CADZOW PARK. AVON BRIDGE. HAMILTON PALACE. 139 



a considerable space on the banks of the Avon, opposite Chatelherault,* the 

 summer residence of the duke of Hamilton, surrounded by deer parks. During 

 the convulsions which marked the reign of the unhappy Queen Mary, Cadzow 

 Castle was plundered, and partly dilapidated, by the followers of the Regent 

 Murray, when flushed with their recent success at the battle of Langside.f 

 It was to this fortress that Bothwellhaugh escaped into the arms of his party 

 after his assassination of the Regent Murray at Linlithgow, as already described. 



The park is remarkable for containing some of the oldest and most stately 

 oak trees in the kingdom, many of which measure thirty feet in circumference, 

 and are considered as the last " representatives" of the ancient Caledonian 

 forest ;J but, like the castle round which for centuries they have drawn a 

 luxuriant curtain, they are now fast hastening to mingle with the soil out of 

 which they sprang. Here is preserved a herd of the ancient breed of Scotch 

 bisons white as the oxen of Clitumnus and retaining, in spite of the corrupt- 

 ing effects of luxurious pasture, traces of their original fierceness and love 

 of freedom. 



In 1824, a new bridge was erected over the Avon, a few hundred yards below 

 the old one, which is a very ancient structure, and on that account, as well as 

 for the accommodation of the workmen employed at the neighbouring coal-pits, 

 is still kept entire. 



In the valley between the town of Hamilton and the Clyde, stands the ducal 

 palace, one of the most magnificent and classical structures in the kingdom. It 

 is in the purest style of the Corinthian order, and in all respects does honour to 



Built in imitation of the French chateau of that name, the property of the duke's ancestors, and giving 

 title to the family. " Cadzow" is the subject of a fine poem by Sir Walter Scott, to which the reader 

 is referred. 



t This is a field of paramount interest to all who sympathize in the fate of her to whom the Scottish 

 sceptre was one of many sorrows. It lies about a mile to the south of Glasgow, and is much visited as 

 the scene of Mary's last ineffectual effort to regain the throne of her ancestors. A hawthorn-tree, well 

 known by the appellation of " Queen Mary's thorn," once marked the fatal spot where all her hopes were 

 blasted. Another has since been planted as a substitute for the original tree, which had decayed from 

 age, and, retaining the same endearing name, is cherished with a fond and almost superstitious regard. 

 The closing scene of this battle has been made the subject of an admirable painting, now exhibiting in the 

 National Gallery (1837). The mention of Langside will suggest that of Cruikstone Castle, hard by, and 

 also identified with Mary, but under very different circumstances. It was to the latter that she was borne 

 in triumph as the bride of Darnley ; and here, under a spreading yew tree, according to tradition, the happy 

 pair were often sealed during the brief sunshine that followed their nuptials. This yew was removed about 

 the close of last century ; but is represented on the reverse of the medal known as the Cruikstone dollar, 

 struck to commemorate that fatal union. 



J " In this wood of Caledon," says Bellinden, in his translation of Kb'ece, * wes sum tym quhit bulls 

 with crisp and curland maine, like feirs lionis," &c. See the original. 



