DUNBAR TOWN AND HARBOUR. 55 



exploit on the part of the besieged, Salisbury was compelled to abandon his 

 operations, retire to the frontier, and leave the heroic Agnes the honours of 

 a triumph. 



After the assassination of Rizzio, in 1565, Queen Mary found a temporary 

 asylum in this castle, where she was joined by her friends and adherents. Two 

 years later, also, when, accompanied by Bothwell in her flight from Edinburgh, 

 she was so hotly pursued by a party of horse under the command of Lord 

 Hume, as narrowly to escape, she took sanctuary in the same fortress. When 

 Bothwell's friends and dependents had mustered in her cause, she placed herself 

 at their head ; but onty left Dunbar to witness their defeat on Carberry hill, 

 where the queen of Scotland became the captive of Lochleven. 



The same year it was taken and dismantled by the regent Murray, and its 

 heavy ordnance transferred to the bastions of Edinburgh castle. From that 

 time down to the present, its warlike importance has passed into oblivion ; and 

 the only sound which now disturbs its slumbering echoes is that of the otean, 

 as its thundering waves sweep through the rocky cavern, and sap those stately 

 battlements under which so many armies have encamped, and which — now their 

 occupation's gone, and hope of " honourable scars " — 



" Are left for th' owls to roost in." 



Independently of its suburbs and historical associations, the town of Dunbar 

 has little to interest the stranger. The panoramic view, however, which it 

 commands from several points, is of great beauty, extent, and variety. To 

 the east, the bold promontory of St. Abb's Head, overlooks the land and sea ; 

 to the south, the high grounds of Whittingham and Beil, and groups of undu- 

 lating hills, are obseiTed gradually swelling till they become incorporated vnth 

 the pastoral range of Lammermoor ; to the west, the isolated summit of 

 Dunpenderlaw, Earlston hills, and the more volcanic North Berwick-law, form 

 striking points in the landscape, and on the north are succeeded by the broad 

 expanse of the Frith of Forth, the richly variegated shores of Fife, the gigantic 

 rock of the Bass, and the romantic Isle-of-May — 



" Like nereid palace, buoyant on the brine." 



Notwithstanding its local exposure to the bleak and boisterous east winds 

 which so frequently agitate this coast, the salubrity of the climate has sufficient 

 vouchers in the robust form and ruddy complexion of the inhabitants — many 

 of whom arrive in health and contentment to an almost patriarchal age. 



