II., but in a way to harmonise with the older part then remaining. The architect on this occasion was Sir William Bruce, and the building was executed by Robert Mylne, whose tomb may be seen on the north side of the chapel. The design of the palace by Bruce seems to be much the same as that of Hampton Court. The edifice is of stone, and of a quadrangular figure, with an open court in the centre, surrounded by piazzas. The whole is in a plain Grecian style of architecture. Having been erected after the Scottish monarchs had removed to England, the palace generally cannot be said ever to have been a royal residence for more than short periods. Of the surviving portion of the older palace a different history can be told. James V. was father of Mary, and when that unfortunate princess landed in Scotland, she was conducted to the palace which her father had erected. The house was of large dimensions, much larger than at present; but Mary selected for her private apartments those which occupied the north-western angle of the building, comprehended chiefly in two turrets. Fortunately, this was the part saved from the outrage of Cromwell's soldiers. Thus, by an accident, Mary's apartments are preserved; and, what is still more remarkable, they are at this day pretty much in the condition she left them, although nearly three hundred years have since passed away. Ascending a stone staircase from the piazza of the court, under the guidance of an ever-ready attendant, we reach these rooms, so full of historical associations, and are naturally surprised to observe how simply the beautiful queen had been accommodated. In the first place, there is a vestibule, where the blood of Rizzio is still shown upon the floor; though, we allow, it requires a stretch of faith to detect its appearance. Next is her presence-chambera room of large dimensions, with a carved oak roof, embellished with ciphers of different kings, queens, and princes, in faded paint and gold. The walls are decked with a great variety of pictures and prints; and some old chairs and other furniture are preserved. Adjacent to this apartment, occupying the front of the tower, is the bedchamber of Mary, in which her bed is shown, in a very decayed condition. The only other two apartments are a small dressing-room and a cabinet, in which last she was sitting at supper when Rizzio was assailed by his assassins. Near the door which leads from the bedchamber into this apartment is shown a private staircase in the solid wall, communicating with a suite of rooms below, which perhaps were those occupied by Darnley, as it is known he conducted the conspirators by this passage into the presence of his wife. These two small rooms contain a few objects of interest, said to have belonged to the queen's toilet; also some tapestry, wrought by her own hand. Cold and deserted, and with all around having the appearance of age and decay, Mary's apartments cannot fail to inspire melancholy reflections; but to the reader of history, the 17 view of the scene here disclosed will at the same time afford a new pleasure-the satisfaction of seeing the actual spot where events took place which have for centuries been the theme of narratives and discussions. Having seen Queen Mary's apartments, little else in the palace is worth looking at. In a long apartment, in which takes place the election of representative Scottish peers for the House of Lords, are exhibited "portraits of a hundred and six Scottish monarchs." Being merely daubs with a fictitious likeness, they are treated with deserved contempt. The other apartments are fitted up principally in a modern style, and are in part occupied by the families of noblemen and others who have received permission to reside within the palace, of which the Duke of Hamilton is heritable keeper. As a place of royal residence the palace is now scarcely suitable. Its low situation and want of a sunk storey render it damp; while it is destitute of many desirable conveniences. When George IV. was in Scotland in 1822, he held courts in one of the apartments; but he resided at the palace of the Duke of Buccleuch at Dalkeith. ABBEY OF HOLYROOD. Partially adhering to the walls of the palace, and now a roofless ruin, this was at one time an exceedingly handsome structure, built in the florid Gothic style. On the occasion of the incursion of the Earl of Hertford in 1544, it received its first great blow, the interior being sacked, and the monks contumeliously scattered. It again suffered from an invasion of the English in 1547, and from that time sunk to the condition of a chapel-royal. In this state it was the scene of Queen Mary's marriage with Darnley, July 29, 1565. Throughout the seventeenth century, Holyrood chapel was at different times fitted up by orders of the Stuarts, as an exemplar for worship according to the English ritual; but, as the readers of history know, with no good effect on the Scottish people. At the revolution, it was despoiled by a mob, and afterwards remained in a dilapidated state for seventy-two years. The roof being then decayed, was taken down, and replaced by a new covering; this was most injudiciously composed of flag-stones, the weight of which brought it down, to the damage of the building, in 1768. Since that period, the chapel has been an open ruin. It is now used only as a place of sepulture by some families of note. A few of the ancient tombstones in the floor are interesting. QUEEN'S PARK-ARTHUR'S SEAT. Behind the abbey and palace of Holyrood are the open grounds styled the Queen's Park, wherein arise the rugged hills of Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags. The park, which includes these hills, extends to about four miles in circumference, and was enclosed by James V. with a stone wall, the greater part of which still exists. Whatever might have been the condition of the grounds in early times, they have for many years been destitute of trees, and suitable only for pasture. Till lately, the Earl of Haddington possessed a right of forestry over them, subject to the right of free perambulation by the inhabitants of Edinburgh. This nobleman's right having been purchased by the crown, the whole grounds are now under the charge of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, by whom many beneficial improvements are in the course of execution. Some intrusive enclosures have been already thrown open; cross-walls, stiles, and old houses have been removed; morasses drained; and lastly, a handsome public drive has been made along the lower grounds, and round the hills. As the whole of this interesting royal demesne is open to the public at all hours, the stranger should not quit Edinburgh without visiting at least Arthur's Seat, the most lofty and prominent of the two hills. Carriages are admitted along the new drives as far as finished. Both hills are of the same mineralogical character-green-stone and trap-tuff ejected by volcanic action, and offer a study to the geologist: their surface also affords an interesting field of research to the botanist. Arthur's Seat rises to a height of 700 feet from the meadow at its base, or 796 feet above the level of the sea. Its name has puzzled etymologists: the most reasonable conclusion is, that its present designation is a corruption of two Celtic words signifying "the hill of arrows." Any connexion with King Arthur is now entirely repudiated. The name Salisbury, applied to the crags or cliffs, has been not less difficult; the most plausible conjecture is, that it is also derived from a Celtic term signifying a "desert or waste place." In ascending Arthur's Seat, strangers usually proceed by way of St Anthony's Chapel, the ruins of which occupy the summit of a knoll projecting from the northern side of the hill. This religious structure is of considerable antiquity, and it is only by the name that it is known to have been a dependency of the preceptory of St Anthony in Leith. Along with some adjoining cells, it has long been in ruins, little now remaining but a portion of the side wall; efforts, however, have been made to prevent further demolition. The view from this height is very charming. In the ascending path to the chapel is St Anton's Well"-a beautiful spring of clear water, which, proceeding out of the rock, is emptied into a stone basin, and at one time furnished a humble beverage to the recluses above. This little fountain will perhaps be viewed with some further degree of interest by the poetic mind, on recollecting the allusion to it in the old Scottish lyric— "Now Arthur's Seat shall be my bed The sheets shall ne'er be pressed by me; St Anton's Well shall be my drink, 66 At a short distance, in the low ground, near the eastern extremity of the park, once lay Muschet's Cairn-a low hillock of stones, cast by passengers on the spot where a wretch named Muschet had closed a long course of cruelty towards his unfortunate wife by murdering her, with circumstances of uncommon barbarity. This dreary spot, with the surrounding scene, it will be recollected, is graphically alluded to in "The Heart of MidLothian." The whole precincts of the park, indeed, may, from similar allusions by Scott, be described as classic ground. The valley of Hunter's Bog, between the two hills-the pathway round the brow of Salisbury Crags-and St Leonards, a rocky knoll with a few cottages, at the southern exit from the parkare all points which usually engage the attention of strangers. For those who have an hour or two to spare at sunrise, in a summer's morning, when the weather is favourable, no greater pleasure could be named than a ramble over these hills and valleys, which, though within a mile of a populous city, are usually as still and lonely as a Highland solitude. In a clear day, the view from the top of Arthur's Seat is extensive and grand-embracing a stretch of sea and land from Ben Ledi in the west to the Bass in the east, and from the Lammermuir Hills in the south to the Lomond Hills in Fife in the north. This wide circumference, taking in the larger portion of the Lothians and shores of the Firth of Forth, contains the bulk of the historical district of Scotland-that with which the principal events were connected from the invasion of the Romans till the battle of Prestonpans. The view towards the south, either from the summit of the hill, or the new road half-way up, embraces Duddingstone Loch and village at its base, and about a mile beyond, Craigmillar Castle, which was for a time inhabited by Mary Queen of Scots.* OBJECTS OF INTEREST IN THE SOUTH SIDE. Proceeding along South Bridge Street from the High Street, the stranger will have occasion to pass and look down upon the * Holyroodhouse and its park, in virtue of an ancient privilege, form a legalised sanctuary for debtors. A small number of individuals, who have found it necessary to protect their persons for a time from the grasp of the law, are constantly to be found residing here, in the humble abodes which surround the palace. The limit of the sacred ground is marked in the direction of the town by a gutter or strand, which intersects the street about a hundred yards from the palace, and on crossing that, the charm of security is either lost or acquired. Though receiving interim protection by stepping over the strand, it is necessary for debtors, within twenty-four hours after, to enter their names in the books of the bailie of Holyrood, which lie at an office within the barrier. On this, a printed form of protection is given for a consideration of two guineas, whereby the applicant is screened from all civil diligence for debts contracted prior to the date of his registration. Refugees have liberty to leave the sanctuary from twelve o'clock on Saturday night for the space of twenty-four hours. This is the only remaining sanctuary in the British islands. Cowgate-in appearance a kind of subterranean street-at one time a gay suburb of Edinburgh, but now inhabited chiefly by dealers in old furniture and other articles. Beyond the arch whence a bird's-eye view of this lower region is obtained, we arrive on the left at a street in which is situated the ROYAL INFIRMARY, or principal hospital for the sick and hurt in Edinburgh. It is a large and commodious edifice, built in 1736, and has long maintained a high character for the efficiency of its arrangements. THE COLLEGE. Passing Infirmary Street, we have on our right a large and massive structure-the UNIVERSITY or COLLEGE of Edinburgh. In the reign of Queen Mary, this district was all open ground, on which was an old religious establishment called the "Kirk of Field;" and it was in one of the ancient edifices here that the unfortunate Darnley was lodged when he was blown up by gunpowder on the 10th of February 1567-his body having been picked up near the old city wall, in a place now known as Drummond Street. On the spot occupied by the Kirk of Field, a University was instituted by James VI. in the year 1582; and by means of subsequent benefactions from the crown and from individuals, the establishment attained a respectable footing. It now consists of sixty-three professors, some of whom are elected by the crown, but the greater number by the Town-Council, in whom resides the power of supervision. The different classes are attended by about twelve hundred students, who wear no peculiar garb, and reside in lodgings in the town. The whole of the buildings primarily used for the College existed till 1789, when the new buildings were begun to be erected. As now finished, they form a huge structure, with a large court in the centre. On the west side of the court, a great part of the edifice is devoted to a museum of natural history; on the south is the library; the other places being devoted to class-rooms and other accommodations. A number of distinguished men in science and literature have been connected with this institution; among others may be mentioned the illustrious Cullen, Black, Gregory, Fergusson, Stewart, Blair, Robertson, Leslie, and the Monros. The College of Edinburgh still maintains a high reputation as a school of medicine and surgery. ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, &c. Το This is an institution distinct from the university. strangers, it is only interesting for its valuable museum, chiefly consisting of preparations; though to some a sight of these will be far from pleasing. The building is situated in Nicolson Street, a short way from the University. Further on, in the same street, is the ASYLUM FOR THE BLIND, an interesting charitable institution. |