New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-11-26

"a smeaton' Illustrated by Herbert Ration and
J. Ayton Symngton. Svo. PIP. 1876 The Mac
This story of the Queen of the North" is
admirably told, with a painstaking care and
sense Of historical values and dramatic effects
that make it as entertaining novel. The
author has had an enviable opportunity, for the
records of the fine old city full of strange
and tragic incident. The artist, too fort
innate in subjects quaint or stately. These il
Illustrations. like his oxford and Cambridge
drawings have been tinted, the tinting In this
case being of the conventional kind.
Nobody knows when Edinburgh came into
istence-it probably ages before it took its
name from the Saxon King. Edwin of Deira. Its
early history doubt that of the majority
of European towns; the fortress was built first,
the protector of the little village that grew
about it. Mr.. Smeaton is convinced that the
association Of the castle with King Arthur has
historical warrant; that in spite OF assertions
10 the contrary a veritable Arthur a great
British chieftain, once warred with the Saxons
in the region between the Tweed and the Forth
Pict, Saxon and Scot contended for the strong
hold. but not much is definitely known of its
vicissitudes until in the eleventh century. NAL
colin II added all the territory north of the
Tweed to the Scottish Kingdom and Malcolm
III rebuilt the castle and made it royal resi-
dence. A relic of his reign still exists in the
Oldest part of the castle in the little chapel. in
which his lovely young wife, Margaret, niece of
Edward the Confessor, was accustomed to pray.
This, the author IS is the Oldest and smallest
place of worship in Scotland, and it now looks
much as It did in the pious Queens day. An
other English Margaret the Queen of Alexander
III. was two hundred years after. less content
than was Malcolm's bride with the bleak castle
on the great rock. She complained OF it as "a
sad and solitary place. without verdure." Over
and over has that rock been the scene of merci-
less warfare It was almost inaccessible,
much that when, in 1872, Thomas Randolph,
the nephew of Robert Bruce, attempted to wrest
it from the English. who then held 1t, he fell
into wrathful despair There came to his aid
soldier who, during the previous Scots occupa-
tion had been accustomed to steal up and down
the cliffs to visit his sweetheart in the town be-
low. How this soldier led thirty OF his omrades
along that dangerous track by night. and how
they surprised and annihilated the whole Eng
lsh garrison. will never be forgotten by any
proud Scot.
Some portion of the castle as it appears to-day
dates from the fourteenth century, when David
II built what is now known as the Argyll Tower.
1t from this tower two centuries after
that the younger Argyll escaped one stormy
evening disguised his stepdaughters foot
man. He bore the girls train, and when they
reached the "Outer Port" his arm, says the
author, was seized by the sentinel, and Argyll
dropped the dress. His agitation would have
betrayed ALL when her ladyshp with feminine
resourcefulness and presence OF mind, struck
him the head with the muddy train which
he had let fall and angrily scolded him for his
clumsiness. The sentry, laughing at the scene.
let them pass, and the earl reached Hol-
land not to be recaptured till 1850" There is
not foot OF the old stronghold which does not
DipfnrpSgne or thrilling "reminiscences
Here is the vauted room wherein the Scots
regalia supposed to have been destroyed by the
English, lay sealed up in a great chest for 10
years. Here is the tiny, irregular bedroom, only
eight feet long, in which Queen Mary gave
birth to the who to reign England
as well as Scotland. Here is the banquet room
in which the young Earl Douglas and his brother
sat laughing with the boy king, James II, when
a black bulls head the ancient Scottish SYM
boil that the chief guest present was doomed to
death" was suddenly placed the table. The
two boys were beheaded within the hour, while
the helpless King ragged in vain against the
powerful Chancellor who then ruled his kingdom
for him and had decreed this betrayal. Most
of the important apartments in the castle
are glad to note, have been splendidly restored
in recent years.
1t was in the reign OF this James II that Edin-
burgh became the sole capital of the Scottish
3
making it the central depot for military stores
and the chief rendezvous for his troops. and he
promoted the thrift of her citizens BY the en-
actment of strict sumptuary laws. He had rea-
son, if we may credit his preliminary statement
that great impoverishment had about
through 'sumptuous claithng bath of men and
women" The city grew rapidly under his fos-
tering care; the whole kingdom in fact, reaped
the benefit of his laws. many of them odd
enough. He would permit no intercourse with
the English
To his subjects ne thought nothing could result
; therefrom but evil. To preserve them therefore,
from approach to amity and intercourse with
the hated Southron. he actually decreed outlawry
against those who should desire in thfs time
OF peace, 10 smooth down the differences which d.
Ing scotland without leave, the la was especially
severe; nor was any Scotsman 10 be allowed 10
| become security or guarantor for Englishman
! unoer any, circumstances whatever, unless he
wlsshed 10 De accused of high treason. Nay, even
! !eglunlate trade was forbidden. No Scotsman was
/ ouI6n WIFE Ohy Victual. fewal or luther sup
porthuon, under the pain OF treason. while no in
SeInnaIf rage was to be allowed between the
Pc ana English, that affections be ma
/ ieo away ira their ain Kinrick."
was 'his James, too, who made the enact
eit' III relation to the kindling of the signal
| hies WHICH bore within an hour from one end OF
@cotiahd 10 the other the news of English in
'ss''f' IL was for the time a, telegraph sum