air, numerous walks and drives in the neighbourhood, and good trout fishing, being the principal attractions. Several villas have been erected in its vicinity.

The vale of the Tweed, both above and below Peebles, contained a chain of strong castles to serve as a defence against the incursions of English marauders. These castles were built in the shape of square towers, and usually consisted of three storeys the lower one on the ground floor being vaulted, and appropriated to the reception of horses and cattle in times of danger. They were built alternately on both sides of the river, and in a continued view of each other. A fire kindled on the top of these towers was the signal of an incursion, and in this manner a tract of country seventy miles long, from Berwick to the Bield, and fifty broad, was alarmed in a few hours.*

Nidpath Castle, the strongest and the most entire of these fortresses, is situated about a mile west from Peebles, on a rock projecting over the north bank of the Tweed, which here runs through a deep narrow glen. It was at one time the chief residence of the powerful family of the Frasers, from whom the families of Lovat and Saltoun in the north are descended. The last of the family in the male line was Sir Simon Fraser, the staunch friend of Wallace, who, in 1302, along with Comyn, then guardian of the kingdom, defeated three divisions of the English on the same day, on Roslin Moor. Sir Simon left two daughters co-heiresses, one of whom married Hay of Yester, an ancestor of the Marquis of Tweeddale. The second Earl of Tweeddale garrisoned Nidpath, in 1636, for the service of Charles II., and it held out longer against Cromwell than any place south of the Forth. The Tweeddale family were so much impoverished by their exertions in the royal cause, that they were obliged, before the end

"A score of fires, I ween

From height, and hill, and cliff were seen,

Each with warlike tidings fraught,

Each from each the signal caught;

Each after each they glanced in sight,

As stars arise upon the night;

They gleam'd on many a dusky tarn,
Haunted by the lonely earn,

On many a cairn's grey pyramid,

Where urns of mighty chiefs lie hid."

Lay of the Last Minstrel.

of the reign of Charles II., to dispose of their barony of Nidpath to William, first Duke of Queensberry, who purchased it for his son, the first Earl of March. On the death of the last Duke of Queensberry in 1810, the Earl of Wemyss, as heir of entail, succeeded to the Nidpath estate. The castle was formerly approached by an avenue of fine trees, all of which were cut down by the late Duke of Queensberry to impoverish the estate before it descended to the heir of entail. The poet Wordsworth has spoken of this conduct with just indignation in one of his sonnets. The late Earl of Wemyss has, however, replanted the demesne, and the woods are assuming a luxuriant appearance. The remains of a Roman camp at Lyne, four miles distant, are worthy of a visit, as is also the vale of Manor, about the same distance, and which contains the cottage and grave of David Ritchie, the original of the Black Dwarf of Sir Walter Scott.

INNERLEITHEN

[Inn Riddell's, and noted for its Mineral Well.]

is six miles distant from Peebles; the road proceeds along the northern bank of the Tweed by Kerfield, and on the opposite bank of the river are King's Meadows and Hayston (Sir Adam Hay, Bart.) We next pass in succession the ruins of Horsburgh Castle, the property of the ancient family of the Horsburghs, now resident at Pirn; Kailzie, Nether Horsburgh, Cardrona, formerly the seat of the old family of Williamson, and Glenormiston House (W. Chambers, Esq.)

The village is also a favourite resort of anglers, and occupies a picturesque situation on the banks of the Tweed. Si Walter Scott, in his novel of St. Ronan's Well, was the first to draw attention to its beauties, which however have been somewhat impaired, since his day, by the erection of numerous woollen mills. A wooden bridge leads across the Tweed to the hamlet of Traquair and Traquair House, the seat of the Earl of Traquair, beautifully situated on the river Quair, near its junction with the Tweed. At a short distance, at the base of a hill overlooking the lawn, a few birch trees may be seen, the scanty remains of the famed "Bush aboon Traquair."

At a short distance from Innerleithen is Pirn, a seat of the Horsburgh family; and three miles further, on entering Selkirkshire, is Holylee (Ballantyne, Esq.) A mile beyond, on the opposite side of the river, are the ruins of Elibank Tower, from which Lord Elibank takes his title. Two miles further on is Ashestiel, once the residence of Sir Walter Scott, and where he wrote part of the Lay of the Last Minstrel,* and Marmion. "A more beautiful situation," says

* This poem may be considered as the "bright consummate flower," in which all the dearest dreams of his youthful fancy had at length found expansion for their strength, spirit, tenderness, and beauty. In the closing lines"Hush'd is the harp-the Minstrel gone;

And did he wander forth alone?

Alone, in indigence and age,

To linger out his pilgrimage?

No!-close beneath proud Newark's tower
Arose the Minstrel's humble bower," etc.

-in these charming lines he has embodied what was, at the time when he penned them, the chief day-dream of Ashestiel.-Lockhart's Life of Scott.

Mr. Lockhart," for the residence of a poet could not be conceived." A mile beyond this the road crosses Caddon Water, and at the village of Clovenfords joins the road from Edinburgh to Selkirk. Two miles beyond, it passes the picturesque ruins of Fairnalee House, and Yair, the seat of the Pringles of Whytbank, closely surrounded by hills luxuriantly wooded. The road then crosses the Tweed at Yair bridge, from which the towns of Selkirk or Galashiels are four miles distant.

EDINBURGH TO STIRLING BY STEAMER,

A Steamboat sails for Alloa and Stirling every day from Granton Pier. Trains from Waverley Bridge Station. Correct information as to the hours of sailing may be obtained at Croall's Coach Office, 4 Princes Street.

Looking straight across the Firth, on leaving Granton Pier, the burgh of Burntisland may be observed directly opposite. Shortly after may be seen on the same side Lauriston Castle, formerly the property of John Law, the projector of the Mississippi scheme. On the north shore is Aberdour, a seat of the Earl of Morton, near which is the island of Inchcolm, containing the ruins of a monastery, founded in 1123 by Alexander I. To the north of this, on the mainland, are Dalgetty Church and Cockairney (Sir Robert Mowbray, Bart.) On the south shore are the village of Cramond, and Dalmeny Park, the seat of the Earl of Rosebery, and directly opposite is Donibristle (the Earl of Moray). A short way to the westward lies Inverkeithing, and where the coast contracts are the towns of North and South Queensferry, with the islet of Inchgarvie between. On a rocky promontory, on the north shore, are the ruins of Rosyth Castle (page 94). A little beyond South Queensferry is Dundas Castle. Further on, upon the same side, and about a mile from the shore, is Hopetoun House (the Earl of Hopetoun, page 94), and on a peninsula to the westward stands Blackness Castle. On the north side of the Forth, close by the village of Charleston, stands Broomhall, the seat of the Earl of Elgin. Further on are Crombie Point and Crombie House, then the village of Torryburn, next Torry House (J. Hay Wemyss, Esq. of Wemyss Castle) and Newmills village. Returning to the south coast, and proceeding westward, may be seen in succession Carriden House* (James Hope, Esq.), Kirkgrange Salt Pans, Borrowstounness, Kinneil House, the property of the Duke of Hamilton, for some time the residence of the late Professor Dugald Stewart, and Grangemouth, situated at the mouth of Carron Water. On the north side is Valleyfield (Sir Henry Preston, Bart.), and near it the ancient and decayed burgh of Culross (pronounced Cooross). † In an old house, called

* In a house, close upon the shore, which now serves as a sort of lodge to this property, Colonel Gardiner, who fell at the battle of Prestonpans, was born.

+ Culross was famous for the manufacture of girdles, the round iron plates on which the people of Scotland bake their barley and oaten bread. "The hammermen of Edinburgh are no' that bad at girdles for carcakes, neither,