Italian in feeling, and yet happily wedding with the Scottish mansion of 

 two and a half centuries ago, and forming, with the house and park-land, 

 one of the most perfect examples of a country gentleman's place. All of 

 it is pleasant and beautiful, home-like and humanly sympathetic ; the 

 size is moderate — there is nothing oppressively grand. 



More than once already in these pages attention has been drawn to 

 the danger of letting good stone-work become overgrown with rank 

 creepers. At Balcaskie this is evidently carefully regulated. The wall- 

 spaces between the great buttresses, and the buttresses themselves, are 

 sufficiently clothed but never smothered with the wall-loving and 

 climbing plants. The right relation of masonry and vegetation is carefully 

 observed ; each graces and dignifies the other ; the balance is perfect. 



The lowest level is given to the kitchen garden. It is not put out of 

 the way, but forms part of the whole scheme. It is reached by a single 

 flight of handsome balustraded stone steps. 



Balcaskie occurs as a place-name early in the thirteenth century. 

 From 1350 to 161 5 it was owned by a family named Strang, afterwards 

 by the Moncrieffs, till 1665. It is not known whether any portion of the 

 present house and garden belonged to these earlier dates, but it is probable 

 that the designer of both was Sir William Bruce, one of the best 

 architects of the time of Charles II., and an owner of Balcaskie for twenty 

 years. 



41 



