the permanent and undisputed capital of Scotland.
Sorrow and indignation spread over all the realm
when the fate of James was heard, and no place
seemed to afford such security to the royal person
as the impregnable Castle of Edinburgh j thus
Queen Jane, ignorant of the ramifications of that
.conspiracy by which her princely husband was
,slain (actually in her arms), instantly joined her
.son James II., who since his birth had dwelt
there. It was then in the hands of William Baron
.of Crichton-a powerful, subtle, and ambitious
statesman, who was Master of the Household.
with every solemnity, on the 25th of March, 1437.
The queen-mother was named his guardian, with
an allowance of 4,000 merks yearly, and Archibald
the great Earl of Uouglas and Angus (Duke of
Touraine) was appointed lieutenant-general of the
kingdom. During the two subsequent years the
little king resided entirely in the Castle under the
custody of Crichton, now Lord Chancellor, greatly
to the displeasure of the queen and her party, who
found him thus placed completely beyond their
control or influence.
In short, it was no longer the queen-mother,
RUINS OF THE WELL-HOUSE TOWER. (~m a D7awifirb W ~ Z Z ~ ~ X . paton, R.s.A.)
Within forty days nearly all concerned in the
imurder of the late king were brought to Edinburgh,
where the ignoble were at once consigned
to the hangman; but for the Earl of Athol and
bother titled leaders were devised tortures worthy
.alone of Chinese or Kaffir ingenuity. Crowned
by a red-hot diadem as " King of Traitors," at the
Market Cross, after undergoing three days of un-
.exampled agonies in sight of the people and the
Papal Nuncio, afterwards Pius II., the body of the
earl was dragged nude through the streets ; it was
then beheaded and quartered.
On the assembly of the Lords of Parliament,
-their first care was the coronation of James II.,
-who was conducted in procession from the Castle
$0 the church of Holyrood, where he was crowned,
but the crafty Crichton, who had uncontrolled
custody of the little sovereign, and who thus was
enabled to seize the revenues, and surround him
by a host of parasites, who permitted neither her,
nor the Regent, Sir Alexander Livingstone of
Callender, to have any share in the government
A bitter feud was the consequence, and Scotland
again was rent into two hostile factions, a state of
matters of which the English could not, as usual,
make profit, as they were embroiled among themselves.
The queen remained with the regent at
Stirling, while her son was literally a prisoner at
Edinburgh ; but, womanlike, the mother formed a
plan of her own to outwit the enemy.
Visiting the Castle, she professed a great regard
for the Chancellor, and a desire to be with her son,
