site to Minto House lies the pleasant village of Denholm, the birthplace of Dr. John Leyden. HAWICK is a thriving town, situated upon a haugh at the junction of the Slitterick and Teviot. It is a burgh of regality, and is of considerable antiquity. Its inhabitants are principally engaged in manufactures, and are remarkable for their industry and intelligence. Hawick has made a considerable figure in Border history, and from its propinquity to the Border, has frequently suffered severely from the inroads of the English. The Slitterick is crossed by a bridge of peculiarly antique construction, and at the head of the town is a moat-hill, where the brave Sir Alexander Ramsay was acting in his capacity of Sheriff of Teviotdale, when he was seized by Sir William Douglas, the "dark knight of Liddisdale," and plunged into one of the dungeons of Hermitage Castle, where he perished of hunger, Hawick is noted among topers for its " gill." A Hawick gill is well known in Scotland to be half a mutchkin, equal to two gills.* On the right bank of the Teviot, about two miles above Hawick, stands the ancient tower of Goldielands, one of the most entire now extant upon the Border. The proprietors of this tower belonged to the clan of Scott. The last of them is said to have been hanged over his own gate, for march treason. About a mile farther up the river, on the opposite bank, stands the celebrated tower of Branxholm, the principal scene of the "Lay of the Last Minstrel," and during the "Weel she loo'ed a Hawick gill, And leuch to see a tappit hen." [A tappit hen is a frothing measure of claret.] K 15th and 16th centuries the residence of the Buccleuch family. Branxholm was famous of yore for the charms of a bonnie lass, whose beauty has been celebrated by Ramsay in a ballad beginning "As I came in by Teviot side, And by the braes o' Branksome, There first I saw my bloomin' bride, Young, smiling, sweet and handsome." *66 Nearly opposite Goldielands tower the Teviot is joined by Borthwick water. In a narrow valley formed by this stream, stands Harden Castle, an interesting specimen of an ancient Border fortress. The carved stucco work upon the ceiling of the old hall is well worth attention. The lobby is paved with marble; and the mantle-piece of one of the rooms is surmounted with an earl's coronet, and the letters, W. E. T. wreathed together, signifying "Walter Earl of Tarras," a title borne in former times by the house of Harden. In front of the house there is a dark precipitous dell covered on both sides with beautiful trees; in the recesses of which the freebooting lairds of former times were said to have kept their spoil. † *The bonnie lass was daughter to a woman nicknamed Jean the Ranter, who kept an ale-house at the hamlet, near Branxholm Castle. A young officer, named Maitland, who happened to be quartered somewhere in the neighbourhood, saw, loved, and married her. So strange was such an alliance deemed in those days, that it was imputed to the influence of witchcraft. † "Where Bortho hoarse that loads the meads with sand, Towers wood-girt Harden, far above the vale, And clouds of ravens o'er the turrets sail; A hardy race who never shrunk from war, The Scott to rival realms a mighty bar, THIRD TOUR. EDINBURGH—HADDINGTON—DUNBAR—BERWICK. Leaving Edinburgh by the Waterloo Bridge, and the south side of the Calton Mil], the tourist obtains a fine view of Salisbury Crags, Arthur's Seat, and St. Anthony's Chapel. Passing Jock's Lodge and Piershill Barracks, the road enters PORTOBELLO, a favourite summer residence of the citizens of Edinburgh. Tradition asserts that the first house in this village was built by a retired sailor, who had been with Admiral Vernon in his celebrated South American expedition of 1739, and therefore named it " Portobello," in commemoration of the capture of that town. A great number of elegant new streets have been built in the village, and hot and cold baths were erected in 1807. Here fix'd his mountain home,--a wide domain, Leyden's Scenes of Infancy. "Wide lay his lands round Oakwood tower. In the dark glen so deep below, Lay of Last Minstrel, c. iii. About two miles further, the road enters Fisherrow, and on the opposite bank of the Esk, the town of MUSSELBURGH, connected with Fisherrow by three bridges, the oldest of which is supposed to have been built by the Romans. Musselburgh, including Fisherrow, is an ancient burgh of regality,* and unites with Portobello, Leith, and Newhaven in returning a member to Parliament. The population of the town and parish is about 8691. The lordship and regality of Musselburgh were granted by James VI. to his chancellor, Lord Thirlstane, an ancestor of the Earls of Lauderdale. From them it was purchased in 1709 by Anne, Duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth, and it still continues in the family of Buccleuch, along with the superiority of the burgh. The great Randolph, Earl of Moray, the nephew of Bruce, and regent of the kingdom, died of the stone, in Musselburgh, in 1332. On Musselburgh links, an extensive plain between the town and the sea, the Edinburgh races, formerly held at Leith, are run. On this plain, in 1638, the Marquis of Hamilton, representing Charles I., met the Covenanting party; and here Oliver Cromwell, in 1650, quartered his infantry, while the cavalry were lodged in the town. In a garden, at the east end of Musselburgh, is a small cell, covered by a mound, the only remains now existing of a religious establishment, called the Chapel of Loretto. After the Reformation, the materials of the ruined chapel were employed in building the pre * " Musselburgh was a burgh When Edinburgh was nane, Old Rhyme. sent jail. For this sacrilegious act, it is said the inhabitants of Musselburgh were annually excommunicated at Rome till the end of the last century. At the east end of Musselburgh is Pinkie House, the seat of Sir John Hope, Bart., interesting for its many historical associations. It was originally a country mansion of the Abbot of Dunfermline, but was converted into its present shape at the beginning of the seventeenth century by Alexander Seton, Earl of Dunfermline. About half a mile southward of Pinkie House, on the east side of the Esk, is the spot where, in 1547, the battle of Pinkie was fought, in which the Scottish army was defeated by the English, commanded by the Duke of Somerset. Southward of Inveresk is Carbery Hill, where, in 1567, Queen Mary surrendered to the insurgent nobles.* Leaving Musselburgh, the road passes Drummore, (W. Aitchison, Esq.) on the left; and St. Clements Wells Distillery, and Wallyford, (-Aitchison, Esq.) on the right. A short way beyond, on the left, is Preston Grange, (Sir George Suttie, Bart.) and Dolphinton village, with its castle, in ruins. A little farther on upon the left is Preston Tower, formerly the residence of the Hamiltons of Preston. On * In the year 1728, a woman named Maggy Dickson, resident in Inveresk, was tried and condemned for child murder, and duly (as was thought) executed in the Grassmarket of Edinburgh. When the dreadful ceremony was over, poor Maggy's friends put her body into a chest, and drove it away, in a cart, to Musselburgh. When about two miles from town, the cart was stopped at a place called Peffermill, and the relations adjourned to a tavern for refreshment. On coming out of the house, what was their astonishment to see Maggy sitting up in the chest, having been restored to life by the motion of the cart. They took her home to Musselburgh, and she was soon entirely recovered. Sir Walter Scott, in the "Heart of Mid-Lothian," makes Madge Wildfire speak of "halfhangit Maggie Dickson, that cried saut mony a day after she had been hangit; her voice was roupit and hoarse, and her neck was a wee agee, or ye wad hae ken'd nae odds on her frae ony ither saut-wife."-Waverley Novels, vol. xiii. p. 26. |