56 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



The harbour of Dunbar — excavated at much labour and expense, and to 

 which Cromwell made a contribution of three hundred pounds for the con- 

 struction of the east pier — has undergone many alterations and improvements, 

 though still of insufficient accommodation, and difficult access, on a coast of 

 such stormy celebrity. But as the trade consists mostly of fishing craft, the 

 dimensions of the harbour are a consideration of less moment. In every age, 

 indeed, Dunbar seems to have derived its importance, not from commerce, but 

 from the strength of its castle. 



The two prominent objects in the town are a handsome new national church, 

 and an old venerable seat belonging to the Lauderdale family. The ancient 

 church was converted from its condition of parochial into that of a coUegiate 

 church so early as 1342, and was the first of that rank in Scotland. The 

 sepulchral monument erected here to the memory of Sir George Home — 

 afterwards earl of Dunbar and March — is, probably, the richest and most 

 elaborate marble specimen of the kind in Scotland. 



Two monastic establishments of Mathurines and Carmelites once flourished 

 here, vHth goodly revenues, which at the reformation passed into secular hands, 

 and left the brotherhood Httle, save their beads. 



The immediate neighbourhood of Dunbar has witnessed, on various occasions, 

 remote as well as modern, the struggle of conflicting armies — one inflamed 

 with the lust of conquest, the other with the love of country— and both victorious 

 or vanquished in turn. The first engagement which proved disastrous to native 

 independence, was that between Edward I. and Baliol, in 1296; the second, 

 after an interval of nearly four hundred years, was the victory gained by 

 Cromwell over the Presbyterian army, under general Leslie, in 1650. Thu 

 scene of this fatal rencontre extends between Spott and Dunbar; and, like 

 other battle-fields, excites no common interest in minds embued with a know- 

 ledge of the men and measures of that eventful period. 



On his retreat from Edinbui-gh, and wdth the Scottish army pressing hard 

 upon his rear, Cromwell reached the coast with difficulty, and encamped near the 

 church of Dunbar. Here he caused a trench to be dug between that point and 

 Doon Hill, where general Leslie, ready to seize the favourable moment for an easy 

 victory, had taken up a strong position. Crippled in their resources, hemmed in 

 by the sea, disheartened by retreat, and menaced by a powerful army in front, 

 the English force became every instant more critically circumstanced. The 

 Scotch, on the contrary, too confident to be cautious, too invincible in their gwti 

 estimation to be vigilant, and listening rather to their clerical than to their 

 military leaders, prepared to give the enemy a fatal advantage. Impatient of 



