Mansion Residences. 5 



contemplation. The object is, to combine general effect and 

 ornamental display with science. On the whole, Jardine 

 Hall, and the pursuits of its amiable and hospitable owner, 

 show how much happiness a cultivated mind may enjoy in the 

 country, without reference to towns, cities, or a populous 

 neighbourhood. 



Raehills is in a situation still more wild than Jardine Hall, 

 but it has the advantages of having a hilly surface, a great 

 extent of wood, and a river considerably below the house, and 

 not on a level with it, as at Jardine Hall. It is singular that 

 there should be considerable streams near both mansions, 

 without the water being seen from either of them. This 

 defect might be removed in both cases, but not without 

 some expense. At Raehills, there is a holm which might 

 easily be flooded, so as to form a lake ; or, the bed of the 

 river, which is now along one side of this holm, might be 

 changed to the other side, where it would be seen from the 

 house. The natural features of Raehills are all grand and 

 picturesque; but, with the exception of the new additions 

 making to the house, and the general masses of the distant 

 plantations as seen from it, we cannot say much for the 

 operations of art. Whoever may lay out the approach road 

 will do well to consider what we have said on this subject 

 in a preceding page ; and the whole of the walks among the 

 natural woods and rocks require reformation, agreeably to 

 the principles alluded to. 



Kirkmichael House is rebuilding, in a sort of Elizabethan 

 style, from the design of Mr. Burns. There is a good 

 kitchen-garden just completed, including a suitable gardener's 

 house, and forcing-pits. The situation of this house has little 

 to recommend it, in a country abounding with so much 

 natural beauty; but highly improved design and high keeping 

 will effect much ; and, in a country where these qualities are 

 less common than the beauties of nature, they will probably 

 be valued more. 



Closehurn Hall is a plain but very commodious mansion, 

 and its vicinity has been the scene of more improvements of 

 the useful kind, than that of any other mansion in the south 

 of Scotland. The extent of surface that, from useless bog 

 heath or other sterile soil, has been turned into good pasture, 

 irrigated, rendered arable, or planted with trees, during the 

 last forty years, is astonishing. During this time, limeworks 

 have been established on a highly improved principle, and the 

 practice of liming both arable and grass land rendered general 

 throughout the country. Saw mills have been erected, and 

 the pines and firs planted by Mr. Menteath sawn up into 



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