nt through the town of Leslie, and saw what remains of the celebrated
rendezvous of rustic gallantry called Christ's Kirk on the Green.[348]
It is now cut up with houses, one of the most hideous of which is a new
church, having the very worst and most offensive kind of Venetian
windows. This, I am told, has replaced a quiet lowly little Gothic
building, coeval, perhaps, with the royal poet who celebrated the spot.
Next we went to Falkland, where we found Mr. Howden, factor of Mr.
Tyndall Bruce, waiting to show us the palace.

Falkland has most interesting remains. A double entrance-tower, and a
side building running east from it, is roofed, and in some degree
habitable; a corresponding building running northward from the eastern
corner is totally ruinous, having been destroyed by fire. The
architecture is highly ornamented, in the style of the Palace at
Stirling. Niches with statues, with projections, cornices, etc, are
lavished throughout. Many cornice medallions exhibited such heads as
those procured from the King's room at Stirling, the originals, perhaps,
being the same. The repeated cypher of James V. and Mary of Guise attest
the builder of this part of the palace. When complete it had been a
quadrangle. There is as much of it as remained when Slezer published his
drawings. Some part of the interior has been made what is called
habitable, that is, a half-dozen of bad rooms have been gotten out of
it. Am clear in my own mind a ruin should be protected, but never
repaired. The proprietor has a beautiful place called Nut-hill, within
ten minutes' walk of Falkland, and commanding some fine views of it and
of the Lomond Hill. This should be the residence. But Mr. Bruce and his
predecessor, my old professor, John Bruce,[349] deserve great credit for
their attention to prevent dilapidation, which was doing its work fast
upon the ancient palace. The only remarkable apartment was a large and
well-proportioned gallery with a painted roof--_tempore Jacobi
Sexti_--and built after his succession to the throne of England. I
noticed a curious thing,--a hollow column concealed the rope which rung
the Castle bell, keeping it safe from injury and interruption.

The town of Falkland is old, with very narrow streets. The arrival of
two carriages and a gig was an event important enough to turn out the
whole population. They are said to be less industrious, more dissipated,
and readier to become soldiers than their neighbours. So long a