Summer at the Lake of Monteith

Inchmahome.
repose the dust of earls and chiefs of clans, and men who,
in days long gone by, had measured lances on the hill-
side, when clan met clan in deadly feud. We enter the
" lonely biggin'," and, as the massive gate reels back on
its hinges, ravens croak and owls flap their wings. Hush,
ye tenants of the air! ye disturb the slumbers of the
" mighty dead." We step lightly, for we are treading on
the dust of heroes of other days. It requires no marble
slab on the ruined wall to tell of your ancient glory: the
dark and misty track of five hundred years has failed to
efface it — the memory of the Stewart, the Drummond, and
De Gramme can never perish! Here, below each moss-
covered stone, are men of fame and graves of historic
renown. Before us, in " sculptured stone," arm in arn
with his Countess, rests the hero of Largs; on our left, ar
the graves of the Grahams of Gartur, Phaedal, Rednock,
Leechtown, and Soyock; on our right, the Grahams of
Gartmore, Glenny, Mondhuie; and, close to the north
wall, sleep the founders of the ducal house of Drummond,
the descendants of the Hanoverian King. And here too
(but, dear reader, only whisper it !) rest the ashes of Sir
John Menteith, the betrayer of Wallace; but all trace of
his grave has been lost — in fact, wilfully forgotten.
A few yards south of the Priory stands the burying
vault of the last Earls of Menteith and Airth. This has
been a two-storey building, with arched vaults, the latter
being seated round with hewn stone. There are two very
entire windows in this building, the one of three arches,
the other of two. The entrance to the vault was by a grand
arched hall, one hundred feet long, and led. in from the