NOTES ON THE GRAY BROTHER. From that fair dome, where suit is paid, The barony of Pennycuik, the property of Sir George Clerk, bart. is held by a singular tenure; the proprietor being bound to sit upon a large rocky fragment, called the Buckstane, and wind three blasts of a horn, when the king shall come to hunt on the Borough Muir, near Edinburgh. Hence the family have adopted, as their crest, a demi-forester proper, winding a horn, with the motto, Free, or a Blast. The beautiful mansion house of Pennycuik is much admired, both on account of the architecture and surrounding scenery. To Auchindinny's hazel glade.-Page 160. Auchindinny, situated upon the Eske, below Pennycuik, the present residence of the ingenious H. Mackenzie, Esq. author of The Man of Feeling, &c. And haunted Woodhouselee.-P. 160. For the traditions connected with this ruinous mansion, see the ballad of Cadyow Castle, page 138. Who knows not Melville's beechy grove.-Page 160. Melville Castle, the seat of the honourable Robert Dundas, member for the county of Mid. Lothian, is delightfully situated upon the Eske, near Laswade. It gives the title of viscount to his father, lord Melville. And Roslin's rocky glen-Page 160. The ruins of Roslin Castle, the baronial residence of the ancient family of St. Clair. The Gothic chapel, which is still in beautiful preservation, with the romantic and woody dell, in which they are situated, belong to the right honourable the earl of Rosslyn, the representative of the former lords of Roslin. Dalkeith, which all the virtues love.-Page 160. The village and castle of Dalkeith belonged, of old, to the famous earl of Morton, but is now the residence of the noble family of Buccleuch. The park extends along the Eske, which is there joined by its sister stream, of the same name. And Classic Hawthornden.--Page 160. A Hawthornden, the residence of the poet Drummond. house, of more modern date, is enclosed, as it were, by the ruins of the ancient castle, and overhangs a tremendous precipice, upon the banks of the Eske, perforated by winding caves, which, in former times, formed a refuge to the oppressed patriots of Scotland. Here Drummond received Ben Jonson, who journeyed from London, on foot, in order to visit him. The beauty of this striking scene has been much injured, of late years, by the indiscriminate use of the axe. The travelIer now looks in vain for the leafy bower, "Where Jonson sat in Drummond's social shade." Upon the whole, tracing the Eske from its source, till it joins the sea, at Musselburgh, no stream in Scotland can boast such a varied succession of the most interesting objects, as well as of the most romantic and beautiful scenery. THOMAS THE RHYMER. PART FIRST. Few personages are so renowned in tradition as Thomas of Erceldoun, known by the appellation of The Rhymer. Uniting, or supposed to unite, in his person, the powers of poetical composition, and of vaticination, his memory, even after the lapse of five hundred years, is regarded with veneration by his countrymen. To give any thing like a certain history of this remarkable man, would be indeed difficult; but the curious may derive some satisfaction from the particulars here brought together. It is agreed, on all hands, that the residence, and probably the birthplace, of this ancient bard, was Erceldoun, a village situated upon the Leader, two miles above its junction with the Tweed. The ruins of an ancient tower are still pointed out as the Rhymer's castle. The uniform tradition bears, that his surname was Lermont, or Learmont; and that the appellation of The Rhymer was conferred on him in consequence of his poetical compositions. There remains, nevertheless, some doubt upon this |