92 THE NORTH STAITOEDSHIRE HOUXDS. 



The older p-an of the castle, -which has stood many a siege in the wild days of 

 Scottish history, is now almost hidden hy the modem building — a combination 

 of French and Scottish archiiecture introduced into Scotland in the days of Queen 

 ilarv. Gracefully do the turrets and tapering roofs of the lighter French style 

 wed with the more massive and feudal Scotch fortress, keep, and donjon. The 

 graceful turrets, the towers with their extinguisher-shaped roofs, the machicolated 

 parapets, the corbelled ramparts, and the quaintly shaped windows, do not in 

 any way detract from the internal beauty of the building. The gardens are 

 worthy of the castle. Two hundred years ago the old chronicler of the House 

 of Sutherland, Sir Robert Grordon, describes the -fair orchards wher ther be 

 pleasant gardens planted with all kynds of /roots, hearbs, and floors used in 

 this hinfidome, and abundance of good saphron, tobacco, and rosemarie. The 

 froot heir,' he adds, 'is excellent chiefly the pears and cherries.' An old pear 

 tree, that may well have seen two hundred summers, is a last relic of this pleasant 

 garden, and still yields a handsome crop of fruit. Dunrobin, like Melrose, to be 

 seen aright, should be seen imder the spell of moonlight. Beautiful as is the 

 view over the Firth of the distant hills of Banff and Aberdeen, and those of the 

 softer and lower range of Inverness and Moray, the scene is still more witching 

 when the silvery light dances over the waves. I have seen Venice and Heidelberg, 

 the Alhambra and the Boman Colosseum, tmder the moon's rays ; but never to 

 me that light of night illumined a fairer scene than the old nest of my northern 

 race on the far-away Sutherland coast" 



The Duches3-Coiint€33 Elizabeth, the fair chatelaine 

 of Dunrobin, who was the only daughter of Williani, 

 seventeenth Earl of Sutherland, was not allowed to take 

 possession of the title and the Sutherland estates without 

 litigation, for in her early infancy, after her parents' 

 death, her title was disputed by two claimants ; but, 

 after a long lawsuit, the House of Lords decided in 

 her favour in the year 1771, and she thtLS became 

 Countess of Sutherland and Baroness Strathnaver in her 

 own right. 



"The Countess's right" says Douglas, '-was thus established to the most 

 ancient title existing in Britain — a decision productive of the highest national 

 satisfec-tion, the illtistrious orphan having excited feelings of very lively interest, 

 and pnblic rejoicings took place in different parts of Scotland in consequence;" 



It was in 1785 that the Countess of Sutherland, as 

 above mentioned, gave her hand to the heir of Trentham, 

 and brought her large possessions to swell the already 

 large estates of the Leveson-Gowers. The Gaelic title of 

 this great heiress was " Banza-Mohr-ar-Chat," which, when 

 interpreted, means " The Great Lady of the Clan Suther- 

 land." She it was who. durins^ the crpeat war with France 



