MOSS OF KINCARDINE.-LORD KAIMES.

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corn fields and cottage gardens have overspread the once pestilential marsh, and fruit trees and flowers the dark heath and furze, "unprofitably gay." It is one of those scenes which every philanthropic mind delights to contemplate, as affording the most gratifying testimony to the capabilities of man, when skilfully applied and perseveringly directed. This pleasing transformation was effected by the enlightened and patriotic Lord Kaimes, to whose exemplary labours we have already adverted in a former page.*

For the space of four miles above Stirling, the valley continues nearly two miles in breadth, but gradually expands as we ascend. On the north it is bounded by rising grounds, presenting scenes of wood and cultivation. The hills in front are green and pastoral, but in the back-ground the lofty summits of Benlomond, Benledi, and Benmore, rise in majestic dignity upon the scene, and recall to the tourist's mind no inadequate idea of the Bernese Oberland. The points of resemblance are particularly striking when they are crested with snow; and on those who have not witnessed the Alps of Switzerland, these Celtic mountains cannot fail to make a lasting impression.

Blair-Drummond,† seat of the late Henry Home, Lord Kaimes, enbosomed in rich woodland scenery, and the church of Kincardine, with its Gothic architecture, --both pleasingly associated with the surrounding landscape-are the principal objects that mark the road as it winds into the vale of the Teith, where the fresh verdure, undulating surface, and wooded acclivities, present the most beautiful varieties of Highland landscape. The course of the Teith is fringed by luxuriant woods, through which, at intervals, the flashing of the stream and the gentle murmur of its waters exert a pleasing influence on the eye and ear, as we advance through scenery which fully vindicates to itself the epithet of Arcadian.

About sixty years ago, the late Lord Kaimes became proprietor of one thousand five hundred acres of the Moss, which, to his shrewd intellect, appeared readily reclaimable from its then unprofitable condition. At an average depth of seven feet below the surface of the moss (tourbière) a substratum of rich coarse clay, with a thin covering of vegetable mould, held forth the prospect of a most inviting return for the expense of disencumbering it; and as the Kaimes possession extended from the Forth to the Teith, which flows along the north side of the valley, a large wheel was erected to lift water from the latter stream, for the purpose of floating the moss by means of drains cut in the clay into the Forth. Portions of the moss were then let to tenants in lots of eight acres, on leases of "three nineteen years"-without rent the first nineteen; twelve shillings for each acre brought into culture the second nineteen years; and so increasing till towards the close of the lease they came to pay a guinea per acre. About two hundred families are now settled on this portion of the Moss, who live in neat houses, disposed in regular lanes, and equidistant from each other. At the expiration of the leases, a rental of nearly £5000 per annum will be the fruit of this judicious improvement.-See Statist. Acc.

"And BLAIR, half hid in sylvan shade,

Where Taste and HOME delighted strayed;

What time when Lear and Genius fled, frae bar and town,

To 'Teith's' clear stream, that babbling played by 'Castle-Doune.'"-MACNEILL.

*

The chief object deserving of exclusive notice in this route, is the CASTLE OF DOUNE the theatre of several important deeds, and the theme of more than one pathetic ballad. It overhangs the point of a narrow green promontory, with the Teith rolling at its base on one side, and the mountain torrent of Ardoch descending with its tribute from the other. According to tradition, it claims for its founder the unfortunate Murdoch, duke of Albany, whose fate we have already noticed; but it is evidently of much earlier date, and belongs to the first-rate order of Scottish fortresses. At one end of the front, a spacious square tower rises to the height of eighty feet, succeeded by another of inferior dimensions from behind the opposite extremity. The great hall, or state chamber between the towers, is seventy feet long, and that in the great tower, forty-five by thirty feet. The kitchen fire-place alone seems of sufficient capacity to have accommodated with warmth and viands a full host of retainers. The whole structure, surrounded by a back wall forty feet high, forms an ample quadrangle of massive architecture.

In the reign of James V., Sir James Stewart of Beath, ancestor of the Moray family, was appointed constable of the Castle; and his son obtained a charter, under the great seal, of certain lands to be called the barony of Doune. In the succeeding reign, it served as a retreat for the loyalists of that unhappy period. The demesnes of the castle having been erected into a barony prior to the abolition of hereditary jurisdiction in the year 1748, courts of law were held in it; but, happily for the Scottish peasantry, these "hereditary and exclusive privileges" were thenceforth solemnly transferred to the executive government of the country. Queen Margaret,t and her unfortunate granddaughter Mary, are said to have frequently resided here.

In 1745 this fortress was held by Mac Gregor of Glengyle, a nephew of Rob

• Murdoch was son of Robert, (son of Robert II.) who was created earl of Monteath in 1370, and eighteen years later, duke of Albany. In 1406, he succeeded his brother, Robert III., and reigned fifteen years. In 1401, Murdoch was taken prisoner by the English at the battle of Homildon, and detained till exchanged for Percy, ten years after. In September 1420, he succeeded his father, but being unfit to hold the reins of government, he was obliged to resign in four years. His resignation was suddenly followed by a charge of high treason, in consequence of which, himself, his two sons, and his father-in-law, Duncan, earl of Lenox, were seized, carried to Stirling, and there beheaded, as already mentioned; Isabella, Murdoch's unhappy wife, being carried from Doune to the Castle of Tamtallan, the heads of her father, her husband, and her two sons, were inhumanly sent to her in prison, to try if in the agony of grief she would reveal the supposed treason; but her answer was noble and elevated." If," said she, crimes wherewith they were charged be true, then hath the king done justly, and according to law." + The dowager Queen Margaret, daughter of Henry VII., married in 1528 Henry Lord Methven, descendant of Murdoch, already mentioned; and by consent of her son, James V., and her husband, granted to James Stuart, his younger brother, and ancestor of the MORAY family, the custody of the Castle of Doune, which formed part of the settlement made on her marriage with James IV.

"the

ESCAPE FROM DOUNE CASTLE.

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Roy, who had raised two hundred men for the service of Prince Charles Stuart, and here supported his authority, and claims, till after the victory of Falkirk, when the prisoners taken on that occasion were disposed of in a large, ghastly room, in the highest part of the castle, near the battlements. Of this number was Home, the author of "Douglas," and historian of the Rebellion, who records the following circumstances:-To guard the prisoners there was a party of about twenty Highlanders: a sentinel, who stood two or three paces from the door of the room, allowed any of the prisoners, who chose, to take air on the battlements. One of them, availing himself of this privilege, made his way to the place where the soldiers and other prisoners were confined; but as there was not one officer with them, he returned the way he went, and told his companions their scheme of making their escape by force was at an end. It was then proposed that they should make a rope of the blankets they had, by which they might descend from the battlements to the ground-a depth of seventy feet, but where there was no sentinel. The proposal was agreed to; and to prevent suspicion of their design, some of the "volunteers" always kept company with the other persons in the great room, which was common to all, whilst the rest of them, barring the door of their cell, were at work till they had finished the rope, of which they resolved to make trial the very night it was completed. The two officers then claimed it as their right to be the first that should hazard themselves by proving the strength of the rope. But that claim was objected to, and all drew lots, so as to settle the order in which they should descend. This done, the captain showed No. 1-the lieutenant No. 2.

When every thing was adjusted, they went up to the battlements, fastened the rope, and about one o'clock, in a moonlight night, began to descend. The two officers, Robert Douglas and another, got down very well; but with the fifth, who was tall and bulky, the rope broke just as his feet reached the ground. The lieutenant now called to the next in the order of descent-an Englishman of the name of Barrow-not to attempt it, as twenty or thirty feet were broken off from the rope. Nevertheless, putting himself on the rope, he slid down as far as it lasted, and then let go his hold. His friend Douglas, and the lieutenant, as soon as they saw him on the rope, placed themselves under him, so as to break his fall; but descending from so great a height, he brought them both to the ground, dislocated one of his ankles, and broke several of his ribs. In this extremity the lieutenant raised him from the ground, and taking him on his back, carried him towards the road which led to Alloa. When unable to proceed further with his burden, two others of the company, by holding each one of Mr. Barrow's arms, helped him "to hop along upon one leg ;" but thinking