Here is a castellated palace, or princely castle, associated with many
great and daring events in the roll of Scottish history. It stands in
the valley of Strathmore, in a park of 160 acres, a little to the north
of Glammis, a village of Angus, N.B. The original foundation is of high
antiquity; for Malcolm II. was assassinated here in the year 1034, and
the chamber in which he expired is still shown. Two obelisks, one near
the Manse, and the other in a neighbouring field, denote the places
where he was attacked. In this castle also, according to some
historians, Macbeth murdered Duncan. We notice, however, that Sir Walter
Scott, in his recently-published version of the story of Macbeth, states
the murder to have been committed at "a great castle near Inverness," in
which he is corroborated by Bæthius, who says, the castle stood upon an
eminence south-east of Inverness. But Fordun says the murder was
perpetrated near Elgin; and others say at Cawdor Castle.
The Castle originally consisted of two rectangular towers, longer than
broad, with walls of fifteen feet in thickness; they were connected by a
square projection, and together formed a figure somewhat like the letter
Z, saving that in the castle all the angles were right ones; this form
gave mutual defence to every part of the building. It contains a spiral
staircase of 143 steps, reaching from the bottom to the top of the
building.
Glammis Castle is still the seat of the Strathmore family. It was given
by Robert I. of Scotland, in the year 1376, with his daughter, to John
Lyon, Lord Glammis, chancellor of Scotland. Great alterations and
additions were made to the building by Patrick, Earl of Strathmore, his
lineal heir and successor: these improvements, according to the above
cited plan, a date carved on a stone on the outside of the building, and
other authorities, were made in the year 1606, and not in 1686, as is
said in an old print engraved about that time, and from which our view
is copied. The architect employed on this occasion, as tradition
reports, was Inigo Jones; indeed, the work seems greatly to resemble
Heriot's Hall at Edinburgh, and other buildings designed by him. The
great hall was finished in the year 1621; it is a handsome room with a
carved ceiling, adorned with heads and ornaments in stucco. Among the
apartments shown to visitors, are a wardrobe containing a curious
collection of old state dresses; the armoury, in which are preserved the
sword and coat of mail of Macbeth, as well as some articles supposed to
have been carried off by Malcolm's murderers, and found in the Loch of
Forfar, during the last century; and the chapel built about 1500, the
furniture of which remains in its original state. Here also are about
one hundred portraits; among which is a large picture, in a carved
frame, representing Earl Patrick and his three sons; in the background
is a view of the castle, as it was in the year 1683. At that time there
were three gates leading from the park. Some idea may be formed of the
extent of this establishment from the circumstance of eighty beds being
made up within the house, for the Pretender and his retinue, during
their sojourn here, besides those for the inferior servants, in the
offices out of doors. The forfeiture of the estate was prevented by the
earl's brother being killed at the head of his regiment on Shiremore.
In the courtyard is shown a stone, on which is engraved a cross and
divers figures, said to allude to the murder of Malcolm, and the death
of the murderers, who attempting to cross the Lake of Forfar, then
slightly frozen over, the ice broke, and they were drowned: this stone
is described and engraved by Mr. Pennant, in his Tour through Scotland.
By way of enlivening these historical data, and as an epigrammatic
conclusion to our description, we subjoin a pleasant little anecdote
related by Sir Walter Scott, of a certain old Earl of Strathmore, who,
in superintending some improvements of the castle, displayed an
eccentric love of uniformity. "The earl and his gardener directed all in
the garden and pleasure-grounds upon the ancient principle of exact
correspondence between the different parts, so that each alley had its
brother--a principle now renounced by gardeners. It chanced once upon a
time that a fellow was caught committing some petty theft, and, being
taken in the manner, was sentenced by the Bailie M'Wheeble of the
jurisdiction to stand for a certain time in the baronial pillory, called
the _jougs_, being a collar and chain attached to the uppermost portal
of the great avenue which led to the castle. The thief was turned over
accordingly to the gardener as the ground officer, to see the punishment
duly inflicted. When the Thane of Glammis returned from his morning
ride, he was surprised to find both sides of the gateway accommodated
each with a prisoner. He asked the gardener, whom he found watching the
place of punishment, as his duty required, whether another delinquent
had been detected? 'No, my lord,' said the gardener, in the tone of a
man excellently well satisfied with himself, 'but I thought the single
fellow looked very awkward standing on one side of the gateway, so I
gave half-a-crown to one of the labourers to stand on the other side
_for uniformity's sake_.'"
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