Prosaically in his Provincial Antiquities, Scott described Rosslyn Castle, the historic seat of the Sinclairs, and its associated chapel, rich in Masonic and Templar lore, but it was Roslin Glen, cut deeply by the River Esk, that had personal and poetic associations for Scott who had once lived in a cottage at the end of the dell.

"Sweet are thy paths, O, passing sweet!

By Esk's fair stream that run,

O'er airy steep, through copsewood deep,

Impervious to the sun."
-Sir Walter Scott, 1801