84 HEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
nobility. The simple eloge pronounced by the Regent over his grave, has been remembered
from its pointed force--“ There lies he who never feared the face of man.” The old churchyard
has long since been payed, and converted into the Parliament Bquare, and all evidence
of the spot lost. It cannot but excite surprise that no effort should have been made to
preserve the remains of the Reformer from such desecration, or to point out to posterity
the site of his resting-place.’ If the tradition mentioned by Chambers a may be relied upon,
that his burial place was a few feet from the front of the old pedestal of King Charles’s
statue, the recent change in the position of the latter must have placed it directly over his
grave ;-perhaps as strange a monument to the Great’ Apostle of Presbyterianism as fancy
could devise I
On the death of the Earl of Mar, Morton was elected Regent, and the brief truce
speedily brought to a close. Within two days thereafter, Kirkaldy sallied out of the
’ Castle towards evening, and set fire to the houses on the south side of the Castle rock ; a
strong wind was blowing at the time from the west, and the garrison of the Castle kept
’ up a constant cannonade, so as to prevent any succour being attempted, so that the whole
mass of houses was burnt down eastward to Magdalen Chapel,-a piece of useless cruelty,
that gained him many enemies, without answering any good purpose.
The EngIish Queen now sent Sir William Drury, with a body of troops and a train
of artillery, to assist the Regent in reducing the Castle, the last stronghold of the
adherents of Queen Mary. . The fortress was gallantly defended by Sir William Kirkaldy,
and the siege is perhaps one of the most memorable in its history. The narrative of an
eye-witness, given in Holinshed’s Chronicles, shows, even by its exaggerated descriptions,
the difficulties experienced by the besiegers. It is understood to have been written by
Thomas Churchyard, the poet, who was present at the siege, and has been reprinted in the
Bannatyne Miscellany, accompanied by aJemarkably interesting bird’s-eye view of the town
and Castle during the siege, engraved, as is believed, from a sketch made on the spot.
In anticipation of the siege, the citizens erected several strong defences of turf and
faggots, so as to protect the Church and Tolbooth. One is especially mentioned in the
Diurnal of Occurrents, 88 ‘ I biggit of diffet and rnik,’ betuix the thevis hoill, and Bess
Wynd, tua e h thick, and on the gait betuix the auld tolbuyth, and the vther syid tua
speir heicht.”’ About three weeks latet, on the 17th of January, ‘‘ the nobility, with
my Lord Regent, passed through St Giles’s Church, at an entrance made through the
Tolbooth wall to the laigh council-house of the town, on the west side of the Tolbooth,
and there choose the Lords of the Articles, and returned the same way. The Earl
of Angus bore the Crown, the Earl of Argyle the Sceptre, and the Earl of Morton the
Sword of Honour. These were made of brass, and double overgilt with gold, because
the principal jewels were in the Castle of Edinburgh, and might not be had.”6 So effectual
did these ramparts prove, that the Parliament assembled as safely in the Tolbooth, and
the people went as quietly to church, as they at any time did before the war began.e
The brave Captain, Sir Williarn Kirkaldy of Grange, was already short of provisions
. .
.
A few paces to the west of King Charles’s atatue, there has recently been placed 8 amall surface-bronzed stone in
the ground, with the iuitials “ J. K.,” indicating the Reformer’s burial-place. * Traditions, voL ii. p. 195. i.e., Turf and mud. ’ Diurnal of Occurrenta, p. 332.
Diurnal of Occurrenta, p. 324. Journal of the Siege, Bannatyne Misc., vol. ii. p. 74.
