ell and Chapel, as it is
called, but it is more like a hermitage than a chapel,--a small ruin,
which from its situation is exceedingly interesting, though in itself not
remarkable. We sate down on a stone not far from the chapel, overlooking
a pastoral hollow as wild and solitary as any in the heart of the
Highland mountains: there, instead of the roaring of torrents, we
listened to the noises of the city, which were blended in one loud
indistinct buzz,--a regular sound in the air, which in certain moods of
feeling, and at certain times, might have a more tranquillizing effect
upon the mind than those which we are accustomed to hear in such places.
The Castle rock looked exceedingly large through the misty air: a cloud
of black smoke overhung the city, which combined with the rain and mist
to conceal the shapes of the houses,--an obscurity which added much to
the grandeur of the sound that proceeded from it. It was impossible to
think of anything that was little or mean, the goings-on of trade, the
strife of men, or every-day city business:--the impression was one, and
it was visionary; like the conceptions of our childhood of Bagdad or
Balsora when we have been reading the Arabian Nights' Entertainments.
Though the rain was very heavy we remained upon the hill for some time,
then returned by the same road by which we had come, through green flat
fields, formerly the pleasure-grounds of Holyrood House, on the edge of
which stands the old roofless chapel, of venerable architecture. It is a
pity that it should be suffered to fall down, for the walls appear to be
yet entire. Very near to the chapel is Holyrood House, which we could
not but lament has nothing ancient in its appearance, being sash-windowed
and not an irregular pile. It is very like a building for some national
establishment,--a hospital for soldiers or sailors. You have a
description of it in Stoddart's Tour, therefore I need not tell you what
we saw there.

When we found ourselves once again in the streets of the city, we
lamented over the heavy rain, and indeed before leaving the hill, much as
we were indebted to the accident of the rain for the peculiar grandeur
and affecting wildness of those objects we saw, we could not but regret
that the Firth of Forth was entirely hidden from us, and all distant
objects, and we strained our eyes till they ached, vainly trying to
pierce through the thick mist. We walked industriously through the
streets, street