The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-12-29
MARY STUART.

William Winter writing from Stirling
November 9, in the New York Tribune,
traces the steps in Mary Stuart's tragic
career, having made special pilgrimages
to the many places associated with her,
"among them her rooms in Hollywood,
where Rizzio was murdered; her rooms in
Edinburgh Castle, where her son James
was born; the ruins of her castle of
Craigmillar, where once she was SO
happy; Carberry HILL where she sur
rendered to her insurgent mobiles: tie
remains of her Loeb Leven prison; the
field of Langside NOW thickly covered
with dwellings,) where she lost her
crown; the mount of Cathcart, from
which she watched the LaDgside battle;
the chapel in Notre Dame, in Paris,
where she was married to Francis of
France; the cathedral at Peterborough,
where her mangled body was first buried
and the stately tomb in Westminster,
where, finally, her ashes we're laid to
rest"
Readers of Scottish history will re-
member the sad account of the death of
Mary Stuart's father, James ", whom
a Scottish historian describes as "the
gayest, bravest, and most chivalrous of
his race" and adds he "died of broken
heart at the cowardice of his army and
the humiliation of his kingdom. James
was at Lochmaben after the defeat of
his troops and while here respondent
and heart. broken he received post from
Linlithgow announcing that zane fair
daughter" had been born to him The
king had hoped for SOP and thus Mary
Stuart received but cold welcome at
her entrance into the world, her father
simply uttering the historic words,
Farewell, it (the kingdom) cam wi
lass, it will gang wi LASS "And &c."
continues the chronicler, "he commend
ed himself to Almighty God, and turned
his back to his lords and his face to the
wall"
Carlyle, in his Heroes and Hero Wor-
ship" alludes to this stormy era, the era
of Knox and Mary Stuart. as the only one
in Scottish history of worldwide inter-
est; and in closing these notes on Mary
Stuart cannot do the reader better
service than to quote these words of
William Winters article, descriptive of
the present appearance of Linlithgow,
the birthplace of the most fascinating
figure in the history of Scotland: II was
now to stand in the stone chamber in
which December 7, 1542) she was born.
at is a roofless ruin-deserted, save
for the footstep of an occasional pilgrim,
and silent, save for the moaning of the
wind; but no spot could be more elo-
quent. Linlithgow, l was told, is seldom
visited-and that is the more remark
able, considering how easily it can be
reached. 1t is a gray and red town
rearing itself beside blue lake, little
southwark from the Forth, about
twenty miles west from Edinburgh, on
the road to Falkirk. The place itself is
mostly modern and conventional, but
the Palace of Linlithgow is one of the
noblest ruins in Europe, and even if it
were devoid of historic associations it
would richly repay study as represen-
alive dwelling of remote and pictur-
esque age. 1t was accidentally burnt,
and since then it has been a cluster of
walls; yet. even SO, much of the original
hill OH Oh
little help of fancy, can readily recon-
struct its splendors, and animate its
desolation with the teeming, sumptuous
life of long ago.
standing in the court yard of that
gray and bleak ruin, you look up to the
inner window of the room in which Mary
was born, and you may discern. above it,
the royal symbols, still perfect, that were
placed there by her son, years afterward
in memory of his most unfortunate
mother. In the room itself the remains
of what was once a splendid fireplace
will attract your admiration, and you
will see, in about the center of the floor.
a stone that is marked with nine circu-
lar identations, possibly designed for
Mary's juvenile game of nine-pins-as,
indeed, the guide does not scruple to in
innate; but in truth the royal infant
flor Mary became a Queen when she was
only six days DID, passed but seven
months at Linlithgow. before, in 1857
she was removed to Stirling Castle.
Next to the queens room is chamber
that was occupied. in succession, by
three of her ancestors, James III. James
w., and her father, James ", and in one
corner of it is still visible the hiding
place wherein, beneath secret trapdoor,
James III. concealed himself from the
lords who would have slain him. while
his Queen, Margaret of Denmark, sat by,
in seeming tranquility, and by her per-
feet composure averted the suspicion of
the insurgents and threw them off the
scent. Those rooms in the old Stuart
days we're splendidly decorated. In