upon its banks, when we view fantastic rocks of various hue, bold and picturesque, covered with lichens, or adorned with shrubs, when we contemplate buildings now mouldering to decay, where wonders had been achieved both by the poet and the warrior, we are lost in a profusion of delights;-these, together with other circumstances of enchanting witchery, leave an impression never to be erased from the imagination. ROSLYN CASTLE, EDINBURGHSHIRE. SECOND VIEW. THIS is generally supposed to have been erected in the twelfth century, but by whom is not clearly ascertained; the earliest information on record is the gift of this castle by Malcolm Canmore, about the time above mentioned, to William de Sancto Clere, son of Waldernus de St. Clare, who came over with William the Conqueror; to him was likewise presented the barony of Roslyn. No mention is afterwards made of it in history until the reign of James II. of Scotland, when Sir William Hamilton was confined there, for engaging in the rebellion which Earl Douglas had raised against that monarch. In the year 1534, during an incursion into Scotland, it was besieged by the forces of Henry VIII.; when, after an obstinate resistance, it was taken, most probably by storm; as it is mentioned in history, that the castle at that time was destroyed by fire, together with two other important holds, Leith, on the north side of Edinburgh, and Craigmillar, on its south-east. The family of the Clares, the immediate ancestors of the present Earl of Roslyn, had many titles, and immense possessions; being at one and the same |