Kings of Carrick

i 4 THE KINGS OF CARRICK.
the castle into a quiet country mansion, which looks out in
front over a placid smiling rustic park to the uplands which
dominate it above, and which culminate in the fairy-dancing
heights of Cassillis Downans, and on the other three sides
over fertile fields and plains and undulating woodland, which
suggest not a hint of the stormy times, which, when the power
of the Kennedys culminated in the virtual Kingship of
Carrick, wrought deep their impress even on the natural
surroundings of the venerable pile. The Doon meanders
quietly past, opening up in its sinuous course a series of
charming prospects, and lilting the same melodious cadence
which of old charmed to slumber lords and ladies and
retainers bold and grim.
Within, the castle is rude in style and appointments, to
modern ideas. The steep stone stairs lead up to turrets and
recesses, to fairly spacious chambers and lofty passages, to
secret places and points of vantage ; and down to dungeons
dark and damp, whose unresponsive walls have often heard
the yells of the frantic captives, and the last faint moans of
the dying. Every chamber, every room, is redolent of history
and tradition ; there are niches built up in the walls which
are said by the believing to contain the bones of the skeletons
of unfortunates who, centuries ago, came within the vindic-
tive scope of the old Earls ; and a lofty pillar, around which
the main staircase winds, is said to contain a narrow flight of
steps leading down to the very foundations, and finding its
exit in close proximity to the river.
A thousand eventful scenes have been enacted within
these walls. Imagination calls up the long silent revel and
shout and song of the armed retainers ; it hears afresh the war
cries of the defenders as they rushed to meet the enemy in
the gate ; it fills the lofty halls with gay companies dancing
the quaint old Scottish dances with courtly dignity, and in
garb more aesthetic and picturesque than modern fashion can
boast ; it surrounds Cassillis with forest and plain, where the