The disconcerted schemes of the Laird of Castle Treddles had resembled fruit that becomes decayed without ever having ripened.

Some windows broken, others patched, others blocked up with deals, gave a disconsolate air to all around, and seemed to say, "There Vanity had purposed to fix her seat, but was anticipated by Poverty." To the inside, after many a vain summons, I was at length admitted by an old labourer.

The house contained every contrivance for luxury and accommodation.

The kitchens were a model; and there were hot closets on the office staircase, that the dishes might not cool, as our Scottish phrase goes, between the kitchen and the hall.

But instead of the genial smell of good cheer, these temples of Comus emitted the damp odour of sepulchral vaults, and the large cabinets of cast-iron looked like the cages of some feudal Bastille.