150 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



residence till the summer of 1798, when he came to his title, and left Scotland 

 with his mother to take possession of Newstead Abbey. Through after life, 

 he cherished an affectionate recollection of the scenes with which he had become 

 familiar at this early period, and boasted that he was half a Scot by birth, and 

 bred a whole one. " To meet with an Aberdonian," says Moore, " was at 

 all times a delight to Byron ; and when the late Mr. Scott, who was a native of 

 Aberdeen, paid him a visit at Venice in 1819, and was talking of the haunts 

 of his childhood, one of the places he particularly mentioned was Wallace'-nook, 



a spot where there is a rude statue of the Scottish chief still standing In his 



early voyage into Greece, not only the shapes of the mountains, but the kilt 

 and hardy forms of the Albanians ' all,' as he says, ' carried him back to 

 Morven ;' and, in his last expedition, the dress which he chiefly wore at 

 Cephalonia, was a tartan jacket."* It is no wonder, therefore, that the people 

 of Aberdeen cherish a warm affection for the memory and name of Byron. 



Breemar, one of the three divisions forming the district of Mar, is generally 

 rugged and mountainous, but here and there presents many pleasing exceptions, 

 with much picturesque and romantic landscape : it is, nevertheless, a land of 

 " heath," the natural carpet of freedom. The Castle of Brsemar, on the Perth 

 side of the river, is a lofty structure, in the shape of two buildings united at right 

 angles, and surrounded by a wall enclosing a square, with angles protruding 

 from the centre of each side. In a field below this castle, the earl of Mar 

 unfurled the Stewart banner in 1715; an event which involved his own family, 

 and those of many others, in irretrievable ruin. This was long the strong- 

 hold of the Mar family ; but, after their attainder, was purchased by Farquharson, 

 of Invercauld, the chief of his clan, and let on lease to government as a military 

 station for keeping the Jacobite clans in check. It is now used as a barrack for 

 a company of military, stationed here to aid the excisemen in the discharge of 

 their duties, in these " dew-distilling" mountains. 



About a mile below the Castle, on the opposite side of the Dee, is the mansion 

 house of Invercauld, surrounded by much of the fine river, mountain, and forest 

 scenery, for which this district is celebrated. New plantations have been laid 

 out with great taste, covering a vast extent of country, and contributing greatly 

 to the picturesque effect of the landscape ; while the patriotic exertions of the 

 Chief are faithfully directed to the moral improvement, of his numerous tenantry 

 and dependants. The scene is literally such as poets have described it. 



* It was in this jacket of the clan that he appears in the striking profile taken by the Comte d'Orsay, 

 and prefixed to " Byron's Conversations witli the Countess of Blessington-" a work in which the character 

 of the noble bard is portrayed with great delicacy and effect. 



