40 EDINBURGH FAST AND PRESENT.
mansion standing amidst the deep solitary woods, the high ragged rocks, and
the foaming waters of the Findhorn.
Toward Morningside, with its, alas ! too well known magnificent Asylum,
you pass Merchiston Castle, where Napier, the famous inventor of Logarithms,
one of Scotland’s highest scientific men, spent the greater portion of his life.
Above Faicon Hall on the roadside at its highest point, is seen the Bore Stone,
marked by an inscription, into which James IV. sunk the shaft of his royal
IIfiRcHISTON CASTU.
standard on setting out for Flodden (ah ! how different from that of a similar
designation still to be seen near Bannockburn, where Scotland’s flag at the
close of that ‘bloody summer day,’ June 24th, 1314, was stirred by the breeze
of victory, and seemed in every fold and flutter to be speaking of freedom !) ;
and it was in the first house on the left in Church Hill that Chalmers was found
in his bed--dead, yet with an aspect which might have accompanied the
triumph of a translation. It is refreshing, after the excitement and exhaustion
of passing so many classic spots and speaking silences, to find yourseIf
now in the free fresh country, amidst the quiet commonplace of its fields and
the breathing balm of its summer winds !
There are still some places of great interest which must not, even in a
review so rapid and sketchy, be omitted, such as the Greyfriars Church and
Churchyard, the Grassmarket and the Cowgate.
’ Built in 1612, half blown up in 1718, compIetely destroyed by fire in
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