ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES. 389
Remedy, and others, with the royal master printer. Only one month thereafter, Scotland
lay at the mercy of her southern rival. Her King was slain; the chief of her nobles
and warriors had perished on Flodden Field ; and adversity and ignorance again replaced
all the advantages that had followed in the train of the gallant James’s rule. Thenceforth
the altars of St Giles’s Church received few and rare additions to their endowments.
There is good reason for believing that Walter Chepman lies buried in the south transept
of the Church, close by the spot where “the Good Regent,” James Earl of Murray, the
Regent Morton, and his great rival the Earl of Atholl, are buried, and adjoining the aisle
where the mangled remains of the great Marquis of Montrose were reinterred, with every
mark of honour, on the 7th of January 1661. This receives strong corroboration
from an agreement entered in the Burgh Registers, 30th June 1579, by which the
Council ‘‘ grants and permits that upon the west part of Walter Chepmanis Iyle, fernent
the Earl of Murrayis tomb, sal be broken, and thair ane burial-place be maid for the Earl
of Athole.”
The Regent’s tomb, which stood on the west side of the south transept, was on many
accounts an object of peculiar interest. As the monument erected to one who had played
so conspicuous a part in one of the most momentous periods of our national history, it
was calculated to awaken many stirring associations. The scene which occurred when the
Regent’s remains were committed to the tomb was itself not the least interesting among
the memorable occurrences that have been witnessed in the ancient Church of St Giles,
when the thousands who had assembled within its walls were moved to tears by the
eloquence of Knox. “Vpoun the xiiij day of the moneth [of Februar, 15701, being
Tyisdaye,” says a contemporary, “ my lord Regentis corpis being brocht in ane bote be sey
fra Striueling to Leith, quhair it was keipit in Johne Wairdlaw his hous, and thairefter
caryit to the palace of Halyrudhous, wes transportit fra the said palace of Halyrudhous to
the college kirk of Sanctgeill in this manner ; that is to say, William Kirkaldie of Grange
knycht, raid fia the said palice in dole weid, beirand ane pensall quhairin wes contenit ane
reid lyoun ; efter him followit Coluill of Cleishe, maister houshald to the said regent, with
ane vther pensell quhairin wes contenit my lord regentis armes and bage ; efter thame wes
the Erlis of Athole, Mar, Glencarne, lordis of Ruthvene, Methvene, maister of Grahame,
lord Lindsay, with diuerse vtheris barronis, beirand the saidis corpis to the said college kirk
of Sanctgeill, quhairin the samyne wes placeit befoir the pulpett; and thairefter Johne
Knox minister made ane lamentable sermond tuitching the said murther ; the samin being
done, the said corpis wes burijt in Sanct Anthoneis ple within the said college kirk.”’ The
Regent’s tomb was surmounted with his arms, and bore on the front of it a brass plate
with the figures of Justice and Faith engraved thereon, and the epitaph composed by
Buchanan a for the purpose :-
IACOBO STOVARTO, MORAVIX COMITI, SCOTIAJ PROREGI ;
VIRO, BTATIS SVB, LONGE OPTIMO: AB DSIMICIS,
OWVIS XEYORIH: DETERRIMIS, EX INSIDIIS EXTINCTO,
CEV PATRI COMNVNI, PATRIA MCERENS POSVIT.
1 Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 168. Calderwood’s Ekt, voL ii p. 626.
