Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands, from 1848 to 1861

At ten o’clock we set off—we two in the barouche—all the others following, for Edinburgh. We drove in under Arthur’s Seat, where the crowd began to be very great, and here the Guard of Royal Archers met us; Lord Elcho walking near me, and the Duke of Roxburgh and Sir J. Hope on Albert’s side. We passed byHolyrood Chapel, which is very old and full of interest, and Holyrood Palace, a royal-looking old place. The procession moved through the Old Town up the High Street, which is a most extraordinary street from the immense height of the houses, most of them being eleven stories high, and different families living in each story. Every window was crammed full of people. They showed us Knox’s House, a curious old building, as is also the Regent Murray’s House, which is in perfect preservation. In the Old Town the High Church, andSt. Paul’s in the New Town, are very fine buildings. At the barrier, the Provost presented us with the keys.
The girls of the Orphan Asylum, and the Trades in old costumes, were on a platform. Further on was theNew Church, to which—strange to say, as the church is nearly finished—they were going to lay the foundation stone. We at length reached the Castle, to the top of which we walked.
The view from both batteries is splendid, like a panorama in extent. We saw from them Heriot’s Hospital, a beautiful old building, founded, in the time of James, by a goldsmith and jeweller, whom Sir Walter Scott has made famous in his Fortunes of Nigel. After this, we got again into the carriages and proceeded in the same way as before, the pressure of the crowd being really quite alarming; and both I and Albert were quite terrified for the Archers Guard, who had very hard work of it; but were of the greatest use. They all carry a bow in one hand, and have their arrows stuck through their belts.
Unfortunately, as soon as we were out of Edinburgh, it began to rain, and continued raining the whole afternoon without interruption. We reached Dalmeny, Lord Roseberry’s, at two o’clock. The park is beautiful, with the trees growing down to the sea. It commands a very fine view of the Forth, the Isle of May, the Bass Rock, and of Edinburgh; but the mist rendered it almost impossible to see anything. The grounds are very extensive, being hill and dale and wood. The house is quite modern: Lord Roseberry built it, and it is very pretty and comfortable. We lunched there. The Roseberrys were all civility and attention. We left them about half-past three, and proceeded home through Leith.
The view of Edinburgh from the road before you enter Leith is quite enchanting; it is, as Albert said, “fairy-like,” and what you would only imagine as a thing to dream of, or to see in a picture. There was that beautiful large town, all of stone (no mingled colours of brick to mar it), with the bold Castle on one side, and the Calton Hill on the other, with those high sharp hills of Arthur’s Seat and Salisbury Crags towering above all, and making the finest, boldest background imaginable. Albert said he felt sure the Acropolis could not be finer; and I hear they sometimes call Edinburgh “the modern Athens.” The Archers Guard met us again atLeith, which is not a pretty town.