The English Queen Victoria, 1842
Victoria statue plaque, Leith
Thursday, 1 September, 1842 - At a quarter to one o'clock, we heard the anchor let down-a welcome sound. At seven we went on deck, where we breakfasted. Close on one side were Leith and the high hills towering over Edinburgh, which was in fog; and on the other side was to be seen the Isle of May (where it is said Macduff held out against Macbeth), the Bass Rock being behind us. At ten minutes past eight we arrived at Granton Pier where we were met by the Duke of Buccleuch, Sir Robert Peel and others. They came on board to see us, and Sir Robert told us that the people were all in the highest good humour, though naturally a little disappointed at having waited for us yesterday. We then stepped over a gangway on to the pier, the people cheering and the Duke saying that he begged to be allowed to welcome us. Our ladies and gentlemen had landed before us, safe and well, and we two got into a barouche, the ladies and gentlemen following. The Duke, the equerries, and Mr. Anson rode.
There were, however, not nearly so many people in Edinburgh, though the crowd and crush were such that one was really continually in fear of accidents. More regularity and order would have been preserved had there not been some mistake on the part of the Provost about giving due notice of our approach. The impression Edinburgh has made upon us is very great; it is quite beautiful, totally unlike anything else I have seen; and what is even more, Albert, who has seen so much, says it is unlike anything he ever saw; it is so regular, everything built of massive stone, there is not a brick to be seen anywhere. The High Street, which is pretty steep, is very fine. Then the Castle, situated on that grand rock in the middle of the town, is most striking. On the other side the Calton Hill, with the National Monument, a building in the Grecian style; Nelson's Monument; Burns' Monument; the Gaol; the National School, etc.; all magnificent buildings, and with Arthur's Seat in the background, overtopping the whole, form altogether a splendid spectacle. The enthusiasm was very great, and the people very friendly and kind. The Royal Archers Body Guard met us and walked with us the whole way through the town. It is composed entirely of noblemen and gentlemen, and they all walked close by the carriage; but were dreadfully pushed about.
When we were out of the town, we went faster. Every cottage is built of stone, and so are all the walls that are used as fences. The country and people have quite a different character from England and the English. The old women wear close caps, and all the children and girls are barefooted. I saw several handsome girls and children with long hair; indeed all the poor girls from sixteen and seventeen down to two or three years old, have loose flowing hair; a great deal of it red.
As we came along, we saw Craigmillar Castle, a ruin, where Mary, Queen of Scots, used to live. We reached Dalkeith at eleven, a large house, constructed of reddish stone, the greater part built by the Duchess of Monmouth, and the park is very fine and large. The house has three fronts, with the entrance on the left as you drive up. The Duchess of Buccleuch arrived directly after us and we were shown up a very handsome staircase to our rooms, which are very comfortable. We both felt tired and giddy.
We drove out together. The park is very extensive, with a beautiful view of Arthur's Seat and the Pentland Hills; and there is a pretty drive overhanging a deep valley. At eight we dined-a large party. Everybody was very kind and civil, and full of inquiries as to our voyage.
Friday, 2 September - At breakfast I tasted the oatmeal porridge, which I think very good and also some of the "Finnan haddies". We then walked out. The pleasure-grounds seem very extensive and wild and hilly. We walked down along the stream [the river Esk], up a steep bank to a little cottage, and came home by the upper part of the walk. At four o'clock we drove out with the Duchess of Buccleuch and the Duchess of Norfolk - the Duke and equerries riding - the others in another carriage. We drove through Dalkeith, which was full of people, all running and cheering.
Albert says that many of the people look like Germans. The old women with that kind of cap which they call a "mutch", and the young girls and children with flowing hair, and many of them pretty, are very picturesque; you hardly see any women with bonnets.
Such a thick "Scotch mist" came on that we were obliged to drive home through the village of Lasswade, and through Lord Melville's Park, which is very fine.
Saturday, 3 September - At ten o'clock we set off - we two in the barouche - all the others following, for Edinburgh. We drove in under Arthur's Seat, where the crowd began to be very great, and here the Guard of Royal Archers met us; Lord Elcho walking near me, and the Duke of Roxburghe and Sir J. Hope on Albert's side. We passed by Holyrood Chapel, which is very old and full of interest, and Holyrood Palace, a royal-looking old place. The procession moved through the Old Town up the High Street, which is a most extraordinary street from the immense height of the houses, most of them being eleven stories high, and different families living in each story. Every window was crammed full of people.
They showed us Knox's House, a curious old building, as is also the Regent Moray's House, which is in perfect preservation. In the Old Town the High Church, and St. Paul's in the New Town, are very fine buildings. At the barrier, the Provost presented us with the keys.
The girls of the Orphan Asylum, and the Trades in old costumes, were on a platform. Further on was the New Church, to which - strange to say, as the church is nearly finished - they were going to lay the foundation stone. We at length reached the Castle to the top of which we walked.
The view from both batteries is splendid, like a panorama in extent. We saw from them Heriot's Hospital, a beautiful old building, founded, in the time of James, by a goldsmith and jeweller, whom Sir Walter Scott has made famous in his 'Fortunes of Nigel'. After this, we got again into the carriages and proceeded in the same way as before, the pressure of the crowd being really quite alarming [shortly thereafter, a stand collapsed killing two people and injuuring 50]; and both I and Albert were quite terrified for the Archers Guard, who had very hard work of it; but were of the greatest use. They all carry a bow in one hand, and have their arrows stuck through their belts.
Unfortunately, as soon as we were out of Edinburgh, it began to rain and continued raining the whole afternoon without interruption. We reached Dalmeny, Lord Roseberry's, at two o'clock. The park is beautiful, with the trees growing down to the sea. It commands a very fine view of the Forth, the Isle of May, the Bass Rock, and of Edinburgh; but the mist rendered it almost impossible to see anything. The grounds are very extensive, being hill and dale and wood. The house is quite modern: Lord Roseberry built it, and it is very pretty and comfortable. We lunched there. The Roseberrys were all civility and attention. We left them about half-past three, and proceeded home through Leith.
The view of Edinburgh from the road before you enter Leith is quite enchanting; it is, as Albert said, "fairy-like", and what you would only imagine as a thing to dream of, or to see in a picture. There was that beautiful large town, all of stone (no mingled colours of brick to mar it), with the bold Castle on one side, and the Calton Hill on the other, with those high sharp hills of Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags towering above all, and making the finest, boldest background imaginable. Albert said he felt sure the Acropolis could not be finer; and I hear they sometimes call Edinburgh "the modern Athens". The Archers Guard met us again at Leith, which is not a pretty town.
The people were most enthusiastic, and the crowd very great. The Porters all mounted, with curious Scotch caps, and their horses decorated with flowers, had a very singular effect; but the fishwomen are the most thrilling-looking people, and are generally young and pretty women - clean and very Dutch-looking, with their white caps and bright-coloured petticoats. They never marry out of their class. At six we returned well tired.
Sunday, 4 September - Received from Lady Lyttelton good accounts of our little children. At twelve o'clock there were prayers in the house, read by Mr Ramsay, who also preached.
At half-past four the Duchess drove me out in her own phaeton, with a very pretty pair of chestnut ponies, Albert riding with the Duke and Colonel Bouverie. We drove through parts of the park, through an old wood, and along the banks of the South Esk and the North Esk, which meet at a point from which there is such a beautiful view of the Pentland Hills. Then we drove, by a private road, to Newbattle, Lord Lothian's place. The park is very fine, and the house seems large; we got out to look at a most magnificent beech-tree. The South Esk runs close before the house, by a richly wooded bank.
From thence we went to Dalhousie, Lord Dalhousie's. The house is a real old Scotch castle, of reddish stone. We got out for a moment, and the Dalhousies showed us the drawing-room. From the window you see a beautiful wooded valley, and a peep of the distant hills.
Lord Dalhousie said there had been no British sovereign there since Henry IV. We drove home by the same way that we came. The evening was - as the whole day had been - clear, bright, and frosty, and the Moorfoot Hills looked beautiful as we were returning. It was past seven when we got home.
Monday, 5 September - I held a Drawing-room at Dalkeith to-day, in the gallery. The Ministers and Scotch Officers of State were in the room, and the Royal Archers were in attendance in the room and outside of it, like the Gentlemen at Arms in London. Before the Drawing-room I received three addresses from the Lord Provost, Magistrates, from the Scotch Church, and from the Universities of St. Andrews, Glasgow, and Edinburgh-to which I read answers. Albert received his just after I did mine, and read his answers beautifully.
Tuesday 6 September - At nine o'clock we left Dalkeith as we came. It was a bright, clear, cold, frosty morning. As we drove along we saw the Pentlands, which looked beautiful, as did also Arthur's Seat, which we passed quite close by. The Salisbury Crags, too, are very high, bold, and sharp. Before this we saw Craigmillar. We passed through a back part of the town (which is most solidly built), close by Heriot's Hospital, and had a very fine view of the Castle.
I forgot to say that, when we visited the Castle, we saw the Regalia, which are very old and curious (they were lost for one hundred years); also the room in which James VI of Scotland and the I of England was born-such a very, very small room, with an old prayer written on the wall. We had a beautiful view of Edinburgh and the Forth. At Craigleith (only a half-way house, nine miles) we changed horses. The Duke rode with us all the way as Lord Lieutenant of the county, until we arrived at Dalmeny, where Lord Hopetoun met us and rode with us. At eleven we reached the South Queensferry, where we got out of our carriage and embarked in a little steamer; the ladies and gentlemen and our carriages going in another. We went a little way up the Forth, to see Hopetoun House, Lord Hopetoun's, which is beautifully situated between Hopetoun and Dalmeny. We also saw Dundas Castle, belonging to Dundas of Dundas, and further on, beyond Hopetoun, Blackness Castle, famous in history. On the opposite side you see a square tower, close to the water, called Rosyth, where Oliver Cromwell's mother was said to have been born, and in the distance Dunfermline, where Robert Bruce is buried. We passed close by a very pretty island in the Forth, with an old castle on it, called Inchgarvie; and we could see the Forth winding beautifully, and had a distant glimpse of Edinburgh and its fine castle.
Wednesday 14 September - This is our last day in Scotland; it is really a delightful country, and I am very sorry to leave it. We walked out and saw the fine greenhouse the Duke has built, all in stone, in the Renaissance style. At half-past three o'clock we went out with the Duchess of Buccleuch, only Colonel Bouverie riding with us. We drove through Melville Park, and through one of the little villages (of which there are a great many about Dalkeith) called Loanhead, to Roslin.
We got out at the chapel, which is in excellent preservation; built in the fifteenth century, and the architecture is very rich. It is the burying place of the family of Lord Rosslyn who keeps it in repair. Twenty Barons of Rosslyn are buried there in armour. A great crowd had collected about the chapel when we came out of it. From Roslin we then drove to Hawthornden, which is also beautifully situated at a great height above the river. To our great surprise we found an immense crowd of people there, who must have run over from Roslin to meet us.
We got out, and went down into some of the very curious caves in the solid rock, where Sir Alexander Ramsay and his brave followers concealed themselves [during the Wars of Independence], and held out for so long a time. The Duchess told us there were many of these caves all along the river to Roslin.
We came home through Bonnyrigg, another collier village, and through Dalkeith.
Thursday 15 September
We breakfasted at half-past seven o'clock, and at eight we set off. The ladies and equerries had embarked earlier. The day was very bright and fine. The arrangements in Edinburgh, through which we had to pass, were extremely well managed, and excellent order was kept. We got out of the carriage on the pier, and went at once on board the 'Trident', a large steamboat belonging to the General Steam Navigation Company. We both thanked the Duke and Duchess for their extreme kindness, attention, and hospitality to us, which really were very great - indeed we had felt ourselves quite at home at Dalkeith.
As the fair shores of Scotland receded more and more from our view, we felt quite sad that this very pleasant and interesting tour was over; but we shall never forget it.