To those who see it for the first time, Holyrood Palace is distinctly disappointing. All the glamour of its romantic history seems out of place in connection with the somewhat prosaic looking mansion, which bears little outward sign of its eventful life. Nothing is left of the medieval abbey which once stood upon the site, save a ruined portion of the abbey church. And of the Stuart palace, so associated with the fascinations of Scotland's most famous Queen, only a small part is left, though luckily the fire which attacked the palace at the end of the Civil War spared the apartments used by Mary Queen of Scots. Yet, disappointing as [pg 83] a first impression may be, Holyrood Palace, to those who know anything of Scotland's story, can never fail to be interesting.

The palace was never a fortified building, for it was not used as a regular royal residence until the more fierce days of warfare had vanished. Originally an abbey stood at the foot of Arthur's Seat, being founded by David I., in gratitude for his miraculous escape when out hunting. According to monkish tradition, the King was saved by the providential appearance of a cross which interposed between him and the infuriated stag. Therefore the name of the abbey was called the Holyrood.

The Bedchamber of Mary Queen
of Scots, in Holyrood Palace.

Though not a palace until the time of the Stuarts, the early Kings often held councils there, and continued to show royal favour to the monks, who had given the name of Canongate to the burgh which arose outside the city walls. James II., who lies buried in the royal vault in the chapel, was the first to erect any kind of royal apartments in the abbey. His successor, James III., lived there, but it was James IV. who really was the builder of the palace, to which he brought his wife, Margaret Tudor, the English bride who was eventually to bring about the union of the crowns. James V. carried on the brilliance of his father's Court, his two French wives bringing many of the fashions of their own country to grace their new home. His first [pg 84] wife died soon after her arrival, but his second wife, Mary of Guise, lived to rule Scotland through many anxious years of regency, while her infant daughter was being brought up away from her in distant France.

But it was under Mary Queen of Scots that Holyrood became really famous. She made it her constant and favourite residence. After her many years of education in France, and her brief career as the wife of the sickly Francis II., she returned to her native country in August, 1561. John Knox, with the superstition of the age, comments upon the peculiar fogginess and darkness of the weather which marked the young Queen's arrival, saying, "that forewarning gave God unto us, but alas! the most were blind." Bonfires were lit, and great demonstrations of joy were manifested when Mary took up her abode at Holyrood. A band of musicians with much zeal but little skill played outside her bedroom window, being courteously thanked by the Queen; but Brant?me, the French courtier, who had accompanied Queen Mary from France, complains in his memoirs of the terrible noise of these musicians who sang psalms all out of tune; "Quelle musique! et quel repos pour sa nuit" he writes. The very first Sunday after her arrival was marred by a tumult outside the Chapel Royal, where Mass was being performed, a disturbance which was only ............