I 26 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
of one of them as it still exists, with the wooden frame-work that sustained the hammocks
of the prisoners.
Immediately below Queen May’s Room, there is another c~iously-vaulted dungeon,
partly excavated out of the solid rock, and retaining the staple of an iron chain, doubtlesS
used for securing the limbs of some wretched captive in ancient times. No date can with
any certainty be assigned to these massive foundations of the Castle, though they undoubtedly
belong to a remote period of its history.
In making some repairs on the west front of the royal apartments in the year 1830, a
remarkably curious and interesting discovery was made. Nearly in a line with the Crown
Room, and about six feet from the pavement of the quadrangle, the wall was observed,
when struck, to sound hollow, as though a cavity existed at that place. It was accordingly
opened from the outside, when a recess was discovered? measuring about two feet
six inches by one foot, and containing the remains of a child, enclosed in an oak coffin,
evidently of great antiquity, and very much decayed. The remains were wrapped in a
cloth, believed to be woollen, very thickly wove, so as to resemble leather, and within this
’ were the decayed fra-pents of a richly-embroidered silk covering, with two initials wrought
upon it, one of them distinctly marked I. This interesting discovery was ieported at the
time to Major General Thackery, then commanding the Royal Engineers, by whose orders
they were again restored to their strange place of sepulture, where they still remain. It
were vain now to attempt a solution of this mysterious discovery, though it may furnish
the novelist with mat.eria1 on which to found a thrilling romance.
Within this portion of the old Palace is the Crown Room, where the ancient Regalia
VIoNmTE--French Prisoners’ Vault in the Caatle.
