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is the Picture Gallery, which measures 150 feet long by 27 broad. Upon the walls of this room

suite of apartments, without finding the least opportunity to touch upon that which he considered as the principal end of his existence. Even the story of Rizzio's assassination presented no ideas to this emissary of commerce, until the housekeeper appealed, in support of her narrative, to the dusky stains of blood upon the floor.

"These are the stains,' she said: 'nothing will remove them from the place there they have been for two hundred and fifty years-and there they will remain while the floor is left standing -neither water nor any thing else will ever remove them from that spot.'

"Now, our Cockney, amongst other articles, sold Scouring Drops, as they are called, and a stain of two hundred and fifty years' standing was interesting to him, not because it had been caused by the blood of a Queen's favourite, slain in her apartment, but because it offered so admirable an opportunity to prove the efficacy of his unequalled Detergent Elixir. Down on his knees went our friend, but neither in horror nor devotion.

"Two hundred and fifty years, ma'am, and nothing take it away? Why, if it had been five hundred, I have something in my pocket will fetch it out in five minutes. D'ye see this elixir, ma'am? I will show you the stain vanish in a moment.'

"Accordingly, wetting one end of his handkerchief with the all-deterging specific, he began to rub away on the planks, without heeding the remonstrances of Mrs. Policy. She, good soul, stood at first in astonishment, like the Abbess in St. Bridget's, when a profane visitant drank up the vial of brandy which had long passed muster among the relics of the cloister for the tears of the blessed saint. The venerable guardian of St. Bridget probably expected the interference of her patroness: She of Holy Rood might, perhaps, hope that David Rizzio's spectre would arise to prevent the profanation. But Mrs. Policy stood not long in the silence of horror. She uplifted her voice, and screamed as loudly as Queen Mary herself, when the dreadful deed was in the act of perpetration

'Harrow now out! and walawa!' she cried.

"I happened to be taking my morning walk in the adjoining gallery, pondering in my mind why the kings of Scotland, who hung around me, should be each and every one painted with a

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are suspended the portraits of 106 Scottish kings, in a style of art truly barbarous. They appear to be "mostly by the same hand, painted either from the imagination, or porters hired to sit for the purpose. In the olden time, many a scene of courtly gaiety has enlivened this gloomy hall; among the last were the balls given by Prince Charles Edward in 1745. The election of the representative Peers of Scotland, and the levees and entertainments given by the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, are now the only ceremonies performed within its walls. In the south

nose like the knocker of a door, when, lo! the walls once more re-echoed with such shrieks as formerly were as often heard in the Scottish Palaces as were sounds of revelry and music. Somewhat surprised at such an alarm in a place so solitary, I hastened to the spot, and found the well-meaning traveller scrubbing the floor like a housemaid, while Mrs. Policy, dragging him by the skirts of the coat, in vain endeavoured to divert him from his sacrilegious purpose. It cost me some trouble to explain to the zealous purifier of silk stockings, embroidered waistcoats, broad cloth, and deal planks, that there were such things in the world as stains which ought to remain indelible, on account of the associations with which they are connected. Our good friend viewed every thing of the kind only as the means of displaying the virtue of his vaunted commodity. He comprehended, however, that he would not be permitted to proceed to exemplify its powers on the present occasion, as two or three inhabitants appeared, who, like me, threatened to maintain the housekeeper's side of the question. He therefore took his leave, muttering that he had always heard the Scots were a nasty people, but had no idea they carried it so far as to choose to have the floors of their palaces blood-boltered, like Banquo's ghost, when to remove them would have cost but a hundred drops of the Infallible Detergent Elixir, prepared and sold by Messrs. Scrub and Rub, in five shilling and ten shilling bottles, each bottle being marked with the initials of the inventor, to counterfeit which would be to incur the pains of forgery."

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Humphrey Clinker.

side of the quadrangle is the Hall of State fitted up for the levees of George IV. in 1822; and in the eastern side is the suite of apartments occupied by Charles X. (of France) and his family in 1830-3. The Palace is shown to strangers by the domestics of the Duke of Hamilton, hereditary keeper. Three different persons are employed in exhibiting the Palace and Abbey, the gratuities being left to the discretion of visiters. Various attempts have been made by the Magistrates and Council of the city to induce the Duke of Hamilton to sanction the exaction of a stated fee of small amount, or to make some other arrangement by which the exhibition should be placed on a more satisfactory footing. These attempts having been unsuccessful, the Municipal body passed a resolution expressive of their opinion, that the payment of 1s. by each party not exceeding six, to each of the exhibiters, should be regarded as adequate remuneration. It may at the same time be observed, that the payment of even this sum is wholly dependent on the pleasure of visiters, as Mr. Hume, when referring in the House of Commons to the estimate for the repairs of the Royal Palaces in Scotland, observed, that "he held in his hand a letter from the Duke of Hamilton, stating that orders had been given for the opening of Holyrood Palace free of charge to the public."

On the north side of the Palace are the ruins of the

ABBEY OF HOLYROOD HOUSE.

This Abbey was founded in 1128, by David I., a prince whose prodigal liberality to the clergy drew

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from James VI. the pithy observation that he was a sair sanct for the Crown." Of this building nothing now remains but the mouldering ruins of the Chapel, situated immediately behind the Palace. "It was fitted up by Charles I. as a chapel royal, that it might serve as a model of the English form of worship, which he was anxious to introduce into Scotland. He was himself crowned in it in 1633. James II. (VII. of Scotland) afterwards rendered it into a model of Catholic worship, to equally little purpose. Since the fall of the roof in 1768, it has been a ruin." In the south-east corner are deposited the remains of David II., James II., James V., and Magdalen his Queen, Henry Lord Darnley, and other illustrious persons. The precincts of the Abbey, including Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags, are a sanctuary for insolvent debtors. The limit of the privileged territory, on the side next the town, extends to about a hundred yards from the Palace.‡

The immediate proximity of Arthur's Seat|| may

* The legend connected with its foundation is as follows:The pious David, while hunting in the forest of Drumsheuch, was placed in the utmost peril by the attack of a stag. When defending himself from his assailant, a cross miraculously descended from heaven into his hand, upon seeing which the stag fled in dismay. The sequel is more credible. In a dream which visited the slumbers of the monarch, he was commanded to erect an abbey on the spot of his remarkable preservation; and, in obedience to the heavenly mandate, he founded the Abbey of Holyrood House.

† CHAMBERS' Picture of Scotland.

In Croftangrie, a narrow lane close by the Abbey, is a house said to have been occupied by the Regent Murray.

"A nobler contrast there can hardly exist than that of the huge city, dark with the smoke of ages, and groaning with the

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