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be seen the site of the cottage of Davie Deans, and other objects rendered imperishably interesting by the novels of Sir Walter Scott.

Retracing our steps to Holyrood, and proceeding up the Canongate, we reach, upon the right, a narnow archway conducting to a court known by the

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name of the WHITE HORSE CLOSE, a singular lookwith, or divided from each other, in every possible variety which can gratify the eye and the imagination. When a piece of scenery so beautiful, yet so varied-so exciting by its intricacy, and yet so sublime-is lighted up by the tints of morning or of evening, and displays all that variety of shadowy depth, exchanged with partial brilliancy, which gives character even to the tamest of landscapes, the effect approaches near to enchantment. This path used to be my favourite evening and morning resort when engaged with a favourite author or new subject of study."-Heart of Mid-Lothian.

The solid and commodious pathway which has now superseded the winding footpath above described, was suggested by this glowing eulogy of the surrounding landscape.

ing group of houses, which, in ancient times, was a well-frequented hostelrie. The White Horse Inn is understood to be the oldest place of the kind in the city, of which the premises preserve, in any measure, their original integrity. It is now partitioned into dwelling-houses of the lowest class. A little further up the street, on the opposite side, is QUEENSBERRY HOUSE, a large dull looking structure, erected by William, first Duke of Queensberry. Charles, the third Duke, was born here in 1698, and his sprightly Duchess, Lady Catharine Hyde, here patronised the poet Gay.* The building is now converted into a "House of Refuge for the Destitute." Continuing to ascend the street, we pass, upon the right hand, the ungainly fabric called the CANONGATE KIRK, and next reach the Court-Room and Jail of the Canongate. In a niche of the latter building are painted the arms of the Canongate, with the motto, Sic itur ad astra," as if the worthy inhabitants of this ancient burgh regarded the prison as the surest avenue to heaven. A little farther up the street, on the left, is MORAY HOUSE, the ancient mansion of the Earls of Moray, erected in 1618. Oliver Cromwell, on his first visit to Edinburgh, in 1648, took up his residence here, and established friendly relations with the leaders of the Covenanters. From

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* When this lively lady first visited Drumlanrig Castle, the Duke's fine baronial seat in Dumfriesshire, there was a landsteward on the estate of the name of Bullock. In one of her flippant sallies, the Duchess asked him the question, "Mr. Bullock, where are your horns?" To which the steward replied, "Your Grace, the horns go with the Hydes!"-a smarter repartee, we venture to say, than any ever made by the vivacious Duchess.

the balcony in front of the building, the Marquis of Argyle and his family saw the Marquis of Montrose conducted to prison, from whence he was shortly afterwards led to execution. The house is now occupied as the Normal School of the Free Church. Still ascending the street, we pass, upon the right and left, Leith Wynd and St. Mary's Wynd, two narrow streets, dedicated to the sale of old clothes. At the head of the Netherbow, where it expands

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into the High Street, stands the HOUSE OF JOHN KNOX, the intrepid Ecclesiastical Reformer.* Over

*The building having fallen into a very dilapidated state, the public authorities, in 1849, condemned it as unsafe, and ordered it to be taken down; but a subscription for its preservation having been originated by some of the more public-spirited of the citizens, the calamity and reproach of destroying this interesting memorial

the door is the following admonitory inscription—

Lufe. God. above. al. and. your. Nichbour.as. Your. Self.

and close beneath the window, from which Knox is said to have preached to the populace, is the rude effigy of the Reformer in the attitude of addressing the passers by. A little above the pulpit is a stone bearing the name of the Deity in Greek, Latin, and English, to which the preacher is pointing his finger.

Proceeding up the High Street, the stranger cannot fail to be struck by the air of antique majesty, which, in spite of some modern innovations, still distinguishes the street. From either side descend numerous lanes or closes, exceedingly steep, and of a width frequently limited to six feet, in which are the squalid abodes of some of the lowest of the population. The struggling lights with which these closes are chequered, present to the eye of an artist inexhaustible studies of chiaroscuro, and from among them we select CHALMERS'S CLOSE,

of the great Reformer have been averted. In its restoration the most scrupulous care was taken to preserve every feature of the original building, and this fortunately proved less difficult than had been imagined, as, on taking off the external coating of decayed lath and plaster, it was found that the main features of the ancient edifice consist of substantial masonry and oaken timbers, which now promise, with ordinary care, to last for centuries. The removal of some of the extraneous modern additions brought to light several interesting features of the original edifice, and, in particular, an elegantly sculptured slab, with a coat of arms and initials, closely corresponding in ornamental details to a tablet, bearing the arms of the Queen Regent, Mary de Guise, formerly on her house at Leith. The woodcut in the text represents the building before the recent repairs, and the reader, by comparing it with the structure itself, will be enabled to judge how perfectly · this restoration has been effected.

about twenty yards further up the street than Knox's House, as the subject of a wood-engraving.

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Upon reaching the North Bridge, our first walk will terminate by returning to the Register House. If the stranger desires to prolong it, he will continue to ascend the High Street, commencing with the Tron Church. For the sake of arrangement, however, we must designate the next division of his progress the Second Walk.

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