Ayrshire > Volume 2

244 HISTORY OF AYRSHIRE
the halls of Loudoun, men who "had no love for the
martyr of Whitehall ; and when they beheld, looking
down upon them from the wall, the benign countenance
of the King whom they had sent to the death, they
slashed it and disfigured it with their swords. Charles
had given them a lot of trouble, and they had to show
their feelings by having them out upon the canvas.
But, as the painting was not destroyed beyond repair,
may it not have been that one too enthusiastic Round-
head did all the harm himself, and was prevented by
his fellows from finishing his vandal retribution ?
Side by side hang the Earl who was out in the day of
Sheriffmuir, and his wife, the old land-improving lady
of Sorn who so long survived him, whose unimpaired
faculties at an advanced age were " a cheering sight "
to Dr. Johnson. There look down from the dining-room
wall, from an admirable example of Sir Joshua Reynolds,
the fourth Earl, who in his day served King and country
in the American War of Independence ; the first Earl,
who but hardly escaped the scaffold for his Covenanting
principles, and whom a wise policy of conciliation raised
to the Scottish Chancellorship ; and Flora Mure
Campbell, the first Marchioness of Hastings, and the
mother of the unfortunate Lady Flora. How clearly
her pride of birth and of association is revealed in the
communication that she addressed from Loudoun Castle
to the Queen when her daughter was the victim of
intrigue ! " My husband served his country honourably
and with devoted zeal, and was particularly known to
your royal race ; and my own family, during a long
line, have been distinguished as faithful servants of their
Kings. My grandfather lost his life in the service of
the Sovereign."
Over the fireplace in the drawing-room is a represen-
tation on silk of a regal progress made by the Governor-
General of India, executed with great care and fidelity
by one of his officers. The procession depicted was
ten miles in length, it was attended by all the accessories
to magnificence that Orientalism could have given to