WALKS NEAR EDINBURGH. BY MARGARET WARRENDER With Illustrations by the Author " Haud fast by the past " EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS 1890 ( All Rights Reserved. ) MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. TO MY GRAND-AUNT LADY JOHN SCOTT FROM WHOM MANY OF THESE STORIES ARE DERIVED THIS BOOK IS GRATEFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. WALKS NEAR EDINBURGH. Bruntisfield—St. Margaret's Convent—Canaan Lane— Hermitage of Braid—Morton Hall—Dreghorn—Colinton— Craiglockhart—Craighouse—Merchiston Castle—The Wry

At the outset of these walks, I must pause and explain to my imaginary companions where we are going, and what we are going to see. Let them not raise their hopes too high! I am taking them neither to the dark and mysterious wynds of the Old Town, nor to the beautiful and distant glen of the Esk, nor farther afield, to Linlithgow's "lonely bower." My sphere is a humbler one. The Old Town of Edinburgh has been so much and so ably written upon, that it can only be from idleness that any one is ign

St. Roque—The Grange—Blackford—Liberton—St. Catherine's Well—Gilmerton—The Burnt Grange—The Drum—Moredun—The Inch. We begin to-day's walk at the bottom of the Whitehouse Loan, turning to the left into the ancient thoroughfare which led of old from the Linton Road to St. Giles's Grange, and is still called the Grange Loan. A villa bearing the name of St. Roque, which we pass on the right, recalls memories of the chapel which once stood here. [19] It was of great antiquity, and it is uncertain whe

Cameron Toll—Prestonfield—Peffer Mill—Craigmillar—Edmonstone— Niddrie—Duddingston—St. Leonards. These lines were written long ago, by old Mr. Lloyd, on one of his visits to his son-in-law at Niddrie, and described the direction of his daily walks. They will apply equally well to us to-day, for we leave Edinburgh by what used to be the Cameron Toll; and, letting the main road pursue its way south to Dalkeith,—to be rejoined by us later on,—we turn to the left and skirt The Cameron. This place is

St. Margaret's Well—St. Anthony's Chapel—Muschat's Cairn—Jock's Lodge— Portobello—Restalrig. T o-day's walk must be a short one, for, with the sea in front of us, and the rapidly increasing boundaries of Leith and Portobello on either side, there only remains a small space to be explored. Let us start from the Holyrood entrance to the Queen's Park, and walk towards St. Margaret's Loch. The iron-barred gate, which apparently leads to a vault in the hill-side to our right, guards the curious old w

Corstorphine—The Cat-Stane—Gogar—Hatton—Saughton Hall—Dalry. Our walk to-day takes us in an entirely different direction, and to fields as yet unexplored. With our faces to the setting sun, we leave Edinburgh by the great west road, which for the first few miles is so cramped and hemmed in by modern houses that all recollections of the past are effaced. By degrees, as we pass Murrayfield, the villas grow fewer, the gardens and parks which lie on the hill slopes to our right get larger, but there

Warriston—Caroline Park—Muirhouse—Lauriston Castle—Cramond— Braehead—Cammo—Barnton—Craigcrook—Ravelston.  To-day we come to our last walk, which will take us past several curious and interesting places. There is no more imposing and majestic way for the traveller to approach or leave Edinburgh, than the Queensferry Road, which is our choice to-day. The broad, well-engineered road sweeps with an easy curve over the Dean Bridge, passes the handsome stone houses of Buckingham Terrace, and in a few