Memorials of Mary Queen of Scots, pp.40-76.

[Scottish National Memorials Contents]

   It may be a fitting introduction to this section to give some account of the appointments and personal ornaments of Queen Mary. Fairer or costlier gems, we are told, were not to be seen in Europe, and the splendour of the Queen’s appointments was the admiration of men who were familiar with the grandest courts of the age. 

   Inventories of the Queen’s valuables were drawn up for different purposes at different periods of her reign, and it is from these that the bulk of our information is derived. To the student who cares to go more carefully into the subject, nothing can be more interesting or instructive than a perusal of these Inventories (Inuentaires de la Royne Descosse Douairiere de France, 1556-1569: Edinburgh, MDCCCLXIII: The contribution of the Marques of Dalhousie to the Bannatyne Club), and the admirable Preface to them by the late Dr. Joseph Robertson, from which the following information is gathered. 

   In one of the earlier inventories there is mentioned the large diamond set in gold, with a gold chain and a large ruby attached, which, under the name of the Great Harry, was afterwards regarded as one of the chief jewels of the Scottish crown. It appears to have been a gift to the Queen from King Henry II. of France, whose cipher it bore. There is also a miniature of James V. in a gold case shaped like an apple. Another article in the list is one of the roses of gold yearly blessed by the Pope, which was presented, along with the sceptre now preserved, in the Crown-Room at Edinburgh Castle, to James IV. by Pope Alexander VI. In another inventory there is mention of a litter, covered with velvet, fringed with gold and silk; and we learn elsewhere that the Queen had a coach, although she seldom used it, choosing rather, in those early days, to ride on horseback, with a steel bonnet on her head, and a pistol at her saddle-bow, in time of war, regretting only, as she said, that she was not a man, to know what life it was to lie all night in the fields, or to walk upon the causeway with a jack and a knapscull, a Glasgow buckler, and a broadsword. 

   In the inventory of the Queen’s dresses, drawn up in 1562, which contains one hundred and thirty-one entries, sixty gowns are enumerated, for the most part of cloth of gold, cloth of silver, velvet, satin, and silk. Of fourteen cloaks, five are described as of the Spanish fashion, and two as royal mantles, one being of purple velvet, the other furred with ermine. Mention is made also of the fardingale, and we learn elsewhere that it was expanded by girdles of whalebone into something like the vast circumference of the modern crinoline. 

   The inventory of the Queen’s jewels, drawn up apparently at the same time, contains one hundred and eighty entries. Among the most notable of the articles which here appear for the first time is the cross of gold, set with diamonds and rubies, which Mary of Guise pawned for one thousand pounds, and which her daughter redeemed. Before Queen Mary gave birth, on the 19^th June 1566, to the prince who was to unite under one sceptre the two kingdoms, she made her will, and from the testamentary inventory of her jewels which accompanied it, and which alone is preserved, we obtain a good idea of the number and the value of her jewels. 

   To the crown that she inherited she bequeathed the Great Harry, another jewel of the same fashion, a diamond cross, a chain enriched with rubies and diamonds, a necklace of diamonds, rubies, and pearls, and a large diamond set in an enamelled finger-ring; and she desired that an Act might be passed annexing these to the Crown of Scotland, in remembrance of herself and of the Scottish alliance with the house of Lorraine. Seven jewels, containing apparently her largest diamonds, she bequeathed for ornaments for the Queens of Scotland for evermore. Among the bequests to the King Consort are a watch studded with diamonds and rubies; a little dial set with diamonds, rubies, pearls, and turquoises; a St Michael containing fourteen diamonds; a chain of gold enamelled in white, containing two hundred links, with two diamonds in each link; and, of more interest than all, a diamond ring, enamelled in red, against which the Queen writes- ‘It was with this that I was married: I leave it to the King, who gave it me.’ 

   To the Earl of Lennox is left a large diamond ring, and to his mother, her own aunt, two diamond rings, one of them enamelled in black. 

   There are also legacies, of great rubies, and of great pearls and other articles too numerous to specify, to the Queen’s kinsfolk in France; to the houses of Aumale and Elbeuf: to the Duchess of Aumale, the Queen’s cousin and godmother; to the Queen’s aunt, the Abbess of Rheims, and to the Queen’s uncle, the Cardinal of Lorraine- ‘the Tiger of France,’ as so many regarded him. 

   Among the Scottish legacies are gifts to the Countess of Argyll; to the Earl of Murray; to Master John Stewart, to James Stewart, and to Jane Stewart, all apparently illegitimate inheritors of the royal blood. 

   Costly bequests were made to her ‘Four Maries’ – ladies of her own name and age, who, having been chosen to Accompany her to France, had returned with her to Scotland.  

   To Alexander Erskine of Gogar, one of the Queen’s equerries, is bequeathed a gold heart, garnished with three diamonds, a ruby, and a pearl; and to his younger brother, Arthur Erskine of Blackgrange – the equerry behind whom Mary took her seat when she made her midnight escape on horseback from Holyrood from the murderers of Rizzio – is left a jewel containing a sapphire and a pearl. 

   Among the bequests is one to Rizzio’s brother, Joseph, of a jewel containing ten rubies and a pearl, which Mary had accepted as a gift from the murdered Italian. 

   The remaining bequests to the maids of honour, the bed-chamber women, and others, are too numerous to be here detailed; but a postscript written with her own hand is worthy of note. In it Queen Mary leaves her Greek and Latin books to be the beginning of a library for the University of St. Andrews. 

   From other sources we bear of the Queen’s hunting gear, of her riding habits, of her mule-litter, of her head-dress of cloth of silver for the Parliament which was broken up by the murder of Rizzio. There is a notice of a velvet glove for her favourite pastime of shooting at the butts. Among her in-door amusements are mentioned cards, chess, tables or backgammon, and a company of puppets. 

   The dispersion of the Queen’s jewels and other treasures would seem to have begun, like other graver misfortunes, with her marriage to Bothwell. To him, in March 1567, she gave three of her costliest church vestments of cloth of gold: not long afterwards he had a gift of some of her mother’s Spanish furs: and, if her adversaries may he trusted, she bestowed upon him the horses, armour, clothes, and furniture of her murdered husband. Early in May, on the eve of their marriage, she ordered the gold font, sent by Queen Elizabeth for the Prince’s baptism, to be turned into money (it weighed 333 ounces and yielded 5000 crowns) for the hire of the mercenaries to quell the revolt, for which it was foreseen their marriage would be the signal. Before they parted in June on Carberry Hill, never to meet again, she had lavished upon Bothwell jewels valued at more than twenty thousand crowns or six thousand pounds sterling. 

   The Queen’s jewels and other moveables fell into the hands of the confederated lords, and more than thirteen hundred ounces of her silver plate were at once coined to meet the more urgent needs of the new government. From another source we learn that on the night of the surrender at Carberry, while the Queen was yet a prisoner in the house of the Provost of Edinburgh, the Palace of Holyrood was broken into by the mob and its contents pillaged. 

   When the Regent Murray waited upon the Queen at Lochleven she is said to have entreated him to take her diamonds and other valuables into his keeping for preservation. He accepted the charge unwillingly, and he certainly kept it most scandalously; for not many months had elapsed ere he despatched an envoy to London to sell some of the finest jewels to the English Queen, who purchased them for twelve thousand crowns, or three thousand six hundred pounds sterling. In 1570, after he had met his death at the hands of Bothwellhaugh, it was found that among other crown diamonds of mark which he had bestowed upon his wife was the famous Great Harry. Queen Mary in her prison at Tutbury heard of this, and threatened Lady Murray with vengeance if it were not instantly given up to the Earl of Huntly and Lord Seton. But neither of these lords was able to obtain it from the widowed countess, and it was not without an obstinate struggle, in which Queen Elizabeth had to interpose again and again, that it was at last obtained by the Regent Morton. The Great Harry survived James’s accession to the English Throne, when its great diamond was removed to adorn a new and still more splendid jewel called ‘The Mirror of Great Britain.’ We find what remained of it – the gold setting, the chain, and the ruby – among the jewels for which the King gave a discharge to the Earl of Dunbar in July 1606. 

   After the disastrous campaign which closed at Carberry, Edinburgh Castle was surrendered to the Regent Murray, who gave it into the keeping of Kirkcaldy of Grange. But this officer, who has been called ‘the mirror of Scottish knighthood,’ yielding to his own chivalrous impulses and to the persuasive eloquence of Lethington, passed over to the Queen’s side after Murray’s death. In the Castle were stored the Regalia and the jewels that still remained, and during the three years that it was held for the Queen her diamonds were the garrison’s chief source of credit. In 1570 Kirkcaldy seems to have sent some of the Queen’s jewels, dresses, and hangings to be sold in London. This was not carried out, and it is said that they were afterwards disposed of in France. About a twelvemonth later another parcel seems to have been sold to a secret agent of Queen Elizabeth for two thousand five hundred pounds. Other parcels were at different times given in pledge to Edinburgh merchants, goldsmiths, and others for advances in money to supply the needs of the garrison. 

   After the surrender of the Castle, Parliament gave the new Regent powers for the recovery of the Queen’s diamonds and other moveables which had fallen into private hands. He recovered six jewels which bad been pawned with the Provost of Edinburgh for two thousand six hundred merks, and a pearl necklace and fifteen diamonds which had been pawned with Lady Home for six hundred pounds. Lord Torphichen, the secularised Prior of the Knights of St. John in Scotland, was called to account for books, tapestry, and furniture. 

   Three years afterwards the Regent was deprived of bis office. The inventory of the jewels, dresses, books, furniture, and hangings which he surrendered to the young King shows, perhaps, less wreck than might have been looked for after ten years of tumult and civil war. But it is unquestionable that during this period by far the greater number of the minor and more personal articles among the Queen’s valuables found their way into private hands, from which they have never been recovered. The remarkable manner in which her treasures were dispersed renders it still possible that, even at this late date, some authentic relics may be discovered. 

   To identify the memorials which were exhibited in the Bishop’s Castle with the articles enumerated in the inventories would be a difficult and even hazardous task. The descriptions are too brief to allow us to arrive at a certain conclusion in the matter. 

   Her jewels and the appointments of her toilet and writing tables are rather an evidence of the refinement of her own tastes than a measure of the taste of the period. The furnishing of her chamber is shown by the tapestry which adorned its walls. The occupations of her leisure hours, both in her happier days at Holyrood and during the weary hours of her imprisonment at Lochleven and in England, are recalled by the purse, the tapestry, and the needlework that she wrought. 

   One medal recalls her marriage with the Dauphin of France, and another her imprisonment in Lochleven Castle: while her marriage with Darnley is illustrated by two silver cups which bear their initials and are said to have been used at their marriage. The cuff of one of his gloves is worked by her own hands. 

   Her connection with the great Scottish Reformer is recalled by the watch which, according to tradition, was presented to him by the Queen. 

   Of her letters, written in a masculine hand, differing so much from that currently in vogue as to cause her many times to apologise for it, there are many specimens, relating to some of the most eventful episodes of her reign. 

   These memorials cover the whole period of the Queen’s life and reign, and help to bring us in touch with it alike at the happiest and the most tragic parts of her history. They include her own cradle, the cradle of her son, and the leading-strings that she worked for him; the prayer-book also that she had in her hand on the scaffold at Fotheringhay. It may not be unfitting to place with these the letter of her son James VI. authorising the removal of her body from the tomb in Peterborough Cathedral to Westminster. [A. J. S. B.] 

   A SMALL SPINNING-WHEEL, ornamented with precious stones. It belonged to Mary of Guise, mother of Mary Stewart, and is said to have been one of a collection of objects of interest obtained from the Palace of Linlithgow by the late Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe. 

(161) Lent by W. MURRAY THREIPLAND. 

   A CARVED OAK CRADLE, which belonged to Queen Mary Stewart. It closely resembles the wooden cradle of her son, King James VI., which belongs to the Earl of Mar and Kellie (for which see Fig. 67, page 64), and also that of her grandson, King Charles I., from Dunfermline Palace, formerly in the possession of the late Mr. J. N. Paton, Wooer’s Alley, Dunfermline, and subsequently the property of King George IV. at Windsor. The workmanship of Queen Mary’s cradle contrasts favourably with that of the others. It was obtained from the representatives of the person by whom it was saved from the fire which occurred at the Palace of Linlithgow in January 1746. 

(163) Lent by WALLER H. PATON. 

   AN OLD DRAWING, which is believed to represent the Trial of Queen Mary Stewart, but of which unfortunately there exists neither authentication nor explanation. The letters of the alphabet which appear near various individuals evidently refer to some key or other reference, in which it would seem that the name of each was indicated. The letter ‘M’ under the central and most prominent figure evidently stands for Mary. 

(171) Lent by HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. 

   A CABINET, the body of which is of ebony inlaid with ivory. Its numerous ornaments are of tortoise-shell, with pierced and repoussé plates of silver. It is of French workmanship, and was presented by Queen Mary to the Regent Lord Mar, from whom, through the marriage of his great-granddaughter, Mary Erskine, with William Hamilton of Wishaw, it passed into the Belhaven family. Robert, eighth Lord Belhaven and Stenton, bequeathed it to Her Majesty Queen Victoria. (See Fig. 45.) 

(164) Lent by HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. 

   A LOCK OF QUEEN MARY’S HAIR, of a brown colour. Bequeathed to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, by Robert, eighth Lord Belhaven and Stenton. 

   [To determine the exact colour of Queen Mary’s hair has been a matter of difficulty to many. The lock of hair in the possession of Queen Victoria is brown, while in some of her portraits it is represented as auburn, and in others as black. But it is not only in her portraits that this difference appears: several chroniclers give different descriptions of its colour. Brantôme, who last saw Queen Mary in the autumn of 1561, assures us that her hair was what in Scotland we should perhaps have called ‘blind fair’: ‘si beaux, si blonds, et cendrez.’ Ronsard, who had known her from a girl, writing at the moment of her departure from France, speaks of her golden ringlets. 

‘Quand vostre front d’allestre, et l’or de vos cheveux, 

Annelez et tressez’… 

In 1563, Sir James Melville, on being pressed by Queen Elizabeth to say whether her hair (which he tells us was ‘golden coloured’ ‘reder then yellow’) or the Scottish Queen’s was the fairer, evaded the question by the answer, that ‘the fairnes of them baith was not ther worst faltes.’ In 1569 Nicholas White wrote to Cecil that Queen Mary’s hair was black, and Brantôme tells us that in 1577 it was grey. We might therefore infer that Queen Mary’s natural hair appears to have changed with years from a ruddy yellow to auburn, and from auburn to dark brown or black, turning grey long before its time (we learn from Brantôme that Queen Mary’s hair turned grey at thirty-five). But one fact tends rather to complicate the question, and to render its elucidation a matter of difficulty. There is repeated mention in the inventories, of the Queen’s borrowed ringlets or perukes as they are called, which she wore of different colours, ‘… vne aulne de toille pour acoustrer les perruques de la Royne.’ ‘… demie aulne de toille pour faire des ataches pour des perruques pour la Royne.’ ‘… vne aulne de toylle pour friser de perruque pour la Royne…’ In October 1567, Servais de Condez sent to the Queen at Lochleven ‘plusieurs perruques et aultres telles choses y servant.’ In July 1568, he sent to her at Carlisle, after her flight into England, ‘ung paque de perruque de cheveux.’ It was at Carlisle that Mary Seton, to the surprise of Sir Francis Knollys, ‘among other pretty devices, did set such a curled hair upon the Queen, that was said to be a perewyke, that showed very delicately.’ Nicholas White, who saw the Queen at Tutbury in February 1569, writes to Cecil: ‘She is a goodly penonage… hath withall an alluring grace, a prety Scottish accente, and a searching wit, clouded with myldnes… Her hair of itself is black, and yet Mr. Knollys told me that she wears hair of sundry colors.’ At first she seems to have used these perukes only in compliance with the fashion of the period; but that which had been merely an ornament became a necessity when sorrows had whitened and sickness had thinned her hair. 

   From a contemporary French report of the Queen’s execution, and also from a letter of R. Wynkfeild, an eye-witness, we Iearn that the auburn tresses which she laid upon the block at Fotheringhay were not her own; and when her head dropped from them in the executioner’s hands, its only covering was seen to be a few short grey hairs on either temple. – (Inuentaires de la Royne Descosse Douairiere de France. Bannatyne Club. MDCCCLXIII) [A. J. S. B.] 

(165) Lent by HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. 

   A PURSE, with embroidered work by Mary Queen of Scots, representing a crown above a sword and sceptre, together with five letters nearly defaced, wrought in black silk. On the reverse, a hen sitting on seven eggs of gold. Bequeathed to Her Majesty by Robert, eighth Lord Belhaven and Stenton. 

(166) Lent by HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. 

   A WATCH, by Etienne Hubert of Rouen, provided with catgut instead of a chain; the dial-plate enamelled with flowers, and an inner case of gold filigree. It is stated that this watch was given by Queen Mary to Margaret Lyon, Marchioness of Hamilton, daughter of the eighth Lord Glamis, and that it passed through many hands until it came into the possession of the present owner, a lineal descendant of the Marchioness. 

(172) Lent by CAPTAIN ANSTRUTHER THOMSON. 

   NECKLACE, formerly belonging to Queen Mary Stewart, said to be from a design of Hans Holbein, and to have been presented to the Queen by one of the family of Houp. The gold, the enamel, the precious stones (crimson and green) and pearls, are all of Scottish origin. ‘The motto, “Houp feidir me,” and the device were used by Queen Mary only when making presents to her clearest friends.’ 

(174) Lent by THOMAS LAWRIE AND SON. 

   CIBORIUM, champleré enamel on copper, gilt. (See Frontispiece, and Plates II. and III.) 

   [Among the relics associated with Queen Mary that are preserved at Kennet, the family seat in Clackmannanshire of Lord Balfour of Burleigh, there is no one of greater interest than this ciborium, which is stated to have been presented by Queen Mary to Sir James Balfour of Burleigh, from whom it descended to its present owner. No trace of it, however, occurs in any of the hitherto discovered inventories of Church property belonging to Queen Mary. 

   The word Ciborium (from the Greek κιβώριον, the cup-like seed-vessel of the lotus water-lily) was the name given in the early days of the Christian Church to the canopy which covered an altar. It was shaped like a cup reversed, a dome in fact, supported by columns, and sometimes fitted with side hangings and curtains, – in modern Italian ecclesiastical language, a baldachino. Ciboria were often made of very costly materials, choice marbles and the precious metals being used, and it is said that one in St. Peter’s at Rome was made of silver gilt, and weighed upwards of 2500 pounds. 

   About the fourth century of our era it became the custom to make small portable vessels of different metals, or of ivory, generally circular in shape, in which the Host (sometimes then applied to both the Bread and Wine) was reserved after consecration. These were also called ciboria, and of such vessels the relic now under notice is one of the most remarkable. 

   The Kennet Ciborium is circular in shape, with the general contours of the seed-vessel of a lotus water-lily, 7 ⅝ inches high from base to top of knop on the cover, the bowl accounting for 3 ¼ inches, and the cover, including the knop, for the remaining 4 ⅜ inches of the total. The bowl is 6 3⁄16 inches in internal diameter measured at the point where the cover fits on to it; the latter overlapping the bowl on a seat which is ⅜ inch deep. The metal throughout is ⅛ inch ± thick. The bowl weighs 21 oz. 7 dwt. ±, and the cover 17 oz. 11 dwt ±, equal to a total of 38 oz. 18 dwt. ± Troy. 

   This relic is in good preservation except at points between the medallions Nos. 1 and 3 on the bowl (see diagram, p. 47), where the metal, thinned by the graving tool, and necessarily weaker than elsewhere, has yielded to the effects of a blow, which has also dinted the bottom of the vessel, and caused some of the enamel to fly off in places. At a comparatively late date an endeavour has been made, but by unskilled hands, by means of pewter laid on in ‘blobs,’ to repair the damage. The blow, which must have been a severe one, has also had the effect of somewhat destroying the general symmetry of the ciborium. 

   A copper stud, rectangular in section and most ingeniously contrived, having its base in the top of the cover, and passing through the stem of the knop, was riveted down at the top, thus holding the knop, stem and leaves, securely in position. In course of time the riveting over of this stud, at the top of the knop, had worn down, from the constant attrition of the palm of the hands of those who used the ciborium, with the result of causing the knop to work loose on the stem. To remedy this, a rude attempt has been made at some period to rivet down the stud again, by hammering (Scotticè ‘bashing’) its head over the knop. But the author of this crude attempt at repairs neglected to ‘hold up’ the foot, or more properly speaking, the head of the copper stud, and his blows have had the effect of bulging out the underside of the cover, thus causing part of the enamel to drop out, and marring the effect of what must have been one of the finest features of the ciborium, viz., the figure of Our Lord with the Cross of the Holy Sepulchre, the Greek Cross (sometimes called the Archbishop’s Cross, and the Cross of Lorraine), giving the Benediction. (See Fig. 47, p. 52, and remarks on p. 51.) The knop on the top of the bowl, which is shaped like the bowl in miniature, rests on four simple leaves supported by a roughened stem. 

  On the bowl there are six medallions containing subjects from Old Testament history, and on the cover six similar medallions depicting events in Our Lord’s history, forming the Antitypes of the Types from the Old Testament. Round these medallions are scrolls, copper gilt, on which are engraved the titles of some of the figures and the legends, the lettering still showing traces, here and there, of having been enamelled in red. These scrolls run one into the other with gracefully flowing curves. The spandrels between the medallions are filled up with foliage ornament, which is also linked to, and intertwined with, the scrolls round the medallions. The whole general character of the ornamentation of this part of the ciborium much resembles the work met with in French illuminated missals, the production of the scribes and miniaturists of the period preceding the invention of printing.¹ 

Plate II. – The Kennet Ciborium – Details of Medallions 1-6.

   The following diagram shows in a convenient form the disposition on the vessel of the different medallions, and their subjects. It will be observed, on reference to the frontispiece of this volume, that the ciborium has been therein depicted with the medallions Nos. 5 and 6, The Sacrifice of Isaac, and The Crucifixion, in full view. This aspect will illustrate, far better than any mere verbal description, the beauty of its design generally, and the great delicacy of the colouring. Attention is invited to the simple bands of ornament round the top of the bowl, and the bottom of the cover, Oriental in motif, which serve to connect with admirable effect the elaborate decoration on both portions of the vessel. All the medallions are reproduced, to actual size, in Plates II and III.:- 

ANTITYPES – COVER 

2	4	6	8	10	12
The Baptism of Our Lord.	Our Lord bearing the Cross.	The Crucifixion.	The Resurrection.	‘The Harrowing of Hell.’	The Ascension.

TYPES – BOWL 

1	3	5	7	9	11
The Circumcision of Isaac.	Preparations for the Sacrifice of Isaac.	The Sacrifice of Isaac.	The Gates of Gaza.	David rescuing a Lamb from a Bear.	Elijah taken up into Heaven.

   Adopting the numbering shown above, the following is a detailed description of each medallion:- 

   1. On the Bowl. The Type:- The Circumcision of Isaac. Abraham is circumcising Isaac, who, partly held in position by an attendant, turns round in pain towards his mother, who, at his back, is helping to steady her child with one hand, while with the other she is offering him her right breast to quiet him. Isaac’s right leg is resting on an altar-like structure, corresponding to the ornamented kúrsís, or ‘chairs,’ in use for a somewhat similar purpose among the Moslems of Upper India at the present day. It is worthy of note that the knife is grasped and applied by Abraham in such a manner that two of his fingers and the thumb of his right hand are seen to be in the blessing position. For a parallel case see the remarks below, as to the mode in which Isaac is carrying the fagots in medallion No. 3. In several of its details this delineation of a circumcision differs from what was the actual practice among the Jews. The ‘titles’ of the figures and the legend round the medallion are:- 

SARRA • ISAAC • ABRAAM 

✠ PRECESSIT • LAVACRVM • SACRA • CIRCV̄CISIO • SACRVM 

‘The hallowed rite of Circumcision foreshadowed the Holy Font.’ 

   2. On the Cover. The Antitype:- The Baptism of Our Lord. The Saviour, perfectly nude, with a halo of glory round His Head, is standing, His Arms close to His Sides, in the Jordan, which, to conceal His Body from a little below the breast downwards, has risen in waves of a pyramidal form. John the Baptist, clad in a robe with a broad edging of camel’s hair, plaited, is standing with his right foot on the bank, the other in the water, and is placing his right hand on Our Lord’s Head, above which descends the Holy Ghost in the form of the Baptismal Dove. Opposite to John the Baptist, and standing on the bank, is an angel, holding an embroidered vestment, resembling an ecclesiastical robe, faint traces of a cross being visible on the back, for the use of the Saviour on emerging from the water. The legend reads as follows:- 

✠ BATIZAT MILES REGEM NOVA GRATIA LEGEM 

‘A soldier baptizes a king, the new Covenant of Grace [baptizes] the law.’ 

   3. On the Bowl. The Type:- Preparations for the Sacrifice of Isaac. Abraham, bearing in his left hand a torch-like metal vessel containing fire, in his right hand a sword, is followed by Isaac, who carries the wood, in two fagots arranged in a cruciform shape, resting on his left shoulder. His left hand grasping the lower end of the upper fagot; the thumb and two fingers of his right hand, as if giving a blessing, resting on the top end of the same fagot, thus steadying – and sanctifying – the load. The remains of a halo can be traced round the head of Abraham. On the top, and down one side of the medallion is the following inscription:- 

✠ LIGNA PVER GESTAT CRUCIS VNDE TIPVM MANIFESTAT 

‘The boy bears the wood, in this wise he sets forth the Cross.’ 

   4. On the Cover. The Antitype:- Our Lord bearing the Cross, which is of the normal type, not as shown in the medallion (No. 6) described below. The Saviour, nude down to the waist, is staggering under the load. Behind are the three Marys. In advance of Our Lord, a man, with the features and dress of the typical Jew of early art, is buffeting Him, preceded by one carrying a hammer and nails. The legend encircling the greater part of the medallion reads as follows:- 

✠ SIC ALAPIS CESVS PIA DVCITVR HOSTIA IHESVS 

‘Thus, struck by blows upon the cheek, the Holy Victim Jesus is led away.’ 

   5. On the Bowl The Type:- The Sacrifice of Isaac. Abraham with uplifted sword, which is being held back by an angel, prepares to slay Isaac, who is kneeling upon an altar, his hair being grasped by Abraham’s left hand. Above the boy is the pierced Hand of Our Saviour – the red enamel in the nail-hole can still be traced by the aid of a magnifying glass – issuing from the clouds, conveying a blessing on his head. On the left, underneath the angel, is the ram caught in the thicket, the angel pointing with his right hand towards it. The ‘titles,’ and inscription, which in this case appears to be a mere repetition of the ‘titles,’ read as follows:- 

ANGELVS • ABRAAM • lSAAC • 

✠ TEMPTANS TEMTATVS ISAAC ARIES QVE PARATVS 

‘The Tempter, Isaac the tempted, and the ram that was prepared.’ 

   6. On the Cover. The Antitype:- The Crucifixion. Our Lord on the Cross, the whole structure of which is more massive than is usually met with in representations of the same subject, the scene being treated, as is the case with most ancient representations of the event, in a devotional or doctrinal sense. It is also worthy of notice that the arms of the Cross are not at right angles to the central stem, but incline upwards. This is unusual, but see Lady Eastlake’s continuation of Mrs. Jameson’s History of Our Lord, third edition, London 1872, vol. ii. page 175, for a representation of the Crucifixion taken from an early fresco dated 1248, in the Chapel of S. Silvestro, near the Church of the Quattro Incoronati, at Rome, where Our Lord is nailed to a Cross with arms at an angle of 40°± to the main shaft; the flatter angle (80°±) of the arms of the Cross on the ciborium being due to the necessity for considering the rounded form of the vessel. The Cross resembles the type known as the Tau (τ) Cross, or Cross of St. Anthony, which has no head-piece. To Our Lord’s right stands the Blessed Virgin, her hands crossed over her breast, to the left St. John with his book, both mourning. The Hands are nailed to the Cross, and two nails are used for the Sacred Feet. The inscription on the tablet of the Cross, over the Head, is IHESVS. The legend round the medallion reads:- 

✠ IN CRVCE MACTATVR PERIT ANGVIS OVIS REVOCATVR 

‘He is slain on the Cross, the serpent perishes, and the sheep is brought back.’ 

Plate III. – The Kennet Ciborium – Details of Medallions 7-12.

   7. On the Bowl. The Type:- The Gates of Gaza. The centre of the medallion represents the turreted gates of a crenellated walled city, with two mail-clad figures on each side: one of the figures to the left, is apparently talking to a female on the top of the wall (‘For her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall’ – Joshua ii. 15), possibly a slave girl belonging to the harlot, who may have been sent to tell them (‘the Gazites’) that Samson was within. To the right are depicted the two others, one with an uplifted sword, his comrade with a spear, both ready to smite whenever Samson might emerge, their eager watchfulness being most powerfully depicted by the artist who executed the ciborium. The Biblical narrative in Judges xvi. 1, 2, has evidently been carefully studied: ‘Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.’ The legend, which runs round the top, and on one side, reads as follows:- 

✠ SAMSON DE GAZA CONCLVSVS AB HOSTIBVS EXIT 

‘Samson departs from Gaza, although hemmed in by his enemies.’ 

   8. On the Cover. The Antitype:- The Resurrection. In the foreground the sleeping guards, represented as three mailed soldiers, their spears resting against a wall of the sepulchre, which contains a coffin, the hinged lid open. An angel with a nimbus is sitting on the coffin and pointing to the grave-clothes lying therein. To the left (i.e. of the spectator) the three Marys, one of whom, an expression of wonder on her face, and with a censer in her hand, is looking into the open coffin. Behind her are her companions, with the boxes of sweet ointment in their arms. The legend, which commences on the left, is as follows:- 

✠ SVRGIT DE TVMVLO PETRA XPC QVEM PETRA TEXIT 

‘There rises from the tomb that rock Christ whom a rock did cover.’ 

   9. On the Bowl. The Type:- David rescuing a lamb from a bear. The youth, a figure with flying drapery, all the outlines indicating great physical strength and activity, is opening with his hands the jaws of the savage animal, and thus saving the lamb. The ‘title,‘ and legend which begins at the left and runs round the bottom, are:- 

DAVIT • 

                                                                                                                        O  E 

✠ VRSVS OVEM LEDIT DAVIT IVVAT HV̄C QQ CEDIT. 

‘The bear hurts the sheep, David comes to the rescue, yea, he slays the bear.’ 

   10. On the Cover. The Antitype:- Our Saviour’s descent into Limbo (Limbus Patrum) to redeem the souls of the Patriarchs and ancient Prophets, commonly called ‘The Harrowing of Hell.’ Limbo is represented as a circular space (the enamel of the ground of which, vermilion in colour, is in good preservation except at the lower end), surrounded by turreted walls, with Our Lord at one side, grasping in His left hand Adam, by his two hands. The expression of Adam’s face indicates perfect peace and confidence in his Saviour, and he is closely followed by Eve, who, clasping Adam’s waist, is supplicating to be taken also. They are thus being conducted to the exit door of the enclosure, which is cleverly indicated by a tower and part of a drawbridge, the entrance exactly opposite being shown in like manner. In the Saviour’s right Hand is an Archbishop’s crozier of archaic form, the butt-end of which is seen to be in the mouth of a demon (probably the ‘Jannator’ of the Miracle-play described in the next page) who is sprawling on the ground; his ‘lodge’ being indicated by the tower with open door, at the top of the enclosure, immediately behind the nimbus around the Head of the Saviour; or it may be that this treatment is intended to be figurative of the ‘Jaws of Hell’ (see the remarks on Hearne’s print, page 50). The office of Warder or ‘Jannator’ of Hell was one of high trust, topographically the highest in hell, yet very inferior in rank, and consequently filled by a devil of low degree. (Hone’s Ancient Mysteries Described: London, 1823, pp. 138-147.) It will be observed that down the side of the crozier are indications of dots, which may be intended to signify, or indicate, the nails with ornamented heads used to secure the outer casing of metal to the staff of wood, of which early croziers and pastoral staves were usually made. An example of the latter, the ‘Bachull More,’ will be found at page 23 of this volume, the illustration, Fig. 28, distinctly showing traces of the ornamentation referred to. 

   We have ventured to call the instrument in Our Lord’s Hands a crozier; for, were it a triumphal cross (see p. 50), it would most probably have had some indication of a banner, and it is most probable that the maker of the ciborium, who appears to have been well acquainted with all the niceties of the subjects he has delineated, would be anxious to dignify in every way such an emblem of episcopal power, and thus glorify the teaching of his Church. In Hone’s book, referred to above, there is an impression (facing page 138) of the original plate of Christ’s Descent into Hell, engraved by Michael Burghers (flor. 1676-1699) from an ancient drawing for Thomas Hearne. An earlier use of the same plate will be found in Hearne’s edition (Oxford, 1722) of Fordun’s Scotichronicon, vol. v. p. 1403. In this plate (see Fig. 46) Our Lord has in His left Hand what is known as the Cross of the Resurrection, with the Triumphal Banner, in form like a pennon, attached thereto; with this He is holding open the Jaws of Hell, out of which are issuing men and women. It is also worthy of remark that the cross in Burghers’ engraving is stippled, to show that it is an attachment to the main stem, which, with the pennon, is cross-etched. In Hearne’s print Our lord’s right Hand grasps Adam’s right, Eve being depicted with both her hands, apparently, in Adam’s left. The title of the scene, which is contained in an inscription entirely in Gothic letters, is JESUS CHRISTUS RESURGENS A MORTUIS SPOLIAT INFERNUM.

Resuming the description of medallion No. 10, we further see three other demons, one of them presumably Satan, chittering and girning with impotent rage, ranged in line close against the wall of the enclosure, helpless to prevent the removal of the Blessed; while Abraham, Moses, David, and John the Baptist, one of them with outstretched hands in an imploring attitude, are looking towards Our Lord.² The legend runs  

✠ MORS HOMINĒ STRAVIT DS HĀC LIGAT HVNC RELEVAVIT 

‘Death laid man low, the Lord binds the one and raised up the other.’ 

   ‘The Harrowing of Hell’ was a favourite subject with the writers of Miracle-plays. In the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, there is in the Auchinleck MS. a copy of a play bearing that name, held to be an older codex than that of the same play in the British Museum – Harleian MSS. 2253, No. 21 – which is supposed to have been transcribed in the reign of Edward II. See also Mr. J. O. Halliwell’s edition of the Harleian MS. of The Harrowing of Hell, London: John R. Smith, 1840. 

   This Miracle-play has been regarded by some authorities as the most ancient specimen of dramatic composition which exists in our language; and an edition of the Harleian MSS. version, limited to twenty-five copies, was printed, early in 1835, by the late Mr. John Payne Collier.³ Soon afterwards the Auchinleck MS. version was edited by the late Mr. David Laing and printed in Edinburgh, in July 1835, by the Messrs. Ballantyne and Co., for the use of the fortunate possessors of copies of Mr. Collier’s edition, to aid them in comparing the texts. 

   It is quite probable that the maker of the ciborium was well acquainted with this Miracle-play in one of its many versions, and in his graphic delineation of the peaceful, satisfied mien of Adam, who, we can well see, feels himself quite safe in the Hands of his Redeemer, and of the imploring looks and attitude of Eve, lest she might be left behind, we seem to find a most powerful exponent of the text of the Play. To illustrate this more completely, we here reprint, from a copy in the Signet Library, Edinburgh, of the excessively rare (1835) Edinburgh edition of the Auchinleck MS. version of The Harrowing of Hell (for a knowledge of which we are indebted to the ever ready help of Mr. Thomas Graves Law), the opening lines of Adam’s address to Our Lord on His coming among His people in Limbo, the whole of Eve’s appeal for a like merciful consideration, and Our Lord’s reply to them both:- 

ADAM DIXIT.                                                       EUA AIT. 

                      Welcom, Lord God of lond,                                   Knawe me, Lord, Ich am Eue 

                      Godes sone, and Godes sond;                               Adam and Ich ware the so leue; 

                      Welcom, Lord, mot thou be                                 Thou ʒaue ous to ʒeme paradis, 

                      Long haues ous thought after the:                      And we it ʒemed as vnwise, 

                      Lord, seththen thou art comen to ous                When we thi comandment forlete. 

                      Thou bring ous out of this hous.                          When we of that appel ete. 

                      Lord, thou wost what Ich am                               So long haue we ben here inne, 

                      Thou me schope of erthe man.                           That wele haue we bet our sinne; 

                      And thou me clepetest sone, Adam:                    Leue Lord, ʒiue out leue, 

                      And ʒif Ich haue sinnes wrought,                        Adam and [me] his wiif Eue, 

                      [For Y thyn heste hueld noht,]                             To fare out of this foul wike, 

                      Ful dere now here Ich aue hem bought.             Into the bliss of heuen rike. 

DOMINUS AIT. 

                                                        Adam, Y haue ʒouen mi liif 

                                                        For the, and for Eue thi wiif; 

                                                        Wenestow Ich adde ben ded for nought? 

                                                        For mi ded is mankin bought. 

Brackets [ ] denote a line, or word, in the Harleian Version, not found in the Auchinleck. 

   11. On the bowl. The Type:- Elijah taken up into Heaven. Elijah, his long hair, signifying his wonderful powers of endurance, shown flowing down his back, is standing in the fiery chariot, indicated by a cart of an archaic form,⁴ to which are harnessed two horses, rearing upwards and preparing to leave the earth, is placing his mantle in the hands of Elisha, who is represented in a sitting attitude. Around the head of Elijah is a nimbus indicative of the brilliancy of his triumphs – while the tear dropping from an eye reminds us of the pathos of his despondency. The legend runs:- 

 ✠ IGNEVS • HELIAM • CVRRVS LEVAT AD THEORIAM. 

‘A fiery chariot bears Elijah up to the Beatific Vision.’ 

   12. On the cover. The Antitype:- The Ascension. Our Lord is represented with his feet lifted above the earth, in the act of blessing, entering the Heavens, the nimbus round his head being partly covered by a cloud. To his right are seen six of the Apostles, the two in the foreground bearing in their arms, pressed close to their sides, their Gospels. To the left, the Blessed Virgin and the remaining six Apostles. This medallion is encircled by the legend:- 

✠ QVO CAPVT ASCENDO MEA MEMBRA VENITE SEQVENDO. 

‘Whither I the Head ascend, there let my Members come and follow me.’ 

   Inside the cover (see Fig. 47, page 52) is a medallion 2 ¼ inches in diameter containing a half-length figure of Our Lord, with the Cross of the Holy Sepulchre, or Archbishop’s Cross and book, giving the Benediction. Lapis lazuli enamel with stars, in clusters of three, for the sky; the nimbus is cerulean blue graduated. Our Lord’s vestments, pale blue merging into a darker shade in places, relieved with streaks of red; clouds which rise up to His Heart are suggested in shades of yellow, green, and dark blue. (See remarks on page 46.) Inside the bowl at the centre of the bottom (see Fig. 48, page 52), is the Iamb, bearing the Cross of the Resurrection, with the Triumphal Banner, while from His Heart the Precious Blood flows into a chalice; this has all been enamelled at one time, but the effects of a blow (see page 46) have destroyed all traces of colour, except a small portion of blue in one corner of the banner. 

   The Kennet Ciborium is figured and described by Mr. Way in his Catalogue, pp. 122-123, but he advances no decided opinion as to its age and maker, although he inclines to the belief that it is the work of Alpais the Limousin enameller. After a careful examination of the Ciborium, we have come to the conclusion that it is indeed the work of this Limousin artist, who flourished in the thirteenth century. The present owner of the ciborium has never considered that it had belonged to Malcolm Canmore, and is unable to trace any reliable origin for the tradition. 

   The following are the considerations that have weighed with us in arriving at a conclusion as to the identification of the artist:- 

   It will be observed from Plate II. that the legend round the medallion (No. 4) depicting OUR LORD BEARING THE CROSS is as follows:- 

✠ SIC ALAPIS CESVS PIA DVCITVR HOSTIA IHESVS. 

‘Thus, struck by blows upon the cheek, the Holy Victim Jesus is led away.’ 

   It will, in the first place, be admitted that there is a curiously suggestive similarity between the name ‘Alpais’ and the word ‘alapis’ – nor will the importance of that similarity be lessened when we consider, first, that it was an ancient and common practice with artists of the period to introduce their names anagrammatically; and secondly, that the word ‘alapa’⁵ is one which the artist has gone out of his way to use, – the term employed for a ‘buffet’ in the Vulgate rendering of St. Matthew xxvi. 67, and St. Mark xiv. 65 being ‘colaphus.’ It will further be noticed that Alpais in his mark, which we here reproduce (see Fig. 49) from the 2d edition, Dresden, Schoenfeld, 1877, of Dr. J. G. Théodore Graesse’s Guide de l’amateur d’objets d’art et de curiosité ou Collection des monogrammes… des émailleurs, &c., uses ‘Gothic’ and Roman letters indiscriminately, just as we find in the legends round the medallions of the bowl and cover of the Kennet Ciborium (see Plates II. and III.). The whole character of the lettering on his mark agrees remarkably with that on the scrolls of the medallions. 

    The Warwick Castle Ciborium is cited by Mr. Way (Catalogue, p. 124) as resembling in many of its details the Kennet one; as is one in the Louvre of 13^th century work, bearing the name of the artist Alpais. A ciborium slightly smaller, but said to be similar in form, workmanship, and arrangement of subjects (several of the legends as given in the catalogue quoted below are identical with those on the Kennet Ciborium), and to have belonged originally to Malmesbury Abbey, was shown by the Rev. G. W. Braikenridge, in the Special Loan Exhibition of Works of Art of the Mediæval, Renaissance, and more recent periods, South Kensington Museum, June 1862, see No. 1101 of the revised edition, January 1863, of the Catalogue, edited by J. C. Robinson, F.S.A., and printed for Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. 

   Rhenish-German enamelled work of contemporary date somewhat resembles in motif, not in colouring or expression of features, some of that of the Limoges school; German workmen being doubtless employed in Limoges – the art of enamelling travelling from the East towards the West – just as they were in the early days of wood-engraving in Italy, where they exercised a most important influence upon the first development of that art.⁶ To illustrate our meaning we reproduce (see Fig. 50) one of a series of eighteen oblong plaques, which are found on six plates⁷ of champlevé enamel on copper, preserved in the Treasury of the Cathedral at Hildesheim.

   These plates (Register No. 30, of the recently issued, but undated, official catalogue, Kurzer Führer durch den Hildesheimer Domschatz: Druck von August Lax im Hildesheim) formerly decorated an altar in the ‘Bishop’s Chapel’ of the Cathedral, and their workmanship is authoritatively assigned to the twelfth-thirteenth century. They contain representations of scenes from the history of Our Lord’s life on earth; the one fairly typical specimen being ‘The Ascension,’ which resembles in a remarkable degree, so far as the general disposition of the figures is concerned, the rendering of that event (see Plate III., medallion No. 12) on the Kennet Ciborium; but after a close examination of these and the other figures on the Hildesheim plates, they will be found to be of conventional Rhenish-German type, while those on the Kennet Ciborium are as markedly French. [A. H. C.] 

(176) Lent by LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH. 

   A COVERED TANKARD OF AGATE, with silver-gilt mountings and handle, probably of Scottish workmanship, as they bear the plate-mark, a unicorn’s head erased. It has sometimes been called Queen Mary’s Caudle cup. The ornaments on the handle are a lion’s head and a rose, both in relief. It measures 5 inches in height. Engraved in Way’s Catalogue, p. 170. 

(177) Lent by LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH. 

   RICHLY ORNAMENTED HANDLE OF BLOODSTONE, mounted with gold, exquisitely enamelled, and apparently of Italian workmanship. It seems to have been intended to form the handle of a fan of feathers, or some similar ornament. A circular fan of yellow ostrich feathers, tipped with red, appears in Mary’s hand in the portrait attributed to her in the Episcopal Palace at Gloucester. 

(179) Lent by LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH. 

   MARY STEWART’S HANDBELL, silver gilt. It has been asserted that this was one of the objects of daily personal use by the Queen. It is certain that she was in the habit of using such a bell, and this may possibly have been the identical one which she had on her writing-table until the day of her death at Fotheringhay. 

   A detailed description of the handbell, together with conjectures as to the meaning of the figures engraved thereon, will be found at pp. 170-173 of Mr. Way’s Catalogue, where it is also figured; but it is right to mention that subsequent examinations of the relic have not tended to confirm his theories, and it is now believed by competent judges that this bell is of more modern date than was at one time supposed. [A. H. C.] 

(180) Lent by LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH. 

   A very finely cut CAMEO in BLOODSTONE, representing on one side the scourging of our blessed Lord, and on the other the Crucifixion. Our Lady and St. John stand beside the Cross. It is set in agate, and attached to a necklace of twenty pieces of agate mounted in gold, which it is stated was worn by Queen Mary, and by her presented to Sir James Balfour. 

(181) Lent by LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH. 

   FOUR SMALL SILVER SPOONS, belonging to the Queen Mary relics at Kennet (see p. 45). [They have a rat-tail on the bowl, and are engraved on back and front. They bear only one hall-mark, which has not been identified. [A. J. S. B.] 

(178) Lent by LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH. 

   ROCK CRYSTAL JUG, mounted in silver gilt, presented by Queen Elizabeth to the Regent Mar for the baptism of one of his children. [On the top are the arms of Erskine and Murray parted per pale, the Countess having been one of the Tullibardine family. It bears the Edinburgh hall-mark . The maker’s punch is that of James Cok, who was deacon of the Incorporation of Goldsmiths in 1563-1564. The deacon’s punch is that of George Heriot – the father of the famous goldsmith to James VI. – who held the office of deacon from 1565-7. During these latter years the jug must have been made. [A. J. S. B.] (See Fig. 51.) 

(301) Lent by SHERIFF ERSKINE MURRAY. 

   SILVER-GILT CIBORIUM. This vessel (see Fig. 53) measures 11 inches high, and has a cover which increases the height to 15 ½ inches over all. The cup itself is made in seven distinct parts, which are held together by means of a screwed rod which extends from the bottom of the lining (to which it is soldered) to the foot, where it is fixed by a nut. The cover is composed of two parts riveted together, while the handle is attached by a nut and screw. 

   It is known as Queen Mary’s Cup, and is historically the most interesting piece of church plate now in use in Scotland. It is said to have been the gift of Queen Mary to the Church of St. John the Baptist at Perth, where it is supposed to have been used as a Ciborium, and there is a tradition that in the riots which occurred upon the preaching of John Knox there on 11^th May 1559, it was thrown into the street, and was picked up by a woman who concealed it in her father’s grave till more peaceful times, when it was given back to the Church. Its workmanship has been further attributed to Benvenuto Cellini, and it is said that it was given by the Pope to Queen Mary. This is the traditional history of the chalice. An examination of the history of the period, of the Cup itself, and of the Kirk-Session records, reveals enough to destroy this statement on many points, and a little that inferentially confirms it. 

   First: with regard to the tradition which connect» it with Queen Mary, it must be recollected that at the time it was supposed to be given, the Queen was in France: she did not land in Scotland till the 19^th August 1561, but it might have been the gift of her mother, Mary of Guise. The supposition as to its primarily having been a gift from the Pope may have originated from the fact that the Popes were frequently in the habit of presenting gifts to the Scottish monarchs. The Sceptre and the Sword of State of our national Regalia are the gifts respectively of Pope Alexander VI. and Pope Julius II.  

   Second: as to its having been the work of Benvenuto Cellini, it may be remarked that the design and execution of the lower portion of the cup is distinctly of the German rather than of the Italian school of metal-work. An examination of the workmanship of both the Cup and the cover reveals some curious facts. The upper portion of the body of the Cup is decorated with different style of work altogether from the lower. While the latter is executed in repoussé, pretty bold in relief, the former is decorated with engraved ornament. The use of both these methods of decoration on the same piece of work was by no means uncommon among the goldsmiths of the sixteenth century. Several considerations may have led to this. In producing repoussé work, the goldsmiths of that period invariably used very thin plate, and not unfrequently, as in the case of this Cup, they had to insert an inside lining of thicker metal to give it structural stability. It is the portion immediately above and attached to this lining which is engraved. In some cases it was also desirable to have a comparatively smooth interior to a vessel of this kind – particularly if it was to be used for a liquid – in order to facilitate the process of cleansing it. For either or both of these reasons the art of engraving, as well as that of repoussé, may have been used upon this Cup when it was originally made.

It may be noted that in the designs of Virgil Solis (born in 1514, died in 1562), to which it bears a most striking resemblance, both these arts are included, as well as that of introducing cast figures or heads, which are also to be found in this Cup. It may further be remarked that although the quality of the engraving is fine, yet it does not attain to the superlative excellence of the repoussé work. Upon the rim of the bowl of the Cup is engraved FOR THE KIRK OF PEARTH. This inscription, it may be noted, is the work of a different and much less skilful engraver than the one who cut the ornament, and is undoubtedly Scottish. The body bears no hall-mark, and only shows the wriggled line on three separate parts where a small portion has been removed with the graver, so that the quality might be tested; but excepting this it bears all the traces of having been made at Nuremberg. There are several cups still in existence with which it may be compared: notably two: one exhibited at South Kensington by Baron de Rothschild, with the date 1568 assigned to it, and another bronze cup in the South Kensington Collection, said to be the work of Virgil Solis. The embossed flowers on the base of the Perth Cup resemble the former, while the body of the Perth Cup resembles the latter. It is evident from the design that it was not intended for ecclesiastical purposes: the delicately worked grotesques and satyrs preclude this (see Fig. 52). The cover is a remarkable combination. Unquestionably it was originally the cover of another and smaller cup. It is engraved with a curious scene, in which monkeys, birds, and fishes are introduced among floral scrolls which issue from a vase. The handle is composed of coiled serpents delicately modelled. 

This cover measures 4 ¾ inches in diameter; but as 5 ¾ inches were required for the chalice, an additional portion has been riveted (not soldered) to it. This addition is undoubtedly Scotch work. The pattern on one of the mouldings is almost identical in design, and exactly similar in the peculiar method by which it was produced to that on many communion cups manufactured in Scotland between 1620 and 1640. Above the moulding is a vertical border, on which are soldered twelve cast-silver masks – crude in design and absolutely untouched by the chaser’s punches – which point to an attempt on the part of the Scottish silversmith to harmonise his addition with the other portions of the cup. The Dundee hallmark is impressed on the cover itself, but it may be safely said that only the moulding and the border were manufactured there. The mark is that of Robert Gairdyne, who was a silversmith in Dundee as early as 1635, and who is last mentioned in 1668. Abundant evidence exists of the degree of skill he possessed, and it is unquestionable that the original portion of this cover was never made in his workshop. His mark is to be found on a communion cup belonging to the Parish Church of Brechin, dated 1648, as well as on others of the same period.

   Third: it is much easier to destroy the tradition which connects the cup with Queen Mary than to determine when it came into the possession of the Kirk of St. John’s, and the Kirk-Session records tend rather to complicate than to elucidate the difficulties which surround this point. In 1587 it seems that the church had communion cups in their possession. This is gathered from an entry of an ‘order to be observit at the table,’ in which certain individuals are appointed to ‘convoye the wyne to the tabils – to fill the cuipis – to convoy the cuipis.’ In an entry dated 21^st May 1632: ‘The two silver over-gilt goblets with gold, with their covers and two basins pertaining to the session, are put within their charter-kist, in the Revestry, there to be keeped.’ But this description answers to both the two pairs of cups which that church now possesses: first, to the so-called Queen Mary Cup and another of Nuremberg manufacture (see Fig. 54), and, second, to two other cups bearing the London hall-mark respectively of 1610-1 and 1611-2. (See Figs. 55 and 56.) 

   In 1639, when the church had without doubt two cups in its possession, we find the following entry in the records: ‘Mr. John Murrie of Cowden promised to pay the session £100 [Scots] if they would allow Lady Stowmount to be buried beside her mother. Lady Balmains, in the East Nook of the Kirk, and that this siller was to be employed for the buying of ane cup for the use of the communone.’ 

   On the 27^th April 1640 there occurs another entry: ‘Delivered by Mr. John Robertson to William Reoch, Master of Hospital, twenty pounds to help to buy the communion cup.’ And in 1643: ‘Upon the third day of Februar, being about four hours in the morning, Isobel Wintoun, relict of umquhil John Crichton of Kinved, departed this life, and was buried in the Kirk of Perth, under the scholars seat next Auldie’s burial. Upon the 8 of Februar paid therefore one hundred pounds, whilk is ordained by the Council and Session to buy ane cup to the communion.’ 

   It thus seems likely that two of the communion cups now in their possession were purchased about this time. There is no direct evidence which can aid us in determining which two; but the presumption is very strong that it was the two London-made cups. It was by no means common for Scottish churches to send to London for their communion plate, yet in several cases – particularly about this period – it is known that they did so, for the cups still exist. On the other hand, the fact that the name-punch of a Dundee goldsmith is impressed on the cover of the one known as the ‘Queen Mary Cup,’ gives some colour to the suggestion that it was one of the cups purchased at that time; but the mark is misleading, and it has been shown that Robert Gairdyne’s work only amounted to the enlargement of the cover. He never made the cup, and that he sold it is equally improbable, for the old Scottish goldsmiths were never in the habit of keeping a stock of silver-plate, and specially such an article as this. 

  The balance of probability thus rests with the supposition that one of the two cups mentioned in 1632 was that so long known as the Queen Mary Cup. Further, if the conjecture as to its having been the design of Virgil Solis, or of some one else of the same period, is right, then, as far as the antiquity of the Cup is concerned, it may have graced one of the many altars of St. John’s Church in pre-Reformation times; but of that we have no evidence. [A. J. S. B.] 

(175) Lent by the SESSION OF THE MID KIRK, PERTH. 

   A TIMEPIECE, in the shape of a skull in silver, attached to a chain of the same metal. Presented by Queen Mary to Mary Seton, one of her four Maries, Maids of Honour. On the forehead is the figure of Death, who stands between a palace and a cottage, and around him is the legend from Horace: ‘Pallida Mors equo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas regumque turres.’ 

On the back part of the skull is the figure of Time, with the legend from Ovid: ‘Tempus edax rerum, tuque invidiosa vetustas.’ The upper portion of the skull represents (1) Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and (2) the Crucifixion, each with its own appropriate legend. The space between these designs is pierced with open work for the escape of the sound when the hammer strikes the silver bell which fills the hollow of the cranium, for the watch is a repeater. 

The workmanship is admirable throughout. A watch of similar design but of inferior workmanship of about the year 1600, and of Swiss origin, may be seen in the Department of Antiquities in the British Museum, to which it was presented by Lady Fellowes in 1874. The Seton timepiece has been figured in Wood’s Curiosities of Clocks and Watches.’ (See 57 and 58.) 

(182) Lent by SIR T. N. DICK LAUDER, BART. 

   WATCH, of octagonal form, the case of which is of rock crystal. The key bears the Crown and Sceptre over the initials M.R. It is said to have belonged to Queen Mary, and to have been given by Lord Seton to the family of Fingask, in whose possession it has long continued. It is in good preservation and in working order. It has only one hand, and bears no ornaments whatever. 

(205) Lent by W. MURRAY THREIPLAND. 

   GOLD WATCH and Key, by Etienne Hubert à Rouen (with cat-gut instead of chain movement), given by Queen Mary to Massie, one of her attendants at Fotheringhay, on the day before her execution. Of this watch Sir John Leslie in a letter to Dr. M^cCrie (M^cCrie’s Life of Knox, Supplement), says:- ‘I have had the opportunity of inspecting an antique watch, through the politeness of Mr. J. Scott, late chemist in Edinburgh, the lineal descendant of a Frenchman of the name of Massie, who, having attended Queen Mary into Scotland, had received the relic from his mistress. It is a small round gold watch, scarcely exceeding an inch in diameter, and made by Hubert in Rouen.’ (See Figs. 59 and 60.) 

(184) Lent by J. S. FRASER TYTLER. 

   GOLD WATCH, which is said to have belonged to Mary Stewart. It is oval in shape, and no maker’s name is visible. The works have nearly all gone. 

(206) Lent by W. MURRAY THREIPLAND. 

   GOLD SOLITAIRE, set with diamonds, rubies, and pearls, surrounding the enamelled figure of Cupid trying to catch a mouse. On the obverse is the motto: ‘Simplex appares, simplicitate cares.’ This jewel was given before their marriage by the Dauphin to Queen Mary, who, in a portrait which was in the possession of David, eleventh Earl of Buchan, is represented as wearing it. The possession of this solitaire, together with the watch (184), can be traced to Scott the chemist, lineal descendant of the Queen’s attendant, Massie. (See Fig. 61.) 

(185) Lent by J. S. FRASER TYTLER. 

   AN ANTIQUE GOLD CROSS PENDANT, exquisitely enamelled on front and back, and set with twelve fine rubies. A central cross is formed by six large Scottish pearls, surmounted by other pearls, two emeralds, and five rubies. The back is enamelled in black and gold. It is believed to be an authentic relic of Queen Mary; and a few years ago was valued by the Court of Session at £300. 

(183) Lent by F. G. D. GIBSON.  

   TAZZA WITH COVER, of Limoges enamel, painted by Jean Court dit Vigier, bearing the arms of Queen Mary surmounted by the Crown of the Dauphin. Said to have been presented by Francis II. to his bride Mary Stewart, and hence called ‘Mary Queen of Scots Betrothal Cup.’ On the lid of the tazza (see Fig. 62) is represented the Triumph of Diana, who, seated in an ornamental car drawn by a pair of stags, is accompanied by her troops of nymphs and greyhounds. 

   Within the cup is a representation of the repast of the gods on the occasion of the marriage of Cupid and Psyche (see Fig. 63), said to be in some respects a copy of the famous fresco by Raphael. An inscription reads, ‘A Lymoges par Jehan Court dit Vigier, 1556.’ One Jehan de Court was attached to the Court of Queen Mary in Scotland, and it seems probable that it was he who executed this tazza. Subsequently he became Court painter to Charles IX. of France. The cover is engraved on page 233 of Burty’s Chefs-d’œuvre of the Industrial Arts, edited by W. Chaffers, F.S.A. (London: Chapman & Hall. 1869. 1 vol. 8vo.) The British Museum possesses two admirable specimens of the taste and skill of this artist, viz.: a Crucifixion, in Limoges enamel on copper, about 1550, and the sides of a casket (eight pieces) representing the history of Joseph, with the authentication, ‘A Lymoges par Jehan Court dit Vigier, 1555.’ 

(186) Lent by JOHN MALCOLM. 

   TWO SILVER CUPS, the property of Queen Mary Stewart and Henry Darnley, by whom they were used at their marriage. Each bears the inscription: ‘MARIA ET HENRIC. DEI GRA. R. ET R. SCOTORV.,’ the letter R in each instance being an addition above the line; and also the Heraldic Coat and Badges of the Queen and King, with the motto, ‘DAT GLORIA VIRES,’ and the date 1567.  

(186A) Lent by SIR WILLIAM A. FRASER, BART. 

   FILIGREE SILVER CUP, which belonged to Mary Queen of Scots. 

(187) Lent by JAMES T. PITCAIRN. 

   FILIGREE SILVER CUP, which belonged to Mary Queen of Scots. Purchased at Lady Belhaven’s sale. It formerly stood in the Queen Mary Cabinet, now the property of Mr. John Watson of Earnock. Nos. 187 and 188 are exactly similar and make a pair. 

(188) Lent by MRS. E. SCOTT. 

   ‘THE BLACK ALMRIE,’ also known as Queen Mary’s Almrie, a beautiful specimen of Dutch cabinet work in walnut, rosewood, and ebony, with carved masks, etc., and ivory inlaid work representing two Roman soldiers killing a bear. Height, 6 feet 6 inches; width, 5 feet 9 inches. It came from Lochleven Castle into the possession of a labourer who resided on the shore of Lochleven, from whom it was obtained by the lender’s father about 1830. There would seem to have been at least two, and possibly three, black almries in the neighbourhood of Milnathort, near Lochleven, between the years 1830 and 1840. One is reported to have been at Castlehill, a farm between Ledlanet and Nether Craigie, then tenanted by a family of the name of Robertson; another at the pendicle of Moreknowe, close to Ledlanet, then owned by Lawrence Raeburn, or Hepburn; and the third – if indeed it was a third, and not just one or other of the accredited two – in the possession of Annie Martin, a humble cottager residing in the village of Milnathort. The grander, or grandest, was allowed to be at Castlehill, and was distinguished by a carving on the front of it representing human figures standing with drawn swords. It seems, however, to be admitted that this almrie came from the house of Lawrence Hepburn of Moreknowe, in the parish of Orwell, distant about four miles from the brink of Iochleven. 

(189) Lent by SIR NOEL. PATON. 

   CARVING, from Linlithgow Palace, size about 18 inches by 18 inches. It represents a ‘Unicorn, chained and gorged, with a royal crown, bearing a banneret, and surrounded by some roughly executed ornament. Portions of the old painting still remain. It formerly stood over the door of the chamber in Linlithgow Palace in which Mary Stewart was born and was presented to the lender’s father in 1835.’ 

(190) Lent by SIR NOEL PATON. 

   SMALL CASKET, containing a portion of the hair of Queen Mary. It belonged to the late Lady Belhaven, and formed a small portion of the lock subsequently bequeathed by Robert, eighth Lord Belhaven, to Her Majesty the Queen, for a note on which see p. 45. 

(192) Lent by JOHN WATSON. 

   PIECE OF TAPESTRY wrought by Mary Stewart while a prisoner in Lochleven Castle. Brought from France as a genuine memorial of the Scottish Queen by Rev. Mr. Vallant, minister of the parish of Kingsbarns, Fife, who, in 1777, gave it to Mr. Bonthrone, in whose family it has remained until recent years. 

(194) Lent by C. C. MAXWELL through JOHN MACLAUCHLAN. 

   INLAID CHEST OR COFFER, which originally belonged to Queen Mary. It is of marquetry, profusely covered with brass ornaments, chiefly in foliage work of elegant design and execution. On the Queen’s departure from Cadzow Castle to the unfortunate battle of Langside, this article was left behind her and became the property of the Regent, the Earl of Mar, from whom it descended to the late Lord Belhaven. It was acquired by Mr. John Watson of Earnock in December 1873. (See Fig. 64.) 

(191) Lent by JOHN WATSON. 

   ANCIENT PIECE OF TAPESTRY, traditionally known as Queen Mary’s screen. It represents incidents in the Biblical history of Rehoboam and Jeroboam. The costume is of much interest as illustrative of the dress of the period when this tapestry was executed. It formed part of the tapestry which is mentioned in the inventory of the moveables of the Queen Regent in September 1561, where it is described as ‘a Tapestry of the history of Roboam, containing four pieces.’ It is again noticed in 1578 in another inventory, in which it is said to consist of five pieces. It appears from an old diary that this screen was procured in 1691 on behalf of a certain William Hogg, merchant in Edinburgh, in exchange for a kitchen range, valued at five shillings. It is engraved in The leisure Hour for January 1872. (See Plate IV.) 

(193) Lent by D. SCOTT MONCRIEFF. 

   ESCRITOIRE, with the Royal Anns of Scotland and the Cipher of Mary Stewart, ‘M.R.’, formerly her property. It subsequently came into the possession of an ancestor of the present owner at Castle Menzies, which was built early in the reign of Queen Mary, by whom it was frequently visited. A carved escutcheon of the royal arms of Scotland there preserved corresponds with those engraved on this Escritoire. 

(204) Lent by SIR ROBERT MENZIES, BART. 

   NEEDLEWORK from Holyrood, said to have been worked by Mary Stewart and her attendants. On a brown ground are figured the Scottish Thistle, the Lion passant and the Rose for England, and the Fleur de Lys for France. 

(197) Lent by MISS BROWN of Lanfine. 

   ÉTUl, which belonged to Mary Stewart, containing stiletto, penknife, and scissors. The mountings are in silver, chased and engraved, with the Scottish Lion. 

(198) Lent by CLUNY MACPHERSON. 

Plate IV. – Queen Mary’s Screen.

   ONE OF THE CUFFS OF LORD DARNLEY’S GLOVE, embroidered in coloured silks, said to have been worked for him by Mary Stewart in July 1565. The glove itself is wanting. (See Fig. 65.) 

(196) Lent by W. MURRAY THREIPLAND. 

   PART OF A CURTAIN, of green colour, from Holyrood, which belonged to Mary Stewart. 

(199) Lent by CLUNY MACPHERSON. 

   BED-QUILT, of a whitish-yellow colour, said to have been worked by Mary Stewart and her ladies at Hardwick. 

(200) Lent by CHARLES DACK. 

   SQUARE OF CORDED SILK, of a salmon colour, with a gold thread woven between the cords, and lined with white silk. It is said to be a portion of the robe in which King James the Sixth was christened, and was given to the late Mr. Ebenezer Murray by a lady whose ancestress was present at the baptism. 

(201) Lent by MRS. EBENEZER MURRAY. 

   WORK-BOX, which belonged to Mary Stewart. 

(202) Lent by the BARONESS WILLOUGHBY DE ERESBY. 

   WORK-BOX, of carved oak, which belonged to Mary Stewart. It is mentioned by Miss Strickland in her Lives of the Queens of Scotland, i. 139, and yet more fully by Sir Samuel Meyrick, whose account of it will be read with interest:- ‘This box of carved oak, bound round with silver hands and a lock of the same, was the property of Mary, Queen of Scotland, and came into the possession of Adam, Lord Forrester, her Chancellor. It passed through the hands of that family until it ended with Harriet Forrester, married to Edward Walter, Esq., and by her request it devolved to her grand-daughter, Charlotte Grimston. The Marguerite, which forms the principal ornament of this box, was the badge adopted by Margaret, Queen of Scotland, eldest daughter of Henry VII., and was frequently borne by her grand-daughter, Mary, Queen of Scotland; but there are few (if any) other examples of the badge having been placed on a heart, as it is here. The ornaments on this box evidently prove it to be of the time of Henry VIII., and if we suppose it a lovers present from James IV. of Scotland to Margaret, his Queen, her badge in the centre of a heart may be regarded as an elegant and appropriate expression of his feelings. (Signed) Samuel Meyrick.’ 

(203) Lent by the EARL OF VERULAM (BARON FORRESTER). 

   PIECE OF EMBROIDERED VELVET HANGINGS, which are said to have belonged to one of the beds of Mary Stewart. It is supposed to have been worked by her and her attendants during her imprisonment at Fotheringhay. The Scottish thistle in white silk forms the very effective ornament on the green velvet surface. (See Plate V.) 

(195) Lent by the DOWAGER MARCHIONESS OF HUNTLY. 

   COPY OF THE ENGRAVED SEAL, from Mary Stewart’s Signet Ring, bought at the sale of the collection of the late Earl of Buchan. 

(208) Lent by W. MURRAY THREIPLAND. 

   RING, which belonged to Mary Stewart. The arms are within a lozenge, placed between the initials ‘M.R.’ It was given to the grandfather of the lender, Mr. James Strange, by his godfather, the Prince Charles Edward. 

(209) Lent by COUTTS TROTTER. 

   GOLD ENAMELLED CRUCIFIX, with the inscription ‘I.N.R.I.’ It belonged to Mary Stewart during her imprisonment at Fotheringhay. On the front the figure of our Lord is in white enamel, while on the back the Sacred Heart is represented in red enamel surrounded by a crown of thorns. The two feet are pierced by a single nail. The black tracery contrasts well with the white enamel. (See Fig. 66.) 

(210) Lent by the HON. MRS. E. MAXWELL STUART. 

   CRADLE of JAMES the Sixth of Scotland and First of England. It is of oak, of the same pattern as No. 163 (see page 43), but inferior to it in workmanship. Figured in Chambers’s Book of Days, i. 796. (See Fig. 67.) 

(212) Lent by the EARL OF MAR AND KELLIE. 

Plate V. – Piece of Thistle Embroidered Hangings Supposed to have been Worked by Queen Mary.

   SMALL OAK CHAIR, made for James the Sixth of Scotland while yet a child, it is a high chair strongly made, the front legs turned, and the back boards waved. Figured in Chambers’s Book of Days as above. (See Fig. 68.) 

(213) Lent by the EARL OF MAR AND KELLIE. 

   LEADING STRINGS, worked by Mary Stewart for her son, James the Sixth, when he was learning to walk. They consist of three broad ribbons of rose-coloured silk, richly embroidered with gold and silver thread, bearing the legend from the Ninetieth Psalm, the eleventh verse, according to the text of the Vulgate: ‘Angelis suis Deus mandavit de te ut custodiant te in omnibus viis tuis’ (‘God has given his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways’). Between the words of this inscription are wrought the Crown and Lion, the Sceptre and Holy Child, the Crown and Sceptre, and the Crown and Heart. The Thistle and Harp are on the top band, the inscription on the other two. The borders are of gold fringe. They were left behind her by the Queen when at Terregles. 

(214) Lent by LORD HERRIES. 

   MANUSCRIPT BOOK OF PRAYERS, said to have belonged to Mary Stewart, and to have been left by her at Terregles. This is an illuminated French ‘Horae,’ late 16^th century work. 

(215) Lent by LORD HERRIES. 

   PRAYER BOOK of Mary Queen of Scots, printed at Lyons, in 1558. ‘Horae in Laudem beatissimæ Virginis Marie ad usum Romanum, Lugduni: excudebat Robertus [Granjon]… Mil. v^c lviii.’ 16mo. The following descriptive note is extracted from a catalogue of books printed in Gothic letter, in the library of Stonyhurst College, A.D. 1862: ‘A caduceus runs through the centre of the title-page, with the motto “Ex Acqvitate et Prvdentia Honos.” The text is remarkable both as respects beauty of type and perfection of appearance. The letters, very small but distinct, resemble contemporary French manuscript characters, and, according to one authority, each word has been produced from a wooden block, and not from metal type.⁸ Whether this be so or not, there is clearly some peculiarity in the way in which the words were printed: for instance, in every page the upper part of a long letter may be seen to extend higher than the lower part of one immediately above it; and again, the upper part of the letter d is thrown back over the two preceding letters, etc. A few leaves at the beginning and end are slightly injured.’ 

   The cover is of embossed crimson silk velvet of an old fancy pattern, and is charged with letters and devices in raised metal work. On the obverse is the word MARIA in finely embossed capitals, silver gilt, one letter in each comer, and the middle letter in the centre. Over this letter is a crown, and on the left a rose, on the right what appears to be a pomegranate. On the reverse in corresponding letters, three on each side, is the word REGINA. In the centre are the arms of France and England quarterly, enamelled fields, enclosed in silver gilt, and surmounted by a crown similar to the one just mentioned. The clasps are also silver gilt. (See Plate VI.) 

   According to tradition, this precious relic belonged to Mary Queen of Scots, and was the identical book which she held in her hand as she mounted the scaffold, and which she caused to be delivered to her confessor. By him it was deposited in the library of Douay College, and thence found its way to the library of the Jesuits’ College at Liége, from which place it accompanied the Fathers to Stonyhurst in 1794. 

   The heraldic devices cannot be taken to designate Mary Queen of Scots, but are rather suited to Mary of England, the rose and the pomegranate being the badges of England and Spain respectively. The crown it not, strictly speaking, either that of England, France, or Scotland. The style and workmanship of the cover, as also the crown in shape and ornament are (said by one who has compared them to be extremely) similar to those of the book of penalties (Henry VII.’s) belonging to the Dean and Chapter of St Paul’s. 

   It is possible therefore that the book belonged in the first instance to Mary of England, and from her hands, either by bequest or otherwise, came into those of Mary Queen of Scots. 

(211) Lent by the RECTOR OF STONYHURST COLLEGE. 

   SMALL BRONZE CANNON, presented to Mary Stewart while the wife of Francis the Second, King of France. It is about 2 feet in length, and 3 inches in greatest diameter. Together with a shield charged with the arms of Scotland and France, and surrounded by the Scottish Thistle, intermixed with very elegant engraved scroll work, there is the monogram composed of the Greek letters Φ and M for Francis and Mary, which occurs also in the Kennet Bell (see 180, pp. 52-54) and on the Queen’s Signet Ring. The nature and significance of this monogram have been investigated with great detail by Mr. Albert Way in his Catalogue, p. 174. (See Fig. 69.) 

(116) Lent by the MARQUESS OF LOTHIAN. 

   ARCHBISHOP BEATON’S BIBLE. ‘Biblia Latina. Lutetiæ ex officina Roberti Stephani, typographi Regii. M.D.XLV. Cum privilegio Regis. 8vo.’ 2 vols. 

   Volume Second only: no title-page. This copy belonged to James Beaton, the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow, at the time of the Reformation. His arms are on both sides surrounded by the inscription ‘JACOBVS A. BETOVN ARCHIEPISCOPVS GLASGVENSIS 1552.’ with armorial motto Pereundum ut Vincas. (See Plate VII.) 

   This is a very rare and somewhat remarkable edition of the Latin Bible. It is practically a reproduction of the famous Bible of Zurich (fol. Tiguri, C. Froschoverus, 1543). The Latin version of the O. T. for that edition, except a small part done by Theodoras Bibliander, was made by a Zuinglian Jew, who styled himself Leo Judæ. The Apocrypha was translated by Pierre Cholin: the New Testament is the version of Erasmus revised by Cholin and Rodolphe Gualther. 

   In the present edition Stephens prints the Vulgate and the Zurich text in parallel columns imbedded in an apparatus of notes. The notes passed under the name of Vatable, the eminent Professor of Hebrew at the Royal College of Paris, but were in reality, it is said, almost wholly a compilation of Stephens himself from the notes of Calvin, Münster, and others. 

   By the death of Francis I., Stephens lost his greatest friend and protector. One party in the Church had all along been hostile to him, principally on account of this and his other editions of the Bible, which were alleged to have too much of a Calvinistic leaning: and now they managed to get a stop put to their sale. He and his workmen were subjected to many annoyances, and ultimately, in 1552, he fled to Geneva, where he resided and carried on business during the rest of his life. 

Plate VI. – Prayer-Book Said to have been Used by Queen Mary on the Scaffold.

Plate VII. – Bible of Archbishop Beaton.

   As will be remembered, it is to Stephens that we owe the present division of the Bible into verses, which he made while on a journey from Paris to Lyons in 1548. 

   James Beaton, nephew of the Cardinal, was preferred to the See of Glasgow in 1551. He was a friend of Queen Mary, opposed to reform, and of course unpopular with the Protestants. They had, however, little or nothing to say against him personally. Knox calls him ‘that proud prelate.’ He retired to Paris when the storm burst out, taking with him the Episcopal muniments and treasures, which he deposited in the Scots College there. He took a lively interest in Scottish affairs, and kept up an active correspondence with Queen Mary. He likewise acted as Ambassador for King James VI. until his death in 1603. His Chamberlain at the time of the Reformation was Thomas Archibald, Rector of Cardross, with whom he likewise regularly corresponded after his withdrawal to Paris. In 1598, on account of the ‘great honours done to his Majestie and the country by the said archbishop in exercising and using the office of ambassador, he was restored to his heritages, honours, dignities, and benefices.’ He was much esteemed in France and by his own countrymen. He was buried in the Church of St Jean de Lateran, Paris, within the precincts of which he had lived for forty-five years. 

(295) Lent by H. G. ARMSTRONG. 

   LOCHABER AXE, which was found in Lochleven Castle. 

(278) Lent by W. MURRAY THREIPLAND. 

   KEY, found in Lochleven, believed to be one of the three keys thrown into the water on the night of the Queen’s escape from Lochleven Castle. The stem of the key is hollow. 

(298) Lent by ROBERT BROWN. 

   VIRGINALS, which belonged to Lady Marie Stewart, Countess of Mar, cousin to the Queen. There are twenty-nine white notes on the key-board. No maker’s name is visible. The inside of the lid is decorated with representations of Orpheus charming the wild beasts, a hunting scene, and a lake. 

(299) Lent by SHERIFF ERSKINE MURRAY. 

   CARVED EBONY CABINET, which is 30 inches high, 3 feet 7 inches wide, and has a depth of 16 inches, and is said to have belonged to Lady Marie Stewart. It is of admirable workmanship, apparently French. 

(300) Lent by SHERIFF ERSKINE MURRAY. 

   QUAICH (or Drinking Cup), made from the wood of the yew-tree which was planted by Mary Stewart in Murray Garden, Canongate, Edinburgh, about the year 1560. This Quaich remained for many years in the possession of the family of Crawford of Doonside, Ayr. 

(274) Lent by the TOWN COUNCIL OF IRVINE through JAMES DICKIE. 

   THREE BRONZE CANNON, used in the Battle of Langside (fought May 13, 1568). These pieces are octagonal in external section; one is 4 feet in length, the other two 3 feet 5 inches, and each has a bore of 1 inch. They each bear a shield, that on the longer piece being charged with the three cinquefoils of the Hamiltons. The letters I. H. are at each side of the shield, and there are three indistinct initials under it. One of the smaller pieces is burst 15 inches from the muzzle. 

(275) Lent by the DUKE OF HAMILTON, K.T. 

   CANNON BALL, from the Battlefield of Langside, found near Langside Church during some excavations made there in 1886. This and the similar ball next mentioned are hollow iron castings filled with lead about 2 ½ inches diameter, weighing 26 oz. 

(276) Lent by the REV. JOHN W. RITCHIE. 

   CANNON BALL, found on the Battlefield of Langside, turned up by the plough in 1869 from about one foot beneath the surface. Referred to by A. M. Scott in his book upon the Battle of Langside. 

(306) Lent by A. SWEET. 

   EMBROIDERED GLOVE, believed to have been presented by Queen Mary on the morning of her execution to Marmaduke Darell, Gentleman, Master of the Household at Fotheringhay Castle, who was in attendance on her upon that day, February 8, 1586-7. This glove is of light buff leather, embroidered with silver wire and silks of various colours. The roses are pale and dark blue silk; gauntlet lined with crimson velvet. Engraved and described by W. B. Redfarn in the Reliquary, April 1882. (See Fig. 70.) 

(344) Lent by the TRUSTEES OF THE SAFFRON WALDEN MUSEUM, 

at the request of COLONEL DAVRELL. 

‘THE EXAMYNACIOUN AND DEATH OF MARY THE QUEEN OF SKOTTES, anno 1586, 8 February,’ signed by R. Wynkfeild, edited by C. Dack. 

(247) Lent by CHARLES DACK. 

   GUNTON (SYMON). HISTORY OF THE CATHEDRAL OF PETERBOROUGH Lond. 1686, fol., containing an account of the burial of Queen Mary Stewart, pp. 73-80. 

(248) Lent by CHARLES DACK. 

   WATER COLOUR DRAWING, by a Dutch artist, representing the execution of Mary Stewart, with an inscription in Dutch, of which the following is a translation:- ‘On the eighth of February was beheaded Mary Queen of Scots, she dying a Roman Catholic. Having endeavoured to provoke rebellion and to make herself master of England, she was proved guilty of the same by the Court of Parliament, anno 1587.’ It represents her as in the act of being beheaded. One executioner holds her hands, in which is a crucifix, while the other with lifted axe is about to strike. The Dean of Peterborough, in a red gown, is preaching. The Queen’s dresses are being burnt. Of the persons in the Hall four are on their knees, while all the others wear their hats. 

(250) Lent by T. J. WALKER, M.D. 

‘COLLECTIONS RELATIVE TO THE FUNERALS OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS,’ a volume printed at Edinburgh in 1822 by W. and D. Laing, with additional engravings. 

(279) Lent by G. W. MURDOCH. 

   MUSIC, said to have been played during the execution of Mary Stewart Taken from a manuscript at Oxford, with a description by ‘Cuthbert Bede.’ 

   ‘There is no mention of music in any of the minute contemporary accounts of her execution; it is more probable that it was played to amuse the people who thronged the courts of the castle without; and it is a remarkable fact that this air, which, according to the slow time arranged, produces the most solemn and pathetic effect conceivable, is discovered, when played fast, to be the old popular tune called “Jumping Joan,” invariably played in those days, and sung with appropriate words, to brutalise the rabble at the burning of a witch. The adagio arrangement, however, proves that if this detestable exercise of malice were decreed by Mary Stuart’s foes to embitter her last moments, it was defeated by the band performing it in the solemn style of church music, as a funeral march.’ – Miss Strickland’s Mary Stuart, 1856, vol. vii. p. 487. 

(280) Lent by the PETERBOROUGH NATURAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 

   ORIGINAL LETTER, of King James the First, by which, after reciting that he had commanded a memorial of his ‘dearest mother’ to be made in his Church of Westminster, the place where the Kings and Queens of this nation are usually interred, he authorises the removal of her body from the tomb in Peterborough Cathedral to her said monument in Westminater Abbey. The King then proceeds:- ‘And for that there is a pall now upon ye herse over her grave, which wil be requisite to be used to cover her said body in the removing thereof, which may perhapps be deemed as a fee that should belong to ye church, we have appointed ye said reverend father to pay you a reasonable redemption for ye same, which being done by him, wee require you that he may have ye pall to be used for ye purpose aforesaid.’ Signed by the King at the top, and dated ‘at our Honor of Hampton Court, ye eight and twentieth day of September, in ye tenth yeare of our reigne of England,’ etc. [1612]. (See Fig. 71.) 

(281) Lent by the DEAN AND CHAPTER OF THE CATHEDRAL OF PETERBOROUGH. 

   JOHN KNOX’S WATCH, traditionally regarded as having been presented to him by Queen Mary. It is of silver, in the form of an oblong octagon, the shape known as a Nurnberg egg; 1 ½ inches long, 1 ⅕ inches broad, and was made by ‘N. Forfaiet a Paris.’ It has only one pointer. On the dial-plate is represented a pastoral scene with houses; on the outside case are branches of trees and other similar designs. It has been preserved in the family of the late Mr. Thomson of Banchory, who was descended from one of Knox’s daughters, and was by him presented to the Senatus of the Free Church College, Aberdeen. (See Figs. 72 and 73.) 

(292) Lent by the SENATUS OF THE FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, ABERDEEN. 

   JOHN KNOX’S CANDLESTICK. This brass candlestick with a bullet-hole through its vase was presented to the Perth Museum with the following note:- ‘This candlestick belonged to the celebrated John Knox, and was standing before him when he was shot at,⁹ and the ball went through the bottom of it. How it came into the possession of my great-grandfather, the Rev. David Williamson, who was minister of St. Cuthbert’s in King Charles the Second’s time, I do not know; but since then it has been in the family of the Williamsons till it was left to me by my uncle, Joseph Williamson, Esq., who died 7^th April 1826. (Signed) Alexander Murray.’ 

(293) Lent by the LITERARY AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY OF PERTH. 

   THE BOTHWELLHAUGH GUN, being the gun with which the ‘Good Regent,’ James Murray, was shot by James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh in the High Street of Linlithgow, January 23, 1570. The gun bears this inscription, ‘Bothwellhaugh gun with which he shot the Regent Murray upon the 23 of January 1571.’ The length of the whole piece is 3 feet 5 inches, of the barrel 2 feet 4 ¾ inches. The bore is remarkably small and is a hexagon. There is a sight on the barrel, the ramrod is of iron. Unfortunately the original lock has been removed and its place supplied by a modern flint lock. It is stocked up to the muzzle, the stock being ornamented in ivory and provided with a receptacle near the butt-end for carrying bullets, which is covered by a sliding lid. (See Fig. 74.) 

(294) Lent by LORD HAMILTON OF DALZELL. 

   COLOURED FACSIMILE OF THE ‘LENNOX JEWEL.’ The Lennox Jewel is now in the possession of Her Majesty, for whom it was acquired at the sale of Horace Walpole’s collection in Strawberry Hill in 1842. The jewel was made to the order of Lady Margaret Douglas, mother of Darnley, as a memorial of her husband, Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox. It is described in detail in Patrick Fraser Tytler’s Historical Notes on the Lennox or Darnley Jewel, 1843; written by command of the Queen. 

(241) Lent by MRS. E. E. MORISON DUNCAN. 

   LETTER, of Mary, Queen-Dowager of Scotland, mother of Mary Stewart, ‘to our truest friend the Laird of Rowallan,’ summoning him and his kinsmen, ‘bodin in feir of war,‘ to be in Dunse and Langton on 11 June, to resist the great power of ‘our auld enemies of England.’ Edinburgh, 28 May 1558. Signed, Marie. 

(257) Lent by LORD DONINGTON. 

   LETTER, of Mary, Queen-Dowager of Scotland, to the Laird of Rowallan, requiring him, in consequence of the great troubles that presently occur in this realm by occasion of certain rebels against the sovereign’s authority, to have his kinsmen and servants in readiness for ‘forthsetting of her authority.’ Edinburgh, 7 Feb. 1559. With the seal of Queen Mary of Guise. 

(258) Lent by LORD DONINGTON. 

   LETTER, of Queen Mary Stewart and Henry Darnley, to the Laird of Rowallan, stating that their rebels and disobedient subjects have taken up armour, and mean to pervert the whole state of the commonwealth, to prevent which they summon him to be at Stirling on the last of September. Dundee, 14 Sept. 1565. Signed, Marie R., Henry R. (See Plate VIII.) 

(259) Lent by LORD DONINGTON. 

   LETTER, from Queen Mary, to the Laird of Rowallan. She informs him of her escape from prison, and requests him to meet her with his men in warlike array on Saturday next, the 8^th inst., at eight o’clock before noon. Hamilton, 6^th of [May 1568]. Signed. 

(262) Lent by LORD DONINGTON. 

   LETTER, of Queen Mary Stewart, to the Laird of Rowallan. After thanking him for his good mind and constancy, she proceeds thus: ‘We are mervelous wiell traited, with sik freedome in hunting and all other pastimes as we list.’ She expects the return of Lord Herries from the Court at London ‘this night or the morn, when we shall be further advertised.’ Carlisle, 10 June 1568. Signed. 

(260) Lent by LORD DONINGTON. 

   LETTER, from Queen Mary, to the Laird of Rowallan. She thanks him for his great constancy in her service, and doubts not that he will continue in the same, as (with the grace of God) when she is restored to her own right, he shall think his own good and faithful service well bestowed. Thanks be to God she is in good health and assures him of the same. Lord Fleming arrived on the 5^th inst. from London and is now in Scotland, who will tell the laird more amply the news of this country. Carlisle, 7 July 1568. 

   P.S. – Lord Herries has written to her that the Queen [Elizabeth] had declared to him that she had written to my Lord of Murray expressly that he use no further extremity against the laird, and her favourers and true subjects. Signed. 

(264) Lent by LORD DONINGTON. 

   LETTER, from Queen Mary, to the Laird of Rowallan. She understands his good mind and service towards her declared by Lord Boyd, for which she thanks him, and hopes in God shortly to remember the same by her own presence at the conference at York betwixt her Commissioners and those of Queen Elizabeth (where her rebels have been heard and found nothing to their advantage); her affairs are proceeding in good manner and well advanced. Queen Elisabeth has in the meantime desired her to send some of her Lords to her [Elizabeth] as some of the rebels will be there; so she has sent the Bishop of Ross [Leslie], Lord Herries, and the Abbot of Kilwinning. She will make him [Rowallan] participant of the further course thereof, and reserves the rest to her next advertisement. Bowtoun, 23 Oct 1568. Signed. 

(261) Lent by LORD DONINGTON. 

   LETTER, from Queen Mary, to the Iaird of Rowallan. Understanding his diligence and good will to the setting forward of her affairs and authority, she is much rejoiced of the same, and prays him to continue his good proceedings. She may not write her mind to him at this present as amply as she would do, for diverse weighty considerations, and especially because her writings are commonly taken by the way. But as regarding the Earl of Murray’s doings, she hopes he will not use extremity so hastily; and if he does, she asks the Laird of Rowallan to spare nothing, neither for fear nor fair promises. He need not be afraid of the Earl’s boist [threats] but should begin, nor thole nothing. Within two days she will despatch the Laird of Garlie towards him [Rowallan] with other particulars, by whom he shall be resolved of all doubts, and to whom he shall give credit. Albeit she be transported to Tutbury he shall take no fear thereof. Her cousin the Duke of Chatherault has tane his leave already from the Court, and it on his way to be at him [Rowallan] shortly. Commits him to the protection of God Almighty. Rotrem [Rotherham], the penult of January 1568 [Jan. 30, 1569]. ‘Your good friend, Marie R.’ 

(263) Lent by LORD DONINGTON. 

   LETTER, from Queen Mary, to the Laird of Rowallan. Yesterday she despatched Lord Boyd to the Queen of England, and she will shortly send him into Scotland with such news as will be to the contentment of her friends. Queen Elizabeth has written to the Earl of Murray and Mr. John Wod, his servant, that he trouble none of Queen Mary’s faithful subjects, ‘disregarding their braging.’ Lord Boyd will tell more. Wingdfield [sic], 18 May 1569. Signed. 

(266) Lent by LORD DONINGTON. 

   LETTER, from Queen Mary, to the Laird of Rowallan. She could not inform him of her estate this long time by past through her strait [custody occasioned] by their false reports and wicked inventions. Queen Elizabeth has granted passport to Queen Mary’s servants, the present bearers, to pass into Scotland and to return to her. She trusts that when Elizabeth considers the sincere dealing of the writer she will restore her to her realm and authority, as well on account of her own sincere dealing as for the request of the Kings of France and Spain who will not leave her in necessity, they being victorious over their rebels. She prays her friends to abide patiently, as she does. Tutbury, 22 January 1569 [1570]. Signed. 

(265) Lent by LORD DONINGTON. 

   LETTER, of Queen Mary, to the Laird of Rowallan. The Bishop of Ross, her Ambassador with Queen Elizabeth, and the Commissioners for the Scottish nobility and herself, have been from hour to hour certified of the good demonstration made by Queen Elizabeth and her Council for the appointment. The Commissioners of the other party having arrived, she is in good hope to be hastily among them. She urges them not to stay for any particular respects to declare themselves as they are, as the Laird of Grange, the Captain of her castle of Edinburgh, and others have done. She asks him to act in union with her other friends. Sheffield. 13 March 1570 [1571]. Signed. (See Fig. 75.) 

(267) Lent by LORD DONINGTON. 

   LETTER, from Queen Mary, to Torquil Macleod of the Lewis. When he, Torquil, the heir-apparent, was about twenty-one years of age, and solicited in marriage to a daughter of one of his neighbour island chiefs. Queen Mary was induced to interest herself in his marriage. She desires him not to engage himself without her previous consent. Inverary, 24 July 1563. 

(268) Lent by SHERIFF THOMS, F.S.A.SCOT 

Plate VIII. – Letter from Queen Mary and Henry Darnley to the Laird of Rowallan.

   LETTER, in the autograph of Mary Stewart, addressed to James Beaton, her ambassador in the Court of France. She sends this letter by the brother of her Chancellor Du Vergier. Is anxious that a secretary should be sent to her. Recommends Madame de Briant, who now returns to France, and begs that she may be assisted by her uncle the Cardinal of Lorraine and her other relatives and friends. Hopes that Madame may be lodged in one of their houses, should she happen to come to Paris. Sheffield, 13 November [1574]. Signed. (See Labanoff, iv. 238.) 

(270) Lent by ALFRED MORRISON. 

   LETTER, from Queen Mary to Henry the Third, King of France, begun the night before and completed on the morning of her execution. 

   Having by the permission of God – for her sins, as she believes – thrown herself into the arms of this Queen, her cousin, where she has passed nearly twenty years, she has at last been condemned to death by the Queen and her Estates. She has asked to have her papers, of which she has been deprived by her keepers, in order that she might make her Will, but has been unable to obtain them; nor can she have permission that, after her death, her body may be conveyed into his [Henry’s] realm of France, in which she had the honour to be Queen. 

    To-day in the afternoon her sentence was announced to her, namely, that she should be executed as a criminal to-morrow morning at eight o’clock. She has no time therefore to give him a full account of all that has passed; but if he will be pleased to give credence to her physician and her other distressed servants, from them he will hear the truth. By the grace of God she despises death, and faithfully protests that she receives it innocent of all crime. The two points of her condemnation are, the Catholic religion, and the maintenance of the right which God has given her to this Crown. And yet they will not permit her to say that she dies for the Catholic religion, but for fear of a change in their own. In proof of this they have deprived her of her chaplain. Although he is in the house, she cannot obtain leave for him to come to hear her confession nor to give her Communion at her death; but they have been most urgent with her to receive the consolation and doctrine of their Minister, who was brought here for this purpose. 

   The bearer and his company, the greater part of whom are French, will inform him how she conducted herself in this last act. She entreats him, as the Christian King, her brother-in-law and old ally, and one who has always protested that he loved her, now at this her extremity to give a proof of his goodness by enabling her to discharge her conscience, since without his aid she cannot pay her afflicted servants their wages. And for this she asks that he would cause prayer to be made to God for a Queen, who at one time was styled ‘Most Christian,’ and who dies a Catholic, stripped of all her goods. 

   As for her son, she recommends him to the King of France exactly as he shall deserve, since she cannot answer for him. She ventures to send him two rare stones, valuable for the health, which she hopes will he good with a happy and long life, asking him to receive them as the gift of his very affectionate sister-in-law, who is at the point of death, and in token of her true heart towards him. Once more she recommends her servants to him. Asks him to be pleased for the good of her soul to cause some portion of the sum in which he is indebted to her to be paid. She further begs that to the honour of Jesus Christ, to whom she will pray for him to-morrow at her death, money may be provided wherewith to found an obit and to make the requisite distribution of alms. Wednesday, at two o’clock after midnight. (See Fig. 76.) 

   This touching letter is written upon three pages of foolscap paper, and has been secured by a narrow piece of ribbon. It is written in a firm, steady hand, which betrays no symptoms of weakness or indecision. It remained in the archives of the Scottish College in Paris up to the time of the French Revolution, when it passed into the hands of the Chevalier d’Hervilly, and subsequently became the property of Messrs. Feuillet de Conches and B. Fillon. 

(269) Lent by ALFRED MORRISON. 

   TWO LETTERS, from the Princess Elizabeth (daughter of James VI.), Queen of Bohemia, to Marie, Countess of Mar, cousin of Mary Stewart, concerning the sons of the Countess, then at the Court of Bohemia; and more particularly the marriage of one of them. 

(302) Lent by SHERIFF ERSKINE MURRAY. 

   GRANT, by James VI., in favour of Marie, Countess of Mar, of a pension of £400 sterling to herself for her life, and on her decease to her sons John and Thomas equally, for their lives. 

(303) Lent by SHERIFF ERSKINE MURRAY. 

   SIGNATURE, of the lands of Garscube, in favour of Lady Christian Campbell, daughter of John Campbell of Glenurchay, and wife of Sir John Colcuhoun of Luss, in liferent, 25^th November 1558. Signed, ‘Marie R.’ (Mary of Guise, mother of Mary Stewart). 

(360) Lent by the MARQUIS OF BREADALBANE. 

MANDATE, addressed to [John, third Lord Hay of Yester?], requiring him to deliver John Pol, Englishman, and (blank) Douglas; the former to John Swinton of that Ilk and George Hume of Aiton, Wardens of the East March, and the latter to Andrew Ker of Ferniehurst. Warden of the Middle March. Linlithgow, 21^st March, 26 Jas. [V.] Signed. 

(371) Lent by the MARQUIS OF TWEEDDALE. 

   LETTER, of Queen Mary, to the effect that the Borough of Linlithgow being required to furnish thirty men of war for the army which is to meet on Fallaw Muir on the second of October next, she grants them licence ‘to remain and bide at hame fra the said army and raid.’ Edinburgh, 21 Sept. 15 Mary. Signed by the Queen Dowager, Mary of Guise. A portion of a signet of red wax remains. 

(1033) Lent by the TOWN COUNCIL OF LINLITHGOW. 

   LETTER, from Queen Mary, ‘to the Sheriffs and inhabitants of Linlithgow.’ She recites that whereas she had granted them licence ‘to bide at hame fra the army devised to convene at Fawlay Muir’ on 3d September, they promising to pay £100 for the same, yet divers inhabitants will not pay their part;-therefore she now orders them to chose stentars for stenting the said inhabitants to pay the composition, according to the Roll to be taxed thereon. Dat. Edinburgh, vij Sept. 16 Mary. Signed by the Queen Dowager, Mary of Guise. A portion of the seal remains. 

(1034) Lent by the TOWN COUNCIL OF LINLITHGOW. 

   LICENCE, by Queen Mary, to Patrick Haket of Pitfyrran, and the tenants of his Coal Pits of Crummy and Knockes, To sell the Smydde Coal, and transport the same out of the kingdom. 2d July 1565. Countersigned by Secretary Maitland. The original privilege was renewed by Queen Anne in 1706, and ratified by Parliament in 1707. The privilege was purchased from the family by the Government in 1788, for £40,000. 

(1360) Lent by SIR ARTHUR HALKETT, BART. 

   PRECEPT, by Francis, Earl of Bothwell, 17^th October 1589, enjoining the tenants of St. Thomas’s Chapel, Kelso, to make payment to John Naismyth, the King’s surgeon. 

(304) Lent by DAVID MURRAY, LL.D. 

   BOND, known as the ‘Pasement Bond,’ by which a number of young Scottish nobles bound themselves to refrain from wearing a certain style of dress,^* with signatures of Lennox and Richmond, Mar, Lyndsay, Blantyre, and others. Dated at Edinburgh 6th of May 1593. 

(1357) Lent by SHERIFF ERSKINE MURRAY. 

–

¹  For a readily accessible typical example of what is meant, so far as the scrolls are concerned, see Fig. 4 of Mrs Jameson’s and Lady Eastlake’s History of Our Lord, 3d edition, vol. i. p. 28. London: Longmans, 1872. 

²  Mr. Way refers to, though he is far from crediting, a tradition that the ciborium was at one time in the possession of Malcolm Canmore (1058-1093), and though the weight of scientific proof is against it, an argument in favour of an earlier origin than the thirteenth century might be founded on the fact that in this medallion demons are present among the blessed. The earlier belief of the Christian Church was that in Limbo, the place of intermediate rest where the righteous had to await Our Lord’s coming, there were indeed demons, but in a state of impotence, while the later belief maintained that there were no demons in Limbo at all, and relegated them to another region – Hell. 

³  In June 1836, Mr. Collier included, with four others, The Harrowing of Hell in a privately printed collection of Miracle Plays or Scriptural Dramas. This 1836 edition was also limited to twenty-five copies. 

⁴  For a cart with wheels, and several other features, resembling the one in Medallion II, see Fig. I. – Char de Dejbjerg restitué, in a paper by E. Beauvois (at pp. 119-132 of L’Anthropologie T. I., No. I, Jan.-Feb. 1890), on Henry Peterson’s Les trouvailles de voitures dans la tourbière du presbytère de Dejbjerg près Ringkjabing en 1881 et 1883, servant à éclairer la période préromaine de l’âge de fer en Danemark. Copenhague: Reitzel, 1888. 

⁵  Alapa was also the technical term applied to the blow given by one actor to another to excite the mirth of the audience: Juv. viii. 192; Mart. v. lxi. II. 

⁶  See generally, Friedrich Lippmann’s The Art of Wood-Engraving in Italy in the Fifteenth Century. English edition. Quaritch: London, 1888. 

⁷  The ‘enamelled slabs’ of page 65 Baedeker’s Northern Germany, sixth edition, 1877; all mention of which is omitted in the last edition, 1886, the ninth, ‘revised and augmented.’ 

⁸  The type is of the sort called Caractère de Civilité, invented by Granjon himself. 

⁹  There is no record in M^cCrie’s Life of any occasion on which the Reformer was shot at. 

^*  I found it strange that Scots would agree to a bond preventing them from wearing their usual clothing. This has been worded in a way that can lead to that assumption, but in fact, “pasements” or “passements” appear to be additional “bells & whistles” to garments of clothing. So here what they were agreeing to was to be plain, and in no way ostentatious, in their garb.