PALACE OF IIOLYROOD. 107 



The great fault of Montrose seems to have been a propensity to vast and 

 desperate enterprise, without regard to mature deliberation, and the means 

 necessary for its accomplishment. As he was destitute of personal fears, and 

 acted rather from a chivalrous impulse than from the cool dictates of prudence, 

 he was too prone to embark in schemes of which he had little calculated the 

 issue. But whatever may have been his faults as a subject, they were suffi- 

 ciently atoned for by his death ; while his virtues as a man— and these were 

 many— were nobly exemplified in the great moral fortitude which converted 

 his ignominious sentence into a triumph. 



We now enter the sacred precincts of Holyrood House, where new and 

 impressive scenes open upon us. Again the actors in its lonj departed dramas 

 present themselves to the mind's eye ; and from the days of the pious King 

 David down to the last of the Stuarts, the Scottish sovereigns pass in review 

 before us. Their deeds have left a record on every object around, and identified 

 their royal line with every stone in the hallowed enclosure. 



There, in those voiceless halls, the sceptred chief — 

 The factious noble — and the beauteous Queen 

 Upon whose heart, like canker in the leaf, 

 The worm of many sorrows revelled keen — 

 All fill the passing vision. 



The present structure, raised on the foundation of its monastic predecessor, 

 was one of the earliest specimens of Italian architecture introduced into Scot- 

 land. It was built in 1674, after a design by Sir W. Bruce, of Kinross, and, 

 with the exception of the towers, occupies the whole of the area enclosed by 

 the ancient palace of James V. The modern edifice forms a square of ample 

 dimensions, built of hewn stone, having its inner court surrounded by a piazza. 

 It fronts to the west; and its north and south angles, projecting into double 

 towers, give it the air of an antique fortress.* 



The south wing contains among others the great Council Chamber, where 

 the sixteen Scottish peers meet for the ceremony of an election. The state 

 apartments on the east front, comprising part of the south wing, are those 



The bravest is not he who courts death in the battle-shock; 



'Tis he whom conscious truth supports to scorn him at the block ! 



'Tis there, unchafed in passion's stream, the inborn strength appears, 



And martyred valour leaves a theme for triumph — not for tears !" — ^fS■ 

 • The front, much lower than the other sides of the quadrangle, presents an elevation of only one story 

 above the ground floor, surmounted by balustrades, and covered with a flat roof. In the centre is the 

 portico; over this a small cupola with an imperial crown i on either side a female figure recumbent, and 

 beneath, the royal arms of Scotland. The whole is supported by double columns of the Doric order. 



