keithing. On the two coasts are the towns of North and South Queensferry, and, in the straits between them, is the fortified islet of Inchgarvie. On a rocky promontory, on the north shore, are the ruins of Rosyth Castle, once the seat of the Stuarts of Rosyth, a branch of the Royal House of Scotland, from whom it is said the mother of Oliver Cromwell was descended. Half a mile beyond Inchgarvie is Port Edgar, where George IV. embarked, after a visit to the Earl of Hopetoun, 29th August 1822. On an eminence, beyond South Queensferry, is Dundas superior beauty, even in that moment of parting life, Murray stammered out the dying words, 'You have spoiled a better face than your own.' "After this deed of violence, Huntly did not choose to return to Edinburgh, but departed for the north. He took refuge, for the moment, in the castle of Ravenscraig, belonging to the Lord Sinclair, who told him, with a mixture of Scottish caution and hospitality, that he was welcome to come in, but would have been twice as welcome to have passed by. Gordon, when a long period had passed by, avowed his contrition for the guilt he had incurred."—Tales of a Grandfather, vol. ii., p. 191. Upon this tragical circumstance, the following beautiful ballad is founded:— "Ye Highlands, and ye Lawlands, Oh, where have ye been? 'Now, wae be to you, Huntly! He was a braw gallant, And he rade at the ring; And the bonnie Earl o' Murray, He was a braw gallant, And he rade at the gluve; Oh! lang will his lady Look ower the Castle Doune, Come sounding through the toun." Castle, the original seat of the Dundas family before the eleventh century, and still the residence of their lineal descendant, Dundas of that Ilk. Farther on, upon the same side, and about a mile from the shore, is Hopetoun House, the splendid mansion of the Earl of Hopetoun ; and on a peninsula, to the westward, stands Blackness Castle, one of the four fortresses which, by the articles of the Union, are to be kept constantly garrisoned. Close by the village of Charleston, on the north side of the Forth, stands Broomhall, the seat of the Earl of Elgin. Farther on is Crombie Point and Crombie House, then the village of Torryburn, next Torry House (Captain Erskine Wemyss of Wemyss Castle) and Newmills village. Returning to the south coast, and proceeding westward, may be seen in succession Carriden House, (James Hope, Esq.,) Kirkgrange Salt Pans, Borrowstounness, Kinneil House, the property of the Duke of Hamilton, for some time the residence of the late Professor Dugald Stewart; and Grangemouth, situated at the mouth of Carron Water. On the north side is Valleyfield, (Lady Baird Preston,) and near it the ancient and decayed burgh of Culross, (pronounced Cooross.)* The inhabitants are a remarkably primitive set of people. Immediately behind it are the ruins of a Cistertian abbey, founded in 1217, by Malcolm Earl of Fife. At the Reformation, its possessions were conferred upon Sir James Colville, who was created Lord Colville of Culross. From the family of Colville it passed to the Earls of Dundonald, who sold it to the late Sir Robert Preston, Bart. A little farther on is Blair Castle, (Dundas, Esq.,) * Culross was famous for the manufacture of girdles, the round iron plates on which the people of Scotland bake their barley and oaten bread. "The hammermen of Edinburgh are no' that bad at girdles for carcakes, neither, and about a mile beyond this is Sands House, (Johnstone, Esq.,) after which the tourist reaches the town and shipping-port of Kincardine. Near it stand the ruins of the ancient castle of Tulliallan, formerly the property of the knights of Blackadder, and Tulliallan Castle, the splendid residence of Baroness Keith and Count Flahault, built by the late Admiral Lord Keith, the father of the present proprietrix, who is also the lineal representative of one of the most ancient families in Scotland, the Mercers of Aldie. On the opposite side is Higgin's Nook, (J. Burn Murdoch, Esq.,) and beyond it, upon a height, Airth Castle, (Graham, Esq.,) and about a mile to the west Dunmore House, the residence of the Earl of Dunmore. Nearly opposite, upon the right, is Kennet House, the seat of Robert Bruce, Esq. of Kennet. Farther on, upon the same side, is Clackmannan, the capital of the small county of that name; delightfully situated on an eminence, and to the west of the town, is Clackmannan Tower, said to have been built by Robert Bruce. It is now the property of the Earl of Zetland. Close beside the tower once stood the palace of Robert Bruce, and family house of Bruce of Clackmannan, now demolished. This was the residence of the old Jacobite lady, Mrs. Bruce of Clackmannan, who is mentioned in Currie's Life of Burns as having knighted though the Cu'ross hammermen have the gree for that."-Heart of Mid-Lothian, vol. ii., 254. Culross was also celebrated for its salt-pans and coal-mines. In the reign of James VI., the coal-mines were worked a great way under the bed of the Forth, and the coals were shipped at a mound which defended from the water the mouth of a subterraneous communication with the coal-pit. James VI., when on a visit to the proprietor, Sir George Bruce, being conducted, by his own desire, into the coal-pit, was led to ascend from it by the mound, when it was high tide. Seeing himself surrounded, on all sides, by water, he apprehended a plot, and bawled out "Treason;" but Sir George soon dispelled his majesty's fears, by handing him into an elegant pinnace that was lying alongside. that poet with a sword which belonged to Bruce. The sword and a helmet which had also belonged to the hero, are now in the possession of Lord Elgin, who represents the family of Bruce, and are to be seen at Broomhall, near Dunfermline. About a mile beyond Clackmannan, is the flourishing town of Alloa, in the neighbourhood of extensive collieries and distilleries. Near the town, and in the midst of a fine park, stands Alloa House, the ancient seat of the family of Erskine, Earls of Mar, and the subject of a fine Scottish air. The principal part of the building was destroyed by fire about twenty years ago, but there is still standing the original tower, an erection of the thirteenth century. It is ninety feet high, and the walls are eleven feet thick. At Alloa commence those remarkable windings called the "Links of Forth." These windings of the river form a great number of beautiful peninsulas, which, being of a very luxuriant and fertile soil, gave rise to the old rhyme,― "The lairdship o' the bonnie Links o' Forth Is better than an earldom o' the North." The distance by land from Alloa to Stirling Bridge is only six miles, while by water it is fifteen and a half. On the same side as Alloa, and a little to the westward, is Tullibody House, a residence of the Abercromby family. The Ochil-hills, from their proximity, now assume an air of imposing grandeur, and Stirling Castle forms a magnificent feature in the landscape. Beyond Tullibody, on the same side, is Cambus village, at the mouth of the Devon. The vale of the Devon is famed for its romantic beauty, and for the striking cascades formed by the river. Nearly opposite Cambus is Polmaise, (Murray, Esq.) Farther on, upon the right, are the ruins of Cambuskenneth Abbey, situated on one of the peninsular plains formed by the windings of the river. It was founded by David I., in 1147, for canons regular of the order of St. Augustine. It was one of the richest and most extensive abbeys in Scotland. At the Reformation, its possessions were bestowed by James VI. on the Earl of Mar, but about the year 1737 it was purchased by the Town Council of Stirling, for the benefit of Cowan's Hospital. Of the once extensive fabric of the Abbey, nothing now exists except a few broken walls and a tower, which was the belfrey. On the right is seen the Abbey Craig, and soon after the tourist reaches Stirling. From Stirling a pleasant episodical tour may be made to Castle Campbell, the Rumbling Brig, and the Devil's Caldron. Leaving Stirling, the tourist has on his left the soft green pastoral yet lofty hills of the Ochil range, with their magnificent wooded glades and warm sunward slopes, consisting of intermingling copse, cornfields, and meadows, while on the right is a rich and level country, bounded by the Forth, now entwining its silver links and spreading into a noble estuary. The most southerly of the Ochil-hills is Damyat, famous for the extensive and splendid view obtained from its summit. In its neighbourhood is Bencleuch, which shoots up into a tall rocky point, called Craigleith, remarkable in ancient times for the production of falcons. In a hollow near this the snow often lies far into the summer. The people give it the picturesque name of Lady Alva's Web. Three miles from Stirling the tourist reaches the beautiful village of Blairlogie, and |