ROYAL STIRLING.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 January 1925, Page 4

ROYAL STIRLING.

CITY AND CITADEL; (By S. Elliott Napier). Of all the towns of Scotland, with the single exception of “Aitld Reekie” herself, there is none. 1 should think. In compare for legend, romance, tradition. and history, with Stirling on the winding Forth. The Roman and Piet, the Saxon and the Gael, foregathered there adown the centuries and every age has left its record on the grey and time-stained stones of Seothuids oldtime capital. Here the first Alexander reigned, and the first Eduard won

what the .second lost; here were the Stuarts horn, and bred, and married, and died; here came forth the Bruce, and William Wallace, Bailiol and David the King, to light, ami win, and lose, and carve their names upon the ima-

gination of all men. ft is difficult, indeed. to speak fitly of such ft town as this .The embarassmont of riches H so overwhelming that he would toll his Ittle of Stirling must, like a child in a sweet-shop, find it hard to make his choice of starting-point, find harder still, to judge whereat to stop. But I nm fain to put some chronicle of our visit to the City of the Castle upon record, for the glamour and the pricking interest of it tire with me still, and.

like another Ancient Mariner, the lit to tell it all burns hot within me. With reason have 1 called Stirling the City of the Castle, for the castle dominates it. even as the Castle of Ki]ini)iir«rli lioininatcs tluit old and lovely town. Indeed, as we were to find later. Stirling is strongly reminiscent of Edinburgh in the way that both slope upward from the crowded streets towards their Castle Hill; hut whereas in Edinburgh there are many other interests as holding as the castle, in Stirling, almost everything connects itself or leads the way to that great fortress on the rock which overlooks the Curse. The Castle, indeed, is Stirling. There is no Arthtur’s Seat, no Holyrood, no Calton Hill to share its dominance and rich associations; anil lor hundreds of years the history ol Scotland itself was written in terms of Stirling Castle. THE C ITY STREETS. It was natural, therolnre, that we should wend our way towards its calling walls when morning found us lust within the city gates. But on the way we noticed many things, of lesser interest perhaps, yet lull of high enticement to its. all tlie same. We went by way of Spittal-slreet. and found the name commemorated him again whom we had met at Donne ; for later on we read upon the Trades Hal! wall the tribute to its founder, ‘‘Robert Spittall. Taylor to King James Lite Fourth,” but failed this time to find the rampant scissors. It is evdent that the worthy tradesmen was as inconsistent in his philanthropies as he was inconsistent in the spelling of his name. \Ye had seen it at Donne as .Spittol ; here it was Spittall. and we wore to find iL several times again ns in the street-name ‘‘Spittal." Blit always was it associated with some patriotic act of charity, so that if “Benevolent Bob.” as DOll irreverently christened bim tit last, found bis profits in “tnyloring.” at least il is clear that he shared them with his neighbours. From Spittal-street we came to Broad street, and I hero at once we stopped before another legend on the wall. "I lie Nursery of James \I. and his son. .Prime Henry.” we read, and at the words, pictured him who was to lie one day the first accepted King of England and of Scotland and incidentally the •‘wisest fool in U l '- (he persistent pamphleteer against witches and tobacco smokers as evidence for tlie folly part of tlie epigram, at any rate we pictured him. I saw playing in the arms of that fair mother ol his. whose beauty and tragedy have made her mistress of Romance, the IV.ltd Mary. Queen of Scots. And so it went on. “Mar’s Work ’ we passed, the lemaius of a building p-arilv creeled bv I'uit violent Earl, and left unfinished at the time of bis death, been use the stones, having been “conveyed” from ('ambiiskoiinotli Abbey hard by the work wtis so unhallowed that it was believed lo have caused tlie death of (lie sacrilegious builder. Then came the ehnreli. 11)0 years old and more, wherein the youthful James VI. was crowned ill ld(i7. John Knox himself, the preacher of the cornua lion sermon, and even more celebrated bv its association with Ibe great secession in the ('bun bol Scotland. Tlie “Alibi l.irht” Idyllers and the "W'ee Frees” well known in the parish church of Stirling and Ehenozer El skiin’, übo was once its minister. And James Guthrie, too. “the martyr” I boy knew, as all good Scotsmen should. Here be was a preacher once. belore be went to Edinburgh and execution, and here we saw bis monument. A little iurtlie" on. and upwards still, stands Cowan's llosnital. the statue of its founder, with bis cap in bis band “typical of till his tribe,” said lion, “still asking for subscriptions”—regarding bis work with a benevolent air. for all the world. : like Oil,din’s cherub, grown old and : solemn, but still alertly up aloft looking after the lives of poor .lacks, to say untiling of Jills. And "Argyll’s lodging.” now the Military Hospital, we came to. just bo fore we reached the castle AYyml. and wandered in and round about its old-world courts. The “lodging” lias an interesting history. and not the least interest iie*' item ill it is that shortly alter it tell into the bands of tlie Argylls. the Marquis of that ilk entertained within its walls King diaries 11.. a hospitality which the merry monarch returned a few years later bv sending him to tlie sea Hold. THE CASTLE. And now the Castle claimed 11s. and we bad no eyes or ears for aught lieside. \Ve walked along the rising esplanade. past the statue of the llruee. with its firm base surrounded with a chevoaux-de-frise. of iron liars; tlie king himself, with his band upon his sword hilt, gazing o’er the vale wherein lie won bis noblest victory. Ate crossed the drawbridge, quoting the words of tlie Douglas. “Up. Drawbridge. grooms! AYliat. A\ ardors, bo ) j Let the portcullis fall!” (but fortunately they didn't), and found ourselves within the castle walls. And now that we are there what am T to say about >t ? Its associations are so varied, and its points of interest so many that, to describe or even refer to them all would be impossible. I can only briefly mention a few that caught our fancy fast, and which my memory most immediately recalls. Beyond the lower square for instance, stands the Palace and the Parliament House, both as full of historic interest as an egg is full of meat. The former was built by James A".. Inti what f best recall about it is tlie quaint old sculpture on its outer walls. Seen closely it is full ol quaint, grotesquerie which at once reminded us of the carvings on the Rift-street side of the Sydney G.P.O. Evidently the same artist, in a different incarnation. of course, bad been guilty oi

T mean, responsible for—-both. I he same outre methods could hardly have been the property of two distinct identities. surely it is an interesting point, .lames HI, built the Parliament House, and in those wild. romantic—and probably inightv unpleasant days before Edinburgh had taken ho' - assured position as the caoital of the hind, the Stuarts often held their parliaments within its fortrossed walls. Beyond these walls, again, the Chapel Royal raises its blunt form, and then they took us to a further room, wherein was placed one of the grimmest tragedies in Scottish history—the murder of khe llottgltts by King .Tames 11. 1 need not detail the circumstances of that dramatic event : five hundred years have laid their sanctifying touch upon its horrors. Rut enter the "Douglas room'' to-day. ami let its storied atmosphere have nlay a while, and all the centuries roll hack, and once again one sees Earl William and the Scottish King repay their tragic roles. Tt was a relief to leave the place and all its teeming memories, and find ourselves upon the battlements. Gazing outwards ti> the west, the view from what is termed the Queen's Look-out—T don't know which queen, but Don =aid it didn’t real!v nrnl»r: all the queens those days had to look out. and pretty sharply too—is lint only vast and fair, it is also alive with tradition. Situated as it is in the centre of Scotland, bound up as it is with the very essence of the land, Stirling Castle is the bull’s eve of Scotland, and round it history

has placed .its rings of circling interest. No less than seven battlefields can be seen from the aerie (or eyrie) where we stood. so they told us. and 1 daresay if we had waited long enough they’d have made it eight for good measure, but, like Wordsworth’s little friend, seven was good enough for us. and so wo let it go at that. Across the vale of Menteith before use we saw Ben Lomond far away to the west, with Ben \cnue, Ben' Letli. and Ben Voirlicli linking hands • while turning to the southwards we beheld the field of Bannockburn, and. behind, the Campsie Hills. With all this wondrous panorama for a final memory, wo left the castle to its lofty loneliness and betook us to our inn. And on our way we crossed the road—once private to the King—whereon the Koval James V. was wont to travel down to his affairs with Stirling and its citizens. So history has put it baldly; but tradition—which in this case i..s probably the more reliable authority—declares that the “affairs” were mostly of n sort quite foreign to the governing of Scotland. And it the tali’ be true, the walk must often have proved a noble prelodc to sueli bright adventures of the heart.■