but after a siege, the place was compelled to surrender to the English, from a want of provisions. In the minority of James VI. this was the principal residence of the Regent Morton, and hence it was commonly styled the Lion's Den.

In 1642 the estate of Dalkeith came into the possession of the Buccleuch family by purchase. About the beginning of the last century, the present mansion was built upon the site of the old castle, by Anne, Duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth, who, after her husband's execution, lived here in royal state. It is situated in a park, consisting of more than 800 Scots acres, and surrounded by a high wall. This park abounds in wood, particularly venerable oaks of great antiquity; the rivers of North and South Esk run through it, and unite their winding streams about half a mile below the house.

His late Majesty chose Dalkeith House for his residence during his stay in Scotland. It is a large, but by no means an elegant building. Its interior, however, is fitted up with great magnificence, particularly the dormitory in which the King slept during his sojourn in this country. A visit to the Palace, as it is now generally called, will amply repay the tourist. The pictures are numerous, many of them of the first order; and the grounds are rich and variegated.

Ascending the river of South Esk, from the town of Dalkeith, at a mile's distance, you arrive at

NEWBATTLE ABBEY,

the seat of the Marquis of Lothian. It is an elegant modern building, situated upon the northern bank of the river, on the spot where once stood the ancient Abbey of Newbattle, founded by David I. for monks of the Cistertian order. There are some valuable pictures, and in the library are several highly curious and beautiful manuscripts in folio, written upon vellum, in the Saxon

character, which formerly belonged to the Abbey. Higher up the river is

DALHOUSIE CASTLE,

the seat of the Earl of that name, of great antiquity; lately modernized. The surrounding scenery is romantic and beautiful; and various walks have been formed along the steep and woody banks of the river, with much taste, and at great expence.

As the traveller passes over the height, three miles south of Dalkeith, upon the Kelso road, he comes in sight of the beautiful vale of Tyne, one of the most fertile districts in Scotland. About a mile farther on, and on the left of the road, stands Oxenford Castle, the splendid residence of Sir John Hamilton Dalrymple, Bart. It is beautifully situated within an extensive park upon the north bank of Tyne water. On the right is Chesterhall, now also the property of Sir John Dalrymple, who, it is understood, intends to pull down the house, and add the grounds to his park by extending the walls, and giving the present road a new direction.

A little farther south, and upon the opposite bank of the river, stands the elegant mansion of Prestonhall, the seat of William Burn Callander, Esq. Two miles west from Prestonhall, and upon the same side of Tyne water, are the majestic ruins of Crichton Castle. This was the seat of the celebrated Chancellor Crichton, who, with the Earl of Callander, was joint guardian of King James II. During the life of the chancellor it was besieged, taken, and levelled with the ground by William Earl of Douglas. In the reign of King James IV. it became the property of the Hepburns, (Lord Bothwell,) and was rebuilt in a most magnificent style. The situation is grand and romantic, standing on a projecting point above

a deep grassy glen of great extent, through which Tyne water runs, and the sides of which are covered with brushwood. It is now the property of William Burn Callander, Esq.

About two miles south from Crichton Castle stands

BLACK CASTLE,

sometimes called Cakemuir Castle, (Alexander Mackay, Esq.) This building, still entire and inhabited, is doubtless of great antiquity. The ancient part of the building consists of a square tower four storeys high, with bold projecting battlements surrounding the roof. In this tower there is an apartment called Queen Mary's Room, which, it is said, that unfortunate princess occupied, after escaping from Borthwick Castle, when that place was surrounded in June 1567 by Lord Home and his confederates, and before she went to join Bothwell at Dunbar.

The lands of Black Castle were then the property of the Wauchopes, Bothwell's vassals, who furnished her Majesty with horses, and accompanied her to Dunbar, to which place Bothwell had previously gone.

The Castle is surrounded on two sides by a deep glen, through which Cakemuir water smoothly winds its way. On the steep banks around the house are some venerable trees of great dimensions, one of which, a beech tree, measures seventeen feet and a half in circumference at five feet above the ground, and another, a plane tree, measures twenty-six feet in circumference at the base. The admirers of the beautiful but unfortunate queen will not think time mispent in visiting this sequestered refuge of royalty.

About two miles north-west from Black Castle, and near the south road by Gala Water, stands

BORTHWICK CASTLE,

the property of John Borthwick of Crookstone, Esq. a claimant of the ancient peerage of Borthwick. The licence for building this stately castle and fortalice was granted 2d June 1430. Although not inhabited, it is still very entire, and more likely to stand the ravages of time than many a modern edifice. The massive walls are thirteen feet thick at bottom, contracting gradually to six feet at top. The length of the building is seventyfour feet, the breadth sixty-eight feet, and the height ninety feet from the area to the battlements. It was to this once solitary spot that Queen Mary retired with Bothwell on the 7th June 1567, exactly three weeks after her unfortunate marriage with that nobleman; but from which she was obliged, four days thereafter, to escape, disguised in man's apparel. *

Another agreeable excursion may be made to the Pentland Hills, about five miles south from Edinburgh; and to Penicuik House beyond them.

Upon leaving Edinburgh by the Biggar road, commencing at the head of Burntsfield Links, Merchiston

"Ye sall understand quhow the said day my Lords of Mortoun, Mar, Hume, Lindsay," &c. "with sundrie oderis barronnis to the nommer of nine hundreth or a thousand horsmen, aryvit in the morning about Borthwick in deliberation to comprehend and tack my Lord Duk, quha was in the said place with the Queen's Majestie. My Lord Duk hiring of this enterpryse, thinking weil he suld be in mair securitie on the feild than in ane houss, passit forth and red away.

"Hir Majestie in mennis claiths, butit and spurrit, departit that saming neicht of Borthwick to Dunbar, quhair of na man knew saif my Lord Duk and sum of his servants, quha met her Majestie a myll of Borthwick, and convoyit hir hieness to Dunbar."-Beton's letter to his brother the Archbishop of Glasgow, June 1567.

Castle is seen upon the right. A little further on is the village of Morningside, where a new Lunatic Asylum has been erected. The road now ascends a rising ground called Braid Hill. On the left, at the distance of two miles from the city, is the approach to THE HERMITAGE OF BRAID, (J. Gordon, Esq. of Cluny.) This elegant and romantically situated house is placed in the bottom of a thickly-wooded ravine or dell, through which runs a limpid stream of water. The situation is so secluded from view, that a stranger may almost look down the chimneys of the house from the adjoining height before he is aware of its existence. At some distance on the right stands the modern Gothic castle of Dreghorn, (Alexander Trotter, Esq.) The view from it is particularly interesting; near to which is the delightfully situated village of Colinton. Both above and below the village the banks of the water of Leith are beautifully wooded, and ornamented with gentlemen's seats; and in the immediate neighbourhood is Colinton-House, the seat of Sir John Forbes, Bart. About a quarter of a mile to the north at Slateford is a magnificent aqueduct across the water of Leith. About a mile further on, a road to the right conducts to the inn called Hunter's Tryst, where strangers receive directions for ascending the Pentland Hills from this point. The view from their summit is varied and extensive. About three miles over the hills is a small valley, watered by Glencorse burn, which, in modern times, has been called Habbie's How, from a prevailing belief that it is the scene of Allan Ramsay's celebrated Scottish pastoral drama, The Gentle Shepherd. This fact, however, has been disputed upon very plausible grounds; and Newhall contends with this retired valley for the honour in question.

On the banks of this rivulet arise the springs which furnish the chief supply of water to the city. These are here collected in a reservoir, from which the water is carried in cast iron pipes to Edinburgh. The abstraction of