London Magazine:

A JOURNAL OF ENTERTAINMENT AND INSTRUCTION

FOR GENERAL READING.

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Abbey of Holyrood, in the year 1128, King David I., | shire, and commemorated the event in the following called it his burgh of Edwinesburg, whence we may infer inscription :it was then a royal burgh.

“ When Leith, a town of good account in Scotland, The founding of the Abbey is due to the piety and prodi- And Edinburgh, the principal city of that nation, was on fire, gality of David, whose liberality to the clergy drew from Sir Richard Lea, Kt., saved me out of the flames, and brought one of his successors the pithy observation, that he was

me into England. sair sanct for the crown." The legendary origin of the

In gratitude to him for his kindness building is thus related : “David, while hunting in the

I, who, heretofore, served only at the baptism of the children forest of Drumsheuch, was placed in the utmost peril by

of kings, the attack of a stag. When defending himself from his

Do now most willingly offer the same service

Even to the meanest of the English nation. assailant, a cross miraculously descended from heaven

Lea! the conqueror, hath so commanded. into his hand, upon seeing which the stag fled in dis

Adieu! A.D. 1543, in the 30th year of King Henry VIII.” may.” The sequel is more credible. In a dream which visited the slumbers of the monarch, he was commanded But this record of the pride of conquest did not re to erect an abbey on the spot of his remarkable preser- | main any time in its new location; for, during the Civil vation; and, in obedience to the mandate, he founded Wars, it fell into the hands of the regicides, and was the Abbey of Holyrood House, for a class of religious sold by them as old metal, and melted down. men, called the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, on In 1547, after the sanguinary battle of Pinkie, the whom, at the same time, many privileges and much monks made their escape from Holyrood; and the vie land were bestowed. Among other benefits they were torious English under the Earl of Hertford stripped the allowed to erect a borough between the town of Edin- church and palace of the lead roofing, and carried off burgh and the Church of Holyrood House; and the the bells. long street, called the Canongate, at Edinburgh, is the At the Reformation, the monastery was dissolved ; its remainder of this borough. Succeeding monarchs be- revenues then amounting, in money, to 250 1. sterling, stowed many additional gifts upon this order, and it anually, and in kind to 442 bolls of wheat, 640 bolls of soon became one of the richest establishments in Scot- bear, 560 bolls of oats, 500 capons, 20 dozen of hens, 2 land. Among David's provisions were some strongly dozen of salmon, 12 loads of salt, and of swine a number tinctured with the superstition of the times: they in- not precisely ascertained. cluded a right to the trial by combat, and to the water In the great spoliation, the fine church was stripped and fire ordeals; and, besides these privileges, the of its valuables : from a mistaken principle of religious canons had the right of finding out " noted witches and zeal and devotion, the earl of Glencairn laid waste the warlocks,"and of determining controversies ofevery kind: sacred building, and broke into pieces its sculptures and and their Abbey furnished an asylum to the guilty, costly furniture. The chapel was, however, entirely whom it was accounted sacrilege to follow, except in the refitted by Jam the Seventh, Scotland; by whose case of murder. Part of the locality is privileged to this order the floor was paved with marble, sculptured and day, the precincts of the Abbey being a sanctuary for painted with shields and armorial devices; the king also insolvent debtors.

erected a magnificent throne, and twelve stalls for the Holy Rood, we may mention, is synonymous with knights companions of the order of St. Andrew. There Holy Cross : it was usually placed over the screen which was likewise constructed a large and finely toned organ: divided the nave from the chancel of our churches. To and workmen were sent from London, with orders to set our ancestors, we are told, it conveyed a full type of the up the figures of the twelve apostles in as many niches on Christian Church : the nave representing the Church one side of the interior, and a corresponding number of militant, and the chancel the Church triumphant; de- prophets on the other. This design was violently noting that all who would go from the one to the other, opposed by the populace, who alleged that the king must pass nnder the Rood; that is, carry the Cross, and intended to establish popish rites and ceremonies, suffer affliction. Most of the Roods were taken down in and that these statues were intended as objects of 1547; but several remained till late in the reign of adoration : consequently, the whole of the workmanship Queen Elizabeth.

was defaced, and the artizans were compelled to desist In the year 1177, a National Council was held in the from their undertaking. Abbey, at Holyrood, in consequence of a dispute between At the restoration, Charles the Second completely rethe English and Scottish clergy, as to the submission of paired the church, and ordained that it should be in the latter to the Church of England; a legate having future set apart as a chapel royal to the palace, and he been sent by the Pope to take cognizance of it. In 1332, no longer the parochial church of the Canongate. It the building was stripped and spoiled in Baliol's con- was, therefore, refitted with great splendour; a throne quest of Scotland, under Edward III.; and in 1385, it was erected for the king, and twelve stalls for the knights suffered similarly, under Richard II. In 1457, Archi- of the Order of the Thistle. Unfortunately, the organ bald Crawfurd, Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, was which James had placed there was not removed, and appointed Abbot of Holyrood ; and he rebuilt the Abbey this, coupled with the belief that mass had been in the architectural style of his period, thus substituting celebrated in the chapel, rendered it so obnoxious to the the Pointed for the Norman employed by the royal Presbyterians, that, at the Revolution, a lawless mob founder, David I.

broke in and stripped the church of all its internal For about four centuries, the establishment flourished | decorations. Fanatical zeal and political apostasy went as an abbey; and, during the latter part of that period, further. They violated the sacred habitations of the it was the residence of the sovereign. In the year dead; they profaned the sepulchre of their kings; they 1528, James V. added a palace to the conventual build- outraged its sanctity by tearing open the coilins that ings: a portion of this palace remains to the present contained the mouldering ashes of James the Fifth ; of day, and consists of the towers of the north-west angle Magdalen of France, his first Queen; of the Earl of of the quadrangular court.

Darnley, once their monarch; and others who had held Returning to the monastic history of the place, we the Scottish sceptre. They sold the lead of which the find that, when the Earl of Hertford entered Scotland, coffins were made, and left the bodies exposed, an uain 1544, the Abbey was almost entirely burnt by his seemly spectacle, and the degrading memorial of popular soldiers; the choir and transept of the church being frenzy. destroyed, and nothing preserved but the nave. It was The walls of the church, which thus withstood the then that Sir Richard Lea, Captain of the English fury of the mob, have since been brought to the ground Pioneers, carried off the brazen font, in which the by the unskilfulness of an architect in replacing the od children of the royal family had been usually baptized : roof by a heavier one of flag-stones. This was done in he presented it to the church of St. Alban's, in Hertford- ( 1758 : the walls were already upwards of six hundred

STABLISH HIS THRONE

FOR EVER.
BASILICAM HANO EMI

OPTIM ET RESTAURAVIT

ANNO DOM.
CIO.IDCXXXIII.

years old, but they bore their new weight until 1768, in 1745. The election of the representative peers of when the whole came to the ground. Arnot, in his Scotland is now the only ceremony performed within History of Edinburgh, published in 1788, thus describes its walls. In the south side of the quadrangle is the the effect of the catastrophe : "When we lately visited hall of state, fitted up for the levées of George IV. in the spot, we saw, in the middle of the chapel, the broken 1822; and in the eastern side is the suite of apartments shafts of the columns, which had been borne down by occupied by Charles X. (of France) and his family in the weight of the roof. Upon looking into the vaults, 1830-3. The palace is shown to strangers by the domestics the doors of which were open, we found, that what had of the Duke of Hamilton, hereditary keeper. escaped the fury of the mob at the revolution, became The north-west portion is all that remains of the a prey to the rapacity of those who ransacked the palace of James V. The most interesting relic is the church after it fell. In 1776, we had seen the body of bed of Queen Mary, which remains in the same state as James the Fifth and some others in the leaden coffins; when last occupied by that unhappy princess. The the coffins were now stolen, the head of Queen Magda- closet where the murderers of Rizzio surprised their lene, which was then entire, and even beautiful, and the victim, is also shown ; as also the trap-door by which skull of Darnley, were also stolen; his thigh-bones, they ascended, and dark stains on the fioor, stated however, still remain, and are proofs of the vastness of to be the marks of Rizzio's blood. his stature."

Holyrood is, of course, one of the most attractive The chapel at Holyrood was, in its pristine state, a curiosities of the city of Edinburgh, and is visited magnificent structure, in the pointed style of archiby thousands of persons annually. Mrs. Sigourney thus tecture; its west front has been compared with Melrose apostrophises it. Abbey, Ely and York cathedrals. The highly-enriched windows which lighted the rood-loft are much admired;

“Old Holyrood! Edina's pride,

Where erst, in regal state array’d, the columns, mouldings, and sculptures of the west door

The mitred abbots told their beads, are executed in a very bold style. Immediately above the

And chaunted 'neath their hallow'd shade. door is a small square stone bearing this inscription :

And nobles in thy palace courts

Revel, and dance, and pageant led,
HE SHALL BUILD ANE HOUSE

And trump to tilt and tourney callid,
FOR MY NAME, AND I WILL

And royal hands the banquet spread.
A lingering beauty still is thine,

Though age on age have o'er thee roll'd

Since good King David reared thy walls,
RECTAM CAROLUS REX,

With turrets proud and tracery bold.
And still the Norman's pointed arch,

Its interlacing blends sublime
With Gothic column's clustered strength,

Where foliage starts, and roses climb.” The north side of the ruinous pile still has its orna- Mrs. Sigourney's visit is pleasantly detailed. “The mental buttresses, enriched with canopied niches and first view of Holyrood,” says the poetess, “is in strong pinnacles: this was the work of Abbot Crawfurd, in the contrast with the splendid buildings and classic columns reign of James the Third. The south side is likewise of the Calton Hill. After admiring the monuments of adorned with buttresses, but differing from those on the Dugald Stewart, and Nelson, and the fine edifice of the north. At the east end is the great window, shown High-school, you look down at the extremity of the in one of our illustrations: its mullions were greatly Canongate upon the old palace, that, seated at the foot damaged by a storm in 1795, but they were restored in of Salisbury Craig, nurses, in comparative desolation, 1816, with the materials found about the chapel. In the memories of the past. Its chapel, floored with this illustration, too, are shown some of the finely sculp- tombstones, and open to the winds of heaven, adtured capitals, clustered columns and arches, the smaller monishes human power and pride of their alliance with decorated arches of the triforium, the pinnacle of one of vanity. the buttresses, and the broken shafts, in massive ruin, ** Through an iron gate we saw, in a damp miserable set off by the light streaming through the open stories vault, the bones of some of the kings of Scotland; among and mullions of the great window. We should not omit them those of Henry Darnley, without even the covering to mention, that at the north-west corner of the chapel of that little charity of earth' which the homeless beggar is the belfry, a small tower, which contains a marble finds. In another part of the royal chapel, unmarked monument and statue of Robert Lord Belhaven, who by any inscription, are the remains of the lovely young died in 1639.

queen, Magdalene, daughter of Francis I. of France, Almost immediately adjoining the chapel ruins is the who survived but a short time her marriage with palace of Holyrood, a handsome quadrangular building, James V. In the same vicinity sleep two infant princes with a central court, ninety-four feet square ; its front is named Arthur; one the son of him who fell at Flodden flanked with double castellated towers, “imparting to Field, the other a brother of Mary of Scotland. Scarcely the edifice that military character which the events of a single monument, deserving notice as a work of art, is Scottish history have so often proved to have been to be found at Holyrood, except that of Viscount requisite in her royal residences.” A great part of this Belhaven, a privy councillor of Charles I. who died in palace was burnt by the English in 1544, but it was soon 1639. He is commemorated by a statue of Parian rebuilt on a more extensive scale; a large portion of marble, which is in singular contrast with the rough this structure was, however, burnt to the ground by black walls of the ruinous tower where it is placed. It Cromwell's soldiers; it lay in ruins until 1670, when, has a diffuse and elaborate inscription, setting forth that by direction of Charles II., the present palace was com- Nature supplied his mind by wisdom, for what was menced, after a design by Sir William Bruce.

wanting in his education; that he would easily get Around the interior of the quadrangle extends an angry, and as casily, while speaking, grow calm; and arcade. The largest apartment is the picture gallery, that he enjoyed the sweetest society in his only wife, 150 feet long by twenty-seven broad ; upon the walls of N. Murray, daughter of the Baron of Abercairney, who which are suspended the portraits of 106 Scottish kings, died in eighteen months after her marriage.” as Humphrey Clinker says, “ mostly by the same hand, painted either from the imagination, or porters hired to (1) It is contended by Miss Strickland, in the last published sit for the purpose.” In the olden time many a scene of

volume of her “ Lives of the Queens of England," that the comcourtly gaiety has enlivened this gloomy hall; among

mon belief regarding this bed is a mistake; that it was the bed,

not of Mary Queen of Scots, but of Mary Beatrice, queen of the last were the balls given by Prince Charles Edward, 1 James 11. of England.-- EDITOR.

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“The grave of Rizzio is pointed out under one of the , that period. 'Because this was the most glorious and passages to a piazza, covered with a flat stone. Over the manifique coronation that ever was seen in this king: mantel-piece of the narrow closet, where, from his last dom,' says Sir James Balfour, "and the first king of fatal supper, he was torn forth by the conspirators, is a Great Britain that ever was crowned in Scotland, to portrait, said to be of him. Its authenticity is exceed behold these triumphs and ceremonies, many strangers ingly doubtful ; yet it has been honoured by one of the of greate quality resorted hither from divers countries.' beautiful effusions of Mrs. Hemans, written during her “Who can muse at Holyrood without retracing the visit to Holyrood in 1829:

disastrous fortunes of the House of Stuart, whose images They haunt me still—those calm, pure, holy eyes !

seem to glide from among the ruined arches where they Their piercing sweetness wanders through my dreams;

once held dominion? James the First was a prisoner The soul of music that within them lies

through the whole of his early life, and died under the Comes o'er my soul in soft and sudden gleams.

assassin's steel. James the Second was destroyed by the Life, spirit-life immortal and divine

bursting of one of his own cannons at Roxburgh. James Is there ; and yet, how dark a death was thine!'. the Third was defeated in battle by rebels headed by his

own son, and afterwards assassinated. James the Fourth “We found ourselves attracted to make repeated fell with the flower of his army at Flodden Field, and visits to Holyrood; and never, on these occasions, failed even of the rites of sepulchre. James the Fifth died omitting its roofless chapel, so rich in recollections. It of grief, in the prime of life, at the moment of the birth required, however, a strong effort of imagination to of his daughter, who after twenty years of imprisonment array it in the royal splendour with which the nuptials in England, was condemned to the scaffold. "James the of Queen Mary were there solemnized, and, seventy years First of England, though apparently more fortunate than after, the coronation of her grandson, Charles the First. his ancestors, was menaced by conspiracy, suffered the The procession, the ringing of bells, the gay tapestry loss of his eldest son, and saw his daughter a crownless streaming from the windows of the city; the rich queen. Charles the First had his head struck off in costumes of the barons, bishops, and other nobility; the front of his own palace. Charles the Second was com. king, in his robes of crimson velvet, attending devoutly pelled to fly from his country, and, after twelve years to the sacred services of the day, receiving the oaths of banishment, returned to an inglorious reign. James allegiance, or scattering, through his almoner, broad the Second abdicated his throne, lost three kingdoms, picces of gold among the people, are detailed with died in exile, and was the last of his race who inhabited minuteness and delight by the Scottish chronicles of the palace of Holyrood."

Who has not felt the invigorating influence of a ramifications; the oak, stretching forth its gnarled arms; clear frosty morning, after many days of incessant snow, the elm, presenting its ponderous branches; the ash, when the sun once more shines forth, and its beams are still retaining its bunches of keys or seed vessels, on welcomed by a thousand smiles sparkling from innu- which the snow lodges in clumps; and the slender birch, merable crystals ? The scene then presented has been with its pensile twigs falling around like the most deliagain and again likened to fairy-land, and still, when it cate fillagree; all look the work of enchantment; whilst recurs, it ever brings the same idea. The trees all even those natural productions least attractive to the clothed in one robe of white, yet presenting a variety of eye in a simple state, glitter in borrowed beauty; every fantastic shapes; the sycamore, shooting out its slight straw looks like a tiny sceptre studded with jewels; and

& row of winter greens transports us to Aladdin's garden, , unexpected guest there. At a table, loaded with books where each plant appears an enormous emerald, covered and papers, sat the good vicar, pen in hand, his eldest by a profusion of small but precious brilliants. Nor is daughter, by his side, patiently turning over his referthe change wrought by the frost less perceptible in the ences for him; and, when not required at this literary animated part of creation; the shepherd crosses the labour, if not exactly working, as Charles had predicted, track with a brisker step, and his dog gambols beside at flannel-petticoats, certainly making some article of him with a more lively bound, every now and then useful clothing for the poor. Her sister Alice was busily starting forward and rolling in the snow; the cattle rolling up parcels of similar articles, assisted by a tall hasten less heavily to the farm-yard, and low forth their lovely girl in deep mourning, who was carolling forth expectations of fresh fodder; the pigeons assemble on a Scotch ballad, and whom Sophia and Lucy delightedly the sunny side of the dovecote, plume their wings, and welcomed as Margaret Campbell. close their gentle eyes with an air of enjoyment, occa- “ You really and truly are a Maid of the Mist, Miss sionally expressed by a low half-suppressed cooing ; the Campbell!” exclaimed Charles ; "a real Scottish witch, old horse winneys cheerfully from the stable, as it hears --for you could only have alighted here from off a the labourer's tread; the maids have a laugh as well broomstick,—the roads being impassable for every other as a frown when they find the pump-handle resist all vehicle. Pray show me your steed, for our English their efforts to move it; but a remedy is at hand where broomsticks are not so accommodating; and I can assure the heavy log is piled upon the kitchen fire, and the you we have had to wield them with no little toil in hissing kettle joins its merry chorus to the renewed order to win our way hither.” vivacity around. The bright sunshine penetrates “ Charles is determined not to have his labours overthrough the house, and in breakfast-room as well as hall | looked, though the credit of the plan is Cyril's,” whisits influence is felt. So it was at Kirkfield, as each pered Lucy to Charlotte Forster; “but tell me, when did member of the party'entered the saloon, uttering in Margaret arrive ?" various tone,—“O, what a cold morning !" rubbing their “ The very night before the storm set in. Her uncle hands, and crowding round the blazing fire.

having business, which called him unexpectedly to Lon“We shall get out again, at last,” said Charles don, she wisely took advantage of his escort to pay her Loraine; “though I fear the depth of snow is against promised visit to us now, instead of in the spring ; sure another trial of the low-closes, so we must devise some to find us at home, and, I trust, likely to be benefited other scheme. What think you of a ramble, Justine ? by the change of scene.” have you plenty of furs and strong shoes to guard you “Poor girl ; I heard her voice-sweet as ever-when against an adventure ?"

we entered the room; but there is a shadow over her "I doubt my cousin's chaussure is not altogether bright eyes, a change in her light step, to tell us of the suited to the country,” remarked Sophia ; " but we can trials she has undergone since we last saw her! supply her with snow-boots, and then I hope she may be Father, mother, and an only brother !— Death bas ininduced to venture."

deed made fearful inroads in her family!” Suppose we form a party of pioneers,” proposed “Deeply has poor Margaret felt these strokes, yet she Cyril, " and clear the path along the terrace?"

bears up under them with the same cheerful spirit "Quite right; no task could be better suited to warm which ever marked her under lighter trials. In prous; so come along this very moment. Run, Neville, to sperity she acknowledged this spirit as a gift from God, muster all the spades and brooms you can find, and be and now she finds that the possessor of this, as of every fore noon we shall have cleared a way to the vicarage, gift from above, will be called upon to exercise it in and then we can help to dig out the Forsters, if they are

submission to His will." buried in this snow-storm. We shall find Charlotte In the meantime Miss Campbell received the welcome manufacturing flannel petticoats, and Alice chirping of her friends, and was introduced to the rest of the like a cricket in the chimney-corner.-Fred, I shall party, Justine and Frederic l'Estrange being strangers have to teach you how to handle a spade, I suppose.-I in all but name, and Cyril Loraine little less strange, hope you will not be very stupid ; your character will although he claimed to be recognised as the boyish depend greatly upon your exertions, for I heard Lucy companion of days long passed. quoting the other day somebody's sage observation, “Mamma and aunt Martba will be delighted to hear that'vigour of mind in a healthy frame is always ac- of your arrival, and so will Rosaline,” said Sophia. companied by vigour of body.' I believe it was intended “Dear kind aunt Martha! I am glad to hear she is as a compliment to myself, for I was chasing little Laura with you, though grieved that Rosaline is not strong round the room at the time.”

enough to be allowed to venture on a walk. Is Mr. “And therefore your self-love has retained the remark, Hamilton staying within to amuse her ?" Master Charles !"

“Oh, no! Poor James has not yet been able to leave The implements were soon procured, and the young his brother, who was taken ill at college from the exmen plied them so diligently, that at luncheon-time haustion of too close study; but we do hope he will be they returned with the news that the vicarage was un

here soon.” buried, and invited the girls to accompany them thither.

“ His brother ill? That must be a trial. I trust he Cloaks, shawls, boas, and snow-boots, were quickly will be spared to him after all the self-denial he has sought for; and all, except Rosaline, who was thought undergone in order to give him a good education.too delicate to encounter the blast, were soon mounting I trust he will be spared to him ! Where is he, for the slope of the terrace, and enjoying the exhilarating Kirkfield at Christmas will not look like itself without effects of the keen air. Laura Barlow and Agnes had him ?" little more self-command than Dash, and exhibited their “He has taken William from Oxford to his aunt in exuberant spirits pretty much in the same manner, Shropshire, where he will be well nursed ; and James bounding out of the path, now to catch a view of the still hopes to get to us for a short time, though he snow-covered hills, now to mark an effect of light and cannot be spared from his curacy much longer." shade, and now to see if a favourite arbour or summer- "I hope he will come very, very soon,” said Agnes. temple had resisted the storm uninjured. At length “Has he any prospect of a living, and does he still Charles caught the infection of their mirth, and chal- intend to have a Rose in his parsonage garden ?" lenged them to a race, by which they reached the lodge “ I think there is no immediate prospect of preferbefore the rest of the party, and poured out to old Emma ment,” answered Sophia ; " but I do think Rose is a torrent of inquiry after the villagers.

becoming more and more sedate, and better fitted for So large a party nearly filled the pretty little parlour the station to which he has half-jestingly destined her of the vicarage; and, if the Forsters were glad to see

from her childhood.” them, the Loraines were no less pleased to recognise an

“But mamma says we are all getting too old to jest

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