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
THE PALACE BURNED AND REPAIRED. 73
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gesse !?? Then the castle fired a salute, while
silver was scattered to the multitude. Three years
afterwards the king and court had departed, and
Holyrood was consigned to silence and gloom.
On James VI. re-visiting Scotland in 1617, the
palace was fitted up for him with considerable
splendour, but his project of putting up statues
of the apostles in the chapel caused great excitement
in the city. Taylor, the Water-poet, who was
at Holyrood in the following year, states that he
~~
the gardens known as Queen Mary?s sundial,
although the cyphers of Charles, his queen, and
eldest son appear upon it. Cromwell quartered
a body of his infantry in the palace, and by accident
they set it on fire, on the 13th November,
1650, when it wzs destroyed, all save the Tower of
James V., with its furniture and decorations.
Of this palace a drawing by Gordon of
Rothiemay has been preserved, which shows the
main entrance to have been where we find it
HOLYROOD PALACE AKD ABBEY CHURCH, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.
saw this legend over the royal arms at the gate :
CC4Nobis hec invicta misanf 106 proovi.? I inquired
what the English of it was. It was told me
as followeth, which I thought worthy to be recorded :
-6 106 foreJ&%ws h i e I& this to ux unconpumed..? ?
When Charles I. visited Edinburgh, in 1633,
the magistrates employed the famous Jameson to
paint portraits of the Scottish monarchs, and,
imitative of his master Rubens, he wore his
hat when Charles I. sat to him ; but it is probable
that after the latter?s last visit, in 1641, the palace
must have become somewhat dilapidated, otherwise
Cromwell would have taken up his residence
there. The improvements effected by Charles
were considerable, and among other memorials of
his residence still remaining, is the beautiful dial in
68
now. Round embattled towers flank it, with bow
windows in them, and above the grand gate are
the royal arms of Scotland. On either side is a
large range of buildings having great windows ;
and the now empty panels in the Tower of James V.
appear to have been filled in with armorial bearings,
doubtless destroyed by Cromwell. In his map of
1657 the same artist shows a louyingdn-stone in
the centre of the palace yard.
The palace was rebuilt to a certain extent, by
order of Cromwell, in 1658, but the whole of his
work, at the Restoration, was pulled down by
royal warrant two years after, as the work ? built
by the usurper, and doth darken the court?
Engrafted on the part that survived the conflagration,
and designed, it is said, after the noble
