Kings & rulers > More leaves from the journal of a life in the Highlands from 1862 to 1882

(not in a village or town) was Fountainhall, where old
Mr. Lawson, the former Lord Provost of Edinburgh
and famous seedsman, came up to the carriage, and
some little girls presented Baby (as Beatrice is always
called by us still) with a nosegay. We passed Porto-
bello, and a few minutes more brought us to the very
station—the private one, outside Edinburgh—which
for eleven years my beloved Albert and I had always
arrived at, and where we left it together eleven years
ago. There it was, all unaltered, and yet all so
altered!
The General, Sir J. Douglas,* the Lord Provost,
and other official people received us there, and we
got into our carriage. The two children and the
Duchess of Roxburghe went in the carriage with me.
It was a dull, gloomy, heavy morning, but a great
ma’i} people were out, and all most enthusiastic, re¬
mil; ling me forcibly and sadly of former days. We
had an escort of the Scots Greys. We drove up to
the door of the old, gloomy, but historical Palace of
Holyrood, where a guard of honour with a band of
the 93rd Highlanders were stationed in the quadrangle
of the court. We got out, walked up the usual stairs,
and passed through two of the large gloomy rooms
we used to occupy, and then went past some passages
up another and very steep staircase to the so-called
“Argyll rooms” which have been arranged for me,
with very pretty light paper, chintz, and carpets
(chosen by Louise). There is a suite, beginning with
a dining-room (the least cheerful) at the farthest end,
and then my sitting-room, a large and most cheerful
Commanding the forces in Scotland.