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A mile and a quarter to the eastward of Borthwick Castle, and within sight of its battlements, stands CRICHTON CASTLE, on the banks of the Tyne, twelve and a half miles south from Edinburgh, and about two miles above the village of Pathhead, on the Lauder road. The footpath which leads from Borthwick to Crichton meanders delightfully through natural pastures and rushy meadows, among dwarf hazel, and alder and blackthorn bushes, broom and brackens, till walled in by a nearly impenetrable wilderness of furze roughly clothing the bank. The waters divide hereabouts-the infant Tyne running eastward, while Borthwick burn, descending from the southward heights, flows west till it falls into the Esk. Crichton Castle was built at different periods, and forms, on the whole, one large square pile, enclosing an interior court-yard. A strong old tower, which forms the east side of the quadrangle, seems to have been the original part of the building. The northern quarter, which appears to be the most modern, is built in a style of remarkable elegance. The description of the castle given by Sir Walter Scott, in his poem of Marmion, is so minutely accurate, that we transcribe it in preference to any remarks of our own:

"That Castle rises on the steep

Of the green vale of Tyne;

And, far beneath, where slow they creep
From pool to eddy, dark and deep,
Where alders moist, and willows weep,

You hear her streams repine.

The towers in different ages rose;
Their various architecture shows

I

The builders' various hands;
A mighty mass, that could oppose,
When deadliest hatred fired its foes,
The vengeful Douglas' bands.

Crichtoun! though now thy miry court
But pens the lazy steer and sheep,
Thy turrets rude, and totter'd Keep,
Have been the minstrel's loved resort.
Oft have I traced within thy fort,

Of mouldering shields the mystic sense,
Scutcheons of honour, or pretence,
Quarter'd in old armorial sort,

Remains of rude magnificence.
Nor wholly yet hath time defaced
Thy lordly gallery fair;

Nor yet the stony cord unbraced,
Whose twisted knots with roses laced,

Adorn thy ruin'd stair.
Still rises, unimpaired, below,

The court-yard's graceful portico;

Above its cornice, row and row

Of fair-hewn facets richly show
Their pointed diamond form,
Though there but houseless cattle go,
To shield them from the storm.
And, shuddering, still may we explore,
Where oft whilom were captives pent,
The darkness of thy Massy More;*

Or, from thy grass-grown battlement,

May trace in undulating line,

The sluggish mazes of the Tyne."

Crichton was the patrimonial estate and residence of the celebrated Sir William Crichton, Chancellor of Scotland, whose influence during the minority of James II., contributed so much to destroy the for

* The pit or prison-vault.

midable power of the Douglas family. On the forfeiture of William, third Lord Crichton, the castle and barony of Crichton was granted to Sir John Ramsay, a favourite of James III. The defeat and death of James involved the ruin of Ramsay. He

in his turn was proscribed, exiled, and his estate forfeited, and the castle and lordship of Crichton were granted anew to Patrick Hepburn, third Lord Hales, who was created Earl of Bothwell. He was ancestor of the infamous James Earl of Bothwell, who exercised such an unhappy influence over the fortunes of Queen Mary. On his outlawry, Crichton was conferred by James VI. on his kinsman Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, so noted for the constant train of conspiracies and insurrections in which he was engaged. Since that period, Crichton has passed through the hands of about a dozen proprietors, and is now the property of William Burn Callender, Esq. The ancient church of Crichton still exists, at the distance of half a mile to the north of the castle. It is a small but venerable building in the shape of a cross, with a low and truncated belfry. The west end has been left unfinished.

Returning to the road, about half a mile from Pathhead, stands OXENFORD CASTLE, a residence of the Earl of Stair. It is situate on the north bank of the Tyne, in the midst of an extensive park.

About three miles south from Edinburgh are the ruins of CRAIGMILLAR CASTLE, situate on the top of a gentle eminence, and surrounded with some fine old trees. There is nothing to show 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. 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.

In point of architecture and accommodation, Craigmillar surpasses the generality of Scottish Castles. It consists of a strong tower, flanked with turrets, and connected with inferior buildings. There is an outer court in front, defended by the battlemented wall already mentioned, and beyond these there was an exterior wall, and in some places a deep ditch or moat. In 1813, a human skeleton was found enclosed, in an upright position, in a crevice of the vaulting of the castle.

Upon being exposed to the air, it shortly crumbled to dust. Being so near Edinburgh, Craigmillar was often occupied as a royal residence. Here John Earl of Mar, younger brother of James III., was imprisoned in 1477. James V. occupied it occasionally during his minority, and it was so often the residence of Queen Mary, that the adjacent village acquired the name of Little France, from her French guards being quartered there.

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, the great lawyer, to whose descendant, Walter Little Gilmour, Esq., they still belong.

HOTELS IN EDINBURGH.

Douglas' Hotel, 35 St. Andrew Square.
British Hotel, 70 Queen Street.

Queen's Hotel, 131 Princes Street.

These are Family Hotels of the First Class. Those most generally frequented by Tourists are the following excellent Establishments:

Gibb's Royal Hotel, 53 Princes Street. (Opposite the Scott Monument.)

M'Queen's Hotel, 8 Princes Street.

Mackay's Hotel, 91 Princes Street.

Tait's New Royal Hotel, 16 Princes Street.

Campbell's North British Hotel, 21 Princes Street.

Star Hotel, 36 Princes Street.

Crown Hotel, 11 Princes Street.
Turf Hotel, 3 Princes Street.
Caledonian Hotel, 1 Castle Street.
London Hotel, 2 St. Andrew Square.
Waterloo Hotel, 24 Waterloo Place.
Ship Hotel, 7 East Register Street.
Regent Hotel, 14 Waterloo Place.
Black Bull Hotel, 79 Leith Street.
York Hotel, 19 Nicolson Street.

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