The west part of Edinburgh is built along the ridge of a somewhat steep
hill, stretching for about a mile from east to west. At the western
extremity of the street, which, under various names, extends in a
continuous line along this summit, stands the castle, crowning a lofty
and precipitous rock; at its opposite end, which lies low, is the palace
of Holyrood House, there commonly designated the Abbey. Holyrood House,
in fact, was a religious establishment long before it became a royal
residence. It was one of the numerous monasteries founded by the
Scottish King David I., a monarch who was made a saint for his pious
profusion. The name of Holyrood was derived from a celebrated silver
rood (or cross) said to have been actually put into the hands of the
founder by an angel, as he was hunting one day on the spot where the
abbey was afterwards erected. This cross was accordingly regarded with
great veneration and pride by the Scots for more than two centuries; but
David II. having thought proper to carry it along with him, in 1347, in
his foolish invasion of England, it fell a prey to the victors at the
disastrous battle of Neville’s Cross, in which the King himself was
severely wounded and taken prisoner, and, according to some accounts,
twenty thousand of his troops left dead on the field. The Holy Rood was
long after this preserved with great care in the cathedral of Durham,
and continued to be the object of nearly as reverential a regard among
its new as it had been among its original possessors. Holyrood House was
most liberally endowed with lands and privileges both by its founder and
by several of his successors; so that it eventually became the richest
ecclesiastical establishment in Scotland. This abbey was repeatedly both
plundered and burned in the course of the wars with the English. In
1544, especially, when Leith and Edinburgh were taken and sacked by the
Earl of Hertford (afterwards the Protector Somerset) the whole of the
church was burned to the ground, with the exception of the nave, which
was subsequently used as a chapel.
[Illustration: Interior of Holyrood Chapel.]
The earliest notice we have of the existence of a palace at Holyrood is
no older than the beginning of the sixteenth century. The more ancient
palaces of the Scottish kings were all to the north of the Forth, the
country to the south of that river not having properly formed part of
their dominions till a comparatively recent era. It is probable,
however, that they may have had a residence at Holyrood before the year
1503, when we first find the _palace_ expressly mentioned. After this,
in 1528, James V. made great additions to the buildings already
existing, or rather indeed rebuilt the whole from the foundation. A
great part of this erection was burnt by the English in 1544; but the
devastation committed on this occasion was soon after repaired; and a
new palace built on a much more extensive scale than before. It was
probably, indeed, a considerably larger building than the present,
inasmuch as it is stated to have consisted of five courts, or
quadrangles. Here the unfortunate Mary had her principal residence
during the time she enjoyed her regal dignity; and here also her son
James VI. held his court, till his accession to the crown of England. A
considerable part of this building was afterwards burned down by
Cromwell’s soldiers, and it lay in ruins till about the year 1670, when,
by direction of Charles II. the present structure was commenced after a
design of Sir William Bruce.
[Illustration: Western Front of Holyrood Palace.]
The present palace of Holyrood House is a handsome stone edifice,
surrounding a court which is nearly square, each side measuring about
230 feet in length. The four different ranges of buildings are flanked
by towers at each extremity--and an arcade, supported by pillars, goes
round the whole of the interior. The north-west portion of the building
is all that remains of the palace erected by James V.; but the
apartments which it contains are very interesting. Here are both the
state-room and the bed-chamber which were used by Queen Mary, with the
old furniture remaining, much of the needlework of which is said to have
been done by her own hands. It was in this bed-room that she was sitting
at supper, with her half-sister, the Countess of Argyle, when Darnley
and his fellow-conspirators rushed in, and dragging forth her minion,
Rizzio, slew him at the door of the apartment. The unhappy man received
about fifty-five wounds. The trap-door, or opening in the floor of the
adjoining passage, by which they ascended from the apartment below, is
still shown, as well as certain dark stains on the floor, stated to be
the marks made by Rizzio’s blood. The Pretender, Charles Edward, took
possession of these apartments when he established himself for a short
time in Edinburgh, in 1745, and slept, it is said, in what had been
Queen Mary’s bed. The same bed, which still occupies its ancient place,
received, a few months afterwards, the victorious Duke of Cumberland,
when the slaughter of Culloden had for ever decided the question between
the houses of Stuart and Hanover. In later times it has twice served as
an asylum to the exiled princes of another house. Charles X. of France,
when Count d’Artois, resided here from 1795 till 1799, with his two
sons, the Dukes d’Angouleme and de Berri; and the same royal personage,
a second time driven from his country, has now a second time found
refuge, with his family, within the same walls. A new ‘Fall of Princes,’
such as old Lydgate translated from a French version of Boccaccio’s
Latin, or a continuation of the ‘Mirror for Magistrates,’ might be
compiled from the history of the successive tenants of Holyrood House
since it was first erected by James V.
When his late Majesty visited Scotland in 1822, the state apartments in
Holyrood House were fitted up with great magnificence, and their gilded
and mirrored walls again reflected the splendour of levees and
drawing-rooms. Considerable sums also have since been expended from the
crown revenues in restoring the palace; and in consequence many
important repairs and alterations have been effected. The largest of the
apartments which it contains is a gallery on the north side, 145 feet in
length by 25 in breadth, and 18½ in height. This gallery is adorned with
111 imaginary portraits of Scottish kings, all painted by a Flemish
artist named De Witt, who was brought over by James VII. to execute the
work. They are not worth much more as specimens of art than as
illustrations of history. The Duke of Cumberland’s troops, when here in
1746, by way perhaps of evincing their superior connoisseurship, thought
proper to stab and slash many of these canvass monarchs with their
swords and bayonets; but they have since been repaired, and are now
inserted into the panels of the wainscot. It is in this gallery that the
elections of the representative peers of Scotland take place.
Next to Queen Mary’s apartments, however, the old chapel is the most
interesting part of Holyrood House. It consists, as we have already
intimated, only of the nave of the original abbey-church. This ruin (for
it is now nothing more) has received in the course of the recent
restorations such repairs as will at least arrest for some time the
farther progress of decay.
Holyrood House, as being a royal palace, is still a sanctuary for
insolvent debtors; and they enjoy the protection, which extends to their
effects as well as to their persons, not only within the immediate
precincts of the palace, but over the whole of the adjoining royal park.
This park is about three miles in circumference, and comprehends within
its bounds the hill called Arthur’s Seat, one of the most striking
objects of natural scenery to be found in the neighbourhood of any city.
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