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LINLITHGOW. — THE PALACE. 143 



stands, rises in the form of an amphitheatre, overlooking its mirror-lake, and w 



exliibiting the time-worn structure to great advantage. It appears to have been 



chiefly appropriated as a residence for the dowager-queens of Scotland. When 



James II. married, in April 14'49, he settled on Mary of Guelder, as her dower, 



the palace, lake, and park of Linlithgow ; which, on the marriage of his 



successor, were again confirmed to Margaret of Denmark ; and lastly, on the 



union of the " thistle and the rose," in 1503, James IV. settled the palace, 



its jurisdiction and privileges, on his queen, the Lady Margaret. During the 



greater part of the reign of James V. Linlithgow was the "Versailles" of 



Scotland, to which the court retired to seek relaxation from the "graver concerns 



of government," and in the palace, gardens, and lake, to indulge those pastimes 



which best became the beauty and chivalry of the age. When Mary of Guise 



was conducted from Stirling to this palace, she expressed her admiration of the 



place in terms highly complimentary to her royal consort and the country, and 



appears, by the partiality afterwards evinced for Linlithgow, to have felt what she 



expressed. Its praise is also sung in Latin — 



" Nobile Liranuchum est, Pario de marmore templum 

 Hie nitet, impensae non mediocris opus." 



The chamber, or rather the hall, where Mary Stuart first caught the hght, 

 is now the most interesting portion of this once splendid edifice. It was here 

 that she was seen by the English ambassador, Sadler, who, in his Letters, speaks 

 of her as " a fine infant." From this period, however, the palace became the 

 frequent scene of political intrigue ; treason and espionage were every where 

 fostered by a profuse dissemination of English gold ; and in the following year, 

 alarmed for the safety of her daughter, the queen collected an army, and under 

 its protection transferred her residence from Linlithgow to Stirling castle. 



The great church, occupying a space between the town and the palace, is 

 a vast Gothic structure, dating from the reign of the pious King David. One 

 half of this venerable pile is now sufficient to accommodate the modern congre- 

 gation. It is kept up with patriotic feeling and good taste, in regard to its 

 sculpture and carved ornaments ; and is now one of the most entire and striking 

 monuments of sacred architecture in the kingdom. It was in this church — 

 in St. Katherine's haunted aisle — while engaged at vespers, and " making his 

 devotion to God, very sad and dolorous," on the eve of his fatal march to 

 riodden, that James IV. was accosted by a spectre — 



" In a low voice — but never tone 



So thrilled through vein, and nerve, and bone." 



