become a ward of the crown. According to the graceful narrative of Mr Tytler-"The noble baron, if we may believe an old historian, cannot be accused of having visited Turnberry with any design of throwing himself in the way of the heiress of Carrick; and indeed any such idea in those days of jealous wardship would have been highly dangerous. It happened, however, that the lady herself, whose ardent temper was not much in love with the seclusion of a feudal castle, had come out to take the diversion of the chase, accompanied by her women, huntsmen, and falconers; and this gay cavalcade came suddenly upon Bruce as he pursued his way through the forest, alone and unarmed. The knight would have spurred his horse forward, and avoided the encounter, but he found himself surrounded by the attendants: and the countess herself, riding up, and with gentle violence taking hold of his horse's reins, reproached him in so sweet a tone for his want of gallantry in flying from a lady's castle, that Bruce, enamoured of her beauty, forgot the risk which he ran, and suffered himself to be led away in a kind of triumph to Turnberry. The hero remained for fifteen days, and the adventure concluded, as might have been anticipated, by his privately espousing the youthful countess, without having obtained the concurrence of the king or of any of her relations. Alexander III., however, although at first indignant at this bold interference with the rights of the crown, was a benevolent prince, and on payment of a large feudal fine extended his forgiveness to Bruce.”*

The knight consequently became Earl of Carrick, and proprietor of large domains in the district. The eldest son of the marriage was Robert Bruce, subsequently Earl of Carrick, and ultimately King of Scotland. The second was Edward Bruce, Lord of Galloway, crowned King of Ireland in 1316. Three other sons and seven daughters sprung from this romantic union.

The latter Robert Bruce, who, if not born in Turnberry Castle, must have spent many of his youthful years in it,-when unsuccessful in his first attempts at establishing himself on the Scottish throne, and forced to take refuge in the isles, here, early in 1307, renewed his gallant efforts, under circumstances which have conferred much interest on this ancient ruin. From the island of Arran, on the opposite side of the Firth of Clyde, where he was stationed, with a few hundred followers, he dispatched a trusty servant, named Cuthbert, to Carrick, to inquire into the state of the country, and ascertain the likelihood of success, and with instructions to light a fire on a point near Turnberry, as a signal for Bruce and his little army to come over, in the event of his finding that step to be advisable. Cuthbert found the country in a most unpromising state, the castle of Turnberry being in possession of a large English garrison, and the people afraid to make any movement; and he was preparing to return to Arran, when a fire accidentally lighted near the appointed spot caused the king to take shipping, and cross the sea to Carrick. Cuthbert, who had observed the fire and anticipated the result, met his royal master on the shore, to warn him to return; but Bruce, notwithstanding all discouragements, determined to proceed with the enterprise. It was night when he landed, and

Lives of Scottish Worthies, I. 292.

before morning he made an attack upon the hamlet adjacent to the castle, where about two hundred English, taken by surprise, were put to the sword almost without resistance. He did not venture to attack the castle; but neither did its commander, Lord Percy, deem it prudent to sally out upon the invading party. Bruce therefore was able to draw his rents from his lands, and both to increase his army by fresh levies, and to improve its condition, until the approach of a large English host for the succour of Percy, obliged him to withdraw to the mountains. Good fortune did not immediately bless his exertions for the liberation of Scotland, and the establishment of his throne; but after this time he never left the country, or ceased to war with the English, until both these objects were secured.

Turnberry is not clearly shown, by any authentic documents, to have been further connected with the history of Bruce; but there can be no doubt that it continued to be his own peculiar property, and, excepting perhaps some intervals, that of his descendants, until the latter part of the fifteenth century. The figure which his Carrick tenantry made at the battle of Bannockburn is well known. It is here of importance to observe that Turnberry is recognised in those early times by the alternative appellation of the palace of Carrick, and is the place referred to in public documents of more recent date under that name. "Carrick" (meaning Turnberry) is still enumerated amongst the royal palaces of Scotland, the Duke of Argyle having the honorary office of its heritable keeper. It is now the property of the Marquis of Ailsa.

DUNURE, situated a few miles to the north of Turnberry, and not far from the efflux of the Doon, appears to have been the first mansion of any consequence possessed by the family of Kennedy, whose early generations, down to their attaining the honours of the peerage about 1452, were all styled "of Dunure." It now appears as a tall empty tower, occupying one of the pinnacles of a ruggedly rocky and unpeopled coast, and a striking monument of the days when men of power were glad to pitch their residence in any situation, however desolate, which might promise more than the usual advantage over, or refuge from, the fellow-creatures with whom they lived in a state of perpetual warfare. We attach the more romantic ideas to this

when we recollect the half-savage circumstances in which the Kennedies lived down to a period when the rest of southern Scotland was comparatively civilised. This castle was indeed, in 1570, the scene of a transaction more strikingly characteristic of the mediaval history of Carrick and its barbarous barons than almost any other that could be selected. Gilbert, fourth Earl of Cassillis, according to an old family chronicler, “was ane particular manne, and ane verrey greidy manne, and cairitt nocht how he gatt land, sa that he culd cum be the samin." This precious worthy, having a mind to obtain feus of the abbey lands of Glenluce, caused a monk to counterfeit the hand-writing of the recently