HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 HOLYROOD 
 
 With Descriptive Guide 
 
 AND 
 
 CATALOGUE OF PORTRAITS & PAINTINGS 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 ROBERT M'BEAN 
 
 JJeEPER op the pHAPEL-j^OYAL 
 
vv///// 
 
 IM;bijS11 I'.D F.Y R.MCBEA'N Kl' !•'. 1 ' l', H OK Till': CIIAIM'.I, r.nVAl. 1 1 ( ) I .Y I JUi 1 1 ). 
 
 IS. 19, 
 
THE 
 
 Palace AND Abbet 
 
 OF 
 
 HOLYROOD. 
 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 Robert M9 Beak. 
 
 KEEPER OF THE CHAPEL ROYAL . 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 H OLYROOD 
 
 WITH 
 
 DESCRIPTIVE GUIDE 
 
 AND 
 
 CATALOGUE OF PORTRAITS AND PAINTINGS 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 ROBERT M^BEAN 
 
 JIeEPER of the pHAPEL-j^OYAL 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chaptzb I. The Foundation and Endowment of the 
 
 Abbey, 8 
 
 II. The Abbots of Holyrood, and Early His- 
 tory of the Abbey, .... 17 
 
 III. Marriage of James IV. with Margaret of 
 
 England, ... . . 25 
 
 IV. James V. at Holyrood, . • . . 33 
 V. Queen Mary at Holyrood, ... 37 
 
 VI. Queen Mary's Progress to and from Holy- 
 rood, &c. ..... ^2 
 
 VII. Marriage of Queen Mary and liord Darnley 
 
 at Holyrood, ..... 52 
 
 VIII. Murder of Riccio in Holyrood, . . 59 
 . IX. Murder of Darnley and Rise of Bothwell, 71 
 X. Mary and Bothwell, .... 77 
 
 XI. Holyrood in the Reign of James VI. . 85 
 XII. Coronation of Charles I. at Holyrood, . 99 
 
 XIII. Holyrood up to the Revolution of 1688, . 108 
 
 XIV. The Fabric of the Palace and its Recent 
 
 History, 121 
 
 XV. The Royal Apartments, . . . .133 
 XVI. Environs of Holyrood — Royal Park— Burgh 
 
 of Canongate, and Sanctuary, . . J37 
 XYIL Guide to the Palace and Cliapel Royal, . 156 
 Note&, , » . . . .18'? 
 
THE 
 
 ABBEY AND PALACE 
 
 OF 
 
 HOLYROOD. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 THE FOUNDATION AND ENDOWMENT OF 
 THE ABBEY. 
 
 HE Abbey of Holyrood was founded by King Dayid 
 I. for the reception of Canons Regular of the order 
 of St. Augustine. Malcolm and Margaret, his royal 
 parents, had set before him an example of liberality toward 
 the church ; but the munificence of their son far transcended 
 that of his predecessors, and was never equalled by any 
 prince that succeeded him on the Scottish throne. The 
 majestic ruins of Melrose, Kelso, Dryburgh, and Holyrood, 
 not to speak of other shattered piles, that hallow with 
 their venerable shadows so many green corners of the 
 land, bear solemn testimony to his pious zeal and bound- 
 less liberality. The Roman Church canonized her bene- 
 
I 
 
 mSTORY OP nOLYROOD. 
 
 factor, and the monastic chroniclers, as might be expected, 
 are enthusiastic in their praises of St. David. The sar- 
 castic witticism, which his successor James L uttered at 
 his grave, that " he was ane soir sanct for the Crown," 
 implied of course a censure on him for ahenating so much 
 of the royal property. But posterity, whose eyes are 
 clear, appreciates the policy of David's line of conduct — 
 perceiving that in Scotland, in those stormy and unlettered 
 times, gifts to the church were to a great extent contri- 
 butions also toward the maintenance of the old learning, 
 the civiKzation of a fierce commonalty, the advancement 
 of the arts, and the agricultural melioration of the soil. 
 Buchanan, the historian, whose tendencies, of course, were 
 all in an opposite direction, has recorded his conviction, 
 that " a more perfect exemplar of a good king is to be 
 found in the reign of David I. than in all the theories of 
 the learned and ingenious."* 
 
 Such a prince required no special intimation from 
 heaven to prompt him to found a religious house under 
 the shadow of a fortress where he himself frequently re- 
 sided. A miraculous interposition, however, on behalf of 
 the king himself, when prostrate under the antlers of a 
 " wyld hart," has been assigned as the immediate cause 
 of the foundation of the Abbey. Bellenden, the transla- 
 tor of Boece, tells us that the event happened in the 
 " vail that lyis to the Eist fra the said castell, quhare now 
 lyi& the Cannogait," and which at that time was part of 
 " ane gret forest full of hartis, hyndis, toddis, and siclike 
 maner of beistis." The day of the occurrence was a holy 
 one — the festival of the Exaltation of the Cross, or " Rude 
 day," as it was commonly called ; and the king had gone 
 a hunting in spite of the remonstrances of Alwin or 
 * Hiflt. Rex. Scot lib. vii. 
 
FOUNDATION OF THE ABBEY. 
 
 5 
 
 Alcuin, his confessor, "ane man of singular and devoit 
 life," and who was destined to be the first Abbot of Holy- 
 rood. When the king, in the ardour of the chase, had 
 ridden to " the fute of the Crag," there suddenly rushed 
 upon him from the woods the " farest hart that ever was 
 Bene," and dashed both him and his horse to the ground 
 with great violence. David threw back his hands between 
 the antlers of the stag, to save himself, if possible, from 
 the blow ; and " the haly Croce slaid incontinent in (into) 
 his hands." The wild deer fled in dismay at the sight of 
 the sacred emblem, to which it seemed about to do vio- 
 lence ; and the king, being afterwards admonished in a 
 dream, resolved to dedicate a house to the " Holy Rude," 
 the Virgin, and All Saints, on the very spot where " he 
 gat the Croce." 
 
 Such is the legend of the "miraculous foundation," 
 which, in all probability, was devised by an over-zealous 
 Brother of St. Austin some two centuries after the demise 
 of the saintly king, with the intention of throwing a super- 
 natural lustre round the annals of his house. It is evident, 
 for several important reasons, that the legend was unheard 
 of for ages after the death of David. If it had been simply 
 a superstitious exaggeration of an accident which had be- 
 fallen the king, it must have appeared in some shape or 
 other in the pages of the earlier annalists. There is no 
 trace of it in the original text of Boece, that great collec- 
 tor, and even fabricator of legendary marvels, whose ear 
 took in every whisper of a miracle from Berwick to the 
 Pentland Frith. The best MSS. of Bellenden's transla- 
 tion itself are without it. The emblematic antlers and 
 cross are not found on any seal of the Abbey prior to the 
 reign of James I; and, moreover, the tale is quite at 
 variance with the v/ell-known pious character of David 
 
6 
 
 HISTORY OF UOLYROOD. 
 
 from his youth up ; for, besides the concurring testimony 
 of all history, it appears from the statement of a contem- 
 porary annalist, Aildred of Rievaux, that he was even 
 finically observant of all the ordinances of the church.* 
 The same chronicler also tells us that he has seen the king 
 dismount from his horse, and abstain frcm the. chase^ when 
 only the meanest of his subjects requested an audience, f 
 In this instance, besides, we find in authentic history 
 a satisfactory reason why one of the first religious houses 
 founded by this king should have been dedicated to the 
 Holy Cross. The chroniclers inform us that Margaret, the 
 grand-niece of Edward the Confessor, and mother of 
 David, brought with her to Scotland a cross of pure gold, 
 which opened and shut like a casket, ornamented with an 
 image of the Saviour formed of the densest ebony, and 
 which contained within it what was then believed to be a 
 portion of that "Rude" on which Christ had suffered. 
 This holy relic, the same Ailred informs us, " the pious 
 Queen Margaret • . . transmitted as a heredi- 
 tary gift to her sons.^^X This sacred legacy, thus be- 
 queathed by a princess who, as Lord Hailes says, " was 
 canonized by the voice of a grateful though superstitious 
 people," § could not be lightly esteemed by the pious and 
 filial -hearted David. It seems, therefore, to be almost a 
 certainty, as has been already maintained by a distin- 
 guished antiquarian, II that it was the inheritance of this 
 highly- valued relic, which caused the king to dedicate the 
 Abbey to the "Holy Rude;" and this supposition is 
 strengthened by the fact, that David himself presented it 
 
 • Ailredus Revallen. in Twisden's Scriptores Decern, 
 t Ibid. J Ibid. p. 350. 
 
 § Ilailes' Annals, 8vo. i. 46. 
 U Vide Courant oewspaper* 3ist August 1850* 
 
FOUNDATION OF THE ABBEY. 
 
 7 
 
 to the religious house which he had founded.* It seems 
 not improbable that, being given by David to the canons, 
 while yet resident in the castle, they continued to keep it, 
 for greater security, in their chapel in that fortress, since 
 it appears among the other regalia found in the treasury 
 of the castle in 1291, in which year it was surrendered 
 to Edward I., with all the other emblems of Scottish na- 
 tionality, but was restored, according to the stipulations 
 of the treaty of Northampton, in 1328. Under the name 
 of " The black rude," this relic was for ages regarded as 
 the palladium of Scotland and her kings, f Unfortunately, 
 however, David 11. carried it with him to the fatal field 
 of Neville's Cross, where, on the 17th of October 1346, it 
 fell into the hands of the conquerors, and for centuries 
 thereafter was exhibited as an object of superstitious 
 veneration, in the " Sowth Alley" of the cathedral church 
 of Durham. To the Scottish people it must, indeed, have 
 seemed a terrible corroboration of the awful potency of 
 the Cross of St Margaret that, on the very day when it 
 passed from the hands of her youthful descendant, he 
 himself, and the flower of his nobility, either perished on 
 the field, or became the captives of the English. 
 
 According to the chronicles of Melrose and Holyrood, 
 the Abbey was founded in the year 1128; but the writ 
 which is commonly styled the Foundation Charter bears 
 
 * Holingshed. Hist. Scot., p. 177. 
 
 f St. Cuthbert would appear to have taken the field on this 
 occasion against St. Margaret, for the Muniments of Durham 
 state that the battle was won by John Fosser, the prior, taking the 
 **h')ly corporax cloth" wherewith St. Cuthbert covered the chalice 
 when he said mass, putting it in a banner cloth on a spear, and 
 repairing, with this sacred standard unfurled^ l@ the scene of 
 action. Lib« Cait* S. Crucis pref.» p. xxvii 
 
8 
 
 HISTORY OF nOLYROOD. 
 
 date somewhere between 1143 and 1147. It is highly 
 probable that some earlier grant to the Monastery, which 
 was afterwards superseded, has been lost ; and this sup- 
 position is corroborated by the fact, that in the existing 
 charter the Abbey is spoken of as being already founded. 
 Before proceeding further, it may be expedient to pre- 
 sent to the reader a literal translation of this curious and 
 important document. 
 
 " In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in honor 
 of the Holy Rood, the blessed Virgin Mary and All Saints^ 
 I, David, by the grace of God, King of the Scots, by my 
 royal authority, with the consent of Henry, my son, and 
 Ihe bishops of my kingdom, with the confirmation ancl 
 attestation also of the Earls and Barons, the clergy, more- 
 over, and the people assenting, by divine guidance grani 
 and confirm in peaceable possession to the Church of the 
 Holy Rood of Edwinesburg [Edinburgh] as foBows — that 
 is to say, I grant to the church foresaid, and to the 
 Canons Regular serving God in the same, in free and 
 perpetual alms, the Church of the Castle, with the appur- 
 tenances and rights thereof; trial by duel, water, an(3 
 fire ordeal, so far as pertains to ecclesiastical dignity ; 
 with Salectuna [Saughton] and its legal bounds ; and the 
 Church of St. Cuthbert and the parish and all things per^ 
 taining to the said church, and with the kirktown and 
 its bounds, and the land on which the church stands; 
 and with the other land lying under the castle, namely 
 from the spring which rises near the corner of my garden^ 
 by the way which leads to the Church of St. Cuthbert^ 
 and on the other side, under the castle, as far as a crag 
 beneath the said castle towards the east; with two 
 shapels v/hich belong to the said Church of St. Cuthbert^ 
 mmely Crostorphin. with two oxgangs asid sis acres of 
 
FOUNDATION OF THE ABBEY. $ 
 
 land, and the Chapel of Libbertune with two oxgangs ol 
 land, and with all the tithes and rights both of the living 
 and the dead of Legbernard, which Macbetber gave to 
 tiie said church and I have confirmed ; the Church ol 
 Hereth [Airth] with the land which pertains to the said 
 church, and with all the land which I have added and 
 granted to it, as my officers and good men have per- 
 ambulated and delivered the same to Alwin the abbot, 
 with a saltpan in Hereth and twenty-six acres of land, 
 which church and land before named I will that the 
 Canons of the Holy Rood shall hold and possess freely and 
 peaceably for ever, and I strictly prohibit any one from 
 unjustly oppressing or disturbing the Canons or their men 
 [homines] who dwell on the said lands, or unjustly ex- 
 acting from them any works, or aids, or secular customs 
 I will also that the said Canons shall have liberty to erect 
 a mill on the said land, and that they shall have all the 
 customs and rights and easements in Hereth — namely, in 
 waters, in fishings, in meadows, in pastures, and in all things 
 necessary, as amply as when they were in my own posses- 
 sion ; and Broctuna [Broughton] with its legal bounds, and 
 Inverlet, which is near the harbour, with its legal bounds, 
 and the harbour itself and half of the fishing, and with the 
 whole tithe of all the fishing which pertains to the church 
 of St. Cuthbert; and Petendreia [Pittendrich], with its 
 legal bounds, and Hamere [Whitekirk], and Fordam, with 
 their bounds, and the Hospital, with a ploughgate of land; 
 and an annuity of forty shillings from my burgh of Edwines- 
 burg, and an annual rent of one hundred shillings for the 
 apparel of the Canons out of my kain of Pert [Perth], 
 from the first merchant ships that come to Pert ; and, if 
 by chance such should not come, I grant to the said church, 
 out of my revenue of Ed\«inesburg, forty shillings, and of 
 
10 
 
 HISTORY OF TIOLYROOD. 
 
 Striueline [Stirling] twenty shillings, and of Pert forty 
 ehillings, and a toft in Striueline and the draught of 0 
 fishing net, and a toft in my burgh of Edwinesburg free 
 and quit of all custom and exaction, and a toft in Berewic, 
 and the draught of two nets in Scypwel, and a toft in 
 Reinfry [Renfrew] of five roods, and the draught of a net 
 for salmon, and liberty to fish there for herring ; and I 
 prohibit any one from exacting any customs from you or 
 your men ; I grant also to the foresaid Canons from my 
 own Chamber ten pounds annually for lighting and re- 
 pairing the church in perpetuity ; I command also all my 
 servitors and foresters of Striuelinshire and Clacmanant 
 to give the abbot and convent full liberty to take out of 
 all my woods and forests as much wood as they please 
 and desire for the building of their church and houses and 
 other purposes ; and I command that their men who take 
 wood from the said forests for their use shall have my 
 firm peace, and that they shall not be in any way dis- 
 turbed ; and I grant also that the lordship swine [porcos 
 dominios] of the said church feeding in my woods, shall 
 be free of pannage.* I also grant to the said Canons one- 
 half of the tallow, lard, and hides of the beasts slaughtered 
 in Edwinesburg, and the tithe of all whales and marine 
 animals due to me from the Avin, as far as Colbrandespade 
 [Cockburnspath], and the tithe of all my pleas and profits 
 from the Avin to Colbrandespade, and the half of the tithe 
 of my kain, and of my pleas and profits of Kentyr and 
 Errogeil [Argyle] ; and the skins of all the rams, sheep, 
 and lambs of my lordship of the castle, and of Linlitcu 
 [Linlithgow], which die naturally, and eight chalders ol 
 malt, and eight of meal, and thirty cartloads of the brush- 
 wood of Libbertune, and one of my mills of Dene, and the 
 * Dues levied on swine feeding in the royal woods. 
 
FOUNDATION OF THE ABBEY. 
 
 11 
 
 tenths of my mill of Libbertune and of Dene, and of the 
 new mill of Edwinesburg, and Craggenmarf, as much as 
 is in my lordship, and as much of the said crag as Vineth 
 White gave to them iia free gift. I moreover grant liberty 
 to them to found a burgh between the said church and 
 my burgh, and that their burgesses have liberty to sell 
 and buy in my market freely and without blame or dues, 
 like my own burgesses; and I prohibit any one in m} 
 burgh from taking by force, or without consent of the 
 burgesses, their bread, ale, cloth, or other vendible com- 
 modity. I also grant that the Canons be free of all toll 
 and custom in all my burghs and in all my lands for every- 
 thing they buy and sell ; and I prohibit every one from 
 executing a poinding on the lands of the Holy Rood, 
 except the Abbot of that place shall have refused to do 
 right and justice. I will likewise that they hold all the 
 before-written subjects as freely and quietly as I possess 
 my own lands, and I will that the Abbot shall hold his 
 court as freely, and with as ample powers, as the Bishop 
 of St. Andrews, the Abbot of Dunfermlin, and the Abbot 
 of Kelcou [Kelso], hold their courts. Before these wit- 
 nesses, Robert, Bishop of St. Andrews ; John, Bishop of 
 Glasgow ; Henry, my son ; William, my nephew ; Edward 
 the chancellor; Herbert the chamberlain; Gillemichaei 
 the Earl ; Gospatric, brother of Dolphin ; Robert de Mon- 
 tacute ; Robert de Bumeuile ; Peter de Brus ; Norman the 
 sheriff; Oggu; Leising; Gillise; William do Graham; 
 Turstan de Crectune ; Blein the archdeacon ; -ZElfric the 
 chaplain; Waleran the chaplain."* 
 
 Fordun styles the Abbey " The Monastery of the Crag 
 of the Holy Rood," and Joannes Hagustaldensis, the con 
 tinuator of Simeon of Durham, calls it simply the " Monas- 
 * Translated from the original in the Lib. Cart. Sancte Cruc. p. 3. 
 
12 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 tery of the Crag." David appears, in the first iiistancOj 
 to have located his Canons, whom he brought from the 
 Augustinian monastery of St. Andrews, upon, or at the 
 base of, the Castle rock of Edinburgh, * and it is difficult 
 to determine the precise period when they settled on the 
 meadow below Arthur Seat. We have already stated 
 that the terms of the charter of 1143-7 would seem to 
 imply that they were by that time established in their 
 own house ; but Father Hay, Canon of St. Genevieve at 
 Paris, in the reign of James VII., who made an attempt 
 to ascertain the early history of the Abbey, confines them 
 to the rock till the reign of William the Lion, and, in con- 
 firmation of this, speaks of the numerous charters of 
 Malcolm IV., which are dated " At the Monastery of the 
 Poly Rude in the Castle of Maidens." 
 
 David II. in 1343 presented to the Abbot and Convent 
 fte chaplainry of his own chapel, f constituting the Abbot 
 his principal chaplain, with liberty to substitute one of the 
 Canons in his room, who should enjoy all the dues and 
 oblations pertaining to the said royal chapel — a grant 
 which was confirmed by Robert III. and other kings. 
 David II. also erected the whole lands in the possession 
 of the Abbey into a free regality; and his successor 
 Robert II. granted to the Canons a site for a house on the 
 Castle rock, to which they and their dependents might 
 betake themselves in time of peril. { 
 
 Many important grants were conferred upon the Abbey 
 besides those contained in the charter of its founder. 
 Robert, Bishop of St. Andrews, granted the Church of 
 Karreden, with two ploughgates of land ; Turstan, the son 
 of Leving, granted or confirmed to the Church of the Holy 
 
 • Vide Note A. t Lib. Cart. Sanct Cruets, p. 90. J Ibid. p. W. 
 
FOUNDATION OP THE ABBEY. IS 
 
 Rood of the Castle of Maidens and its Canons the Church 
 of Levingstone [ecclesia de Villa Leving] ; Thor, the son 
 of Swanus, bestowed on them all right he had in the 
 Church of Trevernent [Tranent], its lands, pastures, and 
 tithes. Willelmus de Veteri Ponte bestowed the whole 
 land of Ogelfas [Ogilface]. At a very early period the 
 monks of Holyrood obtained the Church of Kinnel, with 
 a ploughgate of land, by the gift of Herbert, the chamber- 
 lain of Scotland; and the Church of Paxtun, and the 
 Church of Bathchet [Bathgate], with a ploughgate of land 
 pertaining to it ; but this latter church they afterwards 
 made over to the monks of Neubotle in exchange for cer- 
 tain lands in the Carse of Falkirk. 
 
 In the twelfth century, Fergus, Lord of GaUoway, who 
 afterwards became a monk of Holyrood, and his sou^ 
 Uchtred, were munificent benefactors of the Abbey. They 
 presented to it, among other valuable grants, the Church 
 of St. Mary and St. Bruok of Dunroden, in later times an- 
 nexed to the parish of Kirkcudbright ; the island of Trahil 
 [now St. Mary's Isle,] on which was erected the Priory 
 of St. Mary of Trail, a cell of Holyrood; the Church of 
 Galtweid ; the Church of St. Bridget of Blakhet, elsewhere 
 styled Lochblacket,* [Kirkbride ?] the Church of St. Cuth- 
 bert of Desnesmor [the present Kirkcudbright] ; the Church 
 of Tuncgeland ; the Church of Twenhame ; the Church of 
 St. Constantino of Colmanele, alias Kircostintyn, with the 
 Chapel of St. Constantino of Egingham ; the Church of 
 St. Andrew or Kirkandrew Balemakethe [Balmaghie] ; 
 the Church of Keletun, alias Locheletun, and the Church 
 of Kyrkecormac, with the Chapel of Balnecros. The 
 four last mentioned churches or ehapels had previously 
 
 * Begist. Episcopat Glasguen. p. 122. 
 
14 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 belonged to the monks of lona.* David, the son of Terr, 
 contributed to the House the Church of Anowith [Anwoth] 
 with the Chapel of Culenes. The Church of Eglysbryth 
 [Falkirk] was an early acquisition, as also the Church of 
 Mount Lothian, a parish annexed to Penycuik ; the Church 
 of Melginche, with the land called Abthen ; the Chapel 
 of Penteland ; the Church of Bouiton [a gift of the family 
 of De Veteriponte or Vipont ;] the Church of Eistir Kyn- 
 gome ; the Church of Ur ; the Church of St. Constantine 
 of Crawfurd, with the Chapel of the Castle ; the Church 
 of Baru [Barra united to Garvald,] and the Church of St. 
 Michael of Dalgarenoc. In the ancient taxation of the 
 ecclesiastical benefices in the Archdeaconry of Lothian, 
 found in the Treasury of Durham, and written in the 
 reign of Edward I., there appears among the churches 
 belonging to Holyrood, "Ecclesia Sanctse Marise in 
 Campis."t This was, doubtless, what was at a later 
 period the Collegiate Church of St. Mary-in-the-Fields, 
 on the site of which the College now stands, and which, 
 under the popular name of " Kirk-of-Field, " was destined 
 to be so tragically associated with the history of some 
 future occupants of Holyrood. When erected into a 
 collegiate church, certain rights appear to have been 
 reserved to the Canons to whom it originally belonged, 
 for in 1546, we find Robert, commendator of Holyrood; 
 presenting George Ker to a prebend in it, " according to 
 the force and form of the foundation." 
 
 In 1570, as appears from the articles presented in that 
 year, in the General Assembly, against Adam Bothwell, 
 Bishop of Orkney, then in possession of the revenues of 
 
 * Lib. Cart. Sanct. Crucis, p. 41. 
 t Priory of Coldingbam (Surtees Volume) Append, cidti 
 
FOUNDATION OF THE ABBEY, 
 
 the Abbey, twenty-seven churches still belonged to the 
 great Monastery of St. David. 
 
 The cells or priories dependent on the Abbey were 
 St. Mary's Isle, in Galloway, whose prior was a lord of 
 Parliament — Blantyre in Clydesdale, which must have 
 existed before 1296, since "Frere William, priour de 
 Blauntjn*," swore allegiance to Edward I. in that year — * 
 RowadiU, in the Isle of Herries, said by Spottiswood to 
 have been founded by one of the M'Leods of Harries — 
 Colunsay, planted, according to the same authority, by 
 the Lord of the Isles, with canons from Holyrood — and 
 Crusay and Oransay, believed to have been originally two 
 of those Island lamps, lit by the hand of St. Columba, to 
 shed a holy light across the Western waters. 
 
 In the Abbey Church there were various chapels and 
 altars dedicated to different saints. The Lady Chapel 
 was, as usual, in the choir at the back of the high altar; f 
 and we read of another called " The Abbot's Chapel," to 
 which two silver candelabra belonged. J There was an 
 altar dedicated to the Holy Cross, § which is specially dis- 
 tinguished from the High Altar, and another called " the 
 Parish Altar." || " In the southern chapel adjoining to the 
 High Altar" ^ were those of St. Andrew and St. Catherine, 
 founded by George Creichton, Bishop of Dunkeld, who by 
 
 * Ragman Rolls, p. 166. 
 
 t Father Hay. Lib. Cart. Sanct. Crucis, p. xxiv. In the Re- 
 cords of the Burgh of the Canongate in 1568, however, we read 
 of "Our Ladye altar, sumtyme situat within the Abbey Kirk 
 of Halierudhous within the Perrocke lie therof, to which the * Ladle 
 land' belonged." Miscellany of Maitland Club, vol. ii. p. 318. 
 
 J Bannatyne Miscellany, vol. ii. p. 24. This may have been 
 attached to the abbot's house beyond the cloister. 
 
 § BannatjTie Miscellany, vol. ii, p. 24. (| Ibid. 
 
 % Original charter as given in Maitland's Hist. p. 154 
 
16 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 the same deed erected an almshouse — that of St. Thomas, 
 near the Watergate, for the reception of seven poor men, 
 who were to be under the control of the chaplains of the 
 said two altars, and who upon Sundays and festivals were 
 to put on " their red gowns, and, at High Mass, sit before 
 the altar of the chapel in the said conventual church, and 
 there say fifty Ave Marias, five Pater Nosters, and one 
 Credo." Before 1387 there was an altar dedicated to 
 St. Stephen, "on the north side of the Parish altar."* 
 There was also an altar dedicated to St. Anne by the 
 tailors of Edinburgh, and another to Saints Crispin and 
 Crispinian by the cordwainers or shoemakers of the city. 
 We are told, but upon very doubtful authority, that 
 these altars were erected by the trades on the return of 
 certain of their members, who had performed prodigies of 
 valour in the Holy Land, where, we are informed, the 
 famous " Blue Blanket," the standard of the bold crafts- 
 men of Edinburgh, had waved, conspicuous in the van of 
 battle, before being suspended over the altar of St. Elo 
 iln the Church of St. Giles. 
 
 As to the revenues of this noble Abbey, all that our 
 space will permit us to state is, that in the taxation of 
 ecclesiastical benefices, of Edward the First's time, before 
 alluded to, it is rated at £775: 14: 5i;t and that its 
 revenue at the Reformation amounted, in victual, to 26 
 clialders 10 bolls of wheat, 40 chalders 9 bolls of bear, 34 
 chalders 15 bolls 3 firlots 3J pecks of oats, and 4 chal- 
 ders of meal, while the revenue in money payments was 
 £2926: 8: 6. Considering the vast possessions of the 
 monastery in land and tithes, the latter valuation seems 
 to be singularly small. 
 
 * Indenture in the City Archives, 
 t Frio"" Coldingham. Append., p. oxi. 
 
CHAPTEB II 
 
 THE ABBOTS OF HOLYEOOD, AND EAELY 
 HISTORY OF THE ABBEY. 
 
 ME first Abbot of Hoiyrood was ^ fotinder*i 
 coafessor Alwin, who resig^^d tla=e Abbey ii 
 il50, aad is said to have died m il55. Me was 
 eucceeded. by Osbert, whose death occurred in the year ol 
 liis promotion, but his name is not in the list of abbots m 
 the old Ritual Book. William was Abbot in 1152, and is 
 a frequent witness to eharters during the reigns of Maloolm 
 IV. and William the Li(M. Me surrounded ikQ Abbey witli 
 a str(Mg wall of squared stone to secure it against predatory 
 assaults.* During Abbot William's rule, Fergus, thcB 
 Lord of <3ralioway, became a Canon of the Abbey, and both 
 lie and his son Uchtr^ were benefactors of the House. 
 The successor of William was Robert, who lived also in the 
 ffeign of ¥/'illiam the Lian ; and this Abbot granted to the 
 inhabitants of the newly projected burgh of the Canon- 
 gate varrio^is privileges, which were confirmed with ad- 
 ditional beiitefactions, by David II., Eobert III., James 11.^ 
 ^nd Jaisies III. Those sovereigns granted to tfee bailies 
 and community under the Abbots tiie annuities payable 
 by the tergh, and also the common muir between tk? 
 
 • Fath-er flay. Lib. Cast. S&»ct. Cruc. ^voL 
 
18 
 
 HISTORY OF IIOLYROOD. 
 
 lands of 13ronghton on the west and the lands of Pilrig 
 on the east, on the north side of the road from Edin- 
 burgh to Leith. 
 
 The fifth Abbot of Holyrood was John, who presided 
 over the monastery in 1173. A.D. 1180, Alexius, a 
 sub- deacon of the Romish Church, held a council in the 
 Church of the Holy Cross, near Edinburgh. The princi- 
 pal business of this council was the long disputed con- 
 secration of John Scott, Bishop of St. Andrews.* In 
 1189, the first year of the reign of Richard I. of England, 
 an assembly of th€ Scottish Bishops, rectors of churches, 
 nobility, and barons, was held in the monastery of Holy- 
 rood. Richard, who had invited William the Lion to his 
 court at Canterbury, had recognised the complete in- 
 dependence of Scotland, fixed the boundaries of the two 
 kingdoms as they were before the captivity of the Scottish 
 King, and granted him full possession of all his fees in the 
 earldom of Huntingdon and elsewhere on the same con- 
 ditions as formerly. It was agreed in this national con- 
 vention that William the Lion was to pay 10,000 merks 
 for this restitution — a sum supposed to b© equivalent to 
 L. 100,000 sterling of the present day. Father Hay, 
 however, states that the stipulated sum was only 5000 
 merks. f 
 
 The successor of John, as Abbot of Holyrood, was 
 William, and during his time, in 1206, John, Bishop of 
 Galloway, relinquished his episcopal function, and became 
 one of the Canons. He was interred in the chapter house, 
 aiid a stone recording his name and dignity was placed 
 over his grave. The next abbot was Walter, Prior ol 
 Inehcolm, who was appointed in 1210, and died in 121?» 
 
 * Lord Hailes. Edit. 1819, vol. iii. p. 229. 
 + Liber Cartarum Sancte Crucis, Preface, p. xadi 
 
THE ABBOTS OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 19 
 
 He was a man distinguished both for learning and piety. 
 His successor was William, whose retirement is alone 
 recorded. He was succeeded by another William, who, 
 in 1227, on account of old age, resigned the Abbacy and 
 retired to the island of Inchkeith, resolving to lead the 
 life of a hermit ; but after a residence of nine weeks he 
 returned to the monastery as a private monk. The next 
 Abbot was Helias, or Elias, described as the son o( 
 Nicolas a priest — pleasant, devout, and affable, and who, 
 according to Father Hay, was interred in St. Mary's 
 Chapel, behind the great altar. He drained the marshes 
 in the vicinity of the monastery, by which the locality was 
 rendered more salubrious, and surrounded the cemetery 
 with a brick wall. Helias was succeeded by Henry, who 
 was nominated Bishop of Galloway in 1253, though he was 
 not consecrated till 1255. Ralf, or Radulph, was appointed 
 Abbot on the removal of Henry to the see of Galloway. 
 On the 14th of January 1255, in the reign of Alexander 
 ni., an assembly was held at Holyrood, in which the 
 King, with advice of his magnates, settled a dispute be- 
 tween David de Leuchars, Sheriff of Perth, and the Abbey 
 of Dunfermline.* 
 
 Towards the close of the thirteenth century, when 
 the wars of the succession spread terror and confusion 
 over the whole land, the Abbot of Holyrood was Adam, 
 an adherent of the English party. He did homage to 
 Edward I. on the 8th of July 1291, and was one of the 
 commissioners appointed by the English King in his letter 
 to Radulphus Basset de Drayton, Governor of Edinburgh 
 Castle, for examining the Scottish records preserved in 
 that fortress. In August 1296 he again did homage to 
 Edward I., and it was apparently in his favour that the 
 • Acts of the Parliame»t of Scotland. Fol. 1844, vol. i. p. 61. 
 
20 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 English monarch granted an order for the restoration of 
 the abbey lands on the 2d of September following. 
 
 The successor of Abbot Adam was another Helias, 
 or Elias, who is mentioned in a transaction connected 
 with William Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, and 
 Gervase, Abbot of Newbattle, in 1316. Six years after- 
 wards the Abbey of Holyrood, in common with those of 
 Melrose and Dryburgh, was dilapidated and plundered 
 by the army of Edward 11., who had advanced to the 
 vicinity of Edinburgh without opposition, anticipating the 
 easy conquest of a kingdom, from which famine compelled 
 him to retreat with dishonour. 
 
 The Abbot in 1326 was Symon, supposed to have 
 been Symon de Wedale. On the 8th of March that year 
 King Robert Bruce, who had then gloriously achieved 
 the independence of Scotland, held a Parliament in the 
 Abbey, in which was ratified a concord between Randolph, 
 Earl of Moray, afterwards Regent, and Sir William Oli- 
 phant, in connexion with the forfeiture of the lands of 
 William de Monte Alto, and it is probable that the Par- 
 liaments of the 28th of February and the 17th of March 
 1327 assembled also in the Abbey. A Parliament was held 
 at Holyrood on the 10th of February 1333-4, when 
 Edward Baliol rendered homage to King Edward HI. 
 of England as Superior Lord of Scotland. On the 12th 
 the kingdom was dismembered, and the national libertieb 
 surrendered, by the ratification of a treaty between Baliol 
 and Edward, by which the former became bound to serve 
 with his forces in the English wars. 
 
 The successor of Abbot Symon was John, whose 
 name occurs as a witness to tliree charters in 1338 ; and 
 Bartholomew was Abbot in 1342. 
 
 Abbot Bartholomew was succeeded by Thomas, who 
 
THE ABBOTS OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 21 
 
 was Abbot in 1347. On the 8th of May 1366, a council 
 was held at Holyrood, in which the Scottish nobles indig- 
 nantly disclaimed all the pretensions of the English King 
 to the sovereignty of Scotland, and sanctioned an assess- 
 ment for the annual payments of the ransom of David 11. 
 Nothing important occurs in the history of the Monastery 
 till 1371, when David II. died in the Castle of Edinburgh, 
 and was buried near the high altar in the Abbey Church- 
 In 1372 Edward III. granted a safe conduct to certain 
 persons who went from Scotland to Flanders to provide a 
 stone for the tomb of David II.* John was Abbot in 
 1372. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the fourth 
 son of Edward HI. by Lady Blanch, younger daughter 
 and heiress of Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Lancaster^ 
 grandson of Edmund, second son of Henry IH., was 
 hospitably entertained in Holyrood in 1381, when com- 
 pelled to flee from his enemies in England. The next 
 Abbot was David. The Abbey was burnt in 1385 by 
 Richard H. when he invaded Scotland, and encamped 
 at Restalrig ; but it appears to have been soon repaired 
 and inhabited. Henry IV. spared the Monastery in 
 1400, on account of the kindness of the Abbot and 
 Canons to John of Gaunt, his father, declaring that he 
 would allow no violence to be inflicted on an edifice 
 which his feelings as a son enjoined him to respect. 
 Dean John of Leith was Abbot in 1386, and he must 
 have been in possession a number of years, as he was a 
 party to the indenture of the lease of the Canonmills to 
 the burgh of Edmburgh on the 12th of September 1423. 
 In 1429, a singular spectacle was witnessed in the Abbey 
 Church of Holyrood. Alexander, Earl of Ross and Lord 
 
 • Rymer's Foed. vi Ttl* 
 
22 
 
 HISTORY OF nOLYROOD. 
 
 of the Isles, who had enraged James I. by ravaging the 
 
 crown lands near Inverness^ and burning that town, and 
 whom the King had issued stringent orders to appre- 
 hend, suddenly appeared in the church, on the eve of a 
 solemn festival, in presence of the King, Queen, and 
 Court. He was dressed only in his shirt and drawers ; 
 and holding a naked sword by the point in his hand, he 
 fell on his knees and implored the royal clemency. His 
 life was spared, and he was committed prisoner to Tan- 
 tallon Castle, under the charge of the Earl of Angus. 
 
 On 16th October 1430 the Queen of James I. was 
 delivered of twin princes in the Abbey, the elder of 
 whom, Alexander, died in infancy. The younger was 
 James, who succeeded his father. 
 
 Patrick was Abbot of Holyrood in September 1435. 
 On the 25th of March 1436-7, James H., who had been 
 bom in the Abbey, and was then little more than six 
 years old, was conveyed from Edinburgh Castle to the 
 Church of Holyrood, and crowned with great magnifi- 
 cence. Another high ceremony was performed in the 
 same place in July 1449, when Mary, daughter of the 
 Duke of Gueldres, and Queen of James II., was crowned. 
 The Queen was attended by the Lord de Vere of Holland, 
 who was appointed by Philip the Good of Burgundy to 
 conduct his kinswoman to Scotland; and when she landed 
 at Leith she was received by many of the nobility, and 
 by a large concourse of all ranks, who seemed almost 
 barbarians to the polished Burgundians. The Queen, 
 mounted on horseback behind the Lord de Vere, rode to 
 Edinburgh, and was lodged in the Convent of the Grey 
 Friars. In the course of a week after her arrival, her 
 nuptials and coronation were celebrated in the Abbey 
 Church, with all tb^ pomp and ceremony which the rude 
 
THE ABBOTS OF IIOLYROOD. 
 
 taste and circumscribed means of the country would per- 
 mit. 
 
 On the 26th of April 1450, the Abbot of Holyrood 
 was James, of whom nothing is known. Ten years 
 afterwards the body of James II., who was killed by the 
 bursting of one of the rudely constructed cannon of the 
 time, at the siege of Roxburgh Castle^ was interred within 
 the precincts of the Abbey. Two or three years before 
 this event, Archibald Crawfurd, son of Sir William Craw- 
 furd of Haining, and who had been Prior of Holyrood, 
 succeeded to the Abbacy. He was a distinguished diplo- 
 matist, and was employed in many important negociations 
 between the sovereigns of England and Scotland. In 
 1474, he was appointed Lord High Treasurer ; and di<»d 
 in 1483. About 1460 Abbot Crawfurd repaired the 
 fabric of the Abbey Church, adding to it the buttresses 
 on the walls of the north and south aisles, and, in all pro- 
 bability also, building the rich doorway which opens into 
 the northern aisle. 
 
 James III. passed much of his time at the Abbey ; and 
 on the 13th July 1469, his nuptials with Margaret of 
 Denmark were celebrated in the Abbey Church, he him- 
 self " being of the aige of twentie yeires 
 and the gentlevoman being bot twelfF." Margaret brought 
 with her as her dowry the Islands of Orkney and Shetland, 
 which had formerly pertained to the Danish Crown. 
 
 Tlie successor of Crawfurd was Robert Bellenden, an . 
 ecclesiastic distinguished by his humanity to the poor, and 
 his liberality to the Abbey, Among his mimificent gifts 
 were the " great bells," the " great brass font," * and a 
 chalice of fine gold, — and he covered the church with lead. 
 
 * This is probably the font, which Sir Richard Lea, captain of 
 pioneers in the Hertford invasion, carried off "in the tumult of 
 
24 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 In his time, probably, the Abbey Church was the scene 
 of a high ceremonial, when the Papal Legate and the 
 Abbot of Dunfermline, amid a crowd of Scottish nobles, 
 in name of Pope Julius II., presented King James IV. 
 with a purple crown ornamented with golden flowers, and 
 a sword, of which the hilt and sheath were rich with gold 
 and precious stones, and which, under the name of the 
 Sword of State," is still preserved among the Regalia of 
 Scotland in the Castle of Edinburgh. 
 
 In 1515 George Crichtoun was Abbot, and continued 
 80 till 1522, when he was made Bishop of Dunkeld. 
 William Douglas, Prior of Coldingham, succeeded ; and on 
 his death, in 1528, Robert Cairncross, Provost of the Col^ 
 legiate Church of Corstorphin, and chaplain to King James, 
 was selected for the office. He was the last ecclesiastic 
 of the ancient hierarchy who held the abbacy of Holy- 
 rood, being the twenty-eighth in succession from Alwin, 
 the confessor of David I. He vacated the office in 1538 or 
 1539, when postulated to the see of Ross, and Robert, the 
 natural son of James V. by Eupham Elphinstone, obtained 
 a grant of the Abbey, while still an infant. He embraced 
 the tenets of the Reformed Church in 1559, and subse- 
 quently exchanged the commendatorship of Holyrood for 
 the temporalities of the Bishopric of Orkney. 
 
 the conflagration," and which he presented to the Church of St. 
 Albans, with the magniloquent inscription engraved on it, which 
 Camden has preserved. The Scottish font is made most unpatriot- 
 ically to say [luckily in Latin] — " In gratitude to him for hia 
 kindness, I, who hitherto served only at the baptism of the chil- 
 dren of kings, do now most willingly offer the same service even 
 to the meanest of the English nation. jLea, the Conqueror, hath 
 BO commanded" This font was afterwards conquered by th9 
 Roundheads, and sold as old metal. 
 
CHAPTER ITL 
 
 MARRIAGE OF JAMES IV. WITH MARGARET 
 OF ENGLAND. 
 
 ^p|r^HE chivalrous but ill-fated James the Fourth was 
 the first of our kings who built a palace adjacent 
 s^^wPfe to the Abbey of Holyrood. No sooner was the 
 royal dwelling fit for habitation, than the bride of its 
 founder stepped across the threshold — that English Prin- 
 cess from whom were to descend the sovereigns of the 
 great British empire. On the 7th of August 1503, Mar- 
 garet, with her train of English nobles, entered the me- 
 tropolis of her adopts country, and was received with 
 the respect due to the daughter of Henry VII. The 
 " Fyancells" of the Princess in the royal manor of Rich- 
 mond on St. Paul's Day, the 25th of January 1502, her 
 departure from England, her journey into Scotland, her 
 reception and marriage, are narrated with the garrulous, 
 minuteness of his profession, by John Younge, Somerset 
 Herald, who attended her during her progress. The Prin- 
 cess began her journey northwards on the 27th of June 
 1503, and travelled by easy stages, chiefly on horseback, 
 though she had a "rych lytere borne by two faire 
 coursers varey nobly drest," and also a char or coach for 
 her use. On her approach to the Scottish Border she was 
 escorted and entertained with the respect due to her 
 
26 
 
 HISTORY OF nOLYROOD. 
 
 exalted rank. She was met at Lamberton church, ncai 
 the EngHsh Border, by the Scottish nobility, " a thousand 
 persons in company," five hundred of whom were on 
 horseback. Her stages in Scotland were Fast Castle, 
 Haddington, and Dalkeith, the Earl of Morton's Castle, 
 where James IV. first met her, accompanied by " a train 
 of lords to the number of sixty horses." The King re- 
 turned to Edinburgh that evening, and the Princess re- 
 mained four days, partly in the Castle of Dalkeith, and 
 partly in the adjoining Abbey of Newbattle, where she 
 was daily visited by her royal bridegroom. On the morn- 
 ing of the 7th of August, the Princess set out for Edin- 
 burgh in her litter, and the King met her half-way, splen- 
 didly arrayed, " upon a bay horse, rennynge as he wolde 
 renne after the hayre," and followed by Archbishop 
 Blackadder of Glasgow, Bishop Foreman of Moray, and 
 a numerous cavalcade. Finding that his own courser 
 would not carry double, the King dismounted and 
 leaped gallantly into the saddle of the palfrey of the 
 Princess, placing her close behind him, and in this man- 
 ner they entered Edinburgh, amid rejoicings and fan- 
 tastic pageants ; a fountain of wine, which was free to 
 all, playing at the Cross, and the windows of the houses 
 being gorgeously ornamented with tapestry. The alle- 
 gorical figures displayed were " Paris and the three 
 Deessys" or goddesses, which were oddly blended with 
 the Salutation of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin, and the 
 four Virtues. When the King and his bride passed St. 
 Giles's church, the provost and prebendaries appeared in 
 their vestments, and presented the reputed arm of the 
 tutelary saint of the city, which the King kissed, and then 
 began to sing Te Deum Laudamm. Before arriving at 
 this locality the King had to encounter the Grey Friars at 
 
MARRIAGE OF JAMES IV. 
 
 27 
 
 tbe foot of the West Bow, who issued from their monas- 
 tery also armed with relics. 
 
 The royal pair proceeded through the city on horse- 
 back to the Church of Holjrrood, and the proceedings 
 when they entered within its walls are duly chronicled by 
 the loyal Somerset Herald. They were met at the church 
 by the Archbishop of St. Andrews* attended by the 
 Bishop of Aberdeen, Lord Privy Seal,t the Bishops of 
 Orkney, Caithness, Ross, Dunblane, and Dunkeld, a num- 
 ber of abbots in their pontificals, and the Abbot and 
 Canons of Holyrood in gorgeous vestments, preceded by 
 their cross. 
 
 The whole cavalcade dismounted, and entered the 
 Abbey Church in procession. The King took the hand 
 of the Princess, and after an humble reverence led her to 
 the high altar, where two cushions covered with cloth of 
 gold were placed, and the King and his bride knelt 
 together, while Te Deum was sung by the choir. Having 
 performed their devotions, the King in a most loving 
 manner conducted the Princess out of the church " through 
 the cloister" to her apartments in the adjoining Palace. 
 After a brief space the Princess was brought by the King 
 into the great hall, where she was introduced to a nume- 
 rous company of Scottish ladies of rank, each of whom 
 she kissed, the Bishop of Moray attending her and telling 
 her their names ; after which ceremony the King again 
 saluted her, and with low courtesy, and uncovered, he 
 conducted her to her apartments. He supped in his 
 private chamber with the Archbishop of York, the Bishop 
 
 * James, Duke of Ross, brother of the King, who died thii 
 same year. 
 
 t The illustrious WilUam Elphinestone, founder of King*s 
 ColiegA. 
 
28 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 of Durham, the Earl of Surrey [he who afterwards met 
 him on the fatal field of Flodden] and other attendants of 
 the Princess. The King then retired, after bidding the 
 Princess "joyously good night." 
 
 On the 8th the royal nuptials were celebrated at 
 Holyrood. Between eight and nine in the morning, the 
 nobility, convened on the occasion, were arrayed in 
 rich apparel, and duly prepared for the important cere- 
 monial. The precincts of Holyrood were crowded with 
 spectators, who displayed the utmost animation and 
 excitement. The Bishop ol' Moray waited on the Arch- 
 bishop of York and the Bishop of Durham. The Earl 
 of Surrey, Lords Grey, Latimer, Dacres, and Scroope, 
 Sir Richard Poole, Knight of the Garter, Sir Davis 
 Owen, Sir William Conyers, Sir Thomas D'Arcy, Sir 
 John Huse, and other noblemen and knights, appeared 
 in splendid dresses, wearing their collars and chains of 
 gold, and were presented by the Bishop of Moray to the 
 King, who received them, standing, in his great chamber. 
 After the usual salutations, the King ordered them to be 
 seated, and to cover their heads, placing the Archbishop 
 of York on his right hand, and the Earl of Surrey on his 
 left. The King himself occupied a chair of crimson 
 velvet, the panels of which were gilt, under a superb 
 cloth of estate, of blue velvet figured with gold. Dr. 
 Raulins delivered an oration, which was briefly answered 
 by Dr. Muirhead, Dean of Glasgow, the King's Secretary; 
 and at the conclusion every person present rendered 
 homage or reverence to the King, who then withdrew to his 
 own apartments in the Palace. The Archbishop of St 
 Andrews and the Bishop of Aberdeen then conducted the 
 ladies, noblemen, and knights to the bride's chambers ; 
 and soon afterwards the Princess entered the Abbey 
 
MARRIAGE OF JAMES IV. 
 
 29 
 
 Church in bridal array, wearing a golden crown set with 
 pearls and other jewels of great price, supported on the 
 right by the Archbishop of York, and on the left by the 
 Earl of Surrey, her train borne by the Countess of Surrey 
 assisted by a gentleman-usher, and attended by numerous 
 ladies. 
 
 The Princess was placed near the font, her attend- 
 ants occupying the north side of the church ; and the 
 Archbishop of Glasgow, accompanied by other prelates 
 and ecclesiastical dignitaries, stationed himself at the 
 high altar. The King next appeared, with the Officers of 
 State, and a large assemblage of nobility. Lord Hamilton 
 carrying the sword. The Archbishop of York read the 
 papal bulls, and the marriage ceremony was performed by 
 the Archbishop of Glasgow. The King then led the 
 Queen to the high altar, and divine service was performed 
 with all the pomp of the Roman ritual. At the reading 
 of the Gospel the royal pair made their offering, the Queen 
 was anointed, and the sceptre was placed in her hand bj 
 the King. The hymn Te Deum was then sung, and 
 during the celebration of mass, the cloth of estate was 
 held over the now wedded pair by two of the Bishops. 
 
 A banquet was given in the Palace, at which the 
 Queen was first served, and the Archbishop of Glasgow 
 had the honour of an invitation to her table. A " lar- 
 gesse" was then proclaimed three times by Marchmont 
 Herald in the King's chamber, the great hall, and the hall 
 of audience, " in name of the high and mighty Princess 
 Margaret, by the grace of God Queen of Scotland, and first 
 daughter engendered of the very high and mighty Prince 
 Henry VII., by that self-same grace King of England." 
 Some details follow of the internal decorations and furni- 
 ture of Holyrood, and of the amusements of tne marriage 
 
30 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYhOOD. 
 
 party, such as games, dances, and the musical efforto ol 
 " Johannes and his company," after which the King went 
 to vespers in the Abbey Church attended both by the 
 Scottish and English nobility, the Queen remaining in the 
 Palace. This was succeeded by a supper, which con- 
 cluded the festivities of the day, while the citizens of 
 Edinburgh evinced their loyalty by numerous bonfires and 
 other demonstrations. In the evening, probably, the King'a 
 person had been the object of the ceremonial indicated by 
 an entry of the following day's date, in the Treasurer's 
 accounts, of £330 paid " for xv. elne claith of gold to the 
 Comites (countess) of Surry, of Ingland, quhen scho and 
 her dochter Lady Gray clippit the Kingis berde, ilk elne 
 xxii. lib." 
 
 On the 9th a numerous assemblage of ladies, noblemen, 
 and knights, convened at Holyrood. At ten in the morn- 
 ing the King went to mass in the Abbey Church in pro- 
 cession. The subsequent amusements of this day are not 
 recorded, with the exception that the royal dinner was 
 " brought and served in silver vessels by the officers and 
 personages in such manner as the day before." After 
 dinner a young man, an Italian," continues the worthy 
 Somerset Herald, " played before the King on a cord very 
 well." The ladies were at the windows towards the 
 Queen's quarters, and after the game was done they began 
 to dance. " Touching the Queen, I say nothing, for that 
 same day I saw her not, but I understand she was in 
 good health and mere [more]." A supper followed, the 
 profusion of which was by no means in accordance with a 
 day enjoined by the church to be observed in abstinence. 
 
 On the 10th, which was St. Laurence's Day, the King, 
 in compliment to the Queen, created forty-one knights, 
 and after the ceremony he presented them to his consort, 
 
MARRIAGE OF JAMES IV. 
 
 31 
 
 Baying- — " Lady, these are your knights." After dinner 
 a tilting match was held in the conrt-yard of the Palace, 
 which the King witnessed from the richly decorated 
 windows, and the Queen and her ladies were also spec- 
 tators. The challengers were Lords Kilmaurs and Crei- 
 toun, assisted by Sir Alexander Seton, the Master of 
 Montgomery, Sir Patrick Hamilton, and Sir John of Crey- 
 toun. Their opponents were Lords Hamilton and Ross, 
 the former the King's cousin, attended by Sir David 
 Home, William Cockburn of Langton, Patrick Sinclair, 
 and Henry Bruce. After the tournament the King and 
 Queen retired to supper, and the festivities of the day 
 concluded with dancing. 
 
 On the 11th the King again went to the Abbey 
 Church. The Queen remained in her apartment till the 
 hour of dinner, after which she danced with the King, 
 and a tilting match was performed by six persons, the 
 royal pair beholding the rencontre from the windows of 
 the Palace. After supper " John Inglish and hys com- 
 panyons " played in the Queen's principal apartment 
 before the royal pair. The 12th was spent in a similar 
 manner, the King as usual attending the Abbey Church ; 
 and on the 13th, which was Sunday, the Queen was led 
 to mass by the Bishops, the Earl of Surrey, the Lord 
 Chamberlain, and her ladies, the train of the Countess of 
 Surrey borne by Sir John Home. The Eang followed, 
 and after mass the Marchmont Herald presented Lord 
 Hamilton, who was created Earl of Arran ; and honours 
 were conferred on William, Earl of Montrose, and Cuth- 
 bert. Earl of Glencairn. The King and the Queen then 
 returned into the Palace, and the Earl of Surrey and 
 others of the nobility dined at the royal table. Aftei 
 dinner "a moralitie was played by the said Master 
 
82 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 Inglishe and his companyons in the presence of the Kyng 
 and Quene, and their daunces were daunced." At the 
 customary hour the King went to vespers, after which it 
 was intended to create twenty-six knights, but on account 
 of the absence of the Queen this was delayed till the 
 following day for the " luflfe of hyr." After vespers the 
 King entered his apartments in the Palace, and sat down 
 to supper, and, " that done, every man went his way." 
 
 Such was the royal marriage at Holyrood in 1503, 
 which is celebrated by the Scottish poet Dunbar in Lis 
 fine allegory entitled the " Thistle and the Rose." 
 
 Some of the internal decorations of the Palace of 
 Holyrood are casually mentioned by the English Herald. 
 The hangings, or tapestry, of the " great chamber " re- 
 presented the " hystory of Troy toune," and " in the 
 glassyn windowes were the armes of Scotland and England 
 oyparted, with the difference beforesayd, to which a 
 chardon, and a rose interlassed through a croune, was 
 added." In the King's " great chamber " were displayed 
 the " story of Hercules togider with other hystorys." 
 The hall in which the Queen's attendants and company 
 were assembled also contained the history of Hercules on 
 tapestry; and in both the apartments were " grett syerges 
 of wax for to lyglit at even." 
 
 Holyrood was the chief residence of James IV., on the 
 erection and embellishment of which he expended con- 
 siderable sums up to the period of his death at Flodden 
 in 1513. In 1515, John, Duke of Albany, Governor of 
 the kingdom during the minority of James V., resided in 
 Holyrood after his arrival from France, and coutinued 
 the deceased King's enlargement of the edifice. 
 
CHAPTEfi IT. 
 
 JAMES V. AT HOLYROOD. 
 
 N the 26th of July 1524, James V., then in his 
 thirteenth year, and his mother, the Queen- 
 Dowager, suddenly left Stirling, accompanied 
 by a few attendants, and entered Edinburgh, where they 
 were received with great acclamations by the citizens, 
 and went in procession to the Palace of Holyrood, 
 "where," says Pitscottie, "he tuik up hous, with all 
 office men requisite for his estate, and changed all the 
 old officeris, both tresaurer, comptroller, secreitar, Mr. 
 Maissar, Mr. Household, Mr. Stableris, copperis, car- 
 veris, and all the rest." Proclamations were issued 
 announcing that the King had assumed the govern- 
 ment ; but his actual and independent authority was 
 not exercised till four years afterwards, when he was 
 in his seventeenth year ; and during that interval the 
 Queen-Dowager, Archbishop Beaton of St. Andrews, who 
 had filled the high office of Lord Chancellor, and the 
 Earl of Angus, the successor of the Archbishop, were 
 actually, though not in name, the Regents. After the 
 display at Holyrood, the Queen-Dowager retained the 
 young monarch in the Castle of Edinburgh without any 
 personal restraint ; the Archbishop and Angus conduct- 
 ing public affairs. The latter marked the first com- 
 c 
 
84 
 
 fflSTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 mcncement of his authority by assigning the Abbey &t 
 Holyrood, in 1524, to his brother William Douglas, who 
 was already the intruding possessor of Coldingham, and 
 who retained both till his death in 1528, the year in 
 which James V. began to reign in person. In 1534, the 
 future Cardinal David Beaton, then Abbot of Arbroath, 
 and the administrator of the affairs of the primacy for 
 his uncle whom he succeeded, was a second time sent to 
 France on a mission to renew the alliance with Scotland, 
 and to adjust the prehminaries of the marriage of James 
 V. Before his departure he secured the appointment of 
 an ecclesiastical commission for the cognizance of heretics 
 — which was by no means difficult, for the King had pub- 
 licly declared his resolution to punish all innovators of 
 religion, and not to spare even his own relatives. In the 
 month of August 1534 a meeting of this ecclesiastical 
 court was held in the Abbey of Holyrood, at which 
 James V. was present, clothed in scarlet. James Hay, 
 Bishop of Ross, in the absence of the Abbot of Arbroath, 
 sat as commissioner for the Archbishop of St. Andrews, 
 Several persons were cited before this court, some of 
 whom recanted, and performed the ceremony of burning 
 their faggots. The brother and sister of Patrick Hamil- 
 ton, who had been incremated for heresy at St. Andrews, 
 were summoned; but the King advised the former to 
 leave Scotland for a time, as he could not save him — the 
 Bishops, he alleged, having proved to him that heresy 
 was not within his prerogative. The lady, however, 
 app^yared, and a long theological discussion ensued be- 
 tween her and Spens of Condie, afterwards Lord Advo- 
 cate, on the subject of good works. The King laughed 
 aloud at the zeal of the fair disputant, who was his near 
 relative, and his influence saved her from farther trouhlA. 
 
JAMES T. AT HOLYROOD. 
 
 86 
 
 Nevertheless, two convictions were pronounced on this 
 occasion in the Abbey of Holyrood. The unfortunate 
 persons were David Straiton, the brother of the Laird of 
 Lauriston in Forfarshire^ and a priest named Norman 
 Gourlay, or Galloway. They were led to the stake on 
 the 27th of August, at the rood or cross of Greenside, on 
 the north side of the Calton Hill, where they met their 
 fate with wonderful resolution. 
 
 On the 29th of October 1536 it was determined that 
 James V. should marry the youthful Princess Magdalene, 
 daughter of Francis I. of France; and on the 26th of No- 
 vember the perpetual alliance between France and Scotland 
 was renewed. J ames had previously thought of marrying 
 the daughter of the Duke de Vendome, and went over to 
 France, as Pitscottie says, "to spy her pulchritud" before 
 making up his mind. The King of France, however, re- 
 ceived James with extraordinary kindness, and his eldest 
 daughter Magdalene, although she was "seiklie," yet, 
 frae the tyme shoe saw the King of Scotland, and spak 
 with him, shoe became so enamoured with him, and loved 
 him so Weill, that she wold have no man alive to hir 
 husband bot he allanerlie." 
 
 On the 1st of January 1536-7, James accordingly was 
 married to this Princess in the church of Notre Dame at 
 Paris, in the presence of the Kings of France and Na- 
 varre, several Cardinals, and a brilliant assemblage of 
 rank and beauty. On the 19th of May, the eve of Whit- 
 sunday, James V. and Magdalene arrived at Leith ; " and 
 when the Queene was cum upoun Scottish card [earth], 
 ehe bowed her doun to the same, and kissed the mould 
 thairof;" and then the royal pair proceeded to the Palace 
 of Holyrood, amid the acclamations of an enthusiastic 
 multitude. But disease had undermined the constitution 
 
86 
 
 HISTORY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 of the young Queen; and within forty days she was 
 carried a lifeless corpse to the Abbey Church of Holy- 
 rood, and buried close to the spot where the remains of 
 James himself were afterwards deposited. So intense 
 was the national grief at the untimely death of the young 
 Queen, that it appears the mourning dress was generally 
 adopted, the first instance, according to Buchanan, of its 
 being worn in Scotland. 
 
 The second Queen of James V. was Mary of Guise, 
 the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots. She was married 
 to the King in the Cathedral Church of St. Andrews, in 
 June 1538, but she was crowned in the Abbey Churcb 
 She appears to have resided but seldom in Holyrood, the 
 Palace of Linlithgow, her jointure house, being her fa- 
 vourite abode. She bore two sons to the King, both of 
 whom died in infancy, and were interred in the royal 
 vault of Holyrood. 
 
 After the shameful flight of his army on the shore of 
 the Solway Frith, James V. avoiding Holyrood Palace, 
 proceeded to Falkland, where he expired on the 14th of 
 December 1542, seven days after the birth of his only 
 surviving child and successor. Queen Mary — an event 
 which afforded him no consolation, but rather increaBed 
 the anguish of his last moments. 
 
CHAPTER T. 
 
 QUEEN MARY AT HOLYHOOD 
 
 (|g|r^HE Palace became the ordinary residence ol Queen 
 Mary after her return to her native country in 
 ^^fe 1561, and then occurred those events which in- 
 separably connect Holyrood with the life of the beautiful 
 " Queen of Scots," and invest its venerable apartments 
 with a thrilling interest. Here Mary first reposed after 
 her arrival from the gay land of France, which she so 
 loved and regretted; here she was married to Lord 
 Damley ; here Riccio was murdered, almost at her feet ; 
 here was the scene of her fatal nuptials with Both well ; 
 here she laid down her troubled head, the captive of her 
 own subjects, on the eventful night before she was com- 
 mitted to the Castle of Lochleven; in these halls, at 
 many a royal entertainment, she enchanted all that be- 
 held her by the loveliness of her person, and the graces 
 of her manner ; and here, too, born in overtrying times, 
 she had to endure those memorable and distressing inter- 
 views with the fiery and uncompromising leaders of the 
 Scottish Reformation. This is not the place to canvass 
 the character of the Queen — ^to weigh her virtues and her 
 errors nicely in the balance. The "genius loci" forbids 
 each an inquisition. A describer of Holyrood beholds 
 Mary Stuart only as that lovely, sufiering, intensely in- 
 
38 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 teresting woman, whose personal charms and tragical 
 death have drawn eloquence from the pens of so many 
 illustrious historians, and whose beautiful countenance hag 
 peered through the day-dreams of so many of Europe*8 
 mightiest poets. 
 
 Queen Mary landed at Leith as Sovereign of Scotland 
 in her own right, and youthful Dowager of France, on 
 the morning of the 19th of August 1561. The Queen 
 had successfully eluded Elizabeth*s projects to intercept 
 her at sea, but her early arrival on the 19th was unex- 
 pected, and the weather was so dark and stormy that the 
 ships when they anchored in Leith Roads were not seen 
 from the land. Mary was accompanied by her three 
 uncles, the Duke d'Aumale, the Marquis d'Elbeuf, and 
 the Grand Prior of France, as far as Calais, and lo 
 Scotland by the Seigneur de Damville, heir of the Con- 
 stable Montmorency, and several French gentlemen o/ 
 inferior note. Among the number was Peter de Bour- 
 deille, well known as the Sieur de Brantome, of which 
 he was Abbot. The Queen arrived in the roads at six 
 in the morning, and at ten o'clock " hir Hienes landit 
 upoun the schoir of Leith, and remanit in Andro Lambis 
 hous be the space of ane hour, and thairefter was con- 
 voyit up to hir palice of Halyrudhous."* The Queen's 
 " honourable reception " at Leith by the Earl of Argyll, 
 Lord Erskine, Lord James Stuart, and others, who con- 
 veyed her to Holyrood, is mentioned by contemporary 
 writers, and Knox records the "fires of joy set furth all 
 night,'' and a serenade with which she was regaled under 
 her " chalmer window." The " melodic," she said, " lyked 
 her Weill, and she willed the same to be continued some 
 nychts efter with grit diligence." Pitscottie says, " The 
 • Diurnal of Occurrents in Scotland, p. 66w 
 
QUEEN MARY AT HOLYROOD. 
 
 39 
 
 Queine maid hir entres in Edinburgh as the lyk was not 
 seine befoir, shoe was so gorgeouslie and magnificentlie 
 received."* One of Mary's attendants thought very dif- 
 ferently of the display, and more especially of the music 
 of the Scottish minstrels. The Queen, he says, rode on 
 horseback from Leith to Edinburgh, and " the lords and 
 ladies who accompanied her upon the little wretched 
 hackneys of the country as wretchedly caparisoned, at 
 eight of which the Queen began to weep, and to compare 
 them with the pomp and superb palfreys of France. 
 There was no remedy but patience. What was worst of 
 all, when arrived at Edinburgh, and retired to rest in the 
 Abbey, which is really a fine building, and not at all par- 
 taking of the rudeness of that country, there came under 
 her window a crew of five or six hundred scoundrels from 
 the city, who gave her a serenade with wretched violins 
 and little rebecks, of which there are enough in that 
 country, and began to sing psalms so miserably mistimed 
 and mistuned, that nothing could be worse. Alas ! what 
 music, and what a night's rest ! " 
 
 When Queen Mary arrived at Holyrood from Leith 
 dn the 19th of August, the only person of distinction 
 waiting to receive her was Lord Robert Stuart, one of her 
 illegitimate brothers, whose residence, as Lay- Abbot or 
 Commendator, was within the precincts of the Palace. 
 The Queen went to his house, and issued orders to as- 
 gemble the nobility, who had been previously summoned 
 to meet on the last day of that month. Probably Lord 
 Robert's house was the only one suitable for her tem- 
 porary reception, for, though the Queen brought her 
 jewels with her, her tapestry and other furniture for the 
 Palace did not arrive till some days afterwards, and her 
 * Pitscottie, vol. li. p. 659. 
 
40 
 
 HISTORY or mOLYROOD. 
 
 horses were detained at Berwick. The trials and morti* 
 fications which Mary was doomed to suffer on account of 
 her adherence to the Romish Church were made manifest 
 60 early as the first Sunday after her arrival, which was 
 St. Bartholomew's Day, the 24th of August. Preparations 
 were made to celebrate mass in the Chapel-Royal, at 
 which the Queen was to be present, and no sooner was 
 this known than a mob rushed towards the edifice, ex- 
 claiming — " Shall the idol be again erected in the land?** 
 Men of rank encouraged this riot, and Lord Lindsay, 
 along with some gentlemen of Fife, pressed into the court 
 of the Palace, shouting — " The idolatrous priests shall die 
 the death ! " The Queen, astonished and trembling, re- 
 quested her illegitimate brother Lord James Stuart, then 
 Prior of St. Andrews, who was in attendance, to allay the 
 tumult. With the utmost difficulty, notwithstanding his 
 popularity as a leading Reformer, he restrained the fury 
 of the mob, and though the service was continued in 
 quietness, at its conclusion new disorders were excited. 
 
 On the 31st of August a banquet was given to Mary 
 and her relatives by the city of Edinburgh, and on the 2d 
 of September the Queen made her public entry, and dined 
 in the Castle " at Twelf houris." On the same day John 
 Knox had an audience of Mary, who had been informed 
 of a furious sermon he had preached against the mass on 
 the preceding Sunday in St. Giles's church, and who 
 seems to have supposed that a personal conference would 
 initigate his sternness. It appears, however, from Knox's 
 own admission, that his sermon was not relished by the 
 majority of his audience, who maintained that he had 
 " departed from his subject," and that it was a " very un- 
 timely admonition." Knox presented himself at Holy- 
 rood, and, when admitted into the presence of Mary, he 
 
QUEEN MARY AT HOLYROOD. 
 
 41 
 
 found only Lord James Stuart in attendance. The inter- 
 view commenced with the Queen accusing him for his 
 book entitled " The First Blast of the Trumpet against the 
 monstrous Regimen of Women," and his intolerance 
 towards every one who differed from him in opinion ; and 
 she requested him to obey the precepts of the Scriptures, 
 a copy of which she perceived in his possession, desiring 
 him to "use more meekness in his sermons." Knox, 
 in reply, " knocked so hastily upon her heart, that he 
 made her weep." So great was the agitation of the 
 Queen, that Lord James Stuart attempted to soothe her 
 feelings, and to soften the language she had heard. Amid 
 tears of anguish and indignation, she said to Knox — 
 " My subjects, it would appear, must obey you, and not 
 me ; I must be subject to them, not they to me." After 
 Bome farther altercation, Knox was dismissed from the 
 royal presence, and he left Holyrood, convinced that 
 Mary's soul was lost for ever — that her conversion was 
 hopeless, because she continued "in her massing, and 
 despised and quickly mocked all exhortatioit" 
 
CHAPTEB VL 
 
 QUEEN MARY'S PROGRESSES TO AND FROM 
 HOLYROOD, &c. 
 
 ARY made her first royal progress on the 11th of 
 September, when she left Holyrood on horseback 
 after dinner, and proceeded successively by Lin- 
 lithgow, Stirling, Alloa, Culross, to Perth, Dundee, St. 
 Andrews, and Falkland, returning to Holyrood on the 29th. 
 
 Early in the spring of 1562 the Queen again left Holy- 
 rood to enjoy the pleasure of hawking and other amuse- 
 ments at Falkland and St. Andrews. In the beginning of 
 May the Queen returned to the Palace, where in July she 
 received Sir Henry Sydney, an accomplished statesman 
 sent by Elizabeth. On one occasion, while conversing 
 with Sydney in the garden of Holyrood, and attended by 
 her Court, one Captain Heiborne approached, and de- 
 livered to her a packet, which Mary handed to Lord 
 James Stuart, recently created Earl of Mar. The Earl, 
 who at first took no particular notice of it, at last opened 
 the packet, which he found to contain some ribald verses 
 and an insulting picture. The Queen was informed of the 
 odious contents on the following day, and felt so severely 
 this insult before the English ambassador that she became 
 sick while at mass. Meanwhile, the perpetrator of the 
 catrage escaped, and though Randolph wrote to the Gover* 
 
^UEEN MARY'S PROGRESSES 
 
 43 
 
 DOT of Berwick to apprehend him, we find no Bub sequent 
 notice of his capture or punishment. 
 
 The avocations and amusements of Mary at Holyrood 
 about this period are prominently noticed. After dinner 
 she generally read Livy and other ancient historians with 
 George Buchanan. She was a chess-player, and she de- 
 lighted also in hawking and shooting at the butts. In 
 her household were minstrels and singers, and the first 
 introduction of Riccio to the Scottish court was to supply 
 a vacancy among the latter, a bass having been required 
 to sing in concert with the others. In 1561 and 1562 
 the Queen had five players on the viol, and three players 
 on the lute. In the chapel of Holyrood were a " pair of 
 organs," for which, in February 1561-2, the sum of £10 
 was paid, by the Queen's command, to William Macdowal, 
 Master of Works, who had recovered and carefully pre- 
 served them, after the sum of £36 had been paid, in 
 February 1557-8, by the Treasurer to David Melville of 
 Leith. Mary was sedulously employed at Holyrood with 
 her needle, and tradition speaks of several elegant pro- 
 ductions of her industry. She was attended in her pri- 
 vate apartments by her four Marys, young ladies of noble 
 birth, of the same age with herself, who had attended 
 her during her residence in France — viz., Mary Fleming, 
 Mary Bethune, Mary Livingstone, and Mary Seton, but 
 Mademoiselle de Pinguillon is noticed as her chief lady. 
 
 On the 11th of August 1562 the Queen and her re- 
 tinue left Holyrood on a progress as far north as Inver- 
 ness. This journey occasioned the temporary ruin of the 
 Earl of Huntly and his family. Huntly himself fell in the 
 insurrectionary conflict in the vale of Corrichie, nearly 
 twenty miles west of Aberdeen. His dead body was 
 brought to Edinburgh by sea, and deposited in a vault in 
 
44 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 the Chapel of Holyrood, whence it was removed to the 
 Monastery of the Black Friars in Edinburgh, where it 
 continued till it was conveyed to the family sepulchre at 
 Elgin; and his son Sir John Gordon perished on the 
 Bcaffold in Aberdeen, in presence of Mary, who was a re- 
 luctant spectator of a fate which was one day to be her 
 own. The Queen returned to Holyrood on the evening 
 of the 21st of November, after an absence of nearly four 
 months, and she was immediately seized with an illness, 
 called the " New acquaintance," apparently a sort of in- 
 fluenza, which confined her to her couch six days. On 
 the 10th of January 1562-3 the Queen again left Holy- 
 rood for Castle-Campbell near the base of the Ochills, in 
 order to be present at the marriage of Lady Margaret 
 Campbell, sister of the Earl of ArgyU, to Sir James 
 Stewart of Doune, then Commendator of St. Colm, and 
 who in 1581 was created Lord Doune. On the 14th the 
 Queen returned to Holyrood, where she remained till the 
 13th of February, having recovered from another illness 
 which seized her after her arrival. 
 
 About this time occurred an incident which proves 
 that the Scottish nobility were altogether unscrupu- 
 lous in their efibrts to ruin those with whom they 
 were at feud. George, fifth Earl of Huntly, had fled, 
 after his father's defeat and death at Corrichie, to his 
 father-in-law the Duke of Chatelherault, who was obliged 
 to surrender him ; and he was committed a prisoner to the 
 Castle of Dunbar. The Earl was tried and convicted of 
 high treason on the 8th of February 1562-3, condemned 
 to be executed, and sent back to Dunbar in the meanwhile, 
 till the Queen's pleasure should be known. Preston of 
 Craigmillar, the governor of Dunbar Castle, received a 
 warrant, ordering him to behead the young nobleman. 
 
QUEEN MARY'S PROGRESSES. x6 
 
 This was intimated by Preston to the Earl, who was not 
 surprised at the announcement, and declared that he 
 " knew well enough by whose means and after what man- 
 ner such an order had been obtained, but that the Queen 
 had doubtless been imposed on, since he was very well 
 assured of her Majesty's favour, and that she would never 
 deliver him up to the rage of his enemies ; and therefore 
 he begged that he would do him the favour to go to the 
 Queen, and receive the order from her own mouth before 
 he would proceed farther." Preston immediately rode to 
 Edinburgh, and arrived at Holyrood late in the evening. 
 Notwithstanding the unseasonable hour, he demanded an 
 audience of the Queen, as he had a matter of the utmost 
 importance to communicate. He was admitted into the 
 royal bed-chamber, and Mary inquired the cause of this 
 unexpected visit. Preston told her that he was anxious 
 to inform her that he had obeyed her commands. " What 
 commands from me ?" asked the Queen. " The behead- 
 ing of the Earl of Huntly," was the reply. When Mary 
 heard this she manifested the greatest distress, weeping 
 and solemnly protesting that she had "never given nor 
 known of any such order." Preston quieted her apprehen- 
 sions by telling her that " it was very lucky he had not 
 executed the order — that the Earl was aliv-e and well, and 
 begged to have her Majesty's commands as to how he 
 should behave for the future towards his prisoner." Mary 
 thanked Preston for his prudent conduct, acknowledging 
 that nothing could be more acceptable to her, and that as 
 she had now full confidence in his fidelity, he was neither 
 to deliver up the Earl, nor execute any sentence on him, 
 unless she personally commanded him. 
 
 It has been already stated that when Mary arrived 
 from France she was acqompanied, among others, by 
 
46 
 
 HISTORY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 Monsieur de Damville, in whose train was Chastelard, a 
 gentleman of Dauphine. Brantome says that Chastelard 
 was grand-nephew of the Chevalier Bayard, and that he 
 bore a resemblance to his illustrious relative, was of the 
 middle height, very handsome, and of a spare figure, and 
 that he was clever, and had a turn both for music and 
 poetry. After residing some time at Holjrrood he returned 
 to France with Damville, by whom he was again sent to 
 Scotland with a letter, which he delivered to the Queen 
 at Montrose, while on her progress to Edinburgh from the 
 north. Mary subsequently often entered into conversa- 
 tion with Chastelard, whose manners were agreeable, and 
 who could talk to her of France, the country of her youth- 
 ful affections. Encouraged by the Queen's condescension, 
 this young man, in an evil hour, aspired to her love, 
 and in a fit of amorous frenzy concealed himself in her 
 bed-chamber at Holyrood, in which he was discovered by 
 her female attendants some minutes before she retired for 
 the night. This was on the 12th of February 1562-3, 
 and it appears that he had armed himself with a sword 
 and dagger. He was of course expelled by the Queen's 
 domestics, who, not wishing that their royal mistress 
 should be annoyed by this extraordinary and daring cir- 
 cumstance, concealed it till the morning. When Mary 
 was informed of Chastelard's conduct, she ordered him 
 instantly to leave the Palace, and never again to appear 
 in her presence. This lenity, however, failed to exercise 
 a proper effect on the infatuated man. On the 13th of 
 February the Queen left Holyrood for Fife, and Chastelard 
 had the presumption to repeat his offence at Burntisland 
 on the night of the 14th, while Mary was in the act of 
 stepping into bed, and was surrounded by her ladies. 
 The royal household was soon alarmed, and the offender 
 
QUEEN MARY'S PROGRESSES. 
 
 47 
 
 was secured by the Earl of Moray. On the second day 
 after this outrage he was tried aud condemned at St. 
 Andrews, where he was executed on the 22d of February 
 1662-3. 
 
 On the ICth of May 1563 the Queen returned to 
 Holyrood after an absence of upwards of three months 
 in Fife and the neighbouring counties of Kinross and 
 Perth. This was preparatory to the meeting of the 
 Parliament, which assembled on the 26th of May, and 
 Bat only till the 4th of June. Mary rode to the Par- 
 liament from Holyrood, accompanied by her ladies, the 
 Duke of Chatelherault carrying the crown, the Earl of 
 Argyll the sceptre, and the Earl of Moray the sword. 
 The address delivered by her on this, the first occasion 
 on which she ever saw a Parliament, was written in 
 French, and translated and spoken by her in English. 
 Her beauty and grace excited the loyal feelings of the 
 citizens, who exclaimed, as she passed to and from the 
 Parliament — " God save that sweet face I " On that same 
 day she gave a great banquet in Holyrood. 
 
 During the sitting of this Parliament a sermon was 
 preached by Knox in St. Giles's church before several of 
 the nobility, in which he argued that they ought to de- 
 mand from the Queen " that quhilk by God's Word they 
 may justly require, and if she would not agree with them 
 in God, they were not bound to agree with her in the 
 devil." He concluded with some observations respecting 
 the Queen's rumoured marriage, and declared — " When- 
 ever ye consent that an infidel, and all Papists are infi- 
 dels, shall be our head to our soverane, ye do so far as in 
 you lieth to banisch Christ Jesus from this realme ; ye 
 bring God's vengeance upon this country, a plague upon 
 vourselves, and perchance ye sail do no small discomfort 
 
48 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 to your soverane." This furious attack on the Queen 
 was soon communicated to her, and Knox was again 
 summoned to her presence in Holyrood by Douglas of 
 Drumlanrig, lay provost of Lincluden. It is not to be 
 wondered at that Mary was indignant at the invectives of 
 Knox, for he himself confesses that " Papists and Protes- 
 tants were both offended; yea, his most familiaris dis- 
 dained him for that speaking."* Lord Ochiltree, and 
 other leaders of the " faithful," accompanied Knox to the 
 Palace ; but John Erskine of Dun, the " Superintendent 
 of Angus and Meams" under the new system, was the 
 only person admitted with him into the Queen's cabinet 
 As soon as Mary saw Knox she exclahned, under great 
 excitement — "Never was prince handled as I am. I 
 have borne with you, " she said to Knox, " in all your 
 rigorous manner of speaking both against myself and 
 against my uncles ; yea, I have sought your favour by all 
 possible means. I offered unto you presence and audi 
 ence whenever it pleased you to admonish me, and yet I 
 cannot be quit of you. I vow to God I shall be once 
 avenged." The Queen wept, and often requested her 
 page for handkerchiefs to dry her tears. Knox answered 
 — " True it is, Madam, your Grace and I have been at 
 divers controversies, into the which I never perceived 
 your Grace to be offended at me ; but when it shall please 
 God to deliver you from that bondage of darkness and 
 error in the which ye have been nourished for the lack of 
 true doctrine, your majesty will find the liberty of my tongue 
 nothing offensive. Without the preaching place, Madam, 
 I am not master of myself, for I must obey Him who com- 
 mands me to speat plain, and flatter no flesh upon the face 
 of the earth." This reply was not likely to subdue the 
 ♦ Hist of Reformation, vol IL p. 386. £dit Edinb. 1848. 
 
QUEEN MARY'S PROGRESSES. 49 
 
 Queen's anger, and she indignantly asked— ^' What have 
 you to do with my marriage?" This elicited a definition 
 from Knox of his vocation to preach faith and repentance, 
 and the imperative necessity of teaching the nobility and 
 commonwealth their duty. The Queen again asked him 
 — " What have ye to do with my marriage, or what are 
 ye in this commonwealth?" — "A subject born withia 
 the same. Madam," was the stern reply; "and albeit 
 I be neither Earl, Lord, nor Baron within it, yet has 
 God made me, how abject soever I may be in your eyes, 
 ft profitable member within the same." Knox then re- 
 peated the words he had uttered in the pulpit, at which, 
 he himself says, "howling was heard, and tears might 
 have been seen in greater abundance than the matter 
 required." Erskine of Dun here attempted to soothe the 
 Queen by some complimentary allusions to her personal 
 beauty, the excellence of her disposition, and the admira- 
 tion expressed for her by all the princes of Europe, who 
 were rivals to gain her favour. Knox stood unmoved, 
 and his coolness increased Mary's anger. He volunteered 
 a defence of himself, and urged his conscientious motives, 
 which still further offended the Queen, who ordered him 
 to leave the cabinet, and remain in the ante-chamber till 
 her pleasure should be intimated. Lord John Stuart, 
 the Commendator of Coldingham, joined the Queen and 
 Erskine of Dun in the cabinet, in which they remained 
 nearly an hour. During this space, Knox, who wbs 
 attended by Lord Ochiltree, commenced a kind of reli- 
 gious admonition to the Queen's Marys and other ladies 
 present. " O fair ladies !" he said, " how pleasing is this 
 life of yours if it would ever abide, and then in the end 
 ^at ye pass to Heaven with all this gay gear ! But fie 
 upon the knave Death, tliat will come whether we will or 
 
HISTORY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 not, and when he has laid on his arrest, the foul worms 
 will be busy with this flesh, be it never so fair and tender ; 
 and the silly soul, I fear, shall be so feeble, that it can 
 neither carry with it gold, garnishing, targatting, pearS, 
 nor precious stones.*' After similar exhortations, not 
 often heard within the walls of a palace, Erskine of Dun 
 appeared, and they both walked from Holyrood to the 
 house of Knox at the Nether Bow. 
 
 On the 29th of June 1563 Queen Mary left Holyrood 
 on another progress to the west and south-west of Scot- 
 land as far as Inverary, which occrpied the two subse- 
 quent months of July and August. While the Queen was 
 at Stirling, and was so far on her return to Edinburgh, a 
 riot occurred at Holyrood in which Knox was deeply im- 
 plicated. On Sunday the 15th of August, when the " Kirk 
 at Edinburgh," says Knox, " had the ministration of the 
 Lord*s table, the Papists in grit numbers resorted to 
 
 the Abbey to their abominations at the 
 
 head of whom was a certain Madame Kaylie" [wife of 
 Mons. Raullet or Roullet, the Queen's private secretary.]* 
 Divine service was to be celebrated for their benefit, 
 according to the ritual of the Church of Rome. This 
 was known iu the neighbourhood, and several persons 
 " burst" into the church, among whom was a " zealous 
 brother," named Patrick Cranston, who exclaimed, as a 
 priest was preparing to commence mass — " The Queen's 
 Majesty is not here ; how dare you, then, be so malapert 
 as openly to do against the laws ?" The Queen's house- 
 hold were so much alarmed that they sent to Wishart of 
 Pitarrow, the Comptroller, who happened to be in St. 
 Giles's church, requesting him to proceed to Holyrood to 
 save the life of Madame Raylie and protect the Palace. 
 ♦ Note to Knoar^s Works, vol. li. p. 393. Edit, 1848. 
 
QUEEN MARY'S PROGRESSES. 
 
 51 
 
 Wishart proceeded thither, accompanied by Archibald 
 Douglas of Kilspindy, Provost of the city, the Magistrates, 
 and a numerous party ; but the disturbance had ceased 
 before their arrival, and the result of the prosecution of 
 Cranston, and his coadjutor Andrew Armstrong, whom 
 Knox intended to rescue, is not known. Knox was sum- 
 moned before the Queen and Privy Council for his inter 
 ference in this unseemly and intolerant disturbance, and 
 especially for presuming to set at defiance a recent Act of 
 the Parliament for the suppression of tumults within 
 burgh, which declared all assemblages of the people in 
 towns without the Queen's consent illegal. He denied 
 that he was guilty of seditious or rebellious practices, and 
 entreated the Queen to " forsake her idolatrous religion," 
 upon which the Earl of Morton, then Lord Chancellor, told 
 him to " hold his peace and go away." 
 
 Queen Mary returned to Holyrood on the 30th of Sep- 
 tember, and seems to have constantly resided in the 
 Palace during the ensuing winter. In January and Feb- 
 ruary 1563-4, she is mentioned as giving banquets to the 
 nobility, who in their turn invited her to be their guest. 
 Mary's health was evidently very indififerent while at 
 Holyrood, but her other chief annoyance was Knox, whom 
 ehe unsuccessfully attempted to banish from the city. On 
 the 6th of March 1563-4 the Queen left Holyrood, and 
 after alternately residing at Perth, Falkland, and St. 
 Andrews, she returned to Holyrood about the middle of 
 May. She again left HoljTood on the 22d of July 1564, 
 and, after a brief sojourn at Linlithgow and Stirling, she 
 went to Perth, whence she resorted to a hunting expedi- 
 tion in Atholl, and crossing into Inverness-shire, she 
 returned along the east coast by Aberdeen and Dunnottar 
 to Dundee and St. Andrews, and arrived at Holyrood on 
 the 25th or 26th of September. 
 
CHAPTEE Vn. 
 
 MARRIAGE OF QUEEN MARY AND LORD 
 DARNLEY AT HOLYROOD. 
 
 URING Mary's absence in this latter progress 
 an event occurred which had a serious effect 
 on her future destiny. This was the return of 
 her relative Matthew, Earl of Lennox, the father of Lord 
 Darnley, from his twenty-two years' exile in England. 
 The Earl arrived in Edinburgh on the 8th of September, 
 and was informed that the Queen was then the guest of 
 the Earl of Atholl in Perthshire. He resolved to pro- 
 ceed thither, and went to St. Andrews, where he heard 
 of the Queen's return southward. In obedience to Mary's 
 invitation, the Earl presented himself at Holyrood on the 
 27th of September, riding to the Palace preceded by 
 twelve gentlemen splendidly mounted and clothed in black 
 velvet, and followed by thirty attendants bearing his arms 
 and livery. His reception at Holyrood was flattering and 
 cordial. Either at this or a subsequent interview Lennox 
 gave the Queen " a marvellous fair and rich jewel, a clock, 
 a dial curiously wrought and set with stones, and a look- 
 ing glass very richly set with stones in the four metals ; 
 also to each of the Marys such pretty things as he thought 
 fittest for them." Lord Darnley was with his mother the 
 Countess of Lennox in England, but Mary intimated that 
 
MARRIAGE OF MARY AND DARNLET. 53 
 
 she had heard with eatisfackion most favourable reports 
 of his personal appearance; and common rumour had 
 already selected him as the Queen's husband. A series 
 of festivities was now held in Holyrood, and a grand en- 
 tertainment given by the Queen on the 12th of November 
 is specially mentioned. On the 3d of December, which 
 was the second day of . the meeting of the Parliament, 
 Mary recommended the reversal of the forfeiture of Len- 
 nox, who on the same day was restored to his estate and 
 honours ; but as an antidote to this compliance with the 
 royal desire, the attendance on mass, except in the Queen's 
 chapel, was ordered to be punished with the loss of goods 
 and of life. 
 
 Mary left Holjrrood for Fife on the 19th of January 
 1564-5, and she remained in quiet retirement at St. An- 
 drews till the 11th of February, when she crossed the 
 county to Lundie near Leven, where she arrived on the 
 12th, and on the 13th she rode to Wemyss Castle, then 
 inhabited by the Earl of Moray. " She was magnifi- 
 cently banquetted everywhere, so that such superfluity 
 was never seen before within this realme ; which caused 
 the wilde fowl to be so dear, that partridges were sold 
 for a crown a-piece."* At that very time Lord Darnley 
 had left London for Scotland, bringing with him Queen 
 Elizabeth's letters of recommendation, and a diamond 
 ring from his mother to Mary, her niece. Darnley arrived 
 in Edinburgh on the day Mary rode to Wemyss Castle, 
 whither he proceeded t)n the 16th of February, and there 
 had his first interview with the Queen, by whom he was 
 well received. Sir James Melville, who was present in 
 Wemyss Castle, states that Mary " took very well" with 
 her visitor, and jocularly said to him (Melville) that Dam- 
 * Knox's Works, it 471. 
 
54 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 Icy was tlie properest and best proportioned long man 
 that ever she had seen, fur," adds he, " he was long and 
 small, even and straight." Darnley was then only nine- 
 teen years of age, and four years younger then Mary. 
 The Queen returned to Edinburgh on the 24th of Fe- 
 bruary 156(£-5, Darnley having previously left Wemysa 
 Castle to visit his father, who was then with the Earl 
 of AthoU at Dunkeld, but hastening so rapidly thence to 
 Edinburgh as to reach the city before the return of the 
 Queen. 
 
 Daniley was now a regular visitor at Holyrood, and 
 took part in all the amusements of the Court. On the 
 26th of February he was entertained at supper by Moray 
 in his house in Croft-an-Righ behind the Palace, where 
 he met the Queen, with whom he danced. Darnley was 
 at this time popular with the citizens of Edinburgh, who 
 considered him to be good-natured, and affable in his 
 behaviour. Although he was suspected of " Popery," he 
 seems to have placed himself under the guidance of Moray, 
 and he occasionally resorted to the preaching of Knox in 
 St. Giles's Church. At length he proposed marriage to 
 the Queen, which she at first pretended to decline, and 
 even refused a ring which he wished her to accept. The 
 courtship, however, continued, and H is certain that in the 
 beginning of March 1664-5 Mary had fixed her affections 
 on Darnley, for shortly afterwards she sent Secretary 
 Maitland to London, to inform Elizabeth of her reso- 
 lution, which the English Queen knew before his ar- 
 rival. She stated as a principal inducement to this con- 
 nexion, that Darnley was so near of blood to both Queens, 
 he being her cousin-german, and his mother standing 
 in the same relationship to Elizabeth. Meanwhile 
 Mary left Holyrood for Linlithgow and StirUng oi 
 
MARRIAGE OF MARY AND DARNLEY. 66 
 
 Ihe 26th of March 1565, whither she was followed by 
 Damley, and the marriage was at last arranged at 
 Stirling in a meeting of the Privy Council on the 15th 
 of May 1565, at which the Queen was present, and 
 on that day Damley was created a knight, Earl of 
 Ross, and Lord of Ardmanach, his elevation to the Duke- 
 dom of Albany being merely delayed. About this period 
 a formidable party, led by the Earls of Moray and Argyll, 
 repeatedly attempted to overawe Mary, and actually de- 
 bated whether Damley ought to be murdered, or seized, 
 along with his father, and delivered to Elizabeth. Various 
 plots were concerted, and powerful confederacies formed 
 One was to carry the Queen to St. Andrews, and Darnley 
 to Castle-CampbeU ; but the ultimate agreement was, that 
 Moray should murder Damley, assume the government, 
 and imprison Mary for life in Lochleven Castle. 
 
 The Queen returned to Holyrood on the 4th of July, 
 on the 20th of which month Darnley was created Duke of 
 Rothesay, the Queen having previously received the con- 
 sent of her uncle the Cardinal of Lorraine to the marriage, 
 and also the dispensation of the Pope. On the following 
 Sunday the banns were proclaimed " in the paroche kirk of 
 St. Geill, in Halyrudhous, and in the Chepell Royall."* 
 Sunday the 29th was the day of this ill-fated union, and 
 the place was the same Chapel-Royal of Holyrood. John 
 Sinclair, Bishop of Brechin, and Dean of Restalrig, per- 
 formed the ceremonial according to the ritual of th« 
 Church of Rome between the hours of five and six in the 
 moming. It has been invariably recorded that Mary on 
 this eventful occasion was attired in mourning, and that 
 the dress was that which she wore on the day of her first 
 husband's funeral. Randolph, though not an eyewitness, 
 • Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 79. 
 
66 
 
 xiISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 informed the Earl of Leicester, that the Queen was con- 
 veyed to the Chapel dressed in "the great mourning 
 gowne of blacke, with the great wide mourning hoode, not 
 unlyke that which she wore the dolefull day of the burial! 
 of her husbande." Mary was attended by the Earls oi 
 Lennox and Atholl, who left her in the Chapel, and re- 
 turned into the Palace for Darnley. The Dean of Restal- 
 rig and a priest received the royal pair, the banns were 
 asked a third time, and a protest was taken by a notary 
 that no opposition was alleged against the marriage. The 
 service then proceeded. Three rings, one of them a rich 
 diamond, were placed by Darnley on the Queen's finger, 
 and they knelt together during the prayers. When the 
 ceremony was concluded, Darnley kissed the Queen, and 
 proceeded to her apartments in the Palace, leaving her in 
 the Chapel to attend mass, which he seems to have pur- 
 posely avoided. A splendid banquet was given in the 
 Palace in the afternoon, and Knox carefully records that 
 the entertainments and rejoicings continued three or four 
 days. At the marriage dinner the Queen was served by 
 the Earl of Atholl as sewer, the Earl of Morton as carver, 
 and the Earl of Crawford as cupbearer, the Earls of 
 Eglinton, Cassillis, and Glencairn waiting on Darnley. 
 The trumpets sounded a largesse, and money was distri- 
 buted in the Palace to the domestics. A ball succeeded 
 the banquet, after which the Queen and her consort re- 
 tired till the hour of supper, which repast was a repetition 
 of the dinner. Dancing was resumed, and the royal pair 
 then betook themselves to their own chamber. Randolph 
 states — " I was sent for to have been at the supper, but 
 like a churlish or uncourteous carle I refused to be there."* 
 On the following day the Queen subscribed a proclama- 
 • Wright's Queen Elizabeth and her Tunes/* vol. i. p. 20L 
 
MARRIAGE OP MARY AND DARNLEY. 57 
 
 Hon in the Palace, which was published at the Cross oi 
 Edinburgh, ordaining Darnley to be styled King, though 
 this by no means associated him with her in the govern- 
 ment. She had soon cause, however, to regret this impru- 
 dent act, which excited the strongest dissatisfaction 
 among the nobility, while Darnley's conduct after his 
 marriage made him numerous enemies. On the 19th of 
 August, when he attended St. Giles's Church, Kiiox edified 
 him by a sermon against the government of boys and 
 women, meaning him and the Queen. A serious coalition 
 was now formed, and a rebellion ensued, in which the 
 Earl of Moray was particularly conspicuous, but the active 
 movements of the Queen and the royal forces completely 
 disconcerted the insurgents. On the 25th of August the 
 Queen and Darnley left Holyrood in order to disperse the 
 disaffected in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, and in 
 September the royal pair were in Stirling, Dunfermline, 
 Dundee, and Perth, returning to Holyrood on the 19th of 
 that month. They resided in the Palace till the 8th of 
 October, when the movements of the insurgents in Dum- 
 fries-shire again drew them from Holyrood, but the sup- 
 pression of the insurrection brought them to the Palace on 
 the 18tb, and they remained in it till the end of the year, 
 unconscious of the confederacies forming against them. 
 
 The Earl of Moray, the principal leader in this rebel- 
 lion, was compelled to retire into England as an exile, 
 and at this crisis the Earl of Bothwell, profiting by 
 Moray's disgrace, returned from France, accompanied by 
 David Chalmers of Ormond, who was soon appointed one 
 of the Ordinary Lords of Session. Bothwell, who had 
 been expelled from Scotland by the power of Moray, was 
 leceived with marked distinction by the Queen, and this 
 daring and profligate man was present at a meeting of 
 
58 
 
 HISTORY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 the Privy Council on the 5th of November. The Queen 
 and Darnley continued to reside in Holyrood during the 
 winter, and about the beginning of February 1565-6, the 
 Seigneur de Rembouillet, with a deputation from the 
 King of France, arrived at the Palace, to present Darnley 
 with the order of St. Michael, known as the Scallop oi 
 Cockle-shell Order, so called from the escallop shells of 
 which the collar was composed. The investiture was per- 
 formed after the celebration of mass in the Chapel-Royal, 
 and, on the 11th of February, the French ambassador was 
 invited to a banquet or entertainment in the Palace, and 
 in the evening there was a masquerade, at which the 
 Queen, her four Marys, and all her ladies appeared in 
 male attire, and presented each of the strangers with ia 
 " whinger" embroidered with gold. The French ambas- 
 sador was lodged near the Palace, and his expenses were 
 defrayed by the Queen. 
 
CHAPTEB YIIL 
 
 MUBDER OF RICCIO IN HOLYROOD. 
 
 this time two conspiracies were in active pro- 
 gress — ^the dethronement of Mary and the mur- 
 der of David Riccio, which latter plot was origi- 
 nally formed by no less a personage than Darnley him- 
 self, in conjunction with his father Lennox. Darnley, 
 whose enemies were now numerous, and whose insolence 
 was unbounded, was induced to believe that Riccio was 
 the sole instigator of those measures which deprived him 
 of the crown-matrimonial and his share of the govern- 
 ment, for which it was too obvious he was utterly inca- 
 pacitated by his habits and mental imbecility. Mary had 
 painfully discovered that she had thrown away her affec- 
 tions on one whom it was impossible to treat with confi- 
 dence or regard; and an unhappy quarrel was the re- 
 sult, which the conduct of Darnley rendered every day 
 the more irreconcileable. The first victim connected with 
 this alienation of Mary's affections and her husband's 
 violence was Riccio, of whom Darnley became jealous, 
 actually labouring under the delusion that the Italian had 
 supplanted him in the Queen's esteem. The agent of 
 Cosmo I., Grand Duke of Tuscany, mentions that one at- 
 . tempt to murder Riccio was frustrated by Lord Seton. It 
 was afterwards proposed to assassinate him while playing 
 
60 
 
 HISTORY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 a game of rackets with Damley, who was to invite him 
 for that purpose. Randolph wrote to Leicester, that 
 Darnley and his father had resolved to murder Riccio— 
 that it would be done in ten days — ^that the crown would 
 be torn from the Queen — and that still darker designs 
 were meditated against her person which he durst not 
 record in his correspondence. 
 
 Such was the dreadful condition of the royal inmates 
 of the Palace of Holyrood at this crisis. Mary's refusal 
 to confer the crown-matrimonial soon led to coldness, re- 
 proaches, and an absolute estrangement, on the part of 
 Damley, who publicly treated her with haughtiness, for^ 
 Book her company, and intrigued with her enemies. In 
 addition to this, he indulged in low habits, and was leading 
 a most dissipated and profligate life. Sir William Drury 
 informed Cecil of two instances of Damley's drunkenness ; 
 the one in a merchant's house in Edinburgh, at which the 
 Queen was present, when he conducted himself towards 
 er so insolently that she left the place in tears — and the 
 other a shameful carousal on the Island of Inchkeith in 
 company with Lord Robert Stuart, the " Abbot'* or Com- 
 mendator of Holyrood, Lord Fleming, and other per- 
 sonages. The disgust in which the Queen, then far 
 advanced in pregnancy, held her husband, was well known 
 throughout the kingdom, yet Darnley was altogether re- 
 gardless of what she thought or felt 
 
 Riccio, the immediate victim of the tragedy in Holy- 
 rood, was a constant attendant on the Queen in his capa- 
 city of French secretary, and resided in the Palace. This 
 unfortunate foreigner, who is described by Sir James Mel- 
 ville as a " merry fellow and a good musician," was bom 
 at Turin in Piedmont, where his father earned a preca- 
 rious subsistence as a musician. Riccio followed the 
 
BIURDER OF RICCIO. 
 
 61 
 
 Piedmontese ambassador into Scotland, and having at« 
 tracted the notice of Mary, he was in 1561 appointed a 
 valet of her chamber. He is described by some contem- 
 porary writers as being a man up in years, of unpleasant 
 features, and somewhat deformed in person; but in a 
 despatch from the Duke of Tuscany, dated 8th October 
 1566, published in the work of Prince Labanoff, he is said 
 to have been only Twenty-eight in 1562. On the 8th of 
 January 1561-2 the sum of £89 was paid to him; on the 
 15th of April 1562 he received £15 as " chalmer chield 
 and in 1564 four quarterly payments were made to him 
 at the rate of £80 per annum, as " valet of the Queen's 
 chalmer." Mary was fond of vocal music, and having 
 three valets who sung three parts, Kiccio was recom- 
 mended to her as competent to sing the fourth or bass 
 part in concert. He continued as valet till the dismissa[ 
 of Raulet, the Queen's secretary, whom she had brought 
 from France, when Riccio was appointed his succes- 
 sor. '^He appears to have been unpopular from the first, 
 and his officious interferences soon rendered him an 
 object of bitter hatred. He was, moreover, suspected ol 
 being a pensioner of the Pope, which by no means lessened 
 the odium against him. He interfered with the adminis- 
 tration of justice in the Court of Session, and, by the 
 presents he received to secure his influence, he soon became 
 rich. His situation necessarily led him much into the 
 private parties given by the Queen, who liked him for his 
 polite and obsequious manners, his amusing talents, and 
 his fidelity. Sir James Melville relates a conversation he 
 had with Riccio, who, he says, was not without his feart*. 
 He was advised by Melville to conduct himself with the 
 humility becoming his station, not to intermeddle with 
 state affairs, always to give place to the nobility* and when 
 
62 
 
 HISTORY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 they were present to retire from the Queen. Ricclo 
 admitted the prudence of those suggestions, and said he 
 would follow the advice recommended ; but he afterwards 
 told Melville that " the Queen would not sufifer him, and 
 he would needs carry himself as formerly." Sir James also 
 relates a conversation he had with Mary respecting Riccio, 
 advising her to be cautious as to the favour she evinced 
 to one who was suspected to be a pensioner of the Pope, 
 and to " alter her carriage" towards him. Darnley, soon 
 after his arrival in Scotland, formed a remarkable intimacy 
 with the favoured secretary, and the latter was a power- 
 ful advocate with Mary in favour of the young lord's pre- 
 tensions to her hand. After the marriage, Riccio increased 
 in affluence. On the 1st and 24th of August 1565 he re- 
 ceived some presents and money, and about the end oi 
 the same year he seems to have acted as keeper of the 
 privy purse to Mary and Darnley, especially in February 
 1565-6, when he was paid by the Queen's precept £2000 
 in part of 10,000 merks owing to her from the " comp- 
 toir " of the coinage for the previous two years. 
 
 Such was the individual of whom Darnley became 
 seriously jealous, and Riccio's enemies embraced the op- 
 portunity of exciting the imbecile mind of the former to 
 Buch a degree, that he sent his relative George Douglas, 
 on the 10th of February, to implore Lord Ruthven, is 
 whom he had the greatest confidence, to assist him against 
 the " villain David." Ruthven was then so unwell, that 
 he " was scarcely able to walk the length of his chamber," 
 yet he consented to engage in the murder; but though 
 Darnley was sworn to keep the design secret, Randolph 
 was informed of the project, and revealed it in a letter, 
 which is still preserved, to the Earl of Leicester nearly 
 a month before the crime was perpetrated. In reality, 
 
MURDER OF RICCIO. 
 
 63 
 
 however, the first conspirators against the unfortunate 
 Riccio were the Earl of Morton, Lords Euthven and 
 Lindsay, and Maitland of Lethington, the last ingeniously 
 contriving to make Darnley the patron of the plot, and 
 the dupe of his associates. Morton's grand projects were 
 to break up the approaching Parliament, imprison the 
 Queen, place Darnley in the nominal sovereignty, and 
 constitute the Earl of Moray the head of the govern- 
 ment, and this was to be achieved by the murder of 
 Riccio. 
 
 It is impossible to detail all the minute particulars, the 
 concocting of two bonds or covenants, and other events, 
 connected with this plot, which belong rather to general 
 history, and strikingly illustrate the unscrupulous crimin- 
 ality of the age. Some hints of impending danger were 
 conveyed to Mary, who, however, disregarded them. 
 Even Eiccio received a significant caution from a person 
 named Damiot, a reputed astrologer, who advised him to 
 settle his affairs and leave Scotland. 
 
 The Parliament was opened by the Queen in person, 
 who rode from Holyrood to the Tolbooth near St. Giles's 
 Church, arrayed in " wondrous gorgeous apparel," early 
 in March 1565-6. Mary requested Darnley to accom- 
 pany her on the first day to the Parliament, but he pre- 
 ferred riding to Leith with " seven or aucht horse " to 
 amuse himself. The Lords of the Articles were chosen, 
 and the forfeiture against Moray and the banished Nobility 
 was discussed for two days, with great diversity of opinion. 
 The influence of the Queen eventually prevailed, and the 
 attainder of Moray and his friends was to have been passed 
 on Tuesday the 12th March. 
 
 On the evening of Saturday the 9th of March, about 
 five hundred persons surrounded the Palace of Holyrood 
 
64 
 
 HISTORY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 The Earl of Morton and Lord Lindsay kept guard without, 
 and a hundred and sixty men occupied the court. Mary 
 was in that portion of the Palace which was built by her 
 father, consisting of the north-west towers, the second 
 storey of which contains the apartments now mournfully 
 associated with her name, consisting of an ante-chamber 
 called the " Chamber of presence," which leads into a room 
 having one window on the south and another on the west 
 side, which was Queen Mary's bed-chamber, off which, in 
 each of the projecting circular towers at the angles, is a 
 small apartment, the one in the north-west tower known 
 as Queen Mary's supping-room, and that in the south-west 
 tower as her dressing-room. These are reached by the 
 staircase which opens on the piazzas on the north side of 
 the quadrangle, and also by a narrow private stair on the 
 north side of the Palace near the west door of the Chapel- 
 Royal. By this private stair the conspirators were, in 
 the first instance, admitted to Darnley's apartments on the 
 first storey. 
 
 About seven in the evening Mary was seated in the 
 little room in the north-west turret, at one of those small 
 supper parties, in the easy cheerfulness of which she took 
 especial pleasure. At table with her were the Countess 
 of Argyll, and the Commendator of Holyroodhouse, her 
 legitimate sister and brother, Beaton of Criech, Master 
 of the Household, Arthur Erskine, captain of the guard, 
 and Riccio. Suddenly the arras which covered the private 
 entrance into the bed-chamber from Darnley's apartments 
 was lifted, and the King immediately entered the closet 
 in which Mary was seated, and, placing himself by her 
 side, threw his arm, in an affectionate manner, round her 
 waist. In another instant the arras in the adjacent room was 
 dgain lifted abruptly, and Lord Ruthven stalked into the 
 
MUKDER OP RICCIO. 
 
 65 
 
 apartment, Ms tall figure clad in armour, and his face ghastly 
 with the pallor of recent sickness, and the ferocity of un- 
 bridled rage. Alarmed at the intrusion of so singular and 
 menacing an apparition, the Queen sprung to her feet, and 
 with that dignity which she could assume when necessary, 
 commanded Ruthven to leave the royal apartments. At 
 ttiis moment the noise of persons rushing up the private 
 stairs was heard — then the tramp of heavy feet in the 
 adjoining room — and in the next instant, amid the glare 
 of brandished torches, Ker of Faldonside, George Douglas, 
 postulate of Arbroath, and several others, rushed into the 
 iittle apartment, with swords and daggers gleaming in 
 their hands ; " so rudely and irreverently," says a contem- 
 porary, that the table, with the candles and dishes on it, 
 were dashed upon the floor. The table fell upon the 
 Queen, then in the sixth month of her pregnancy, where- 
 upon Ruthven, brandishing his dagger, cried out, " No 
 harm is intended to you. Madam, but only to that villain." 
 The unfortunate Riccio, who saw that his life was aimed 
 at, sprung behind Mary, and, clutching her gown with th« 
 firm grasp of despair, cried out " Justice ! save my life, 
 Madam, save my life I" The conspirators pressed for 
 ward, and, while Darnley strove to unfasten Riccio's hold 
 of the Queen's person, Ker of Faldonside, a brutal bor- 
 derer, presented a pistol to her bosom, threatening to fire 
 if she made unnecessary resistance. While Darnley used 
 his strength to detain the Queen, George Douglas snatched 
 the King's dagger from its sheath, and, stabbing Riccio 
 with it over Mary's shoulder, left it sticking in his body. 
 The conspirators then dragged the wretched secretary 
 furiously through the bedroom and ante-chamber, stabbing 
 him as they went, till he fell at the head of the staircase, 
 outolo the door of the ante-chamber» pierced by fiftv-sk 
 
C6 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 desperate wounds. Mary, in the meamvhile, sat tremDimg 
 in the turret room, till one of her ladies brought her intel- 
 ligence that Riccio was slain, when, drying her tears, she 
 exclaimed, " Is it so ? — then I shall study revenge." 
 
 The brutal, repulsive Ruthven, with his dagger reeking 
 from the slaughter, now staggered into the royal closet, 
 exhausted by fatigue, and demanded a cup of wine, a re- 
 quest which was complied with ; but the Queen said, in a 
 determined tone of voice, " It shall be dear blude to some 
 of you." The mangled body of Ricoio was dragged to 
 the porter's lodge, stripped naked, and treated with every 
 mark of indignity. It is alleged, however, that his corpse 
 was afterwards deposited for a time in the royal vault, 
 by the Queen's express orders, a circumstance afterwards 
 remembered to her disadvantage. 
 
 After the murder was consummated the assassins kept 
 the Queen a close prisoner in her own apartments. Darn- 
 ley assumed the regal power, dissolved the Parliament, 
 commanding the estates to leave Edinburgh within three 
 hours on pain of treason, and orders were sent to the 
 Magistrates enjoining them to be vigilant. To the Earl 
 of Morton and his armed retainers were entrusted the 
 gates of the Palace, with injunctions that none should 
 escape ; nevertheless, the Earls of Atholl and Bothwell 
 contrived to elude the guards by leaping out of a win- 
 dow. On the following morning, which was Sunday, Sir 
 James Melville was " let forth" at the gate. The Queen 
 eaw him passing through the court-yard, and, throwing 
 up the window sash, she implored him to alarm the 
 lieges, that she might be delivered out of the hands of 
 traitors. The master of Lennox's household was sent 
 with a party to stop him, but Sir James was allowed 
 to proceed on declaring that he was merely " going to 
 
MUKDER OP RICCIO. 
 
 67 
 
 flermon in St. Giles's Clmrch." " And then,'' says a con- 
 temporary, " the cry and noise rais throu the Cannogait 
 , . . whereupon the common bell rang in sic sort, that 
 everie man past to armour, and ruschit doun with Simon 
 Prestonn of Craigmillar, thair provest, to Halyrudhous, 
 willing to have deliverit the Quenis grace and revengit 
 the cans forsaid."* Mary in vain entreated the assas- 
 sins to permit her to address the people from the window, 
 " to whom," she says, " we was not permitted to give an- 
 swer, being extremely bosted [threatened] by thir Lords, 
 who, in our face, declared, if we desired to have spoken 
 them, they should cut us in coUops and cast us over the 
 walls." t Darnley appeared for her, assured the Provost 
 and his party that the Queen was safe, and commanded 
 them to disperse, an injunction which they instantly 
 obeyed. 
 
 On the evening of that Sunday the Earls of Moray- 
 and Rothes, Lord Ochiltree, and others of the exiled 
 nobility, arrived in Edinburgh, according to their con- 
 certed plan, and instantly rode to Holyrood. They were 
 welcomed by Damley, and so unconscious was the Queen 
 of Moray's foreknowledge of the murder, that she sent 
 for him, threw herself into his arms, and in an agony of 
 tears exclaimed—" If my brother had been here, he 
 never would have suffered me to have been thus crueDy 
 handled." This incident overcame Moray, who is re- 
 ported to have wept. Yet, whatever might have been 
 the feelings of the Queen, and though a rigorous prosecu- 
 tion was instituted against the assassins, they were all re- 
 ceived into the royal favour before the end of the year, 
 with the exception of Lord Ruthven, who died at New- 
 
 ♦ Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 91. 
 t Mary's Letter to the Archbishop of Glasgow, ut supra^ 
 
68 
 
 HISTORY 0¥ HOLYROOD. 
 
 castle on the 13th of June, and also of George Douglas, 
 the man who inflicted the first blow, and Ker of Faldoo- 
 Bide, the ruffian who put a pistol to Mary's breast, who 
 were excepted from the general pardon. Only two per- 
 eons were executed for the murder of Riccio. Those 
 were Thomas Scott of Cambusmichael, then sheriff-depute 
 of Perth, and Henry Yair, formerly a priest, and con- 
 nected with the Chapel-Royal of Holyrood, who were tried 
 on the 1st of April, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, 
 and quartered. Scott's head was spiked on a tower ol 
 the Palace, and that of Yair on the Nether-bow. Wil- 
 liam Harlaw and John Mowbray, both burgesses of Edin- 
 burgh, who were tried and found guilty on the same day 
 with the two others, were brought to the place of execu- 
 tion, and pardoned at the intercession of the Earl of 
 Bothwell. 
 
 Mary soon succeeded in detaching Darnley from the 
 party of the assassins, and he had the hardihood to deny 
 having had any connection with the conspiracy. Ruth- 
 >en and his associates withdrew from the Palace to the 
 Earl of Morton's house, the guards were removed, and 
 the domestics of the Queen resumed their household du- 
 ties. This appears to have been on Monday, and at 
 midnight the Queen suddenly left Holyrood for the royal 
 castle of Dunbar, of which Bothwell was keeper, accom- 
 paried by Darnley, Arthur Erskine, the captain of the 
 guard, and one female attendant. Mary, accompanied 
 by her husband, and escorted by two thousand horsemen, 
 came to Edinburgh on the 18th, but, instead of taking up 
 her abode in Holyrood, occupied " my Lord Home's lodg- 
 ing, callit the auld bishope of Dunkell his lodeging anent 
 the Salt trone."* A few days afterwards she removed to 
 * Diurnal of Oecurrents^ p. 94. 
 
MURDER OF RICCIO. 
 
 another tenement nearer the Castle, probably the for- 
 mer domicile of her mother, the Queen Eegent, cm the 
 CastlehilL 
 
 The Queen does not appear to have been often resident 
 in the Palace till after the birth of her son James VI. in 
 Edinburgh Castle, on the 19th of June 1666. After her 
 recovery Mary indulged in excursions to Alloa House, 
 hunting expeditions into Peeblesshire and Perthshire, and 
 visits to Stirling and Drummond Castles, returning to 
 Edinburgh occasionally when her presence was required 
 for the public business. Though Darnley, who had been 
 apparently reconciled to her at Alloa House by the in- 
 fluence of the French ambassador Mauvissiere, either fol- 
 lowed the Queen or accompanied her in those excursions, 
 he latterly chose to remain at Stirling, displaying that way- 
 ward recklessness peculiar to him, and annoying Mary by 
 threatening to leave the kingdom. The Queen was occa- 
 sionally at Holyrood in August and September 1656, dur- 
 ing which months the excursions took place, and on the 
 29th of the latter month Darnley arrived at the Palace 
 about ten in the evening. The Queen on the morning of 
 that day received a letter from Lennox, announcing his 
 inability to dissuade his son from his intention of retiring 
 to the Continent, which she laid before the Privy Council. 
 Darnley peremptorily refused to enter the Palace unless 
 the Earls of Moray, Argyll, and Rothes, the Secretary 
 Maitland of Lethington, and some of the Officers of State 
 who were within, should leave it ; and the Queen conde- 
 scended to wait on him at the entrance, and conducted 
 him to her own apartments, where he remained with her 
 during the night. She questioned him about his design 
 to leave Scotland, and requested to know his reasons for 
 so extraordinary a project. These he refused to assign, 
 
ro 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 though he acknowledged that he had no cause of discon- 
 tent On the following day the Privy Council met in the 
 Queen's apartments, and argued with Damley respecting 
 the folly of the design which he had formed, either of his 
 own accord or at the instigation of others for some sinister 
 purpose ; and the Queen took him by the hand, entreating 
 liim to say whether she had ever offended him, and freely 
 lo make known his sentiments. He thought proper to 
 deny that he had any intention of leaving the kingdom ; 
 he admitted that he had no cause of complaint ; and he 
 confessed that the Queen had ever been to him indulgent 
 and affectionate. He then abruptly retired from the 
 Privy Council, saying to Mary — "Adieu, Madam, you 
 Bhall not see me for a long space;" and to the Privy 
 Council — " Adieu, gentlemen." This was apparently the 
 last time Damley was within the Palace, from which he 
 immediately proceeded to hk father at Oksgow. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MURDER OF DARNLEY AND RISE OF 
 BOTHWELL. 
 
 ^^^|S|\^ARNLEY'S temper had now become so capricions, 
 and his carriage so unbearable to all about the 
 Court, that the dreadful fate, which soon befei 
 him, is not to be wondered at, when we remember the 
 fierce and bloodthirsty character of the times. The 
 Queen had discovered his falsehood and duplicity in 
 relation to the murder of her secretary, and, before 
 her accouchement, she was meditating a divorce, and 
 had actually sent a confidential messenger to Rome for 
 that purpose. She was in truth so miserable, that she 
 also entertained an intention of returning to France, 
 and of entrusting the Government of the kingdom to 
 a Regency composed of the Earls of Moray, Huntly, 
 Mar, AthoU, and Bothwell. After the birth of Jamea 
 VI., however, her heart, influenced by the feelings of 
 a young mother, relented towards Darnley, and a per- 
 fect reconciliation was prevented solely by his own head- 
 strong and capricious conduct. His behaviour in the 
 Palace, when he abruptly left the Privy Council, sealed 
 his fate, and it was now determined that his career should 
 be brief. The whole details of the plot against Darnley 
 seem to have been finally arranged in Craigmillar Castle, 
 
72 
 
 HISTORY OP HOLYROOD-. 
 
 in November, two months after the attempt was originaBy 
 tfesolved on. 
 
 Bothwell was now rising in the Queen's favour, an^ 
 as his residence was within the precincts of Holyrood, he 
 had frequent opportunities of evincing his devotedness to 
 her interests. Her partiality for him, though he was tea 
 years her senior, and had married Lady Jane Gordon a 
 few months before the birth of James YI., had been early 
 detected by Moray, Maitland, and their associates, who 
 artfully flattered his vanity, and encouraged an ambition, 
 daring enough at any time, to aspire to a height which he 
 had never before contemplated. On the 6th of October, 
 after attending a meeting of the Frivy Council, Bothwell 
 loft Edinburgh to quell some disturbances on the Borders, 
 and to prepare the frontier districts to receive the Queen, 
 It is alleged by Sir James Melville, from personal observer- 
 lion, that Bothwell's project, for the murder of Darnle^ 
 and the pcssession of the Queen's person, should be date(3 
 from the time that he was sent to the Border ; but this 
 was his own private scheme, and: Moray, Morton, Mait- 
 land, aad others, were in a plot of their own, which, as 
 already stated, was formed about the end of September. 
 
 Mary, accompanied by the Officers of State, and the 
 whole Court, left Holyrood, on the 8th of October, for Jed- 
 burgh, to hold justice-ayres, the very day on which Both- 
 well, who had set out on the 6th, was severely woundecl 
 in the hand in an eiMiounter with a Border leader, named 
 Elliot of Park, at Hermitage Castle. Darnley v/as resi- 
 ding at the time v/ith his father at Glasgow. It would b® 
 irrelevant to this narrative to detail the Queen's proceed- 
 ings during this expedition — ^her fatiguing ride, from 
 Jedburgh to Hermitage Castle and back, in one day, t(^ 
 ^sit Bothwell, when she was informed that he waa 
 
MURDER OF DARNLEY. 
 
 73 
 
 wounded — her dangerous illness on her return to Jed- 
 burgh — Darnley's hasty visit to her after her recovery — 
 and her progress to Edinburgh by Kelso, Coldingham, and 
 Dunbar. On the 20th of November the Queen arrived at 
 Craigmillar Castle, in which she continued to reside, in a 
 very debilitated state, till the 5th December, when she 
 removed to Holyrood. During Mary's sojourn in Craig- 
 millar she was visited by Darnley on the 26th, and ho 
 remained with her a week. On the 11th of December the 
 Queen left Holyrood for Stirling Castle, to be present at 
 the baptism of her son, and returned to Holyrood on the 
 14th of January 1566-7. On the 20th she had become 
 reconciled to Darnley, who had exhibited some of his 
 vagaries at Stirling on occasion of the royal baptism, 
 which he either refused or was not allowed to witness, 
 and who also had been seized with small-pox while on 
 his way from Stirling to Glasgow. On the 24th of Janu- 
 ary the Queen left Holyrood to bring Darnley from 
 Glasgow to Edinburgh, he having partially recovered from 
 his sickness. He had received some private intelligence 
 of the plots against him ; he was aware of the return from 
 exile of the Earl of Morton, who regarded him as the 
 cause of all his sufferings ; and he knew that among his 
 mortal enemies, who had never forgiven him for his 
 desertion of them after the murder of Riccio, were some 
 of the most powerful nobility, who now enjoyed the confi- 
 dence of the Queen. At his interview with Mary in 
 (jlasgow he expressed great contrition for his errors, 
 pleaded his youth, the few friends on whom he could now 
 rely, and declared his unalterable affection to herself. 
 The Queen told him, that as he was scarcely able to travel 
 on horseback, she had brought a litter to carry 1 im to 
 Craigmillar, where she intended to give him the bath, and 
 
74 
 
 HISTORY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 added that the air of that place would be more salubrious 
 for a convalescent than that of Holyrood. 
 
 The Queen arrived at Edinburgh in company with 
 Darnley upon the 31st of January ; but the house of the 
 Provost of the Church of St. Mary-in-the Fields, commonly 
 called the Kirk-of-Field, on the site of the present Uni- 
 versity, was selected for his residence, in preference to 
 Craigmillar Castle. 
 
 It is impossible within our narrow limits to enter into 
 the details of the dreadful murder of Darnley in the Kirk- 
 of-Field House, early in the morning of the 10th of 
 February. The Queen had passed the greater part of 
 Sunday the 9th with him, on the most affectionate terms ; 
 and she, at first, had resolved to remain all night in the 
 house. She, however, recollected an engagement to honour 
 with her presence an entertainment at Holyrood, given 
 on occasion of the marriage of Sebastian, or Sebastiani, 
 a foreign domestic of the Palace, with Margaret Carwood, 
 one of her favourite women. When Mary left Darnley 
 she kissed him, put a ring on his finger as a mark of affec- 
 tion, and bade him adieu for the night. In the mean- 
 while, a large quantity of gunpowder had been deposited 
 in the "laiche and dame [low and concealed] pairts" of 
 the house ; and one of the parties who assisted in convey- 
 ing it to " Kirk-of-Field" says, that as they were returning 
 towards the Abbay "up the Black Frier Wind, the 
 Queues grace was gangand before thame with licht 
 torches." * Both well, also, left the Kirk-of-Field House at 
 the same time by a different entrance, and joined in the 
 festivities at the Palace, from which, however, he stole 
 away about midnight. 
 
 ♦ Declaration of William Fowrie. Pitcaim's Criminal Trialfi* 
 vol. i. p. *m 
 
MURDER OF DARNLEY. 
 
 76 
 
 Early in the morning many of the citizens of Edin- 
 burgh were awakened by a loud explosion, and, on pro- 
 ceeding to the spot, they found that the house had been 
 blown up with gunpowder. The bodies of Damley and a 
 page who slept in the same apartment with him were dis- 
 covered lying in the garden adjoining ; and of the house 
 of Kirk-of-Field " ther remainit not ane stone upon ane 
 other undestroyit." 
 
 The general voice of the public accused the Earl of 
 Bothwell of being the perpetrator, or at all events, the in- 
 Gtigator, of this abominable murder ; and the confessions 
 of his guilty associates, who afterwards suffered for their 
 crimes, established his criminality beyond a doubt. At 
 first, it appears, he had some hesitation as to the best mode 
 of accomplishing his horrid purpose ; but at last, as one 
 of the conspirators confessed, " he showed them how it 
 might be best done by powder." Bothwell superintended 
 the conveyance of the powder to the " Kingis house" in 
 person — at the time agreed on the match was lit by John 
 Hepburn, commonly called " John of Bowtoun," a cousin- 
 german of the Earl's, and Bothwell himself returning to 
 the spot, " tarried in the yaird a lang time, and, when he 
 saw that the matter came not hastily to pass, he was 
 angry, and would have gone into the house himself. 
 Within a short space, however, it fyrit . . . and 
 when they saw the house rising [riseand], and heard the 
 crack, they ran their way." 
 
 When Bothwell entered his house on the morning of the 
 murder, he called for something to drink, undressed, and 
 went to bed, in which he was scarcely half an hour when 
 a domestic rushed into his apartment, announcing in the 
 greatest consternation that " the King's house was blown 
 up, and ine King was slain," " Fie, treason I" exclaimed 
 
76 
 
 raSTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 Botbwell in feigned astonishment, and instantly rose and 
 attired himself. He was immediately joined by the Earl 
 of Huntly, his brother-in-law, who was in the plot, and 
 they both proceeded to the Queen's apartments in the 
 Palace, accompanied by several persons connected with 
 the Court. 
 
 When Mary was informed of Darnley's fate she 
 evinced the utmost horror, and secluded herself in her 
 chamber, overwhelmed with sorrow. Eany m the day 
 she removed to the Castle for security, and shut herself 
 up in a close apartment, apparently absorbed in grief at 
 the awful crime which had made her a second time a 
 widow. Meanwhile, at daybreak, multitudes of the citi- 
 zens crowded to the Kirk-of-Field. Bothwell soon ap- 
 peared with a guard, to prevent any minute examination 
 Df Darnley's body, which was removed to a house in the 
 vicinity, where it lay till it was inspected by the Privy 
 Council. It was then carried to Holyrood, where it lay 
 in state for five days after the murder.* On the evening 
 of the 15th of February, it was privately deposited by 
 torchlight in the royal vault in the Chapel-Royal, in pre- 
 sence of the Lord Justice-Clerk Bellenden, and of Sir 
 John Stewart of Traquair, whom the Queen had recently 
 appointed Captain of her Guard. On the 23d of March 
 a "solemn saule mass, with a dergie" was sung in tlie 
 chapel of Holyroodhouse for the soul of the departed, by 
 tlie express command of the Queen.f 
 
 * In the Lord Treasurer's Accounts, there is an entry of £40 
 paid to " Martin Pitcanit, ypotliegar," for embalming ** tiie King's 
 Grace's Majestie's umquhill bodie." 
 
 t BirreVs Diary, p. 7» 
 
CHAPTEB X. 
 
 MARY AND BOTHWELL. 
 
 ARY avoided Holyrood, and remained in the 
 Castle. Her physicians, alarmed for her health, 
 sent a statement to the Privy Council, who ad- 
 vised her to try a change of air for a short period, and on 
 the 16th of February, the day after Darnley's funeral, she 
 rode to Seton House, accompanied by the Earls of Both- 
 well, Huntly, and Argyll, Archbishop Hamilton of St. 
 Andrews, Lords Fleming and Livingstone, and Maitland 
 of Lethington, the whole of whom wore implicated in the 
 plot, and about one hundred attendants. The Queen 
 continued at Seton House till the 7th of March, and it 
 was remarked that Bothwell advanced in her favour, and 
 enjoyed the most familiar intercourse with her. On the 
 7th of March she returned to Edinburgh Castle, and 
 again rode to Seton House on the 9th, remaining only one 
 night. 
 
 Bothwell and others continued to be publicly accused 
 of Darnley's murder, yet no prosecution of the alleged 
 delinquents was instituted. An affected zeal was at 
 length displayed to bring the murderers to justice, never- 
 theless little was really done in the matter. On the mock 
 trial and acquittal of Bothwell on the 12th of April at 
 Edinburgh, it is unnecessary to enlarge. On the day of 
 
78 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 the trial Sir William Drury arrived in Edinburgh with a 
 letter from Elizabeth, and found the city in possession of 
 BothwelPs friends and followers, to the number of four 
 thousand men and two hundred hackbutters. His re- 
 tainers surrounded the Palace, and perambulated the 
 streets of the city ; while the Castle, of which he had been 
 appointed governor on the 19th of March, was at his 
 command. The Queen was then in the Palace, and when 
 Drury presented himself to deliver the letter, the purport 
 of which was suspected, he was rudely designated an 
 English villain," who had come to stop the trial, and 
 was informed that the Queen was too busy with other 
 affairs of the day. At that moment Bothwell and Mait- 
 land of Lethington came out of the Palace, and Drury 
 gave Elizabeth's epistle to the latter, who returned with 
 Bothwell and delivered it to Mary. They soon appeared 
 and mounted their horses, and Drury was informed by 
 Maitland that the Queen was asleep, and could not be 
 disturbed. This was immediately discovered to be a 
 falsehood; for a servant of the French ambassador Le 
 Croc, who was standing near Drury, looking up towards 
 the Palace, saw and pointed out the Queen and Mary 
 Fleming, Maitland's wife, standing at a window. It was 
 also observed that the Queen gave Bothwell a friendly 
 salute as he rode out of the court-yard of the Palace to 
 his pretended trial. He was acquitted, and two days 
 afterwards he increased the excitement against him by 
 carrying some part of the Begalia at the opening of the 
 Parliament. The Queen on this occasion declined the 
 ancient custom of a civic guard from Holjrrood formed 
 under the auspices of the Magistrates, preferring a com- 
 pany of hackbutters. 
 
 The degradation of Blary was now about to be accom- 
 
MARY AND BOTHWELL. 
 
 79 
 
 plished. On the 21st of April she left Holyrood to visit 
 the infant Prince at Stirling Castle, and when returning 
 on the 24th, Both well, at the head of eight hundred horse- 
 men, seized her person near Almond Bridge, about six 
 miles from Edinburgh, and eleven from Linlithgow. He 
 conveyed the Queen to his castle of Dunbar, and two 
 days afterwards he commenced a process of divorce from 
 his Countess in the Archbishop of St. Andrew's Court, 
 and in the Commissary Court, recently instituted by the 
 Queen. In the former, his plea was founded on consan- 
 guinity, though Lady Jane Gordon, whom he had married 
 only a few months before the birth of James VI., was 
 merely his cousin in the fourth degree of relationship. Itt 
 the latter Court it was for adultery committed by him, at 
 the instance of his Countess. The marriage was declared 
 null in the Archbishop's Court on the 7th of May, four 
 days after the Consistorial Court had pronounced a similar 
 decision. 
 
 After a brief residence in Dunbar Castle with the man 
 universally accused of the murder of her husband, Mary 
 rode with him to Edinburgh. As it was then believed 
 that BothweD by violence gained possession of the 
 Queen, the gates were ordered to be shut, the citizens 
 ran to arms, and the artillery of the Castle was fired. On 
 the 6th of May, the third day after the divorce had been 
 pronounced in the Consistorial Court at the instance of 
 Lady Jane Gordon for adultery, and on the day before it 
 was declared in the Court of the Archbishop of St, 
 Andrews, on the pretence of consanguinity, the Queen 
 entered the city by the West Port, and rode through the 
 Grassmarket, and up the West Bow to the Castle, Both- 
 well, on foot, leading her horse by the bridle — a sight wit- 
 nessed by her friends with the deepest sorrow, and bv her 
 
80 
 
 HISTORY OF IIOLYROOD. 
 
 enemies with exultation and derision. On the 8th of May, 
 the day after the divorce was declared in the Archbishop's 
 Court, a proclamation was issued at Holyrood, annomicing 
 that the Queen had resolved to marry Bothwell, and on 
 the 11th she removed with him to the Palace. The pro- 
 clamation of the banns of marriage was reluctantly per- 
 formed by John Craig, the colleague of Knox, for which 
 he was afterwards vehemently assailed in the General 
 Assembly. 
 
 On the 12th of May, the Queen created Bothwell Duko 
 of Orkney and Marquis of Fife, placing the ducal coronet 
 on his head with her own hands in the Palace. The 
 marriage-contract was signed on the 13th, and on Thurs- 
 day the 15th, the unhappy nuptials were celebrated, 
 according to the new form, by Adam Bothwell, ex-Bishop 
 of Orkney, in the council-hall of the Palace, at the early 
 hour of four in the morning. The ceremony was prefaced 
 by a sermon by ex-Bishop Bothwell from the second 
 chapter of the Book of Genesis, in which he enlarged on 
 the bridegroom's penitence for his former life, and his re- 
 fcolution to amend and conform to the discipline of the 
 Protestant preachers. The event was not attended by 
 the pageants and rejoicings usual on such occasions, and 
 few of the leading nobility were in attendance. 
 
 Although Mary, after the marriage, assumed a gay attire 
 in Holyrood, and frequently rode out with Bothwell, and 
 although he appeared anxious to treat her with respect, 
 refusing to be covered in her presence, a species of 
 homage which she occasionally resented in a sportive 
 manner by snatching his bonnet, and putting it on his 
 head, yet at times the passionate temper of the man 
 violated all decorum, and those who saw the Queen in 
 private soon perceived that she was unliappy. It was 
 
UARY AND EOTHWELLo 
 
 81 
 
 too evident, indeed, that she was suffering intense mental 
 agony, and her feelings of diseomfort, on the very evening 
 of the day of her marriage to Bothwell, are described by 
 the Freneh ambassador Le Croe, who visited her in the 
 Palace at her own request. He says that a strange 
 formality was apparent between the Qmm and Bothwell^ 
 which she entreated Le Croc to excuse, saying that, if 
 lie ever saw her sad, it was because she had no wish to 
 be happy, which she n<ever conld be, as she wished only 
 for death. Le Croc also mentions that on a certain day^ 
 when alone with Bothwell in a closet, she called aloud 
 for a knife to kill herself, which was heard by some of 
 the household in an adjoining room. Sir James Melville 
 Gtates that tlie <3ueon so " disdainfully Imndlit," and 
 ■with mat "'lepro^hfd language," that in the .presence of 
 liimself and Arthur Erskin^ she dem^inded a knife t-c 
 stick herself" — "or else," slae said, "I ehali d^owm 
 myself." Mary hi^d many warnings not to marry Both- 
 well, and she wa,s now rapidly approaching the crisis oi 
 tier fate in Scotland. 
 
 For a stiort period after their marriage the Queen ani 
 Bothwell publicly conducted themselves as if t^ey had! 
 ao enemies ; and when informed of the private meetings 
 of their opponents, M^ry spoke of them with oontempt^ 
 i^bserving on one occasion — Atholl is feeble ; for Argyll, 
 1 know w^ll how to stop Ms mouth ; as for Morton, his 
 1)0 ots are sew pulled off, and still soiled; he shall h® 
 sent back to his old quarters" — alltiding to Ms recent 
 return from banishment to England ; but an alarum was 
 soon to be sounded to the nation, calKng on all true sub- 
 |ects to rescue the Queen from the power of the man to 
 whom slie had so fatally allied herself. A formidable 
 "Confederacy was organized for seizing her and Bothwell 
 
HISTORY OF HOLTROOD. 
 
 within the walls of Holyrood — for there they both re- 
 sided, the latter being too cautious to leave Mary at 
 liberty, and appearing, indeed, to think it necessary to 
 watch her with the greatest strictness. The Earl of 
 Argyll sent private information to the Queen of the medi- 
 tated assault on the Palace, and, in consequence, she and 
 her vile husband removed to Berth wick Castle on the 6th 
 of June. From this place she fled, in the disguise of a 
 page, to Dunbar Castle on the 11th of June, and on the 
 12th a proclamation, following on an act of the Privy 
 Council, summoned the lieges to convene from all the 
 principal towns to liberate the Queen from the thraldom 
 of the detested BothweH. Finding that her army, though 
 well disposed to fight in her own cause, was reluctant t© 
 support her husband, Mary surrendered herself to the 
 confederated nobility at Carberry hill, near Musselburgh, 
 on the 15th of June 1567. She never again saw Both- 
 well, for he fled with precipitation before the Queen sur- 
 rendered herself; and, sailing to the north, became a 
 corsair among the Orkney islands, till, having been seized 
 by a Danish vessel, he was immured in a dungeon, where 
 he terminated his guilty life ; solemnly declaring before 
 his death that the Queen was innocent of complicity m 
 the murder of Darnley. 
 
 Mary, now the captive of her own subjects, was 
 brought to Edinburgh, where the lower classes re- 
 ceived her with insult and cries of indignation. Almost 
 naked^ and disfigured with dust and tears, she rode be- 
 tween the Earls of Morton and Atholl, through the pres- 
 sure of the infuriated multitude, and was lodged in a 
 house in the High Street, known by the name of the 
 Black Turnpike. She was afterwards removed to IIol j- 
 toody and the citizens^ who bad apparently relented to- 
 
MARY AND BOTHWELL. 
 
 83 
 
 wards her in her now defenceless position, were aseured 
 by the insurgent lords that she should speedily be 11)6- 
 rated. Her confinement had, however, been determined 
 on, and, accordingly, on the night of the 16th of June she 
 was hastily conveyed to Lochleven Castle, under the 
 charge of Lords Ruthven and Lindsay. Before issuing 
 from the Palace she was compelled to relinquish the ap- 
 parel suited to her rank and disguise herself, so as not to 
 be recognized, and was not permitted even to carry a 
 change of dress along with her. 
 
 Thus did Mary Stuart bid adieu to Holyrood, the 
 Palace of her fathers, whose halls were never again to be 
 brightened with the lustre of her presence, though des- 
 tined, in after ages, to be lit by the twilight of her 
 memory, and visited by pilgrims from every clime, the 
 votaries of her beauty and her sufferings. Her subsequent 
 career may be told in a few words. In the rude tower of 
 Lochleven, on an islet where she could scarce walk fifty 
 yards in one direction, she was detained for nearly a 
 year. While in this miserable abode, the Lords of the 
 Secret Council despatched Lord Lindsay, the sternest of 
 the insurgent nobles, to compel her to renounce the crown 
 in favour of her infant son. Mary, it would appear, though 
 desolate and depressed, displayed considerable reluctance 
 to acquiesce in this extreme measure ; and Lindsay, with 
 a brutal unmanliness, that ill became the chivalry of his 
 house, squeezed the arm of the lovely Queen in his iron 
 glove, to compel her to subscribe the deed of renuncia- 
 tion. On the 2d of May 1568 she escaped from her 
 prison-house, and was received on the opposite shore by 
 a powerful band of the Hamilton^, her faithful followers, 
 who escorted her to a place of safety. Multitudes rushed 
 to arms at the news of her deliverance. Her beauty, and 
 
84 
 
 HISTORY OF flOLYROOD. 
 
 the gentleness of lier raanners, were fresh in the memory 
 of all, and her errors were almost obliterated by the severity 
 of the punishment by which they had been followed. Her 
 army, however, was defeated chiefly by its own rashness, 
 on the field of Langside, on the 13th of May, and she 
 was compelled to be a fugitive. At this moment of peri! 
 she might have escaped to France, the country of her 
 happiest hours and fondest recollections, where she was 
 assured of a cordial reception. Unhappily, however, she 
 preferred throwing herself on the generosity of Queen 
 Elizabeth, and fled into England, against the entreaties of 
 her kneeling followers — there to be the victim of one long 
 train of dissimulation and vindictiveness ; and, at length, 
 after a weary imprisonment of more than eighteen years, 
 to perish on the block, by the cruel and unjustifiable maz^ 
 date of that 
 
 -false wonatiOi 
 
 Sm" &sbBi and her fae. 
 
OHAPTEB XI. 
 
 HOLYROOD IN THE REIGN OF JAMES VL 
 
 HE minority of James VI. was passed in Stirling 
 Castle. About the end of September 1579, the 
 King, then in his fourteenth year, made his first 
 public entry into Edinburgh, and proceeded direct to 
 Hol3rrood. On this occasion the office of Lord High 
 Chamberlain was revived, and conferred on Esme Stuart, 
 Lord D^Aubigny, the King's cousin, who had recently 
 arrived from France, and was soon afterwards created 
 Duke of Lennox. James VI., however, was not often a 
 resident in Holyrood till some years afterwards. The 
 seizure of his person in the Raid of Ruthven, in August 
 1582, enabled the parties connected with that affair to 
 bring him to Edinburgh ; and in a convention held in the 
 Palace, it was proposed to raise two hundred horse and 
 two hundred foot, nominally for his protection, though 
 the real object was to secure his detention. The King 
 contrived to escape from his keepers in the following 
 year in Fifeshire, and the next notice which occurs of 
 him in connection with Holyrood is on the 13th May 
 1586, when he convened in the Palace all the Nobility 
 who were at feud, and, after a banquet, caused them to 
 "shake hands togidder, and to drink ane to ane ither." 
 He then caused them to form a procession to the Cross in 
 the High Street, walking hand in hand, he himself ac- 
 
86 
 
 HISTORY OF nOLYKOOD. 
 
 companying them, that the citizens might witness the 
 apparent reconciliation he had effected. The Town- 
 Council were as usual compelled to be parties to this 
 exhibition, by providing copious libations of wine at the 
 Cross. 
 
 On the 6th of May 1590, James VI. brought his Queen, 
 Anne of Denmark, to Holyrood, and on the 17th of that 
 month she was crowned in the Chapel-Royal. On tlie 
 19th they publicly entered Edinburgh by the West Port, 
 and proceeded through the city to the Palace, amid great 
 rejoicings. It is recorded of the pageant by an eye- 
 witness, that " young boys, with artificial wings, at hei 
 entrey did flee towards her, and presented her two silver 
 keys of the city ; the Castell shot olGf all its ordnance five 
 several times, and at night the towne was put full of 
 bonefyres." * On this occasion the Magistrates proceeded 
 to the Palace, and presented the Queen with a rich jewel, 
 which James had deposited with them as security for a 
 considerable sum of money he had borrowed from them ; 
 and they were compelled to take his verbal promise as a 
 pledge of payment, which, however, he never found it 
 convenient to recollect. James had rather a defective 
 memory in regard to such matters. 
 
 The feastings and rejoicings continued at Holyrood 
 and in the city for a month, when the Danish attendants 
 of the Queen departed, amply stored with presents. 
 Nevertheless the King's pecuniary raids against the 
 Magistrates continued ; and, summoning them one day to 
 the Palace, he obliged them to borrow from him £40,000 
 Scots, a part of the Queen's marriage-portion recently 
 paid him, exacting from them double the rate of interest 
 for which they could have borrowed the money elsewhere. 
 » Birrel's Diary, p. 25. 
 
KEiON OF JAMS:8 VI. 
 
 In all his speculations with the Town-Council, the King 
 was zealously supported by the Incorporated Trades, the 
 deacons of which he had contrived to attach to his 
 interest. 
 
 The violent conduct of Francis, Earl of Both well, was 
 at this time conspicuous. One of his projects was to se- 
 cure the King's person. On the 22d of June 1591, he 
 escaped from Edinburgh Castle, and, after a brief sojourn 
 in Caithness, he repaired to the English Border, where he 
 endeavoured to raise a force to overawe the King. Under 
 the pretence of expelling his enemy, the Sub-Chancellor 
 Maitland, from the royal councils, and favoured, also, by 
 3ome of the King's attendants. Both well appeared in Edin- 
 burgh on the 27th of December 1591, and was admitted, 
 late in the evening, into the court-yard of Holjrood. His 
 adherents immediately raised the cry — " Justice ! justice ! 
 a Both well! a BothweUI" The forfeited Earl then has- 
 tened to the King's apartments, the doors of which he 
 found carefully secured — notice of his intended assault 
 having been received by Sir James Melville, and his 
 brother Sir Robert two days previously, and the King also 
 having received sufficient warning, which he thought 
 proper to disregard. Bothwell called for fire to bum the 
 doors, which resisted his weapons, and the Queen's apart- 
 ments were also attacked, on the supposition that the 
 King would be found in one of them. The door of a 
 gallery was successfully defended by Henry Lindsay, 
 Master of the Queen's Household, and the King was con- 
 veyed to a turret of the Palace, which he reached oppor- 
 tunely while the invaders were stiU assailing the doors 
 with hammers, and calling for fire to consume them. 
 During this tumult, the brother of Scot of Balwearie was 
 shot in the thigh, and two of the King's domestics wert 
 
88 
 
 fr-STORY OF HOLYROOO 
 
 killod OR tilt} south side of the Palace. Bothwell was at 
 length compelled to retire, leaving nine of his followers in 
 custody, who were hanged without trial next day betwixt 
 the Girth Cross and the porch of the Palace. 
 
 The King went on the day after this attempt to St. 
 Giles's Church, and made a speech to the congregation in 
 reference to his deliverance. The outrage revived the 
 prosecutions against Bothwell and his accomplices, among 
 j^hom are enumerated his Countess, James Douglas of 
 Spott, Archibald Wauchope, younger of Niddry, and 
 several other persons. On the 5th of June 1592, the 
 Parliament ratified the forfeiture of Bothwell and several 
 others, for " invading his Majesty's maist noble person by 
 fyre and sword, breaking up his chamber-doors with 
 fore-hammers, and cruelly slaying his highness' servants.*' 
 
 Bothwell either cared little for those proceedings 
 against him, or he was rendered desperate by being out- 
 lawed and attainted. Although he escaped with difficulty 
 from the outrage in Holyrood, he made a second unsuc- 
 cessful attempt to secure the King's person on the 17th 
 of July 1592 in Falkland Palace, where James usually 
 resided during the summer and autumn months. So nu- 
 merous are the denouncings of Bothwell, his partisans, and 
 " resetters," that one would almost think the Government 
 did nothing else than level anathemas against them. Yet 
 he had many powerful friends, and he formed a party in his 
 favour among the Presbyterian ministers, whose influence 
 was so considerable, that whenever they were pleased to 
 annoy the King they could defy the Government. It is said 
 that Queen Elizabeth interceded for him, and that he was 
 invited from exile by the Duke of Lennox, the Earl of AthoU, 
 and Lord Ochiltree. The repeated proclamations against 
 him had apparently excited a sympathy in his favour, ei^ 
 
REIGN OP JAMES VI. 
 
 89 
 
 p«cially among the secret enemies of the court favourites. 
 Bothwell soon returned to Edinburgh, and it was arranged 
 that he should present himself before the King in Holy- 
 rood on the 24th of July 1593, some weeks after his at- 
 tainder in the High Court of Justiciary. It is stated that 
 Bothwell seized the gates of the Palace, and was followed 
 by a number of anned retainers into the royal apartments. 
 Ho had lodged the preceding night in Lady Gowrie's 
 house behind the Palace. He found the King coming 
 from the back stair in the utmost consternation, carrying 
 his " breeks in his hand ; " and James, without attendants, 
 and unable to resist a band of armed men, called on him 
 to consummate his treason by piercing his sovereign to 
 the heart. Bothwell, however, laid down his sword, fell 
 on his knees, and implored pardon. James yielded from 
 necessity to his entreaties, and a few days afterwards ac- 
 tually signed a capitulation with this rebellious and out- 
 lawed peer, to whom he was now in reality a prisoner, in 
 which he pledged himself to remit all his past offences, 
 Bothwell on his part promising to withdraw from the 
 court, and live peaceably on his own estate. This state 
 of things was of short duration, and it was evidently im- 
 possible for him to remain in quietude. He eventually 
 fled to England, from which Elizabeth expelled him in 
 compliance with the urgent request of James VI., who 
 had adjusted his quarrels with the preachers, and induced 
 them to excommunicate the fugitive. Bothwell retired 
 to the Continent, and lived several years in obscurity and 
 indigence, plunging into the lowest and most infamous 
 debauchery, in which condition he died, the King refus- 
 ing to listen to any intercession on his behalf, or to bo 
 mfluenced by offers of submission. 
 
 James VI. continued to reside in Holyrood, at times 
 
90 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 varying the scene by resorting to Linlithgow, Stirling, 
 Falkland, and to Dunfermline, which was his Queen's 
 jointure palace, and the birth-place of some of his chil- 
 dren. The birth of his son Prince Henry, in 1594, in- 
 duced the Magistrates of Edinburgh to send ten tuns of 
 wine to Holyrood, and they commissioned a hundred of 
 the citizens to be present at the baptism. As the gift 
 was unexpected and peculiarly acceptable, James invited 
 the Magistrates to the baptism of the Princess Elizabeth 
 in Holyrood, on the 28th of November 1596. This was 
 considered so complementary an act by the civic func- 
 tionaries, that they engaged to give the Princess 10,000 
 merks on her marriage-day, which they honourably ful- 
 filled, adding 5000 to the sum. 
 
 On the 17th of December 1596 occurred the serious 
 riot, in which the mob attacked the King, who was trans- 
 acting some state business in the Tolbooth. This dis- 
 order was occasioned by the Presbyterian ministers, be- 
 tween whom and the King a mortal feud had existed for 
 some time, and who were then assembled in St. Giles's 
 Church. It was announced to the King that they were 
 coming to murder him, and the utmost excitement pre- 
 vailed, some exclaiming — "For God and the King!" 
 and others — "For God and the Kirk!" The room in 
 which the King sat was thronged with a tumultuous as- 
 semblage, and the building surrounded by an infuriated 
 mob, and James's person might have been endangered, 
 " had not his Majesty's standard-bearer, John Wat, dea- 
 con-conveener of the trades, drawn up his lads, the soul- 
 diers of the Blue Blanket, and kept the rabble back till 
 their fever cooled, and the Earl of Mar, from the Castell, 
 sent a company of musquiteers to guard the King."* 
 * Pennecuik'a Historioi>i Account of the Blue Blanket 
 
REIGN OF JAMES VI. 
 
 91 
 
 Early on l?ie following morning, however, James and his 
 Privy Council departed to Linlithgow, and a proclamation 
 was issued, declaring Edinburgh to be a dangerous resi- 
 dence for the court, and for the administration of justice, 
 and ordering the judges, the nobility, and others, to retire 
 from the city, and not to return without the royal permis- 
 sion. On the 20th the Magistrates were ordered to ap- 
 prehend and commit to the Castle ten of the leading 
 Presbyterian preachers, who were summoned to appear 
 before the Privy Council on the 23d, to answer for iheir 
 seditious conduct, and on the 25th they and some of the 
 citizens were denounced as rebels. Edward Johnnes- 
 toune, merchant, burgess of Edmburgh, was tried for 
 being art and part with the " seditious raskallis," and was 
 fined 3500 merks. * Those proceedings were followed by 
 several stringent measures against the city; and the in- 
 habitants were in a state of despair at the threat to 
 deprive Edinburgh of its advantages as the seat of the 
 court and of the Supreme Judicature. On the last day 
 of December the King returned to Holyrood, and ap- 
 pointed several noblemen to take possession of the city 
 gates, while he proceeded to St. Giles's Church to hear a 
 sermon by Mr. David Lindsay of Leith; after which he 
 rose and addressed the congregation, denouncing the 
 seditious ministers. The interposition of Queen Elizabeth 
 afforded James, who was actuated more by policy thar> 
 inclination, a pretext for abating his resentment; and a 
 reconoiliation was effected on certain conditions, one of 
 which was that the city should pay a fine of 20,000, or, 
 according to Birrel, 30,000 merks. This was willingly 
 done, although the coffers were in a deplorably low con- 
 dition, and the quarrel ended in a carousal of the Town* 
 ♦ Pitcairn's Trials, voL ii. p. 29. 
 
92 HISTORY OF IIOLYROOD. 
 
 Council, at which the King was present, drinking with 
 the "Bailies and Deacons," while the bells of St. Giles's 
 sounded their peals, and bands of music paraded the 
 streets. 
 
 In 1598 Holyrood received a royal visitor in the per- 
 son of Philip, Duke of Holstein, the brother of Queen 
 Anne, who arrived in Edinburgh on the 14th of March. 
 The Town-Council invited him to a banquet in "Mac- 
 morran's lodging" on the 2d of May, at which the King 
 and Queen were present, and on the 3d of June the Duke 
 embarked at Leith for Denmark. 
 
 The death of Queen Elizabeth, on the 24th day of 
 March 1603, obtained for James VI. the great object of 
 his ambition, the crown of England. Sir Robert Carey, 
 unknown to the English Privy Council, instantly left 
 London for Edinburgh, and arrived at Holyrood with re- 
 markable celerity, considering the state of the roads in 
 those times. Carey was well known to James VI., into 
 whose good graces he had insinuated himself, when 
 he came to Scotland with Secretary Walsingham. The 
 King had retired before Carey appeared at Holyrood, but 
 he was quickly admitted, and conveyed to the royal bed- 
 chamber, where he knelt, and saluted James as King of 
 England. He was thus the first person to announce to 
 James VI. his accession. The King gave him his hand 
 to kiss, and bade him welcome. Carey, after narrating 
 the particulars of Elizabeth's decease, told the King, 
 that, instead of bringing letters from the English Privy 
 Council, he had purposely avoided them; but he could 
 produce an undoubted evidence of his veracity, and 
 thereupon he presented a sapphire ring. This ring 
 was from Lady Scroope, Carey's sister, a lady con- 
 nected with Elizabeth's Courts with whom James had 
 
REIGN OF JAMES VI. 
 
 maintained a constant correspondence for some years, and 
 it had been sent to her by the King, with positive in- 
 Btructions to return it to him by a special messenger, as 
 soon as the Queen expired. Lady Scroope had no op- 
 portunity of delivering it to her brother while he was in 
 the Palace of Eichmond, but, waiting at the window till 
 she saw him outside of the gate, she threw it to him, and 
 he well knew what it intimated. James, still in bed, 
 took the ring, carefully examined it, and said — " It is 
 enough; I know by this you are a true messenger." 
 Carey was entrusted to the charge of Alexander, sixth 
 Lord Home, who was ordered to treat him hospitably. 
 The King sent his own surgeons to assist in curing a 
 wound, which he had received by a fall and a stroke 
 from his horse after he left Norham, and when he kissed 
 the hand of James at retiring for the night he was told — 
 " I know you have lost a near kinswoman and a loving 
 mistress ; but, take here my hand, I will be as good a 
 master to you, and will requite this service with honour 
 and reward." A few days afterwards Carey was sworn 
 one of the gentlemen of the King's bed-chamber; but, 
 notwithstanding the above royal pledge, he himself ob- 
 serves — " I only relied on God and the King. The one 
 never left me : the other, shortly after his coming to 
 London, deceived my expectations, and adhered to those 
 who sought my ruin." 
 
 Three days after Elizabeth's death, the keys of Ber- 
 wick were presented to James VI. in Holyrood, and, on 
 the 28th, John Bothwell, Commendator of Holyrood, took 
 possession of that town. On the same day James sent a 
 letter to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London, dated 
 from Hol3rroodhouse, thanking them tor their activity in 
 proclaiming him King. He now made arrangements for 
 
94 
 
 HISTORY OF nOLYROOD. 
 
 a speedy departure to London. On Sunday the 3d of 
 April he went to St. Giles's Church, and after the sermon, 
 which he is said to have taken in " good part," [which of 
 course intimates that the preacher had indulged in some 
 liberties], he rose and addressed the congregation, who are 
 said to have been deeply affected, and to have expressed 
 their grief by sobs and tears. The vast accession of 
 dignity and wealth which had fallen to the lot of James, 
 in which all hoped, to some extent, to participate, seems 
 to have had a strong effect upon the tender feelings of his 
 Presbyterian auditors. On the 5th of April the King left 
 Holyrood fbr England, attended by a numerous cavalcade 
 of Scottish nobility and gentry, and several English 
 knights. He was followed on the 1st of June by the 
 Queen and Prince Charles, who on the 28th of May came 
 to Holyrood from Stirling, and on the 30th, took leave of 
 the citizens in St. Giles's Church, to which the local chro- 
 nicler says, her Majesty was " weill convoyit with coaches, 
 herself and the Prince in her awn coache, quhilk came 
 home with her out of Denmark, and the English gentle- 
 women in the rest of the coaches. They heard ane guid 
 sermone in the kirk, and thereafter raid hame to Halyrud- 
 house."* 
 
 The promise of James, in St. Giles's Church, to visit 
 Holyrood every third year, was not realized, and it was 
 not till 1617 that he was enabled to revisit his native 
 kingdom. 
 
 His intention to proceed to his ancient capital had been 
 officially announced to the Scottish Privy Council in 
 1616, and on the 24th of December, a " Direction " was 
 issued^ ordering the Magistrates to procure a list of all 
 the lodgings and stables within Edinburgh, the Canon- 
 • Birrera Diary, pp. 69, 
 
REIGN OF JAMES VI. 
 
 95 
 
 gate, and suburbs, to *• foresee and provide that there be 
 good ludgeings within the saidis boundis for fyve thou- 
 sand men, and stables for fyve thousand horse ; " and, if 
 accommodation to that extent could not be obtained, 
 commanding temporary stables to be erected. The 
 King entered Edinburgh on the 16th of May, and wa?^ 
 received with the utmost enthusiasm. Drummond of 
 Hawthomden had composed a speech, which he intended 
 to recite at the West Port ; but by some means or other 
 he was prevented from delivering his laboured oration. 
 The king proceeded to Holyrood by the Grassmarket, 
 the West Bow, the High Street, and the Canongate, after 
 hearing a sermon by Archbishop Spottiswoode in St. 
 Giles's Church, and knighting William Nisbet of Dean, 
 the Provost. Mr. John Hay, Clerk Register-Depute, wel- 
 comed the King at the Palace, in an address containing 
 the grossest adulation, and James then repaired to the 
 Chapel-Royal to hear another sermon preached by Arch- 
 l>ishop Spottiswoode. Returning to the Palace, the King 
 was presented, at the gate of the inner court, with a book 
 of Latin poems, which is preserved in the Library of the 
 r>ritish Museum, beautifully bound in crimson velvet and 
 superbly gilt. The authors of these laudatory effusions 
 were the Professors in the University of Edinburgh, and 
 a Latin speech was delivered in their name by Mr. Patrick 
 Nisbet. The Magistrates afterwards entertained the King 
 and his retinue at a sumptuous banquet. 
 
 Having already compelled the Presbyterians to adopt 
 the Episcopal form of church government, the King was 
 resolved to assimilate, as far as lay in his power, the 
 Scottish Kirk to her English sister ; and the Church of 
 the Abbey was the chief scene of his bold experiment. 
 This edifice^ since the period of the Reformation, had been 
 
96 
 
 KISTORY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 ased as the parish church of the Canongate, a district to 
 which, of course, its ministrations had been partially 
 devoted, while in the hands of the Canons Regular. 
 
 As early as 1559 the service of Common Prayer, which 
 was at first approved of by the leaders of the Presbyterian 
 party, was performed within its walls. In that year, 
 Spottiswoode informs us* that the ofiicers of the French 
 troops, whom the Queen Regent had brought over, made 
 a practice of going into the reformed churches, and inter- 
 rupting the service by laughing and talking " so loud all 
 the time, as the preacher could not be heard" . . . . 
 " the like they did in the Abbey Church, forcibly abolish- 
 ing the service of Common Prayers, which there was 
 ordinarily used." In 1562 Mr. John Craig appears, from 
 the records of the Church of Scotland, f to have been 
 " minister at Halierudehouse," and in the same year he 
 was conjoined with Knox "in the ministry of Edin- 
 burgh." { In 1573 we read of the " parochiners of Haly- 
 rudhouse ;" and in the year following we find that Mr. 
 Johne Brand was minister, and that there was also an 
 Alexander Thomsoun, " Reidare at Halyrudhous," whose 
 salary was to be paid by the " Cannogait."§ The Church 
 in Scotland for several years exhibited a strange medley 
 of Episcopalian and Presbyterian elements : the services 
 partaking principally of Presbyterian forms, but the clergy 
 themselves being frequently invested even with Episcopal 
 dignity. Such appears to have been the condition of the 
 Church of Holyrood in the beginning of the seventeenth 
 century. From the end of the year 1615 till the com- 
 
 * Vol. i. p. 287. Spottiswoode Society's Edit 
 t The Booke of the Universall Kirk, i. p. 13. 
 
 I Idem. p. 17. 
 § Miscellany of Wodrow Society, vol. i. p. 3G3* 
 
REIGN OF JAMES 
 
 97 
 
 mencement of 1619, when he died, William Coupar, Bishop 
 of Galloway, whom the General Assembly had recom- 
 mended to the King for elevation to the Episcopal office,* 
 officiated as Dean of the Chapel-Royal. 
 
 Before the King's arrival in Edinburgh, in 1617, he 
 sent workmen from London to repair the Church of Holy- 
 rood, and ornament its interior. Among other decorations 
 there was certain carved and gilt woodwork, consisting of 
 figures of the Apostles, which was " to be set in the pewa 
 or stalls and an organ also was ordered to be erected in 
 a gallery, above the grand western entrance. These 
 measures threatening to excite a popular commotion, a 
 letter of remonstrance was written by the Dean, and 
 signed by Archbishop Spottiswoode and several of the 
 Bishops, and the decorations objected to appear not to 
 have been introduced into the Chapel. The organ, how- 
 ever, was erected in a short time. We learn the state of 
 the Chapel in June 1617, in a letter from Secretary Lake, 
 written at Edinburgh, to Sir Dudley Carieton : — " His 
 Majesty," he says, " hath set up his chapel here in like 
 manner of service as it is in England, which is well fre- 
 quented by the people of this country." The Earl of 
 Dunfermline, writing in December of the same year to 
 King James, speaks of his Majesty's " Chappell in Haly- 
 rudhous, builded up of new, with all ornaments, and due 
 fumitour [which] might be required in ane royal chappell, 
 and maist magnificklie deckt and set furth." f Calderwood 
 informs us that " upon Saturday, the 17th ot May, the 
 English service, singing of choristers, playing on organs, 
 and surplices were first heard and seen in the Chapel- 
 Boyal." Row, speaking of James's alterations on the 
 
 * Keith, p. 280. 
 f Uelrose Papers, printed for Abbotsford Club, vol. i. p. 296. 
 
 o 
 
98 
 
 HISTORY OF ROLYROOD 
 
 Chapel, says " quherin wis a glorious altar sett up, wiUi 
 two closed bybles, two unlightened candles, and two 
 basins, without water, sett thereon."* On Whitsunday, 
 the 8th of June, when Bishop Andrewes, a learned English 
 prelate, preached before the King in the Chapel-Royal, the 
 communion was taken in a kneeling posture ; and this, it 
 is said by some writers, was the first time since the Refor- 
 mation th|it it had been so administered within this 
 church. Bishop Coupar, the Dean, at first opposed the 
 innovation, but was at length persuaded to acquiesce 
 in it. 
 
 It would be out of place to enumerate the progresses 
 of James during this visit to Scotland, with all the ful- 
 some adulation of the addresses, and the self-satisfied 
 pedantry of the replies. On the 11th of June the King 
 went to the Castle of Dalkeith, then the seat of William, 
 seventh Earl of Morton. The Parliament had met on the 
 27th of May, in the " Over Tolbooth," and, from the 17th 
 to the 28th of June, the king attended daily, riding 
 thither the first day in great state. He left Holyrood im- 
 mediately after the rising of the Parliament, on the 28th 
 of June, and entered Stirling on the 30th, and then re- 
 turned to England by Glasgow, Paisley, Hamilton, and 
 IHimfries. 
 
 ^ How'ft History^ vol. i. p. 113. 
 
CHAPTER XIL 
 
 CX)RONATION OF CHARLES I. AT HOLYROOD. 
 
 ^^^|N the 15tli of June 1630, Sir James Balfour, who has 
 ^^j? left behind him a minute description of the Core* 
 ^^^^ nation of Charles I. at Holyrood, was solemnly 
 inaugurated Lord Lyon-King-at-Arms in the Chapel- 
 Royal by the Lord Chancellor Dupplin, the King's Com- 
 missioner; and the Lord Lyon, after the ceremony, 
 banqueted the Commissioner, the Privy Council, and the 
 Judges of the Court of Session, in the Earl of Linlithgow's 
 house adjoining to the Palace. Conventions of the 
 Estates were held at Holyrood on the 28th of July, the 
 3d of November 1630, the 31st of March, the 20th of 
 April, the 26th of July 1631, and the 7th of September 
 1632, but nothing of importance occurs in the history of 
 the Palace and its Chapel-Royal till 1633, when they 
 v/ere the scene of the coronation of Charles L, and the 
 subsequent festivities. On Saturday, the 16th of June, 
 the King, accompanied by Laud, then Bishop of London, 
 White, Bishop of Ely, and a number of the English nobi- 
 lity and gentry, entered Edinburgh on horseback, with 
 the greatest pomp and magnificence,* and arrived at Holy- 
 rood by the same route through the city which his father 
 had traversed in 1617. On Sunday he attended divine 
 • Aunales of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 196, 7, 8; vol. iv. p. 354. 
 
100 
 
 HISTORY OF IIOLYROOD. 
 
 service in the Chapel-Royal, which was perfonned by hia 
 chaplain, Bishop Bellenden of Dunblane. On Monday 
 the 17th, William, Earl of Angus, was created Marquis of 
 Douglas, and George, Viscount Dupplin, was created Earl 
 of KinnouU, in the drawing-room of the Palace, and 
 eleven gentlemen were knighted; after which the King 
 went privately in his coach to the Castle, in which he 
 passed the night, and on the following day the coronation 
 took place. 
 
 On the occasion of that ceremonial, a stage, or plat- 
 form was erected in the centre of the Chapel-Royal, four 
 feet above the floor, and twenty-four feet in length and 
 breadth, and fastened to the four centre pillars of the 
 chvirch. This platform was surrounded by a railing, and 
 covered with carpets. In the centre, looking towards 
 the west, and fronting the organ gallery, was an entrance 
 lo the platform with three steps, and there was the same 
 Egress towards the east, fronting the altar or communio» 
 table, which was of course under the east window. On 
 this platform was another elevation two feet in heightj 
 which was reached by two steps, richly decorated, and 
 on it the throne was placed. A chair, covered with 
 crimson velvet, embroidered with gold, was placed on 
 the right, between the platform and the communion 
 table, with a footstool and cushions, and before this chair 
 was a small table covered with crimson velvet, fringed 
 and laced with gold, on which lay a richly ornamented 
 bible. 
 
 The pulpit, which was covered with crimson velvet, 
 was placed near the communion table, on the north side 
 of the Chapel-Royal, and on the west of the pulpit were 
 placed two seats for the Lord Archbishop of St. Andrews 
 end the other officiating prelates. Immediately in front 
 
CORONATION OP CHARLES 1. 
 
 101 
 
 of the communion table was placed, what Sir James Bal- 
 four calls, a little desk, covered with a rich embroidery of 
 gold and green silk, and before it were cushions on which 
 the King knelt during divine service. 
 
 On the morning of the 18th a splendid procession of 
 the Nobility, Officers of State, and public functionaries, 
 preceded the King from the Castle to Holyrood. Six 
 trumpeters first issued from the Castle gate, two and two, 
 clothed in scarlet and gold lace ; and then came the Barons 
 in scarlet robes, followed by the Bishops in their robes. 
 Next were the Viscounts and Earls, followed by Dr. Pa- 
 trick Lindsay, Archbishop of Glasgow, unattended. The 
 Great Officers of State succeeded, who were followed by 
 six puKSuivants, two and two ; York Herald of England, 
 alone ; then six heralds, two and two, preceding Norroy, 
 King of Arms of England. The Master of Requests 
 came next, attended by the celebrated Dr. John Guthry, 
 Bishop of Moray, who acted as Almoner for that day. 
 Sir James Balfour, the Lord Lyon-King-at-Arms, followed, 
 supported by two gentlemen ushers, after whom came in 
 order the Earl of Eglinton bearing the spurs, the Earl of 
 Buchan bearing the sword, and the Earl of Rothes bear- 
 ing the sceptre. The crown was carried by the Earl of 
 Arran, supported on his right hand by the Earl of Errol, 
 Lord High Constable, and on his left by the Duke of 
 Lennox and the Earl Marischal. All these noblemen 
 were on horseback, the Earls, Viscounts, and Lyon-King- 
 at-Arms, says Sir James Balfour, having " ther crounes 
 and capes carried by gentlemen on the left syde of ther 
 horses, hard by the stirupe." Then appeared the King, 
 dressed in crimson velvet, his train carried by several 
 noblemen and gentlemen. After the King came the 
 Marquis of Hamilton, Master of his Majesty*s Horse j 
 
102 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 next the Earl of Sufifolk, Captain of the Gentlemen Pen- 
 Bioners ; and last of all the Earl of Holland, Captain at 
 the Yeomen of the Guard, followed by the yeomen. 
 
 The pavement of the great court of the Palace was 
 covered with blue cloth, on which the King walked till he 
 reached the grand western door of the Chapel-Royal. A 
 canopy of crimson velvet, laced and fringed with gold, 
 was carried over the King, by the eldest sons of six Earla 
 and a Viscount, supported by six Barons. At tne door 
 of the Chapel-Royal the King was received by Dr. John 
 Spottiswoode, Archbishop of St. Andrews, Lord Primate 
 of Scotland. When he entered the sacred edifice, the 
 King knelt down in a devotional manner for a short space, 
 and, then rising, a procession was formed towards the 
 elevated platform in the middle of the church, composed 
 of the Archbishop, the Dean of the Chapel-Royal, several 
 bishops, preceded by the choristers of the Royal Chapel, 
 and followed by the King, supported by the Nobility and 
 great Officers of State. His Majesty was then conducted 
 to a chair placed against the western pillar of the church 
 on the north side, where he sat down, and was addressed 
 in a short speech by the Rev. James Hannay, preacher oi 
 the Chapel-Royal. The King then rose, and moved for- 
 ward along the church, the choir receiving him with the 
 anthem on the organ — " Behold, 0 Lord, our Protector, 
 and look upon the face of thine Anointed ; because one 
 day in thy court is better than a thousand." The King 
 ascended the elevated platform in the middle of the 
 church, and seated himself in the royal chair. 
 
 The crown, sceptre, sword, and spurs were delivered 
 by their respective noble bearers to the chief gentleman 
 usher, who laid these insignia of royalty on a small table, 
 covered with green velvet, laced and fringed with gold,i 
 
CORONATION OF CHARLES I. 108 
 
 which was placed on the south side of the communion 
 table. Sir James Balfour, as Lord Lyon, then appeared 
 carrying a gold ampulla, or \'essel contaming the anoint- 
 ing oil, which he had received from the Dean of the 
 Chapel-Royal at the great western door. This he deli- 
 vered to Archbishop Spottiswoode, who deposited it on 
 the communion table. 
 
 The King, after reclining a short time in the chair on 
 the platform, now left it, and moved to the chair of state 
 opposite the pulpit. The ceremony commenced with a 
 sermon, preached by Dr. David Lindsay, Bishop of 
 Brechin, from the First Book of Kings, i. 39. When 
 this was concluded the King returned to his chair on the 
 platform. The Archbishop of St. Andrews, accompanied 
 by the Lord High Constable, the Earl Marischal, and the 
 Lord Lyon, who went before the Primate, addressed the 
 people from each corner of the platform : — " Sirs, I pre- 
 sent unto you King Charles, the rightful heir of the crown 
 and dignity of this realm. This day is by the peers of 
 the kingdom appointed for the coronation of his Majesty. 
 Are you willing to acknowledge him as your sovereign, 
 and to be dutiful and obedient subjects?" The people 
 ■•^^sDonded with loud acclamations — "God save King 
 Chailes!" During the Archbishop's announcement to 
 the assemblage, the King stood, and turned himself in 
 the direction of the Primate at every corner. The 
 choir then commenced the anthem, — " Let thy hand be 
 strenc^hened," and the 80th Psalm, concluding as usual 
 with the " Gloria PatrV^ When the anthem was sung, 
 the A jchbishop returned to the communion table. 
 
 Ihe King now approached the communion table, 
 supported by Dr. Adam Bellenden, Bishop of Dunblan** 
 ani Dean of the Chapel -Royal, on the right, and hj 
 
104 
 
 HISTORY nOLYUOOD. 
 
 Bishop Guthry of Moray on the left, where he made hia 
 oblation, which was received in a gold cup by the 
 Primate. His Majesty then knelt at the desk already 
 mentioned, during which time the Archbishop said a 
 prayer. He then sat down in his chair, and the Arch- 
 bishop approached him from the communion table, and 
 asked if he were ready to take the oaths appointed to be 
 put on such occasions. An answer was returned in the 
 affirmative, and the Archbishop proceeded — "Sir, will 
 you promise to serve Almighty God to the uttermost of 
 your power, as He hath required in His most holy Word, 
 and according to the same Word, maintain the true 
 religion of Christ now preached and possessed within this 
 realm, abolishing and withstanding whatsoever is contrary 
 to the same ; and will you diligently oppose all heretics 
 and enemies of the true worship of God who shall be so 
 convicted by the true Church of God ? " 
 
 The King answered — " I promise faithfully so to do." 
 
 The Archbishop again demanded — "Sir, will you 
 promise to rule the people subject to you according to 
 the laws and constitution of this realm, causing justice 
 and equity to be administered impartially ; and to pro- 
 cure peace to the uttermost of your power to the Church 
 of God, and amongst all Christian people ? " 
 
 The King answered — "I grant and promise so to do." 
 
 The Archbishop next demanded — " Sir, will you like- 
 wise promise to preserve and keep inviolate the privi- 
 leges, rights, and revenues of the crown of Scotland, and 
 not to transfer and alienate them in any way ? " 
 
 The King answered — " I promise so to do." 
 
 The Archbishop finally said — " We also beseech you 
 to grant and preserve unto us of the clergy, and to the 
 churches committed to our ciiaiide all canonical privi- 
 
CORONATION OF CHARLE3 I. 
 
 105 
 
 leges, and that you will defend and protect us, as every 
 Christian and pious King ought in his kingdom to defend 
 his bishops and the churches under their government." 
 
 The King answered — " With a willing heart I grant 
 the same, and promise to maintain you all and indi- 
 vidually, with all the churches committed to your charge, 
 in your whole rights and privileges, according to law and 
 justice." 
 
 His Majesty, rising Irom his chair, now approached 
 the communion table, and laying his hand on the Bible, 
 he said with an audible voice — " All the things which I 
 have now promised I shall observe and keep, so help me 
 Grod, and by the contents of this book." He returned to 
 the chair of state, and the hymn Veni Creator was sung 
 by the choir. The King then knelt, while the Arch- 
 bishop said a prayer appropriate for the occasion; and 
 the Litany was read and chanted by Bishop Guthry of 
 Moray and Dr. John Maxwell, Bishop of Ross, afterwards 
 Archbishop of Tuam in Ireland. The service of the 
 Church of England was used throughout, with the addi- 
 tion of some prayers adapted to the occasion, which were 
 composed by the Archbishop. 
 
 After a short repose, during which the choir sung 
 another anthem, the King again approached the com- 
 munion table, standing with his back towards it, where 
 he was prepared for the anointing by the Duke of Len- 
 nox. He then sat down in his chair of state near the 
 pulpit, and the ceremony of anointing him was per- 
 formed by Archbishop Spottiswoode, during which there 
 was a canopy supported over the King's head. The 
 choir here commenced the anthem — Zadok the priest 
 and Nathan the prophet anointed King Solomon, and all 
 the people rejoiced, and said, God save the King for 
 
106 
 
 HISTOIIY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 ever." The Archbishop first anointed the palm of the 
 King's hands in the name of the Holy Trinity, repeating 
 suitable passages from Scripture. Another prayer for 
 the divine blessing on the King was here introduced, 
 and the Archbishop then proceeded with the rest of the 
 ceremonial. When it was concluded, the Lord Cham- 
 berlain adjusted the King's dress, and the Archbishop 
 pronounced a fervid benediction. 
 
 The special act of coronation now commenced, and 
 was conducted by Archbishop Spottiswoode, assisted by 
 Bishop Bellenden of Dunblane, Bishop Alexander Lind- 
 say of Dunkeld, Bishop Lindsay of Brechin, Bishop 
 Guthry of Moray, and Dr. Maxwell, Bishop-elect of Ross, 
 in their episcopal robes. After several preliminaries and 
 devotional exercises, the Archbishop crowned the King, 
 the oath of allegiance was administered, and the usual 
 homage was rendered by the nobility. The sword and 
 sceptre were placed in the King's hands, with an appro- 
 priate address and invocation, and the archbishop and 
 the other bishops were kissed by the King, who then as- 
 cended the platform, where he was solemnly enthroned. 
 The Earl of Kinnoull, Lord Chancellor, now proclaimed 
 at each comer of the platform the royal pardon under 
 the Great Seal to all who required it, and the Arch- 
 bishops and Bishops knelt and did homage, repeating the 
 words after the Earl Marischal, and kissing the King's left 
 cheek. At the conclusion, the King entered the Palace 
 bearing the crown, sceptre, and sword, amid the sound of 
 trumpets and the discJiarge of the Castle artillery. 
 
 On the day of the coronation one gentleman was 
 knighted at Holyrood, on the 20th, another, on the 22d, 
 five, in the private gallery of the Palace, and two on the 
 23d. On the 12th of July four others wera knighted at 
 
CORONA nON OP CHAELE3 I. 
 
 107 
 
 Holyrood. Numbers of the Barons were created Barla 
 on the occasion. Those so elevated at Holyrood were 
 the Earls of KinnouU, Elgin, Southesk, Traquair, Ancrum, 
 Wemyss, and Dalhousie ; Lord Gordon of Lochinvar was 
 created Viscount Kenmure, Lord Douglas of Spott was 
 created Viscount Belhaven, and eight gentlemen were 
 created Barons. 
 
 On the 18th, 19th, or 20th of June, the Parliament 
 met in the Tolbooth. The ceremonial of the "Riding" 
 from Holjrrood was a grand procession, in which the King 
 appeared, and on the 19th a sermon was preached by 
 A^rchbishop Spottiswoode. On the 24th, which was St. 
 John the Baptist's Day, the King attended divine service 
 in the Chapel-Royal, preceded by the nobility. On this 
 occasion the ceremony of touching, to cure the disease 
 known as the King's evil, was performed on about a hun- 
 dred persons. Charles again attended divine service in 
 the Chapel-Royal on the 25th, when Dr. William Forbes 
 preached. The Liturgy of the Church of England was 
 read, and Bishop Bellenden of Dunblane appeared in his 
 episcopal robes, the other bishops present wearing gowns. 
 On the 28th all the Acts of the Parliament, many of them 
 most important, were ratified; and on Sunday the 30th 
 Archbishop Laud preached before the King in the Chapel- 
 Royal, which " scarce any Englishman," says Clarendon, 
 had done before him." On the 1st of July the King 
 proceeded from Holyrood on a progress to Linlithgow, 
 Stirling, Dunfermline, Falkland, and Perth, returning to 
 the Palace on the 10 th, and narrowly escaping death in a 
 fearful storm, when crossing the Frith of Forth from 
 Burntisland to Leith — a boat, with some of his plate and 
 money, and eight of his servants, being lost. On the 18th 
 of July the King left Holyrood for England. 
 
CHAPTEE XITL 
 
 HOLYEOOD UP TO THE REVOLUTION OF 1688. 
 
 )^m^Y a charter dated 29th September 1633, Charles 
 ^'^^^ I. erected Edinburgh into a bishopric. The 
 ^^^^ parish of Hol3rroodhouse, and a great portion of 
 the old Abbey lands, were conveyed to the new see ; and 
 the minister of Holyroodhouse was created one of the 
 Prebendaries of the Cathedral of St. Giles. 
 
 After the King's visit to Scotland, those ecclesiastical 
 measures, connected with the introduction of the Book of 
 Canons and the Scottish Liturgy, were concerted, which 
 caused the great rebellion in the lowland counties. The 
 node of conducting divuie service in the Chapel-Royal, 
 and the conduct of Bishop Bellenden the dean, were the 
 subjects of special correspondence. On the 8th of Oc- 
 tober 1633 the King wrote to Bishop Bellenden, ordaining 
 that divine service should be performed twice daily ac- 
 cording to the form of the English Liturgy, till "some 
 course be taken for making one that may fit the custom 
 and constitution of that Church" [of Scotland] — that the 
 communion should be received kneeling, and administered 
 on the first Sunday of every month — that the Dean 
 should preach in his " whites" on Sundays and the Fcsti* 
 vals, and be as seldom absent as possible ; and that the 
 Privy Council^ Offiocrs of State, Judges, and members of 
 
THE CIVIL WAU. 
 
 109 
 
 the College of Jastice, should communicate in the Cliapel- 
 Boyal once every year, or be reported to the King by tho 
 Dean in case of refusal. This was followed by a letter to 
 the Lords of Session, dated at Greenwich, 13th May 1634. 
 Bishop Bellcnden, however, was refractory, or perceived 
 that it was impossible to fulfil the King's orders, and soon 
 fell into disgrace with the Court. The correspondence 
 with him on the subject was chiefly carried on by Arch- 
 bishop Laud, and became at last conciliatory in its terms 
 in reference to those whom the English Primate describea 
 as having " disobeyed his Majesty's commands in receiv- 
 ing the communion in the Chapel-Royal." 
 
 In 1635 Bishop Bellenden was translated to Aberdeen, 
 and was succeeded by Dr. James Wedderburn, Preben- 
 dary of Wells. When the Scottish Liturgy was announced 
 in 1636, the Chapel-Royal was among the first of the 
 churches suppHed with it, for which Robert Bryson, book- 
 seller, and Evan Tyler, printer, granted a receipt on the 
 15th of April for the sum of £144 Scots. 
 
 In May 1638, James, third Marquis of Hamilton, 
 created in 1643 Duke of Hamilton, whose fate was as 
 disastrous as that of his sovereign, was appointed Lord 
 High Commissioner to Scotland by Charles I., to allay the 
 religious and political distractions excited by the attempt 
 to introduce the Scottish Liturgy. The nomination of the 
 Marquis was by no means popular among the Covenanters, 
 though some have doubted his sincerity, and accused him 
 of secretly favouring the movement. His mother. Lady 
 Anne Cunningham, daughter of James, seventh Earl of 
 Glencairn, was a most zealous adherent of the insurgents; 
 and in 1639, when he arrived in the Frith of Forth with 
 a force to overawe them, she appeared on horseback at 
 the head of a body of mounted troopers on the shore, drew 
 
110 
 
 BlSTORY OP nOLYROOD. 
 
 a pistol from her saddle-bow, and declared that she wouW 
 be the first to shoot her son, if he landed and attacked his 
 countrymen. 
 
 The Marquis reached Berwick on the 3d of June, and 
 he soon arrived in Dalkeith Castle, whither he summoned 
 the Privy Council. A deputation from the Corporation 
 of Edinburgh had an audience, and entreated him to reside 
 in Holyroodhouse, which would be more convenient for 
 the public. The Marquis at first refused to enter Edin- 
 burgh, because the city was in the hands of open resistera 
 of the King's authority ; but he at length consented, on 
 condition that the peaceable conduct of the multitudea 
 then in the capital was guaranteed, and the guards at the 
 gates and the Castle withdrawn. To this they agreed, 
 and Friday the 9th of June was appointed for his arrival 
 in Holyrood, when the Covenanters resolved to display 
 their great numerical force. For some reasons of his own, 
 instead of proceeding direct from Dalkeith to Edinburgh, 
 the Marquis diverged by Inveresk to Musselburgh, four 
 miles from the former town, and six miles from Edinburgh. 
 From Musselburgh he and his cortege rode along the shore, 
 passing over the ground on which the town of Portobello 
 is now built, and the heath called the Figgate Whins, 
 to the common of Leith Links. When approaching the 
 Links he was met by thirty of the Covenanting nobility ; 
 and the gentry of the same party marshalled themselves 
 in a line along the seaside, extending to nearly two miles. 
 Passing through this array, and attended by upwards of 
 20,000 men and women, he perceived on an eminence, 
 near the east end of the Links, several hundreds of their 
 preachers dressed in their black Geneva cloaks. It was 
 intended that he should listen to an address by Mr, Wil- 
 liam Livingstone, then a preacher at Lanark, and brother 
 
THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 Ill 
 
 of the noted Mr. John Livingstone *, but the Marquis 
 avoided this, by advice of Dr. Walter Balcanqual, Dean 
 of Rochester, who attended him as chaplain, and who 
 whispered to him that Livingstone, whom he described as 
 " one of the most seditious of the whole pack," would 
 deliver a very offensive invective. The Marquis, there- 
 fore, merely bowed to the minister, observing that " ha- 
 rangues on the field were for princes, and above his 
 place," and what he had to say he should hear gladly in 
 private. The crowd on the Links and the road to Edin- 
 burgh was now immense, and followed the Marquis to the 
 Watergate of the Canongate, close to Holyroodhouse, 
 where he was received by the Magistrates of the city. 
 Under such circumstances, and greatly affected, the Com- 
 missioner entered the Palace. 
 
 The Marquis had resolved to attend divine service in 
 the Chapel-Royal, where Dr. Balcanqual was to officiate, 
 who was particularly obnoxious to the Covenanters ; and 
 to prevent this, or to shew their animosity, some of them 
 secretly entered the edifice, nailed up the organ, and an- 
 nounced to the Marquis, that if the " English Service 
 Book " was again used, the person who did so would run 
 the hazard of his life. The residence of the Marquis at 
 Holyrood failed to influence the Covenanters, and the 
 Civil War ensued, which was preluded by the Glasgow 
 General Assembly. 
 
 The'next occupant of Holyrood, during this unhappy 
 contest, was the King himself, who arrived in Edin- 
 burgh accompanied by his nephew the Elector Palatine, 
 on Saturday the 14th of August 1641. His reception 
 was very different from that of 1633. The prerogatives 
 of the Crown were now usurped by the Estates, and 
 Charles was compelled to enter the Palace, under the 
 
112 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 banner of the Solemn League and Covenant. No pnl\lic 
 procession greeted his arrival, no demonstrations of joy 
 were exhibited, and at six in the evening he approaclied 
 Holyrood rather as a private individual than as the 
 sovereign of Scotland. On the following day the King 
 heard a sermon preached by Alexander Henderson in the 
 Chapel-Royal, and was obliged to conform himself to the 
 service of the Presbyterian Church. On Monday it was 
 debated before the King at a meeting of the Privy Council, 
 whether or not the Parliament ought to " ride " anew ; 
 and it was arranged that the King, after a sermon in the 
 Chapel-Royal, should proceed to the Parliament in his 
 coach, alight at the Lady's Steps on the north-east corner 
 of St. Giles's Church, where he was to be met by the Re- 
 galia, the Marquis of Hamilton carrying the crown, the 
 Earl of Argyll the sceptre, and the Earl of Sutherland the 
 sword, and thence walk to the Parliament House, which 
 had been erected by the citizens in 1636. The King ad- 
 dressed the Parliament in a conciliatory speech, and re- 
 turned to the Palace. On Sunday the 29th, Mr. Andrew 
 Cant from Aberdeen preached before the King in the 
 Chapel-Royal in the afternoon, and on the following 
 Sunday afternoon Mr. Andrew Fairfoull from North Leith. 
 As the proceedings of Parliament appeared interminable, 
 and the affairs of L-eland were alarming, the King, on 
 Monday the 15th, announced that the first thing he would 
 do was to sign the warrant for the " Riding of the Parlia- 
 ment." This concluding pageant was held on Wednesday 
 the 17th November. A sermon by Alexander Hender- 
 son, on whom had been conferred the revenues of the 
 Chapel-Royal, closed the proceedings, though the Parlia- 
 ment virtually continued its sittings till June 1644. The 
 King gave a supper to the nobilHy in the great hail of 
 
THE cmL WAH. 
 
 113 
 
 the Palace, when he solemnly took leave of them, and 
 left Edinburgh on the following day for England, where 
 he was soon involved in the fearful struggle of the great 
 Civil War. 
 
 Scotland was now under the rule of a Parliamentary 
 Committee of the Estates, controlled by the Covenanters ; 
 and the war which ensued left Holyrood unnoticed and 
 deserted. After the execution of Charles I., the Cove- 
 nanters induced Charles II. to appear in Scotland, pro- 
 claimed him King, and brought him to Edinburgh ; but 
 the English army under Cromwell prevented him from 
 residing in Holyrood. After the battle of Dunbar, on the 
 3d of September 1650, Cromwell quartered a part of hia 
 forces in the Palace. While thus occupied, the edifice 
 \ras, on the 13th of November that year, either by ac- 
 cident or design, set on fire, and the greater part of it 
 consumed. On the 7th of February 1652, the royal arms 
 were removed from Holyrood and other public buildings 
 in Edinburgh, and destroyed by order of the Commis- 
 sioners of the English Parliament, then sitting at Dal- 
 keith. Cromwell, ordered the Palace to be restored in 
 1658, and certain buildings were erected, which, however, 
 were afterwards removed. 
 
 The Restoration now took place, and on the 31st of 
 December 1660, John, Earl of Middleton, the Lord High 
 Commissioner to the Scottish Parliament, arrived at 
 Holyrood, where he resided during the meeting of the 
 Estates, which assembled on the 1st of January 1661. 
 A few days afterwards, the mangled remains of the great 
 Marquis of Montrose were disinterred from the Borough- 
 muir, his head removed from the Tolbooth, his limba 
 brought from the towns to which they had been sent, and 
 tlie whole deposited in a sumptuous coffin, which lay in 
 
 H 
 
114 
 
 HISTORY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 Btate m Holyrood, preparatory to a splendid funeral in 
 St. Giles's Church. On the 23d of April 1661, the coro- 
 nation of Charles II. in London was celebrated by a ban- 
 quet, given by the Earl of Middleton in the Palace. 
 
 On Wednesday the 7th of May 1662, George Haly- 
 burton, Bishop of Dunkeld, David Strachan, Bishop of 
 Brechin, John Faterson of Ross, Murdoch Mackenzie of 
 Moray, Patrick Forbes of Caithness, Robert Wallace of 
 the Isles, and David Fletcher of Argyll, were consecrated 
 in the Chapel-Royal by Archbishops Sharpe of St. An- 
 drews and Fairfoull of Glasgow, and Bishop Hamilton of 
 Galloway. A great number of the nobility, gentry, and 
 others, were then in Edinburgh to attend the approach- 
 ing meeting of the Parliament, and the Lord Provost, 
 Magistrates, and Town-Council attended in their robes. 
 The two Archbishops and the Bishop of Galloway en- 
 tered the church from the Palace, wearing, says the loca! 
 diarist, their " white surplices under their black gowns^ 
 except their sleeves, which were all of them white, or 
 delicate cambric and lawn." The sermon was preached 
 by Mr. James Gordon of Drumblade in Aberdeenshire. 
 The Archbishop of St. Andrews sat " covered with his 
 episcopal cap, or four-nooked bonnet; all that was sa.i'i 
 by the Bishop wajs read off a book, and their prayers 
 likewise were read."* 
 
 Another grand riding of the Parliament from Holy- 
 rood occurred on the 9th of Octaber, when the Earl a| 
 Rothes, afterwards created a Duke, was Lord High Com- 
 missioner. A fortnight previous Sir Charles Erskine of 
 i ambo had been inaugurated Lord Lyon-King-at-Arms 
 by the Earl of Rothes, in the Palace. The Duke of 
 liothes died at Holyrood on the 27th of July 1681, and 
 ♦ Nicoll's Diary, pp. 3(55-^ 
 
THE CIVIL WAU. 
 
 115 
 
 lb body was conveyed to St. Giles's Church on the 23d 
 of August, from which it was brought in state to the 
 Chapel-Royal, attended by numbers of the nobility and 
 gentry. On the following day the body was conveyed to 
 Leith, and shipped for Burntisland, to be interred in the 
 family vault at Leslie. 
 
 After the Restoration it was determined to erect a 
 new Palace, and Sir William Bruce of Kinross, an archi- 
 tect of considerable celebrity in his day, designed the 
 present quadrangular edifice, which he connected with 
 the original north-west tower. In 1672 the Lord Com- 
 missioner and Lords of his Majesty's Privy Council, 
 considering that it was "necessary and suteing to his 
 Majesty's [Charles the Second's I] pious and religious dis- 
 position, that some convenient place be designed and sett 
 apairt, wherein his Majesty and those of his family at his 
 Palace of Hah'nidhous may worship God," set apart 
 and appropriate the said church for the use of the Royal 
 Familv : and declare the same to be his Majesty's Chapel- 
 Royal in all time coming, discharging the Magistrates of 
 Edinburgh or the Canongate from using it as a parish 
 church, and that, notwithstanding "any former toUera- 
 tion or possession they may pretend in and to the said 
 church." 
 
 The parishioners were enjoined to attend Lady 
 Tester's Church till the existing parish church of the 
 Canongate was erected. In 1649 Thomas Moodie, mer- 
 chant, bequeathed 20,000 merks for building a church in 
 or near the Grassmarket. This sum had been allowed to 
 accumulate, and, in 1681, the Parliament placed it at tlie 
 disposal of Charles II. The whole was ordered to bo 
 appropriated according to Moodie's intentions; and, trom 
 this fund, the present Darisb, church of the Canongate woe 
 
116 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOl). 
 
 erected after the Revolution. A number of years pre* 
 viously — ^namely, in 1609, North Leith had been disjoined 
 from the parish cf Holyroodhouse. 
 
 In 1679 the Duke of York, afterwards James II., 
 visited Edinburgh, and -occupied the Palace. Wliile at 
 Eolyrood, the Duke became unpopular by his encourage- 
 ment of the drama and other amusements to which the 
 citizens were generally opposed. The Duke again took 
 up his abode in the Palace in 1680 as a kind of exile from 
 the EngHsh court, on account of his religious opinions, 
 accompanied by his Duchess, and his daughter, the Prin- 
 cess Anne, afterwards Queen. The Duke^s Walky the 
 general designation of one of the royal parks at the base 
 of Arthur's Seat east of the Palace, was so called because 
 *t was the ordinary promenade of the Duke of York and 
 his family. 
 
 The large room originally designed for a Council 
 Chamber, and now called the Picture Gallery, in which the 
 election of the sixteen Representative Peers of Scotland ia 
 held, was fitted up by the Duke of York as his private 
 chapel, in conformity with the ritual of the Roman CathoHc 
 Church — a purpose to which it was again appropriated up- 
 wards of a century afterwards, during the first residence at 
 Holyrood of Charles X., when Count D'Artois. On the 
 27th of July 1681, the Duke of York inaugurated Sir 
 Alexander Erskine of Cambo, Bart., as Lord Lyon, in the 
 Palace, and on this occasion the usual sermon preached 
 by the Dean in the Chapel-Royal, before the King :)r his 
 Commissioner and the nobility, was omitted. On the 25th 
 of September 1686, the Duke of York, then James IL, 
 issued his warrant to the Lords Commissioners of the 
 Treasury to continue this room as a private chapel ; and 
 on the 19th of May 1687 he signed another warrant 
 
THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 117 
 
 authorising the payment of £100 sterling annually to the 
 persons employed for the service of the music. 
 
 At last he directed that the Chapel-Royal should be 
 fitted up exclusively for the Roman Catholic ritual, and 
 as the chapel of the Knights of the Thistle. This was on 
 the 3d of December 1687 ; and the King intimated that 
 he expected the church to be repaired and altered accord- 
 ing to his directions before the 1st of May 1688, under 
 pain of his severe displeasure. 
 
 The "Most Ancient Order of the Thistle," whose 
 knights were thus to be installed in the Chapel-Royal, is 
 undoubtedly one of considerable antiquity. It, like the 
 old Abbey on whose church it intruded, is said to have 
 had a " miraculous foundation." Achaius, who, it seems, 
 was the sixty-fifth King of Scotland, when about to join 
 battle with Athelstane, an English King, in the year 819, 
 m the neighbourhood of Haddington, beheld a bright cross 
 in the heavens, like that on which St. Andrew was said 
 to have suffered martyrdom, and heard the voice of the 
 Apostle announcing that the Scots would be victorious 
 in the conflict. The issue of the fight was, of course, 
 6uch as the Saint had predicted, and Achaius, repairing 
 forthwith to the well-known church dedicated to him in 
 Fife, vowed, in the name of himself and his royal suc- 
 cessors, that the cross of St. Andrew should be blazoned 
 on the flag of Scotland for ever. Such is one legend ; 
 and there is another, only a little less improbable, which 
 tells us that the order derived its origin from certain inter- 
 changes of friendship between the same Achaius and the 
 great Emperor Charlemagne. 
 
 Whoever was the founder of the order, it would 
 appear that James V. was its restorer, about the year 
 1640. In his time it seems this chivalric society waa 
 
118 
 
 inSTOKY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 i ntended to consist of the sovereign and twelve knights ; 
 and one historian conjectures that the companions, origi- 
 nally, were all of kingly rank. It would appear that 
 James had been incited to this act, by having been him- 
 self invested with the Order of the Garter by his uncle, 
 Henry VIII., that of the golden Fleece by the Emperor, 
 and that of St. Michael by the King of France ; and ho 
 caused the badges of these foreign orders, along with that 
 of St. Andrew, to be sculptured over the Palace Gates of 
 Linlithgow. The collar of the order was of gold, with 
 thistles and sprigs of rue linked together, "the two 
 ancient emblems of the Scots and Picts," and from it 
 was suspended the badge, on which was portrayed St. 
 Andrew with his cross. On the star and jewel was en- 
 graved the famous motto "Nemo me impune lacessit." 
 James, however, was soon carried to the vault of his 
 fathers in the Abbey Church of Holyrood, and his knightly 
 institution was forgotten. 
 
 James VII. anxious to conciliate the leading nobility 
 of Scotland by every means in his power, revived the 
 Order in 1687, and created the following eight knights : — 
 
 George Gordon, Duke of Gordon. 
 John Murray, Marquis of AthoU. 
 James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, afterwards Duko 
 
 of Hamilton. Killed in a duel in 1712. 
 Alexander Stuart, Earl of Moray. 
 James Drummond, Earl of Perth. Attainted. 
 Kenneth Mackenzie, Earl of Seaforth. Attainted. 
 George Douglas, Earl of Dumbarton. 
 John Drummond, Earl of Melford. Attainted.* 
 
 » Queen Anne re-established the order in 1703. George IV.. 
 In 1827, increased the number of knights to sixteen. 
 
THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 119 
 
 The Chapel-Royal was entirely repaired, and deco- 
 rated with a splendour suitable to its new destinatioa. 
 At the east end, under the great window, a thfone was 
 erected for the sovereign, and near it were ranged richly 
 carved stalls, over which were suspended the banners 
 and armorial bearings of the several knights. 
 
 These costly preparations were nearly completed, 
 when the events of the Revolution deprived James of his 
 throne. Much excitement had been caused in Edinburgh 
 by the King's evident determination to overthrow the 
 Protestant religion. The attendance of the Officers of 
 State at mass caused a tumult; and the Countess of 
 Perth, and other persons of distinction, were insulted 
 while returning from church. When the landing of the 
 Prince of Orange was announced in Edinburgh, the Earl 
 of Perth retired from the city, and the first strong intima- 
 tion of public feeling was the assembling of a numerous 
 mob on the 10th of December, for the purpose of burning 
 down the Chapel-Royal, and destroying the King's private 
 chapel in the Palace, which was still kept open for the 
 celebration of the Romish service. The rage of the mul* 
 titude against Holyrood and its chapels was exacerbated 
 by the facts, that a College of Jesuits was known to be 
 lodged in the Chancellor's apartments, on the north side 
 of the Abbey Porch, for purposes of proselytism; and, 
 that a printing-press, from which issued polemical tracts 
 in defence of Catholicism, existed within the walls. At 
 this time Hol3rrood was garrisoned by a party of about 
 sixty regular troops, under the command of a Captain 
 Wallace, a person of considerable personal courage. 
 When the multitude advanced to their work of destruc- 
 tion, Wallace ordered his men to fire upon them from the 
 windows of the Palace, and a few of the assailants were 
 
120 
 
 HISTOEY OF HOLYEOOD. 
 
 killed and wounded. The alarm spread through the 
 city — the better classes were moved by the intelligence — 
 a quorum of the Privy Council issued orders to Wallace 
 to surrender tlie Palace, but these he refused to obey ; 
 and the Magistrates ordered the city guard and the 
 trained bands to march to Holyrood. Wallace drew out 
 his men in front of the Palace gate, and fired upon the 
 assailants ; but the commandant of the city guard, enter- 
 ing by a back way into the Palace, attacked him in the 
 rear, and compelled him to surrender. The populace, in- 
 furiated more than ever by the fall of several of their 
 companions, now rushed into the Palace, plundered, 
 burned, and destroyed the Chapel-Royal, and the King's 
 Chapel, till nothing remained but the bare walls; and, 
 violating even the sepulchre of the Kings, wrenched 
 open the leaden coffins, and scattered the bones of James 
 the Fifth and Magdalene of France, with those of other 
 Koyal personages, over the paved aisles of the Abbey 
 Church. 
 
CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 THK FABRIC OF THE PALACE AND ITS 
 RECENT HISTORY. 
 
 I^E have already stated, on the authority of For* 
 dun and the chronicles of Melrose and Holyrood, 
 that the Abbey was founded in the year 1128. 
 What may have been the precise period of the settlement 
 of the Canons in the valley below Arthur's seat is, how- 
 ever, a question of very considerable difficulty. It has 
 been conjectured by Father Hay that they did not remove 
 thither till the reign of William the Lion ;* and he is un- 
 doubtedly correct in this supposition; for in one of 
 Malcolm the Fourth's charters,! which cannot be of 
 earlier date than 1164, the year before William's acces- 
 sion, the Canons are still designated as being "of the 
 castle of Edinburgh;" and in a charter by William de Vi- 
 pont, in which a confirmation of King William's is specially 
 mentioned, they are likewise so designed. J We have 
 stated in the first chapter that it is generally believed 
 that, in the meanwhile, they occupied some building on 
 the summit of the castle rock. We, however, venture, 
 with diffidence, to conjecture that the first Abbey of 
 Holyrood stood at the base of the fortress, and that its 
 
 * Father Hay's MS. Notes quoted in Lib. Cart. Sanct. Cmu 
 t Ub. Cart. Sanct. Cruc. p. 18. J Ibid. p. 28. 
 
122 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 ruins were discernible centuries after its pious occupants 
 nad left it.* 
 
 Without dwelling, however, on this point, we now 
 proceed to speak of the small portion that remains of the 
 great structure in which they were eventually placed. In 
 the first instance, we must remark, that, of the entire 
 range of conventual buildings devoted to the domestic uses 
 of the Canons, not a vestige has been left. We have evi- 
 dence, however, on the wall of the south aisle of the nave 
 of the church, that it and the west wall of the adjoining 
 transept, formed, as was not uncommon in monastic edi- 
 fices, two sides of the Great Cloister, leaving the others 
 to the chapterhouse, refectory, and other principal apart- 
 ments of the establishment. Doorways led into the 
 Cloister from the eastern and western extremities of the 
 south aisle, to allow continuous egress and ingress to 
 solemn processions issuing from the church ; and one of 
 these entrances, as will be afterwards seen, is still in ex- 
 cellent preservation. The existing Royal Palace un- 
 doubtedly covers to a considerable extent the site of the 
 domestic buildings of the Abbey ; but a large portion of 
 these extended further toward the east than any part 
 of the present great quadrangle. 
 
 The choir and transepts of the Abbey Church have 
 also disappeared, and the nave, as it now stands, ruined 
 and roofless, is itself almost the sole record of that which 
 is gone. We are told, however, by various authorities, 
 that the sacred edifice, when entire, was an august and 
 magnificent building. We are also informed that it was 
 divided longitudinally into three portions— the "Sacra- 
 rium," elevated some steps above the level of the rest of 
 the edifice, in the centre of which stood the high altar [sacra 
 • YideJjj'ote 
 
Tllb. FABRIC OF THE PALACE, 
 
 123 
 
 mensa] — the Choir, and the Nave. A screen or grating 
 (clathri) divided the nave from the rest of the church, 
 and in the side aisles were numerous small chapels. In 
 the nave a large ring or crown, elegantly worked in brass, 
 was suspended from the roof by a massy chain, and filled 
 with tapers on the greater festivals ; and before the altar 
 stood a tree of brass, of elaborate workmanship, adorned 
 with precious gems, the lustre of which was brilliantly 
 displayed by numerous lamps pendent from the branches. 
 
 In Scotland, as in all European countries, during 
 the middle ages. Kings and Princes very frequently 
 sojourned within monastic walls. When travelling over 
 the country, these building were almost the only ones 
 of sufficient extent to accommodate them and their 
 retinues. The strong walls, and sacred character of 
 these great edifices afforded also a certain amount of 
 protection to the royal person. Doubtless the conven- 
 tual kitchen and cellars, too, though not stored with 
 such refined luxuries as in richer lands became the bane 
 of the religious orders, would yet be sufficiently pro- 
 vided with the means of good cheer to cause a King of 
 Scots, who had been riding from dawn, up hill, through 
 river, and over muirland, to hasten briskly forward, 
 about meal-time, 
 
 Unto the saintly convent, with the good monks to dine, 
 And quaff to organ music the pleasant cloister wine." 
 
 The Prince, at his departure, was expected, probably, 
 to present an oblation to the patron saint of the house, 
 to compensate for the great outlay caused by his recep- 
 tion. Accordingly we find Jocelin of Brakeland com- 
 
124 
 
 HISTOP.Y OP KOLYROOD. 
 
 plaining of King John of England's shabbiness in this ro- 
 Bpect, he having availed himself of the hospitality of the 
 monks of St. Edmund's Bury, and given nothing " save 
 thirteen eastcrling pence, which he offered at his mass 
 on the day of his departure," while Jocelin and his worthy 
 brethren were confidently expecting " some great matter.** 
 The Abbey of Holyrood was very frequently thus 
 honoured, with the presence of its Kings. At last, in 
 later times, when Edinburgh became the acknowledged 
 capital, James III. resided almost constantly within its 
 walls ; and to his chivalrous but ill-fated son, James IV., 
 is to be ascribed the foundation of the first Palace of 
 Holyrood. Several years of the Lord High Treasurer's 
 accounts during his reign have unfortunately been lost, 
 but, in those which remain, we have distinct evidence 
 that a building of importance was in progress for a con- 
 Biderable time, both before and after his marriage with 
 Margaret of England. We read in them in 1602-3 of the 
 construction of a "new hall," "the gallery, and boss 
 windoes," and " the turatis of the for-yet." This last was 
 probably the vaulted gateway, which, till the middle of the 
 eighteenth century, formed the entrance from the Canon- 
 gate to the great area in front of the Palace. The keeper 
 had formerly his residence over this porch, but when it 
 was removed in 1755, a suite of apartments was assigned 
 him in the edifice itself. The remains of the arches 
 of the porch are still distinctly visible on the wall of the 
 email building used as the Abbey court-room and gaol. 
 In 1504 and 1505 there are entries of payments made for 
 "aiding and topping of the chimmais," and for "com- 
 pleting of the toure in Halyrudhous," and in the former of 
 these years a precept is "made to Maister Leonarde 
 Logy," granting him £40 yearly for his diligence and 
 
THE FABRIC OF THE PALACE. 
 
 125 
 
 labour " in the bigging of the Palace beside the Abbey 
 of the Haly Cross." Mention is also made in these ac- 
 counts of " the Queen's great chamber " of the " King's 
 Oratory," and of the "Queen's Oratory," the latter of 
 which was glazed with a hundred feet of common glass, 
 and with seven pieces of glass painted with chaplets.* 
 
 During the minority of James V., the Kegent, Duke of 
 Albany, resided at Holyrood, and appears to have made 
 additions to the Palace buildings. There are notices of 
 certain sums expended by his orders in the construction 
 of " ane tumpek in the Palis." An annalist,t cited in the 
 preface to the " Liber Cartarum Sancte Crucis," speaks 
 of the Duke of Albany committing the " Lord Houme" in 
 1615 to the ^^auld touer of Holyrudhouss, which wes 
 foundit by the said Ducke." From its name this would 
 appear to be the tower built by James IV., to which, 
 perhaps, Albany had made some additions. 
 
 James the Fifth did not pass a great portion of his time 
 at Holyrood, but various sums of money were paid during 
 his reign for repairs on the Palace, and for " the new 
 werk." This latter was, in all probability, the great 
 towers which form the north-west quarter of the existing 
 Palace, and on which the legend " Jac. V. rex., Scotorum, " 
 was legible till a few years ago. The architect is stated 
 to have been that Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, who 
 
 * When speaking of the treasurer's accounts in James the 
 Fourth's time, we may mention that there are a few entries in 
 them which illustrate the King's singular penchant for attempt- 
 ing surgical operations. In 1491 and succeeding years, are 
 entries of ** 18s. to Dominico [a minstrel] to gif the King leve to 
 lat him blud " 13s. giffin to the blind wif that hed her eyiie 
 shome ; " and " 13s. to ane fallow, hecaus the King pulMt fuxth his 
 tuith." 
 
 ♦ Majjoreybank's Annals. 
 
126 
 
 HISTORT OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 bnilt or repaired the Palaces of Falkland and Linlithgow, 
 and the castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Rothesay, and 
 who was afterwards beheaded on a charge of fabricating 
 an engine for shooting the King from the tower of Lin- 
 lithgow.* James the Fifth's Palace is stated by a con- 
 temporary to have been very large and magnificent 
 [amplissimum et superbissimum].f We have an outline 
 of it on a very small scale in the sketch prepared for the 
 Earl of Hertford's expedition, already alluded to. It 
 appears to have consisted of several courts, but it is im- 
 possible to distinguish which belonged to the Palace, and 
 whictj to the Abbey. The north-western towers are very 
 conspicuous, rising like a keep above the other buildings ; 
 and the place or outer court is also distinctly visible will 
 its " Foirwerk" or gateway towards the Canongate. In 
 the rear of the north-west towers, a low building runs in 
 a straight line up to the base of the south-west tower of 
 the Abbey Church, with its eastern extremity resting ap- 
 parently on the west wall of that fabric. 
 
 In 1543 the Earl of Hertford's army "brent the abbey 
 called Holyrode House, and the pallice adjonynge to the 
 same but their destruction could not have been com- 
 plete, for in the English invasion of 1547 Sir Walter 
 Bonham and Edward Chamberlayne found the monks 
 gone ; " but the church, and much part of the house," well 
 covered with lead. The lead they stripped off, " and took 
 down two bells, and, according to the statute, did sum* 
 what hearby disgrace the hous." 
 
 By these grievous assaults, the fabric of the church 
 was so much shaken as to be in an insecure state ; but 
 
 ♦ Memorie of the Somervills, vol. i. pp. 316-316. 
 t Edinburgi Reg. Scot urbis descriptio. Bannatyne MisoeL 
 D. 187, 
 
THE FABRIC OF THE PALACE. 
 
 127 
 
 still we find it in a few years occupied as a place of 
 worship. Of the Palace of the Jameses, all that survived 
 was probably the north-western towers, whose massy 
 strength had resisted the action of the flames, and which 
 the English had not thought of blowing up with gun- 
 powder. Not only must any internal injuries sustained 
 by this portion of the building have been speedily 
 repaired, but a large and somewhat imposing edifice must 
 have been reared on the site of the demolished buildings ; 
 for, in 1561, Bran tome, who came over from France with 
 Queen Mary, and who speaks in anything but flattering 
 terms of what he saw in Scotland, says, " it is a handsome 
 building, and not like anything else in the country." No 
 material alteration was made on the edifice till the great 
 Civil War — and, very luckily, we have a drawing of the 
 front elevation, taken before that period, by James Gor- 
 don, parson of Rothiemay. From it, therefore, and from 
 his map of Edinburgh, engraved in Holland by De Witt, 
 we can form a correct idea of the Palace of Holyrood, as 
 it existed in the interesting times of Queen Mary. From 
 the north-western tower a range of building of no great 
 height extended towards the south, with four turret-like pro- 
 jections, filled with windows glazed in smaK diamond-shaped 
 compartments, as was also the main wall, the two projec- 
 tions at the extremities being three-sided, and those in the 
 centre, between which was the great entrance, being of a 
 semicircular form. These, and the north-western towers, 
 were ornamented with a profusion of small spires and royal 
 crowns ; and a row of these imperial emblems, probably 
 cast in iron, ran along the ridge of the sloping roof, with 
 the intention, probably, of giving an appearance of greater 
 elevation to the building. This portion of the edifice, we 
 think, must have had rather a flimsy and fantastic look. 
 
128 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 wlien compared with the sturdy solidity of the north- 
 western tower. 
 
 The Palace comprehended five courts or enclosures. 
 The largest of these was the place to the west of the prin- 
 cipal front, which formed one of its sides, the boundaries 
 of the three others being walls, those on the north and 
 south dividing it from two royal gardens, and that on tho 
 east from the houses of the Canongate. At the north- 
 west corner was the vaulted and turreted porch, to which 
 we have already alluded as being built in the reign of 
 James IV,, and removed, when in a dismantled condition, 
 about the middle of the last century. The next court to 
 the east of this was surrounded by buildings, and appa- 
 rently occupied the space on which the inner part of the 
 present quadrangle stands, its northern and eastern sides 
 advancing up to the west and south walls of the south- 
 westeni tower of the Abbey Church, the lower part of 
 which, in fact, appears in De Witt's map to have been 
 built into this portion of the Palace. On the south there 
 were two other courts also surrounded by buildings, and 
 the fifth court lay toward the east, immediately to the 
 south of the Abbey Church. 
 
 We have already stated that, from the termination of 
 Mary's reign to the period of the Commonwealth, no ma- 
 terial change took place in the structure of the Palace. 
 Before James the Sixth's visit to Scotland, however, ia 
 1617, we learn from a "Warrant for repairing his Ma- 
 jestie's Houssis," issued by the Scottish Privy Council, 
 that certain renovations, of no great importance, were ef- 
 fected. A commission was granted to the King's Master 
 of Works to take down the roof of the lodging above the 
 detached outer porch, called the Chancellor's Lodging^ 
 and as much of the stone wall as was necessary, and ta 
 
THE FABRIC OF THE PALACE, 
 
 129 
 
 ret)ulfa the same in a substantial manner. The apari* 
 ment within the Palace known as the Steward's Chalmar 
 was also to be taken down, and not to be rebuilt, on ac- 
 count of the " deformitie and disproportioun that it has 
 with the rest of the building thair;" the apartment called 
 Sir Roger Ashton's Chalmer was to be taken down and 
 rebuilt in a " convenient forme," as was also Chancellor 
 Maitland's Kitchen^ at the end of the Dufce's Trome ; and 
 the "too-falls" and "dykes," in an enclosure at the back 
 ealled the Bahe-Jiouse Yard, were to be removed, so that 
 "of the yard ane perfyte cloise may be made." 
 
 John Taylor, the Water Poet, was in Scotland in 
 1618, and, in his " Pennylesse Pilgrimage," he relates the 
 impressions which the country had left on his mind. He 
 says that, when in Edinburgh, he went down the " street© 
 which they call the Kenny-hate," and then, he says, " I 
 was at his Majesty's Palace, a stately and princely seate, 
 wherein I saw a sumptuous chapell, most richly adorned 
 with all appurtenances belonging to so sacred a place, or 
 so Royall an owner. In the inner court I saw the King's 
 Armes cunningly carved in stone, and fixed over a doore 
 aloft cn the wall, the red Lyon being the crest, over which 
 was written this inscripton in Latino : — Nohis ncec invicla 
 miserunt 106 ProavL I enquired what the English of it 
 was? It was told me as followeth, which I thought 
 worthy to be recorded : — 106 forefathers have left this to 
 us unconquered.'^^ 
 
 Charles I., notwithstanding the adulatory inscription 
 over the west door of the church, appears only to have 
 caused some trivial repairs to be made upon that build- 
 ing; but it is highly probable that, before his Scottish 
 coronation, he had expended considerable sums in adom- 
 mg the interior of the Palace ; and the ceiling of Queen 
 
 £ 
 
V60 
 
 HISTORY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 Mary's bed-room still bears on its ornamented roof hlfi 
 initials and those of his son--" C.R." "CP." [Carolue 
 Rex — Carolus Princeps.] 
 
 The next event of importance in the history of the 
 fabric of the Palace occurred on the 13th of November 
 1650, when it was set on fire by accident or design, while 
 occupied by the soldiery of the Commonwealth, and de- 
 stroyed, "except a lytill," as a contemporary diarist 
 says. This "lytill" comprehended undoubtedly the 
 great north-western tower, which has survived so many 
 disasters. The portion of the Palace which remained 
 standing must have been soon in a habitable state, 
 for it appears to have been used as a place of con- 
 finement in 1655, as is evident from a petition presented 
 by certain prisoners immured therein, to the clergy of 
 the Presbytery of St. Andrews, praying them to use 
 their good offices in obtaining their release.* In 1658 
 Cromwell ordered the edifice to be restored, but no por- 
 tion of the Protector's erection now remains. It would 
 appear from the statement of Nicoll the diarist, that the 
 portion of the Palace rebuilt by the Protector and his son 
 Richard, consisted only of the western front up to the 
 north-west tower. He says, in September 1659, that 
 the " hole foir-warh .... quhilk was brint in Novem- 
 ber 1650, was compleitlie biggit up." 
 
 In 1671 King Charles II. determined to rebuild the 
 palace of his forefathers, in accordance with a plan sub- 
 mitted for his consideration by his " surveyor," Sir Wil- 
 liam Bruce of Kinross, a distinguished Scottish architect j 
 and before 1679 the present Royal House of Edinburgh 
 was completed. Charles bestowed great attention on the 
 designs of his new Palace, and suggested a few alterations, 
 some of which were happily not adopted. 
 * J\[S. r^xdu cited in tbf> Bannatrvne Miscellanv, vol. li. p 4(ML 
 
THE FABRIC OF THE 1»ALACE. 
 
 131 
 
 From the union of the two kingdoms till 1745, Holy- 
 rood was entirely neglected and abandoned to a solitude, 
 disturbed only by the occasional meetings of the Scottish 
 mobility, for the election of the Representative Peers. In 
 September of that year, however, these deserted halls 
 once more resounded to music and the dance, when the 
 beauty, rank, and chivalry of the Jacobite party thronged 
 in passionate devotion round the young and luckless 
 Prince Charles — scenes of gaiety brief, and, in the circum- 
 stances, almost as startling as laughter in the chamber of 
 death — to be followed by the bloody horrors of CuUoden, 
 the scaffolds of Tower Hill, exile, forfeiture, want, the 
 extinction of kith and kin, and many a blazing roof-tree, 
 and desolated valley, over the broad Highlands of Scot- 
 land. Prince Charles arrived at Holyrood on the 17th of 
 September, and his army encamped on the south-east side 
 of Arthur's Seat, above the village of Wester Dudding- 
 Btone. On the day after the battle of Prestonpans, the 
 Prince returned to the Palace, flushed with victory ; and 
 a succession of festivities ensued till the 31st of October, 
 when the Jacobite forces marched for the English fron- 
 tier. After the battle of Culloden, in the spring of 
 1746, the Duke of Cumberland resided in the Palace for 
 a few days, and is said to have slept in the same 
 bed which the unfortunate Pretender had previously oc- 
 cupied. 
 
 From this period till the end of the 18th century, no 
 person of exalted rank resided within the walls of Holy- 
 rood. In 1795, the exiled representative of that royal 
 family of France, which had offered an asylum to the last 
 king of the Stuart dynasty, himself sought refuge in the 
 Palace of the Stuarts, and found aStGermains in Scot- 
 land. The apartments on the east side of the quadrangle 
 were prepared for the rp«.cept;on of Charles X..then known 
 
132 
 
 HISTORY OF IIOLYROOD. 
 
 as the Count D'Artois; and he continued to reside there 
 till 1799, occasionally holding levees, which were attended 
 by the higher classes of the citizens. The Duchess de 
 Grammont, a relation of the Bourbon family, dwelt there 
 till May 1803, when she died, and was buried in the royal 
 vault. ]Ier remains, however, were subsequently removed 
 to France, after the accession of Charles X. to the throne. 
 
 In 1 822 George lY. visited Edinburgh, and the whole 
 Scottish nation, of every class and party, throwing for the 
 moment all the acerbities of political feeling to the winds, 
 rushed with enthusiastic loyalty to behold a King once 
 more throned in the halls of their ancient Palace. After 
 the King's visit, the sum of £24,000 was granted for 
 external and internal repairs on the Palace; and the ad- 
 jacent grounds were surrounded by a very elega!nt iron 
 railing. In 1831 Charles X., again a fugitive, resumed 
 his old apartments in Holyrood, accompanied by the 
 Duke and Duchess D'Angouleme, the Duchess de Berri, 
 her son the Duke of Bourdeaux, and a numerous 
 suite. 
 
 In September 1842, Queen Victoria and her Consort 
 visited Edinburgh, but did not upon that occasion reside 
 within the Palace. In August 1850, however, her 
 Majesty once more visited her " own romantic town," 
 and dwelt within her ancient Palace. On the morning 
 after her arrival, the Queen, accompanied by Prince 
 Albert and the Royal children, ascended Arthur's Seat, 
 and beheld, for the first time, the matchless panoramic 
 prospect which its summit affords. Since that period 
 her Majesty has annually honoured Holyrood with hei 
 presence on her way to and from her Highland residence 
 at Balmoral. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE ROYAL APARTMENTS. 
 
 ^pM^RE principal entrance to Her Majesty's apart- 
 ments is in the south-west corner of the 
 quadrangle, but we shall describe them in 
 their order, beginning at the door leading from the east 
 end of the Picture Gallery. 
 
 The first is that now known as the Queen's Break- 
 fast-room. This apartment measures twenty-four feet 
 by nineteen feet six inches ; the height being sixteen feet 
 eight inches. The ceiling is coved and deeply coffered, 
 having a circular panel in the centre, enriched with 
 wreath-like mouldings, formed of lime and fashioned by 
 the hand. In the spandrils are drums, axes, and other 
 warlike emblems, wrought in the same manner. The 
 walls are covered partly with oak panelling, and partly 
 with a green and gold flock paper. The chimney-piece 
 and the panel above it are fine bold specimens of carv 
 ing in oak, the ornaments being of the same warlike 
 character as those of the roof. In this panel a painting, 
 representing the Finding of Moses, has been inserted 
 The furniture of the room is modern. 
 
 We next enter the Vestibule, a small square apart- 
 ment, with walls covered with oak panelling, and having a 
 richly ornamented roof, in the centre of which is a dome, 
 painted of an azure colour and studded with silver stars- 
 
 We next come to Prince Albert's Dressing-room, 
 which measures twenty-six feet five inches by twenty -fouff 
 
134 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 feel, the height being sixteen feet eight inches. The 
 ceiling of this room is also fine. In the centre is a nah 
 oval panel, containing a picture representing the Expul- 
 sion of Vulcan from heaven. The walls are covered with 
 green and gold flock paper. The doors, door-pieces, and 
 mantel-piece of this room are elaborately carved, and in 
 the panel above the last is a picture of the Infant Hercules 
 strangling the serpents. 
 
 The next apartment is the Queen's Bed-room, a 
 handsome room hung with tapestry, representing the 
 destruction of Niobe's Children by Apollo and Diana, and 
 other subjects. The ceiling has in the centre an octagonal 
 panel, deeply coffered and enriched with mouldings. lu 
 the panel above the mantel-piece, is a picture of Venus 
 rising from the sea. 
 
 We next enter the Queen's Drawing-room, a very 
 fine apartment, thirty-eight feet six inches long by twenty- 
 nine feet eight inches broad, llie height is sixteen feet 
 six inches. The ceiling is especially fine. The large 
 centre panel is deeply coffered and the hand-wrought 
 mouldings around it, representing heavy festoons of leaves 
 and fruit, are admirably modelled. The ceiling within 
 this panel is painted of a very delicate greenish tint, with 
 a monogram of Victoria and Albert, roses, thistles, sham- 
 rocks, and fleurs-de-lis in gold. The smaller comer panels 
 are filled with beautifully relieved ornaments, principally 
 regal insignia and the monogram C. R. The entablature 
 and cornice have highly relieved floral ornaments. The 
 oak mantel-piece and panel above it are fine specimens of 
 elaborate carving. In the centre of the panel is inserted 
 a large oval mirror. There are several large pieces of 
 tapestry in this apartment, rcDresenting scenes Id the 
 oaythologlcal history of Diana. 
 
niE KUITAL APAKTMENTS. 
 
 186 
 
 We next enter the Evening Drawing-room, a hand« 
 gome apartment, forty feet by thirty, and seventeen feet 
 high. The panelled ceiling of this room is ornamented with 
 rich mouldings, like the others in the suite. On the walls 
 are hung four pieces of tapestry, recently brought from 
 Buckingham Palace. The remainder of the wall is covered 
 with crimson and gold flock paper. The windows oi 
 this room look towards the quadrangle, whereas, all 
 the apartments of this suite which we have described, 
 look towards the pleasure ground to the east of the 
 Palace. 
 
 The next apartment is that commonly called th« 
 Throne-room, which is used by her present Majesty as a 
 dining-room. It is fifty-six feet by twenty-nine, and six- 
 teen feet six inches high. The walls are covered with 
 crimson damask, and, at one end of it is a throne, sur- 
 mounted by the royal arms, which was used at the levees 
 of George IV. in 1822. There are several portraits in 
 this room — a fine one of George IV. in the Highland 
 costume, by Wilkie, and others of WiUiam and Mary, and 
 Anne and Prince George of Denmark. 
 
 Issuing from this room, you come to a vestibule, which 
 is the landing-place to the grand staircase. Turning to 
 the left, you find a door on your right hand, which is the 
 entrance to what is now called Prince Albert's Draw- 
 ing-room, a fine apartment, forty-seven feet by twenty- 
 seven, which occupies the south-western tower, and has 
 two small rooms opening ofi* it at the external angles. It 
 has an ornamented ceiling in the same style as most of 
 the others, having a large oblong panel in the centre, 
 studded with delicate stars, and bearing the monogram off 
 Victoria and Albert. The wails are covered with o 
 crimson and gold flock paper. 
 
136 
 
 HISTORY OF UOLYROOD. 
 
 There are some other plain rooms in the suite occu- 
 pied by the Prince of Wales and the junior members of 
 the Royal Family, which it is unnecessary to particu- 
 larise. Retracing our steps along the vestibule, we de- 
 scend the Grand Staircase, the ceiling of which, with 
 its circular panel, and beautifully elaborate ornaments, 
 is worthy of attention, and issue into the quadrangle at 
 its south-west corner. 
 
 The Duke of Hamilton, in virtue of his office ol 
 Keeper of the Palace, has a suite of apartments on the 
 first and second floors of the west and north sides of tk® 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ENVIRONS OP HOLYROOD— ROYAL PARK- BURGH 
 OF CANONGATB, AND SANCTUARY. 
 
 HEN David I. founded the Abbey of Holyrood 
 he granted to its canons a considerable tract oi 
 land lying between the town of Edinburgh and 
 the base of Arthur's Seat. He also conveyed to them, in 
 the foundation charter, a certain portion of the craggy 
 heights which overlooked their monastery ; but it^is now 
 impossible to indicate with precision the limits of the an- 
 cient conventual demesne. When King James IV. and 
 his son built their palace close to the Abbey walls, they 
 doubtless added very considerably to the extent of what 
 then became the Royal Park. We find in the reign of 
 James V. that there was a "New"* as well as an "Old" 
 Park, the latter probably indicating the original demesne 
 of the abbots, and the former the addition made to it by 
 the kings. In the Lord Treasurer's accounts in 1541, 
 there is an entry, also, of £400 paid to " Schir David 
 Murray of Balwaird, knycht, in recompense of his landis 
 of Dudingstoune tane into the New Park besyde Haly- 
 
 * Accounts of Lord High Treasurer. Pitcaim's TrialB, Ap- 
 pendix, p. ♦32L 
 
138 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYP.OOD 
 
 rudehons." This, of course, indicates that the New Park 
 extended toward the south-east of the royal demesne. In 
 James the Fifth's time the Palace appears to have been 
 surrounded by very extensive gardens. We are told by 
 a contemporary that James's palace was very large and 
 magnificent, and that the gardens around it were delight- 
 ful, and extended as far as the " lake," or marshy ground 
 [lacus] at the foot of Arthur's Seat.* It appears from an 
 entry in the Lord High Treasurer's accounts that " the 
 loch beside the Abbey" had be^n drained in the time of 
 James IV., as a site for a garden. Probably a portion of 
 it towards the foot of the hill had been left undrained. 
 James V. also caused a wall to be built round the whole 
 park, and, probably, invested some gentleman in the 
 neighbourhood with the office of keeper. During his 
 daughter's reign we find in the Records of Justiciary the 
 trial of certain persons for "hurting and wounding of 
 William Ahannay, servant of the Laird of Craigemyllare, 
 being his deputy in keeping the QaeerCs Parh, near Edin- 
 burgh ;"t and about the same period sheep must have 
 pastured on a portion of the enclosure, for in the same 
 Record we find that, in 1556, Thomas Bullerwell wa8 
 " delaittit of the thiftuous steling of certane scheip fra the 
 Quenis Grace furthe of hir park." J In Queen Mary's 
 time there were probably in the immediate vicinity of 
 the Palace, not only the north and south gardens, of 
 which the remains still exist, but others laid out in ele- 
 gant designs in St. Ann's Yards, to the south-east of the 
 Palace. § In the reign of James VL Fynes Moryson [in 
 1598] speaks of the Palace as being surrounded by " a 
 
 • Edinburgi Reg. Scot, urbis descriptio. Bannatyne Miscel. i. 187. 
 t Pitcaim's Criminal Trials, vol. i. *381. % lUd. vol L *38a 
 g Vide De Witt's Map, published in 164J. 
 
ENVIKONS OF HOLTKOOD. 
 
 139 
 
 park of hares, conies, and deare."* In 1671, when 
 Charles 11. resolved to rebuild the Palace of his ancestors, 
 he issued a warrant for the purchase of the " grounds and 
 houses belonging to the Bishop and Dean of Edinburgh 
 adjacent to the said Palace." It appears that Charles 
 planned a new garden, probably to the north and north- 
 east of the Palace, for it is stated in the warrant that 
 " his Majestie's designe is by this purchase to have ane 
 access from his new garden, marked 10, into the Great 
 Park; and therefore it would be seen to whom tha 
 grounds marked 16 and 17 doe belong; that, if they be 
 not the King's already, they may be purchased, together 
 with the ground on the east side betwixt the Deane's 
 House and the Old Park dyke, as farr as the Clockmill, to 
 the end the King*8 passage to the Great Park may be 
 uninterrupted." 
 
 The Royal Park, as it now exists, embraces a circuit 
 of about four and a half miles. Within this extensive 
 space are included the well-known hill called Arthur's 
 seat, the summit of which, bearing a striking resemblance 
 to a lion couchant, is 822 feet above the sea level ; and 
 that wild crescent of perpendicular cliffs called Salisbury 
 Crags, which towers so conspicuously over the city. The 
 close proximity of these two rugged and rocky eminences 
 to the busy streets of the town below, forms one of those 
 grand and striking features that render the aspect of 
 Edinburgh so romantic and beautiful in its variety. Be- 
 tween the two hills lies the valley called the Hunter's 
 Bog, about a mile and a half in circumference, in the 
 seclusion of which the stranger might imagine himself to 
 be wandering in some remote glen of the Highlands, 
 These heights are also interesting ground for the natural- 
 * ItmerarSi 273, 
 
140 
 
 HISTORY OF nOLYKOOD. 
 
 irt. Beautiful crystals are occasionally found in the 
 rocks of Arthur's Seat, and jasper, in veins of considerable 
 extent, of sufficient hardness to take a fine polish. A 
 writer of the sixteenth century, whose description of Edin- 
 burgh we have already quoted, informs us that " in this 
 hill are found precious stones, radiant as light, especially 
 diamonds [adamantes]."* Four hundred plants have 
 been enumerated as growing on the declivities, though 
 not all, perhaps, strictly indigenous; and insects are 
 abundant, especially three different species of ants ; and 
 we are informed that the rare butterfly the FapUio Ar- 
 taxerxes is frequently seen, f 
 
 The level meadows below, which extend from the 
 back of the Palace eastward to the gate near Parson's 
 Green, are known by the names of St. Ann's Yards and the 
 Duke's Walk. The origin of the former of these names is 
 rather doubtful, but probably it had some connexion with 
 the "Altar of St. Ann" in the Abbey Church. The 
 Duke's Walk, we have already mentioned, was so named 
 from its green sward being the favourite place of exercise 
 of James VII. while resident in Holyrood, before his ac- 
 cession to the throne. Amot, who published his history 
 towards the end of the last century, states that, in the 
 memory of persons not long deceased, this level meadow 
 was still dotted with tall oaks. % In Edgar's map of Edin- 
 burgh, executed about the middle of last century, the 
 ground at the back of the Palace, and to the south of the 
 Abbey Church, which is now laid out as a garden, is 
 called " The Bowling Green." It is probable that this 
 Bpot was dedicated to the same purpose in the time of 
 Cbarles I., for he authorised the Duke of Hamilton, in the 
 
 ♦ Bannatyne Miscellany, vol. i 
 t Rhind*8 Excursions, p. 1-20. J Hist, of Edinburgh, p. 23r. 
 
ENTVIRONS OF HOLYROuD. 
 
 14J 
 
 charter which created him hereditary keeper of the 
 Palace, to appoint persons for cultivating and superin- 
 tending all the gardens and orchards, " ac parvo horto 
 infra idem Palatium, sphaeristerio lie howling-green^''^ <&c. 
 
 On the north-west declivity of Arthur's Seat, on a 
 projecting rock overlooking the Duke's Walk, are the ruins 
 of St. Anthony's Chapel. This small building, when 
 entire, was about forty-thTce feet in length, eighteen feet 
 in breadth, and the same in height ; and had at its west 
 end a tower nineteen feet square, and supposed to have 
 been forty feet in height. Amot asserts that it was " a 
 beautiful Gothick building, well suited to the rugged 
 sublimity of the rock but its remains are now too scanty 
 to admit of our forming a judgment as to its architectural 
 merits. A fragment of the tower is all that time and 
 reckless violence have left ; but less than a century ago 
 the whole building was in excellent preservation.* At a 
 few yards distance, among scattered grey rocks, once 
 stood a little hermitage, which is said to have been inha- 
 bited by several recluses in solitary succession. Of the 
 history of this chapel and hermitage almost nothing is 
 known ; but the former is supposed to have been a cell of 
 the preceptory of St. Anthony in Leith. From an entry 
 in the Lord Treasurer's accounts, we learn that King 
 James IV., on the 1st April 1505, gave 14s. "to St, 
 Antoni's Chapell of the Crag." A little below is St. An- 
 thony's Well, a spring of pure, cold water, which flows 
 from the rock into a hollow stone basin, and which, in 
 former times, doubtless served for the pious uses of the 
 chapel above, and the refreshment of the occupier of the 
 hermitage. This old fountain has long been a favourite 
 haunt of the burghers of Edinburgh on Sundays and holi- 
 • Chambers'^ Gaaetteer of S«u)tland, vol. I p. 34U 
 
142 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLTROOD. 
 
 days, and is alluded to in a well-known ballad of exqid- 
 site pathos, founded on the desertion of Lady Barbara 
 Erskine by her husband James, second Marquis of 
 Douglas, a man of violent character, on a false charge of 
 conjugal infidelity. 
 
 •* Now Arthur*8 Seat shall be my bed ; 
 The sheets shall ne'er be prest by me; 
 St. Anton's Well shall be my drink, 
 Since my fause luve 's forsaken me.** 
 
 To the west and south-west of Salisbury Crags lie the 
 old road of the Dumbiedykes and the locality called St. 
 Leonard's, both immortalized in the fictions of the great 
 novelist of Edinburgh ; and at the other extremity of tho 
 Royal Park, near the east end of the Duke's Walk, and 
 close to the gate at Parson's Green, formerly stood th« 
 pile of stones, called Muschet's Cairn, a place of blood 
 also familiar to the readers of the " Heart of Mid-Lothian." 
 
 Round Arthur's Seat and through the Parks now 
 sweeps the magnificent carriage drive, called " the Vic- 
 toria Road," which was commenced in 1844. It mounts 
 the hill at either end by an easy ascent, and commands a 
 magnificent panoramic prospect of the Firth of Forth, the 
 cultivated and wooded country to the south, the chain of 
 the Pentland hills, and the stony acclivities and declivities 
 of the fair metropolis of Scotland. It is no exaggeration 
 to assert that, probably, no other capital in Europe is 
 possessed of a carriage-way commanding so extensive, 
 varied, and magnificent a series of rural and urban pros- 
 pects. 
 
 In 1646, Charles I. granted a charter to Sir J. Hamil- 
 ton of Prestonsfield, a younger brother of the second Earl 
 of Haddington, conveying to him the office of heritable 
 keeper and ranger of the Park de Halyrudehouse," with 
 
ENYIRONS OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 14.3 
 
 the whole rents, privileges, anl emoluments thereto be- 
 longing. This grant was conferred in payment of a debt 
 due by the King to Sir J. Hamilton. In 1 690, Thomas, 
 Earl of Haddington, acquired right to the office, and ob- 
 tained a charter from William and Mary, destining it to the 
 heirs of entail of the honours and estates of Haddington. 
 This hereditary office, with its emoluments, was retained 
 by that noble family till the year 1843, when the Crown re- 
 sumed the gift, paying the sum of £30,674 to the Earl of 
 Haddington in name of compensation ; and the Royal 
 Park of Holyrood is now under the surveillance of the 
 office of woods and forests, like her Majesty's other de- 
 mesnes. In an action raised by the minister of the 
 Canongate in 1829, against the Earl of Haddington, the 
 Court of Session decided that ''immemorial consuetude 
 has established an exemption from payment of tithe in fa- 
 vour of the Crown for these lands called the King's Park." 
 
 On the north-west of the ruined Abbey Church is a 
 large garden used in the eighteenth century as a botanic 
 garden, in which is the curious old horologe, commonly 
 denominated Queen Mary's dial, which is ascertained to 
 have been erected in the reign of Charles I.* It forms 
 the apex of a richly ornamented pedestal, which rests on 
 a hexagonal base, composed of three steps. The form of 
 the horologe is multangular, presenting no fewer than 
 twenty sides, on which are placed twenty-four dials, in- 
 serted in circular, semicircular, and triangular cavities. 
 Few of the gnomons remain, although the structure itself, 
 which is about ten feet high, is still in a good state of pre- 
 servation. Between the dials are sculptured the royal 
 arms of Scotland, St Andrew and his cross, St Georgeand 
 the dragon, the rose, thistle, harp, fleur-de-lis, and port- 
 
 * To John Mylne, " maissoune," for working and hewing the 
 dyell in the North Yaird. L.408, 15s. 6d. Scots, 
 
144 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLTROOD. 
 
 callis crowned, with the initials " C. R.''— " 0. P."— and 
 " M. R." The two outer limbs of the M are made con- 
 Bpicuous, by being richly carved and in higher relief than 
 the centre ones, from the latter being evidently intended 
 to represent in a monogram " H. M." the initials of 
 Henrietta Maria, the Queen of Charles I. This reading is 
 confirmed by a shield, charged with the fleurs-de-lis of 
 France, being sculptured beneath the initials in question. 
 The original doorway, with the royal arms sculptured on 
 the lintel, surmounted by a thistle in high relief, still re- 
 mains in the garden wall, facing the " place " or court- 
 yard in front of the Palace. A small irregularly-shaped 
 building connected with the west wall of the garden, and 
 abutting on the street called the Abbeyhill, is pointed out 
 by the finger of tradition as being the bath-house where 
 Mary used to indulge in her milky ablutions. 
 
 On the west side of the lane called " Croft-an-Righ,** 
 locally Croftangry, leading from the park to the Abbey- 
 hill, is an old edifice, which was occupied as a residence 
 by the Regent Moray. Tradition again alleges that a 
 tree in the garden behind the house was planted by the 
 fair hand of Mary Stuart herself. 
 
 In the precincts of the Palace, at the foot of the 
 Canongate, formerly stood the Tennis Court, a place, of 
 course, originally intended for the well-known pastime 
 from which it derived its name. It was burnt to the 
 ground in the latter part of the last century. James IV. 
 and his son were both passionately fond of the game of 
 tennis, as appears from various entries in the old records 
 in reference to " Caitchepell, caiche, kache," &c. In the 
 Lord Treasurer's accounts, under the date 29th June 
 1527, we find an entry of twenty shillings paid " for ballifl 
 
fiarviRONS OF holtrood. 
 
 145 
 
 in Crummise* cache-puyll, quhen the Kingia Grace playt 
 with the Lord Glammise." On the same day there is a 
 curious entry of " 15s. 6d. gevin for eggis to bikkir the 
 Castell;" and on the 17th of July there is another of 
 twenty shillings " gevin at the Kingis command till puyre 
 wivis that come gretand apone his Grace for eggis takin 
 fra thaime be his servandis." From these notices, it 
 would appear that a foolish game had been devised for 
 the amusement of the young King, in a mock assault on a 
 fortress, raised very probably on the tennis ground, the of- 
 fensive weapons on both sides being eggs. Mr. Pitcairn, 
 in a note to these entries, observes that " it may easily 
 be imagined in what a plight both victors and vanquished 
 would be after a cessation of hostilities." The Tennis 
 Court was the scene of the first theatrical performances 
 after the Reformation in 1599, when Queen Elizabeth, at 
 the request of James VI., sent a company of actors to 
 Edinburgh, who were licensed by the King, to the great 
 annoyance of the city clergy, who in vain hurled their 
 anathemas at the votaries of Thespis. In 1680 the Duke 
 of York brought a part of his own company to amuse him 
 during his exile in Scotland ; and in Queen Anne's reign 
 concerts, conjoined with theatrical representations, were 
 given in the Tennis Court. 
 
 We now come to the Burgh of the Canongate ; but 
 oonceming it, as not necessarily forming a part of our 
 Bssbject, our limits permit us to say only a few words. 
 
 We have seen, in the first chapter, that David L 
 granted permission to the canons to found a burgh be- 
 tween their Abbey, or intended Abbey, and his Burgh of 
 
 ♦ This was perhaps a John Crummy or Crummys, who, OQ 
 tKe 31st May 1544, obtained the gift of "ye Abbot's Medow . • 
 wyten the park [of Halyruidhouse] for all the days of his life." 
 
 K 
 
146 
 
 HISTORY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 Edwinsburg. Of this grant the monks, of course, would 
 not be tardy in availing themselves, since it conferred on 
 them not only territorial jurisdiction, but an immediate 
 accession of revenue. The first street built was naturally 
 that leading from " Edwinsburg" down to the monastery, 
 which was named the " Canongate," or " Street of the 
 Canons," and gave its appellation to the future burgh. 
 The little village of the monastery, thus fostered by royal 
 immunities, and protected by the potent arm of the 
 Church, speedily grew into a town, the inhabitants of 
 which repaired to the Abbey Chapel for religious services, 
 as Roman Catholics, up to the period of the Reformation; 
 and, as Protestants, up to the time of James VII., whose 
 intention apparently was to close the edifice to all except 
 1 he Knights of the Thistle. In the reign of James V., 
 1 he Cowgate, now one of the most miserable streets in the 
 <- Id town, the haunt of dealers in second-hand furniture 
 and old clothes, was the residence of the elite of the Scot- 
 tish nobility; but in a short time thereafter, the main 
 street of the Canongate, with its numerous closes, suc- 
 ceeded to the honour of being the chosen abode of the 
 northern aristocracy. The Union of the two kingdoms, 
 however, inflicted a severe blow on its prosperity; and 
 the rise of the New Town, and the opening up of the road 
 along the Calton Hill in 1817, which rendered it no longer 
 the principal approach to Edinburgh from the east, com- 
 p leted the downfall of the ancient burgh of the canons, and 
 g ave its honoured but incommodious dwellings to be the 
 habitations of penury and vice. Still, however, till the 
 middle of the last century, some of the Scottish nobility 
 clung to their old residences ; and, even at the commence- 
 ment of the present, a few spinster and bachelor mem- 
 bers of ancient but decayed families, and two or three 
 
ENVIRONS OF HOLYROOD 
 
 147 
 
 feeble advocates of the divine right of the Stuarts, might 
 be found lingering in these dingy closes, preferring the 
 grand old associations of the Canongate to the actual 
 comforts and free air of the New Town, their residences 
 being externally distinguished from those of their squalid 
 neighbours in the same " lands" only by the brass knocker 
 scrupulously polished, and the white-washed landing- 
 place outside the door. With one such remnant of the 
 old times we were intimately acquainted in our boyhood, 
 — a humourist full of antiquated prejudices, who had his 
 hair cut by an Old Town barber, and his clothes fashioned 
 by an Old Town tailor ; who worshipped in an Old Town 
 chapel; pointed with admiration to the prospect of the 
 tall smoky chimneys of the same Old Town, as seen from 
 the small windows of his residence in Ramsay's Court ; 
 and who actually would not venture to walk abroad dur- 
 ing George the Fourth's visit to Edinburgh, lest his eyes 
 might be contaminated by looking on the descendant of 
 that " puir German lairdie" who had deprived the Stuarts 
 of their inheritance. 
 
 The burgh seal of the Canongate, an engraving of which 
 is appended to the present chapter, displays the stag of St. 
 David with the cross between its antlers, and the Abbey 
 and a portion of the forest of Drumselch in the back 
 ground, with the legend "S. coie. burgi. vicicanonicor. 
 monasterii. sancte. crucis." The motto of the burgh is, 
 " Sic itur ad astra" [thus we go to the stars], which, being 
 conspicuously painted on the walls of the Canongate Jail, 
 has been the subject of many a sarcastic jest as to the 
 singular pathway to heaven thus indicated by the magis- 
 trates of the buunds. 
 
 After the Reformation, the superiority of the Canon- 
 gate passed into the hands of Sir Lewis Bellenden of 
 
148 
 
 HISTORY OF UOLYROOD. 
 
 Brougbton, by whom it was disponed in 1627 to the 
 Earl of Roxburgh, from whom it was acquired for 
 42,000 merks Scots by the city of Edinburgh in 1636, 
 along with the town of North Leith, that portion of the 
 barony of Broughton adjoining the Water of Leith, and 
 •*that part of the toun, houses, and gardens, in St. 
 Leonards, called Dearenough, or the Pleasance."* The 
 remainder of the Abbey's Barony of Broughton was 
 disponed at the same time to the magistrates, council, 
 and ministers of Edinburgh in trust for the use and be- 
 hoof of Heriot's Hospital ; f and on the abolition of 
 hereditary jurisdictions, the trustees of that establishment 
 claimed £5000 as compensation, and were awarded 
 £486:19:84 
 
 At the foot of the Canongate, and opposite the old 
 Gothic archway which formerly was the entrance to the 
 " place " or court-yard in front of the Palace, stood at 
 one time the Girth Cross, the position of which ife still 
 indicated by a cross in the causeway. This structure, 
 as its name imports, was the sacred boundary of the 
 Sanctuary of Holyrood, which, when touched by the hand 
 of a fugitive, declared him to be within the limits of the 
 city of refuge ; but at the present day the boundary is a 
 few yards to the eastward of this point. This sanctuary 
 for insolvent debtors is the only one now existing in 
 Scotland, and embraces the whole range of the Royal 
 Park, and a small portion of the Canongate, commencing 
 at the Watergate, a few yards to the nosth-east of the 
 
 * Haitian d's History, p. 149. The "Pleasance" is a oorrup- 
 tion of the name of the ancient nunnery dedicated to St. Mary of 
 Placentia. 
 
 t Chartulary of City of Edinburgh, vol. iv. p. 349. 
 } Cbahnera' Caledonia, vol. 11, p. 580* 
 
EimRONS OF HOLYTIOOD. 
 
 149 
 
 Girth Cross, and following a line running southward 
 across the main street, by the strand at its foot, proceed- 
 ing through the centre of the Horse Wynd, and onward in 
 the same direction till it reaches the meadow ground at 
 the foot of Salisbury Crags. As the limits of the sanc- 
 tuary are distinctly marked out by a dotted line in the 
 map prefixed to the present volume, it is unnecessary to 
 »ive a more minute verbal description of them. 
 
 It has been a disputed point whether this sanctuary de- 
 rives its peculiar privileges from the ancient monastery, or 
 from the more recent Royal Palace. The learned editor oi 
 the "Liber Cartarum Sancte Crucis," in the preface to that 
 valuable collection of charters, states it to be his opinion 
 that, " in spite of the arguments that have been founded 
 on the peculiar terms of the great charter of King David, 
 ... it will be the more admitted the more the subject 
 Is investigated, that the sanctuary for debtors ... is 
 founded on the privileges attached by usage to the royal 
 residence, unconnected with the ancient protection, which 
 the Abbey, like other churches, afforded to criminals." 
 
 Without entering more minutely into the subject, we 
 may, perhaps, be permitted to add, in corroboration of 
 this opinion, the important fact that the actual limits of 
 the sanctuary are the marches of the Royal Park, not of 
 the demesne of the abbots. We have already seen that 
 in James the Fifth's time, there was a New Park as well 
 as an Old Park, and that the King, moreover, made certain 
 payments to Sir David Murray of Balwaird for a portion 
 of the lands of Duddingstone, to be added to the former. 
 Now the sanctuary embraces all these within its bounds ; 
 while, had it been an institution founded on the rgnts of 
 the Abbey, it could have included only the " Old Park," 
 or that portion of the ground, by whatever title denomi- 
 
150 
 
 HISTORY OF eOLTROOD. 
 
 nated, which David originally granted to his canonw of 
 Holyrood. Besides this, if the " prohibeo ne aliquis ca- 
 piat pandum " of David's charter had any relation to pro- 
 tection from personal diligence, and if the present sanc- 
 tuary derived its existence, as has been alleged, from that 
 charter, then should the whole bounds of the burgh of 
 Canongate also be sanctuary, because David's grant was 
 not a partial one, but applied as cogently to the open 
 space between the Abbey and the " Burgh of Edwinsburg " 
 as to that between the Abbey and the neighbouring hills. 
 
 Charles I. by a charter dated 10th November 1646, 
 created James Duke of Hamilton hereditary keeper of the 
 Palace, an honorary dignity which has been possessed by 
 that noble family up to the present time. The Duke, in 
 virtue of his office, grants a commission to a judge called 
 the " Bailie of the Abbey," whom he empowers to hold 
 courts " within any place or part of the Palace of Holy- 
 roodhouse or pertinents thereof," and to appoint " fiscals, 
 sergeants, officers, and dempsters, and all other necessary 
 members of court, excepting the clerk, the nomination of 
 whom is reserved." This functionary is chief magistrate 
 of the sanctuary, and his court is that in which many 
 questions affecting persons, who reside or take refuge 
 within its bounds, are, in the first instance, determined. 
 The elections of the Representative Peers of Scotland, 
 we have already mentioned, take place in the Picture 
 Gallery of Holyrood, — and on these occasions, it is the 
 duty of the Bailie to summon the inhabitants of the Abbey 
 to appear marshalled under their officers, and form a guard 
 at the Palace gates. The Bailie is, of course, always a 
 mcmbei of the legal profession, and, among the indivi- 
 duals who have successively discharged the duties of the 
 office, we may particularise James Hamilton of Pencait- 
 
EITVTRONS OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 161 
 
 land, afterwards a Lord of Session from 1712 to 1729, 
 and Mr. Jeffrey a depute-clerk of the same court, the 
 father of the late illustrious Lord Jeffrey. 
 
 When an individual avails himself of the privilege of 
 eanctuary, he has twenty-four hours allowed him for the 
 purpose of procuring a residence and obtaining a regular 
 protection, or being " booked," as it is termed. If he neglect 
 to procure this within the specified period, he is subject to 
 the ordinary operation of the law. Householders within 
 the Abbey bounds are required to give in a list of their 
 lodgers to the bailie or the clerk of court, and there 
 are many instances in the record of persons being fined for 
 having failed to obey this regulation. If a debtor absent 
 himself from the sanctuary for fourteen days continuously, 
 it would appear that he loses the benefit of the protection, 
 and, if he return, must obtain a renewal of it. Crown 
 debtors cannot avaO themselves of the sanctuary, for, 
 as Mr. Erskine says, " that would be in efiect to use a 
 privilege, which arises merely from the respect due to the 
 sovereign, against the sovereign himself." On Sundays, 
 the debtor is privileged to walk beyond the limits of the 
 sanctuary without fear of apprehension ; and we are as- 
 sured that at one time a clergyman resided within the 
 bounds, who left the Abbey late every Saturday night, 
 preached to his congregation on the following day, and 
 betook himself forthwith to his asylum, having travelled 
 in going and returning fully forty miles. 
 
 If the creditors of a party who has taken sanctuary 
 aver that he has absconded, taking with him large sums 
 of money, in order to defraud them of payment of their 
 just claims, the bailie may grant warrant to search the 
 person of the individual complained against. By the 
 ** act for declaring notour bankrupts," passed in I696« it 
 
1 52 HISTORY OF HOT.VT?OOT>. 
 
 was declared that any debtor, liable to personal diligence, 
 who should " retire to the Abbay, or any other priviledged 
 place," should, ipso facto^ be reputed a "notour bankrupt." 
 The Court of Session has decided that, by this statute, 
 if a debtor have gone to reside within the Abbey bounds, 
 he has thereby incurred bankruptcy, even although he 
 may not have been regularly " booked." In 1751, Mr. 
 SommerviJle of Castle Sommerville disponed his estate to a 
 creditor, John Mitchell of Alderston, as for a price paid, 
 but, before the legal formulae were entirely completed, left 
 his country residence and took lodgings in the Abbey. 
 Mr. Sommerville's other creditors objected to the validity 
 of this disposition, on the ground that, before it was duly 
 executed, he was a " notour bankrupt," in terms of the 
 Act of 1696 ; and the Court of Session sustained the ob- 
 jection, on the ground that it was not necessary, in order 
 to subject a debtor to the provisions of the statute, that 
 he should be entered in the clerk's books. 
 
 Singularly enough, within the sanctuary stands a gaol, 
 and in this place of durance the protected denizens of 
 the Abbey may be confined, on a decree obtained in the 
 Abbey Court, for debts contracted to any party while 
 resident within the bounds. In 1810, Richard Perry 
 Ogilvie, an English refugee, was incarcerated in this pri- 
 son for a debt incurred to Richard Townley, a draper in 
 the Canongate. A petition was presented to the Court 
 of Session by Perry Ogilvie, praying for a reversal of 
 the bailie's judgment, on the ground, principally, that 
 although that official might be entitled to grant war- 
 rant of imprisonment for alimentary debts incurred to 
 the retail dealers of the precincts, he could not take cog- 
 nizance of actions raised against his protegees by parties 
 beyond the bounds of the sanctuary, especially when the 
 
ENVIRONS OF nOLTR(30D. 
 
 158 
 
 groand of debt was, as in this instance, a bill. The 
 judges of the Supreme Court, however, confirmed the 
 decision of the bailie of the Abbey. It is, of course, al- 
 most unnecessary to remark, that persons confined in this 
 gaol can, like aU Scottish prisoners for debt, avail them- 
 selves of the provisions of the " Act of Grace," and com- 
 pel the incarcerating creditor to aliment them. 
 
 It has also been decided that the furniture and other 
 property of persons, occupying apartments in the Palace 
 of Holyrood, cannot be poinded by authority of any court 
 whatever. This point was decided in 1826, in an action 
 raised against the Earl and Countess of Strathmore. The 
 Court of Session had previously found that the furniture 
 of these noble persons, including several valuable paint- 
 ings, was liable to be attached by poinding ; but the 
 House of Lords reversed that decision. It will be ob- 
 served, however, that the plea successfully urged in this 
 case, was founded on the privileges, not of the sanctuary, 
 but of the Royal Palace. 
 
 The only other remark we think it necessary to make 
 in relation to this subject is, that a fraudulent debtor, being 
 considered as a criminal, is not protected by the " Girth'* 
 of Holyrood, nor any one who meditates flight from the 
 kingdom, in order to deprive his creditors of all chance 
 of coercing him to discharge his just debts, for he is ex- 
 posed to the diligence of the law, as being, what Scottish 
 lawyers term, " in meditatione fugse," and may be appre- ^ 
 hended within the bounds of the sanctuary e?en on Sunday. 
 
 The protected denizens of Holyrood appear to have 
 been long known by the soubriquet of " Abbey Lairds." 
 The term appears in an old song published in Herd's Col- 
 lection — * 
 
 * Vol. EL p. 86. 
 
164 
 
 HISTORT or nOLYRDOD. 
 
 ^ The Borrowstoun merchants 
 "Will sell you on tick ; 
 For we maun hae braw things^ 
 
 Albeit they sould break. 
 When broken, frae care 
 The fools are set fr&e, 
 When we mak them Lairds 
 In the Abbey, quoth she.** 
 
 In old times many and desperate were the races be- 
 tween these "landed proprietors" and the lynx-eyed and 
 swift-footed ofi&cers of the law — the former rushing oil, 
 hat in hand, panting and perspiring at every pore, to gain 
 the longed-for strand^ the sacred limit of their " property," 
 and the latter bounding forward, followed by maudlin 
 "concurrents," eager to intercept the fugitives. Such 
 tales may now be almost said to be among the myths and 
 traditions of the Abbey, to be related by degenerate 
 tongues over a glass of sanctuary ale or toddy, with aU 
 the reverence due to grey-haired antiquity. There is a 
 fitory current within the bounds, that on one occasion a 
 fugitive, flying from a "Messenger," fell across the 
 " strand," with his head and shoulders in the Abbey, and 
 the rest of his person in the Canongate, and was there 
 seized by his ruthless pursuer ; and we are told that the 
 judge, to whom the question was referred, considering 
 that the nobler parts of the debtor's person were in 
 sanctuary, decided that his lower extremities ought, in 
 equity, to participate in the privilege. 
 
 The number of persons betaking themselves to the 
 sanctuary has recently been much reduced, especially 
 since the passing of the Statute 6th and 7th Will. IV. 
 cap. 46, in relation to the process of " Cessio Bonorum." 
 The Records of the Abbey Court are in existence only 
 from A.D. 1686. In that year seventy-five persons were 
 
ENVIRONS OF HOLYR(joSj, 
 
 165 
 
 entered in the books. The Records fi'om 1712 to 1775 
 are amissing; but, allowing the moderate average of 
 thirty-seven for the lost years [the entries in 1712 were 
 forty-seven ; in 1775, twenty-seven], the gross number of 
 persons who have taken sanctuary in Holyrood from 
 1686 to the present date is 7042. In 1788, the number, 
 which for some time had been small, began to rise, with 
 one or two exceptional years, till it reached the highest 
 point in 1816, when 118 protected persons were resident 
 within the bounds. The number continued high till 1823, 
 when (with the exception of 1826 and 1827, when the 
 amounts were eighty-seven and sixty-three respectively) 
 it commenced again to descend till it reached the lowest 
 recorded point, namely, thirteen in 18.^. The number 
 of persons who have taken refuge in the sanctuary during 
 last fourteen years is 274. 
 
15G 
 
 HISTORICAL QUIDK TO THK 
 
 GUIDE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 PALACE AXD CHAPEL BOYAL 
 
 The Palace and ruined Abbey-Church of Holyrood are 
 situated at the east end of the ancient street called the Can- 
 ongate, or Way of the Canons- Regular of St Augustine. 
 How many wanderers from every region of the earth have 
 traversed that old thoroughfare, to visit these venerable piles ! 
 In the words of an American poet, 
 
 Pilgrims, whose wandering feet have pressed 
 The Switzer's snows, the Arab's sand, 
 
 Or trod the piled leaves of the West, 
 My own green forest-land ; 
 
 and assuredly no student, either of history or romance, 
 will leave the time-honoured precints of Holyrood without 
 experiencing the sad y6t pleasing sensations which these> 
 the mosT interesting remnants of Scottish antiquity, are 
 calculated lu educe. 
 
 In the Fl(Ke, or open square in front of the Palace, is a 
 handsome Gothic Fountain erected in 1859 after the style of 
 the one formerly existing in the quadrangle of Linlithgow 
 Palace. The plan is octagon at the base, surrounded by a 
 large circular basin. It is divided into three stai^es in the 
 height. The first is enclosed by a beautifully cut rail, with 
 floriated pinnacles, and figures of animals at the alternate 
 angles, having a basin behind ; the second has eight figures 
 of Musicians, &c. ; while the third is surmounted by an 
 Imperial crown, supported by four Yeomen of the Guard. 
 The crown forms a cistern, from which the water flows into 
 
PALA015 ^^NI> ABBEY OF HOLY ROOD. 
 
 167 
 
 the basins in the lower stages, and is then projected from 
 lions' heads into the circular basin at the base. 
 
 The existing Palace consists of the north-western towers, 
 to the left of the spectator (the remnant of the royal dwelling 
 of Queen Mary), and the more recent structure erected by 
 Charles II. In 1671 Charles determined to rebuild the 
 palace of his forefathers, in accordance with a plan submit- 
 ted for his consideration by his "surveyor," Sir William 
 Bruce of Kinross, a distinguished Scottish architect, and 
 before 16*79 the present Royal House of Edinburgh was 
 completed, Charles bestowed great attention on the designs 
 of his new Palace, and suggested a few alterations, some of 
 which were happily not adopted ; as, for instance, his pro- 
 posal to raise the curtain between the northern and southern 
 towers to the same height as the buildings on the other sides 
 of the quadrangle. Sii William Bruce had designed the in- 
 terior of the quadrangle to be highly decorated ; but this 
 part of the plan was not carried into execution, for " his 
 Majesty thinks the way proposed for the inner court would 
 be very noble, but he will not go to that charge, and there- 
 fore his pleasure is that it be plain ashlar, as the front is, 
 with table divisions for storeys." The builder of the Palace 
 was Robert Milne, the descendant of a family of distinguished 
 " masons," whose connection with the edifice is comme- 
 morated by an inscription in large letters on the interior 
 surface of the north-west pillar of the piazza of the quad- 
 angle—" FVN. BE. RO. MILNE. M.M. I. JVL. 1671." 
 The initials represent the words " Master Mason."' 
 
 The Palace thus built by command of Charles II. is a 
 quadrangular building, having a court in the centre 94 feet 
 square. The principal front is towards the west, and ex- 
 tends to the length of 215 feet. At either extremity is a 
 massive square tower, four storeys high, having three circu- 
 lar towers or turrets at its exterior angles, which rise from 
 the ground to the battlements of the main tower, and ter- 
 minate in conical roofs. A glance at the northern and 
 Bouthein towers of the western front is sufficient to assure 
 the spectator that the former is a j)ortion (indeed the only 
 remaining one) of the Palace of .Jjtiaes V.. whil*- the latter 
 
158 
 
 HISTORICAL GUIDE TO THE 
 
 is merely an imitation of it, built in the time of Charles 11. 
 These two great towers are connected by a receding screen, 
 or range of building, of mixed architecture, which is con- 
 siderably lower than the interior sides of the quadrangle, so 
 that the pediment of the eastern side is distinctly visible to 
 one looking at the western elevation. In the centre of this 
 front is the grand entrance, composed of four Roman Doric 
 columns, over which are sculptured the royal arms of Scot- 
 land, below an open pediment, on which are two reclining 
 figures, the whole surmounted by a small octagonal tower, 
 terminating in an imperial crown. Passing through the 
 gateway, you enter the inner court, which is surrounded by 
 a piazza, having nine arches on each side. The east, north, 
 and south sides of the quadrangle are three storeys high, and 
 over the centre of the east side is a pediment, in which are 
 sculptured the royal arms of Britain. The eastern front of 
 the Palace, which looks towards the Park, consists of three 
 storeys, like the interior sides of the quadrangle, which we 
 have just described. Between the windows of these three 
 storeys are ranges of pilasters, the lowest Doric, the second 
 Ionic, and the third Corinthian, corresponding also with 
 those of the quadrangle. It has been remarked that this 
 fagade is not unlike the less ornamented portions of the 
 Freiich palaces. 
 
 The visitor, on entering the Palace by the front gateway, 
 turns to his left hand, and the first door he comes to is that 
 leading to 
 
 THE PICTUHE GALLERY. 
 This great chamber is not within the tower of James V. 
 and Mary, but is a portion of Charles the Second's Palace. 
 It measures 150 feet in length by 24 broad, and its height 
 is about 20 feet. It is hung round with portraits of a hun- 
 dred reputed kings of Scotland, from the misty times of 
 Fergus 1. down to the end of the Stuart dynasty, which 
 were painted by a Fleming named tiames De Witt.* Several 
 
 * The contract by James de Witt with the Government in 
 February 1684. for the painting of these pictures, still exists. 
 
PALACE AND ABBEY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 159 
 
 of these paintings were slashed by the sabres of Hawley's 
 valiant dragoons after their defeat at Falkirk, but were sub- 
 sequently repaired. This apartment is historically interest- 
 ing from having been used by the Pretender as a ball-room 
 during his occupation of Holy rood. It is the room in which 
 the great ball was given, so familiar to the admirers of 
 " Waverley," and to such visitors its floor will still seem to 
 be trod by the unfortunate Prince, the bold, devoted Fergus 
 M'lvor, the noble, high-minded Flora, and the gentle, 
 woman- like Rose Bradwardine. Since the Union, it has 
 been the scene of the elections of the Scottish representative 
 peers, and is also used for the levees of the Lord High 
 Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of 
 of Scotland. 
 
 Note. — The names of the Kings, and the dates of their 
 accession, are printed exojctly as they are given on the 
 pictures. The figures within brackets are the numbers 
 
 1 (97) Robert Bruce, 1806. (B. of Bannockb. 1314.) 
 
 2 (47) Congallus II. 558. 
 8 (57) Eugenius VI. 688. 
 
 4 (56) Eugenius V. 684. ' 
 
 6 (100) Roberi Stewart, 1371. 
 
 6 (61) Etfinus, 730. 
 
 7 (60) Mordacus, 715. 
 
 8 (64) Solvathius, 767. 
 
 9 (96) John Baliol, 1292. 
 
 Witt became bound to paint one hundred and ten portraits in 
 two years, he supplying the canvass and colours ; and the Govern- 
 ment, on their part, agreed to pay him one hundred and twenty 
 pounds sterling yearly, and to supply him with the " Original Is" 
 from which he was to copy. 
 
 This contract, and other documents connected with it, appe€tr*id 
 In volume Third of the Bannatyne Miscellany. 
 
160 
 
 HISTORICAL GLIDE TO THE 
 
 10 (101) Robert III. 1890. 
 
 11 (86) Romachus, 848. 
 
 12 (102) James I. 1424. (Murdered, 1437.) 
 
 13 (91) David I. 1124. (Founder of the Abbey.) 
 
 14 (59) Eugenius VII. 699. 
 
 15 (63) Fergus III. 764. 
 
 16 (62) Eugenius VIII. 761. 
 
 17 (108) James II. 1487. (Killed, 1460.) 
 
 18 (68) Alpinus, 881. 
 
 19 (67) Dongallus. Sive Dugallus, 824. 
 
 20 (66) Convallus III. 819. 
 
 21 (104) James III. 1460. (Murdered, 1488.) 
 
 22 (73) Gregory, 876. 
 
 28 (71) Constantinus, II. 859. 
 
 24 (70) Donald V. 854. 
 
 25 (105) James IV. 1489. (Killed at Flodden, UIZ.) 
 
 26 (79) Culenas, 966. 
 
 27 (72) Ethus cognomento Alipes, 874. 
 
 28 (75) Constantine III. 904. 
 
 29 (106) James V. 1514. 
 
 30 (89) Edgar, 1098. 
 
 31 (80) Kenneth III. 970. 
 
 32 (76) Malcolm I. 948, 
 
 83 (107) Mary Stuart, 1543. (Beheaded 8th Feb. 1687.) 
 
 34 (95) Alexander III. 1219. 
 
 35 (94) Alexander II. 1214. 
 86 (90) Alexander I. 1107. 
 
 37 (108) James VI. 1566. 
 
 38 (83) Malcolm II. 1004. 
 
 39 (82) Grimus, 996. 
 
 40 (74) Donald VI. 904. 
 
 41 (109) Charles I. (Beheaded 30th Jan. 1649.) 
 
 42 (86) Malcolm III. 1057. 
 48 (85) Macbeath, 1040. 
 
 44 (84) Duncan I. 1034. 
 
 45 (110) Charles II. 
 
 46 (62) Ferchardus I 621. 
 
 47 (111) James VII. 
 
PALAOB AND ABBEY OJ flOLfROOD, 16l 
 
 4C* James III. of Scotland, his son afterwards James IV. 
 (circa) 1484. — On the reverse, 
 The Holy Trinity * 
 47* Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland, (circa^, 
 1484.— On the reverse, 
 
 Sir Edward Boncle, Provost of Trinity 
 College Kirk, Edinburgh.* 
 
 * These highly interesting memorials of Scottish history were 
 in the Royal Collection at Hampton Court, but at what period 
 they were removed from Scotland has not been clearly ascer- 
 tained. In a Catalogue of Pictures belonging to James IL, before 
 his abdication in 1688, under the head Hampton Court, they are 
 there enumerated ; No. 955, one of the kings of Scotland at devo- 
 tion, crowned by St Andrew, James IV. No. 960, one of the 
 queens of Scotland at devotion, a saint in armour by her. But 
 no mention is made of the paintings on the reverse. In a late 
 Catalogue of the paintings at Hampton Court they were num- 
 bered 509 and 510, and are said to be by Jan de Mabuse ; but 
 this appears to be a mistake. In 1857, these pictures were sent 
 to the Art Treasures Exhibition at Manchester, and in their 
 Catalogue they were ascribed to Hugo Van Der Goes. 
 
 Through the enthusiastic zeal of David Laing, Esq., F.S. A., and 
 of W. B. Johnstone, Esq. , R. S. A. , a Memorial, signed by the Duke 
 of Hamilton, the Duke of Buccleuch, the Lord Provost of Edin- 
 burgh, and other persons of distinction, was addressed to the 
 Queen at Balmoral, praying Her Majesty to allow these paintings, 
 at the close of the Exhibition, to be transferred to Holyrood 
 Palace. 
 
 On her return from Balmoral, Her Majesty, through Sir Benja- 
 min Hall, First Commissioner of Public Works, was graciously 
 pleased to comply with the prayer of this Memorial ; and, in con- 
 sequence of a subsequent representation to Lord John Manners, 
 then First Commissioner of Public Works, permission was granted 
 to restore their proper names. Having now reached their most 
 appropriate place, the Scottish people cannot but feel grateful to 
 Her Majesty for having restored to this country a work of so 
 much importance for illustrating the history of Art in Scotland. 
 
 In a paper read to the Society of Antiquaries, at their meeting, 
 November 1857, and printed for private circulation (to which 
 we are indebted for the following notices), Mr Laing clearly 
 shows that the leading portraits could not at any time repre- 
 sent James IV. and his Queen, nor could Mabuse have been 
 the artist. But the Arms of Scotland and Denmark impaled 
 being exactly blazoned, prove them to be portraits of James III. 
 and his Queen Margaret of Denmark. In the first quarter the 
 latter exhibits three crowns for the three United Kingdoms of 
 
HISTORICAL QUIDS TO THW 
 
 48 (93) William, 1165. 
 
 49 (32) Donald II. 264. 
 
 50 (48) Kinnatellus, 569. 
 
 51 (88) Duncan II. 1094. 
 
 52 (92) Malcolm IV. 1153. 
 
 53 (35) Fincormacus, 301. 
 
 54 (77 Mainus, 291 B. C. 
 
 55 (98) David Bruce, 1333 
 
 56 (99) Edwardus Balliollus, 1332, 
 
 57 (2; Feretharus, 305 B.C. 
 
 58 Fergus I. 330 B.C. 
 
 59 (5) Nothatus, 233 B.C. 
 
 60 (4) Dornadilla, 262 B.C. 
 
 61 (3) Indulfus, 969. 
 
 62 (18) Caratacus {dc) 35. 
 
 Denmark, Sweden, and Norway ; the second has the three Liom 
 of Denmark ; the third the Lion and Axe of Norway ; and the 
 fourth the Dragon for Sclavonia, with an escutcheon of pretence 
 surmounted by Oldenburg. The banner borne by the Saint in 
 Armour is the common cross of the Crusades, with the inscrip- 
 tion AVE MARIA. 
 
 The marriage of James III. and Margaret of Denmark took 
 place in the Abbey Church of Holyrood in July 1469, and the 
 birth of the young Prince James, who was born in the year 
 1471-2, and is here represented as a youth of about twelve years 
 of age, serves to fix the probable date to the year 1484. 
 
 The Arms on the reverse, three Buckles and a Cheveron, were 
 those of the Boncle Family, and serve to prove that these portraits 
 were painted not later than the above date as an altar-piece for the 
 Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, Edinburgh, by an artist of 
 the Van Eck school, and that the ecclesiastic kneeling was Sir 
 Edward Boncle, the first provost of that establishment, and, as 
 such, the Queen's confessor. Having thus identified the eccle- 
 siastic, a key is furnished to the entire composition. If in the 
 principal figure seated at the organ, in the character of St Cecilia, 
 we recognise the deceased Queen Mary of Gueldres, by whom the 
 church was founded in the year 1462, accompanied by one of her 
 daughters, and the Provost as her confessor, ofi'ering up his devo- 
 tions to the Holy Trinity, in whose honour that church was con- 
 secrated, the propriety of such a decoration becomes at onco 
 apparent. The Coronet denotes her royal rank, and her age ie 
 til at of a person not less than thirty, whi*Ji she had attained hi 
 the time of her decease. 
 
PALACE AND ABBEY OF HOLYROOi) 
 
 163 
 
 63 (9) Josina, 169 B.C. 
 
 64 (8) Thereus, 171 B.C. 
 
 65 (6) Kutherus, 231 b. c. 
 
 66 (27) Donaldus I. 199. 
 
 67 {25) Ethodius I. 165. 
 
 68 (19) Corbredus 1. 55. 
 
 69 (14) Evenus II. 77 B. c. 
 
 70 (40) Fergusius II. 404. 
 
 71 (15) Ederus, 60 B.C. 
 
 72 (65) Achaius 787. (Said to have been aJiy of Char- 
 
 lemagne's.) 
 
 73 (11) Durstius 10 B. c. 
 
 74 (12) Evenus I. 98 B.C. 
 
 75 (13) Gillus, 79 B. c. 
 
 76 (16) Evenus TU. 12 b. C. 
 
 77 (20) Dardanus. 
 
 78 (24) Conarus, 149. 
 
 79 (23) Mogaldus, 113/ 
 
 80 (22) Lugtacus, 110. 
 
 81 (21) Corbredus (Galdus) 76. 
 
 82 (31) Findocus, 253. 
 
 83 (29) Athirco, 231. 
 
 84 (37) Angusianus, 321. 
 
 85 (33) Donald III. 265. 
 
 86 (34) Crathilinthus, 277. 
 
 87 (41; Eugenius 11. 420. 
 
 88 (38) Fetiieimachus, 354. 
 
 89 (39) Eugenius 1. 357. 
 
 90 (42) Dongardus, 451. 
 
 91 (44) Conga,llus I. 479. 
 
 92 (45) Goranus, 501. 
 
 93 (46) Eugenius ITT. 536. 
 
 94 (49) Aidanus, 570. 
 
 95 (50) Kennethds I. 605. 
 
 96 (58) Amberkeletus, 697. 
 
 97 (54) Ferchardus II. 64t5, 
 
 98 (55) Malduiiius, 664. 
 
 99 (69) Kennethus II. 834. (Conqueror ol the Picts ) 
 100 (51) Eugenius IV. 606. 
 
164 
 
 HISTORICAL GUIDE TO THE 
 
 On leaving the Picture Gallery, you return to the great 
 staircase, advance to the door on your left hand, and enter 
 
 XORD DARNLEY's ROOMS. 
 
 These, of course, are in the more ancient portion of the 
 building ; and the first apartment visited is the 
 
 AUDIENCE CHAMBER. 
 
 This room contains three fine specimens of ancient tapes- 
 try. The first, on the left, represents, in the foreground, 
 a vineyard, with the vines entwining four oak-trees. Nude 
 figures of boys, like cupids, are seen sporting on the ground, 
 climbing among the branches, plucking the ripe clusters, and 
 throwing them to their companions. In the background is 
 an ancient hamlet, beyond which may be discerned a river 
 and a bridge. 
 
 The next of these tapestries also exhibits in front four 
 oak-stems encircled by vines. At the foot of one tree is a 
 basket filled with grapes, while strawberries here and there 
 peep from their leaves. Here, too, nude boys sport among 
 the branches, pluck grapes, and throw them to companions 
 on the ground. Through the trees may be traced, in long 
 perspective, an elegantly-built street, with human figures 
 apparently crossing each other. 
 
 The third design in this series depicts, in the background, 
 a lake, commanded at one extremity by a castle. The lake 
 contains two islets, planted with trees, reflected in the still 
 water. The front scene contains a large orange-tree, with 
 nude boys, perched upon its branches, plucking the fruit 
 and flinging it to a companion on the ground. At the foot 
 of this tree are other boys variously employed. One is per- 
 forming a somersault, a second is carrying a comrade on his 
 back, a third is manufacturing soap-bubbles, a fourth is 
 blowing a bubble into the air, a fifth is trying to catch it, 
 and a sixth is riding on a stick, while he watches the others. 
 
 105 James Stewart, when young. 
 
 106 The Admirable Crichton. 
 
 107 Charles II. in armour. 
 
PALACE AND ABBEY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 165 
 
 108 The Queen of James VI., by Van Somer. 
 
 109 James VI., by Van Somer. 
 
 110 The Queen of Bohemia, by C. Janssen. 
 
 111 The King of Bohemia, by C. Janssen. 
 
 112 The Children of Charles I., after Vandyke. 
 
 113 Charles IL, by EusselJ. 
 
 114 James VII., by Kussell. 
 
 115 Queen Mary. 
 
 116 Henry, Prince of Wales. 
 
 117 Female Head. 
 
 The visitor, leaving this apartment by a door on his left, 
 enters 
 
 A ROOM 
 
 in that portion of the Palace built by Charles II. In this 
 chamber there are two fine pieces of ancient tapestry. The 
 one on your right as you enter, represents the well-known 
 historical story of the appearance of the flaming cross in the 
 heavens to Constantine the Great some days before the battle 
 between him and Maxentius for the imperial crown. The 
 motto "m hoc (signo) vinces'' is conspicuously embroidered in 
 one of the upper corners. The other piece of tapestry occu- 
 pies the wall immediately to the left, and represents the en- 
 gagement between these contending claimants for the empire 
 of the world. The miraculous cross is conspicuous on the 
 shields and standards of Constantine's troops. The battle 
 was fought below the walls of Pome, a.d. 312. 
 
 118 James, 4th Duke of Hamilton. 
 
 119 Lady Ann Spencer, Duchess of Hamilton. 
 
 120 Henry, 2d Earl of Pembroke, in armour. 
 
 121 William, 2d Duke of Hamilton. 
 
 122 King James VI. 
 
 123 King Charles II. 
 
 124 Douglas, 8th Duke of Hamilton. 
 
 125 William, 3d Duke of Hamilton. 
 
 126 King James VII. 
 
 127 James, 2d Marquis of Hamilton. 
 
 128 King Henry VL 
 
 129 Lord John Bellasys. 
 
 The visitor now returns to Lord Darnley's rooms, and, pass- 
 ing through the Audience Chamber, enters by a door on his 
 left, what was in all probability 
 
16o 
 
 HISTORICAL GUIDE TO THE 
 
 LORD DARNLEY's BED-ROOM. 
 
 7n this apartment is an elaborate piece of tapestry, re^ 
 sembliDg, in design and texture, the specimens contained in 
 the Audience Chamber. The picture sets before us a plea- 
 sure-ground, an alcove, and an orangery. In the foreground 
 are four orange-trees, with nude boys mounted on the 
 branches, and plucking the fruit, while their companions are 
 dancing below to the music of their own pipes. This room 
 also contains a screen which belonged to Charles I., an inlaid 
 cabinet, and some ancient chairs. 
 
 130 Cardinal Beaton. 
 
 131 First Duke of Hamilton. 
 
 132 Lord Darnley and his Brother, by L. de Heere. 
 
 133 First Duke of Hamilton. 
 
 134 St Francis of Assisi. 
 
 135 Portrait of a Lady unknown. 
 
 136 Female Figure and Child. 
 
 137 Nymphs and Satyrs. 
 
 138 Sir William Hamilton. 
 
 139 Pastoral Scene, with Euins in the background. 
 
 140 Queen Mary, Consort of William III. 
 
 141 The Countess of Lennox, by Sir A. More. 
 
 142 John Knox. 
 
 143 Queen Mary. 
 
 144 Countess of Cassillis. 
 
 145 King William III in armour. 
 
 LORD DARNLEY's DRESSING-ROOM. 
 
 The turret-room on the left was Lord Darnley's dressing- 
 room. 
 
 146 Lady Mary Fielding, first Duchess of Hamilton. 
 
 147 Lady Ann Cochrane, Duchess of Hamilton. 
 
 148 St Margaret. 
 
 148a St Mark's Place, Venice. 
 
 QUEEN Mary's private stair. 
 
 This stair, which entered on the east side of James Y.'s 
 towers, leads up from a turret-room, on the right, to Queen 
 Mary's apartments. By this stair the assassins of Kiccio 
 mounted to the apartments of Darnley, where, in concert 
 with him, they assembled to coni=^nraniate their plan for the 
 murder of the unfortunate Seci etnry. 
 
 The walls of this room aiv cnvcivd with tapestry, illus- 
 
PALACE AND ABBEY OF HOLYROOD. 1G7 
 
 trating the classic story of Meleager and Atalanta. In the 
 foreground Meleager presents the boar's head to Atalanta ; 
 on the left is a huntsman, with two hounds in the leash ; 
 while forest scenery and ancient architecture fill up the 
 background of the picture. 
 
 Returning through Lord Darnley's rooms, and leaving 
 them by the left-hsLnd door of the Audience-Chamber, the 
 visitor ascends a staircase, and enters what historians, poets, 
 and novelists have combined to render perhaps the most in- 
 teresting suite of rooms in Europe — the Apartments of 
 Mary Queen of Scots. 
 
 The first is that commonly called 
 
 QUEEN Mary's audience-chamber, 
 
 a room measuring twenty-four feet by twenty-two, and light- 
 ed by two windows, one of which looks towards the north, the 
 other towards the south. The roof is divided into panelled 
 compartments, adorned with the initials and armorial bear- 
 ings of royal personages : and the walls are hung with ancient 
 tapestry, the colours of which, however, have been almost 
 obliterated by the uncourtly hand of Time. In this apart- 
 ment is the bed of Charles 1. when resident in Holyrood. It 
 has evidently been, at one time, a magnificent piece of furni- 
 ture ; and its curtains, now mouldering and moth-eaten, are ot 
 embossed velvet. On this couch Prince Charles, the unfortun- 
 ate descendant of its former occupant, reposed in September 
 1745; and, after the battle of Culloden, his conqueror, the 
 Duke of Cumberland, placed his head upon the same pillow. 
 This room contains also some richly-embroidered chairs and 
 other articles of furniture of the period of Charles I. But 
 it, of course, derives its chief interest from its fair but unfor- 
 tunate occupant, Mary, of whose distressing altercations will 
 Knox it was too frequently the scene. 
 
 149 Battle of the Boyne. 
 
 150 Head of a Boy. 
 
 151 Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland. 
 
 152 Hortense Machini, niece of Cardinal Mazar in. 
 
 153 A Magdalen. 
 
 154 A Bacchic Festival. 
 
 155 A Game at Nine-pins. 
 
 156 Duke of Lauderdale. 
 
 157 Duchess of Lauderdale. 
 
 Issuing from this apartment you enter 
 
lilbTORlCAL GUIDE TO THE 
 
 QUEEJS MARY'S BED ROOM. 
 
 a chamber twenty-two feet one inch, by eighteen feet six 
 inches, lit by two windows looking toward the south and 
 west. The ceiling is divided into panelled compartments, of 
 diamond and hexagonal form, adorned with the emblems and 
 initials of Scottish sovereigns ; and the walls are hung with 
 tapestry, illustrative of the mythological tale of the Fall of 
 Phaeton, who, according to the poetical belief of the Greeks, 
 lost his life in rashly attempting to drive the chariot of his 
 father, the god of the Sun. Here stands what, we are told, 
 was the bed of Queen Mary, the decayed hangings of which 
 are of crimson damask, with green silk fringes and tassels. 
 The historical and romantic associations connected with this 
 room render it, undoubtedly, the most interesting apartment 
 in Scotland ; and the melancholy and faded aspect of the 
 chamber itself is in admirable keeping with its tale of sorrow 
 and of crime. On the north side of the room is a small door, 
 half hidden by the tapestry, opening on the secret stair by 
 which Darnley and his infamous associates ascended to the 
 royal apartments to assassinate Hiccio. 
 
 158 Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 159 Henry YIII. 
 
 160 Elizabeth of York, Queen of Henry YII. 
 
 161 Queen Mary. 
 
 At the south-west corner of this chamber a narrow door 
 leads to 
 
 THE DRESSING-ROOM 
 
 of the lovely Queen, a little apartment about ten feet six 
 inches square, hung with decayed tapestry. 
 
 Passing to the north-east corner of the bed-chamber, close 
 by the door of the private staircase, is the entrance to another 
 room or closet, commonly called 
 
 QUEEN mart's SUPPING-ROOM,^ 
 
 the little apartment so famous in Scottish story as the scene 
 of the assault upon the unfortunate Italian in the presence of 
 the Queen. Every one whose imagination is at all vivid will 
 
 1 It may he proper to remind the visitor who may be surprised at 
 the smallness of this royal apartment, that the Queen received in it 
 only her most familiar and attached friends and attendants, the great 
 rooms being in the other portion of the Palace, which was burned m 
 the time of the Commonwealth. 
 
PALACE AND ABBEY OF HOLYROOD. 1G9 
 
 here easily realise the particulars of that terrible event — the 
 Queen forcibly restrained by Darnley — the overthrown table, 
 and scattered viands — the fierce and scowling conspirators, 
 pressing into the little room, and the dagger left sticking in 
 the body of Eiccio, who crouches behind Mary for protection. 
 From this closet the assassins dragged their victim through 
 the other royal apartments, stabbing him as they went, till 
 he fell dead at their feet at the top of the staircase, by the 
 door of the audience- chamber. To this room the brutal 
 E-uthven, reeking from the slaughter, returned and demanded 
 a cup of wine, and here it was probably that the conspirators 
 threatened to cut the Queen " into collops" if she dared to 
 address the populace from the window. 
 
 The frames on the walls contain fragments of the figured 
 silk hangings which originally adorned the room. 
 
 162 Portrait of a Youth unknown. 
 
 The visitor returns, through the Bedroom and Audience- 
 Chamber, to the top of the principal staircase, where the 
 conspirators finally despatched Eiccio ; and, descending to the 
 piazzas of the Inner Court, and turning to his left, proceeds 
 to the north-east corner of the quadrangle, and enters 
 
 THE CHAPEL EOYAL. 
 
 This is the sole remaining portion of the great church of 
 the Monastery of Holyrood. Fire and time have totally 
 obliterated the transepts and the choir ; and the ignorance 
 of a builder of the last century has rendered even that 
 which remains a roofless though not a totteriug ruin. But 
 the shattered church of King David is still a deeply interest- 
 ing relic to every student of architectural and ecclesiastical 
 antiquity. The monastery was founded in the commence- 
 ment of the twelfth century, dilapidated by Edward II. in 
 1322, burned by Eichard II. in 1385, renovated by Abbot 
 Crawfurd towards the end of the fifteenth century, again 
 mutilated in the English invasion of 1547, when the transepts 
 and choir were destroyed, stripped of its ecclesiastical furni- 
 ture at the outbreak of the Eeformation, desecrated, even to 
 the tomb of the kings, in 1688 ; and, last scene of all, when 
 reduced to the dimensions of its nave, crushed to the ground, 
 in irretrievable ruin, by the folly of a self-styled architect.^ 
 
 ^ In 17r>S, the roof having beco:i:!e rainoiis, the Baro-ns of Ex- 
 
170 
 
 HISTORICAL GUIDE To THE 
 
 But many are the historical associations connected with it. 
 Within these walls many Kings and Queens of Scotland v/ere 
 crowned — here James II. was married to Mary of Gueldres^ 
 and James III. to Margaret of Denmark — this was the scene 
 of that high ceremonial, at which the Papal Legate presented 
 to James IV., in the name of Pope Julius TI., a purple crown, 
 and that richly ornamented sword, which, under the name of 
 the Sword of State,'' is still preserved among the Regalia of 
 Scotland — and, at the eastern extremity of the existing church, 
 under the great window, Mary, in an evil hour, plighted her 
 troth to the foolish and dissipated Darnley. 
 
 During the middle ages, conventual churches and chapter- 
 houses were much used as places of interment for persons of 
 rank and opulence ; and large bequests were frequently made 
 to monastic establishments, on the condition that the remains 
 of the donor should be buried within the sacred precincts. 
 The Abbey Church of Holyrood appears to have been the last 
 resting place of many of the great of former times ; but the 
 destruction of the choir and transepts included also the de- 
 molition of many of the more ancient memorials of the depart- 
 ed. We are informed that within this church were deposited 
 the remains of David IL^ James 11. , and James V., Kings oi 
 Scotland, Magdalene of France, the Queen of the last, and 
 several youthful members of the blood-royal. Of the tomb oi 
 David, however, which was built of stone brought from 
 Flanders, not a vestige remains ; and the precise spot where 
 James II. was interred, is still a matter of considerable doubt. 
 
 In order that the visitor may form a correct idea of the 
 general style and details of the ruined chapel, we should advise 
 him, on entering, to turn to his left, and going out by the 
 great western door, to examine the principal features of the 
 western front. This consists now, it will be observed, of only 
 one tower to the north, and the great gateway with the two 
 curious windows above it. The site of the other tower is 
 occupied by a portion of the palace built by Charles II. The 
 
 chequer employed a builder to renew it. This individual, instead 
 of y)utting a new wooden roof with slates over the building, covered it 
 with flagstones and a quantity of stone work. The old walls hore up 
 for a time against, this monstrous uifliction. hut ar last gave -^ay dur- 
 ing tho night between the 2d and .Bd of Dec-em ht:r 17t>8. 
 
THE CHAPEL ROYAL; HOLYROOD PALACE. 
 
 WEQ'l' F R 0 JSi T . 
 
PALAC3E AND ABBEY Ob UOLVKOOD. 
 
 171 
 
 lurviving tower, which is dismantled, is a fine specimen of the 
 ^tyle of architecture belonging to the period of transition from 
 the Romanesque to the first pointed or early English style in 
 Scotland, (from about A.D. 1170 to 1175.) 
 
 It was lit by four large windows, one on each side, divided 
 by a single shaft. Below these, on the west and south sides, 
 it is adorned by two storeys of arcades, with a row of sculp- 
 tured heads between them, to correspond with the enrichments 
 of the main wall of the nave, of which that portion still re- 
 tnains which connects the tower with the north side of the 
 gateway. The lower range of arcades is richly ornamented, 
 and is composed of trefoiled arches resting on clustered shafts. 
 
 The doorway is a noble, high arched, and deeply recessed 
 one, having eight shafts on either side, with capitals composed 
 of birds and grotesques, and mouldings rich with flowered and 
 toothed ornaments, and belongs to the best years of the early 
 English style in Scotland, namely, about 1181. The tym- 
 panum, or space between the lintel and the curved mouldings 
 above, is adorned by an arcade of five pointed arches, and 
 below this, by a row of cherubs, sculptured on the architrave. 
 The central western windows are in a style somewhat allied 
 to the perpendicular, but are very peculiar in their character, 
 having flat, segmental arches adorned with six pendent cusps 
 or fleurs-de-lis, instead of tracery, and slender mullion shafts 
 receding from the external surface of the wall. 
 
 Above the doorway, and between the central windows, is a 
 lablet, inserted by Charles I., bearing the following inscrip- 
 !20L\, which, in the circumstances, is peculiarly striking. 
 
 HE SHALL BUILD ANE HOUSF 
 FOR MY NAME, AND I WILL 
 STABLISH THE THRONE 
 OF HIS KINGDOM 
 FOR EVER. 
 
 BASILIC AM HANG SEMI 
 RUTAM CAROLUS REX 
 OPIIMUS INSTAURAVIT 
 ANNO DONI 
 CIO. lOCXXXIII. 
 
The visitor now re-enters the Chapel, and stepping a short way 
 towards the left, takes a general survey of the interior, remein. 
 bering, of course, that what now remains was only the nav 
 of the original edifice. On the north side of the church, 
 all that remains are two shattered piers, out of the seven 
 
 ^hat origjiially divided the body of the nave from the a^sIe^, 
 and the outward wall of the latter, which, however, is now 
 standing only as far up as the table," which runs along 
 above the lancet- shaped windows, and belongs to the transi- 
 tion style above described. 
 
 On the interior surface of this wall, imniediatelv belcvv the 
 
i;: H A P }'] L R 0 YAL, E 0 LYRO 0 ]) 
 
 INTERIOR LOOKING EAST, 
 
 PALACE 
 
PALACE AND ABBEY OP HOLYROOD. 173 
 
 windows, is an arcade of circular arches, intersecting each 
 other, and resting on single sliafts, having a square abacus, 
 and variously ornamented capitals. This arcade is an excel- 
 lent specimen of that peculiar style to which has sometimes 
 been ascribed the original idea of the pointed arch. 
 
 Towards the western end of the north wall there is a door- 
 way, which appears to have been the one commonly used b} 
 all persons who were not inmates of the Abbey. 
 
 A great part of the east end of the existing church is oc- 
 cupied by a window 34 feet 2 inches high, by 20 feet broad, 
 built, of course, since the demolition of the choir and 
 transepts, as is also that portion of the wall immediately 
 beneath, which every observer will remark, is entirely compos- 
 ed of the debris of other portions of the edifice. This window, 
 which is, therefore, comparatively modern in date, is filled 
 above for about two -fifths of its height with quatrefoil tracery, 
 and below, it is subdivided by four mullions and a transom. 
 It was blown in by a violent storm in 1795, but restored fi'om 
 its own ruins, which still lay scattered on the ground, in the 
 year 1816 This window, and the wall beneath it, occupy the 
 western arch of the great central tower of the church, which 
 is generally supposed to have been taken down along with the 
 choir and transepts, by the directions, or at the suggestion of 
 Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, the commendator of Holy- 
 rood, about the year 1570 ; but we are inclined to hazard an 
 opinion that it had been removed by Abbot Crawfurd towards 
 the end of the fifteenth century, and never rebuilt. -"^ 
 
 The eastern ends of the aisles of the nave, where they com- 
 municated with the transepts, have been filled up with windows, 
 each resting on a wall, as in the case of the great central arch, 
 — and that on which the window of the north aisle stands is 
 principally composed of screen work, taken evidently from 
 some other portion of the building. 
 
 1 Vide Note B. 
 
HISTOKICAL GUIDE TO THE 
 
 Oa the soutti side of die buiidiDg the roof of the aisle and 
 
 the piers which support- 
 ed the nave still remain, 
 together with the arches 
 of the triforium, and a 
 few small fragments of 
 the clerestory. On most 
 of " the piers the com- 
 mencements of the ribbed 
 vaultings of the roof of 
 the nave are still visible. 
 The following is a re- 
 presentation of the ca- 
 pitals of one of the clus- 
 tered columns of the south aisle. 
 
 On the inner surface of the wall of the south aisle is an ar- 
 cade, as on the north side, but the arches which compose it 
 are quite in a different style, being Pointed. Each of the 
 shafts has a distinct capital. Two specimens are engraved 
 below. 
 
 The western extremity of this aisle is encroached upon 
 to a small extent by the wall of the Palace. Here there 
 w a door which communicates with the quadrangle of the royal 
 rendence, and near it, but on the west wall, is a doorway, nc v 
 
PALACE AND ABBEY OF HOLYROOl). 
 
 175 
 
 built up, which formerly led into the south-west tuwf^r of the 
 church, and communicated also through the tower with those 
 buildings of the Palace which existed prior to Charles the 
 
 Second's time. The 
 wall of the north aisle 
 is supported exter- 
 nally by seven upright 
 buttresses, adorned 
 with canopied niches 
 and pinnacles. The 
 ornaments of the 
 doorway, at the west- 
 end of this aisle, are 
 elaborate, and evi- 
 dently m the same 
 8t}le with the but- 
 tresses, — being, in all 
 probability, built by 
 Abbot Crawfurd in 
 the fifteenth century. 
 
 At the east- end of 
 the south aisle, and at 
 the back of the square 
 mass of masonry which 
 surmounts the Royal 
 Vault is a small door- 
 way, now built up, 
 which communicated 
 with the old cloisters 
 of the Abbey. This 
 door and the portion 
 of the wall imme- 
 diately adjoining it are 
 the most ancient por- 
 tion of the edifice 
 now 3xisting, plainly 
 belonging to the last 
 vears of the Norman or Romanesque eo ^<^h, and cannot be oi 
 
176 
 
 inST()Rir!Al. (U'lDE TO TIIF 
 
 later date than 1160. 
 headed arch, 
 with zigzag and 
 billet mould- 
 ings, resting on 
 two single shafts 
 with the square 
 abacus. On the 
 outside of this 
 aisle there re- 
 mains the lower fij 
 stage of five i 
 flying buttress- l! 
 es, but they 
 are not very ele- 
 gant in their 
 
 The doorw; 
 
 :oniposed of a round- 
 They spring 
 from piers about 
 10 feet distant 
 from the wall, 
 and, crossing 
 what was for- 
 merly the roof 
 of the cloister, 
 rest against flat 
 pilasters on the 
 wall of the aisle. 
 Both from these 
 and the upright 
 buttresses of the 
 north side there 
 sprung a second 
 
 proportions. 
 
 stage, which, spanning the roof of the aisle and triforium, 
 supported the wail of the clerestory. Distinct indications 
 of this second stage of buttresses are visible on the south 
 wall. In niches cut in the lower stage, on either side of the 
 building, are sculptured the arms of Abbot Crawfurd. 
 
 A large portion of the north and south aisles of the Abbe} 
 Church are paved with gravestones of that peculiar class call- 
 ed Ind;5ed or Engraved slabs. This species of sepulchral 
 memorial, which was exceedingly common in France and other 
 continental countries in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, 
 is also not unfreq-aently to be met with in Scotland, down to 
 a period comparatively recent. Besides those at Holyrood, 
 therp are good specimens at Ratho and Roslin, near Edin- 
 burgh, Seton in East Lothian, Kinkell and Foveran in Aber- 
 deenshire, Kildalton m the Island of Islay, and various other 
 places in Argyleshire. The slabs of Holyrood have an aver- 
 age breadth of about three feet, and vary from six to seven 
 feet in length. Many of them are broken, and the inscriptions 
 on several of the more ancient have been rendered illegible by 
 the action of the weather. A considerable number, however, 
 etill present inscriptions which can be deciphered in whole 
 or in part, with numerous engraved devices, ^nch as crosses. 
 
JPA.LACE AND ABBEY OF HOLYROOJt>. 
 
 177 
 
 floriated or plain, swords, chalices, coats of arms, hammers, 
 squares, &c. Two or three have merely an inscription round 
 the border without any device whatever ; others have an in- 
 cised cross only, without any legend. The oldest of them 
 which presents a legible date is of the year 1455. 
 
 We shall now describe the more remarkable tombs, both 
 ancient and modern in the Chapel Royal of Holyrood, com- 
 mencing with those to the left of the great western entrance^ 
 and advancing by the north aisles. 
 
 The first in order is that of 
 
 No. 1. Lord and Lady Reay. 
 
 This is a plain altar tomb, bearing the following inscrip- 
 fcion. 
 
 Usder this stone 
 Are laid the remains of 
 The latiB Right Honourable George, Lord KaAY, 
 And Elizabeth Fairley, his wife, 
 In the grave thus undivided, 
 As in life they were united 
 
 In that Divine bond 
 Of Christian Faith and Love, 
 Which ennobled their earthly affection, 
 By elevating each view and desire 
 
 In one undeviating course, 
 Towards another and a better world. 
 GsoRGE, Lord Reay died 27th February 1768, 
 Aged 34. 
 
 Elizabeth, Lady Reay, died 10th November 1800, 
 Aged 61. 
 
 This stone is Inscribed, January 1810, 
 In token of grateful respect and affection, 
 By their Daughters, 
 The Honourable Mrs H. Fullarton, 
 And the Honourable Georgina M'Kay. 
 
 No. 2. The imposing mural monument of Viscount Belhaven 
 in the north-west tower. It was erected by his nephews, Sir 
 Archibald and Sir Kobert Douglas. The monument, which 
 may be mora properly called au adtar tomb, is formed of 
 
178 
 
 aiSTDKlCAI. GL'IDR TO THE 
 
 Italian mat nle, and is on the whole a meritorious work of art. 
 It displays a recumbent figure of his Lordship the size of lile, 
 arrayed in his robes of state, and wearing his coronet, his right 
 arm resting on a cushion^ the head raised in an attitude ol 
 attention, and the left arm supporting a sword in a direction 
 parallel with the figure. On either side of the figure rises 
 a fluted column supporting an open pediment, over which are 
 placed his Lordship's arms. 
 
 This is the nobleman of whom Bishop Burnet tells a singu- 
 lar story, in reference to Charles the First's revocation of the 
 tithes in Scotland. The Scottish nobles who had got posses- 
 sion of the church property, were frantic at the idea of thia 
 resumption, and resolved to knock out the brains " of the 
 Earl of Nithsdale, Charles's commissioner, if he persisted in 
 the matter, A meeting was appointed, at which Lord Bel- 
 haven, who had become blind, desired to be seated close to 
 one of Lord Nithsdale's adherents, of whom he said he would 
 make sure,'*'* He was accordingly placed beside Viscount 
 Ayr, whose hand he grasped during the conference. When 
 the Viscount asked him the cause of his holding him so firmly, 
 Belhaven replied that his loss of sight always caused him to 
 be apprehensive of falling. In reality, however, he held in 
 iiis other hand a dagger, with which he intended stabbing the 
 Viscount if any discussion ensued. AVithin the recess, above 
 the figure, is engraved, on one side, an inscription in Latin, 
 of which the following is a translation. 
 
 " Here are interred the remains of KoTiert, Lord Viscount Belha- 
 ven, Baron of Spot, &c., Counsellor to«King Charles, and most inti- 
 mately in favour with him, because formerly he had been most dear to 
 Henry, Prince of Wales, and Master of his Horse. But he being 
 dead, and Charles his brother now reigning, he was made chamber- 
 lain to the king's household, and entertained with a singular degree of 
 favour, and advanced to great honours and wealth. In his youth he 
 enjoyed the sweet society of Nicholas Murray, daughter to the Baron 
 of Abereairney, his only wife ; who lived with him not above eighteen 
 months, and died in child-bed with her child. When grievous old 
 age came upon him (as weary of bad times and customs), withdraw- 
 ing himself from the noise of the court, he returned to his country 
 He nominated Sir Archibald and Sir Robert Douglasses, baronets, 
 sons to his eldest brother, to be his heirs, dividing equally amongst 
 them all his lands and goods, except some legacies ; and they erected 
 thu monument to wis memory, as a token of their gratitude. 
 
PALACE AND ABBEY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 179 
 
 Nature supplied in him by sagacity, what his mmd wanted of edu- 
 cation. He was inferior to none in a good capacity and candour. He 
 would soon be angry, but was as soon calmed. This is one thing he 
 had in his life, which scarcely could be alike acceptable to all ; for 
 loyalty towards his prince, love to his country, kindness to his rela- 
 tions, and charity to the poor, he was singular. In prosperity he was 
 meek and moderate; in adversity his constancy and magnanimity 
 prevailed to his very end. He died at Edinburgh the 12th day of 
 January, and from the incarnation of the Messiah 1639, and of his age 
 66, being the third year above his great climacteric." 
 
 No. 3. On this slab is an ornamental cross, the stalk of 
 which passes through an elegantly formed chalice. The base 
 of the stone is broken, and no portion^ of the inscription is 
 legible. 
 
 No. 4. A floriated cross with an ornamental base. The 
 following is the inscription round the edge of the stone : — 
 *'Hic jacet dns. Robertus Cheyne, XII. prior hujusce 
 monasterij qui obiit XVTL die Sept. An. Dni. MCCCCLV." 
 
 No. 5. A plain cross and calvary, surrounded by the fol- 
 lowing inscription : — Hie jacet Marjoria Duncan uxor Thoms 
 Duncan qui obiit XVI. die me. Octob. A.D. MC***." 
 
 No. 6. In the centre is a shield between the letters M. E., 
 shewing a pale charged with a cross crosslet fitchy, issuing 
 out of a crescent. Below the shield are a skull and a bone, 
 and the words memento mori." The- inscription round thf 
 edge of the stone is Heir lyes ane honourable woman callit 
 Margaret Erskin Lady Alerdes and Dame XVII. July 159*." 
 
 No. 7. On this ancient slab are engraved two large two- 
 handed swords, about five feet long, and surrounded by a 
 border of two parallel lines, without date or inscription. 
 There are several examples elsewhere of a single sword placed 
 by the side of a cross, but we are not aware of any other stone 
 on which two large swords appear side by side, without any 
 other device or inscription to explain the cause of their united 
 presence. It has been conjectured, not without probability, 
 thatthis slab indicates the resting-place of two warriors of one 
 house, brothers, or father and son, who have fallen on the 
 same field. 
 
 No. 8. A floriated cross and caivary with'i^wt date or in- 
 scription. 
 
180 
 
 HISTORICAL GUIDE TO THE 
 
 No. 9. A stone with the inscriptton Heir lyis ane IIoriKst 
 
 man Robert Votherspone, Burgis and Deacon of ye Hammer- 
 men in ye Canogait, R. Y. 1520." 
 
 No. 10. An imperfect slab with a plain cross and calvary. 
 On the dexter side of the cross is a mallet surmounted by a 
 crown ; on the sinister side a peculiar and indistinct device. 
 The inscription is illegible, except the date, which is 1543. 
 
 No. 11. The first part of the legend on this slab, goes 
 round the border of the stone, and the rest runs in parallel 
 lines across the body of it, Heir lyes ye noble and poton 
 Lord James Douglas, Lord of Cairlell and Torthorall, wha 
 marrid Daime Eliezabeth Cairlell, air and heretrix yarof ; wha 
 was slaine in Edinburghe, ye xiii day of July in ye zeier of 
 God 1608. Was slain in 48 ze/' At the bottom of the slab 
 is a shield, but, with the exception of three mullets in chief 
 on the dexter side, the charges are obliterated. 
 
 This Lord Douglas, who was only a territorial baron, not 
 a peer, was Sir James Douglas of Parkhead, a nephew of the 
 Regent Mortor;. His lady was the only child of William, 
 Master of Carlyle, who died in the lifetime of his father 
 Michael, fourth and last Lord Carlyle. In 1596 Sir James 
 killed Captain James Stewart, Earl of Arran and Chancellor 
 of Scotland, an unworthy favourite of James VI. to avenge 
 the wrongs sustained by his uncle, the Regent. Twelve years 
 afterwards he himself was run through the body on the High 
 Street of Edinburgh by William Stewart, the nephew of 
 Arran. Sir James's son was created Lord Carlyle of Tor- 
 thorall in 1609. 
 
 No. 12. A plain cross and calvary. On the dexter side 
 a pair of compasses over a device which resembles a book, 
 and on the sinister side a carpenter's square over a maUet. 
 All that is legible of the inscription is Hie jacet honorab. 
 Vir Johannes . . . et . . . Anno dni 1543." 
 
 No. 13. At the top of this stone is the date 1592. Im 
 mediately below is a hammer surmounted by a crown, an\ 
 having the letters B. H. on either side. Beneath, in the cen- 
 tre of the slab, is a shield charged with a ship and three cin- 
 quefoils in chief. At the bottom are the skull, bone, and 
 " memento mori," The inscription round the border is 
 
FALACE AND ABBKY Of HOLYROOD. 
 
 181 
 
 " Heir lyis ane honest woman calet Marget Baxter spous to 
 Bartel Hamelton Dakmaker Burges of ye Canengait." 
 
 No. 14. The mural monument of George Wishart, Bishop 
 of St Andrews, a sufferer in the cause of Charles I., and 
 chaplain to the great Marquis of Montrose, the history oi 
 whose warlike achievements he composed in Latin. ^ The fol- 
 lowing is the quaint translation of the Latin inscription givei 
 in Menteith's Theater of Mortality." — • 
 
 " Another famous Doctor Wiseheart, here 
 Divine George Wiseheart hes, as may appeal ; 
 Great orator, with eloquence and zeal, 
 Whereby on hardest hearts he did prevail. 
 Three Wisehearts, Bishops, so the third was he, 
 When Bishop of fair Ed'nburgh's diocie. 
 Candour in him was noble ; free of stain ; 
 In cases all, the same he did remain — 
 Above four hundred years great Wisehearfs name, 
 For honours, has pure and untainted fame ; 
 While one thereof both purse and mitre bore, 
 Chancellor and Bishop near St Andrew's choir ; 
 And when brave Bruce did for his nation plead, 
 At Norham, with undaunted hand and head,^ 
 Then Robert Wisheart sat in Glasgow's chair, 
 With courage for his bounty singular. 
 To these great George was not inferior 
 In peace, and was elsewhere superior. 
 High, without pride ; — his bounty had no guile. 
 His charity to th' poor nought could defile, 
 His loyalty untainted— faith most rare, 
 Athenian faith, was constant every where. 
 And though a thousand evils did controul, 
 None could o'ercome his high and lofty soul — 
 To King and Country he was faithful still ; 
 Was good and just, ev'n from a constant will. 
 Thrice spoil'd and banish'd, for full fifteen years, 
 His mind unshaken, — cheerful still he bears 
 Deadly proscription, nor the nasty gaol 
 Could not disturb his great seraphic soul. 
 But when the nation s King, Chaki.es the second blest, 
 On his return from sad exile to rest ; 
 They then received great Doctor Wiseheart — he 
 Was welcome made, by church and laity ; 
 And where he had been long in prison sore, 
 He nm« vears Bishop, did them good therefore. 
 
182 
 
 HISTORICAL GUIDE 
 
 At length he dy'd in honour : where his head 
 To much hard usasre was accustomed. 
 He Hv'd 'bove seventy years — and Edinburgh towB 
 Wish'd him old Nestor^s age, in great renown ; 
 Yea Scotland, sad with grief, condol'd his fall, 
 And to his merits gave just funeral. 
 Montrose's acts, in Latin forth he drew ; 
 Of one so great, ah ! monuments so few." 
 
 No. 15. A small neat cenotaph to the memory of George, 
 fourteenth Earl of Sutherland. On the top are placed the 
 arms of this illustrious house, quartered with those of varioi«= 
 other noble families. On the pillars are placed the names of 
 several of the noble families of Scotland with which they are 
 connected — Gordon^ Lennox^ ElphiiLStone^ Perth^ and Eglin- 
 toune, 
 
 " To the memory of the most illustrious Lord George, Earl of 
 Sutherland, Lord Strathnavar, &c. heritable Sheriff of said lands, a:id 
 lord of the regality thereof ; one of the Keepers of the Great Seal, 
 under the most renowned Prince King William, one of the Lords 
 of Privy Council, and the nineteenth Earl descended in a right line 
 from Allan, Thane of Sutherland, whom Macbeth, in the rage of 
 his usurping tyranny, about the year of Christ 1057, made away with 
 for endeavouring to restore the Kingdom to Malcolm III. lawful 
 heir to the Crown. His mournful widow Jean Wemyss, eldest daugh- 
 ter to David Earl of Wemyss, erected this monument of everlasting 
 fame. 
 
 " To the defunct Earl she brought forth John, now Earl of Suther- 
 land, and Anne, Viscountess of Arbuthnot. And to her former hus« 
 band, Archibald, Earl of Angus, eldest son to the Marquis of Douglas, 
 she brought forth Archibald, Earl of Forfar, and Margaret, given in 
 marriage to the Viscount of Kingstoun. Five other children of the 
 said Lady Dowager died in their nonage. The Earl himself was 
 born in his own Castle of Dornoch 2d November 1633, and died at 
 Edinburgh, 4th March 1703." 
 
 Here are also deposited the remains of William, seventeenth Earl 
 of Sutherland, and his amiable Countess Mary, daughter of William 
 Maxwell of Preston, Kirkcudbright. His Lordship died at Bath, 
 June 16th, 1766, just after he had completed his 31st year ; and the 
 Countess, June 1st, 1766, in her 26th year, 16 days before the Earl. 
 
 The bodies of this illustrious and affectionate pair were brought to 
 Scotland, and interred in one grave in Holyrood Abbey, 9tn August 
 1766. 
 
 *' Beauty and birth a transient being havOi ' 
 Virtue alone can triumph o'er the grave." 
 
PALACE AND ABBEY OP HOLYROOb. 183 
 
 No. 16. A flat stone. At the top a viscount's corcnet sur- 
 mounting a shield, which displays, quarterly, 1st and 4th, the 
 sun in splendour, 2d and 3d, three mullets on a chevron be- 
 tween a chief, charged with as many mascles, and a unicorn's 
 head erased in base. The following inscription surrounds thf 
 shield : " Heir lyeth ane noble lady D. Isobel Ker Vicounte? 
 of Drumlanreg 1628." She was the fourth daughter of 
 Mark Ker, 1st Earl of Lothian, and wife of William Douglas, 
 1st Viscount Drumlanrig (afterwards Earl of Queensberry). 
 One of her elder sisters, Lady Margaret, whose husband was 
 James, seventh Lord Tester, founded in 1647 the church in 
 Edinburgh which still bears her name. 
 
 No. 17. The mural monument of the Countess of Eglin- 
 toune. The following inscription, though nearly obliterated 
 ifi placed within an arched recess : 
 
 D 1. H. 
 
 Here lyes ane Nobil and maist 
 vertuous Ladie, Deame Jeane 
 Hamilton, Countas of Egling- 
 toun, Dochtor to James Duke 
 of Schattillarot, sometyme 
 Governor of this Realme. 
 She deceast in December 
 MDXCVL 
 
 No. 18. The tomb of Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, a man 
 eminent as a philanthropist, and a writer on agriculture, 
 statistics, and other subjects. 
 
 No. 19. The Royal Vault, at the south east corner of the 
 Chapel. Its early history is involved in considerable obscurity. 
 We have already described the wanton destruction of its 
 coffins by the infuriated multitude in 1688. In the circum- 
 stances it is fortunate that there is preserved in the Advocate's 
 Library a manuscript, containing an authentic account of a 
 search made in the vault by authorized persons, about five 
 years prior to the sacrilegious violation of its mouldering relics 
 of Scottish royalty. The narrative oi the inquiisition b 
 follows : — 
 
18i 
 
 HISTORICAL CiUlDK TO THE 
 
 " Upon ye xxivof January MDCLXXXIIT. by procurement ol y\ 
 Bischop of Dumblayne, I went into ane vault in ye south-east cornei 
 ©f ye Abbey Church of Halyrudehouse, and yr. were present, ye 
 Lord Strathnavar and E. Forfare, Mr Robert Scott, minister of ye 
 Abbey, ye Bishop of Dumblayn, and some uthers. Wee viewed ye 
 body of King James ye Fyft of Scotland. It lyeth within ane wodden 
 coffin, and is coveret wyth ane lead coffin. There seemed to be haire 
 upon ye head still. The body was two lengths of my staf, with two 
 inches more, that is twae inches and mare above twae Scots elne ; for 
 I measured the staf with ane elnwand efterward. 
 
 The body was coloured black with ye balsom that preserved it, 
 which was lyke melted pitch. The Earl of Forfare tooke the measure 
 with his staf lykeways. There was plates of lead, in several long 
 pieces, louse upon and about the coffin, which carried the following 
 inscription, as I took it from before the bishop and noblemen in ye isle 
 of ye church : — 
 
 " ILLVSTRIS SCOTORVM EEX JACOBVS EJVS NOMINIS V. ETATIS 
 
 SUE ANNO XXXI REGNI VERO XXX MORTEM OBIIT IN 
 PALACIO DE FALKLAND 14 DECEMBRIS ANNO DNI. MDXLII 
 CVJVS CORPVS HIC TRADITVM EST SEPVLTVRE. 
 
 " Next ye south wall, in a smaller arch, lay a shorter coffin, with ye 
 teeth in ye skull. 
 
 " To the little coffin in the narrow arch, seemeth to belong this in. 
 •cription made out of long pieces of lead in the Saxon character : — 
 
 ^rimo=gen{ta BlRegina gcotiae, Sponsa 3acot)i U. 
 
 l^egiS, A.D. MDXXXVII. OBIIT. 
 
 " There was ane piece of a lead crown, upon the syde of whilk I 
 saw two floor de leuces gilded t and upon ye north side of ye coffin lay 
 two children, none of the coffins a full elne long, and one of them lying 
 within ane wod chest, the other only the lead coffin. 
 
 " Upon the south syde, next the King's body, lay ane gret coffin of 
 lead, with the body in it. The muscles of the thigh seemed to be 
 entire ; the body not so long as King James the Fyfth, and ye balsam 
 stagnating in sum quantity at ye foote of ye coffin ; there appeared no 
 inscription upon ye coffin. 
 
 " And at ye east syde of the vaults which was at ye feet of ye other 
 coffins, lay a coffin with the skull sawen in two, and ane inscription 
 in small letters, gilded upon a square of ye lead coffin, making it to br 
 ye bodye of Dame Jane /Stewart^ Couniesse of Argyle^ mdlxxxv, oi 
 thereby, for I do not well remember ye yeare. The largest coffin, ] 
 suld suppose to be that of Lord Darnley's,* and the short coffin, Queene 
 Magdalene's." 
 
 * It is now understood that the body of Darnley was disinterre(* 
 by command of James VI. and removed to Westminster Abbey 
 woerp it was reburied. 
 
PALACE AND ABBEY OP HOLYROOD. 
 
 185 
 
 In July 1848 the body of Mary of Gueldres, the Queen of 
 James II., was removed from its original resting-place in the 
 Trinity College Church, which she had founded (which was 
 then being taken down), and reinterred in the Royal vault. 
 
 No, 20. The vault of the Roxburgh family. In it lies 
 Jane, Countess of Roxburgh, daughter of Patrick, third 
 Lord Drumniond, governess to the family of King James 
 VI. She died on the seventh October 1648. 
 
 No. 21. A plain tablet on the third pillar from the east 
 end of the South aisle, in memory of Adam Bothwell, Bishop 
 of Orkney and Shetland, and Commendator of Holyrood, who 
 celebrated the marriage between Mary and Bothwell. His 
 arms are cut within a circular tressure, beneath which are two 
 Latin inscriptions, of which the following are translations. 
 M. H.R. 
 
 He e lies interred a most noble man, Lord Adam Bothwell, 
 Bishop of Orkney and Zetland ; Commendator of the Monastery of 
 Holy Rood, Senator of the College of Justice, and one of the Lords 
 of bis Majesty's Privy Council ; who died in the 67th year of hia 
 ftge, 2 d day of the month of August, in the year of our Lord 1593. 
 
 Translation of the Verses given in the "Theater 
 OF Mortality." 
 Thy praise is triple sure ; thyself, tby Sire, 
 Thy Son, all Senators, whom men admire. 
 The stagg'ring state by thee was quickly stay'd, 
 The troubled church from thee got present aid. 
 Thou livedest at thy wish ; thy good old age 
 In wealth and honours took thee off the stage. 
 Thine aged corps interred here now lie, 
 Thy virtues great forbid your name to die. 
 Go ! happy soul, and in thy last repose, 
 Vanquish thou death, and all its fatal blows ; 
 Thy fragrant frame shall thus eternal be, 
 XTnto thy country and posterity. 
 
 No. 22. Monument on the south wall with a Latin in- 
 scription, of which the following is a translation : " Here 
 lies Alexander Hay of Easter Kennet, Clerk Register, who 
 died 9th September, a.d. 1694." 
 
 No. 23. A flat slab towards the west end of the South aisle^ 
 exhibiting a plain cross and calvary, with a simply-shaped 
 ehalice on the sinister side. The stone has a border formed 
 of two parallel lines, but bears no date or inscription. 
 
186 
 
 HISTORICAL GUIDE, (feC. 
 
 The stone coffins were discovered towards the east end of 
 the Chapel Royal during the alterations in the garden in 
 1857. From their position, and also the broken state of the 
 tops or stone-covers, it was evident that these coffins had 
 previously been disinterred, as they contained only a few 
 human bones, with no other remains. There was no inscrip- 
 tion or other device on either of them, but it is probable they 
 may have originally contained the remains of some of the 
 Abbots or other dignitaries of the Monastery. Their datt^s 
 are probably between a.d. 1200 and a.d. 1350. 
 
 The ancient shield on the wall, bearing on it the Lion 
 Rampant of Scotland, is of oak, and formerly hung over 
 the great western entrance to the Chapel-Royal. 
 
 The Unicorn carved in stone, which leans against the 
 wall, was one of the supporters of the Royal Arms of 
 Scotland, From the initials below, it probably formed part 
 of the " King's Armes cunningly carved in stone,'' which 
 adorned the palace of James V. and which are described 
 by John Taylor, the Water Poet, as still existent in 1618. 
 
 To the east of the Chapel, on the site of the ancient choir 
 tftands a Monument to the memory of Alexander Milne. 
 A. (Motto). Tarn arte, quam marte. M. 
 In clarissimum virum, Alexandrum Milnum^ Lapicidam 
 egregium, hie sepultum, Anno Dom. 1643 Febr. 20. 
 
 Siste Hospes ; clarus jacet hoc sub Marmore Milnm; 
 Dignus cui Pharius conderet ossa labor : 
 Quod vel in aere Myron fudit, vel pinxit Appelles, 
 Artifice hoc potuit hie lapicida manu. 
 Sex lustris tan turn vixit, sine labe, senectam 
 Prodidit, et medium clauserat ille diem. 
 The translation which follows is also on the stone :— 
 Here is buried a worthy man and an 
 Ingenious Mason, Alexander Milne^ 20th Feb. A.D. 1643. 
 
 Stay Passenger, here famous Milne doth rest, 
 
 Worthy to be in ^Egypt's Marble drest r 
 
 What Myron or Appelles could have done 
 
 In brass or paintry, he could that in Stone ; 
 
 But thretty yeares hee (Blameless) lived ; old Age 
 
 He did betray, and in's Prime left this stage. 
 
 Restored by Robert Mylne, 
 
 Architect, MDCCLXXVI.* 
 
 * This monument was removed in 1857 to the north-east corner of 
 the Chapel-Royal, and in its place a flat tombstone was substituted. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 N(>TB A. 
 
 It ifi, after all, not impossible that the Miracle of the HsSy 
 fiood " was founded on some accident which really befel the Ring^ 
 the peril attendant on which may have appeared, to his supersti- 
 tious mind, to have been averted by a direct exhibition of super- 
 natural agency. To those who so interpret the legend, it hae 
 appeared remarkable that David should at first have established 
 his Canons on the fortified rock of the castle, where the event in 
 question could not possibly have occurred. 
 
 It appears to the writer of these pages to be within the verge 
 of probability that the Canons of the Holy Rood were first settled 
 by David at the base of the Castle rock, and on the precise spot 
 where the good King encountered the *• wyld hart," according to 
 the legend. 
 
 Froissart, in describing the Knight of Liddesdale's capture of 
 the Castle by stratagem, in 1341, speaks of the Scottish ambus- 
 cade as being placed in " an old Abbey that was ruined and 
 uninhabited, near the foot of the hill on which the Castle is situ- 
 ated."* Now it is evident that the spot where the Scots lay con- 
 cealed must have been near the east end of the rock, in order that 
 they might rush, immediately on the signal being given, to the 
 gate of the Castle. The "ruined abbey" was therefore not oaly 
 near the Castle, but toward the east of it. 
 
 The legend states that the King was ** at the fiite of the crag" 
 when the stag assailed him, and that the creature vanished at the 
 tpot ** quhare springis the Rude well." Now, at the very place 
 where Froissart*s Abbey must have stood, we find a ** cra^," and 
 near it also a ** well/* The former appears in David's own Charter 
 
 • Froissart's own words are ** Et puis envoyerent leurs con- 
 paignons embusher en une Abbaie destruite et gastee, la ou nu) 
 oe demouroit, et estoit assez pres du pia de la montagne, U on le 
 clia8t«l s»»ojt.'*— T- L p. 71, Edit Lyon, 1669. 
 
188 
 
 HISTOBV >F HOLYROOD. 
 
 to the Monks of Holyrood as " unam Craggam que est snb eodem 
 castello versus Orienteniy'' (a crag which is under the Castle 
 toward the east), and the latter is the spring which gave its name 
 to the Well-house or Wallace tower of the Castle, and also ap- 
 pears as a boundary in the same charter. 
 
 On this little eminence, then, forming the last swell of the 
 castle-hill, and known, perhaps, by the name of " the Crag of the 
 Holy Rood," we are disposed to believe that David founded his 
 monastery in 1128 ; and that the "ruined abbey" of Froissart was 
 the wreck of this forsaken house of the Canons. Thus situated, 
 it might be designated with propriety either by Fordun's name of 
 ** the Monastery of the Crag of the Holy Rood," or by the Charter 
 appellation of " Monastery of the Castle of Maidens." * This site, 
 however, may have been afterwards found to be inconvenient. 
 There was not, perhaps, sufficient space for those gardens and 
 orchards which recluses loved, nor for a cemetery sufficiently 
 removed from the cottages of " Edwinesburg ;" and, besides, the 
 place was necessarily exposed to violence when hostilities were 
 directed against the fortress above. Cx)nvinced, probably, of the 
 unsuitableness of the site, King David bestowed on the Canons, 
 in the year 1143-7 the retired and spacious meadow below Arthur's 
 seat — a locality to which, after the lapse of several years, they 
 finally withdrew; and, when the old tale was partially forgotten, 
 transferred to the rugged precipices above their new dwell- 
 ing the marvellous associations connected with the Crag of the 
 Castle. Another migration of a religious fraternity, under similar 
 circumstances, occurred in David's reign. He founded a monas- 
 tery for Tyronensian monks at Selkirk ; but afterwards, " quia 
 
 * Lord Hailes, we must observe, has misquoted Fordun in re- 
 lation to the name of the Abbey, and later writers have adopted 
 his lordship's error. Lord H. says (vol. i. p. 112, note) that it 
 is called by Fordun L v. c. 48, ** Monasterium Sanctas Crucis de 
 Crag" or " Monaster}^ of Holyrood of the Crag ; " whereas, the 
 proper reading is "Monasterium de Crag Sanctae Crucis," Of 
 " Monastery ot the Crag of the Holy Rood," The difference if 
 Uot unimportant, inasmuch as the true reading records the fact 
 that there was a ** crag " known by the name of thai of the 
 « Holy Rood." 
 
NOTES. 
 
 189 
 
 Kocas non erat conveniens abbacise" (because the site was not 
 convenient for an abbey), hs removed the establishment to Kelso. 
 
 This, we think, accounts for the hitherto unexplained anomaly, 
 that, while the combined evidence of history and chronicle dis- 
 tinctly indicates the year 1128 as being the date of the foundation 
 of the Abbey, the writ, which has evidently always been regarded 
 as the Foundation Charten, appears not to have been granted for 
 a period of at least fifteen years afterwards. It has been main- 
 tained, however, that the phraseology of the charter itself is evi- 
 dence that the Abbey was founded where its ruins now stand, 
 before it was written. We, however, are not disposed to attach 
 much importance to certain dubious expressions in that writ ; for 
 these, if interpreted as certain writers would wish, might have 
 been used, with equal plausibility, to persuade us that the Canons 
 were fairly established below Arthur's Seat at the date of -the 
 charter ; while we have incontestible evidence that they were not 
 there for at least thirty years afterwards. Besides, thdt clause in 
 the charter itseL^ which gives a right to the Canons to take 
 timber from the royal woods for the erection of their church and 
 housesy is surely sufficient evidence that these edifices were n(rt 
 yet in existence. We would suggest, however, that all difficulties 
 on this point may be obviated by supposing that David had, a 
 short time before, conveyed to the Monks of Holyrood the ground 
 on which their new monastery was to be erected ; and, therefore 
 speaks of it m the Great Charter as a fixed and understood 
 locality, though as yet the conventual buildings had not been ac- 
 tually commenced. 
 
 It may perhaps be objected that, if the first House of th« 
 Canons had been placed on or close to the "Crag" mentioned in 
 David's charter, that locality culd hardly have been described 
 by the indefinite designation of "a crag;" and that some allusion 
 would certainly have been made to the existing monastic building 
 in the narrative of that portion of the boundary. We think, 
 however, this objection is obviated by presuming that the " land 
 below the Castle" was the pious King's first gift to his Canons, 
 conceded probably in 1128 ; that this part of the charter, conse- 
 quently, is only a confirmation of a previous grant, and that 
 therefore, as usual in such a case, the ipsi^ima verba of the 
 original chartex are adhered to. 
 
!90 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROODu 
 
 Note B. 
 
 We have aeen that Abbot Crawfurd, about the year 14^ 
 Ifiboured with singular zeal and success in upholding the fabric 
 of his venerable church, which appears to have been in a very 
 ruinous condition when he succeeded to the Abbacy — a state oi 
 disrepair easily accounted for by the fact of its having beeo 
 burned by Richard II. in the invasion of 1385, and never after- 
 wards thoroughly repaired. It seems to us to be not improbable* 
 that, at this period, the central tower was of itself so ruinous, or 
 its weight appeared so dangerous to the dilapidated lower part* 
 of the edifice, that the Abbot may have caused it to be taken 
 down, and satisfied with putting the choir, transepts, and nave in 
 a good state of repair, may have made no attempt to rebuild it. If 
 any confidence can be placed in the Plan of Edinburgh, prepared 
 for the direction of the Earl of Hartford's invading army in 1543,* 
 this supposition would appear not to be without foundation. In 
 this sketch, while the choir, transepts, nave, and western towers 
 are distinctly depicted, though not, perhaps, in very correct per- 
 spective, there is no appearance whatever of the great central 
 tower, the roof running in an unbroken line from east to west. 
 Now, this sketch was very probably done from memory^ but we 
 can hardly imagine that a person who had so distinct a recollec- 
 tion of the two western towers, with their short square spires, 
 could have quite forgotten the great central one, if it had existed 
 in his time. It appears also, to be a corroboration of our conjec- 
 ture, and of the correctness of this sketch, that when, in 1570^ 
 articles were presented in the General Assembly, f against Adam 
 Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, for allowing the church of the Abbey 
 to be in so dilapidated a condition, he says nothing, in hia 
 laboured Reply, J of the injury inflicted on the weakened walls, 
 by the great superincumbent weight of the central tower, and, 
 that even when he proposes to remove the ** superfluous ruinous 
 pairts " in order to repair the remainder sufficiently, while he talks 
 of taking down the choir and transepts, he never speaks of the 
 removal of the tower in question — a circumstance which could 
 
 • Preserved in the British Museum (Cotton MS., Augustus L 
 ii.) and engraved in the Bannatyne Miscellany, voL L 
 
 * Booke of the Universall Kirk, vol. i. p. IGS. 
 1 Ibid vol. i, p. 167. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 191 
 
 hardly have occurred, if so important a part of the fabric had 
 been standing in his day. 
 
 Note C. 
 
 We subjoin a portion of an epitaph on David II., taken from 
 the Scotichronicon of Fordun, as a curious specimen of Mediae- 
 val Latinity. 
 
 Hie rex sub lapide David inclitus est tumulatus, 
 Vir stirpis nitidae, per climata magnificatus. 
 Non vixit cupide, sed dapsilitate probatus : 
 Gesturse lepidse dulcedine mellificatus. 
 Miles munificus, mitis moderamine, Isetus, 
 Pulcher, pacificus, placida probitate facetus : 
 Ductor dignificus, in se pietate quietus ; * 
 Fragrans, fructiiicus, flos fertilitate repletus. 
 
 * ^ ■» * 
 Suis visceribus sapientia nidificavit, 
 Amplis muneribus adventitios recreavit ; 
 Sub verbis brevibus sapide responsa paravit 
 
 - Fidis faminibus discordes unificavit. 
 Praelatos coluit cleri, tractando decenter 
 Et proceres voluit sibi circumstare potenter ; 
 Burgenses statuit sua commutare licenter, 
 Et populum studuit sub jure tenere patenter. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Anglis diligitur, et pro valido veneratur, 
 Verax asseritur, et pro bonitate beatur ; 
 Scotia jam qu^ritur, quia fertilis aura fugatur, 
 Et timor ingeritur, ac defectus sociatur, 
 0 dolor ! 0 gemitus ! premitur princeps pretiosus ; 
 0 furor ! o fremitus ! decessit dux dominosus ; 
 0 stupor ! 0 strepitus ! o miles deliciosus ! 
 Ipse fuit penitus decor in regno rutilosus. 
 Ergo pater veniae, qui misit aroma reorum. 
 Ad loca laetitise trahat ilium rex superorum : 
 In jubilo patriae, cum principe pacificorum. 
 Sub cultu latriae quiescat in regno polorum.* 
 
 * Scotichronicon, lib. xiv. cap. 35. 
 
192 
 
 HISTORY OF HOLYROOD. 
 
 Note D. 
 
 Tho dimensions of the Abbey Church are as folla-r £• — 
 
 Feel Cu. 
 
 Length within walls 127 0 
 
 Breadth within walls • • . • • 59 0 
 
 „ of the Middle Aisle .... 29 6 
 
 „ „ North Aisle .... 14 9 
 
 „ „ South Aisle .... 14 9 
 Height of the East End Wall, to the top of the 
 
 Fleur-de-lis 70 0 
 
 Height of the Great East Window ... 34 2 
 
 Breadth of it 20 0 
 
 Width of the original Arch in which it is placed 21 9 
 Height to the point of the Arch, being the original 
 
 height of the inner vaultingj about • • 60 0 
 
 Height of Columns .... 28 G 
 
 Girth of each . . . . ; • 16 8 
 
 Width of the Arches 10 0 
 
 Height of the Side Walls ..... 28 0 
 
 „ „ West End Wall .... 59 0 
 
 „ „ Arch ov3r West Entrance . (inside) 22 4 
 
 VV^idth of the West Door 9 6 
 
 Height of the North- West Square Tower . . 52 0 
 
 Breadth of it outside (square) 23 0 
 
 „ „ inside (square) 15 6 
 
 Width of the Wmdows in the North and South 
 
 Aisles 2 11 
 
 Except the two eastmost in the south wall next 
 
 the cloister, one of which is . • . • 4 0 
 
 And the other 4 7 
 
 Width of North Side Door 6 4 
 
 Depth of Piers of Buttresses in the Cloister . • 6 6 
 
 Breadth of these Piers 4 8 
 
 mdth of the Walk in the Cloister • • • 10 1