DUNBAR Castle stands a short distance north from the, town in a situation peculiarly wild and romantic. It is founded upon a reef of rocks that project into the sea; and which, in many places, rise like bastions thrown up by nature to guard these stern remains of feudal grandeur against the power of the waves, that yet force their way through rugged caverns and fissures in the stone, and, with a thundering noise, wash、 its dark foundations.

The body of the buildings measures about one hundred and sixty-five feet from east to west; and,, in some places, two hundred and seven feet from north to south. The south battery, which Grose supposes

to have been the citadel or keep, is situated on a detached perpendicular rock, only accessible on one side, seventy-two feet high, and is connected to the main part of the castle by a passage of masonry,, measuring sixty-nine feet. The interior of the citadel measures fifty-four feet by sixty within the walls. Its shape is octagonal. Five of the gun-ports remain, which are called "the arrow-holes." They measure four feet at the mouth, and only sixteen inches at the other end. The buildings are arched, and extend eight feet from the outer walls, and look into an open court, whence they derive their light.

About the middle of the fortress, part of a wall remains, through which there is a gateway, surmounted with armorial bearings. This gate seems to have led to the principal apartments. In the centre, are the arms of George, eleventh earl of Dunbar, who succeeded his father in 1369; and who, besides the earldom of Dunbar and March, inherited the lordship of Annandale and the Isle of Man from his heroic mother. These must have been placed there after his succeeding to those estates, as he was the first who assumed the arms sculptured over the centre of the gate; viz. a large triangular shield, and thereon a lion rampant, within a border charged with eight roses. This shield is adorned with a helmet, and for crest a horse's head bridled. On the right are the arms of the Bruces, and on the left those of the Isle of Man. Grose also notices the arms of Scotland; but many of the coats are defaced by time and the storm.

The towers had communication with the sca, and

dip low in many places. North-east from the front of the castle is a large natural cavern, chiefly of black stone, which, in the mind's eye, looks like the mouth of Acheron,—a place that leads to melancholy streams. This spot is supposed to have formed part of the dungeon where prisoners were confined ;* which, Pennant observes, "the assistance of a little art had rendered a secure but infernal prison;" but as it has a communication with a rocky inlet from the sea on the west, it is more likely that it is the dark postern through which Sir Alexander Ramsay) and his brave followers entered with a supply of provisions to the besieged in 1338; a place also well suited for securing the boats belonging to the garrison.

That the castle was invulnerable as a place of srength, is proved from the various sieges that it sustained; that it was also distinguished as a place of security, is established from the following fact: In 1497, Ferquhard Macintosh of that Ilk, a bold and daring man, and the chief of a powerful clan, who, along with Kenneth Mackenzie of Kintail, had been guilty of some lawless practices in his neighbourhood, was apprehended at Inverness, by order of James IV., and

Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, probably conceived his description of the allegorical poem of King Hart's Castle, when a prisoner in this dreary place in 1515.

"So strong this king him thocht his castel stude,

With mony toure and turrat crounit hie;

About the wall their ran ane water voud,

Blak, stinkand, sour, and salt as is the sey;

That on the wallis wiskit, gre by gre,

Rolding to ryis the castell to confound:

Bot thai within maid sa grit melodie,

That for thair reird thai micht not heir the sound."

sent prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh, whence he effected his escape. Being retaken in the Torwood, in Stirlingshire, he was sent to Dunbar, where he remained confined till after the battle of Flodden in 1513, and died in the year following; evincing, that though “rings o' airn, and bolts o' steel," might be broken, that the fastnesses of this stronghold were not so easily overcome.*

The castle is built with a red stone, similar to what is found in the quarries of the neighbourhood. Large masses of the walls, which have fallen beneath the weight of time, appear to be vitrified or run together.

The rocks on which the castle is situated, are of a darkish colour, intersected with red and white veins, similar to Lammer Crag and the isle on which Dunbar Battery is built. Part of the foundation of a fort, which was begun in 1560, for the purpose of accommodating a French garrison, may be traced, extending one hundred and thirty-six feet in front of the castle. The building was, however, interrupted in its progress, and demolished by act of parliament.

In the north-west part of the ruins, is an apartment, about twelve feet square, and nearly inaccessible, which tradition denominates the apartment of Queen Mary.

In 1801, the workmen in levelling some ground in front of the Earl of Lauderdale's house, discovered a cemetery or burial ground, containing a quantity of human bones of various ages, and a number of store balls of different sizes, some of them as large as the shot used

* It was probably during his imprisonment, that Macintosh wrote a genealogical history of his family, tracing their descent from the earl of Fife down to 1496.