Page:Tournament at Eglinton Castle.pdf/8

8 from the Castle into the centre of the lobby, after the lobby itself and the two halls had been lighted for trial, the scene was so brilliant as to baffle our humble prose, and we must borrow a little from Milton.

We may here state, that the Earl of Eglinton had given permission to three different persons to erect booths for supplying refreshments. Mr Murray of Irvine had a booth that would accommodate 500. Mr Blair of Kilwinning one that would accommodate 400; and Mr Con of the same town, one that would accommodate 250—two of them having scaffolding to hold between them a few hundreds. The latter was on a rising ground, which afforded a fine view. It was rather too far from the tilting ground, and a few trees intervened, but the sight of the general scene was exceedingly rich. Wherever the eyoeye [sic] turned,

By twelve o'elockclock [sic], the side galleries presented a most splendid array of beautiful females and manly forms: almost all of these were attired in fancy costume—some Spanish, some olden FrenehFrench [sic], some a nondescript a la militaire—but the great majority were in the habiliments of the Highland clans. Shortly thereafter the nobility and gentry began to assemble in the Grand Stand, and a little after one o'elockclock [sic] it was completely filled, though not over-crowded. The appearance of this array of beauty and fashion, was brilliant in the extreme—eomprisingcomprising [sic], as it did, no insignificant portion of England's beauty and chivalry. Although the native grace of the majority of the Ladies might justify us in saying—"When unadorned adorned the most," yet all the powers of art were called into requisition to heighten charms which noededneeded [sic] no such auxiliary; and yet their ornaments, costly and splendid as they were, were so chastely