Perthshire in bygone days

SIR WILLIAM STIRLING-MAXWELL. 71
entrances from the great northern turnpike have long been
the admiration of the passing stranger. The demesne, pro-
tected by apparently interminable stone walls, flanks the
west side of the road ; and on the east the finely wooded
park of Mr. Stirling, of Kippendavie, with its dashing
Allan "Water, carries the picturesque scene over a wide
space of country. The home park of Keir is laid out with
much taste and lavish expense ; and, although the mansion
is externally somewhat plain, it has from time to thne been
internally improved and elaborated to such an extent that
the visitor is dazzled on first entering it. Galleries, halls,
rooms, lobbies, corridors, and stair-cases, from basement to
garret, are filled to excess with pictures, statuettes, book
cabinets, and rich marquetry furniture of every possible
description. No chair or table, no beam or lintel, but is
covered with mottoes and wise sayings carved in high relief,
the entire suite of gorgeous apartments being exquisitely
furnished in Spanish cedar and satinwood. Twelve months
would not afford the virtuoso sufficient leisure to examine
this extraordinary collection of art treasures. Murillo,
Velasquez, Salvator, and Eibera adorn one angle ; Rey-
nolds, Lawrence, Raeburn and Etty another ; while Graham
Gilbert, Macnee and Herdman fill appropriate places.
The collection of old engravings is extensive and interest-
ing. In the lower corridor is hung a group of portraits of
Prince Charles Stuart, some of them of great rarity, the
well-known one by Jean Georgius Wille being there in the
proof state. Immediately under this group is an exquisite
portrait of the young Duchess of Albany, the daughter
borne to Prince Charles by Clementina Walkinshaw. This
collection, together with some apparently trivial circum-
stances has tended to illustrate more forcibly to my mind the
character of Sir William Stirling-Maxwell than a thousand
combinations of external life. Engraved art had in itself
many charms for him ; but, on examining his collection, it
will be found that personal feeling joined issue with pro-
found skill in the selection of every item. Wherever there
was found a touching story or an ill-starred life in union
with high art, a place was ready for it on the walls of Keir.
Charles the First, Prince Charlie, Clementina Walkinshaw,
the beautiful Elizabeth Gunning, mother of four Scottish
dukes, Mary Stuart, Flora Macdonald, Charlotte Corday,
Eobert Burns, and Robert Nicoll are all enshrined in these
consecrated apartments.