114 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



In tlie valley between Salisbury Craigs and Arthur's Seat, are the remains 

 of St. Anthony's Chapel, overhung by a rocky precipice, and covering the most 

 remarkable spot within the whole circle of this wild and romantic landscape. 

 The view which it commands — particularly at sunset, when the atmosphere is 

 clear — is of unrivalled beauty: it is a view in which every pictorial accessory 

 seems brought into the richest and most efficient combination. The hermit who 

 first chose this for his solitude must have had the eye of a painter and the soul 

 of a poet, as well as an innate predisposition to sanctity. But in his day, 

 probably, the glimpses of the " glorious west" were only to be caught through 

 the natural vistas of the original forest, wliich has long since disappeared. 

 Traces of the hermitage are still visible, but so indistinct, that were it not for 

 tradition they might readily escape observation. Farther down is the cele- 

 brated " St. Anton's well," immortalized by its introduction into one of the 

 most expressive and plaintive melodies that ever enriched the language of 

 Scotland.* 



St. Leonard's Craigsf — an irregular ridge with a slight vegetation, in the 

 south-west boundary of the King's Park— and the adjoining valley, celebrated 

 in their day as the Scottish " Chalk-farm," or " Bois-de-Boulogne," were 

 formerly much resorted to for the adjustment of afiairs of honour. The 

 practice of duelhng was not confined to the upper class of society, or 

 those who by law were entitled to carry arms, but was often appealed to by 

 the very lowest as the proper tribunal for settling disputes. About the end 

 of the sixteenth century, a case is recorded in which a barber and chimney- 

 sweeper fought with swords near this spot; the rencounter proved bloodless; 

 but the king afterwards ordered the unfortunate barber to be executed for 

 having presumed to demand the " satisfaction of a gentleman.''^ 



Muschat's Cairn, so conspicuously introduced into the popular romance 

 already named, is a heap of stones collected on the spot where a mm-der was 



♦ " I leant my back against an aik — I thought it was a trusty tree ; 



But first it bowed and syne it brak — sae my true love's forsaken me. 

 Oil ! Arihur's-seat shall be my bed ; the sheets shall ne'er be fyled by me, 

 ' St. Anton's well shall be my drink, sin ray true love's forsaken me!" 



t Here, in the " Heart of Midlothian," was the cottage of David Deans—" douce David." 

 t One of the most remarkable duels of this period was that fought by " royal license," on Barnbougle 

 links, the demesne of Earl Uoseberry, between Adam Brunificld and James Carmichacl. It took place m 

 the presence of " five thousand gentlemen,'' and appears to have been ratlier a gladiatorial exhibition than 

 a duel. — See Birrel's Diary, pp. 40—42. — " Sir," said a French gentleman to his daughter's suitor — " it is 

 not yet time to marry : first, if you would be accounted a brave man, kill in single combat two or three 

 rivals— then marry ; and if you have the s.ime number of cliiklrcn, the world will neither have gained nor 

 lost by you." Such were tlie maxims of that day. — See Hamilton's " Scotland.'' 



