142 Craigmillar and its Environs. 



was greatly sinning, she was yet, I think, more greatly 

 sinned against ; and her memory will always be in- 

 teresting to the whole of humanity, and always an 

 affectionate one to the people of this ancient burgh." 

 A metal tablet fixed in the ground at the foot of 

 the tree bears the following inscription: "This seed- 

 ling from Queen Mary's Tree, growing at Little 

 France, Craigmillar, was presented to the burgh of 

 Linlithgow by Walter James Little Gilmour of Craig- 

 millar, and, by permission of H.M. Board of Works, 

 was planted by the Right Hon. the Earl of Rosebery, 

 on 24th Sept. 1886, near the place in which Queen 

 Mary, who planted the parent tree, was born." 

 Perhaps this seedling, standing in this historic spot 

 amid associations so intimately connected with the 

 history of the Stuart race, when grown to stately 

 proportions may prove an interesting memento to 

 future generations of Scotland's beautiful but unfor- 

 tunate queen, with her " Iliad of woes," when the 

 parent tree from which it sprang has, by time or 

 fate, been levelled with the ground. 



