HOLYROOD CASTLE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7687, 23 April 1903, Page 2

HOLYROOD CASTLE.

AN INSANITARY PALACE. United Press Association — By Electric Telegraph — Copyright. (Received April 23, 9 a.m.) LONDON, April 22. Scottish feeling is incensed owing to the fact thmt neither King Edward nor the High Commissioner of the Church of Sootland -will occupy Holyrood during their approaching official visits. Mr Arthur Balfour has explained that the palace is in an* insanitary condition. (Holyrood, vrhidi was buili in 1128, and ■wad originally an abbey, •' early became the occasional abode of the Scottish kings. Robert Bmee and Edward Baliol held parJiaments within its wa.lls-. James 11. was bora, in at, crowned in it, imuvied in it, 'buriod in it. The foundations of the palace, mpart from the. abbey, wore «laid about 1501 by James IV., who made Edinburgh the capital of Scotland. Henceforth Holyrood Palace was the chief seat of .the Scottish sovereigns. It was mostly de-stroyed by the English in 1544, but immediately afterwards rebuilt on a. larger scale. Queen Mary took up h«r abodo in -the palace when she returned from France in 1561. Hare,_ in 1566, Rizzio was torn from her side ond murdered. It was .garrisoned after the baittie of Dun bar in 1650 by Cromwell's troops, who burned the greater part of ib to the ground. It was rebuild by Charles 11., from the designs of Sir William Bruce of Kinross, between 1671 and 1679. After the accession of James VI. 'to the throne of England it" ceased to be occupied as a permanent royal residence. But George IV. held his court in it in 1822, and Queen Victoria occa.siona.lly spent <l night within its walls. At the present, day the disposition of .til (» too irs iv the oldar portion seems to he much tho same <w in the time of Queen Mary. The picture-gallery, containing badly-painted " portraits " of fabulous Scottish kings, and a. few genuine works of art, possesses romantic interest as the scene of the bafts a.nd receptions of Prince Chadie in 1745. The palace, with its precincts ajiid pa-ik, was in Catholic times a sanctuary for all kinds of offenders, but afterwards the privilege of sanctuary was extended io none except insolvent! debtors. De Quinccy is the most illustrious person who availed himself of the privilege. But now, from recent ameliorations in the laws affecting debtors, especially the Debtors (ScotJand) Act, 1880, tho protection has no longar legal validity.)