196 AUDUBON 



of heraldry belonging to Lord Morton. The carriage 

 stopped, a man in livery opened the door, and I walked 

 in, giving him my hat and gloves and my American stick 

 (that, by the bye, never leaves me unless I leave it). Up- 

 stairs I went and into the drawing-room. The Countess 

 rose at once and came to greet me, and then presented 

 Lord Morton to me yes, really not me to him; for 

 the moment I was taken aback, I had expected something 

 so different. I had formed an idea that the Earl was 

 a man of great physical strength and size; instead I saw a 

 small, slender man, tottering on his feet, weaker than a newly 

 hatched Partridge; he welcomed me with tears in his 

 eyes, held one of my hands and attempted speaking, which 

 was difficult to him, the Countess meanwhile rubbing 

 his other hand. I saw at a glance his situation and 

 begged he would be seated, after which I was introduced 

 to the mother of the Countess, Lady Boulcar, and I took 

 a seat on a sofa that I thought would swallow me up, 

 so much down swelled around me. It was a vast room, 

 at least sixty feet long, and wide in proportion, let me 

 say thirty feet, all hung with immense paintings on a rich 

 purple ground; all was purple about me. The large 

 tables were covered with books, instruments, drawing 

 apparatus, and a telescope, with hundreds of ornaments. 

 As I glanced at the pictures I could see the Queen of 

 England fronting Mary of Scotland, a chamberlain here, 

 a duke there, and in another place a beautiful head 

 by Rembrandt. Van Dyke had not been forgotten; 

 Claude Lorraine had some landscapes here also; while 

 the celebrated Titian gave a lustre to the whole. I rose 

 to take a closer view, the Countess explaining all to me, 

 but conceive my surprise when, looking from the middle 

 window, I saw at the horizon the castle and city of Edin- 

 burgh, a complete miniature eight miles off, a landscape 

 of fields, water, and country between us and it. Luncheon 

 was announced; I am sure if my friends complain that 



