Western cyclone. [volume] (Nicodemus, Kan.) 1886-1887, 1886-10-07


the Lomond hills, is the palace of Falk
land, erected by Queen Mary ill-starred
father, James v, and the place OF his
untimely death. Lochleven castle itself
is associated with traditions Of Pictlsh
monarch; was for some time the residence
of Alexander III; was besieged by Ed
ward I. of England during the war of
independence; belonged to Euphemle'
second wife Of Robert II; aud toward
the close OF the twelfth century was con
ferred upon a eciOn Of the great family
of Douglas--an ancestor of the Doug
lases Of L0chleven--in whose possession
it remained until near the close OF the
seventeenth century.
Queen Mary was 10 stranger to the
neighborhoOd OF Lochleven or to the cas-
tie itself, as she had frequently resided
in it when following her favorite sports
of hunting, hawking and fishing. Sew
eral Of her letters and her acts of coun-
Gil are dated from Lochleven, and sue
was living there when she held at Kin
ross the memorable interview with John
Knox. We learn from her manuBcnIt
notebook that shortly after her return
from France she fitted up for herself IN
this water girdled fortress certain rooms
adorned with pieces of tapestry on which
scenes of hunting and hawking were de
picted, and which contained an ample
store Of rich and beautiful furniture.
In all probability during her impns
Onment at LOchleven she was permitted
| to occupy these apartments. The keep
or square tower Of the castle which still
exists in good preservation, appears to
have been erected shortly before the
time of queen Mary. 1t is four stories
in height, with round projecting turrets
at the corners, and was doubtless the
residence OF the baron and his household.
Access was obtained to it by draw
bridge, which extended from building
in the courtyard, now demolished, to the
third floor Of the tower. The ground
floor and the floor of the second story
we're vaulted and are still entire. The
courtyard was surrounded by high walls
tlauked ut the corners by towers, and
contained variety of buildings for the
accommodation of the garrison.
With regard to the place of Queen
Mary's Imprisonment, it is impossible
now to arrive at any certainty Some
writer's have supposed that it was in the
upper stories of the square tower-a
conjecture in the highest degree improb-
able. Miss Strickland authoritatively
asserts that Queen Mary's lodgings were
in the southeastern tower, III the court
yard, the principal room OF which is cir
cular in form, only fifteen feet in dame
ter and forty four in circumference.
Mr.. Froude, who adopts the same view,
describes the building as like lime kiln,
from seven to eight feet in diameter, with
walls four feet thick, formed Of rough
hewn stone, rudely plastered, and pierced
with long narrow Sits for windows,
through which nothing larger than cat
can pase, but which admitted daylight
and glimpsos Of the loch and hills. But
the eloquent historian has failed to notice
that the window OF the lower apartments
is really quite large enough to have NJ
forded free egress to the queen and her
maids, and the tower, situated rs it is at
the extremity Of the courtyard, was the
most insecure part Of the buildings. Be
sides, it had no accommodation for the
queens attendants, and as it looked to-
ward the southeast it could not have af-
forded her the means of communicating,
as we know she did, by signals with her
friends in Kinross; and her secretary ex-
preesly states that the lady Of Lochleven
was i'll the habit of looking ont from the
window OF her apartment upon the loch
that size might notice who might be
coming from the village. Mr. Marshall
is in all probability right in thinking
that Mary was lodged in a building
which closely adjoined the square tower.
The ruins Of this structure remained
till the close of the last century and its
outlines can still be traced. The garden
in which the queen was in the habit of
walking with her maids has long been a
waste, though it still contains few flow
ers and fruit trees in a wild and decaved
state.
Sir Walter Scott in The Abbot has
adopted the common notion that old lady
Douglas, the mother OF King James v,
OF the regent Moray, treated the queen
very harshly, and some of The most eff
fective passages in that novel consists Of
the rungent remarks and repartees which
passed between them But, so far from
being severe or unkind to the unforsu-
nate princess, the venerable lady was in
reality on her side. She was no resident
in the castle or on the island at the time
of Mary's imprisonment, but in the
original Kinross house, termed the New
Place. on the shore, which Miss Strick-
land fancied was on the island. In a
letter which Mary wrote to Catharine de
Medici, the queen mother of France, she
says: II am so closely watched that
have no leisure but during their dinner
or when they sleep, for their daughters
Pleep with me- A good deal Of indig-
nation has been expended by Miss Strick