing the functions of the Band of Gentlemen Pensioners, in a manner highly creditable to themselves, during the late residence of his Majesty at Holyrood. It was Roslin also, who, possessing the hereditary office of Grand Master of the Scottish Masons, surrendered to the brotherhood the right of electing that officer in future. In grateful acknowledgment of this munificent renunciation of an ancient privilege, the memory of the Laird of Roslin is always remembered among the flowing cups of the fraternity. His last bed is made, where it is said twelve barons of his race lie in their armour, instead of shrouds, betwixt two of the pillars of the chapel, the bases of which are slightly indented to make way for his corpse, in consequence of his uncommon stature. The estate descended to Sir James Erskine St Clair, now Earl of Roslin, who represents the family. Those recollections of boyhood mingle with others of a later and more affecting description. Under the fine Gothic drop called the Star of Bethlem, lies the late beautiful Countess of Roslin [born Miss Bouverie], in whom passed untimeously from the world so much that was amiable, witty, and accomplished. The author of this article, frequently her guide through this admired scenery, may be pardoned so brief a tribute to the memory of a lady whom none who knew can recollect without sorrow.*

After leaving Roslin, we pass the caves of Gorton, situated in the front of a high cliff on the southern side of the stream, yet having their entrances so much obscured by bushes and brambles, that it requires perfect acquaintance with the spot to discern them. These caverns are obviously the work of human hands, and being cut in the form of a cross, it has been supposed they were originally the abode of hermits. The inference does not seem unavoidable; for, besides the religious idea attached to the form of the cross, it presents considerable accommodation to those who might not care to open too extensive a vault for fear of the roof falling in. At any rate, it is well known, that, during the unhappy reign of David II., whilst Scotland was overrun by the English, who had garrisons in the principal fortresses of the country, a gallant knight, Sir Alexander Ramsay of

* [The Countess died in 1810.];

Dalwolsey, found refuge in these caves, with a band of chosen patriots, and acquired such renown at the time, that no youth was held in account for valour, until he had served a certain time under his standard. With these followers Ramsay not only annoyed the English garrisons, but made excursions as far as Northumberland, and retaliated upon the English frontier the evils of his suffering country.

The local antiquary, also, seldom fails to point out the neighbouring moor of Roslin, as the scene of a celebrated battle, fought 24th February, 1302, in which the Scots, under Comyn, then guardian of the kingdom, and Simon Fraser, attacked and defeated three armies, or, more properly three divisions of the English, on the same day. The action is probably somewhat exaggerated, being one of the brief glimpses of prosperity which shone on the Scottish armies during that disastrous period. But even the English writers acknowledge a considerable defeat, owing to the incautious conduct of Sir John Segrave, who suffered his army to move in three bodies, so far separated from each other, as to be incapable of mutual support.

Amid these scenes of historical remembrance and natural beauty, the footpath down the river conducts the stranger to Hawthornden, the classical habitation of the poet Drummond, which is seen to most advantage from the opposite side of the river. Being built with some view to defence, a consideration in Scotland even till the middle of the seventeenth century and later, the house rises from the very edge of the grey cliff, which descends sheer down to the stream. The house, which is small and not very convenient, was repaired by the poet, with the following inscription:-" Divino munere, Gulielmus Drummondus, ab Hawthornden, Joannis Equitis aurati filius, ut honesto otio quiesceret, sibi et successoribus instauravit, 1638."

Under the mansion lie those subterranean caves which have excited so much speculation amongst antiquaries. They are simply small apartments, hewn out of the solid rock with much labour, which connect with each other by passages of disproportionate length. A spring-well, hewn with much labour, shows that these melancholy dwellings were designed for more than a brief space of retirement. Although it may be difficult to say whether they are the rude dwellings of an aboriginal race, who thus burrowed in the earth like wild beasts, and made their constant abode in the bowels of the rock-or whether they were constructed at a later period, as a temporary retreat, when the public calamities rendered the ordinary habitations of mankind unsafe, we may safely conclude, on the whole, that pressing necessity alone could reconcile human beings to such dreary mansions. Of this latter kind of caves, there are many in Scotland, as upon the banks of the Teviot, the Jed, and other rivers; but they are