a burgh of barony and market-town of Edinburghshire, situated on a narrow strip of land between the North and South Esk, 6½ miles S.E. of Edinburgh. It is a place of considerable antiquity, having gradually risen into existence from the proximity of a castle long known as one of the chief baronial strongholds south of the Forth. The town has lately undergone considerable improvements, and is now for the most part clean and well-built. The town church, an old Gothic edifice partly in ruins, was originally the chapel of the castle; in 1406 it was raised to the dignity of a collegiate church, and after the Reformation it became the parish kirk. A splendid new church in the early English style, with a steeple 167 feet high, was built by the Duke of Buccleuch in 1840; and there is an elegant Episcopal chapel within the grounds of Dalkeith palace. Dalkeith is the largest country town in the county, and is the seat of one of the largest corn-markets in Scotland, held every Thursday. There are extensive corn-mills, breweries, iron-foundries, tanneries, two market-houses, grammar-school, subscription library, &c. In the vicinity is Dalkeith palace, the principal seat of the Duke of Buccleuch, surrounded by an extensive park, through which the two Esk flows and unite their streams a short way below the palace. It was the temporary residence of Charles I. in 1633, of George IV. in 1822, and of her present Majesty in 1842. Pop. (1851) 5096.