96 ROYAL GARDENS 



ported by an exquisitely carved and very well-proportioned 

 shaft. On two sides behind this beautiful work of the old- 

 time craftsman, there are charming borders of gay and bril- 

 liant flowers. And if the other two sides were enclosed and 

 similarly planted, an exquisite little pleasance-garden would 

 be achieved. 



On the further side of an approach to the palace 

 from the north made by Prince Consort, and probably once 

 included in the garden, stands a most interesting and pic- 

 turesque little building traditionally known as Queen Mary's 

 Bath-house. The old tennis-court was once close by ; and 

 though generations of antiquaries have been puzzled by the 

 origin and use for which the bath-house was built, its near- 

 ness to the tennis-court seems to suggest that tradition has 

 preserved its real intention. Another very interesting old 

 building stands at the north-east corner of the garden. This 

 is one of the most perfect specimens of a Scots house of 

 the sixteenth century in existence. Once the residence of 

 Queen Mary's half-brother, Earl of Moray and Regent of 

 Scotland, it is perhaps especially remarkable for a most 

 beautiful contemporary ceiling in plaster-work. Its design 

 seems to suggest that it formerly covered one large room, 

 which is now divided into three by partitions. The house, 

 called Croft-an-Righ, or the King's Croft, is occupied by 

 the palace gardener, and it is, therefore, only by courtesy 

 of its inmates that the interior can be seen. 



From this north-east corner of the garden there is a par- 

 ticularly striking view of the ruined Abbey Church or Chapel 

 Royal, with its superb background of wild moorland and 

 rugged precipice. The highest point is known as Arthur's 

 Seat, the lower slopes of which, together with the valley 

 between it and Salisbury Crags, were once covered with 

 forest. But in the long and expensive wars with England, 

 oak and pine were over valuable to be preserved for merely 

 ornamental purposes, and Scotland too impoverished to replant 

 when the old trees were once cut down. All this country 

 to the south of Holyrood is finely described in The Heart 



