The eastern side of the square, opposite to this range of ancient buildings, is the _Parliament House_, (_PLATE IV._) a structure erected by James III. in the Saxon style of architecture, and which formerly had a noble appearance, though now rendered plain by the alterations necessary for converting it into a barrack. The hall within this building was a hundred and twenty feet long, and had a magnificent oaken roof. Parliaments were frequently assembled in it. It is a somewhat remarkable circumstance, that Linlithgow and Stirling, two of the Scottish King’s private palaces, had each a parliament-hall connected with it. James III. also erected within the castle a chapel-royal or college of secular priests, consisting of a dean or provost, an archdean, a treasurer and subdean, a chanter, a subchanter, and various other officers. This chapel he endowed most liberally. The original register of it is still preserved in the Advocates’ Library, along with the chartulary of the Abbey of Cambuskenneth. The northern side of the square is occupied by the new chapel, which James VI., as already mentioned, erected, in 1594, for the scene of the baptism of his son Prince Henry. The ceremonial which distinguished this affair, was one of extraordinary magnificence and cost, being such as to be suitable in the eyes of the father, for the heir-presumptive of three great monarchies. A very full account of it is yet extant; and a more splendid piece of pageantry was never seen in Scotland, till the visit of his present Majesty in 1822. There existed, till lately, in the chapel, the hull of a boat, eighteen feet in length, and eight across the deck, which had been drawn on four wheels into the banquet-hall, with confections and other dainties for the company assembled. The chapel is now converted into an armoury; but less damage has been done to its exterior than to that of the other buildings in the castle, by the ruthless hands which have been at work upon them for a series of years. Previously to its being made an armoury, the roof was a species of pannelling without much ornament; but, from the centre, there hung, in one piece of wood, figures of the castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, Dunbarton, and Blackness, surmounted by a crown, which is still preserved in the building. Such are the objects usually pointed out to strangers as most worthy of notice in Stirling Castle. It is now necessary to attend to those objects of interest in the neighbourhood, which are historically or locally connected with it. _The King’s Gardens_ merit the first notice. They lie immediately to the south-west of the Castle-hill, and to the south of the Castle. Their present condition is that of a marshy piece of pasture-ground; and it cannot be said of them, as of the gardens of the deserted village, ‘And yet where many a garden flower grows wild.’