Where Kings and Queens Kept State page 2

Queen Mary was born at Linlithgow Palace; her father with prophetic gloom wished his wee daughter at the devil. "It came with a lass," he muttered, meaning the kingdom of Scotland, "and it will go with a lass." It did, though not quite as he meant.

Another pitiful memory that clings to Linlithgow is that of Queen Margaret, wife of James IV, who "lonely sat and wept the weary hour," expecting him to come back from the fateful Battle of Flodden Field, and heard at last that he would never come back any more.

Scone Palace, which figures much earlier in Scottish history, and which stood on the bank of the Tay near Perth, has disappeared entirely: a modern castle stands there in its place. Gone, too, is the Abbey of Scone, from which the Coronation Stone of the kings of Scotland was carried off to Westminster by Edward I in 1296.

There is a desire among some Scots to get it back. This has been voiced in the House of Commons, and certain English members were inclined to favour it. "For," they said, "the old prophecy that wherever the Stone rests Scots should govern has been fulfilled. If we let the Stone go, perhaps we might be allowed to govern our country ourselves."

" The time when there was no Stirling Castle is not known in Scottish history." The reason is plain enough. The castle had a magnificent military situation; it was literally a stronghold and the key to the Highlands. For defence it was well-nigh impregnable. It commanded the principal roads north and south. Attacks could be delivered from it with the utmost advantage.

Having for this reason survived from the earliest periods of Scottish monarchy, it remained a favourite royal residence even in comparatively peaceful ages. Here one king killed a troublesome noble, Douglas by name. Here another played the Haroun-al-Raschid, slipping out at night to hear what his subjects were saying about him. And here James VI (and I) spent his boyhood.