AND THE VALE OF THE ESK. 141
‘by Sir John Vanbrugh. Here she lived in almost regal splendour till her
death at the age of eighV4ne. She was buried in the aisle of Dalkeith
Chapel.
Dalkeith PaIace is one of the favourite pilgrimages of the Scottish tourist :
Twice a week, during the absence of the present Duke’s family, the grounds,
the Palace, and the picture-galleries, are thrown open to visitors. The Palace
stands on a slightly rising ground between the two rivers. In front of it a fine
lawn stretches almost down to the banks of the wooded South Esk. At the
back of the Palace, in a deeper channel, seen from the terraces above, flows
the North Esk. Both wind through the grounds towards the sea, and between
the two the land is laid out in deer park, in hay fields, and in farms. Herds
of homed deer lie breastdeep in the long grass of the park, their ears alert at
the most distant sound, and their mild bright eyes raised to scan the passing
pedestrian.
About a mile below the Palace, the two Esks at last converge, the meetingpoint
being hidden from the road above by the mass of foliage on the
banks. At this point, however, a path winds down among the tangle to
the water edge; and from a rustic seat under a rock the ‘meeting of the
waters ’ may be seen. And now the Esk proper, larger and fuller than before,
flows on in its rocky bed, with only three miles between it and the blue Firth
of Forth.
INVERESK TO MUSSELBURGH.
For these three miles the river flows through the parish of Inveresk, the
site of a great Roman settlement or mzcllicz~ium, remains of which have from
time to time been discovered in its soil Bath-houses, altars, and sepulchres have
been excavated in the neighbourhood of Inveresk hill, with coins, pots of fireclay
earthenware, and wreath-omamented urns. Inveresk ploughshares have
been known to strike against Roman pavements in the fields ; and the corn
has died from being sown upon a substratum of Roman cement. In this
parish, on the right bank of the Esk, is the field of the Battle of Pinkie.
When the news came from the Border that the Protector Somerset was
approaching at the head of 14,000 men to extort a mamage between the baby
Queen of Scots and young award VI., the l Fiery Cross ’ was sent out through
Scotland, and, in immediate answer to the summons, no fewer than 36,000
Scots assembled around Pinkie. The battle was fought and lost. The English
pursued the Scotch in three directions, with great slaughter ; so that ‘ the dead
