KING’S STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HlLL. I47
to lead to the idea of its having been at any time devoted to other than domestic useA.
We may farther remark, that there were, in all, seven of these sculptured recesses, of
different sizes and degrees of ornament, throughout the range of buildings known as the
Guise Palace and Oratory,-a sufficient number of (‘ baptismal fonts,” we should presume,
even for a Parisian Hdpital des Enfans trouvb 1
Various remains of very fine wood carving have from time to time been removed from
different parts of this building ; a large and well-executed oaken front of a cupboard was
found in the apartment below the one last referred to, with the panels wrought in elegant and
varied designs; and in another room on the same
floor, immediately beyond the former, there existed
a very interesting relic of the same kind, which long
formed one of the chief attractions to antiquarian
visitors. This was an ancient oak door, with richly
ca.rved panels, now preserved in the Museum of the
Society of Antiquaries, of which we furnish a view.
The two upper panels are decorated with shields,
surrounded with a wreath and other ornaments of
beautiful workmanship, and each supported by a
winged cherub. The lower panels contain portraits
carved in high relief, and which, in accordance
with the tradition of the locality, have generally
been considered as the heads of James V. and his
Queen. The lady is very little indebted to the
artist for the flattery of her charms, and the portrait
cannot be considered as bearing any resemblance to
those of Mary of Guise, who is generally represented
as a beautiful woman.8 That of the King
has been thought to bear a considerable resemblance
to the portraits of James V., and (‘has all that free
carriage of the head, and elegant slouch of the bonnet,
together with the great degree of manly beauty
with which this monarch is usually represented.” a
The heraldic bearings on the shields in the upper
panels remain to be mentioned; one of them bears
a deer’s head erased, while on the other is an eagle
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with expanded wings grasping a star in the left foot, and with a crescent in base. The
whole appearance of this door is calculated to convey a pleasing idea of the state of the
arts in Scotland at the period of its execution, though in this it in no way surpasses the
other decorationa of this interesting building. The door has been cut down in some
modern subdivision of the house, to adapt it to the humble situation which it latterly
1 Now in the possession of C. K. Sharpe, Esq. ’ The Duke of Devonshire has an undoubted portrait of Mary of Guise. She ia very hi complexioned, with reddish
The picture in the Trinity hair. House at Leith is not of the Queen Regent, but a bad copy of that of her daughter, at
St Jamea, painted by Mytens. ’ Chambers’s Traditions, vol. i. p. 81. The “manly beauty,” however, is somewhat questionable.
