78 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [ Holyrood.
The Edinburgh HeraZd of April, 1797, mentions
the departure froni Holyrood of the Duc
d?Angoul&me for Hamburg, to join the army of the
Prince of Condd, and remarks, (( We wish His Highness
aprosperous voyage, and we may add (the
valediction of his ancestor, Louis XIV., to the
unfortunate James VII.), may we never see his
face again on the same errand ! ?
The Comte d?Artois visited Sweden in 1804,
but was in Britain again in 1806. His levees and
balls ?tended in some degree to excite in the minds
of the inhabitants a faint idea of the days of other
years, when the presence of its monarchs communicated
splendour and animation to this ancient
metropolis, inspiring it with a proud consciousness
of the remote antiquity and hereditary independence
of the Scottish throne.?
His farewell address to the magistrates and
people, dated from the palace 5th August, 1799, is
preserved among the records of the city.
Among those who pressed forward to meet him
was a Newhaven fishwife, who seized his hand as
he was about to enter his carriage, and shook it
heartily, exclaiming, ?( My name?s Kirsty Ramsay,
sir. I am happy to see you again among decent
folk ! ?
- When the events of the Three Days compelled
Charles X to abdicate the throne of France, he
waived his rights in favour of his nephew, the
young puc de Bordeaux, and quitting his throne,
contemplated at once returning to Holyrood,
where he had experienced some years of comparative
happiness, and still remembered with
gratitude the kindness of the citizens. This he
evinced by his peculiar favour to all Scotsmen,
and his munificence to the sufferers by the great
fire in the Parliament Square. He and his suiteconsisting
of IOO exiles, including the ~ U C de
Bordeaux, Duc de Polignac, Duchesse de Berri,
Baron de Damas, Marquis de Brabancois, and the
Abbe? de Moligny-landed at Newhaven on the
20th October, 1830, amid an enthusiastic crowd,
which pressed forward on all sides with outstretched
hands, welcoming him back to Scotland, and
escorted him to Holyrood. Next morning many
gentlemen dined in Johnston?s tavern at the abbey
in honour of the event, sang ?Auld lang syne?
under his windows, and gave three ringing cheers
?( for the King of France? ?
The Duc and Duchesse d?Angoul&me, after
residing during \se winter at 2 I, Regent Terrace,
joined the king% Holyrood when their apartments
were ready. To the poor of the Canongate
and the city generally, the exiled family were
royally liberal, and also to the poor Irish, and their
whole bearing was unobtrusive, religious, and
exemplary. Charles was always thoughtful and
melancholy. (? He walked frequently in Queen.
Mary?s garden, being probably pleased by its
seclusion and proximity to the palace. Here,
book in hand, he used to pass whole hours in retirement,
sometimes engaged in the perusal of the
volume, and anon stopping short, apparently
absorbed in deep reflection. Charles sometimes
indulged in a walk through the city, but the crowds
that usually followed him, anxious to gratify their
curiosity, in some measure detracted from the
pleasure of these perambulations. . . . . . Arthur?s
Seat and the King?s Park afforded many a solitary
walk to the exiled party, and they seemed much
delighted with their residence. It was evident
from the first that Charles, when he sought the
shores of Scotland, intended to make Holyrood his.
home; and it may be imagined how keenly he felt,
when, after a residence of nearly two years, he was
under the necessity of removing to another country.
Full of the recollection of former days, which time
had not effaced from his memory, he said he had
anticipated spending the remainder of his life in the
Scottish capital, and laying his bones among the
dust of our ancient kings in the chapel of Holyrood.?
(Kay, vol. ii.)
In consequence of a remonstrance from Louis
Philippe, a polite but imperative order compelled
the royal family to prepare to quit Holyrood,
and the most repulsive reception given to the Duc
de Blacas in London, was deemed the forerunner
Df harsher measures if Charles hesitated to comply ;
but when it became known that he was to depart,
a profound sensation of regret was manifested in ?
Edinburgh. The 18th September, 1832, was
named as the day of embarkation. Early on that
morning a deputation, consisting of the Lord
Provost Learmonth of Dean, Colonel G. Macdonell,
Menzies of Pitfoddels (the last of an
ancient line), Sir Charles Gordon of Drimnin,
James Browne, LL.D., Advocate, the historian of
the Highlands, and other gentlemen, bearers of arm
address drawn up by, and to be read by the lastnamed,
appeared before the king at Holyrood. One
part of this address contained an allusion to the
little Duc de Bordeaux so touching that the poor
king was overwhelmed With emotion, and clasped
the document to his heart. ?( I am unable to express
myself,? he exclaimed, ?( but this I will conserve
among the most precious possessions of my
family.?
After service in the private chapel, many gentlemen
and ladies appeared before Charles, the Duc
d?AngoulCme, and Duc de Bordeaux, when they
H o l y d . ] MODERN IMPROVEMENTS. 79
bade them farewell in the Gallery of the Kings,
while a vast concourse assembled outside, all
wearing the white cockade. Another: multitude
was collected at Newhaven, where the Fishermen's
Society formed a kind of body-guard to cover the
embarkation.
'' A few gentlemen," says the editor of " Kay's
Portraits," " among whom were Colonel Macdonel,
the Rev. Mr. (afterwards Bishop) Gillis, John Robinson,
Esq., and Dr. Browne, accompanied His
Majesty on board the steamer, which they did not
leave till she was under weigh. The distress of the
king, and particularly of the dauphin, at being
obliged to quit a country to which they were so
warmly attached was in the highest degree affecting.
The Duc de Bordeaux wept bitterly, and the Duc
d'AngouEme, embracing Mr. Gillis d la 3ranfaise,
gave unrestrained scope to his emotion. The act
of parting with one so beloved, whom he had
known and distinguished in the salons of the
Tuileries and St. Cloud, long before his family had
sought an asylum in the tenantless halls of Holyrood,
quite overcame his fortitude, and excited
feelings too powerful to be repressed. When this
ill-fated family bade adieu to our shores they
carried with them the grateful benedictions of the
poor, and the respect of all men of all parties who
honour misfortune when ennobled by virtue."
In Edinburgh it is well known that had H.K.H.
the late Prince Consort-whose love of the picturesque
and historic led him to appreciate its
natural beauties-survived a few years longer, many
improvements would have taken place at Holyrood
; and to him it is said those are owing which
have already been effected.
Southward of the palace, the unsightly old tenements
and enclosed gardens at St. Anne's Yard
were swept away, including a quaint-looking dairy
belonging to the Duke of Hamilton, and by
1857-8-9 the royal garden was extended south
some 500 feet from the wall of the south wing, and
a new approach was made from the Abbey Hill,
a handsome new guard-house was built, and the
carved door of the old garden replaced in the wall
between it and the fragment of the old abbey
porch ; and it was during the residence of H.R.H.
the Prince of Wales at Holyrood that the beautiful
fountain in the Palace Yard was completed, on the
model of the ancient one that stands in ruin nowy
in the quadrangle of Linlithgow, and which is
referred to by Defoe in his "Tour in Great
Britain."
The fountain rises from a basin twenty-four feet in
diameter to the height of twenty-eight feet, divided
into threestages, andby flying buttresses has theeffect
of a triple crown. From the upper of these the water
flows through twenty ornate gurgoils into three
successive basins. The basement is of a massive
character, divided by buttresses into eight spaces,
each containing a lion's head gurgoil. This is surmounted
by eight panels having rich cusping, and
between these rise pedestals and pinnacles. The
former support heraldic figures with shields. These
consist of the unicorn bearing the Scottish shield, a
lion bearing a shield charged with the arm of
James IV. and his queen, Margaret of England;
a deer supports two shields, with the arms of the
queens of James V., Magdalene of France, and
Mary of Guise ; and the griffin holds the shields of
James IV. and his queen, Margaret of Denmark.
The pinnacles are highly floriated, and ,enriched
with flowers and medallions
It is in every way a marvellous piece of stone
carving. The flying buttresses connecting the stages
are deeply cusped. On the second stage are eight
figures typical of the sixteenth century, representing
soldiers, courtiers, musicians,' and a lady-falconer,
each two feet six inches in height. On the upper
stage are four archers of the Scottish Guard, supporting
the imperial crown. It occupies the site whereon
for some years stood a statue of Queen Victoria,
which has now disappeared.
Still, as of old, since the union of the cron-ns:
for a fortnight in each year the Lord High Conimissioner
to the General Assembly of the Church
of Scotland holds semi-royal state in Holyrood,
gives banquets in its halls, and holds his ledes in
the Gallery of the Kings.
