The Sun.
London, England, 1823-08-16 00:00:00

SCOTTISH ANTIQUITIES.

Saturday the 28th June, as a party of Gentle.
rues from Ayr and its vicinity were pleasuring upon Loch-
doon, after enjoying themselves for some time in fishing, and
contemplating the delig'.tful romantic scenery that surrounded
them, they agreed to row a little farther tip the Lake, and eta-
, mine the old Castle, which atands upon an island near its south-
ernmOst extremity. In approaching the old building, the conver-
sation naturally turned upon the history and events which had
caused the demolishing ofso stately an edifice, when the boatmen
informed the gentlemen. it was currently reported that the
outer-gate of the Castle wall had been thrown into the
Lake, near the place where their boat then floated. At this
time the weather was calm, the sky serene, and the water so
clear and smooth, that they saw the bottom of the Lake dis-
tinctly, and immediately determined to commence a search for
the old gate. They were, however, disappointed in finding it,
but they succeeded in discovering several boats or canoes, of a
very rude and uncommon constructure, lying slutlged up with
mud at the bottom of the Lake. Information of this was
communicated to the Earl of Cassilis, the proprietor, when
his Lordship desired that they should he immediately taken
up, if possible, and deposited in the Castle. Three of them
have since, by great exertion, been raised, and placed in the
Castle, to which they form a most appropriate accompaniment;
and when viewed in connexion with it, furnish one of the
grandest specimens of rude antiquity.--me canoes are all
tormed by being cut out of solid oak trees, and when found
contained charcoal, mud, and hazle.nuts, with the husks entire
on them. 'The sidesof one of them were quite greasy and white
with that animal substance which the French cherqjsts denomi.
nate adeposize. The first taken out measured 22 feet in length,'
-three feet ten inches' in breadth, two feet one inch Inside depth ;
the second 16i fi et. in length; three feet three inches in
breadth, and two feet three inches in depth ; the third was
21 feet in length, three feet three inches in breadth, and two feet
two inches in depth. Of the ancient history of this Castle,
nothing is known with certainty; hut from what has at pre.
sent been found, and is still to be seen in the neighbour.
hood, we can form some estimation of its extraordinary
' antiquity, since we may be fairly allowed to conjecture,
these canoes existed at that early period when the neigh-
bouring mountains were clad with shrubbery, and the
values with huge oak trees. These have long since ceased
to exist in a growing state, and the hills have now become
sterile, and quite divested of shrubbery, as if souse great con-
vulsion in nature had taken place, and the trees which seem to
have been companions in growth with those from which the
canoes were formed, have now lain buried in moss for ages
past. From the situation of the Castle, and traditional ac.
counts, it must have been a place of great strength, and se-
veral specimens of ancient armoury have been found on the
island. Little more, however, of its real history is known
with certainty, than that it was demolished by one of the Kings
of Scotland, along with the other feudal Castles of the
west ; and without making any calculation of the probable age
of these canoes, but considering them to have lain since then,
they are still in a remarkable state of preservation, so much so,
that one of them, after her long repose, and being emptied of
the mud, was again lam:lied into the deep, when a young man
in the same spun, and in the same barge of the heroes of anti.
quity, made an excursion on the lake, and again reached the
shore- in perfect safety, amid the loud and incessant cheering of
his companions.

CAttstoTs—We stated on Thursday, the death
of the celebrated CARNOT. Throughout a long
life spent during a most convulsed period, he
undeviatingly maintained the same principles with
which he began ; and his virtues were unbend-
ing Roman ones of Rome's best days. lie open-
ly left Napoleon when ho found him treading
on liberty, and voluntarily returned to defend
his country in her day of need, Carnot was
brought up in the. French Corps of Eogineers.
—He has written several works, both political
and military. Two of our principal Reviews have
lately contained well written articles controvert•
iug the opinions ad►anced by hint on military af-
fairs. His chief opponent is Major-Gen. Sir
Douglas, who bus written u book expressly to
counteract a new theory of Curnot's for firing
ounce balls in °weir, that shall descend in showers
on besiegers anti destroy or disable them in prodi-
gious numbers. Sir Howard seems to have sue- I
ceded in dispelling the terror which Carnot's
calculations, in this particular case, had inspired ;
by his scientific and highly interesting theory of
what mathematicians call " terminal velocity," he
demonstrates, that without this providential low
of nature we should he all killed by hailstones, and
his reasoning appears to carry conviction with it.
But here he should have stopped in his critique on
Carnot. The work he undertakes to refute, be-
sides the new doctrine, ou the use of the 12oz.
balls, went to demonstrate that war could never
be reduced to rules like geometry ; that the pre-
tended systems of Engineers, who would tell to a
day when a fortress should fall, was
,juggling; that
there were no rules for measuring that which mili-
tary talent combined with courage will perform ;
and whilst we admit that we have been both inte-
rested and instructed by the doctrine of " termi-
nal velocity," we cannot help saying that the rest
has not convinced us. Coblentz and several other
fortresses on the Rhine are now fortifying after
the New System proposed by Carnot; and
the Reviewers inform us that extensive experi-
ments relating to it, are now making at Wool-
wick by our. Awn Government.---(Morning (Aro-
tank.)

FaxNeu Tnevralci.Ls.—They who desire to
witness an original and striking portrait of the
frivolities of a city more populous and more ex-
tensive than Paris, and who wish to observe the
progress of comedy in England, must go to Ver-
sailles to see The Schaal fur Scandal) translated
almost literally, by M. de CUATEANEUF. L'Ecole
de la Medisanee might perhaps be almost consi-
deredas one of our chefs d'ruvre, were it not for
whreach of the unity of place once or twice in
each act. Juding from the imitation that Cult:-
110 N has given of it at the Theatre Francais,
SHULMAN'S comedy excites interest from the
spirit of intrigue that runs through it, and from
the force with which the characters are drawn.
It abounds in humour—a word which, among
the English, is equivalent to the cis comics of the
Latins, but to form a proper judgment, it would,
perhaps be desirable that it should be represent-
ed a few days after tit one of the Metropolitan
Theatres.—(journal des Daals.)
Mr. WALLACH does not return to America, but
has concluded an engagement at Drury-iene
Theatre, where he wilt not only resume his for-
mer station as an Actor, but assist in the stage
arrangements, for which duty his taste and ex-
perience fully qualify htm.
THE K INO'R PLATL—The Duke of ,DortsT,
in reply to an application by Lord SoatEna to Obtain a King's
'
Plate for the Hereford races, says in his letter, thattheta
are 20 „places only which have Ring's Plates, the money for
providing which is paid to his Majesty from public money by
the Treasury : in case*, as has happened, though very rarely,
of any place so favoured giving up their races, his Majesty has
conferred the vacant plate on some other place, but otherwise
The King cannot do so, except by paying tie requisite sum out
of his privy purse, which i very unusual, t. ever done, and
obviously would constitute a personal burden on his Majesty."
The Naval Officers residing at Falmouth have
established there a branch of the Royal Naval
,Annuitant Society.