BASS ROCK, a remarkable island-rock near the mouth of the firth of Forth, about 2 m. from Canty bay, opposite the ruined castle of Tantallon. It is composed of hard granular greenstone or clinkstone, and is about a mile in circumfer ence, nearly round, and 400 ft. high. It is inaccessible on all sides except the s.w., where it shelves down to the water, and there the landing is difficult, and almost impossible, when there is any swell. On the w., n., and e. the precipices rise perpendicularly out of the sea, to a great elevation. These are the abode of immense numbers of solan geese (it is estimated that 10,000 to 15,000 of these fowls resort here annually) and other aquatic birds, which give to the surface of the precipices a snowy appearance in the distance. A cavern traverses the rock from w. to e., and is accessible at low tide. There is a spring on the island, and a few sheep are pastured on it, the mutton of which is much prized. How early the Bass was tenanted, is doubtful; but there is a tradition to the effect that St. Baldred resided on it as early as the 7th century. It is also not very certainly known when time Bass was first fortified, but it formed a retreat for the son of Robert III., afterwards James I. of Scotland, before his nineteen years' captivity in Eng land. James VI. visited the Bass in 1581, and was anxious to obtain it for state purposes; but its owner, " Lauder of the Bass, " refused to part with it. The registers of the church of Scotland were sent to the Bass in 1651, for preservation from Cromwell; but the protector forced their surrender in the following year. In 1671, Charles II. purchased the rock for £4000, and within its dreary dungeons many of the most eminent of the Covenanters were confined during that and the following reign. It is a somewhat curi
ous fact that .the Bass was the last spot in the British islands which held out for the Stuarts. A mere handful of adventurers in the Jacobite interest, 24 in number, had the address to capture the island, and to retain it in name of king James, from June. 1691. till April, 1694, against all the forces which the government of William III. sent against them; at last. the spirited little garrison surrendered on honorable terms, and only from a consciousness of failing provisions. For an account of this romantic inci dent, see Pictorial Hixtory of England, vol. iv. p. 16. new edition. In 1701, the fortifica tions were demolished by order of William III. Five years afterwards, the Bass passed into the possession of Sir Hew Dalrymple, to whose lineal descendant it now belongs.
The king of the Belgians (then prince Leopold) visited the rock in 1819, and three years afterwards, George IV., on passing it on his voyage to Scotland, was honored with a royal salute from some guns then on it. It has also been visited by the prince of Wales. The Bass is let to a "keeper," who pays a considerable sum for it annually, the rent being made up by young geese, which are used as food; by eggs, feathers, and oil; also by fee,s exacted from visitors to the rock. There is an interesting volume on the Bass, historical, geological, and botanical, the joint production of Dr. 111`Crie, jun., Hugh Miller, and professors Fleming and Balfour.