St. Giles.
elasticity which the nation displayed in its endless ? naceus,? in the Harleian Collection in the British
wars with England, showing how the general and
local government vied with each other in the
erection of ornate ecclesiastical edifices, the moment
the invaders-few ot whom ever equalled
Edward 111. in wanton ferocity-had re-crossed
the Tweed. Xmong these we may specially
mention the chapel of Robert Duke of Albany,
now the most beautiful and interesting portion of
this sadly defaced and misused old edifice. The
ornamental sculptures of this portion are of a
peculiarly striking character - heraldic devices
forming the most prominent features on the capital
of the great clustered pillar. On the south side
are the arms of Robert Duke of Albany, son of King
Robert II., and on the north are those of Xrchibald
fourth Earl of Douglas, Duke of Tonraine
and Marshal of France, who was slain at the battle
of Verneuil by the English. In 1401 David Duke
of Rothesay, the luckless son of Robert II., was
made a prisoner by his uncle, the designing Duke
of Albany, with the full consent of the aged king
his father, who had grown weary of the daily complaints
that were made against the prince. In the
?Fair Maid of Perth,? Scott has depicted with
thrilling effect the actual death of David, by the
slow process of starvation, notwithstanding the
intervention of a maiden and nurse, who met a
very different fate from that he assigns to them in
the novel, while in his history he expresses a doubt
whether they ever supplied the wants of the prince
in any way. According .to the ?? Black Book? of
Scone, the Earl of Douglas was with Albany when
the prince was trepanned to Falkland, and having
probably been exasperated against the latter, who
was his own brother-in-law (having married his
sister Marjorie Douglas), for his licentious course
of life, must have joined in the ? projected assassination.
?Such are the two Scottish nobles whose
armorial bearings still grace the capital of the pillar
in the old chapel. It is the only other case in
which they are found acting in concert besides the
dark deed already referred to; and it seems no
unreasonable inference to draw from such a coincidence,
that this chapel ,had been founded and
endowed by them as an expiatory offering for that
deed of blood, and its chaplain probably appointed
to say masses for their victim?s soul? (Wilson).
The comparative wealth of the Scottish Church
in those days and for long after was considerable,
and an idea may be formed of it from the amount
of the tenth of the benefices paid by the three
countries as a tax to Rome, and in the Acts of Parliament
of James 111. in 147 r, and of James IV. in
r493. The account is from a ?Codex Membra-
.
Museum :-
De terra Scotiz . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . f;3,947 19 8
,, Hibernia:. . .. .. .. .. .. .. 1,647 16 3
,, Anglia et Wallice .. .. .. 20,872 z 4+
Thus we see that the Scottish Church paid more
than double what was paid by Ireland, and a fifth
of the amount that was paid by England.
The transepts of St. Giles, as they existed before
the so-called repairs of 1829, afforded distinct
evidence of the gradual progtess of the edifice.
Beyond the Preston aisle the roof differed from
the older portion, exhibiting undoubted evidence
of being the work of a subsequent time ; and from
its associations with the eminent men of other
days it is perhaps the most interesting portion of
the whole fabric. Here it was that Walter Chapman,
of Ewirland, a burgess of Edinburgh, famous
as the introducer of the printing-press into Scotland,
and who was nobly patronised by the heroic king
who fell at Flodden, founded and endowed a
chaplaincy at the altar of St. John the Evangelist,
?in honour of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St.
John the Apostle and Evangelist, and all the
saints, for the healthful estate and prosperity of
the most excellent lotd the King of Scotland, and
of his most serene consort Margaret Queen of
Scotland, and of their children j and also for the
health of my soul, and of Agnes Cockburne, my
present wife, and of the soul of Mariot Kerkettill,
my former spouse,? &c.
?This charter,? says a historian, ?is dated 1st
August, 1513, an era of peculiar interest. Scotland
was then rejoicing in all the prosperity and
happiness consequent on the wise and beneficent
reign of James IV. Learning was visited with the
highest favour of the. Court, and literature was
rapidly extending its influence under the zealous
co-operation of Dunbar, Douglas, Kennedy, and
others, with the royal master-printer. Only one
month thereafter Scotland lay at the mercy of her
southern rival. Her king was slain; the chief of
her nobles and warriors had perished on Flodden
Field, and adversity and ignorance again replaced
the advantages that had followed in the train of
the gallant James?s rule. Thenceforth, the altars
of St. Giles received few and rare additions to
their endowments.?
From the preface to ? Gologras and Gawane,?
we learn that in 1528 Walter Chapnian the printer
founded a chaplaincy at the altar of Jesus Christ,
in St. Giles, and endowed it with a tenement in the
Coagate; and there is good reason for believhig
that the pious old printer lies buried in the south
transept of the church, close by the spot where
