teristics and beauties of its own. No one, we
believe, had any conception of their extent and variety, until they
were brought to light by the artistic labours of Mr Billings. In some
instances, to bring out the full effect of the ornamental parts of
these buildings without overloading his picture with the more cumbrous
plain stone-work, he brings forward, by some artistic manoeuvre, the
crest of the building, as if the spectator saw it from a scaffold or a
balloon level with the highest storey. The effect of the rich
Oriental-looking mass of decoration thus concentrated is extremely
striking, and one is apt to ask, if it is possible that the country so
often characterised as bare, cold, and impoverished, could have
produced these gorgeous edifices. Their number and distribution
through the most remote parts of the land are equally remarkable.
Among Mr Billings's specimens, we have, in the southern part of
Scotland, Pinkie, near Musselburgh; Auchans and Kelburn, in Ayrshire;
Newark, on the Clyde; Airth and Argyle's Lodging, in Stirling. Going
northward, we come to Elcho and Glammis, and to Muchalls and Crathes,
in Kincardineshire. It is remarkable, that the further north we go,
the French style becomes more conspicuous and complete. Many of the
finest specimens are to be found in Aberdeenshire. Fyvie Castle, which
was built for a Scottish chancellor--Seton, Earl of Dunfermline--is
almost a complete French chateau of the sixteenth century, such as the
traveller may have seen in sunny Guienne or Anjou; and there it stands
transplanted, like an exotic, among the bleak hills of the north. It
is only natural to find in connection with such a circumstance, that
Seton received his education in France, and passed a considerable part
of his life there. Whether from such an example or not, the
Aberdeenshire lairds seem to have been all ambitious of possessing
French chateaux; and thus in the county of primitive rock, where there
is certainly little else to remind us of French habits or ideas, we
have some admirable specimens of that foreign architectural school in
Castle Fraser, Craigievar, Midmar, Tolquhon, Dalpersie, and Udny.
Nearer Inverness, we have Balveny, Castle-Stewart, and Cawdor.

The same foreign influence is exhibited in our street architecture,
some specimens of which are engraved in the work to which we have
referred.[4] Every one knows that the lofty Scottish edifices with
common stairs--houses built above each ot