BALCARRES, 

 FIFE. 



THE SEAT 



or THE 



:EARL OF CRAWFORD.* 



' t 



A N 



/\ Crawford, impressue and yrand in its noble terra.es 

 / \ and stairways, magnificent in its l-edg -d niilu- 

 * * and its box gardens, glorious in the splendour <r its 

 floral charms, and it- m every point oi vi- u .1 i\ pical 

 en of the North. Nothing, amid all its teahr 

 impressive as the character ot its dense walls ,>t \i-\\. its 

 fees of the same, and its admirable patterns in bo\ 

 the hand of the Ire.- and bush cutter has .u im-M-d real 

 triumphs, without anywhere ten MI- t .warJs e.xtr 



.)ue conceit. VW.-in- reminded of what is said by 



John Weid who was gardener, more than tw . ii-uturn-s 



i ,, ,rge Macken/if. . !' .uijh t Aberdeen, in his 



; 'Scots Gard'ner " ( if>So, lu-re he describes the 



of the gardens it his time. As was said in the 



account of iJrummond. they were usualh -divided nit > \\.ilks 



and plois, \\ith a bordure ' round tacit plot a box border, 



-uppose and at the corner* ho.|u-> or otlur bushes in 



pyramidal turn, or apprraching the spherical. Let us r< 



how quaintly he says they should be plyed and pruned, 



the v t in several figures, the walks lai I with gravel, 



and the inner spaces with grass. " The bordures boxed 



and planted with a variety of fine flmM-rs, orderly intermix!, 



:ed. mow'd. rolled, and ke|t all clean and hands -me." 



He was speaking of just such .1 garden as \\<- m>w 



see at Balcarres, though doubtless one wanti i^ its 



stately m igi ! .- Interesting 



aN.ut the g.irvlens ..t Scotland, and it is ; t,, make 



acquaint uue with those who formed them. I he noNemen 

 who made Halcanes what it is have had a strange hi- 1 

 Among them we encounter men wh. hive lo ed their u;'f>l<'ii s 

 and who have w rke.l to mtr.Khue into S^.tla-ul those t harms 

 in which Scottish gardens greatly e\iel. I hey have all Nvn 

 men n< distinct o.i. and .1 .1 ..t their hi>toty and ot 



their house and its surrounJmgs will not l.u k either human 

 interest or that which we seek in tin- qir.-st t"t beautiful gardens 

 old and n 



The stately seat of the Karl ot Crawt.-rd is m t 

 s.tu.ited u(-on the southern s| |v ,,| that county, s .me three 

 miles trom the sea, dignified by old woods, pi ssessing m its 

 l-raig anobjeit, ascme writer has said, " worth all th.it twenty 

 Browns c >uld dofor any place in con eiring romantic beauty." 

 and Commanding a Superb \ie\\-, which embraces nearly the 

 whole expanse of the Firth of r-orth. the I. t!n..ns opposite, the 

 Hiss Hock out at s,-a. .1 ,| the Lammerino <r Hills, while a 

 canopy ( if smoke indicates where hdinburgh lies twenty miles 

 a-.\ay. The Lindsays have long held sway in File .uul all that 

 Country. They hive poss, s ed m .re fan twenU ^re.it 

 ies and lordships, and many lands in Korlar, Perth, 

 Kincardine. Aberdeen. Inverness. Banff. Lanark. Uumti 

 kirkvudbright. and Wigton. AS Sir Bernard Burke s.i\ s. 

 their earldom formed a petty principality, an imfx-riiim in 



IHb SOUIH HKONf 



