We then went to a bookseller's shop, and bought some views of
Stirling and the neighborhood; and it is surprising what a quantity and
variety of engravings there are of every noted place that we have
visited. You seldom find two sets alike. It is rather nauseating to
find that what you came to see has already been looked at in all its
lights, over and over again, with thousand-fold repetition; and, beyond
question, its depictment in words has been attempted still oftener than
with the pencil. It will be worth while to go back to America, were it
only for the chance of finding a still virgin scene.
We climbed the steep slope of the Castle Hill, sometimes passing an
antique-looking house, with a high, notched gable, perhaps with an
ornamented front, until we came to the sculptures and battlemented
wall, with an archway, that stands just below the castle. . . . . A
shabby-looking man now accosted us, and could hardly be shaken off. I
have met with several such boors in my experience of sight-seeing. He
kept along with us, in spite of all hints to the contrary, and insisted
on pointing out objects of interest. He showed us a house in Broad
Street, below the castle and cathedral, which he said had once been
inhabited by Henry Darnley, Queen Mary's husband. There was little or
nothing peculiar in its appearance; a large, gray, gabled house standing
lengthwise to the street, with three windows in the roof, and connected
with other houses on each side.
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