Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-10-11
CLAIMS Castelar, Entertainment there te
the Swans.

CLAIMS Cast1e-An Entefta innent there to
the Savans
A very clever correspondent of the New
York Tribune, in the course of one of MS
letters relating to the recent convention of
the British Swans at Dundee, gives the
following very interesting sketch of an ex-
cursion by several of them to CLAIMS Cas-
tie, and their hospitable entertainment
there. It was in this castle, according to
Shakespeare, that the "virtuous Duncan"
was foully "taken off" by Macbeth,
s. Thane of Glamis.'' The host that now
does hospitality there is one of far gentler
dispositions.
The writer, abiding to the time toward
the close of the deliberations of the wise
men-when the people Of the locality be-
gin to do them with dinners and junket
ings-a very happy conclusion to scientific
| discussions-says that the Excursion sea-
son having fallen due"
con Saturday there were several. The
most numerous was to the University of
st. Andrews, with its famous ruins and ad-
jacent geological wonders. There, too, is
the castle where Cardinal Beaton was MUIR
dered and Wishart was martyred. [ chose
CLAIMS Castle because of it's Shakspearean
associations. The region of Glamis is
weird-like, through which the railway en-
gines (which smoke here as in no other
part of the world tear like fire tiends.--
Two stone men stand grlmiy on either side
the castle gate. TheseWere sculptured be-
fore fig leaves were known to art. A wild
walk brings you upon an open glade,
where, in perfect preservation, the stately
Castle of Glamis stands. CLAIMS is a pref
ty name. There are names that smell of
faggots in this district. Take "Burnturk, :"
for instance. Some unhappy Moslem tast-
70, II P,1{
Glamis is, in document [ saw in the cas-
tie, spelled " Glammis," the noble owner
Of the castle pronounces the name ''Glams,"
which has touch of tetanus in the sounds
The interior of the castle is ancient, going
back to the-Norman and later styles of ar
chjtecture. The exterior, of the date Of
1921, is mostly Of the French castellated
style: massive round towers, clusters of cir
cular pinnacles and turrets, which gave it
an air of gaiety and strength. Shakespeare
exactly describes it, even to its very atmos-
phere, when he says
"This castle hath pleasant seat; the air
| Nimbly and sWeety recommends itself
Unto our gentle Senses.
There stands at @ distance in front two
plain, austere-looking towers, which were
formerly part Of an exterior fortifcation,
encircling the castle, and must have been
in the eye of the dramatist when he wrote
the injunction
& Hang out the banners upon the outward wall "
There was q thanedom OF Glamis and
Tannadice granted by King Robert IL in
1871, and Glamis was a royal manor a cen
fury earlier. Duncan was not murdered
here, as the play says, but he might have
been. Malcolm IL, an earlier king, was.
The low, long and arched rooms on the
of ub1 oh hn IN
entering the castle, is exactly the banquet
ling chamber set upon the stage, and close
by is the chamber where the murder OF
Malcolm is said to have occurred in 1884,
and IN which there is every convenience
for throwing the body out of the window
a favorite Scotch method of disposing OF
friends who had answered their purpose in
those times Adjacent are two large, rude
halls, of ancient date, the ceiling being de-
corated in 1921 after the manner then in
troduced. Otherwise the chambers have
the ineffable charm of rude antiquity
Their very baroness is a blessing. The
grim actually of by-gone times is over the
anterior. So powerful are tho influences
of poetry and imagination that one could
not help feeling that the actual scene in
Macbeth was there present. There was
the half dark, half glazing lamp-it cham
Der, where the banquet was held when
Banquo strobe across. You could hear
Duncan struggling in the chamber near,
and believed you stood on the very steps
up which the tottering murderer stumbled.
The chamber door opened again, as it did
when the steel-nerved lady came out to re-
lvive her terror and conscious-stricken hus.
band. You glanced through the dim win
dows and saw the guards fitting among
the trees, and the knell was dying away
up the dark glade, which night left blank
among the trees There is real tragedy