158 'OLD q' 



It Avill not be out of place to give a short descrip- 

 tion here of the castle and demesne of Drumlanrig. 

 The design of this noble pile is attributed to Inigo 

 Jones ; it was erected for the first Duke of Queens- 

 berry, who, it is said, spent so much on it during the 

 ten years it was building (1679-1689), that he indorsed 

 upon the accounts a strange curse, to prevent his 

 descendants examining them. The outside appear- 

 ance of Drumlanrig Castle is not unlike Heriot's 

 Hospital, Edinburgh ; but here the comparison ends, 

 as the interior of Drumlanrig, as might be expected, 

 differs widely from the whitewashed plainness of the 

 hospital. Grinlin Gibbons, the celebrated carver in 

 wood, is said to have executed the carving in the 

 gallery, which contained a fine collection of family 

 and other portraits. 



Perhaps the most interesting sight at Drumlanrig, 

 after the castle, was, in 1778, a herd of white cattle 

 descended from the primaeval herds which at one time 

 roamed wild in these parts, and retained all their 

 wildness and ferocity. As shy as deer, they were 

 ' stalked ' in much the same way, having to be shot 

 when any were required for use. They are reported to 

 have been of middle size, with rather long legs, while 

 the orbits of the eyes and the tip of the nose were 

 black; but, at this date (1778), the bulls had lost the 



