394 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



fine seat, but I must devote a few lines to it, if it were only to bear me 

 out in what I have said of its exterior. I will begin with the entrance- 

 hall, rendered interestin^j by an abundance of military and sporting 

 insignia, of almost all ages, and all nations, intermixed with escutcheons 

 of the family arms, which are supported by two eagles, with the appro- 

 priate motto, " Tanti talem genuere parentes." The cloisters are one 

 hundred and fifteen feet in length, on the stained glass windows of 

 which are emblazoned the arms of successive Earls of Strathearn and 

 Both well, progenitors of the house of Abercairney. 



There are two splendid drawing-rooms in the abbey, one fifty feet in 

 length, the other twenty-two square, furnished in the most elegant style ; 

 and which, together with a library, and conservatory, form a suite of 

 apartments to an extent seldom witnessed in any private house ; the 

 dining-room is forty feet by twent3^-three, just the proper size to be 

 warmed, when it is wanted to be warm, by the aid of one good fire. 



The present laird is a well bred one, being the fifteenth in descent 

 from the first proprietor — the head of a family, in short, from which the 

 Dukes of Athol, Earls of Dunmore, Mansfield, and Dysart are descended. 

 lie married a daughter of the late General Sir William Erskine, Bart., 

 of Torrie, in the county of Fife, but has at present no family. 



My arrival at the abbey was far from being devoid of interest. 

 Whilst talking of Mr. Moray, of Abercairney, my Scotch friends, I per- 

 ceived, always called him '' Abercairney," but I little dreamed that no 

 one about his own house called him any thing else. Guess my surprise 

 then, when on the door being opened to me by a fine young Highlander, 

 in the strict costume of his country, I received the following answer to 



