Of the antiquities of Dumfries we will only mention its famous mediæval bridge over the Nith, built by Devorgilla, mother of John Baliol. A remarkable old dame this Devorgilla! Balliol College, Oxford, was endowed by her liberality; and we shall come across another of her foundations presently. The Queen of the South has a long history; its most important event is connected with the house rival to Baliol. On the 4th of February, 1306, Robert the Bruce disputing with the Red Cumyn in the Greyfriars' Monastery, struck and wounded him with his dagger. He burst out remorseful, exclaiming, "I fear I have slain the Red Cumyn." "I mak siccar," was the grimly pithful remark of Kirkpatrick of Closeburn as he rushed in, and--_exit_ the Red Cumyn! [Illustration: _Photo: J. Rutherford, Jardington, Dumfries._ LINCLUDEN ABBEY (_p. 319_).] Even in Scotland this district is remarkable for old castles and abbeys. Of these one first notes Drumlanrig Castle, in Durisdeer parish, on a _drum_, or long ridge of hill, on the right bank of the Nith. It is a huge and splendid building, finished in 1689 after ten years' labour, by the first Duke of Queensberry, who spent but one night within its walls. It had splendid woods, which old "Q," that picturesque rascal of the Georgian period, shamelessly depleted, for which he was righteously castigated by Wordsworth; his descendants have repaired the damage, and poets and forest nymphs are at length appeased and consoled. The Highlanders, passing by here in the '45, amused themselves by stabbing the portrait of William III. with their claymores. Again, there is Caerlaverock Castle, the Ellangowan of Scott's "Guy Mannering," situated on the left bank of the Nith, just where it becomes part of the Solway Firth. A wild romantic spot! The boiling tides of the Solway and the Nith approach its walls; and of old time it was so hemmed by lake and marsh as to deserve the name of the "Island of Caerlaverock." It has a long romantic history, in keeping with its environment. It has been in possession of the Maxwells since the beginning of the thirteenth century, and you can still spell out their motto, "I bid ye fair," on its mouldering walls. They took--as was but seemly in so ancient a family--the Stuart side in the rising of 1715; and the title of Baron Herries, held since 1489, was destroyed by attaint in 1716. It was revived, however, in favour of William Constable Maxwell by various Parliamentary proceedings ending in 1858; then high revel was held in the long deserted courts of Caerlaverock, and little imagination was needed to recall the incidents of a long-vanished feudal day. [Illustration: _Photo: J. Rutherford, Jardington, Dumfries._ DRUMLANRIG CASTLE (_p. 320_).]