IN CARLYLE'S COUNTRY. 75 



for criticism, not one superfluous touch or stroke ; 

 every stone tells, and tells entirely. Of a piece of 

 architecture, we can say this or that, but of one of 

 these old bridges this only : it satisfies every sense of 

 the mind. It has the beauty of poetry, and the pre- 

 cision of mathematics. The older bridges, like this 

 over the Annan, are slightly hipped, so that the road 

 rises gradually from either side to the key of the 

 arch ; this adds to their beauty, and makes them 

 look more like things of life. The modern bridges 

 are all level on the top, which increases their utility. 

 Two laborers, gossiping on the bridge, said I could 

 fish by simply going and asking leave of some func- 

 tionary about the castle. 



Shakespeare says of the martlet, that it 



" Builds in the weather on the outward wall, 

 Even in the force and road of casualty." 



I noticed that a pair had built their nest on an iron 

 bracket under the eaves of a building opposite our 

 inn, which proved to be in the " road of casualty ; " 

 for one day the painters began scraping the building, 

 preparatory to giving it a new coat of paint, and the 

 " procreant cradle " was knocked down. The swal- 

 lows did not desert the place, however, but were at 

 work again next morning before the painters were. 

 The Scotch, by the way, make a free use of paint. 

 They even paint their tombstones. Most of them, I 

 observed, were brown stones painted white. Carlyle's 

 father once sternly drove the painters from his door 

 when they had been summoned by the younger 



