A child's little toy-gun was lying on a workbench among
all this array of weapons; and when I took it up and smiled, he said that
it was his son's. So he called in a little fellow four years old, who
was playing in the castle yard, and made him go through the musket
exercise, which he did with great good-will. This small Son of a Gun,
the father assured us, cares for nothing but arms, and has attained
all his skill with the musket merely by looking at the soldiers on
parade. . . . .
Our soldier, who had resigned the care of us to the armorer, met us again
at the door, and led us round the remainder of the ramparts, dismissing
us finally at the gate by which we entered. All the time we were in the
castle there had been a great discordance of drums and fifes, caused by
the musicians who were practising just under the walls; likewise the
sergeants were drilling their squads of men, and putting them through
strange gymnastic motions. Most, if not all, of the garrison belongs to
a Highland regiment, and those whom we saw on duty, in full costume,
looked very martial and gallant. Emerging from the castle, we took the
broad and pleasant footpath, which circles it about midway on the grassy
steep which descends from the rocky precipice on which the walls are
built. This is a very beautiful walk, and affords a most striking view
of the castle, right above our heads, the height of its wall forming one
line with the precipice.
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