J----- and I walked there this forenoon, and took refuge from a shower
beneath an overhanging jut of the rock, where a bench had been placed,
and where a curtain of hanging ivy helped to shelter us. On our return
to the hotel, we found mamma just alighting from a cab. She had had very
bad fortune in her excursion to Roslin, having had to walk a long
distance to the chapel, and being caught in the rain; and, after all, she
could only spend seven minutes in viewing the beautiful Roslin
architecture.
MELROSE.
July 11th.--We left Edinburgh, where we had found at Addison's, 87
Prince's Street, the most comfortable hotel in Great Britain, and went to
Melrose, where we put up at the George. This is all travelled ground
with me, so that I need not much perplex myself with further description,
especially as it is impossible, by any repetition of attempts, to
describe Melrose Abbey. We went thither immediately after tea, and were
shown over the ruins by a very delectable old Scotchman, incomparably the
best guide I ever met with. I think he must take pains to speak the
Scotch dialect, he does it with such pungent felicity and effect, and it
gives a flavor to everything he says, like the mustard and vinegar in a
salad. This is not the man I saw when here before. The Scotch dialect
is still, in a greater or less degree, universally prevalent in Scotland,
insomuch that we generally find it difficult to comprehend the answers to
our questions, though more, I think, from the unusual intonation than
either from strange words or pronunciation.
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