cantoned with other four in the angles. The tiar, or
bonnet, was of purple velvet; but, in 1685, it got a
.cap of crimson velvet, adorned with four plates of
gold, on each of them a great pearl, and the bonnet
-is trimmed up with ermine. Upon the lowest circle
there are eight small holes, two and two, on the
-four quarters of the crown, which mere for lacing
-or tying thereto diamonds or precious stones.
The crown is g inches in diameter, 27 inches
about, and in height from the under circle to the
top of the cross patee 6; inches.
The sceptre : its stem or stalk, which is of
silver double overgilt, is two feet long, of a hexagon
form, with three buttons or knobs; betwixt the
first button and the second is the handle of a
hexagon form, furling in the middle and plain.
Betwixt the second button and the third are three
sides engraven. From the third button to the
capital the three sides under the statues are plain,
and on the other three are antique engravings. Upon
the top of the stalk is an antique capital of leaves
embossed, the abacus whereof arises round the
prolonged stem, surrounded with three little statues;
between every two statues arises a rullion in the
form of a dolphin ; above the rullions and statues
stands another hexagon button, with oak leaves
under every corner, and down it a crystjl (beryl?)
globe. The whole sceptre is in length 34 inches.?
The statues are those of the Virgin, St. Andrew,
and St. James. The royal initials, J. R. V. are
engraved under them. If James V. had this
sceptre made, the metallic settings of the great
beryl belong to some sceptre long anterior to
his time.
The sword is in length 5 feet ; the handle and
pommel are of silver overgilt, in length 15 inches.
The pommel is round and somewhat flat on the two
sides. The traverse or cross OF the sword, which
is of silver overgilt, is in length 17h inches; its
form is like two dolphins with their heads joining
and their tails ending in acorns; the shell is
hanging down towards the point of the sword,
formed like an escalop flourished, or rather like
a green oak-leaf. On the blade of the sword
are indented with gold these letters-JuLIus 11. P.
The scabbard is of crimson velvet, covered with
silver wrought in philagram-work into branches oj
the oak-tree leaves and acorns.?? Such are the
Scottish regalia, which, since the destruction 01
those of England by Cromwell, are the only ancien!
regal emblems in Great Britain.
The sword of state is of an earlier date than the
rod of the sceptre, being presented by the rvarlikr
Pope Julius to James IV. with a consecrated hai
in 1507. The keys of St. Peter figure promhentlj
among the filagree work. After the fall of the Castle
of Dunottar, in 1651, the belt of the sword became
an heirloom in the family of Ogilvie of Barras.
The great pearl in the apex of the crown is
alleged to be the same which in 1620 was found
in the burn of Kellie, a tributary of the Ythanz
in Aberdeenshire, and was so large and beautiful
that it was esteemed the best that had at any time
been found in Scotland.? Sir Thomas Menzies,
Provost of Aberdeen, obtaining this precious jewel,
presented it to James VI., who in requital gave
him twelve or fourteen chaldron of victuals about
Dunfermline, and the custom of certain merchant
goods during his life.? *
Before quitting the Castle of Edinburgh, it is impossible
to omit some special reference to Mons
Meg-that mighty bombard which is thirteen feet
long and two feet three and a half inches within the
bore, and which was long deemed by the Scots a
species of palladium, the most ancient cannon in
Europe, except one in Lisbon, and a year older
than those which were made for Mahomet 11.
Not a vestige of proof can be shown for the popular
error that this gun was forged at Mons, while unvarying
tradition, supported by very strong carroborative
evidence, proves that she was formed by
Scottish artisans, by order of James II., when he
besieged the rebellious Douglases in the castle
of Thrieve, in Galloway, during 1455. He posted
his artillery at the Three Thorns of the Carlinwark,
one of which is still surviving ; but their fire proving
ineffective, a smith named M?Kim, and his sons,
offered to construct a more efficient piece of ordnance.
Towards this the inhabitants of the vicinity
contributed each a ,rrczud, or iron bar. Tradition,
which never varied, indicated the place where it was
forged, a mound near the Three Thorns, .and when
the road was formed there, that mound was discovered
to be a mass of cinders and the iron dCbris
of a great forge. To this hour the place where the
great gun was posted is named Knock-cannon. Only
fwo of Meg?s bullets were discharged before Thrieve
surrendered, and it is remarkable that both have
been found there. ?The first,? says the New
Statistical Accowif, <?was, towards the end of thk
last century, picked out of the well and delivered to
Gordon of Greenlam. The second was discovered
in 1841, by the tenant of Thrieve, when removing
an accumulation of rubbish.? It lay in a line direct
from Knock-cannon to the breach in the wall. To
reward M?Kim Jarnes bestowed upon him the
forfeited lands of MolIFnce. The smith is said to
have nanied the gun after his wife ; and the con-
