Proximate Landscape. 207 



is now known as the policies, both before and after 

 he defeated General Cope. Duddingston at one 

 time was owned by a family named Thomson, one 

 of whom was made a baronet by Charles I. in 

 1637. It was acquired by the Duke of Lauderdale 

 in 1674, and passed with his daughter to the first 

 Duke of Argyle, to whom she was married. In 

 1745 it was sold to the Earl of Abercorn ; and in 

 1768, the house, which is a beautiful specimen of 

 Grecian architecture, was built, after a design by Sir 

 William Chambers. The pleasure-grounds which 

 surround it were also planned with great taste, and 

 with the house cost ;^30,ooo. The late Mr Robert 

 Forsyth described it as " an example of all that 

 money or art can do to adorn a merely flat surface 

 through which a small stream of water naturally runs ; 

 clumps, groves, canals, lakes, isles, cascades, shrub- 

 bery, serpentine walks, and spreading lawns. In every 

 corner art and expense have been ostentatiously dis- 

 played, and nature is evidently employed merely as 

 her handmaid." ^ 



^ ' Beauties of Scotland.' 



