Scotland -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature
Queen Mary's rooms are in the third story, as seen in the engraving. The
principal room is in the square part of the wing, between the two round
towers. This was the bedroom. In the right hand tower, as seen in the
engraving, is a small room, as large as the tower can contain, which was
used by Mary as an oratory; that is, a little chapel for her private
devotions. In the left hand tower was another small room, similar to the
oratory, which Mary used as a private sitting room or boudoir. It is
just large enough for a window and a fireplace, and for a very few
persons to sit. It was in this little room that Mary was having supper,
with two or three of her friends, when Darnley and his gang came up to
murder Rizzio, who was one among them.
Besides Mary's bedroom, which was in the front part of the wing, between
the two towers, there was another large room behind it, which also
belonged to her. Darnley's apartments were very similar to the queen's,
only they were in the story below. It was the custom in those days, as
it is now, indeed, in high life, for the husband and wife to have
separate ranges of apartments, with a private passage connecting them.
In this case the private passage leading from Darnley's apartments to
Mary's was in the wall. It was a narrow stairway, leading up to Mary's
bedroom, and the door where it came out was very near to the door
leading to the little room in the tower where Mary and her friends were
taking supper on the night of Rizzio's murder.
When Mr. George and the boys reached the top of the stairs, they entered
a large room, which, they were told by an attendant who was there to
receive them, was Mary's audience chamber. This was the room situated
back of the bedroom. The room itself, and every thing which it
contained, wore a very antique and venerable appearance. The furniture
was dilapidated, and the coverings of it were worn and moth-eaten. Very
ancient-looking pictures were hanging on the walls. There was a large
fireplace, with an immense movable iron grate in it. The grate was
almost entirely worn out. The attendant who showed these rooms said that
it was the oldest grate in Scotland. Still, it was not so old as the
time of Mary, for it was brought into Scotland, the attendant said, by
Charles II., who was Mary's great grandson.
There was a window in a very deep recess in this room. It looked out
upon a green park, on the side of the palace. A very ancient-looking
table stood in this recess, which, the attendant said, was brought by
Mary from France. The ceiling was carved and ornamented in a very
curious manner.
[Illustration: QUEEN MARY'S BEDROOM.]
"And which is the door," said Waldron to the attendant, "where
Darnley and his men came in, to murder Rizzio?"
"That is in the next room," said the attendant. So saying, he pointed to
a door, and Mr. George and the boys, and also two or three other
visitors whom they had found in the room when they came in, went forward
and entered the room.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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