REMAINS of the ROYAL PALACE 
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OF 
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KILDRUMT CASTLE. 
T HIS noble ruin is fituated in the interior parts of Aberdcenjhire, commanding 
the fertile provinces of the ancient county of Mar. It is about twenty- 
miles above the town of Huntly, and as far beyond Inverary and Kinton. On ap- 
proaching the rifing ground which the caftle occupies, its whole appearance is {hik- 
ing and majeftic. 
The fullen grandeur of its decaying walls and mouldering tow’ers, command a. 
folemn refpeQ:; and one can hardly fail to enter with awe, into the lofty and def- 
lated courts, of that once fo fplendid and fumptuous habitation. — To pervade the 
deferted and mofs-grown halls, where princes oft had met, to weigh the meafures 
of ftate, or hold the gay caroufal ; and where now nothing but fdence and de- 
flation reign, imprefles fuch ideas of the tranfient eftate of human life and all 
its vanities, as infpires that degree of fo lemnity of thought, which fupplies the mind 
with fome confcious greatnefs, in contemplating its own compofure, amid the 
memorials of the perifhable eftate of all human grandeur. 
The ftile of the whole building is truly fuperb and majeftic, equally expreflive 
of a princely tafte, in confulting its magnificence, as of cautious regard to its fe- 
curity, and defence as an impregnable and fpacious fortrefs. 
The buildings arranged in form of a pentagon, are defended at the angles, by 
very ftrong and lofty towers ; the ftrength of the towers, and their pofition and 
eonftru&iorv for flanking the walls, feem fuperior to what could be thought 
neceffary before the ufe of cannon; and the grandeur of its ample plan could 
correfpond with nothing elfe, than its being defigned as a principal residence and 
palace to the Kings of Scotland, where they might fafelv keep their court in the 
molt troublefome times. 
The court within is fpacious, where hundreds of men might be trained, 
and various recreations indulged. 
Religion was equally revered and countenanced in their palaces, as the height- 
ner of their quiet enjoyments, and their conflation in trouble and diftrefs. A 
peculiar kind of columns, and vaft length of windows, in a fuperb edifice on 
the eaftern fide, fhew the auguft ruins of the Temple where the Altars were 
placed, and where the offerings of their devotion had been paid. Thefe facred 
walls barely retain the veftiges of the carvings which had embellifhed them, and 
are tumbling, with the reft of the pile into one common ruin. 
Many inftances occur in Caledonian annals, which fhew the importance of Kil- 
drumy Castle, during intcftine commotions and feats of arms. Owing to its 
peculiar ftrength and fituation of fecurity, it often became a fortunate afylum to 
E e many 
