As the time of her accouchement drew near, she
was advised by the Lords of Council to remain in
the fortress and await it; and a former admirer
of Mary?s, the young Earl of Arran (captain of the
archers), whose love had turned his brain, was
sent from his prison in David?s Tower to Hamilton.
STORE WHICH FORMERLY STOOD OVER THE BARRIER-GATEWAY OF EDINBURGH CASTLE.
(From tke Original ~ G W in tht Mwccm of tht So&& of Antiquaries of Scofkrul.)
A French Queen shall beare the some
And he from the Bruce?s blood shall come
To rule all Britainne to the sea,
As near as to the ninth degree.?
According to the journalist Bannatyne, Knox?s
secretary, Mary was delivered with great ease by
On the ground floor at the south-east corner of thc
Grand Parade there still exists, unchanged anc
singularly irregular in form, the room wherein, a1
ten o?clock on the morning of the 19th of June
1566, was born James VI., in whose person thc
rival crowns of hlary and Elizabeth were to bc
united. A stone tablet over the arch of the 016
doorway, with a monogram of H and M and the
date, commemorates this event, unquestionably thc
greatest in the history of Britain. The royal arms
of Scotland figure on one of the walls, and an orna.
mental design surmounts the rude stone fireplace,
while four lines in barbarous doggerel record the
birth. The most extravagant joy pervaded the
entire city. Public thanksgiving was offered up in
St. Giles?s, and Sir James Melville started on the
spur with the news to the English court, and rode
with such speed that he reached London in four
days, and spoiled the mirth of the envious Elizabeth
for one night at least with the happy news.
And an old prophecy, alleged to be made by
CIPHER OF LORD DARNLEY AND QUEEN MARY.
(Over entrancr fo tkr RvaZ Apartments, ddidurglr Castle.)
Thomas the Rhymer, but proved by Lord Hailes
to be a forgery, was now supposed to be fulfilled-
<? However it happen for to fall,
The Lycn shall be lord of all 1
the necromantic powers of the Countess ot
John Earl of Athole, who was deemed a sorceress,
and who cast the queen?s pains upon
the Lady Reres, then in the Castle. An interesting
conversation between Mary and Darnley took
place in the little bed-room, as recorded in the
?Memoirs? of Lord Herries Daniley came at
two in the afternoon to see his royal spouse and
child. ?? My lord,? said the queen, ?God has
given us a son.? Partially uncovering the face of
the infant, she added a protest that it was his and
no other man?s son. Then turning to an English
gentlemar, present, she said, ? This is the son who,
I hope, shall first unite the two kingdoms of Scotland
and England.? Sir William Stanley said,
?Why, madam, shall he succeed before your majesty
and his father?? ?Alas !? answered Mary, ?his
father has broken to me,? alluding to the conspiracy
against Rizzio. ?? Sweet madam,? said
Darnley, ?is this the promise you made--that
you would forget and forgive all ? ?I ? I have forgiven
all,? replied the queen, ?but will never
forget. What if Faudonside?s (one of the assassins)
pistol had shot? What would have become of
both the babe and me ? ?? ? Madam,? replied
Darnley, ?these things are past.? ?Then,? said the
queen, ? let them go.? So ended this conversation.
It is a curious circumstance that the remains of
In infant in an oak coffin, wrapped in a shroud
marked with the letter I, were discovered built up
in the wall of this old palace in August, 1830,
but were re-consigned to their strange place of
jepulture by order of General Thackeray, comnanding
the Royal Engineers in Scotland.
When John Spotswood, superintendent of Lo-
:hian, and other Reformed clergymen, came to
:ongratulate Mary in the name of the General
kssembly, he begged that the young Duke of
Rothesay might be baptised in Protestant form,
The queen only replied by placing the child in
his arms. Then the aged minister knelt down, and
prayed long and fervently for his happiness and
prosperity, an event which so touched the tender
Mary that she burst into tears; however, the
prince was baptised according to the Roman ritual
at Stirling on the 5th of December.
The birth of a son produced little change in
Damley?s licentious life. He perished as history
records ; and on Bothwell?s flight after Carberry,
and Mary?s captivity in Lochleven, the Regent
Moray resolved by force or fraud to get all the
fortresses into his possession. Sir James Balfour,
a minion of Bothwell?s-the keeper of the famous
silver casket containing the pretended letters and
sonnets of Mary-surrendered that of Edinburgh,
bribed by lands and money as he marched out, and
the celebrated Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange was
appointed governor in his place. That night the
fated Regent Moray entered with his friends, and
slept in the same little apartment wherein, a year before,
his sister had been delivered of the infant now
proclaimed as James VI. ; but instead of keepin& his
promise to Balfour, Moray treacherously made him
a prisoner of state in the Castle of St. Andrews.
CHAPTER VI.
EDIXBURGH C A S T L E - ( C O ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ) .
The Siege of 157yThe City Bombarded from the Castle-Elizabeth?s Spy-Drury?s Dispositions for the Siege-Execution of Kirkaldy
-Repair of the Roins-Execution of Morton-Visit of Charles I.-Procession to Holyrood-Coronation of Charles 1.-The Struggle
against Episcopacy-Siege of 16p-The Spectre Drummer-Besieged by Cromwell-Under the Protector-The Restoration-The Argyles
-The Accession of James VIJ -Sentence of the Earl of Argyl-His clever Escape-Imprisoned four years latu-The Last Sleep oC
Argyle-His Death-Torture of Covenanters-Proclamation of William and Mary-lle Siege of 168g-Interview between Gordoe
and Dundee-The Castle invested-Brilliant Defence-Capitulation of the Duke of Gordon-The Spectre of Ckverhouse. J
MARY escaped from Lochleven on the and of May,
1568, and after her defeat fled to England, the
last country in Europe, as events showed, wherein
she should have sought refuge or hospitality.
After the assassination of the Regent Moray, to
his successor, the Regent Morton, fell the task of
subduing all who lingered in arms for the exiled
queen ; and so well did he succeed in this, that,
save the eleven acres covered by the Castle rock
of Edinburgh, which was held for three years by
Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange with a garrison
resolute as himself, the whole country was now
under his rule.
Kirkaldy, whose services in France and elsewhere
had won him the high reputation of being
? the bravest soldier in Europe,? left nothing undone,
amid the unsettled state of affairs, to
strengthen his .post. He raised and trained soldiers
without opposition, seized all the provisions that
were brought into Leith, and garrisoned St. Giles?s
church, into the open spire of which he swung
up cannon to keep the citizens in awe. This was
on the 28th of March, 1571. After the Duke of
Chatelherault, with his Hamiltons-all queen?s men
-marched in on the 1st of May, the gables of
the church were loopholed for arquebuses. Immediate
means were taken to defend the town
against the Regent. Troops crowded into it; others
were niustered for its protection, and this state
of affairs continued for fully three years, during
which Kirkaldy baffled the efforts of four successive
Regents, till Morton was fain to seek aid
from Elizabeth, to wrench from her helpless refugee
the last strength that remained to her ; and most
readily did the English queen agree thereto.
A truce which had been made between ?Morton
and Kirkaldy expired on the 1st of January, 1573,
and as the church bells tolled six in the morning, the
Castle guns, among which were two &?-pounders,
French battardes, and English? culverins? or 18-
pounders (according to the :? Memoirs ofKirkaldy?),
opened on the city in the dark. It was then full
of adherents of James VI., so Kirkaldy cared not
where his shot fell, after the warning gun had been
previously discharged, that all loyal subjects of
the queen should retire. As the ?grey winter dawn
stole in, over spire and pointed roof, the cannonade
was chiefly directed from the eastern curtain
against the new Fisli Market ; the baikets in
which were beaten so high in the air, that for days
after their contents were seen scattered on the tops
of the highest houses. In one place a single shot
killed five persons and wounded twenty others.
Selecting a night when the wind was high and
blowing eastward, Kirkaldy made a sally, and set
on fire all the thatched houses in West Port and
Castle Wynd, cannonading the while the unfortunates
who strove to quench the flames that rolled
away towards the east. In March Kirkaldy resolutely
declined to come to terms with Morton, though
earnestly besought to do so by Henry Killigrew,
who came ostensibly as an English envoy, but in
