86 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
tongue desired his presence, which he obeyed by entering the Church. After sermon, a
more lively representation was prepared for him ; Bacchus appeared on the Cross distributing
his wine freely to all; the streets through which he passed were strewed with flowers,
and hung with tapestry and painted histories ; and the whole fanciful pageant wound up
with a very characteristic astrological display, exhibiting the conjunction of the planets, in
their degrees and places, as at his Majesty’s happy nativity, vividly represented by the
assistance of King Ptolomd ! ”
The King then passed on to his Palace of Holyrood, attended by two hundred horsemen,
and the Parliament assembled immediately after in the Tolbooth, and contiuued its
delibemtions there for some weeks. The influence of Morton had been rapidly lessening
with the King, while the number and power of his enemies increased. Towards the close
of 1580, he was arraigned to stand his trial for the murder of Darnley ; and he was executed
the following year by an instrument called
the Naiden, a species of guillotine which he
had himself introduced into Scotland. His
head was placed on the Tolbooth, and his
body ignominiously buried at the Borough
Muir-the usual place of sepulture for the
vilest criminals.
Considering the high hand with which
the civic rulers of the capital contrived to
carry nearly every point during the reign of
Queen Mary, it is astonishing how speedily
James VI. brought them into subjection. ,He
interfered constantly in their elections,
though only with partial success, and used
their purse with a condescending freedom
that must often have proved very irritating.
They were required to maintain a bodyguard
for’ him at their own expense ; and whenever
it suited his Majesty’s convenience, were commanded to furnish costly entertainments to
foreign nobles and ambassadors.2
In October 1589, the King suddenly sailed from Leith to bring home his Queen, Anne
of Denmark, leaving orders of a sufficiently minute and exacting nature for their honourable
reception on his return. One of the first articles requires, that the town of Edinburgh,
the Canongate, and Leith, shall be in arms, ranked on both sides of the way between
Leith and Holyrood House, to hold off the press; and the Council are directed to deal
earnestly with the town of Edinburgh for providing ships and all other necessaries.
Various acts of the Town Council show the straits they were put to in the accomplishment
of this. “ The Baillies were ordained to pass through their quarters, and borrow
fra the honest nychtbouris thairof, ane quantitie of the best sort of thair naiperie,
to serve the strayngeris that sal1 arryve with the Quene.” Orders were given for
Hist. of James the Sext., p. 178-180. &itland, p. 37, * Haitland, p. 44, 5.
YIONETTE-The Maiden.
