CRAIGMILLAR CASTLE.

89

About two miles farther up the South Esk is DALHOUSIE CASTLE, a modernized building in the castellated form. The original structure was of vast antiquity and great strength. On the decease of the Marquis of Dalhousie (late governorgeneral of India), the title and estate were inherited by the Earl of Panmure, who is now therefore the representative of both these noble families.

About three miles south from Edinburgh are the ruins of CRAIGMILLAR CASTLE, situated on the top of a gentle eminence, and surrounded with some fine old trees. There is nothing to shew at what age or by what hand it was built; but the rampart wall which surrounds the castle appears, from a date preserved on it, to have been built in 1427. With other fortresses in Mid-Lothian, it was burned by the English after the battle of Pinkie in 1555, and Captain Grose surmises that much of the building was erected when the castle was repaired after that event.

It now consists of a strong tower, flanked with turrets, and connected with inferior buildings. There is an outer court in front, defended by the rampart already mentioned, and beyond there were an exterior wall and deep moat, the whole displaying a style of architecture and accommodation surpassing the generality of Scottish castles. In 1813, a human skeleton was found enclosed, in an upright position, in a crevice of the vaulting of the castle, which crumbled to dust on exposure to the atmosphere.

John Earl of Mar, younger brother of James III., was imprisoned in it in 1477. James V. occupied it occasionally during his minority, and it was so often the residence of Queen Mary, that the adjacent village, where her French Guards were quartered, acquired the name of Little France.

The castle and estate of Craigmillar were acquired by Sir Simon Preston in 1374, from one John de Capella, and they continued in the possession of the Preston family till about the period of the Revolution, when they were purchased by Sir Thomas Gilmour, a well known Scotch lawyer, to whose descendant, Walter Little Gilmour, Esq., they still belong.

EDINBURGH TO NEWHALL-HABBIE'S HOW
AND PENNYCUIK.

A very delightful excursion may be made from Edinburgh to Newhall, distant about twelve miles, the scene of Allan Ramsay's celebrated pastoral, " The Gentle Shepherd."

Leaving Edinburgh by Bruntsfield Links, the Tourist passes on the right MERCHISTON CASTLE, the birthplace of the celebrated Napier, the inventor of Logarithms. A little further on is the village of Morningside, and a number of villas and country boxes.

The space of ground which extends from Morningside to the bottom of Blackford Hill was formerly denominated the Borough Moor. We are informed by historians that it was studded with magnificent oaks at the time when James IV. arrayed his army upon it, previous to his departure for the fatal Battle of Flodden. The HAIR STONE, in which the royal standard was fixed, is still to be seen built into the wall, at the gate of Blackford House, which runs along the side of the footpath at the place called Boroughmoor-head.*

Two miles from Edinburgh is the HERMITAGE OF BRAID (J. Gordon, Esq. of Clunie), situated at the bottom of a narrow and wooded dell, through which strays the Braid Burn. Braid once belonged to a family called Fairly, and the Laird of Braid, during the Reformation, was a personal friend and zealous defender of John Knox. The road now skirts the rocky eminences called the Hills of Braid, which command a most beautiful view of the Scottish metropolis, with the Firth of Forth, its islands, and the shores of Fife in the background. The more northern side, called Blackford Hill, is the property of Richard Trotter, Esq. of Mortonhall, and if the tourist drive or walk for about a mile along the road that diverges here on

* At about half a mile's distance to the southward, there is another stone called the Buck Stone, upon which the proprietor of the barony of Pennycuik is bound by his charter, to place himself, and to wind three blasts of a horn, when the king shall visit the Borough Moor.

the left (eastward), he will come to the spot commemorated in "Marmion" by the couplet,

"Still on the spot Lord Marmion stay'd

For fairer scene he ne'er survey'd," etc.

On the right, at some distance, are Dreghorn (A. Trotter, Esq.), the village of Colinton, delightfully situated at the bottom of the Pentland Hills, and Colinton house (Lady Dunfermline). About five miles from Edinburgh, on the southern slope of the Pentland Hills, is WOODHOUSELEE, the seat of the Tytlers, surrounded by fine woods, and now rendered so additionally interesting by Mr. Burgon's delightful biography of the late Patrick Fraser Tytler, the author of the "History of Scotland," and other well-known works. The ancient house, once the property of Bothwellhaugh, the assassin of the Regent Murray, was four miles distant from the present mansion, and the ruins are still to be seen in a hollow glen beside the river, tenanted still by popular report with the restless ghost of the murdered lady.

After

The road now passes the hamlet of Upper Howgate, and a little farther on Glencorse House, an ancient seat of the Earls of Bothwell, and now the property of the Right Hon. John Inglis, Lord Justice-Clerk. On the right is the vale of Glencorse watered by the Logan Water, more commonly called Glencorse Burn, and the head of this valley is often confounded with the real scene of "The Gentle Shepherd." crossing Glencorse Burn, the road passes House-of-Muir, in the neighbourhoood of which is the place where the Covenanters were defeated, 28th November 1666, by General Dalziel. The insurrection, which ended in this skirmish, began in Dumfriesshire, where Sir James Turner was employed to levy the arbitrary fines imposed for not attending the Episcopal churches. The people rose, seized his person, disarmed his soldiers, and, having continued together, resolved to march towards Edinburgh, expecting to be joined by their friends in that quarter. In this they were disappointed, and being now diminished to half their numbers, they took up a position on the Pentland Hills, at a place called Rullion Green, where they were commanded by one Wallace. Here they waited the approach of General Dalziel of Binns, and from the strength

of the position, they withstood two charges of his cavalry, but upon the third shock they were broken up and utterly dispersed. About fifty were killed, and as many made prisoners. Passing through the village of Silver Burn, we reach NEWHALL, the seat of Robert Brown, Esq., on the banks of the North Esk, about 3 miles from Pennycuik House, and 12 from Edinburgh. Here the surrounding scenery of the Gentle Shepherd" may be distinctly traced. Near the house, on the north side of the vale, is the "Harbour Crag" (so called from its having afforded refuge to the Covenanters); and still farther up is the "How Burn cascade," the spot from which the poem takes its name.

"Gae far'er up the burn to Habbie's How,

Where a' the sweets o' spring and summer grow;
There, 'tween twa birks, out ower a little lin,
The water fa's, and maks a singin' din;

A pool, breast deep, beneath as clear as glass,
Kisses, wi' easy whirls, the bordering grass."

66

PENNYCUIK HOUSE, the seat of Sir George Clerk, Bart., is well worthy of a visit. The neighbouring scenery is extremely beautiful, and the pleasure grounds are highly ornamented. The house contains an extensive and excellent collection of paintings, with a number of Roman antiquities found in Britain, and, amongst other curiosities, the buff-coat worn by Dundee at the battle of Killiecrankie. The principal apartment, called Ossian's Hall, has a ceiling beautifully decorated with paintings, by Runciman.

EDINBURGH TO QUEENSFERRY, HOPETOUN
HOUSE, AND DUNFERMLINE.

By Coach from 4 Princes Street.*

Dunfermline may also be reached by Railway.

Leaving the town by Princes Street, we cross the Dean Bridge, and proceed along the Queensferry Road, the best turnpike in the county, and which forms one of the most favourite

* This is the route (although the road is changed) alluded to in the first chapter of "The Antiquary."

promenades of the people of Edinburgh. Shortly after leaving the town, we pass on our right Craigleith Quarry, from which most of the stone was obtained for building the houses of the New Town of Edinburgh, and which is remarkable for its durability and purity of colour (see page 16). A short way beyond this is one of the entrances to Ravelstone, the beautiful seat of Lady Keith; and a little further there may be seen on the left the turrets of Craigerook (John Hunter, Esq.), the favourite residence of the late Lord Jeffrey. About four miles from Edinburgh is Barnton House (Hon. Mrs. Ramsay), passing which we cross the river Almond at Cramond Bridge. Near this there is a cluster of beautiful residences, the principal of which are-New Saughton (the Earl of Morton), Craigiehall (W. E. Hope Vere, Esq.), Cramond House, and Lauriston Castle (Charles Halkett Craigie Inglis, Esq.), formerly the property of John Law, the projector of the Mississippi Scheme, and where the late Duchess of Kent resided some time during the autumn' of 1860. The banks of the river Almond in this neighbourhood are very beautiful, and the scenery about the old bridge of Craigiehall is romantic. The road now skirts the grounds of Dalmeny Park, the seat of the Earl of Rosebery, and one of the most beautiful properties near Edinburgh. Not far from the modern mansion, and standing on the sea shore, are the ruins of Barnbougle Castle, an ancient seat of the Moubrays. On an eminence near South Queensferry, is Dundas Castle, the original seat of the Dundas family before the eleventh century, and still the residence of their lineal descendant, Dundas of that Ilk. The view on descending from the village of Dalmeny to South Queensferry is very striking, and comprises, besides other objects, the fortified islet of Inchgarvie, situated in the middle of the strait. Directly opposite is North Queensferry, a little to the east of which is the old burgh of Inverkeithing, and Donibristle, an ancient seat of the Earls of Moray, and the scene of the atrocious murder, by the Earl of Huntly, of the youthful Earl of Moray, son-in-law of the celebrated Regent Moray.* On a rocky promontory, a little

* The Earl of Huntly, head of the powerful family of Gordon, had chanced to have some feudal differences with the Earl of Moray, in the course of which John Gordon, a brother of Gordon of Cluny, was killed by a shot from Moray's