niture; but Hamilton, the primate, was instantly brought to trial for the murder of the King and the late Regent, condemned, hanged, and quartered without delay.' The news of this fatal blow to Mary's cause reached her during her 'lodgment' at Sheffield Manor-house (where Cardinal Wolsey had been placed after his arrest)—and, by its loss, and the rout of its garrison-as well as by many of her private papers relating to intrigues with the Spanish government, her projected escape from Sheffield, and other important matters, falling into the captor's hands, considerably aggravated her personal distress, as well as her disastrous position.* 6 In addition to its other remarkable attractions, Dumbarton rock possesses one that is magnetic; for the rock is of a basaltic character. This had been noticed long ago. In the upper part of the rock,' says Buchanan, 'is a vast piece of rock of the nature of a loadstone; but so closely connected and fastened to the main rock, that no manner of joining appears.' Experiments were made upon the rock by Professor Anderson of Glasgow, who marked with white paint those parts that possessed magnetism. Heron, in his Journey,' made in 1793, states, that a former commandant of the fortress endeavoured to breed rabbits on the rock, but that the town cats so interfered with them that he was obliged to abandon his design. It is also a subject worthy of remark as connected with Dumbarton, that its rock is one of the places where the true Scottish thistle may be found in considerable quantities. It is a rarer plant than many might suppose, and may be known from others of the thistle tribe by its light green leaves, veined with white. It is curious that it should be found *See Strickland's Queens of Scotland, vii. 116. growing about all those castles and prisons where Mary Queen of Scots spent her happiest and most wretched days; and it is thought by her firm champion and best biographer * that this is to be accounted for by supposing that they are produced from seed originally sown by herself, or by admirers (political or otherwise) of the beautiful and unfortunate queen. This royal Scottish thistle, for example, is found in great profusion about the earthworks that mark the site of Fotheringay Castle, and is not met with elsewhere in that locality. And so at Dumbarton; although it grows freely on the castle rock, it is not (if I am rightly informed) found elsewhere in that locality. Thus the romantic gallantry of the admirers of the unfortunate queen has made the very ground to bring forth souvenirs of her whose presence had hallowed the spot to them. There are other objects of interest on the line to Greenock. Paisley, for example, which is attractive to other than commercial travellers, seeing that it contains an abbey, in a 'creditable state of repair and good order,' as says Mr. Burns, and possessing many interesting features. One of the chief parts of the abbey is the chapel of St. Mirren, which is popularly called 'the sounding aisle,' from its possessing a remarkable echo, thus described by Pennant: the Earl of Abercorn's burial place is by much the greatest curiosity in Paisley; it is an old Gothic chapel, without pulpit or pew, or any ornament whatever;' (does he mean that pews and pulpits constitute the usual ornamentation of churches, and, that, in this particular case, the grained roof, with its carved bosses, the decorated windows, * Expressed in a private letter to the author. I Queen Bleary's tomb, and the series of sculptured groups, were not any ornament whatever?') but has the finest echo perhaps in the world: when the end door (the only one it has) is shut, the noise is equal to a loud and not very distant clap of thunder; if you strike a single note of music, you hear the sound gradually ascending, till it dies away, as if at an immense distance, and all the while diffusing itself through the circumambient air.' A magnificent description, which might have inspired that Oxford poet who, in his prize poem, made the echo of the cathedral organ In labyrinthine groinings melt away. The beautiful monumental tomb of Marjory Bruce is erected in this aisle. It is commonly called 'Queen Bleary's tomb;' and, shortly before we reached Paisley, we may have had pointed out to us, on an elevated ridge of land, Queen Bleary's Cross.' This was the spot where Marjory Bruce lost her life, in the year 1317, by a fall from her horse when hunting; though the sobriquet of 'Bleary' properly belongs to her son and not to herself, as will be seen from Pennant's account of her death, and the manner in which it resulted in the untimely birth of her child, afterwards King Robert the Second.† Approaching Greenock, we pass by Port Glasgow, the predecessor of the Broomielaw-with busy shipyards, and clanging iron foundries, and the moving panorama of the Clyde (here two miles broad) close upon our right hand. At Paisley we were reminded. Pennant's Tour in Scotland, p. 147. † Ibid., p. 148. that we were near to Ellerslie or Elderslie, where Wallace was born. At Wallace's name what Scottish blood and, if there is a Scotsman in the carriage with you, he will probably tell you, as you approach Greenock, of the cascade there that is called after the Scotch patriot's name. G CHAPTER XI. GREENOCK. Position of Greenock-The Tontine and Porters-Words- REENOCK is a considerable town, partly built upon a level strip by the river, and partly upon the side of a hill that rises sharply from the plain. The higher portion of the town has therefore a very terraced appearance, and with its background of hills, and foreground of quays and handsome buildings, is altogether a very picturesque seaport, as seen from the Clyde. The level of the railway station is at a considerable height above the street, to which we descend by a flight of steps, and are forth with pounced upon by a knot of semi-nautical gentlemen, who fight for our portmanteaus, and storm us with entreaties to patronise their trollies; which trollies are all chained up donkey-wise, against a dead wall hard by. But we are not going very far as yet; only to the Tontine Hotel-a handsome building, and an excellent inn, presided over by a most obliging landlady, Mrs. Macdonald *-where we shall stay awhile, and be very comfortably cared for. It is a To whom I beg to express my thanks for much assistance in the matter of Burns' 'Highland Mary.' |