78 Chukcii of St. John the i>.\i'TisT, Dalry. 



the king's expenses at Wigtown, '• tempore itiueris sui apud Sanctum 

 Xiuianum." Apart from this casual notice in the Excliequer Rolls, 

 although his preliminary outlays for the journey are given up to 

 the same date, and as minutely as the Queen's, in curious contrast 

 to those of his consort just given, the object of the journey is not 

 once indicated. To the Queen herself, and those accompanying 

 her, the interest of the journey must have been larg-ely enhanced 

 by the fact, that in terms of the arrangement made with her father. 

 King- Christiern, she was to enjoy a revenue erpal to one- 

 third of the Crown lauds of Scotland, there was assigned to her 

 thy entire Lordship of (jalloway, with the customs and burghal 

 fermes, or rents of Kirkcudbright and Wigton, tog'ether with 

 Threave Castle. \Ve\\ might the Scottish people rejoice over 

 the alliance, for the fii'St time in their history were the outlying 

 islands, north and west, embraced "within the sway of a united 

 monarchy. 



No further record has been preserved till the fatal year 1488. 

 Margaret of Denmark and her murdered husband now lie in 

 their last resting-places at Cambus-Keuneth, and the five-month 

 old infant, now a lad of fifteen, thrust into the throne over the 

 body of his slaughtered parent, on the fourth of August sends 

 eighteen shillings " with Schir John of Touris to offir for the King- 

 in Quhitherre," the first of a long series of penitential observances. 

 In November, 1-491, King James IV. paid his first visit to 

 '• Quhitherne," going and returning by the west coast. Although 

 no references to it occur in the Lord High Treasurer's Accounts, in 

 the autumn of 141)3, James IV. must have traversed the route by 

 St. John's Kirk andClachau. We learn this from the Register of 

 the Great Seal, he having, on the 29th of August, granted a 

 charter at Durisdeer to William Douglas, son to the Earl of 

 Angus, and on the 2nd of September. •• apud Quhithirn," he con- 

 firms Alexander Makke, and Katharine, his spouse, in the lands of 

 Balgarno. One entry in the accounts for July, 1496, gives us a 

 glimpse of another visit. " Item, that samyn day, the King raid 

 fra Edinburgh to Quhithyrne, and given to himself in his purs, 

 xxli vji/." 



In the succeeding year, by far the most minutely detailed 

 account is given, embracing, one would imagine, almost every 

 outlay. The royal visit was paid in the early part of September, 

 1497. an<l was one of thanksgiving for the cessation of hostilities, 



