Blair- Adam, Lochleven Castle, Kinross House. 587 



Blair- Adam, Admiral Sir Charles Adam, has been already 

 beautifully and faithfully described by Mr. A. Mackenzie (p. 357.)- 

 It is a place extremely interesting, both from its natural beauties 

 and the great improvements which have been made on it by 

 three generations of the same family. The approach to the 

 house is partly through a dense wood of silver firs, with trunks 

 clear to the height of from 50 ft. to 70 ft., and the trees stand so 

 close together that the number of cubic feet per acre must be 

 enormous. There is a fine Italian feeling evinced in the kitchen- 

 garden by its massive stone walls, with bracketed cornices, piers, 

 and vases, and with the gardener's house forming the central 

 portion of the north wall. On the south side the garden is 

 open to a lawn and shrubbery, with a winding brook, the whole 

 managed in a manner which produces the very best effect. In 

 the interior of the garden there are some pedestals and vases 

 artistically placed along the walks, that is, placed in recesses of 

 gravel, as we have recommended on various occasions ; and we 

 were gratified to learn from Mr. Mackenzie that he had adopted 

 this mode from principle. The garden was well cropped, and 

 was particularly rich in small herbs, perfumery, and medicinal 

 plants, and there was also a very excellent collection of her- 

 baceous plants, including ferns, arranged according to the Lin- 

 nean System, and named. This collection was made by the late 

 gardener, Mr. Henderson, for some years foreman of the Edin- 

 burgh Botanic Garden, in conformity with the practice of the 

 last century, when the culture of flowers was carried on in the 

 same enclosure as that of fruits and culinary vegetables, except 

 in the very largest gardens. 



Lochleven Castle is a ruin on an island in the loch, chiefly 

 interesting as having been the prison of Queen Mary. We 

 examined the walls of the room in which she is said to have 

 been confined, and found some curious details characteristic of 

 the rude contrivances of the age, even where royalty was con- 

 cerned. The water of the lake has been lowered several feet by 

 draining, so that the wall containing the window from which' 

 Queen Mary is said to have dropped into the boat is now 

 several yards from the water's edge. The island on which the 

 castle stands is deprived of much of its interest by having been 

 trenched and planted with trees, for the purpose, as our guide 

 informed us, of protecting game for the proprietor, at present a 

 minor. When these trees are grown up, the remains of the 

 castle will be completely obscured by them; but the proprietor, 

 when he comes of age, will, we trust, have sufficient taste to 

 restore the island to the state it was in a few years ago. 



Kinross House ; Graham, Esq. The mansion stands on 



the mainland, on a promontory jutting into the lake. It was 

 built by Sir William Bruce, a celebrated architect in the latter 



