58 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [~dpUCd.
proper exertions been made for their repair and
preservation, particularly by the Bishop o? Orkney,
and ere it shrank to the proportions of a chapel.
But even when the Reformation was in full progress
the following entry appears in the accounts of the
Lord High Treasurer, under date the 8th February,
1557-8 :-A36 ?to David Melville, indweller in
,Leith, for ane pair of organs to the chapel in the
palace of Holyroodhouse.?
The remains of George Earl of Huntly, who
was slain at the battle of Corrichie, when he was
in rebellion against the Crown, were brought by
sea to Edinburgh in 1562, and kept all winter
unburied in the Abbey of Holyrood-most proba,
bly in the church. Then an indictment for high
treason was exhibited against him in the month
of May following, ?eftir that he was deid and departit
frae this mortal lyfe,? and the corpse was
laid before Parliament : in this instance showing
the rancour of party and the absurdity of old feudal
laws.
It was somewhere about this time that the new
royal vault was constructed in the south aisle ol
the nave, and the remains of the kings and queens
were removed from their ancient resting-place near
the high altar. It is built against the ancient
Norman doorway of the cloisters, which still remains
externally, with its slender shafts and beautiful
zigzag mouldings of the days of David I. ?The
cloisters,? says Wilson, ?? appear to have enclosed
a large court, formed in the angle of the nave and
transept. The remains of the north are clearly
traceable still, and the site of the west side is occupied
by palace buildings. Here was the ambulatory
for the old monks, when the magnificent
foundation of St. David retained its pristine splendour,
and remained probably till the burning of
the abbey after the death of James V.2 who was
buried there beside his first queen in December
1542, and his second son, Arthur Duke of Albany,
a child eight days old, who died at Stirling.
In the royal vault also lie the remains of David
11. ; Prince Arthur, third son of James IV., who
died in the castle, July 15th, 1510, aged nine
months ; Henry, Lord Darnley, murdered 1567 j
and Jane, Countess of Argyle, who was at supper
with her sister, the queen, on the night of Rizzio?s
assassination. ? Dying without issue, she was enclosed
in one of the richest coffins ever seen in
Scotland, the compartments and inscriptions being
all of solid gold.? In the same vault were de.
posited the remains of the Duchess de Grammont,
who died an exile at Holyrood in 1803 ; and, in
the days of Queen Victoria, the remains of Mary of
Gueldres, queen of James 11.
?
Among the altars in thechurchwere two dedicated
to St. Andrew and St. Catharine, a third dedicated
to St. Anne by the tailors of Edinburgh, and a
fourth by the Cordiners to St. Crispin, whose
statutes were placed upon it.
On the 18th of June, 1567, two days after the
imprisonment of Queen Mary, the Earl of Glencairn
and others, ?with a savage malignity, laid waste
this beautiful chapel,? broke in pieces its most
valuable furniture, and laid its statues and other
ornaments in ruins.
On the 18th of June, 1633, Charles I. was
crowned with great pomp in the abbey church and
amid the greatest demonstrations of loyalty, when
the silver keys of the city were delivered to him by
the Provost, after which they were never again
presented to a monarch until the time of George
IV. : but afterwards the religious services were
performed at Holyrood with great splendour, according
to the imposing ritual of the English
Church-? an innovation which the Presbyterians
beheld with indignation, as an insolent violation of
the laws of the land?
In 1687 the congregation of the Canongate were
removed from the church by order of James VII.,
and the abbey church-now named a chapelwas
richly decorated, and twelve stalls were placed
therein for the Knights of the Thistle. An old view
of the interior by Wyck and Mazell, taken prior
to the fall of the roof, represents it entire, with all
its groining and beautiful imperial crowns and
coronets on the drooping pendants of the interlaced
arches. They show the clerestory entire,
and within the nave the stalls of the knights, six
on each side. Each of these stalls had five steps,
and on each side a Corinthian column supported
an entablature of the same order, each surmounted
by two great banners and three trophies, each
composed of helmets and breastplates, making in
all twenty-four banners and thirty-six trophies over
the stalls. At the eastern end was the throne,
surmounted by an imperial crown. On each side
were two panels, having the crown, sword, and
sceptre within a wreath of laurel, and below, other
two panels, with the royal cypher, J.R., and the
crown. Wyck and Mazell show the throne placed
upon a lofty dais of seven steps, on six of which
were a unicorn and lion, making six of the former
on the right, and six of the latter on the left, all
crowned. Behind this rose a Corinthian canopy,
entablature, and garlands, all of carved oak, and
over all the royal arms as borne in Scotland ; the
crest of Scotland, the lion sejant; on the right the
ensign of St. Andrew; In defence on the left the ensign
of St. George. Amid a star of spears, swords,
