The Portland daily press., 1885-08-28
ABOUT CROW MS.
The Ten-pounderW Worn by Bruce, Ma
ry Stuart and Charles l.

Fuller in the Rockland Courier Gazette.]
In the crown room, as it is called, in a
large glass case surrounded by protecting
bars of iron, visitors during certain hours
are shown the regalia of Scotland consist
ing of the crown, sceptre, sword of state and
lord treasurer's mace, all beautifully bestud-
ded with precious stones, and worth in round
figures as much as an ordinary American ed
itoT-that is, about $4,000. The history at
tached to these gaudy emblems of royalty is
deeply engrossing but too extended for me
to reproduce. The crown itself, then not
SO magnifcently bejeweled as today, was
first worn on the head of no less distin-
guished parsonage than the immortal Robert
Bruce himself. During the troublous part
of the reign of Charles Ii. the regalia suffered
many romantic adventures, among others
being buried for several years in the ground,
and watched over by faithful attendants,
that it might not fall into the hands of the
English republicans. BY the articles of the
union between England and Scotland in 1707,
the regalia was to be spared to the latter
country as an emblem of their unconquered
independence, but by some chance the crown
jewels were packed away and lost and lay
IOT II uulluT6u anu U6u years, lOCk6u up LII
huge chest, in dusty loft of the castle, until
chiefly through the instrumentality of Wal
ter Scott, they were reSurrected and now
are preserved with jealous care by these
Scotch people, who regard them with a spe-
cies of veneration as symbols of their ma
tion's ancient glory The crown is especial
ly an object of interest, for as you look at it,
you instinctiyely fit it upon the lOrdly brows
of Bruce Mary Stuart, James vi. and
Charles l., together with other kings whose
n, bod
ly has ornamented, and you wonder how
they looked in it, and if it didn't make their
heads ache
1t must be very uncomfortable at times,
wearing crown. In the first place, it is
about as big as new style tall hat though
of somewhat different shape, and being made
of gold and set off with velvet, which is
loaded down with as much as cupful and
half of rubies and diamonds and pearls and
things, it must be very heavy. should say,
looking at this crown through the window
they wouldn't let me heft it, though lasked
the man in as polite language as / was capa-
BILE of to allow me to dO-that it weighs about
ten pounds and quarter Now fancy a king
or a queen wearing such thing on the head
all the time. How they continue to do 1t and
not make corns on the forehead, / don't un-
derstand. In hot weather too the crown
must be awfully exasperating, though it is
possible that they have lighter ones for sum-
mer wear. This must be the case, and no
heavy, that queen can use about the house
when she is doing up her work, or to throw
on a moment when she runs out to neigh
boris to borrow cupful of yeast. But do
they sleep in their crowns? That was what
puzzled me most of all to answer. l couldn't
see how it was possible, and get a good
nights rest, and finally concluded, as the
only solution of difficult problem, that the
king actually wore the crown to bed, but af-
ter he had dismissed the gentlemen of the
bed chamber with a royal wave of the hand,
and blown out the light, he took the crown
off and laid it on a chair, where he could
reach it handy if anything occurred in the
| night. At least that seemed to me as the
most likely thing king would do, then
| when the servants came in in the m rning to
| hand him his pants and robes and things, he
could be sitting up in bed with the crown on,
as naughty as you please. There was dent
in one side of this crown, and two or three
of the jewels were gone, but | knew what
did that. That was where Mary got mad,
one day, when John Knox had said some
particularly hard things to her, and she
snatched it off and flung it at him. Luckily
Knox lodged. and the crown only killed a
servant and unfortunately SCARED it trifie.
Mary used to exhibit dreadful temper at
times, but, poor thing, don't know as can
blame her.