motto belonging to the Stewarts earls of Athol *, which they had caufed to be engrave ^ 
in very large old capitals on a fcroll, that extends along a great part of the front ° 
the caftle, nearly over the gateway j and which part had probably been built wlu^ 
it was in the poffeffion of that family. The buildings towards the fouth-weft^ 
ner, where unwieldy ftrength, more than elegance or convenience, feems to have : oc ^ 
ftudied, were prior to the above rera; and it received fome other additions au cr 
was conveyed from the Athol family. The whole buildings, when entire, forinea * 
ample court, inclofing an area of forty or fifty yards diameter. One circular and v’O 
lar^e tower on the fouth-eaft corner, which commanded the gateway, is a lofty ^ 
ment of the ftrength of this fortrefs. On the other angles are the remains of 
turrets, from whence to watch the motions of a diftant enemy, or to annoy the al a 
ants on their approach. The front is fpacious, and ftill preferves in its a P' 
pearance the rude veftiges of its early grandeur. The windows, which are g encra ^. 
larger than ufual in thofe places of defence, are therefore ftrongly guarded by 
bars of maffy iron j and the iron gate, of enormous weight, ftill hangs on its 
hinges, and ftrikes one, on entering, with the formidable idea of the troubled 
which it had come from the anvil. 
The mount on which the caftle ftands commands the profpeft of a rich ^ 
fpacious valley, inclofed with doping hills, on whofe declivities the alder, afh, . ^ 
and hazel, intermixed with the wild cherry-trees, enrich the banks of the ^ £ 
Fiddicb , which winds through the dale, and adds beauty and fertility to the adja^ 
fields : whilft the country around rifes into mountainous feenes, where the plantad 
of Scotch firs, and other foreft trees, vary with their dark verdure the glowing ^ ea 
and are thriving apace under the aufpices of the prefent earl of Fife , over thofe helg 1 
where ftrength of vegetation feemed to have been denied. 
In the midft of the valley, the late earl, when proprietor of the demefne, chofe ra^ 
to ere£t an elegant modern feat, than to add to the incommodious buildings of his p 
deeeffors in the ancient fortrefs. 
This edifice, to which the ruins of the ancient caftle, with the woods and mounta J 
around, form excellent viftas, is only feen here in the diftant part of the landfcap e ^ 
a fpacious rural retirement it has ample accommodations ; and in beauty of fi tl1 
is fcarce inferior to any of the numerous country feats which belong to that 
family. 
* FFRTh FORTVIN AND FIL THI FATTRIS, 
