cious basin in view. Passing on the left Dun House, Broomley, and the lime kilns of Hedderwick, we speedily arrive at Dubton Station (50 miles).

Adjacent to the station on the right is the ancient mansion of Hedderwick, and beside it Dubton House. On the left lies the considerable

1303, when he returned from France to oppose Edward I. The Chevalier St. George embarked there for France on 4th February 1715, having spent the previous night in a house in the town. In the subsequent rising of 1745, it was sometime the head quarters of the Royalists; and in the river, between the town and the village of Ferryden, the Hazard sloop of war was captured by Captain David Ferrier of Brechin, a notorious Jacobite. The principal public buildings are the town-hall, the parish church, the Episcopal chapels, the academy, and the old lunatic asylum. Behind the town, which stands on a narrow peninsula, the river expands into a spacious basin, which forms a sort of roadstead to the port. At high water, it has a peculiarly striking and beautiful effect. The South Esk is crossed by a very magnificent suspension bridge, the distance between the points of suspension being 432 feet.

village of Hillside, having some tasteful villas, the residences chiefly of citizens of Montrose. Leaving Dubton, the line is carried up a high embankment, on the right of which is Charlton House, and on the left Rosemount. At Sunnyside, to the east of Rosemount, is the fine building of the new lunatic asylum of Montrose, commanding a grand view of sea and land. The line now enters a deep cutting, on emerging from which is seen, on the right, the river North Esk, and at a distance the spacious stone bridge, on the turnpike road between Montrose and the north. Standing on an eminence beside it is Kirkside House. Skirting the slopes of the valley of the North Esk, on the right, are the extensive manufacturing works of Logie and Craigo, and Craigo Station (53 miles). Leaving this, on the opposite side of the river, a fine view is obtained of Kirktonhill House (George Taylor, Esq.), and on the left are Craigo, Gallery, and Balmakewan. We then cross the North Esk by means of an extensive viaduct to Marykirk Station (54 miles), on the right of which is the village of the same name. The line has now entered Kincardineshire, and inland is a distant view of the Grampians. On the right is seen the hill of Garvock, with its tower. About four miles to the left is the village of Fettercairn, adjoining which are the houses of Fasque (Sir Thomas Gladstone, Bart.) and Fettercairn (Sir John Stuart Forbes, Bart.) The long-wooded hill, stretching eastward, from near Fettercairn to Fordoun, is called Strathfield, near the western point of which are the remains of the ancient royal castle of Kincardine, where tradition says, Kenneth III. was murdered by Lady Finella, in ▲ 1). 994.

The town of Laurencekirk was the birthplace of Dr. Beattie, and here the celebrated Ruddiman was once schoolmaster, as was also Ross, the author of the popular song of "The rock wi' the wee pickle tow," etc. The village was founded by Lord Gardenstone, and is now chiefly remarkable for the manufacture of snuff-boxes. Leaving Laurencekirk, the line passes through the richly cultivated district known as the "Howe o' the Mearns." The spire of the church of Fordoun may be seen on the left, shortly before reaching the station of that name. George Wishart, the reformer, was a native of Fordoun parish, and a monument has recently been erected to his memory by the parishioners.

After leaving Fordoun Station, on the left is Monboddo, the seat of the late Lord Monboddo, and on the right the house of Kair, Passing Drumlithie Station a glimpse is obtained of the house of Glenbervie (Mrs. Nicholson), the line is carried along an extensive viaduct, and turns northwards. On the right, at a considerable distance, may be seen the ancient castle of Fiddes. On emerging from an immense cutting through the solid rock, the line enters the valley of the Carron water, with the woods of Dunnottar on the right, and the lands of Fetteresso on the left. We then cross the Carron, and enter the woods of Fetteresso. On the left is Fetteresso Castle (R. Duff, Esq.), the ancient residence of the Earls

Marischal of Scotland, situated on the north bank of the Carron, and surrounded with extensive policies. On the right, surrounded with trees, but not seen from the railway, is the parish church of Dunnottar, in the churchyard of which there is a grave-stone in memory of certain Covenanters killed in endeavouring to escape from the "Whig's vault in Dunnottar Castle. In the churchyard of Dunnottar, Sir Walter Scott saw, for the first and last time, David Paterson, the famous "Old Mortality," engaged in his favourite occupation of renewing the epitaphs on the tombs of the Covenanters. Beyond this is also seen the modern house of Dunnottar and the town of Stonehaven-(73 miles)-[Inn: Finlay's Railway. Population, 3240.]

The ruins of Dunnottar Castle, anciently the seat of the Keiths, Earls Marischal, stand upon an isolated rock, about three miles south-west of the railway station. The area of the castle measures about three acres, and is separated from the land by a deep chasm, the only approach being by a steep path winding round the body of the rock. In 1296 the rock and kirk of Dunnottar, which were then garrisoned by the English, were taken by Sir William Wallace. Edward III. also occupied it in his progress through the kingdom in 1336, but as soon as he quitted the kingdom it was again captured by Sir Andrew Murray, Regent of Scotland. The first castle was built upon the rock of Dunnottar by Sir Wm. Keith, about 1394, and the keep or dungeon is supposed to be the oldest remaining portion. During the time of the Commonwealth, it was selected as the strongest place in the kingdom for the preservation of the Regalia. The garrison, under the command of Ogilvy of Barrs, made a vigorous resistance to the English army, but were at length compelled to surrender by famine. Previously to this, however, the regalia had been secretly conveyed away, and buried beneath the pulpit of the church of Kinneff, by Mrs. Granger, the wife of the minister of that parish; while to divert the suspicions of the enemy into a false channel, the Countess of Marischal spread a report that these national treasures had been carried abroad by Sir John Keith, her younger son. At the Restoration, all the persons connected with this affair were rewarded, but in inverse ration to their merits. Sir John Keith, who had no real share in the transaction, was created Earl of Kintore, and Knight-Marischal of Scotland, with a salary of £400 a year. Ogilvie, whose patrimonial estate had been impoverished by the fines and sequestrations imposed by the English, received the merely honorary reward of a baronetcy, while Mrs. Granger was rewarded with a sum of two thousand marks Scots. During the reign of Charles II., Dunnottar was used as a state prison for confining the Covenanters. The prisoners were, without distinction, packed into a dungeon, having a window open to the sea, in front of a huge precipice. They were allowed neither bedding nor provisions, except what they bought, and were treated by their keepers with the utmost rigour. The walls of this place, still called

the Whigs' Vault, bear evidence of the severities inflicted on those unhappy persons. There are, in particular, a number of apertures cut in the wall, about a man's height, and it was the custom, when such was the jailor's pleasure, that any prisoner who was accounted refractory should be obliged to stand up with his arms extended, and his fingers secured by wedges in the crevices described. In this cruel confinement many died, some were deprived of the use of their limbs, and several lost their lives by desperate attempts to descend from the rock on which the castle is founded. The fortress was dismantled soon after the Rebellion of 1715, on the attainder of its proprietor, James, Earl Marischal. "The battlements, with their narrow embrasures, the strong towers and airy turrets, full of loopholes for the archer and musketeer; the hall for the banquet, and the cell for the captive, are all alike entire and distinct. Even the iron rings and bolts that held the culprits for security or torture still remain to attest the different order of things which once prevailed in this country."

From the railway station at Stonehaven, and on the left, a good view is obtained of the mansion-house of Ury, lately rebuilt by Alex. Baird, Esq., previously the property of the late Captain Barclay Allardyce. On leaving the station, the neat parish church and manse of Fetteresso are passed on the right, and the line crosses the water and valley of the Cowie, by an extensive viaduct. Emerging from a deep cutting behind Cowie House (Innes, Esq.), and crossing the turnpike by a viaduct, a good view is obtained on the right, of the town of Stonehaven and Castle of Dunnottar. The country from Stonehaven to Aberdeen is remarkably bleak and sterile, presenting, for the most part, barren eminences and cold swampy moorlands: the old castle of Muchals, with its large hall and fine stuccoed ceiling, and the bold line of coast, being the chief objects of interest: the line passes near the fishing village of Findon, or Finnan, which lies by the margin of the sea, hidden from the view of the railway traveller, and from which the celebrated dried haddocks derive their name. Proceeding for a short distance along the shore, it sweeps round Girdleness (the eastern termination of the great chain of the Grampians), and crossing the River Dee by means of an extensive viaduct, reaches Aberdeen (described page 309).

BRECHIN TO LOCHLEE OR GLENESK, BY EDZELL. On leaving Brechin for the north (14 miles), is Cairnbank House on the right, past which a road leads to Craigo Station, by Huntly Hill, the scene of the battle of Brechin, in 1452. Half a mile further on the turnpike, and the first road which turns to the left, leads to Edzell, Lethnot, and Lochlee, passing the mansion-houses of Keithock and Newtonmill.

Cross the bridge of Cruik and a fine view is obtained of the Grampians, with the celebrated Forts of the two Caterthuns, three or four miles to the left. On the right is the kirk and kirkyard of Stracathro, the scene of King John Baliol's penance to Edward I., in 1296; and previously, in 1130, a battle was fought in the same neighbourhood between David I. and Angus, Earl of Moray, which ended in the defeat of the latter. To the east of the kirk is seen the fine mansion-house of Stracathro (Sir J. Campbell); and on the north-east the old turreted castle of Inglismaldie (Lord Kintore) rises above the adjoining woods.

The next bridge which is crossed, is that of the West Water, and a drive of about 2 miles along a good, but rather bleak road, brings the traveller to the clean and salubrious village of Edzell, where there are two good inns. A mile to the left, along the Lethnot road, are the extensive and imposing ruins of Edzell Castle, an old seat of the once

powerful family of Lindsay, now the property of Lord Panmure. With, perhaps, the exception of the Stirling Tower, or the large square keep on the south side of the castle, the whole had been built by David, ninth Earl of Crawford, and his son, Lord Edzell. The garden-wall is ornamented by a number of elaborate carvings in stone. On the east wall are the celestial deities, on the south the sciences, and on the west the theological and cardinal virtues, forming one of the most interesting memorials of the kind in Scotland. The foundations of old bathing-rooms were lately brought to light at the south-west corner of the garden, and, along with the ruins of the castle, they have been put into a good state of repair by Lord Panmure, who has also fitted up the old picturesque summer-house

* Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, vol. 2, p. 226.