Lochleven Castle is a ruin on an island in the loch, chiefly interesting as having been the prison of Queen Mary. We examined the walls of the room in which she is said to have been confined, and found some curious details characteristic of the rude contrivances of the age, even where royalty was concerned. The water of the lake has been lowered several feet by draining, so that the wall containing the window from which Queen Mary is said to have dropped into the boat is now several yards from the water's edge. The island on which the castle stands is deprived of much of its interest by having been trenched and planted with trees, for the purpose, as our guide informed us, of protecting game for the proprietor, at present a minor. When these trees are grown up, the remains of the castle will be completely obscured by them; but the proprietor, when he comes of age, will, we trust, have sufficient taste to restore the island to the state it was in a few years ago.
