Colinton.1 VIEW FROM THE PENTLANDS. 325
opposite coast of Fife.? But the distant views of
Edinburgh are all splendid alike.
The northern slopes of these mountains command
a clear view of one of the grandest and most
varied landscapes in Scotland.
? The ndiiiberless villas in the vicinity of Edinof
hills and elevated situations, useful as well
as ornamental-protecting, not injuring, cultivation.
. . . The expanse of the Forth, which
forms the northern boundary, adds highly to
the natural beauty of the scene; and the capital,
situated upon an eminence, adjoining an exten-
MAP OF THE ENYIWVNS OF EDINBURGH.
burgh and gentlemen?s seats all over the country
are seen, beautiful and distinct, each amidst its own
plantations,? says a writer so far back as 1792, since
which date great improvements have taken place.
?I These add still more to the embellishment of the
scene from the manner in which they are disposed ;
not in extended and thick plantations, which turn
a country into a forest, and throw a gloom upon
the prospect, but in clear and diversified lines, in
clunips and hedgerows, or waving on the brows
sive plain, rises proudly to the view and gives
a dignity to the whole. Descending from the
hills to the low country, the surface which had
the appearance of a uniform plain undergoes a
change remarkable to the eye. The fields are
laid out in various directions according to the
nature of the ground, which is unequal, irregular,
and inclined to every point of the compass. The
most part, however, lies upon a gentle slope, either
to the north or to the south, in banks which are
326 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Libertou.
extended from east to west over all the country.
This inequality in the surface .contributes much
to the ornament of the view, by the agreeable
relief which the eye ever meets with in the change
of objects ; while the universal declivity, which
prevails more or less in every field, is favourable to
the culture of the lands, by allowing a ready descent
to the water which falls from the heavens.? (Agricultural
Survey of Midlothian.)
Situated in a hollow of the landscape, on the
Colinton slope of the Pentlands, is Bonally, with
the Vale of the Leith, and enters the parish here,
on the west side by a lofty aqueduct bridge of eight
arches, and passes along it for two and a half miles.
Near Slateford is Graysmill, where Prince Charles
took up his headquarters in 1745, and met the
deputies sent there from the city to arrange about
its capitulation, and where ensued those deliberations
which Lochiel cut short by entering the High
Street at the head of go0 claymores.
Proceeding eastward, we enter the parish of
Liberton, one of the richest and most beautiful in
its ponds, 482 feet above the
tower, added to a smaller
house, and commanding a pass
among the hills, was finished
in 1845 by Lord Cockburn,
who resided there for many
years.
There are several copious
and excellent springs on the
lands of Swanston, Dreghorn,
and Comistun, from which,
prior to the establishment of
the Water Company in 1819,
to introduce the Cramley
water, the inhabitants of
Edinburgh chiefly procured
that necessary of life.
At Corniston are- the remains
of an extensive camp
ofpre-historic times. Adjacent
to it, at Fairmilehead, tradition
records that a great battle has
been fought ; two large cairns
were erected there, and when
these were removed to serve
for road metal, great quantities
of human bones were found
sea-level. A peel i all the fertile Lothians. Its surface is exquisitely
diversified by broad low ridges,
gently rising swells and intermediate
plains, nowhere obtaining
a sufficient elevation
to be called a hill, save in
the instances of Blackford and
the Braid range. ?As to
relative position,? says a writer,
?? the parish lies in the very
core of the rich hanging plain
or northerly exposed lands of
Midlothian, ahd commands
from its heights prospects the
most sumptuous of the urban
landscape and romantic hills
of the metropolis, the dark
farm and waving outline of
the Pentlands and their spurs,
the minutely-featured scenery
of the Lothians, the Firth of
Forth, the clear coast line, the
white-washed towns and distant
hills of Fife, and the bold
blue sky-line of mountain
The parish itself has a thoul?IE
BATTLE OR CAMUB STONE, COMISTON. ranges away in far perspective.
in and under them. Near \$here they stood there
still remains a relic of the fight, a great whinstone
block, about 20 feet high, known as the Kelstain,
or Battle Stone, and also as Cuvw Stage, from the
name of a Danish commander.
Corniston House, in this quarter, was built by Sir
James Forrest in 1815.
The Hunter?s Tryst, near this, is a well-known
and favourite resort of the citizens of Edinburgh in
summer expeditions, and was frequently the headquarters
of the Six Foot Club.
Slateford, a village of Colinton parish, is two
and a half miles from the west end of Princes
Street. It has. a ?United Secession place of
worship, dating from 1784, and is noted as the
scene of the early pastoral labours of the Rev. Dr.
John Dick The Union Canal is carried across
.
sand attractions, and is dressed out in neatness
of enclosures, profusion of garden-grounds, opulence
of cultivation, elegance or tidiness of. mansion,
village, and cottage, and busy stir and enterprise,
which indicate full consciousness of the immediate
vicinity of the proudest metropolis in Europe.?
One of the highest ridges in the parish is crowned
by the church, which occupies the exact site
of a more ancient fane, of which we have the
first authentic notice in the King?s charter to the
monks of Holyrood, circa 1143-7, when he grants
them ?? that chapel of Liberton, with two oxgates of
land, with all the tithes and rights, etc.,? which had
been made to it by Macbeth-not the usurper, as
Arnot erroneously supnoses, but the Macbeth, or
Macbether, Baron of Liberton, whose name occurs
as witness to several royal charters of David I.
