Linlithgow

“ The mother of the young earl married the Earl of Linlithgow in 1650, and after her death, in October 1659, Lord Linlithgow brought claims against the estate of his stepson, which reduced him almost to poverty. ”

“ Linlithgow (wrongly identified with the Roman Lindum) was made a royal burgh by David I. Edward I. encamped here the night before the battle of Falkirk (1298) , wintered here in 1301, and next year built “a pele [castle] mekill and strong,” which in 1313 was captured by the Scots through the assistance of William Bunnock, or Binning, and his hay-cart. In 1369 the customs of Linlithgow yielded more than those of any other town in Scotland, except Edinburgh ”

“ The opposing fronts under Angus and Lennox extended on both sides of the Avon. The Earl of Lennox was slain by Sir James Hamilton after quarter had been granted to the former. His sword was afterwards found, and may still be seen in the small museum at Linlithgow. In this village Stephen Mitchell, tobacco and snuff manufacturer, carried on business and had an old snuff mill here; he was the first founder in Great Britain of a Free Library. Burns the Scottish poet stayed a night here on August 25th, 1787.
We arrived at the royal and ancient burgh of Linlithgow at about nine o'clock. ”

“ That night the host bivouacked on the moors east of Linlithgow, "with shields for pillows and armour for beds". During the night the king, who was sleeping in the open field like the meanest trooper, received a kick from his horse which broke two of his ribs. Yet the early morning of July 22, the feast of St. Mary Magdalen, saw him riding at the head of his troops through the streets of Linlithgow. At last the Scots lances were descried on the slopes of a hill near Falkirk, and the English rested while the bishop and king heard mass. ”

“ Amelia clearly thought that "he" would never come, and Lady Fawn was apt to think her daughter wiser than herself. And if Mr. Greystock were such as Mrs. Hittaway had described him to be,—if there were to be no such coming as that for which Lucy fondly waited,—then there would be reason ten-fold strong why she should not leave Fawn Court and go to Lady Linlithgow. In such case,—when that blow should fall,—Lucy would require very different treatment than might be expected for her from the hands of Lady Linlithgow. She would fade and fall to the earth like a flower with an insect at its root. ”

“ Further east the low shore-line is backed by a monotonous ridge that shuts us out from sight of the valley of which Linlithgow, with its loch and royal palace, is the centre; and even the woods of Kinneil, and the knowledge that along this crest, starting on the shore near the old Roman station of Carriden, run the remains of “Grime’s Dyke”—the Wall of Antonine—fail to make the southern side a joy to the eye. There is metal more attractive near at hand, within the sweep of the Bay of Culross. ”

“ Scott quotes from Lindsay of Pitscottie the story of the apparition seen at Linlithgow by James IV, when undergoing his annual penance for having taken the field against his father. Some of the younger men about the Court had devised what they felt might be an impressive warning to the King against going to war, and their show of supernatural interference was well managed. Lindsay’s narrative proceeds thus:-
‘The King came to Lithgow, where he happened to be for the time at the Council, very sad and dolorous, making his devotion to God, to send him good chance and fortune in his voyage. ”

“ There was a strong castle near Linlithgow, where an English governor, with a powerful garrison, lay in readiness to support the English cause, and used to exercise much severity upon the [97] Scotch in the neighborhood. There lived, at no great distance from this stronghold, a farmer, a bold and stout man, whose name was Binnock, or, as it is now pronounced, Binning. ”

“ The wretched man, the major, being enraged, forgetting the terror he was in, and all the vows he had sworn to grow better, did first stir up the council to seize the house, break open the door, and plunder all. On the morrow or third day, a narrow and formidable search was made throughout the town for strangers, and to find out the persons who had offered such an affront to their major, so useful a servant, not only to the town of Edinburgh, but to the prelates and their interest. Linlithgow’s men, with the town constables, were appointed to search. ”

“ Linlithgowshire, Fife, and the Lothians were especially infected; 216and, during the present year, the most remarkable conventicles appear to have been held immediately in the vicinity of the primate’s dwelling, not far distant from Linlithgow Palace, and in the muirs of Livingstone, Bathgate, Calder, and Torphichen. ”

“ The wealth which Hamilton had thus amassed rendered him one of the most powerful of the Scottish barons, and he had the address to retain the affection of one of the most fickle of monarchs through all his turbulent career. His ability as an architect was largely utilised by the king, and he is acknowledged to have been the designer of Craignethan Castle and the reconstructor of the royal palaces of Linlithgow and of Falkland. ”

“ Before our eyes rose majestically the colossal shell of a palace, with carved golden walls, a vast courtyard, cyclopean round towers, and wonderful windows full of sky and dreams. Close by was the noble church where James IV had his vision warning him not to go to war with England.
Somerled had talked to Barrie about Linlithgow, doubtless in the hope of making her think of him when there. He had called it the "finest domestic architectural ruin in all Scotland," and told her of Lord Rosebery's suggestion to restore and make of it a great national museum. ”

“ When the young king rode out early in the morning for his usual pastime of the chase, he was suddenly surrounded and conveyed to Linlithgow, and thence to the castle of Edinburgh. Through the mediation of Leighton, bishop of Aberdeen, and Winchester, bishop of Moray, a reconciliation took place between Livingston and Crichton, the former being again entrusted with the care of the young king, while greater share than formerly was given to Crichton in the management of the state. ”

“ The queen dowager and her daughter were carefully watched at Linlithgow, but on the 23rd of July 1543 they escaped, with the help of Cardinal Beton, to the safer walls of Stirling castle. After the queen’s coronation in September Mary of Lorraine was made principal member of the council appointed to direct the affairs of the kingdom. She was constantly in communication with her kinsmen in France, and was already planning to secure for her daughter a French alliance, which was opposed on different grounds by all her advisers. ”

“ Lindsay, Mr David, minister of Leith; his mission from Knox to Kirkaldy of Grange, i. 86, 87. Lindsay, Skipper, warns Morton of his doom, i. 138. Lindsay, Thomas, stabbed by William Douglas, ii. 439-442. Lindsays of Forfarshire and Lords Glammis, feud between, i. 312, 313. Linen manufacture of Scotland, ii. 421, 427. Linlithgow, extraordinary demonstration at, on Charles II.’s birthday, ii. 291, 292. Linton, Lord, fined £5000 Scots for marrying an excommunicated papist, ii. 189. Lioness and lamb, exhibited in Edinburgh, ii. 298. Lithgow and Carnegie, Lords, duel of, ii. 305. ”

“ It was quite in the nature of things for Linnet that a man should take a liking to her, should pay her brief court, should expect from her far greater favours than ever Will Deverill expected, and should give her up in the end for a mere freak of fancy. That was the way of the Zillerthal! So, though the thorn had gone deep, she accepted her fate as just what one might have anticipated, and hardly cried for an hour in her own bed at night, to think those sweet mornings on the pasture by the pinewood were to be over for ever. ”

“ There is the grand solitude of Heddon's Mouth and the raven-haunted cliffs to Lynton; there is Lynton itself, drowned in the green woods that surge up the steep hillside; there is the West Lyn Gorge, shadeless and sultry even on a spring day, and the East Lyn Valley, where ferns and lilies of the valley grow, and every green thing that loves moisture and shade; and the Watersmeet, where there is a perpetual rushing of waters which drowns the song of the birds; there is Porlock, between the moors and the marshes, and the drowned forest of Porlock Bay ”

“ I shall tell Lord Linleigh, to-morrow, that you have exhausted yourself, and that you must have a few weeks of quiet at Linleigh Court."
"What will he say, Earle?"
"If I judge him rightly, darling, he will say little, but he will act at once; before this time next week you will be at Linleigh."
"Do you really think so? I am so glad," yet she shivered again as she spoke. "I long to go to Linleigh, Earle, yet I have such a strange feeling about it, a strange presentiment, a foreboding; surely no evil, no danger awaits me at Linleigh. ”

“ Linnet, he knew, had grown fond of him in those few days; when he asked her once how it was she liked Franz Lindner less now than formerly, she looked up at him with an arch smile, and, after a second’s pause, made the frank avowal: “Perhaps it’s because now . . . I think Englishmen nicer.” At the moment his heart had come up in his mouth with pleasure, as will happen with all of us when a pretty woman lets us see for ourselves she really likes us. But he must go all the same: for Linnet’s sake⁠—⁠he must go: if illusion there were, he must at once disillusion her. ”

“ Lindley, ’tis about a friend of your own, too—a friend who was with you here not a week ago.”
“I—I care not for your news, whatever it may be, whomever it may be about,” groaned Lindley, who was near the end of his endurance.
“Master Lindley’s met with highwaymen,” interrupted Johan. “Perchance ’tis the Black Devil himself. He’s wounded and has need of your skill, not of your news.”
“Met with my Lord Farquhart!” cried honest Marmaduke. “But that’s impossible. My Lord Farquhart’s been in prison these twelve hours and more, denounced by his cousin, the Lady Barbara Gordon!” ”

“ Lindsay quickly turned round.
“Aha! Dalzell,” cried he, “so it was thou, wicked wag that thou art?”
“’Tis indeed Sir William de Dalzell,” said Lady de Lindsay, laughing; “he is always at his mad tricks. There now, do but see what he is about; he is actually applying the tip of a long feather from a peacock’s tail to tickle the cheek of my sister Jane’s husband, the grave Sir Thomas Hay of Errol.”
“How doth he dare to attack the august cheek of the High Constable of Scotland?” said the Earl of Moray, with a smile. ”

“ In the morning, after Linnet had gulped down the coffee and roll that seemed to half choke her, she would stroll up the hill behind the village inn, and sit on the boulders, just above the belt of pine wood, where she had sat long ago hand in hand with Will Deverill. The village children sometimes came and gazed at her, and whispered to one another in an awestruck undertone how this was Lina Telser, who once minded cows in a châlet on the Alps, and who was now the Casalmonte, a great, rich singer in England, with diamonds in her box, and grand rings on her fingers. ”

“ A little platform overhangs the very edge of the cascade. Linnet stood there long, leaning over the iron rail, and gazing with delight at the white foam beneath, and the placid deep green of the calm rock-basin that received the mountain stream as it leapt from the precipice.
Franz and Philippina wouldn’t let her remain there, however. With the restlessness of their kind, they were eager to explore this new world more fully. They strolled through the town, and up the hills behind, where all seemed fresh and southern and romantic to Linnet. ”

“ He only gazed at his recovered peasant-love with profound admiration. Fine feathers make fine birds, and it was wonderful how much more of a personage Linnet looked as she stood there to-night in her primrose brocade, than she had looked nearly four years since in her bodice and kirtle on the slopes of the Zillerthal. She was beautiful then, but she was queenly now⁠—⁠and it was not dress alone, either, that made all the difference. Since leaving the Tyrol, Linnet had blossomed out fast into dignified womanhood. ”

“ CHAPTER IV ENTER LINNET Lunch on the summit was delicious that day, and the view was glorious. But when they returned in the evening to the inn at St Valentin⁠—⁠that was the name of their village⁠—⁠and described to Andreas Hausberger how an alp-girl had sung for them in a mountain hut, the wirth listened to the description with a deprecatory smile, and then said with a little shrug: “Ah, that was Philippina; she can’t do very much. Her high notes are too shrill. You should just hear Linnet!” ”

“ Linchmore rose.
"Yes, the sooner I tell the dreadful tale the better, if my heart does not break the while. Have you anything else to say? Would you wish to see Mrs. Archer?"
"Oh! no! no!" she said, "don't send her; I know I've no mercy to expect at her hands, I showed her none. She'll hate and curse me, may be."
"You have little mercy to expect from one you have so deeply injured," replied Mr. Linchmore, "but I will see you again, or send another to speak with you. ”

“ A SURPRISE FOR LORD LINLEIGH.
The funeral at Linleigh Court is still talked of in the county. There had not been for many generations such a scene. The whole country side were present; the rich and the noble to sympathize and assist, the poor to look on in wonder. They stood in groups under the trees discussing the event, they told each other that she had been beautiful as an angel, with hair that shone like the sun: that when she was younger and before she had come into possession of her fortune she had loved some one very much, a handsome, young poet ”