CHAPTER XVIII.

Linlithgow-Palace, Church, and Apparition-Battle of Flodden Field-Assassination of the Regent Murray.

LINLITHGOW, is one of the most respectable among all the ancient boroughs of Scotland; its charter dates from the reign of David I., early in the twelfth century. The prime object of attention, is undoubtedly the palace, where the kings and queens of Scotland long held their courts. It was here that Mary Queen of Scots was born. This palace was generally used as a jointure house for the Queens of Scotland. It is said that Mary of Guise, consort of James V. and mother of Mary, on being first brought to it, declared it a much more splendid house than any of the royal palaces of France.

Next to the palace, as an object of curiosity, is the church. This venerable and impressive structure may be regarded as one of the finest and most entire speci mens of Gothic architecture in Scotland.

The battle of Flodden Hill was perhaps the most disastrous that ever Scotland saw. And it was in this church, that James IV. and his courtiers were surprised by an apparition, forewarning him against that mad ex

pedition. The following account of this strange occurrence is given by Lindsay of Pitscottie, who probably received it from eye-witnesses. It is remarkable for picturesque simplicity." The king," says he, "came to Linlithgow, where he happened to be for the time at the council, very sad and dolorous, making his devotion to God, to send him good chance and fortune in his undertaking. In the mean time, there came a man, clad in a blue gown, in at the kirk door, and had belted about him a roll of linen cloth, a pair of brotikins (buskins) upon his feet to the great of his legs, with all other hose and cloth to conform thereto; but he had nothing on his head, but long red yellow hair behind and on his cheeks which was down to his shoulders; but his forehead was bald and bare. He seemed to be a man of two-and-fifty years, with a great pike-staff in his hand; and came first forward among the lords, calling for the king, saying, he desired to speak with him. While at the last he came to where the king was sitting in the desk at his prayers. He made no reverence nor salutation to the king, but leaned down on the desk before him, and spoke in this manner :-" Sir king, my mother has sent me to you, desiring you not to pass at this time, where you are purposed; for if you doest, thou wilt not fare well in thy journey. Further, she bade thee mell with no woman, nor use their counsel; for if thou do, thou wilt be confounded, and brought to shame." By the time the man had spoken these words, the evening song was near done. The king paused on these words, studying to give him an answer. But, in the mean time, before the king's eyes, and in the presence of all the lords that were about him, this man vanished away, and could no where be apprehended; but vanished, as if he had been a blink of the sun, or a

whip of the whirlwind. I heard, (says the same writer,) Sir David Lindsay the herald, and John Ingils the marshal, say, they were standing beside the king, and thought to have laid hands on him, but he vanished away betwixt them, and was no more seen. It has been supposed, that this was a stratagem of the queen, in conjunction with the household priest (for in those days of ignorance, the priests wrought many miracles) to deter the king from his wild enterprise. That part of the speech, where he give the king so broad a hint about incontinence, seems to imply, that the queen was at the root of the matter.

Omens, also, are said to have occurred calculated to impress the superstitious public with fearful anticipations of the fate of the campaign. Voices as of a herald were heard at midnight at the cross of Edinburgh, summoning the king and his nobles by name to appear within sixty days at the bar of Pluto. Margaret, his queen, also used every plan and influence to detain him, but all to no purpose. When at length he set out for Flodden, she retired to her room and wept many days, anticipating, as the event confirmed, that she would never see him more. He died on the field of battle, and was buried in England; so she never even saw his corpse. There lay slain on the field the king, thirty of the nobles, fifty chiefs, knights, and men of eminence, besides ten thousand men.

In Linlithgow, too, you are shown the house from which Hamilton of Bothwell-haugh shot the Regent Murray, in 1570. Hamilton belonged to what was called the king's party, and had been taken prisoner by Murray at the battle of Langside. The regent granted mercy to himself, but confiscated his estate, according to the custom of the times, and bestowed it on one

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of his favorites. This man seized the house, and turned his wife out of doors naked, in a cold night, into the open fields, where, before the next morning, she became furiously mad. Hamilton was absent. When he returned home and found his wife a maniac, and his house in the possession of another, it so inflamed his rage, that he swore nothing would extinguish the fire but the heart's blood of the regent; thus giving up his whole soul to revenge, he followed him from place to place, watching an opportunity to strike the blow: when hearing that the regent was to pass through Linlithgow on his way to Edinburgh, he took his stand at a window, waiting his approach. Murray had got a hint of his danger, and resolved to ride quickly through the city; but just as he came opposite the fatal spot, a pressure in the crowd for a moment impeded his course, when the assassin found time to take so sure an aim, that he shot the regent with a single bullet. The ball passed through his body and killed the horse of a gen tleman who rode on the other side. Hamilton mounted a fleet horse, which stood ready in a back passage, and rode off.

He was pursued in his flight by a few of the regent's friends. After both spur and lash had failed him in urging the speed of his horse, and being hard beset, he plunged his dagger into the flank of the animal, and by that means succeeded in leaping a broad marsh, which intercepted his pursuers. He made straight for the house of a friend, where he found shelter for some time. After a short stay he left Scotland, and served in France, under the patronage of the family of Guise. It is recorded that an attempt was made to engage him to assassinate Gaspar de Coligny, the famous admiral of France, and buckler of the Huguenot cause. But

they mistook their man; he was no mercenary trader in blood, and rejected the offer with contempt and indignation. He had no authority, he said, from Scotland, to commit murder in France; he had avenged his own just quarrel, but he would neither for price nor prayer, avenge that of another man. Some add that he challenged the bearer on the spot.