EdiQS ! Scotia's dadiag Beat,
All hail thj palaces and towers,

Where once, beneath a monarch's feet,
Sate legialation's sovereign powers.
"This, then, ia Edinburgh 1" said the youth, as the
fellow-travellers arrived at one of the heights to the
southward, which coinmandeii a view of the great
northern capital — " This is that Edinburgh of which we
have heard 30 much !"

" Even so," said the falconer ; " yonder stands Anld



THE ABBOT 261

Keekie — you may see the smoke hover over her at
twenty miles' distance, as the goss-hawk hangs over a
plnmp of young wild-ducks— ay, yonder is the heart of
Scotland, and each throb that she gives is felt from the
edge of Solway to Duncan's-bay-head. See, yonder is
fhe old Castle; and see to the right, on yon rising
gnmnd, that is the Castle of Craigmillar, which I have
Imywn a meny place in my time."

''Was it not there," said the page in a low voice,
**iliat the ^ueen held her court V

"Ay, ay," replied the falconer, "Queen she was
then, though you must not call her so now. Well,
they may say what they will — many a true heart will
be sad for Mary Stuart, e'en if all be true men say of
her; for look you. Master Koland — she was the loveliest
creature to look upon that I ever saw with eye, and no
lady in the land liked better the fair flight of a falcon.
