270 NOVEMBER 



is the Hydropathic Establishment of Dunblane, 

 arrogantly new and square, dwarfing the old cathe- 

 dral, which has of late been reverently, discreetly, 

 and altogether rightly restored ; the other, as far to 

 the west, is Doune Castle, grey and timeworn, but 

 gleaming to-day like a tarnished silvern clasp in the 

 great girdle of woodland that lies about the feet of 

 the Highland hills. 



Murdoch, second Duke of Albany, who was to 

 lose his head so soon as his master, James I., re- 

 turned from captivity in England, signalised his 

 Regency, from 1419 to 1424, by the erection of at 

 least two notable strongholds, of which one is famed 

 Tantallon and the other Doune. It was just the 

 time when Scottish domestic or defensive architec- 

 ture (for the terms are nearly synonymous in speak- 

 ing of that age) moved forward from the plan of a 

 simple keep, entered on the second floor by a move- 

 able ladder, to the grander design of a continuous 

 building surrounding a central court. The keep 

 still remained an important feature, but the rooms 

 in it increased in size ; the inmates were no longer 

 huddled into comfortless apartments where cooking, 

 eating and sleeping went on simultaneously. Ban- 

 queting halls, chapels, visitor's suites and offices 



