72 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. IHo~yrOam
Commendator of Coldingham. He was created,
in right of his mother (who was the only sister
of the notorious peer), Earl of Bothwell and
Lord High Admiral of Scotland in 1587. He
became an avowed enemy of the king, and Holyrood
was the scene of more than one frantic
attempt made by him upon the life of James. One
of these, in 1591, reads like a daring frolic, as related
by Sir James Melville, when the earl attacked
at the Girth Cross. On the 24th July, 1593, Bothwell,
who had been outlawed, again burst into the
palace with his retainers, and reached the royal
apartments. Then the king, incapable of resisting
him, desired Bothwell, to ?consummate his treasons
by piercing his sovereign?s heart ; I? but Bothwell
fell on his knees and implored pardon, which the
good-natured king at once granted, though a minute
before. he had, as Birrel records, been seeking flight
the palace at the head of his followers. I was I by the back stair, ?with his breeks in his hand.?
HOLYROOD PALACE AS IT WAS BEFORE THE FIRE OF 1650. (Facrimiie, af#w Cmdon OfRotkicma~.)
at supper with my Lord Duke of Lennox, who
took his sword and pressed forth; but he had no
company and the place was full ofenemies. We were
compelled to fortify the doors and stairs with tables,
forms, and stools, and be spectators of that strange
hurlyburly for the space of an hour, beholding
With torchlight, forth of the duke?s gallery, their
reeling and rumbling with halberts, the clacking
of the culverins and pistols, the dunting of mells
and hammers, and crying for justice.? The earl
and his followers ultimately drew off, but left the
master stabler and another lying dead, and the
king was compelled to go into the city; but eight
of Bothwell?s accomplices were taken and hanged
In 1596 the future Queen of Bohemia was baptised
in Holyrood, held in the arms of the English
ambassador, while the Lyon King proclaimed her
from the windows as ?the Lady Elizabeth, first
daughter of Scotland;? and on the 23rd December,
1600, the palace was the scene of the baptism of
her brother, the future Charles I., with unusual
splendour in the chapel royal, in presence of the
nobles, heralds, and officers of state. ?? The bairn
was borne by the Marquis de Rohan, and the
Lord Lyon proclaimed him out of the west window
of the chapel as ?Lord Charles of Scotland, Duke
of Albany, Marquis of Ormond, Ex1 of ROSS, and
Lord Ardmannoch. Largesse ! Largesse 1 Lar
