ecessarily very high;
for the castle, which stands as it were at the extremity, west, as the
palace does east, makes on all sides (that only excepted which joins it
to the city) a frightful and inaccessible precipice. The castle is
situated on a high rock, and strongly fortified with a great number of
towers, so that it is looked upon as impregnable. In the great church
they have a set of bells, which are not rung out as in England, (for that
way of ringing is not now known in this country,) but are played on by
the hand with keys, like a harpsichord, the person playing having great
leather covers for his fists, which enables him to strike with the more
force; and for the larger bells there are treddles, which he strikes with
his feet.

They play all manner of tunes very musically; and the town gives a man a
yearly salary for playing upon them, from half-an-hour after eleven till
half-an-hour after twelve every day, Sundays and holidays excepted. On
the south side of this church is a square of very fine buildings, called
the Parliament Close, the west and south side of which are mostly taken
up with the Parliament house, the several courts of justice, the council
chamber, the exchequer, the public registers, the lawyers' library, the
post-office, &c. The great church makes up the north side of the square,
and the east, and part of the south side, is built into private
dwellings, very stately, lofty, and strong, being seven stories high to
the front of the square, and the hill that they stand on having a very
deep descent; some of them are no less than fourteen stories high
backwards. Holyrood house is a very handsome building, rather convenient
than large; it was formerly a royal palace and an abbey, founded by King
David I. for the canons regular of St. Austin, who named it
Holyrood-house, or the house of the Holy Cross, which was destroyed by
Oliver Cromwell, but nobly re-edificed by King Charles the second, and of
which his grace the Duke of Hamilton is hereditary keeper; it is now
almost entirely neglected.

The entrance from the great outer court is adorned with pillars of hewn
stone, under a cupola, in form of an imperial crown, balustrated on each
side at the top. The fore part has two wings, on each side of which are
two turrets; that towards the north was built by King James V. whose name
it bears in letters of gold; and that towards the south (as well as the
rest) by Charles II, whereof Sir William Bruc