Description of CRICHTON CASTLE. THE annexed View represents the present state of this very large and ancient edifice, which is situated about seven miles from Edinburgh, on the banks of the Tyne. It belonged originally to the Chancellor, Sir Wil liam Crichton, from whom it was taken by the Earl of Douglas, who considered the Chancellor as having occasioned the death of his predecessor, Ea William, in 1440. It is reported to have been demolished upon that occasion: but the present state of the ruins proves it rather to have been enlarged. In 1488, it was held by Lord Cricuton against James III. The Hepborus, Earls of Bothwell, succeeded the Crichtons in the possession; and from them it passed successively to the Duke of Buccleugh, to the Pringles of Clifton, and finally, to Sir John Callender, Bart.

The oldest part of the building is a narrow keep, or tower, such as formed the mansion of a lesser Scot

tish baron; bat many buildings, of various ages, have been added. The eastern front of the court is raised above a portico, and adorned with entablatures, bearing anchors. The inside appears to have contained a very long and magnificent gallery, access to which was given by a splendid staircase, now totally destroyed. Beneath there is a dungeon vault, called the Massy More.

The following very poetical description of this Castle is given by

Mr Scott, in the fifth canto of Mar mion:

Crichtoun! although thy miry court
But pens the lazy steer and sheep,
Thy turrets rude, and tottered keep,

Have been the Minstrel's loved resort.
Oft have I traced within thy fort,

Of mouldering shields the mystic sense, Scutcheons of honour, or pretence, Quartered in old armorial sort,

Remains of rude magnificence:
Nor wholly yet hath time defaced
Nor yet the stony cord unbraced,
Thy lordly gallery fair;
Whose twisted knots, with roses laced,

Adorn thy ruined stair.

Still rises unimpaired, below,
The court-yard's graceful portico;
Above its cornice, row and row
Of fair hewn facets richly shew

Their pointed diamond form-
Though there but houseless cattle go,
And, shuddering, still may we explore,

To shield them from the storm.

Where oft whilome were captives pent,

The darkness of thy Massy Mor

Or, from thy grass-grown battlement, May trace, in undulating line, The sluggish mazes of the Tyne.

On the Origin and Antiquities of the

Castle and City of EDINBURGH. From the Introduction to the IIistory of the Ancient Kingdom of STRATHCLUYD in SCOTLAND-a Work now preparing for Publication.

(Continued from page 839.)

TO THE EDITOR.

SIR, IN a late Number of your valuable

Miscellany, I endeavoured to trace the origin of the name of Edinburgh,

as