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!-
lection of glittering jewels, of which Tytler gives
the list. In the ?inventory? of the Jewel House
are mentioned five relics of Robert Bruce, viz.,
four silver goblets and a shirt of mail, ?King
Robert?s serk,? as it is written. Among his
cannon were two great French curtalds, forty-six
other pieces of various calibre, and sixteen fieldwaggons,
with a vast quantity of military stores of
every description.
. The quarrels between James and his arrogant
nobles deepened day by day. At last, says Godscroft,.
a story went abroad that it was proposed
to invite them all to a banquet in the great hall
of the Castle, and there cut them off root and
branch ! This startling rumour led to others, and
all culminated in the battle of Sauchieburn, where
James perished, under the dagger of an assassin,
on the 8th of June, 1488-a monarch who, more
than any other of the Stuarts, contributed towards
the permanent prosperity of the Scottish metropolis.
?By favour of his charters its local jurisdiction
was left almost exclusively in the hands
of its own magistrates; on them were conferred
ample powers for enacting laws for its governance,
with authority in life and death-still vested in its
chief magistrate-an independence which was
afterwards defended amid many dangers down to
the period of the Union. By his charters, also in
their favour, they obtained the right, which they
still hold, to all the customs of the haven and
harbour of Leith, with the proprietorship of the
adjacent coast, and all the roads leading thereto.?
On the accession of James IV., in his boyhood,
he sent a herald from Leith to demand the surrender
of the Castle, and a commission consisting
of the Lord High Treasurer, Sir Wi11;am Knowles
(afterwards slain at Flodden), and others, took
over all the personal property of the late king.
The inventory taken on this occasion, according
to Tytler, affords a pleasing and favourable idea
of the splendour of the Scottish court in those
days.
In the treasurer?s accounts we have many curious
entries concerning the various Scottish harpers,
fiddlers, and English pipers, that performed here
to amuse James IV. ?July 10, 1489 ; to Inglish
pyparis that cam to the Caste1 yet and p1.ayit to
the king, viij lib. viij s,?
During the reign of the chivalrous and splendid
James 1V.-who was crowned at Kelso-Edinburgh
became celebrated throughout all Europe as
the scene of knightly feats. The favourite place for
the royal tournaments was a spot of ground just
below the Cast16 rock, and near the king?s stables.
There, James in particular, assembled the nobles by
prwlamation, for jousting, offering such meeds of
honour as a golden-headed lance, or similar
favours, presented by his own hand or that of
some beautiful woman. Knights came from all
countries to take part in these jousts; ?bot,?
says Pitscottie, ?few or none of thame passed
away unmatched, and oftimes overthrowne.?
One notable encounter, witnessed by the
king from the Castle wall, took place in 1503,
when a famous cavalier of the Low Countries,
named by Pitscottie Sir John Cochbevis, challenged
the .best knight in Scotland to break
a spear, or meet him d outrancc in combat to
the death. Sir Patrick Hamilton of the house
of Arran took up his challenge. Amid a vast
concourse, they came to the barriers, lanced,
horsed, and clad in .tempered mail, with their
emblazoned shields hung round their necks. At
sound of trumpet they rushed to the shock, and
splintered their spears fairly. Fresh ones were
given them, but as Hamilton?s horse failed him,
they drew their two-handed swords, and encountered
on foot. They fought thus ?for a full
hour, till the Dutchman being struck to the
ground,? the king cast his plumed bonnet over
the wall to stay the combat, while the heralds
and trumpeters proclaimed the Scottish knight
victorious.
But the court of James was distinguished for
other things than the science of war, for during
his brilliant reign Edinburgh became the resort of
men high in every department of science and
art; and the year 1512 saw the Provost of St.
Giles?s, Gavin Douglas, translating Virgil?s ?Bneid?
into Scottish verse.
In the Castle there resided, about 1503, Lady
Margmet Stuart, the daughter of James, by Margaret
Drummond of that ilk, whom he is said to
have married clandestinely, and who was removed
by some Scottish conspirators ?? to . make way
for a daughter of England,? as an old historian
has i t She was poisoned, together with her two
sisters; and in August, 1503, ?the daughter of
England? duly came in the person of Margaret
Tudor, whose marriage to James at Edinburgh
was conducted with great splendour and much
rejoicing.
In 1509 James employed his master gunner,
Robert Borthwick, to cast a set of brass ordnance
for the Castle, all of which were inscribed
-Mmfim sum, Scofo Borfhwick Eizbricafa, Roberto.
Seven of these were named by James ? the sisters,?
being remarkable for their beauty and size. Borthc
wick also cast within the Castle the bells that now
hang in the cathedral of St. Magnus at Kirkwall
?
