ANCIENT CASTLES AND MANSIONS OF STIRLING,
Ancient Castles and Mansions of Stirling Nobility. Described and Illustrated by J. S. Fleming, F.S.A. (Scot.) (A. Gardner, Paisley. 21s. net.)—The people of Stirling may well be proud of their town and fine old buildings, of which Mr. Fleming has made a book that is interesting to the ordinary reader as well as to the antiquarian. In the chapter on "Castellated and Domestic Architecture" he gives a short and clear account of the three periods into which Scotch architecture may be divided. In the first, lasting to the end of the fifteenth century, men built strong, square towers of four stories, in which they could feel secure from hostile neighbours. In the sixteenth century the tower was still a feature of the building, but with the addition of more convenient living rooms ; and in the third period (1600) fortifications were abandoned, and the builders turned their attention to decorating their walls with emblems and mottoes. . In the chapter on "Wester Liviland's Mansion" (now pulled down) Mr. Fleming gives an account of the "priest's hole," which was elaborately painted and decorated, and "which testifies to the exercise of a prohibited religion within Mr. Murray's [the owner of the place in the time of Charles I.] mansion, notwithstanding his official appointment, Royal pension, and gifts to the parish church in the interests of the new religion." Of the pen-and-ink illustrations we can say that the buildings look solid and erect, which is more than can be said for the drawings of some antiquarians.
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