, fishing in the well-stocked pools below? And did he not
find her society more engrossing than any (whole or half) scaly
inhabitant of the mermaid's pool? The Morays of Abercairny estate (the
fair lady's marriage portion) and many another territorial family claim
descent from the union of these happy lovers. The rough hospitality,
and swift, if not always impartial, administration of feudal justice
are themes inviting to historic imagination; nor is the religious
element wanting, for the Earls of Strathearn, besides founding
Inchaffray Abbey, endowed the Bishopric of Dunblane with one-third of
their domains. A sad and shameful story links the castle with the good
King Robert the Bruce, and probably brought about its destruction.
Joanna, only child of the seventh Earl, was Countess in her own right,
and married to John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, and English Governor of
Scotland. The husband and wife had different minds and purposes. The
lady was found guilty of conspiracy, with Lord Soulis of Hermitage
Castle and others, against the life of the good King Robert. She
confessed her offence, and was condemned to perpetual imprisonment
within her own castle. Constant tradition affirms that it was set on
fire and burnt to the ground, whether as the result of accident or a
successful siege. One story tells how the Earl tried to save his wife,
but failed from the irresistible power of the flames. The castle
became a ruin, and was never re-built. Actual observation, after more
than 500 years, has confirmed the truth, in this case stranger than
fiction. Sir David Baird, the hero of the Nile, Cape of Good Hope,
Corunna, and Seringapatam (remembered by the oldest folk for hunting
with hawks, attended by a native Indian), having died at Ferntower in
1832, was first buried in Monzievaird Churchyard, and old people still
recall the extraordinary storm of thunder and rain which signalised his
funeral day. His widow prepared the massive monumental obelisk of
granite, said to be exactly similar to Cleopatra's Needle, since struck
by lightning in 1878, and badly rent, but now restored. It required
foundations broad and deep. Most of the stones of the old castle had
gone to form dykes in the neighbourhood. The workmen, thinking they
had to deal with solid rock, proceeded to blast it, when to their
amazement the charge of gunpowder, instead of only throwing stones and
debris into the air, operated downward and revealed a du