Montgomery manuscripts

35o
The Montgomery Manuscripts.
towne and bridge, and Edinburg with the King's palace above named, and y* Parliament house
and other places, besides the castle and maiden's tower, (which is the glory of Edinburgh, and was
the seat of y" Pictish King's family, and y 9 nunnery of y" Royal Virgins,) now all worthy to be seen «s
and observed, besides the visits he was to make to y e Earle of Eglinton, and the Earle of Strive-
ling's daughters and sons, 1 '' and the kindred of both sides 15 whence he was descended, were also
dew, and so he was sent to Braidstane and thence to make y" s d visits and views. 16
said, within 48 houres after the charge, under the paine of rebellioun.
And if they failye to denounce," &c. — Proceedings of tlie Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. i., pp. m, 112.
■3 Worthy to be seen. — The places here named were
among the most interesting in Scotland, and no doubt had
peculiar charms for this tourist, who belonged to a family
of decidedly antiquarian tastes and traditions. Glasgow
city was one of the oldest in the land, all its chroniclers com-
mencing their accounts of it with the story of St. Kentigern,
who founded his little church there in the middle of the sixth
century. Around it clustered at first a few wooden huts,
which, in process of time, grew and expanded into the
great city of Glasgow. A monkish legend affirms that
when St. Kentigern preached, the place on which he
stood was upheaved into a knoll, so that the saint might
be seen and heard the more easily by the vast multitudes
who thronged to his ministrations. The religious houses
that rose in time from the foundation laid by St. Kentigern
were numerous, and became centres of absorbing interest
and attraction from age to age. The references in the
city records to particular Altars in Glasgow are sufficient
evidence of this. Thus, there were the High Altar, with
its chaplaincy endowed by William the Lion ; St. Kenti-
gern's Altar, near his tomb, with its annual rent to
maintain the lights before it, while kings and nobles
contributed their presents of wax yearly for the same
purpose ; the Altar dedicated to Mary the Virgin, in
the lower church, "le crudes," or crypt, to sustain the
lights of which prosperous burgesses and their wives
contributed large sums from generation to generation ;
St. Servan's Altar, rebuilt in 1446 by David de Cady-
how ; St Manchan's Altar, constructed of hewn and
polished stone, by Patrick Leche ; the Altars of St. John
the Baptist, St. Blasius the Martyr, and St. Cuthbert the
Confessor, together with very many others, situated in
and near the cathedral. Among the principal benefactors
of the convent of Black Friars alone, were Alexander III.,
Robert I., sir Alan Cathcart, sir John Stewart of Damley,
sir Duncan Campbell of Lochaw, sir William Forfar,
Alexander Conyngham lord of Kilmaurs, Isabell duchess
of Albany, Colin Campbell earl of Argyle, sir James
Hamilton of Finnart, and James V. — the lives of these
patrons reaching from 1246 to 1540. The ancient and
celebrated university of Glasgow was founded by the
the authority of pope Nicholas V. in 145 1. See Origines
Parochiales Scotitv, vol. i. , pp. 2, 3. " Strhding castle,
towne, and bridge " owed their attractions also to their
age, their antiquities, their historical associations, and
their singularly picturesque situation. The Castle is the
most prominent place of interest in Stirling, and stands
on the western extremity of the ridge on which the town
is built. Stirling Bridge is the most noted structure of its
class in all Scotland. Its age is uncertain, but it is very
old-fashioned, being narrow, high in the centre, with a
gate formerly at each end, and each gate flanked by two
small towers. Its importance may be imagined from the
fact that until about forty years ago, this bridge was the
only access for wheeled conveyances into the north of
Scotland. Cosmo Innes, when tracing the residences of
David I., says, " He was attached to Dunfermline, as the
favoured foundation of his parents. He lived a great deal at
Stirling, fromwhose battlements he could look down upon
his own abbey of Cambuskenneth, and the little chapel of
St. Serf the Confessor of Culross, amidst as fair a scene as
ever churchman cultivated, or monarch ruled over."
— Scotland in the Middle Ages, p. 119. But "Edin-
burg,'" with its renowned localities, was probably still
more attractive. From the time of the Anglo-Saxon
rule in Lothian, which commenced about the middle of
the fifth century, the castle of Edinburgh became the
occasional residence of the chiefs or kings of the Northum-
brian dynasty. One of the most potent of these chiefs
was named Edwin, and Edwin's burgh is the name of the
city to this day. The Celtic name of the rock upon which
the castle or fortress stands was Magh-dun, which after-
wards became Maiden, because the place was anciently
known as Castrum Puellarum, and therefore said to be
the residence of such daughters of the Pictish or British
kings as chose to become nuns>! The castle became a
favourite residence of kings of Scotland at an early period.
St. Margaret resided in it during the fatal expedition of
her husband, Malcom, into England, and died there.
Her son, David, had a dwelling on the rock, and a garden
on the bank, between it and the church of St. Cuthbert.
In later times, the Castle Hill continued to be the centre
of attraction in Edinburgh. On its north side, dwelt
Mary de Guise, the widow of James V., and regent of
Scotland from 1554 to 1560.
14 Striveling's daughters and sons. — See p. 92, note 23,
supra.
* s Kindred of both sides. — These kinspeople were the
Montgomerys of Beith and the Shaws of Greenock.
16 Ye sd visits and views. — Scotland was then a land
of wonders, if we may believe the half of what is told by
her old chroniclers. The following is the concluding
chapter of a very curious tract, published in 1603, and
entitled Certayne Matters Concerning the Realme of Scot-
land composed together. Among the objects of curiosity
were many which tourists and sight-seers of that day
would generally, no doubt, go to examine. As the tract
has become very rare, we give this chapter in extenso : —
" Among many Commodities, that Scotland hath common
with other Nations, it is not needfull to rehearse in this
place, in respect of their particulars, declared at length
before : It is beautified with some rare gifts in it selfe,
wonderfull to consider, which I haue thought good not to
obscure (from thee good Reader) as for example : — In
Orknay, besides the great store of sheepe that feede vpon