The plan is of a singular nature; the east and west fronts of the square being flat, and without any projection, whereas the northern and southern sides present a curtain flanked by a huge square tower at each end. The main entrance seems to have been from the west, by a very high portal arch, which ascends to the projecting battlements on the top of the Castle wall; but the archway enters only a little way at this extraordinary height, being blockaded by an inner wall, through which an entrance of moderate dimensions leads into the court of the Castle. Above the interior portal are holes for pouring down arrows and other offensive weapons upon an enemy who might attempt to take the place by storm. There is every appearance of the present Castle having been founded upon the ruins of one built with more cost and attention; for irregular portions of the wall, towards the foundation, are in a style of masonry much superior to what has been erected above them.

The situation of the fortress is exceedingly strong, being defended on the southern side by the river, and on the other three by a deep and level morass, above which the site of the Castle is considerably elevated. It is only accessible on the east by a narrow causeway; and on the west by the bank of the river.

At a little distance higher up the river, is a deserted: burial-ground, which imparts a deeper shade of melancholy to the aspect and circumstance of the ruin.

The pool where the Cout of Reeldar lost his life, is precisely opposite to this burial-ground;-it is a hollow formed by a little cascade, and is overhung and darkened by an old, weeping birch, which the poet of Liddisdale remarks to be the only birch in the whole course of the stream that turns its branches and its leaves downwards. The "Cout's" grave is also to be seen near the western corner of the cemetery in the shape of a mound, considerably larger than that of an ordinary grave.

This ancient burial-ground is a small enclosure, contain

1

ing chiefly a number of ancient graves: the vestiges of a small chapel or place of worship are still to be seen in the centre, with an old crooked tree, growing from the spot, where tradition asserts the altar once stood. On this spot, it is said, once existed a hermitage, which gave the name of Hermitage to the stream, as the river has done to the Castle. Hermitage Castle has long been supposed to contain great store of concealed treasure, but the superstitious fears of the country people prove an insuperable obstacle both to their curiosity and cupidity. Such is the dread in which this dilapidated ruin is held, that the peasantry can scarcely be persuaded to approach it unless in broad day; and when their avocations lead them by the haunted tower, they never scruple to adopt a circuitous route to avoid this fearful path.

The apartments in the Castle are so very much dilapidated, and the dungeons so completely filled up with rubbish, as to render it impossible to discover their precise arrangement. There was a popular tradition, which is believed by many even at the present day, that an entire room, in which Lord Soulis had held his conferences with the evil' spirits, was supposed to be opened once every seven years by that demon, to whom when he left the Castle he committed the keys, by throwing them over his shoulder, desiring him to keep them till his return. A large rusty key was found amongst some rubbish near the gate of this dungeon, which the peasantry suppose was the identical key which Soulis had thrown over his left shoulder when he was carried away to undergo the sentence which the King so hastily pronounced against him.

Notwithstanding the dreadful character of the place, and its associations of horror, not many years ago an old woman was found to be proof against fear, and actually occupied an apartment in the turret to the left of the great gateway, which she was permitted to reside in rent-free,— a roofless apartment about ten feet square, and furnished

with a fire place of very modern construction, is pointed out as having been occupied by this misanthropic matron, who, from her choice of the ruins as her residence, was assigned the credit of being a witch.

Several years ago an antique silver ring was lately found in the ruins of Hermitage, bearing around the heart, the well known badge of the Douglases interchangeably with quaterfeullis; this relic is now in the possession of Sir Walter Scott. An iron ladle was also dug up in the ruins, and a bugle horn was found in the marsh. The ladle, and the iron key before alluded to, are in the possession of the Duke of Buccleugh, the horn in that of Sir Walter Scott.

The appearance of the Castle of the Hermitage, so extensive a ruin, situated in such a desolate spot, on the brink of a furious torrent, and surrounded by a morass and lofty hills, its walls grey with age, and stained with all the varieties of colours with which so many rolling centuries have chequered them, is rather solemn and grand than picturesque or romantic. The traveller who first sees the ruin from the " Ninestane Rig," with the low and narrow vale of Hermitage in prospective, and the mountains of Westmoreland and Cumberland in the back-ground, is struck with the sublimity of the scene.

Falkland Palace.

"Alas! and what shall York see here

But empty lodgings, and unfurnish'd walls,
Unpeopled offices, untrodden stones,-

And what cheer find for welcome but our groans ?"

SHAKESPEARE.