264 



aniincommanded situation; high solid walls 

 and towers; the draw^-bridge, the portcullis ; 

 few apertures, and those small ; no breaks 

 nor projections that would interfere with 

 strength and solidity. The ruins of these 

 once magnificent edifices, are the pride and 

 boast of this island : we may well be proud 

 of them; not merely in a picturesque point 

 of view : we may glory that the abodes of 

 tyranny and superstition are in ruin. 



In the third degree are old mansion-houses 

 in their various styles: few, however, of 

 those which have been long uninhabited, 

 have stood the shock of time like castles and 

 abbeys ; not having been protected lilve 

 them, either by their own solidity, or by the 

 -relio-ious veneration of mankind. But some 

 of these old mansions, that are only in a 

 state of neglect, not of ruinous decay, ac- 

 companied by their^valled terraces, by their 

 'summer-houses covered with ivj^and mixed 

 with wild vegetation, have the most pic- 

 turesque effect. Where any of them are 

 sufficiently preserved to be capable of being 

 repaired, and are intended to be made ha- 



