Craigmillar Castle — Its Historical Associations. 33 



he did by preferring to be bled in a warm bath. On 

 the other hand, Drummond of Hawthornden states — 

 and he is supported by Tytler — that Mar, who was 

 very excitable, took fever and delirium, and was 

 removed by command of the King to a house in the 

 Canongate. There he was put under the care of the 

 King's physician, who relieved him in his fever by 

 opening a vein in the arm and neck. Whether from 

 weakness consequent on the loss of blood, or from 

 tearing his bandages off while in a fit of delirium, does 

 not seem clear, but Mar did not survive this attack. 

 The actual circumstances are to a great extent shrouded 

 in mystery. Dr John Hill Burton, in his excellent 

 ' History of Scotland,' says : " We know only the fact 

 that the King dealt with both his brothers as a man 

 deals with his enemies. The younger. Mar, died sud- 

 denly — murdered, it was said — in Craigmillar Castle. 

 Those who desired to vindicate the King's name said 

 Mar had been bled to relieve him from fever, and that 

 the bleeding, being insufficiently stanched, had broken 

 out while he was in a bath, and so killed him." 



That Craigmillar ever became a royal residence, 



c 



