CAWDOR CASTLE 



Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury, when he became the 

 reluctant owner of that manor, having been compelled 

 by King James to receive it in exchange for beloved 

 Theobalds in 1607. 



Perhaps a majority of practical people agree with 

 Mr. Andrew Lang's opinion that " gardens were 

 devised by Providence for the pottering peace of 

 virtuous eld/' and are satisfied with a garden if it 

 soothes their senses by a tasteful disposition of 

 trees, and shrubs, and flowering herbs. The nearest 

 approach to perfection is attained in a garden 

 where the eye is gratified by beauty of form and 

 colour, and the mind is stimulated by historic asso- 

 ciation ; and such is the case at Cawdor Castle. It 

 is as impossible,, one would think, to visit this 

 seat of the ancient Thanes and remain indifferent to 

 the strange narrative which men claim to be its 

 history, as it would be to derive no pleasure from 

 the contrast of masses of bright blossom with the 

 grim grey towers which overlook them. 



Cawdor Castle stands in the midst of that rich 

 strath which stretches from the foot of Carn-nan-tri- 

 tighearnan, or the Cairn of the Three Lords, to the 

 sea. On the east, dark Findhorn battles his way to 

 the Moray Firth through the gorges of Altyre and 

 Relugas ; on the west, the little Nairn prattles and 

 sparkles along its pebbly channel, parallel to the 

 greater river. We are fully four hundred miles north 

 of Greenwich here, yet the climate of this region, 

 summer and winter, is perhaps the most delightful 



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