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Kay's Originals Vol. 2

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 129 neither commodious nor elegant. He therefore had it immediately pulled down, and a splendid new castellated edifice erected in its stead Of the buildings and lands we are tempted to quote the following description, written a few years after the completion of the structure :- “ It is one of the finest and most magnificent buildings in the west of Scotland ; nor is the noble appearance without disgraced by the finishing and furniture within-everything there is elegant and princely. Its site is indeed low, and still more concealed by being embosomed among fine old elms. It stands upon an extensive lawn, which is converted into the most beautiful pleasure-grounds. Nature here has put on none of her bold and majestic features ; but art has done much. Neither the towering rock, nor extended lake, nor navigable river, adds to its magnificence ; only a small river runs past it on the east and north, which is rendered much broader than it naturally is by being dammed back. On the banks of this stream the most delightful walks are formed. As you walk along, at one time a thicket of shrubbery conceals the water from your view, and at another it unexpectedly bursts upon your sight, and raises the pleasurable feelings, no less by surprise than by the beauty it displays ; small, however, as the river is, it adds much to the beauty of the scenery ; and the vast number of trout, which on a fine evening are seen sporting on its surface, tend much to increase those tranquil but pleasing emotions, which the song of the grove and the smiling landscape never fail to excite in the mind which has a taste for the beauties of nature, and a heart fitted for relishing the enjoyment of innocent pleasures. To these the humane and benevolent mind receives a vast accession, on seeing around it the timorous hare sporting unmolested in numbers. This persecuted creature finds here a safe asylum throughout this extensive policy, which contains nearly fourteen hundred acres ; not one of them is allowed to be molested or killed. On the dusk of a summer evening they reward his lordship’s protection with their confidence, by often playing their innocent gambols before him, round one of the largest and most beautiful chestnut trees I ever saw, which stands on the green exactly opposite to the house.” The Earl was an excellent farmer, and continued to improve on the plans of his predecessors, by draining and cultivating the waste lands, and otherwise increasing the value of his estates. Among other instances of his lordship’s anxiety to create sources of local attraction niay be mentioned the institution of “ Bogside Eaces,” which, during his lifetime, from being well attended by gentlemen of the turf, were a vast benefit to the town of Irvine. His attention, however, was by no means confined to his own immediate locality, the affairs of the county, and indeed all public matters, received a corresponding share of his attention. On the death of the Earl of Errol, in 1798, he was elected one of the representative Peers of Scotland; and was again re-chosen at the general election in 1802. The most extensive of all the Earl of Eglinton’s undertakings was one which, although it proved in some measure ruinous to himself, now bids fair to realise some of those advantages to his descendants, which he of course never could expect to witness himself. We refer to the formation of the harbour of Ardrossan, and the projected canal from thence to Glasgow. The advantages presented by such a proposal appeared so manifest to the Earl, that he entered upon the speculation with the utmost enthusiasm, calculating upon his views being at once seconded by the commercial capitalists of Glasgow and Paisley, if not by some of the proprietors, whose lands would be considerably increased in value by the canal. The primary object of the design was to cut off the circuitous and even dangerous navigation of the Clyde, which, previous to the v VOL. 11. S
Volume 9 Page 172
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