Almost directly across the street, he
pointed to an archway, through the side of a house, and, peeping through
it, we found a soldier on guard in a court-yard, the sides of which were
occupied by an old mansion of the Argyle family, having towers at the
corners, with conical tops, like those reproduced in the hotel at the
Trosachs. It is now occupied as a military hospital. Shaking off our
self-inflicted guide, we now made our way to the castle parade, and to
the gateway, where a soldier with a tremendously red nose and two medals
at once took charge of us.
Beyond all doubt, I have written quite as good a description of the
castle and Carse of Stirling in a former portion of my journal as I can
now write. We passed through the outer rampart of Queen Anne; through
the old round gate-tower of an earlier day, and beneath the vacant arch
where the portcullis used to fall, thus reaching the inner region, where
stands the old palace on one side, and the old Parliament House on the
other. The former looks aged, ragged, and rusty, but makes a good
appearance enough pictorially, being adorned all round about with
statues, which may have been white marble once, but are as gray as
weather-beaten granite now, and look down from between the windows above
the basement story. A photograph would give the idea of very rich
antiquity, but as it really stands, looking on a gravelled court-yard,
and with "CANTEEN" painted on one of its doors, the spectator does not
find it very impressive.
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