Part 3
Some attention yet remains to be paid to the delightful walks which pervade these most interesting localities. The public walks in Stirling are quite matchless in Scotland. The oldest of them is one which was begun in 1723, along the top of the rock which skirts the town to the south-west, and immediately under the wall which formerly fortified the town in that quarter. It was a Mr Edmonstoun, of Cambus-Wallace, who had the taste and public spirit to commence this work, which the magistrates completed about the end of the century. Since then, the walk has been extended round the back of the castle rock, and along the skirts of the Gowlan Hills, so as to make them a sort of inverted amphitheatre for seeing all the objects around Stirling. It is thus possible to see an amazing multiplicity of interesting objects within the space of about a mile of walk. Beginning at the old walk under the town-wall, the spectator sees, first, Bannockburn and Gillies Hill, the scenery of Bruce’s famous victory, and the field of Sauchie, which terminated the reign of the unfortunate James III.; near at hand, the steeple of Ninian’s church, deprived of its attendant place of worship, in 1746, by Prince Charles’ Highlanders, who blew it up after using it as a powder magazine; farther to the west, Touch House, still the seat of a branch of the Seton family, who were the King’s armour-bearers; then Craigforth, a beautifully wooded hill, rising abruptly from the plain, and having a bold precipice presented to the west (_PLATE V._); then the Teith, the Allan, and the Links of the Forth in all their windings. In the remoter parts of the scene, the spectator sees Benlomond, and his grand fraternity of lesser brothers, including Benledi, and Benvoirlich, which give an inconceivably magnificent air to the picture. Here it is curious to consider, that, from the castle above you, you can see, on one hand, the towers of academic, polished, intellectual Edinburgh, a place where civilization may be said to be carried to a pitch of exquisite perfection, while, on the other, you gaze on an alpine region where the people yet wear part of the dress, and mostly speak the language which obtained in Europe, before even the early ages of Grecian and Roman refinement. It is strange, thus to link together the extremes of human society,—thus to associate the nineteenth century before Christ, and the nineteenth century after him, for no less remote from each other, in reality, are the ideas arising from a view of Edinburgh and of the Highlands. But, it is not alone the objects at a distance from Stirling, that constitute the pleasure of a promenade over its walks. The objects more nearly at hand, come in for an immense share of this pleasure. ‘Who can look,’ says a citizen of Stirling, in an eloquent letter upon this very subject, ‘who can look upon our castle, and its palace, and noble park, upon the Royal Gardens and their celebrated Table, upon the Ladies’ Hill and the Valley below it, and upon our fine old Franciscan tower, so remarkable for its simple majesty, without being carried back in his imagination to the splendid scenes of other times;—to the reigns of the gallant and accomplished Jameses, to the days of tilt and tournament, and courtly pomp, to the feats of a brave and knightly nobility, to the chivalry and romance, in short, of Scottish history. No man of taste, or lover of his country, ever traversed our walks without pleasure, or left them without regret.’
EAST AND WEST CHURCHES.
_PLATE VI._
THE EAST and WEST CHURCHES are here represented as seen from a spot behind the Ladies’ Hill, the spectator being supposed to look in a south-east direction.
These Churches, though anciently one, are now separate places of worship; but, being attached to each other in the way represented, they are only distinguished in modern times by the epithets here applied to them. The division took place in 1656.
The WEST CHURCH was originally the place of worship connected with the Franciscan or Grey Friars’ Monastery, which was founded in Stirling by James IV., in 1494. It cannot, therefore, be of an older date. It appears to have had a projecting square building at each corner. One of these at the north-west corner was, according to tradition, the chapel of Margaret, daughter of Henry the Seventh, James the Fourth’s queen. The interior was of beautiful architecture; and on the arch (now converted into a window) which formed the entrance to it, may still be seen, from the outside of the church, the rose of England and thistle of Scotland. Another of these projections at the north-east corner, is now an aisle belonging to the family of Moir of Leckie. Another at the south-east corner, on the left hand of the present entrance to the church, became the burying-place of the Earls of Stirling; Sir William Alexander, the first Earl, having been brought from London and buried in it. The remaining projection, situated at the south-west corner, was at one time an entrance to the church. All these excrescences, with the exception of that now belonging to the family of Moir of Leckie, were lately taken away, when the West Church was repaired. On that occasion the church was very tastefully fitted up. In the West Church are the monuments of Lieutenant-Colonel Blackadder, of the Cameronian Regiment; and Dr David Doig, Rector of the Grammar School of Stirling. Blackadder was Deputy-Governor of the Castle in 1715, and wrote memoirs of himself, which possess considerable interest. Doig was one of the first scholars of his day, and wrote the articles, Philology and Mysteries, in the Encyclopædia Britannica, and some very learned letters on the savage state, addressed to Lord Kames.
The EAST CHURCH, at least the chancel, was built by Cardinal Beatoun; but, though a later, and in external appearance a more magnificent structure, it is not, in reality, of such elegant architecture as its more aged neighbour. Its east window is tall and handsome, the mullions fortunately being still preserved. Around the exterior of the building are eleven buttresses, each having a vacant niche, which are supposed to have been filled, before the Reformation, with statues of the apostles, Judas of course excepted. In the chancel of the East Church was a tomb-stone bearing this inscription, in Latin:—‘In memory of Margaret Steuart, grand-daughter of James V., King of Scots; daughter to the Earl of Murray, regent, and Anne Keith, a lady of quality; wife to the Earl of Arrol. She died of a distemper upon Sabbath, the 2d April, in the year of our Lord 1586, in the 16th year of her age. The Lord, who alone united us, has parted us by death.’
The church of Stirling is remarkable in Scottish history, as the place where the regent Earl of Arran, in 1543, abjured the Catholic faith, and avowed the Protestant doctrines; which, however, he afterwards renounced. Here, also, on the 29th of July 1567, James VI. was crowned, at the age of thirteen months and ten days, John Knox preaching the coronation sermon, and Lords Lindsay and Ruthven, who extorted the resignation of the crown from the unfortunate Mary, being among the nobles who assisted at the ceremony. In 1651, Monk took possession of the tower, or steeple, from which he proceeded to batter the castle. The Highlanders, in 1746, assumed the same station, for the purpose of celebrating their victory at Falkirk, which they did by ringing of bells, and discharging fire-arms from the battlements. On both of these occasions, the steeple suffered from the shot of the castle; and hollows are still pointed out on its sides, which are said to have been occasioned by the bullets. The steeple is distinguished by a majestic simplicity, which, without elaborate ornament of any kind, renders it an object of no inconsiderable interest to the spectator.
The building seen to the right of the churches, in the annexed view, is Cowan’s Hospital, built in 1639. John Cowan, a merchant in Stirling, between the years 1633 and 1637, left forty thousand merks, to endow an hospital, or alms-house, for twelve decayed brethren of the guild or mercantile corporation of Stirling. The money was invested in the purchase of lands, which now yield a revenue of upwards of £3400 sterling _per annum_. From this fund about a hundred and forty persons, at present, receive relief. The front of the house exhibits a full-length statue of the founder, which will be looked upon with interest as a memorial of the costume of the better order of Scottish burghers, in the reign of Charles I.
BROAD STREET.
_PLATE VII._
THE HIGH STREET, or BROAD STREET, as it is now commonly called, is the principal street in Stirling. It lies, in the shape of a parallelogram, on the upper part of the hill whereon the town is built; and, what with the height of the houses, their substantial, and, in various instances, antique architecture, the steeple of the town-house, and other favourable circumstances, it makes a very respectable appearance. The present draught represents it as seen from the bottom, looking upwards to the castle, the view at the top being closed by the ruins of the house of the regent Earl of Mar.
In the centre of this street, opposite the town-house, once stood a market-cross, of beautiful workmanship. It was a lofty stone pillar, to the base of which there was an ascent on all sides, by flights of steps. On the top of this pillar sat a figure of the Scottish unicorn, extending the shield of the royal arms of Scotland, surmounted by the crown. This cross was barbarously pulled down about thirty-five years ago. The unicorn, however, was preserved, and is, at present, to be seen in front of the building in Spittal Street, containing the fire-engine.
At the time when Stirling was an abode of the court, Broad Street appears to have been chiefly occupied by noblemen. The situations of the houses occupied by the Earls of Morton, Glencairn, Lennox, and other bold figurants in the history of Mary and James, are all here pointed out; as also, a house at the bottom, now the office of a branch of the Bank of Scotland, which is said to have been the residence, successively, of Darnley, and of the young Prince Henry, his grandson, when at nurse. On the site of the present weigh-house, was the house of the family of Lennox.
Broad Street was the scene of an incident very remarkable in Scottish history, which occurred in 1571. The party which espoused the falling interest of Queen Mary, was then in possession of Edinburgh, while the Protestant faction, which supported her infant son against her, had Stirling for its head-quarters. The whole of the leading men of the king’s party were assembled at Stirling, early in September 1571, to attend a parliament, when the queen’s men at Edinburgh projected a daring enterprise against them. In the dead of night, a band, several hundred strong, consisting chiefly of borderers, was led off from the capital towards Stirling, under the command of Lord Claud Hamilton, and the Lairds of Buccleugh and Fernieherst, being guided to their destination by a man of the name of Bell, who was a native of Stirling. They entered the open, defenceless, unwatched town, long before day-break, and immediately planting a guard at the door of each slumbering noble, soon had the whole in their power. The Earl of Lennox, regent for James, surrendered at discretion, and, with many of his friends, was placed on the back of a horse behind a sturdy borderer, to be carried off prisoner to Edinburgh. Unfortunately for them, the Earl of Morton repelled their assault for such a length of time as gave occasion to a counter-surprise. The noise having disturbed the Earl of Mar in the Castle, he brought down sixteen harquebusiers into his lodging at the head of the street, (then in the process of building,) and, having planted them securely, he commanded a volley to be fired down the street at the enterprisers, who, without stopping any time to ascertain the force of this contemptible enemy, at once took to their heels, crowded through the narrow pass at the bottom, where many were trodden to death, and instantly left the town. Many of the queen’s men, on this occasion, yielded themselves prisoners to the very men who had been seated behind them in that capacity a few minutes before. The Earl of Lennox, however, did not thus recover his freedom. He was cut down, by an invidious enemy, at the village of Newhouse, about half-a-mile from the South Port, on the way to Edinburgh. This was altogether an affair very characteristic of the time when it happened,—a time when the bravest exploits were sometimes rendered naught by the want of a little discipline, and surprise was almost sure to be attended by success.
The house of the Earl of Mar is almost the only one of the private palaces of that age, now surviving in any shape. It faces down Broad Street, from any part of which it must have had, when entire, a fine appearance. It was, originally, a quadrangular building, with a small court in the centre. We are now only left the ruins of the front of the square. In the centre of this front are the royal arms of Scotland, and, on the two projecting towers on each side, those of the regent and his countess, all in a state of fine preservation; but a number of figures jutting out from the rest of the wall, are in a most mutilated state, and only remain to give us some idea of the costumes of the age when the house was built. The date on the building is 1570, the year before the Earl of Mar became regent. He procured the greater part of the stones from the ruins of Cambuskenneth Abbey, of which he had got a grant. John Knox exclaimed against this as sacrilege, and prophesied the consequent ruin of his family, not remembering, apparently, what share he himself had had in the demolition of these fine buildings. The Earl, either to disarm the criticism which might be directed against the curious taste in which his house was built, or to deprecate the charge of sacrilege, put the three following inscriptions over various door-ways giving entrance to the building:
Esspy. speik. furth. I cair. nocht. Consider. weil. I. cair nocht.
* * * * *
The moir I stand on oppin hicht, My faultis moir subiect ar to sicht.
* * * * *
I pray al luikaris on this luging, With gentle e to gif thair juging. (10)
_PLATE VIII._
A narrow street leads off from the upper end of Broad Street towards the Castle, and is called the Castle Wynd. It has been thought proper to give a sketch of this alley, both on account of the interesting character of the historical objects which it contains, and their strikingly picturesque effect, when fore-shortened by a view from the upper end. The nearest object, on the left side of the plate, is the front of Argyll’s Lodging; the house, with the projecting stair-case, is a very ancient one, which has a coat-of-arms on the front of the wall, now nearly obliterated. Farther on, is Mar’s Work; and, in the extremity of the view, is the north side of the chancel of the East Church. Such a picture of antiquity, we believe, is nowhere now to be seen in Scotland; but, a few years ago, it was even more striking than it is at present, another curiously antique house having then stood on the east side of the street, between Mar’s Work and the Church.
Argyll’s Lodging is a large quadrangular house, built in the lordly style which prevailed during the reigns of James, and the first Charles. It was erected at the expense of Sir William Alexander, a personage who rose, in consequence of his genius and courtly qualities, from the condition of being Laird of Menstrie, (a small estate to the north-east of Stirling,) to immense wealth, and high title. Prince Henry, who was baptised in the castle, honoured him with his particular notice, and introduced him at the Court of England, where James the Sixth knighted him, and made him master of requests. He addressed a Parœnesis to the Prince, which is said to be his master-piece, and wrote an elegy on his death, in 1612, in strains nowise inferior to those of Drummond of Hawthornden, who bewailed that mournful event in an ‘elegy on the death of Mœliades,’ a name by which the Prince was known. King James appointed him preceptor to Henry’s brother, Charles; and Charles, coming to the throne in 1625, gave him a right of appointing the hundred baronets of Nova Scotia, from each of whom he received £200 sterling; raised him to various high offices of state in succession; and, finally, on the occasion of his coronation at Holyroodhouse, in 1633, created him Earl of Stirling, Viscount Canada, and Lord Alexander of Tullibody. Nova Scotia, and Canada, he is said to have discovered and colonised; and he had other extensive possessions in America. James the Sixth used to call him his philosophical poet; Ben Johnson, who travelled to Scotland to visit Hawthornden, corresponded with him; and Addison said of his whole works, which are not a few in number, that ‘he had read them with the greatest satisfaction.’ His prosperity not being continued to his offspring, this splendid house, which must have been the wonder of its day, fell into the hands of the Argyll family. Here the unfortunate Earl of Argyll received and entertained the Duke of York and his family, in 1680, when they came to visit Stirling Castle. Only five years after, he suffered death at the instance of his royal guest, who had then become James II. By another singular vicissitude of fortune, John, Duke of Argyll, in 1715, here held his counsel of war, when employed to break the interest of the son of the same James. Sir William Alexander built the centre and northern wing in 1633; and over the principal door of the centre, leading by an oaken staircase to the grand hall, is his full coat-of-arms, with the motto ‘_per mare per terras_,’ still perfectly entire. Over the windows of these parts of the building too, may still be seen the initials of William, Earl Stirling, and Jane, Countess Stirling, surmounted by a coronet.
From the Argyll family, the building passed successively into the hands of other individuals. In 1799, the crown purchased it, and converted it into a military hospital, and apartments for the barrack-master and his serjeant. No other damage, however, has been done, than that of removing a balcony above the outer gate, or entrance from the Castle Wynd, which added considerably to the effect of the building. The roof being somewhat in a state of disrepair, it is now proposed, we understand, to _modernize it_. May such a piece of sacrilege be averted! May the baronial taste of Sir William Alexander, one of the most accomplished men of his age, and the favourite of Princes, be respected! The southern wing appears to have been added by some of the Argyll family, as one of the doors of entrance to it from the court-yard, is dated 1674, and the crest of the Campbells (a boar’s head), is observable, in ludicrous multiplication, over the windows of all that part of the building.
The Castle Wynd was, on the 17th of March 1578, the scene of the death of John, Lord Glammis, a sagacious nobleman, who held the office of Chancellor of Scotland. He had a ‘deidly feid,’ as it was called, with David, Earl of Crawford. The two happened to pass each other in the Castle Wynd, very nearly opposite to the Earl of Mar’s house. No collision took place between themselves; but, unfortunately, two fellows who went in their respective retinues quarrelled and began to fight; on which a pistol was fired, the ball of which went through Lord Glammis’ head. He immediately expired.
STIRLING BRIDGE.
_VIGNETTE._
THE BRIDGE over the Forth at Stirling, is by far the most noted structure of the kind in Scotland. Being the first convenience of the sort, which occurs on the Forth for fifty miles upwards from the mouth of its estuary, and having been, till lately, almost the _only_ access for wheeled carriages into the northern department of Scotland; there can be little wonder that it is so. Furthermore, it is old; furthermore, it is conspicuous in the history of the country. Altogether, it is one of the most notable public objects in the kingdom.
At a very early period, there was a wooden bridge across the Forth, about a mile above the present stone structure; probably it was at first the work of the Romans. It is this bridge which figures on the obverse side of the ancient seal of the town. It was, on the 13th of September 1297, the cause of a decisive victory gained by Sir William Wallace, over the English, under Cressingham and De Warenne. By permitting half of the southern army to cross over, the Scottish hero and his companions destroyed them with great ease. It is said, by tradition, that he gave a blast on his horn, as a signal for the onset, from the top of the Abbey Craig, and that, by causing a man to saw through the bridge below the feet of his enemies, he greatly increased the slaughter. The remains of this bridge are visible at low water, and the place is still a ford. Montrose led his army through the water at this point, when on his march to fight the battle of Kilsyth, in 1645. It is near the mill of Kildean.
The age of the stone bridge is unknown; but it must be at least as old as 1571, when Archbishop Hamilton was hanged upon it, by the King’s faction, under the Regent Lennox. It is of very antique structure, being narrow, high in the centre, and composed of arches. Formerly, it had a gate leading through two small flanking towers, near the south end, and another gate leading through two similar towers, near the north end: there were also two low ones in the centre. A painting over the door of one of the rooms of the Town House, represents the bridge in this state. General Blakeney, the governor of the castle in 1745, caused the south arch to be destroyed, in order to intercept the Highlanders, both in their march south, in parties, to reinforce Prince Charles, and in their retreat northwards on desertion. On this account, when the royal army came to follow Charles to the north, in February 1746, the Duke of Cumberland was obliged to supply the place of the deficient arch, by logs and boards of wood; which was one of the reasons why he never overtook, or came near his enemy, till the battle of Culloden.
For some time, it has been proposed, to substitute a new structure for this venerable one, at some place in the immediate neighbourhood. How many ages must elapse, before it shall acquire the same quality of interesting associations, which our memories connect with the subject of this plate!
NOTES.
NOTE 1. page 3.
This stone is near the highest point of the western brow of the Gowlan Hills, facing the farm-house of Raploch, and of course, to the north of the old gate which entered the Nether Bailiary of the castle, from the Ballangeigh Road. The inscription may be said to be now wholly obliterated; but the fact rests on the authority of Sir Robert Sibbald, Timothy Pont, and other antiquaries.
NOTE 2. p. 9.—ROYAL VISITS TO STIRLING.
The magistracy of Stirling have, at various periods, exerted themselves to receive, with befitting honour, the descendants of those royal personages, who formerly rendered their castle the scene of a permanent court.