the wawles, nor in the suburbes, was lefte anyone house vnbrent, besydes the innumerable botyes [booties], spoyles, and pyllages, that our souldyours brought from thense, notwithstandynge habundance which was consumed by fyer. Also, we brent the abbey called Holy-Rode-house, and the pallice adioynynge to the same. In the meane tyme, there came vnto vs iiii.M. of our lyghte horsemen from the borders by the kynges maiestie's appoyntement, who dyd suche exploytes in rydying and deuastying the countrie, that within vii. myles euery waye of Edenborrough, they left neyther pyle [castle], village, nor house standynge vnbrente, nor stakes [stacks] of corne, besydes great nombres of cattyles which they brought dayley into the armey, &c."

The church was subsequently made the chapel royal, and splendidly fitted up with an organ, and stalls for the knights of the thistle; but the people, scandalized at mass being performed during the reign of James II., destroyed it at the revolution. The graves were stripped, and, among the rest, Darnley's remains were exposed, and his skull purloined. His thigh-bones were of such size as to confirm the truth of the statements as to his stature, seven feet. For long the state of the chapel and the most offensive exposure of the remains of the dead, was a thorough disgrace to all who had any authority within the precincts of Holyrood.

was with the king a man of singular and devout life, named Alkwine, canon of the order of St. Augustine, long confessor to king David in England, the time that he was earl of Huntingdon and Northumberland. Alkwine used many arguments to dissuade the king from going to the hunt. Nevertheless, his dissuasion little availed, for the king was finally so provoked, by inopportune solicitation of his barons, that he passed, notwithstanding the solemnity of the day, to his hounds.' As the king was coming through the vale to the east from the castle, subsequently named the Canongate, the stag passed through the wood with such din of bugles and horses and braying of dogs, that all the beasts were raised from their dens. Now was the king coming to the foot of the crag, and all his nobles severed, here and there, from him, at their game and solace, when suddenly appeared to his sight the fairest hart that ever was seen before with living creature.' There seems to have been something mysterious about this hart which frightened king David's horse past control, so that it ran away followed by the strange hart so fast, that it threw both the king and his horse to the ground. Then the king cast back his hands between the horns of this hart, to have saved him from the stroke thereof,' when a miraculous holy cross slid into his hands, and remained, while the hart fled away with great violence. This occurred in the place where now springs the Rood-well.' The hunters, affrighted, now gathered about the king, and fell on their knees, devoutly adoring the holy cross, a heavenly piece of workmanship. Soon after the king returned to his castle, and in the night was admonished by a vision to build an abbey of canons regular in the same place where he had been saved by the cross. Alkwine, his confessor, by no means suspended his good mind;' and the king sent his trusty servants to France and Flanders, who brought right crafty masons to build this abbey,' dedicated in the honour of this The present palace surrounds a square, each holy cross'" (see "Old England"). Can it be be-side measuring about 230 feet. The four ranges lieved that the ages of such "foolish" supersti- of buildings are flanked by towers. An arcade, tion, nay more than foolish, can be lauded as tes- supported by pillars, goes round the interior. The tifying a holy regard to divine interposition? And north-west portion is all that remains of the payet such is marvellously the case. lace erected by James V. Here are the stateroom and the bedchamber used by queen Mary, with the furniture remaining, much of which is said to have been worked by herself. It was in this bed-room that she was sitting at supper, with her half-sister, the countess of Argyle, when Darnley and his fellow-conspirators rushed in, and, dragging forth Rizzio, slew him at the door. The trap-door by which they ascended is still shewn, as well as dark stains on the floor, stated to be the marks of Rizzio's blood. Charles Edward took possession of these apartments when in Edinburgh, in 1745, and slept, it is said, in what had been queen Mary's bed, which still occupies its place, and received, a few months afterwards, the duke of Cumberland. Holyrood bas twice served as an asylum to exiled princes of France. Charles X., when count d'Artois, resided here from 1795 till 1799, with his sons, the dukes d'Angouleme and de Berri; and a second time found refuge, with his family, after his dethronement, within the same walls.

The cross remained for more than two centuries in the monastery; but, when David II. set out on his expedition against the English, he took the cross with him; and, when taken prisoner at the battle of Neville's Cross, the cross shared his fate. It subsequently became an appendage of Durham cathedral.

The abbey was fearfully injured by the English under the earl of Hertford, A.D. 1544, when the whole of the church was burned, with the exception of the nave. The large brazen font was carried away by sir Richard Lea, captain of the English pioneers, and presented by him to the abbey of St. Alban's.

'It was determyned by the sayde lorde-lieutenant, vtterly to ruynate and destroye the sayde towne with fyer; which, for that the nyghte drewe faste on, we omytted thoroughly to execute on that daye; but settynge fyer in thre or iiii. partes of the towne, we repayred for that nyghte vnto our campe. And the nexte mornynge very erly we began where we lefte, and coninued burnynge all that daye, and the two dayes next ensuinge contynually, so that neyther within

The earliest notice we have of a palace at Holyrood is in the beginning of the sixteenth century. In 1528, James V. made great additions, or rather rebuilt the whole. A great part was burnt by the English A.D. 1544; but a new palace was erected on a more extensive scale. A large portion of this, however, was burned by Cromwell's soldiers, and lay in ruins till about A.D. 1670, when, by direction of Charles II. the present structure was commenced, after a design of sir William Bruce.

When George IV. visited Scotland in 1822, the state apartments were splendidly fitted up. It

See Mag. No. 473.

was also intended that her present majesty should use them on her first visit to Scotland; but accident prevented this. The largest is adorned with 111 imaginary portraits of Scottish kings, painted by a Flemish artist, de Witt, brought over by James VII. It is in this chamber the election of the sixteen peers of Scotland takes place. Great improvements are, at the present time, taking place at the palace and its vicinity; and it will, ere long, become, instead of a neglected, an important object of attraction.

The following account of Holyrood is from Mrs. Sigourney's "Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands":

"The first view of Holyrood is in strong contrast with the splendid buildings and classic columns of the Calton Hill. After admiring the monuments of Dugald Stuart and Nelson, and the fine edifice for the High School, you look down at the extremity of the Canongate upon the old palace, that, seated at the feet of Salisbury Crag, nurses, in comparative desolation, the memories of the past. Its chapel, floored with tomb-stones, and open to the winds of heaven, admonishes human power and pride of their alliance with vanity.

"Through an iron gate we saw, in a damp, miserable vault, the bones of some of the kings of Scotland; among them those of Henry Darnley, without even the covering of that "little charity of earth" which the homeless beggar finds. In another part of the royal chapel, unmarked by any inscription, are the remains of the lovely young queen Magdalen, daughter of Francis the First, of France, who survived but a short time her marriage with James the Fifth. In the same vicinity sleep two infant princes, by the name of Arthur; one the son of him who fell at Flodden-field, the other a brother of Mary of Scotland. Scarcely a single monument, deserving of notice as a work of art, is to be found at Holyrood, except that of viscount Belhaven, a privy-councillor of Charles the First, who died in 1639. He is commemorated by a statue of Parian marble, which is in singular contrast with the rough, black walls of the ruinous tower where it is placed. It has a diffuse and elaborate inscription, setting forth that 'Nature supplied his mind by wisdom for what was wanting in his education; that he would easily get angry, and as easily, even while speaking, grow calm; and that he enjoyed the sweetest society in his only wife, Nicholas Murray, daughter of the baron of Abercairney, who died in eighteen months after her marriage.' "The grave of Rizzio is pointed out under one of the passages to a piazza, covered with a flat stone. Over the mantel-piece of the narrow closet, where from his last fatal supper he was torn forth by the conspirators, is a portrait, said to be of him. Its authenticity is exceedingly doubtful; yet it has been honoured by one of the beautiful effusions of Mrs. Hemans, written during her visit to Holyrood in 1829:

"They haunt me still, those calm, pure, holy eyes!

Their piercing sweetness wanders through my dreams:
The soul of music, that within them lies,
Comes o'er my soul in soft and sudden gleams.
Life, spirit, life immortal and divine,

Is there; and yet how dark a death was thine:"
"In the gallery at Holyrood, which is 150 feet
long, and plain even to meanness, are the portraits of
111 Scottish monarchs, the greater part of which
must, of course, be creations of fancy. Some of the
more distinguished chieftains are interspersed with
them. In the line of the Stuarts we remarked the
smallness and delicacy of the hands, which historians
have mentioned as a marked feature of that unfortu-
nate house. The only female among this formidable
assemblage of crowned heads is Mary of Scotland.
This, her ancestral palace, teems with her relics; and,

however questionable is the identity of some of them, they are usually examined with interest by visitants. The antique cicerone to whom this department appertained, and whose voice had grown hoarse and hollow by painful recitations in these damp apartments, still threw herself into an oratorical attitude, article was to be exhibited, such as 'queen Mary's and bestowed an extra emphasis, when any favourite work-box? Queen Mary's candelabra! The latter utensil, it seems, she brought with her from Frauce. Probably some tender associations, known only to herself, clustered around it; for she was observed often to fix her eyes mournfully upon it, as a relic of happier days. In her apartments we were shown the stone on which she knelt at her coronation; the embroidered double chair, or throne, on which she and Darnley sat after their marriage; the state-bed, ready to perish, and despoiled of many a mouldering fragment by antiquarian voracity; her dressing-case, marvellously destitute of necessary materials; and the round, flat basket in which the first suit of clothes for her only infant was laid. These articles, and many others of a similar nature, brought her palpably before us, and awakened our sympathies. There was a rudeness-an absolute want of comfort about all her appointments, which touched us with pity, and led us back to the turbulent and half civilized men by whom she was surrounded, and from whom she had little reason to expect forbearance as a woman or obedience as a queen. The closet, to which we were shewn the secret staircase where the assassins entered, seems scarcely of sufficient dimensions to allow the persons, who are said to have been assembled there, the simplest accommodations for a repast; especially if Darnley was of so gigantic proportions as the armour still preserved there, and asserted to be his, testifies. Poor Mary, notwithstanding her errors, and the mistakes into which she was driven by the fierce spirit of her evil times, is now remembered throughout her realm with a sympathy and warmth of appreciation which failed to cheer her sufferings during life. Almost constantly you meet with memorials of her. In the castle of Edinburgh you have pointed out to you a miserable, dark room, about eight feet square, where her son, James the Sixth, was born in the Parthenon, among the gatherings of the Antiquarian Society, you are shown the cup from which she used to feed her infant prince, and the long white kid gloves, strongly embroidered with black, which she was said to have worn upon the scaffold; and in the dining-hall at Abbotsford, you start at a most distressing portrait of her—a head in a chargertaken the day after her execution. Near the cathedral of Peterborough, where her body was interred, the following striking inscription was once put up in Latin. It was almost immediately removed, and the writer never discovered; and we are indebted to Camden for its preservation :

Mary, queen of Scots, daughter of a king, kinswoman and next heir to the queen of England, adorned with royal virtues and a noble spirit, having often, but in vain, implored to have the rights of a prince done unto her, is, by a barbarous and tyrannical cruelty, cut off. And by one and the same infamous judgment, both Mary of Scotland is punished with death, and all kings now living are made liable to the same. this, wherein the living are included with the dead; A strange and uncouth kind of grave is for we know that with her ashes the majesty of all kings and princes lies here depressed and violated. of their duty, traveller, I shall say no more.' But because this regal secret doth admonish all kings

"In the modern portion of Holyrood is a pleasant suite of apartments, which were occupied by Charles the Tenth of France, when he found refuge in Scotland from his misfortunes at home. They have ornamented ceilings, and are hung with tapestry.

"The duke of Hamilton, who is keeper of the Of the form of the receptacle we know nothing. palace, has apartments there, as has also the marquis We are informed, indeed, that "Jehoiada the of Breadalbane. The latter has a large collection of priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of family portraits, among which is a fine one, by Van- it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as dyke, of lady Isabella Rich, holding a lute, on which one cometh into the house of the Lord; and the instrument, we are informed by the poet Waller, she priests that kept the door put therein all the had attained great excellence. "We found ourselves attracted to make repeated money that was brought into the house of the visits to Holyrood, and never on those occasions omit- Lord" (2 Kings xii. 9). But, as the money colted its roofless chapel, so rich in recollections. It lected in that manner was applied to a special required, however, a strong effort of imagination to purpose, the "repairing of the breaches of the array it in the royal splendour with which the nup-house," it is probable that the arrangement was tials of queen Mary were there solemnized, and, but temporary; and, as it is stated, in the verses seventy years afterwards, the coronation of her grand- at present under consideration, that "Jesus besou, Charles the First. The processions, the ringing held how the people cast money into the treasury," of bells, the gay tapestry streaming from the windows it is fair to conclude that the receptacle was an of the city, the rich costumes of the barons, bishops, open one, and such as allowed the various offerand other nobility, the king, in his robes of crimsonings deposited in it to be seen by those who stood velvet, attending devoutly to the sacred services of the day, receiving the oaths of allegiance, or scattering, through his almoner, broad pieces of gold among the people, are detailed with minuteness and delight by the Scottish chronicles of that period. Because this was the most glorious and magnifique coronatione that ever was seine in this kingdom,' says sir James Balfour, and the first king of Greate Britain that ever was crowned in Scotland, to behold these triumphs and ceremonies many strangers of grate quality resorted hither from divers countries.'

"Who can muse at Holyrood without retracing the disastrous fortunes of the house of Stuart, whose images seem to glide from among the ruined arches where they once held dominion? James the First was a prisoner through the whole of his early life, and died under the assassin's steel. James the Second was destroyed by the bursting of one of his own cannon at the siege of Roxburgh. James the Third was defeated in battle by rebels headed by his own son, and afterwards assassinated. James the Fourth fell with the flower of his army at Flodden-field, and failed even of the rites of sepulture. James the Fifth died of grief, in the prime of life, at the moment of the birth of his daughter, who, after twenty years of imprisonment in England, was condemned to the scaffold. James the First of England, though apparently more fortunate than his ancestors, was menaced by conspiracy, suffered the loss of his eldest son, and saw his daughter a crownless queen. Charles the First had his head struck off in front of his own

palace. Charles the Second was compelled to fly from his country, and, after twelve years' banishment, returned to an inglorious reign. James the Second abdicated his throne, lost three kingdoms, died an exile, and was the last of his race who inhabited the palace of Holyrood."

by. It is, no doubt, true, that our blessed Lord, by reason of his divine omniscience, could himself have known how much each person was casting in; but, as he called his disciples to him, and directed their attention to the offering of the widow, without mentioning its amount, it follows, we think, that they also must have seen what she had given.

The manner in which he, who is the Searcher of hearts, commends the conduct of this pious female, and the distinct intimation which he thus gives. that it is not the amount of the money contributed to maintain his worship or to extend his kingdom that he regards, but the motive which dictates the contribution, and the proportion which it bears to our means, are an unspeakable encouragement to the poor of his people in every age, to give what they can afford with a willing mind; and even out of their poverty to devote a little to the furtherance of his cause in the world around them.

It has from time immemorial been the custom, in the northern part of our island, to place some receptacle-usually a large brass plate or basin at the church-door, for receiving the free-will offerings of the people; and in the established church of Scotland, at least, these contributions are almost exclusively applied to the maintenance of the poor.

The custom derives its origin from the practice of the primitive times; and it is to be hoped that there are not a few amongst our brethren and sisters in the Lord, who still esteem it a Christian duty, and even privilege, thus to contribute to the support of their indigent neighbours. From the smallness of the allowance, however, usually given to the parish pauper in

BRIEF COMMENTS ON CERTAIN PASSAGES Scotland, and the frequency with which even that

OF SCRIPTURE.

BY RICHARD HUIE, M.D.

No. IV.

“And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury; and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto

him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury; for all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."-MARK xii. 41-44.

THE treasury here mentioned was a receptacle placed at the entrance of the temple, for the purpose of receiving the voluntary offerings of the worshippers; and these appear to have been applied to the purchase of wood for the altar, salt, and other necessaries, not provided for in any

other way.

pittance is withheld, on the plea that there are no funds in the hands of the kirk session, there is reason to fear that a very considerable number allow themselves to forget that he, who once looked on with the eye of man while the people cast money into the treasury of the temple, still looks on with the eye of omniscience while we deposit our gifts at the entrance of the sanctuary, and sees how much, or rather how little, we bestow on the necessitous around us. Were it otherwise, I am satisfied that the weekly collections for the poor would be incomparably more liberal than they are, and would exhibit something like a proportion to the several circumstances of the donors. At present, the man who has an income of fifty pounds a year gives a penny at the church door on the sabbath, and the man who has five hundred a year very seldom gives more. Nay,

I fear that in many instances the contributions of the humbler classes are not only relatively, but absolutely, more liberal than those of the wealthy. I have often stood at the church-door on the sabbath, and on such occasions I have seen a fine lady drive up in her own coach, with her liveried coachman before, and her liveried footman behind; I have seen her descend from the carriage in great state, rustling with silks and flaunting with ribands, and sail majestically into the church, depositing a penny in the plate as she passed. And I have seen a meek and modest female, to all appearance a widow, whose rusty black gown, and cotton shawl of the same colour, sufficiently indicated that her circumstances were far from affluent, follow immediately after, and lay down a sixpence by the side of the lady's penny. It is not difficult, I think, to guess which of these two individuals cherished the livelier sense of her obligation, as a professing Christian, to contribute towards the support of the indigent members of Christ's body, or made the more practical application of the text, "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again" (Prov. xix. 17).

I have said that the passage of scripture now under consideration affords the greatest encouragement to the poor of God's people to contribute a little, even out of their penury, towards the relief of human sufferings, or the extension of Christ's kingdom. I am not, however, without my fears that it is sometimes abused, and made a cloak for parsimony, by persons whose outward circumstances bear no resemblance whatever to those of the pious female so much commended by our Lord. They imagine that, because her small offering was accepted, their scanty gift will be equally honoured, although involving no sacrifice whatever on their part. The following anecdote will illustrate my meaning, as well as administer the needful reproof to any of my readers who may thus have been deceiving themselves. A lady in moderate, but still genteel circumstances, when presenting her clergyman with a small sum for a charitable object, remarked that he might "put. it down as the widow's mite." 66 Not so, my friend," said the worthy pastor. "I beg you will," earnestly rejoined the lady: "it is but a trifle." "I am aware of that, madam," replied the clergyman, calmly; "but it is not all your living."

It may, perhaps, be objected that the case of the poor widow, in the verses before us, was an extreme one; that her faith in the kind providence of God was of an unusually elevated character; and that parallel instances are not to be looked for in the present day. The narrative, however, which I am about to subjoin, will prove that this is a mistake; and that, cold-hearted and selfish as too many of us confessedly are, there may yet be found individuals, even amongst us, whose reliance on the divine bounty and grace fully equal that of the widow in our text. It was related to me by a dear Christian friend, who six years ago exchanged earth for heaven, and whose own cha

"The simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Cor. xi. 3).

A similar parsimony and inconsideration too extensively prevail throughout all parts of the kingdom, in connection with our contributions to our public charities, and more especially to our bible and missionary societies. We seem to have arrived at a tacit understanding amongst ourselves, that no one shall give more than his neighbour; and, in consequence, some of the noblest institutions in our land are crippled in their operations through lack of funds. Comparatively few think it necessary to give more than a guinea a year to a society, the operations of which, perhaps, embrace the whole human race: very many contribute but half that sum; and, within the last few years, many hundreds of persons, whose cir-racter was a beautiful commentary on the words, cumstances are far above mediocrity, have contented themselves with subscribing a crown. Here, too, the liberality of the lower orders, as they are called, puts that of their wealthier brethren to shame. The pious labourer, who contributes his penny a week to send the gospel to the heathen, gives just eight-pence less than the merchant and the squire, whose income is twenty times greater than his own. I am aware that the number of societies to which an individual is expected to subscribe is a current apology with professing Christians for giving but little to each; and yet, were the aggregate of all their contributions known, I fear that it would bear but a small proportion to their income, or I blush while I write it-to the offerings of the heathen at the shrine of his idol. Let it be granted, that a professing Christian, who has an annual income of five hundred pounds, contributes to twenty different charitable and religious institutions-and this, I suspect, is more than the majority will be found to do-and let it be granted that he contributes half a guinea to each, what proportion, after all, does the aggregate bear to his income, or to his other expenses? Why, I have known an individual who had precisely that amount of income, and who was really a pious man, spend as much every year on snuff! To be sure, he was a connoisseur in the article, and could use none but the very best.

There lived within the last eight years, in the town of Linlithgow, an aged and indigent female, whose only means of subsistence were the scanty produce of her own industry, when she could find employment suited to her waning strength, and the occasional aid of the benevolent. Poor as she was, however, in this world's goods, she was rich in faith and in good works; and, having been accustomed from her earliest years to deposit her offering at the door of the sanctuary on the sabbath, she continued, amidst all her penury, thus regularly to contribute towards the relief of those who were still poorer than herself. It happened one Saturday-and it was the Saturday preceding the communion sabbath-that, after she had breakfasted, she had no food whatever remaining in the house, while all her store of money consisted in a single penny. Upon this she was, for aught she knew, to subsist until the Monday; for she had no means and no expectation of obtaining more. But she was going to church in the afternoon : she had never yet passed the plate without putting in something; and, straitened as she might be, she resolved that she would not even on that occasion do so. Accordingly, she bought a halfpenny roll for her dinner, which she ate as usual with a thankful heart; and then, proceeding to church, deposited her last halfpenny in the plate, as she entered. Here, I repeat, was a case pre