Botkwell Castle. 195 



employers of his own low origin, and thus bring into view the 

 immense gulf, like that between Dives and Lazarus, that exists be- 

 tween them. In a country where commerce prevails over agricul- 

 ture this is not the case; and hence we find that it is not in the 

 Lothians, Berwickshire, or in Northumberland, where the cot- 

 tage of the labourer has been improved, but [in Lancashire and 

 other parts of England, and in those spots in Scotland, such as 

 New Lanark, Deanston, Catrine, &c, where manufactories have 

 been established. Nothing can exhibit a more lamentable picture 

 of society than Berwickshire and Northumberland, where the 

 proprietors and the farmers live in houses that may be called 

 palaces, and enjoy all the comforts and many of the luxuries of 

 life, while the farm labourers are worse lodged than the horses, 

 cows, and pigs. This is no exaggerated view. We refer to 

 Dr. Gilly's pamphlet (p. 31.), and to the excellent work of Mr. 

 Donaldson, reviewed in a future page. 



Uddingstone is associated in our minds with Mr. Wilkie, a 

 celebrated manufacturer of agricultural implements, whose com- 

 munications will be found in some of our earlier volumes. He 

 and his family, we were informed, have passed away; but we 

 were introduced to a lady of the same name, Mrs. Wilkie of 

 Knowtop, who possesses a very handsome villa and grounds, 

 and is remarkably fond of her garden. The kitchen and flower 

 gardens were admirably cultivated, and displayed a profusion of 

 appropriate productions. The Californian annuals were in the 

 greatest abundance and beauty; and the roses, and pelargoniums, 

 fuchsias, petunias, calceolarias, and many other articles of the 

 kind, were in great beauty. In the shrubbery we noticed fine 

 specimens of the snake-barked maple, Sambvicus racemosa, and 

 Z2uonymus latifolius. The thorn hedges were remarkably nicely 

 cut and kept, and the whole place was in high order and 

 keeping. 



BotJvwell Castle is known as one of the best kept large places 

 in Scotland; and, what adds to the merit of the noble propri- 

 etor, he has no particular taste for gardening, and has the place 

 equally well kept when he is absent as when he is resident. 

 The ruins of the ancient castle and the modern house are both 

 situated on the summit of a very high and steep bank, varied by 

 old wood, which slopes precipitously to the Clyde; and the 

 walks down to and along the river are numerous, and, as may be 

 supposed, singularly grand and picturesque. We went over the 

 whole of them in 1804 and 1806, but we could not, on this 

 visit, undergo that fatigue. We were gratified to find, as far as 

 we did go over them, that the style of keeping was exactly what 

 we recommend: edgings not much higher than the gravel, 

 and the grass clipped, but never cut. Where the edgings had 

 got high, we found them being undermined by the spade, so as 



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