he barbarously threw the bodies on a great fire
that blazed in the fireplace of the tower; ?and
there in their armour they broiled and sweltered
like tortoises in iron shells.? Locking the doors,
the fugitives hurriedly and stealthily reached the
tower-head unseen. The attendant lowered himself
down first over the abutting crag, which there is
more than zoo feet in height, but the cord proving
too short it slipped from his hands, and he fell to
the bottom senseless.
This must have been a terrible crisis for the
blood-stained Albany ! Hurrying back to his now
horrible apartment in the tower, he dragged the
sheets from his bed, added them to the rope,
looped it round an embrasure, and lowered himself
safely down over rampart and rock to the bottom,
where he found his attendant lying helpless, with a
broken thigh Unwilling to leave him to ptrish,
Albany, with a sentiment that contrasts singularly
with his recent ferocity, raised him on his shoulders,
and being a man of unusual strength and
Stature, he actually conveyed him to Leith, a distance
of two miles; and, when the sun rose, the
ship, with Albany, was out on the German sea.
Daylight revealed the rope and twisted sheets
hanging over the rampart of the tower. An alarm
was given, which the dreadful stench from the
locked chamber must have increased. The door
was opened. Albany was gone, but the half-con-
Qumed corpses were found in the fireplace; and
James 111. refused to believe in a story so incredible
till he had visited the place in person.*
Albany fled to England, the king of which refused
to deliver him up. Thus war was declared,
and James marched from the Burghmuir with
$0,000 men and a train of guns, under the master
of the ordndnce, a stone-mason, whom, with great
impolicy, he had created Earl of Mar. At Lauder
the nobles halted; hanged all the king?s minions
over the bridge in horse-halters, and disbanded
the troops j and then the humbled and luckless
James returned to the Castle, where for many
months, in 1481, he remained a species of prisoner
in the custody of its commanders, the Earls of
Athol and Buchan, who,? it has been supposed,
would have murdered him in secret had not the
Lord Darnley and other loyal barons protected
him, by never leaving his chamber unguarded by
night or day. There he remained in a species of
honourable durance, while near him lay in 3 dungeon
the venerable *Earl of Douglas, who scorned
to be reconciled, though James, in his humility,
made overtures to him. He appealed at last to
Lindesay, Diummond, Scott, Buchan, &c.
England for aid against his turbulent barons, and
Edward IV. (though they had quarrelled about a
matrimonial alliance, and about the restoration of
Berwick) sent Richard, Duke of Gloucester; north,
at .the head of 10,000 auxiliaries, who encamped
on the Burghmuir, where the Duke of Albany, who
affected a show of loyalty, joined them, at the very
time that the rebellious nobles of lames were
sitting in council in the Tolbooth. Thither went
Albany and Gloucester, the ? crookbacked Dick?
of Shakspere and of Bosworth, attended by a
thousand gentlemen of both countries, and the
parties having come to terms, heralds were sent to
the Castle to charge the commander thereof to
open the gates and set the king at liberty; after
which the royal brothers, over whose fraternisation
Pitscottie?s narrative casts some ridicule, rode
together, he adds, to Holyrood, ? quhair they remained
ane long time in great merrines.?
William Bertraham, Provost of Edinburgh, with
the whole community of the city, undertook to
repay to the king of England the dowry of his
daughter the Lady Cecil, and afterwards they
fulfilled their obligations by repaying 6,000 merks
to the Garter King-at-Arms. In acknowledgment
of this loyal service James granted to the city the
patent known as its ?Golden Charter,? by which
the provost and bailies were created sheriffs of
their own boundaries, with other important privileges.
Upon the craftsmen he also conferred a
banner, said to have been made by the queen and
her ladies, still preserved and known popularly as
the ? Blue Blanket,? and it was long the rallying
point of the Burgher-guard in every war or civic
broil. Thus, Jarnes VI., in the ? Basilicon Doron,?
points out to Prince Henry-? The craftsmen think
we should be content with their work how bad
soever it be ; and if in anything they be controuled,
up goes the Blue Blanket ! ?
This banner, according to Kincaid, is of blue
silk, with a white St. Andrew?s cross. It is swallowtailed,
measuring in length from the pole ten feet
two inches, and in breadth six and a half feet. It
bears a thistle crowned, with the mottoes : ?Fear
God and honour the King with a long lyffe and
a prosperous reigne ; ? and ?? And we that is Trades
shall ever pray to be faithful1 for the defence of
his sacred Maiesties royal person till Death.?
Jarnes 111. was noted about this time for the
quantity of treasure, armour, and cannon he had
stored up in the Castle, his favourite residence.
In David?s Tower stood his famous black kist
(probably the same which is now in the Crown
room), filled with rare and costly-gems, gold and
silver specie, massive plate, and a wonderful C6!-
