stance, if true, which argued little skill in the art of building, since nothing could be so easy as to cut into the old wall, so as to afford a sufficient foundation for the new work.

After the death of the last-mentioned Lord Borthwick, the title remained in abeyance; nor has it yet been resumed by any claimant who has been able to make good his pretensions in the House of Lords.

Regat. C. S.
Lib. 26.
No. 158.

The estates belonging to the family have been at one time immense. In the first conveyance of the Borthwick estates, executed August 1st, 1538, there are comprehended the Moat of Lochquarret, the castle of the same, called the Castle of Borthwick; half of Bateland, in the county of Edinburgh; Borthwick, in Selkirkshire; Legerwood, Glengelt, Colinlaw, and Brownhouse, in Berwickshire; Ormiston, Herriot, Herriotmuir, Hethpule, and Whitfield, in the county of Peebles; and Aberdour, in Aberdeenshire; which lands, by this deed, are destined to William, Lord of Borthwick; John Borthwick, his son, and apparent heir; Sir John Borthwick of Gordonhall; and William Borthwick of Crookstone, and their heirs-male respectively.

Besides the descendants immediately connected by entail with the family succession, there were others of the name who were distinguished during the reigns of the several monarchs of the Stuart family. Such was Robert Borthwick, eminent for his skill both in founding and using artillery, at a time when both arts were little understood. He was Master of Artillery to James IV., and cast, among other pieces, the beautiful train of guns called the Seven Sisters, so much admired by the victors whose prize they became on the fatal field of Flodden. He put on his guns this rude legend

"Machina sum Scoto Borthwic fabricata Roberto."

Another person of the name was remarkable for using upon his death-bed the saying which is proverbially termed "David Borthwick's Testament." He was bred an advocate, and acquired many large estates, which he put into his son Sir James Borthwick's possession during his own life. The young heir proved a prodigal, and spent all. Ballencrieff, the last estate which remained, was sold while the old lawyer was dying. He heard the evil news, and only replied, "What can I say?—I bequeath every man to the devil that begets a fool, and does not make a fool of him."

We return to the principal line of Borthwick. The last direct heirmale having, as already mentioned, deceased in the person of the ninth Lord Borthwick, in 1672, the castle and barony became the property of John Dundas of Harvistone, nephew of the deceased Lord Borthwick, and grandson of Sir James Dundas, of the distinguished family of Arnistoun. It passed afterwards by purchase to the family

of Dalrymple of Cousland, and from thence to that of Mitchelson of Middleton.

By a late sale, the castle has been acquired by John Borthwick, Esq. of Crookstone, passing thus once more into a branch of the ancient family, from which the ruins derived their name, and who, as we believe, possesses a claim to inherit their ancient baronial honours. It is at any rate pleasant to consider, that so fine a specimen of ancient architecture, interesting also through so many remembrances, and, if deserted, still far from being ruinous, is now in possession of a family so deeply interested in its preservation. To render such a castle habitable, however entire the walls, and pleasant the site, is usually impossible, without altogether destroying its character as a memorial of antiquity. But that the work of actual destruction, and even the slow progress of decay, should be arrested by timely and reverential attention, is what the historical antiquary will doubtless expect from a family possessing so proud a memorial of the grandeur of their ancestors. And it is with pleasure that we conclude this imperfect article, on one of the most beautiful and entire specimens of castle-architecture in Scotland, with expressing our conviction that it is now in the hands of a proprietor equally interested in its preservation, and disposed to attend to it.

THE GREAT HALL OF BORTHWICK CASTLE.

"Is," says Nisbet, "so large and high in the roof, that a man on horseback might turn a spear in it with all the ease imaginable." The ceiling of this stately apartment consists of a smooth vault of ashlerwork, the joining of the stones being curiously fitted together. The roof has been painted with such devices as occur in old illuminations. There can be still traced the representation of a castle, with its battlements, towers, and pinnacles, and the legend, in Gothic characters, Ye Temple of Honor, is distinctly legible.

Stately and magnificent in itself, the Hall of Borthwick, as appears from our sketch of the history of the castle, is no less rich in associations. Here we may suppose the Abbot of Unreason was permitted to exercise his frolics, till the applause with which they were received encouraged him to set his mimic authority in competition with that of the Primate of Scotland. Here

"The stern protector of the conquered land"

received the keys of the castle, into which his cannon had forced an entrance. But, above all, the image of Queen Mary feasting with her unworthy Bothwell, startled from revelry by the voice of insurrection, and finally obliged to escape in the disguise of a page, comes

before us with that deep interest which is excited by every vicissitude of her melancholy history.

It is pleasing to reflect, that so fine a remnant of antiquity as Borthwick Castle, is now the property of those most interested in saving it from falling to ruins. It is very capable of being rendered habitable; but Mr Borthwick of Crookstone, the proprietor, has, with better taste, determined to preserve the castle in its present state. The attempt to ingraft modern accommodations upon the simplicity of an ancient castle, is certain to destroy the points which render it interesting to an antiquary, without always answering the purpose intended by the inhabitant. So that, in the general case, it is more judicious to arrest the progress of decay, and preserve ancient buildings in the style and form in which they were originally built, than to change their appearance, and injure their historical interest, by attempting to metamorphose them into modern places of residence.

TOWN OF DALKEITH.

THIS thriving town is a burgh of barony, lying about six miles from Edinburgh, and is most beautifully situated betwixt the rivers called the North and South Esk, which here approach close to each other, previous to their actual junction in the Park belonging to Dalkeith-House, about a mile and a half below the town.

In ancient times, the town of Dalkeith, as was almost universally the fashion in Scotland, run close up to, and was terminated by, the baronial castle, which served as a citadel to the town, and in time of need was garrisoned by the inhabitants. But the principal street, which is wide and handsome, is now terminated by the gate at the head of the avenue to the mansion, so that there is some interval between the town and the house, or, as it is popularly termed, the palace.

The etymology of the name cannot be easily ascertained. Besides the barony of Keith, in Lothian, Inch-Keith, and other compounds of the same word, occur. It has passed into the proper name of a distinguished tribe, whose head was the Earl Mareschal of Scotland. But though the family of Keith probably took their name from the barony so called, of which they long held the property, that circumstance will not help us to the original sense of the word. Some have supposed Keith equivalent to the British word Bath, signifying battle, in which case Dalkeith would mean the field of battle, InchKeith the island of battle, and so forth. The learned Mr Chalmer s

inclines to derive the word Keith from Caeth, signifying, in Celtic, narrowness, or confined extent, which suits well with the situation of the town, betwixt two rivers.

Lying so near the metropolis, the barony, castle, and town of Dalkeith were at a very early period possessed by proprietors of note and importance. The first upon record are the family yet remembered in the town of Dalkeith, by the popular name of the gallant Grahames. William de Grahame obtained from David I., so munificent in his grants to men of rank and valour, the lands of Abercorn and Dalkeith, in Lothian, in which he was succeeded by his eldest son, Patrick, while his second son, John, the ancestor of the Dukes of Montrose, obtained other possessions in Forfarshire and elsewhere. The male line of Patrick, the eldest son of William, became extinct in the reign of David II., ending in the person of Sir John de Grahame, whose possessions of Lugton and Dalkeith, as well as extensive lands in Liddesdale, passed to his daughter Margaret, who married a Sir William Douglas, and thus transferred to that yet more powerful family the estates of her father.

No memorials remain of the Grahames about Dalkeith, unless the fading traditions of the place, and two curious, but wasted tombstones, which lie within the ruined circuit of the old church. They represent knights in chain-armour, lying cross-legged upon their monuments, like those ancient and curious figures on the tombs in the Temple Church, London.

Who the Sir William Douglas was, that, by his marriage with Margaret Grahame, acquired so fair an estate, antiquaries are by no means agreed. Thus far it seems to be certain, that he was the ancestor of the Earls of Morton. But a great confusion arises from the frequency of the name of William, in the House of Douglas, and from its being actually borne at this period by the celebrated Sir William Douglas of Polbothy, in Moffatdale, better known in history as the Knight of Liddesdale, and by several others. Mr Chalmers is decidedly of opinion, that although William of Dalkeith is sometimes termed the Lord of Liddesdale, and certainly had possessions there, he must be held a different person from the celebrated Knight of Liddesdale. His reasoning on this subject indicates his usual extent of research. Considerable difficulties, however, still hang around this obscure subject; one or two of which we may be forgiven for stating, not as impugning Mr Chalmers's opinions, but as requiring further illustration.

It is, in the first place, an admitted fact, that Sir William Douglas of Dalkeith had a nephew, termed James Douglas, by whom he was succeeded. This is proved, among other circumstances, by two charters, the one signed at Dalkeith, 14th December, 1351, by which William of Douglas, designing himself Lord of the Valley of Lid

dell, confers the lands of Aberdower on his beloved nephew, James of Douglas, which charter he subscribes in presence of these witnesses, "Andrea de Douglas avunculo meo, Willielmo de Douglas seniore fratre meo." Again, in a grant of certain lands to the church of Dalkeith, 1st June, 1406, Sir James Douglas, the grantor, mentions Sir John of Douglas, his father, the Lady Agnes, his mother, and, "Willielmi de Douglas domini Vallis de Leddalle avunculi nostri." The relation of nephew and uncle, being therefore proved to exist betwixt Sir William Douglas of Dalkeith, designed the Lord of the Valley of Liddesdale, and Sir James Douglas, we shall proceed to show, that at least one ancient historian states the same connexion to have existed betwixt Sir James and the historical Knight of Liddesdale in contradiction of the system which would make the latter a distinct person from Sir William Douglas of Dalkeith, assuming also the title of Lord or Laird of Liddesdale.

Fordun, who is usually accurate, mentions the murder of David de Berkeley, in 1350, as committed at the instigation of William Douglas, then prisoner in England, in revenge of the death of his brother, John Douglas, father to James Douglas of Dalkeith, the elder.* That the historical Knight of Liddesdale is the person charged with the instigation of this crime, is certain, from his being described as "prisoner in England," where he remained from the date of the battle of Durham, where he was made captive, until 1351, when he was set at liberty upon a traitorous composition with the English monarch. It would seem to follow, that the historical Knight of Liddesdale, unless Fordun be mistaken, was that uncle to whom Sir James Douglas succeeded in the Lordship of Dalkeith. Indeed many other points of resemblance occur between these Sosias of Liddesdale, the two Sir William Douglasses.

Both married heiresses, and were designed of Liddesdale.
Both left an only daughter.

The Knight of Liddesdale was alive in 1351.

So was the Lord of Dalkeith.

The Knight of Liddesdale was slain in 1353, and it would be difficult to show that the Lord of Dalkeith survived that period.

Both of these Sir Williams had a father called Sir James.

Sir William Douglas of Dalkeith had, as appears from the charter above quoted, a brother, bearing his own name of William. And the Rotuli Scotia contain a safe conduct to a William Douglas, senior, who been prisoner in the tower along with the Knight of Liddesdale. Which circumstances, by the way, add a third William Douglas to the list.

Yet, notwithstanding these remarkable indications of identity, as

* Forduni Scot. Chronicon, vol. ii., p. 348.