Fretp MEETINGS. 229 
made along the avenue of Blackett House in order to view 
Blackett Tower, which was the seat of the head of the Bells of 
Middlebie. The rejected suitor of Helen Irving was a Bell, 
and this is reputed to have been his residence. It has been a 
small tower of the customary square type, and is now in ruins, 
although on two sides the walls are entire. Over an entrance way 
is a shield lettered thus :— 
IB Il 
1663. 
We have here doubtless the record of the marriage of a Bell with 
another Irving than “ Fair Helen.’’ A lintel on the inner side of 
the arch also serves as a marriage stone, the inscription being in 
one line :— 
17 GB IE 14 
At Springkell a very cordial welcome was extended to the 
Visitors. It is a stately mansion-house, of Grecian design, in 
light-coloured sandstone. The central portion is a massive 
square block, having the date 1734 carved over the doorway in 
the southern front, which is flanked by graceful pilasters. On 
each side of it is a slightly projecting wing of about equal size, 
these having been added about the year 1818. During the twelve 
years that the property has been in the possession of Sir Edward 
and Lady Johnson-Ferguson the house has been entirely recon- 
structed, so that not a plank of the original wood remains in it, 
and it has also been somewhat enlarged. A very beautiful ter- 
raced garden has also been constructed, which is at present gay 
with choice blooms. Arboriculture is an art which has been long 
practised at Springkell, and of which the fruit is seen in the 
magnificent specimens of trees of various kinds which stud the 
extensive lawns. Among them are a giant silver fir, a great 
Spanish chestnut, and many others notable not more for their 
size than for their symmetrical proportions. Of beeches there 
isanoble avenue. The turf is of rich velvety quality, and recalls 
the anecdote of the American visitor at Oxford, who wished to 
know how it would be possible to obtain such a grassy carpet. 
“By two hundred years of close cutting every day ’’ was the 
recipe offered to him. 
The art treasures which Sir Edward has inherited and him- 
self collected would adequately furnish a civic gallery. Through- 
