the courtesy to flow with her to this spot, where her landing after shipwreck was effected, and then receded back to its usual boundary. The street called Palace-place, presents to great advantage the old gothic arched gate-way, and small spiral tower, rising close behind it. What was formerly the monastery, adjoining the palace, is separated by this ancient gate-way, and cavities in the wall mark the cells of the monks. The monastery was founded by Malcolm Canmore, of the order of St. Benedict, but the monks were said to have been originally Culdees. It is, perhaps, worthy of notice, that Dunfermline is remarkable for the origin of the Seceders. The famous Erskines first displayed in this place the banners of the testimony. In the May-gate, over the door of what was once the abbot's house, is the following inscription: "Since word is thrall, and thought is free, A female, with whom he is said to have been illicitly connected, occasioned the above whimsical lines. The ancient church used for divine service has much the appearance of a decayed cathedral, the nave being supported with rows of massy pillars; the pews are aukwardly jumbled together, and the place has a most forlorn look, from negligence in keeping it in order and repair. I was told, that in this church a remnant of popish ceremony is still used; I mean that of penance. Not long ago, a person had been seen clad in a sheet, on the stool of repentance. This exhibition, seems to me, strangely incongruous in a church which will admit of no ceremonies whatever. I was much pleased with the ingenious mode of weaving the damask, which is manufactured with much perfection at Dunfermline. It is not without a feeling of regret, I take, most probably, my final leave of a place which has given me such an interesting acquaintance, and been productive of two days of intellectual enjoyment, such as I have rarely experienced. LETTER XXXII. St. Andrew's-square, Edinburgh, October. I AM now, my dear friend, arrived at the last point of my Tour, and just in time for the Caledonian Races, once the only diversion which cheered the inhabitants of this high-minded country with recollections of departed royalty, since Princesses Mary and Anne, afterwards successive queens of England, kept a little court in Holyrood House. These races might be considered as an annual festival, where all the great and gay of the kingdom were assembled, where the new equipage of the day, and the new beauty of the season, were first exhibited, and where the politics and fashion of the ensuing year were settled; besides marriages, the first ac quaintance which led to them, often beginning in this centre of general attraction. There the possessor of Asiatic wealth first publicly displayed his importance, and there, also the "haughty feudal Thane," as publicly despised it. The Scotch nobility, whom their duties or their pleasures kept all the winter in the metropolis, hurried down to this great meeting, which annually appeared like the ghost of the departed court, to remind the Scotch, that they were once an independent nation. From this recollection, the lenient hand of Time has drained the bitterness; and when those who had witnessed the last faded splendour of Holyrood House were "quietly inurned," their successors tasted joy without alloy, during the festival, when, in the gay month of July, all that in Scotland could produce splendour, elegance, and beauty, were assembled on the sands of Leith, to the no small delight, not only of the actors in that brilliant scene, but also of the |