Lochbuy Has, Like The Other Insular Chieftains, Quitted The Castle
That Sheltered His Ancestors, And Lives Near It, In A Mansion Not
Very Spacious Or Splendid.
I have seen no houses in the Islands
much to be envied for convenience or magnificence, yet they bare
testimony to the progress of arts and civility, as they shew that
rapine and surprise are no longer dreaded, and are much more
commodious than the ancient fortresses.
The castles of the Hebrides, many of which are standing, and many
ruined, were always built upon points of land, on the margin of the
sea. For the choice of this situation there must have been some
general reason, which the change of manners has left in obscurity.
They were of no use in the days of piracy, as defences of the
coast; for it was equally accessible in other places. Had they
been sea-marks or light-houses, they would have been of more use to
the invader than the natives, who could want no such directions of
their own waters: for a watch-tower, a cottage on a hill would
have been better, as it would have commanded a wider view.
If they be considered merely as places of retreat, the situation
seems not well chosen; for the Laird of an Island is safest from
foreign enemies in the center; on the coast he might be more
suddenly surprised than in the inland parts; and the invaders, if
their enterprise miscarried, might more easily retreat.
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