some improvements of the castle, displayed an
eccentric love of uniformity. "The earl and his gardener directed all in
the garden and pleasure-grounds upon the ancient principle of exact
correspondence between the different parts, so that each alley had its
brother--a principle now renounced by gardeners. It chanced once upon a
time that a fellow was caught committing some petty theft, and, being
taken in the manner, was sentenced by the Bailie M'Wheeble of the
jurisdiction to stand for a certain time in the baronial pillory, called
the _jougs_, being a collar and chain attached to the uppermost portal
of the great avenue which led to the castle. The thief was turned over
accordingly to the gardener as the ground officer, to see the punishment
duly inflicted. When the Thane of Glammis returned from his morning
ride, he was surprised to find both sides of the gateway accommodated
each with a prisoner. He asked the gardener, whom he found watching the
place of punishment, as his duty required, whether another delinquent
had been detected? 'No, my lord,' said the gardener, in the tone of a
man excellently well satisfied with himself, 'but I thought the single
fellow looked very awkward standing on one side of the gateway, so I
gave half-a-crown to one of the labourers to stand on the other side
_for uniformity's sake_.'"
* * * * *
ON LOCALITIES:
LITERARY RECOLLECTIONS OF LONDON.
_(To the Editor of the Mirror.)_
No intellectual enjoyment, in my opinion, can surpass the delight we
experience when traversing those spots of the habitable earth where
celebrated warriors fought, minstrels sang, philosophers pondered, or
where philanthropists have immortalized their names by deeds of charity.
To roam through the romantic vales of Italy--surrounded at all turns by
the sad memorials of its former magnificence--the mighty ruins of its
temples and palaces, and the mutilated remains of its statues and
triumphal columns, conveying to the mind mournful images of the fallen
fates of those who had for ages been its proud possessors; where the
Mantuan bard first caught inspiration from the deathless muse; where
Tully charmed the listening throng, whilst defending with mild
persuasion the arts and the sciences he loved, and condemning in
terrible denunciations the mad ambition that threatened the destruction
of his country; to wander among its groves, and say, here Ovid, in
lonely exile, sooth
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