Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/28

FOURTH PERIOD ORIGIN With these facts before us, it surely cannot be denied that the angle turret as used in Scotland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, wherever the idea may have been derived from, is essentially a feature of native growth and development. ' It is remarkable that those who have so persistently maintained that Scottish Architecture is so entirely French should have given so few examples of the French buildings with which they would compare the Scottish ones. The only instance we have met with of any specific French building being adduced as a proof that Scottish Architecture was borrowed from France occurs in The Life of Lord Chancellor Set-on. Fyvie Castle was built, or at least remodelled, by the Chancellor, and the author, in speaking of it, expresses the opinion that it was designed by French artists. He calls attention to " the Chateau de Montsabert erected during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, which bears a very striking resemblance to Fyvie," and the reader is referred to the view of Montsabert in Victor Petit's Chateaux de la Loire. On com- paring that view with Fyvie we could not detect the similarity of design. However, in order to make quite sure of this solitary example of alleged resemblance between the French and Scottish chateaux we determined to visit it and judge for ourselves. We now refer the reader to the two views of Montsabert (Figs. 40 and 41, vol. i.) FIG. 487. King Rene's House, Angers Castle. from which he may judge whether there is any foundation for this sup- posed resemblance. As we have already mentioned, there is a general similarity amongst all the buildings of Europe of this class about the time we are treating of. They have all turrets and steep roofs, and in