IN CARLYLE'S COUNTRY 69 



entirely. Of a piece of architecture, we can say 

 this or that, but of one of these old bridges this 

 only: it satisfies every sense of the mind. It has 

 the beauty of poetry, and the precision of mathe- 

 matics. The older bridges, like this over the An- 

 nan, are slightly hipped, so that the road rises 

 gradually from either side to the key of the arch; 

 this adds to their beauty, and makes them look 

 more like things of life. The modern bridges are 

 all level on the top, which increases their utility. 

 Two laborers, gossiping on the bridge, said I could 

 fish by simply going and asking leave of some func- 

 tionary about the castle. 



Shakespeare says of the martlet, that it 



" Builds in the weather on the outward wall, 

 Even in the force and road of casualty." 



I noticed that a pair had built their nest on an iron 

 bracket under the eaves of a building opposite our 

 inn, which proved to be in the " road of casualty ; " 

 for one day the painters began scraping the build- 

 ing, preparatory to giving it a new coat of paint, 

 and the " procreant cradle " was knocked down. 

 The swallows did not desert the place, however, 

 but were at work again next morning before the 

 painters were. The Scotch, by the way, make a 

 free use of paint. They even paint their tomb- 

 stones. Most of them, I observed, were brown 

 stones painted white. Carlyle's father once sternly 

 drove the painters from his door when they had 

 been summoned by the younger members of his 

 family to give the house a coat "o' pent." "Ye 



