[Illustration]
The mansion on which I venture to confer this title is an old one of
imposing appearance, a little below Moray House. It is conspicuous
by three gables presented to the street, and by the unusual space of
linear ground which it occupies. Originally, it has had no door to
the street. A _porte-cochère_ gives admittance to a close behind,
from which every part of the house had been admissible, and when this
gateway was closed the inhabitants would be in a tolerably defensible
position. In this feature the house gives a striking idea of the
insecurity which marked the domestic life of three hundred years ago.
[Illustration: BAKEHOUSE CLOSE.
Back of ‘Speaking House.’