f those cases where the poetical suffers for the
practical. I comforted myself in my despondency, by looking over at the
old stone piers underneath, which were indisputably the same. We drove
now through beautiful grounds, and alighted at an elegant mansion, which
in former days belonged to Lockhart, the son-in-law of Scott. It was in
this house that Old Mortality was written.

As I was weary, the party left me here, while they went on to see the
Duke of Hamilton's grounds. Our kind hostess showed me into a small
study, where she said Old Mortality was written. The window commanded a
beautiful view of many of the localities described. Scott was as
particular to consult for accuracy in his local descriptions as if he
had been writing a guide book.

He was in the habit of noting down in his memorandum book even names and
characteristics of the wild flowers and grasses that grew about a place.
When a friend once remarked to him, that he should have supposed his
imagination could have supplied such trifles, he made an answer that is
worth remembering by every artist--that no imagination could long
support its freshness, that was not nourished by a constant and minute
observation of nature.

Craignethan Castle, which is the original of Tillietudlem, we were
informed, was not far from thence. It is stated in Lockhart's Life of
Scott, that the ruins of this castle excited in Scott such delight and
enthusiasm, that its owner urged him to accept for his lifetime the use
of a small habitable house, enclosed within the circuit of the walls.

After the return of the party from Hamilton Park, we sat down to an
elegant lunch, where my eye was attracted more than any thing else, by
the splendor of the hothouse flowers which adorned the table. So far as
I have observed, the culture of flowers, both in England and Scotland,
is more universally an object of attention than with us. Every family in
easy circumstances seems, as a matter of course, to have their
greenhouse, and the flowers are brought to a degree of perfection which
I have never seen at home.

I may as well say here, that we were told by a gentleman, whose name I
do not now remember, that this whole district had been celebrated for
its orchards; he added, however, that since the introduction of the
American apple into the market, its superior excellence had made many of
these orchards almost entirely worthless. It is a curious fact, showing
how the new world is working