Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/591

 SUMMARY 575 SECOND AND THIRD PERIOD which we have met with several examples, which show that their victuals were cooked separately, and that they had now no part in their master's table. But even at this advanced stage the construction of the mansion proves that the feeling of suspicion and distrust of one another long lingered in the breasts of the Scottish nobles and lairds. In every house, however peaceful its other arrangements may appear, provision is made for the careful surveillance of all comers, and for armed resistance to attack. The shot-holes and spy-holes seen in the walls of every house, even till well on in the seventeenth century, are a true reflex of the turbulent and suspicious spirit of the time. Even during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Scotland can scarcely be said to have had much experience of the benefits of peace, but the wars of the time of Cromwell were no longer the petty fights arising from the jealousies of neighbouring nobles and lairds. These, as well as the Rebellions of the eighteenth century, were national contests, and probably tended, by uniting the arms of all against a common foe, to obliterate old feuds and knit the nation together with a common purpose. The power and influence of the Crown, too, now made itself more strongly felt, and held unruly spirits in check. Greater security was gradually introduced, and more peaceful dispositions were adopted in the mansions. Defensive features were dropped by degrees, until the modern mansion, at length entirely free from all signs of suspicion or offence, was brought into accord with the confidence and freedom of modern life. DOORWAY OF PLOUGHLANDS HOUSE, SOUTH QUEENS* EURY.