DRUMLANRIG CASTLE. — LINCLUDEN COLLEGE. 191 



portion of the Border counties. The founder of this sumptuous mansion was 

 James, duke of Queensberry, whose judicious advice and strenuous cooperation 

 in effecting the union* between the two countries, are honourably recorded in 

 the history of that important crisis. The style of its architecture will be best 

 understood by reference to the annexed engraving, which affords also a correct 

 notion of its extent and proportions. The sums expended in the external 

 building — exclusive of its interior embellishments — are said to have been 

 immense. Its spacious gardens, park, and pleasure grounds, are on a scale 

 suitable to the castle, which is justly considered the finest baronial mansion in 

 the south of Scotland. 



The Vale of the Nith, extending from this point to Dumfries and the Solway, 

 is a tract of great beauty and fertility, blending with every landscape some 

 characteristic feature or historical fact which brings back the days of remote 

 crusades, of civil discord, or the wars of the " Covenant." Over this district the 

 Douglasses and the Maxwells long exercised feudal authority, and at the head 

 of their numerous retainers held a prominent station in the chances of Border 

 warfare. They have left many honourable representatives in the district. 



The ruins of Lincluden College, which form a chief point of attraction in the 

 tourist's chart, crown a gentle eminence on the bank of the Cluden, at its con- 

 fluence with the Nith, and still retain indubitable evidence of their former 

 magnificence. The college was originally a Benedictine nunnery, founded in 

 the reign of Malcolm IV. by Uthred, father of Holland, lord of Galloway, 

 whose ashes repose under its sanctuary. Some time afterwards, however, the 

 reputation of the nuns being sullied by the breath of scandal, they were 

 sent adrift, and their costly altars converted into a coUegiate church for a 

 provost and twelve beadsmen — a change, which enabled the earl of Douglas to 

 make suitable provision for the younger branches of his family, some of whom 

 were as good saints in the cloister as they were swordsmen in the field. The 

 provosts of this college were generally persons of distinction, and filled high and 

 important ofiices under the crown. Over the door of the vestry, his own armorial 

 bearings, and those of his lady, the heiress of Bothwell, still mark the spot where 

 the " grim" earl lies buried. In the church is the tomb of Margaret, daughter of 

 King Robert III., and wife of Archibald, earl of Douglas and first duke of 

 Touraine. The tomb is in the form of a shrine, of elegant design and elaborate 

 Avorkmanship. The choir of the church, part of the south wall, and a portion 



• In 1707, James, the second duke of Queensberry, acted as the royal commissioner from Queen Anne 

 to the Scottish parliament on that memorable occasion, and was afterwards created by her Majesty duke of 

 Dover, marquess of Beverley, and baron of Ripon. 



