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
142 ROSLIN, HAWTHORNDEN,
bodies lay as thick as a man may notte cattell grasing in a full plenished pasture,
and 'the ryvere ran a1 red with blood.' 1 At nightfall the English mustered
again near Inveresk and gave a shout that the people heard in the streets of
Edinburgh. Next morning the English set to work to bury their dead ; and,
some halfcentury ago, a great number of the skeletons were excavated at
Pinkie-bum. A copsewood has been planted to mark out these rows ; and on
the spot where the Protectois tent was pitched, on the outskirts of Eskgrove,
a memorial pillar stands with this inscription upon it :-
THEP ROTECTORD, UKEO F SOMERSET,
Encamped here, 9th September,
1547.
The marriage between the children of the two realmsnever tookplace.
Somerset withdrew into England, and the little Mary was shipped off to France.
Twenty years elapsed, and once more two hostile forces met on the banks of
the Esk, within sight of the battlefield of Pinkie. Mary Stuart and Bothwell,
with some 2000 followers, were stationed upon Carberry Hill, while at a little
distance, on the other side of a hollow, were ranged the forces of the Confederate
Lords, flaunting their banner, on which was painted the figure of a dead man.
AI1 through the June day the Lords conferred with Bothwell and the Queen,
who, sitting upon a stone, clad in her runaway garb of short jacket and red
petticoat, was alternately fierce, tearful, and haughty. Then, as evening was
closing in, the Lords made their last proposition, and Mary knew she must
submit to it. Bothwell was to go free, and Mary was to be led away captive.
She consented, and on the green slope of Carbemy Hill they parted for ever.
Bothwell rode away upon his horse ; and Mary was taken back into Edinburgh,
dusty, tear-stained, and desperate, amidst the execrations of the crowd.'
' Cover my face for me :
I cannot heave my hand up to my head ;
Mine arms are broken.-Is he got to horse 7
I 'do not think one can die more than this.
I did not say fare~ell.'~
At Musselburgh, the Roman bridge, now preserved in the clutches of
strong iron bands, and succeeded, for all rougher traffic, by a broad modem
1 Patten's Expedicimn : vide Statistical Account.
3 Froude's ffistmy of EngZand, 1865, vol. ix. p. ga.
a EothwcZl, by A. C. Swinbume.
