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
?
