AN EDINBURGH CASTLE MYSTERY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2608, 30 March 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

AN EDINBURGH CASTLE MYSTERY.

The following story of Holy rood Palace is told by a writer in the Morning Post, who says "it should be at once contradictor! or confirmed ":—Some visitors who lately went through the Queen of Scots apartments were shown by the guide, who seemed to have spoken a little above his commission, a certain passage aud a large jutting stone like a stop, and theu the following curious statement was then let fall ;—A short timo ago when some repairs were being made in the Queen of Scots room, a stonemason struck the jutting-out stone above mentioned, which rang hollow. He had the curiosity to tnrn it up, and discovered the remains of a baby wrapped in eloth-of-gold and marked '• J." Now, it is well known that Mary Stuart gave birth to James I. of England and VI. of Scotlaud in the adjoining room, and that immediately after the birth the child was removed and brought up elsewhere, the Queeu showing small interest in her offspring. Now, supposing the real child, the real James is the infant wrapped in elothof-gold lying under that stone, who was the other child who afterwards r-'igned as James I. of England and VI. of Scotland. Did this question ever occur to the authorities? This will be best answered by asking how they are said to have treated th>! discovery. They telcgraped at once to the high personage in London whose business it is to control Holyrooii Palace. What did he ? He sent b-'ick word "to make no fuss about it," but to replace the baby in the cloth-ofgold marked "J " under the stone, and presumably there he now lies. But the questions remain to be answered. If that was Mary Stuart's baby and the rightful heir who was that other baby ? and why, when the supposed original turned up in cloth-of-gold was there no fuss to be made.? If this is all a mare's nest it is high time that people who go over Holyrood should know it.

On making enquiry into this we find that the legend is now over half a century old. Every one knows that Queen Mary's rooms are at the Castle, and that it was there James VI. of Scotland, and I. of England was born. In an article published in ISB4 by Major Goore. Booth on " Recent Explorations at the Castle," he thus refers to the story which formed part of the stock in trade of some of the older Castle guides : "A curious circumstance may be mentioned in connection with the Crown Buildings. Close to the entrance to the room where James VI. was born, some workmen in IS3O engaged in pointing the masonry found a spot which gave a hollow sound. This on being opened was found to contain a coffin with the remains of an infant with a shroud marked with the letter I. The coffin was replaced and the wall built up again, but the wall ie distinctly visible still. When and why was this little coffin entombed in this strange position, aud who was the child ? This ia and probably ever will remain a mystery. Iu conversation the intelligent keeper of the rooms pointed out that in the interesting guide-book to the Castle written by Mr John Sinclair the story also appears, and that to his knowledge a reference to it has been in the guidebook for the last twenty years. Here is what the new edition of the guide-book says : — "In concluding our notice of the Castle, we refer to a discovery made in IS3O, when some repairs were being made on the we3t front. Nearly in a line with the Crown Room, and about six feet from the pavement of tho quadrangle, the wall was observed to return a hollow sound when struck. On being opened a recess was discovered measuring about two feet six iuches by one foot, containing the remains of a child enclosed in an oak coffin, evidently of great antiquity, and very much decayed. The remains were found wrapped in a cloth, believed to be woolleu, very thick, and somewhat resembling leather, and within this the remains of a richly embroidered silk covering. The initials were wrought upon it, and one of them, an I, was distinctly risible. By order of Major General Thackery, then commanding the Royal Engineers, the crumbling relic of humanity was again restored to to its peculiar resting place, aad the aperture closed up." The keeper of the rooms was further good enough to state that a year or two ago, two elderly gentlemen who had come to see the restorations of the old Parliament Hall rested for a while in Queen Mary's room, and began to speak with him about this matter. One of them stated that he was present when the discovery was made in 1830. A box he said, was found, but it could not be called a coffin. When it was opened there were evidently human remains in it, but the story of the cloth with the letter J he treated as wholly apocryphal. When the box was opened, the contents which were taken to the adjoining military hoepitil for examination, crumbled into dust and were partly blown away. The box or coffin was certainly replaced in the wall. The guides at the Castle—who now make a great deal of the story, and lay it on pretty stiffly, when they get hold of a too credulous traveller —point to a long stone under the first floor window on the left-hand side of the door to Queen Mary's room as marking the spot where the discovery was made, On the other hand, the elderly gentleman referred to above was positive that the spot was on opposite side of the doorway altogether Perhaps if thia " elderly gentleman " is within reach of this notice he might be able to throw a little more light upon this " Castle mystery." It may be further noted that a short account of this "find" is interjected by the late Mr James Grant iu Cassell's " Old and New Edinburgh," immediately after his account of the birth of Jamee VI.