IX. STIRLING’S POSITION WITH REGARD TO OTHER CASTLES 178 X. STIRLING CASTLE IN POETRY 197 INDEX 214 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Stirling Castle _frontispiece_ The Highlands from Stirling Castle 13 The Abbey Craig and River Forth 21 Stirling Castle from Bannockburn 29 *The Prospect of Stirling Castle 32 _From Engraving by Captain John Slezer, circa 1693._ The Douglas Window 45 James IV.’s Gateway (where Margaret Tudor defied the Commissioners) 59 The Pass of Ballengeich 67 The Keep and the Prince’s Walk 89 The Chapel Royal 109 *Stirling Castle 112 _From Engraving by Robert Sayer, 1753._ Turret on Queen Anne’s Battery 125 The Old Mint 135 Portcullis in James IV.’s Gateway 139 James V. as the Gudeman o’ Ballengeich 143 *The Prospect of Their Majesties’ Castle of Stirling 144 _From Engraving by Captain John Slezer, 1693._ Stirling Old Bridge 155 The Parliament House 163 Old Entrance from Ballengeich 167 Old Buildings in Upper Square 189 A Chimney of the Palace 193 _All the Illustrations, with the exception of the three marked with an asterisk, are by Mr. Hugh Armstrong Cameron._ CHAPTER I. EARLY HISTORY. For many centuries travellers have been struck by the remarkable resemblance which Stirling bears to Edinburgh. In each case there is a castle perched on a precipitous rock, and a town built on a narrow ridge that slopes from the crag to the plain. That two places so much alike in situation should be found in Scotland, and but thirty miles apart, may seem a matter for wonder, but a word or two on the geology of the district may help to explain how the similarity arose.