LEAVE EDINBURGH.

2219

upon the manners and character of the people is very striking. The Scotch generally make keen bargains, but very seldom dishonest ones. They are actuated by a spirit of shrewdness, frugality, industry, and decent pride, which is visible in all their transactions, and which entitles them to the respect of every observer.

After seeing every thing worthy of observation, and experiencing the highest civility and attention, I bade adieu to Edinburgh, and set off for Queen's Ferry, distant about nine miles. It is so called, because Margaret, Malcolm's third Queen, used frequently to pass that way in her road to and from Dunfermline, where she resided. The road to this place passes through a highly-cultivated county and rich improved estates, and is embellished on either side with neat cottages, each having a garden of vegetables, and the whole being such as night be expected in the neighbourhood of a great capital. The view from the inn is as beautiful as any in nature, and exhibits a nearer view of the objects which are seen from the Costorphine Hills.

This ferry is more frequented than any other over the Forth, and is the great communication between the MidHighlands and the south-eastern parts of Scotland. Many carriages pass this way; and, by the great care and dexterity of the ferrymen, are, as well as the passengers, soon wafted

over to the other side of the Forth with great safety. The stage-coaches and mail between Aberdeen, Perth, and Edinburgh, run this way. In the time of James III. owing to the little progress made in the science of navigation, and the violent gusts of wind to which the Forth is exposed, this ferry, indeed the whole of the Forth, was extremely perilous; and the careful monarch passed a law, declaring, "That there be na schip frauched out of the realm, with any staple gudes, fra the feast of Simon's Day and Jude, unto the feast of the Purification of our Lady, called Candlemas."

I much regretted that my time and route would not permit me to visit Broom-hall, the magnificent seat of Lord Elgin, which stands on the north side of Queen's Ferry, directly opposite to Hopetoun-house. I was informed that some part of the shell of this mansion was built in the late Lord's time, as well as some detached parts of the offices, which are now united, and embellished in one grand design, with porticoes, presenting a front of four hundred and seventy feet, on the exact model of the remaining examples of Grecian architecture brought by his Lordship from Greece, under the able and tasteful direction of Mr. Porden, the gentleman from whose designs that beautiful structure, the stables of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, at Brighton, was erected.

Broom-hall is entitled to the rank of a highly classical building. The grand portico is exactly formed from the Temple of Minerva, at Athens; the two lateral porticoes are true copies of the Propylæa; the two others, entrances to the offices, resemble the Agora; and the grand hall is the exact model of the interior of the Ionic Temple. Lord Elgin was our Ambassador at Constantinople for some years, and is well known to be a nobleman of distinguished taste. Whilst he was in Greece he was attended by skilful artists, who, under his superintendence, collected several statues and precious fragments from the different temples of Athens, which his Lordship has, at great expense, transported to England, and which, with a noble liberality, he has opened to the public inspection.

I had also another cause of regret, in not seeing his Lordship's lime-quarries, which, as they have been described to me, are immense excavations, resembling vast piazzas. From these quarries one thousand five hundred lime ́vessels were freighted, in 1806, for agricultural use, in different parts of Scotland where lime is not found.

Travellers used also to be attracted in this direction by the beautiful remains of Dunfermline-abbey, in the neighbourhood of Broom-hall. The former, history informs us, was begun by King Malcolm III., and is celebrated, next

224

'DUNFERMLINE-ABBEY.

to Jona, for being the cemetery of several Scottish Kings; amongst others, of the illustrious Robert Bruce; but no inscription remains to distinguish them from the vulgar dead. The abbey was in the Anglo-Saxon style of architecture. A great part of its venerable ruins was destroyed by the falling of the steeple, in the latter end of last August.

CHAP. XIII.

HOPETOUN-HOUSE-PROCESS OF TRAMPING-LINLITHGOW-THE

PALACE ANCIENT SCOTTISH COURT-ASSASSINATION OF THE REGENT MURRAY FALKIRK · GREAT CANAL-THE CARRON WORKS THE RIVER CARRON-WALLACE'S OAK-STIRLING— EARL OF MARR-STIRLING-CASTLE-HISTORICAL INCIDENTSJAMES V. AND THE ITALIAN FRIAR-SCOTTISH TOILETTEEXTRAORDINARY TIDES OF THE FORTH.

AFTER much difficulty, on account of the number of persons travelling to Edinburgh just at this period, I procured a couple of sorry horses, and proceeded for Linlithgow. The town of Queen's Ferry has nothing in it worthy of notice but occasional picturesque interest, and a large manufactory of soap, which pays a higher duty to the excise than that of any other town in Scotland. The ride along the coast is exquisite beyond description. At various turnings, the Forth, with its beautiful landscape and shipping, presents all the varieties of a vast lake, a mighty river, and a sea, embellished with lofty hills and promontories, highly-cultivated grounds, shores and winding bays, and skirted with villages.

After enjoying this enchanting prospect, I turned from