cism and art as the leaf-embowered
arcades and arches of our American forest cathedrals. From the
comparison of the plates of the engravings, I should judge there was
less delicacy of taste, and more exuberance of invention, than in
Melrose. One old prosaic commentator on it says that it is quite
remarkable that there are no two cuts in it precisely alike; each
buttress, window, and pillar is unique, though with such a general
resemblance to each other as to deceive the eye.

It was built in 1446, by William St. Clair, who was Prince of Orkney,
Duke of Oldenburgh, Lord of Roslin, Earl of Caithness and Strathearn,
and so on _ad infinitum_. He was called the "Seemly St. Clair," from his
noble deportment and elegant manners; resided in royal splendor at this
Castle of Roslin, and kept a court there as Prince of Orkney. His table
was served with vessels of gold and silver, and he had one lord for his
master of household, one for his cup bearer, and one for his carver. His
princess, Elizabeth Douglas, was served by seventy-five gentlewomen,
fifty-three of whom were daughters of noblemen, and they were attended
in all their excursions by a retinue of two hundred gentlemen.

These very woods and streams, which now hear nothing but the murmurs of
the Esk, were all alive with the bustle of a court in those days.

The castle was now distinctly visible; it stands on an insulated rock,
two hundred and twenty yards from the chapel. It has under it a set of
excavations and caverns almost equally curious with those of
Hawthornden; there are still some tolerably preserved rooms in it, and
Mrs. W. informed me that they had once rented these rooms for a summer
residence. What a delightful idea! The barons of Roslin were all buried
under this Chapel, in their armor, as Scott describes in the poem. And
as this family were altogether more than common folks, it is perfectly
credible that on the death of one of them a miraculous light should
illuminate the castle, chapel, and whole neighborhood.

It appears, by certain ancient documents, that this high and mighty
house of St. Clair were in a particular manner patrons of the masonic
craft. It is known that the trade of masonry was then in the hands of a
secret and mysterious order, from whom probably our modern masons have
descended.

The St. Clair family, it appears, were at the head of this order, with
power to appoint officers and places of meeting, to punish
transgressors, and otherwi