KING’S STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. 151
a piscina; and those of France were in the same position in the floor above.‘ In their
original po,sition these devices were so obscured with dirt and whitewash as to appear
merely rnde plaster ornaments ; but on their removal they proved to be very fine and carefully-
finished carvings in oak, and retaining marks of the colours with which they had
been blazoned. These heraldic bearings are not only interesting, as confirming the early
tradition first mentioned by Maitland,-a careful and conscientious antiquary,-of its
having been the residence of Mary of Guise, but they aEord a very satisfactory clue to the
period of her abode there. James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, was created Duke of Chatelherault
in the year 1548, but not fully confirmed in the title till 1551, when it was
conceded to him as part of his reward for resigning the Regency to the Queen Dowager ;
and that same year she returned from France to assume the government. The death of
Henry 11. of Frame occurred in 1559, just about the period when the complete rupture
took place between the Regent and the Lords of the Congregation, after which time her
chief place of residence was in Leith, until her last illness, when she took up her abode
in the Castle of Edinburgh, where she died. The interval between these dates entirely
coincides with that period of her history when she might be supposed to have chosen such a
residence within the city walls, and near the Castle, while the burning of the Capital and
Palace by the English army in 1544 was of so recent occurrence, and the buildings of the
latter were probably only partially restored.’
In rtccordance with the traditions of the locality, we have described the property in Todd’s
Close as forniing a part of the Guise Palace, entered from Blyth’s Close, and with which
there existed an internal communication. It appears, however, from the title-deeds of the
property, that this portion of the range of ancient buildings had formed, either in the
Chambers mentions (Traditions, vol. i p. 80) having seen, in the possession of an antiquarian friend, the City Arms,
which had been removed from a similar situation in the third floor. We have reason to believe, however, that he w a ~
mistaken in this, and that the arms he saw were removed from an old houae on the south side of the Canongate.
“ The Queen Dowager,”
says Calderwood, A.D. 1554, “came from the Parliament Houa, to the Palace of Halyrudhous, with the honnoura borne
before her ” [vol. i. p, 2831, on which Knox remarks, that, “ It waa als seemelie a sight to see the crowne putt upon her
head, as to see a aaddle putt upon the backe of an unrulie kow ! ” This, however, and similar alluaiona to her going to
the Palace on occasions of state, cannot be considered as necesaarily inconsistent with the occupation of a private
mansion. The titledeeds of the property which we have examined throw no light on this interesting question. They
are all comparatively recent, the earlieat of them bearing the date of 1622.
Some curious information about the household of Mary of Guise is furnished in the selection from the register of
the Privy Seal of Scotland, appended to Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials, e.g. 1538. “ Item, for iiij elnia grene veluet, to be
ye covering of ane eadill to the fule.” Again, “for vij elnis, 4 elne grene birge satyne, to be the Q u d s fule, ane
goune . . . sallow birge satyne, to be hir ane kirtill . . . blaid black gray, to lyne ye kirtill,” &c., and at her coronation
in 1540, “Item, deliuerit to ye Frenche tehur, to be ane cote to Serrat, the Quenis fule,” &c. Green and
yellow seems to have been the Court Fool’s livery. This is one of the very few instances on record of a Female
Buffoon or Fool, for the amusement of the Court The Queen’s establishment also included a male and female dwarf,
whose dresses figure in these accounts, alongside of such items, gs-“ For vj elnis of Parise blak, to be Maiter George
Balquhannane ane goune, at the Quenia Grace entre in Edinburghe.” “To Janet Douglaa, spous of David
Lindesay, of the Monthe XI. li.” To the POW penny, deliuerit to David Lindesay, Lyoune herald, on the Quenia
[Magdalen] Saull-Nes and Dirige,” &c. The following items from the Treasurer’s accounts show the existence of
similar eervitors in Queen Mary’s household :-“ 1562, Paid for ane cote, hois, lynyng and making, to Jonat Yusche,
fuler84,5a. 6d. Ane
abnkement to Jaquelene gouernance de la Jordiner. 1566, Ane garment of reid and yellow to be ane gowne, hois, and
cote, to Jane Colquhoun, fule. 1567, Ane abnlement of braid inglis yellow, to be cots and breikis,4lso aarkis,-to
James Geddie, fule.” Subsequent entries show that Queen Mary had a Female Fule, called 9‘ Niwlau, the Queen’s
Grace fule,” who would appear, from the following item, to have been retained in the service of the Regent after the
Queen’s flight to England :-“ 1570, The first day of August, be the Regent’s g. speciale command, to Nichola the fule,
to mak hir expensis and fraucht to France, L15.”
* No allusion occurs in any of the historians of the period in con6rmation of the tradition.
1565, For grene plading to mak ane bed to Jardinar, the fule, with white fustiane, feddem, &c.
