Page:Old Castles.djvu/28

20 remaining a few of the steep steps of the stairs that once led up into it, and over which have doubtless rustled the floating trains of the beautiful quartette of Marys and their sorrowful mistress; and we could not help thinking as we looked on them that the very foot which had taken precedence of the proud Catherine de Medeci in the regal ceremonials of courtly France, had passed in far different fashion up and down there.

A rampart of immense thickness and strength surrounds the castle on the north, east, and west sides, in which are embrasures for cannon. On the west side of this rampart is the present entrance to the tower, which opens into the armoury over the dungeons entered from the inner court. At present the arms in it consist only of about twenty very indifferent old swords hanging up and down on the bare walls, the interior of the room being occupied with a very goodly quantity of hospital clothing and requisites—and some of the rooms are filled with the general stores of the castle.

Leading out of these apartments, and on the same floor, are two cells which have been used formerly as places of confinement. One of them has the reputation of having been the prison of that eccentric Jacobite, Fergus Mc.Ivor, the hero of Waverley, and who, as the initiated know, was meant to represent the real, and we hope not less heroic, Major McDonald of Kippoch. In this cell the loop hole looks out upon the pleasant Scotch country and on its base are two deep indentions of fingers, one of three, and the other of four, in what appears to be the solid stone. These